(no subject)

(no subject)

footprints of snow, blind from the road

takashi shirogane

ALL THIS RUNNING AROUND, I CAN’T FIGHT IT MUCH LONGER

SHIRO

NINETEEN

MALE

JANUARY 7

CAPRICORN

SOMETHING’S TRYING TO GET OUT AND IT’S NEVER BEEN CLOSER

POSITIVE ∙ authoritative ∙ experienced ∙ helpful ∙ responsible ∙ diligent ∙ patient ∙ encouraging ∙ strategic ∙ intelligent ∙ silly ∙ straight-forward ∙ tenderhearted ∙ empathetic

LIKES ∙ some ∙ likes DISLIKES ∙ some ∙ dislikes

NEGATIVE ∙ proud ∙ stern ∙ no-nonsense ∙ serious ∙ dry ∙ hypocritical ∙ brusque ∙ traumatized ∙ stressed ∙ unstable ∙ wild ∙ merciless ∙ gladiatorial

IF MY TICKER FAILS, MAKE UP SOME OTHER STORY

personality

Shiro is the appointed leader of the Voltron Paladins for a reason, having positioned himself at the de facto helm from the series’ start; he is born to command and it shows in everything he does. This isn’t surprising, considering his time as a senior officer and exploration pilot, having amassed plenty of experience that has since allowed him to slip into the position organically. From how he holds himself with confidence and pride in his own ability to take care of his team, to how he directs others with stern yet helpful suggestions, there’s no one better suited to take up the mantle and his fellow pilots welcome it without debate. There is a great amount of responsibility that comes hand in hand with a leadership role, but, with as diligent and patient as the Black Paladin is, this doesn’t seem to be an issue—especially when the chips are down. When forming Voltron under pressure proved to be quite the challenge for the five earthlings (whose highest level of experience was cadet training and Shiro’s piloting at the Galaxy Garrison), he took the reigns.

Shiro brings people together in tough times with words of encouragement; his belief in people strengthens people. That said, this does make him the straight man of the group; he’s the no-nonsense commander, serious and authoritative. While the others play around, make jokes, bicker endlessly, or relax, their leader is almost always on his feet, strategizing with Allura and Coran (helpful comrades from the planet Altea who assisted them in finding the Voltron Lions), chastising the others for fooling around during inopportune moments, or training. Shiro believes in that age old “work first, play later” mentality and never hesitates in flexing his leadership to knock his teammates’ egos or overexcitement down a peg.

He’s not incapable of joining in with the space cadets, just hesitant to relax due to their duties as defenders of the universe; there are relaxing moments and Shiro indulges in them when he can, spending time with his cohorts. These moments may be few and far between, but acting silly and listening to the entertainment the other Paladins provide for him does happen to be one of Shiro’s favourite things to do in the Castle of Lions, the Voltron Paladins’ current headquarters. He’s a bit of a sucker for watching the others have fun, as it distracts from his cluttered mind. On several occasions he’s even added his humorous two cents, which always seems to come as a great surprise—or embarrassment—to the Paladins. He’s played into the dry comedic timing of failing to form Voltron the first dozen times and helped his friends describe laser gun noises by making some his own. Amending his initial unimpressed judgements when the crew began a massive food fight in the mess hall, Shiro even participated in order to “defend” them from the unpalatable space goop.

Shiro obviously has a very close relationship with his teammates. In this regard, it’s easy for him to take them aside to provide straight-forward advice when they’re sad, confused, or angry; he has a tender heart and it shows in his kind demeanour. There is no hoop, flaming or otherwise, Shiro won’t throw himself headfirst through for his friends and those few he deems family. Bonds are something prized, something he believes makes people stronger, something you can’t simply let stagnate—and he takes exceptional care in cultivating and nurturing these kinds of bonds in others. Due to the slough of experiences, good and horrible, he has under his belt, there is no topic he will fear to broach or discuss with those who are open and trust him enough to share. Empathy is, after all, the antidote to shame.

Not that this applies to his case, a bit of a hypocrite on the matter where sharing problems is concerned. Shiro would rather keep the people around him with brusque, detail-lacking tales of what he’s gone through in the year before the main events of the series began, but that’s not due to lack of trust or even an unwillingness to explain were others to pry for more. As it is, the traumas Shiro experienced on the Galra ship where he was held captive for a little over a year are morale-lowering facts that are best summarized as concisely as possible—so as to not scare the other Paladins. Oftentimes, this comes in the way of brush-offs, the clichéd “I’m fine, don’t worry about me”, and almost flippant jokes made at his own expense (example: when he and Pidge, a fellow pilot, were travelling to collect the Green Lion and she looks uneasy with their sloth-like guide, he encourages her with a casual “I’ve been locked up by aliens for a year; this is nothing”). Suffering in relative silence is his modus operandi, if he can’t find a way to mentally distance himself from the invasive memories and his triggers.

Shiro has developed acute Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder following his torturous year spent with the Galra, a hostile alien race hellbent on harvesting and destroying all life in the known universe. It, apparently, got so harrowing for him that parts of his hair lost their pigmentation in a side effect of what’s called Marie Antoinette Syndrome. They beat him, they broke him, they amputated his right arm and fitted it with Galra tech, then they pitted him against his fellow prisoners and monsters of frightening calibre in gladiator death matches in one of their ship’s arenas—and he cannot get these poisonous memories out of his head. Throwbacks to when he was an undefeated champion in that arena are frequent and, in some cases, have been known to debilitate him and force him into rigidity, unmoving until one of his teammates calls for him. Nightmares and waking dreams are brought on by combat, talking too long about the things he experienced at the hands of the alien empire, and attempts to manipulate his mind as well as his sense of self.

The most prominent instance of this, and of Shiro’s mental instability, comes by way of the reply Sendak, a commander of the Galra army, makes to Shiro’s attempts at interrogating him. The question (“Do you really think a monster like you could be a Voltron Paladin?”) angers the confused Black Paladin enough for him to lash out wildly, crack the cryo-pod Sendak was held in with a frantic punch, and ejecting his prone form into space. On a few more separate occasions, the leader has demonstrated an almost merciless and inhuman approach to dealing with their enemies; having been a reigning gladiator, he has—and would again—become a monster in order to protect his friends and survive.

abilities

Having been trained at the Galaxy Garrison where he had been a senior officer and exploration pilot, as well as being the undefeated champion of a Galra gladiator arena (where he was forced to fight to the death against droves of enemies and fellow prisoners), Shiro is adept in various styles of combat. From a more crude, barbaric sword use to graceful, fluid hand-to-hand combat, he is very much a coldly efficient soldier when he has to do battle, preferring brutally quick takedowns over a more time-consuming duel. Agile, durable, and intelligent in motion, the Voltron Paladins’ leader can hold his own against one—or many—while maintaining a steeled sort of calm. This isn’t always the case, as his PTSD often interrupts him when he’s fighting, and may cause him to flinch or freeze up.

Shiro’s weapon is a cybernetic prosthetic forced onto him after the Galra amputated and replaced his right arm for the newer, shinier, deadlier limb. Not strictly an ability, but a function of the arm, when he is gearing up to fight a violet circuitboard pattern etches itself into the air above his forearm to activate the hand’s energy emission. This bright, colourful emission is powerful enough to cleanly cut through a variety of metals, crack energy shields with a single, heavy strike, tamper and power technology, and weld reinforced doors shut.

AND IF I NEVER COME BACK, TELL MY MOTHER I’M SORRY

played by froot TWENTY-FOUR - AST (UTC-4) - FROOTING

i carry on, and after us the flood

we were you before you even existed

NAME: takashi "shiro" shirogane
CANON: voltron: legendary defender
AGE/GENDER: 19/male
HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6'0"/190lbs
SPECIES: human
INVENTORY:
∙ backpack with ALASTAIR-provided gear
∙

ALL PHYSICAL CONTACT: he'll have a problem with something intimate and fight back if it's anything aggressive, but absolutely go for it.
MAGIC/TELEPATHY: sure, there is a lot of dark stuff floating around in that head of his, so be careful of that. he has strong pstd, breaching content warning territory regarding torture, gladiator arena death matches, and mind-fuckery. he's just a tired boy.
IC/OOC BOUNDARIES: i have none, just contact me regarding death/extreme stuff.
IC/OOC WARNINGS: sometimes shiro can be a walking trigger when faced with the topics above, please drop me a line if anything bothers you!
BACKTAGGING: i don't know how a game could survive without it, so yes! even if you want to tag something from a while ago, please go ahead.
THREADHOPPING: always welcome, just make sure it's appropriate in context.
BREAKING 4TH WALL: definitely, but shiro will think you're a freak and probably get all tweaked out.

if you do not want me to tag you with shiro due to the fact that the canon is brand new, please opt-out below. it won't hurt my feelings, he's a walking, talking spoiler for voltron, so i completely understand.

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your handle: character's name: character's journal: <user name=JOURNALNAME> opt-out?:

banners of gold shine in the cold

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