Physical Description

Height: 5'2 (1.57 m)
Weight: 100lbs (45 kg)
Eyes: blue-grey
Ethnicity: Caucasian

Appearance: Octavian's hair is cut short, thick waves sticking up messily, swept back roughly. They are rarely tamed into something neater, and the boy doesn't try--he likes the messy look. He dyes the waves a pale, cool silver-blond, but the darker roots of his natural hair colour shine through often in a dark mouse-brown that Octavian thinks incredibly boring. The contours of his face are still soft, but starting to taper into a sharp jaw. His resting face is a grumpy, almost sleepy kind of look--like someone before coffee in the morning. Half-lidded eyes, brows furrowed slightly and a slightly tilted mouth that slips into a lazy, crooked half-smile easily. A little slouched, the intensity of his eyes are a contradiction to the rest of his almost careless expression.

He's had a growth spurt recently, a bit unsure what to do with his lanky limbs, but his shoulders have grown in and Octavian gives off a decently athletic physique.

His tone is typically deadpan and dry--Octavian isn't much of a chatterbox but funny in a wry kind of way. It's a soft Estuary English accent he speaks in, probably the most wide-spread accent in the London area. It's a mix of Cockney and RP with softened glottal stops and slight th-fronting. When he grows upset, the slight Scottish twang from the paternal side of the family. Usually laid-back and quiet, his voice sharpens when Octavian focuses.

Octavian makes eye-contact easily--he's an observant boy who likes to people watch and enjoys it too much when people get a little uncomfortable by his staring.

Mental Description

Octavian is a straight-forward and blunt person. He watches people closely before initiating contact--he has a sharp, calculating mind and wants to catalogue and understand people for committing to a conversation. He appreciates words, but much prefers action; Octavian is attentive in that way, though his words tend to be much blunter.

It's easy to mistake him for arrogant and a bit intimidating at first glance. His intensity can be mistaken as judgment, when he only wants them to feel seen.

Hypocritical and dishonest behaviour makes his eye twitch. He can't stand overly friendly types or not getting a straight answer. He admires competence and intelligence.

It takes Octavian quite a while to warm up to others. Even if he genuinely likes or admires them. He's quite private; quiet and stiff around people before he can get comfortable. Not everyone enjoys his deep-etched sarcasm and dry, deeply unfunny humour, and he's careful with it. He doesn't want to offend anyone, not really, so that side of him only comes to the surface when he feels comfortable.

He gets intense when he's upset or trying to help--with a practical, analytical mind, his first thought with a problem is to get to the bottom of it, and then resolve it. Octavian can get pushy and harsh with it, since forcing the issue usually works for himself. That this kind of confrontation doesn't help everyone as much as him, Octavian doesn't understand. It makes him a bit of an asshole sometimes, even when he generally means well.

Octavian also has a light version of OCD. It's not particularly noticeable--except for the fact, maybe, that he is very organised, and a messy place makes him twitchy and unfocused. He's ambitious and wants to excel, and fills his day with to-do lists that have his day mapped out, down to the breaks he takes. It makes him a bit rigid, and he sometimes pushes himself too hard, with his own expectations higher than any of his teachers ever had. He wants to be perfect, in a way where he can always get a bit better, and he applies that to every aspect of his life. Octavian thrives under pressure but also gets wrecked by it, because he doesn't know when to stop.

Unfortunately for Octavian, friendships don't work that way. He has an issue with control.

Biography

Octavian is born to Erin and Tavish Ramsay. Erin initially grew up in Canterbury, roughly an hour from London. She was valedictorian of her year and went on to apply at the Department of Mysteries to become a renowned Arithmancer, using numerical divination to predict major magical events. The department rejected her application twice, however, as he lacked the intuitive understanding of magical probability to make it in such an ambitious career.
Instead, she ended up as a private Arithmancy tutor for wealthy pureblood families, with a reputation to be extremely demanding but effective. Erin never got over her rejection from the Department of Mysteries.
Instead, he projects her failures onto Octavian and lives vicariously through his achievements, determined that he will succeed where she failed. Being “lower-middle class” in pureblood society also means she constantly feels judged and inadequate, paired with her ambitious nature, make her a controlling woman, to avoid further disappointment. She is obsessed with measuring herself and Octavian against impossible standards because she was measured and found wanting.
Her relationship with Octavian is somewhat rocky--Octavian values freedom highly, and doesn't take well to having her expectations and desires pushed onto him. They don't understand each other well--Erin speaks from an emotional standpoint nearly at all times, and Octavian detaches from his emotions, especially around her habit of backhanded compliments.
Tavish grew up in Thurso, Britain's northernmost mainland town, and first met Erin at Hogwarts. They truly connected and fell in love after reconnecting a few years later--and got married in their late twenties. Tavish went on to specialise in Magical-Muggle Infrastructure Integration and now works for Meridian International Magical Engineering (MIME)--a company that specialises in creating magical infrastructure that can exist alongside or within Muggle areas without detection. His expertise lies in concealment engineering. He's been somewhat absent throughout Octavian's childhood as his work requires him to travel frequently and Tavish often works with local magical governments in diverse countries to ensure projects comply with the International Statue of Secrecy. Tavish and Octavian are a bit distant--but they connect over their shared analytical minds.

Octavian grew up in a pureblood family in the “lower-middle class”; not left wanting for anything important, but also not in luxury. Usually skimming just below the average of Britain's average. He grew up in Stratford, London, without any major events. He's had some contact with muggles as they don't live in a wizard-only suburb, though he's certainly out of touch and not particularly interested in them, thinking them boring. Octavian went to a decent, magic-only public school for four years. He made a small group of friends throughout those years.
Persephone “Percy” Ashworth, the daughter of a magical law enforcement officer and a curse-breaker. Sharp-tongued, fiercely independent, and brutally honest, she was the only student in his class that could match Octavian's intensity without making it a competition.
Theodore Grimm became friends with Octavian after they were paired for a history project--quiet, methodical, fascinated by the darker aspects of magical history but struggles with speaking up for himself.
Damien Rosewood, the most emotionally intelligent of the group. He was soft-spoken and dreamy. He tried to act as a bridge between Octavian and Percy whenever their stubborn tempers clashed.
They initially bonded over the academic pressure from their families.

First Instance of Magic

A five-year-old Octavian was sitting in the living room, trying to get the letter Q perfect. Erin had given him extra writing practice, after the letter still came out crooked. Octavian was impatient and frustrated when the letter still came out crooked after several tries, smearing the page with his rubber, feeling annoyed and twitchy. When Erin came into the room, nursing a cup of tea while checking on his progress by leaning over him, Octavian's spike of frustration when the next Q still came out crooked shattered the teacup in his mother's hand. Surprisingly, she didn't seem angry about it, but somewhat pleased about the small burst of magic.