Post by Alfred F. Jones on Apr 10, 2011 9:30:24 GMT -6
Character's Name: Alfred F. Jones.
Character's Country: The United States of America.
Character's Age: Nineteen-years-old.
Character's Gender: Male.
Character's Occupation: University Student/Computer Hacker.
Personality:
He is not, and never will be like those who can keep their speeches at meetings within a time limit, and trying to maintain a calm, almost impassionate voice is nearly impossible for him. When he has an opinion on a topic (which is often), Alfred is infamous for going on for minutes or even an hour on that single topic without any signs of stopping soon. His feelings for what he is discussing are always plain in his voice, and trying to present the neutral stance on an issue is something he struggles with. Sometimes, Alfred speaks his opinion without thinking of how it can be received, and this can get him into trouble he could have otherwise avoided.
However, despite the faintly narcissistic part of him that loves to hear himself talk, there lurks behind Alfred’s loudness a deep need to be heard. It has always been his opinion that being quiet and soft spoken will get you nowhere. In this world, people will ignore you, and if you want your voice and opinion to be heard over all others, you have to be loud and make them listen. What Alfred fails to understand is that the very things he does in order to have those around him pay attention to him also results in putting them off or otherwise annoying them, thus resulting in him trying to compensate further just to keep their attention.
As evidenced by his ability for vibrant, constant chatter, Alfred is a person filled with a nearly endless amount of energy. He always seems to be doing something, no matter how simple, silly, or pointless it may seem. If he has a brilliant idea, he’ll chase it down with enthusiasm and work to make it a reality by drawing up plans and blueprints. Give him a task, and he’ll try to complete it with everything he has in him. He truly believes in giving something his all, and thus is constantly throwing himself in projects and ideas that catch his interest and spark passion inside of him.
For all of the work he puts into things, though, Alfred rarely comes out with something to show for it. Some people argue that he is a man of talk; Alfred prefers to think of himself as a man of action, although he is in truth a man of ideas. Much of his time prior to joining Hetalia was spent chasing down his interests and dreams while looking toward the future instead of paying attention to the present. A part of him is always looking for something bigger and better; Alfred is one of those people who always needs to have the latest technology, car, etc. Not even his mother controlling his wallet has kept him grounded in this. Alfred, as a result, is prone to not appreciating what he has before he moves on to something ‘better.’
To his credit, Alfred does possess a seemingly infinite amount of optimism, even with his world falling apart around him. He holds close to his heart a strong belief in the sort of happy endings Hollywood has been pitching to the public for years, and this desire for his own story to end well ties in a great deal with his fascination with heroism. No matter how hopeless a situation seems, there will always be a part of that clings to this notion that things will work out, especially for him, and so while there are times he hits a rough patch in his life, he always manages to pull himself together in order to press forward.[/ul]
Appearance:
Strengths:
+ Courage. All right, so maybe Alfred isdownright terrified a little afraid of ghosts and the paranormal. However, aside from that, he’s actually a young man blessed with a great deal of courage and a willingness to act on that courage. In situations where most people would hesitate and consider their options, Alfred is quick to jump in and do what needs to be done. He’s not afraid to get his hands dirty if need be and is happy to lead others when they seem too reluctant to take action. Yet, there are times in which his gung-ho attitude can come across to others as sheer recklessness, a fair enough assessment.
+ Creativity. With his tendency to come up with fanciful and oftentimes impossible ideas, few could say that Alfred lacks an imagination. In fact, to his credit, he does not let the limitations of reality stifle his creativity and instead prefers to dream big and dream the impossible. His ideas may not always have a practical application, despite what he may think, but they are no less valuable as a result. Even his ways of conveying these ideas can be creative in their own right. Alfred, though he lacks any real artistic talent, is more than happy to draw diagrams, charts, and helpful stick figure figures in order to get across his ideas.
+ Heart. It may seem like a silly strength to have—and, no, he is not Captain Planet—but Alfred’s greatest asset is his heart. When he applies himself to something it is with gusto, and when he loves he loves with every bit of himself there is to give. Even the most mundane task can be done with the greatest of passion, because Alfred harbors a deep love of life and does his best to enjoy every moment of it. Furthermore, while he makes mistakes, he truly does go into a situation with the best of intentions. He is not a saint by any means, but he is your average guy doing his best to help out when he can and having a blast while doing so.
+ Intelligence. For all that others believe otherwise, Alfred is not that no good, unintelligent buffoon he sometimes comes across as. He has an impressive amount of knowledge from books and experience that guide him through life. His strong suits are areas he has particular interest in: science and math, mostly, especially physics and more than a passing knowledge on American history. Alfred also possesses a surprising amount of common sense, even if he doesn’t use it all the time or come across as the most grounded individual. Though he may dream big and dream the impossible, Alfred isn’t an idiot.
+ Leadership. Alfred may not take to being bossed around well, but if there is one thing he excels in it’s leading those around him. When it comes down to it, Alfred is a leader. With his ability to come up with plans of action and ways to execute them, no matter how impractical it would be to execute them it would seem, he strives at guiding others through tough situations. Whereas most normal people cower in the face of danger, Alfred rises to the occasion. He has a seemingly endless amount of courage that gives him strength when he needs it and enables him to seize control of an otherwise dangerous situation when others fail to do so.
+ Loyalty. He may not like the comparison, but Alfred really is like a dog in respect to his ability to remain steadfastly loyal to those who have earned his trust. Once he has pledged himself to someone, either as a friend or as a protector, the only way to get rid of him is to damage the relationship beyond all repair, and even then there is no guarantee that Alfred won’t fight for that person from the shadows. It may seem reckless to put so much of himself into relationships like that, but to Alfred the relationships he has with other people are some of the most important things in the world. He has to protect them, has to protect the people he loves, or he has no right to call himself a hero.
+ Physical Strength. Well-trained in kickboxing, Alfred can more than hold his own in a brawl if ever should such a situation arise. He’s also not afraid to threaten someone with a punch or a kick to the face if they upset him, and is more than willing to act on that threat if need be. Alfred’s hobbies and the exercising he engages in periodically have also left him fit and capable of lifting heavy things most others could not and, as a result, he is the ideal person for manual labor. Now, whether or not he will do that labor without complaint is another thing entirely. Unless he’s showing off for someone, Alfred can be prone to laziness and shun having to exert actual effort for things.[/ul]
Weaknesses:
- Doesn’t Respect Authority. When it comes down to it, Alfred doesn’t follow someone blindly unless he absolutely trusts them. For this reason, Alfred oftentimes comes across as having no respect for authority or superior rank—that is, however, a slight misconception. Alfred will respect authoritative figures well enough, but only if they come to him out of a place of respect. Those who look down on him all the time, belittle him, or talk in a manner that is condescending toward him will get little compliance from him. After all, better to be difficult to work with than a pushover, right?
- Ego. There’s no way to get around it. For all that he can be sensitive to the criticism of others and for all that he fears people turning on him at the first opportunity, Alfred has one of the biggest egos someone might see in a person. That said, such an ego can easily get him into less than favorable situations. There have been instances in which he has taken on more than he can handle because he thought that, simply through the act of being himself, things would magically fall into place for him. His ego also causes him to boast a great deal of his accomplishments, sometimes in an attempt to overshadow others, which can and often does alienate him from his peers.
- Overly Familiar. Have you just met Alfred? It doesn’t matter. He’ll be more than happy to sling his arms across your shoulders, give you a nickname that will probably make you cringe, and act like you’ve known each other for years—but only if he’s taken a shine to you. Alfred doesn’t like everyone he meets, but when he meets someone he does like he can be almost annoying in his persistent, overly familiar manner. This openness, familiarity, and quickness to assume someone is his friend can oftentimes be off putting to other people and, with sterner people, put a strain in the interactions between them.
- Selfishness/Self-Centeredness. For all that Alfred does for other people, there are still quite a few moments in which he is selfish. When he wants something, oftentimes he will go after it with no thought as to how it affects those around him. Similarly, if his ‘brilliant’ plans involve those around him, Alfred goes in with the expectation that they will just cave and do as he says without question or complaint, only to be surprised when the exact opposite happens. One of Alfred’s primary problems is that, despite all of the good in his heart, he really does sometimes think the world revolves around him and that the things he wants should just be handed to him or fall into his lap.
- Sensitive. Those who interact with Alfred on a daily basis will notice that no matter how nicely one tries to point out one of Alfred’s flaws or shortcomings, he always reacts defensively. Despite his seemingly larger than life ego and healthy self-esteem, Alfred is at heart a fairly sensitive young man who takes any criticism hard. He reacts with anger, assures the person that they are wrong and there is absolutely no way that what they’re saying is true, and does everything in his power to ignore any legitimate reason they have to criticize him. Alfred’s pride doesn’t allow him to be humbled well, and sometimes he has to learn the hard way as a result.
- Temper. Alfred has a temper on him. Quick to anger if the right buttons are pushed and quicker to react with shouting or threats of violence, Alfred’s judgment can oftentimes be clouded by his wrath. Once someone gets on his bad side, its harder for them to earn his favor again because when Alfred holds a grudge, he holds a grudge. When caught up in his anger, Alfred can become outright brutal and go straight for the jugular, which means that cutting remarks that hit a person where it hurts most aren’t uncommon. In fact, it’s usually Alfred’s temper that causes rifts between himself and those around him.
- Trusting. Although he does not trust quickly, when Alfred does give someone his trust he gives it fully. Unfortunately, this means that those who have earned his trust can hurt him far more easily than those he is suspicious of, and usually they can hurt him more deeply. Alfred is well aware of this flaw of his, and accepting of it. He may get hurt in life, he may open himself up to people who aren’t worth trusting, but no one ever got anywhere by not taking chances. He’s always believed in giving people at least one chance, even if things don’t’ seem to be in their favor, and so he tries to live by that belief as much as he possibly can.[/ul]
Likes:
+ Being the Hero. Contrary to what Alfred will tell you, he is not a superhero. He is not gifted with any real superpowers, although some will argue his ability to eat just about anything put in front of him is a gift in and of itself, and he does have a cool costume. He does, however, have a bed sheet that he likes to use as a cape, but this is more because Alfred is prone to moments of ridiculous behavior rather than because he has a secret identity. Yet, for all that he is not a superhero, Alfred still loves to save the day. He thrives on being the person who swoops in at the last second and rescues the damsel in distress from the evil villain, even if he sometimes misreads a situation in order to do so.
+ Hamburgers. If there is one thing Alfred loves in this world, it would be hamburgers. He loves the way they taste, loves the way the bun and patty melt in his mouth when he takes that first bite, loves the fresh-off-the-grill smell—really, there isn’t a thing about this food that Alfred doesn’t love. Sometimes, he even jokes that he would propose marriage to hamburgers and that hamburgers are the only thing in this world that have managed to snag his heart. To the embarrassment and amusement of those around him, Alfred has even done this in all seriousness only to eat his would-be-bride a few minutes later.
+ Kickboxing. More than he loves American Football, Alfred loves kickboxing. There’s just something about it that makes him feel as though he can take on the world. He loves the ducks, the dodges, and the thrill of competing against someone who challenges him physically. Kickboxing is his favorite way of exercising and a perfect way to lose a few extra pounds (even if he swears he doesn’t need to). Though Alfred doesn’t take part in competitions often, if only because he keeps a busy schedule and can’t make the time, he loves to watch matches either in person or on the television.
+ Movies. For years Alfred has been fascinated with the practice of movie making. His current interest is writing and directing his own screenplay based on his life, only with more explosions (because every blockbuster hit needs explosions). Though he hasn’t achieved that goal quite yet, he does make jokes about how he needs a damsel in distress or how people should do actions a certain way so it will look better on film. Of course, Alfred’s interest isn’t limited solely to filmmaking. He also loves being in the audience of a spectacular film and watching the action unfold across the big screen, or spending his weekends watching movie marathons.
+ Physics. If he were to tell anyone his passion for physics, no doubt they would laugh. After all, few people think Alfred smart enough to do well in harder subjects, and those who do have a hard time meshing his lackadaisical behavior with the image of a studious young man. Yet, contrary to expectations, Alfred both takes enjoyment in and shows exceptional talent for physics. The overall concepts are interesting to him, of course, but he is especially interested in how physics applies to space travel and phenomena observed in the universe. Of course, true to his nature, what he does know about physics he tends to apply to fairly ridiculous ideas, such as the rocket powered grocery cart.
+ Practical Jokes. Gifted with a healthy sense of humor and more than his fair share of mischief, Alfred has come to develop over the years a love of practical jokes. Most of the ones he comes up with are fairly harmless. He might hack into a friend’s facebook account and change their status to something embarrassing, or e-mail them embarrassing photos of themselves from the party the night before. Why, even making tea bags filled with coffee grinds and swapping them out with real tea bags is always good for a laugh. Of course, there are times when Alfred underestimates the effect of his jokes and overestimates people’s tolerance for them, which can cause trouble.
+ Technology. Alfred is the kind of person who loves to remain up to date on the latest technology. Whether it is the newest model of computer or an upgrade to his game systems, he’s quick to go out the day of release and buy it. Of course, given how rapidly the world of technology changes, this sometimes means he’s going out every few days to buy the most recent version of something or other. It also means that, between his addiction to new gadgets and his addiction to hamburgers, Alfred is often broken and reduced tobegging harassing asking his friends for a few bucks to tide him over until he gets some more cash.[/ul]
Dislikes:
- Being Alone. At his core, Alfred is a social creature who thrives when he is in the company of others. Being surrounded by a group of people, dragged into a chaotic mess of talking and shouting and simply being with someone, comforts him more than almost anything else. It is no surprise, then, that the exact opposite bothers him. Alfred hates being alone. He hates going home to sit by himself, hates having no one to talk with constantly, and definitely hates the idea of not seeing at least one face other than his own as he passes through a place. Quiet can be nice, he’ll grant you that, but too much quiet can make him feel overwhelmingly lonely.
- Being Ignored. Anyone who knows Alfred can say without a doubt he likes to be the center of attention. With his tendency to interject himself into matters that don’t even concern him and offer his opinion on everything under the sun even if the situation doesn’t call for it, he is what most would call an attention whore. Consequently, he has come to harbor an extreme dislike for being ignored within any context. If he says something, he expects people to listen. If he makes a bid for their attention or tries to guilt trip them, they shouldn’t pretend they can’t hear him or act unaffected. Really, ignoring Alfred is one surefire way to get under his skin in no time at all.
- Being Treated Like a Kid. If there’s one thing that Alfred cannot stand, it is being brushed aside under the excuse that he’s ‘too young’ or ‘just a kid.’ He knows he’s young, he knows he’s not seen as much as most other people, but that doesn’t instantly invalidate anything he does or says. Anyone who says as much could very well get a swift punch to the face and, yes, he realizes going around saying that doesn’t exactly help his argument. He still wishes that despite the moments of immaturity he does have people would start to view him more as an intellectual equal or just an equal in general. Just because he is not perfect and doesn’t act like a stuffy old man doesn’t mean he should be looked down on.
- His Weight. Alfred realizes he eats a lot and that, more often than not, when someone finds him it’s when he’s shoving junk food into his mouth. All right, and maybe he could eat just a little healthier. However, Alfred exercises quite often despite his apparent laziness, and so there’s no reason for him to gain pounds left and right. That periodic weight gain, coupled with the constant digs from everyone else about how he eats too much or he’s going to get fat, have caused Alfred to really dislike and feel self-conscious about his weight. Of course, he never has figured out that muscle weighs more than fat and all of that exercising is bound to cause him to pack on a few extra pounds.
- Lectures. Alfred understands that he should be more responsible, shouldn’t engage in reckless things, should do more of this and should do less of that, truly he does. Yet time and time again, people insist upon lecturing him over any action he takes that doesn’t suit their ideas of how he should act. Just cut him some slack, all right? Being told he’s doing something wrong all the time or that he’s not doing something well enough is a surefire way to land a hit to his self-esteem, and Alfred doesn’t very much like feeling as though he is a total failure. Besides, if he didn’t listen the first time, does anyone honestly think he’ll listen the second, third, or even fourth time?
- Losing. There are a number of things that Alfred doesn’t like, but being shown up or losing to someone definitely ranks at the top of the list. Alfred likes being the best, has to be the best. He craves the admiration and envy of others because only in having it can he realize and say for certain he’s successful. When he doesn’t have that admiration or when he loses out to someone else despite feeling that he should have been the one to win, his self-esteem can plummet. He becomes surly, temperamental, and quick to blame others. As far as Alfred is concerned he didn’t fail, other people cheated or luck wasn’t in his favor.
- Work. Hey, Alfred is a busy guy. He doesn’t have time to fill out those papers or look up this topic. Granted, he always seems to have time for video games, but as he will argue in his defense everyone needs a break before they get burnt out. Alfred is, through and through, a procrastinator at heart. He puts anything that requires more than a little effort off until the very last minute, and even then he is prone to actually hiding from the work as though it will physically seek him out and make him deal with it. Alfred firmly believes if the work cannot see him, and he cannot see it, it will go away. To date, this belief has never quite proven true.[/ul]
Fears:
~ Going to Jail. It may not seem like it given how casually he posts certain top secret information onto forum boards, but Alfred has developed a very deep fear of getting caught and getting arrested. As a result, he tries his best not to go proclaiming his information to the world too loudly. He doesn’t mention his computer hacking in public anymore, divulging his hobby only to his closest friends. Even with his online buddies who know his real life identity or who talk to him often, he tries to keep his computer hacking a secret. He has never revealed just how he gets his information to his fellow players, and he’s afraid of them finding out and turning him in.
~ Being Alone. Part of the reason Alfred started turning to online groups such as forums and RP sites is because, deep down, he needed further validation of himself. The secret he keeps from his mother eats at him sometimes and makes him feel as though there is a distance between them that cannot be crossed. This same distance sometimes plagues his relationships with people in the real world. Yet, in interacting with people on boards and forming friendships with his fellow players, Alfred feels as though that distance has been breached in some way. He finally feels like he can connect to people, and losing that terrifies him.
~ Betrayal. At times, it feels as though Alfred is living a double life. Though his life as a university student is fairly mundane and without much risk, his life as a computer hacker could land him in a lot of trouble. As a result, Alfred fears that moment when someone who does know his secret decides that turning him into the cops is more advantageous to them than keeping him safe. He also fears someone who knows his secret deciding to use that secret as a means to blackmail him and get him to do whatever they wanted, because he knows by telling people what he does he places himself in a precarious position in which he can get very hurt.
~ Failing University. One of Alfred’s biggest fears is letting his hobbies overrun his life, consume him, and cause him to fail his classes at his university. He’s always struggled with finding a balance between what he enjoys and what he has to do, and so is prone to putting off his homework or assignments until the very last minute. Sometimes, he slacks off in class and focuses on Hetalia to the point where he misses important notes and concepts that later appear on tests. Alfred may not be stupid, but he does have difficulty focusing on things that are serious and recognizes that if he doesn’t shape up, he could flunk out of his university and never make something of himself.[/ul]
History:
Then he started to get into the outright illegal, ‘Alfred what the hell were you thinking’ territory. It started off innocent enough. He had been on a friend’s website, mucking about and creating a page dedicated to himself, and passing the time with reading some of the conspiracy forums. His favorites were the government cover-ups, because some of them were so outrageous that it didn’t make any sense how people could believe they were true. He loved to disprove those theories with common sense because, really, some of them were ridiculous.
Only one day he ran across one that he couldn’t disprove. He checked all of the books he had, even went to the library, and scoured the Internet for anything capable of proving the guy who’d posted the message wrong. Yet no matter how much he searched, he couldn’t find anything capable of debunking the theory. So, he reasoned, he would just go to the most reliable source of all. In retrospect, it had been a pretty stupid thing to do. The United States government didn’t exactly go posting sensitive information on their front page, and so…
He hacked them.
Alfred wasn’t even sure if he could do it, or how he did it, but he hacked them.
It had been a heady sort of thrill, that sort of moment where his brain went “holy shit, Alfred, I can’t believe you did this, you’re so stupid and holy shit this is so awesome.”
In between the fear and the excitement and the adrenaline rush, he realized that what he had done could get him in a lot of trouble. The sort of trouble that got him thrown in jail where there were no video games or hamburgers or junk food to keep him company. His mother wouldn’t be there either to pick up him up from kickboxing practice and make his dinner and, oh shit, what would she say when she found out? Alfred, who forgot his mission entirely, logged off his computer out of sheer panic and didn’t touch it for days.
It was only when the FBI didn’t come knocking on his door that he finally began to rationalize what he had done. He had hacked into the government’s network. He had seen top secret files that no one outside of a few had seen. Granted, they had only been titles, but still. He had accessed information networks no one else in the general population had ever seen before. Alfred, less afraid and more fascinated now that he had time to think, logged back onto his computer and tried to get in again.
To his surprise, he was able to. He didn’t do much at first, just stared at the computer screen in shock. Soon, though, he started to go through files and seeing just what secrets the government was hiding from its people. Arrested criminals the populace had never heard of, decisions concerning international relations that had never reached the news stations, cover-ups for the deaths of people—the last had been of particular interest to Alfred, but to his relief he never once spotted his father’s name anywhere.
Again and again, Alfred went to his computer and flipped through those files. He backed some of them up onto those computers he once used for his pictures, music, and videos, and then read them at his leisure without the concern that he would draw the FBI to his presence.
Yet what Alfred didn’t know, what perhaps he never truly realized, was that the FBI was very much aware of his presence. They would start to track him, slowly but surely, finding the posts he made in forums about information that shouldn’t be available to the public and trying their best to delete the evidence. Finding his exact location was not nearly as easy of a process, if only because of the defense measures he had put up, but even those were beginning to unravel.
Alfred, unaware of the danger he was in, kept on hacking the government’s network to access their files. The government, in turn, continued to close in on his location, only for the trail to one day just… disappear. Though he never realized it, the person he met online, the boy who he learned was Matthew Williams and who became one of his best friends, had worked behind the scenes to save his ass.
Time went by. Alfred, in his senior year of high school, managed to scrape by decent enough grades to apply to a wide range of universities, even if those universities weren’t top notch. He received his acceptance letter in May and started his first semester at a university in New York. It was during that first semester that he discovered Hetalia: Axis Powers. He fell in love with the idea and, with enough prodding and poking, managed to drag Matthew into playing the Canada to his United States of America.
Now, he balances his load of school work with his computer hacking hobby and Hetalia, and sometimes debates the merits of hacking into his fellow players’ Facebooks and rearranging things…[/ul]
Role-play Sample:
He flicked through the list some more trying to find where he had thrown all the foreign horror titles at, as he listened to Arthur bustle in his kitchen with his tea and Will make preparations for his dinner. Matthew, like him, had already bunkered down for the night. He could see the other boy curled up with a pillow and wearing pajamas that were rather plain and average and didn’t have maples on them like they should have, really Mattie what kind of Canadian are you?
“Not every Canadian is obsessed with maple leaves, Al.”
Alfred wondered since when Matthew developed mindreading powers. He shot the small square with the Canadian’s video feed a suspicious glare, not at all relieved when Matthew let out a somewhat exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes. Maybe the Communists had—
“You said it out loud,” Matthew pointed out helpfully, his expression deadpan.
Alfred shot him a sheepish look, ignoring Will’s snort of amusement as the kiwi fruit—kiwi bird? Mango? Whatever New Zealanders were called—conquered the potatoes with his knife.
“Right. Well… Okay then.” Smooth, Jones, real smooth. “So, I figured first we can watch—”
“What are you doing?”
Oh, hey, when did the door open? And when did his roommate get here and when had he started staring at Alfred as though he was secretly plotting his demise and was going to murder him in his sleep and—oh, shit. Alfred flashed his roommate a winning smile and tried his best to ignore the pillow fort around him. Maybe if he didn’t point it out, his roommate wouldn’t either.
“Hey, Roomie!”
He could feel Arthur’s baffled stare even if he didn’t glance at his computer screen. “We are watching ‘Hey Roomie’?”
“No, I think his roommate came back and saw the mess he made.”
Alfred shot Matthew a disgruntled look. “Hey, it was not a mess—”
“Jones, what is this mess?”
“—okay so maybe it was a bit of a mess,” Alfred admitted. Time for Jones’ Secret Weapon No. 22: the puppy dog eyes. His roommate looked less than impressed. “But I’ll clean it up, I swear.”
“Yes, you will.” And, before Alfred could even get his hopes up, his roommate pinned him down with stern look. “Right now, Jones. I can’t even get to my bed.”
Alfred glanced at the bed in question. Covered in the blankets he had commandeered from next door and the canopy design forming an awesome cave that Alfred fully planned on exploiting later, it otherwise looked no different than it had before his roommate left for his girlfriend’s house earlier. There was only one difference…
“Well, even if you could it wouldn’t do you any good. I sorta took your mattress.”
“You… what?”
“I took your mattress?” Alfred blinked before, at his roommate’s flat stare, added in a defensive tone, “I needed it for my pillow fort!”
“Pillow fort. You mean to say you turned our entire dorm room into a massive pillow fort?”
Alfred stared at his roommate. He had thought the answer to that was kind of obvious. After all, why else would there be blankets everywhere including overhead and pillows propped against the wall and the mattresses from their beds forming a doorway of sorts that his roommate was standing in? It wasn’t like Alfred woke up that morning and decided he would start a mattress and sleeping accessory store.
No, he just woke up and decided it would be pretty neat if he could build a massive pillow fort.
Arthur made a small, disapproving sound in his ear. “You turned your room into a pillow fort, Alfred?”
“I didn’t know you could turn a room into a pillow fort,” Matthew mused.
Despite himself, Alfred grinned. Way to go, Mattie! He wanted to tell the Canadian that, yes, it was very possible to turn your entire room into a pillow fort and, really, he should try it sometime. Not only did it look cool, but it was a throwback to his childhood and, well, just plain fun.
“Don’t encourage him, Matthew,” Arthur scolded, and Alfred cursed having his webcam on him so the Brit could see his face.
“S-sorry!”
When Alfred glanced down at the screen, he saw Matthew send his own web cam a contrite look. Yet, if Alfred looked close enough, he could see him shoot a contemplative look at the pillow beside him. Yeah, that’s right, Matt! Give into temptation!
“To be fair to Matt, he did do this on his own without any encouragement.”
Well, there went his smile. Alfred shot Will a scolding look for daring to bring reason into this argument—him and Arthur both, honestly! The nerve!—and opened his mouth to retort something smart back.
“Alfred, pay attention.”
“Huh?” Alfred glanced up to see his roommate staring at him with a great deal of annoyance, if his red cheeks and angry scowl and crossed arms were any indication. He offered him a sheepish grin. “Oh, right, sorry. What was it you were yelling about?”
A muscle in his roommate’s face twitched.
“The fact you have made our room look like a padded cell. Why in the hell would you turn the entire place into a pillow fort anyway?”
Wasn’t that obvious? Alfred felt a wave of disappointment because, for all that the other guy acted stuffy and uptight and had no sense of fun, he thought even he would understand such a simple concept. Evidently Alfred had overestimated the collective common knowledge of society… or something like that.
“Because we’re having a slumber party, duh.”
“A slumber party.”
Alfred grinned. “Yeah! You see, me and the guys—you know, the guys I talk to—decided that since it was Saturday-slash-Sunday because Will lives in the future and sometimes can tell me how the weather is going to be which, really bro, your predictions can be way off sometimes. Where’s the fun in living in the future if you can’t even prepare me for a bit of rain?”
“We live in different hemispheres, Al. My predictions aren’t going to be one hundred percent accurate.”
“Alfred, focus!” Arthur hissed.
“Oh, right. Anyway, we thought it’d be fun if we had a sort of movie night but, well, since Mattie’s up North playing with the polar bears—”
Matthew sighed into his ear. “I haven’t played with Kumachika since I was five, Al.”
“—and Artie is over in Britain producing weapons of mass destruction—”
“They were scones, Alfred, as you very well know,” Arthur corrected with an offended sniff. Poor, delicate British sensibilities.
“—and Will is over in New Sealand—”
“New Zealand.” Will sounded only somewhat annoyed at the correction.
“—New Zealand playing with tourists, this was the only way we could do it.”
His roommate stared at him, and stared at him… and stared at him some more. Alfred opened his mouth to ask if he had something on his face or if his roommate had finally realized how devastatingly handsome he was when the other boy shook his head.
“Just when I think your stupidity has reached its limit, you go and do something so stupid that your past stupidity looks smart by comparison.”
In that instant, Alfred perked up. He didn’t even care if he had just been called stupid—okay, well, he did, but he could get his roommate back later. What was important was that his roommate hadn’t told him to take his pillow fort down again, which meant that he was going to say yes and Alfred could have his slumber party with his friends. Though, just to be sure…
“Does this mean you’ll let me have my slumber party?” Alfred tried, and failed, not to let his voice sound too hopeful.
His roommate sighed and reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Give me my clothes.”
“Sweetness!”
“Ow, Alfred, you git. That was my ear you just shouted your ridiculous American slang into.”
Alfred stuck his tongue out at the webcam.
“Al…”
Alfred ignored the scolding one of his friends gave him—he couldn’t tell if it was Will or Mattie, because all voices of reason sounded alike and he sometimes tuned them both out anyway—as he ran over to his roommate’s dresser. He pulled out a set of clothes, paying no mind to whether they matched or not, and balled them up before tossing them to his roommate.
“Oh, yes, let’s wrinkle my clothes up further.”
“Hey, at least I tossed you a pair of underwear.”
Another muscle in his roommate’s face twitched. “I expect my bed back in proper order when I return tomorrow.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Alfred waved his words off, grinning. “I’ll fold the sheets all nice and neat and even put one of those mints on your pillow.”
“And if you break anything, Jones, keep in mind that my father owns an expansive plot of land out in the country. I can make it so they don’t find your body for weeks.”
Oh, was that a challenge? Alfred’s grin brightened to the point of being obnoxious, as some people were happy to point out, and he couldn’t help the mischievous gleam in his eyes.
“If you were really good, they wouldn’t find my body ever.”
His roommate slammed the door behind him.[/ul]
Player's Alias: America, Ame, Al, Hey You. Anything works, really.
Player's Role-Play History: Several years over all and several months for Hetalia.
Player's Country/Time Zone: United States of America, and GMT -5.
Ways to Contact You: VikingConqueror[@]msn.com
Character's Country: The United States of America.
Character's Age: Nineteen-years-old.
Character's Gender: Male.
Character's Occupation: University Student/Computer Hacker.
Personality:
He is not, and never will be like those who can keep their speeches at meetings within a time limit, and trying to maintain a calm, almost impassionate voice is nearly impossible for him. When he has an opinion on a topic (which is often), Alfred is infamous for going on for minutes or even an hour on that single topic without any signs of stopping soon. His feelings for what he is discussing are always plain in his voice, and trying to present the neutral stance on an issue is something he struggles with. Sometimes, Alfred speaks his opinion without thinking of how it can be received, and this can get him into trouble he could have otherwise avoided.
However, despite the faintly narcissistic part of him that loves to hear himself talk, there lurks behind Alfred’s loudness a deep need to be heard. It has always been his opinion that being quiet and soft spoken will get you nowhere. In this world, people will ignore you, and if you want your voice and opinion to be heard over all others, you have to be loud and make them listen. What Alfred fails to understand is that the very things he does in order to have those around him pay attention to him also results in putting them off or otherwise annoying them, thus resulting in him trying to compensate further just to keep their attention.
As evidenced by his ability for vibrant, constant chatter, Alfred is a person filled with a nearly endless amount of energy. He always seems to be doing something, no matter how simple, silly, or pointless it may seem. If he has a brilliant idea, he’ll chase it down with enthusiasm and work to make it a reality by drawing up plans and blueprints. Give him a task, and he’ll try to complete it with everything he has in him. He truly believes in giving something his all, and thus is constantly throwing himself in projects and ideas that catch his interest and spark passion inside of him.
For all of the work he puts into things, though, Alfred rarely comes out with something to show for it. Some people argue that he is a man of talk; Alfred prefers to think of himself as a man of action, although he is in truth a man of ideas. Much of his time prior to joining Hetalia was spent chasing down his interests and dreams while looking toward the future instead of paying attention to the present. A part of him is always looking for something bigger and better; Alfred is one of those people who always needs to have the latest technology, car, etc. Not even his mother controlling his wallet has kept him grounded in this. Alfred, as a result, is prone to not appreciating what he has before he moves on to something ‘better.’
To his credit, Alfred does possess a seemingly infinite amount of optimism, even with his world falling apart around him. He holds close to his heart a strong belief in the sort of happy endings Hollywood has been pitching to the public for years, and this desire for his own story to end well ties in a great deal with his fascination with heroism. No matter how hopeless a situation seems, there will always be a part of that clings to this notion that things will work out, especially for him, and so while there are times he hits a rough patch in his life, he always manages to pull himself together in order to press forward.[/ul]
Appearance:
Strengths:
+ Courage. All right, so maybe Alfred is
+ Creativity. With his tendency to come up with fanciful and oftentimes impossible ideas, few could say that Alfred lacks an imagination. In fact, to his credit, he does not let the limitations of reality stifle his creativity and instead prefers to dream big and dream the impossible. His ideas may not always have a practical application, despite what he may think, but they are no less valuable as a result. Even his ways of conveying these ideas can be creative in their own right. Alfred, though he lacks any real artistic talent, is more than happy to draw diagrams, charts, and helpful stick figure figures in order to get across his ideas.
+ Heart. It may seem like a silly strength to have—and, no, he is not Captain Planet—but Alfred’s greatest asset is his heart. When he applies himself to something it is with gusto, and when he loves he loves with every bit of himself there is to give. Even the most mundane task can be done with the greatest of passion, because Alfred harbors a deep love of life and does his best to enjoy every moment of it. Furthermore, while he makes mistakes, he truly does go into a situation with the best of intentions. He is not a saint by any means, but he is your average guy doing his best to help out when he can and having a blast while doing so.
+ Intelligence. For all that others believe otherwise, Alfred is not that no good, unintelligent buffoon he sometimes comes across as. He has an impressive amount of knowledge from books and experience that guide him through life. His strong suits are areas he has particular interest in: science and math, mostly, especially physics and more than a passing knowledge on American history. Alfred also possesses a surprising amount of common sense, even if he doesn’t use it all the time or come across as the most grounded individual. Though he may dream big and dream the impossible, Alfred isn’t an idiot.
+ Leadership. Alfred may not take to being bossed around well, but if there is one thing he excels in it’s leading those around him. When it comes down to it, Alfred is a leader. With his ability to come up with plans of action and ways to execute them, no matter how impractical it would be to execute them it would seem, he strives at guiding others through tough situations. Whereas most normal people cower in the face of danger, Alfred rises to the occasion. He has a seemingly endless amount of courage that gives him strength when he needs it and enables him to seize control of an otherwise dangerous situation when others fail to do so.
+ Loyalty. He may not like the comparison, but Alfred really is like a dog in respect to his ability to remain steadfastly loyal to those who have earned his trust. Once he has pledged himself to someone, either as a friend or as a protector, the only way to get rid of him is to damage the relationship beyond all repair, and even then there is no guarantee that Alfred won’t fight for that person from the shadows. It may seem reckless to put so much of himself into relationships like that, but to Alfred the relationships he has with other people are some of the most important things in the world. He has to protect them, has to protect the people he loves, or he has no right to call himself a hero.
+ Physical Strength. Well-trained in kickboxing, Alfred can more than hold his own in a brawl if ever should such a situation arise. He’s also not afraid to threaten someone with a punch or a kick to the face if they upset him, and is more than willing to act on that threat if need be. Alfred’s hobbies and the exercising he engages in periodically have also left him fit and capable of lifting heavy things most others could not and, as a result, he is the ideal person for manual labor. Now, whether or not he will do that labor without complaint is another thing entirely. Unless he’s showing off for someone, Alfred can be prone to laziness and shun having to exert actual effort for things.[/ul]
Weaknesses:
- Doesn’t Respect Authority. When it comes down to it, Alfred doesn’t follow someone blindly unless he absolutely trusts them. For this reason, Alfred oftentimes comes across as having no respect for authority or superior rank—that is, however, a slight misconception. Alfred will respect authoritative figures well enough, but only if they come to him out of a place of respect. Those who look down on him all the time, belittle him, or talk in a manner that is condescending toward him will get little compliance from him. After all, better to be difficult to work with than a pushover, right?
- Ego. There’s no way to get around it. For all that he can be sensitive to the criticism of others and for all that he fears people turning on him at the first opportunity, Alfred has one of the biggest egos someone might see in a person. That said, such an ego can easily get him into less than favorable situations. There have been instances in which he has taken on more than he can handle because he thought that, simply through the act of being himself, things would magically fall into place for him. His ego also causes him to boast a great deal of his accomplishments, sometimes in an attempt to overshadow others, which can and often does alienate him from his peers.
- Overly Familiar. Have you just met Alfred? It doesn’t matter. He’ll be more than happy to sling his arms across your shoulders, give you a nickname that will probably make you cringe, and act like you’ve known each other for years—but only if he’s taken a shine to you. Alfred doesn’t like everyone he meets, but when he meets someone he does like he can be almost annoying in his persistent, overly familiar manner. This openness, familiarity, and quickness to assume someone is his friend can oftentimes be off putting to other people and, with sterner people, put a strain in the interactions between them.
- Selfishness/Self-Centeredness. For all that Alfred does for other people, there are still quite a few moments in which he is selfish. When he wants something, oftentimes he will go after it with no thought as to how it affects those around him. Similarly, if his ‘brilliant’ plans involve those around him, Alfred goes in with the expectation that they will just cave and do as he says without question or complaint, only to be surprised when the exact opposite happens. One of Alfred’s primary problems is that, despite all of the good in his heart, he really does sometimes think the world revolves around him and that the things he wants should just be handed to him or fall into his lap.
- Sensitive. Those who interact with Alfred on a daily basis will notice that no matter how nicely one tries to point out one of Alfred’s flaws or shortcomings, he always reacts defensively. Despite his seemingly larger than life ego and healthy self-esteem, Alfred is at heart a fairly sensitive young man who takes any criticism hard. He reacts with anger, assures the person that they are wrong and there is absolutely no way that what they’re saying is true, and does everything in his power to ignore any legitimate reason they have to criticize him. Alfred’s pride doesn’t allow him to be humbled well, and sometimes he has to learn the hard way as a result.
- Temper. Alfred has a temper on him. Quick to anger if the right buttons are pushed and quicker to react with shouting or threats of violence, Alfred’s judgment can oftentimes be clouded by his wrath. Once someone gets on his bad side, its harder for them to earn his favor again because when Alfred holds a grudge, he holds a grudge. When caught up in his anger, Alfred can become outright brutal and go straight for the jugular, which means that cutting remarks that hit a person where it hurts most aren’t uncommon. In fact, it’s usually Alfred’s temper that causes rifts between himself and those around him.
- Trusting. Although he does not trust quickly, when Alfred does give someone his trust he gives it fully. Unfortunately, this means that those who have earned his trust can hurt him far more easily than those he is suspicious of, and usually they can hurt him more deeply. Alfred is well aware of this flaw of his, and accepting of it. He may get hurt in life, he may open himself up to people who aren’t worth trusting, but no one ever got anywhere by not taking chances. He’s always believed in giving people at least one chance, even if things don’t’ seem to be in their favor, and so he tries to live by that belief as much as he possibly can.[/ul]
Likes:
+ Being the Hero. Contrary to what Alfred will tell you, he is not a superhero. He is not gifted with any real superpowers, although some will argue his ability to eat just about anything put in front of him is a gift in and of itself, and he does have a cool costume. He does, however, have a bed sheet that he likes to use as a cape, but this is more because Alfred is prone to moments of ridiculous behavior rather than because he has a secret identity. Yet, for all that he is not a superhero, Alfred still loves to save the day. He thrives on being the person who swoops in at the last second and rescues the damsel in distress from the evil villain, even if he sometimes misreads a situation in order to do so.
+ Hamburgers. If there is one thing Alfred loves in this world, it would be hamburgers. He loves the way they taste, loves the way the bun and patty melt in his mouth when he takes that first bite, loves the fresh-off-the-grill smell—really, there isn’t a thing about this food that Alfred doesn’t love. Sometimes, he even jokes that he would propose marriage to hamburgers and that hamburgers are the only thing in this world that have managed to snag his heart. To the embarrassment and amusement of those around him, Alfred has even done this in all seriousness only to eat his would-be-bride a few minutes later.
+ Kickboxing. More than he loves American Football, Alfred loves kickboxing. There’s just something about it that makes him feel as though he can take on the world. He loves the ducks, the dodges, and the thrill of competing against someone who challenges him physically. Kickboxing is his favorite way of exercising and a perfect way to lose a few extra pounds (even if he swears he doesn’t need to). Though Alfred doesn’t take part in competitions often, if only because he keeps a busy schedule and can’t make the time, he loves to watch matches either in person or on the television.
+ Movies. For years Alfred has been fascinated with the practice of movie making. His current interest is writing and directing his own screenplay based on his life, only with more explosions (because every blockbuster hit needs explosions). Though he hasn’t achieved that goal quite yet, he does make jokes about how he needs a damsel in distress or how people should do actions a certain way so it will look better on film. Of course, Alfred’s interest isn’t limited solely to filmmaking. He also loves being in the audience of a spectacular film and watching the action unfold across the big screen, or spending his weekends watching movie marathons.
+ Physics. If he were to tell anyone his passion for physics, no doubt they would laugh. After all, few people think Alfred smart enough to do well in harder subjects, and those who do have a hard time meshing his lackadaisical behavior with the image of a studious young man. Yet, contrary to expectations, Alfred both takes enjoyment in and shows exceptional talent for physics. The overall concepts are interesting to him, of course, but he is especially interested in how physics applies to space travel and phenomena observed in the universe. Of course, true to his nature, what he does know about physics he tends to apply to fairly ridiculous ideas, such as the rocket powered grocery cart.
+ Practical Jokes. Gifted with a healthy sense of humor and more than his fair share of mischief, Alfred has come to develop over the years a love of practical jokes. Most of the ones he comes up with are fairly harmless. He might hack into a friend’s facebook account and change their status to something embarrassing, or e-mail them embarrassing photos of themselves from the party the night before. Why, even making tea bags filled with coffee grinds and swapping them out with real tea bags is always good for a laugh. Of course, there are times when Alfred underestimates the effect of his jokes and overestimates people’s tolerance for them, which can cause trouble.
+ Technology. Alfred is the kind of person who loves to remain up to date on the latest technology. Whether it is the newest model of computer or an upgrade to his game systems, he’s quick to go out the day of release and buy it. Of course, given how rapidly the world of technology changes, this sometimes means he’s going out every few days to buy the most recent version of something or other. It also means that, between his addiction to new gadgets and his addiction to hamburgers, Alfred is often broken and reduced to
Dislikes:
- Being Alone. At his core, Alfred is a social creature who thrives when he is in the company of others. Being surrounded by a group of people, dragged into a chaotic mess of talking and shouting and simply being with someone, comforts him more than almost anything else. It is no surprise, then, that the exact opposite bothers him. Alfred hates being alone. He hates going home to sit by himself, hates having no one to talk with constantly, and definitely hates the idea of not seeing at least one face other than his own as he passes through a place. Quiet can be nice, he’ll grant you that, but too much quiet can make him feel overwhelmingly lonely.
- Being Ignored. Anyone who knows Alfred can say without a doubt he likes to be the center of attention. With his tendency to interject himself into matters that don’t even concern him and offer his opinion on everything under the sun even if the situation doesn’t call for it, he is what most would call an attention whore. Consequently, he has come to harbor an extreme dislike for being ignored within any context. If he says something, he expects people to listen. If he makes a bid for their attention or tries to guilt trip them, they shouldn’t pretend they can’t hear him or act unaffected. Really, ignoring Alfred is one surefire way to get under his skin in no time at all.
- Being Treated Like a Kid. If there’s one thing that Alfred cannot stand, it is being brushed aside under the excuse that he’s ‘too young’ or ‘just a kid.’ He knows he’s young, he knows he’s not seen as much as most other people, but that doesn’t instantly invalidate anything he does or says. Anyone who says as much could very well get a swift punch to the face and, yes, he realizes going around saying that doesn’t exactly help his argument. He still wishes that despite the moments of immaturity he does have people would start to view him more as an intellectual equal or just an equal in general. Just because he is not perfect and doesn’t act like a stuffy old man doesn’t mean he should be looked down on.
- His Weight. Alfred realizes he eats a lot and that, more often than not, when someone finds him it’s when he’s shoving junk food into his mouth. All right, and maybe he could eat just a little healthier. However, Alfred exercises quite often despite his apparent laziness, and so there’s no reason for him to gain pounds left and right. That periodic weight gain, coupled with the constant digs from everyone else about how he eats too much or he’s going to get fat, have caused Alfred to really dislike and feel self-conscious about his weight. Of course, he never has figured out that muscle weighs more than fat and all of that exercising is bound to cause him to pack on a few extra pounds.
- Lectures. Alfred understands that he should be more responsible, shouldn’t engage in reckless things, should do more of this and should do less of that, truly he does. Yet time and time again, people insist upon lecturing him over any action he takes that doesn’t suit their ideas of how he should act. Just cut him some slack, all right? Being told he’s doing something wrong all the time or that he’s not doing something well enough is a surefire way to land a hit to his self-esteem, and Alfred doesn’t very much like feeling as though he is a total failure. Besides, if he didn’t listen the first time, does anyone honestly think he’ll listen the second, third, or even fourth time?
- Losing. There are a number of things that Alfred doesn’t like, but being shown up or losing to someone definitely ranks at the top of the list. Alfred likes being the best, has to be the best. He craves the admiration and envy of others because only in having it can he realize and say for certain he’s successful. When he doesn’t have that admiration or when he loses out to someone else despite feeling that he should have been the one to win, his self-esteem can plummet. He becomes surly, temperamental, and quick to blame others. As far as Alfred is concerned he didn’t fail, other people cheated or luck wasn’t in his favor.
- Work. Hey, Alfred is a busy guy. He doesn’t have time to fill out those papers or look up this topic. Granted, he always seems to have time for video games, but as he will argue in his defense everyone needs a break before they get burnt out. Alfred is, through and through, a procrastinator at heart. He puts anything that requires more than a little effort off until the very last minute, and even then he is prone to actually hiding from the work as though it will physically seek him out and make him deal with it. Alfred firmly believes if the work cannot see him, and he cannot see it, it will go away. To date, this belief has never quite proven true.[/ul]
Fears:
~ Going to Jail. It may not seem like it given how casually he posts certain top secret information onto forum boards, but Alfred has developed a very deep fear of getting caught and getting arrested. As a result, he tries his best not to go proclaiming his information to the world too loudly. He doesn’t mention his computer hacking in public anymore, divulging his hobby only to his closest friends. Even with his online buddies who know his real life identity or who talk to him often, he tries to keep his computer hacking a secret. He has never revealed just how he gets his information to his fellow players, and he’s afraid of them finding out and turning him in.
~ Being Alone. Part of the reason Alfred started turning to online groups such as forums and RP sites is because, deep down, he needed further validation of himself. The secret he keeps from his mother eats at him sometimes and makes him feel as though there is a distance between them that cannot be crossed. This same distance sometimes plagues his relationships with people in the real world. Yet, in interacting with people on boards and forming friendships with his fellow players, Alfred feels as though that distance has been breached in some way. He finally feels like he can connect to people, and losing that terrifies him.
~ Betrayal. At times, it feels as though Alfred is living a double life. Though his life as a university student is fairly mundane and without much risk, his life as a computer hacker could land him in a lot of trouble. As a result, Alfred fears that moment when someone who does know his secret decides that turning him into the cops is more advantageous to them than keeping him safe. He also fears someone who knows his secret deciding to use that secret as a means to blackmail him and get him to do whatever they wanted, because he knows by telling people what he does he places himself in a precarious position in which he can get very hurt.
~ Failing University. One of Alfred’s biggest fears is letting his hobbies overrun his life, consume him, and cause him to fail his classes at his university. He’s always struggled with finding a balance between what he enjoys and what he has to do, and so is prone to putting off his homework or assignments until the very last minute. Sometimes, he slacks off in class and focuses on Hetalia to the point where he misses important notes and concepts that later appear on tests. Alfred may not be stupid, but he does have difficulty focusing on things that are serious and recognizes that if he doesn’t shape up, he could flunk out of his university and never make something of himself.[/ul]
History:
Then he started to get into the outright illegal, ‘Alfred what the hell were you thinking’ territory. It started off innocent enough. He had been on a friend’s website, mucking about and creating a page dedicated to himself, and passing the time with reading some of the conspiracy forums. His favorites were the government cover-ups, because some of them were so outrageous that it didn’t make any sense how people could believe they were true. He loved to disprove those theories with common sense because, really, some of them were ridiculous.
Only one day he ran across one that he couldn’t disprove. He checked all of the books he had, even went to the library, and scoured the Internet for anything capable of proving the guy who’d posted the message wrong. Yet no matter how much he searched, he couldn’t find anything capable of debunking the theory. So, he reasoned, he would just go to the most reliable source of all. In retrospect, it had been a pretty stupid thing to do. The United States government didn’t exactly go posting sensitive information on their front page, and so…
He hacked them.
Alfred wasn’t even sure if he could do it, or how he did it, but he hacked them.
It had been a heady sort of thrill, that sort of moment where his brain went “holy shit, Alfred, I can’t believe you did this, you’re so stupid and holy shit this is so awesome.”
In between the fear and the excitement and the adrenaline rush, he realized that what he had done could get him in a lot of trouble. The sort of trouble that got him thrown in jail where there were no video games or hamburgers or junk food to keep him company. His mother wouldn’t be there either to pick up him up from kickboxing practice and make his dinner and, oh shit, what would she say when she found out? Alfred, who forgot his mission entirely, logged off his computer out of sheer panic and didn’t touch it for days.
It was only when the FBI didn’t come knocking on his door that he finally began to rationalize what he had done. He had hacked into the government’s network. He had seen top secret files that no one outside of a few had seen. Granted, they had only been titles, but still. He had accessed information networks no one else in the general population had ever seen before. Alfred, less afraid and more fascinated now that he had time to think, logged back onto his computer and tried to get in again.
To his surprise, he was able to. He didn’t do much at first, just stared at the computer screen in shock. Soon, though, he started to go through files and seeing just what secrets the government was hiding from its people. Arrested criminals the populace had never heard of, decisions concerning international relations that had never reached the news stations, cover-ups for the deaths of people—the last had been of particular interest to Alfred, but to his relief he never once spotted his father’s name anywhere.
Again and again, Alfred went to his computer and flipped through those files. He backed some of them up onto those computers he once used for his pictures, music, and videos, and then read them at his leisure without the concern that he would draw the FBI to his presence.
Yet what Alfred didn’t know, what perhaps he never truly realized, was that the FBI was very much aware of his presence. They would start to track him, slowly but surely, finding the posts he made in forums about information that shouldn’t be available to the public and trying their best to delete the evidence. Finding his exact location was not nearly as easy of a process, if only because of the defense measures he had put up, but even those were beginning to unravel.
Alfred, unaware of the danger he was in, kept on hacking the government’s network to access their files. The government, in turn, continued to close in on his location, only for the trail to one day just… disappear. Though he never realized it, the person he met online, the boy who he learned was Matthew Williams and who became one of his best friends, had worked behind the scenes to save his ass.
Time went by. Alfred, in his senior year of high school, managed to scrape by decent enough grades to apply to a wide range of universities, even if those universities weren’t top notch. He received his acceptance letter in May and started his first semester at a university in New York. It was during that first semester that he discovered Hetalia: Axis Powers. He fell in love with the idea and, with enough prodding and poking, managed to drag Matthew into playing the Canada to his United States of America.
Now, he balances his load of school work with his computer hacking hobby and Hetalia, and sometimes debates the merits of hacking into his fellow players’ Facebooks and rearranging things…[/ul]
Role-play Sample:
He flicked through the list some more trying to find where he had thrown all the foreign horror titles at, as he listened to Arthur bustle in his kitchen with his tea and Will make preparations for his dinner. Matthew, like him, had already bunkered down for the night. He could see the other boy curled up with a pillow and wearing pajamas that were rather plain and average and didn’t have maples on them like they should have, really Mattie what kind of Canadian are you?
“Not every Canadian is obsessed with maple leaves, Al.”
Alfred wondered since when Matthew developed mindreading powers. He shot the small square with the Canadian’s video feed a suspicious glare, not at all relieved when Matthew let out a somewhat exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes. Maybe the Communists had—
“You said it out loud,” Matthew pointed out helpfully, his expression deadpan.
Alfred shot him a sheepish look, ignoring Will’s snort of amusement as the kiwi fruit—kiwi bird? Mango? Whatever New Zealanders were called—conquered the potatoes with his knife.
“Right. Well… Okay then.” Smooth, Jones, real smooth. “So, I figured first we can watch—”
“What are you doing?”
Oh, hey, when did the door open? And when did his roommate get here and when had he started staring at Alfred as though he was secretly plotting his demise and was going to murder him in his sleep and—oh, shit. Alfred flashed his roommate a winning smile and tried his best to ignore the pillow fort around him. Maybe if he didn’t point it out, his roommate wouldn’t either.
“Hey, Roomie!”
He could feel Arthur’s baffled stare even if he didn’t glance at his computer screen. “We are watching ‘Hey Roomie’?”
“No, I think his roommate came back and saw the mess he made.”
Alfred shot Matthew a disgruntled look. “Hey, it was not a mess—”
“Jones, what is this mess?”
“—okay so maybe it was a bit of a mess,” Alfred admitted. Time for Jones’ Secret Weapon No. 22: the puppy dog eyes. His roommate looked less than impressed. “But I’ll clean it up, I swear.”
“Yes, you will.” And, before Alfred could even get his hopes up, his roommate pinned him down with stern look. “Right now, Jones. I can’t even get to my bed.”
Alfred glanced at the bed in question. Covered in the blankets he had commandeered from next door and the canopy design forming an awesome cave that Alfred fully planned on exploiting later, it otherwise looked no different than it had before his roommate left for his girlfriend’s house earlier. There was only one difference…
“Well, even if you could it wouldn’t do you any good. I sorta took your mattress.”
“You… what?”
“I took your mattress?” Alfred blinked before, at his roommate’s flat stare, added in a defensive tone, “I needed it for my pillow fort!”
“Pillow fort. You mean to say you turned our entire dorm room into a massive pillow fort?”
Alfred stared at his roommate. He had thought the answer to that was kind of obvious. After all, why else would there be blankets everywhere including overhead and pillows propped against the wall and the mattresses from their beds forming a doorway of sorts that his roommate was standing in? It wasn’t like Alfred woke up that morning and decided he would start a mattress and sleeping accessory store.
No, he just woke up and decided it would be pretty neat if he could build a massive pillow fort.
Arthur made a small, disapproving sound in his ear. “You turned your room into a pillow fort, Alfred?”
“I didn’t know you could turn a room into a pillow fort,” Matthew mused.
Despite himself, Alfred grinned. Way to go, Mattie! He wanted to tell the Canadian that, yes, it was very possible to turn your entire room into a pillow fort and, really, he should try it sometime. Not only did it look cool, but it was a throwback to his childhood and, well, just plain fun.
“Don’t encourage him, Matthew,” Arthur scolded, and Alfred cursed having his webcam on him so the Brit could see his face.
“S-sorry!”
When Alfred glanced down at the screen, he saw Matthew send his own web cam a contrite look. Yet, if Alfred looked close enough, he could see him shoot a contemplative look at the pillow beside him. Yeah, that’s right, Matt! Give into temptation!
“To be fair to Matt, he did do this on his own without any encouragement.”
Well, there went his smile. Alfred shot Will a scolding look for daring to bring reason into this argument—him and Arthur both, honestly! The nerve!—and opened his mouth to retort something smart back.
“Alfred, pay attention.”
“Huh?” Alfred glanced up to see his roommate staring at him with a great deal of annoyance, if his red cheeks and angry scowl and crossed arms were any indication. He offered him a sheepish grin. “Oh, right, sorry. What was it you were yelling about?”
A muscle in his roommate’s face twitched.
“The fact you have made our room look like a padded cell. Why in the hell would you turn the entire place into a pillow fort anyway?”
Wasn’t that obvious? Alfred felt a wave of disappointment because, for all that the other guy acted stuffy and uptight and had no sense of fun, he thought even he would understand such a simple concept. Evidently Alfred had overestimated the collective common knowledge of society… or something like that.
“Because we’re having a slumber party, duh.”
“A slumber party.”
Alfred grinned. “Yeah! You see, me and the guys—you know, the guys I talk to—decided that since it was Saturday-slash-Sunday because Will lives in the future and sometimes can tell me how the weather is going to be which, really bro, your predictions can be way off sometimes. Where’s the fun in living in the future if you can’t even prepare me for a bit of rain?”
“We live in different hemispheres, Al. My predictions aren’t going to be one hundred percent accurate.”
“Alfred, focus!” Arthur hissed.
“Oh, right. Anyway, we thought it’d be fun if we had a sort of movie night but, well, since Mattie’s up North playing with the polar bears—”
Matthew sighed into his ear. “I haven’t played with Kumachika since I was five, Al.”
“—and Artie is over in Britain producing weapons of mass destruction—”
“They were scones, Alfred, as you very well know,” Arthur corrected with an offended sniff. Poor, delicate British sensibilities.
“—and Will is over in New Sealand—”
“New Zealand.” Will sounded only somewhat annoyed at the correction.
“—New Zealand playing with tourists, this was the only way we could do it.”
His roommate stared at him, and stared at him… and stared at him some more. Alfred opened his mouth to ask if he had something on his face or if his roommate had finally realized how devastatingly handsome he was when the other boy shook his head.
“Just when I think your stupidity has reached its limit, you go and do something so stupid that your past stupidity looks smart by comparison.”
In that instant, Alfred perked up. He didn’t even care if he had just been called stupid—okay, well, he did, but he could get his roommate back later. What was important was that his roommate hadn’t told him to take his pillow fort down again, which meant that he was going to say yes and Alfred could have his slumber party with his friends. Though, just to be sure…
“Does this mean you’ll let me have my slumber party?” Alfred tried, and failed, not to let his voice sound too hopeful.
His roommate sighed and reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Give me my clothes.”
“Sweetness!”
“Ow, Alfred, you git. That was my ear you just shouted your ridiculous American slang into.”
Alfred stuck his tongue out at the webcam.
“Al…”
Alfred ignored the scolding one of his friends gave him—he couldn’t tell if it was Will or Mattie, because all voices of reason sounded alike and he sometimes tuned them both out anyway—as he ran over to his roommate’s dresser. He pulled out a set of clothes, paying no mind to whether they matched or not, and balled them up before tossing them to his roommate.
“Oh, yes, let’s wrinkle my clothes up further.”
“Hey, at least I tossed you a pair of underwear.”
Another muscle in his roommate’s face twitched. “I expect my bed back in proper order when I return tomorrow.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Alfred waved his words off, grinning. “I’ll fold the sheets all nice and neat and even put one of those mints on your pillow.”
“And if you break anything, Jones, keep in mind that my father owns an expansive plot of land out in the country. I can make it so they don’t find your body for weeks.”
Oh, was that a challenge? Alfred’s grin brightened to the point of being obnoxious, as some people were happy to point out, and he couldn’t help the mischievous gleam in his eyes.
“If you were really good, they wouldn’t find my body ever.”
His roommate slammed the door behind him.[/ul]
Player's Alias: America, Ame, Al, Hey You. Anything works, really.
Player's Role-Play History: Several years over all and several months for Hetalia.
Player's Country/Time Zone: United States of America, and GMT -5.
Ways to Contact You: VikingConqueror[@]msn.com
