Character Survey of Doom

[k9tantei]

Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy? Heiji's fairly medium-athletic build. If he's wearing baggy or loose clothes, he looks pretty average, but he's pretty well muscled - it's from martial arts and practicing Kendo, so it's not bodybuilder-heavy so much as “athlete”.

2. How old is he? Seventeen, and possibly one of the most normal teenagers in his canon who's still one of the detectives.

3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch? He usually carries pretty straight, but that's probably as much growing up around police and doing kendo all his life; he's also very animated, so it varies a LOT. If he's agitated or something's got him preoccupied, he'll hunch and slouch a little.

4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities? Heiji seems to be made of teflon and rubber. He's very fit, doesn't seem to get sick very often or stay sick very easily, he's gotten back up when the doctors were sure he'd be too bad off to move, and bounces back from injuries pretty well.

5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid? It depends a little on his focus. His attention span and energy level make him come across clumsier than he is; he's all over the place and prone to a lot of flailing and gesturing, but he has more control than he'll act like, and can be very fluid when he has a reason to cut the derp and take things seriously.

6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror? Heiji's a fairly good-looking guy, and while he doesn't preen, he definitely has a healthy ego. It's not really the top of the things he'd list if he were having an egofest, but he doesn't have any self-esteem issues.

7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred? Little darker skinned, and pretty tan on top of that.

8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style. Black, straight, tendency to stick out and not realy want to obey entirely, short.

9. What color are his eyes? Bright green - it strikes me like he maybe should stick out more for that one.

10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features? Well, he's pretty rarely without his hat, and the scar on his hand from being stabbed with an arrow is probably pretty noticeable if someone's looking closely. He's got a couple other scars from being stabbed/shot, including a nasty one on his stomach.

11. What are his chief tension centers? Shoulders, mostly. He doesn't seem like he really builds tension all that much.

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? Casual, and for all that he's very much Japanese, it's pretty modern-normal-teenager. He'll have a jacket a lot of the time, and otherwise it's basically jeans, loose shirts, and the like - he looks decent, but he doesn't fuss, and judging by the pink shirt he had in movie three, he's had at least one incident of things like “wash reds and whites together, shirt's comfy, w/e”. He also has the baseball cap that is practically a non-negotiable. He doesn't have his school uniform here, so that's a moot point; and when he does dress semiformally, his rights to chose his own wardrobe need to be revoked, plus he'll still keep the hat etc. He's also pretty comfortable with traditional-Japanese, and the kendo uniform.
Note that his mother gives his girlfriend money to take him clothes shopping, rather than trusting him to do it himself.
As far as what he got when he came here, he's also got the red coat, slacks, and black shirt from the HG/SS-era ranger outfits.

13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them? I don't think you'd get him in something he WASN'T comfortable in without a fight; a lot of it's a little loose, but not overly so.

14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences? About the only thing to mind is that yes, he does wear a school uniform at school. Otherwise, no differences, and after graduation/college, a lot's going to depend on whether he follows his father's footsteps and goes into the police force, or if he goes independent freelance-detective.

15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando? Boxers.

Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse? middling-range for a guy his age - you're not going to mistake him for a girl ever, but he's not very deep-voiced. He's in good health and has a good set of lungs, so there's no problems with being short of breath or anything.

2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate? He's a bit noisy, and very talkative; it usually comes pretty fast, too.

3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics? He has a kansai-ben - the local Osakan accent. If OVAs are taken as canon, he's almost incapable of speaking more standard Japanese; he can try, but it will ALWAYS come out with some bits of a Kansai-ben. He's also a little on the informal side for a Japanese-speaker.

4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency? Besides his native Japanese, we know he speaks English, and VERY well - in canon he's done it once, and even in manga it's heavily implied it was clear, with good grammar and barely any accent. Yes, comedically enough, by academic-non-linguist standards, he speaks better English than he does Japanese.

5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations? Not too likely - he's very comfortable with his Kansai-ben, if not proud of it, and if there's no issues with him being understood, he'll stick with it. He switches to English in canon to make a point, and depending on how the autotranslate works, might do that here, since he knows that as proud as he is of his heritage, some people take the “lazy” sounding accent as a sign of stupidity, and that it's a little jarring to hear someone you've taken for granted as mentally lazy suddenly speaking clipped, enunciated, and clear as a bell.

6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words? He's never shown the slightest hint of stage fright, and while he doesn't exactly have to make 'speeches' per se, he can keep up with the dramatists on the cast when it comes to making a show of something or keeping attention and getting his point across. If he's focused enough and it's something he's taking seriously, he does manage to sidestep his foot in mouth disease.

7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change? Under normal circumstances, he's pretty rough/loose-speaking; he doesn't really care to put the time in to dress up his speech, he's more interested in just getting his point across. He might take a bit more caution if it's something important, but even then, he's a little too direct to be “eloquent”.

Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart? He may not always sound it, but he's pretty up there. He's very well-read and researched, probably a good bit ahead of his actual school work, and thanks to all the time he spends hanging around cops and helping out on cases, he's pretty common-sense street-smart and aware of the world.

2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate? On his feet and maybe three steps ahead - he might take some time to roll over clues and put pieces together, but once he's sorted out what's going on, his decisions come pretty fast.

3. Describe the character's thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical? Mix of both on logic and intuition; he hedges at NOT having logic and evidence to work from, but isn't averse to going out on a limb if he doesn't have that yet, as much as he's idgy about assumptions ahead of time. He's mostly idealistic, although it's pretty grounded; he goes for Truth and Right and looking after others, but he knows the world can be a pretty harsh and nasty place and most people AREN'T going to be doing The Right Thing, so he's willing to work around that, or at least be prepared for it when it comes.
He also tends to mentally skip all over - instead of a linear progression of logic, he'll take this piece, and draw a line to this piece, and see he doesn't have th rest of that part of the puzzle so he skips over here to THESE pieces all the way over there - which can make him seem scatter-brained until he has it all together.

4. What kind of education has the character had? He's a high school junior, probably in honors classes, and does a decent amount of research on his own down time.

5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about? Mysteries, criminal studies, police work, forensics, and a bit of history; also swordsmanship, folklore, and ancient history. He's pretty invested in his own culture, but curious about others, and prone to being a bit of an information sponge; even if it's not a major thing for him, he'll happily pick up random information if you put it where he can get to it.

6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert? Extrovert. Thoroughly.

7. Describe the character's temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven? He's pretty laid back and energetic, and definitely more on the cheerful side - he might go into dramatics, but any foul mood won't last very long or be that severe beyond the surface outbursts. That's another point where he can throw people - outwardly, his mood will seem to swing all over the place with his attention span, while under the surface of all of that flittering, he's actually pretty calm and relaxed internally; not much ACTUALLY bothers him, no matter how much noise he might make about it.

8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic? A lot will depend on the people/situation, but he's more prone to being enthusiastic, curious, and friendly; he's fairly open and approachable, although he can get cautious if something dings his instincts or there's a suspicious clue, and people who talk down to him will get his hackles up fast. (The Koushien arc: Or, where Hakuba and Hattori spend a couple days hissing and sniping at each other.)

9. Is he more likely to act, or to react? Typically, more likely to act.

10. Which is his default: fight or flight? Fight. He does understand the value of a tactical retreat, but he doesn't really have a sense of fear, and his pain tolerance is a little stupid.

11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks? He's got a good appreciation of comedy; black humor might get a nervous laugh, and puns might get an eyeroll, but they're not objectionable. While he may not pull major pranks very often (minor spur of the moment things, hell yes), he's got good sense of humor for them.

12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them? Considering that he's been dealing with police work from an early age especially, he's SCARILY stable and well adjusted - he's made of psychological titantium.

13. What moments in this character's life have defined him as a person? His father, and his father being chief of police - the police force in Osaka may as well be extended family for him, and the feelings seem mutual.
The time as children that he and Kazuha accidentally handcuffed themselves to each other, lost the keys, and got left that way for a while as a point by their parents to NOT play with their parents' work tools; they were already pretty closely attached, that just reinforced it, and Kazuha went on to make a pair of matching omamori charms out of the broken chain of that pair of handcuffs, which he wears constantly.
Headcanon, the impression I get from the muse is that he knows English b/c of an American kid that's been doing continual exchange student and basically moved to Japan with family who's on the Kendo team.
As much as we know he's been helping with cases from a pretty early age (He and Hakuba are probably Conan's free lampshades for why the police in Osaka and Tokyo don't blink too much at the idea of a child being useful), it seems like his life's been pretty smooth - there's not a lot of serious trauma or things that stick out majorly, so much as things just sort of working in given directions.
Tripping over Conan - he'd both wanted to match wits with this infamous Shinichi Kudou, and been curious where said Detective of the East had gotten to, and … finding him has pulled Heiji into a mess of much bigger things and a much larger-scale case than anything he's dealt with before.

14. What does he fear? Not bloody much. On some quiet level, now that he knows what Kudou's up against, there's a little fear that things might go wrong - as much as he's sure they can win, he knows they're up against nasty, lethal odds and that if they screw up, it's not just their lives, but the lives of everyone they know.

15. What are his hopes or aspirations? He seems to be oscillating between following in his father's footsteps, joining the police force, and rising in the ranks; and going freelance private detective.

16. What is something he doesn't want anyone to find out about him? I suspect his seeming denial about Kazuha's more a flail for the sake of doing so out of fear of her, fear of her reactions, and fear of her parents, than him NOT realizing how attached he is; he does seem to actually know, just ...skip over it and keep going.

Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with his parents. Good, if occasionally strict; both of them visibly care about him and do look after him, and he gets along with them. They hold him to a pretty high standard, but the bar's still kept within his reach, and generally when they get harsh it's less to discourage him and more to either keep him from slacking or make sure he's taking a dangerous situation seriously enough - they know when they tell him to stay out of the way that he won't, and they're probably already making arrangements to make sure he's got backup if he needs it and keep track of what he's doing... and if he does manage to succeed at it, he might get a ' >_>' for disobeying, but there's congratulations for pulling off things people ten years older would consider a challenge. His parents are both fairly terrifying people, but they're a pretty solid family, even as much as he wanders off and his father's busy with work.
They're also both a bit on the odd side; his mother will keep video every chance she gets, and is basically building a video archive to keep record of Heiji growing up. They have strange ways of showing affection sometimes.

2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like? None.

3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can't stand? He doesn't seem to have any other major blood relatives.

4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them? The Osaka police force. Not even joking; that's his extended family. The cops there all recognize him and treat him less as “civilian kid who happens to be the chief's son” and more as if he were half an unofficial part of the force, and half some kind of unofficial nephew/cousin.

5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet? Kazuha Toyama - they've known each other since they were both pretty little, have gone through school together, and her father is his father's second in command.

6. Does he have other close friends? He seems to be on pretty good terms with most of his classmates, the Osaka police, and his Kendo team, with a healthy bit of respect from most of the OTHER Kendo teams they go up against. Other than that, the big one is Shinichi/Conan and Ran. As much as he'd initially approached the relationship as a rivalry, they don't even try to show each other up; they play off each other pretty naturally and keep up with each other well. He's got a lot of respect for Ran, and he's on good terms with Professor Agasa.

7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people? Even when he eats his feet and accidentally steps on someone's toes, he's honestly good-natured and apologetic enough that the only time he's had a hard time getting along with someone, it was either because they were a criminal that was actively being malicious for no good reason, or Hakuba, where it seems to be a rivalry and ego-clash that's turned into a lot of sniping.

8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends? ….Oh god don't fry the poor boy's brain.

9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once? Single, little young for the rest of this to come up, and not-dating Kazuha.

10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse? I'm pretty sure any outside observer would think him and Kazuha were dating already.

11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest? Kazuha. One track much?

12. What does he look for in a romantic partner? Smart enough to follow his trains of thought and what he's doing even if they're not necessarily putting it together themselves, loyal, strong will and enough energy to keep up, able to pose a challenge now and then without it being hostile, caring about the well-being of others as a thing of Principle, capable of putting up with his occasional moments of stupidity or foot in mouth and telling him he's being an idiot or calling bullshit on him, giving as good as they get when that does come up with it still being understood that it's all surface-bluster.
So basically, Kazuha.

13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any? Dude, he traumafaces when Kazuha starts fussing over kids and going maternal and talking about wanting them - he's so not ready.

14. Does he have any rivals or enemies? Supposedly and on paper, Kudou's his rival as “The Great Detective of the East” to his “Great Detective of the West”, and he'd still like to have a good solid competition sometime, but it's hardly even a rivalry anymore. Really, Hakuba manages the “Rival” tag more. As for enemies, pretty much just the Black Organization, and that's mostly because they're trying to kill his close friend and a lot of innocent people.

15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale? Straight. He might occasionally stray into a 1, but it's more an incidental “challenges keep his attention” and him tending to be short on boundaries with people he's close with than serious attraction. He'd probably spazz and flail if a guy seriously hit on him - he has nothing against them, but “straight and not interested”. I think the closest you'd get would have to involve Kudou, at his proper age, a lot of alcohol, and a dare.

16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him? Well, he's got hormones, that's pretty clear, but he doesn't seem to entirely know what to do with them; he notices girls, but he doesn't care about CHASING or actually trying, and he seems pretty deer-in-headlights about the subject if it's brought up seriously.

17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits? ….. You know that deer in headlights look?
ANYWAY: I will, as on his app, note that his description of “Chris Vineyard” in ten words or less both times includes her chest. If he ever meets her in person, he may have the world's most potentially fatal “... My eyes are up here.” moment. Short skirts and swimsuits will get his attention, and he does have some “...*facepalm* yep, he's a guy” moments.
Other than that, it's really hard to tell at this point; he's still floundering.

Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type? There isn't one by canon that I can remember. Headcanon, he's a Sagitarrius, and it's slightly cheating since I had some familiarity with it when I picked a headcanon birthday. Chinese is hazier thanks to canon's comic-book timeline, although he's a pretty classic Dog.

2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life? Typical Japanese Shinto-Buddhist-open. He's not overly invested in the supernatural aspects, but he's pretty open-minded, and doesn't have the aversion to the idea that such things exist some others do; he'll still look for a “rational” explanation first, but he doesn't necessarily consider such things “irrational”. Not overly superstitious, but he does consider the omamori something protective as well as just sentimental, and doesn't think it's that strange to consider some of his weird dreams at least some sort of my-subconscious-is-warning-me-of-badness-maybe-I-should-be-careful.

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? XD; He's basically raised by cops. He believes very strongly in acting to protect and help others and treating others decently, and it's been a big part of his entire life. As much as he's practically born-cop, he does seem comfortable with legal fudges in the name of the greater good, to the point of being potentially okay with breaking a law in the name of trying to save someone's life or accomplish something to help or protect someone. As far as compromising that? While he'll fight for his principles and might end up injuring someone, he'll beat his head on the wall to his death before he compromies his principles. He also places a pretty high value on people's lives.

4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent? Tolerant and curious. Worth noting that the mindset he's grown up with isn't one where there's a lot of natural cultural tendency to treat different beliefs as mutually exclusive, so besides just his normal temperament, he's had it reinforced that religion is a stupid thing to argue. He might get irritated if someone is being exceptionally dogmatic or confrontational about it.

5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them? He'll be wary and a little prickly to known criminals, although it will depend a little on the severity of the crimes, motives, and how likely they are to repeat it/for what reasons; someone like Kid who's almost more “public nuisance” than anything is going to get more “this is a challenge” and token bitching than hostility, while a premeditated murder would take work to get over the “ >____> “, particularly if other people were put at risk or it was for something petty or selfish.

Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt? Well, here, he's sorta starting out. Back home, his family's pretty comfortable; they're not rich, but he's never really been in need and can afford to do stupid things like flit back and forth to Tokyo randomly.

2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him? He's the son of the Chief of Police, and apparently has been all his life. He's also known as a detective; this is something that's gradually grown - he apparently started out on small simple things as a little kid, and then got involved in helping some of the cops, who realized he was smart enough and good enough to be USEFUL and helpful, and encouraged it; by now, he's actually got the attention of reporters and a reputation around Japan as such, which's where the “Great Detective of the West” came from. It's helped with his pretty healthy sense of personal pride; he's got some accolades and he knows he's earned them, and he's pretty determined to continue living up to it.

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? A house, pretty comfortable; his room's surprisingly neat for a laid-back teenage boy, but then, his mother would probably skin him alive if he left it messy. He seems pretty comfortable there, although he doesn't tend to stay put anywhere that well.

4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on? Books, kendo gear, his dirt bike, sightseeing, going to pester Kudou, food - he knows every good restaurant in Osaka and is probably starting to learn the ones in Tokyo too.

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? He's a student, and probably an honors student academically; also one of the captains of the Kendo team. Outside of classwork, he's already made a reputation as a detective without being in a place to earn pay for it - he does it because he wants to, and being able to earn money for it at a later date is a bonus.

6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time? Kendo, exploring Osaka and Tokyo, helping on criminal cases, derping around with Kazuha, going to pester Kudou, ending up getting sucked into the inevitable murder cases Kudou trips over every five feet.

7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods? He is a very active teenage boy and eats like one. He's not an overly fussy eater per se - he does have an aspect of “garbage disposal” - but if he's given the chance, he actually eats pretty well, though he's got a preference for traditional Japanese and local specialties. As mentioned, he seems to know every good restaurant in Osaka. He'd probably try anything at least once. I doubt he's really had anything to do with alcohol himself, and odds are good that Kogorou's been a pretty good lesson by bad example that he's likely to be a little cautious with it.

Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is his favorite:

1. Color? Seems to be green and earth tones.
2. Smell? As far as associations go, weirdly enough, fall leaves.
3. Time of day? Afternoon/evening, when there's more to be doing.
4. Season? Summer/fall; he's got a few things in his past where there's good associations with fall.
5. Book? He's a mystery junkie - go figure - and while he's a Holmes buff, he prefers Ellery Queen.
6. Music? Traditional and rock, although anything too dark/depressing is liable to get on his nerves.
7. Place? Do not get him talking about Osaka. He will not shut up and the MUN will cry about the amount of in-detail research she has to do since he knows EVERY LITTLE SIDE STREET.
8. Substance? Metal and earth.
9. Plant? Sakura and maple trees.
10. Animal? DOG.

END
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