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[lone_horse]

OOC INFORMATION
Name: Danii
Contact: gamenotifications @ gmail // yarnzipan @ plurk
Are You Over 18?: yes
Other Characters: none

CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character Name: Kiryu Kazuma (western order is Kazuma Kiryu)
Age: 48
Canon: Ryu Ga Gotoku / Yakuza
Canon Point: end of Y6, where he's 'died' and disappeared from everyone's lives
Character Information: Kiryu @ Yakuza Wiki

Personality: Kiryu Kazuma is both exactly what he looks like and not at all. He oozes hard-boiled cool, and he's definitely the kind of guy who tends to digest his feelings leaning over a railing on a rooftop with a cigarette as he strikes a dramatic silhouette against the flashy lights of the downtown strip. He is also, however, the kind of guy who lives to race pocket sized cars on a little play track. Who pecks his messages out awkwardly in a chat room to tell a cute girl that she's very nice and that he's having a good time talking to her. Who has no qualms stopping in public to make goo goo noises to a baby and play with them to make them smile and laugh again when they get fussy. In fact, despite the perpetual resting scowl face, it's very telling that people on the street have absolutely no problem asking Kiryu Kazuma to dress up in a mascot outfit and entertain children or finish up the voice acting for their dating sim.

Because behind that very intimidating exterior is the heart of a poet and an honor-bound warrior who most of all wants to take care of the vulnerable and use what strength he has to protect them. His favorite thing to do is work with children, and he's genuinely good with them; being with kids is pretty much the only way we've ever seen his face relax or gotten a true smile out of him. He cares about how kids are raised and making sure that they grow up with people who want them and love them and support them. Kiryu grew up in an orphanage and while he has a complicated emotional relationship with the man who raised him (which is fair given the man also killed his birth parents and he found this out on said man's deathbed), he knows how harsh the world can be and he wants more than anything to show that care to the ones most in need of it.

He's intensely aware of the kind of social and societal stigmas people can face due to where they come from, the choices they've been forced to make, and the mistakes they've made in the past... or even just who they are and what they've had to live through. He is always willing to lend an ear (or a fist) in their defense and care. This includes sex workers, queer folks, and former yakuza like himself who are trying to make an above-board life for themselves. It would be wrong to say that Kiryu doesn't judge people. Kiryu’s judges, because he needs to to take action, but his code is anything but discriminatory.

Kiryu definitely is the sort of person who takes in a lot more than they admit or acknowledge. He's very likely to say absolutely nothing about a situation that he's seemingly missed the nuances on or hasn't understood before quietly asking a question a few moments later that cuts right to the heart of the issue. Part of this is about respect for him, for people's choices and for their dignity, but another part is because quite frankly, it serves his purposes. Like his fighting, he's a practical man and he doesn't give away benefits or information freely. He has no issue letting people think they've fooled him or that he hasn't noticed something if it serves his purposes or he feels it's better for their happiness. He listens a lot, takes a great deal of care with his words most of the time. Sometimes this can make him seem quiet or passive, but really, he's anything but.

The best way to describe his general modus operandai is that he's exceptionally genuine and even in his later years, willing to believe in people's potential and their best selves, supporting them in their dreams and helping them to achieve them even at deep inconvenience (and sometimes a lot of pain) to himself. Because when it comes down to it, if he can let his actions speak for themselves, he absolutely will. He's very much a calming presence, moving and acting and speaking with deliberation, usually asking for clarification before moving forward, at least when he hasn't had one of his emotional buttons pushed.

He takes some time to get to know, as much because his facial expressions tend to be on the microscopic side and said quiet consideration. He's not an easy man to pin down and depending on your approach, he can either be as easy as pie or the most difficult son of a bitch on the planet. Once you're someone Kiryu calls friend? Iron clad trust. There's been at least one case where everything pointed towards one of his trusted allies having betrayed him and his immediate response was 'nope, lemme go talk to him'. Not even an ounce of doubt. Usually he's right about that but, well... when he's wrong, he's *dead* wrong. He's definitely not the most intelligent guy in the world; a little gullible, reacts with his heart more than his head, definitely not book smart. He's a quick learner and willing to put in the effort for things, but an intellectual he is not. Technology especially is something he has issues with.

But I mean, none of this is surprising for a protagonist type, a hero type. That gets exceptionally more difficult, however, when your main ecosystem and the only world you know and the only environment you really feel comfortable taking real action in is the criminal underworld, usually using violence. And despite having been burned by it before, Kiryu maintains his principles and his priorities even in these kinds of settings and situations, sometimes especially though. Not that this always goes well; he's got a pretty good sense motive but he's exceptionally bad at figuring out how terrible people scheme because it's just not how he's built.

Instead, he tends to rely on his friends. For friends, he has no trouble opening up, admitting his feelings and his fears, and asking for help. He fully acknowledges things he’s not good at and has no problem asking for help or advice in most situations (because making decisions for other people and being in charge? his least favorite thing). Kiryu's accomplished a lot through trusting the right people and in general, he tends to trust the right people. He also tends to take people at face value. For him, that is very much a choice, a show of respect; he tries to engage with people in the way that they present themselves. He can and will delve a little deeper if he feels that his time or efforts have been disrespected, but largely he won't. And yes, it's caused problems for him before.

On the flip side, he has no qualms turning to and using violence. He doesn't like to, would prefer he didn't have to, but his world is dark and full of jerkwads and you bet he'll do something about it when it's staring him in the face. None of his principles have any issues with beating the living snot out of someone that's being a fucking asshole, even if he knows he's stronger than them. In fact, that's 1. always the case in his world and 2. why he'll choose violence in the first place. The important thing is that they're being a fucking asshole and he's going to stop that shit. He’s fully aware of his capabilities and will take on challenges that sound absolutely insane with absolute confidence. See Exhibit A. He won't punch 'down' in the grand scheme of things (as I mentioned above), but taking down some socially/financially/emotionally powerful asshole with his fists is 100% his jam. He's also fighty enough that he often uses a bout as a way of getting to know someone. He doesn't like to fight without a reason, but those reasons aren't always negative.

What cynicism that Kiryu has is in knowing the kind of warping force that money and power can be, that small people will use every avenue they have to be small, and that everything he does, even the best of actions, have consequences. He's not at all blind to the harsh reality of the world; as I said, he knows that the man he called father assassinated his parents. He knows that a haphazard mistake he made as a teenager ended up killing a man and the domino effect of that death nearly led to the destruction of his city. He's knocked people around, kicked people's teeth in, been used as a pawn by his superiors and had his best friend utterly betray him for the crime of *checks smudgy arm writing* taking the fall for him and spending ten years in prison also... existing? What I'm saying is that the years have definitely taken their toll. He saw his daughter lose her career as a singer and become ostracized for the very act of acknowledging him and loving him. People *can* be terrible. But he knows just as well that good friends can be trusted, people can be kind, and that there's always a high road, even if it's not easy. Like, an example? When he befriends a group of yakuza who are keeping a piece of information from him, he keeps defending and protecting them, because it's clear they're decent people. And they ask him why. And he says because the more he helps them, the more likely it will be that they'll tell him what he needs to know. One of them points out that, at this point, it's clear he could wipe the floor with them, all of them, beat the information out of them toot sweet. Kiryu's response? "I never thought of that." And he walks out. That's the kind of guy he is.

His main faults center around his need to get involved in things and a complete lack of concern or understanding of his value and his status, especially to other people, which tie together into a neat bundle of throwing himself into danger and letting himself get wrecked and not realize just how much of an impact it's going to have on the people who care about him. He once brought a man into his home who'd literally just up and stabbed him in the street due to a grudge and his daughter (rightfully) had a conniption fit at him about it because she wanted nothing to do with him and was pretty content to let him rot on the beach (and his daughter is very much as kind as he is, she's just a lot more savvy in many ways and somewhat less forgiving). He immediately dives into a situation if he feels that things are unfair or wrong, sometimes without a full understanding of the whole picture or the potential consequences. As he says in Y4: "It took me forty years to realize this. But for guys like us... our lives aren't really our own. There's always someone new to help. Someone we need to protect." Because that all might be true, but he struggles with it, because he knows it has a cost. One he's paid quite a few times.

The fact that he's a fricking legend and doesn't acknowledge that has caused it's share of issues too, because he doesn't really want the responsibility involved with it; when the Dragon of Dojima rolls into town, it raises alarms. People pull him into plots because they want his clout or his blessing or his approval. He might think of himself as a civilian, very firmly, in many senses... but no one else does most of the time. This plays out even in the Tojo Clan that he, by and large, supports as his position vs the position of the acting chairman (usually Daigo, his surrogate son in a lot of ways who he essentially gave the job to) can make things awkward for Daigo and undermine him both to others and, occasionally to himself. Daigo's mentioned more than once that Kiryu's actions can complicate his job and make him doubt himself.

The lack of concern for himself is just, unfortunately, kind of a part of him at this point. Between a best friend who constantly felt the need to tear him down to feel like his equal and one rather extensive experience of being used as a fall guy by the organization he worked for, that mental equation of I'm only as good as I'm useful to other people was written all over him. When he took the fall for said best friend and spent 10 years in jail for a murder he didn't commit and got expelled from his crime family for it and Literally No One He Knew came to visit him in all that time... I figure that's about when the feeling cemented. A veritable lifetime of being the linchpin for the Tojo Clan / Kamurocho and the solution they fall back on when everything is at it's most dire has done it's work on him, as has the few times he's done what he deems as 'selfish' and seemingly had it blow up in his face one way or another. His eyes are always on the greater good, the community, and the legacy he'll leave behind for others. To the point where sometimes he makes stupid and even harmful decisions either for it or while pointedly trying to resist it. It's definitely something that he struggles with, knowingly.

His other struggle has to do with straddling the world of the yakuza with civilian life. With wanting to be a civilian and yet tending to live and believe in the ways of the yakuza, using violence to solve problems when he has to (not his favorite method, but again, good at it) and believing in many of the more traditional aspects of the system. He gets deeply offended when a Tojo patriarch he fights has no tattoo on his back, noting that if a family doesn't follow the values that a man wears on his back, they are nothing and very much doomed. He's the first to point out when a yakuza does something that violates the rules, such as harming civilians and you bet he'll get into it with his fists.

TLDR Fighty himbo middle aged dad just wants the underworld to stay saved for 5 minutes so he can retire, goddammit.

5-10 Key Character Traits:
HELPFUL - There are literally hundreds of substories from the games that mostly just involve Kiryu seeing someone in need of help and stopping whatever high drama nonsense he's doing to step in and offer his assistance. A quote from him from canon (Y4): "It took me forty years to realize this. But for guys like us... our lives aren't really our own. There's always someone new to help. Someone we need to protect. These past few years, I fought that fate with all I had. But I'm done fighting. It's time I accept the hand I was dealt. Too many people depend on us. Their dreams depend on us."

SELFLESS - Kiryu is a self-sacrificer, through and through. Starting off with taking the rap for the murder committed by his adopted brother, all the way through giving up everything he's ever loved and worked for to protect the people he loves. Even in small ways, he puts other people before himself such as when he dressed up in the Ono Michio costume to help convince a young girl to accept medical treatment; he hates the costume, his pride definitely takes a hit, and he'd said he'd never wear it again, but that was more important than any of those things, even though he'd never met the girl before. He can take it to a level of fault and even to being nearly suicidal.

IMPETUOUS - Kiryu leaps before he looks, especially when he's under pressure. He will sometimes listen to friends and allies, but just as often he flies off by himself to deal with something with very mixed results. When his daughter was kidnapped? He ran off after her, despite suffering a stab wound at the time. When he was named chairman of the Tojo Clan? OUT THE DOOR WITHIN A DAY.

PASSIONATE - Kiryu cares a lot and when he's passionate about something, will go all in on it; everything from pocket car racing to learning mahjong to spearfishing. More seriously, he tends to be intense about almost anything he's doing and despite a somewhat stoic appearance, when something upsets him, there will be tears, action, shouting, the whole thing. You see this in Y3 when he weeps over someone's death or in Y5 when he needs to be bodily held back from attempting to jump across buildings to get to someone he cares about.

HONORABLE - It's hard to give an example on this one because mostly it's a non-example: he keeps his word, he doesn't betray people, he's loyal to a fault (literally to a fault), and he cares about the ideals of the yakuza lifestyle even as a civilian, both for himself and in making sure others observe the rules; one of the first complaints he had to someone who came after him was that they were hassling civilians. In a criminal underworld where backstabbing is the norm, he... doesn't. Ever.

AGGRESSIVE - Kiryu is a nice man but he 100% will throw down at the drop of a hat. He has a temper when he sees people being shitty and he'll even antagonize folks into attacking him over their original target. I don't have a specific point because it's basically his modus operandai.

SELF-ASSURED - When Kiryu is in his element, he has absolute confidence in his abilities. Such that he assigned himself the task of taking on an army of men not just once, but multiple times (Y2, Y5 being the standouts). He knows what he's good at and what he's not good at but he doesn't play humble at what he's good at.

INDEPENDENT - Kiryu is not good at taking orders. He has his own ideas of how he should handle things and while he'll ask for assistance or advice, he's not good at just sitting down and shutting up and doing what he's told. In Y0, he blatantly disregarded Kashiwagi's orders not to leave the family in his attempt to save Kazama trouble.

OBSERVANT - Kiryu is definitely someone who sees more than he lets on. While he can seen naive at times, he's usually just waiting for the right moment to do or say just the right thing to cut through the bullshit. There's a good example of this in Y5 when a woman who'd been staying with him for a few months came to him, naked, and asked if they could finally consumate their relationship and, without a pause, Kiryu just asked 'who're you working for?' because yeah, he knew. It just wasn't vital until that moment.

STUBBORN - Once he's made a decision on something, there is NO turning him around. It happened when he decided to be 'dead' and his friend Date tried to convince him, it's happened multiple times when he wants to do something incredibly bonkers as part of his plan; there's no convincing him it's too dangerous. He's going to do it. He's not close minded, in the LEAST, but once he's set his course, he is full speed ahead.

Would you prefer a monster that FITS your character’s personality, CONFLICTS with it, EITHER, or opt for 100% RANDOMIZATION? EITHER
Opt-Outs: no SIMULACRUM, GARGOYLE, POOKA, ARACHNE, or HARPY please

Roleplay Sample: Sample