Hiro

## **Personality**

Hiro tends to behave very childishly, despite being an adult. He tends to be very naive when it comes to judging the character of others, and believes that everyone is a good person deep down. His naïveté and sycophantism makes him easily susceptible to mental and emotional manipulation. He also finds it difficult to be serious when the situation calls for it, making him appear very dense.

Overall, his intelligence is on the less than average side due to not having formal education. However, he has a massive knowledge of food preparation, creole cuisine, and seafood, which is where his passion lies.

Hiro does not have a single mean bone in his body. Introductions come easily to Hiro because he treats every acquaintance as if they were lifelong friends. His attitude is always positive, though his levity may come off as annoying to some more pessimistic coworkers. The only damper on his attitude comes from coworkers leaving messes in his kitchen. Utensils strewn about, crusted dishes, and spoiled food can set Hiro off, causing him to chase the perpetrator with a cleaver. However, his pacifist lifestyle would never allow any maiming or killing, so the perp would instead get a stern reminder to always clean up after themselves.

He is a complete mama’s boy due to mainly being raised by Rosaline; however, he can function well on his own due to her emphasis on independence. He prefers the company of friends to being alone.

## **Abilities**

Being a kappa, Hiro does not have many extraordinary abilities compared to most monsterfolk. His monster form is considerably shorter than his glamoured form; he stands about 3 feet tall. He can breathe underwater with relative ease, and can remain submerged for hours at a time. Affixed on his head is a small ceramic dish, which is normally covered by his chef hat while on duty. This dish must remain at least partially filled with liquid or Hiro will become weakened and faint. Prolonged drought in his dish will lead to a comatose state or even death. He does possess a surprising amount of strength and dexterity, which he mostly uses for fishing. His turtle shell has the hardness of iron and can take quite a beating — but don’t test it out, because he will cry. Contrary to popular belief, Hiro cannot retract into his shell — his head is too big.

Hiro and his mother share the ability to keep glamoured forms for prolonged periods of time, which allows them both to work in the human settlement of New Orleans. However, if Hiro becomes sick, stressed, or otherwise tired from glamouring, he will become visibly green and forced to retreat into hiding until he is better.

## **History**

Yamada Hiroshi was born on March 3rd,1934 in the monster settlement of Pinelight. His father, Yamada Takahashi, was a Japanese immigrant and a kappa. His mother, Rosaline LaFleur, is a French-Creole woman and a flame atronach. The two parents would go on to have three more children — Shou, Momo, and Shika — a few years later, though none of them would inherit Takahashi’s kappa form.

His mother and father would both commute to New Orleans for work; Takahashi worked as a fisherman and Rosaline worked as a chef at a small restaurant. When Hiro was born, Rosaline was forced to take leave from her job to raise him. Hiroshi spent these years learning culinary arts with his mother, who saw the boundless potential in her impressionable son. The mother and son formed an inseparable bond over their passion for food and cooking.

When Hiroshi was eight years old, his father left for work at the docks and did not come home. Unbeknownst to the boy, his father had been forcefully interned. Rosaline refused to explain the reality of his father’s disappearance to the child, and instead reassured the boy that Takahashi would one day return. Shortly after, Rosaline reclaimed her maiden name of LaFleur and returned to work in New Orleans at the same small restaurant. Though his whereabouts are truly unknown, Takahashi is presumed dead. To this day, Hiro still waits for his father.

Hiro spent the years following his father’s disappearance raising his three younger siblings while his mother was away. The constant exposure to his younger siblings without a parent present caused him to begin replicating their childish behaviors, and his mental and emotional development became stunted. Because his mother was away for work for the majority of the day, there was little time to educate Hiro, although he received some home-schooling from a neighbor and friend of Rosaline’s.

When Hiro had reached the age of sixteen, his mother brought him to the human settlement of New Orleans to begin working with her. His culinary skills quickly exceeded those of his coworkers, allowing him to be promoted to sous-chef within a year. The fast-paced environment of the kitchen combined with the fiery and explosive nature of his flame atronach mother molded Hiroshi into an extremely efficient and patient worker.

For three years, Hiro and his mother worked side-by-side. However, the sudden death of Rosaline’s friend in Pinelight forced her to take leave once again to raise the children. Hiro continued to work at the restaurant until it’s closure due to insufficient revenue in 1955. Unable to provide both work and financial support for the rest of the LaFleurs, Rosaline chose to stay at home and instead leave the much younger and viable Hiro to the bread-winning.

In order to support his family in Pinelight, Hiroshi searched relentlessly for work at human establishments in New Orleans; however, his searches were to no avail. That is, until he came across the notice of a monster-run establishment by the name of La’Lune...

## **Likes & Dislikes**

**Likes**

* His Mama, Rosa
* Cucumbers
* All kinds of seafood
* Bright colors and patterns
* Doodling
* Peppy music
* Socializing

**Dislikes**

* Cold weather
* Bullies/Mean people
* Messy kitchens
* Burnt food
* Darkness
* Being lied to

## **Trivia**

* Hiro does not know where babies come from because Mama Rosa says that he is ‘not ready for this yet.’
* The chef’s hat Hiro wears to work is Mama Rosa’s old hat, hence the embroidered rose on the cloth. This is his prized possession and he tries his best to take very good care of it.
* Hiro loves to sing little made-up songs while he cooks and cleans. Hearing him sing is much like hearing a child sing—it’s not very good, but are you really going to tell him that?
* He has very little tolerance to alcohol in general, but when alcohol is poured into his bowl, he will become drunk instantly. He prefers beer over liquor, though he does not drink regularly.
* His favorite music tends to be pop music, like Mr. Sandman by the Chordettes, but he prefers to improvise some of the lines to describe himself. (e.g., ‘give him green skin, like turtles and clovers’)
* He does not like to wear clothes, but laws and societal pressure prevent him from being truly free.
* His fear of darkness spawns subliminally from his love of his mother. Her flame atronach ability radiates a warm and comforting light, so Hiro associates a lack of light with fear and anxiety.