Personality:

In his current timeline, Arthur likes to believe he has a perfect guise as a “gentleman”. He is extremely polite with strangers, and can be with close friends who don’t rub him the wrong way. He has good manners, and is always able to ask whether someone is alright should they look down. In fact, he is overly compassionate for the most part, and in canon he is seen baking to try and cheer Alfred up when he was younger. He raised America from being a child to a teenager, and while he couldn’t spend every waking moment with him, the times when they were together he treated him with love and affection. In one of the strips during Alfred’s spring clean out, Alfred recalls receiving toy wooden soldiers from Arthur that he had made and painted himself by hand. Each soldier’s expression was different and unique, proving how much time and effort he would put into making the young boy happy.

Sadly, Arthur has grown much more cynical over time. He has become a lot more bitter, and isn’t quite as open with people as he once was. He is still polite and friendly, yes, but he will not open up his heart to people in the way that he used to. Arthur is more likely to insult people should they offend him, in fact once the whole gentlemanly act is up he is much more willing to be more like himself - that is, someone more than likely to swear profusely at any given moment. He has terrible foul language when caught off guard, and it’s almost something he ends up embarrassed about, as he would deny it if he could. Rather than say he is a social or antisocial person, it would be more accurate to say he keeps to himself because of his status at home, he has to, as no one in the public can know who he is. Under circumstances where he needs to be in the public eye, however, he is more than capable of getting along with people and putting himself out there. He will be shy about it, he will clear his throat and stand there awkwardly sometimes, given the number of people he has to entertain etc. but he will be able to talk to people as well.

With this, Arthur also likes to deny that he cares about certain people. As mentioned previously in this application, Arthur’s commitment to Alfred (America) is a critical part of his personality. When he was younger he would dote on the boy as though he were a younger brother of his, maybe even a son in some instances. He visited him as often as he could, taught him as much as he could, and watched over him. Even 250 years after Alfred gains independence Arthur is shown to be hurt by him turning against him. At America’s birthday party he shoves a gift at him and doesn’t attend the general party, but meets him around the outskirts of it. He insults him, tells him that he’s a fatass for all the fast food he eats and that he’s a pain/always causing problems. He tells him his ideas are dumb. In a panel where they go out drinking together, Arthur spends the entire evening yelling about how horrible Alfred is and how upset he was by his betrayal. Underneath it all, however, he still cares a lot. In fact, a lot of the insults he throws at him (especially re: the fast food) is done to try and help Alfred from repeating his mistakes over and over.

In addition to this, Arthur’s relationship with Francis is pretty similar in the sense that Francis doted on him until their rivalry formed, and after fighting each other for years on end, he will still be at the French man’s throat for even no reason sometimes. Despite it, however, should anyone try to fight against them both, they are more than able to take the same side. This is shown in panels where they are arguing, someone steps in to say something and they both turn to tell them to shut up. That, and with the majority of the series being set during WWII they are fighting side by side at this point. Even historically England aided France during its time of needed, and the characters are based on the history of it all.

In contrast, Arthur’s relationship with Kiku is much more simple and relaxed. The same came be said for him and Matthew, as well. Arthur is much quieter and more withdrawn with people that aren’t loud and abrasive, and he will be quite happy to sit and chat over tea/coffee to pass the time. Arthur likes the quiet. He likes having his own personal space to have a time out, to simply read, sew or bake. While others may hate his baking with the strength of 1000 suns, he loves it. He’s really quite domestic, and part of that is through having lived so much already. After seeing countless wars and terrible conditions of living, the luxury of just curling up with a cup of tea, a biscuit and a book or something similar is idyllic to him at this point. He’s easily pleased. However, he would need a break from that lifestyle on occasion, as while Arthur can entertain himself easily enough, he does get lonely.

While Arthur may be the type to quietly keep to himself, this hasn’t always been the case. In the panels there is a clip of him from the 1500s where he spent his time as a pirate, constantly harassing Spain for his Queen’s benefit. There’s also the fact that he’s known for swearing like a trooper when he’s on a rant, is constantly trying to kill France and can easily turn mad when certain issues are mentioned. Alongside this more brutish side of his personality, there is also the fact that he can be a bit of a pervert. In the strips he actually has a ‘wankathon’ against France, where they both try to see who can last longer. Gross, I know.

Something that shows his loneliness is the appearance of his mystical friends - the unicorn, flying rabbit etc that appears in the panels. To the other nations (save for Norway) who don’t see anything, they believe he is merely hallucinating. Arthur is well versed in the arts of magic, however, and is even seen doing summoning spells in the series as a means to torment America especially. Magic is a part of him in his world, and it’s something he enjoys, if only for the company that these creatures bring him. He laughs when he sees them. He jokes with them and they can be there whenever he needs them. In that way, he would probably say he prefers them to people as they do not bring as much trouble with them as a person would.

In contrast to the way he can act with America and France, however, he really is quite pleasant with Canada and Japan especially. In the strips he offers Japan a deal to become friends, where they can just sit down with tea and talk and bond over how they both really prefer to have a simple lifestyle away from others. With Canada, whilst he does forget him sometimes, he cares for him and apologises profusely. He would look after him and make sure he's feeling alright, it's a much different approach to insulting America as he does. Canada can be seen as "the good kid", and that's why he can be praised and well thought of instead. Likewise, Australia and New Zealand both have been seen in the strips talking about "not upsetting Mr England" because of the dumb things Australia thinks of doing sometimes. It shows that he holds concern for them both, in contrast to the harsh way he treats America (which to him makes some sense, America is the one who "betrayed him" by leaving him.

An even more complicated situation is that with China and Hong Kong. The strips don't really outline it in as much detail as you can get historically, but it's known that China definitely holds a grudge against England for the Opium Wars and the situation with Hong Kong. He gets angry at England, whereas England feels like he can just brush it aside, in a way. Hong Kong has been seen frightening him with firecrackers, but he also does that to others, so there's no special treatment there either. Though, he does respect England enough to admit that the 150 years spent under his care has taken some effect too. In the same way, England would definitely still see him as "his" in his own way.

That's what all this comes back to, however, that England really does care much more than he lets on, and he does have a habit of picking up others to care for (and he does care for them) while he can and while he feels the need to. In some ways, he probably still would like someone around, even though he says otherwise.

Abilities: As England is a country, like the others he has the ability to heal extraordinarily fast. As his health is directly tied to the welfare of the country rather than his own physical state. He is also "immortal", in a similar sense to the fact that he is tied to the country - and whatever happens to that leads his fate. If England were to dissolve, he would disappear after a certain amount of time etc.

He's good at sewing/embroidery and makes things! And while he likes to believe he's good at cooking, he's actually the best at being the worst.
Other: ≧◔◡◔≦

SAMPLES;
First Person: Test Drive Thread!

Third Person:

“Ah, excuse me chap--” There’s a brief moment where Arthur has to adjust the bag he’s carrying, as even though he’s managed to get a few necessities (a book, but also some materials for embroidery) there’s still a matter of trying to find his way back to his house. His voice and mannerisms are friendly enough, but it doesn’t seem to matter when the NPC in question walks away with a scowl.

And Arthur is lost.

His hand raises to his face, where he scratches his cheek and tries to work out where he is. In the meantime, a little chunter about the lack of friendliness starts under his breath. “I wouldn’t expect a fine welcome with a feast and a bloody serenade in the streets but that kind of behaviour was hardly expected. Wanker.” There’s a pause as his expression gets a little more irritated, and it seems as though the rest of the world is lost to him for a moment as he goes off on a little rant. “--didn’t even get to ask the bugger if this is the right way. You wouldn’t have such manners in London--” His chest swells with pride, chin tilting up a little as he starts walking again. It’s rather obvious this rant isn’t ending anytime soon, however. “Even just a nod in the direction of a pub would be enough, those folk seem to know the area well enough, ah--!”

Of course, spending so much time ranting and looking irate with the world kind of lends itself to accidents. There’s a fine string of curse words as Arthur hobbles on his foot, clearly having a terrible day, before he slumps down on a short brick wall next to it. He goes quiet, then. His head tilts down to stare at the bag in his hand that is now placed on the floor, and his eyes lid tiredly. As much as he may like to pretend that this adventure is all fun and well, he’s worried...

“I’m getting too old for this...” He sighs and relaxes his back. He leans forward on his hands, clasps them so they rest under his chin, and closes his eyes. In his mind he can see home. Home, the place where he hears the voices of his people, where even though he lives by himself and away from others, he’s never truly alone. Home, where his magical friends will visit to keep him company whenever he does feel that loneliness creeping up on him. Home, where he has time and space to sit and read quietly, to do embroidery and bake without anyone telling him how awful he is at it (mostly, anyway!!).

Here, everything is different, despite it seeming so simple.

”--Fuck”. The curse this time is muttered much more quietly, and a small laugh follows. It’s a rather pathetic laugh, filled with doubt and insecurity, but there’s nothing he can do about it at this point it time. “Come now, there’s no need to get sentimental.” He’s still talking to himself, but at least now he’s trying to be encouraging. “You’re not that much of an idiot-- you’re not America.”

OTHER;
Housing Request?: In 1476 with Taiwan! I've already talked to Yana about it, so :)
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