A female blacksmith? It was a preposterous thought for some, but others found themselves admiring the girl with messy, chin-length black and blonde-tipped hair and eyes that seemed to bare various kinds of blue and hints of purple. Her skin was tan and occasionally covered in sweat from spending almost all her hours working tirelessly under the hot sun. What many of her citizens don't know is what she is (and aren't meant to).

She is no ordinary woman. She is Clarice, the human personification of the state of Michigan, daughter of America and France (although she possesses British and Canadian blood at well), and sister to the other fifty states.

She was born in 1805, just as the Michigan Territory was founded, and would become a woman both admired and lusted after.

She was also strong, even when wars and even the Great Depression hit her soil.

~~~

Due to being a part of New France and even under British and Canadian control at one point (well a part of Canada to be more precise), it really made since that Clarice would be France's daughter, despite the blood she shared with two other male nations.

Before becoming a territory momentarily, America was having problems with Britain, again. However, the Jay's Treaty and Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 forced the British to evacuate two human years later, soon leading to the birth of Clarice Jones/Bonnefoy in 1805.

Clarice, because of her year of birth, shared her mother's womb with six others; Mississippi, Maine, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, and Illinois, and because of this, America would often collapse into unconsciousness without any warning because of her energy being drained quickly. Of course, this scared her older children.

As she grew up, Clarice proved time and again to be quite the tomboy, wearing the clothing of her brothers, not caring about her looks, and even enjoyed working jobs that involved labor.

Her brothers also encouraged this, and America had to admit that she enjoyed watching her children interact, even if it was through wrestling (so long as they didn't hurt each other too badly of course).

Due to her state containing iron and copper in 1855, Clarice took the job as a blacksmith (with the help of her mother in her male disguise because of how women were treated back in those days), and it was something she enjoys immensely, even to this day.

"I love the way sparks fly from the fire and hammer, how warmth surrounds you in the dead of winter, everything! I can't choose, I love 'em all!" she chirped to an amused America once.

Her mother had giggled in response.

Though, when the Great Depression hit, it struck the state of Michigan hard. It was also the time that left Clarice in a coma until the Second World War ended, and America couldn't be with her daughter, despite being ill herself from the economic depression. This was because she had to help with the war, especially after she was forced to bomb her dear friend, Japan, who unknowingly harmed his own daughter.

America knew Japan enough to know that the older island nation didn't want to go along with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, as did Kyleen (that was her father after all, even if he didn't know about her), but his leader at the time didn't give him much of a choice. So, America had no choice either but to do the same to Japan. Before he passed out of the pain of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, she allowed him to hear her real voice, so even when he wakes up, he'll think it was just a dream.

The female nation didn't know why she did that, but she wanted him to focus on something other than the pain, and this was Japan after all, so that must be it.

After that, and even when economic disasters would strike, Clarice would remain positive, and America was glad her daughter accomplished that without her help most of the time.