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

Reducio

After the terrible loss of the Ravenclaw quidditch team, a new resolution for Aurora is to get an act of revenge and win the cup on the next quidditch cup. Her determination overshadowed the fact that she was merely a second string player. The whole summer holiday filled with all kinds of exercises that she could think of. With the help of her muggle friend, Naomi, and her step father, she managed to get it all together. Started with a morning run and either badminton or baseball or just a random game where Naomi and the step dad threw balls at Aurora while the young girl tried to dodge all of them in the afternoon. Sometimes, her mom tossed random objects (foods most of the time) at the kid out of nowhere to train her instinct. Just like a bludger who always come out of nowhere.

Red and gold hues veiled the sky of Canterbury, the city where Aurora grew up in. The green carpet of the grass painted by the amber reflection as the sun met the horizon. Sat in the middle of a playground, were a fluffy white cat and two best friends, trying to help the other achieving her goal while the other one panting from her previous run to evade the aggressive multiple tennis balls and some other random stuff. Even though the brunette kid had grown accustomed to the usual objects throwing training and felt like a master herself, Naomi, on the other hand, thought it was indeed the time to add more spices to the training.

Waiting patiently for the day to turn into night, until it was dark enough for the reflective street lamps and the moon as the only source of the light “Okay rays, now, go stand on that balance beam” As the younger girl thought the exhausting training was over, Naomi stood up and ask her to do the same, on a specific place, while she preparing the balls to throw. Though, Aurora tried to reason for once, mainly because she was never fond of the dark. “But I-“ and failed, she was lucky to have such a caring friend, “No buts! Do you want the lovebird’s claw squiddy team to win?” Glancing up, slightly annoyed by the inaccurate house and sport name, but also, came to the memory of the awful 20 scores that punched her on the gut. “It’s Ravenclaw Quidditch team, and YES!” Using both hands to help her get up from the patches of grass, her friend’s voice rang in the background. “THEN MOVE YOUR SHORT LEGS TO THE BALANCE BLOCK, CHOP CHOP!” With a heart full of fire, Aurora positioned herself on the narrow wood block. Even Lucifur, the cat, was excited to see Naomi brutally throwing balls after balls at his owner.

Though the night was still young, It was dim in that neighbourhood. The white light from the lamps across the street made perfect lines with the dark, but not dim enough for it to be impossible to see. She was tired, but it had to be done, for the sake of winning. The imagination in her head took her to the pitch with only her rickety old school broom as her possession in a life or death situation. Naomi on the contrary being this evil beater with no mercy. Then, an aggressive metal ball, which actually was only a tennis ball, flew in her direction, and the rest of the bludgers came behind it like a formation of birds flying in the sky. Keeping your balance while trying to get away from multiple barbaric hurls is not an easy thing to do. But the petite girl did dodges after dodges, the loud sounds of objects hit the grass like a rhythm echoed through the park.

For the last round, Naomi really did add a little spark to the ‘game’ as she threw not one, not two, but three balls simultaneously (She kicked the third ball). It seemed like Aurora began to acquaint herself with the dynamic movements of objects, even in a lack of light place. Without any difficulty, she made the first two round objects hit the tree behind instead of her body. The last ball, however, came as a big surprise for the Ravenclaw. With a swift move combined with a shock, it flew merely five centimetres from her sweaty left cheek. It was a tiring practice, but it will be worth it in the end.

WC : 746

Second Year Stat : Sta - 5 | Eva - 8 | Str - 5 | Wis - 8 | Arc - 4 | Acc - 10

Status :Approved

Link to Encyclopedia: Right here =]
Name of Ability or Race/Talent that you Are Applying For: Calming Presence
Describe Why This Fits Your Character: - WC 800

Reducio

Throughout her entire life, Koko had never been particularly scary. She may have been scared of others, but she could count on one hand the amount of times a person might have been scared of her. She always tried to make herself seem a bit less noticeable than everyone else, and as she began to observe from the sidelines, she felt it might have begun to pay off.

However, it wasn't until her parents started living separately that she realised this skill of not scaring others was actually quite important, indeed.

She noticed this during her first trip to France since Victor had moved to Los Angeles and Rosalie had gone to France. Her brother, Holmes, had been anxious, and Koko hadn't necessarily tried to calm him down. In fact, her words had been rather harsh for a kid missing his mum.

But he'd lost that worried expression that had plagued him for days, perhaps months. He'd ceased the anxious tapping against the seats of the car; he had taken a deep breath and nodded.

Then, when he saw his mother, he had seemed calm, almost confident. Only Koko and Victor, and perhaps the chauffeur, would remember what a mess he was on the way.

Koko found that her demeanour hadn't even changed much. Once, at a park, some kid had fallen on top of her and had been apologising profusely. With a few words from Koko, who had actually been pretty mad, the kid grinned and relaxed.

After thinking about how easy it was for her to calm people down, Koko decided to test it over the winter holidays. It was perfect, really - on Christmas Eve, she had been filled with the sort of angry bitterness she wouldn't be able to hold onto for long, and it was simmering in her veins as she explored the tiny town of Rioux-Martin, France.

With a population of maybe two hundred, it was difficult for Koko to find anyone walking around, so she went back to Leblanc Estates with a sigh before Vienna offered to go to Diagon Alley on Christmas Day.

Koko had agreed almost immediately. She needed to get away from Leblanc Estates and her heritage, and how better to do that than immersing herself in Wizarding culture, the culture she had grown up in?

Besides, there would be plenty of people who were cross about something, even on Christmas. As she and Vienna walked around, Koko kept her eyes out for any children who hadn't gotten the gift they wanted, any people who had just dealt with an argument...

And finally, she found one.

It was a little boy, younger than Charlie and Holmes, and he was sobbing uncontrollably. A man Koko assumed to be his father held him and seemed to be scolding him.

Koko approached them carefully and cleared her throat.

The man glared at her, but the anger inside of him seemed to melt away into weariness. 'What do you want?' he asked.

'I can... try to help,' Koko forced out. The words hadn't wanted to come out of her lips, but she pushed them out carefully.

She had a reason to do this.

'Really?' His voice was full of sarcasm.

Koko's lips curled in a sneer that she quickly wiped away, hoping the man hadn't seen it. 'Of course.'

The man barked out a harsh laugh and gestured at his son. 'Try, then.'

The boy was still crying. The noise seemed louder - and more annoying - now that Koko was closer, and she bit back a grimace before kneeling down.

'Kid,' she said, perfectly aware that addressing him as 'Kid' was not something a comforting person would do.

The boy stared up at her, eyes glistening.

'Everything's going to be all right.'

The boy's eyebrows drew together. 'That's not true.'

'Really?' Koko snorted. 'Why not?'

'Dad won't buy me a kitty.'

The pout on the boy's lips was almost comical, and it took most of Koko's willpower to keep from laughing. 'That's not a problem.'

Koko watched as the boy's eyes widened and a smile started to form on his face. 'You'll buy me a kitty?'

Koko shook her head. 'No,' she said. 'However... Once you get to Hogwarts, you can buy one yourself. That's what I did.' She suddenly wished she had brought Jax with her, but as far as she knew, he was resting in front of a cosy fire.

The boy's dejected expression turned into one of determination, and he nodded quickly. 'I'll do that!' he exclaimed. 'Thanks!'

Koko felt her lips curl into a wry grin as she went back to join Vienna. Maybe she would have to check for crying children in the Abandoned Toilets more often now that she could calm people down so quickly.

Thank you!

Encyclopedia Link: Encyclopedia

Name of Ability: Blindvision

Describe why this fits your character:

Reducio

699/400 words

January 23, 2021. Selim was unknowingly lured into a meeting with the previous Astronomy professor and multiple students plagued with insomnia. It was supposed to be an educational time of attempted healing where the professor gave the ailed students background on their insomnia and described ways he knew from experience would help them sleep.

Selim's underclassman, Kazuo Shimada, had tricked him into coming, and due to that Selim was afflicted with sharp paranoia, not helped by the Professor's unsettling presence. His mind was put under a lot of stress as the large crowd of students had made him feel rather claustrophobic, and had made his exhaustion-spurred auditory and visual hallucinations more agitated than usual.

Inevitably, the boy had a mental breakdown. Thrown into fits of hysterical laughter and then numbed into a catatonic silence. He was led out of the classroom and to the hospital wing, whereupon he disappeared when the nurse wasn't looking. After that, he seemed to disappear of the face of the earth, not showing up to classes, meals, not even in his dorm anymore, some may have thought him simply dead, others closer to him knew better.

Selim had in fact, not died. Instead, he had retreated deep into the dungeons, motivated by the thought of never having to interact with his peers again. He was trying to recover in his own way.

This wasn't easy, of course, for the dungeons were terribly dark, some areas in it having no light at all. Many times the boy ended up bumped and bruised as he walked headlong into a wall or tripped over a protruding stone on the floors. Eventually, though, he adapted, as humans do. Steadily, his already-trained senses grew stronger, he was starting to hear, smell, feel to a larger degree, using the senses to navigate the dark underbelly of Hogwarts.

He had time to hone them into a sort of blind vision, for he remained in those dungeons for five and a half months, up until July 20th whereupon Kazuo approached his hovel in the dungeons and dragged him out back to the Shimada household.

Before then though, with assistance from a fellow dungeon-dweller, his senses grew stronger in the dark corridors as his vision was near-constantly rendered useless.

Even before this whole event, he was trained by his father to fight without sight. Often when he was younger, he would be blindfolded, given weapons, and told to spar. The beginning of those training sessions was usually spent getting gashes and bruises from his unblindfolded sparring partner, half of the injuries came from running into things or falling flat on his face. He wouldn't stop training until he dropped, he wasn't allowed to. The intense stress did nothing much for his physical health but it did hone his other senses rather swiftly for the three years he did the training.

It wasn't just sparring though, sometimes he was blindfolded and chased through the woods in the Faust Clan Compound. Running into trees, tripping over roots probably spraining his ankle more than once... well it forced him to learn how to know his surroundings without seeing them. It wasn't to the point where he could use rudimentary echolocation, which humans do have the capability for if they learned how to so their blindness wasn't a complete detriment... but it was close.

Air currents, sound bouncing off structures... and that 'sixth sense' humans sometimes got when they needed to avoid something unseen, all of it was sharpened like a knife taken to a whetstone.

So Selim had the basic ability before, but during his times in the basement of Hogwarts, it only grew stronger, along with the rabbit mask that also constantly limited his vision even when in light, assisted him in becoming skilled at the art of moving around in the darkness (Or blindfolded)... while his vision grew a tad weaker.

Well, you win some you lose some, he was already sensitive to light before, now it was just a tad worse. Nothing new.

Mod edit: That is a no. I won't approve a story where a student just disappears from the "face of the earth" and lives in the dungeons for almost 6 months by himself, pretending nobody would look after him or straight up not see him. Our Potions professor patrols the dungeons, this is godmodding an entire school that people are just ignoring the fact a student went missing.
You can be in the dungeons for how long you want, after class, before curefew. This is a school, so going to lectures is mandatory.

Encyclopedia Link: Here!
Applying for: Perfectionist [Year 4]
Description:

Reducio

Practice makes perfect. Everyone knew the saying. Nearly as common was the argument perfection was impossible and that, rather, practice makes better. For thirteen years of her life, better was enough for Bridget. She liked the thrill of beating your old record, could be proud of herself for putting in the work and giving her best effort even with a few mistakes. Her excellent grades were more the result of a love of learning than needing to be that good. Being perfect sounded exhausting; her parents would mention how much of a perfectionist her older brother was and all he seemed to do was study. So why do that to yourself?

Then came that fateful day in the summer of 2020. Fight club had been a mess, though it was mostly a blur to her now. What she did remember with painful clarity was casting that spell and watching it go horribly wrong. The failure had become part of a sequence of happenings that proved fatal to one Victor Moore.

Better wasn't good enough. That day haunted her, even becoming a large factor in her switch from Quidditch to duelling. The decent amount of confidence she'd had in her spellcasting before was clearly misplaced. Still, she believed a greater investment of time to her wandwork could remedy that.

The first stage of duels rolled around and revealed how woefully she'd underestimated the path to improvement. Her performance was nothing short of dreadful; her very first cast blew up in her face and all but one of her spells missed. Those weak spots she'd gotten an inkling of at practice were now underlined and highlighted. On the bright side, she gained a better sense of what she needed to overcome. Her magic was volatile, unreliable. That didn't cut it at Hogwarts, not with all the dangerous situations they found themselves in where there was little margin for error. A scare in February, during Slytherin's perhaps ill-advised investigation into the dungeons, drove that home when a backfired spell, this time not her own, made an already bad situation worse. The day also had her feeling particularly powerless, her presence as one of the oldest students there counting for little. Being useless was a special kind of failure, and one she quite thoroughly loathed.

She ascended from a normal duellist to Co-Captain in January. That meant higher standards. The other Slytherin Captains were certainly accomplished at the sport, with powerful spells and few mistakes. Especially being the newest addition to team leadership, she felt the need to prove her worth. She doubled her efforts.

The year's final duel marked her continued upward trend with no backfires at all, though she found celebrating the successes increasingly harder, the mistakes hogging her attention. Even her pairing's undefeated status didn't feel so exciting, rather almost... unearned. A fairly ridiculous notion--while their first duel had ended oddly and her teammate did most of the heavy-hitting, the work had been put in. Regardless, the dissatisfaction meant a continued effort post-season where others might have taken a break. The fixation bordered on unhealthy with the way she neglected other things; her quest for betterment had become an obsession.

And obsession, finally, led to breakthrough. Her main focus had always been eradicating spell failure, or at least getting to the point the instances were so few and far between backfires weren't an active threat. Diligently drilling the wand movements and pronunciations into muscle memory had taken her a long way. Concentration was the final piece. Visualization helped, as did learning to push aside strong emotion that could distract her, and after so many casts, she'd gained a sort of feel for when a spell would work and when it was building up wrong. At long last, she'd done it.

But not without cost. All that extra practice had come at the sacrifice of her free time, which meant she spent less time with her friends, something that probably factored into the loss of one. Ironically, her pursuit of perfection in one area led to her grades slipping from mostly O's to quite a few E's, a mark of that extra work being put in elsewhere. She was more critical of herself, something that applied, to a lesser extent, to those around her. It did not help that over the course of the year she'd grown increasingly paranoid of what could happen if she failed at a crucial moment, if she could not keep those she cared about safe. Obviating such a scenario had to be worth being a bit more uptight, more cautious. After all, the pain of hard work was far better than the pain of regret.

Word Count | 779/400

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

Reducio

It had been almost a year ago now since Dee had become the captain of the Ravenclaw Duelling team - Murder of Merlin, they had named themselves. It was a position she was proud of, just as she was proud of every single thing they had achieved, especially so if she’d had any influence on the outcome, via advice or strategy, or her own participation.

She had tried to look at the upside of things, at what she could be proud of, she had. And yet, even after almost a year, there was no way she could forget the incredible disaster her first duel had been.

It had been unexpected, come out of nowhere, the way her magic had turned on her not once, no, twice in that duel. Her wand, although always temperamental, had never betrayed her like that before, the spells she’d tried to cast backfiring on her, leaving her with a cold so bad she could barely stand straight, let alone land a spell. She’d fainted from that cold in the end, and of course her partner hadn’t been able to hold up by himself, either. It had been a humiliating loss.

When she’d flung spells at practise dummies that evening, alone and frustrated, she’d sworn she wouldn’t let that happen again, not if there was anything she could do to stop it. (But it had. Oh, it had.)

Dealla had been a hard worker before, had poured time and energy into her classes, into getting top grades wherever she could (except flying, no one cared about flying), but it had not been for herself, it had been for her grandparents (and a little because she liked being better than others). But now… the almost obsessive precision she practised her spellwork with had nothing to do with impressing others and everything with never feeling that way again. She could remember clearly how it had felt when that spell had struck her, and she hated it, with every breath, every beat of her heart. Her magic was something she was supposed to be able to rely on - something she could use without even thinking about it, the way she walked, or breathed, or talked back at people.

It was like a muscle, she’d thought, back when it had failed her, given in under the weight she’d put on it. But muscles had to be trained, and training was what she’d done over the past year. Had worked with her wand until she’d collapsed from exhaustion, had tried to merge her wand’s stubbornness and her own into a synergy, to turn them into a team.

It had taken months. Months of training, of backfires, another catastrophic duel at the end of the year that had made her doubt that she’d made any progress at all. But now… The feeling had changed. Now her magic was solid, controlled. And most important of all: It would not easily fail her again.

Word Count 491

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

Reducio

Haley always had a special way about her, even as a child she managed to attract attention without having to do anything. It was her way that always captivated everyone around her. Her curiosity, the hearty and loud laughter and her warm and compassionate nature. There was something about her that drew the eye. Her behaviour, her long red hair, her loud and hearty laugh. Just her charisma and quite unconsciously she had always been the "charming little Rose girl."

Over the years this had not changed, Haley grew older, taller and more mature. More mature than most kids her age and something invisible was always around her that distracted people. She had a big heart and everyone would find a place there, as long as they didn't give it away. Her so open nature and her big heart made everyone smile as soon as she entered the room. It was as if the atmosphere changed, as if she brought good humour, joy and some sunshine with her wherever she went. She was someone you enjoyed spending time with, pouring your heart out and being taken into a hug by her.

"That's my little charming girl," her grandmother used to say to her as a young child and that hadn't changed to this day. She knew exactly how to wrap someone around her finger with her personality, the right words and her puppy dog eyes. Her father fell victim to it not only once.

And even though she had done all this unconsciously as a child, her understanding got better with age. She knew how to use her charm, but most of the time it wasn't necessary. Her smile, her open nature, her talent to find the right words in difficult situations, all this made it hard not to be captivated by Haley Rose. Her charm enveloped those around her, quite unintentionally and in a good way.

But it wasn't just her charisma that drew people in, especially strangers but also friends were constantly distracted by her natural beauty. Her looks helped to enhance her charm quite voluntarily. Her long red and wavy hair often attracted attention. Her head of hair was a rarity, as were her bright green eyes and the freckles on her face. The genes of her ancestors flowed through her blood and although the Irish component was not too great, it was evident in her natural beauty.
Word Count: 401

Encyclopaedia Link

|Name of Ability or Race/Talent that you Are Applying for|
Beast Master

|Describe why this fits your character|

Reducio

Ruka has always loved animals.

While not necessarily being great with other people, he has always felt a special kind of connection with animals and creatures of all kinds. Animals had always seemed like the more honest and loyal companions in comparison to people, and yet the concept of keeping them as pets had always seemed disrespectful to him. Taking creatures out of their natural habitat to keep them in captivity instead felt restricting and cruel, and it had taken Ruka a long time to get used to the concept.

With taking Care of Magical Creatures as an elective in his third year, Ruka had slowly learned more and more about how to treat animals of all sorts the right way, how to work with them and bond with them. Quickly, it had become one of his best and favourite subjects; His natural understanding for animals had allowed him to connect easily with the Creatures they learned about, and it had opened him up to the thought of being a pet owner himself. With a strong fondness for cats, Ruka had thought that he was most likely to pick a feline companion for himself, but it was being apart from his brother without the possibility to send him his birthday present, that really made him aware of how useful a trained animal companion could actually be. A pet owl was what he ended up getting, along with various books on how to train an animal.

Ruka had always assumed that training was based on completely taking away a creature's instincts, but the more he read and found out through trial and error, the more he realised that it was about forming a bond with them, understanding them and working with them rather than against them.

Getting his own pet allowed Ruka to really try and put the things he had learned and read about into practice. He studied up on the type of owl he had purchased, and spent his free time trying to teach her little tricks. Every time he managed to communicate to his owl what he wanted her to do felt like a huge success, and Ruka soon found that he was good at training his feathery companion. Maybe she was also a quick learner, but Ruka liked to think some of it was to be attributed to him. His growing fondness for working with his pet quickly inspired Ruka to keep working on that skill. He had always seen himself in a profession like Magizoologist, but the more he thought about it, maybe something like Dragon Tamer was a field he would really excel in.

|Word Count|
439

Link to your encyclopedia thread: Here
Name of Ability or Race/Talent that you Are Applying for: Prodigal Defense Against the Dark Arts Learner[/font]
Describe why this fits your character (not why you the player want it):

Reducio You like to read. But people already know that. They know that you like to read. You like reading so much that you became a prodigy in Charms. You were happy with that. But you wanted more. Much more. That's why, in your first year at Hogwarts, you started reading the third year Defence Against the Dark Arts manual. To tell the truth, it was mostly during the big holidays between first and second year that you read it. You started it towards the end of the year. When you realised that you really didn't have many friends. So you said to yourself that you had to study. To replace friends. It was also when you realised that the second year Charms weren't enough. You could choose another subject to study in advance. You were happy to learn that. A goal you have set for yourself for the second year: to become a Duelist. Knowing the spells of the year above you would be very useful. That's partly why you wanted to learn more about Defence against the Dark Arts. You're passionate not about dark magic, but about magic. Magic itself. All spells, creatures, magical objects fascinate you. Your friends would be the books, the formulas and your wand. Of course, you don't forget your old Muggle friends. But you don't see them often now. You'd rather make other "friends" before you're alone. But you are alone. Like one of your names: Enola. When people see you, they see a little redhead who had her dream of being a gymnast shattered by magic. A little loner and a little shy. But there is another side to you. The studious one. When you read an educational book, you can memorize it perfectly. It's a practical thing when you want to be good at something. When you were doing gymnastics, you read all the theoretical books on gymnastics. You watched the great gymnasts to do what they did. You have a very developed visual memory. This year you read the entire second year Charms book. You learned it by heart. You will do the same with Defence Against the Dark Arts. That's what you decided. And that's what you'll do. People see you as a rather melancholic, hidden girl. A shy girl. But you will show them that you can be strong. You can be whatever you want to be. Starting with a Prodigal Defense Against the Dark Arts Learner.

408 words

Encyclopedia Thread | Here
Name of Ability or Race | Healing Sage
Describe why it Fits my Character

Reducio

Mentions | @Artemis Vernatis | @Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood

Ileen closed the books she had read in for hours with a silent sight and rubbed her eyes. It felt like forever that she had spoken to Professor Vernatis about her concerns. Since then she had worked hard to learn everything about the human body, healing spells she could already perform and muggle first-aid. And she still knew it was just the start of a long and hard journey.
Not that she was about to chicken out. She had known it would be hard from the very beginning, but she actually felt some kind of improvement. When people got hurt around her, she actually had a rough idea what to do to provide first aid. Plus, she mostly could tell how bad or dangerous it actually was. So - overall she felt far less useless than one year before and much more skilled. Not to mention the many secret visits she did in the hospital wing to see how injuries had been treated.

After her own second duel where she had gotten a treatment as well, but she had been too off to actually take anything away from that. Yes, Ileen had worked hard to get as many healing skills as possible in her young age. But something else had changed, something even more important than that. The young Slytherin had always been hesitant to help people when it was their own fault that got them hurt in the first place. So what she had in skills she was lacking in attitude. At least, it had been that way.
Even though she would not admit it, by now her first impulse was to heal and help people if they got harmed. She instinctively scanned people for injuries when she met them and in the case of her close friend Aida, she was even able to see the injuries that were beyond physical harm. She couldn’t just walk by an injured person. Not that she actually helped everytime, but she had developed a sense for it. She could see if people were hurt and needed help.
This special sense and attitude had crept in over the last year, reinforced by some special people and events. It was not only that Ileen was attentive and good at healing. No. Her motivation and hard work had set her path. She was not only a good and motivated aspiring healer - she was meant to be one. Obviously, she had the right skills and in the meantime also the professional understanding to be able to make a difference. To help and heal was natural for her, like her second nature. She didn't know how happy she could be that she had discovered her calling so early. Helping and healing was natural and fulfilling. And thus, it was worth all the hard work, if not for other people’s sake then for her own.

Word Count | 470/400

Word Count | 470/400