Post by monotone on Feb 13, 2011 20:01:12 GMT -5
KARL SILVAIN SHAW
lover playful chaotic
lover playful chaotic
BACK TO BASICS ' '
Full Name: Karl Silvain Shaw
Significance of Name: Karl meaning "a free man," Silvain and Shaw meaning "of the forest."
Nickname(s): Sil, Silvain.
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Orientation: Bisexual
Grade: Junior
Celeb you're using: Colin Morgan
Deity: Pan - Greek
Title of your deity: A God of the forest, music, sexuality, and a companion of the nymphs.
STRIKE A POSE ' '
Physical Appearance:
Silvain is on the taller side and is also somewhat lanky, adding to the energetic illusion that he is everywhere at once. His wide and exaggerative gestures also add to this. He holds himself with confidence and exuberance, always on the edge of a new thought or movement. He used to be quite insecure about how hairy he is - arms, legs, chest, face - but he has since gotten used to it and often jokes that, well, at least he doesn't have horns sprouting from his head.
He's been told that he's a looker, but it's not a fact he dwells on very often. He has a long face and very strong cheekbones, making his smile something to be jealous of. His bluish-green eyes crinkle up with laughter and are capable of silencing stares when need be. He has a mop of usually untidy black hair which he keeps relatively short for convenience's sake, although he does try to hide his rather large ears with it. When it comes to clothing, Silvain is one of those lucky people that, for lack of interest, can throw anything on and it wouldn't look half bad. He rather prefers darker, colder colors.
LET'S GET TO KNOW YOU BETTER ' '
Personality Description:
Silvain is, most noticeably, a chaotic young man. His thoughts and actions are disorganized at best, dangerously spontaneous at worst. He finds it difficult to be working on one thing for an extended amount of time, and schedules are simply out of the question. He does rather enjoy working at problems or puzzles, utilizing his quite experimental way of thinking. His high-energy take on life has led to some people finding him childish, or hard to keep up with, or even annoying. But he's not bothered.
His pace of life works for him because he is confident. Not in a snotty, arrogant type of way, but in a progressive, "I've got much better things to do than worry about who disapproves," type of way. This outward confidence has gained him many friends, as those around him look to him as someone to lean on in moments of their own insecurities, knowing he isn't the judging type.
Which he definitely isn't. The open-minded young man sees it as far from his place, even as the reincarnation of a Greek god, to judge his peers or anyone else for that matter. Whether that be about an unusual interest, a choice of lifestyle, or sexuality -- most definitely not sexuality -- Silvain would be the last person to scorn you on it. In fact, he'd probably want to hear all about it and try it himself later on.
That being said, it is important to mention just how sexual he tends to be. A trait, he supposes, inherited from his deity, Silvain is not the one you can expect to be home on any given Saturday night. Like with every aspect of his life - his work, his music, his thought process - Silvain is completely experimental when it comes to toying around with sexual experiences and companionship. Committed relationships are not his type of deal, but it's not unknown to be with a person more than once. Most often they end up being some of his closest friends, men and women that will joke around afterwards, claiming some sort of desire manipulation had been utilized - which he doesn't always deny - but nonetheless, never take him too seriously.
And why should they? The boy is always joking. With everything he does, he finds the humor in it, or adds in his own. He doesn't take life or himself very seriously at all. His own personal brand of humor is quite eccentric, but difficult to oppose. His love of fun mixed in with his less than conventional way of thinking leads to a random, spontaneous, and quite diverse sense of humor that is as hard to keep up with. One second he could be laughing at the coincidence of a "That's what she said," moment, the next commenting on the irony of important issues in the world, only to end with livening things up a bit by claiming to love Justin Bieber's newest album, just to get a reaction.
And reactions are usually the main thing he is after. His socially experimental nature is shown through his different conquests with people and his own personal ambitions. When it comes to working with people, Silvain is indeed on the anarchistic side. He makes friends quite easily, but sometimes feels that the number of people he considers friends is greater than the number that consider him a friend. He finds it difficult to get close to any one person, simply because he knows that he'll meet another new and interesting person the next day. He doesn't expect loyalty from anyone, because loyalty isn't something he is good at himself. It's not that he gets bored of a person and stops caring -- it's just that he gets attached to new people much too easily. Love is endless and he sees it as the point of life to learn from and care about and help anyone that will let him. Even if that means losing a grip on others' feelings and his own goals, morals, and needs along the way.
Indeed, on the darker side of his social philosophy, Silvain's open-mindedness might lead him to some questionable morals. His want to learn from people requires a certain amount of agreement and cooperation that in his distracted and sporadic state of mind is more than likely to earn him a few nods from those that pride themselves on sin, envy, and cruelty. He is naive in the sense that he is easily influenced if under the impression that he is learning from it, or if he has previously trusted the person leading him into the shadows. This is just a symptom of his test-and-try-try-again outlook on life.
Much more obvious and harder to overlook is his love of a challenge. Although he strongly dislikes losing, the thrill of testing his methods against another or against himself is what drives his sometimes rather strange conquests. Whether it be trying his music against that of a higher God or luring that pretty little water-nymph reincarnated into bed (or floor, or wall, or public place), Silvain finds each success refreshing and rejuvenating.
Overall, Silvain comes off as a far from well adjusted young man who seems to be happy nonetheless. He loves people, music, and nature more than he loves himself, and it has never even crossed his mind that perhaps that isn't always a good thing. Alas, sometimes it seems that he doesn't think of himself as a person at all, but rather as a tool. After all, he has always said, "I treat myself as an experiment."
Likes:
-music
-companionship
-people
-nature
-humor
Dislikes:
-losing
-close-minded people
-seeing people upset
-being looked down upon
-regret
Strengths:
-powerfully personable
-experimental thinker
-brilliant sense of direction
-high energy
-perceptive
Weaknesses:
-easily distracted, very scatter-minded
-will do anything for a loved one, and he loves easily
-won't back down from a challenge
-exceedingly empathetic
-disloyal
Fears: rejection, being alone, and real responsibility.
Goal: to have fun and meet as many people as possible.
Power/Ability: Desire Manipulation, through music alone. Although he often finds it more interesting to let the emotions of the people around him influence how he plays, it has always been clear to him that he has a certain control over the desires of those who hear his music, which he has been able to train and control more minutely here at Pantheon.
WELCOME TO MY LIFE ' '
Place of Origin: New York, New York
History:
Amber and Charlie Shaw are rather eccentric people, which makes them quite normal in the huge city of NY, NY. They married straight out of high school, planning on attending an art school together, wherever they both got accepted. Charlie was a sculptor, a prized student, and Amber was more focused on abstract painting. They were, and still are, an inseperable couple. Silvain was conceived in a forest, far away from home, on a senior class trip. Nine months and one rushed, barely-of-age, but happy wedding later, Silvain was born. A Capricorn, born on January second, with a thick patch of black hair on his head.
Amber decided that she didn't want to go to college full time after all. Her specialty wasn't widely accepted anyways, and she had completely fallen in love with being a mother. Silvain spent his mornings with his grandmother, taking strolls around Central Park, while his mom worked part-time at a day-care. In the afternoon his mother would spend as much time with him as possible, introducing him to painting and clay as soon as he could sit up. Charlie would come home in the evenings, after working and having classes all day, and read him stories while Amber went to night school to become an art therapist. It was a fairy-tale, the best possible outcome for such a young family.
Silvain immediately took to music more than the finger paints or Sculpy his parents gave him to try out. He was given a toy harmonica at the age of three and was playing it like an adult before he entered preschool two years later. At five he asked for a gee-tar he saw at the store, and for Christmas he was handed a ukulele to practise with, smaller and easier. Also that Christmas, Silvain got a new baby sister. He was fascinated with the new creature, confused about where exactly she came from and why she had his same black hair. As soon as she could hold it, he lovingly gave her his harmonica and tried to teach her how to use it.
In the meanwhile, Silvain started taking piano lessons from his beloved grandma, and was given a proper accoustic guitar for his seventh birthday. The guitar was so far his favorite to play - he liked how it was bigger than him and took a lot of muscle in the fingers and arm to make the strings sound properly. It was relatively easy after playing the ukulele for years. The piano was something that was difficult, though. The patience it took! He worked at in in increments, but it was not his favorite.
When his sister turned three, Silvain decided that he needed to know why she looked like him so much. He'd kind of been ignoring the fact, uneasy with his lack of knowledge, feeling like his parents were hiding something. When they explained, in full honesty, Silvain was relieved. "And when we want another one, you'll just do sex again?" he asked much to the amusement of his father. Indeed, the family was blessed with another baby girl when Silvain was ten.
At this point, he was attending an academy of music on scholarship. Charlie was an established artist in the city, often working on custom pieces for individual buyers. Amber was working in a public school with special needs children, and the two daughters of the family growing up much like Silvain: interested, intelligent, and happy.
Silvain's talents did not go unnoticed. His ability to pick up an instrument and have it figured out within five minutes made him become someone that even his teachers regarded with pride, awe, or disbelief. With his grandmother watching him, he was allowed to play in Central Park to earn money. However, he often found himself spending his earnings on food for people sleeping on the benches, and not much profit was made.
His school work, however, left much to be desired. English, history, languages... Silvain wouldn't deny spending ninety percent of the class time writing music or counting the minutes as they passed by. Science was doable. He quite enjoyed biology, and ecology was his favorite. Maths were the best. It was fast-paced, it was concrete but abstract, it was very Silvain. He was also a bit of a trouble-maker, talking in class the biggest, but perhaps not the most serious, problem. He was quite the social butterfly, a friend to all and the center of preteen crushdom. Aside from this, Silvain was also known for sometimes disappearing in the middle of a lesson, only to be trying out something that had been mentioned in the chemistry lab, or trying out the new African drums that had just been shipped in this morning.
And all this time, bettering his music, almost blowing up the science lab, shamelessly taking a pretty girl's hand... he had never set foot in a proper forest other than Central Park. When he was 13, the ecology class was going to bus out to a state park for two nights and get away from the concrete jungle. Silvain was more excited than he should have been. He didn't have a clue why, but it felt like this trip was going to be life-changing.
Until, of course, he was told he wasn't elligable. His history note was too bad. And English. And Latin. And French. For possibly the first time in his life, he was properly furious. The thoughts wouldn't leave his head. And when orchestra class came around at the end of the day... he discovered that life-changing experience. As he played the violin distractedly, unable to think of anything but his anger at being deprived of what felt like an important trip, he hardly noticed at first when a fight broke out in the back of the room. And then another on the other side. The others stopped playing, but Silvain was too concentrated on hisown thoughts. He didn't notice anything until a fight broke out next to him, falling on him, forcing him to stop. The last stroke of the bow sounded as it fell from his hands, and suddenly the kids were standing up straight, absolutely astounded as to why they had suddenly decided to fight.
It bothered him for weeks. He missed the trip, but he had practically forgotten about it -- his music had done something to those kids. One weekend, his mom saw how troubled he was and decided to take him out for a hike herself. That was when he was sure there was something strange going on with him. Standing in the middle of a forest, nothing but the sounds of the creatures, the trees in the breeze, and his mother's footsteps... he somehow felt at home. Complete. As calm as he had ever been in his life, and yet as excited as he ever would be.
In the summer before his ninth grade year, he was visited by a teacher of maths, claiming to have heard of his skills, and invited to Pantheon Academy. Where it all began.
CONNECTION TO THE MYTH ' '
- Pan was often depicted chasing after the beautiful nymphs and falling in love with them easily. In more modern versions, he is depicted as a God of sexuality or fertility. Adapted to modern times, you've got a happily bisexual promiscuous young man who's also quite good at simply being friends with people.
- One of Pan's earliest myths is when he makes his pipe flute from the reeds of the nymph that got away. Silvain plays countless instruments, but by far his favorite is the simplest that was given to him by the only girl he had ever tried to have an actual relationship with.
- His musical talent, although not directly a power, is definitely influenced by the spirit of Pan which resides in him.
- His love of nature, hiking, and the forest is unexplainable when you look at his history, but understandable knowing that the forest is his and Pan's one true home.
- Pan was never seen as a true "good guy" like many Gods. He was often seen as trouble, challenging Apollo to a musical contest, seducing the wrong women at the wrong times. Silvain, likewise, unknowingly causes a lot of trouble when it comes to the social aspect of being a teenager that gets around.
ROLEPLAYING SAMPLE ' '
Now, I understand why I've been abandoned. I don't know where. Sibylla was shopping with her father and sister today, not one of them particularly enjoying it. Mr Aire was having trouble enjoying the magical world again, after years of living a muggle life as a Squib, and also sympathizing for one of his daughters, who would never get to in the first place. Delilah was being grumpy, with reason, and Sibylla was trying not to be excited for her sister's sake.
But being left alone, for the third time today, was not making her happy. She always got this deep feeling of emptiness when her twin wasn't around, especially in such a new place as Diagon Alley. She tried not to imagine going to school without her as well, but focused more on where she was exactly.
Her father had left her outside of an apothecary to see if they had any cat treats or some other distraction. She went through the store without success, finding only things for some sort of cat-like creature called Kneazels. She had wandered out of the store again, feeling oddly bored. That's stupid, she thought. She was just introduced properly into the magical world and she was, somehow, bored. That was so un-Sibylla. She supposed she may have just gotten used to the fact that there would be surprises around every corner. In such a short time, she'd gotten used to feeling surprised.
So, for the first time in her hesitant, careful life, she let curiosity get the best of her as she peered down dusty stone stairs into a different, shady alleyway. She tip-toed down them as if she were walking on a frozen pond, and kept looking back over her shoulder. As soon as the narrow stairs opened up, she felt tiny and scared, as should be. She felt foolish for leaving the store... but she wouldn't go back. She'd been thinking it for a while now, she needed to practice her own adventures without Delilah.
After all a whole new school was quite the adventure, never mind the leering eyes that winked and glared at her as she made her way deeper into the somehow dangerous-looking place.
BEHIND THE SCENE ' '
Your name: Morganna
Age: 17
How long have you been RPing? On and off for five years.
Where/How did you find us? on Caution 2.0
