Link to your encyclopedia thread: Serena Bowen

1st Year:
Name of Ability or Race/Talent that you Are Applying for: Calming Presence
Describe why this fits your character (not why you the player want it):

Reducio

Growing up, Serena had always been told by other people that there was just something about her that put people at ease. She wasn’t sure what it was or what they were talking about because she was just being herself. Still, it was always a nice thing to hear other people say.

One particular instance always stuck out to Serena, however. After her father was kidnapped by dark Wizards, Serena remembered how her mother had tried to stay strong around the Ministry official and even Serena herself. It was only when her mother thought that she was alone did her true feelings come out. However, Serena was watching, peeking behind the doorframe. When she saw her mother crying, Serena walked over to her mother and gave her a hug, remembering that that was what her mother would always do when she was crying. Surprised, Sarah slowly pulled her arms around her daughter, finding herself starting to feel a little bit at ease. As they stayed there for hours, Sarah found solace in knowing that her daughter was there.

Over the next year-and-a-half, Serena became Sarah’s rock, constantly reminding her that things were going to eventually be alright. And, when her father Neal came back home, Serena helped him too, especially after the trial. She held him while he cried and made sure to be patient with him and not get too angry when he would be a little over-protective.

However, this ability had a price. Serena knew that she had to be there for her family. That she always had to be happy, patient, and ready to help. Over time, this led to Serena gaining some bad habits of putting others’ well-being and happiness over her own. And whenever she was upset or sad or having a bad day or scared, Serena felt like she had to put on a brave face and pretend that everything was fine. She always tried to hold her emotions in, only breaking down when she was alone and sure that no one could hear.

But Serena didn’t resent having this gift or talent or whatever it was. No, she really didn’t because she loved helping people and making them feel better. It was why she wanted to become a Healer after graduating from Hogwarts. So, Serena would never refuse anyone who needed help or comfort. What kind of a person would she be if she did?

(WC: 402)

2nd Year:
Name of Ability or Race/Talent that you Are Applying for: Chaser's Interception
Describe why this fits your character (not why you the player want it):

Reducio

After the game against Durmstrang, Serena went back to her family’s home in London. And while it was nice visiting with her family, who she hadn’t seen since Christmas break, the twelve-year-old girl began splitting her time away from them by either practicing piano or Quidditch. While practicing Quidditch, she specifically focused on her reflexes, trying to be faster at grabbing the Quaffle than before. Eventually, she enlisted the help of her parents to throw various, non-harmful objects at her to try to improve her catching. Serena was appreciative of her parents for spending hours with her in their back garden, trying to help her reach her goals. Serena wished more than once that her parents could attend a Quiddich game in order to see what she was like while playing on the field. But, she knew that her parents would probably be too busy to come to watch her play. Honestly, she was lucky that they were able to help her at all over the summer. Towards the end of the summer holiday, while Serena had undoubtedly improved, she just wasn’t quite where she wanted to be. And so, she went back to Hogwarts.

During team practices, Serena kept working on her reflexes. However, during the first few games, she didn’t see any different results. Deciding that she needed to train harder, Serena began working on her reflexes off of the Quidditch pitch. She would often bounce a ball off of the Common Room wall and do her best to catch it or throw an object up in the air, trying to catch it before it fell to the ground. And, of course, she still worked hard during practices.

And then, during the Easter holiday, which she spent back at home, Serena continued her training regiment from the summer. After spending the break working hard, she finally felt like her reflexes were up to snuff. But, she had yet to test her ability due to not getting many chances to grab the Quaffle during the previous games. And when she did, her reflexes didn’t change anything. The others were still faster at catching the ball. So, Serena decided that she needed even more training. And so, she kept going, knowing that there was always room to improve and always someone better than her. But someday, Serena’s reflexes would be fast enough. And then she could be more useful to her team.

(WC: 402)

Link to encyclopedia thread: viewtopic.php?f=169&t=16601&p=263507#p263507
Name of Talent: Metamorphmagus
Stats: Stamina: 5 Evasion: 5 Strength: 4 Wisdom: 5 Arcane Power: 6 Accuracy: 5
Describe why this fits your character:

Growing up a half-blood, Finnley Peters has never been a stranger to his magical heritage. But what he never expected was to be the first Abernathy in two generations to show signs of being a Metamorphmagus. His mother, Diane, had only ever heard in passing of an elusive Laurits Abernathy who was a Metamorphmagus. But the trait had shown up so sporadically in the Abernathy family she never thought to look for signs of her son manifesting similar abilities.

Finnley was considered a fairly late-bloomer, not showing signs of magical abilities until age six. His Muggle father, Frederick Peters, hadn't quite known how to react when his son came bounding home from school that day, chattering about his new friend Bea and how he made "a whole field of dandelions grow!" When his mother returned from work that day, she'd been elated at the news! Though a part of her had been saddened by the knowledge they would soon have to pull him from his Muggle school. It was also around this time Diane would become pregnant with Finnley's younger siblings, twins Jessie and James.

It was due to his late signs of magic that it took so long for his mother to identify the actual cause of some of his accidental magic. The signs had started small, near impossible to spot for new parents who were unsure of what qualifies as just "weird-stuff-magical-kids-do-that-is-totally-normal-and-expected". Finnley's hair glowing extra blonde when he laughed, his nose turning an unnaturally bright red whenever he had his rare temper tantrums. The last one earning him the nickname Rudolph from his bemused, if concerned father. Diane had reassured her husband that magical outbursts were to be expected, especially in response to strong emotions.

As time went by, she felt more and more like she was missing something important. But then the twins were born, Finnley was pulled out of public school to be homeschooled, and neither Diane nor Frederick had the time to consider their son's potential Metamorphmagus abilities. Not until Finnley's tenth birthday.

Diane had allowed the family to take a trip to the London Zoo, as long as Finnley promised to behave. She knew her son loved animals, and he'd been begging her to go for months now. While there, she'd made sure to keep a close eye on him to make sure no mishaps with accidental magic occurred. They'd been walking near the lion enclosure when the twins started crying. Frederick and Diane had done everything they could to calm them down, but nothing seemed to be working that day. Then, they watched in awe as Finnley walked over to the stroller, scrunched up his face, and gave himself lion ears and whiskers. After a few funny faces, the twins had quieted down and even started giggling at their older brother's antics. Diane almost forgot to tell Finnley off for using his magic in public. Luckily no Muggles had been close enough to see.

Ever since that day, Finnley has made the effort to learn how to transform his features to resemble other animals, though with varying degrees of success. (He even tried to sprout wings once which only resulted in him growing feathers from his armpits.) But due to his rapidly changing emotions and lack of focus, he's struggled so far to replicate his results from that day at the zoo. Not quite fully grasping the impact his emotions have on his Metamorphmagus abilities.

His day at the zoo is what sets in stone his love of animals, both magical and non-magical. But more importantly, it showed him how much he loves using his Metamorphmagus abilities to make people laugh. If Finnley were to be a Metamorphmagus, it would greatly impact his character and fit perfectly with his personality. Already being someone who wears his heart on his sleeve, his emotionally triggered changes in features would make it near-impossible for him to hide anything. Which could lead to some really interesting storylines and interactions with other characters.

WC: 666

First Year Ability:

Link to your encyclopedia thread: Here
Name of Ability or Race/Talent that you Are Applying for: Healing Sage
Describe why this fits your character:

Reducio

Winnie was homeschooled by her mother before attending Hogwarts, so she does not have any experience in (physically) healing humans, per se, but she does have experience in healing animals. Growing up on a farm meant that Winnie was always around animals and helping her parents care for them. She has always valued life and is emphatic towards all living creatures. Whenever one of the barnyard animals grew ill, she would sneak into the barn during the night to tend to it. Her parents would often find her curled up on top of a pile of hay.

One event that still stands out in Winnie's mind was when their female pig, Rose, gave birth to a litter of piglets. The runt of the litter was so tiny that Rose refused to care for it. Finn, Winnie's father, told her it was fine because it was natural selection, he resisted her idea of taking care of it at first, but eventually gave in after he saw that his daughter would not accept the pig's death. She took the piglet in and spend many early mornings feeding it with an eyedropper so it had enough nutrition to survive. Although her parents have since sold most of the other pigs, Clover, once the runt of the litter, is now huge and still lives on their farm.

Her experience in healing humans comes mostly in the form of healing emotional wounds. Winnie relies a lot of her own feelings and can very easily empathize with others. Her kind heart and friendly approach often calms her friends, family, and even strangers. Growing up, her parents often had to warn her about 'stranger danger' because she would wonder off to find the loneliest looking person and talk to them.

She has always enjoyed listening to other's tell stories because she tries to think of what they must have been feeling at the time. She enjoys watching other people and learning about their 'cute little quirks'. Through her observations, she has been able to understand people better and view experiences from their own perspective. It is clear she wants everyone around her to be happy, even if that means helping them along a path that she herself may not understand. Her humility, positive nature, and way of approaching others often helps to inspire confidence in them. If a friend is in need of an open hear, Winnie doesn't hesitate to offer hers.

Word Count: 405

Stats (unsure if needed, just throwing them in just in case): Stamina: 6 | Evasion: 5 | Strength: 5 | Wisdom: 7 | Arcane Power: 7 | Accuracy: 5

Link to your encyclopedia thread: Link
Name of Ability or Race/Talent that you Are Applying for: Evasive Maneuvers

Describe why this fits your character:

Lavinia Cloven wasn’t one for danger. In the very beginning of her very first year she was excited and was looking forward to adventures. Then she started to hear whispers in the hall of a stabbing in the abandoned bathroom. It traumatized her something like that would happen in the school that she so deeply loved. She visited the site of the accident to try and get over it and comprehend what happened but she couldn’t.

After that came the school events, Lavinia didn’t go to any of them because she was in fear of what could happen to her. She didn’t do much of anything except for going to classes and playing quidditch. Time and time again she learnt of the outcome of all the events and was just glad that she didn’t attend them. The only thing keeping her going to school was quidditch and her vow to herself that she would try and face her fears.

She didn’t face the fears but was trying to make little steps towards them. Quidditch was what she spent her time doing and she had gotten really good at it. Her team was not all that it used to be but she was trying her hardest to win each game. Lavinia had a new broom and had spent so much of her time practicing that her turns and movements were very quick.

She had become accustomed to a bludger flying her way but was much better at avoiding it then before. If anything she had a sort of tingle whenever anything dangerous came her way. She would get out of the way of a bludger just in the nick of time and it was part due to practice but it also part due to her fears. The hospital wing didn’t sound that bad in itself but whatever could be in the hospital wing was not what she wanted to find out.

Even her movements between classes were on edge, she was more nimble then before and always ready to run when it was necessary. It quidditch it made it easier for her to evade bludgers but it was all from her paranoia that something might happen. Evading the danger was her first priority and that meant most things that could have danger involved in them. If something happened there before than it could happen again and Lavinia had gotten quite good at not being there when it did.

WC: 407

6-point stat system:
STA: 8 | EVA: 8 | STR: 7 | WIS: 6 | ARCP: 6 | ACC: 11

EDIT

Reducio

Uhm hi im sorry to bother you both but i was wondering when i would get approved i fixed the last thing i was told some time ago in june and i read the front page saying to contact you two if i hadnt been approved within two weeks again im sorry to bother you ive just been waiting for a while @Elaine Pendrast@Béatrice Lydursdattir

Encyclopedia Thread: viewtopic.php?f=169&t=16738
Name of Ability or Race/Talent that you Are Applying for: Dhampir
Describe why this fits your character (not why you the player want it):

Christopher Gold came from a long line of vampires. The Gold family, a line of incredibly elusive people, who spent most of their time away from cities, humans, wizards, witches- everything Alyssa Niccals was. We will get to Ms. Niccals in a moment, but for now, let me tell you a tale of a young vampire in a family of statues.

Christopher was the youngest of four kids, often wanting all of the attention to himself. He was loud, reckless, and kind of a brat at times. He had grown up in the gloomy english countryside, rarely leaving the curtained corridors of the family mansion unless it was the dead of night. Sometimes, if he was allowed, Christopher would roam the sprawling, misty grounds of the Gold Manor. This is where his love of plants and greenery came from, the time he spent in the garden itself.

As Christopher grew older, his parents grew harsher.

The loud mouth brat was whittled into being a perfect, stoic, poster boy for the Gold family with leather belts and cruel gazes. His eldest brother, Samuel, had already been married to another vampire, the other two brothers engaged or in a relationship to a stunning vampire girl from a powerful vampire family. Christopher came to realize it was like watching someone copy and paste (although he didn’t know what that was at the time) his family over and over. They were all the same.

And Christopher hated it.

So he did what any young adult would do if they were in his situation, and ran away in the dead of night. He ran from the manor he grew up in, ran from his family, ran from the monotone life he would have been forced into. And instead, Christopher ran towards the promise of new life, of new people, of new experiences, and new opportunities. The vampire ran to London, hiding in forests and abandoned buildings whenever the day would strike. The grey eyed male ran from his past, and towards his future.

Christopher ran into the woman he would learn to love.

Alyssa Niccals, a witch with a knack for charms and baking. The two of them had literally ran into each other, and this is where the story of two half vampire children began. Alyssa and Christopher fell in love, so in love that they got married, so in love that they had two children with one another. First, a beautiful baby girl, who looked exactly like her father, who smiled just like her mother. She was perfect, for those eight years.

And then a little baby boy came along. One with grey eyes and brown hair. One who didn’t look anything like his mother. One who would tear Christopher and Alyssa apart.

Alyssa had been fine at first, being a wonderful mother to Jackson, just like she had been with the little girl. And then as time went on, as Jackson grew up to look less and less like his mother, Alyssa became convinced that he was something else. Someone else's child, even. Which, frankly, should have been impossible, she had birthed him. Alyssa became convinced Jackson had been switched at birth, and so she took it out on Jackson.

The problem came when he turned ten years old, when his baby fangs finally grew a few centimeters longer than the rest of his teeth.

Jackson was a daphmir, just like his older sister. He was part vampire, of course he was, he had the same eyes as his father. Dark grey eyes, ones that looked like the ocean sky before a storm, ones that rarely held any emotion for his mother, ones that were practical carbon copies of his father’s. He sure looked the part, with his too-pale skin and too-sharp teeth. With his dislike for sunlight and hatred for garlic.

Alyssa went halfway to insane trying to come up with some solution.

And Jackson?

Jackson just wanted to get away from her.

Link to your encyclopedia thread: Link
Name of Ability or Race/Talent that you Are Applying for: Statically Relevant
Describe why this fits your character (not why you the player want it):

Reducio

Dale’s extended stay at home was tough on the boy's academic life, he already struggled with a few topics like charms and DADA. And on top of that, adding new subjects on top of that was not a fun time. The only help he really had was a few owls from friends and professors. But Dale slowly was able to get a grip on this new way of learning, and actually found it better than the traditional way. Using the textbooks he was given, he basically had unlimited time to practice and perfect the spells, and on top of that, he was able to self-study even more than he usually did, as he found himself with much more free time than he usually had. Most of this free time was spent with his mother, reading through his textbooks and doing his school work whilst taking care of his mother. But when she went to sleep or said she no longer needed his assistance, Dale would practice his casting downstairs in the basement, away from his family just in case he wasn’t allowed to do magic in front of his parents, he wasn’t sure if it's was allowed to but he wanted to stay on. He went down from what he thought were the most important spells to know, he started with charms and worked his way to DADA spells, he focused down on the spells he knew he would be used for dueling and a few utility spells, and by the time his time away from school concluded, and after he spent what felt like countless hours practicing and even more fails, he had become much more consistent with his spell casting. But he did see a bit of an issue with the power of his spells, but the way Dale saw it, it was much more important for him to be able to cast spells with more consistency than having those spells be more powerful. Dale even made plans of joining the dueling club, as he wanted to do before but didn’t feel as confident in his casting ability, mostly thanks to the blossom ball, he still shuddered at the thought of that Ball. But he knew if he wanted to do dueling there would be an issue with his accuracy, but still, he felt that just being able to cast more spells would cover his weakness after all a spell that was never cast can never hit.

WC 409

STATS:
Stamina: 10
Evasion: 5
Strength: 5
Wisdom: 17 (+2)
ArcPower: 5
Accuracy: 5

Link to your encyclopedia thread: YO SOY AQUI
Name of the Ability: Charmer
Describe why this fits your character:

Reducio

The party don't start until Jack walks in. It isn't a surprise that Jack knows that he is absolutely the shit. Others most definitely already know that too. The boy can always rock a suave shit-eating grin, much to many people's chagrin. However, Mr. Warren's attitude was far from what you would describe as a "boy scout". This debonair child has most definitely watched one too many action romantic comedies because his personality might be based on the Ryan Reynolds, and Ryan Gosling, with a splash of Brad Pitt, but we have a rule against talking about that. This toga-wearing Frat Boi wannabe can step into any party and immediately steal the spotlight away from any other tryhard who thinks he's better than the J-man himself. Nobody can deny that in Jack's mind, Jack is the protagonist of this narrative.

Even if Jack was somewhat of a narcissist, the force of his personality could be overpowering, to say the least. Making friends was always easy for the boy, and he never seemed to be in short supply when it came to finding other miscreants to break rules with him. Jack was the sort of influence that made parents wary, and it was obvious that he enjoyed that fact to a worrying degree. It was a rather helpful skill growing up on the streets of Dublin. The Warren boy, on more than one occasion, had been able to escape from getting an absolute pummeling from his childhood bullies with his silver tongue and unending wit. However, if we were to be honest, Jack got himself in more trouble with his mouth than he ever could with a fist or foot.

Plus it didn't hurt that he had the power of good genetics on his side, but he'd have to thank his parents for that one. Even though Jack had already started to grow into his father's good looks, the boy had was the fact that he could stop in the middle of whatever dumb situation he had found himself in to crack a joke or say something snarky. Without a doubt, this boy is the type of person who you loathe and love all at the same time.

As he continues to grow up, the boy has started to understand how he can hone his persuasive abilities. Like a knife to a whetstone, he continues to sharpen his tongue. His understanding of how he can influence others by the things he says and the things he does continuously grows.

Word Count 0f somewhere <400 and >10,000 (418)

Stats
Sta 7 | Ev 10 | Str 7 | Wis 5 | Arc 7 | Acc 5