The Crooked Room: Kleis

Banhi was supposed to come next (since he's the second character you get n' all) but whatever, Kleis got finished first so I submitted her first.

I've wanted to make a good reverse trap for a while but three things that I saw in quick succession really sped up the process. The first was a fabulous documentary called Miss Representation (which I really recommend) the second was a very insightful tumblr post about magical girls and in particular Madoka (which I also recommend, check it out here: [link]) and the third was another actual reverse trap in Persona 4's Naoto Shirogane. So yep, Kleis is a girl who looks like a cute guy.

When I first made Kleis, she was a guy and she was a bit wimpier than she is now as her weapon used to be a blowpipe (someone else got that) instead of her swords. I made quite a few changes actually but I'm glad I did because I like her a lot more now. Alright, so without further ado, Kleis' profile!

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<sub>Name: Kleis Eikner
Age: 20
Occupation: Mercenary
Weapon: 2x Swords
Likes:
Old and historical items/artifacts
Books (especially history, ghost/horror stories and fairytales)
The classic archetype hero
Planning things out
People relying on her
Scarves, coats and capes
Adventure
Old tombs and ruins
Cool-looking scars
Ghost stories
Lions

Dislikes:
Being treated differently because of her gender
Being hit on (especially by guys)
People she deems "bad examples"
Peer pressure
Being underestimated
Being told to stay behind
Sweets
Spelling mistakes
How awkward she is
Cats


Skills: Kleis is excellent at remembering things, especially peoples' faces and how they write. She often drills herself to remember such things as homework before going to a place she'll stay in for a while. She is a planner by nature so she is very tactical as well as well-read. She is also good with hands-on first aid. She is also a fine swordsman. Kleis is very well-rounded in general on physical and mental skills because she pushes herself to be the best. Her quick-thinking has helped in dangerous situations many times.

Flaws: She has an innate inability to empathize with people thus making her harsh and cold especially to people who don't know her well and especially to girls. Kleis is stubborn and refuses to believe any way that isn't her well thought-out articulated way, is right. She has poor people skills and thus little charisma. Her fighting skills get demonstrably worse when she loses a sword as it screws with her balance. She does NOT like things that are out of her (admittedly various) comfort zone(s).

Personality: Kleis is a consummate professional and a natural-born leader despite her age or any handicaps. Her methodical precise nature makes her an excellent planner though she isn't immune to the occasional bouts of passion that ruin her own tactics. She rarely interacts socially so she often has a hard time talking casually and comes off as very haphazard and awkward. This is also because she has trouble empathizing with people (especially other girls) as a whole even though she knows she should which can result in her being very callous, sometimes completely unintentionally. Kleis grew up on fairytales where she admired the lead characters and aimed to be just like them despite the gender differences. Her gender as a whole has always been an issue to her as she just wants to be like the other warriors, to help those in need, to be respected and to be taken seriously. She has no real idea what it's like to "be a girl" and no real idea why there has to be that divide only that it does exist and it bothers her, even causing her to hate her own gender as a whole sometimes. She is often by herself partly because her attitude can grate and partly because she really just has no understanding of a conversation even starts. Despite a mature veneer, however, Kleis can be rather immature as she is often tricked into contests or dares if her supposed "masculinity", "responsibility" or "age" is called into question which is a ways away from her usual logical thinking. She also becomes rather enthusiastic when talking about old artifacts, old heroes or books in general.

Background: Kleis is the daughter of the great mercenary Saluchka Eikner and has idolized her pretty much her entire life. Despite being her daughter, Kleis rarely saw or even talked with her mother and the less she saw of her the more grand a figure Kleis conjured up in her mind. Much grander than her father in any case who worked as a traveling chef as he was much too "creative" to stay in one place. Because he often traveled, Kleis often stayed home and studied. She often had the company of a family friend who tutored her, an alchemist and former merc himself. Kleis grew to love learning since he made it so fun and from a young age lived off fairytales and fictional epics about great heroes thus inspiring her own desire to be such a hero. Her tutor encouraged her in this field and although his hip often gave out he often taught her sword lessons though she didn't touch a real sword until she was thirteen. Her tutor told her to always shoot for her dreams no matter what because as a child the world should be open to you and she took those words to heart. Only... when she left the confinement of her home she began to realize that statement wasn't exactly. Yes, as a child, the world was open to you and you could dream to be whatever you wanted but it was clear to Kleis even at a young age that what she wanted to be the most was something kind of unacceptable for a woman. As someone who rarely socialized, she had little to no idea of the relevance of genders and often expressed confusion there was such a divide but it was definitely there. When she was about fourteen she tried to get a variety of odd jobs or at the very least practice her swordplay with others and was shot down every time. She grew to resent her gender more and more and often hid her insecurity with more studying. Kleis left her hometown to travel at seventeen and visited her mother's mercenaries within the coming months. She found the place a bit more welcoming and awed by her mother's presence, began to dream again, that she could truly be a hero, not constrained by her gender or femininity. She was trained for a year more before doing regular missions and shot up the ranks very quickly. The only time she has ever failed a mission (in her eyes, as even though she in particular failed the mission was a success) was when she encountered the bandits and was utterly crushed in battle by Nike. The humiliation she felt has carried over into a long-term grudge and she has a difficult time accepting him and often gives him chores and harder tasks out of her own, admitted, spite.

Other:
Kleis admires her mother who she believes is the ideal role model and warrior. Her mother wishes Kleis would be a bit more feminine but is satisfied the way she is. She's definitely a tough love kinda mama

She hates it when girls are damsels-in-distress because she feels it makes all of her work void. She is a bit more hostile to girls but she always feels guilty about it. She really is just super awkward in general - trust her to say the wrong thing 80% of the time.

And just to clarify, Kleis does not want to be a boy. She is happy being a girl but she feels odd and outcast at times for simply not liking feminine things the way other girls do. She just doesn't. There's no deeper meaning to it. She just wants to like the things she likes and do the things she does without any judgement or sexist comments, that's all.

She always has an excuse, no matter how silly, for her mistakes.</sub>