Varden Shaw

[Varden Shaw]

I. general --

NAME: Varden Shaw
AGE: 19 Years
GENDER: Male
SPECIES: Shapeshifter
ANIMAL: Black Panther
JOB: Thief

II. physique --

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE: Human Form- (Picture.) The first thing most people notice about Varden is his height. Though he's no giant, he usual stands at least a few inches taller than the average man, if you don't count his boots of course. His skin color is a bit fair, but since he spends the majority of his time outside, he's not quite a chalk pale. As for his body form, Varden isn't extremely muscular, but he's no stick either, and he certainly holds some strength. Most of his power however, is in his legs, making him a quick runner, an excellent quality for someone who makes a living stealing things. Though technically he's an adult, his face is actually very boyish, his eyes a dark brown shade and usually slightly narrowed. The majority of the time those that get close enough to see his face have a hard time getting a good look because of his hair, which hangs around his head raggedly seeing as he never takes the time to cut it. In the dark it appears to be a reddish-brown, but in the light one can see that it actually is a true red.

Animal Form- (Picture.) Thanks to his Shapeshifter abilities, Varden is able to transform rather quickly into a Black Panther. In this form he is a lot more massive, a muscular big cat with a great amount of power in his paws which are spiked with long hooked, talon like claws. These, along with his long slender body, allow him to have excellent climbing abilities. His lengthy tail also helps contribute to his balance making climbing along walls a piece of cake. In his animals body, Varden's sense of smell and hearing is greatly enhanced, along with the use of his teeth which take the shape of long crushing fangs. Another plus side is the ability to see easily in the dark, which is the time when he's most comfortable. After all, even spotting something so large can be hard when he's the color of the darkest shadows. Only his pale yellow eyes are visible in the blackness.

CLOTHING STYLE: Since he's constantly on the move, Varden can almost always be seen wearing the same outfit. Even when its warm, he prefers to wear his coat, a long brown trench coat that has certainly seen years of wear. Under that he usually has on a black shirt, an undershirt and a pair of tan pants held up by a belt since there slightly to large at the waist. His feet he covers with heavy duty black boots, and on his hands he has a pair of dark gloves.

EXTRA: Unless he absolutely has to take it off, Varden always wears a thick cloth head band around his head which he uses to cover up an ugly scar on his forehead he's extremely self conscious about. Other extra things include a simple shark tooth necklace that he found and seems to like.

SUMMERY: A tall, thief boy with red hair and brown eyes.

III. persona --

LIKES:

• Night
  
• Hamburgers
  
• Warmth
  
• People with an open mind
  

DISLIKES:

• Water
  
• Scientists
  
• Police
  
• Vegetables
  
• Pointless arguing
  
• People asking about his scar
  

FLAWS:

• Though his animal form, the Black panther is known to be able to swim, Varden hates it. This comes mostly from his childhood in which he nearly drowned once, but he also just hates being wet. In both forms Varden is quite pathetic when it comes to swimming, he simply cannot do it.
  
  
• Stealing is a bad habit of his. He manages to limit it to the rich and the snobbish, or simply those who don't take care of there belongings. But still, stealing is stealing.
  
  
• Varden is stubborn. Even when its obvious he needs it, accepting any form of help is like physical blow. He much rather prefers to do everything himself.
  

PERSONALITY: Stubborn. Its probably the first word that comes to mind the mind of most when they meet Varden. Though at first he may seem cold, its probably only because he doesn't really like to take the time to talk to anyone. He thinks just stopping to talk is a waste of time, especially when he could be doing other things. Things like snatching watches, jewelery and money. Yet its actually a rarity for Varden to keep anything he steals. Most of the time he just sells it and uses the money on something else, something like food since he never gets enough to keep a particularly good living. Not that he minds much, in fact, he's pretty much content to spend his nights in abandon warehouses and the broken subway tunnels. To afraid that he'd get caught by either the police or those working for the scientists, Varden doesn't even give a second thought to settling down anywhere. When he eats, he eats on the go, so he's not very picky when it comes to grabbing a meal. Well, unless its vegetables of course. Maybe its the carnivore side of him, but Varden finds anything green disgusting and unbearable. He doesn't care what anyone says, vegetables are gross, end of story.
Though he's not friendly or overly social, Varden really isn't quite what you would describe as mean. Mainly, he just doesn't like people, humans in particular, telling him what to do. Its not that he thinks humans are below Shapeshifters, but they way they always seem to judge him gets under his skin. In fact, its not that hard to tick him off, especially on rainy days. But to those that actually take the time to try and talk some sense to him, he may listen. And as long as you don't do something to anger him, Varden is generally calm, perhaps even likable at times.

IV. history --

PARENTS: Emily & Samuel Shaw
SIBLINGS: Max (Older brother) and Gweneth (Younger sister)
HISTORY: Varden grew up in a city quite far away from Lakyra. He was the middle child, born second only to his brother Max. Samuel and Emily where proud, loving parents who tried there hardest to raise there two children, which eventually became three when they had Gwen. However, though his brother and sister took a natural liking to things like school, Varden struggled. It wasn't necessarily that he was lacking in knowledge, but rather he found it much to hard to pay attention, and even harder to follow all the rules that came with going. Even at a young age he was a trouble maker. This only worsened with time and by the time he was in highschool, Varden decided that skipping was a lot more to his liking.
His parents, his dad especially didn't like this. Often times they would argue and relentlessly tell him he should be more like his older brother, who by this time had gotten a well paying job. This only annoyed Varden more and one night after a particularly large fight, he left. Not realizing how foolish he was at the time, he used the little money he had to buy a train ticket. Soon he ended up in a completely different town, and when his change ran out, Varden began taking things, thus beginning his habit of thievery. Never satisfied with the city he stayed in, he kept moving and eventually came across Lakyra. There he met a man named Larry Woodson, who he somehow managed to begin conversation with. Larry, who introduced himself as a scientist, began telling Varden about the different things he did, never really going into complete detail. Varden wasn't really all that interested until the man mentioned they where paying people a bit of money to let them do tests, "nothing big" he had assured him. Intrigued by the idea of getting more money for something so simple, Varden volunteered which seemed to please Larry. However, he would soon learn this was a big mistake.
After his first day, Varden realized that what they wanted to do to him wasn't simply tests. In a hurry he tried to quit, but they wouldn't let him. Instead they forced him into the holding cells. Little did he know, he wouldn't be able to leave the lab for little more than a year.
His time spent there was complete and utter hell. Everyday he witnessed the intense suffering, watching as the failed experiments would die around him. It was horrifying, but it wasn't until they elected him to be there next victim did he really learn to experience pain. The first time they tried to alter his genes, they decided to try something new. Unfortunately this didn't work and all he got to show for it was an ugly scar on his forehead, one that would bother him for the rest of his life. But after seeing that he survived the first, they elected to try it again, this time in the more traditional way that had created all the Shapeshifters before him. This turned out to be successful, At first Varden wasn't able to control his Shape shifting abilities, but eventually he got the hang of it. When they realized that he could do so, the scientists thought to use him to there advantage, offering him the job of capturing other Shifters and Chimeras in return for better treatment. After agreeing, they let him out with a tracking device in his arm, expecting him to return with another experiment. He would however, never return.
For a while he walked around with the device, but it wasn't until he realized they where trying to re-capture him that Varden took it into his own hands to rid himself of the thing. This proved to be much harder than he thought, and a lot more painful. By the time he had gotten it out, he was about ready to pass out from blood loss. Honestly he was lucky to still have full use of his arm.
Desperate, scared, and unsure what to do, he tried to return back home. At first when they saw that there long lost son had returned, his parents rejoiced. But soon there excitement was replaced by fear and horrified looks when he showed them what he could do and why he'd been gone for so long. Almost instantly they began to think that he had turned into a monster, and scared for there own well being, they kicked him out without a second thought.
Now having nobody, Varden returned back to Lakyra simply because he knew the place best out of all the places he had been. He also wanted to get as far away from his family as he possibly could.

V. other --

THINGS WE SHOULD KNOW: Not that I can think of.
ROLE PLAY SAMPLE: I can role play, I promise.