Name: Tosshi! DW Journal:tosshi Contact:crestworms Current Characters: NONE
Character Name: Kasuka Heiwajima Canon:Durarara!! Age: 21 Gender: M
Canon Point: post-vol 4 History:wikia or an old app for more wordsing Personality: Kasuka is the poster child for nurture in the nature vs nurture psychology debate. Though he was born a quiet person, he himself states that he laughed and cried like any other little boy when he was young. He was a bit headstrong, judging by his brazen theft of his brother's pudding and lack of reaction to his initial anger, and mostly normal. However, as he grew up surrounded by bouts of violence, he began to withdraw. From his point of view, he needed to -- he could see that strong emotion caused trouble, and worried somewhat about turning out as volatile as Shizuo. He also worried that his own emotive behavior would trigger his brother's problems, and while he was never and is still not afraid that Shizuo will hurt him, he has always considered it his duty to be the level-headed one, in order to sort out situations when they are both present. His brother is very important to him, and he easily admits that his entire psychological self-mutilation is because of him. Yet, he respects Shizuo despite his problems, and holds a steadfast and unbreakable faith that his big brother is a good person with a good heart who deserves to live a good life.
However, now that they're grown and not around each other as much, Kasuka's become much more aware of himself as an individual. He recognises that he isn't normal, and in fact considers himself an incomplete human being -- an existence less than human. He longs, more than anyone in the world could, to feel things the way a normal human does. It isn't just that he hides his emotions, after all -- he doesn't consciously feel them at all. Yell at him, insult him, threaten his well-being -- he won't feel anger or sadness or fear. He suppresses his subconscious reactions to the point that all he feels in most cases is an icy, calm emptiness, and the ache that comes from knowing there ought to be more there. And the thing is that it is there. Subconsciously, he feels things a normal human would. It's even hinted that if his walls came down he'd have a bit of a temper himself. So it isn't that he doesn't, deep down, react to things -- it's simply that he has repressed those feelings so completely that he doesn't consciously feel them at all. He'll do things that a normal person would do because of emotions, like showing the compassion to protect someone he hardly knows, or the humor to name his cat "Yuigadokusonmaru", which translates roughly to "Mr. Holier-than-thou". He sucks up to Ruri when she's threatening to kill him, and even seems to understand and feel sorry for her -- but if asked why he's saying or doing something, he'll say he doesn't know, and he really doesn't. Even if a feeling is strong enough to give him a physical reaction -- racing heart, for example -- he won't be able to name what those feelings are. He can describe the physical sensation, but not the emotion behind it.
Even so, a few blips of emotion do get through. Startle or confuse him, and he'll show surprise and bewilderment for a brief moment. When Ruri was ready to end her own life, he snapped at her with a stern, angry tone. These moments are usually pretty brief, however, lasting seconds at best. The things that effect him most often and most continuously, though, are his feelings about himself. Perhaps he's a little less guarded from self-directed emotion or maybe it's just the one thing he couldn't crush entirely, but Kasuka is a somewhat sad and lonely person. He knows that he's damaged, and that aches. He considers himself less than whole, and honestly regrets the extent to which he's harmed himself in the name of protecting the people he loves. It's ingrained deeply at this point, though, and he isn't able to simply decide not to lock away his feelings. This desire to be normal and near-awe of emotion has a few telling effects on the way he conducts himself, too. First of all, he respects all sorts of people -- you have to prove yourself unbearable before he'll make judgements, and his only pet peeve is when people judge each other based on rumors or assumptions rather than getting to know them. This stems a little from his relationship with his brother, too -- Shizuo is someone who's frequently judged by surface assumptions and hear-say, and that irritates Kasuka to no end. The second thing is in his dedication to his career -- through acting, Kasuka simulates the emotion of others. He considers every single role valuable and every character is a respected human being to him, because their various feelings allow him to take the mantle of human thought and feeling onto himself. He hopes that by continuing to portray all of these people he'll begin to understand how they work in a less objective way, and maybe someday unlock his own feelings.
That said, acting is honestly Kasuka's number one priority aside from his family. While he'd drop or put things on hold for the important people in his life (his parents, brother, and girlfriend being the only people that close), there isn't anything else that would cause him to break his work schedule. When Ruri is threatening his life, she asks what he has left to do that makes him want to live, and he says he needs to finish work on his current film. Since he sees acting as his only outlet and his only chance of psychological recovery, it really is that important to him.
It's a good thing he holds his work and his loved ones in high regard, too, as otherwise Kasuka has little to no sense of his own value as a person or as a business asset. It's directly stated in canon that while he is capable of reasonable self-defense, it's still dangerous to let him wander off alone because he doesn't have a sense of self-worth and might not try enough to protect himself. In fact, in one anecdote in the excerpt of his in-universe wiki that's in the novels, it says that a show something like the American Punk'd sent people dressed as delinquents to harass him and threaten him into cutting off his own little finger. In that situation, he didn't argue or even question -- he took the knife they gave him and was fully ready to follow orders until the show's staff ran in to stop him. This also shows that he's a bit gullible and somewhat a follower -- Kasuka tends to do what he's told, simply because he doesn't see why he shouldn't and doesn't have any feeling of indignation or fear when pushed around. If it makes logical sense and isn't outright stupid, he's easy to convince to do something. He does have a moral sense, though, and wouldn't do something he thought of as "wrong". On the flip side, he’s secretive and protective of his family, and will stubbornly refuse to be manipulated into saying or doing anything that’d cause them unwanted attention or trouble.
Kasuka is also a very fast learner. He has too many hobbies to list on his official profile, simply because every time he takes an interest in something he goes right ahead and learns to do it. He's smart, and infinitely patient (once, he sat on the phone in silence with a stalker for 20 hours til they got so freaked out they hung up and turned themselves in), so he isn't likely to get discouraged or overexcited and make mistakes. This doesn't mean he's instantly amazing at everything he does, of course. He still needs to learn, it's simply that his calm persistence lends well to gaining skills. That kind of detached, objective thought makes it hard for him to follow abstract patterns, though. For example, he hates chewing gum just because he isn't good at figuring out when he's been chewing it long enough to spit it out. Things that rely on intuition and subjective action leave him stranded, as do situations requiring a lot of tact. Since he doesn't understand other people's emotions very well (though he is quite good at following lines of logic, particularly theatrically cliched ones), it's tough for him to know when it is and isn't appropriate to be blunt or vague. Due to this, it can be assumed -- though it's never expressly said -- that his more creative hobbies tend towards the real rather than the imaginative. He's likely to make a practical object out of wood, to use other people's words in calligraphy, and to paint things that are in front of him when he paints. His sense of style is pretty weird, too -- though he has money out his ears and is the only tenant of an entire luxury apartment building that he owns, he dresses in a combo of designer and super-cheap clothes, sometimes throwing on 100-yen store accessories with super-expensive outfits and the like. Though he loves fancy cars (he has eight of them), his taste in food runs to the simple -- dairy products, flan pudding even out of plastic cups, and homemade curry. He eats pasta from bars and takes home convenience store dinners, then proceeds to eat them surrounded in super-high-end decor. It also could be noted that despite being of legal age, Kasuka doesn't usually drink alcohol.
Overall, though Kasuka gives off a sense of being unrealistically and even annoyingly perfect to strangers, he's actually a young man with a lot of problems who isn't quite sure where he's going in life. He's just riding along, doing his best at what he can do and trying to find a way to be happy. Still, that doesn't show through easily -- it could easily be said that the only people who understand him are Ruri, Shizuo, and maybe his parents. To everyone else, he comes across as an ice cold beauty that's always existing somewhere above their heads. Since it's impossible to tell what he's thinking, most people assume he's actually uptight, standoffish, or temperamental. In fact, after the infamous angel-devil photo (which was apparently very tough on Kasuka), a rumor got around that he was secretly angry, and his icy stare was scary enough in combination with that rumor that the president of Jack Lantern Japan, Max Sandshield, actually took a two-week trip back to the USA to avoid his (actually nonexistent) wrath. At the end of the day, though, he's a nice guy who would really love to connect to the world around him.
Powers: What are your character's abilities? How will these abilities be tuned down to suit the game? He ain't got none.
no subject
DW Journal:
Contact:
Current Characters: NONE
Character Name: Kasuka Heiwajima
Canon: Durarara!!
Age: 21
Gender: M
Canon Point: post-vol 4
History: wikia or an old app for more wordsing
Personality:
Kasuka is the poster child for nurture in the nature vs nurture psychology debate. Though he was born a quiet person, he himself states that he laughed and cried like any other little boy when he was young. He was a bit headstrong, judging by his brazen theft of his brother's pudding and lack of reaction to his initial anger, and mostly normal. However, as he grew up surrounded by bouts of violence, he began to withdraw. From his point of view, he needed to -- he could see that strong emotion caused trouble, and worried somewhat about turning out as volatile as Shizuo. He also worried that his own emotive behavior would trigger his brother's problems, and while he was never and is still not afraid that Shizuo will hurt him, he has always considered it his duty to be the level-headed one, in order to sort out situations when they are both present. His brother is very important to him, and he easily admits that his entire psychological self-mutilation is because of him. Yet, he respects Shizuo despite his problems, and holds a steadfast and unbreakable faith that his big brother is a good person with a good heart who deserves to live a good life.
However, now that they're grown and not around each other as much, Kasuka's become much more aware of himself as an individual. He recognises that he isn't normal, and in fact considers himself an incomplete human being -- an existence less than human. He longs, more than anyone in the world could, to feel things the way a normal human does. It isn't just that he hides his emotions, after all -- he doesn't consciously feel them at all. Yell at him, insult him, threaten his well-being -- he won't feel anger or sadness or fear. He suppresses his subconscious reactions to the point that all he feels in most cases is an icy, calm emptiness, and the ache that comes from knowing there ought to be more there. And the thing is that it is there. Subconsciously, he feels things a normal human would. It's even hinted that if his walls came down he'd have a bit of a temper himself. So it isn't that he doesn't, deep down, react to things -- it's simply that he has repressed those feelings so completely that he doesn't consciously feel them at all. He'll do things that a normal person would do because of emotions, like showing the compassion to protect someone he hardly knows, or the humor to name his cat "Yuigadokusonmaru", which translates roughly to "Mr. Holier-than-thou". He sucks up to Ruri when she's threatening to kill him, and even seems to understand and feel sorry for her -- but if asked why he's saying or doing something, he'll say he doesn't know, and he really doesn't. Even if a feeling is strong enough to give him a physical reaction -- racing heart, for example -- he won't be able to name what those feelings are. He can describe the physical sensation, but not the emotion behind it.
Even so, a few blips of emotion do get through. Startle or confuse him, and he'll show surprise and bewilderment for a brief moment. When Ruri was ready to end her own life, he snapped at her with a stern, angry tone. These moments are usually pretty brief, however, lasting seconds at best. The things that effect him most often and most continuously, though, are his feelings about himself. Perhaps he's a little less guarded from self-directed emotion or maybe it's just the one thing he couldn't crush entirely, but Kasuka is a somewhat sad and lonely person. He knows that he's damaged, and that aches. He considers himself less than whole, and honestly regrets the extent to which he's harmed himself in the name of protecting the people he loves. It's ingrained deeply at this point, though, and he isn't able to simply decide not to lock away his feelings. This desire to be normal and near-awe of emotion has a few telling effects on the way he conducts himself, too. First of all, he respects all sorts of people -- you have to prove yourself unbearable before he'll make judgements, and his only pet peeve is when people judge each other based on rumors or assumptions rather than getting to know them. This stems a little from his relationship with his brother, too -- Shizuo is someone who's frequently judged by surface assumptions and hear-say, and that irritates Kasuka to no end. The second thing is in his dedication to his career -- through acting, Kasuka simulates the emotion of others. He considers every single role valuable and every character is a respected human being to him, because their various feelings allow him to take the mantle of human thought and feeling onto himself. He hopes that by continuing to portray all of these people he'll begin to understand how they work in a less objective way, and maybe someday unlock his own feelings.
That said, acting is honestly Kasuka's number one priority aside from his family. While he'd drop or put things on hold for the important people in his life (his parents, brother, and girlfriend being the only people that close), there isn't anything else that would cause him to break his work schedule. When Ruri is threatening his life, she asks what he has left to do that makes him want to live, and he says he needs to finish work on his current film. Since he sees acting as his only outlet and his only chance of psychological recovery, it really is that important to him.
It's a good thing he holds his work and his loved ones in high regard, too, as otherwise Kasuka has little to no sense of his own value as a person or as a business asset. It's directly stated in canon that while he is capable of reasonable self-defense, it's still dangerous to let him wander off alone because he doesn't have a sense of self-worth and might not try enough to protect himself. In fact, in one anecdote in the excerpt of his in-universe wiki that's in the novels, it says that a show something like the American Punk'd sent people dressed as delinquents to harass him and threaten him into cutting off his own little finger. In that situation, he didn't argue or even question -- he took the knife they gave him and was fully ready to follow orders until the show's staff ran in to stop him. This also shows that he's a bit gullible and somewhat a follower -- Kasuka tends to do what he's told, simply because he doesn't see why he shouldn't and doesn't have any feeling of indignation or fear when pushed around. If it makes logical sense and isn't outright stupid, he's easy to convince to do something. He does have a moral sense, though, and wouldn't do something he thought of as "wrong". On the flip side, he’s secretive and protective of his family, and will stubbornly refuse to be manipulated into saying or doing anything that’d cause them unwanted attention or trouble.
Kasuka is also a very fast learner. He has too many hobbies to list on his official profile, simply because every time he takes an interest in something he goes right ahead and learns to do it. He's smart, and infinitely patient (once, he sat on the phone in silence with a stalker for 20 hours til they got so freaked out they hung up and turned themselves in), so he isn't likely to get discouraged or overexcited and make mistakes. This doesn't mean he's instantly amazing at everything he does, of course. He still needs to learn, it's simply that his calm persistence lends well to gaining skills. That kind of detached, objective thought makes it hard for him to follow abstract patterns, though. For example, he hates chewing gum just because he isn't good at figuring out when he's been chewing it long enough to spit it out. Things that rely on intuition and subjective action leave him stranded, as do situations requiring a lot of tact. Since he doesn't understand other people's emotions very well (though he is quite good at following lines of logic, particularly theatrically cliched ones), it's tough for him to know when it is and isn't appropriate to be blunt or vague. Due to this, it can be assumed -- though it's never expressly said -- that his more creative hobbies tend towards the real rather than the imaginative. He's likely to make a practical object out of wood, to use other people's words in calligraphy, and to paint things that are in front of him when he paints. His sense of style is pretty weird, too -- though he has money out his ears and is the only tenant of an entire luxury apartment building that he owns, he dresses in a combo of designer and super-cheap clothes, sometimes throwing on 100-yen store accessories with super-expensive outfits and the like. Though he loves fancy cars (he has eight of them), his taste in food runs to the simple -- dairy products, flan pudding even out of plastic cups, and homemade curry. He eats pasta from bars and takes home convenience store dinners, then proceeds to eat them surrounded in super-high-end decor. It also could be noted that despite being of legal age, Kasuka doesn't usually drink alcohol.
Overall, though Kasuka gives off a sense of being unrealistically and even annoyingly perfect to strangers, he's actually a young man with a lot of problems who isn't quite sure where he's going in life. He's just riding along, doing his best at what he can do and trying to find a way to be happy. Still, that doesn't show through easily -- it could easily be said that the only people who understand him are Ruri, Shizuo, and maybe his parents. To everyone else, he comes across as an ice cold beauty that's always existing somewhere above their heads. Since it's impossible to tell what he's thinking, most people assume he's actually uptight, standoffish, or temperamental. In fact, after the infamous angel-devil photo (which was apparently very tough on Kasuka), a rumor got around that he was secretly angry, and his icy stare was scary enough in combination with that rumor that the president of Jack Lantern Japan, Max Sandshield, actually took a two-week trip back to the USA to avoid his (actually nonexistent) wrath. At the end of the day, though, he's a nice guy who would really love to connect to the world around him.
Powers: What are your character's abilities? How will these abilities be tuned down to suit the game? He ain't got none.