[OOC] Application for Sanctum

[artificialflower]

You can read the text-only version below; you can find the full version here.

~

Character Information:


Name: Yu Kanda. Note that he is technically made in China, however has spent all of his life within a Catholic organization where everyone speaks English and the culture is more or less Western, hence the appropriate name order should be western, as well. His original name is unknown; his subject name is Yu and Kanda is a surname which was made up for him by Tiedoll.
Canon: manga + novels, since they give manga backgrounds.
Canon point: chapter 200, or a little after it. Mentally, that is; physically he's from like 196, thanks for the update system of the game he comes from (look below for details).
Age: 21. That's his biological age (counting both canon and time in Kanna). But then there are two things; 1) he's been more or less an adult and got killed 30 years ago, and was dead for 10 years before being used in the experiments (how any of his brain remained intact baffles me), and 2) since his memories got wiped almost completely, his actual experience of living in the world contains of only 10 years. So in a way, he is 10, 20 and 20-something all at once.


Appearance:
Kanda's appearance could be considered close to 'perfect' in a sense; the author herself has stated that he is among 'very beautiful people' that are commonly more difficult to draw, and indeed his face can almost resemble a female's at times, especially when he was younger (another character, Lenalee, had mistaken him for a girl when they met at ages 10 and 8 respectively). It can also be noted that early on in the manga he has a hime-cut and really does look very girly, although later on his face gets a little more angular and manly looking, despite of keeping the long eyelashes. He generally looks Asian, even though his actual birthplace is a pond in the lab and his original nationality is unknown.

He has light, rather pale skin with no flaws nor scars except a black tattoo of the "Om" symbol on the left side of his chest, which grows more parts and in size as the series progress. Kanda has dark eyes with long eyelashes. It is never explicitly stated what colour his eyes are however; it is often portrayed as blue however in one uncertainly translated instance they are referred to as 'jet black'. So let's just go with 'dark' and be done there, yeah. One of the most characteristic features of his appearance is his long, soft, flowy black hair, which he normally keeps tied up in a high ponytail in a rather specific way, leaving two long strands hanging on the sides of his fringe that reaches down to his eyes and therefore, in a sense, framing his face. However he was shown to wear a simple ponytail at points as well, most often when he has to tie it in a hurry (by the way, he can do that with one hand), and we also get to see his hair loose a few times, proving that it is indeed beautiful and looks even prettier than Lenalee's (whose was complimented by Anita), sparkles of magnificence included, despite of the fact that he only uses soap to wash it. The issue of Truly Beautiful Hair is furtherly addressed in one of the novels, where Kanda is shown being tied up and having a bunch of scientists inspecting his hair with the hopes of creating the perfect hair conditioner, apparently under the request of Bookman. If that's not an acknowledgement, I have no idea what is. IT'S LOOKED UP TO BY EVERYONE MORE SO THAN ANYONE ELSE'S. And if all that wasn't enough, it also seems fire resistant as it stays pefrectly intact and beautiful long after his clothes have burned off. Yup. Perfection. My headcanon says that his hair becomes even prettier, more fabulous and impossible to tie whenever he uses shampoo, and that's why he doesn't - because he thinks it would make him look girly. (It was also stated that going through the process of tying his hair gets him prepared to fight, and he feels less inclined to do so without his ponytail.)

Moving on. Kanda is 1,81 meters tall and weights around 63 kg. He's well-built, having enough of proportional muscle for a soldier, but at the same time it doesn't make his body look heavy at all (see picture on the right, and above). Despite of having a for the most part quite clearly masculine frame, there are a quite few occasions in the manga where his hips are drawn wide enough to result in gender gags (such as "Kanda's child-bearing hips") among the fans. Grantend, even without taking that into account, we can agree that he has an ass just as nice as the rest of his body, and move on from this topic.


Background:
Questionable Reliability Wiki link: http://dgrayman.wikia.com/wiki/Yu_Kanda

Short Summary:

He is an experiment of an organization called Black Order which specializes in exterminating demonic machinery called Akuma that are being created by the series' main bad guy, Millenium Earl. Akuma can only be destroyed by a material called Innocence, also known as God's Crystal, which is scattered all throughout the world in a total of 109 pieces. Certain people are compatible with those pieces and can use it as a weapon, and those people are called Exorcists. However, Black Order wanted to gain the upper hand in that war, and that was why the "Artificial Apostle" project was started. Its goal was to manufacture "second Exorcists", beings capable of using Innocence but more durable, stronger, faster than the actual thing. It was done by implanting fragments of fatally wounded Exorcists' brains into artficial bodies that were grown in ponds in an underground laboratory.

Unfortunately, the project was a complete failure. All of the subjects that awoke in the first place would soon go mad and have to be shut down. One of them, called Alma Karma, seemed to be a success for a good while, until subject Yu Kanda woke up as well. For a while they both were put through inhuman, body-ripping attempts to synchronize with the Innocence. Them not becoming Fallen Ones (or permanently dieing) was considered a success. However Kanda, like the others, soon started to see hallucinations and hear voices, coming from the dead part's past, including a woman which would repeat that she is going to wait forever for him, and whom his brain-donor had loved. Alma didn't want to lose another friend and tried everything to save him, however in the process he discovered the labs with the dead Exorcist's corpses and realized the truth, proceeding to slaughter everyone in the facility. Meanwhile Kanda was being 'taken care of' by the scientists, Innocence finally reacting to him moments before he got killed and saving him. He was forced to face Alma, and killed him, wanting to live on and find 'that person'. What he didn't know however, was that Alma, in fact, had the soul fragments of that very same woman he since then dedicated his life to look for.

He was appointed as the Order's Exorcist at some point after that, and was assigned to a group lead by General Tiedoll, a very caring man, soon getting the surname to complete a full name so nobody would suspect anything about his actual origins. He eventually grew up and met new people, and become more powerful than ever before. And continued looking for the woman he had only seen in his visions, refusing to die until he has found her. He became rather close with a few fellow Exorcists, such as Lenalee whom he grew up with, Marie, Daisya, Lavi, and came to like the new Supervisor, Komui, because he did his best to put an end to all the human experimentation and actually looked out for the Exorcists. Plenty of times he actually puts his life on the line for them, all throughout the series, despite of seeking survival; it can be argued that in fact the most important thing to him is duty, whether to people close to him or to those he holds promises to.

Eventually, the series' main character, Allen Walker, joins the Order. That is where Kanda's main onscreen appearance happens. (It should be noted that back at that point, Hoshino's plans for Kanda's backstory were completely different, what means that the is an inconsistency in Kanda's motivations and explanations of his looks/behavior throughout the series. In short, Kanda was supposed to fit Alma's role – be an artificial Exorcist with the soul/brain of a woman, hence the feminine appearance, searching for said woman's form that was now an Akuma so that he could destroy it as an Exorcist. This plan was scrapped somewhere around the middle of the manga, and while fixing some inconsistencies, it created quite a lot, as well.)

Walker and Kanda hate each other from the very start, however eventually come to a sort of a grudgy tolerance, although they still dislike each other's presence. After a lot of shit happened in the main plot (including lots of fights, further bonding with Marie, Tiedoll, Lenalee, Lavi, Bak and whoever else) and the truth about Alma's real identity was revealed with the help of Allen, Kanda finally refers to him by his full name instead of the offensive nickname, first time ever in the series, before being sent off via magical wormhole known as the Ark together with Alma.

However, the honeymoon isn't as happy as it should be, because Alma is just a crumbling stump at that point - apparently the labs have kept his remains after he was killed and one day the branch was invaded and the Earl randomly turned him into Akuma, once again forcing him to fight Kanda who went a little crazy then - and so Alma says his goodbyes and dies, once again making it ambiguous whether his and the girl's consciousnesses were truly entwined or not, either way they both are seen walking away. Kanda remains there, cradling his cracked body, saying his goodbyes as well, and for a good while, his status is unknown.

However, it turns out he hasn't died – three months later, completed with a hobo outfit, he waltzes back right into the Order to get his sword back, depurifies Lenalee's hand, tells a dying man off to Hell, and waltzes right back out to jack a train, beat shit up of some elite guards while utterly proud of it, and join a nerd who's infatuated with Walker on his search for the latter who has now become a fugitive and is trying to run both from the Order and the Noah.

...Forgive me if it sounds confusing. It is. Even for the longtime fans. : )


Previous Game History:
Kanda comes from Kannagara, a game set in a mystical gods' realm which is basically ancient Asia sort of a thing (and a little reminiscent of the villages from „Naruto“ series). He has been there for around six months ICly and around sixteen months OOCly, if I counted correctly.

The most brainbreaking development, of course, was Kanda coming to accept that apparently different places, such as Kannagara, exist – although he remains in denial about it for the most part, refusing to get any closer to the people insisting they 'don't actually exist'. However, during as long of a time as he's been there for, he does manage to form a few somewhat-bonds, even if he still seems reluctant and denies it when asked about it.

He gets to grow up just a little bit more, as well. While his behavior and considerable narrow-mindedness doesn't go anywhere, he actually bothers to quit the whole I AM EXORCIST routine and get a job he would get paid for – after some nudging from Lenalee, of course – therefore doing his part in helping with the expenses of the household. He even seems to take his new job seriously enough, despite of several occasions of displaying petty childish corruption.

None of his relationships with his castmates changed too much. Lenalee remained holy and motherly abusive (and, technically, aided him a few times with that getting more responsible thing. Unlike Komui though, Kanda never really tried to shield her from anything, instead just doing his best to be there for her when she needed it.) Allen came and went, and while in neither cases Kanda's reactions were pleasant, having last memories of him becoming a Noah from their world, he actually got to the point of bitter acceptance within the game, sometimes actually treating him normally enough. There was also eventually a Finder, Doug, even though after a long while Kanda did acknowledged him having feelings and a name, for the most part.

But probably the most significant development happened in regards to Lavi. In this new world, Kanda had become a sort of a Bookman-ish equivalent of stability for Lavi, and in turn, Lavi was the one idiot buddy who could be bullied into making him dinner and so on for Kanda. Lavi was the one person who didn't care too much and therefore they were comfortable talking to each other on occasion (going as far as discussing their Lenalee crushes, life in general, or actually somewhat comforting each other when terrible or upsetting things happened to either. Even if Kanda's way of comfort usually includes booting). And they actually tend to spend time together from time to time, whether it's making food or forced exercise; it's unknown if this is really much more than what it was in canon, but to be safe, let's add it as game development. They seem to have this slightly detached understanding since their views on the world and people do have some similar aspects, even if for different reasons. They both are fine with sharing certain things while being aware both of them are keeping plenty of other certain things for themselves, and never pries on each other about it. In general, that leads to them being, well, friends. Without the question mark which is given in canon relationship.

From the start, with time passing, and no coming home where he could pursue his true goals happening, Kanda sort of decided that his purpose while in Kannagara was to make sure everyone from his world could return back home undamaged, and while he wasn't particularly protective of the others at first, he did do his best whenever it was needed. The turning point happened when, shortly after the appearance of Tyki and Road, he had gotten severely injured and had Lavi killed right before his eyes. It was quite the big shock, not only because he realized the gang could die there and elsewhere, but also because he wasn't able to stop it from happening. That resulted in yet another huge quarrel with Allen, who later disappeared, and eventually Kanda decided that he was not letting it happen again. With Lavi continuing his weakling's act on, Kanda's protectiveness grew to ridiculous lengths, including trying to beat the living shit out of the redhead to get him stay home instead of joining some other-cast-ers in a fight – even if the damage would have been about the same. Thank Gods for Lenalee's boot to the head, which continues to keep Kanda and his stupid in line to this day. Thanks to the mental update, having completed his lifetime's goal leaves Kanda accepting the stay in a different world as a sort of a second chance, getting a little more accepting of life and things like making food, although it doesn't cause that much change in the meantime.

Finally, in Kannagara Kanda has also been presented with the idea of sexuality, even though he remained oblivious and almost hateful to it during most of his stay there – up to his canon update shortly after which he gets transported into Sanctum. So while at that point he does realize there's no point in shunning people because of it, the game history doesn't have much use for it. It does end up with him finding peace, more or less, and becoming just a little less restricting, both on himself and the others. Most of his run-ins with gay or bi people ended up with him refusing to talk to them, although he does befriend one couple in the end – although never really mentioning that part. Ridiculously enough, one of those guys is someone he believes he's married to for a day during an event of Gods' interfierence. Even more ridiculously, instead of that adventure ending up in killing, how it seems at first, they end up being... tolerated acquaintances, somewhat. Kanda remains completely oblivious to how he himself had reacted to it while believing they're a thing, however, as well as to how he and Lavi had fallen victims to hash brownies during a Christmas party and spent the evening staring at and touching each other's hair (that and Lavi chasing people around with mistletoe; he got Kanda as well but that was nothing exceptional and he got a boot to the head for it). He either pretends not to remember any such things, or blames it all on the Gods' and therefore claims it 'does not count', because unlike most of the world's population, he is 'decent'.

Said gay couple eventually leaves the world, visiting Lavi and Kanda through a merged dream to try and nudge them into working out whatever 'feelings' they may or may not be having for each other at that point, although both seem to remain as oblivious as ever. They don't really forget it, though, and will likely blame the appearance in Sanctum on those two, assuming it might be their way of trying to 'help' them get wherever they refuse to go.


Personality:
Kanda's personality is simple enough, but it actually makes him a rather complex character, possibly because the roots of his behavior differ from other series' characters that appear similar on the outside. What we need to know is, that he is a jerk with the heart of a jerk. Doesn't mean there are no special people for him, though, of course.

First of all, he is rude, stubborn, proud, rather cold and often arrogant. He doesn't open to people, nor talk to them unless he really wants to say something and even then his sentences are rather short and commonly include swearwords (even when he was 9, he already knew a word that only a row of symbols could display in the manga). He doesn't like people acting familiarly with him (and, in fact, he doesn't even shake hands with anyone - for example, when Allen offered him a handshake when they first met, he just insulted the brat and went on his merry way) nor using his first name ("Yu"), but there are a few people that seem to get away with it; General Tiedoll, Alma and later Lavi always call him Yu but are threatened less than half of those times. Lenalee can also whack him in the head with no consequences and has even received a compliment from him at some point (they also sometimes meditate together, since they were children even), and later on he even drinks his Innocence out of her hand (getting Komui and Bak utterly enraged).

His overused phrase that is his most common response to things he doesn't bother to answer to is simply "Che", or a similar monosyllabic sound. He looks down on a lot of people, often even ridiculing their feelings, though he also shows certain amount of respect to his superiors and Lenalee. Due to being able to use Innocence, and possibly to all the trouble he had to endure for that, he refers to all supporters as failures; he is powerful and doesn't see the need to be modest about it.

He's violent (also sees it as a destressor), and doesn't mind to resort to drastic means to prove his point or to get what he wants, including full-fledged attack on comrades when they didn't want to leave him behind, or holding his blade at a child's throat to make him confess stealing. Moreover, he shows less than zero remorse over either of these situations even after some time passing, and doesn't even seem to think he had done anything special or 'bad' at all.

In fact, he doesn't seem to get quite a lot of things, and not only because he's supposedly the dumbest out of the main four. (He even sees mission reports as a bother, and while not displayed, an aversion to reading is also possible. However, the fact that, according to the character book, he is apparently far-sighted yet wears no glasses can also be playing a part in this.) He often can appear petty or even childish, for example stealing a ribbon from a little girl to tie his hair since his own tie got damaged in a fight with "her siblings". Due to the wicked canon, instead of being normally born he had awakened from a pond at about 9 years old biologically. Even though it is unclear if he had any knowledge and motorics already, he's soon shown walking and talking according to how a 9 year old should; however now that he's around 19 he does at points act as if he was around 10 mentally as either way that is the period during which he had life experience. And that life experience mostly included the war, as well as being disciplined to act like a soldier and not show emotions right from his 'birth'. Seeing only bloodshed for all that time, it's entirely possible that he's a little emotionally underdeveloped. AT THE SAME TIME, his 'brain' was transferred from a diseased possibly older Exorcist, and while he doesn't remember much about his 'past life' other than broken fragments of memories and the feelings he's once had, it can show as well (not necessarily by him complaining about 'young people', but you get the point).

Kanda's rude and irritable jerk nature, however, doesn't seem to be the result of the experiments he's been forced through. He had been swearing and telling people off more or less from the moment he started talking, before he ever remembered anything of his past and before he was ever put through the synchronization tests. He was also even quicker to resort to physical violence back then. Also one might say he was a bit whiny, close to the point of being a crybaby, what isn't the case now (although he was shown to become just as whiny when he gets drunk, and being actually rather nice (though still an asshole) to his theoretical new best friend Lavi). Grown-up Kanda appears to be a little colder and more reserved, often calling out his threats in a calm tone rather than shouting (what is only more intimidating, really), but generally he is the same as back then. No actual Freudian excuse there.

Despite of all that, he still shows a certain amount of care to a few people, though that care still includes threats and sometimes smacking. He respects General Tiedoll and seemed secretly rather protective of him when the enemies, the Noah, started hunting down the Generals, even though he also admitted he 'hates the old geezer' for being odd, in other words, loving. He also gets along quite well with his teammates, Marie and the late Daisya, and these don't even seem to get threatened by him - nor does Lenalee, whom he presumably grew up with. Despite of witnessing her showing her weakness possibly more than anyone else in the Order other than her brother, he also respects her and considers her a 'strong woman' - he even tells her that, and that is the only compliment Kanda has given anyone this far. He also seems to somewhat get along with Lavi, especially when drunk, and often lets him get away with calling him by his first name. His mocking lectures to Allen might also be secretly well-intended, and he was shown saving a Finder from Akuma, even though he was also shown nearly strangling one to death due to being too loud when Kanda was eating. He was also friendly, though still while being his own rude pessimistic self, to Alma Karma; however despite of thinking of him as his best friend even for years afterwards, when pitched with him in a deadly match he killed him rather than letting them both go down, lead by his will to live, and even looking ready to do it again if needed. He had done that without knowing the full truth about the experiments though; once it is revealed that Alma has the 'soul' he had been looking for, he sees him off in a very tear-wretching manner, leaving behind everything else (although apparently he does so with intention to return if he doesn't die), and agreeing to fulfill Alma's last wish to die on his own terms rather than being finished off by Innocence. ALL IN ALL, he can be a little more tolerable when it comes to a few chosen people.

Finally, there have been several moments that might imply his mental stability being really quite questionable. Not only him being angry beyond logic and any boundaries to the point of attacking everything in his way, smiling in a feral manner while being technically killed or using violent means on subordinates to get his point across point that way; as a child he was seeing hallucinations related to his past and, when he was considered to be a failed experiment due to that and the lab decided to cryogenically freeze him, he is seen maniacally laughing like a true madman, and claiming he knows the truth moments before the ceremony starts and his resurfacing memories are broken further, almost getting him killed until he finally manages to connect to the Innocence.

Despite all that happened, Kanda seems loyal and puts Black Order missions as his first priority, even though he hates its Central Agency. One might say that he is in fact loyal to Komui and the Generals rather than the Order itself, and that would seem rather true. He is very serious about orders and will lecture others if he thinks they're fooling around instead of what Exorcists should do. He seems to be a man of routine to the extreme; he only eats soba and nothing else, trains every day, always gets up at 4 AM and goes to sleep at 10 PM (exercises more if he can't sleep), and is mostly focused on his work. Given that he also seems to connect it all to his main goal, it could also be said that he's almost too focused in a way. It's possible that he considers duties to be similar to promises in a way, and he is exceptionally serious about the latter; fulfilling the promise (he doesn't even clearly remember) to 'that person' is his main motivation in life, and he openly loathes anyone who breaks their word.

His general mindset could be described by most of the quotes relating to him, in particular, "I will carry out the orders. Whatever happens, I will." that was displayed on a chapter cover once. Everything else is second-priority to him; like stated above, he doesn't care about the means he uses to fulfill his duty. He believes that in every war there are sacrifices - one could even say, he's one of them - and thinking otherwise is simply stupid. Technically, the war and fighting is why he exists in the current form in the first place; Mugen saved his life, in a sense - all that adds to such view on the world and battle-accepting nature. He also seems to believe that everyone who has different views on these things than him are either naive, gutless or stupid. He also tends to express more through actions or looks than actual words. He is basically the type that speaks through his eyes.

Kanda's default mood is annoyed. He doesn't use a huge variety of facial expressions; most usually he has a small frown on his face. It can vary by becoming darker or going into a blank expression, there's also the truly murderous look that was shown only a couple of times this far which usually signifies blind rage that everyone sane should run away from. Even though he was shown rarely but smiling as he was a kid, he almost never does that anymore and will rather wear a smug contented expression or a slightly psychotic homicidal grin. He frowns most of the time, though he has displayed quite a lot of various expressions throughout the series. It can actually look rather scary, so most people tend to get intimidated before he even talks, unless they know him, or choose to rather ignore the fact due to his otherwise 'soft' looks. Looking somewhat annoyed is his default face, and he's never seen laughing (since he was a child) and very rarely smiling. However he does tend to smirk at times, and that often looks like an actual psychotic smile, for example when he grins while the area he's in at the moment explodes to smithereens along with him. After resolving his story with 'that person' and Alma, however, he is seen smiling a little more (for example, when meeting Lenalee and Marie once again in France after being gone for three months), although it still doesn't happen too often and he still favours the baby-eating grins and smirks for the most part.

Kanda seems to be in favor of hygiene, at the same time he's strangely ignorant of blood, both his own and enemies', and doesn't rush to wash it off, therefore can sometimes be seen in bloodstained clothes, not to mention the same liquid being on, for example, his face, what of course might intimidate those who meet him. When he has an opportunity and time to spare - that would mean when he's back to the HQ from the mission, or just happens to find peace and water - he will normally wash it off and even make someone (else) wash his coat for him. It is also implied he loves taking Eastern-styled baths (with a rubber ducky). Generally, he prefers tidyness and minimalism in everything, so it would seem. For example, his room is shown having practically nothing but a bed, a nighttable and a clotheshanger, so that also supports the point. He also apparently has decent table manners (minus the vocabulary), and openly displays disgust at Allen's (and whoever else's if they're messy) eating habits.

The tiny bit 'softer' side of his reflects in his hobbies, which were stated to be soba making (no wonder) and gardening. It is unknown if him being somehow related to lotus has anything to do with it, but apparently he likes plants quite a lot. In fact, it wouldn't be surprising if he owned a garden or at least kept some plants in his room once he had time for it.

Kanda's walk is firm, and at points somewhat heavy (especially if he's annoyed when it's downright marching or stomping), once again resembling a soldier's. However when he wants or needs, for example in a quick battle, he moves very easily (for example making long jumps with no strain nor clumsiness) and even gracefully, without ever contradicting his tough vibes. Just like his behavior, his posture will usually look mostly stoic and prideful, although it can also change dramatically. Wielding a sword seems to have become second nature for him. His favorite sayings include „Always keep your word“ and „I'll cut down anyone that gets in my way.“

Kanda usually wears simple, somewhat half-formal half-combat-y clothing, or his default uniform (see picture). He doesn't seem to have much preference to how his clothing looks like, although it's likely he would have a natural aversion to whatever he doesn't consider 'decent' in some way.

His uniforms usually include a long coat (often referred to as 'manskirt' by the fanbase thanks to him spending a whole arc wearing only the remaining bottom half of it), black pants with a belt and combat or specific boots. He always carries his Innocence sword Mugen with him (or, if Mugen is being repaired, a normal one, as he apparently could cut a car in half with a perfectly common sword). When he's wearing his sword on his belt (rather than his shoulders like he did with his first uniform), he often keeps one hand on the hilt; whether it's a habit or simple vigilance isn't entirely clear. Later on, Mugen gains a new sheath which is basically a piece of fabric tied with a silken string, and Kanda always holds it in his hand.

His civil wear can be much more ricidulous. It mostly includes various types of black pants, some of them being more loose as in sports-or-slacks-like and others being more tight, looking like they're a part of the uniform. I believe he's been seen wearing mid-shin-length capris once as well, although I might be wrong. I imagine he mostly prefers rougher, practical fabrics. For footwear, he is usually seen wearing his default uniform or combat boots or, at rarer occasions, a sort of sneaker-like low Chinese-type shoes or slippers. On top he usually wears either white button shirts, or somewhat army-like sleeveless ones, which are commonly black; he also doesn't mind going around shirtless. He also seems to own some rather funny looking sweaters (rumors have it that actually his General made it for him); on a chapter cover he is seen with a rather girly looking V-neck, and onscreen he has appeared with a somewhat flowery white cardigan on several occasions. Said cardigan is commonly referred to as 'gay sweater' by the fanbase. Judging from a couple of scenes, he also doesn't seem to mind scarves, even if he doesn't have one for the most of the series.

The most notable mental strength of his would have to be his willpower, which he scores at 5/5 in personality stats. He can force himself to move and fight after being gravely injured, and even his body's abilities wouldn't be enough for that if it wasn't for the sheer strength of his will. It might have something to do that in the past, he was killed repeatedly while trying to synchronize, and that sounds like it would hurt more than enough to build character.

He is also very determined when fast decisions need to be made and capable of quick thinking in battle most of the time, especially if people he cares about are in danger. He isn't too hesitant about risking sacrificing himself - then again, the fact that he can't die from injuries might be lessening the heroism of that; he does place survival over anything that concerns anyone else. His battle instincts are quite excellent, and while he is by no means a good strategist (the peak of his career would be the 'beat it until it stops moving' plan), his common denseness usually don't find its way into a fight; he's capable to make quick, logical decisions and won't be easily fooled by an enemy in disguise, sensing what he calls 'murderous aura' of sorts, what displays a certain level of battle hunch and intuition.

NOW THEN, his goal - to find 'that person' - is very important to him, and can be played against him since he tends to be very narrow-minded on a lot of things. (Though at the same time, it is a motivation so powerful that it exceeds even death.) There's his opinion, and there's the wrong one, basically.

His main personality flaws and weakness includes a few things that can be named; first would be his (lack of) smarts. He is ranked as the dumbest out of the main four, and isn't exactly good with strategy or planning. Most often his strategy includes "beat shit up until it stops moving", what doesn't always work. He can be pretty dense, childish or even plainly stupid outside of the battle, what can be used against him in one - generally, he can be outsmarted rather easily, and he won't always notice it, even though he does have a little of a "sixth sense". He doesn't seem to be really capable of "thinking outside the box", as his General points out, so creative thinking isn't quite one of his traits either.

His pride also has a downside. He can easily underestimate his opponents, due to believing that he will always prevail and the others are lesser than him - and no, it doesn't work that way even with his abilities. He can be taken by surprise, and that can mean a lot given it normally takes him around 9 minutes to wake up after a vital blow - that's more than enough time to make sure he doesn't cause more trouble. Not to mention that it's not difficult to provoke or anger him, and then his rational thinking decreases even further, making it easier to use it against him. He seems especially sensitive when taunts involve his intelligence. He is also way too stubborn for his own good, and that can also be a weakness sometimes, as if he's too set on something, he will refuse to accept obvious facts along with the situation, and might end up blindly raging, what once again is a state full of flaws and openings.

Then we have his (lack of) social skills. Kanda doesn't only not like, but is almost incapable of working in a team other than his own long-time teammates. Sure, he does his part when it's really needed, but he displays actual teamwork very rarely and has the habit of trying to turn people against him even when they're his subordinates. He is too proud and arrogant to ever ask for help even when he does need it, and that also might lead to a downfall. He also tends to miss out on plenty of things that may be considered common sense to normal people. Part of him also lacks maturity, given his upbringing and the time he remembers being alive for; it sometimes balances out when combined with his older memories, however.


Sexuality:
Now, this can be a bit of a tricky subject in the world of D.Gray-Man, as it tends to be compiled of what could be called 'priests and prostitutes', examples of the golden middle being quite more rare. It may be a little reminiscent of the actual Victorian times, where various taboos and various brothels existed side by side. While the Order can be rather lenient on certain aspects (such as having gay workers, cough Jerry cough), likely thanks to Komui, the Vatican itself is much more strict and seems to clash with their baby organization on lesser things than what plenty of nowadays republicans call 'the word of God', not to mention that behind closed doors they seem to be still fond of medieval-esque heritage of torture and trials for 'heretics'.

From there, we can quite safely say that the environment in Order isn't that sex friendly, and not homosexual/genderqueer/etc-friendly at all. In fact, married people who were taken there were not able to take their spouses with, either. An Exorcist is, to a certain extent, a 'priest' and therefore meant to spend time in a dark cell alone and focused on a holy mission.

Not only this has been the environment that Kanda grew up in; he was, more or less, raised in a lab during his most learning-about-world focused year, not even having seen the sky until the experiments failed and the underground facility destroyed. He has never had the chance to interact with other children, nor has he ever really had a chance to think about such things much; aside from asking one of the scientists closer to them, Edgar, where do humans come from, he likely never gained any more subject on anything even remotely connected to reproduction or sexuality. All the life and questions in that place circled around the experiments, the abilities, the medication and so on. Childish curiosity and be dulled down quite effectively by hours of intense physical pain and repeated deaths over and over. Not to mention that during that time, all the subjects were constantly reminded not to behave like children, not to act on their emotions, be super soldiers and so on, so by the time Kanda had actually emerged into a more normal world (assigned to General Tiedoll's unit), he was likely no longer asking questions unless it was important enough to really trouble him. In fact, by then he probably shunned and avoided all attempts to explain things or tell tales to him from the outside, deeming it as not necessary for someone like him. And HATES BEING TOUCHED. But that seems to ease up once he gets back from his honeymoon of dead, actually initiating physical contact with Lenalee... somewhat.

Now, thanks to the remains of his old life's memories, we know that he has, in fact, loved a girl back then. When she is revealed to be Alma, however, he doesn't seem disturbed at all, even giving him a hug and accepting the confession whoever it really came from. It was also stated that he normally treats men and women the same. Personally, I am quite assured by all of this that sex or gender doesn't matter to Kanda all that much; he can likely just get attracted to a person (or his sword), regardless of anything else. That would make him... pansexual, I guess.

But there we get to the whole repression issue, influenced mostly by all of what I talked about above. Sexuality overall isn't something he's been educated about, nor is it something he, at least in his home world, has time or reason to think of. Even his memories of 'love' always were focused on the feeling and romantic aspect rather than any sort of contact, even less a physical one. Back in that time and in that particular place, sex wasn't something openly talked about, and given he recalls very little of the times he had been an adult, he has no idea about it at all. While it is possible that someone at some point had tried to give him a more detailed 'talk' than the vague attempt by Edgar, knowing him he likely refused to listen. And then, let's add the childish stubbornness to even adult humans' usual dislike of what they don't understand, and we have a rather interesting paradox. While Kanda displays a somewhat lenient example of sexuality himself, he's not only completely unaware of it, but also quite intolerant of anything around him what looks 'out of norm' compared to what he is used to, in other words, the Order. While for the most part he'll ignore it as not being any of his business, things won't be pretty if it somehow addresses or involves him or people he considers close to him. In canon, he's been seen being uncomfortable, though more reservedly so, along with the others upon walking in on General Cross holding Lenalee's hand, being completely oblivious to a girl oogling him, smacking Lavi upside the head for calling Lenalee 'cute', and so on. Quite obviously, he will stand by no displays of perversion or indecentness that happen nearby. And it is also likely the reason he completely fails to see anything of the like regarding himself.

In Kannagara, it had gotten moderately worse, thanks to Allen and Lenalee having some sort of 'thing' going (but he's not good enough for her dammit), and Lavi constantly joking around in inappropriate ways (such as getting smooched by a little gay person), and so Kanda the Protector of Virtue had plenty of opportunities to use moral lectures and physical violence.

...and that is why a world like Sanctum is the most disturbing and scary one he can ever hope to not end up in. It's practically the opposite of his whole cultural background (or, well, lack of it. Or is there such a thing as experimental dungeons culture?), and quite threatening, as it is something completely unknown, strange and defined as bad in the environment he grew up in.


Skills and Powers:
First thing to note is that Kanda is, in fact, an artificial human. As such, his physical ability extends beyond that of simple humans (even if he apparently can't swim); he's very fast and agile (to the point of being no more than a blur when he moves), very physically strong despite his looks (capable of breaking holes in concrete with his punch or kick as well as splitting a machine in half with a blade), and he's a regenerator. The extent of his regeneration exceeds death, in fact; most of his wounds heal in the matter of hours (seconds, if higher Innocence levels are activated), he's capable of regrowing a lost limb or crushed organs, and, when killed, he will come to life as if nothing has happened approximately 580 seconds after death. Therefore he's almost impossible to kill (however it seems that using Innocence is killing him more efficiently than anything else). He can also keep fighting while taking impossible damage. While it was displayed in canon that the number of such revivals must be barely countable, it also isn't unlimited, as the more damage he takes through the years, the slower his regeneration rate gets, implying that eventually he will, in fact, die permanently.

It was also implied that he is partly or completely immune to cold and low temperatures, as well as hunger; it is entirely possible that not getting any food wouldn't kill him, given that he only eats soba which can hardly provide a normal human body with everything needed. It is speculated that he can eat just about anything, even if it's not edible at all. For the same reason, he is also quite immune to poison, both edible and in the form of gas. It could be argued that he's becoming less human as time passes; he's been seen commenting on cold when he was a child, however years later doesn't seem to notice -20 degrees Celsius around.

Thanks to years of training, Kanda is a great swordsman, although it might be debatable that he excels more due to strength and speed rather than pure skill. Still, he doesn't waste movements and strikes quickly, can fight with a variety of swords without changing his style, and was shown cutting up huge, thick metal structures (at least 30 centimeters thick iron) with a regular sword alone. He also wields the blade with scary accuracy, even managing to stop it a hair's width away from harming the target if needed.

Finally, he is capable of taking care of plants to some extent (as gardening is mentioned as one of his hobbies), and preparing soba. It was implied that he can't make any other kind of food, though (in a drama CD, he adds eggs to a cake along with the shells, insisting that 'some eggshells never hurt anyone'). In a Q&A set, Lavi and Allen speculate that if he wasn't an Exorcist, Kanda would probably be a soba chef. (Lol relating to Jerry in more ways than one.)

Last but not least; magic. As an Exorcist, Kanda is compatible with a supernatural matter called Innocence, which resides in his sword, Mugen. When activated, it allows him to use a lot of quite damaging moves. His special attacks (other than simply slashing, that is) are called "illusions", so far five of them have been displayed in canon. The two first ones he can use with no strain; using the third and up starts draining from his life force (or, how it was called later, 'soul sublimation', which obviously is connected to his old self somehow).

* First Illusion, Hell Insects: projectile attack that creates solid, scary-looking multi-eyed bugs with long, sharp stingers about the size of a horse that can run havoc at whatever they're aimed at, capable of moving both slowly and with great speed.
* Second Illusion, Twin Blades: materializes a second sword in his other hand. This enables him to use a variety of energy-filled slashes, such as Eight Flower Mantis that looks basically like a quickly moving and deadly sharp spinning disc.
* Third Illusion; Sublimation. His strength and speed increase drastically, making him no more than a moving blur in the fight, however it feeds off his remaining lifespan, therefore slowing down his regeneration abilities. The energy attacks can get explosive at this point.
* Fourth Illusion. Further increase in speed and power.
* Fifth Illusion. The blade starts emitting waves of electricity and changes colour; Kanda's hair goes all weird (hi Fluffy!) and he seems to enter a berserker mode, losing awareness to the point of blindly attacking the target and anything that gets in the way until it is demolished. It takes a lot of his life and is very powerful (crater-making powerful). Some of the energy-based moves used with this, such as Ripping Flash Claw, use the power of lightning. His healing once again strengthens in this mode, going far beyond his usual state, for example allowing him to grow back a lost arm in the matter of seconds.

It should be noted, though, that with all this awesome, there are also some quite significant power drawbacks. The more powerful Innocence attack Kanda uses, the more life force he loses along with it, what in the end is ought to result in a complete and permanent death. He also experiences aftereffects from Third Illusion (and up, most likely), that result in general weakness, physical pain and conscience loss.

....aaaand none of his powers are exactly world-changing nor planet-destroying, nor can it be used for escape, so I don't think it needs to be nerfed? |D;; Let me know if anything, though!


Items:
Kanda comes into the game from Kannagara, therefore possessing a set of items he's had on him at the moment when he was pulled from there. That would be:

* casual clothes set that he was wearing; that includes black pants with a belt, a pair of black socks, a pair of combat boots, red boxers with a kiddish five-petal flower pattern in black (just because I can), a black sleeveless shirt, an opened simple white button-shirt and a loose-fitting ghey jumper vanilla-white knitted cardigan;
* two red hairstrings, one in his hair and the other in his pocket along with a white hairband;
* bead bracelet, slightly Buddhist-resembling, on his left wrist, and two small black dot-like ear piercings;
* Mugen along with its sheath (does it count as sentimental or just careful?);
* a buttered slice of bread in his hand since he was just trying to learn to make food.


Action Writing Sample:
[Kanda knew this place was bad news from the moment he had first set foot on its land. All those booths and happy people and excitement were all utterly suspicious. And it didn't help at all that everything and everyone seemed to be all about dragging very, very personal things and perversions into broad daylight. It was obvious he'd hate it from back then.]

[But this? This is simply unacceptable. He stares at the device in his hand, his mind drawing a blank line like a machine measuring the heartrate of a dead man.]

[There's an avertisement text shining on the screen; In this edition of the Dept of Sex Ed Newsletter: How to safely negotiate a first-time submissive experience! Also, "Let's talk about buttplugs and their uses!"]

[He marches into the next room and shoves the screen into the face of a certain redhead.]

Explain.

[Lavi seems a little unsure about the situation, but finally plasters a 'please don't kill me I have nothing to do with this' grin on, and carefully explains that the message, like most of the things around, must be talking about sexual experiences.]

[And there's a twitch on Kanda's face, as with no warning at all, he turns away and his hand clenches, crushing the unfortunate Thingamabob, and its pieces fall on the floor. Meanwhile, the irritated man stomps off.]

[He returns few minutes later however, and prods at the shards with his foot, frowning.]

That's taking a while.

[Prods more, pushing the pieces of the device into a single small pile, and scoffs at it.]

Come on. Fix yourself the hell up already.

[Once again irritated, he stomps on it, turning the pieces into smithereens, and marches to look for answers in the shape of, once again, Lavi. It doesn't take long.]

What the fuck is wrong with that thing?


Third Person Prose Writing Sample:
Confused, Kanda stares at the world that had just opened before him. Just moments ago, he was in this place, Kannagara, standing in the kitchen and getting food making tips from that idiot redhead friend of his - he's still holding a slice of bread, unevenly covered in butter, which was supposed to become a sandwich, in fact – and then there was a sudden, dizzying sensation of being pulled through some sort of a space wormhole. And now they're here.

There's a sudden, uneven chorus of voices shouting „Welcome to Sanctum!“ at him, and in a small flinch, he drops the slice of bread on the ground. Of course, it falls butter down. He's too busy staring at the bunch of people who look just a bit too fucking excited and cheerful not to be suspicious, and he reaches for the handle of his sword with the other hand. They're not attacking, however, so he doesn't, either.

It doesn't look like Kannagara anymore, but it's definitely not home, either. What the fuck?

Never lowering his narrowed gaze from the booths and the ridiculous people, he leans down to pick up the bread, which has some dirt and grass stuck to it, and eats it with everything in two bites with the look of a complete, bitter determination. And that is when he leans a little closer to his companion, who looks just as confused by the change of the surroundings.

„You think they did this?“ he hisses through half of his mouth, almost as if trying to prevent the Suspicious, Cheerful People from reading his lips, and keeps glaring at them sideways. It kind of looks like a happy, gay enough place for Raikou and Gau to have gone to, even if it doesn't seem to have all that godly feel about it. But what does he know, he's not even religious. After those ambiguous, weird things they've said, it makes the most sense they would be behind transporting Kanda and Lavi to... wherever and whatever the fuck this is.


Plans:
GETTING OUT OF THE FUCKING NARNIA.

(Preferably with Lavi and/or Alma. Because they have nice hair and all the IDIOT.)

No, seriously. Part of the reason Kanda is so defensive over anything of sexual nature is the environment he was raised in, and the things he's gotten to believe about it. While the setting of Sanctum will likely cause a similar reaction, its providence of various knowledge without actually pushing him into anything is something that he could, with time and a little help from his friends (looking at you there, Lavi), get to tolerate. And from there, the journey would probably be easier; himself he isn't really a judgemental nor shy person at all. As soon as he's able to get rid of the subconscious level of rejection to anything even remotely intimate, he might even be interested to learn a few new things, especially considering that thanks to his point of canon and ingame development, he will be trying to embrace life more thoroughly.

And, of course, all of this journey (and beyond) is something I look forward to exploring. Even if it will likely be exceptionally slow and start not entirely prettily, especially given people around might already have more experience in the matter. He'll be judging you. Quietly. For a long while. Until he can get at least some of the issues and repression out of the way and accept the world, the life and himself in all of its (fabulous) glory.