application for hollyheights

[photonics]

OOC INFORMATION
Player: Diana
Age: 21
Personal Journal: maesterlicious
Contact Info: maesterlicious | AIM: Maesterlicious
Other Characters: N/A

IC INFORMATION
Characters Name: Kaito Tenjou
Age: 18
Canon: Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL
Canon Point: Post-episode 98.
Species: Human.
Gender: Male.
Orientation: Kaito shows no real interest in romance in the series. Considering the fact that he has no reason to even show as much in his canon (though he seems to have had a close relationship with his mentor, Chris, a few years prior to the beginning of the series), there's no firm preference. Bisexual will do.

History: Link!
Appearance: Normal appearance; Photon Mode
Personality:

First and foremost, Kaito Tenjou cares the most about his younger brother, Haruto. In fact, a big part of who he is, is due to his relationship with his brother, and when he's around Haruto, it's almost as if he's a different person than what everyone else sees. There's typically a kind smile on his face when he's looking at the other; his tone of voice is soft and not at all threatening; his words are always kind and reassuring. This side of his personality is the very same that he'd grown up with for most of his life. Of course, as expected with a drastic change in attitude, there were reasons for it.

Due to the poor health that Haruto had been born in, it was left to Kaito to raise Haruto for several years while their father, Dr. Faker, attempted to find a way to make Haruto better. After finding out a way to sustain his life while sacrificing the fathers of two other families and making a deal with a Barian, Vector, Haruto and Kaito were moved into Heartland. Of course, Haruto's new-found powers were to be used, and thus began Kaito's change.

His brother meant the world to him, and to know that he was being used in such a way had Kaito slowly becoming a bit more angry at his core. Kaito soon found Haruto to be completely unfamiliar with himself or the things they once did together. His anger grew, and when he tried to figure out what happened, he found himself roped into becoming a Numbers Hunter - Haruto's soul had left his body and the only way to get it back was to collect all one-hundred Numbers cards.

So, Kaito's training began, and as a result, he hardened himself. He would have to take the souls of others who possessed the cards, and he couldn't let himself be weak and compassionate to do such a thing. So he trained and trained, only allowing himself to be gentle when he was around Haruto, but otherwise seeming insensitive to others most times. Kaito had been taught how to duel better by his mentor, Christopher Arclight, and he soon became the only trusted friend that Kaito had. Though, once Chris had found out that it was Kaito's father that was responsible for the disappearance of his own father, he lashed out and left Kaito. In the rain.

From that point on, Kaito becomes much more standoffish, seemingly cold and cruel. At the height of his Numbers hunting "career" is when he's been the most uncaring of anyone aside from his brother. All those that he's dueled, he's unintentionally used scare tactics on to unsettle them and make it that much easier to get them to crack and lose their nerve, forcing them to not think very clearly. He would whistle to announce his arrival as his 'companion', Orbital 7, would stop time for everyone but those holding a Numbers card, and though he was opposed to inflicting fear on his opponent, he used the fear his opponents already had to make them doubt themselves.

Yet, his changes don't stop there. Upon meeting the protagonist of the series, Yuuma Tsukumo, Kaito is ruthless to begin with, as expected. But as time passes, he allows himself to work with Yuuma to achieve his own ends and in turn, ends up sort of befriending Yuuma and his friends due to Yuuma's rather forceful attempts to help Kaito and Haruto both. Come the conclusion of that particular arc of the series, Haruto is back to as he was before Dr. Faker made his deal, and Kaito has "allowed" Dr. Faker to be part of the family once again, though things are awkward and tense. His family-oriented nature is what allows him to let go of the vengeance and hatred he had towards his father previously, and to give him that second chance.

Of course, a second chance is what Kaito himself strives for. He claims that his soul has been stained, that he'd even sold his soul to the devil (Mr. Heartland), and around this point, despite Yuuma convincing him to move on from having hunted innocent souls in his attempt to save Haruto, he admits that his soul is still "guilty". However, even with Haruto okay again, Kaito is still mostly reserved. He's willing to help those he's gotten close to even if he really doesn't have to, and is even capable of friendly, nonthreatening banter with Shark. Smiles are a little less rare by the current point in the series, though he still has his iron will and determination that makes him quite the foe in a duel, and he isn't someone to be taken lightly.

He's proven to be the most rational of the main trio of the series - when Yuuma is in hysterics over the disappearance of another friend, Kaito has no qualms with slapping him to calm him down, telling him "It's unsightly." And when Shark is eager to go to the location provided to them by the enemy, it's Kaito that remains practical about the situation, saying that they know nothing of the enemy and that it all sounds too convenient. But while he can typically keep a clear head most times, sometimes his desire to win or the danger that his brother may be in is something that has him thinking irrationally at times. He tries not to make it a habit, however. Though, when it's decided that he intends to follow Yuuma, he's shown to be mostly honest to his brother when he says his goodbyes, telling him that it's not something that he's doing for Haruto, but that it's something he simply threw himself into (though it really does have to do with some sort of revenge for Haruto, as well). He also gives the reassurance he won't lose, and as a result, goes into it all with the mindset that, with that promise, losing is absolutely not an option.

All in all, the well-being of his brother is what secures most of his decisions, even if it means hurting himself in the process, but if it involves someone else, especially a friend of his, he does what he can to ensure that they're thinking clearly as well. And if they seem to be in some sort of emotional turmoil, he remains out of it and finds it better to let things play out and believe in those close to him as people that can pull through without needing him to hold their hand, or anyone else's. He gives words of encouragement when they're needed, but most times, lets them do what they must. He's capable of dealing with a lighter mood, one where it isn't necessary for him to be the 'adult' of the situation, though he isn't beyond showing a bit of annoyance with those he's dealing with (considering most of the people he does deal with are under the age of fourteen, or a robot that shows too much concern for Kaito's well-being at times when he'd rather it didn't).

Abilities: Kaito's abilities consist of going through a process known as 'Photon Change'. Initiating the transformation allows him to duel without needing to concern himself with the Numbers amplifying his desires as they're known to do to others who are in possession of them. The transformation also provides him with a functional D-Pad (which allows him to draw and play his cards during a duel) and a D-Gazer tattoo (which establishes an AR Vision Link to allow him to see the holograms of the monsters involved in duels) over his left eye, giving him a reason to not actually carry the equipment around with him - the D-Pad and D-Gazer tattoo are also able to be used by others, but Kaito is the only one with the ability to fully change into Photon Mode.

However, Photon Mode comes with a price. Using it over extended periods of time slowly wears him down, and if he excessively duels, his heart begins to fail on occasion. If he doesn't stop at his limit, he can die from over-usage.

When Haruto had given a part of his Barian-origin power to Kaito to allow him to summon a new monster, Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, it allowed him to see Astral, whom had previously been invisible to all but Yuuma. When he uses the power to summon NGEPD, he's surrounded by a red aura, similar to others who also have powers of Barian origin.

As for 'talents'... Aside from being a phenomenal duelist, Kaito is rather intelligent and well-versed in technology use (likely better technology than what Holly Heights is used to), and in some cases, inter-dimensional physics. Science and math are certainly his stronger subjects.
Other: He's... rather short for his age. He seriously has not grown very much since he was thirteen years old, so he's barely taller than the silly thirteen- and fourteen-year-old kids he hangs out with. What a dork. He also can't cook. This is canon. No one in ZEXAL can cook, tbh.

SAMPLES
First Person: A thread on Dear Mun & a post from a previous game.

Third Person: Kaito had always thought himself to be an exceptional duelist. He was confident, yes, but he never let that go to his head and he always focused on trying to find a way to bring out his strongest monsters and quickly. It was a beatstick strategy, but when one has to occasionally think of his health sometimes, he did what he could to end duels as quickly as possible. Of course, there were two duels against one person-- could Misael be really called a 'person'?-- that had gone unfinished, and Kaito certainly wanted to run himself ragged ensuring he was prepared for their next time.

But when, the night before, Haruto had mentioned wanting to spend the entirety of the next day learning to duel, Kaito had to take a moment to really consider that.

Had he ever dueled any other way? Had he ever been anything but ruthless and quick in his victories?

But he told Haruto 'yes'. He'd told him that he would love to spend the day with him, and Kaito wasn't even half-lying about that. It was why he'd bothered to get up early in the morning to try to figure out something he could do with his own deck to make it less intimidating and a bit easier to beat. He could have just removed his ace monsters, but then what purpose would his deck even serve? And Haruto would have probably gotten upset with him for going easy on him, but...

He'd set up a table for them to duel on - it'd been years since he'd bothered with tabletop dueling, but for Haruto, he could manage it, he felt. So he sat and watched the clock, legs bouncing a bit impatiently where they were crossed, and once the clock struck 8 AM, Kaito pushed himself from his chair and made his way into Haruto's room. He knocked lightly on the door, then pushed it open slowly, peeking his head in with one of his gentle smiles reserved for Haruto only.

"Good morning, Haruto."