ooc ❋ application

[yearofpeacock]

Player
Name: Lycoris
Personal Journal: glossological
E-mail: lycoris@gazeta.pl
AIM/MSN: vertigo monologue [AIM]
Timezone: GMT+1
Current Characters in Route: Crow Hogan (darkenedgales)

Character
Name: Lord Shen
Series: Kung Fu Panda 2
Timeline: During the final battle. [spoiler: After Po destroys his fleet.]
Canon Resource Links: Kung Fu Panda 2 @ Wikipedia | Shen @ Kung Fu Panda wiki

Personality:

They say peacocks represent pride and vanity, and if you look at Shen as an example of the species, that's not very far from the truth.

Smug, self-confident and impudent, Shen is not some common or average bird and he knows it. In fact, he's nothing short of a genius -- after all, he's managed to turn simple fireworks into explosives and, after years of work and research, finally invented a cannon. However, they also say that With Great Power Comes Great Insanity, and that, too, applies in his case. To put it simply, he's never been exactly right in the head; he doesn't value the lives of other people (well, animals, but you know what I mean) at all and will stop at nothing to satisfy his hunger for power and reach his goals, no matter what the price is.

What his goals are, you ask? It's simple and old as dirt -- revenge. In his twisted mind, Shen believes his parents wronged him by banishing him, and doesn't seem to understand his own actions were what led to that punishment. His bitterness and hatred have been growing for thirty years of his exile and to be honest, the desire of vengeance is the only thing he has left, with no other plans what to do when he succeeds, which is pointed out to him by Soothsayer -- and even so, Shen only dismisses the remark, proving how utterly blinded by his obsession he is.

Shen is ambitious, ruthless, cold and uncaring -- he will not hesitate to kill anyone he sees as an obstacle on his way to getting what he wants, even if they're civilians or his own men. In fact, he seems to rather enjoy watching others suffer and will gladly add to their pain just for his personal amusement. He tends to look down on others, often mocking and teasing his enemies with snarky, or sometimes outward cruel commentary. Feeling absolutely no remorse over his evil deeds, he would often boast about them and treat deaths of hundreds of people as something absolutely trivial. He's also very quick to become annoyed and easy to enrage, especially by stupidity of others. The peacock is impatient and loses his temper fast and can move on the scale from "perfectly calm" to "yelling like a psychopath that he undoubtedly is" within the span of a few seconds at most.

Additionally, Shen is a perfectionist -- everything must always go exactly the way he planned it or else. This causes him to be nitpicky about minor things at times, such as the placement of his cannon (he can't possibly continue his evil monologue/declaration of taking over the world unless it's moved a little to the left, you see), but also stubborn and persistent in other fields -- if he wants someone dead, dead they will be, even if it takes him years to hunt them down. Also, he's rather fond of distinguished, not to say dramatic acting, which is usually ruined by others (mostly Po and Soothsayer), much to his annoyance. Although he's spent most of his life in the exile, far from the luxuries offered at the Gongmen City's palace, Shen is still a royalty, and while this is not to say he's exactly spoiled, he does enjoy surrounding himself with fine items and craftsmanship, judging by how his robes are made of "the finest silk in the province" and his cannons aren't really far from what could be described as art, either.

Despite being a fighter extremely skilled in martial arts, he prefers using weapons (both knives/swords he hides in his robes and his cannons) and cunning to win a fight, often using the pattern on his tail as a method of distraction or talking his opponents down in order to decrease their morale. Even though Shen's not a coward, he will choose to flee from the battlefield when he feels the tables are turning unfavorable, only so he can regroup and counterattack. When fighting, his movements are both graceful and deadly, reflecting his royal mannerism and mercilessness.

Fully convinced of the rightfulness of his victim status in the conflict against his parents, Shen has long since closed his heart off to others. Supposedly, he hasn't always been that way -- it's stated he was actually the only member of the royal family who befriended, played with and fed the Gongmen City palace guards, the wolves, who in turn remained loyal to him ever since. Even so, the days when he would view his supporters as friends are gone -- he sees them as mere tools in his selfish quest to conquer China, and the moment they stop being useful to him, he'll get rid of them without a second thought. He's far too prideful to ever admit he's wrong or scared and always does everything in his power to come out as victorious, be it in an argument or in an actual fight. The only person he may genuinely care for is his childhood nanny, the Soothsayer -- even though he keeps her a prisoner, continuously threatens and insults her (...not that she remains indebted to him in that aspect), he eventually sets her free without any consequences, which is quite a lot coming from a power-hungry sociopath like himself.

Strengths/Weaknesses:

+ KNOWS KUNG FU: Despite his open dislike of kung fu, he's extremely skilled at martial arts and usage of many weapons, such as gwan dao or throwing knives. He's managed to almost effortlessly fend off any attacks of Masters Storming Ox and Croc, both of whom are known to be very strong warriors, and defeated them quite easily. In battle, none of his perfectly calculated moves are wasted, and he utilizes both his weapons and body parts (mostly tail feathers and talons) with lethal precision. He's swift and agile, which makes his battle style not only efficient and extremely dangerous, but also beautiful. ... It may take him a while before he can use those abilities in human body that sadly possesses no tail or talons, but hey, he's got the basics covered, right?
+ GENIUS: Of the evil breed, but a genius nonetheless; intelligent, quick-witted and never the one to let anyone outsmart him, Shen is well-aware of the advantage his brains gives him over his enemies and is not afraid to use it. There's a touch of a mad scientist in him, too, seeing as he used simple fireworks to create explosives and later on, invent a cannon.
+ LEADER: One needs charisma to lead an entire army of wolves for several decades, and Shen certainly doesn't lack it. He's both respected and feared among his subordinates, who continue to obey his every command, which should come as no surprise, considering he wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone who opposed him (like he did with his most loyal servant, Boss Wolf, when he refused to fire at his own man).

+/- STUBBORN: What Shen wants, he gets, no matter how many lives must be sacrificed in the process. He literally does what he wants, and cares little for opinions of others. While it could be a useful trait on the quest of conquering Johto I MEAN becoming a Pokémon Master and such, pursuing one's goals without thinking of consequences can't always go well...

- HOLDS GRUDGES: Step on his tail feather and gain a mortal enemy forever. I mean it. It's not in Shen's nature to forgive anything, be it a simple mistake or someone going against his will. Whichever it may be, he won't tolerate it and is likely to try and get rid of whatever is getting on his nerves, no matter how long it takes him.
- ...CRAZY: That has always been his problem, not just after the exile: Shen has... a few screws loose, to put it mildly. Seriously, who commits a genocide and honestly expects their parents to approve of it? That's right; this peacock does. He literally doesn't care about anyone or anything, save for his revenge and taking over China. Feeling no remorse over what he's done or empathy for those whom he caused to suffer, he strongly believes everything he does is justified because his parents didn't love him (which they did, but he fails to recognize that).
- HAS ISSUES: Not just with his head, but his heart, too. The beginning of his path of self-destruction was marked by trying to gain his parents' recognition and approval; having failed to get it, he closed off his heart and only lived focusing on, or even obsessing over the scars he believed he was dealt. In the end, it's his inability to let go of the past that brings upon his fall.
- OVER-CONFIDENT: On the border of being delusional, really; no matter how much others try to reason with him, Shen will never even consider the possibility he could be wrong or that he could lose. This causes him to overlook other plausible outcomes and be utterly shocked (and really, really pissed off) when things don't go the way he planned them.
- NO SOCIAL SKILLS: He's used to being surrounded by idiots people who will follow his every order without questioning it and killing everyone who disagrees with him, so being forced to deal with people of different opinions than his own without having an option to blow them up with a cannon may prove to be a challenge for him.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Team Rocket Grunt
Starter: Skarmory + Houndour as a Rocket bonus
Password: Scrambled Eggs

Samples
First Person Sample:

[Those unfortunate souls who thought it would be a good idea to check out the network for news and gossips will find themselves watching a feed filmed at an... odd angle. The room is dark and one probably won't see much except for the person in the foreground -- a pale man with long, white hair, wearing light, silk robes -- a new arrival, most likely, judging by how unamused he looks.]

--talking to a box, that's simply ridiculous...

[... And he's not very tech-savvy, too. Oh goody. A moment of fiddling with the device later, he places the ‘Gear down and gives it a cold stare.]

Tell me where I am.

[Only silence follows, causing the man to frown -- he feels humiliated enough having to ask for assistance in the first place, not to mention by following that "instruction booklet" manuscript, but admittedly, he's run out of any other ideas. So here he is, talking to some box that supposedly should be able to help him.

And yet it doesn't.

When he speaks up again, his voice grows louder and more threatening with every word.]

This certainly is not China; my fleet, my army, my weapons, everything is gone, and on top of that, I have been placed in some pathetic, monkey-like shell. I want answers, and I want them now, now, NOW, NOW!!

[There's a loud thump and the feed shakes a little as the man hits the desk where the ‘Gear is lying with his fist, panting heavily after losing his composure. But he straightens up, his tone back to dangerous whisper.]

... When I find whoever is responsible for this, I will personally make sure they do not live to see tomorrow.

Third Person Sample:

A stream of fire flashed through the room, lightening the inside of the dark training gym of Team Rocket Goldenrod HQ, and eventually hit the target -- a steel bird, who struggled to stand still under the pressure of flames. The initial blaze caused Shen to shut his eyes for a moment, and when he opens them, they widen in surprise at the performance in front of him.

Two months in this world and it still seemed like these creatures would never cease to amaze him.

Some were born with the ability to breathe fire, something that took the peacock years to incorporate into his weapons back in China; others had fighting skills that matched, if not surpassed those of some of the best kung fu masters and that could easily put most of his subordinates to shame. Made of metal, rock, grass and sometimes other... questionable substances, they were nothing like what Shen had seen in his life before. Pokémon possessed power beyond his imagination; if he was to harness that power and make it his...

"Agent Shen," the voice of a fellow Team Rocket grunt, one native to this world, came from behind him, "The resources you reque--"

He wasn't allowed to finish the sentence, though, as a small, sharp, metallic object flew swiftly right next to his head and drove into the wall. If one looked carefully, they would probably notice it resembled a Skarmory feather, but the assaulted man obviously wasn't thinking about that at the moment; had the blade been thrown a few inches to the right, the poor grunt would have found himself in dire need of a new eye, so he couldn't be blamed for feeling a little disturbed.

"I don't believe that's what I told you to call me." Shen's voice was oddly calm and quiet, but the icy, threatening glare passed the message just fine: the grunt did not want to mess with this peacock-turned-man, unless he also wished for another knife to get stuck in his head.

The grunt swallowed a little nervously; honestly, out of those other recruits, that guy was probably the worst one.

"Lord Shen," he corrected himself quickly, desperately fighting the urge to utilize one of those escape tactics they had covered during the training, "The resources you requested have just arrived at the Laboratory."

A smirk formed on Shen's lips, his red irises shining with something between excitement and madness. Yes, everything was going exactly the way he planned it... Not that he ever expected it not to, but it was still a satisfying feeling nonetheless.

Because soon, both Jotho and Kanto would bow at his feet, regretting ever forcing him to put off conquering China.