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Player Info

Name: Kelly
Age: 26
Contact: crashtheclouds @ plurk
Characters Already in Teleios: Toshiko Sato
Reserve: Reserve is here!

Character Basics:

Character Name: Liesel Meminger
Journal: thinboned
Age: 14 years old.
Fandom: The Book Thief
Canon Point: Just after the bombing of Himmel Street.
Debt:

Class A: ~9 years.
Class B: ~6 years
Class C: ~8 months.

Stealing a book from a book burning

Hiding a Jew from the Nazis

Six counts of theft

GRAND TOTAL: 15 years and 8 months

Canon Character Section:

History: Liesel Meminger's story started with a train, some snow, and her brother. The actual circumstances leading up to that are murky, but it was said by various people that Liesel's mother was a Communist, and she was taken away by the Nazis. But before that, Liesel and her brother Werner were being taken by their mother to be given up for adoption. On the way to their new home, Werner suddenly died and was buried alongside the railroad tracks. As Liesel was leaving, she noticed that one of the grave diggers had dropped a book in the snow, and instinctively, she picked it up, although she could not read it. That was the first time she stole a book, and this is perhaps more relevant, it's also the first time she owned a book, even if it was by ill-gotten gain.

Eventually, Liesel was turned over to Frau Heinrich, the woman in charge of facilitating adoptions and foster care, and she escorted the young girl to her new home in Molching, which was said to be located just outside of Munich. The house she was going to stay in was located on Himmel (heaven) Street, and her new parents were called Hans and Rosa Hubermann. When I say that they had a rocky start, I'm mostly referring to the start that Rosa and Liesel had. Now, Rosa was not a mean woman, but she was very opinionated, very loud, and very prone to labeling people as one of three things (occasionally two at once, if you were lucky): Saukerl (male pig), Saumensch (female pig), and Arschloch (asshole). Of course, Rosa would bluster and complain at both Hans, her husband, and Liesel, and everyone in between, but she really did have a soft side. It just took some time for it to come out and for Rosa's hard edges to become smoother.

In any case, Liesel was quickly won over by her new father Hans, and the two of them spent a lot of time in each other's company, helping each other with reading and learning new words, and enjoying Hans' accordion playing. It was with Hans' help that Liesel first learned to read, beginning with that gravedigger's handbook that she picked up that day alongside the train tracks. But still, that was her only book, until the day that Rosa told her she was now responsible for delivering finished laundry to Rosa's wealthier patrons in the town.

Liesel was a little reluctant to, but that quickly changed when she came to Ilsa Hermann's house. It started off as nothing, but one day, Ilsa spotted Liesel picking up a banned book that was meant to be burned but had been left behind, and that was when things really started. The next time the slowly burgeoning book thief came to Ilsa's house to deliver laundry, she invited Liesel into her private library. Clearly intrigued and astonished, because that was the most books Liesel had ever seen, she came in and from then on, at least for a little while, it became a regular thing that Liesel would spend some time after dropping off her laundry reading and slowly getting to know Ilsa, the mayor's wife, a
little better.

But sadly, all good things come to an end, and with money getting tighter and rationing increasing due to the war, it came about that Rosa's laundry services were no longer affordable to the mayor and his wife, and so Liesel's opportunities to visit Ilsa's library came to an end. Well, that was the plan, at first. Liesel's love for reading became so great that she couldn't resist it any longer, and so she began climbing into the mayor's house through an upper story window so that she could sneak in and get the books she so desperately loved. Of course, she only took one at a time, but Ilsa was smart, and she noticed what was happening and never really said anything, except through notes and gestures and one conversation between herself and the young book-lover.

While this was all going on, something that was also a secretive and very much illegal at the time was happening in the Hubermann household. A young Jewish man who had connections to Hans appeared at their doorstep. A long time ago, in the middle of another war, the Jewish man's father was killed, and Hans, who was his friend, made a promise to the dead man's family that if they ever needed anything, they could come to him. So that was what Max Vandenburg was doing, late that night. Without question (and with a little bluster from Rosa), Hans took him in, setting him up first in the spare bed in Liesel's room, and then eventually downstairs in the basement when the threat from Nazi soldiers became too close for comfort.

Liesel and Max also had a shaky start, but it seemed as though something was bringing them together. Max really intrigued Liesel, but more importantly, the two of them had a shared zest for life (mostly because Max was living a diminished sort of life due to his identity as a Jew), and also because they had a mutual dark past that allowed them to relate to each other, in some strange way. They'd both experienced death at a young age, but that was only just part of the foundation of their friendship. So with Max's entrance into Liesel's life, things changed quite a bit. Now she had a secret to keep, and if she failed to do so, then it would be catastrophic for Max. So she did her best to not say a word to a single soul, although her experiences with Max were so great and wonderful that it must have been hard not to talk about them. She brought him pieces of the outside world, such as freshly fallen snow, and her best descriptions of what the weather was doing that day. Things like that were very valuable to Max, who could not walk around freely without being caught.

But then, things changed again when, one day, Max became deathly ill. The basement he was staying in was very cold, and also, there was a problem because the previous day, Hans and Rosa and Liesel and Max had had a snowball fight and built a snowman. Except, the snow melted, and Max wound up becoming sick. It wasn't clear at first whether or not he'd even survive, which only added to Liesel's guilt. She would sit with him every day after school, bringing with her some small token to give to him as a present, but also, she would sit and read to him. The gifts she brought added up to thirteen, but she found she was running out of things to read to him. She'd read the gravedigger's handbook many times over, and the same was true for The Shoulder Shrug, the book she'd found after the public book burning, so now she had a quandary in front of her.

The simplest answer to her problem lay with the mayor's house and Ilsa's libraray. That was when she really started living up to her not-really-wanted title, the book thief. By the way, that name was first given to her by one of her best friends, Rudy Steiner. Their relationship was also interesting, and made more complicated by Liesel's book thieving and the man hiding in her family's basement. But I'll get back to that. She took a total of five or six books from Ilsa's library, and most of them ended up being read to Max. It took him a long time to recover, but when he did, he remembered everything Liesel had done while he was sick, including leaving him those thirteen gifts and reading to him for long hours.

That wasn't the end of change in Liesel's life, however. In a whirlwind series of events, Max left the care of the Hubermann household because he was afraid that the Gestapo were eventually going to find him, Hans and Alex Steiner (Rudy's father) are both conscripted into the German army because of two separate acts that were perceived as defiant gestures deserving punishment, and Liesel received one last great gift from Max before he left. All of these events were significant, and having her father leave because he was drafted into the army was a huge blow to Rosa and to Liesel, but they carried on as best as they could. But the one thing that really left an impression on Liesel was the last gift Max had for her. Rosa was the one who gave it to her, saying that Max had asked her to keep it until she thought Liesel was ready. Well, with all the uprooting that had gone on in recent days, it seemed clear to Rosa that her adopted daughter was finally ready. Max's gift was a book called The Word Shaker, which was a pretty satirical work, but it also had elements that touched on the special friendship between Max and Liesel. It became one of Liesel's most prized possessions, and she found herself constantly coming back to reread it, since it was one of the few reminders she had left of Max.

Sadly, some of Liesel's optimism was lost the day that yet another string of captured Jews was made to walk through the streets of Molching, the town in which Liesel lived in. To her horror, she spotted Max in the crowd, but wasn't able to talk with him for long. It turned out he actually was captured in his attempt to reach the city of Stuttgart. That was all the time they had, before Liesel was spotted by a German soldier and forced to leave. Sometime after that, she made one last visit to Ilsa's library, intending to read, but instead, her anger at all the bad things that have happened to her and others recently boiled over, and driven by that surge of emotion, she tore one of Ilsa's books to shreds. Before she left, she wrote a note to Ilsa telling her that she would not be coming back. But Ilsa had one more thing to say to the young book thief, and one last gift to give: a notebook for her to write her own story with.

Surprisingly, Liesel did what Ilsa suggested, and began to write a story she called "The Book Thief". Unfortunately, and very sadly, Liesel's story was ultimately lost to her, as were everyone in her life that she cared about, except for one person. There was a bombing late one night on Himmel Street, in which Hans and Rosa, and Rudy's whole family were killed. Liesel was the only one to survive, and to her horror, she saw her parents and her friends lying dead on the demolished street. Her story did end on a slightly happier note, with Max coming back a few years later, but the bombing of Himmel Street was an event that Liesel never forgot.

It' s after she discovers that she's the only one to survive that she'll be coming to Teleios.

Personality: Liesel might look ordinary and plain, but she's actually anything but that. She's stubborn and willful, but not to the point that she's difficult. It's just that she knows her own mind and what she wants from life, and even when circumstances are at their worst, she has a huge well of determination to just live and do everything she can while she can. Her experiences have been tinged with tragedy and loss, starting with the death of her brother and ending with the deaths of her adoptive parents and her best friend, but even then, she never really gave up.

She's strong and intelligent in more ways than just having good grades in school. Intelligence shows itself in different ways, and I believe that Liesel has her own brand of intelligence. Of course, for all her bravery and resolve, she's still only fourteen, and although her wartime experiences forced her to grow up quickly, she still has her moments of vulnerability and times when she acts rashly and makes childish mistakes. Her intentions are always inherently good, but you could say that some of the things she does have consequences, either for herself or others.

For example, when Max was living in her basement, she did everything she could to bring the outside world in, and most of the time, that worked out well. But other times, there were consequences that she hadn't foreseen, such as the time she brought in bucketfuls of snow so that Max could enjoy it just like the rest of them. The downside to that was when the snow melted, Max became very sick from the combination of the chill of the basement and the cold water from the snow.

Some might say that desperate times call for desperate measures, and with money being limited, maybe stealing books from Ilsa's library and from wherever else she could get them was warranted, but still, Liesel's book borrowing was, in the end, theft. I think the fact that she continued taking books whenever she could just illustrated the fact that sometimes, people choose to ignore the wrongness of an action, either because they feel it's justified or that they become so focused on having their needs met that they forget that it's not the right thing to do. I think that to some degree, Liesel thought both of these things, and also, I think that it's telling that she didn't stop taking books from Ilsa's library because her conscience got to her. Liesel isn't the first person to have a rather questionable sense of right and wrong, and sometimes, the circumstances in which a person lives can influence their moral code to varying degrees.

But in the end, it's important to note that Liesel's concern for others is still at least partially intact. It's best demonstrated in her efforts to help Max, but at her heart, Liesel does care for other people. It's why she worked so hard to bring pieces of the "real world" to Max, and it's also why she made a point of reading from her books whenever an air raid was going on and the residents of Himmel Street had to hide in the air raid shelter.

Some of her optimism and youthfulness is lost in the bombing of Himmel Street, and it may take some time for that optimism to return, but I think that it eventually will, if she's given time and is surrounded by the right people. In the end, Liesel is strong and definitely a survivor, so I think that the odds of her picking up the pieces and moving on to a fulfilled life like the one that's hinted at in the story's epilogue are very high. It'll be interesting to see how she fares when placed into the setting in Teleios.

Powers/Abilities:

Nothing extraordinary, just a love for books. Well, also, she can land a pretty good punch when provoked, but that's a rare thing for her. She also cares very much for people, especially the ones closest to her, but I think that in general, she just wants to help everyone she can, however she can. Her abilities might be limited and not really earth-shattering or jaw-dropping, but still, if there's a way she can use her gifts to benefit someone else, then she will, even if it's something as small as reading a story aloud to distract others from the sounds of an air raid.

Appearance: Liesel 1 and Liesel 2.

CR AU

Game You’re Transferring CR from: N/A.

How has your character changed from their canon self? N/A.
Are they gaining any abilities from their time in game? Did the game setting take something from them? N/A.

Samples:

Actionspam Sample:

[ Liesel is making her way down the street, blending in with every other person who is also out for various reasons. But there's a slight hesitance in her movements and an uncertain expression on her face. It's by accident that she walks right into someone, because her mind is spinning with thoughts, each one different than the last. ]

Oh, I'm sorry!

[ She looks down at her feet, suddenly embarrassed and wishing that the ground would open up so she could sink into it for a little while. ]

I- Well, I was hoping to find a library.

[ She shuffles her feet against the pavement a little awkwardly. It feels wrong to be asking after a library, since in her experience, libraries are things that are in people's homes. It's not her place to be asking after that, when she doesn't know a single person around. ]

Do you know if there is one and if I might be able to go inside for a little while?

[ It seems like she doesn't expect an answer, but there must be books somewhere in the city. She would rather not have to resort to climbing in through windows, not if she can somehow manage to get permission to go in freely. ]

I had books back at home, but those are gone now, and I don't know if I'll ever manage to find them again.

[ Her face falls just a little at that admission, but she still manages to look hopefully at the person she's speaking to, waiting to hear what their answer might be. It might not be life and death levels of importance, but if she could just see a library, not necessarily read the books inside it, that might be enough to ground her again. ]

If you know someone with a library, I could work for them, or wash their laundry, or- or anything they might like me to do.

[ Having said her piece, she just stands there, all pins and needles and nervousness, waiting for a response from the person who has the somewhat uncertain distinction of holding all the cards, at least from Liesel's perspective. ]

Prose Sample:

There was something startling about waking up on a hard stone floor surrounded by strangers that really did not do anything to improve Liesel's mood. For one thing, she awoke with a scream in her throat, perhaps a cry for her mama, papa, or Rudy, but no sound came from her. Inside her, she felt a sinking feeling and a terrible thought that she was alone, even though she was surrounded by people. None of the people in the room looked familiar to her, which made a bad situation that much worse.

Placing one hand on the floor, Liesel tried to push herself up into a sitting position, but even that small action made her head spin and she had to stop in her efforts, lying down against the cold floor. Her thoughts seemed scattered and in so many pieces that collecting them again was impossible, but she did remember one thing: the sight of her adoptive parents and her best friend (although she'd never told him what he meant to her) lying dead on the broken rubble and concrete that used to be Himmel Street. So much for heaven, she thought. In one night, that street had become a sort of hell that separated her from everyone she had left in the world. Their forms still had been there, but all the warmth and love that had made Papa who he was, and all the bluster that made Mama that thunderstorm that Liesel had grown to love, and the silliness that was Rudy Steiner was gone.

And now, even that place was gone, and instead, Liesel was faced with an unfamiliar room, unfamiliar faces, and a terrible thought that she had no idea how she was ever going to move on from this. Now was not a time for tears, but all