application.
Character Information:
Full Name: Asai, Hiroyuki
Series: Original
Canon point: Just a little after he starts leaving his house secretly.
Age: 15
Species: Human
Appearance/PB: Color/basic reference! Hiroyuki has a mop of straight, white hair that goes a little past his shoulders. His eyes are a deep grey color, and his skin is more on the paler side, since he's almost never been outside before. Consequently, while he's of average height (neither too tall nor too short), he's not really the proper height for a growing boy, and probably won't get much bigger than he is. His clothes tend to vary (as apparent in his icons), since he's allowed to wear whatever he wants and has terrible fashion sense. They're often solid whites, occasionally with some sort of pattern on the fabric, and occasionally with some black to balance it out. He tends to wear clothes that are very floppy and loose in some way, and things that he can just slip on without the clothes themselves looking simple. This often results in various crimes against fashion, but no one's told him that.
Appearance upon arrival: Wearing the clothes in the picture linked above for simplicity's sake! Does not otherwise look different.
History:
Previous RP memories: N/A; Hiroyuki was originally an OC for an AU fandom RP, but I'm AU-ing his AU so his backstory works in a more general setting, if that makes sense.
Bringing someone along?: N/A
Character History:
When Hiroyuki was just born, his family consisting of his mother, father, and older brother by twelve years, Hisao, all lived in one of the major cities of the Chiba Prefecture, Japan. But where, exactly, even Hiroyuki couldn't say, because when he was just a few months old, they moved out.
Hisao had just been out playing with his friends outside -- and he was having so much fun he didn't remember to be careful when going out onto the road. And, as fate would have it, the one time he was neglectful, fate decided to punish him for it. Even his parents, with all the vast wealth they accumulated from their high-paying corporate jobs, couldn't find a surgery or hotel that would be able to save their child, who had been thoroughly crushed by a truck.
It had torn them apart, to lose their child so suddenly. He had been fine in the morning, but never came back when he went to play. And he would never come back, no matter how much money they had. They had lived humbly, but given Hisao and their newly-born son the utmost care and all the attention they could offer, bought them whatever he wanted -- all of that, but he was still gone. It was so incredibly difficult for them to cope that they took an impromptu vacation to the country after Hisao's funeral.
It was there that they mourned and spoke to each other in hushed tones, crying and figuring. There had to be something they could do, at least to protect Hiroyuki. But dangers were everywhere; no matter what, no matter where, no matter who he was with, surely he would run into some sort of danger in this vast, outside world.
So, they kept him from it.
With the wealth they were unable to save their first son with, they build an impenetrable fortress in order to protect their second one. Out in the country, not too far from a small town, they bought land and had a place too large to be called a house but just a little too small to be called a manor for their child. There were no windows, other than those on high ceilings, and only two doors -- one in the front and one in the back -- that were nearly impossible to open without going through a number of locks. The inside, while structurally sound, was constructed whimsically as to entertain a child, and fitted with all the necessities required to raise a child there. And so, telling only the few who could be trusted -- or payed -- not to tell, was a home constructed just for Hiroyuki and populated with maids and tutors who visited him to take care of him as he grew.
And that is how Hiroyuki's life was. He did not see his parents often, but he was always overjoyed when he did. They always smothered him with love and affection and toys, and always got him what he wanted and always listened to him and always played for him and! Even though they had to leave him alone all the time, he didn't mind. From an extremely early age, Hiroyuki taught himself how to not be alone. His stuffed animals were all his friends, his world, the inside of the house, was his world. It could be a jungle when he wanted it be, and they could be scuba divers when he wanted to be, or he could be a king if he wanted to be! Because everything, even the stuffed animals, even the people who occasionally came to visit, belong to him. Because everything was his! Because he was the king and the ruler and the person who was in this world the most, right? It was that way that he entertained himself, by weaving stories and myths about epic fights and romance and tales of his glory that all began in his room.
All of this was just fueled by his occasional tutors, who came by infrequently only to teach him to read, write, and to do math. His parents did not want him to be an uneducated child, after all; Hisao was very smart. But they believed that Hiroyuki only needed to know these things. But even more importantly, they didn't want him to be lonely, very much aware that, since they could only visit infrequently, some outside presences were needed to keep him some company.
So, even though his tutors and maids (who often cooked and cleaned for him, and taught him how to warm up meals safely if they weren't around) were told not to speak of a single word about the outside, he eventually pestered them enough so that some things slipped. They, alone with his parents, were his only interactions with other human beings. He was perfectly fine alone, but -- he loved it more when people were around. He liked to talk to them and play with them and be with them (even if a lot of them did make him do boring work) and pester them and more! But when they were gone, disappearing like wizards, he thought, he said it was fine. And he wasn't lying to himself, either; he really thought everything was perfect. He was a king! He had a million and one subjects and sometimes even more, so it's not like he was alone, and it's not like he was bored.
It never once occurred to him that there was a world outside, and even if his tutors had accidentally let it slip explicitly that there was a world outside, Hiroyuki would not have registered it. Because he had asked before, once, when he was very little; "Where do you go when I can't find you anywhere?" and "Is there more sky beyond these walls?" -- questions which were responded to with cold anger and rough hands. Hiroyuki never liked making his parents upset because he loved them, and he didn't like making them mad because they scared him, so he never asked again. No, rather, he shut out the very possibility from his mind; he was a good, obedient child in that respect, just like they wanted him to be.
The only trouble with raising a child in such an isolated environment, though, is that very thing about believing he owns the place: Hiroyuki had no empathy, or morals resembling anything like one would expect a normal child to have. He was arrogant, selfish, merry, combative -- all whenever he felt like it. He was curious when he felt like it, and anything under the sun was his to be curious about. Which led to some unfortunate instances -- trying to play torture chamber with a maid, trying to play surgeon -- all just a little past when he turned twelve, since he was very slowly becoming aware of his body and its functions. Of course, he was severely scolded for his misbehavior by his parents and maids became more infrequent, coming very rarely and cooks taking their places. He was turned back to playing in his Kingdom of Orswell, his Forest of Mysteries, his Sea of Blue, to coloring the walls with crayons and making pillow forts for, his parents hoped, the rest of his life. He was cute this way, they thought; he was innocent and safe and their precious little angel and would never be defiled by the outside world. Or so they thought.
At one point, not long after Hiroyuki turned fifteen and his parents came home just in time and they had the biggest biggest party ever, his tutors were careless. Just once. It was late and they had been up all of the night before and they had just had a fight with their wife and all sorts of things; he didn't have the patience to lock the back door's lock a quadruple squared times, and he didn't want to have to deal with locking the high-rise gate outside either, because seriously, it wasn't like any of the townspeople went near the place or anything. So he left things partially unlocked, confident nothing would go out or in -- Hiroyuki was a good kid, anyway. He had never asked about the doors, not even once. He could recognize the dangerous, and sometimes pitying silence that would follow any questions about them.
But he was playing jungle explorer, fording the depths of the deepest tunnels and fighting off the most savage beasts! And the door stuck out, because it looked a little loose among the scattered toys and furniture, and it was almost ajar. And this was a door that was always, always closed, no matter what, ever since he could remember. So of course he looked. And these were knick-knacks and gadgets that had always been sealed tight, so of course he played around with them. Didn't he have the right? He was jungle explorer and king and everything under the sun was his, wasn't it?
He opened the door, expecting to see another room, maybe even with treasure -- but what he saw was something he didn't understand. Something he had seen all the time in picture books, but it looked really real, even more than what he imagined when he was playing. Yes, imagined, he had thought at that moment, because all those things -- grass, dirt, the smell of fresh air, gravel, bugs, and a million other things -- that he had imagined to be there when he had been romping around weren't anything like this. But it wasn't that it was fake -- it was -- different. He didn't understand it, but he knew it was true.
So, of course he explored it.
He went outside, touching everything he could and looking at everything and anything, eventually sneaking just a little past the gate in the dark. What was this? What is this? Is it like that thing I read about? Is it like that thing I made up? It feels so weird, I want to keep it! More than anything, Hiroyuki was excited. It was, quite literally, a whole new world, entirely different than anything he had ever experienced before. But instead of wondering why the life he lived had been separated from this place -- the "outside," now -- or why his parents never spoke of the door, or wondering maybe that "outside" was where everyone had been disappearing to all this time; he was too busy reveling in all the new things.
But eventually it got too dark to see, so he had to find his way back instead of taking more time to explore, though he made that decision somewhat sullenly. He left the door the way it was before, and had tired himself out from playing around all day and running around outside so late at night that he fell asleep immediately.
That would have been a happy ending, had his parents not visited the next day, days before a maid or tutor would arrive to cover up their mistakes in favor of maintaining their handsome income. What was normally the adorable sight of their son curled up in a blanketfort in the hall instantly sent them into a panic. His mother reacted first -- not kindly, with sickly sweet persuasion to ask where exactly did all that dirt and grass and filthy stones from the outside come from, sweetie? but with hysterical anger.
What followed was the most terrifying moment of Hiroyuki's life. His parents had never been anything but sweet to him (except a few times which never tarnished his mental image of them) and had never, ever raised a hand to him before. But then, his mother had shoved him roughly against the wall and slapped him, pulled on his arms so hard and handled them so roughly to keep him in place he thought they might break, and yelled and yelled and yelled about so many things he didn't understand, while his father stood not even a foot away, allowing her to do as she pleased and barely containing his anger himself. Even when he did speak, it was harsh and cold and nothing like Hiroyuki had ever heard before. His parents yelled at each other almost as much as they yelled at him -- because they were scared an anxious all at once, and there was hell to pay.
But Hiroyuki, who didn't understand any of what was going on, only that he had done something wrong by exploring the outside (why?) cried and apologized over and over again, but his parents' wrath wouldn't be abated. And finally, when all the running was through, they dragged him up the stairs and locked him in an empty room he wasn't familiar with. He cried and hit the door and promised to be good -- but they weren't listening; they said it was for his own good, and they went downstairs to calm down and regroup. They couldn't let their darling child be hurt, after all. It wasn't his fault, he didn't know any better, just like they raised him to be. They just had to keep the rest of the world from trying to drag him out.
The next morning, when planning was done with, they let him out of the room and hugged him and pet his hair and told him it was all right, just a few mistakes had been made. But he absolutely completely without any hesitation or crossing fingers or half-truths or anything had to promise he would never, ever do that again, no matter what. No "outside." Nothing. Don't even think about it. They said it sweetly, but their voices were shaking. And, of course Hiroyuki accepted their conditions, because he loved his parents more than anything in the world, even if they didn't apologize for anything. He was the one who had done something wrong, after all.
Within the next few days, security was tightened and the few tutors he had were replaced with more tight-lipped, flexible people whose morality and care to their work were fluid with the right price. They did the same as the previous occupants of their jobs, but there were nowhere as friendly or nice as the old ones, many of whom Hiroyuki had known for years. But they were gone, his parent's said so, so he wasn't allowed to question it.
And he was good, for a few months. For those few months, he lived his life as normal, except with occasional peering at the doors in the front in back. With just the extra spy missions where he would watch people come and go when they thought he was in his room, the maybe-sometimes eavesdropping when they spoke of locks or tried to undo and redo the locks properly.
He wasn't disobeying parents, even when he somehow managed to figure out the combinations after many months of tedious efforts. After all, everything under the sky belonged to him, and there was more sky than the windows of the ceilings allowed. And -- he was curious. He wanted to know, he wanted to experience it, he wanted to feel it. He wanted to go "outside" again, and he was sure (even though he was deathly scared) no one would ever find out if he was sneaky enough.
And that is what he began to do for his fifteenth year, sneaking out every now and then and being mindful of the timing of the comings and goings of the people who came to -- his kingdom? His house...? so he wouldn't be caught. He snuck into the town sometimes and looked at things, and sometimes even spoke to the people -- how many there were -- and touched everything and collected everything and his life really, really was like a storybook, both inside and outside.
But still.
He always had to return home, and pretend it was never there. He always had to head back toward the horizon before it got too dark or before he got too dirty, following the path far out. He would always have to approach an impossibly large, decrepit-looking concrete block, surrounded by threatening wire whose walls were plastered with "PRIVATE PROPERTY - KEEP OUT," sneaking in and out of his own home as if he were some sort of refugee.
And all of that wasn't very kingly, was it?
Personality:
Hiroyuki's defining characteristic is that he's always, always chipper and extremely excitable. While he's not the bouncing-off-the-walls sort of cheery, he almost always has a smile on his face and a good attitude about everything. To Hiroyuki, everything is fun and new and interesting! He wants to know, he wants to know ♪ And he doesn't really care -- or know how to, for that matter -- to read the mood around him. He thinks it's neat or cool or all of the above, so, clearly, everyone else should too! He has his own pace that he doesn't change for anyone, and he defiantly refuses to yield to anything or anyone.
The main reason for this is that he approaches everything as if it were just another part of the larger game that is his life. And in his life, he's whatever he wants to be! He can be a chef or a king or a villager or an explorer or technician and the world around him follows suit -- or so he assumes. Because he's lived in (what's basically) a prison his entire life alone where that was true, Hiroyuki's perspective is a little true. It was true there, so why wouldn't it be true anywhere else? He recognizes that the outside world is different, and that yes, maybe he's just a little outside his domain, but that doesn't change anything. He completely believes that the world of fantasy is reality no matter where he is, so, to him, going outside is just the equivalent of a king exploring neighboring kingdoms.
It's also for this self-centric reason that he can be extremely pushy and occasionally callous. Hiroyuki always means for the best, really. He love love loves people and playing and having fun! And because he wants to have fun with everyone and explore everything, he often pushes his own desire's onto other people and expect them to go along with it. Usually, it works! Inside his "kingdom." But if he's ever rejected or told otherwise, he gets extremely sour and sullen, and doesn't hesitate to call the other person fair or mean without even considering their position -- because his is the only one that matters, he believes.
Still, he's somewhat capable of being made to understand other perspectives, though with some difficulty. If he really likes a person, he'll try to be more attentive to what they want -- but usually only as long as they coincide with his own wants. Honestly, understanding where other people come from is a long, tedious process Hiroyuki knows nothing about, so he ignores it and refuses to acknowledge it. It'd be a lot easier to tell him fantastical lies and gain his admiration or interest instead.
Hiroyuki is an extremely gullible person, primarily because, in his world, all those lies are true happenings. "Look, a shooting star attached to a hot air balloon!" might sound random and ridiculous to most people, but Hiroyuki would look and complain he missed it. Because he believes everything is possible and fun, it would never occur to him that someone is lying, even about the most basic things. And he's curious about everything, even the most mundane things -- particularly those things on the "outside." He wants to know about the workings and occupants and things out there! He wants to know and have fun there too and return home at the end of the day and have fun in his house, too. To him, everything is good and fun! No one is a bad person, unless he labels them the bad guy for being meannnn to himmmm.
Actually, that's how he tends to label everything: how he sees them in relation to himself. Since he typically likes everything, everything is good! But if he did get the idea that someone was saying something untrue, or that someone he would only be upset because they were doing it to him, not because he believes they did a morally bad thing or something. To him, "morals" are sort of nonexistent. Whatever he says goes! Whatever he wants is! So he does whatever he wants and calls people whatever he likes, because he's the definitive end-all and who cares this society-thing's standards are, I'm the king and I can decide what I want! So, as a result, he tends to do things like taking objects people leave lying around or attempting to be verbally hurtful (in the case someone was being so mean to him omg) without feeling guilty, or even getting the idea that he's doing something wrong.
But Hiroyuki isn't stupid. Way way way wayyyy deep down, Hiroyuki has a barely-formed scrap of awareness inside him. The little bit of him that impulsively makes him not tell anyone where he lives or that he's never been outside, the bit that doesn't let him make anything but vague comments about his parents. Hiroyuki's subconscious is much more depressing than the self everyone else sees; in fact, it's filled with so many things Hiroyuki never wants to think about he refuses to acknowledge it. Still, he's influenced in small, subtle ways he doesn't notice because of it.
In truth, Hiroyuki is terrified of his parents, as much as he loves them. Even before their freakout at his sneaking out, they've always been at the top of his mental hierarchy by leaps and bounds. To most people he would describe them as amazing wizards who can make anything happen, but he really unconsciously considers them to be more like gods. Their word is absolute; they hold his entire world in his hands, since they've been there for him from the beginning. While to Hiroyuki his home is a kingdom, he is vaguely aware that, in reality, it is just a house -- and while he may run his kingdom as he pleases, they have control over the house in which it resides. In addition to that, he's been trained into obedience; he's always been told to listen to them, and that they were the most important things in his world (often by them). His entire universe centers around them, even if they aren't present much of the time -- not unlike most young children, but taken to an extreme degree.
And, deep down, he's also afraid of what they think of him. Even before he ever left the house, he used to wonder about the world "outside," if there was one. And when he was forbidden from thinking such things, his subconscious continued to wonder and agitate itself, until his final trip outside only seemed to become more proof for his secret worries. After all -- in all the stories he's ever known, for all the people he's ever known, and all the people he's ever seen outside -- none of them were locked up. People lock up dragons and criminals and detestable things, they lock up nobodies people wouldn't miss. And here he was, locked up like the rest of those dirty things. Why? He's always been afraid that maybe, just maybe, he isn't really a scuba diver or a knight or a super hero -- much less a king -- but a nobody his parents are ashamed of and want to hide away from the outside world. But if his parents don't want him, then he wouldn't have a "home" either; in other words, he's afraid that he's filthy and he doesn't belong anywhere.
But Hiroyuki would never like to think about that, never ever ever. He'd yell if anyone suggested that was the truth -- about what he thought, or about what his parents thought. So he just locks all those scary thoughts away in a little black box, and hides it in a small dark room in his head.
Extra:
Character Abilities: The ability to completely rewrite reality in his own mind?? Though that's really more of a product of how he lives and a coping mechanism. In that sense, he's very good at coping with a number of things that come his way! Even if they include self-denial, lying to himself, or twisting interpretations about about other people. On that note, he's also very creative.
Possessions: N/A
Anything else: N/A
Samples:
Action/Communication thread/post sample: Here! Pardon the PB, they were the norm.
Log/Prose sample: Already a member!
Full Name: Asai, Hiroyuki
Series: Original
Canon point: Just a little after he starts leaving his house secretly.
Age: 15
Species: Human
Appearance/PB: Color/basic reference! Hiroyuki has a mop of straight, white hair that goes a little past his shoulders. His eyes are a deep grey color, and his skin is more on the paler side, since he's almost never been outside before. Consequently, while he's of average height (neither too tall nor too short), he's not really the proper height for a growing boy, and probably won't get much bigger than he is. His clothes tend to vary (as apparent in his icons), since he's allowed to wear whatever he wants and has terrible fashion sense. They're often solid whites, occasionally with some sort of pattern on the fabric, and occasionally with some black to balance it out. He tends to wear clothes that are very floppy and loose in some way, and things that he can just slip on without the clothes themselves looking simple. This often results in various crimes against fashion, but no one's told him that.
Appearance upon arrival: Wearing the clothes in the picture linked above for simplicity's sake! Does not otherwise look different.
History:
Previous RP memories: N/A; Hiroyuki was originally an OC for an AU fandom RP, but I'm AU-ing his AU so his backstory works in a more general setting, if that makes sense.
Bringing someone along?: N/A
Character History:
When Hiroyuki was just born, his family consisting of his mother, father, and older brother by twelve years, Hisao, all lived in one of the major cities of the Chiba Prefecture, Japan. But where, exactly, even Hiroyuki couldn't say, because when he was just a few months old, they moved out.
Hisao had just been out playing with his friends outside -- and he was having so much fun he didn't remember to be careful when going out onto the road. And, as fate would have it, the one time he was neglectful, fate decided to punish him for it. Even his parents, with all the vast wealth they accumulated from their high-paying corporate jobs, couldn't find a surgery or hotel that would be able to save their child, who had been thoroughly crushed by a truck.
It had torn them apart, to lose their child so suddenly. He had been fine in the morning, but never came back when he went to play. And he would never come back, no matter how much money they had. They had lived humbly, but given Hisao and their newly-born son the utmost care and all the attention they could offer, bought them whatever he wanted -- all of that, but he was still gone. It was so incredibly difficult for them to cope that they took an impromptu vacation to the country after Hisao's funeral.
It was there that they mourned and spoke to each other in hushed tones, crying and figuring. There had to be something they could do, at least to protect Hiroyuki. But dangers were everywhere; no matter what, no matter where, no matter who he was with, surely he would run into some sort of danger in this vast, outside world.
So, they kept him from it.
With the wealth they were unable to save their first son with, they build an impenetrable fortress in order to protect their second one. Out in the country, not too far from a small town, they bought land and had a place too large to be called a house but just a little too small to be called a manor for their child. There were no windows, other than those on high ceilings, and only two doors -- one in the front and one in the back -- that were nearly impossible to open without going through a number of locks. The inside, while structurally sound, was constructed whimsically as to entertain a child, and fitted with all the necessities required to raise a child there. And so, telling only the few who could be trusted -- or payed -- not to tell, was a home constructed just for Hiroyuki and populated with maids and tutors who visited him to take care of him as he grew.
And that is how Hiroyuki's life was. He did not see his parents often, but he was always overjoyed when he did. They always smothered him with love and affection and toys, and always got him what he wanted and always listened to him and always played for him and! Even though they had to leave him alone all the time, he didn't mind. From an extremely early age, Hiroyuki taught himself how to not be alone. His stuffed animals were all his friends, his world, the inside of the house, was his world. It could be a jungle when he wanted it be, and they could be scuba divers when he wanted to be, or he could be a king if he wanted to be! Because everything, even the stuffed animals, even the people who occasionally came to visit, belong to him. Because everything was his! Because he was the king and the ruler and the person who was in this world the most, right? It was that way that he entertained himself, by weaving stories and myths about epic fights and romance and tales of his glory that all began in his room.
All of this was just fueled by his occasional tutors, who came by infrequently only to teach him to read, write, and to do math. His parents did not want him to be an uneducated child, after all; Hisao was very smart. But they believed that Hiroyuki only needed to know these things. But even more importantly, they didn't want him to be lonely, very much aware that, since they could only visit infrequently, some outside presences were needed to keep him some company.
So, even though his tutors and maids (who often cooked and cleaned for him, and taught him how to warm up meals safely if they weren't around) were told not to speak of a single word about the outside, he eventually pestered them enough so that some things slipped. They, alone with his parents, were his only interactions with other human beings. He was perfectly fine alone, but -- he loved it more when people were around. He liked to talk to them and play with them and be with them (even if a lot of them did make him do boring work) and pester them and more! But when they were gone, disappearing like wizards, he thought, he said it was fine. And he wasn't lying to himself, either; he really thought everything was perfect. He was a king! He had a million and one subjects and sometimes even more, so it's not like he was alone, and it's not like he was bored.
It never once occurred to him that there was a world outside, and even if his tutors had accidentally let it slip explicitly that there was a world outside, Hiroyuki would not have registered it. Because he had asked before, once, when he was very little; "Where do you go when I can't find you anywhere?" and "Is there more sky beyond these walls?" -- questions which were responded to with cold anger and rough hands. Hiroyuki never liked making his parents upset because he loved them, and he didn't like making them mad because they scared him, so he never asked again. No, rather, he shut out the very possibility from his mind; he was a good, obedient child in that respect, just like they wanted him to be.
The only trouble with raising a child in such an isolated environment, though, is that very thing about believing he owns the place: Hiroyuki had no empathy, or morals resembling anything like one would expect a normal child to have. He was arrogant, selfish, merry, combative -- all whenever he felt like it. He was curious when he felt like it, and anything under the sun was his to be curious about. Which led to some unfortunate instances -- trying to play torture chamber with a maid, trying to play surgeon -- all just a little past when he turned twelve, since he was very slowly becoming aware of his body and its functions. Of course, he was severely scolded for his misbehavior by his parents and maids became more infrequent, coming very rarely and cooks taking their places. He was turned back to playing in his Kingdom of Orswell, his Forest of Mysteries, his Sea of Blue, to coloring the walls with crayons and making pillow forts for, his parents hoped, the rest of his life. He was cute this way, they thought; he was innocent and safe and their precious little angel and would never be defiled by the outside world. Or so they thought.
At one point, not long after Hiroyuki turned fifteen and his parents came home just in time and they had the biggest biggest party ever, his tutors were careless. Just once. It was late and they had been up all of the night before and they had just had a fight with their wife and all sorts of things; he didn't have the patience to lock the back door's lock a quadruple squared times, and he didn't want to have to deal with locking the high-rise gate outside either, because seriously, it wasn't like any of the townspeople went near the place or anything. So he left things partially unlocked, confident nothing would go out or in -- Hiroyuki was a good kid, anyway. He had never asked about the doors, not even once. He could recognize the dangerous, and sometimes pitying silence that would follow any questions about them.
But he was playing jungle explorer, fording the depths of the deepest tunnels and fighting off the most savage beasts! And the door stuck out, because it looked a little loose among the scattered toys and furniture, and it was almost ajar. And this was a door that was always, always closed, no matter what, ever since he could remember. So of course he looked. And these were knick-knacks and gadgets that had always been sealed tight, so of course he played around with them. Didn't he have the right? He was jungle explorer and king and everything under the sun was his, wasn't it?
He opened the door, expecting to see another room, maybe even with treasure -- but what he saw was something he didn't understand. Something he had seen all the time in picture books, but it looked really real, even more than what he imagined when he was playing. Yes, imagined, he had thought at that moment, because all those things -- grass, dirt, the smell of fresh air, gravel, bugs, and a million other things -- that he had imagined to be there when he had been romping around weren't anything like this. But it wasn't that it was fake -- it was -- different. He didn't understand it, but he knew it was true.
So, of course he explored it.
He went outside, touching everything he could and looking at everything and anything, eventually sneaking just a little past the gate in the dark. What was this? What is this? Is it like that thing I read about? Is it like that thing I made up? It feels so weird, I want to keep it! More than anything, Hiroyuki was excited. It was, quite literally, a whole new world, entirely different than anything he had ever experienced before. But instead of wondering why the life he lived had been separated from this place -- the "outside," now -- or why his parents never spoke of the door, or wondering maybe that "outside" was where everyone had been disappearing to all this time; he was too busy reveling in all the new things.
But eventually it got too dark to see, so he had to find his way back instead of taking more time to explore, though he made that decision somewhat sullenly. He left the door the way it was before, and had tired himself out from playing around all day and running around outside so late at night that he fell asleep immediately.
That would have been a happy ending, had his parents not visited the next day, days before a maid or tutor would arrive to cover up their mistakes in favor of maintaining their handsome income. What was normally the adorable sight of their son curled up in a blanketfort in the hall instantly sent them into a panic. His mother reacted first -- not kindly, with sickly sweet persuasion to ask where exactly did all that dirt and grass and filthy stones from the outside come from, sweetie? but with hysterical anger.
What followed was the most terrifying moment of Hiroyuki's life. His parents had never been anything but sweet to him (except a few times which never tarnished his mental image of them) and had never, ever raised a hand to him before. But then, his mother had shoved him roughly against the wall and slapped him, pulled on his arms so hard and handled them so roughly to keep him in place he thought they might break, and yelled and yelled and yelled about so many things he didn't understand, while his father stood not even a foot away, allowing her to do as she pleased and barely containing his anger himself. Even when he did speak, it was harsh and cold and nothing like Hiroyuki had ever heard before. His parents yelled at each other almost as much as they yelled at him -- because they were scared an anxious all at once, and there was hell to pay.
But Hiroyuki, who didn't understand any of what was going on, only that he had done something wrong by exploring the outside (why?) cried and apologized over and over again, but his parents' wrath wouldn't be abated. And finally, when all the running was through, they dragged him up the stairs and locked him in an empty room he wasn't familiar with. He cried and hit the door and promised to be good -- but they weren't listening; they said it was for his own good, and they went downstairs to calm down and regroup. They couldn't let their darling child be hurt, after all. It wasn't his fault, he didn't know any better, just like they raised him to be. They just had to keep the rest of the world from trying to drag him out.
The next morning, when planning was done with, they let him out of the room and hugged him and pet his hair and told him it was all right, just a few mistakes had been made. But he absolutely completely without any hesitation or crossing fingers or half-truths or anything had to promise he would never, ever do that again, no matter what. No "outside." Nothing. Don't even think about it. They said it sweetly, but their voices were shaking. And, of course Hiroyuki accepted their conditions, because he loved his parents more than anything in the world, even if they didn't apologize for anything. He was the one who had done something wrong, after all.
Within the next few days, security was tightened and the few tutors he had were replaced with more tight-lipped, flexible people whose morality and care to their work were fluid with the right price. They did the same as the previous occupants of their jobs, but there were nowhere as friendly or nice as the old ones, many of whom Hiroyuki had known for years. But they were gone, his parent's said so, so he wasn't allowed to question it.
And he was good, for a few months. For those few months, he lived his life as normal, except with occasional peering at the doors in the front in back. With just the extra spy missions where he would watch people come and go when they thought he was in his room, the maybe-sometimes eavesdropping when they spoke of locks or tried to undo and redo the locks properly.
He wasn't disobeying parents, even when he somehow managed to figure out the combinations after many months of tedious efforts. After all, everything under the sky belonged to him, and there was more sky than the windows of the ceilings allowed. And -- he was curious. He wanted to know, he wanted to experience it, he wanted to feel it. He wanted to go "outside" again, and he was sure (even though he was deathly scared) no one would ever find out if he was sneaky enough.
And that is what he began to do for his fifteenth year, sneaking out every now and then and being mindful of the timing of the comings and goings of the people who came to -- his kingdom? His house...? so he wouldn't be caught. He snuck into the town sometimes and looked at things, and sometimes even spoke to the people -- how many there were -- and touched everything and collected everything and his life really, really was like a storybook, both inside and outside.
But still.
He always had to return home, and pretend it was never there. He always had to head back toward the horizon before it got too dark or before he got too dirty, following the path far out. He would always have to approach an impossibly large, decrepit-looking concrete block, surrounded by threatening wire whose walls were plastered with "PRIVATE PROPERTY - KEEP OUT," sneaking in and out of his own home as if he were some sort of refugee.
And all of that wasn't very kingly, was it?
Personality:
Hiroyuki's defining characteristic is that he's always, always chipper and extremely excitable. While he's not the bouncing-off-the-walls sort of cheery, he almost always has a smile on his face and a good attitude about everything. To Hiroyuki, everything is fun and new and interesting! He wants to know, he wants to know ♪ And he doesn't really care -- or know how to, for that matter -- to read the mood around him. He thinks it's neat or cool or all of the above, so, clearly, everyone else should too! He has his own pace that he doesn't change for anyone, and he defiantly refuses to yield to anything or anyone.
The main reason for this is that he approaches everything as if it were just another part of the larger game that is his life. And in his life, he's whatever he wants to be! He can be a chef or a king or a villager or an explorer or technician and the world around him follows suit -- or so he assumes. Because he's lived in (what's basically) a prison his entire life alone where that was true, Hiroyuki's perspective is a little true. It was true there, so why wouldn't it be true anywhere else? He recognizes that the outside world is different, and that yes, maybe he's just a little outside his domain, but that doesn't change anything. He completely believes that the world of fantasy is reality no matter where he is, so, to him, going outside is just the equivalent of a king exploring neighboring kingdoms.
It's also for this self-centric reason that he can be extremely pushy and occasionally callous. Hiroyuki always means for the best, really. He love love loves people and playing and having fun! And because he wants to have fun with everyone and explore everything, he often pushes his own desire's onto other people and expect them to go along with it. Usually, it works! Inside his "kingdom." But if he's ever rejected or told otherwise, he gets extremely sour and sullen, and doesn't hesitate to call the other person fair or mean without even considering their position -- because his is the only one that matters, he believes.
Still, he's somewhat capable of being made to understand other perspectives, though with some difficulty. If he really likes a person, he'll try to be more attentive to what they want -- but usually only as long as they coincide with his own wants. Honestly, understanding where other people come from is a long, tedious process Hiroyuki knows nothing about, so he ignores it and refuses to acknowledge it. It'd be a lot easier to tell him fantastical lies and gain his admiration or interest instead.
Hiroyuki is an extremely gullible person, primarily because, in his world, all those lies are true happenings. "Look, a shooting star attached to a hot air balloon!" might sound random and ridiculous to most people, but Hiroyuki would look and complain he missed it. Because he believes everything is possible and fun, it would never occur to him that someone is lying, even about the most basic things. And he's curious about everything, even the most mundane things -- particularly those things on the "outside." He wants to know about the workings and occupants and things out there! He wants to know and have fun there too and return home at the end of the day and have fun in his house, too. To him, everything is good and fun! No one is a bad person, unless he labels them the bad guy for being meannnn to himmmm.
Actually, that's how he tends to label everything: how he sees them in relation to himself. Since he typically likes everything, everything is good! But if he did get the idea that someone was saying something untrue, or that someone he would only be upset because they were doing it to him, not because he believes they did a morally bad thing or something. To him, "morals" are sort of nonexistent. Whatever he says goes! Whatever he wants is! So he does whatever he wants and calls people whatever he likes, because he's the definitive end-all and who cares this society-thing's standards are, I'm the king and I can decide what I want! So, as a result, he tends to do things like taking objects people leave lying around or attempting to be verbally hurtful (in the case someone was being so mean to him omg) without feeling guilty, or even getting the idea that he's doing something wrong.
But Hiroyuki isn't stupid. Way way way wayyyy deep down, Hiroyuki has a barely-formed scrap of awareness inside him. The little bit of him that impulsively makes him not tell anyone where he lives or that he's never been outside, the bit that doesn't let him make anything but vague comments about his parents. Hiroyuki's subconscious is much more depressing than the self everyone else sees; in fact, it's filled with so many things Hiroyuki never wants to think about he refuses to acknowledge it. Still, he's influenced in small, subtle ways he doesn't notice because of it.
In truth, Hiroyuki is terrified of his parents, as much as he loves them. Even before their freakout at his sneaking out, they've always been at the top of his mental hierarchy by leaps and bounds. To most people he would describe them as amazing wizards who can make anything happen, but he really unconsciously considers them to be more like gods. Their word is absolute; they hold his entire world in his hands, since they've been there for him from the beginning. While to Hiroyuki his home is a kingdom, he is vaguely aware that, in reality, it is just a house -- and while he may run his kingdom as he pleases, they have control over the house in which it resides. In addition to that, he's been trained into obedience; he's always been told to listen to them, and that they were the most important things in his world (often by them). His entire universe centers around them, even if they aren't present much of the time -- not unlike most young children, but taken to an extreme degree.
And, deep down, he's also afraid of what they think of him. Even before he ever left the house, he used to wonder about the world "outside," if there was one. And when he was forbidden from thinking such things, his subconscious continued to wonder and agitate itself, until his final trip outside only seemed to become more proof for his secret worries. After all -- in all the stories he's ever known, for all the people he's ever known, and all the people he's ever seen outside -- none of them were locked up. People lock up dragons and criminals and detestable things, they lock up nobodies people wouldn't miss. And here he was, locked up like the rest of those dirty things. Why? He's always been afraid that maybe, just maybe, he isn't really a scuba diver or a knight or a super hero -- much less a king -- but a nobody his parents are ashamed of and want to hide away from the outside world. But if his parents don't want him, then he wouldn't have a "home" either; in other words, he's afraid that he's filthy and he doesn't belong anywhere.
But Hiroyuki would never like to think about that, never ever ever. He'd yell if anyone suggested that was the truth -- about what he thought, or about what his parents thought. So he just locks all those scary thoughts away in a little black box, and hides it in a small dark room in his head.
Extra:
Character Abilities: The ability to completely rewrite reality in his own mind?? Though that's really more of a product of how he lives and a coping mechanism. In that sense, he's very good at coping with a number of things that come his way! Even if they include self-denial, lying to himself, or twisting interpretations about about other people. On that note, he's also very creative.
Possessions: N/A
Anything else: N/A
Samples:
Action/Communication thread/post sample: Here! Pardon the PB, they were the norm.
Log/Prose sample: Already a member!