character info.
Player Information
Name: Court
Age: 22
AIM SN: that damn showy
email: thecourtster[at]gmail[dot]com
Have you played in an LJ based game before? Yep! I mod one, actually.
Bonus: How did you hear about Siren's Pull? I think it was just word of mouth, seeing stuff on the LJ RP community about it, and having a couple of friends who are in it. o/
Character Information
General
Canon Source: Durarara!! (anime and light novels)
Canon Format: Originally light novels. There are currently eight novels, but the first three have been adapted into the more well-known anime. I'm going to mainly use anime canon with light novel information on Shizuo's background, etc. as supplemental material. I've read a good deal of the light novel translations over at anni_fiesta and differentclouds, but I'm still working on it.
Character's Name: Shizuo Heiwajima
Character's Age: 24
What form will your character's NV take? A cell phone. (It looks like this!)
Abilities
Character's Canon Abilities: Shizuo is insanely strong. He can literally lift up street signs and throw them around like it's nothing. He can toss cars, vending machines, and pretty much anything he can get his hands on. His strength is legendary in the city that he's from, and in the light novels he even breaks up a fight between a serial killer and an assassin because they pissed him off. To quote something from a novel translation (credit goes to anni_fiesta): "...In Ikebukuro, there is a human being you "simply do not pick a fight with." Not even if you're an assassin, a killing monster, the president, an alien, a vampire or a headless monster - you simply do not pick a fight with him." However, that's the catch: Shizuo only uses his strength when he's angry. It's very easy to annoy him, though, and once he's pissed he can't control what he does. The explanation for this strength is as follows: it's the strength that humans are rumored to have when they're in an emergency situation, such as lifting a car off of a person that's trapped under it. For Shizuo, though, this strength is linked to his anger instead. It used to do a number on his body, but he's adapted. I'll get into that more in the history section, but the bottom line is that now he barely feels pain in the slightest. He gets shot at one point and thinks that he just tripped on something. He gets stabbed in the leg with pens and seriously doesn't feel a thing.
Additionally, Shizuo also has something of a sixth sense about things. It's a bit difficult to explain, so the easiest way is through example. For instance, when he first met Celty, who is actually a faerie (a headless rider, to be specific), he could tell that there was something off about her. Similarly, when Izaya was in Ikebukuro when he wasn't supposed to be, Shizuo could smell that something was wrong. He can usually tell when something weird is going on, and that awareness tends to balance out how clueless he can be about other things (not realizing that Celty was female for far too long, for example).
Also, Shizuo apparently knows parkour, or free-running. He learned it in order to make sure that he could keep up with Izaya (who'd learned it to better be able to get away from Shizuo).
Weapons: Shizuo fights with his hands, feet, and anything around him that he can pick up and toss/swing/hurl at people. This includes items like street signs, trees, and guard rails.
History/Personality/Plans/etc.
Character History: Where exactly Shizuo was born isn't made entirely clear, but it was either in the city of Ikebukuro, Japan, or at least near there. Somewhere near Tokyo, in any case. But the point is that he grew up in the Tokyo area, the son of his unnamed parents and the older brother to Heiwajima Kasuka. He was raised normally, and there weren't any bumps in his childhood. He was just an ordinary Japanese boy.
This changed one day when his little brother ended up eating a cup of pudding that Shizuo had clearly labeled as his. This made him really angry -- so angry, in fact, that his body suddenly acted on auto-pilot and he picked up the refrigerator to try and chuck at Kasuka. Before he could actually pull this off, however, his body gave in on him and he ended up collapsing to the floor.
His resulting visit to the hospital was only the first of many, as this problem with his anger only continued. Something would annoy him, even if it was as minuscule as being teased in class, and Shizuo would lose it and end up performing unbelievable feats of strength. It was also during his elementary school days that he got to know a boy named Kishitani Shinra, who as the son of a doctor was precocious and very much interested in how Shizuo's body worked. Shizuo didn't really care himself, but he did worry about what he might do without meaning to. He didn't like being violent, but he couldn't rein himself in.
One day while walking home from school with his brother, a woman who ran a corner store grabbed their attention because she'd noticed how Shizuo always injured. She told him that his bones weren't strong enough and that was why he was always hurt, and then offered him some milk. After being granted this small kindness, Shizuo became very fond of the drink and he liked to stop by just to see the woman.
However, one time he happened to be passing by when the woman was getting harassed by some punks. His rage was triggered and he attacked them, but the problem with Shizuo's anger is that he attacks indiscriminately. Anyone who's in the way can be a target, and so he ended up injuring the woman who was so kind to him.
It's not stated clearly, but it was probably around this point that he really started to hate violence as much as he does. He realized that it was causing people to fear him and to have good reason to stay away from him, and he became more and more bitter as time went by. The only person who didn't seem to be afraid of him was his brother, and he's remained dedicated to Kasuka even now because of this fact.
Things continued in this fashion as Shizuo moved into middle school, though it was at this point that he was approached by someone who was a year ahead of him in class, a boy named Tom. Tom was totally blunt about the fact that he wanted to befriend Shizuo and get to know him so as to know how to not get on his bad side, but he also tried to help Shizuo. Basically, he told Shizuo that if he made an effort to stand out and if they spread rumors about how he wasn't someone to be messed with, then less people might try to pick fights with him and trigger his anger. Shizuo was a bit skeptical at first, but the plan made sense and so he accepted the idea of dyeing his hair blond to distinguish himself and continued to do so after that point. More importantly than that, though, he'd made a friend in Tom and finally had someone other than his brother who he could be at ease around, at least somewhat. After that, things started to calm down at least a little for Shizuo.
This peaceful period only lasted up until the end of middle school, however. Shizuo and Tom went to different high schools; Shizuo ended up reconnecting with Shinra, who was still interested in examining his body, instead. He wasn't able to handle Shinra's behavior nearly as well as Tom's, but he was still the person he probably hung around the most in high school, mainly because both of them were avoided by others for being weird. It was also through Shinra that Shizuo first met the mysterious Celty, a figure who rode a black motorbike and wore a helmet at all times. Shizuo thought there was something strange about her (though he didn't know she was female at the time) the first time he saw her.
It was also in high school that Shizuo met Orihara Izaya, also known as the person he hates the most. Shizuo didn't like Izaya from the second that he first saw him -- there was just a feeling he got about him that made him certain that he was bad news. They got into a fight during their first meeting, and Izaya even slashed Shizuo across the chest with a switchblade.
But that was really only the beginning. After meeting Izaya, something changed. People started picking fights with Shizuo for no reason, even though he was just doing his best to live a peaceful life. He ended up losing it day in and day out, destroying public property as he fought mobs of hooligans. When he eventually figured out that it was Izaya who had been telling people to go bother him and basically making his life a living hell, his hatred for the other student increased tenfold. And so Shizuo's high school life was an extremely hectic time, where it was apparently common for barrels of gasoline to be seen rolling down the school halls.
It should also be noted that it was probably around this time that Shizuo met and got to know Simon, a man of African descent who worked at a restaurant called "Russia Sushi." He'd grown up in Russia but had moved to Japan for mysterious reasons, but he was a good guy and someone Shizuo could both get along with and test his strength against, as Simon is the only person around who can really match him in strength (the guy is huge).
After graduation, Shizuo tried to take up a number of different jobs (Shinra became an underground doctor and Izaya got involved with the mafia), but his anger management problem meant that he got fired almost immediately from each one. (Throwing things at customers usually doesn't go over so well.) More than that, Izaya was still around and making his life miserable for a while, though the pest eventually moved to Shibuya, making things easier on Shizuo.
While working as a bartender, Shizuo was visited by his younger brother, who was now a famous actor. Kasuka came to him with a whole stockpile of bartender outfits, telling him that it wasn't good how he kept moving from job to job. He wanted to encourage Shizuo to stay with the one that he had, and Shizuo took this very much to heart. He's very attached to his brother, so he did his best to hold this one job, and yet despite that he ended up losing it. (In the anime it's Izaya's fault, but in the light novel it's his own. Either way, he lost it.)
Shizuo felt guilty about this, but he somehow ended up reconnecting with Tom, who was now a debt collector. Tom offered to let Shizuo work with him as a bodyguard, and while Shizuo didn't much like the idea at first, it worked and he got used to it soon enough. His violence still caused issues at times, but Tom knew how to handle him and things were much better than they'd been. So, with a steady job and Izaya no longer in the city, things were going rather well. Oh, and Shizuo continued to wear the bartender outfits even though that wasn't his job anymore, because he wanted to follow Kasuka's advice as much as he could.
It should also be noted that over this time period Shizuo continued to keep some contact with Shinra and Celty, and he started to get closer to Celty. While Shizuo didn't know this for a long while, Celty is actually a dullahan, or a headless rider like in legends and myths. Because of this, she clearly can't talk and therefore communicates by texting messages onto a cell phone for people to read. The fact that she's so quiet made it easy for Shizuo to "talk" to her, and the two became good friends. At some point he learned about her whole situation, though, and even helped her try to follow a lead about the location of her head, which is what she's been spending years looking for.
In any case, life was going along as calmly as it could, but then suddenly Shizuo came across Izaya, back in Ikebukuro. He ended up throwing a vending machine at him, partly because that's how interaction between the two always ends up and partly because he was pissed that he'd even dare show up in the city again. Things had gotten way better once Izaya left, so Shizuo really didn't want him messing things up again.
More than that, the flea (as Shizuo calls him) kept cropping up, and Shizuo could sense it like a reek that was stinking up the city. Another thing that bothered him was that Izaya had to have returned for a reason, and yet he had no idea what it was. In the end, though, Shizuo wasn't able to track him down and so he had to let it go for the moment.
One good thing that happened, though, was that Shizuo came across his brother by chance on a city street. He hadn't spoken to him since he'd lost his job, and he was scared about how Kasuka would react. But when their eyes met, Kasuka only nodded, and there was an understanding between them. After that, Shizuo felt a bit better.
A few days later he happened across Celty while wandering in the city and the two sat down to chat together. Shizuo ended up spotting a teenage boy and girl having some sort of scuffle, and the girl eventually broke away and ran right past them. When Celty saw the girl she suddenly jumped to her feet and chased after her. Shizuo didn't know what was going on, but he followed and tried to calm the girl down. However, the next thing he knew, the teenage boy was standing in front of him and more than that, he'd started bleeding due to said boy stabbing him in the legs with pens. Leaving Celty to deal with the girl, Shizuo threw the boy (Seiji) into a stopped truck when he realized that he knew so little about the girl that he claimed to love. Seiji got a pretty light beating compared to most, though, just because Shizuo could tell how compassionate he was. Once he'd knocked Seiji out, Shizuo headed off to try and deal with his wounds.
It was also around this time that Shizuo was invited by Simon into a group called the Dollars. It was something that was mainly done electronically, whether over the internet or through text messages. It didn't have any requirements and there was no real leader, so Shizuo saw no harm in it. One night, however, the leader sent out a message asking everyone to meet in a certain part of Ikebukuro at a certain time. It's unclear whether Shizuo chose to be there because of that message or if he just happened to be there, but he was there with Simon when another message came in, setting off countless other cell phones in the area. The message said to glare silently at anyone who wasn't looking at their phone.
Shizuo wasn't aware of the entire situation, but the next thing he knew, Celty was racing down the side of a building on her motorbike, and more surprisingly, her voice could actually be heard. He was taken aback because she usually wasn't so flashy, but in the end the moment was cleared up without much incident. Either way, Shizuo found himself distracted when he realized Izaya was there and was compelled to chase him down.
After that, life went on for about half a year without too many bumps in the road, up until Shizuo noted that something was bothering Celty. Before long, she came to him asking if he'd heard anything about the Slasher, a mysterious figure that had been attacking people with a blade with more and more frequency. She was investigating on behalf of the Dollars, but Shizuo didn't know much. When Celty explained that she had also once been targeted by the Slasher, though, that was it for Shizuo. He wanted the Slasher dead for attacking a friend of his and for trying to kill others in the first place. He wanted to go find the Slasher right then and there, but Celty refused to let him run off while he was on the clock, not to mention she needed to gather more information. So they parted for the moment, but Shizuo was all fired up.
She came back to him a day or so later and they headed out on her bike together to try and track down the Slasher. She told him some stuff about an ethereal sword called Saika, but Shizuo wasn't too interested in the details; he just wanted the Slasher to pay. In the end, they were able to find him, showing up right in time to stop him from cutting up a high school girl. However, the man wielding the knife got up even after taking a motorcycle tire to the face, and then started addressing Shizuo, saying how he'd wanted to meet him and how he loved him so very, very much. Seeing how he was saying all this while wildly swiping a knife around, though, Shizuo just wanted him dead. In the end he only knocked him out, of course. Still, Shizuo knew that something weird was going on, which meant one person had to be responsible, and so he went to Shinjuku to go interrogate Izaya.
He didn't get any answers out of Izaya and it quickly boiled down into a fight, though before they could exchange any blows Celty interrupted them. She showed Shizuo some strange chat logs on her phone, all written with the username "Saika." Knowing that he had bigger problems than Izaya at the moment, he hopped on Celty's motorbike once more and they headed back to Ikebukuro. Celty explained that it turned out that the real Saika was able to possess people by spilling their blood, so there were actually countless people out there being compelled to spread the "disease," or breed. They were all apparently going to meet up in a certain square, and so the two went there. The plan was to find the "mother" who was wielding the original Saika and dispose of her.
As the crowds of possessed people showed up, it turned out that the mother wasn't there, but all of them still zeroed in on Shizuo. When he asked one of them why they liked him so much, they said it was because of his strength. If they were able to make him one of them, he would be able to "love" (read: slash) so many others. Shizuo was just amused and weirdly pleased by this answer, since he could use all of his strength against these people with no remorse. If they liked him for his strength, then he would show it to them. And so he went all out, fighting with all his strength and not holding back as he sent the possessed people flying like rag dolls.
However, suddenly they all stopped and stared off in a single direction. Figuring something must have happened, Shizuo told Celty to go check it out while he continued to fight. However, right when he was in the middle of it he suddenly saw the eyes of the girl he was about to punch turn from red (meaning she was possessed) back to normal. Shizuo used all of his willpower to force himself to stop, and for once, he was actually able to. Seeing that everyone was themselves again and that no one had died, Shizuo couldn't help bursting out into satisfied laughter. Finally, he'd been able to exert some self-control.
Things seemed to have calmed down after that in terms of Saika, but that only made way for more trouble. Shizuo almost got into a fight with some punks who seemed to enjoy wearing yellow-colored clothing/accessories (scarves/headbands/etc). This is noteworthy as it meant they were from a gang called the Yellow Scarves, though Shizuo probably didn't realize that at the time.
A few days after that, Shizuo had something new to be annoyed by, as his phone was being spammed with messages from other members of the Dollars. They were going on about some girl being in trouble, not to mention a bunny suit? Either way, Shizuo didn't have the time or patience to read all the messages, and so he just ended up confused and angry. In the end, he stumbled across the real source of the problem by accident. A high school girl was being bullied by some jerks (also wearing yellow!), and so Shizuo, who was already pissed off, stepped up to put them in their place.
As it turned out, he'd met the high school girl before (she'd been attacked by that knife-wielding Slasher that Shizuo had knocked out a while back), but Shizuo didn't remember her. The girl, Anri, had the unfortunate luck of always meeting Shizuo when his mind was more set on someone who he needed to beat up, and so he barely acknowledged her gratitude.
Things only got worse after that, however, since the Yellow Scarves retaliated against Shizuo by attacking him and shooting him in the leg and the abdomen. He fell to the ground, thinking that he'd tripped (this is just another example of how insane his pain tolerance is), but was aware enough to hear one of the attackers mention that someone named Kida Masaomi was responsible for the hit.
After Shizuo realized that he was bleeding pretty badly, he realized he should probably get it taken care of, and so he showed up at Shinra's apartment. The doctor took his injuries far more seriously than he did and started to tend to him immediately. As it turned out, Anri was also there for some reason, and Shizuo once again had to ask who she was.
As he was getting tended to, he mentioned that he was going to make Kida Masaomi pay for what he'd done. However, that statement caused Anri to panic and run out of the apartment. (Kida was her friend and not actually responsible for Shizuo getting shot, so she left to make sure he was safe.) Shinra chased after her, leaving Shizuo alone.
The progression of events after that point is a bit unclear, but somehow Shizuo made it close enough to the hideout of the Yellow Scarves that he was able to apprehend the getaway car of the gang's current leader, Horada. Shizuo knew one way or another that this was the man who needed to be put down (maybe Shinra ended up coming back and explaining it to him when he was unable to chase after Anri? This is probably the case since Shizuo ends up bandaged, though that isn't shown on-screen), and put him down he did: with a freeway sign that pretty much cut the car in half horizontally.
The police handled things after that, and finally life started to quiet down a bit. Shizuo went back to his job with Tom, probably hoping for peace in Ikebukuro to last for as long as it could.
Point in Canon: The end of the anime/after volume 3 of the light novel, give or take. After taking out Horada and his men, Shizuo went back to a normal (for him) life in Ikebukuro. While there is more canon after this in volumes 4-8 of the novel, a lot of it is only partially translated and it is not as well-known as the anime, so I'm going to leave it out to avoid confusion.
Character Personality: As cliché as it might sound, it's actually accurate to call Shizuo a walking contradiction. The most obvious thing about him is his anger, of course. It's the one thing that everyone knows about him: do not piss him off. His rage is impossible for him to control, and more than that, it's very easy to trigger. Something as simple as having the wrong idea about love or even just messing up his clothes could be enough to set him off. His anger is all-consuming, and it's intense. Property damage is common wherever Shizuo goes. Somehow, he's never actually killed anyone. While this can be seen as anime magic, it's actually also a comment on who Shizuo is. Even if he talks big and goes on about wanting people dead, he doesn't kill. Something in him is fighting back enough to stop him from going that far.
Which is where the contradiction comes in. Even though Shizuo's temper can be equated to a rampaging stampede, he hates violence. He knows firsthand what it can do and has seen the destruction that has been inflicted by his own hands. He's hurt people he cares about, and it's stated in the light novel that it wasn't just that one time when he was a child. It's happened multiple times, and his inability to stop himself just makes him hate that violence even more. If it was up to Shizuo, he would live a peaceful life where he could just observe others while having a normal existence. Naturally, it's never that simple.
Seeing how he hates violence and how he is basically violence incarnate (he's described this way in the light novel), it follows that Shizuo hates himself to an extent. He hates his lack of control, and while everyone else marvels at his incredible strength, Shizuo sees himself as weak. He thinks he'll only be strong if he's able to reign in that anger, but thus far that's only happened once. That one time is significant, of course, but it doesn't mean it's fixed the problem. He's also scared of himself, or more specifically, of who he might hurt next.
This contradiction can also be seen in his behavior. When Shizuo is in a fit of anger, he's either trying to control it by repeating the same word over and over (usually either "killkillkillkillkill" or "annoyedannoyedannoyedannoyed") to keep himself in check because it isn't a good time to explode, or he's given into it and he acts totally sure of himself and almost cocky. He obviously knows what he's capable of, so he has a confident smirk to go with his bravado, especially if he's facing down someone who he thinks deserves to get their ass kicked (Izaya, anyone who's doing something morally wrong, etc).
When Shizuo is just his normal self, on the other hand, he's usually pretty calm and almost reserved. He likes to talk about mundane things and do normal things, even if it's something as simple as watching a street performer. Usually when he's wandering around with Tom, they just talk about simple things like where to get food and so forth. He really likes to just enjoy life for life, and is bothered by the fact that he is so often interrupted by his own anger problem.
Another very normal thing about Shizuo is that he likes people. Even though he knows logically that he should just pull away from people entirely in order to avoid the risk of hurting them, he can't do that. He craves human contact as much as anyone else, and because of this he tries to be around people who he's realized won't set him off. This list is rather small, but it's worth explaining each one since it says a different thing in each case.
First is his brother, Kasuka. Even though Shizuo is the older brother, he is in many ways the subservient one. He regards Kasuka's opinion very highly, and anything that his brother tells him to do he will try to listen to and follow to the letter if possible. Kasuka was the first person to tell Shizuo, straight to his face, that he wasn't scared of him. Kasuka was the first almost-victim of Shizuo's rage, but that didn't make him pull away. He still stuck with Shizuo even as he struggled with his issues as a child, and Shizuo is eternally grateful as a result. Anything having to do with Kasuka is therefore a trigger point for Shizuo: don't insult Kasuka, don't try to ask too much about Kasuka, don't mess up Shizuo's clothes because Kasuka gave them to him.
Next would be Tom. Tom was the first real friend that Shizuo ever had, mainly because he treated Shizuo like a human being instead of a monster. Just that small bit of consideration can go a long way, and he even helped improve Shizuo's situation by giving him some advice. Tom just learned what bothered Shizuo and made sure to avoid those topics, and it was as easy as that. Now that they work together, Shizuo actually gets angry around Tom often, though Tom is smart enough to know when to clear away from the area to let Shizuo do this thing (that is, attacking the people who refuse to pay their debts). Shizuo is comfortable around Tom and they have a mutual understanding that he appreciates.
And then there's Celty. In this case, the two have something in common because neither of them are normal, and yet they don't judge each other, which makes it easy for them to get along. Once again, Celty's inability to talk except through text also helps matters, not to mention the fact that she's an understanding and compassionate person. She doesn't push for too much information and she's a good listener, so she and Shizuo get along well. He's actually pretty protective of Celty in a weird way, in that he'll help her out regardless of the situation and he's not going to let anyone harm her (even if she, like him, can't really get hurt). He can also unwind around her and even joke with her. He's even shown giving her a friendly smack on the arm, which for someone who can't control his strength shows a huge amount of trust.
In other words, Shizuo wants to befriend people, but he has to take some time to make certain that they aren't going to piss him off easily before he gets too close. (In fact, he states at one point that he splits people into two groups: those who piss him off and those who don't.) It's probably for this reason that even though he's known Shinra since childhood, they aren't particularly close. Both of them aren't the most social people in general, but Shinra's way of speaking is also enough to set Shizuo off if he's not careful. (Granted, it seems likely he'd hold himself back for Celty's sake, since she cares a great deal for Shinra.)
While Shizuo is clearly an emotional person, dealing with fear and hate and the need to be with other people, he isn't very good at expressing himself. Obviously his anger is impossible it ignore, but the fact that he's scared of himself is not something he would admit to just anyone. Celty is probably the only person, actually. And more than that, what Shizuo wants is for people to care for him. He already knows he can befriend other people and like them (even love them -- he had a crush on the woman who gave him the milk), he doesn't think it's possible for anyone to feel the same way about him. In this way, he's a pretty tragic character, but he doesn't moan or complain about it. He just tries to go on with life, which is pretty much a constant struggle for him. Despite that, he makes the best of things when he can.
Another dynamic that needs to be brought up for the opposite reasons is Izaya. Shizuo hates Izaya more than he hates anything else, and that's saying something. Nothing can set him off as quickly; if he's in a bad enough mood to start with, just Izaya's name might send him into a rage. Izaya worked to make his life miserable during high school and Shizuo knows how much of a creep Izaya is, and that he likes manipulating people and messing with their lives. Shizuo's morals are more or less straightforward, so anyone who puts on an act or isn't direct is liable to bother him. But Izaya is at the top of this list, and there is no exception to that rule. He hates him, and he probably always will. (Granted, Izaya doesn't do himself any favors.)
Another aspect of Shizuo's way of thinking that has to be noted is that he has an odd sense of logic that often only makes sense to him. Sometimes this is what he uses to justify why he's going to attack someone (when some people looked at him funny, he accused them of trying to kill him since there was an extremely small chance that a look could, in fact, kill), but other times it's just how he is (when he's angry at Celty for not telling him about the Slasher, he remarks that while it's only idiots who call other people idiots, he already knows he's an idiot and so he calls her one anyway). It's this weird way of thinking that tends to make him unpredictable at times (which is one of the reason why Izaya hates him so much; he isn't as predictable as other humans).
However, this logic often ties into a strong moral code. Even though Shizuo goes on about wanting to kill people when he's angry, most of the time this isn't sincere. For all of his talk and for being more than strong enough to kill someone with his bare hands, he's never actually done so. This is because he doesn't really believe in that, and he'll target anyone else who's injuring or hurting people (such as the Slasher). Attacking a high school girl? Not okay. Claiming to love someone when you know nothing about them? Also not okay. He doesn't approve of gang-type behavior either, which is why he's in the Dollars, which is really supposed to be a good group focused on helping people.
Shizuo embodies a whole other contradiction that has nothing to do with violence versus peace, as well, and this is in regards to his perception and intelligence. In many ways Shizuo might come across as mentally slow, in that he doesn't often get caught up in the details of a situation (he didn't want the whole story behind the Slasher, since he got straight to the point: it was hurting innocent people, and that had to stop), and he'll even miss huge details (not knowing Celty was female for a while even though she wears a skintight suit). He wouldn't be called the intellectual type in the slightest, and usually has to be led into things (for example, being invited into the Dollars rather than finding out about it and joining it himself).
On the other hand, Shizuo is very sharp about other things. He didn't realize Celty was female, but he knew there was something special about her from the start. He knows when people are feeding him bullshit because he's sensitive to it and hates when people try to be contrary or hide things in a way that's malicious (in other words, everything that Izaya does). This "sixth sense" can extend to him knowing when something is wrong, or being able to guess when Izaya is behind something. It's not full-proof, but he's far more aware and far smarter than people give him credit for; it's just not in the most traditional sense.
Though speaking of tradition, Shizuo does have a traditionalist streak in him. It only comes through in small ways, such as holding himself back from going berserk in a library because he'd been taught that one always has to be quiet when in that sort of establishment, or being resistant to dyeing his hair because he wanted to keep the color that his parents had "given" him. On the other hand, he's obviously used to living a pretty abnormal life, so it really only crops in certain situations and it's not a set rule.
Finally, a few more details. First of all, Shizuo is a chain-smoker. The explanation for why is never given, but my personal belief is that he uses it to try and calm himself down (spoiler: this never works) and also to distinguish himself, much like with the hair color. He doesn't make a huge deal out of it, he just... always has cigarettes on him and generally always has one in his mouth. Lastly, Shizuo is very attached to Ikebukuro. He's actually referred to it has "his town" before, in that he doesn't want people messing with it, especially not Izaya. He's comfortable there, and the idea of having to be moved somewhere else would seriously bother him.
In other words, he's going to be none-too-happy when he realizes he's trapped in Siren's Port.
Character Plans: After the initial rage about being held in a city that is definitely not Ikebukuro, I'm hoping to get Shizuo some sort of work that would suit him, whether it's finding someone he can get along with well enough to do bodyguard duty with (though sadly, nothing will match what he had going with Tom!), being a bouncer (this would be an amazing job for him), or maybe even doing some sort of monster patrol at night. It would be a way for him to take out his anger and also help keep people safe, so he might take a shine to that sort of thing.
Beyond that, I really would like to work on having Shizuo make new connections. He admits himself that he likes to be around people, but he usually only has a few close friends because they're the rare people who can be around him consistently without pissing him off. Still, there are bound to be people in Siren's Port who he could form a friendship with, and since he wouldn't have a reputation in this city for being the most dangerous person around (though who knows if he'll get one after a month or two...), he would actually have a fighting chance of making friends.
As for SERO and AGI, Shizuo probably wouldn't like the idea of joining either, especially if he knew that both had something morally corrupt about them, so he would do what he could to stay neutral. Chances are that Shizuo would never quite get used to living in the city, since he has a strong attachment to Ikebukuro, but he would feel a bit better about the situation if he had friends from home there with him. He isn't good at investigating on his own, but if someone else spurred him to do so, he might give it a shot. He doesn't mind being the brawn if it's for a good reason, either.
Oh, and seeing how Izaya is around, Shizuo will likely end up tracking him down and trying to destroy him on a semi-regular basis. That's just how he rolls.
Appearance/PB: 1 2 (Notes: Shizuo's hair color is dyed, which means he's probably going to have to find a way to keep up the dye job in Siren's Port. Also, there's a canon explanation for why he's so lean even though he has such immense strength. Here's a quote: "His muscle fibers wanted to grow thicker, but his anger would not grant them the time they needed ... His muscle fibers gave up trying to grow thicker and chose instead to remain as thin as they were but become more resilient. That's probably one of the reasons he is so thin but so exceedingly strong for his build. Minimal self-repair. In order to become more resilient, even his joints and bones have changed their way of growing to adapt to Shizuo's lifestyle. His bones have become hard as steel, and his joints evolved to be more resilient than ever after countless rounds of dislocation and relocation." (Credit to anni_fiesta for translation.)
Writing Samples
First Person Sample
[As a result of Shizuo holding his phone-turned-NV with a grip that's a little too strong, the video function is activated, displaying the lower half of his face -- or more specifically, his grit teeth.]
What the hell what the hell what the hell is this?
... Some new button on my phone? Why are all these things popping up?
[The video feed starts moving around erratically, as Shizuo is clearly flinging his phone up and down due to aggravation.]
How am I supposed to reply so quickly? I can't text that fast, dammit! I'm not Celty...
[He peers down at the phone, his eyes just visible above his sunglasses for a moment before the anger surges up all over again, that expression changing from contemplative to enraged in a split second.]
And why am I even in this place, huuuuh? Canada! I don't care. Someone tell me who brought me here so I can knock their teeth in! Rrrghhh...!
Third Person Sample
Breathing in, Shizuo took another drag from his cigarette, only one in a line of many, as he tilted his head up toward the sky and watched the sunset. He stood quietly outside his crummy apartment (it wasn't as good as the one he had in Ikebukuro, but nothing in this place was as good as Ikebukuro), watching and waiting. Even if he was halfway around the world now for some reason he'd yet to figure out (that flea had to be behind this somehow, he had to be), Shizuo knew that he was staring at the same sky.
He'd seen that sort of sunset in Ikebukuro countless times before, oranges mixed with shades of pink. It was so soft, so understated, and yet he liked it just for those reasons. It was totally contrary to all of the chaos he'd had to deal with since his arrival here.
At the same time, however, Shizuo realized how fleeting the moment was. Those colors would only hang in the sky for a few minutes before the darkness took over, and that word now had two meanings.
Having always been something of a nocturnal person, he had never had to worry about walking the streets of Ikebukuro at night. People whispered and worried about gangs and even supernatural creatures back home (hell, with that Slasher, he didn't blame them), but Shizuo had been thought of as one of those dangers himself. And so he hadn't hesitated to watch the night life in that city, and he wasn't going to stop here.
He already knew that wasn't the full reason, though. The Darkness here offered him something that he didn't often get, and that was the ability to take his anger out without any consequences. The monsters here were ruthless and plentiful, and that made Shizuo even more set on putting them down. Most people were smart enough to hide behind boarded up doors when night started to fall, but not Shizuo.
He would protect them, because that was one thing he could be good for. Even if his violence was unbiased and all-consuming, he could go all out now and have it mean something. Maybe it would prevent someone who was walking home too late from getting hurt. That was the most that he could hope for.
Someone else had given him the idea, but Shizuo was making the most of it now.
Shaking his head, he watched the colors in the sky fade and then dropped his cigarette, grinding it underneath his shoe.
That was when the siren went off, a blaring noise that annoyed him (did it have to be so loud? Kids were probably in their beds sleeping!) and exhilarated him at the same time. He felt his heartbeat accelerate with the noise, pounding in tune with it.
Next he cracked his wrists and then his knuckles, observing how everything around him changed. The streets were suddenly flooded with filth and sewage, the buildings looked cracked and run down, and the sky was filled with dark clouds. He didn't know how it worked (Celty probably would have, or maybe even that idiot doctor), but it didn't matter.
No, what mattered was that this was when the monsters came out.
There was a rumor Shizuo had heard about how you'd mainly be attacked by monsters that would target your weaknesses. He already knew he had some, of course, but most of them weren't physical. And so he just ended up having the strongest things out there tracking him down.
That was fine, he thought to himself with a smirk. He was always up for some competition, especially since Simon was the only one back home who could bear his strength.
And so something immense emerged from the darkness as Shizuo stood there and waited, his muscles tensed. It was at least twice as tall at him, but on all fours like an animal. Some of the monsters seemed disturbingly close to animals, but that couldn't bother him because it didn't matter how they looked if they were harming people. This thing was some weird mix of a primate and a rhinoceros.
Agh, that made no sense! It pissed him off!
"I'd say that this is an unfair fight," Shizuo remarked to the thing even though it probably wouldn't understand him, "but I guess we'll have to see, won't we?" All charged up and ready to go, he waited for the monster to make the first move.
Predictably enough, it lunged right for him, and that was the final step that was needed to let his anger come out in full force. Letting out a yell that could have matched the roar of the monster, Shizuo ran to meet it, his tightened muscles bursting with an untapped strength.
He'd kill it! He'd tear it apart and kill it and kill it so that it couldn't kill anything else!
Name: Court
Age: 22
AIM SN: that damn showy
email: thecourtster[at]gmail[dot]com
Have you played in an LJ based game before? Yep! I mod one, actually.
Bonus: How did you hear about Siren's Pull? I think it was just word of mouth, seeing stuff on the LJ RP community about it, and having a couple of friends who are in it. o/
Character Information
General
Canon Source: Durarara!! (anime and light novels)
Canon Format: Originally light novels. There are currently eight novels, but the first three have been adapted into the more well-known anime. I'm going to mainly use anime canon with light novel information on Shizuo's background, etc. as supplemental material. I've read a good deal of the light novel translations over at anni_fiesta and differentclouds, but I'm still working on it.
Character's Name: Shizuo Heiwajima
Character's Age: 24
What form will your character's NV take? A cell phone. (It looks like this!)
Abilities
Character's Canon Abilities: Shizuo is insanely strong. He can literally lift up street signs and throw them around like it's nothing. He can toss cars, vending machines, and pretty much anything he can get his hands on. His strength is legendary in the city that he's from, and in the light novels he even breaks up a fight between a serial killer and an assassin because they pissed him off. To quote something from a novel translation (credit goes to anni_fiesta): "...In Ikebukuro, there is a human being you "simply do not pick a fight with." Not even if you're an assassin, a killing monster, the president, an alien, a vampire or a headless monster - you simply do not pick a fight with him." However, that's the catch: Shizuo only uses his strength when he's angry. It's very easy to annoy him, though, and once he's pissed he can't control what he does. The explanation for this strength is as follows: it's the strength that humans are rumored to have when they're in an emergency situation, such as lifting a car off of a person that's trapped under it. For Shizuo, though, this strength is linked to his anger instead. It used to do a number on his body, but he's adapted. I'll get into that more in the history section, but the bottom line is that now he barely feels pain in the slightest. He gets shot at one point and thinks that he just tripped on something. He gets stabbed in the leg with pens and seriously doesn't feel a thing.
Additionally, Shizuo also has something of a sixth sense about things. It's a bit difficult to explain, so the easiest way is through example. For instance, when he first met Celty, who is actually a faerie (a headless rider, to be specific), he could tell that there was something off about her. Similarly, when Izaya was in Ikebukuro when he wasn't supposed to be, Shizuo could smell that something was wrong. He can usually tell when something weird is going on, and that awareness tends to balance out how clueless he can be about other things (not realizing that Celty was female for far too long, for example).
Also, Shizuo apparently knows parkour, or free-running. He learned it in order to make sure that he could keep up with Izaya (who'd learned it to better be able to get away from Shizuo).
Weapons: Shizuo fights with his hands, feet, and anything around him that he can pick up and toss/swing/hurl at people. This includes items like street signs, trees, and guard rails.
History/Personality/Plans/etc.
Character History: Where exactly Shizuo was born isn't made entirely clear, but it was either in the city of Ikebukuro, Japan, or at least near there. Somewhere near Tokyo, in any case. But the point is that he grew up in the Tokyo area, the son of his unnamed parents and the older brother to Heiwajima Kasuka. He was raised normally, and there weren't any bumps in his childhood. He was just an ordinary Japanese boy.
This changed one day when his little brother ended up eating a cup of pudding that Shizuo had clearly labeled as his. This made him really angry -- so angry, in fact, that his body suddenly acted on auto-pilot and he picked up the refrigerator to try and chuck at Kasuka. Before he could actually pull this off, however, his body gave in on him and he ended up collapsing to the floor.
His resulting visit to the hospital was only the first of many, as this problem with his anger only continued. Something would annoy him, even if it was as minuscule as being teased in class, and Shizuo would lose it and end up performing unbelievable feats of strength. It was also during his elementary school days that he got to know a boy named Kishitani Shinra, who as the son of a doctor was precocious and very much interested in how Shizuo's body worked. Shizuo didn't really care himself, but he did worry about what he might do without meaning to. He didn't like being violent, but he couldn't rein himself in.
One day while walking home from school with his brother, a woman who ran a corner store grabbed their attention because she'd noticed how Shizuo always injured. She told him that his bones weren't strong enough and that was why he was always hurt, and then offered him some milk. After being granted this small kindness, Shizuo became very fond of the drink and he liked to stop by just to see the woman.
However, one time he happened to be passing by when the woman was getting harassed by some punks. His rage was triggered and he attacked them, but the problem with Shizuo's anger is that he attacks indiscriminately. Anyone who's in the way can be a target, and so he ended up injuring the woman who was so kind to him.
It's not stated clearly, but it was probably around this point that he really started to hate violence as much as he does. He realized that it was causing people to fear him and to have good reason to stay away from him, and he became more and more bitter as time went by. The only person who didn't seem to be afraid of him was his brother, and he's remained dedicated to Kasuka even now because of this fact.
Things continued in this fashion as Shizuo moved into middle school, though it was at this point that he was approached by someone who was a year ahead of him in class, a boy named Tom. Tom was totally blunt about the fact that he wanted to befriend Shizuo and get to know him so as to know how to not get on his bad side, but he also tried to help Shizuo. Basically, he told Shizuo that if he made an effort to stand out and if they spread rumors about how he wasn't someone to be messed with, then less people might try to pick fights with him and trigger his anger. Shizuo was a bit skeptical at first, but the plan made sense and so he accepted the idea of dyeing his hair blond to distinguish himself and continued to do so after that point. More importantly than that, though, he'd made a friend in Tom and finally had someone other than his brother who he could be at ease around, at least somewhat. After that, things started to calm down at least a little for Shizuo.
This peaceful period only lasted up until the end of middle school, however. Shizuo and Tom went to different high schools; Shizuo ended up reconnecting with Shinra, who was still interested in examining his body, instead. He wasn't able to handle Shinra's behavior nearly as well as Tom's, but he was still the person he probably hung around the most in high school, mainly because both of them were avoided by others for being weird. It was also through Shinra that Shizuo first met the mysterious Celty, a figure who rode a black motorbike and wore a helmet at all times. Shizuo thought there was something strange about her (though he didn't know she was female at the time) the first time he saw her.
It was also in high school that Shizuo met Orihara Izaya, also known as the person he hates the most. Shizuo didn't like Izaya from the second that he first saw him -- there was just a feeling he got about him that made him certain that he was bad news. They got into a fight during their first meeting, and Izaya even slashed Shizuo across the chest with a switchblade.
But that was really only the beginning. After meeting Izaya, something changed. People started picking fights with Shizuo for no reason, even though he was just doing his best to live a peaceful life. He ended up losing it day in and day out, destroying public property as he fought mobs of hooligans. When he eventually figured out that it was Izaya who had been telling people to go bother him and basically making his life a living hell, his hatred for the other student increased tenfold. And so Shizuo's high school life was an extremely hectic time, where it was apparently common for barrels of gasoline to be seen rolling down the school halls.
It should also be noted that it was probably around this time that Shizuo met and got to know Simon, a man of African descent who worked at a restaurant called "Russia Sushi." He'd grown up in Russia but had moved to Japan for mysterious reasons, but he was a good guy and someone Shizuo could both get along with and test his strength against, as Simon is the only person around who can really match him in strength (the guy is huge).
After graduation, Shizuo tried to take up a number of different jobs (Shinra became an underground doctor and Izaya got involved with the mafia), but his anger management problem meant that he got fired almost immediately from each one. (Throwing things at customers usually doesn't go over so well.) More than that, Izaya was still around and making his life miserable for a while, though the pest eventually moved to Shibuya, making things easier on Shizuo.
While working as a bartender, Shizuo was visited by his younger brother, who was now a famous actor. Kasuka came to him with a whole stockpile of bartender outfits, telling him that it wasn't good how he kept moving from job to job. He wanted to encourage Shizuo to stay with the one that he had, and Shizuo took this very much to heart. He's very attached to his brother, so he did his best to hold this one job, and yet despite that he ended up losing it. (In the anime it's Izaya's fault, but in the light novel it's his own. Either way, he lost it.)
Shizuo felt guilty about this, but he somehow ended up reconnecting with Tom, who was now a debt collector. Tom offered to let Shizuo work with him as a bodyguard, and while Shizuo didn't much like the idea at first, it worked and he got used to it soon enough. His violence still caused issues at times, but Tom knew how to handle him and things were much better than they'd been. So, with a steady job and Izaya no longer in the city, things were going rather well. Oh, and Shizuo continued to wear the bartender outfits even though that wasn't his job anymore, because he wanted to follow Kasuka's advice as much as he could.
It should also be noted that over this time period Shizuo continued to keep some contact with Shinra and Celty, and he started to get closer to Celty. While Shizuo didn't know this for a long while, Celty is actually a dullahan, or a headless rider like in legends and myths. Because of this, she clearly can't talk and therefore communicates by texting messages onto a cell phone for people to read. The fact that she's so quiet made it easy for Shizuo to "talk" to her, and the two became good friends. At some point he learned about her whole situation, though, and even helped her try to follow a lead about the location of her head, which is what she's been spending years looking for.
In any case, life was going along as calmly as it could, but then suddenly Shizuo came across Izaya, back in Ikebukuro. He ended up throwing a vending machine at him, partly because that's how interaction between the two always ends up and partly because he was pissed that he'd even dare show up in the city again. Things had gotten way better once Izaya left, so Shizuo really didn't want him messing things up again.
More than that, the flea (as Shizuo calls him) kept cropping up, and Shizuo could sense it like a reek that was stinking up the city. Another thing that bothered him was that Izaya had to have returned for a reason, and yet he had no idea what it was. In the end, though, Shizuo wasn't able to track him down and so he had to let it go for the moment.
One good thing that happened, though, was that Shizuo came across his brother by chance on a city street. He hadn't spoken to him since he'd lost his job, and he was scared about how Kasuka would react. But when their eyes met, Kasuka only nodded, and there was an understanding between them. After that, Shizuo felt a bit better.
A few days later he happened across Celty while wandering in the city and the two sat down to chat together. Shizuo ended up spotting a teenage boy and girl having some sort of scuffle, and the girl eventually broke away and ran right past them. When Celty saw the girl she suddenly jumped to her feet and chased after her. Shizuo didn't know what was going on, but he followed and tried to calm the girl down. However, the next thing he knew, the teenage boy was standing in front of him and more than that, he'd started bleeding due to said boy stabbing him in the legs with pens. Leaving Celty to deal with the girl, Shizuo threw the boy (Seiji) into a stopped truck when he realized that he knew so little about the girl that he claimed to love. Seiji got a pretty light beating compared to most, though, just because Shizuo could tell how compassionate he was. Once he'd knocked Seiji out, Shizuo headed off to try and deal with his wounds.
It was also around this time that Shizuo was invited by Simon into a group called the Dollars. It was something that was mainly done electronically, whether over the internet or through text messages. It didn't have any requirements and there was no real leader, so Shizuo saw no harm in it. One night, however, the leader sent out a message asking everyone to meet in a certain part of Ikebukuro at a certain time. It's unclear whether Shizuo chose to be there because of that message or if he just happened to be there, but he was there with Simon when another message came in, setting off countless other cell phones in the area. The message said to glare silently at anyone who wasn't looking at their phone.
Shizuo wasn't aware of the entire situation, but the next thing he knew, Celty was racing down the side of a building on her motorbike, and more surprisingly, her voice could actually be heard. He was taken aback because she usually wasn't so flashy, but in the end the moment was cleared up without much incident. Either way, Shizuo found himself distracted when he realized Izaya was there and was compelled to chase him down.
After that, life went on for about half a year without too many bumps in the road, up until Shizuo noted that something was bothering Celty. Before long, she came to him asking if he'd heard anything about the Slasher, a mysterious figure that had been attacking people with a blade with more and more frequency. She was investigating on behalf of the Dollars, but Shizuo didn't know much. When Celty explained that she had also once been targeted by the Slasher, though, that was it for Shizuo. He wanted the Slasher dead for attacking a friend of his and for trying to kill others in the first place. He wanted to go find the Slasher right then and there, but Celty refused to let him run off while he was on the clock, not to mention she needed to gather more information. So they parted for the moment, but Shizuo was all fired up.
She came back to him a day or so later and they headed out on her bike together to try and track down the Slasher. She told him some stuff about an ethereal sword called Saika, but Shizuo wasn't too interested in the details; he just wanted the Slasher to pay. In the end, they were able to find him, showing up right in time to stop him from cutting up a high school girl. However, the man wielding the knife got up even after taking a motorcycle tire to the face, and then started addressing Shizuo, saying how he'd wanted to meet him and how he loved him so very, very much. Seeing how he was saying all this while wildly swiping a knife around, though, Shizuo just wanted him dead. In the end he only knocked him out, of course. Still, Shizuo knew that something weird was going on, which meant one person had to be responsible, and so he went to Shinjuku to go interrogate Izaya.
He didn't get any answers out of Izaya and it quickly boiled down into a fight, though before they could exchange any blows Celty interrupted them. She showed Shizuo some strange chat logs on her phone, all written with the username "Saika." Knowing that he had bigger problems than Izaya at the moment, he hopped on Celty's motorbike once more and they headed back to Ikebukuro. Celty explained that it turned out that the real Saika was able to possess people by spilling their blood, so there were actually countless people out there being compelled to spread the "disease," or breed. They were all apparently going to meet up in a certain square, and so the two went there. The plan was to find the "mother" who was wielding the original Saika and dispose of her.
As the crowds of possessed people showed up, it turned out that the mother wasn't there, but all of them still zeroed in on Shizuo. When he asked one of them why they liked him so much, they said it was because of his strength. If they were able to make him one of them, he would be able to "love" (read: slash) so many others. Shizuo was just amused and weirdly pleased by this answer, since he could use all of his strength against these people with no remorse. If they liked him for his strength, then he would show it to them. And so he went all out, fighting with all his strength and not holding back as he sent the possessed people flying like rag dolls.
However, suddenly they all stopped and stared off in a single direction. Figuring something must have happened, Shizuo told Celty to go check it out while he continued to fight. However, right when he was in the middle of it he suddenly saw the eyes of the girl he was about to punch turn from red (meaning she was possessed) back to normal. Shizuo used all of his willpower to force himself to stop, and for once, he was actually able to. Seeing that everyone was themselves again and that no one had died, Shizuo couldn't help bursting out into satisfied laughter. Finally, he'd been able to exert some self-control.
Things seemed to have calmed down after that in terms of Saika, but that only made way for more trouble. Shizuo almost got into a fight with some punks who seemed to enjoy wearing yellow-colored clothing/accessories (scarves/headbands/etc). This is noteworthy as it meant they were from a gang called the Yellow Scarves, though Shizuo probably didn't realize that at the time.
A few days after that, Shizuo had something new to be annoyed by, as his phone was being spammed with messages from other members of the Dollars. They were going on about some girl being in trouble, not to mention a bunny suit? Either way, Shizuo didn't have the time or patience to read all the messages, and so he just ended up confused and angry. In the end, he stumbled across the real source of the problem by accident. A high school girl was being bullied by some jerks (also wearing yellow!), and so Shizuo, who was already pissed off, stepped up to put them in their place.
As it turned out, he'd met the high school girl before (she'd been attacked by that knife-wielding Slasher that Shizuo had knocked out a while back), but Shizuo didn't remember her. The girl, Anri, had the unfortunate luck of always meeting Shizuo when his mind was more set on someone who he needed to beat up, and so he barely acknowledged her gratitude.
Things only got worse after that, however, since the Yellow Scarves retaliated against Shizuo by attacking him and shooting him in the leg and the abdomen. He fell to the ground, thinking that he'd tripped (this is just another example of how insane his pain tolerance is), but was aware enough to hear one of the attackers mention that someone named Kida Masaomi was responsible for the hit.
After Shizuo realized that he was bleeding pretty badly, he realized he should probably get it taken care of, and so he showed up at Shinra's apartment. The doctor took his injuries far more seriously than he did and started to tend to him immediately. As it turned out, Anri was also there for some reason, and Shizuo once again had to ask who she was.
As he was getting tended to, he mentioned that he was going to make Kida Masaomi pay for what he'd done. However, that statement caused Anri to panic and run out of the apartment. (Kida was her friend and not actually responsible for Shizuo getting shot, so she left to make sure he was safe.) Shinra chased after her, leaving Shizuo alone.
The progression of events after that point is a bit unclear, but somehow Shizuo made it close enough to the hideout of the Yellow Scarves that he was able to apprehend the getaway car of the gang's current leader, Horada. Shizuo knew one way or another that this was the man who needed to be put down (maybe Shinra ended up coming back and explaining it to him when he was unable to chase after Anri? This is probably the case since Shizuo ends up bandaged, though that isn't shown on-screen), and put him down he did: with a freeway sign that pretty much cut the car in half horizontally.
The police handled things after that, and finally life started to quiet down a bit. Shizuo went back to his job with Tom, probably hoping for peace in Ikebukuro to last for as long as it could.
Point in Canon: The end of the anime/after volume 3 of the light novel, give or take. After taking out Horada and his men, Shizuo went back to a normal (for him) life in Ikebukuro. While there is more canon after this in volumes 4-8 of the novel, a lot of it is only partially translated and it is not as well-known as the anime, so I'm going to leave it out to avoid confusion.
Character Personality: As cliché as it might sound, it's actually accurate to call Shizuo a walking contradiction. The most obvious thing about him is his anger, of course. It's the one thing that everyone knows about him: do not piss him off. His rage is impossible for him to control, and more than that, it's very easy to trigger. Something as simple as having the wrong idea about love or even just messing up his clothes could be enough to set him off. His anger is all-consuming, and it's intense. Property damage is common wherever Shizuo goes. Somehow, he's never actually killed anyone. While this can be seen as anime magic, it's actually also a comment on who Shizuo is. Even if he talks big and goes on about wanting people dead, he doesn't kill. Something in him is fighting back enough to stop him from going that far.
Which is where the contradiction comes in. Even though Shizuo's temper can be equated to a rampaging stampede, he hates violence. He knows firsthand what it can do and has seen the destruction that has been inflicted by his own hands. He's hurt people he cares about, and it's stated in the light novel that it wasn't just that one time when he was a child. It's happened multiple times, and his inability to stop himself just makes him hate that violence even more. If it was up to Shizuo, he would live a peaceful life where he could just observe others while having a normal existence. Naturally, it's never that simple.
Seeing how he hates violence and how he is basically violence incarnate (he's described this way in the light novel), it follows that Shizuo hates himself to an extent. He hates his lack of control, and while everyone else marvels at his incredible strength, Shizuo sees himself as weak. He thinks he'll only be strong if he's able to reign in that anger, but thus far that's only happened once. That one time is significant, of course, but it doesn't mean it's fixed the problem. He's also scared of himself, or more specifically, of who he might hurt next.
This contradiction can also be seen in his behavior. When Shizuo is in a fit of anger, he's either trying to control it by repeating the same word over and over (usually either "killkillkillkillkill" or "annoyedannoyedannoyedannoyed") to keep himself in check because it isn't a good time to explode, or he's given into it and he acts totally sure of himself and almost cocky. He obviously knows what he's capable of, so he has a confident smirk to go with his bravado, especially if he's facing down someone who he thinks deserves to get their ass kicked (Izaya, anyone who's doing something morally wrong, etc).
When Shizuo is just his normal self, on the other hand, he's usually pretty calm and almost reserved. He likes to talk about mundane things and do normal things, even if it's something as simple as watching a street performer. Usually when he's wandering around with Tom, they just talk about simple things like where to get food and so forth. He really likes to just enjoy life for life, and is bothered by the fact that he is so often interrupted by his own anger problem.
Another very normal thing about Shizuo is that he likes people. Even though he knows logically that he should just pull away from people entirely in order to avoid the risk of hurting them, he can't do that. He craves human contact as much as anyone else, and because of this he tries to be around people who he's realized won't set him off. This list is rather small, but it's worth explaining each one since it says a different thing in each case.
First is his brother, Kasuka. Even though Shizuo is the older brother, he is in many ways the subservient one. He regards Kasuka's opinion very highly, and anything that his brother tells him to do he will try to listen to and follow to the letter if possible. Kasuka was the first person to tell Shizuo, straight to his face, that he wasn't scared of him. Kasuka was the first almost-victim of Shizuo's rage, but that didn't make him pull away. He still stuck with Shizuo even as he struggled with his issues as a child, and Shizuo is eternally grateful as a result. Anything having to do with Kasuka is therefore a trigger point for Shizuo: don't insult Kasuka, don't try to ask too much about Kasuka, don't mess up Shizuo's clothes because Kasuka gave them to him.
Next would be Tom. Tom was the first real friend that Shizuo ever had, mainly because he treated Shizuo like a human being instead of a monster. Just that small bit of consideration can go a long way, and he even helped improve Shizuo's situation by giving him some advice. Tom just learned what bothered Shizuo and made sure to avoid those topics, and it was as easy as that. Now that they work together, Shizuo actually gets angry around Tom often, though Tom is smart enough to know when to clear away from the area to let Shizuo do this thing (that is, attacking the people who refuse to pay their debts). Shizuo is comfortable around Tom and they have a mutual understanding that he appreciates.
And then there's Celty. In this case, the two have something in common because neither of them are normal, and yet they don't judge each other, which makes it easy for them to get along. Once again, Celty's inability to talk except through text also helps matters, not to mention the fact that she's an understanding and compassionate person. She doesn't push for too much information and she's a good listener, so she and Shizuo get along well. He's actually pretty protective of Celty in a weird way, in that he'll help her out regardless of the situation and he's not going to let anyone harm her (even if she, like him, can't really get hurt). He can also unwind around her and even joke with her. He's even shown giving her a friendly smack on the arm, which for someone who can't control his strength shows a huge amount of trust.
In other words, Shizuo wants to befriend people, but he has to take some time to make certain that they aren't going to piss him off easily before he gets too close. (In fact, he states at one point that he splits people into two groups: those who piss him off and those who don't.) It's probably for this reason that even though he's known Shinra since childhood, they aren't particularly close. Both of them aren't the most social people in general, but Shinra's way of speaking is also enough to set Shizuo off if he's not careful. (Granted, it seems likely he'd hold himself back for Celty's sake, since she cares a great deal for Shinra.)
While Shizuo is clearly an emotional person, dealing with fear and hate and the need to be with other people, he isn't very good at expressing himself. Obviously his anger is impossible it ignore, but the fact that he's scared of himself is not something he would admit to just anyone. Celty is probably the only person, actually. And more than that, what Shizuo wants is for people to care for him. He already knows he can befriend other people and like them (even love them -- he had a crush on the woman who gave him the milk), he doesn't think it's possible for anyone to feel the same way about him. In this way, he's a pretty tragic character, but he doesn't moan or complain about it. He just tries to go on with life, which is pretty much a constant struggle for him. Despite that, he makes the best of things when he can.
Another dynamic that needs to be brought up for the opposite reasons is Izaya. Shizuo hates Izaya more than he hates anything else, and that's saying something. Nothing can set him off as quickly; if he's in a bad enough mood to start with, just Izaya's name might send him into a rage. Izaya worked to make his life miserable during high school and Shizuo knows how much of a creep Izaya is, and that he likes manipulating people and messing with their lives. Shizuo's morals are more or less straightforward, so anyone who puts on an act or isn't direct is liable to bother him. But Izaya is at the top of this list, and there is no exception to that rule. He hates him, and he probably always will. (Granted, Izaya doesn't do himself any favors.)
Another aspect of Shizuo's way of thinking that has to be noted is that he has an odd sense of logic that often only makes sense to him. Sometimes this is what he uses to justify why he's going to attack someone (when some people looked at him funny, he accused them of trying to kill him since there was an extremely small chance that a look could, in fact, kill), but other times it's just how he is (when he's angry at Celty for not telling him about the Slasher, he remarks that while it's only idiots who call other people idiots, he already knows he's an idiot and so he calls her one anyway). It's this weird way of thinking that tends to make him unpredictable at times (which is one of the reason why Izaya hates him so much; he isn't as predictable as other humans).
However, this logic often ties into a strong moral code. Even though Shizuo goes on about wanting to kill people when he's angry, most of the time this isn't sincere. For all of his talk and for being more than strong enough to kill someone with his bare hands, he's never actually done so. This is because he doesn't really believe in that, and he'll target anyone else who's injuring or hurting people (such as the Slasher). Attacking a high school girl? Not okay. Claiming to love someone when you know nothing about them? Also not okay. He doesn't approve of gang-type behavior either, which is why he's in the Dollars, which is really supposed to be a good group focused on helping people.
Shizuo embodies a whole other contradiction that has nothing to do with violence versus peace, as well, and this is in regards to his perception and intelligence. In many ways Shizuo might come across as mentally slow, in that he doesn't often get caught up in the details of a situation (he didn't want the whole story behind the Slasher, since he got straight to the point: it was hurting innocent people, and that had to stop), and he'll even miss huge details (not knowing Celty was female for a while even though she wears a skintight suit). He wouldn't be called the intellectual type in the slightest, and usually has to be led into things (for example, being invited into the Dollars rather than finding out about it and joining it himself).
On the other hand, Shizuo is very sharp about other things. He didn't realize Celty was female, but he knew there was something special about her from the start. He knows when people are feeding him bullshit because he's sensitive to it and hates when people try to be contrary or hide things in a way that's malicious (in other words, everything that Izaya does). This "sixth sense" can extend to him knowing when something is wrong, or being able to guess when Izaya is behind something. It's not full-proof, but he's far more aware and far smarter than people give him credit for; it's just not in the most traditional sense.
Though speaking of tradition, Shizuo does have a traditionalist streak in him. It only comes through in small ways, such as holding himself back from going berserk in a library because he'd been taught that one always has to be quiet when in that sort of establishment, or being resistant to dyeing his hair because he wanted to keep the color that his parents had "given" him. On the other hand, he's obviously used to living a pretty abnormal life, so it really only crops in certain situations and it's not a set rule.
Finally, a few more details. First of all, Shizuo is a chain-smoker. The explanation for why is never given, but my personal belief is that he uses it to try and calm himself down (spoiler: this never works) and also to distinguish himself, much like with the hair color. He doesn't make a huge deal out of it, he just... always has cigarettes on him and generally always has one in his mouth. Lastly, Shizuo is very attached to Ikebukuro. He's actually referred to it has "his town" before, in that he doesn't want people messing with it, especially not Izaya. He's comfortable there, and the idea of having to be moved somewhere else would seriously bother him.
In other words, he's going to be none-too-happy when he realizes he's trapped in Siren's Port.
Character Plans: After the initial rage about being held in a city that is definitely not Ikebukuro, I'm hoping to get Shizuo some sort of work that would suit him, whether it's finding someone he can get along with well enough to do bodyguard duty with (though sadly, nothing will match what he had going with Tom!), being a bouncer (this would be an amazing job for him), or maybe even doing some sort of monster patrol at night. It would be a way for him to take out his anger and also help keep people safe, so he might take a shine to that sort of thing.
Beyond that, I really would like to work on having Shizuo make new connections. He admits himself that he likes to be around people, but he usually only has a few close friends because they're the rare people who can be around him consistently without pissing him off. Still, there are bound to be people in Siren's Port who he could form a friendship with, and since he wouldn't have a reputation in this city for being the most dangerous person around (though who knows if he'll get one after a month or two...), he would actually have a fighting chance of making friends.
As for SERO and AGI, Shizuo probably wouldn't like the idea of joining either, especially if he knew that both had something morally corrupt about them, so he would do what he could to stay neutral. Chances are that Shizuo would never quite get used to living in the city, since he has a strong attachment to Ikebukuro, but he would feel a bit better about the situation if he had friends from home there with him. He isn't good at investigating on his own, but if someone else spurred him to do so, he might give it a shot. He doesn't mind being the brawn if it's for a good reason, either.
Oh, and seeing how Izaya is around, Shizuo will likely end up tracking him down and trying to destroy him on a semi-regular basis. That's just how he rolls.
Appearance/PB: 1 2 (Notes: Shizuo's hair color is dyed, which means he's probably going to have to find a way to keep up the dye job in Siren's Port. Also, there's a canon explanation for why he's so lean even though he has such immense strength. Here's a quote: "His muscle fibers wanted to grow thicker, but his anger would not grant them the time they needed ... His muscle fibers gave up trying to grow thicker and chose instead to remain as thin as they were but become more resilient. That's probably one of the reasons he is so thin but so exceedingly strong for his build. Minimal self-repair. In order to become more resilient, even his joints and bones have changed their way of growing to adapt to Shizuo's lifestyle. His bones have become hard as steel, and his joints evolved to be more resilient than ever after countless rounds of dislocation and relocation." (Credit to anni_fiesta for translation.)
Writing Samples
First Person Sample
[As a result of Shizuo holding his phone-turned-NV with a grip that's a little too strong, the video function is activated, displaying the lower half of his face -- or more specifically, his grit teeth.]
What the hell what the hell what the hell is this?
... Some new button on my phone? Why are all these things popping up?
[The video feed starts moving around erratically, as Shizuo is clearly flinging his phone up and down due to aggravation.]
How am I supposed to reply so quickly? I can't text that fast, dammit! I'm not Celty...
[He peers down at the phone, his eyes just visible above his sunglasses for a moment before the anger surges up all over again, that expression changing from contemplative to enraged in a split second.]
And why am I even in this place, huuuuh? Canada! I don't care. Someone tell me who brought me here so I can knock their teeth in! Rrrghhh...!
Third Person Sample
Breathing in, Shizuo took another drag from his cigarette, only one in a line of many, as he tilted his head up toward the sky and watched the sunset. He stood quietly outside his crummy apartment (it wasn't as good as the one he had in Ikebukuro, but nothing in this place was as good as Ikebukuro), watching and waiting. Even if he was halfway around the world now for some reason he'd yet to figure out (that flea had to be behind this somehow, he had to be), Shizuo knew that he was staring at the same sky.
He'd seen that sort of sunset in Ikebukuro countless times before, oranges mixed with shades of pink. It was so soft, so understated, and yet he liked it just for those reasons. It was totally contrary to all of the chaos he'd had to deal with since his arrival here.
At the same time, however, Shizuo realized how fleeting the moment was. Those colors would only hang in the sky for a few minutes before the darkness took over, and that word now had two meanings.
Having always been something of a nocturnal person, he had never had to worry about walking the streets of Ikebukuro at night. People whispered and worried about gangs and even supernatural creatures back home (hell, with that Slasher, he didn't blame them), but Shizuo had been thought of as one of those dangers himself. And so he hadn't hesitated to watch the night life in that city, and he wasn't going to stop here.
He already knew that wasn't the full reason, though. The Darkness here offered him something that he didn't often get, and that was the ability to take his anger out without any consequences. The monsters here were ruthless and plentiful, and that made Shizuo even more set on putting them down. Most people were smart enough to hide behind boarded up doors when night started to fall, but not Shizuo.
He would protect them, because that was one thing he could be good for. Even if his violence was unbiased and all-consuming, he could go all out now and have it mean something. Maybe it would prevent someone who was walking home too late from getting hurt. That was the most that he could hope for.
Someone else had given him the idea, but Shizuo was making the most of it now.
Shaking his head, he watched the colors in the sky fade and then dropped his cigarette, grinding it underneath his shoe.
That was when the siren went off, a blaring noise that annoyed him (did it have to be so loud? Kids were probably in their beds sleeping!) and exhilarated him at the same time. He felt his heartbeat accelerate with the noise, pounding in tune with it.
Next he cracked his wrists and then his knuckles, observing how everything around him changed. The streets were suddenly flooded with filth and sewage, the buildings looked cracked and run down, and the sky was filled with dark clouds. He didn't know how it worked (Celty probably would have, or maybe even that idiot doctor), but it didn't matter.
No, what mattered was that this was when the monsters came out.
There was a rumor Shizuo had heard about how you'd mainly be attacked by monsters that would target your weaknesses. He already knew he had some, of course, but most of them weren't physical. And so he just ended up having the strongest things out there tracking him down.
That was fine, he thought to himself with a smirk. He was always up for some competition, especially since Simon was the only one back home who could bear his strength.
And so something immense emerged from the darkness as Shizuo stood there and waited, his muscles tensed. It was at least twice as tall at him, but on all fours like an animal. Some of the monsters seemed disturbingly close to animals, but that couldn't bother him because it didn't matter how they looked if they were harming people. This thing was some weird mix of a primate and a rhinoceros.
Agh, that made no sense! It pissed him off!
"I'd say that this is an unfair fight," Shizuo remarked to the thing even though it probably wouldn't understand him, "but I guess we'll have to see, won't we?" All charged up and ready to go, he waited for the monster to make the first move.
Predictably enough, it lunged right for him, and that was the final step that was needed to let his anger come out in full force. Letting out a yell that could have matched the roar of the monster, Shizuo ran to meet it, his tightened muscles bursting with an untapped strength.
He'd kill it! He'd tear it apart and kill it and kill it so that it couldn't kill anything else!