Holden Richardson Giroux

the basics

full name ♦ Holden Richardson Giroux
nicknames ♦ His brothers like to call him H on occasion, but mostly Holden
age ♦ twenty-one
birthday ♦ June 15th, 1997
occupation ♦ farm hand with his parents and helps out at Phalanx and Monroeville
ability/power ♦ black bear shifter
species ♦ shapeshifter
how the ability works ♦ Holden is able to change into a very large black bear at will. By doing this he is required to burn a fair amount of energy, so Holden is typically left extremely exhausted when he changes back. There have been times when he turn back and instantly fall asleep where he lands, the Giroux Slump as the family calls it. When he wakes up, he is often disoriented and at times will have some short term memory loss if he uses his ability for too long. When Holden is able to regain his memory and his sense of self, he feels things in extremes. If he was hungry before he changed, he's ravenous. If he was lonely, he's isolated in a pit of despair, if he's happy, he's bordering on mania. He can turn multiple times per day, but the more he uses his ability the harder it is for him to maintain it and the harder it is to turn back.
gender ♦ cis-man, he/him
sexuality ♦ homosexual

the appearance

face claim ♦ Scott Eastwood
height and weight ♦ 6'0" and 170lbs
identifying features ♦ a lot of scars on his hands from working on the farm. He had a pretty bad accident when he was fourteen, so he has a pretty bad scar on his back.
overall appearance ♦ Holden is a tall and well-built man. He spends most of his free time with his friends and family, so that means he's usually smiling and having a good time. He is very adventurous and loves being outside. He's well built from rock climbing and cliff diving. He had a charming smile and is well known for his laugh. His hair is a sandy blonde like his father and a bright blue like his mother. He doesn't have any tattoos or piercings, but something identifiable about him would be a necklace that his maternal grandfather gave him. His grandfather was in the military and gave Holden's older brother his dog tags. When Holden was younger, he was small and used to get picked on. His older brother gave Holden the dog tags to "make him brave" and he rarely takes them off.

the personality

likes ♦ - extreme sports
- bourbon
- his horses
- spending time with his brothers and sister

dislikes ♦ - cats (they seem to hate him)
- sitting still
- fancy suits
- how sleepy he gets in the winter

strengths ♦ - physically strong
- charming

weaknesses ♦ - gets extremely tired in the winter
- can't always control his strength when he's feeling strong emotions

dreams ♦ to have a simple life with someone he loves
fears ♦ that he'll hurt someone else.
overall personality ♦ Holden is an active and adventurous man. He loves being with people who he cares about and he loves when he's able to run around outside. Holden is very much in touch with his bear side. He is fiercely protective over the people who he loves, and will defend them with his last breath. Due to his bear self, he can act very differently based on the season. During the summer he is extremely active and always off doing fun adventures. He loves going cliff diving with his brothers, or riding horses with his parents. His favorite past time is riding bulls. During the winter months he is extremely sluggish and easily exhausted. Once spring hits he is usually back to normal. When Holden first fell in love, he would easily fall in love. He would dote on the person who he was with and he would do everything for them. He accidentally hurt the first man he was ever physical with, and that changed a lot about Holden. He's more reserved with his attentions and feels that he should just focus on getting his strength under control and his time with his family. He would love to meet someone and fall in love, but he isn't sure that it will be able to happen.

the history

father ♦ Wylie Giroux, 44, Police detective
mother ♦ Charlotte 'DuBois' Giroux, 40, Pediatric doctor
siblings ♦ Luka ___ Giroux, 22
Wes ___ Giroux, 20, Phalanx resident
Talon ___ Giroux, 20, Phalanx resident
Maeve ___ Giroux, 18, Phalanx resident
important people ♦ several family friends, two aunts, and an uncle on his mother's side. He has some aunts and uncles on his father's side, but he never met them.
hometown ♦ Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
overall history ♦
Wylie and Charlotte Giroux met when Wylie was brought home from school one day by Charlotte's older brother Renee. Wylie was severely malnourished and there were signs of abuse. The DuBois family took Wylie in as their own and he never had to go back to his biological family. The DuBois family were all human, and discovered when Wylie moved in that he was not. The young boy tried to hide his shapeshifter life from his new family, mostly out of fear that they would send him back to the life he had before. When the DuBois parents found out, they welcomed him with open arms and tried to understand as much about the shapeshifters as they could.

Wylie and Charlotte grew up as the best of friends, and when she turned eighteen they started officially dating. Wylie and Charlotte were desperately in love, and that's what made things harder when Charlotte went away for college. After a few months, Charlotte returned from the university and had to tell Wylie and her family that she had been raped at a party. She was drugged by a guy, and assaulted. When she woke up, she didn't remember what happened. She only knew what happened when she figured out that she was pregnant. Charlotte thought that things would be over with Wylie and that he would believe that she was lying, but instead he asked her to marry him.

They got married, and together they brought their first child, Luka, into the world. When Luka was about three months old, Charlotte became pregnant with their second child and the first one by Wylie, Holden. Wylie loved both of his sons instantly, and always made sure to never treat Luka differently than Holden. Shortly after, Charlotte and Wylie had twin sons Wes and Tallon. After that, they had their first daughter Maeve. Together they raised their large family, put each other through school, and made each other deliriously happy. Holden grew up with a wonderful family and a big brother who always made sure to watch out for him.

When he was young, he could remember seeing his father turn into a bear at will. His father would change to make the kids smile, or when Charlotte would complain about being cold. Holden just thought that it was something neat that his dad could do. When he got older, he was able to start shifting as well. He was curious why Luka wasn't able to change as well, until Luka was able to change into Holden, Maeve, their parents, or anyone else who came into their house. Charlotte and Wylie explained that it was because Luka's dad was a bad man who hurt Charlotte. That Luka was still loved by everyone and that he was still part of their family. From then on, Wylie taught all of the kids how to control their changes. While he was a wonderful teacher, it still wasn't enough to help Luka. Luka eventually went away to Phalanx to learn how to control his changes.

When Holden was thirteen, he figured out his sexuality. Terrified of how his parents would handle it, he tried to hide his attraction to other men. He told himself that it wasn't anything, that he was masculine, and he enjoyed doing manly things so how could he really be gay? When he finally gave in and wanted to tell someone, there was only one person he could tell first. He told his older brother first, and Luka was happy for him. Together they told their parents and Wylie and Charlotte were happy for him. Holden was always accepted for who he was attracted to and started dating one of his best friends shortly after coming out.

Holden eventually went to Phalanx as well, when he was sixteen and he was having sex for the first time with his boyfriend. He thought that it was going to be some amazing night, but he ended up breaking the hip of the man he was with. His boyfriend went to the hospital and told Holden that he never wanted to see him again. Holden tried to show everyone how sorry he was, but his parents encouraged him to cut connections with that boy and to find something that would help him feel better about what he did. Holden started to volunteer at Monroeville Hospital and help with others with abilities. Holden focused on gaining control over his strength and his changes.

After some years, his younger siblings were sent to Phalanx as well to gain better control over their abilities. Now, Holden is a volunteer with Phalanx House and spends most of his time helping his parents on their farm.

the role player

alias ♦ belle, queen of everything
age ♦ ageless
pronouns ♦ she/her
code ♦ Admin Edit
other characters ♦ too many to count, I have a problem