Posts tagged aph: new york
Hoosier Mama
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theforgottenkey asked:
On, MB, Tx, NY, and Nate and Mark from the rp
ON
* why i like them: He’s probably the easiest character to manipulate, and I can usually write him when nobody else wants to cooperate.
* why i don’t: He’s over-popular and sometimes I get very tired of him
* favorite episode/scene: Oli’s freakouts with Sheep are always fun
* favorite season/movie/arc: I’m liking the wedding crap, if you can’t tell
* otp: Niagraship in canon, ON/QC in AU
* favorite platonic relationships: Jane and Oli are twins
* head canon: Baby!AU Oli is a pescetarian. Jean threatened to leave if he wasn’t going to be able to cook any protein.
* unpopular opinion: I think Jean and Oliver are far too destructive to work in canon. They seem like the sorts who’d get scared of being hurt again so they lash out at every opportunity to drive their lover away.
MB
* why i like them: He’s an adorable level of awkward that gets me through when life is annoying
* why i don’t: Everything I do with Ilan tends to get mopey. He’s an exhausting character to work with.
* favorite episode/scene: Old one where everyone forgot his birthday,
* favorite season/movie/arc: The adoption saga in Baby AU
* otp: MB/YK
* favorite platonic relationships: Prairie bros
* head canon: He prefers to hunt his own meat
* unpopular opinion: He has no special attachment to his trademark outfit. He only wears goodwill stuff and hardly thinks about anything before he puts it on.
TX
* why i like them: The more I work with him, the stronger he gets. It’s really becoming a fun state to research
* why i don’t: It’s also frustrating as fuck to research. When Texas wants something screwed over, it goes whole hog.
* favorite episode/scene: I love the scenes with the kids in RP.
* favorite season/movie/arc: I loved what I did with Texas’ statehood ages ago. It’s a great period in the history, and I had fun playing with it.
* otp: Broback
* favorite platonic relationships: TX/OK in a sibling rivalry sort of way
* head canon: He’s been to every Willie Nelson concert.
* unpopular opinion: I don’t understand white Texas. Maybe it’s changed, but when I stopped looking at state OC’s it was 3:4 ratio.
NY
* why i like them: He’s such an unapologetic ass, and he’s really fun to work with.
* why i don’t: New York is just one of those political entities in history that I want to strangle repeatedly.
* favorite episode/scene: Alex and Oli’s meeting is fun
* favorite season/movie/arc: The wedding’s still fun. I don’t have too many series with him.
* otp: Niagraship, but I’ve always liked NY/IL
* favorite platonic relationships: NY/NJ
* head canon: The 9/11 scars are under his bangs, and he combs his hair very specifically to hide them.
* unpopular opinion: He’s not a nice guy. He has his moments, but usually they’re connected to people he’s really close to or getting something he wants. Too-polite/accommodating New York has always confused me.
Nate
* why i like them: He’s got a lot of depth, and he can be an interesting character to explore.
* why i don’t: His refusal to move sometimes ban be tiring.
* favorite episode/scene: He’s a cat, and him climbing all over things helps
* favorite season/movie/arc: Where they were out rescuing Damian
* otp: Nate/Kathryn
* favorite platonic relationships: Nate/Mark
* head canon: He routinely brings home dead animals for the family.
* unpopular opinion: N/A
Mark
* why i like them: It’s nice to have a calming influence on Nate.
* why i don’t: He’s still kind of plain, but we don’t use him that much.
* favorite episode/scene: His first scene of Ilan training him was cute
* favorite season/movie/arc: The rescue mission
* otp: N/A
* favorite platonic relationships: Nate/Scout/Mark
* head canon: He’s very purposely hidden his dogs from Nate for years.
* unpopular opinion: N/A
Planning Catastrophe (6 of ?)
With 10 months to the wedding, things had already become hectic. There were tastings to attend and venues to check out which took enough time, not to mention photographers, florists, and DJs to audition.
And, then, there was the officiant.
There was still a fight between them, though they tried to keep it to a minimum, over which country they’d be married in. It’d made every choice more difficult, but with the officiant there were added concerns. Secularism or lack thereof, affiliations, and only much later speaking ability. A few times they’d found officiants they’d liked, but the date they’d picked out was evidently the single most popular one for weddings.
With 9 months rapidly approaching, and a million more things left to do, they threw every spare moment they had into their search.
When the trade meeting broke for lunch, they had theirs ordered to the boardroom so they could use the hour as efficiently as possible. Surrounded by other representatives who thought the same thing for different reasons, they tried to live up to that possibility.
But soon, as they continued to find nothing but booked speakers and overly-critical requirements, Oliver put his head down.
“What if we can’t find someone?” he said. “Do we just cancel the ceremony?”
“Can’t do that,” Alex replied as he continued to flip through pages. “You know we can’t do that.”
‘What if we just did a courthouse thing?”
He wrinkled his nose. “You really want to go that impersonal? After everything we’re doing?”
“Guess we could hire an actor to wed us… though I don’t know if it’s even legal. They need to be a judge or ordained, right?”
“So I’ve read.”
“I was watching TV last night…”
Down the table, Lloyd didn’t look up from the spreadsheets he worked on. Still, it was obvious who he spoke to.
“There’s this website where you can get ordained for $15. Takes like 5 minutes.”
Alex let a teasing grin spread across his face. “Why Lloyd, are you really trying to help us get gay married?”
He scowled, and focused more firmly on his computer screen. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Did you want to preside over…”
Lloyd bared his teeth a bit as he looked over. “No!”
He laughed, and altered his search. “Well, guess now we just have to find someone who can talk. Someone who’s even more helpful than our friend here.”
“Right.” Oliver smiled, and nodded his thanks to Lloyd. He was fairly sure that there’d be a war if he made the Texan speak about this anymore.
sillylittleteaparty asked:
IL TX CA and NY
IL: I’ve had an Illinois in my head for as long as I can remember. The state’s got a lot of personality, despite how plain the Midwest can be, and even as a kid I had a face set for it. The state’s very theatrical in everything it does, and Illinoisans are hospitable and open in house but are rather flippant outside of it. That and the massive chip on its shoulder when it comes to the coasts.
Moving to Indiana has given me a different view on the state, but not really because I live with Hoosiers (they see Illinois by Chicago stereotypes, and I know all those by heart). It’s more talking to people from Southern Illinois, and realizing exactly how much everything below Springfield is dying rather rapidly (mid-western Illinois isn’t faring any better). It can actually be quite sad talking to people who have to admit that their home town has generously a decade of life left in it. There’s a lot of bitterness towards Chicago that I knew about when I went to school in central Illinois, but didn’t really understand the passion of until I got here. Even when it’s misplaced (and there’s a lot of that), it’s really quite a real thing.
It’s not something I’ve incorporated yet into her character, mostly because I’m not quite sure how to bring in something so simultaneously weak and passionate. I’ll figure it out someday.
TX: He started out very John Wayne-esque, and it’s still in there. Very slow and deliberate about everything he did, and more of the romanticized lazy cowboy than anything close to the reality. He was also much gruffer and more pompous originally. There wasn’t much character, there, but I was basically playing off stereotypes without any research behind it. It was a state I was planning to throw in when I needed it, so I didn’t really care to expand it much more than that.
Texas has had the most drastic change of all of them. He’s become much more of a workhorse, and a lot kinder of a person than he used to be. He’ll still pick fights for the sake of picking fights, and will hold his position even if it’s not a well-advised one, but there’s a lot more concern for people around the show.
The history of the state is just fascinating, and I’m really trying to figure out how to bring it all in. Especially I’m trying to figure out how to incorporate more of the Mexican heritage that the state embraces so thoroughly, so it’ll take time.
CA: Confession: I stole California. She was an old RP character a friend of mine used, and I ended up adapting when I started to need one of my own. She was the same basic character she is now, but quite a bit lazier. California is sort of a conglomerate these days, so I altered that pretty quick. The drinking and sleeping around stayed, though.
Over time, she’s become a lot smarter than she used to be. Not that she was stupid to begin with, but she was a lot more blatant about everything she did. I still think she’s not that hard to see through (California is not very good about hiding its intentions), but she’s better at working people into doing what she wants them to. California has a pretty crafty, manipulative history to it, and I wanted to incorporate that.
NY: New York has probably changed the least of all my states. He started off an abrasive, arrogant showoff who works too much, and that’s a pretty good way to describe him right now. He’s a little softer around the edges, but it’s still usually in a way that gets him something that he wants.
Making him not just a city is difficult for me. The state outside of NYC is a lot homier, and it’d be good to incorporate more of a softness to him. But at the same time New York has been a rather vicious state historically, and the attitude that the state is known for is the sort that leans more towards the city. I’m not sure, it’ll take some tinkering.
Planning Catastrophe (5 of ?)
Alex always arrived with two choices for Oliver when it came to the wedding. Colors, fabrics, floral arrangements, it didn’t matter. It was always a pair, and one was definitively better than the other. Alex would try to talk the lesser one up as if it wasn’t, but Oliver had shared a boardroom with him far too many times not to know his tricks.
He must have shown up too early that time. He’d come to Alex’s apartment to find dozens of books and magazines with pictures of wedding cakes, and a laptop with dozens more images displayed. The trick, Alex said when he finally accepted Oliver wasn’t going to be left out, was to find a cake that took a great deal of skill to make without being overly-feminine as so many were.
Oliver dutifully flipped through the pages, occasionally crossed out or circled a design. It took several magazines before he finally began to smile. “Hey, they make shaped cakes…”
Alex continued to flip through his own book. “Yeah, some bakeries do. See something good?”
“Well, maybe we could make a Leafs…”
“We’re not having a Leafs cake.” He leaned over to look at the magazine Oliver held, then forcefully flipped it to see the cover. “And this is a Bar Mitzvah edition!”
“Hey, you put it on the counter,” Oliver pointed out.
Alex gritted his teeth. “That an intern doesn’t know his ass from his elbow when sent to run errands doesn’t mean I want a 13-year-old’s design at my wedding.”
“Well, I figured maybe we could do a second cake,” Oliver offered. “There’s a groom’s cake in a lot of these magazines, and…”
“No.”
“But,” Oliver began, “Maybe we could…”
“The bakery can’t make a maple leaf cake,” Alex told him. “I already asked.”
“Maybe you talked to one of their interns,” Oliver smirked. He recoiled slightly at the glare he received and decided it was probably best to drop the whole thing.
*****
The tiny ‘choices’ Alex had allowed him had made for an amazing wedding, Oliver had to admit. The colors blended together smoothly, and gave off the elegant class Alex had gone on about for months.
The cake was just as nice, a bit of old-NYC art deco with delicate (and unimaginably expensive) lacing based on the City Hall subway station. It was a masterwork, truly, and the crowds gathered around it as Alex had expected them to.
But after rounds of pictures, and an immense receiving line to make sure that they said hello to everyone, Oliver was far more interested in getting to the head table for dinner than admiring the cake he’d soon slice into.
And that’s when he found it, neatly centered on his charger and decorated with a properly-hued ribbon. A frosted sugar cookie, shaped and colored like the Maple Leafs’ logo.
Oliver, for the first time that night, was happy to know that the clinking of glasses was doubtlessly only moments away.
Planning Catastrophe (4 of ?)
There was a standing invitation to Thanksgiving dinner offered to all the provinces, though it was only sporadically accepted. There was a further invitation to a pre-dinner football game in a nearby park, though that had previously only been offered to Ralph (because of Lloyd) and Owen (because he’d been a fixed member of the American fantasy football league since it began). Oliver had rightfully been assumed to be too scrawny and uninterested, but with the engagement announced it was resigned that everyone should at least try to include him.
He played for a grand total of three minutes before a blindsided tackle sent him into the mud. By the time he pulled his face out, enough of a group had assembled to help that he couldn’t be sure who’d sent him there. He supposed it didn’t matter, and he spent the rest of the game with the growing list of casualties on the bench.
They hadn’t made it to the fourth before they were gratefully called to limp back in for dinner. He supposed it’d been fun enough, what little he’d participated in anyway. Evidently they’d thought so, too, because suddenly he was invited around repeatedly.
There were sports, strange ones that all seemed to end with ‘-ing’ which involved getting filthy and/or hurt. He was expected to attend fairs for seemingly every theme under the sun, and hunting/fishing trips that couldn’t begin any later than 2 in the morning. The only topic of conversation the states could come up with were lectures about history and sports, and then a quiz about them later.
Oliver beared with their oddness, and they beared with their clear dissatisfaction in his inability to blend in, as best as they could. But when they’d reached their respective limits, the same question always came up.
“Don’t you want to become a state?”
And he’d admit that no, he didn’t particularly want that. Or sometimes he wouldn’t even get that far before they would scowl and let someone else schedule yet another trial. Though they seemed to be running out of ideas. The next day, he was set to recite the preamble while standing on his hands, before or after a stop at a brewery. That Oliver had a difficult time standing on his hands in the first place wasn’t an acceptable answer; not to the states who’d ordered it, and certainly not to Alex.
“You’d best get to practicing,” Alex told him. “You’re running out of time.” He continued to affix decorative pins to the place cards, one of the few cost-cutting measures he’d agreed to.
“I’ve been doing this ridiculous crap for weeks now,” Oliver snapped, and near threw the study guide down. “Your siblings are sadists who are never going to be..”
“If you’d just make it through one of their things without whining about it, they’d be finished,” Alex told him. “They’re doing their best to bring you into the family. They’re not usually this eager to accept foreigners, you should be honored.”
“Maybe if they weren’t completely unreasonable…”
“Like your family?” Alex asked, coolly, and looked up from his work. “Need I remind you, your siblings decided the only way I could be brought in was if I kissed a fish.”
Oliver hesitated. “I know they did, but it was only once…”
“I woke up the next morning with a hangover,” Alex continued. “The fish was tucked into my arms. There are pictures online” He bitterly returned to putting the pins into place. “My siblings took you to fishing trips and cooking contests.”
He sheepishly, if still irritably, took the sheet back up to start reading again.
Planning Catastrophe (3 of ?)
“I found the perfect outfit for the wedding.”
It would take Alex some time to be brave enough to open the attached image. Alfred knew it, and he lounged on the couch with barely-contained anticipation.
He’d found it window shopping one day. It sat in the display as if it were the same unassuming outfit in every other storefront. But it was a glorious bit of out-of-control patriotism, and he’d had to run in to try it on.
The dressing room had been cramped, and it wasn’t easy to change out of his street clothes, much less fit himself into a suit. But he’d managed, and put on a huge grin for a picture. Between the florescent lights above him, and the quality of a cell phone camera, the patched-together American flag print that made up the outfit became all the brighter.
Alfred expected a snapped comeback once Alex opened the attachment he’d no doubt received by then. When he wasn’t dealing with wedding planning, there probably would have been a joke sent. But as he got closer to the date, between the pretentiousness and irritability he’d reached a level of insufferable that the states left Alfred to deal with solely. He’d also, evidently, reached a point where he couldn’t respond right away.
There was a wave of rage that made Alfred shudder, so intensely that the West Coast states look up in confusion. It died down slowly while Alex pounded out a text about how that outfit was in no way appropriate for a wedding (in far less than appropriate language).
Alfred laughed so hard that he nearly fell off the couch. It took him a long time for him to pull himself together and send a reply.
“No, no, you’re right. This one’s better, after all.”
There was only one way to top the flag suit, and it lurked deep within the far reaches of Minnesota. A tailor who’d not only seen fit to create a tuxedo out of camouflage, but also felt it necessary to choose hunter orange.
The wave that followed was so massive that Alfred was sure the Europeans felt it, somehow.
*****
At the next meeting, everyone nervously side-eyed Alex.
It wasn’t that he’d hired people to break into their homes in the middle of the night to drop off the mandatory dress for the wedding, though that was no small issue in and of itself. What was far more unsettling was that everything fit perfectly, despite the fact that not a one of them remembered being measured.
They meant to ask Alfred, who muttered softly that he wasn’t going to get involved anymore.
Planning Catastrophe (2 of ?)
Alex had managed to get all the episodes of American and Canadian Four Weddings. Oliver was fairly sure there was no way to buy them normally, but he’d known Alex far too long to think that’d be a problem.
There were dozens of them, and Alex had taken meticulous notes on each one. Then he watched them over, and again when he was done with that. This might have simply been an over-abundance of wedding planning when baseball was still a distant dream, but Oliver wasn’t sure.
He rolled his eyes when he came into the house to the sounds of a familiar announcer. “Which one is it this time?”
“The one where that creepy chick bought a Halloween circus,” Alex said, and leaned his head back to look at his fiance. “This one girl got married on a dock very nicely, figured if we’re still tossing venues around…”
“Mm,” Oliver said, and slid himself into place.
Alex pointed accusingly at the screen as the guest brides ate their meal. “That one’s a bitch, though.”
“Well,” he said, and relaxed a bit more. “You don’t have to deal with any girls like that for our wedding. We’d fail the dress category.”
Alex smirked. “Unless…”
Oliver scowled up at him. “Damn it, Alex, there’s no ‘unless’.”
“I know so many skilled designers and makeup artists who could make you look stunning in a mermaid style.” He grinned down at him. “You’d get the highest score ever.”
“A billion times no,” Oliver said, and hit Alex lightly on the stomach.
“You’re no fun.”
“I’m saving you from you.” He laughed a bit. “Plus we’d be doing the Canadian version, and I bet anything we’d be stuck with that girl who would destroy our score because she doesn’t like cheese.”
“Which is exactly why we’d do the American one,” Alex said, pointedly.
“Oh, so you’d rather we be with the girl who took everyone down at least 2 points for not getting married in a church?”
Alex grumbled, and put an arm around Oliver. “Our wedding will probably be too amazing for this show, anyway.”
Oliver grinned, and leaned his head against Alex’s shoulder. “Yeah, it will.”
Planning Catastrophe (1 of ?)
There was a certain time every sunny afternoon where the bay windows would cast the perfect amount of light onto the couch. Bob made a point to be there whenever possible, and that afternoon he’d succeeded. He settled into his favorite corner in plenty of time, and prepared for a well-earned nap.
It was unfortunately short-lived. His eyes opened as he felt himself being hefted off the couch and galloped through the house towards the bedroom. He was tossed rather graciously onto the bed as Alex checked to make sure they hadn’t been followed and locked the door.
“We have to talk,” Alex said, voice thick with panic.
There’d been an emergency pretty well every day since wedding planning had begun. Bob gave the deepest scowl he was capable of.
“I’m serious,” Alex whined. “You can’t come to the wedding. I’m sorry, but…”
The scowl managed to get deeper.
“It’s not my fault!” he insisted. “And it’s not you. Oli wanted me to pull something up on his laptop, and when I got on there were tabs open…” He shuddered. “There was cat wedding gear. There was a tux, and a veil…” He shook his head to get the image out. “The only way I can stop this is to ban animals from the wedding. But I’ll make it up to you, I swear.”
Bob snorted and headed for the door. Alex rushed to block him.
“I”ll get you the run of his lake house. There are tons of trees and beavers, and pretty well no people. You’ll have a great time.” He smiled, nervously, at the look he got. “And I’ll throw in some cherry wood. How about it?”
Bob glared at Alex a bit longer, but finally nodded.
sillylittleteaparty asked:
yay headcanon prompts! I want the twats. and Jane. all of them mwahahaha
(Bitch)
ON
Origins: Where did your character first come from? What was their first name, human and ‘official’? Where were they located specifically?
He comes from a British fort in French Canada. He stayed there the first few years of his life, until he was old and strong enough to be recognized as Upper Canada.
War: What was the first war your character experienced?
He was born during the French and Indian War, so it was his first experience even if he was shielded from it by his parents.
Battle: During a war of your choosing, how did your character participate? What were their thoughts? How was their experience similar or different from others who played a part in this war? How did this affect them overall?
Oliver spend WWII in the medical field, as he wasn’t personally eager to engage. He ended up being the main one to treat his siblings, so they would have a bit of safety from human doctors who might ask questions.
Mirror, Mirror: How does your character’s appearance affect them in their current life? How does their appearance reflect their country? In what ways does it not reflect their country?
Oliver has looks that come naturally to him, he doesn’t think about them enough to try and improve it. That he has some of the best hair makes others exceedingly jealous. Prime tourism spots and untouched land, in addition to carefully planned architecture, are more important for keeping him up.
Eureka!: What’s an invention/idea originating from someone from your character’s country that your character is proud of?
He’ll always tout the development of Insulin coming out of Toronto.
Tra La La: What is your character’s favourite song from their country? Why?
He loves all of the work of Glenn Gould, and adores what he’s brought to composers like Bach. When it comes to vocalists, he’s a big fan of Neil Young.
Chow Time: A favourite dish from your character’s country, if they cook it, or how they prefer it made.
Tim Horton’s coffee makes up most of his diet. He refuses to listen when people tell him this isn’t particularly healthy.
Recurring: A fear of your character’s… that has come true. How do they deal with it? How does it affect them?
He gets very scared that he’s going to drop the ball in running things. He puts in extended hours to try and keep that from happening, and takes every setback to heart regardless of whether it was his fault or not.
Art: Is your character serious about art? What kind of art do they create? Photography, comics, paintings(what kind? water, oil; landscape, portraits?), lettering, metal work, etching, etc.? Are they merely an art appreciator?
He paints when he has time, but he’s more a patron of musical theater.
Prayers: Does your character believe in a higher being? To what extent? Have they ever doubter their faith? Does your character urge others to share the same religion? Has your character ever believed in a higher being, if they don’t now? What made them lose faith?
He hasn’t had religion for a very long time, and sees no reason to change that.
Handy Dandy: What do your character’s hands look like? Scarred, wrinkled, smooth? Dirty, manicured?
He has almost always had very smooth, pale hands. They’re neat, but only manicured if he’s going into a social situation that demands it.
Up Up and Away!: How does your character to prefer to travel? What was the first mode of transportation they ever used? Are they scared of any kinds of transportation?
He loves driving, especially high-quality cars. He’s exceedingly particular about who he’ll rent from, and what he’ll accept, when he’s abroad.
Home Sweet Home: Has your character’s home always been where it is? Did they buy their house, or build it? Do they live alone or with others? Have they always lived alone or with others? Why?
His home has always been in the same general area as it is now, but the size and status has only recently become stagnant.
NY
Origins: Where did your character first come from? What was their first name, human and ‘official’? Where were they located specifically?
He was born into a family of beaver trappers just outside New Amsterdam. He cannot remember much of his early life, including his surname.
War: What was the first war your character experienced?
The first war his people were apart of was Kieft’s War. He was very young at the time, and new to the responsibilities of a representative. He didn’t notice much but getting sick.
Battle: During a war of your choosing, how did your character participate? What were their thoughts? How was their experience similar or different from others who played a part in this war? How did this affect them overall?
During the Revolution, Alex sheltered and armed as many rebels as he could. He spent a great deal of time travelling to Philadelphia, and then feeding the information he learned back to his leaders.
Politics: Who is your character’s favourite person from their nation? Why? How has this person influenced your character?
He had an incredible amount of fun with John D. Rockefeller, and learned a lot of business sense and lessons in how to work with the elite from him.
Holiday: What is your character’s favourite holiday celebrated in their country? Why? How do they celebrate?
Alex loves the 4th, mostly because it allows him to play baseball and eat his favorite foods all day.
Mirror, Mirror: How does your character’s appearance affect them in their current life? How does their appearance reflect their country? In what ways does it not reflect their country?
He takes exceptional care of himself, and only wears the best clothes to make a good impression. He’s often called upon to represent the country on the international stage, and the last thing he’d ever want to do is give a slovenly impression. That Alfred tends to travel in worn-out jeans and hoodies drives him insane.
Reverse: If your character could change one thing their country has done in the past, what would it be? Would it be how they treated a certain group of people, religion, something with politics? Why or why not?
He’d go back and try to fix the racial relations in his house. That he failed to prevent so many riots and pain hurts him deeply. It’s a small comfort that, through the pain, his people were able to come up with things as marvelous as the Harlem Renaissance.
Eureka!: What’s an invention/idea originating from someone from your character’s country that your character is proud of?
Alex has some incredible inventors from his house, and it’s hard for him to decide. He usually settles on the first successful polio vaccine.
Tra La La: What is your character’s favourite song from their country? Why?
Life is a Cabaret –Liza Minnelli. It’s the way he’s tried to run the city, and he likewise has a hard time staying in when he thinks there’s a party to go to.
Chow Time: A favourite dish from your character’s country, if they cook it, or how they prefer it made.
Alex loves all sorts of foods, but he can’t make New York-style pizza at home (though he’s flirted with getting a pizza oven at his house), so he’s especially particular when he heads out to restaurants.
Recurring: A fear of your character’s… that has come true. How do they deal with it? How does it affect them?
He’s terrified of being forgotten. He’ll go out of his way to make a scene of himself, so that it can’t be for very long.
Art: Is your character serious about art? What kind of art do they create? Photography, comics, paintings(what kind? water, oil; landscape, portraits?), lettering, metal work, etching, etc.? Are they merely an art appreciator?
He adores art of all kinds, but especially the musical sort. He spends far more time and money than he should going to performances.
Prayers: Does your character believe in a higher being? To what extent? Have they ever doubter their faith? Does your character urge others to share the same religion? Has your character ever believed in a higher being, if they don’t now? What made them lose faith?
He’s still vaguely religious, but as years go on it’s becoming less and less a part of his life. He can and does still argue theology on occasion with other states, if only because he likes debating.
Handy Dandy: What do your character’s hands look like? Scarred, wrinkled, smooth? Dirty, manicured?
Alex’s hands are always skillfully manicured.
Up Up and Away!: How does your character to prefer to travel? What was the first mode of transportation they ever used? Are they scared of any kinds of transportation?
He’s been banned from driving. When an impression has to be made, he travels in limos and business class. He has an inhuman ability to understand bus schedules and subways, and when he’s alone he can and does go anywhere on public transportation.
Home Sweet Home: Has your character’s home always been where it is? Did they buy their house, or build it? Do they live alone or with others? Have they always lived alone or with others? Why?
He’s (unsuccessfully) tried many times to expand his house. He now lives in a condo overlooking central park, and a lakeside house in northern New York.
IL
Origins: Where did your character first come from? What was their first name, human and ‘official’? Where were they located specifically?
She was originally born as a territory, and died when it was handed off to the natives. She was reborn again with new settlements.
War: What was the first war your character experienced?
Her first real war was the civil war. She spent most of it sending troops to the south, and sitting on her southern border to make sure Missouri didn’t try anything.
Battle: During a war of your choosing, how did your character participate? What were their thoughts? How was their experience similar or different from others who played a part in this war? How did this affect them overall?
During the Mexican-American war, the Illinois troops ambushed Santa Ana’s camp. She managed to get two wooden legs, and used the peg leg for baseball on her way home.
Politics: Who is your character’s favourite person from their nation? Why? How has this person influenced your character?
Jane is absolutely obsessed with Lincoln, and can go on about him for hours if you let her. She has a hard time going into uncertain situations without getting to rub the bust’s nose for luck.
Holiday: What is your character’s favourite holiday celebrated in their country? Why? How do they celebrate?
She loves Fat Tuesday and Pulaski Day, mostly because of her massive Polish population. Other states show up for the sweets whenever they’re available, though.
Mirror, Mirror: How does your character’s appearance affect them in their current life? How does their appearance reflect their country? In what ways does it not reflect their country?
She’s a very plain looking person, and is easy to overlook in a crowd. She’s tried to dress herself up, and has had a lot of success with the architecture in Chicago, but she still has a difficult time being seen when compared to flashier siblings like Gwen and Alex.
Reverse: If your character could change one thing their country has done in the past, what would it be? Would it be how they treated a certain group of people, religion, something with politics? Why or why not?
There have been a great deal of riots in Chicago, and none of them Jane is proud of. She’d go back and quiet those people, if she had the chance.
Eureka!: What’s an invention/idea originating from someone from your character’s country that your character is proud of?
She’s credited with the first skyscraper. That she was able to create something which the world copied so enthusiastically is amazing for her.
Tra La La: What is your character’s favourite song from their country? Why?
Lake Shore Drive –Chicago
Chow Time: A favourite dish from your character’s country, if they cook it, or how they prefer it made.
She’s in a never-ending war with New York over who makes pizza the best. Their family tends to goad them into it so they can play judge.
Recurring: A fear of your character’s… that has come true. How do they deal with it? How does it affect them?
She’s very nervous around fire, thanks to the Great Chicago Fire. She’d flee in a panic, just hoping her firemen are better armed and trained this time around.
Art: Is your character serious about art? What kind of art do they create? Photography, comics, paintings(what kind? Water, oil; landscape, portraits?), lettering, metal work, etching, etc.? Are they merely an art appreciator?
She loves art in all its forms, and spends a lot of time going to museums and productions. She’s scattered statues around Chicago to varying success (she tries to distract people from Marylyn Monroe). She’s much more linear when she’s doing her own drawings, though. She prefers to create blueprints.
Prayers: Does your character believe in a higher being? To what extent? Have they ever doubter their faith? Does your character urge others to share the same religion? Has your character ever believed in a higher being, if they don’t now? What made them lose faith?
The whole Midwest is rather religious, and they always meet for church on Sunday. Jane is becoming less sure about the whole thing, but she never misses because she wants to be with her family.
Handy Dandy: What do your character’s hands look like? Scarred, wrinkled, smooth? Dirty, manicured?
Her hands are usually dirty, and she bites her nails a lot. She’s trying to stop doing that so much.
Up Up and Away!: How does your character to prefer to travel? What was the first mode of transportation they ever used? Are they scared of any kinds of transportation?
She likes to drive, but others try to discourage that as much as possible because she’s exceedingly impatient behind the wheel.
Home Sweet Home: Has your character’s home always been where it is? Did they buy their house, or build it? Do they live alone or with others? Have they always lived alone or with others? Why?
If you know what’s good for you, you won’t bring up to Wisconsin about Illinois’ home getting bigger than it used to be. Otherwise, she has a condo in Chicago and a farm just outside of Springfield. She’s been spending more and more time in the city, as years go by.
Happy
lateBirthday Liz~!!
Sorry, it’s late. Hope you like it~!! :D
Thanks so much, I adore it!
