Profile
tall handsome stranger with a scar the size of mississipi on his face and an insatiable need to, like, help people, for some reason.
in everybody's business, for better or worse. will tell you daily to stay hydrated even though there's more coffee in his veins than water.
about
personality
haruo is composed in nature, and often mistaken for a reserved and introverted person; in actuality, he's very friendly and loves interacting with others. while socialising can be tiring if he's already busy, he usually thrives in social settings and is a 'people person' at heart. haruo is well-mannered and respectful to everybody he meets (unless they're trying to shoot him, which happens more often than he'd like). he's ridiculously polite even to people he thinks are insane and/or should be smacked in the face. only those who are actually close to him can see behind that mask; he can be kind of snarky, kind of pessimistic, even a little mean in actuality. he wants to be as likeable and respected as possible, to the point where's he's basically a stepford smiler.
thinks of himself as a coward (he kind of was in his pre-war life), so he actively tries to help others, as much as he can, to sort of 'atone' for that. he does genuinely care about others though, like a lot, so his selflessness isn't entirely for selfish reasons. sometimes he overextends himself and ends up with too much work to do and REFUSES to ask for help (ironically a trait he criticises in others) for fear of feeling and/or seeming inadequate or incapable.
haruo is charming and easy to befriend, a trait which makes him able to negotiate well and motivate others. however, some people mistake his friendliness for weakness, and try to take adantage of or intimidate him. he doesn't scare easy and will likely fend off any attempts to harm himself or those around him. he is non-confrontational, and will prevent conflict as much as possible- but he's not a pacifist, and isn't a stranger to using force to defend himself or others. violence is a part of life in the wasteland, which he disdains, but accepts. he doesn't enjoy it, and for a while it messed with his head a lot; but with others helping him get accustomed to life in the 23rd century, he can deal with it better.
haruo is a strong believer in fairness and unity and all that stuff. his moral and political beliefs are strongly tied together and he makes an effort to uphold them in his actions. he aligns with organisations that embody those beliefs while trying to stay on neutral (albeit long distance) terms with those that don't. obviously this kind of political approach often does not work, and sometimes makes him seem like a non-committal coward anyway.
tl;dr very nice feller, but anxious and frustrated and a little dumb, has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders, just trying to figure all this shit out. probably needs a hug.
design
appearance
haruo is a tall dude, like 6'. he weighs about 160lbs. he is lean with a fair amount of muscle mass. olive-toned fair skin, tans a little in summer; has a small patch of pale discolored skin on his chin and neck. he has a large burn scar right in the center of his face; got it from trying to operate a broken laser pistol, one of his many near-death experiences.
he has black hair, long- about chin length, he keeps it tied up in a bun or topknot almost constantly. his eyes are dark grey. he isn't very expressionate except with super strong emotions- his face expression normally is soft, smiles a lot. when stressed he'll look more tired, furrowed brows and looks like he's thinking rly hard. he does have a radiant smile though and it cures all ails.
clothing and gear
haruo dresses neatly, even formally- button-up shirts and black trousers tucked into combat boots are his go-to. he is the general of the Minutemen, but doesn't really wear the outfit or hat- finds it too heavy. likes the overcoat, though, and can be seen wearing it or a leather jacket (sometimes both) if it's cold. sometimes wears a navy military style beret. a lot of his shirts + jackets have a small star embroidered into them, it's a good luck charm.
in casual situations (ie. free time in sanctuary or helping farm or whatever) he'll wear a plain t-shirt and slacks with sneakers. enjoys knitted sweaters and slip-on shoes too, got the whole Dad aesthetic going on. can sometimes be seen wearing his vaultsuit under light clothes, it provides an extra layer of warmth and it's Comfy.
in the field he wears light combat armor and dresses mostly in dark clothing. wears anything that's durable but still easy to move around in.
story
oof
Haruo grew up in america, during the resource wars and 'chinese red menace' scare. being of obvious east-asian descent was difficult to say the least. he had little self worth and very few friends, and thus didn't object when he was drafted into the army. this time of his life was shit and he detests to even think about it.
norah| 25 years oldafter leaving the military (but taking some trauma and shit ton of anxiety with him), he meets norah daly. they'd known eachother in their adolescence but grew apart when haruo was drafted and norah went into further education, training to be a civil defense attorney. during this time the social and political leaning in america was starkly traditionalist. it was difficult for anyone, especially women, to get housing, jobs, social standing etc unless they were married. on top of that, norah's family was affluent and pressuring her to conform to the standard of the day, and haruo was alone with no relatives in america and very few prospects. so, they got married. it's not like they didn't enjoy eachother's company - they loved eachother for sure - but it was a survival tactic.
oof ii| 30 years oldamerica was going further down the toilet. haruo was incredibly lucky to have a place in suburbia with norah, where people could pretend everything was great, but the suffering continued for everybody else. people were still fighting, though, and trying to aid eachother despite the danger it posed; the politically dissident and civilly disobedient (and anyone viewed as a collaborator), were dealt with swiftly and severely. norah fought anyway- but haruo refused to. it formed a rift in their relationship. nonetheless they continued their seemingly picture-perfect life, eventually having a son, shaun. he gave haruo hope, but also a fair amount of dread.
111| 35 years oldin 2077, some dumbass pressed a big red button, america was blown to nuclear shit, and humanity got a hard reset in the process. lucky for haruo, his family was given shelter inside of vault 111. vault-tec bamboozled them hard, though. 'enter our decontamination pod for a brief thirty seconds!' SIKE it's an icebox they're freezing you and you're not gonna wake up for two centuries. at some point during that second century some asshole came into the vault, shot norah in the head and stole shaun, then put haruo back on ice before he was even thawed enough to ask what the fuck was going on.
new vaultmole on the block| 245 years oldthen he thawed out later when the systems failed, and found out the future fucking sucks, but is surprised to find that he prefers it to the past. nothing like a nuclear apocalypse to really put things in perspective. pretty bummed about his wife and kid, though. the new world is difficult to adjust to. radiation, weird new currency, violence, underground science cult kidnappings; chaos reigns overall. haruo meets a few people who help adjust him to it, in their own ways- friends, i guess.
woohooharuo continues his search for his son, but is unable to resist getting wrapped up in everyone else's problems on the way. he's ok with that. he finds himself the leader of a quasi-socialist militia trying to establish self-sufficiency and stability for the people in the commonwealth. he reflects on his life before the bombs, and hates himself. his refusal to look at reality and fight or help others, even when urged to by norah who he loved and respected; this made him almost as bad as those who fired the missiles, in his eyes. he decides to make himself into someone norah would be proud of; valuing action over complacency and equity over injustice. he aims to spread those ideals as much as possible- the world he has been thrown into certainly needs it.
trivia
cats, cleaning, good food, seeing other people improve, classical radio, music generally, letter writing, clean shirts, galleries, coffee
small spaces, chaos, when people withdraw from him, mosquitoes (a lot), bad hygiene, loud noise, the US government tbh, violence, self-righteousness, chems
- he suffers from ptsd and anxiety. he is very good at hiding it but close friends can tell when he's not doing well (he doesn't sleep and gets distant).
- 'checks in' on people often for different reasons. usually just because he wants to know they're ok. sometimes he'll have a nightmare or intrusive thought about them being hurt and has to comfort himself by being around them in a calm situation.
- he jiggles his leg or fidgets when thinking or waiting.
- his ears turn red when he's embarrassed. he's embarrassed by this too.
- claustrophobic; can't handle vaults etc for more than a couple hours before he needs to gtfo.
- he has more east european/north asian heritage than american- american is just his nationality.
- surprisingly scary when pissed off. but, people who have only heard of him can be surprised by how gentle he is when meeting him. they probably expect a tough grizzled death-defying soldier. no.. he's babey
- he's a bastard magnet. social outcasts, emotionally damaged assholes, and strays of all kinds seem to end up in his company. behold, the Dumbass Collection of Haruo Lovett. and he loves them all.
Haruo has been through a lot.
voice: has a gentle and deep voice, with no particular regional accent.
bonds
(WIP) this guy knows basically everyone in the damn commonwealth. but i don't have character files for every damn person in the commonwealth. so here's a couple of his homies :]
friend, corporal, companion | lamb
Haruo's left-hand-man, because the role of right-hand-man was taken. Lamb was one of the first victims recipients of Haruo's LET ME HELP YOU scheme; which Lamb refused up until he physically couldn't anymore. after that, he considers himself indebted to Haruo, and watches his back for a while to 'repay' him. while doing so, he realises he actually likes him a lot, which Hal gladly accepts. under Haruo's mentorship he develops his own code of ethics besides 'steal shit and run', and accepts the role of minuteman corporal.
friend | mally
Haruo met Mally when she wandered into Sanctuary Hills after her shack exploded (she was brewing moonshine and i guess something obviously went wrong). he helped her out with materials to build a new one nearby, and she thanked him with specialty tarberry gin. whenever Hal is in sanctuary they have a drink together.
neighbour | hiram
has been a gunslinging rootin tootin pain in Hal's backside since he arrived on that horse of his. as overtly friendly and harmless as he seems, there's something weird about him that Hal can't put his finger on.
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