wannabepaladin | Empatheias Application

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Aiko
Contact: orcashark @ plurk
Age: 26
Current Characters: n/a

⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: Takashi Shirogane (Clone)
Age: physically ~25, actual age unknown but most likely no more than a year
Canon: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Canon Point: Season 5 episode 6, after he confesses to Lance that he's not feeling like himself.

Background: For general background on Shiro
For clone-specific info

Personality:

The clone's personality is an exact copy of the original Shiro's, with some subtle differences thanks to Haggar's influence. He's a strong and level-headed leader, mentor, mediator, inspirational hero figure- you name it. He's extremely dependable and takes his role as a Paladin very seriously, always prepared to lead and to take action when needed. He's very focused on what he needs to do as well as serving as a focal point himself, giving the team someone to rely on and learn from.

While Shiro can be stoic and steadfast in his leadership, he's not a hardass or completely single-minded. He's actually quite flexible, willing to listen to his team and adjust his decisions around their input and wishes when he can. He's nurturing and supportive of his teammates and their personal goals and choices. The exception to this, exclusive to him as a clone, is when he was being influenced by Haggar to protect and support Lotor. That's the only time he used his position as leader to demand absolute authority and even raised his voice with his team. Normally Shiro would never misuse or abuse his power in this way, which just goes to show how much power Haggar had over him without him realizing it.

There are other scenes that subtly hint at the clone having a slightly shorter fuse than the original Shiro, such as the way he argues with Keith and the aforementioned scene where he raises his voice. It's nothing hugely overt and he's still "himself" at heart, but it's there.

But Shiro loves his team and shares strong bonds with them, and in the end wants nothing more than to support his friends and defend the universe.

All that said, it's easy to look at Shiro and see the epitome of a perfect leader (his Haggar problems aside). But like anyone else, Shiro is still only human. His experiences and amnesia as a gladiator slave of the Galra left him with symptoms of PTSD and his own set of demons to contend with. He has debilitating flashbacks and his Gala-designed weaponized arm and scattered memories of the gladiator arena leave him with doubts about his own humanity. He has a fatalistic streak as well that is normally well hidden, only clearly seen so far when he joked about his wounds to Keith and tried to tell him to take over if anything ever happened to him. He's not nearly as good at taking care of himself as he is with taking care of his team. He'll push himself past his limits or ignore his own pain while insisting he's fine, and he rarely, if ever, talks to anyone about himself or his own feelings and experiences. Another clone-only exception here is when he confesses to Lance that he's feeling confused and like he's "not himself," and even saying that much is clearly difficult for him.

(Recent revelations about the upcoming season revealed that Shiro has a degenerative illness, which can in part help support why he doesn't often prioritize his own well being and conceals signs of weakness. He was cured of the disease in the cloning process, but seeing as he doesn't know he's a clone, Shiro isn't aware of that.)

In the rare instances when Shiro does let himself relax, he can be a pretty fun-loving guy to the point of being a goofy nerd. He's not the most creative nerd- even when playing the space equivalent of D&D he always insists on being a paladin and names his character after himself- but he's as earnest about having fun as he is with anything else. It's a side of him that doesn't have the opportunity to show very often with how leaderly and focused he is on the fight, but it occasionally comes through in small ways.

Abilities: Shiro has strong hand-to-hand combat and strategic skills and experience, both from his Garrison days and his time as a gladiator. His right arm was replaced with a metallic prosthetic that can be powered up to emit a purple energy (likely quintessence) that can cut through nearly anything and melt metal (or cauterize wounds in a pinch). It can also interface with and power Galra tech. (It also apparently has a Super Powered Up Mode with even more abilities such as an energy blade and powerful energy beam, but this likely won't come up in game as he was only aware of and able to activate it after Haggar took full control of him.)

Alignment: Sosyne. It's the same alignment the Shiro in game has, and I feel it fits the same way- maybe even more, since the clone is just a Tad Bit Angrier than the original. Shiro's advice to Keith, "patience yields focus," is indicative of Shiro's relationship with staying calm under pressure, which fits well with Sosyne.

Other: n/a

⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉
Remember that we ask for samples that show 1) core character portrayal and 2) some use of emotions, such as environmental effect. You can also use the same sample source for both, just make sure to directly link or quote the emotion portion. We highly encourage using the Test Drive, and you can use prompts from the Test Drives, Intro Logs, and the Task board if you need them. Refer to the main application page for links and more suggestions.

General Sample: boink

Emotion Sample: bonk

Questions: n/a