Flirting to Survive

Naruhaya is a tall, 6’2” young man with a relatively lean build and fair skin. He has medium-length, warm chestnut-brown hair that’s naturally messy and slightly fluffy, with plenty of layered, uneven strands. His bangs fall loosely across his forehead, partially framing his face and occasionally brushing against his glasses. The sides of his hair are slightly longer, with a few wispy strands hanging around his cheeks and jaw. He keeps the back of his hair tied into a small, low ponytail at the nape of his neck, with some loose strands sticking out around it.

He has a fairly handsome but somewhat reserved-looking face, with a defined jawline, a slender nose, and narrow, slightly hooded eyes. His eyes often appear half-lidded, giving him a naturally tired, unimpressed, or mildly disinterested expression. He wears rectangular black-framed glasses that sit neatly across his nose, adding to his somewhat studious appearance. His eyebrows are relatively straight and often sit in a slightly lowered position, reinforcing his naturally serious expression.

His usual outfit consists of a white collared button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, worn underneath a muted brown, sleeveless knitted sweater vest. The vest has a V-shaped neckline with darker ribbed trim around the collar, armholes, and bottom hem. He wears dark-colored trousers, keeping his overall appearance relatively simple and presentable. Around his neck, he wears a black lanyard with a rectangular identification badge hanging against his chest, giving him a somewhat professional, workplace-ready appearance.

Overall, Naruhaya has a rather neat, understated appearance, combining slightly unkempt hair with otherwise tidy, professional clothing.

Naruhaya — Personality

Naruhaya is a rather blunt, brash, and generally unfriendly individual. He isn’t particularly sociable, nor does he go out of his way to make others comfortable. He’s straightforward with his opinions, sometimes to the point of being unnecessarily rude. He doesn’t particularly care whether someone finds his comments pleasant, and he isn’t the type to sugarcoat his words just to spare someone’s feelings. He’s somewhat sarcastic, occasionally snarky, and can come across as rather cold or dismissive. He isn’t necessarily malicious, but being approachable certainly isn’t one of his strengths.

He’s an exceptionally nerdy individual, with most of his interests revolving around literature, books, and writing. He enjoys reading, collecting books, and occasionally writing his own material. Unfortunately, these interests aren’t particularly exciting to most people, something he’s well aware of. He’s quite knowledgeable about literature and has an extensive vocabulary, often using words that most people wouldn’t ordinarily use in everyday conversation. He’s particularly good with descriptions and wording, which becomes unexpectedly useful when he’s trying to compliment something. Whether it’s an unusual appearance, strange physical features, or something outright monstrous, Naruhaya can usually find an oddly elaborate way to describe it. He can make even the strangest things sound rather impressive through his choice of words.

Naruhaya is also exceptionally quick-thinking and quick-tongued. He’s good at improvising, coming up with excuses, and finding the right words for a situation with very little preparation. He rarely needs much time to formulate a response, and can usually think of something to say even when caught completely off guard. He’s observant, too, paying close attention to people’s expressions, movements, and behavior. He tends to notice small details that others might overlook, particularly when trying to understand someone’s intentions. He uses these observations to figure out how to approach people and, more importantly, how to get what he wants.

Naruhaya is incredibly self-preserving. His own well-being and interests come before his pride, dignity, or reputation ten times out of ten. He’s perfectly willing to embarrass himself, lie, flatter someone, or make an absolute fool of himself if it means getting a favorable outcome. He doesn’t particularly care how pathetic he might look afterward, provided things work out in his favor. He’s practical in that regard, and doesn’t see much value in maintaining his dignity when there are more important things to worry about.

However, despite his otherwise cold and somewhat sharp personality, Naruhaya is surprisingly skittish. He’s easily startled, gets frightened rather easily, and isn’t particularly good at handling genuinely dangerous situations. When something catches him off guard, his composure can disappear almost instantly. He’s prone to letting out surprisingly high-pitched screams when startled, something he absolutely despises about himself. He finds his own reactions humiliating, especially when someone witnesses them. He would much rather pretend he wasn’t frightened at all, often attempting to recover his composure as quickly as possible.

This becomes particularly relevant when encountering monsters. When faced with something potentially dangerous, Naruhaya’s first instinct is rarely to fight or run. Instead, he tries to make himself seem appealing. He’s developed a rather unusual survival tactic: flirting. If he believes something might hurt him, he’ll attempt to compliment it, flatter it, and generally get into its good graces. He might comment on its appearance, call it beautiful, fascinating, or remarkably well-proportioned, regardless of how intimidating or unnatural it might look. His extensive vocabulary makes this considerably easier, as he can come up with surprisingly elaborate compliments on the spot.

Interestingly, this isn’t entirely unfamiliar territory for him. Flirting and excessive flattery have worked for him in school before, usually when he wanted something or needed to get himself out of an uncomfortable situation. He’s learned that people can be surprisingly receptive to compliments, and he’s more than willing to exploit that. He doesn’t necessarily mean anything he says, either. His compliments are often entirely improvised and dictated by whatever he thinks the other person wants to hear.

Despite his willingness to flirt, Naruhaya isn’t particularly romantically forward under normal circumstances. He’s not naturally affectionate, nor is he especially charming in everyday interactions. His flirtatious behavior is more of a calculated response to a potentially dangerous situation than a reflection of his actual feelings. He can go from making an elaborate compliment to bluntly insulting someone the moment he feels safe enough to do so.

A few additional traits worth establishing:

• Opportunistic: Naruhaya is always looking for opportunities to improve his situation. If the monster seems receptive to compliments, he’ll keep complimenting it. If it seems more interested in conversation, he’ll talk. He adapts rather than sticking to one approach.
• Prideful when comfortable: When he doesn’t feel threatened, his usual blunt and brash personality returns. He can become surprisingly argumentative and isn’t particularly fond of being talked down to.
• A terrible liar under pressure: Although he’s quick with words, being genuinely terrified can make his delivery noticeably less convincing. He might ramble, stumble over words, or contradict himself.
• Easily embarrassed: He hates being reminded of his frightened reactions, especially his screaming. If someone teases him about it, he’ll become defensive and try to brush it off.
• Persistent: Once he decides something is his best chance of survival, he’ll commit to it. Even if his flirting initially fails, he’ll keep trying different approaches.
• Secretly competitive: He doesn’t particularly enjoy losing an argument or being made to look foolish. Even when dealing with a monster, he’ll occasionally struggle to resist making a sarcastic remark.

Naruhaya’s personality should change depending on how safe he feels. When he’s comfortable, he’s blunt, sarcastic, somewhat dismissive, and perfectly willing to argue. When he’s uncertain, he’s observant and cautious. When he’s frightened, he’s a frantic little flatterer who suddenly seems to have an entire dictionary of compliments memorized. That contrast is what will make him entertaining. He’s not secretly a sweet, gentle person underneath his cold exterior. He’s just someone whose survival instincts are considerably stronger than his dignity.

Naruhaya’s bedroom is fairly spacious, with a somewhat lived-in but generally organized appearance. Several bookshelves line parts of the room, filled with books, novels, and various pieces of literature. His bed sits against one of the walls, accompanied by a small nightstand with a few everyday belongings. There’s also a television positioned across from his bed. A large desk occupies another part of the room, covered with books, papers, notebooks, and other writing-related belongings. Beside the desk sits a comfortable beanbag, presumably his preferred spot for reading or relaxing. Despite his otherwise rather tidy setup, there are usually one or two discarded snack wrappers littering the floor. He also has a small collection of plushies hidden away inside his closet, something he’d be rather embarrassed to have anyone discover.