Luceti App

Mun

Name: Mags
Livejournal/Dreamwidth Username: magharabi
E-mail: magharabi (at) gmail (dot) com
AIM/Plurk: OharasChild/magharabi
Current Characters at Luceti: N/A


Character

Name: Shirahoshi
Fandom: One Piece
Gender: Female
Age: 16
Time Period: Just after the end of the Fishman Island Arc (chapter 653)
Wing Color: Pearl
History: One Piece Wiki’s History section
Personality:

Because Shirahoshi has been locked up in a tower since she was very young, she has not had the normal "real world" experiences that allow for the development of socially appropriate coping mechanisms. In short, she's emotionally very young. Her feelings can change quickly from one extreme to the other, and are often expressed through tears. She's easily overwhelmed, though as her arc progresses we see that she does improve, given time and new experiences. When she first meets Luffy, for instance, she begins to cry out of fear, but after only a few seconds, she hides him from the members of the royal guard to come to check on her. In the next five minutes or so, she goes through curiosity, gratitude, rejection, courage, hopefulness, and remorse. Shirahoshi's emotions are very close to the surface, and it isn't hard to tell what she's feeling.

She's childlike and innocent in many ways, being easily distracted to new topics of conversation, or by trying to assuage her guilty conscience for leaving the tower by promising she'd "be back by dinner time". She's been somewhat spoiled, citing the fact that no one has ever yelled at her before Luffy, though this could also be due to her obedient and polite nature. She isn't a troublemaker, and succumbs easily to others telling her what to do. The only exception is with Vander Decken asking to marry her, which she responds to by politely rejecting him because he's "not her type".

Shirahoshi holds no grudges or ill-will towards anyone, even going as far as keeping the truth of her mother's murder from being spread, because she didn't want anyone to think badly of her mother's murderer or act against him. And when she is ridiculed for being so forgiving, she doesn't take it back or wish that she hadn't. She maintains her conviction that what she did was right, in spite of undesired consequences.

Shirahoshi takes her role as princess of the Ryuugu Kingdom very seriously, and is considerate of the kingdom and her family. When Luffy offered to take her to the place she wished to visit most (her mother's grave), she refused at first, because her father and brothers would worry if they knew she'd left the tower.

While she has limited knowledge of the world outside her tower, it is obvious she wants to learn more. She dreams of one day going to the surface, as her mother did, and hopes to help her people and the humans get along well enough that there can be a group of immigrants who live in the warmth of the sun.

She's a peacemaker, and a dreamer, and doesn't let the harsh realities of the world interfere with the hope she has for a better, brighter future. Even though she watched her mother struggle against racism and hate, and ultimately die for the cause, Shirahoshi still believes that one day her people will live together with humans.

She's also very brave, putting the safety of others above her own. At one point, Vander Decken uses his ability to "throw" a giant ship called Noah at her, planning for it to crush not only her, but destroy the kingdom's protective bubble as well. Once Shirahoshi realizes what he's done, she doesn't hesitate to sacrifice herself by swimming out of the bubble into the ocean, without anyone to protect her from further attacks, and thus drawing Noah away from the kingdom.

Shirahoshi realizes that being as emotionally soft as she is can be a setback, and promises Luffy and his crew that the next time they meet, she will be less of a crybaby. As they sail away, she splashes water on her face to hide the tears she isn't able to control yet, though the act of covering them shows her determination to start right then and to not backtrack.

Strengths:

Shirahoshi's strengths are primarily emotional, in spite of those emotions being so fragile. We know that she's brave from the way she lead Noah away from her kingdom, as well as the way she protected Hody from retaliation. Her curiosity and friendliness works as a strength as well, since this will allow her to learn quickly about the world around her and gain friends who will stand up for her when she's unable to stand up for herself. Her size can also be considered a strength, as she's shown easily lifting and transporting full grown humans on a number of occasions, though in Luceti this will be diminished somewhat as I'd like to bring her in at half-size, which has been estimated to be about 25 feet tall from head to fin. In the One Piece world, she also has a hidden ability that even she didn't know about- the ability to communicate with Sea Kings. This inborn ability designates her as one of the Ancient Weapons powerful enough to destroy the world, as Sea Kings are large and fierce enough to sink entire islands if they so desire. However, in Luceti, because there are no sea kings, this ability will simply lie dormant, as it has for most of her life. She will still be able to communicate with fish, sharks, and whales, though the usefulness of such endeavors is questionable.

Weaknesses:

Even though she's huge and therefore stronger than a normal sized person, she's not really very physically strong. When she's drawing Noah away from her kingdom, she gets winded quickly and wonders if she'll be able to get far enough away before her fortitude runs out. She's naive and trusts people quickly, and so could be taken in by lies or manipulated easily. At one point, Hody sets a trap for her by rigging a bunch of balloons to look vaguely like her father. She falls for it, and she and Jimbe are immediately caught in a net. She's easily overstimulated, which she copes with by crying. A lot. She has a hard time speaking her mind, and sometimes people jump to their own conclusions based on partial information, and she lets them. This is illustrated when, on their way to her mother's grave, Luffy goes to see what's going on with Sanji and Chopper. There's been talk of pirates kidnapping mermaids, and the suspicion falls on the Strawhat Pirates. When Megalo can no longer hold her in his mouth, the crowd of people immediately assume that she's been kidnapped, and while at first she tries to protest in a small voice, she doesn't press the issue and ultimately just puts her fist to her mouth while the crowd gets angry with Luffy.

Samples

First Person:

Have an introspective letter-

Dear Mother,

I finally made it to the surface, just like you did! It's exciting! The air is so fresh and clear, the sunlight so bright on my face. It warms up everything, even rocks and plants and the water! I didn't know sunlight could do that. Were you as surprised as I was?

Can you see me from where you are? Namichin-sama said that this place isn't even on the same world as the Ryuugu Kingdom. I had no idea there were other worlds where people were living, just the same as us, but different too. There are people here who can make the water or ground or air or even fire do what they want. They call it "bending". Isn't that curious? I met a prince from a place called Xing, who said people can make people into mermaids or kai chimeras if they want, but that they shouldn't. And there are turtle fishmen who say funny words, and a nice gentleman who says he's a thief. I don't know if I should believe him or not though. I met a nice boy who's half demon but raised by humans, too. Isn't that great? If humans on other planets can have enough love in their hearts to raise a demon then they'll definitely come to accept us fishmen and merfolk. It's just a matter of time.

And getting home. I really want to go home sometimes.

But I'm learning so much! I'll be a lot stronger when I get back, you'll see. I'll come visit your grave again, and I won't even need Megalo to sneak me out! I hope you'll be proud of me.

Love,
Shirahoshi

Third Person:

Shirahoshi shivered, the temperature in her sun-warmed lake had taken a dive while she slept, and she woke up just long enough to dive for deeper waters. The next time she woke up, she was surprised to find herself trapped under the lake's surface. The water was bitter cold, and just as her hand almost broke through the top of what should have been waves, something solid stopped her.

Ice!

She'd never seen ice before, nor felt it, though she'd heard about it. People said it came along with snow, which was basically little flakes of ice that fell from the sky, coating everything in sparkling white. Shirahoshi desperately wanted to see if there was snow, but the ice kept her in, made her breathe hard and her throat hurt. She dove for the warmer waters below, just long enough to return the feeling to her fin and fingers, and to get her emotions under control. She was doing so good at not being such a crybaby, honestly she was! But sometimes when she was alone she couldn't help it. There was no one to comfort or distract her, and that made things a little bit harder to deal with.

"S- snow, th- th- think of s- ssnnow," she said aloud, just to hear herself speaking. Her voice sounded funny. Her teeth were chattering. She felt herself panic a little, crossed her arms over her stomach and curled up her fin.

"N- n- no!" she said, fiercely. "Th- they'll have sssomething to helppp me get wa- warm again in the village. I jjust have to get there!"

Determined, Shirahoshi nodded to herself, took a deep breath, and sped toward the surface. At the last second before she hit the ice, she threw her arms up over her head with a gasp, and broke through. Droplets of water and ice crystals showered around her in the cool morning sun, glinting briefly as they fell. Shirahoshi had to dig through the biting snow to find her bubbly coral that she left near the shore, but it wasn't very deep, and when the flakes caught the sun just right they shimmered enchantingly. Once she was ready for overland travel, she hurried into the snowbound village, shivering and grinning the entire way.