Like a Lady

OOC Information
Name: Riva
Personal journal: riva
Contact: icecreamtsundae on AIM
Characters played at Discedo: none others

IC Information
Name: Alice Kirkland (depending on the situation, either England or United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
Canon:Axis Powers Hetalia (Nyotalia)
Timeline: Modern day

Canon Resource Link: http://hetalia.wikinet.org/wiki/Nyotalia#England

Personality: Alice is similar to her counterpart in the usual Hetalia universe, but different in other ways. She's just as contradictory as her male counterpart is. The creator of Hetalia initially described her as being elegant, but with a punk side. Whereas Arthur describes himself as a gentleman but usually proves otherwise, Alice manages to present herself as much more of a lady. She can be more calm and collected when the situation calls for it. Despite this, she still isn't impervious to provocation and would never back down from a challenge when ego is on the line. She's more likely to be a calm mediator between two other parties, less calm when it comes to her own involvement.

Alice would consider herself very well-read, at least in English literature, but she does not limit herself to works from her own country. Many scientific advances have been made by people of her nation as well, so she takes great pride in that as well. Medical science is her focus, so she takes a job as a nurse outside of her usual nation duties. She is also very skilled at all sorts of handicrafts, whether it be embroidery or gardening. She prefers to always keep busy with some sort of work or hobby, as simple tasks are more relaxing than doing absolutely nothing. She can't stand a dirty environment for too long, and she will take it upon herself to clean it.

On a less glamourous side, Alice snorts at unintentional double-entendres, talks to herself in public (even her fairy friends comment on it), and is emotionally defensive. That's not even mentioning how underhanded she can be, particularly in fights. With all this, she is aware that she is not very naturally a lady-like person, and she sometimes gives in to her urges to be less refined, but she tells herself she wants to put on her best face for representing her people. Which is true, even if it is used as an excuse. She says that what others think of her doesn't matter to her in the slightest, but it clearly affects her very much.

Expressing her true feelings about personal and emotional matters has always been a struggle. As proud as she may appear, her self-esteem and ego can be a bit weak and easily damaged, and so she hates looking weak or vulnerable in any regard. When she was a child, she was rather scruffy and surrounded with people she did not communicate with well. Both then and today, she has felt "with Europe but not of it", making her a constant outsider. Seeing France in all of her lavish glory, Alice wanted to be at least as fashionable as her. But at the same time, France looked rather ridiculous with the extent that she went to to look fashionable, so Alice decided that she would settled for a "dignified and intelligent" kind of look about her. Just as long as she wasn't scruffy.

Her appearance to others in general is a great matter of concern for her, though like many other things, she would not admit it. She doesn't want to be dismissed for looking young, but she doesn't enjoy people thinking of her as old either. Obviously the best solution is to wear serious, uniform-like clothing along with pigtails. Even if it's a dress, Alice is always in some sort of uniform. Her glasses are simply there to make her look more mature.

Also like her counterpart, she tends to criticize others often, giving her input often where none was called for. She does this to both people she is genuinely concerned about, as well as people she simply doesn't like, and she intends very much to make her intentions unclear. She has no problem pointing out how both Estonia and fem America were both being irresponsible in a meeting, keeping calm even though America seemed ready to beat Estonia with a bat. However, her response to Italy's question of "Why do you keep calling me stupid?" is "Because you keep doing stupid things!" which shows that she sometimes isn't very specific in her criticisms either.

Even if she believes that people misunderstand her, and knows that she doesn't make it any better with how she communicates with them, she manages to have some kind of friendships. She can occasionally come out of her defensive shell and hope that her feelings won't get thrown back into her face (though she would understand if they were). It has been many years since her empire days, and she regrets many things from that time, but she cannot deny that she enjoyed the power she had. She also knows that it has led to her now, She says a lot of cynical things, and can seem like a pessimist, but it does not mean she has any lack of hope.

France, for better or worse, is much like a part of Alice after all the time they have known each other. If one were to lose the other, it would feel like losing a limb, one being constantly reminded of the absence. If Alice was to be honest with herself, she would say that France has been a great part of her drive to be better. Alice can't stand being beaten by France in any way, so the both of them have been constantly locked in competition ever since they were children. Even after the Entente Cordiale, the two can't stop antagonizing each other. This doesn't mean that Alice does not care for her eternal rival. France used to cook often for Alice, which may be why she did not get much experience cooking on her own. And other than food, Alice appreciates many other aspects of France's culture.

Her current relationship with America is confusing as always. She always grumbles about America, but is always very concerned about her with the excuse that she's protecting her own reputation by making sure her ally doesn't make a fool of herself. When America was young, Alice doted upon her heavily. Some idiots might have said that they didn't even know that Alice had the capability to be so kind, but Alice never listened to them and didn't let America hear them either (even if the other parts of child rearing were just confusing). However, between more wars, long times with Alice being away, and tensions that Alice simply didn't know how to handle well, that period of happiness was not to last forever. The American Revolution is a sore spot between the two even still, as Alice trusted America more than anyone she had known before and it played upon (if not outright confirmed) her fear of never finding anyone who could both understand and still love her. For many years after, her temper was stormy and she was even harsher to everyone than before. But many events transpired and Alice ended up working with America again, if begrudgingly at first. And despite Alice's grudge, it isn't like she doesn't try to work to overcome it, what with her bearing presents at America's birthday parties.

Alice gets along with Japan quite well, and finds her to be very agreeable, peaceful company. If there is one thing that Alice finds off-putting about her friend, however, it's that often that Japan seems to never let on what she is really thinking. Alice is conflicted between (rudely) prying, or just letting it be. As willing as Alice is to put in her two cents where they weren't asked for, she doesn't like to test boundaries with someone so mysterious about her own feelings. She suspects that Japan would not let her know if she had offended her, so Alice would rather try to find out through outside sources. Despite how long it has been since their initial alliance, Alice is still only learning about Japanese culture.


Powers & Abilities: As a nation in Hetalia, they live as long as their corresponding country exists, though the source material can be rather vague about this. Alice also can see supernatural creatures. She also dabbles in the occult and uses magic, though not always with the best results.

What items will they be bringing with them to Discedo? Her broom, a copy of the 40th edition of Gray's Anatomy, and a copy of Wuthering Heights.

Posting Samples
Third-Person Sample:

Six twenty-six, Alice's clock read, but since she was already awake, she figured that she might as well get up and out of bed. Her mind must have anticipated the annoying ringing alarm, and gave her just enough time to avoid a rude awakening. Seeing as the alarm has gone off nearly the same time every day since these sort of things were invented, it only made sense.

Sigh.

As loathe as she is to extract herself from this toasty bed and leave the company of her dear Mister Honeybear, time waits for no one. But really, she thought that she should be looking to go on holiday somewhere warm and sandy sometime soon. A visit to Seychelles' might be in order, given that they both interact as little as possible.

In the shower, silly thoughts regarding her immortality arise. What if she lived as an ordinary human, her life as fleeting as a spring blossom? Or perhaps an immortal in the truest sense, with her fate not sitting in the hands of humans who tend to make the same mistakes every generation?

As Alice dries herself off and fixes her hair, she reminds herself to stop those ideas. Mulling over what could have been is and always will be pointless.

Her closet, neat and orderly, contained her various uniforms for various occupations. Her school uniform, for when she attended a class or two at a uni. Even if it isn't required, Alice finds the ensemble proper for such an environment. The wages she pays for her classes are all out of her own wages, when working. Yes, it takes an awful long time to accumulate that amount of money, but she has all the time in the world. Enough of it will find her with no more classes to take! However, it being summer (though the weather wouldn't have you know) it was no issue.

Her nurse uniforms hung beside the school clothes. As difficult as the job could be, Alice always felt a sense of satisfaction out of helping people like this. Even after getting into squabbles with either fellow employees or patients. Even when said squabbles might push her to find another place to work. Yes, that uniform might not be worn for some time now.

Next to the nurse uniforms were her business clothes, a dark grey blazer and pencil skirt with a white dress shirt. Out of the three uniforms to wear, this had to be the most dreaded of them all. After all, it meant another day at 10 Downing Street, being completely bored as well as ignored. Alice knew she had many things to say as someone with hundreds of years of experience, and would make her opinion known, but of course it would be too easy to just listen to her. So all she really did was sit pretty, take some vague notes about the general direction of the nation, and find some way to distract herself from stewing in irritation.

On her way out, she picked up the newspaper and to her Mini Cooper. Usually, she didn't need to drive many places when not travelling, but she lived a good distance from 10 Downing Street. She preferred it that way. If she must deal with all of the usual, dreadfully mind-numbing drudgeries of politics and government, she'd rather keep a good distance from the centre of it all. There's no escaping it no matter where she might go, especially not for an entity that derives life from the existence of one, but it's the principle of the matter.

At least, perhaps, this new steamy novel ought to while away the hours.


First-Person Sample:

"-it recording now? Is it supposed to- Yes? It is? Ah. Right. Ahem.

As you all may have noticed... or not noticed, I know some of you are more than a bit lacking in your observational skills... I'm unable to attend the meeting today. In fact, I must take a leave of absence for some time. When I get back, however, I fully entrust that you'll all be behaving. And by "fully entrust", I mean I have no faith in any of you whatsoever to not make everything as difficult as possible for me upon my return. I know none of you got the hint the last time. Or simply didn't give a damn, which is fine because, after all... I'll feel even less troubled when I have to demonstrate my disapproval. I won't be explaining that, however.

But if you must give into the temptation to utterly tick me off, then by all means! Put a skunk on my chair or stick gum under my spot on the table! We'll see who's laughing later on!

By the way, I left a tin of biscuits in the break room. Do help yourselves.

Toodles!"

Links: http://dear-mun.dreamwidth.org/4210409.html and http://dear-mun.dreamwidth.org/4198186.html?thread=132129578#cmt132129578