1. Whenever I'm writing her, I have to get in Haru mode and start adapting her speech patterns; the hahis, the habit of using the third person, etc. All the characters in KHR have their own particular dialogue quirks, but Haru has probably the most distinctive way of speaking of all the characters I've written. I've really only written the one fic with her, but I can't tell you how much time I spent fussing over the dialogue and editing and re-editing until I was mostly satisfied.
2. She is extremely fanciful and daydreamy and kind of sees the world in more romantic, black-and-white shades than most people. Even when she's peripherally aware that that's not how things actually are, it's how she prefers to frame them. Because there's something nice about imagining herself as the fair maiden and Tsuna as her sparkling knight in shining armor (or alternately, her suavely handsome and excitingly dangerous mafia husband).
3. She's smart. I always try to keep in mind that no matter how weird or cutesy or generally Haru-ish she is being, she's actually one of the more intelligent characters in the series. She's attending one of the most elite schools in the area, her dad's a math professor, she's involved in all sorts of extra-curriculars (gymnastics, school plays... or whatever it is she does that involves making all those weird cosplays), and so forth. Sometimes her eccentricity overshadows all that, but that's one of my favorite things about her so I try not to forget.
4. No matter who you are or how terrifying you may be, not only will you be very hard-pressed to make Haru actually be scared of you, if you happen to offend her or cross her in any way she will JUMP ON YOU LIKE TRAMPOLINE. She's not easily intimidated and doesn't back down easily, even on those occasions when someone else does make her nervous. See: her interaction with Gokudera, that side-story she had in one of the novels with Bel, all of her Haru Haru interviews (most of which are with certifiably insane characters), etc.
5. She always wants to be helpful. And I don't just mean the cooking and cleaning (APPARENTLY THE ONLY WAY GIRLS CAN BE HELPFUL IN KHR SIGH), it's more than that. She actually a lot of times goes out of her way to not be a burden. Like, I think it's worth noting that aside from Lambo she was the character that cried the most during the Future Arc; I think there were at least three separate occasions, IIRC. Thing is, all three of those times she went out of her way to either try to hold back her tears, or wait until she was alone to let it out. She didn't want to worry anyone so she hid it. And she herself is constantly worrying about how she can the others better, and trying not to be a burden on anyone, and one of the times she broke down into tears during the Future Arc was because she was berating herself for being selfish even though she's like one of the least selfish characters in the series. She reminds me a lot of Gokudera in this aspect--actually, the last three things in this list are all Gokudera-ish traits--but anyway, she has the same habit of putting her important people's priorities way, way ahead of hers, sometimes to an almost unhealthy degree. BECAUSE SHE IS A GOOD PERSON.
Man, all this Haru talk is really making me miss her in the series right now... sigh. :(
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1. Whenever I'm writing her, I have to get in Haru mode and start adapting her speech patterns; the hahis, the habit of using the third person, etc. All the characters in KHR have their own particular dialogue quirks, but Haru has probably the most distinctive way of speaking of all the characters I've written. I've really only written the one fic with her, but I can't tell you how much time I spent fussing over the dialogue and editing and re-editing until I was mostly satisfied.
2. She is extremely fanciful and daydreamy and kind of sees the world in more romantic, black-and-white shades than most people. Even when she's peripherally aware that that's not how things actually are, it's how she prefers to frame them. Because there's something nice about imagining herself as the fair maiden and Tsuna as her sparkling knight in shining armor (or alternately, her suavely handsome and excitingly dangerous mafia husband).
3. She's smart. I always try to keep in mind that no matter how weird or cutesy or generally Haru-ish she is being, she's actually one of the more intelligent characters in the series. She's attending one of the most elite schools in the area, her dad's a math professor, she's involved in all sorts of extra-curriculars (gymnastics, school plays... or whatever it is she does that involves making all those weird cosplays), and so forth. Sometimes her eccentricity overshadows all that, but that's one of my favorite things about her so I try not to forget.
4. No matter who you are or how terrifying you may be, not only will you be very hard-pressed to make Haru actually be scared of you, if you happen to offend her or cross her in any way she will JUMP ON YOU LIKE TRAMPOLINE. She's not easily intimidated and doesn't back down easily, even on those occasions when someone else does make her nervous. See: her interaction with Gokudera, that side-story she had in one of the novels with Bel, all of her Haru Haru interviews (most of which are with certifiably insane characters), etc.
5. She always wants to be helpful. And I don't just mean the cooking and cleaning (APPARENTLY THE ONLY WAY GIRLS CAN BE HELPFUL IN KHR SIGH), it's more than that. She actually a lot of times goes out of her way to not be a burden. Like, I think it's worth noting that aside from Lambo she was the character that cried the most during the Future Arc; I think there were at least three separate occasions, IIRC. Thing is, all three of those times she went out of her way to either try to hold back her tears, or wait until she was alone to let it out. She didn't want to worry anyone so she hid it. And she herself is constantly worrying about how she can the others better, and trying not to be a burden on anyone, and one of the times she broke down into tears during the Future Arc was because she was berating herself for being selfish even though she's like one of the least selfish characters in the series. She reminds me a lot of Gokudera in this aspect--actually, the last three things in this list are all Gokudera-ish traits--but anyway, she has the same habit of putting her important people's priorities way, way ahead of hers, sometimes to an almost unhealthy degree. BECAUSE SHE IS A GOOD PERSON.
Man, all this Haru talk is really making me miss her in the series right now... sigh. :(