Application/Background Info
OOC;
name: Lome
age: 23
experience: Role-playing on-and-off LJ for a few years; Egypt at LOL
e-mail: odette88@gmail.com
IC;
nation: Republic of Austria/Republik Ésterreich (Austrian spelling)
name: Roderich Edelstein
nickname(s): “Roddy”, but he loathes it with a passion.
age: 27
date of birth: October 26, 1983 (Mods, I don't know where they got this birthday 'cause it's not the one on Wikipedia for modern Austria, but I'll go with the Hetalia birthdays...)
hometown: Vienna, Austria
occupation: Heir to Nachtigall Firma (“Nightingale Corporation”, an international music company founded by his parents). His parents are currently making him handle finances for the American branch of the company, which... is not going well.
residence: He has quite a few, but he has a large mansion on the outskirts of Liberty that he stays in for part of the year.
family: His parents and their distant relatives still live in Vienna. He is (very distantly) descended from the Hapsburgs on his father's side. He’s an only child, but his mother is Ludwig and Gilbert’s aunt, which makes Roderich their cousin.
first impression: “This guy looks like he’s been sucking lemons for his whole life.”
TEN TRUE FACTS AND A SECRET.
1. Growing up as an only child and pampered beyond reason, Roderich has all the telltale signs of a spoiled (but well-mannered) brat. When he speaks to others, he expects to be obeyed. When he eats, he expects to be fed only the best of foods, not this horrible “junk” stuff that the Americans prefer. When he plays an instrument, he expects to be praised and oogled at, not interrupted for any reason whatsoever.
He also can’t grasp the concept of sharing. He bristles when other people touch his belongings, but has no problems using other people’s things or invading their homes. Since he grew up with everything he ever wanted at his fingertips, the idea that other people’s belongings are ‘off limits’ is difficult for him to remember. On the bright side, he despises anything that looks dirty so the dirtier your belongings are, the less the chance of him rummaging through them on a whim.
2. Roderich acts and looks like he was born in the wrong century. He's very old-fashioned (especially around women) and uses painfully proper ways of speech. He dresses exceptionally well, wears clothing so expensive that they could bankrupt small countries and takes great care of his outfits, often keeping coats that he can no longer wear on carefully wrapped mannequins in the basement of his mansions. He refuses to wear anything deemed “casual” or “for people his age” and can often be seen in white silk gloves regardless of the weather outside. He’s very picky about the state of his clothing and seems to have a magical ability to stay clean and well-groomed, even on days where there is mud and rain everywhere.
3. Believe it or not, Roderich has a soft spot for children, but it’s buried deep, deep under his intense dislike for people who make annoying sounds or don’t know how to their fingers off his things. He will “tolerate” a well-behaved child and may even attempt to teach them some piano if they spend an extended amount of time in his company, but any child that complains, whines or cries in his presence will be duly returned to their parents or forcefully relocated elsewhere (usually by servants, but Roderich was not above picking up a child by the collar and shoving them out the door).
For the children that remain quiet and respectful, Roderich will often treat them like adults simply because that was how he was treated at their age. His own childhood was filled to the brink with music lessons, tutors, school and etiquette lessons, so he doesn’t understand the need for free play. (It’s quite depressing if you think about it, but Roderich doesn’t know any better. Anyone who openly shows their pity would confuse him.)
4. Ludwig is usually the exception to every rule Roderich lays down. The Austrian considers his younger cousin to be his closest friend and is quite fond of him, perhaps because the blond was always well-behaved and always listened to him (or at the very least, tolerated his eccentric ways). As a child, Roderich had taken his ‘older cousin’ duties very seriously and usually ended up squabbling with Gilbert about the best ways to teach a toddler about certain ‘necessities’ in life. After all, cake-eating, tea-drinking and piano-playing were MUCH more important for a child’s development than climbing a tree!
Meanwhile, Roderich’s relationship with Gilbert can be best described as volatile. The self-proclaimed Prussian spent much of their childhood finding every possible way to annoy him, so the Austria tries his hardest to ignore or to avoid him nowadays. They tend to disagree over everything, which is unfortunate and painful for anyone within earshot of their arguments. Roderich doesn’t actually HATE his cousin, but Gilbert is very low on his list of ‘People I Like To Be Around’. (Granted, it’s a very short list to begin with and Ludwig tops that list anyhow.)
5. Roderich is on good terms with both of his parents, but he is closest to his mother. She comes from a German family and is known for her calm, gentle nature, which contrasts greatly with that of her brother, Ludwig and Gilbert’s father. Physically frail, she was only able to bear Roderich to full term and had suffered two mischarriages before him, so she dotes on her only son terribly. Roderich’s father is far stricter and has exceedingly high expectations for his only child, whom he hopes will inherit his music empire. Roderich looks up to his father and strives to be as good as he is, but he often resents that his father’s emphasis on business conflicts with his great love for classical music. Still, he adores how gentle his father can be with his mother and hopes that he will, one day, be that good of a husband himself.
6. Roderich’s obsession with his hobbies can be viewed as a lazy streak (according to his father). He invariably prefers playing music to any other activity and often prefers to shift his duties as heir to his parents’ corporation to his employees and servants. The love of his life is his white grand piano, an old antique that he often has shipped to every mansion that he lives in. He plays the instrument for a few hours each day, and it doubles as both his ‘alone time’ and his favorite method of therapy. He is often in his best mood during a practice session, so if you’re exceptionally quiet, he may allow you to watch.
7. Roderich is incompatible with wildlife of any kind. He despises animals and only marginally tolerates other people’s pets, as long as they don’t shed (low chance) or try to rub up against him. (Along that train of thought, he likes pet fish because they don’t make noise and have no chance of touching him.) He has no sense of direction outside of his mansion, doesn’t know how to walk through anything but a well-trimmed garden and will tear his clothes on vegetation that grows taller than his waist. Needless to say, he prefers being indoors at all times.
8. Despite being well educated, Roderich is naïve about emotions and relationships, which often translates into him being a prude. He rarely shows more skin than his bare hands and gets easily flustered if confronted by ‘indecently’ dressed people. He prefers not to be in the general area of an affectionate couple and finds any mention of ‘private activities’ within earshot to be embarrassing and horrifying. He tends to acts very old-fashioned around women and treats them like glass, but he is often surprised when they behave less proper than he expects them to.
9. Elizaveta confuses him on many levels. For the most part, she’s a sweet, charming, (usually) feminine girl whom is a hard worker and makes a great cup of tea. On the other hand, she can also be incredibly tomboyish and is prone to both physically and verbally terrifying others. Roderich likes to believe that he can control her (he is her employer, after all), but one side of him is both frightened and fascinated by her unpredictability. He’s never met a woman who can go from being adorable to scary within the blink of an eye. (Thankfully, her strength and her temper are rarely directed at him.)
Despite her volatility, Liz has proven herself to be trustworthy and surprisingly loyal. The Austrian may not know how to show it, but he’s inwardly grateful for her support and her hard work. He knows less about running a company (and a whole mansion) by himself than he’d like to admit, and having her there to help him is a huge relief. Unknowingly to him, his dependency on her has grown into affection, but given how ignorant Roderich can be with emotions, he won’t figure this out until much, much later.
10. Roderich is surprisingly easy to please with something as simple as a hot cup of tea (GOOD tea, mind you) and a slice of well-made cake. He has a weak spot for home-made treats and often mooches some Black Forest cake from his German cousins (or demands that Ludwig bake him one). He frequently imports expensive European chocolates and can usually be found with a little dish of them within arm’s reach. This is not a habit his dentist is fond of, so Roderich simply prefers not to go to his appointments whenever possible.
SECRET:
Roderich is an excellent ballroom dancer, especially for the Viennese waltz. It’s one of the few physical activities he doesn’t completely fail at.
writing sample
The tea in Roderich’s delicate porcelain cup trembled as another clap of lightening struck outside. It lit up the vast room with eerie, ghastly light and momentarily overwhelmed the softer glow from the fireplace. The large windowpanes that lined the chamber shuddered as another gust of wind ripped across them, slapping the branches of the oaks outside against the glass. Trimming, Roderich thought distantly as he took a mechanical sip of his tea, The trees need trimming. I’ll call the gardener first thing tomorrow.
He watched the sheets of rain cascade down the window for a few minutes more, then turned his attention back to the almost-forgotten letter in his lap. His mother, whom still had the eloquent, perfectly neat script of a schoolgirl, had written to him to tell him that his grandfather had passed away in his sleep.
Roderich distantly remembered him; his father’s relatives were not particularly affectionate people and he didn’t relish his childhood memories of them. He had vague memories of a strict, white-haired man in a military uniform telling him that he was too scrawny for his age and that he should join the army to build up more muscle. He also remembered crying to mother that night and telling her that he didn’t want to enlist and wanted to stay at home so he could play the piano. She had assured him that he wouldn’t have to enlist if he didn’t want to and that she would speak to his grandfather herself, but Roderich spent the night having nightmares about being dragged away to military camp the next morning. Needless to say, he spent much of his adolescence avoiding his grandfather at all costs.
Still, very few people felt joy in losing a relative. Roderich wasn’t quite sure what to feel. His stomach was in knots and his usually-sharp mind barely noticed when his servants slipped him a hot cup of tea and a plate of his favorite cake. He spent the next hour in complete solitude, watching the storm outside and just… waiting. Waiting for grief to hit, waiting for tears that didn’t come, waiting for a phone call from his father telling him to fly back to Austria for the funeral, waiting for… for something.
Eventually, he stood, his limbs heavy, his tea forgotten by the windowsill. He drifted toward his piano as if sleep-walking, not really seeing where he was going but knowing the way by heart regardless. His fingers found their way to the keys automatically, and without even searching through his mind for a song, Roderich began to play. The memories of old men in uniforms faded away without protest and he let his mind go blank as fingers took control.
The song was Moonlight Sonata --slow, beautiful, full of scales that rose and ebbed like waves. The tears may come in a day or so, but or now, there was music, and that was all that mattered.
name: Lome
age: 23
experience: Role-playing on-and-off LJ for a few years; Egypt at LOL
e-mail: odette88@gmail.com
IC;
nation: Republic of Austria/Republik Ésterreich (Austrian spelling)
name: Roderich Edelstein
nickname(s): “Roddy”, but he loathes it with a passion.
age: 27
date of birth: October 26, 1983 (Mods, I don't know where they got this birthday 'cause it's not the one on Wikipedia for modern Austria, but I'll go with the Hetalia birthdays...)
hometown: Vienna, Austria
occupation: Heir to Nachtigall Firma (“Nightingale Corporation”, an international music company founded by his parents). His parents are currently making him handle finances for the American branch of the company, which... is not going well.
residence: He has quite a few, but he has a large mansion on the outskirts of Liberty that he stays in for part of the year.
family: His parents and their distant relatives still live in Vienna. He is (very distantly) descended from the Hapsburgs on his father's side. He’s an only child, but his mother is Ludwig and Gilbert’s aunt, which makes Roderich their cousin.
first impression: “This guy looks like he’s been sucking lemons for his whole life.”
TEN TRUE FACTS AND A SECRET.
1. Growing up as an only child and pampered beyond reason, Roderich has all the telltale signs of a spoiled (but well-mannered) brat. When he speaks to others, he expects to be obeyed. When he eats, he expects to be fed only the best of foods, not this horrible “junk” stuff that the Americans prefer. When he plays an instrument, he expects to be praised and oogled at, not interrupted for any reason whatsoever.
He also can’t grasp the concept of sharing. He bristles when other people touch his belongings, but has no problems using other people’s things or invading their homes. Since he grew up with everything he ever wanted at his fingertips, the idea that other people’s belongings are ‘off limits’ is difficult for him to remember. On the bright side, he despises anything that looks dirty so the dirtier your belongings are, the less the chance of him rummaging through them on a whim.
2. Roderich acts and looks like he was born in the wrong century. He's very old-fashioned (especially around women) and uses painfully proper ways of speech. He dresses exceptionally well, wears clothing so expensive that they could bankrupt small countries and takes great care of his outfits, often keeping coats that he can no longer wear on carefully wrapped mannequins in the basement of his mansions. He refuses to wear anything deemed “casual” or “for people his age” and can often be seen in white silk gloves regardless of the weather outside. He’s very picky about the state of his clothing and seems to have a magical ability to stay clean and well-groomed, even on days where there is mud and rain everywhere.
3. Believe it or not, Roderich has a soft spot for children, but it’s buried deep, deep under his intense dislike for people who make annoying sounds or don’t know how to their fingers off his things. He will “tolerate” a well-behaved child and may even attempt to teach them some piano if they spend an extended amount of time in his company, but any child that complains, whines or cries in his presence will be duly returned to their parents or forcefully relocated elsewhere (usually by servants, but Roderich was not above picking up a child by the collar and shoving them out the door).
For the children that remain quiet and respectful, Roderich will often treat them like adults simply because that was how he was treated at their age. His own childhood was filled to the brink with music lessons, tutors, school and etiquette lessons, so he doesn’t understand the need for free play. (It’s quite depressing if you think about it, but Roderich doesn’t know any better. Anyone who openly shows their pity would confuse him.)
4. Ludwig is usually the exception to every rule Roderich lays down. The Austrian considers his younger cousin to be his closest friend and is quite fond of him, perhaps because the blond was always well-behaved and always listened to him (or at the very least, tolerated his eccentric ways). As a child, Roderich had taken his ‘older cousin’ duties very seriously and usually ended up squabbling with Gilbert about the best ways to teach a toddler about certain ‘necessities’ in life. After all, cake-eating, tea-drinking and piano-playing were MUCH more important for a child’s development than climbing a tree!
Meanwhile, Roderich’s relationship with Gilbert can be best described as volatile. The self-proclaimed Prussian spent much of their childhood finding every possible way to annoy him, so the Austria tries his hardest to ignore or to avoid him nowadays. They tend to disagree over everything, which is unfortunate and painful for anyone within earshot of their arguments. Roderich doesn’t actually HATE his cousin, but Gilbert is very low on his list of ‘People I Like To Be Around’. (Granted, it’s a very short list to begin with and Ludwig tops that list anyhow.)
5. Roderich is on good terms with both of his parents, but he is closest to his mother. She comes from a German family and is known for her calm, gentle nature, which contrasts greatly with that of her brother, Ludwig and Gilbert’s father. Physically frail, she was only able to bear Roderich to full term and had suffered two mischarriages before him, so she dotes on her only son terribly. Roderich’s father is far stricter and has exceedingly high expectations for his only child, whom he hopes will inherit his music empire. Roderich looks up to his father and strives to be as good as he is, but he often resents that his father’s emphasis on business conflicts with his great love for classical music. Still, he adores how gentle his father can be with his mother and hopes that he will, one day, be that good of a husband himself.
6. Roderich’s obsession with his hobbies can be viewed as a lazy streak (according to his father). He invariably prefers playing music to any other activity and often prefers to shift his duties as heir to his parents’ corporation to his employees and servants. The love of his life is his white grand piano, an old antique that he often has shipped to every mansion that he lives in. He plays the instrument for a few hours each day, and it doubles as both his ‘alone time’ and his favorite method of therapy. He is often in his best mood during a practice session, so if you’re exceptionally quiet, he may allow you to watch.
7. Roderich is incompatible with wildlife of any kind. He despises animals and only marginally tolerates other people’s pets, as long as they don’t shed (low chance) or try to rub up against him. (Along that train of thought, he likes pet fish because they don’t make noise and have no chance of touching him.) He has no sense of direction outside of his mansion, doesn’t know how to walk through anything but a well-trimmed garden and will tear his clothes on vegetation that grows taller than his waist. Needless to say, he prefers being indoors at all times.
8. Despite being well educated, Roderich is naïve about emotions and relationships, which often translates into him being a prude. He rarely shows more skin than his bare hands and gets easily flustered if confronted by ‘indecently’ dressed people. He prefers not to be in the general area of an affectionate couple and finds any mention of ‘private activities’ within earshot to be embarrassing and horrifying. He tends to acts very old-fashioned around women and treats them like glass, but he is often surprised when they behave less proper than he expects them to.
9. Elizaveta confuses him on many levels. For the most part, she’s a sweet, charming, (usually) feminine girl whom is a hard worker and makes a great cup of tea. On the other hand, she can also be incredibly tomboyish and is prone to both physically and verbally terrifying others. Roderich likes to believe that he can control her (he is her employer, after all), but one side of him is both frightened and fascinated by her unpredictability. He’s never met a woman who can go from being adorable to scary within the blink of an eye. (Thankfully, her strength and her temper are rarely directed at him.)
Despite her volatility, Liz has proven herself to be trustworthy and surprisingly loyal. The Austrian may not know how to show it, but he’s inwardly grateful for her support and her hard work. He knows less about running a company (and a whole mansion) by himself than he’d like to admit, and having her there to help him is a huge relief. Unknowingly to him, his dependency on her has grown into affection, but given how ignorant Roderich can be with emotions, he won’t figure this out until much, much later.
10. Roderich is surprisingly easy to please with something as simple as a hot cup of tea (GOOD tea, mind you) and a slice of well-made cake. He has a weak spot for home-made treats and often mooches some Black Forest cake from his German cousins (or demands that Ludwig bake him one). He frequently imports expensive European chocolates and can usually be found with a little dish of them within arm’s reach. This is not a habit his dentist is fond of, so Roderich simply prefers not to go to his appointments whenever possible.
SECRET:
Roderich is an excellent ballroom dancer, especially for the Viennese waltz. It’s one of the few physical activities he doesn’t completely fail at.
writing sample
The tea in Roderich’s delicate porcelain cup trembled as another clap of lightening struck outside. It lit up the vast room with eerie, ghastly light and momentarily overwhelmed the softer glow from the fireplace. The large windowpanes that lined the chamber shuddered as another gust of wind ripped across them, slapping the branches of the oaks outside against the glass. Trimming, Roderich thought distantly as he took a mechanical sip of his tea, The trees need trimming. I’ll call the gardener first thing tomorrow.
He watched the sheets of rain cascade down the window for a few minutes more, then turned his attention back to the almost-forgotten letter in his lap. His mother, whom still had the eloquent, perfectly neat script of a schoolgirl, had written to him to tell him that his grandfather had passed away in his sleep.
Roderich distantly remembered him; his father’s relatives were not particularly affectionate people and he didn’t relish his childhood memories of them. He had vague memories of a strict, white-haired man in a military uniform telling him that he was too scrawny for his age and that he should join the army to build up more muscle. He also remembered crying to mother that night and telling her that he didn’t want to enlist and wanted to stay at home so he could play the piano. She had assured him that he wouldn’t have to enlist if he didn’t want to and that she would speak to his grandfather herself, but Roderich spent the night having nightmares about being dragged away to military camp the next morning. Needless to say, he spent much of his adolescence avoiding his grandfather at all costs.
Still, very few people felt joy in losing a relative. Roderich wasn’t quite sure what to feel. His stomach was in knots and his usually-sharp mind barely noticed when his servants slipped him a hot cup of tea and a plate of his favorite cake. He spent the next hour in complete solitude, watching the storm outside and just… waiting. Waiting for grief to hit, waiting for tears that didn’t come, waiting for a phone call from his father telling him to fly back to Austria for the funeral, waiting for… for something.
Eventually, he stood, his limbs heavy, his tea forgotten by the windowsill. He drifted toward his piano as if sleep-walking, not really seeing where he was going but knowing the way by heart regardless. His fingers found their way to the keys automatically, and without even searching through his mind for a song, Roderich began to play. The memories of old men in uniforms faded away without protest and he let his mind go blank as fingers took control.
The song was Moonlight Sonata --slow, beautiful, full of scales that rose and ebbed like waves. The tears may come in a day or so, but or now, there was music, and that was all that mattered.