P L A Y E R;NAME: Ari
AGE: 19
PLAYER JOURNAL: N/a
TIMEZONE: Central
CONTACT: plurk @ redrumreversal
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: Tenpou Gensui
C H A R A C T E R;NAME: Kaoru Hitachiin
CANON: Ouran Highschool Host Club
POINT IN CANON: N/a
.AGE: 19
APPEARANCE: 
(See image.)
Height: 5'9" / 175 cm.
Weight: 132 lbs / 60 kg.
CANON HISTORY: WikiCANON PERSONALITY: Hikaru and Kaoru are difficult to describe apart and for good reason. Devious, manipulative, and prone to toying with the people around them, neither of the twins has much stock in humanity. Kaoru, despite being the technically younger, is the much more empathetic side of the Hitachiin coin--he's more likely to show compassion over pride, to refrain from spite, and picks up on emotional cues from the people around him. He is, however, far from a saint, no matter how much kinder he is than his brother.
At times willfully ignorant and at others flat out blind, he doesn’t understand the struggle or stress of not having absolutely everything and anything one could desire, nor does he stop to consider how flashing his wealth can be callous. For him, almost everything is an act to put on, a show to display. He plays the part of the fragile and frail to Hikaru’s certainty, reflecting fake blushes and timidity all for the spectacle of others. When graced with Hikaru’s attention publicly, he fawns over it, falling into a familiar show of dependence and desperate need.
But the last, the desperate need, is not completely a lie. His world is small on the inside, composed only of Hikaru and himself—Kaoru has no real identity of his own early on in the series, but rather, knows himself as “the one who is not Hikaru”. He loves his brother beyond reason and will sacrifice himself almost without thought when it comes to protecting him, whether it be emotionally or physically, and willfully acts as a scapegoat rather than expect Hikaru to own up for his mistakes. When Hikaru makes a mistake, they're both to blame--Hikaru for the act itself, Kaoru for not providing more guidance in order to prevent it.
Such is their connection.
He’s terrified of losing that connection with Hikaru, yet he acknowledges the necessity of breaking it and tries to create distance between them so Hikaru won’t have to do it, no matter how much it hurts him in the process.
Simply put, Kaoru lives to suffer for others. He has a bad, almost pathological habit of putting the (very) few individuals he cares about far above his needs or wants, even thriving on it to some level. Being able to redirect his attention away from his own insecurities and needs in order to assuage that of someone else allows him to bury those things deeper and further until they’re finally out of sight and out of mind.
Or so he pretends. Day by day, fake smile by fake smile.
AU PERSONALITY: Kaoru doesn't have many differences between settings initially, aside the details and the why. The details will be iterated below.
He's soft, a bit naive, entirely too trusting, and ultimately thrives on martyrdom. What he doesn't do, however, is go out of his way for strangers. He might offer a kind word and placating smile for a customer, but that's a condition of their work, a social contract to fulfill. All except two: his brother and the man he once hired as his assistant, Nezumi.
[ Mannerisms ] Kaoru, in a word, is controlled. None of his actions are random--he can't afford to have them be random any more--each and every blink is done with purpose, whether that purpose is to woo a client or frighten an employee makes no difference to him. Aside that, he has a somewhat perpetually bored expression when he's not actively playing a part, and that boredom is about as honest as he usually is with outsiders.
[ Habits ] Habits are worn well into him--he likes to do things with a certain level of precision and repetition, approaching his daily duties clinically and coldly. Previous to the recent tragedies of his life, he had a much more notable spontaneous streak, and his habits were not so immutable as they are now. Lacking control in so much of his life, he clings to his habits like dear friends, protecting them from outsiders and insisting on following through. In a word, this has made him a workaholic (and, in part, a bit of an alcoholic): as long as he can focus on running HostWorld between tending to his brother, he can ignore how ragged he's running himself.
That said, he has no particular eccentricities, though he's well known for dressing inappropriately in the lower worlds--it doesn't occur to him to hide his designer clothes even when he's slinking through the darkest slums. After all, what else would he wear?
[ Interactions ] To clients, he's ingratiating to the extreme. To outsiders, he's passably kind--not prone to stop and get to know them, but never impolite or cruel without call to be, and more likely to help than harm when a situation calls for it. Otherwise, he tends to keep it professional, never forgetting to sell his business first and foremost and protect his family's secrets. With the few individuals he considers precious, he's fiercely loyal and will go to any self-sacrificing end to damper their worries and make their problems simply 'go away', no matter the risks it entails for him.
Even lying to provide a potential terrorist an alibi, for example.
[ Temperament ] Generally calm and levelheaded, Kaoru likes to pretend he's unflappable, but the truth of the matter is he's much like a duck crossing the water, barely holding his more childish antics under the surface. He's slower to anger than his brother, but that's hardly a feat worth noting--as rocks have the same talent--and he still has quite a temper of his own when insults are hurled at his pride or family. That said, he also has a great deal of tolerance: having spent his life in the public eye, he's had to learn to hold a straight face as photographers and reporters senselessly attack the things he holds most precious. Rather than expose his explosive anger, he's more likely to caress the right palms with the right amount of credits and have the reporter blacklisted for the rest of their career.
In a more private view, however, he can be moved to childish displays from throwing glasses to hitting his desk when he finally loses control of his temper. Immense regret will always follow those displays, but in the moment, Kaoru finds relief from finally releasing his facade and being himself.
[ Battle ] Kaoru is a pacifist. His philosophy on battle is to buy his way out of it, beg if that doesn't work, and place himself in harm's way before someone else. Running and hiding is also a favorite.
[ Motivations ] To protect. More than anything, Kaoru wants to protect those few things he holds dear--Hikaru, even Nezumi--from the outside world. Everything he does is for the sake of that protection, ignoring the damage it does to himself because he simply doesn't matter in his world view.
[ Morality ] Kaoru's sense of morality is fierce and a bit naive. What the law says is right and what it disagrees with is wrong--with some exceptions. From a world where mutants are highly discriminated against, Kaoru is less inclined to follow along with the social stigma blindly, rather, he judges them on an individual basis. Everyone has something good about them, even if he's not wise enough to always see what it is, and this philosophy guides his general day to day. He abhors violence and fear mongering, detests the thought of hurting another human being even with the very best reasons, and seeks a peaceful solution to all altercations.
POINT OF DEPARTURE: PG AU
This post.
Native Universe:
New Babylon is a high scifi city-state setting with all the hallmarks of a dystopia: political instability, mass prejudices, severe social stratification, and terrible food. The Earth was decimated by wars until there could be no more, humanity crawling into hulking steel caves and sequestering their place in volume, their dominance on the horizon forfeited by nuclear greed. Small pockets of society managed to survive, morphing, for one certainly wouldn't call it blooming, cities scattering at great, tremulous distances from one another, evolving from isolated niches, technology slowly consuming the memories of nature.
Mutants, ignored when not greatly persecuted, began to proliferate New Babylon's lower-levels early on, prompting the 'norms' to keep moving forward, higher, building themselves into not ivory but chrome towers as if they could resist the genetic tides. At the time Kaoru came into being, the lower city -- the first four above-ground levels of the city, denied even sunlight -- was already brimming with the signs of discontent and imminent change, the mutant populations demanding the ear of a deaf government.
PG AU History:
Born to an affluent family, Kaoru and Hikaru Hitachiin entered the world without a reason to ever worry. They attended the best schools, had a guaranteed place in universities across the board, and were given the best private tutors to help them get ahead. It was no surprise, then, when they graduated well ahead of schedule--with all the money at their disposal and near complete isolation, academia came easily, if not necessarily.
The voids, you see, had been there from the start. No one had ever been able to tell the twins apart--not even family--and it became a game of sorts to make people try. Their father, relatively weak willed but strongly business minded, was often far from the house and out of the boys' lives, while their mother, a prominent fashion designer, doted on them and occasionally used them for models when they were growing.
...Despite such misgivings, they loved her dearly, and when they weren't glued to each other, she was a common addition. Even so, her job would require her to take extended leave from time to time and leave the boys in the care of their staff. One such staffer, a maid, attempted to break into a safe one night and was caught by the twins.
So they played the game with her. If she could guess which one was Hikaru, they would tell her the combination, but if she couldn't, they would hit the alarm the next time she tried. The maid accepted the challenge and taught the boys numerous underhanded skills during her remaining employment: how to lie, how to play people, but most of all, how to never trust.
In the end, she raided the safe and escaped, telling the twins that it was impossible: no one would ever be able to tell them apart. So Hikaru and Kaoru grew closer, pushing the world further and further away.
Aside their isolation, their lives were relatively picture perfect. Rather than attend university, they founded a corporation of their own on Level 8 known as
HostWorld.
Until the Christmas of their nineteenth year when an unexpected tragedy struck. With no warning and seemingly no reason, their mother was found in her bedroom, her wrists slit and body cold. Over the course of the night when presents should have been wrapped and cookies consumed, their mother committed suicide.
At first, they were too shocked to do anything but numbly cooperate with the police. Threads had been left, however, and slowly they began to snag and tear. It didn't make sense that such a well off and otherwise happy woman would so suddenly kill herself.
But ultimately, Kaoru didn't care about the why. He left that to different minds. He just wanted his family back, to mend the hole left in the Hitachiin world. They said money could do anything, so why not bring the dead back?
Thus began his interactions with Nii Jiyani and his desperate fall from grace.
He contracted the scientist to grow a new human for him, a new mother to replace the old and kept the secret from Hikaru, not wanting to give his brother false hope if he couldn't deliver. It created distance between them, but Kaoru was steadfast to keep the secret...until, once more, tragedy struck.
Hikaru, just as mysteriously as their mother, fell fatally ill and was taken to New Babylon's premiere hospital for intensive care. He's been in there since, and Kaoru? Kaoru hasn't thought back to the secret he keeps in HostWorld's development labs. He's been focused purely on keeping Hikaru safe and out of public scrutiny, pouring every last ounce of himself into visiting hours and maintaining HostWorld.
Along the way, however, he's unwittingly fallen for a potential terrorist and his employee, Nezumi, and on the
very night of finally realizing it, he leaves his world to enter his first jaunt.
ABILITIES: None particularly worth noting.
INVENTORY; - Pharmaceutical grade amphetamine skin patches. 1 unopened pack (25), 1 opened pack (5). Total (30).
- Clothes--hospital scrubs.
- Neural jack and accompanying ear band.
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? Not especially!
S A M P L E S;
THIRD PERSON: After a moment of startled staring, Kaoru lifted a hand to his ear to reply aloud to the textile house he had spent the last fifteen minutes bartering with, “…I’m relieved to hear that. You can assure Su Jiang that his understanding will be reimbursed handsomely.”
Even with Hikaru was sick, the world kept spinning. Deliveries had to be rescheduled, payrolls needed adjustment, requisition forms yearned for his stamp of approval, and last, but certainly not least – rude houseguests required his attention.
He was rather hoping that problem would have solved itself by now.
Brushing his thumb across his earlobe, Kaoru ended the call and settled his chin on loosely curled knuckles to look his subordinate over. Both of them, it seemed to him, had known better days. Nezumi’s reasons are undoubtedly more nefarious than his, but he makes no move to ask or expose that difference. Lying is always easier when there’s no truth to draw comparison, and he needs to maintain that a while longer.
“Good eve.. morning, Nezumi,” He mumbles more than enunciates and resumes looking over his desk panel for the next batch of emails to read, his fingers coming to life with neurotic energy while scrolling off short replies. It’s tempting, of course, to engage in the normal bickering, to snap about showing a little gratitude and leaving a tired man alone – but he has neither the time nor heart to pursue that end.
Thus, he is perfectly content to ignore the other’s curiosity about his motives and keep about his work as if it were any other day. “Did you sleep well?”
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