character meme
Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy?
Kurapika looks thin because of his fair complexion and longer hair, but he's five feet and seven inches tall and weighs a hundred and thirty pounds. Those are normal, balanced stats. He's an ectomorph in more scientific terms, slightly-built and flexible and agile. He's built for speed rather than raw strength, and he'll never bulk up because of his body type, but he does have the tiny muscles to prove that he's been training and keeping himself fit. At the moment he still has a bit of baby fat to soften the edges, but once his growth catches up to his age he'll probably be considered lithe, if not lean and wiry.
2. How old is he?
He's twenty-one. Seventeen in the series, twenty-one when he got dragged into Death City. If he looks like he's not a day over eighteen, that's because he started using nen at that age, and knowing how to use nen means he can perform ten on a daily basis - it involves regulating the flow of life energy around one's body and preventing it from leaking out uselessly, which occurs naturally for normal people who can't use nen. He's able to slow his ageing down, in other words. He's going to start ageing normally now that his ability to control it has been sealed, though.
3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch?
Dignified and slightly aloof, like he knows that he's carrying a heavy legacy and an important task, and he's not going to let anyone stop him. He's proud of his bloodline even as he tries not to let too many people know about it, and he stands tall as if his every action will reflect on the memory of his clan. There are moments when he'll relax and let his guard down, and moments when there's this hint that he's a beast capable of ripping someone apart with his bare hands. It depends on the people he's with at any given point in time, usually.
4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
He's as healthy as any athlete should be, but measurements for fitness are rather skewed in HxH canon. The fact that he's able to run a grueling marathon without tiring even prior to learning nen and "leveling up" implies that his aerobic endurance level is off the charts. And his job as a Blacklist Hunter is physically demanding and requires that he's always ready to fight. In canon he'd be considered a monster when compared against normal people. In Death City he'd still be described as being ridiculously physically fit despite his abilities being sealed.
5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?
Kurapika is normally graceful and light-footed, and moves with the quiet confidence of someone who doesn't like to call attention to himself while he's going about fulfilling his tasks. Growing up in a forest village as a child had given him plenty of time to get used to moving quickly and unobtrusively, and then having to traverse the world outside of his village by himself after the massacre of his clan only served to make him more careful not to catch anyone's attention, because attention means scrutiny, and he'll be fucked if his identity gets discovered by the wrong person. He's been rather tense ever since he arrived at Death City, however.
6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror?
He's one of the nicer-looking characters in canon, possibly second only to Killua in looks among the protagonists, if not first. He has refined features, very striking because of the color of his eyes and the quality of his hair, and he's androgynous enough to pass as a girl with only a wig, clothes and light makeup. If not for his flat chest and the way he walks and carries himself, he'd probably be mistaken for a girl more frequently. It's not that bad in Death City, at least. He's grown up a bit since his Hunter Exam days, and gone are the voluminous tribal clothes that might have made people uncertain as to his gender believe that he might be hiding boobs under them. He's still oddly self-conscious about it, however, not because he's aware of how pretty he looks or anything equally vain. In fact, he's very oblivious to it and doesn't think that he looks any more aesthetically pleasing than the next guest. It's a complex that he developed after being beaten by Kuroro over and over in one-on-one fights - he now hates that he looks scrawny and "girly" especially when compared against Kuroro's build.
7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?
He's very light-skinned, like someone who's used to staying indoors, which is odd considering that he should have traveled a lot after leaving his village. The skin on his arms and his face is probably a shade darker enough to be called fair, but his legs and his feet - they're so ridiculously pale. Like porcelain. BM He should have tanned slightly in Death City, though. All that construction work under the sun...
He has a faint scar at his back, six inches long, below his left shoulder, from where he got cut while in weapon form by a vector tail implanted unknowingly in a fellow guest.
8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style.
Blond, dark enough to look golden yellow especially when the sun hits it the right way. The strands are normal - not too fine but not thick. It falls straight and is very easy to manage; Kurapika can shower and towel-dry and just run a comb through his hair a few times and he'll be ready to go. He never has to worry about flyaways and cowlicks, either. (Just blessed with good genes, maybe?) He kept it at chin-length in his world. When he first arrived at Death City he grew it out a bit - most likely because he didn't have time to get it trimmed, or didn't care - until Kuroro offered to give him a haircut because Kurapika had to keep sweeping it away from his face. Kurapika gets that haircut once every two months now. It's a clean, boyish cut that exposes his neck and his ears.
9. What color are his eyes?
Blue-green. Like the shallower parts of sea. B|b Or idek, he has brown eyes in the manga, and green eyes in the early arcs of the anime. The animators finally settled on greenish-blue during the later OVAs. I am more partial to blue, though, or blue-green, for when they're normal, but they're a bright, bloody red whenever he feels intense emotions like anger or fear. They probably glow in the dark.
10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?
Aside from his eyes, nothing else. He has an earring on his left ear. It's dangly and delicate and has a small pinkish diamond-shaped gemstone. It's not gay because my head canon says that the color comes from blood imbued into it.
11. What are his chief tension centers?
Neck, shoulders, upper back. He holds himself stiffly when he's outraged or annoyed, and hunches his shoulders slightly when he's feeling uncomfortable or out of his depth. His eyes, too. 8D Bet he gets eyestrain from glaring too much. (Or whenever his eyes turn red. Canon doesn't really give any information about the adverse effects it has on his body, but I imagine that they actually itch or ache when he uses them too much, because he never learned to control them the right way.)
12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does he have six of the same suit?
... He has a horrible fashion sense in canon. It's possible that he's just trying to keep the spirit of his tribe alive by wearing their motifs, but seriously, orange and blue together in those shades makes him a very visible target for ridicule. The loose tunic he wore in the Hunter Exam wasn't that bad - at worst, it made him look like a kid - and the red shirt he wore on their trip to rescue Killua from his family actually looks stylish and tapered, but then he shows up in the York Shin arc in a tabard and something that looks like a stiff skirt, again, blue with orange lining. Under his weird tops he usually wears a light-colored long-sleeved shirt over a black tank and loose cotton pants, probably very comfortable and utilitarian. And flats. Makes one wonder just how he's able to kick that hard with such light footwear. His casual clothes aren't any better. He doesn't know how to dress to his advantage. It's like he's reluctant to show off his god-given grace and looks, and ends up getting jackets with weird patterns and pants that don't complement his height. It's a bit better in SC, but only because he doesn't have a lot of choices with the allowance Shibusen gives him - plain T-shirts and jeans and practical footwear, like slippers and sneakers. One should note, however, that he has surprisingly normal tastes while disguising himself - he actually makes for a cute girl.
13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them?
Well... they fit all right. It's just that they look horrible on him. He doesn't seem to be aware of it, and is perfectly comfortable wearing his tribal outfits - even charging into the midst of a crowd of men all wearing black suits in his blue and orange getup. Thank god that BREW pulled him on a day when he's wearing inconspicuous clothing, because that means his tabard-skirt set probably got left behind in a motel somewhere. As for his everyday SC wear - yes, he's quite comfortable in them. Or doesn't care, rather; he'll wear whatever's practical considering the weather and his training regimen.
14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences?
It depends on his job. For first impressions, he wears his tribal clothes proudly. While on the job... again, it depends. If he needs to be discreet - say, while working undercover or as a bodyguard, he'll dress appropriately. But Hunters are given a lot of leeway when it comes to their work ethic, and unfortunately this includes what clothes they prefer to wear, and his employers usually don't give a crap what he wears as long as he gets the job done. In SC, he worked at the butler cafe for about a month or so, which meant that he had to learn how to dress smartly - waist coats, button-down shirts, sleek trousers and black leather shoes, and that style could have influenced the way he dresses now, even after resigning from the butler cafe. He's currently helping at the clinic as a trainee. There's no dress code, so he wears casual clothes, but he tries to look as clean and as competent as possible.
15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando?
Boxers. B| Plain black or white boxers. He wore boxers during the pageant, too. (Well, maybe tight-fitting ones. Almost like cycling shorts. Very short cycling shorts. He rejected the panties Kida got for him.)
Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse?
2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate?
3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?
4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency?
5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations?
6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words?
Kurapika is always thinking, though. It's becoming one of his main faults, actually; he just thinks far too much for his own good, even with his words--although it actually depends on the situation and his mood, or the person he's speaking to. Anger and stress makes him looser with his opinions, and his speech can and will get affected by his emotions. Circumstances that leave him feeling out of his depth heightens his guard, and he usually takes twice the amount of time and effort when speaking. On the other hand, he's more honest and careless if he feels comfortable and safe, or if he's familiar with the person he's talking to.
7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change?
He's--very eloquent, bordering on TL;DR at times. With his internal filters up and running at full capacity it'll take him three sentences to say "fuck you" in a less offensive manner. As a result he can be rather indirect, and while he's good at explaining things, some of his statements might be misunderstood, or his original points might be lost in the crush of niceties. One can get him to be more succinct but still exact by annoying him enough that he stops taking pains to cushion his replies. And his tongue will completely fail him when he's intensely embarrassed or enraged. He'll either start sputtering, or get too angry to do anything more than inarticulately express his rage through physical means.
Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart?
2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate?
3. Describe the character's thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical?
4. What kind of education has the character had?
5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about?
6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?
7. Describe the character's temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?
8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?
Open but reserved. He has a voracious appetite for knowledge and new experiences, but he doesn't show his excitement easily, and he'll only ever lower his guard and act visibly enthusiastic about anything in front of people he's comfortable with. He's open-minded in that he'll try to keep his perceptions open and receptive to new people and situations - he has the empathy for it, after all - but he has a certain level of tolerance and particular peeves that should never be hit for him to continue being receptive to anything new. Otherwise he'll start judging someone or something mercilessly if his personal standards or principles are being offended.
9. Is he more likely to act, or to react?
10. Which is his default: fight or flight?
11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?
Kurapika has an underdeveloped sense of humor. Comes with his background and his character, unfortunately, but it also largely depends on his mood and the person making the joke. He doesn't do well with jokes made on his expense, especially if they're from people he's not exactly on good terms with. He feels vaguely threatened by Cloud's goal to get him a sense of humor, too, and would prefer if the other blond were to forget about it. On the other hand, he appreciates humor from people like China, is more gracious if he's being teased by girls, and can tolerate good-natured pranking from people he knows won't derive enjoyment out of tormenting him for his faults. All in all he's rather sparse with his smiles, is a bit of a buzzkill because of his dark outlook on life, and teasing true unrestrained laughter from him would be like winning the lottery and finding the Holy Grail in one.
12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them?
13. What moments in this character's life have defined him as a person?
14. What does he fear?
15. What are his hopes or aspirations?
16. What is something he doesn't want anyone to find out about him?
Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with his parents.
His parents are dead. >: All his blood relations are dead, everyone he knew up until twelve years of age. Canon never shows how he regards his parents, other than "they're dead you dumb fuck now I go kill their murderers and get their eyes back" - but I imagine that he was very close to them. He feels like the type of character who'd have his roots very close to home, very much a homebody if the massacre hadn't happened and forced him to leave his village and get used to not being attached to any particular location. His mother would treat him like a daughter, teaching him household chores and gardening and other wife-y skills, but he'd take after his father and be absolutely crap at cooking and strangely skilled at hunting. He'd be a good kid, with occasional wild streaks, dutifully studying and being an obedient and loving son six days of the week and tearing out of the house to go poke at bears in the forest and giving his parents coronaries once every two weeks.
2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like?
See previous question. He's probably an only child, since he never mentions a sibling in canon - he wouldn't have been remiss in including the murder of a sibling in his list of grievances if he had a brother or a sister who got killed in the massacre.
3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can't stand?
Grandparents, probably. He'd love listening to his grandmother's fairytales. His grandfather would spoil him and lend him books to read every few days. He'd have gotten along with his aunts and uncles given that he's his parents' only child, but maybe there were cousins he couldn't stand. :D Like older cousins who might have bullied or teased him, or younger cousins he saw as being childish or immature.
4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them?
Rather than being a mysterious hidden village inhabited only by red-eyed savages, the Kuruta community is probably comprised of people with the Kuruta bloodline and outsiders without the eyes who've chosen to settle in the Rukuso valley. It would be unreasonable to expect that the village was exclusive since it would mean inbreeding and marriages between relatives, so--yeah. All the Kuruta would be related by blood, and everyone else would most likely be in-laws or close friends of his relatives, and the village would be like one massive extended family. Completely unrelated people would be rare, but if there were any, it would be the odd merchant or traveler or academic staying there only for certain periods of time, and Kurapika being the inquisitive kid he was would have bugged them incessantly for stories of the world outside the village. He'd probably treat them like favored aunts or uncles.
5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet?
The closest anyone came to being his best friend/s would be Gon, Killua and Leorio. Kurapika met them when he took the Hunter Exam. At first it was just a matter of them sticking together because they were all first-timers, but eventually it reached a point where they were all dependent on each other in order to pass, and it would have been impossible for Kurapika not to form close ties with them. Out of the three of them Leorio was the one he confided in the most, about his past and his motivations and goals, and Kurapika has also come to admire Leorio's determination to become a doctor. He still retains contact with them, although he has this stupid tendency to keep his dangerous Ryodan-related activities secret from them, and so they probably have no idea that he's been running into Kuroro again and again over the past two years. They wouldn't know that he's been spirited away to Death City, either...
6. Does he have other close friends?
There's this music hunter he met during the job in York Shin who possesses ears so keen that she can tell a person's mood and general thoughts just by listening to their heartbeat. She might have saved him from a suicidal run into a Geneiryodan rampage by figuring out that he was harboring said suicidal thoughts and playing the token calming music on her flute to bring him back to his senses. He was deep in enemy territory then, working for people who wouldn't think twice about dunking his head in preserving fluid if they ever found out about his eyes, and she found out about his background and vowed to keep it a secret. Senritsu is thereby one of the few people he trusts, outside of his best friends. There's also the grizzled middle-aged nen instructor who taught him nen, but material on him is scarce and only comes in a flashback. He'll probably be thought of as an important acquaintance, though.
In Soul Campaign he has certain people he considers to be important and will freely admit holding affection for: namely Prussia, Germany, China and John Watson, and then Cloud Strife and a previous incarnation of Neku Sakuraba. The one in the city now is different, and doesn't remember their friendship, and so he's been keeping his distance for as long as the younger boy doesn't express an interest to restart communications - primarily to avoid the embarrassment they both went through the last time. Kurapika's also getting close to Sasuke Uchiha and Kozato Enma which apparently amuses Kuroro because their similar experiences with loss and revenge makes them seem like three peas in a pod. He enjoys talking to Ash Ketchum, Katsura Kotarou, Fa Mulan and Oerba dia Vanille, but they're just a bit more than casual acquaintances at this point - he hasn't managed to bring himself to confide in them yet.
And of course, the nature of his partnership with Kuroro means that there's no one closer to him than the meister. It's an odd sort of intimacy built on contradiction. They're not best friends but their souls are extremely compatible. Kurapika would never willingly talk about his issues, but constant resonance means that Kuroro's quite familiar with the way he thinks. They're supposed to be mortal enemies, but each is determined to perform their roles perfectly. Or rather, Kurapika feels morally-bound to meet Kuroro's expectations of him as a weapon, and he has really weird ideas about making sure that Kuroro gets back to their world alive so he can continue his revenge plans. On the other hand, he doesn't really understand why Kuroro keeps watching out for him--or he's having difficulty accepting it as a constant, rather, despite being already subconsciously beholden to his partner's unsolicited attention.
7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people?
He's a rather reserved person, which means that he gets along better with certain type of people. Friendly and cheerful people who seem to glow with a warm light of their own remind him of Gon, and if they're younger than he is, there's the double pull of him getting the urge to watch out for them. (Or if they're a lot older than he is, he might very well end up treating them like parental figures.) On the other end of the spectrum, people who tick off his pet peeves and offend his sensibilities and disagree with his principles will get the cold shoulder from him, unless they force themselves on him and insist on attempting to cultivate some kind of friendship. And in the middle there are the normal people who don't catch his interest - he'll probably ignore them unless approached first. But for all three instances, it's not that easy for him to make friends since he doesn't trust easily and he's mostly socially-awkward.
8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends?
9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once?
10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse?
... Well... no, but in Death City he's partnered to a dude... who so far is well on his way to fulfilling maybe half of Kurapika's very stringent requirements for a romantic partner--even though he's unaware of these criteria and doesn't know that they're already being crossed out one-by-one. So. Unconventional courtship/stupidly unintentional foreplay ftw. Then he and Kuroro found out recently that they're supposed to end up together ten years into a fucked-up version of the future. Kurapika was horrified by the revelation, suffice to say, and has sworn not to let it happen, but see, there's this thing people refer to as a self-fulfilling prophecy...
11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest?
12. What does he look for in a romantic partner?
Equality, compassion and sensitivity. His partner [wip]
13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any?
He's twenty-one, and he won't be having kids anytime soon. He doesn't believe that he'll ever be blessed enough to gain a family of his own - not that he even wants to, for that matter. Kurapika is aware that he won't make a good father, with everything he's gone through and everything else that he still needs to deal with, and he won't put a kid through that.
14. Does he have any rivals or enemies?
15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale?
... X. Very firmly asexual. He has no experience and has no plans of experiencing it anytime soon. Not only is his sole-survivor life kind of not unconducive to romantic relationships, but any thought that leads to hooking up with a girl will sooner than later lead to thoughts of whether or not he should continue his bloodline now that he's the last Kuruta alive, and--no. This is Kurapika deciding that his gene pool will most likely die with him, that is, if he were the kind of person to even think about thoughts like that. And the thing about living in a world where the person you hunt today might be the person hunting you tomorrow is that all that energy and testosterone just gets directed to fighting and surviving. He literally doesn't have the time or the energy to spare for the parts down south. In the same vein, the lines separating different kinds of sexual orientations doesn't exist for him because attraction for him will probably depend on whether the other person can match him in intellect and strength. He has to be challenged, and his interest has to be captured long enough for him to start being physically attracted to someone. It's a tall order, and almost impossible to fulfill in Death City. In any case, he's a very wholesome kid. He won't be flipping anyone's skirts anytime in the near or far future.
16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him?
He's very adjkfahsd about it. It embarrasses him. The very thought makes him blush. Watching someone kissing someone else with tongue makes him blush. He believes that it's a very intimate, very sacred act that should be kept private and only performed between people who are fully committed to each other. But that's just how he views sex in general - add himself into the equation and he'll add the requirement that says he has to be deeply, madly in love with the other person before he'll agree to do it. It's like one of two ultimate signs that he trusts a person completely. The other one is being able to trust a person with his back in battle - it means that he trusts that person with his life. But sex, now. It means that he trusts that person with his heart, so the meaning of the act is fairly important to him, but the act itself is a low-priority concern. (See answer to question number 15.)
17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits?
... Gentleness, maybe. Consideration for his feelings and his pleasure. Violence or other weird kinks won't work for him because he's seen violence and experienced violence being visited upon his person, and they're not particularly arousing memories. This marks him as a bottom, unfortunately, but he's. Just not into sex. He wouldn't know how to take the lead. In contrast, being taken care of will bewilder him and. You know. Stir those dormant teenage hormones to life. Whoever manages to turn him on will know if it's successful if his eyes turn red. That's probably about the only weird bedroom habit that his partner will have to deal with at first.
Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type?
Togashi never mentions years - probably because HxH has a fucked-up world already and trying to think of an actual calendar system for it would be rather problematic. Instead, if I take the year the manga first came out together with Kurapika's given age at the start of the series, that puts his birthday at April 4, 1981 - the year of the metal rooster, and under Aries. The given Wikipedia link describes roosters to be
"Acute, neat, meticulous, organized, self-assured, decisive, conservative, critical, perfectionist, alert, zealous, practical, scientific, responsible. Can be over zealous and critical, puritanical, egotistical, abrasive, proud, opinionated, given to empty bravado."
--which really is Kurapika in so many words. He's neat and organized and almost obsessive-compulsive, sooo conservative and prudish that I find myself wanting to rip my hair out because I can't get in on the dirty jokes while playing him. He's very critical and principled; he's hard on others and doubly hard on himself, and he's blunt and honest and opinionated to the point of being abrasive sometimes. Perhaps the only things that don't match are that roosters are supposed to like attention, entertaining people, and are conscious about clothing and appearance. I would chalk it up to his clan getting killed destroying those particular attributes.
Aries, on the other hand, is said to be a fire sign, which exhibits righteousness and these other things:
"These people conform to the standard of moral law. They do what is right and are known for their sense of fair play. They are truthful, straight-forward, just, upright and virtuous in their dealings with other people. The Fire signs are the true warriors. They demonstrate courage, fortitude, zeal and pugnacity. They have the mental and moral strength that enables them to venture into unknown waters and to persevere and withstand danger. They seldom show fear and are confident in their actions. They have mettle, resolution, and tenacity. They can face danger or difficulty without flinching or retreating. They will fight for their principles and have a stubborn persistence that is unwilling to recognize defeat. They have grit, backbone, guts, and are willing to keep fighting under all odds. They are aggressive and thrive on challenge. The Fire signs are of a spiritual nature. They have a nature that gives them physical energy, strength and vital powers. Their essential characteristic qualities are liveliness, energy, ardor, enthusiasm, courage and action. They have a firm, courageous and assertive disposition which is their most characteristic quality. The emotional nature of the Fire sign is goal oriented. These people like to win or be the best in anything they pursue. Their aggressive nature makes them just one big ego. There is nothing more stimulating to them than to win, and there is nothing more depressing to their ego than to lose. They strive to be the center of attention and are at home when showing off. They are straight-forward and have no reservations about hurting the feelings of others by their forthrightness. The main virtue of this sign is being just and right."
Still fairly accurate, especially the parts about moral law and doing what's right and virtuous. He's courageous and tenacious, verging on reckless at times, and he has (or at least, had, before Soul Campaign and Kuroro) vast mental and moral strength of character. He takes all that and decides to be a blacklist hunter, which is a very dangerous, but fairly important job given that there are a lot of superpowered criminals running around in his world, people who can't be touched by normal law enforcers - it shows mettle and resolution, and perfectionism and a hatred of losing (failing and losing means death). But again, there are just some things that are off--like striving to be the center of attention and showing off and being tactless enough to hurt people. He might have retained these characteristics if he'd grown up with a normal childhood, though.
2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life?
3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it?
4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?
5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them?
Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?
Kurapika isn't rich in conventional standards, but he owns a Hunter License. Certified Hunters are the VIPs of their world, even more so than diplomats, leaders or celebrities. They are allowed access to first class accommodations in almost every form of transportation and lodging there is, free of charge, and can get into most countries, even areas that are normally forbidden to the general public. The license can be used as collateral for a zero-interest loan of 100 million zenny (approximately 1,017,500 USD), and by itself is worth enough to support a life of luxury for at least seven generations. Hunter jobs also pay quite well, and he does more than enough every year to support himself. So while he doesn't have anything like a huge stash of money, he does live comfortably. In Death City he subsists on the allowance Shibusen gives the guests. It's a huge drop from his previous financial status, but he's not a wastrel in the first place despite the temptation to abuse his license's benefits. It wasn't difficult to adjust, so he's still quite comfortable. Once he starts working he'll have more to spend for himself.
2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him?
3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others?
His village kind of got... gutted when the Geneiryodan attacked it, so he doesn't have anything like a home base to go back to. He moves around instead, and checks into hotels or motels or rents apartment units depending on where his work takes him. Sometimes he gets accommodations with his employers, for the bodyguarding jobs that require him to stay close to the people he's protecting, for example. Otherwise, he flits from one place to another. In-between jobs he might live in a condominium or a flat for a few months, but he'll always up and move before it can start feeling lived-in. His living spaces always feel impersonal as a result - neat and orderly, but usually devoid of any personal effects. It's the same in Death City, since he hasn't started to consider that he might be stuck there for more than a handful of months. For him it's just a place to crash. He keeps it clean, and the only signs that he even lives there are the borrowed books on the coffee table and the food in the kitchen, toiletries in the bathroom and clothes in the closet and the hamper.
4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on?
5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else?
6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time?
7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods?
Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is his favorite:
1. Color? blue and orange
Associate:
Favorite:
2. Smell? rain and freshly-watered earth and greenery
Associate:
Favorite:
3. Time of day?
Associate:
Favorite:
4. Season?
Associate:
Favorite:
5. Book?
Associate:
Favorite:
6. Music?
Associate:
Favorite:
7. Place?
Associate:
Favorite:
8. Substance?
Associate:
Favorite:
9. Plant?
Associate:
Favorite:
10. Animal?
Associate:
Favorite:
END
{{ Get the HTML here so you can do it yourself. }}
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy?
Kurapika looks thin because of his fair complexion and longer hair, but he's five feet and seven inches tall and weighs a hundred and thirty pounds. Those are normal, balanced stats. He's an ectomorph in more scientific terms, slightly-built and flexible and agile. He's built for speed rather than raw strength, and he'll never bulk up because of his body type, but he does have the tiny muscles to prove that he's been training and keeping himself fit. At the moment he still has a bit of baby fat to soften the edges, but once his growth catches up to his age he'll probably be considered lithe, if not lean and wiry.
2. How old is he?
He's twenty-one. Seventeen in the series, twenty-one when he got dragged into Death City. If he looks like he's not a day over eighteen, that's because he started using nen at that age, and knowing how to use nen means he can perform ten on a daily basis - it involves regulating the flow of life energy around one's body and preventing it from leaking out uselessly, which occurs naturally for normal people who can't use nen. He's able to slow his ageing down, in other words. He's going to start ageing normally now that his ability to control it has been sealed, though.
3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch?
Dignified and slightly aloof, like he knows that he's carrying a heavy legacy and an important task, and he's not going to let anyone stop him. He's proud of his bloodline even as he tries not to let too many people know about it, and he stands tall as if his every action will reflect on the memory of his clan. There are moments when he'll relax and let his guard down, and moments when there's this hint that he's a beast capable of ripping someone apart with his bare hands. It depends on the people he's with at any given point in time, usually.
4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
He's as healthy as any athlete should be, but measurements for fitness are rather skewed in HxH canon. The fact that he's able to run a grueling marathon without tiring even prior to learning nen and "leveling up" implies that his aerobic endurance level is off the charts. And his job as a Blacklist Hunter is physically demanding and requires that he's always ready to fight. In canon he'd be considered a monster when compared against normal people. In Death City he'd still be described as being ridiculously physically fit despite his abilities being sealed.
5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?
Kurapika is normally graceful and light-footed, and moves with the quiet confidence of someone who doesn't like to call attention to himself while he's going about fulfilling his tasks. Growing up in a forest village as a child had given him plenty of time to get used to moving quickly and unobtrusively, and then having to traverse the world outside of his village by himself after the massacre of his clan only served to make him more careful not to catch anyone's attention, because attention means scrutiny, and he'll be fucked if his identity gets discovered by the wrong person. He's been rather tense ever since he arrived at Death City, however.
6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror?
He's one of the nicer-looking characters in canon, possibly second only to Killua in looks among the protagonists, if not first. He has refined features, very striking because of the color of his eyes and the quality of his hair, and he's androgynous enough to pass as a girl with only a wig, clothes and light makeup. If not for his flat chest and the way he walks and carries himself, he'd probably be mistaken for a girl more frequently. It's not that bad in Death City, at least. He's grown up a bit since his Hunter Exam days, and gone are the voluminous tribal clothes that might have made people uncertain as to his gender believe that he might be hiding boobs under them. He's still oddly self-conscious about it, however, not because he's aware of how pretty he looks or anything equally vain. In fact, he's very oblivious to it and doesn't think that he looks any more aesthetically pleasing than the next guest. It's a complex that he developed after being beaten by Kuroro over and over in one-on-one fights - he now hates that he looks scrawny and "girly" especially when compared against Kuroro's build.
7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?
He's very light-skinned, like someone who's used to staying indoors, which is odd considering that he should have traveled a lot after leaving his village. The skin on his arms and his face is probably a shade darker enough to be called fair, but his legs and his feet - they're so ridiculously pale. Like porcelain. BM He should have tanned slightly in Death City, though. All that construction work under the sun...
He has a faint scar at his back, six inches long, below his left shoulder, from where he got cut while in weapon form by a vector tail implanted unknowingly in a fellow guest.
8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style.
Blond, dark enough to look golden yellow especially when the sun hits it the right way. The strands are normal - not too fine but not thick. It falls straight and is very easy to manage; Kurapika can shower and towel-dry and just run a comb through his hair a few times and he'll be ready to go. He never has to worry about flyaways and cowlicks, either. (Just blessed with good genes, maybe?) He kept it at chin-length in his world. When he first arrived at Death City he grew it out a bit - most likely because he didn't have time to get it trimmed, or didn't care - until Kuroro offered to give him a haircut because Kurapika had to keep sweeping it away from his face. Kurapika gets that haircut once every two months now. It's a clean, boyish cut that exposes his neck and his ears.
9. What color are his eyes?
Blue-green. Like the shallower parts of sea. B|b Or idek, he has brown eyes in the manga, and green eyes in the early arcs of the anime. The animators finally settled on greenish-blue during the later OVAs. I am more partial to blue, though, or blue-green, for when they're normal, but they're a bright, bloody red whenever he feels intense emotions like anger or fear. They probably glow in the dark.
10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?
Aside from his eyes, nothing else. He has an earring on his left ear. It's dangly and delicate and has a small pinkish diamond-shaped gemstone. It's not gay because my head canon says that the color comes from blood imbued into it.
11. What are his chief tension centers?
Neck, shoulders, upper back. He holds himself stiffly when he's outraged or annoyed, and hunches his shoulders slightly when he's feeling uncomfortable or out of his depth. His eyes, too. 8D Bet he gets eyestrain from glaring too much. (Or whenever his eyes turn red. Canon doesn't really give any information about the adverse effects it has on his body, but I imagine that they actually itch or ache when he uses them too much, because he never learned to control them the right way.)
12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does he have six of the same suit?
... He has a horrible fashion sense in canon. It's possible that he's just trying to keep the spirit of his tribe alive by wearing their motifs, but seriously, orange and blue together in those shades makes him a very visible target for ridicule. The loose tunic he wore in the Hunter Exam wasn't that bad - at worst, it made him look like a kid - and the red shirt he wore on their trip to rescue Killua from his family actually looks stylish and tapered, but then he shows up in the York Shin arc in a tabard and something that looks like a stiff skirt, again, blue with orange lining. Under his weird tops he usually wears a light-colored long-sleeved shirt over a black tank and loose cotton pants, probably very comfortable and utilitarian. And flats. Makes one wonder just how he's able to kick that hard with such light footwear. His casual clothes aren't any better. He doesn't know how to dress to his advantage. It's like he's reluctant to show off his god-given grace and looks, and ends up getting jackets with weird patterns and pants that don't complement his height. It's a bit better in SC, but only because he doesn't have a lot of choices with the allowance Shibusen gives him - plain T-shirts and jeans and practical footwear, like slippers and sneakers. One should note, however, that he has surprisingly normal tastes while disguising himself - he actually makes for a cute girl.
13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them?
Well... they fit all right. It's just that they look horrible on him. He doesn't seem to be aware of it, and is perfectly comfortable wearing his tribal outfits - even charging into the midst of a crowd of men all wearing black suits in his blue and orange getup. Thank god that BREW pulled him on a day when he's wearing inconspicuous clothing, because that means his tabard-skirt set probably got left behind in a motel somewhere. As for his everyday SC wear - yes, he's quite comfortable in them. Or doesn't care, rather; he'll wear whatever's practical considering the weather and his training regimen.
14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences?
It depends on his job. For first impressions, he wears his tribal clothes proudly. While on the job... again, it depends. If he needs to be discreet - say, while working undercover or as a bodyguard, he'll dress appropriately. But Hunters are given a lot of leeway when it comes to their work ethic, and unfortunately this includes what clothes they prefer to wear, and his employers usually don't give a crap what he wears as long as he gets the job done. In SC, he worked at the butler cafe for about a month or so, which meant that he had to learn how to dress smartly - waist coats, button-down shirts, sleek trousers and black leather shoes, and that style could have influenced the way he dresses now, even after resigning from the butler cafe. He's currently helping at the clinic as a trainee. There's no dress code, so he wears casual clothes, but he tries to look as clean and as competent as possible.
15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando?
Boxers. B| Plain black or white boxers. He wore boxers during the pageant, too. (Well, maybe tight-fitting ones. Almost like cycling shorts. Very short cycling shorts. He rejected the panties Kida got for him.)
Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse?
2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate?
3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?
4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency?
5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations?
6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words?
Kurapika is always thinking, though. It's becoming one of his main faults, actually; he just thinks far too much for his own good, even with his words--although it actually depends on the situation and his mood, or the person he's speaking to. Anger and stress makes him looser with his opinions, and his speech can and will get affected by his emotions. Circumstances that leave him feeling out of his depth heightens his guard, and he usually takes twice the amount of time and effort when speaking. On the other hand, he's more honest and careless if he feels comfortable and safe, or if he's familiar with the person he's talking to.
7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change?
He's--very eloquent, bordering on TL;DR at times. With his internal filters up and running at full capacity it'll take him three sentences to say "fuck you" in a less offensive manner. As a result he can be rather indirect, and while he's good at explaining things, some of his statements might be misunderstood, or his original points might be lost in the crush of niceties. One can get him to be more succinct but still exact by annoying him enough that he stops taking pains to cushion his replies. And his tongue will completely fail him when he's intensely embarrassed or enraged. He'll either start sputtering, or get too angry to do anything more than inarticulately express his rage through physical means.
Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart?
2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate?
3. Describe the character's thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical?
4. What kind of education has the character had?
5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about?
6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?
7. Describe the character's temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?
8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?
Open but reserved. He has a voracious appetite for knowledge and new experiences, but he doesn't show his excitement easily, and he'll only ever lower his guard and act visibly enthusiastic about anything in front of people he's comfortable with. He's open-minded in that he'll try to keep his perceptions open and receptive to new people and situations - he has the empathy for it, after all - but he has a certain level of tolerance and particular peeves that should never be hit for him to continue being receptive to anything new. Otherwise he'll start judging someone or something mercilessly if his personal standards or principles are being offended.
9. Is he more likely to act, or to react?
10. Which is his default: fight or flight?
11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?
Kurapika has an underdeveloped sense of humor. Comes with his background and his character, unfortunately, but it also largely depends on his mood and the person making the joke. He doesn't do well with jokes made on his expense, especially if they're from people he's not exactly on good terms with. He feels vaguely threatened by Cloud's goal to get him a sense of humor, too, and would prefer if the other blond were to forget about it. On the other hand, he appreciates humor from people like China, is more gracious if he's being teased by girls, and can tolerate good-natured pranking from people he knows won't derive enjoyment out of tormenting him for his faults. All in all he's rather sparse with his smiles, is a bit of a buzzkill because of his dark outlook on life, and teasing true unrestrained laughter from him would be like winning the lottery and finding the Holy Grail in one.
12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them?
13. What moments in this character's life have defined him as a person?
14. What does he fear?
15. What are his hopes or aspirations?
16. What is something he doesn't want anyone to find out about him?
Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with his parents.
His parents are dead. >: All his blood relations are dead, everyone he knew up until twelve years of age. Canon never shows how he regards his parents, other than "they're dead you dumb fuck now I go kill their murderers and get their eyes back" - but I imagine that he was very close to them. He feels like the type of character who'd have his roots very close to home, very much a homebody if the massacre hadn't happened and forced him to leave his village and get used to not being attached to any particular location. His mother would treat him like a daughter, teaching him household chores and gardening and other wife-y skills, but he'd take after his father and be absolutely crap at cooking and strangely skilled at hunting. He'd be a good kid, with occasional wild streaks, dutifully studying and being an obedient and loving son six days of the week and tearing out of the house to go poke at bears in the forest and giving his parents coronaries once every two weeks.
2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like?
See previous question. He's probably an only child, since he never mentions a sibling in canon - he wouldn't have been remiss in including the murder of a sibling in his list of grievances if he had a brother or a sister who got killed in the massacre.
3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can't stand?
Grandparents, probably. He'd love listening to his grandmother's fairytales. His grandfather would spoil him and lend him books to read every few days. He'd have gotten along with his aunts and uncles given that he's his parents' only child, but maybe there were cousins he couldn't stand. :D Like older cousins who might have bullied or teased him, or younger cousins he saw as being childish or immature.
4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them?
Rather than being a mysterious hidden village inhabited only by red-eyed savages, the Kuruta community is probably comprised of people with the Kuruta bloodline and outsiders without the eyes who've chosen to settle in the Rukuso valley. It would be unreasonable to expect that the village was exclusive since it would mean inbreeding and marriages between relatives, so--yeah. All the Kuruta would be related by blood, and everyone else would most likely be in-laws or close friends of his relatives, and the village would be like one massive extended family. Completely unrelated people would be rare, but if there were any, it would be the odd merchant or traveler or academic staying there only for certain periods of time, and Kurapika being the inquisitive kid he was would have bugged them incessantly for stories of the world outside the village. He'd probably treat them like favored aunts or uncles.
5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet?
The closest anyone came to being his best friend/s would be Gon, Killua and Leorio. Kurapika met them when he took the Hunter Exam. At first it was just a matter of them sticking together because they were all first-timers, but eventually it reached a point where they were all dependent on each other in order to pass, and it would have been impossible for Kurapika not to form close ties with them. Out of the three of them Leorio was the one he confided in the most, about his past and his motivations and goals, and Kurapika has also come to admire Leorio's determination to become a doctor. He still retains contact with them, although he has this stupid tendency to keep his dangerous Ryodan-related activities secret from them, and so they probably have no idea that he's been running into Kuroro again and again over the past two years. They wouldn't know that he's been spirited away to Death City, either...
6. Does he have other close friends?
There's this music hunter he met during the job in York Shin who possesses ears so keen that she can tell a person's mood and general thoughts just by listening to their heartbeat. She might have saved him from a suicidal run into a Geneiryodan rampage by figuring out that he was harboring said suicidal thoughts and playing the token calming music on her flute to bring him back to his senses. He was deep in enemy territory then, working for people who wouldn't think twice about dunking his head in preserving fluid if they ever found out about his eyes, and she found out about his background and vowed to keep it a secret. Senritsu is thereby one of the few people he trusts, outside of his best friends. There's also the grizzled middle-aged nen instructor who taught him nen, but material on him is scarce and only comes in a flashback. He'll probably be thought of as an important acquaintance, though.
In Soul Campaign he has certain people he considers to be important and will freely admit holding affection for: namely Prussia, Germany, China and John Watson, and then Cloud Strife and a previous incarnation of Neku Sakuraba. The one in the city now is different, and doesn't remember their friendship, and so he's been keeping his distance for as long as the younger boy doesn't express an interest to restart communications - primarily to avoid the embarrassment they both went through the last time. Kurapika's also getting close to Sasuke Uchiha and Kozato Enma which apparently amuses Kuroro because their similar experiences with loss and revenge makes them seem like three peas in a pod. He enjoys talking to Ash Ketchum, Katsura Kotarou, Fa Mulan and Oerba dia Vanille, but they're just a bit more than casual acquaintances at this point - he hasn't managed to bring himself to confide in them yet.
And of course, the nature of his partnership with Kuroro means that there's no one closer to him than the meister. It's an odd sort of intimacy built on contradiction. They're not best friends but their souls are extremely compatible. Kurapika would never willingly talk about his issues, but constant resonance means that Kuroro's quite familiar with the way he thinks. They're supposed to be mortal enemies, but each is determined to perform their roles perfectly. Or rather, Kurapika feels morally-bound to meet Kuroro's expectations of him as a weapon, and he has really weird ideas about making sure that Kuroro gets back to their world alive so he can continue his revenge plans. On the other hand, he doesn't really understand why Kuroro keeps watching out for him--or he's having difficulty accepting it as a constant, rather, despite being already subconsciously beholden to his partner's unsolicited attention.
7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people?
He's a rather reserved person, which means that he gets along better with certain type of people. Friendly and cheerful people who seem to glow with a warm light of their own remind him of Gon, and if they're younger than he is, there's the double pull of him getting the urge to watch out for them. (Or if they're a lot older than he is, he might very well end up treating them like parental figures.) On the other end of the spectrum, people who tick off his pet peeves and offend his sensibilities and disagree with his principles will get the cold shoulder from him, unless they force themselves on him and insist on attempting to cultivate some kind of friendship. And in the middle there are the normal people who don't catch his interest - he'll probably ignore them unless approached first. But for all three instances, it's not that easy for him to make friends since he doesn't trust easily and he's mostly socially-awkward.
8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends?
9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once?
10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse?
... Well... no, but in Death City he's partnered to a dude... who so far is well on his way to fulfilling maybe half of Kurapika's very stringent requirements for a romantic partner--even though he's unaware of these criteria and doesn't know that they're already being crossed out one-by-one. So. Unconventional courtship/stupidly unintentional foreplay ftw. Then he and Kuroro found out recently that they're supposed to end up together ten years into a fucked-up version of the future. Kurapika was horrified by the revelation, suffice to say, and has sworn not to let it happen, but see, there's this thing people refer to as a self-fulfilling prophecy...
11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest?
12. What does he look for in a romantic partner?
Equality, compassion and sensitivity. His partner [wip]
13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any?
He's twenty-one, and he won't be having kids anytime soon. He doesn't believe that he'll ever be blessed enough to gain a family of his own - not that he even wants to, for that matter. Kurapika is aware that he won't make a good father, with everything he's gone through and everything else that he still needs to deal with, and he won't put a kid through that.
14. Does he have any rivals or enemies?
15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale?
... X. Very firmly asexual. He has no experience and has no plans of experiencing it anytime soon. Not only is his sole-survivor life kind of not unconducive to romantic relationships, but any thought that leads to hooking up with a girl will sooner than later lead to thoughts of whether or not he should continue his bloodline now that he's the last Kuruta alive, and--no. This is Kurapika deciding that his gene pool will most likely die with him, that is, if he were the kind of person to even think about thoughts like that. And the thing about living in a world where the person you hunt today might be the person hunting you tomorrow is that all that energy and testosterone just gets directed to fighting and surviving. He literally doesn't have the time or the energy to spare for the parts down south. In the same vein, the lines separating different kinds of sexual orientations doesn't exist for him because attraction for him will probably depend on whether the other person can match him in intellect and strength. He has to be challenged, and his interest has to be captured long enough for him to start being physically attracted to someone. It's a tall order, and almost impossible to fulfill in Death City. In any case, he's a very wholesome kid. He won't be flipping anyone's skirts anytime in the near or far future.
16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him?
He's very adjkfahsd about it. It embarrasses him. The very thought makes him blush. Watching someone kissing someone else with tongue makes him blush. He believes that it's a very intimate, very sacred act that should be kept private and only performed between people who are fully committed to each other. But that's just how he views sex in general - add himself into the equation and he'll add the requirement that says he has to be deeply, madly in love with the other person before he'll agree to do it. It's like one of two ultimate signs that he trusts a person completely. The other one is being able to trust a person with his back in battle - it means that he trusts that person with his life. But sex, now. It means that he trusts that person with his heart, so the meaning of the act is fairly important to him, but the act itself is a low-priority concern. (See answer to question number 15.)
17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits?
... Gentleness, maybe. Consideration for his feelings and his pleasure. Violence or other weird kinks won't work for him because he's seen violence and experienced violence being visited upon his person, and they're not particularly arousing memories. This marks him as a bottom, unfortunately, but he's. Just not into sex. He wouldn't know how to take the lead. In contrast, being taken care of will bewilder him and. You know. Stir those dormant teenage hormones to life. Whoever manages to turn him on will know if it's successful if his eyes turn red. That's probably about the only weird bedroom habit that his partner will have to deal with at first.
Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type?
Togashi never mentions years - probably because HxH has a fucked-up world already and trying to think of an actual calendar system for it would be rather problematic. Instead, if I take the year the manga first came out together with Kurapika's given age at the start of the series, that puts his birthday at April 4, 1981 - the year of the metal rooster, and under Aries. The given Wikipedia link describes roosters to be
"Acute, neat, meticulous, organized, self-assured, decisive, conservative, critical, perfectionist, alert, zealous, practical, scientific, responsible. Can be over zealous and critical, puritanical, egotistical, abrasive, proud, opinionated, given to empty bravado."
--which really is Kurapika in so many words. He's neat and organized and almost obsessive-compulsive, sooo conservative and prudish that I find myself wanting to rip my hair out because I can't get in on the dirty jokes while playing him. He's very critical and principled; he's hard on others and doubly hard on himself, and he's blunt and honest and opinionated to the point of being abrasive sometimes. Perhaps the only things that don't match are that roosters are supposed to like attention, entertaining people, and are conscious about clothing and appearance. I would chalk it up to his clan getting killed destroying those particular attributes.
Aries, on the other hand, is said to be a fire sign, which exhibits righteousness and these other things:
"These people conform to the standard of moral law. They do what is right and are known for their sense of fair play. They are truthful, straight-forward, just, upright and virtuous in their dealings with other people. The Fire signs are the true warriors. They demonstrate courage, fortitude, zeal and pugnacity. They have the mental and moral strength that enables them to venture into unknown waters and to persevere and withstand danger. They seldom show fear and are confident in their actions. They have mettle, resolution, and tenacity. They can face danger or difficulty without flinching or retreating. They will fight for their principles and have a stubborn persistence that is unwilling to recognize defeat. They have grit, backbone, guts, and are willing to keep fighting under all odds. They are aggressive and thrive on challenge. The Fire signs are of a spiritual nature. They have a nature that gives them physical energy, strength and vital powers. Their essential characteristic qualities are liveliness, energy, ardor, enthusiasm, courage and action. They have a firm, courageous and assertive disposition which is their most characteristic quality. The emotional nature of the Fire sign is goal oriented. These people like to win or be the best in anything they pursue. Their aggressive nature makes them just one big ego. There is nothing more stimulating to them than to win, and there is nothing more depressing to their ego than to lose. They strive to be the center of attention and are at home when showing off. They are straight-forward and have no reservations about hurting the feelings of others by their forthrightness. The main virtue of this sign is being just and right."
Still fairly accurate, especially the parts about moral law and doing what's right and virtuous. He's courageous and tenacious, verging on reckless at times, and he has (or at least, had, before Soul Campaign and Kuroro) vast mental and moral strength of character. He takes all that and decides to be a blacklist hunter, which is a very dangerous, but fairly important job given that there are a lot of superpowered criminals running around in his world, people who can't be touched by normal law enforcers - it shows mettle and resolution, and perfectionism and a hatred of losing (failing and losing means death). But again, there are just some things that are off--like striving to be the center of attention and showing off and being tactless enough to hurt people. He might have retained these characteristics if he'd grown up with a normal childhood, though.
2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life?
3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it?
4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?
5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them?
Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?
Kurapika isn't rich in conventional standards, but he owns a Hunter License. Certified Hunters are the VIPs of their world, even more so than diplomats, leaders or celebrities. They are allowed access to first class accommodations in almost every form of transportation and lodging there is, free of charge, and can get into most countries, even areas that are normally forbidden to the general public. The license can be used as collateral for a zero-interest loan of 100 million zenny (approximately 1,017,500 USD), and by itself is worth enough to support a life of luxury for at least seven generations. Hunter jobs also pay quite well, and he does more than enough every year to support himself. So while he doesn't have anything like a huge stash of money, he does live comfortably. In Death City he subsists on the allowance Shibusen gives the guests. It's a huge drop from his previous financial status, but he's not a wastrel in the first place despite the temptation to abuse his license's benefits. It wasn't difficult to adjust, so he's still quite comfortable. Once he starts working he'll have more to spend for himself.
2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him?
3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others?
His village kind of got... gutted when the Geneiryodan attacked it, so he doesn't have anything like a home base to go back to. He moves around instead, and checks into hotels or motels or rents apartment units depending on where his work takes him. Sometimes he gets accommodations with his employers, for the bodyguarding jobs that require him to stay close to the people he's protecting, for example. Otherwise, he flits from one place to another. In-between jobs he might live in a condominium or a flat for a few months, but he'll always up and move before it can start feeling lived-in. His living spaces always feel impersonal as a result - neat and orderly, but usually devoid of any personal effects. It's the same in Death City, since he hasn't started to consider that he might be stuck there for more than a handful of months. For him it's just a place to crash. He keeps it clean, and the only signs that he even lives there are the borrowed books on the coffee table and the food in the kitchen, toiletries in the bathroom and clothes in the closet and the hamper.
4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on?
5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else?
6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time?
7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods?
Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is his favorite:
1. Color? blue and orange
Associate:
Favorite:
2. Smell? rain and freshly-watered earth and greenery
Associate:
Favorite:
3. Time of day?
Associate:
Favorite:
4. Season?
Associate:
Favorite:
5. Book?
Associate:
Favorite:
6. Music?
Associate:
Favorite:
7. Place?
Associate:
Favorite:
8. Substance?
Associate:
Favorite:
9. Plant?
Associate:
Favorite:
10. Animal?
Associate:
Favorite:
END
{{ Get the HTML here so you can do it yourself. }}