Application for Queen of Hearts
Player Information
Name: Mel
Personal Journal: maiiau
Contact Info: aim: maiiau; plurk: ninthbluestar
Other Characters: N/A
Character Information
Name: Lithuania; Ruta Laurinaitis
Source Canon: Axis Powers Hetalia: Nyotalia
Age: ~1600 if you start from tribal time, ~600 starting from first mention of Lithuania, 18 physically (taken from 1619)
Role In Canon: Lithuania is a minorish character in Hetalia, representing, fittingly, the country of Lithuania. Mostly in canon it's WWII-era, but there have been stories set in lots of timelines.
Justification: Exploring the differences between male and female Lithuania seems interesting, to put it in one sentence. To expand on that, Lithuania has always been a strong character, a knight. Switching up the gender makes that mean something different, especially in the era I'm taking her from. She'll approach things differently, even if the same historical events are happening. In particular with Hetalia I've always been interested in the difference and interactions between the human and nonhuman element, which I can explore to a greater extent here, as elaborated on later in the application.
History: History of Lithuania; Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; 1569-1648; original male Lithuania in Hetalia
Changes: History is history--in Hetalia, it will never change. Rather it's Lithuania's reactions and interactions with this that change. To explain the change let's start with the base similarity: they have essentially the same goals, to see and aid in the flourishing of their people. They wish to do this through doing what is expected of them. However, while often what is expeted of male Lithuania is also what he wants to do, what female Lithuania wants to do and what is expected of her have been known to conflict. Nations have been called female to inspire protective urges, and it is this that has existed in her people. She must, in their eyes, be kept safe, the same as the nation as a whole. And so they tried to keep her off the battlefield.
Lithuania has waited before, as was expected of her, though never as far off as most would like her to be. Her desire to be with her people always kept her close at hand, and although she insisted on being trained to fight, she didn't take it beyond that for some time, until her patience finally wore thin. The decision to "pull rank" as it were was one she debated, and it was not her identity as female she rejected. If she cut her hair shorter and wore male clothing, it was for practicality; it would be awkward to wear a dress into battle. Rather, she pulled rank from a nonhuman perspective. She must reflect the Lithuanian culture--if a human woman had to wait, she must play the part of a nonhuman woman. This is what alters her personality; pushing the human side of herself back beneath a shell of practical seriousness.
Personality: Lithuania puts up the front of a fairly proper lady--she's a bit distant, but gentle, willing to help when she can, quiet and willing to listen. At first glance she could never come off as intimidating. In general, she seems like the type who will do as she's asked, and to some degree, she is. She's almost unfailingly polite, referring to almost everyone with "Miss" or "Mister" before their (usually family) names. There is also, just beneath this, a level of stern insistence that she doesn't always show but always uses--she doesn't back down easily when she has made a decision, and she will follow through to the best of her ability. If anything, she keeps others at more of a distance in this manner.
When in a fight, her demenor grows icy cold. Much like her male counterpart, she has a battle aura, but where he has never had his being on a battlefield disputed, she has, and so she seems at her least human here. She has little room for mercy or hesitation in a fight, and she is quite good at it: she's trained even harder than her male self to prove to others she is worthy of being in a fight. She leads as herself, but that self is Lithuania and not Ruta. Where Lithuania as a man would lead with fire, Lithuania as a woman leads with ice.
These are just shells she puts up to maintain her right to be included in everything her country does, however. While there is truth in both of them, they're not her core. At heart, Lithuania really is a gentle girl, one with a sense of duty she holds as more important than anything else. She puts her people before herself at all times, and it makes her stiff and formal because she is constantly trying to represent a nation at what might be argued is its height; she is at the largest she'll ever be, and her eventual partition away from Poland is almost 200 years away.
Relaxing is something that's hard for her to do in a social situation--she is an introvert, and acting formally is another way of hiding her uncertainty. But when she is with a friend, her demenor changes and becomes far more human. She's got a dry wit, and can be a bit exasperated at the antics of others (like Poland. Especially Poland), although in an amused sort of way. She would rather solve things peacefully when it's possible, but she knows it's usually not. Still, she tries her best to maintain good relations with people. She's loyal, incredibly so, and it takes a lot to convince her to distrust someone she's chosen to trust. It's not particularly easy to really gain her trust; however.
Comparing her to a wolf would be accurate: she's kind to those in her pack, unless they give her reason not to be, and will protect them with her life. She may be similar to a dog, but she is not one; while keeping her captive is a possibility, it's not possible to tame her, not really, and as soon as she realizes the hand holding her leash is weak she will bite it and slip away.
Abilities: Lithuania is a nation, so she is more resistant to injury/death, stronger, has more endurance than a human, etc. She isn't that much more powerful, though--she doesn't have America's super strength, for example. She also has the ability to entirely ignore injuries to her person: she may not even notice the pain.
Sample: [Lithuania has been exploring; it seemed like the most practical thing to do in the situation, once she realized it was not some odd dream and she could not leave. There's a fair amount to explore, and a fair amount of that consists of things she does not understand. The arcade, which is her newest discovery, leaves her wide-eyed and gaping at the machines. Approaching one rather curiously named "Sushi Cat" (she knows what a cat is, but sushi she isn't certain about) she presses various buttons until she's brought to a screen asking for a new game.]
This is--quite a lot of technology to put into a game...
[Really, she's never seen anything like this. It isn't too hard to figure out there's a little arrow on the screen that moves when she moves this--other thing, what is it?--and she tries this game. She plays for a few baffling minutes, clicking with at first very little idea of what she was doing but increasing understanding, before she realizes.
She has to know how this works.
She circles the machine a few times, finding no obvious moving parts. The cord is attached to the wall; pulling it out makes the machine go off. Okay, that's easy enough. She leaves it unplugged and examines the back. There looks to be metal--rivets, maybe?--holding it together. How can she get them out? Maybe if she puts the machine on its side...
It's heavy, but eventually she topples the thing. She just didn't expect it to come down so fast, and the screen to shatter. She hops back.]
A-ah... T-that's not good, is it...
[She's already mentally chiding her recklessness--none of this belonged to her, and she'd gone and broken it. It must have cost a lot of money, to be able to do what it was doing. But--but maybe she could put it back together? She realizes uncomfortably she doesn't have the slightest idea how this technology works--and there's the whisper at the back of her mind that this could be magic, although that's something she's put behind her and so she presses it down again; she's no heretic. The screen doesn't look entirely broken, actually--there are cracks, but she can't feel them. Is there a second screen inside? If she picks it back up, will it still work? The least she can do is try to fix what she's broken, and then apologize.
Picking the machine up is difficult, but she just manages it. Plugging it back in is easy. When it refuses to turn back on, though, she visibly deflates. Did something come loose inside? She moves to the back again and tries to get her nails in the seams of the machine, but they're not giving. She needs to get those rivets out first. But how? She's going to have to ask for help, isn't she?
She casts about for anyone else; although admitting to having smashed some machine she didn't understand makes her feel like some savage, it was her fault and she will take responsibility.]
I--Excuse me, does anyone know how--how these work?