Luke Shaw

[Luke Shaw]

You remind me of a cigarette.
You burn up slowly and then go out like that.


character name: Luke Shaw
significance: Luke is of Greek origin which comes from the word “Lucanus.” Lucanus is a place in Italy but it is also the name of a Christian saint, who is the patron of doctors and artists. He was a skilled physician and very devoted to the Christian faith, even going so far as to write an account on the life of Christ. The decision of Luke’s name was more thoughtful than his parents deciding it sounded nice. Luke’s mother picked it because she is a very religious woman and wanted to name her son after a saint, hoping he would take on some of the good characteristics of him. It was really one of her only ways, in her mind, to possibly save her son.
age: 23
gender: Definitely Male
hair & face: Luke seems to have been blessed by the gods, or at least his genes, when it comes to physical appearance. He has the perfect oval face and masculine jaw-line, but his sneering smirk often gives him the look of an up-to-no-good teenage boy. Luke is sometimes sporting a few days old beard when he’s in the mood for the scruffy, outdoorsman look. However, he prefers being clean shaven and to look well taken care of. This anti-scruff look is rather deceiving and only increases his image as a naughty teen. Luke has a thin face that curves in all the right places and angled cheekbones. The bridge of his nose is long and extends out to flat but not pudgy nostrils. For a man, Luke’s eyebrows are unusually arched and emphasize his already striking eyes. His blue orbs are of the brightest, clearest hue that’s lost more than one girl in them. Oh a whim he occasionally changes his hair from its naturally medium brown tone to a dirty blonde, but it’s not common. He keeps it above his shoulders but lets it grow out enough to be floppy and look a bit mishandled. Even the son of a dog isn’t perfect however. Luke doesn’t like his ears, he feels they stick out and are pointed at the ends like some deranged elf. He also assumes his forehead is too wide and so he wears his floppy bangs on top of it to cover his forehead up. His face isn’t really short or long but just in the middle. Every once in awhile some poor soul will point out that Luke has rather longer eyelashes for a man and is fairly pretty for someone of the male sex.

build: Luke is of an average height for a man, reaching at five feet and nine inches. Of course he wouldn’t mind if he had an extremely late growth spurt and gained a few more, but he’s quite satisfied with the height he is at. Luke is naturally skinny but not rail-thin. He is in good shape and is fortunate not to have a beer gut like so many men do, but then again, he is a mere twenty-three. Luke is definitely not the hulk but he has enough muscles to get by and take care of himself in this tough world – which is a good thing, since he has an unruly temper. Luke is Caucasian but he tans fairly well, and has a nice, darker complexion that matches his hair during the warm seasons. He weighs in at a nice one-hundred and sixty-two pounds, and little of that is from fat. Luke has nice flat abs and a fit body that most people would die for, but he’s got clown feet. Luke’s feet are awfully large for his height, and add that to him already being accident prone and it’s a disastrous combination. Luke has a longer torso in proportion to the rest of his body and his legs, which are quite short. While Luke is capable of looking charming, he definitely has a morning face that looks stretched and saggy when he wakes up in the morning. He likes to eat a variety of things and he doesn’t cut anything from his diet. He will exercise regularly, and his favorite way of keeping up his bod is, surprise surprise, something as clam and relaxing as yoga. Yoga isn’t just a way for him to keep in shape, it also keeps his anger a little in check and hopefully will give him more balance to compensate for those clown feet of his.

other notable physical characteristics: Other than that he has eyes to die for, Luke has a small, written tattoo on his inner left arm in Latin which reads “here and now.” Good luck figuring out what that means.

face claim: Ian Somerhalder.

god/goddess: Luke’s biological father isn’t your typical, mainstream dad. In fact, he’s who people commonly refer to as the “Devil.” Luke’s father is the Greek God Hades, God of the Underworld. Hades has many nicknames, such as “The rich one”, or Clymenus (notorious). When Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon killed their father Cronus, King of the gods, they decided to split up the kingdom. Hades got the unfortunate end of the stick and was assigned as keeper of the dead, something that he is still bitter about. He is much despised amongst the other gods and is greatly feared by mortals. His anger and jealous over Zeus’s position as Lord of all the gods leads to confrontation between the two. Hades once kidnapped a woman named Persephone, and after being told he had to release her, he tricked her into eating a pomegranate that condemned her to the underworld for eternity. Hades nature is cruel and without guilt. He presides over all the dead and is capable of becoming invisible. He has a very tricky nature and generally gets what he wants. Although Hades typically stays in the underworld, he has plenty of minions to do his bidding and still seeks more power among the gods. Other traits that are associate with Hades are: stubborn, passionate (towards his wife), greedy, wealthy, and absolute.

likes:

• Novels
  
• Parties
  
• The Ladies
  
• Challenges
  
• Pool (the sport)
  
• Hot weather
  
• Gambling
  
• Being spontaneous and doing what people don’t expect
  
• Musicals
  
• Grilled cheese sandwiches
  
• Photography
  
• Cemeteries
  
• Alone time
  
• Sarcasm
  
• Getting surprised
  
• Fire
  
• Cider
  
• Halloween
  
• Sitcoms

dislikes:

• Heights
  
• Rain/thunderstorms
  
• Being used for money
  
• Church/religion
  
• Getting judged
  
• Death, ironically enough
  
• Dreaming
  
• Not knowing what’s going on, lack of information
  
• Feeling intimidated or inferior
  
• Getting old
  
• Cigarettes
  
• Huge, open spaces
  
• Losing
  
• Karaoke
  
• Chinese food

hobbies: Luke has an interesting way of having some fun. Some things, like watching a basketball game or playing pool are very normal. On the other hand, gambling from one morning to the next and reading the obituaries while strolling through the cemetery could be considered strange. He loves watching sitcoms, apparently they’re outrageous, and there’s nothing like a good book when Luke is feeing particularly stupid and in need of some mind rejuvenation. He uses the internet and social networking like most people his age and really enjoys talking on his cell phone.

personality:

Luke Shaw doesn’t completely embody the personality of his father Hades. He’s quite split when it comes to things he’s drawn to, like death. From time to time he gives into the desire to visit a few gravestones or read the weekly obituaries, but it’s much more of a closet hobby that he’s ashamed of than an open one. Who in their right mind is attracted to dead things? No one. People would think he was morbid and not right in the head. He’s not attracted to the dark just because his mother drowned him in religion and repentance in his childhood. It’s something he can’t explain because Luke doesn’t understand it himself. Luke doesn’t like death - he’s simply fascinated by it. Does that make any sense? He feels it doesn’t. It particularly bothers him when a child or someone with so much life to live drops dead, and when he goes to a funeral his eye isn’t caught by the beautiful glass panes of the church or ivory coffin, but the people crying or the dark shadows in the corner. Luke has strange dreams; dreams that wake him up in the night and send him straight to the kitchen for his regular midnight wine break. Luke is a bit of a pyromaniac and fire really attracts him. He hates smoking, the smell, everything about it that he’s constantly subjected to because of his gambling addiction – er, habit, but he carries a lighter with him wherever he goes and pulls it out of his pocket just to stare at the glow of the flame. He finds beauty in things that other people don’t – like a dark cloudy day or a burning building. That’s when Luke will whip out his camera and take a few shots. He typically uses a film camera and has a small film development room in his apartment.

He’s a complete pessimist when it comes to dealing with the idea of god or a higher power. All that mumbo jumbo engrained into him as a kid about going to hell if you didn’t live a good life and only some could be saved? He didn’t buy it because Luke didn’t want to. Luke felt safety in the belief that there is no specific moral code you have to live by, other than the morals you set for yourself. The law ,yes, as in murdering is bad, but what you chose to drink or who you go home with? You have to answer to yourself, not to a man upstairs. Luke has had occurrences where it would make sense for him to doubt his way of thinking, seen miracles, but he’s in denial and even if the proof of a higher being was place in front of his face, you would have a fun time trying to convince him of it. He really enjoys money and wealth in general, though he rarely has much of it. Luke gambles a lot and he gambles very well, making quite the chunk of change for himself, but instead of stopping there Luke will spend every penny he earned by the next morning. He’s not fully in control of himself with prize money but hates being used for it. As strange as it is Luke would rather be appreciate for his card or pool playing skill than what it puts in his pocket. He isn’t a homeless man, however. He has enough from working jobs to keep a good apartment and have some amenities, but he always stays in the same level and state. Luke doesn’t tend to ever move up a ladder. He has a secret fetish for musicals – Luke enjoys the way the words rhyme and flow, and how everything in a musical is clear. There is clearly an antagonist and the protagonist is obvious, and though unrealistic, it makes it enjoyable and a relaxing break from the real confusing world. Oh, and he loves grilled cheese sandwiches. It’s a childhood memory and he isn’t really aware of what triggered it, but the simplicity of a decent cheese sandwich and a little soup makes a miserable day just a little bit better.

Luke is a king of sarcasm. Most of what comes out of his mouth is dripping with arrogance and distain for something. His sarcasm can be very humorous and even at your expense you might find yourself laughing. He likes to make a joke out of everything and his difficult to take seriously unless he’s angry. When he’s upset Luke gets difficult to be around because he throws tantrums and exacts revenge. Luke doesn’t pick on just anyone when it comes to dealing punishment. If it were within his right to judge people I would say he judged quite fairly. One to take matters into his own hands, he’s been in some trouble before but nothing too serious. There’s this constant battle in his head because he wants and is two different people. Luke has a bad temper, can be dangerous, gambling profusely, and mocks almost everyone around him. On the other hand, when he does love he loves deeply, he has sympathy for the sick and does things for them, he has a lot of his own fears, and Luke enjoys a good laugh. Most of the time, Luke Shaw can’t decide if he wants to be a jerk or if he’s going to be nice. Really, it’s the luck of the draw. A lot of people he is acquainted with are downright frustrated with Luke because he’ll be really cruel one day and all the days following act remorseful and kind. They don’t know what to make of it and struggle to trust him. Surprisingly, Luke tends to trust people rather easily if he gets along with them, something that can be a huge mistake.

He likes interesting people, people different from himself and others. If they have a little quirk Luke will likely be sucked into them and want to be around. He needs someone to keep him interested because he can get bored very quickly and when Luke gets bored, he does idiotic things. Never mind that Luke is an adult – he’s a kid at heart. He is a freelance photographer which is truly the perfect job for him. It’s not only his passion but he works for an employer just the right amount of time. Luke in an office job wouldn’t last long because he’d probably be fired after a few months. He enjoys setting his own hours and bringing up that boredom factor again, working for the same person day after day would drive him nuts. He really likes getting dressed up for Halloween and watching scary movies so he can make fun of them. It’s his favorite thing when he gets an assignment for Halloween when an oddball couple decides to get married. He’ll photograph anything but he leans toward the unusual. Luke is definitely capable of love before he’s had his heart stomped on a couple times. It’s a new thing for him to be much more cautious about it when he used to give in so easily. Luke has only been casually dating for the past year, different girls, nothing serious. It isn’t something he wants to stroll into so quickly anymore because apparently that’s when everything takes a downward spiral. When Luke does love, he loves tightly. He will do most anything for that special girl and even if they think he’s not helping, he usually is in his own way.

Clearly, he has to have some interest and devotion in his looks to be the stud that he is. Luke plans on doing yoga every other day but it’s sporadic. Basically when he’s not gambling and doesn’t have a hangover he will get himself out of bed and go to the gym. Luke is a big fan of good old fashioned crunches and pull-ups and manages them just fine. Yoga is relaxing, it helps calm the rage he always seems to have and makes him feel, if just for a little while, normal. As a photographer he can understand that sometimes it’s hard to find willing subject, so he will model for some of his friends in return for a few shots. Truly, he isn’t as confident as he puts on. Luke has an intense fear of heights and will behave like a big baby if forced to confront it, and thunderstorms never put him at ease. The height fear at least makes some sense – he had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ride in a hot air balloon as a kid and while fighting with his sister Jordan, he nearly fell out of the basket. But, a fear of thunderstorms? Anyone’s guess is as good as his. Luke is a bit of a strange character because he seems to be genuinely unconcerned for most of humanity, but many days are spent in the hospital, cheering up a patient he has never met in his life, or dishing out cups of food at the soup kitchen. Luke really is two separate people vying for a permanent place. Because he does have, to some extent, a lack of self worth, Luke doesn’t like people who are extremely successful or can intimidate him in any way. On a regular basis he’s deceiving, but if he’s in a particularly foul mood he can take it to the extremes. To sum up Luke completely in a couple paragraphs would be impossible, because a person such as himself is constantly changing every day, and not even Luke can keep tabs on it all the time.



character’s parents:

Birth Mother: Elizabeth James – deceased. She was a slightly loose woman who lived a difficult and very short life. Only a week after Luke was born she passed away from birth complications. Beth wasn’t very religious but she wanted more for her son, and he was entrusted to her sister and her sister’s husband. Not much else is known about her other than her substance abuse and comings and goings between half-way houses.

Birth Father: Hades – we know him.

Mother: Mary Shaw , 46 – Mary Shaw was given the heavy task of raising her nephew after her troubled younger sister passed away. She clearly loves Luke but was a strict parent who punished his wrong doings, and is extremely zealous and religious. She doesn’t know too much about Luke and his lifestyles because he lies to spare himself the trouble bound to follow.

Father: Timothy Shaw, 48 – Tim is a quiet man who doesn’t speak much. He isn’t as religious as his wife but goes to church anyway, and would often let Luke get away with things when caught in the act. He has a way of saying things with wisdom beyond his years, and he is a big outdoorsman and pool player.

siblings:

Destiny Shaw , 23 – the same age as Luke, they are also the closest. She’s very religious as well, but has it under control and has a motherly, caring nature. Destiny is often concerned about Luke and you could say she is his soft spot. The might as well be twins the way they look after each other, although she is slightly his senior.

Jordan Shaw , 17 – Jordan and Luke butt heads like fighting rams, and she was constantly ratting him out in their younger years. She believes in practice makes perfect and is an over-achiever.

Thomas Shaw, 14- Thomas is the youngest of the bunch and very quiet like his father. He struggles with self-esteem issues because of his small stature, but is extremely talented on the violin and avoids what he isn’t good at.


other family members of note: Grandpa Steven – deceased. He taught Luke a lot about the real world and the fun of gambling.

history:

Luke comes from a long line of overzealous, bible thumping family with the last name Hampton. His mother, both of them, were raised on a farm in Oklahoma with a dad who would make them spend the entire day in their rooms praying with a cross in their hands if they were bickering with each other. They were simple country girls who rarely went to any barnyard dances and spent most of their days doing the same thing – cleaning out the pig pens and praying to God. Both of these sisters were close when they were younger, banding together in times of trial, but they started to grow apart when they dealt with the abuse in different ways. Elizabeth, Luke’s birth mother, went extremely in the other direction and snuck out at night, going to parties and drinking and drugging out behind the old school. Mary, the older sister, threw herself more into her studies and although she didn’t agree with the punishments and the hitting her father inflicted, she obeyed him with every breath she took. Eventually Elizabeth came home as drunk as a skunk and Mary couldn’t hide her. Their mother was a very shy and weak woman and stood behind the couch as their dad stormed over to the front door and lifted his hand at Elizabeth. That was the day Elizabeth, at only fifteen years old, left home and never went back. Mary was eighteen and engaged, but the emotional stress of her sister’s running away took its toll on her and the engagement was broken off. Not that it was a loss as the man was as crazy as her father and nearly the same age. Mary spent most of her time in her room praying harder than ever, while her sister hitch-hiked and somehow wound up in Chicago. There she learned a lot about the real world – some refreshing, some unpleasant. Elizabeth, who went by Beth, had a few odds and ends jobs but none of them lasted due to her now out-of-control substance abuse. She lived with a man she couldn’t stand, and was at the bottom of her luck when she went to a club.

That’s where she met him. Beth was sitting at the bar without a drink in her system yet. It allowed her full beauty, because she was quite the stunner with blue eyes and blonde hair, to radiate and she was easily the prettiest girl that night. A very handsome man sat down next to her and asked her for a dance. For some reason, Beth felt like she almost couldn’t say no (though she hadn’t wanted to anyway) and they danced for hours. Then she found out he had a motorcycle and well, it was like love at first ride. They zoomed around the city and Beth lost track of everything she had ever worried about. She wrote to her sister Mary but rarely. Mary had gotten married and moved to New York against her father’s wishes. She was newly pregnant and Beth felt envious of a life that had worked out so well in Mary’s favor. Beth spent a passionate night with a mysterious man, a man whose name she never knew. The next day and the day after that were just as exciting and recklessly dangerous as the first. She felt like living on the edge had never been so good. Then one morning, she woke up to a rose on her pillow and he was gone - gone as quickly as he had come. No note, no nothing. Beth was devastated, but that devastation soon changed to shock when she discovered she was pregnant. She’d dumped her live-in boyfriend the night she met mystery guy, and now Beth had nowhere to turn – except toward her sister. Mary was gracious and took her troubled sister in, helping her throughout the pregnancy. Beth already knew there would be complications with having the baby because she had a blood deficiency disease. The labor was long and arborous and Beth almost gave up, but then she heard that sweet sound of a baby crying. Her baby, her son. Beth named him Luke – after a physician saint, in honor of the doctors who helped her and in hopes that perhaps he would be a good, fine boy who’d never leave the woman he loved.

Beth died a week later and Mary and her husband James were left with a tiny baby to take care of, with no father and no name. They had their own new-born to tend to, Destiny, but they didn’t love Luke any less. He was a joy as a child, very curious and everything he said was funny. Luke wasn’t as wild and energetic as Destiny and other children their age – he was special. Luke stole matches from the kitchen cabinet at five and lit the kitchen on fire. Luckily no one was hurt besides the unfortunate food appliances, but from them on everything fire-related was locked up tight. He was also in a very religious family, because Mary couldn’t escape the traditions of her forefathers and they attended church every week. Are you sick? Pray to god that you will get better. As a kid, it was merely annoying to Luke but he assumed his parents knew best . He and Destiny were attached at the hip, although the two children to follow weren’t always his favorite. Jordan always tattled on him and seemed to be the favorite because she was good at everything, and Thomas was the baby. He didn’t mind though, he fit in, and Luke wasn’t told he was adopted until he was eleven. That was something that he still struggled to deal with, because the identity of his father would, more likely than not, always be unknown. The older he got the more cynical he became about religion. Luke’s father James Shaw was raised quite differently than his mother was. James was a rich boy in New York who grew up on the upper East side. His dad was a businessman and his mother a socialite, so he was raised primarily by his uncle and his nanny. James wasn’t like his parents, he enjoyed being outside more than anything and now owns a hunting and fishing store. Quite a long way from his millionaire father, but James and his wife were happy with it.

There is a great deal of tension between Luke and his adoptive mother. Luke started to “stray from the path” as a teenager, coming home really late, and Mary feared he would wind up the same as her sister. Luke said she was being overdramatic, and for awhile they had a very poor relationship. Luke went to church very reluctantly and mocked the preacher on the stand under his breath. He was a very artsy kid from day one and took pictures of everything he saw. I mean everything. Couple macking at the park? Click. A piece of gravel? Click click. He still remembers very vividly the first person close to him that died. It was his grandpa on his father’s side, a man who though he wasn’t around much, gave him lots of presents and taught him everything he knew about gambling. Luke adored his grandpa and when he died, it was a strange feeling. At the funeral everyone was crying and he just wanted to get out of there. He was a twelve-year-old who didn’t like extreme emotion and everyone there was acting like grandpa was going to hell. That’s what mom said, because he had led a bad life. That was when Luke really started to doubt in a higher power. Grandpa didn’t do everything he should, sure, but he wasn’t a bad man. Luke liked him, did that make him bad? During lunch at school Luke would go to the cemetery across the street and sit down at his grandfather’s grave and eat. He would talk to him. Sometimes he could have sworn that the dead man talked back, but he could have been imagining it. Luke began to notice the mystifying beauty in headstones. He checked out a book on headstone symbolism, but he was rather disappointed when he discovered a lot of it was religious. He started looking at religion in a historical aspect, as just another piece of history. When he was sixteen Luke got in a fight over a game of cards when a senior told him he was cheating. Luke said it wasn’t his fault the guy didn’t know how to bluff. Luke came home with two black eyes and a swollen jaw. He was grounded to his room for a month. So he wasn’t a good fighter, but he could still gamble with the best of them. His mother hosted a karaoke night every Friday and Luke was sure his ears would bleed one day. Now a person couldn’t get him into a karaoke bar if they offered him a million dollars, much less sing in one.

Luke moved out of the house right after he graduated and left for a New York art school. It was expensive and there were a lot of kids dying to get into it, but Luke didn’t seem to prize what he had as much as he should. With failing grades, Luke was warned, and then kicked out all together. Ashamed, he didn’t tell his parents for an entire year, until his web of lies got too confusing and he had to confess. His mother was so angry when she found out he had been freelancing and was broke and in debt. She didn’t speak to him for another year. Luke had his dad and Destiny, but it still stung. Luke’s name got around, and things finally began to pick up. Now he has enough money to afford a nice apartment in Brooklyn, and he even got to see some of the world when he was hired as a temporary photographer in Milan when one of their workers got sick before a fashion show. Luke has done some modeling here and there for extra cash, but his passion is behind the camera. Plus he had some rather awkward, if not hilarious stories from the modeling industry and he’d rather not experience the mistaken nudity moment again. Luke tells his mother untruths but it’s the only way things work out between them. She thinks he’s going to church and that he is devote, and has little idea about his gambling issues. Of course Mary is not stupid, and she disapproves of his single lifestyle. Luke has some friends, and he has some enemies, and he has some girls he hooks up with from time-to-time. Luke is trying to live a life that he wants, not what someone else wants for him, and hopes that he’ll discover himself in the process. Until he shapes up and decides if he’s the bad or good guy in the story, finding himself and appreciating his life is never going to happen.



password: [removed!]
username: Kay
gender: Female
age: ADULTISH
other characters you play: N/A

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