#and Vash is actually very introverted and forces himself to be social which is draining for him

[bobosbillionsknives]

Happy birthday Vash and Knives !!!

(not ship art)

[cosplayswitzerlandaskblog]

How open would you say Switzerland is to the average person, (not neccesarily just nations) and how willing is he to form new relationships, platonic and/or romantic? Does he have any desire for such relationships? (In addition to the ones he already has?) If you were a person he found generally decent, how difficult would it be to get close to him? (And what type of people does he tend to like?) Sorry is that's a lot, I love your blog!

Holy cow, the amount of questions in one... Will also mean I’ll bring an equal amount of text back, holy hell I’m sorry guys...

Alright, we’ll go one at a time, and it’ll be long so let’s chop off the midsection here:

How open is Switzerland to the average person?

Very closed. It could be said that simply, but I’ll elaborate a bit. 

He’s more guarded towards nations than humans. This comes from the fact that he believes nations to be more likely to contact him for dishonest reasons or to deliberately harm him, as that is what he believes nations to do. Just because we have reached a (to an extend) peaceful period in history doesn’t mean it will last. He’s seen nations force other nations into submission, pressure each other, drain each other from resources and - in few cases - attempt to directly kill on another. He’s seen them doing it for centuries while being on the side line for most of this time. He’s tried being a part of their game, through mercenary. Even as his human population are getting more and more secure and feeling safer and safer in their landlocked territory, he still waits for that bomb to blow and for new wars to erupt around him - and his main priority will always be his people.

For this reason, he’s more stressed around nations than humans, and can act overly guarded, impolite, if not directly rude, towards them. He constantly searches for signs that they might abuse his help or offerings, and he doesn’t dare become personally invested in a person he believes will stab his back in ten years time. Paranoia is a fault of his, and is his main enemy especially in dealing with countries. 

Even so he is (surprisingly for some, maybe) willing to help, and often has fought a hard battle for peace in the midst of wars. On the blog I’ve had him (slightly unwillingly) help Russia hide from his sister, and he does offer or provide tips to help others get in better situations, as long as it doesn’t risk his people. One thing you gotta know about him - his people is always main priority.

It is very different with humans, though. They don’t have the same capacity to hurt him or become a threat, so being close to them doesn’t hold the same amount of danger. They just have the slight disadvantage that they die at times, which provides a bit of that hurt he fiercely attempts to avoid. It’s something all nations have to pull through, but I believe some nations handles it better than others, where I personally think people like France and Turkey are most capable of brushing off (doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt). It’s just something they all have to learn to deal with. But to Switzerland, as a very introverted person, social interaction requires a lot of effort and work to achieve, and making that effort whilst knowing you’ll just end up losing them in what - to you - might come off as a flash in your life... It doesn’t always seem worth it. A great secret of his is that he is extremely sensitive and can’t stop caring for someone or something the moment he has established the first contact.

Therefore he mostly keeps things strictly to business, becoming close with colleagues, meaning politicians and advisers, that he would usually interact with no matter what. A few of these colleagues become actual friends, and to them he can open up fully and address his fears of other nations, stress of daily life and his struggle with ongoing loneliness. On top of it, he is more open with Swiss people (I believe humans and countries have a connection to feel safety and recognition when among one another), and will be seen smiling proudly on rare occasions when he watch elderly people hand in hand, children playing or whichever else that might make an old man nostalgic. 

Once again, though, he is open to provide help, also on a personal level. While being stingy, especially with new buying things, I believe he’s often taken in strangers in his home - as long as they posed no threat. This also means it’s very specific to Swiss people, as he holds higher trust in them, believing them absolutely unlikely to stab his back. But people will be taken in to his home under his own rules and circumstances, as he very fast feel invaded and pressured by strangers on his property. 

It is, for one, under such a case that Liechtenstein was taken in. My belief is that he had no knowledge of how the nation looked when he first met her, and seeing a person in need left him in little doubt - and that says a lot about his personality. When he later realized the identity of his guest and extend of his kindness, he deemed the small country much less of a threat than other nations, and found her in very great need, and kept on supporting her. Later, he became vividly dependent on her presence and support.

How willing is he to form platonic and/or romantic relationships?

Again it can be said very simply. Unwilling. 

For many of the reasons above, he doesn’t freely form bonds to other. Platonically, there is the constant risk of getting hurt - either with a knife in the back or a dying breath by a bedside - as well as the amount of investing he’ll have to put into it. The biggest and most important relation he ever had with another person is his friendship with Austria, as I’ve often referred back to, and he sets that as an example on why close relations is a foolish deal. The many examples of the strife between nations only fueled that assumption, and instead he learned to rely on himself and his people alone. People who, as said, dares to die, so they have to be at a distance as well. His motives are very much driven by anxiety of both loss, getting hurt, as well as the mentioned paranoia constantly telling him that people are out to get him, claiming that especially nations have bad motives and so on and so forth. The existence of Liechtenstein in his life is a miracle he didn’t as for, but which he won’t complain about either.

Romantically I long played with the thought of him being asexual or aromantic, because trust and closeness is so hard on him. I found later that I wouldn’t count it to that, but once again the troubles of social interaction and excessive anxiety limited his abilities. Instead he is (uncomfortable as I am about saying it) quite a sexual person, and there have been the occasional human that has managed to earn his trust or who he’s had such a high gravitation towards that... well, things just happened. Many of these, I know, have been rapidly cut off when he realized what he was doing, in a fit of self-preservation to regain that distance between himself and others, to make sure the situation with Austria never repeats itself. 

Cause yeah, dear Switzerland has taught himself to be alone instead. For safety reasons, as well as a search to escape the stress his anxiousness brings. It is also what leaves him very hard and cold towards others - a facade he’s built to cover up and keep people out. It works and his mountains, becoming an imaginary fence to hold people out of his life. He comes off as harsh, angry, aggressive and sometimes even dangerous when he interacts because he’s learned it makes people cautious of you, and that aura also keeps nations from attempting closeness (even if some, like France, find it possible to ignore). He’s become so good at holding up that unsmiling, unyielding facade for many hundred years that he lost himself within it, and has a hard time distinguishing his real emotions from the coldness he’s learned to emit. And most of these things have been done to make sure he will not experience another loss, will not face another betrayal and doesn’t have to live with another hole in his heart. 

Does he have a desire for such relationships?

Short version: Yes.

Long version: Vash is, what you can call, extremely lonely. A facade or an act doesn’t erase the desires and needs of a human soul. He wishes for companionship, wishes for closeness, yearns for love, even if he doesn’t dare it. He’s so controlled by his fears that he has cut off one of the most basic human needs, making friendship and romance an alienated concept. He went through this for some few hundred years, becoming what he sees now as an ugly side of himself, until his kindness gave him the gift of a little sister. Her presence has made things easier for him, and has managed to open him up even a little towards other people as well, but now he depends on her. She’s his only lifeline, as she exists like a beacon in darkness, guiding him to another, hopefully better place. To him, she’s not allowed to disappear, and once again his fears gets in the way. Ideologically he allows her to do as she pleases. She is not a prisoner, doesn’t hold a contract, she’s just there because she wishes. But he is afraid every time she’s with somebody because he believes they will steal her away, as he is afraid of her being along because something bad might happen. The fear of loss, also formerly mentioned, puts him in a constant dilemma, for a loss is more manageable when you are the cause of it - but actually losing her feels out of the question at this point.

Liechtenstein herself has a desire to help him open up, and is working on it. A thing my wife and I have believed for many years now is that their whole relationship, as seen by outsiders, is a lie. Liechtenstein doesn’t need him. She could stand on her own two feet easily and manage this world, now that they aren’t trying to starve her to death. She’s not dependent on him - he’s the one who’s dependent on her and he is that to an unhealthy degree. She lives with him on his premises and bends the rules just enough to challenge his world view, for she knows she cannot relieve him of the loneliness he still struggles with. She is but a sister and a little girl - she’s not a friend, nor a lover, and she’s only one person in his whole social network. 

Back to the short version: Yes. Even if he denies it to himself, even if he doesn’t want to face the fact, he’s alone, he’s lonely, and he wishes to know more people than he currently has the capacity to manage and trust.

How difficult is it for (in his mind) decent people to get close to him?

Surprisingly easy, actually. You have to be nonthreatening and have clearly honest intentions, as well as patient with the constant mood swings he’ll lash at you to check your boundaries. He needs to see that you are not there to make fun of him, hurt him, or use him, and it will take a long time for him to get to that point - but what he need to see is the consistency, for he does not give his trust easily, and the main obstacle he has is his lack of trust towards everyone.

My experience in RP’ing, though, clearly shows that people/Hetalia nations rarely have what it takes to pull through, and I have yet not managed to provide him a single friend. It simply takes too much time and effort, cause, as said, he doesn’t give up and give himself over easily. Even when I mull down his difficulties a bit and make him a little more willing to approach people, as I have found myself forced to do, his trust is simply too hard for many to get.

What type of people do he tend to like?

 It stands, to an extend, in the explanation of the last question. Honest, trustworthy people, usually with good hearts as well since such people are less likely to hurt others. He has a pretty high moral code despite being old fashioned, and from that he also expects proper morals for others. After that, he also likes quiet, and calm people who don’t attempt to pass his boundaries. They are best if they like nature as well, and he’ll have a harder time respecting and accepting you if you are born into power - such as the old, noble traditions. Hardworking and consistent are also valuable traits, and considering that Vash bonds best over physical labor that might be the best way to reach him.