NPC Name: Raphael Aveline
Link: Clicky me here
Year: Still fifth!

Stats: +1 Str from PC duelling win (all wins in a neat little pile here: x x x x x x x)
Old: Sta 8 ᚐ Eva 17 ᚐ Str 13 ᚐ Wis 5 ᚐ Arc 0 ᚐ Acc 18
New: Sta 8 ᚐ Eva 17 ᚐ Str 14 ᚐ Wis 5 ᚐ Arc 0 ᚐ Acc 18

Abilities: Nothing new
Extracurricular: Still a racer!
Content Changes: None

Trunk Coding: Changed Str stat, added link to win, added Obnoxiously Strong to short list of abilities at the top

[center][COLOR=#9c7749]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#997447]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#957246]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#926f44]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#8e6d43]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#8b6a41]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#87673f]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#84653e]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#81623c]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#7d5f3b]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#7a5d39]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#765a37]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#735836]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#6f5534]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#6c5233]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#695031]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#654d2f]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#624b2e]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#5e482c]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#5b452b]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#574329]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#544027]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#513d26]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#4d3b24]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#4a3822]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#463621]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#43331f]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#3f301e]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#3c2e1c]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#392b1a]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#352919]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#322617]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#2e2316]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#2b2114]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#271e12]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#241b11]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#21190f]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#1d160e]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#1a140c]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#16110a]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#130e09]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#0f0c07]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#0c0906]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#090704]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#050402]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#020101]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#020101]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#050402]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#090704]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#0c0906]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#0f0c07]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#130e09]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#16110a]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#1a140c]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#1d160e]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#21190f]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#241b11]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#271e12]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#2b2114]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#2e2316]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#322617]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#352919]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#392b1a]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#3c2e1c]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#3f301e]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#43331f]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#463621]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#4a3822]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#4d3b24]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#513d26]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#544027]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#574329]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#5b452b]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#5e482c]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#624b2e]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#654d2f]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#695031]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#6c5233]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#6f5534]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#735836]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#765a37]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#7a5d39]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#7d5f3b]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#81623c]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#84653e]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#87673f]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#8b6a41]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#8e6d43]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#926f44]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#957246]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#997447]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#9c7749]ᚐ[/COLOR]
[size=150][COLOR=#9c7749]S[/COLOR][COLOR=#916f44]t[/COLOR][COLOR=#86663f]a[/COLOR][COLOR=#7b5e39]t[/COLOR][COLOR=#6f5534]s[/COLOR] [COLOR=#644d2f]&[/COLOR] [COLOR=#59442a]A[/COLOR][COLOR=#4e3c25]b[/COLOR][COLOR=#43331f]i[/COLOR][COLOR=#382b1a]l[/COLOR][COLOR=#2d2215]i[/COLOR][COLOR=#211a10]t[/COLOR][COLOR=#16110a]i[/COLOR][COLOR=#0b0905]e[/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]s[/COLOR][/size]

ꕤ

[b]Sta[/b] 8 [COLOR=#5e472c]ᚐ[/COLOR] [b]Eva[/b] 17 [COLOR=#5e472c]ᚐ[/COLOR] [b]Str[/b] 14 [COLOR=#5e472c]ᚐ[/COLOR] [b]Wis[/b] 5 [COLOR=#5e472c]ᚐ[/COLOR] [b]Arc[/b] 0 [COLOR=#5e472c]ᚐ[/COLOR] [b]Acc[/b] 18
[size=90][url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=15247&p=243862#p243862]x[/url] [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?p=371279#p371279]x[/url] [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?p=427470#p427470]x[/url] [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?p=463143#p463143]x[/url] [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?p=593834#p593834]x[/url] [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?p=681700#p681700]x[/url] [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?p=736641#p736641]x[/url][/size]

The Muggle Condition [COLOR=#5e472c]ᚐ[/COLOR] Fearless [COLOR=#5e472c]ᚐ[/COLOR] Evasive Maneuvers I + II
Obnoxiously Strong
[COLOR=#9c7749]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#997447]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#957246]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#926f44]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#8e6d43]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#8b6a41]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#87673f]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#84653e]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#81623c]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#7d5f3b]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#7a5d39]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#765a37]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#735836]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#6f5534]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#6c5233]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#695031]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#654d2f]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#624b2e]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#5e482c]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#5b452b]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#574329]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#544027]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#513d26]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#4d3b24]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#4a3822]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#463621]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#43331f]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#3f301e]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#3c2e1c]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#392b1a]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#352919]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#322617]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#2e2316]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#2b2114]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#271e12]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#241b11]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#21190f]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#1d160e]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#1a140c]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#16110a]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#130e09]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#0f0c07]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#0c0906]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#090704]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#050402]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#020101]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#020101]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#050402]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#090704]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#0c0906]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#0f0c07]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#130e09]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#16110a]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#1a140c]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#1d160e]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#21190f]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#241b11]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#271e12]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#2b2114]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#2e2316]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#322617]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#352919]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#392b1a]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#3c2e1c]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#3f301e]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#43331f]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#463621]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#4a3822]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#4d3b24]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#513d26]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#544027]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#574329]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#5b452b]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#5e482c]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#624b2e]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#654d2f]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#695031]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#6c5233]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#6f5534]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#735836]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#765a37]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#7a5d39]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#7d5f3b]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#81623c]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#84653e]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#87673f]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#8b6a41]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#8e6d43]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#926f44]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#957246]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#997447]ᚐ[/COLOR][COLOR=#9c7749]ᚐ[/COLOR]
Broomracer[/center]


The Muggle Condition [size=75][412 words][/size]
[reducio]Growing up, Raphael hadn't cared about many things. 

School was boring, it was hard to focus on learning dry things from books while locked into a room with twenty-five other kids and a bunch of stale air. More often than not, his gaze strayed from the numbers on the page in front of him to the window and the blue sky beyond. If only they'd let him [i]move[/i].

People were boring, with their endless drama and demands, asking of him things he didn't want to do, hadn't cared to do. The squabbling of other kids over whose pen this was, who got to sit next to who, who was invited to which birthday. Raphael usually didn't want to go. They were boring.

What he did care about, though, were sports. Any kind of sports was good - PE classes at his school saw him excelling in athletics, although he preferred ball sports - but from the moment his father took him to a local club's match, Raphael's true love proved to be football [size=75](the British football, not the American kind)[/size]. The football field was where you could see his usually impassive expression change for one of excitement, where you would see him passionately chase after a ball - where he felt like himself. There were evenings spent on goal practice alone, satisfaction rushing through him when he managed to aim the ball in the exact corner he wanted, a smile on his face that was rarely seen. The football field was where Raphael was most at home.

It was where his father would find him at 8 pm when the sun went down and he'd missed supper, and where he would have gone in the mornings if not for that pesky thing called school. (He'd tried. His father hadn't been pleased.) An avid fan of Liverpool F.C, Raphael was already dreaming of his career as a professional player... until that invitation to [i]l'Académie de Magie Beauxbâtons[/i] came and threw a wrench into his plans. No football there, no sir, just more time spent sitting in classrooms, trying to do things he wasn't good at, the magic he was supposed to learn failing more often than it should and not powerful even when it obeyed.

At least they had other sports, and all that time spent ducking between two opponent players trying to steal the ball from him, or burying the ball into the net, paid off there, too. Still... it wasn't the same.
[/reducio][center]ꕤ[/center]Fearless [size=75][403 words][/size]
[reducio]Growing up, Raphael hadn't cared about many things. 

He hadn't had to. Born into a storybook family - father, mother, him, and a little sister five years later. Wealthy enough to not lack anything he might want, talented enough to slip through the first few years of school without getting into trouble for his lack of investment. Life had been easy, free of worries, things that broke were easily replaced. For the first few years of his life, Raphael had been as carefree as a butterfly, chasing after things that were colourful and interesting, never worrying about falling for he could fly.

It didn't hold though, few things as happy do. After his mother left when he was a boy, something changed. What had been simple [i]carelessness[/i] grew into something more. Where things hadn't fazed him before, now they didn't interest him. Unconcern turned into apathy. You might expect that his mother leaving when he was young, but not so young as not to realise the implications, might have left Raphael with a fear of separation, a constant worry that his father, his sister, his friends would leave, too. That things that broke would be gone for good. For Raphael, it did the opposite.

It had taken a while for his father to notice, longer than it should have, perhaps, but when he did, he grew concerned. He could not remember the last time Raphael had come to him with something that excited him, worried him, much less frightened him. This was an eight year old boy who didn't fear the dark or needles at the doctor, did not flinch from dogs, stared down a fifty metre drop without blinking. He got rid of spiders by himself, mostly because his sister asked him to, was not intimidated by teachers, and showed no sense of self-preservation when facing fire. It was worrying for more reasons than one.

People often use the word "fearlessness" to describe "bravery", but in truth, the two are very different. Fear is something natural, something healthy, often, that keeps us alive. Warns us to stay away from things that might hurt us. Bravery is conquering those fears when they are unwarranted, or when there is a reason that defies self-preservation. Fearlessness, on the other hand, means that there was no fear to begin with, and it is not usually something that should be pursued. 

Raphael was not brave. Raphael was fearless.[/reducio][center]ꕤ[/center]Evasive Maneuvers [size=75][437 words][/size]
[reducio]Growing up, Raphael hadn't cared about many things. 

Sports and his sister, those ranked at the top. His friends and father were somewhere up there, too. That was mostly it. So when Raphael had started attending Beauxbatons, three of those four things had suddenly been out of reach. Not completely, of course. He could send his family letters, and could have asked them to deliver messages to his friends, too, although he could not explain why he had suddenly left to attend a fancy boarding school. Or where that school was, or what it was called. Really, most of his friendships didn't hold for very long after that.

He still kind of kept up with his favourite sports teams via a radio that was somehow enchanted to function around magic, and could thankfully be set to receive Muggle radio channels as well. As for playing, Raphael threw himself into the sports that Beauxbatons had to offer. Duelling relied too much on magic, and not enough on physical activity, but broom sports, those were fun. (Not as good as football, but who could ask for that?)

And so, rather than spending his free time on football fields, Raphael started spending his free time on brooms. Dodging bludgers. Dodging obstacles. Dodging other players trying to crash into him. Dodging spells aimed at him. Dodging magical beasts that were added to the broom racing courses because apparently, in the magical world, no sport was complete without the very high risk of serious injury. Not that football players did not get injured frequently, but at least the rules tried to prevent rather than encourage this.

There was a learning curve to it, of course. You didn't just sit on a broom for the first time and magically have perfect control. Well, unless you were Harry Potter, maybe. But Raphael did have a knack for sports, and the determination to make up for his lack of experience. More of the latter than the former, if you asked him.

He supposed you couldn't really spend that much time playing wizard sports without at some point developing reflexes that were borderline supernatural. It was hard to explain, really, what set off his instincts. The whistling of a ball coming closer at a speed that threatened to break bones, the odd draft of air, the sounds of a mumbled incantation, sometimes just the feeling of hair standing up at the back of his neck, an inexplicable sensation telling him that [i]something[/i] was coming, and Raphael moved to evade, in a swerve or a loop, dropping a few feet or rising up to dodge what was coming.[/reducio][center]ꕤ[/center]Evasive Maneuvers II [size=75][439 words][/size]
[reducio]Three years after Raphael had started attending the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, he still felt kind of bitter about it. More than bitter... cheated, that was probably the right word. Forced into a world where he constantly felt out of place, worse than he had before.

He had never been good at making friends, and with the loss of all his known relationships, his approach had changed more towards… actively avoiding. It had not seemed worth putting in the energy, the thought was exhausting. Hence, more than ever, Raph had started spending his time focused on sports. Broom racing, Quidditch, those thankfully did not require magic, and soon enough Raphael spent more of his waking time on a broom than on solid ground. Last summer, for lack of alternatives, he had picked up running as a sport he could do both at home and at school, and it had quickly turned into a habit. 

That had come with an unexpected side-effect of social relationships… kind of sneaking up on him. He would not call them friends, exactly, more slightly less annoying acquaintances, maybe. That he enjoyed doing sports with, and did not mind hanging out with generally. But no, definitely not friends. 

After all, he obviously only spent time with them because there was a tangible benefit. It was hard to play football by himself, and only dodging trees by himself, without competition, and without unexpected attacks coming from the side, got too easy after a while. Clearly, training himself to dodge incoming balls quicker, more effortlessly, more instinctively, was the only reason he kept asking Cassie to play with him, and that during one of their many morning runs, he had finally also asked Ye-jun if he was interested in playing some football every now and then. 

It was not wrong, of course. Training with Cassie, playing with Ye-jun, it sharpened his reflexes. More than once, a small smile snuck onto Raph’s face when Cassie exclaimed in surprise after he had shifted his broom to the right just enough to escape an incoming projectile that he could not possibly have seen coming. It even evolved into a game of Cassie randomly throwing things at him, trying to catch him off-guard… with a surprisingly low quota of success. The intended effect was definitely there. Yet, if he was honest, the more time passed, the more the (very effective) training became an excuse, to see Cassie, to hang out with Ye-jun. 

Well. No matter the reasons, excuses or not, by the end of his third year at Beauxbatons, Raphael had uncanny dodging abilities… and possibly even a friend or two.

[right][size=75]Mentions of Lee Ye-jun and Cassie Heather McGregor-Martin approved by @Eun-ji Lee Hunt and @Lucia Fox.[/size][/right][/reducio][center]ꕤ[/center]Obnoxiously Strong [size=75][612 words][/size]
[reducio]There's always this one person around you that pushes you to do better, set your goals higher, work to be the best self you can be. Or at least, everyone should have a person like that.

Raphael never thought he'd need one. He'd been perfectly content pushing himself where it mattered, training by himself to be faster, more nimble, more accurate (while, of course, completely neglecting other school work). And then he'd met Cassie, her relentless enthusiasm and energy. At first, he'd mostly respected her as a fellow broomracer and football fan. They'd started playing together and training together, until one day, he'd turned to laugh at one of her jokes, and realised that they were probably friends. (Surprise?) In the last year, however, their relationship had turned into something even more... weird. 

It had started because Raphael had decided he needed to build up some muscle mass to be a better broomracer, and thus he had allocated half of his trunk for weight training equipment when he'd returned from summer break in 2022. (The trunk had been ridiculously heavy, and his poor non-magical father had been cursing non-stop while heaving it out of his car when he'd dropped Raphael off for the new school year.)

Cassie had, of course, quickly figured out what he was doing - the fact that he'd been using the nice weather to work out outside had possibly tipped her off - and, since she was almost-as or perhaps even-more serious about broomracing (depending on who you asked) as he was, had immediately decided to join, or rather, beat him, to both Raphael's bemusement and amusement. It was Cassie, so... he supposed he didn't mind her inserting herself into his workout sessions.

As things tended to go, it quickly turned into a mix between competition and ridiculous sort of game between them. They would compete on who could do more reps with weights, more squats, more push-ups, and then, of course, the most prestigious class of silly rivalries: Who could do more pull-ups in more absurd locations. The bar he'd brought to lock into doorframes was only the beginning, and to no one's surprise, it was Cassie who suggested taking things to the - as she put it - [i]next level[/i]. But then, Raphael certainly hadn't resisted the escalation of events, and couldn't deny that some of the competitive spirit he brought to football games and broomraces was starting to infect him here, too.

So they did pull-ups on their brooms, floating a not very dangerous but certainly not very prudent distance above ground. Cassie won that one, Raph's hand, slick with sweat, had slipped after a few, and he'd fallen two meters to the ground. They did pull-ups on doorframes, which was perhaps less dangerous, but also more difficult, as there was less grip to cling to. Raph had secured a win there, his finger strength proving superior. And, finally, they did pull-ups on the Quidditch hoops. Raph could later not recall with any certainty who had come up with that one, although he was inclined to blame Cassie. At least they'd come up with a safety net of sorts, that would save them from plummeting almost 10 meters to the ground if they fell. (Which, needless to say, they did.)

All of said competition did have one big advantage, however: The training definitely worked. The exercises became easier, so he adjusted the difficulty; he increased his pull-up capabilities from three to seven to nine. Weights got heavier, workouts got longer... and if he got into the habit of slightly flexing his newly acquired muscles whenever a pretty girl walked past, well, who could blame him?
[right][size=75]Mentions of Cassie Heather McGregor-Martin approved by @Lucia Fox.[/size][/right]

Approved Mags 30/6/23

NPC Name: Cassie Heather McGregor-Martin
Link: here
Year: Fifth
Stats:

Old stats: [ Sta 10, Eva 12, Str 10, Wis 7, Arc 4, Acc 11 ]
New stats: [ Sta 11, Eva 14, Str 10, Wis 7, Arc 4, Acc 13 ]
Total: 59 (55 from year 5 + 4 sports wins - x, x, x, x)

Abilities: Year 5: Obnoxiously Strong (814 words, godmodding of Raphael approved by @Dealla Prince)

Reducio

In Cassie's very-almost-fifteen years on this Earth, she had gained a certain wisdom: people, it turns out, can be very strange. Raphael Aveline, aka the quiet kid on the broomracing team, was one of those people, and it surprised Cassie just how well they got along. Usually, the girl tended to surround herself with people like her: namely, people who talk a lot. But she'd started hanging out with Raphael what seemed like years ago, and somehow her own chatter combined with his lack of it produced a comfortable middle ground. And anyway, there wasn't much time to talk when you were racing 50 feet in the air, or listening to football commentary on the radio, or lining up to take the perfect shot.

Raphael and Cassie had initially bonded over a shared interest: sport. Cassie hadn't really expected them to have anything else in common, but as time went on she found herself doing more and more things with Raphael. They weren't best friends by any sense of the word, but they had a sort of camaraderie that came from spending unimportant moments together. Eating lunch. Class projects. And, in the last year or so, working out.

It had been Raphael's idea, of course. Cassie had always thought of working out as incredibly boring, but when Raphael brought a stupid amount of weight-training equipment with him to Beauxbatons and declared that he needed to be stronger to be a better broomracer, Cassie wasn't going to let him beat her. They may be friends, but that didn't mean that Cassie was okay with the boy thrashing her in every broom race just because he'd put the effort in to get some muscles. So, Cassie had joined him in his quest for strength, and it really wasn't as boring as she'd expected. Not only was it fun working out with a friend, but she and Raphael managed to find ways to mix it up beyond what you'd find at a regular Muggle gym.

Weight-lifting looked boring when Cassie saw it on the TV, but adding a sense of competition to it made Cassie far more excited to keep trying more, and more, and more. Whether Raphael was interested in beating Cassie was debatable, but Cassie was certainly interested in beating him, and even if she couldn't feel the benefits of such work straight away, over time she couldn't help but notice the muscles that were slowly making their appearance whenever she looked in the mirror.

And it wasn't just weights. Pull-ups were something that Cassie had always thought looked fun, but she had never really been sure how you were supposed to do them. They looked very serious when all the practise you had was monkey bars at primary school. Luckily for Cassie, Raphael didn't really know what he was doing either, which made it easier for her to just have a go and see what happened. Still, regular pullups were fun, but what was more exciting was pullups in unexpected places. Doorframes, her broom, even the quidditch hoops, all bars became equipment in Cassie's eyes. And the thrill of drangling so far up you'd break both your legs if you fell only added to Cassie's enjoyment (although she and Raphael did suspend a bedsheet beneath them between their brooms, so they didn't actually crash down to earth when they fell).

Raphael and Cassie tried out and practised plenty of other excerises too, and Cassie had to admit that she hadn't thought many of them were possible without access to the sort of sym equipment that required electricity. She was a sporty sort of girl, yes, but her sports had always been limited to football, broomracing, and quidditch. Working out was something new to her, and she'd always assumed that you needed a gym membership to get started. But that wasn't true at all. Thick elastic bands - the proper name for them was 'resistance bands', but whenever she used them Cassie had to fight the urge to just flick them at Raphael like an elastic band at school - could do pretty much everything that a machine could in Cassie's eyes, and even in the magical halls of Beauxbatons Cassie was able to get fitter, and stronger.

The change was more noticable to other people than to Cassie herself. Even when she went home for Christmas, her relatives were amazed at how different she looked, but Cassie passed it off as the normal sort of "haven't you grown?" that she faced every time she returned home. She doubted that her strength had increased as rapidly as her parents and grandparents thought it had, but it had definitely increased. The weights she lifted got heavier. She could do more and more reps. And, slowly but surely, her strength became obvious. And it was all thanks, surprisingly enough, to the quiet boy from the broomracing team.

Extracurricular: Broom racer
Content Changes: Age -> 14 (will be 15 after sept 1st), Year -> 5th
Trunk Coding:

Reducio

Code: Select all

[center][size=200][size=125][b][font=typewriter][size=125]T[/size]RUNK[/font][/b][/size][/size][/center]
[quote][b][font=typewriter][size=125]S[/size]TATISTICS[/font][/b]
[indent][size=90]Stamina 11 | Evasion 14 | Strength 10 | Wisdom 7 | Arcane Power 4 | Accuracy 13
Total: 59 (55 from year 5 + 4 sports wins - [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?p=463143#p463143]x[/url], [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?p=218275#p218275]x[/url], [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?p=274730#p269223]x[/url], [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?p=562383#p562153]x[/url])[/size][/indent][/quote]
[quote][b][font=typewriter][size=125]A[/size]BILITIES[/font][/b]
[reducio][size=90][b]Year One | Sixth Sense |[/b] [i]+2 awareness, 25% chance of detecting hidden entrants, charmer immunity[/i]
Cassie McGregor-Martin had always had a sort of sense for things.
This came in useful many times as a youngster - whether to run away when she heard an adult's soft footsteps about to catch her in some act of wrongdoing, or to realise at the last minute that a much-needed prop was absent from the stage during a play - and seemed to carry on into what she proudly named 'the years of double digits'.
Perhaps the most prominent, revealing, and - dare I say it - interesting of the times when Cassie seemed to notice something out of the ordinary was at school in Beauxbatons, at the age of twelve.
She was talking to one of her friends after both going home for the winter holidays - les vacances d’hiver, as it is in French - and the two had a perfectly normal conversation about what Cassie's holiday had been like. Cassie noticed that her friend did not share any details of her own weeks, but did not comment on it until she noticed that the other girl was not wearing a necklace which Cassie knew she never usually took off. It had been a family heirloom which the girl had been very proud of, and when Cassie questioned her over its absence her flash of insight was rewarded - her friend had fought with her parents over returning to school, and had been keeping it a secret. Without Cassie's sixth sense, it was unlikely the poor girl would ever have shared the burden of guilt she carried.
Cassie has never been particularly sure when it was that she started noticing things. An organiser by nature, she has been able to tell when something is missing ever since she was too young to remember - from the moment she cried for the teddy she didn't know had fallen out her cot at the tender age of one.
Though many might call the 'niggling feeling' in the back of Cassie's mind whenever she is sure something is wrong a 'nervous habit', or simply say that she is 'being overly anxious', Cassie is certain that she can trust the feeling to tell her when there is something out of place or even missing entirely.
She seems to be right as well - after all, her 'niggling feeling' - or, as some may call it, sixth sense - has never failed her yet.[/size][/reducio][reducio][size=90][b]Year Two | Fearless |[/b] [i]immunity to fear effects[/i]
Cassie Heather McGregor-Martin is, it may be said, fearless.
Of course, that is not really true - everyone has fears, and Cassie Heather would be the first to admit her own - but the young population of Paris seem to share a romantic streak, and bravery can often be mistranslated into fearlessness, whether as a result of jealousy, admiration, or even simple loyalty.
Cassie has always had those things she has been afraid of - desease, rejection and loneliness to name a few - but she also possesses the rare ability to contain these fears, and even face them head on if the need arises.
This courage is one of her biggest and most noticable personality traits, and enables her to do most of the things she enjoys, and a few that she does not. In fact, one of the first things you might notice upon meeting the only child of Pierre and Harriet is her outgoing personality: how she doesn't let the world stop her, no matter what. People can do what they like, Cassie often says, but so can I. This rather Gryffindor like world view mostly stems from her courage - and apparent fearlessness - which enables her to do just about anything and everything, from walking up to a random stranger and complimenting them on their new hat, to climbing on a broom and flying a course she has never seen before at a hundred miles an hour.
Perhaps the most notable of times when she swallowed fear and gained the lable of 'fearless' was the first time she ever tried broomracing.
Cassie Heather had seen from the moment she got onto a broom that she had a knack for flying, even on the rusty school brooms she had to deal with until her parents finally decided she could buy one, but when suddenly faced with obsticals the likes of which she had never seen before, she knew she had to try. The race that ensued was perhaps the most dangerous she has ever taken part in, to this day. All the first years were desperate to prove their worth as a broom racer, and it was a test of not just her sportsmanship but her courage as well. There were plenty of times during that race when she had the opertunity to give up, but Cassie Heather McGregor-Martin just couldn't. The blood was up, and she had gained a sense of adventure that would compell her to take the craziest risks, the strangest dares, the most impossible trials. This sense of adventure, and thrill of taking risks, she would never lose.[/size][/reducio][reducio][size=90][b]Year Two | The Muggle Condition |[/b] [i]+3 acc on non-magical actions[/i]
Cassie Heather McGregor-Martin was a muggle-born. Although it was hard to tell most people's blood statuses just from looking at them - unless they were haughty purebloods, it wasn't something people usually told others at first meeting - but it would only take a few conversations with Cassie for another to at least have the suspicion. Whether it was her constant grumbles about learning some 'stupid' spells ("When am I ever going to need to turn a flowerpot into a bird in real life?!"), her undisguised amazement whenever she encountered something magical she'd never seen before ("Hold up! You mean dragons actually exist?!"), or simply her confused expression when someone dropped a word she'd never heard before into a conversation ("Sorry, what? What's a 'bowtruckle'?"), everyone would understand sooner or later. Cassie didn't mind. In fact, Cassie Heather was quite proud of her heritage. She was proud of her parents, and she liked being different. It was annoying, sometimes, sure - like when she had to pay extra attention to some lessons because she was missing information that wizarding-born children would have - but she was proud.

Cassie Heather had only been at Beauxbatons for a few weeks when an older student laughed at her failed (and quite pathetic, really) attempt at a charm, calling her a 'mudblood'. This word was new to her, and when Cassie enquired as to its meaning (with flushed cheeks, as she was sure from the tone that it wasn't anything good), she was told mockingly that it was 'a word to describe people like you, who don't deserve what they've been given'. This explanation did not bode well for Cassie, so she next asked one of her friends what the word meant. Needless to say, she received a fuller and more sympathetic definition this time. The next day, she decided that revenge was necessary. She took a Muggle pen, poked a hole in it with the sharp end of her (also Muggle) compass, and dropped it into the older student's bag. The ink leaked everywhere and covered all of his school books, completely drenching them with black. Although the student could never prove it, he knew it was Cassie, and never called her a 'mudblood' again.

After that incident, Cassie decided two things.

Firstly, that the word 'mudblood' would no longer be an insult to her. She would take it just as she would take any other meaningless comment on her appearance or possessions - with indifference and the knowledge that whoever spoke it was not worth her time. There were just three things which Cassie Heather McGregor-Martin could not stand being insulted about, and her blood status would not be one of them. She would stand strong, just as he parents always told her to.

Secondly, Cassie made up her mind to be as 'obviously muggleborn' as she could be. Her 'skill' with just about any spell or charm other than counter-spells was essentially non-existant (or, at least, that was how Cassie viewed it: a 'spell' only ever seemed to work for her when she did it accidentally) and she vowed to rely on her magical power as little as she could. After all, she'd managed it for this long, hadn't she? She signed up for broomracing and then quidditch, both of which were games of physical and mental prowess rather than magical. She used a pen instead of a quill whenever she could get away with it. Once, she even asked her parents to send her an old travel CD player so that she and her friends could take it apart and she could show them what a 'battery' was.

All this, just to be different. Cassie Heather sure had a long journey ahead of her if she was going to make her idea of 'different' acceptable in everyone else's eyes.[/size][/reducio][reducio][size=90][b]Year Four | Impartial |[/b] [i]immunity to aesthetic effects[/i]
Whenever Cassie met people who went to a wizarding school other than Beauxbatons, she noticed that they all seemed to share the same misconceptions about her school. Beauxbatons was painted as a school for the elite, where every student was graceful, pretty, and polite. That wasn't true! Or was it? Because, as much as Cassie didn't want to admit it, there were a lot of pretty people at Beauxbatons. Maybe it was a fluke. Maybe it was because of the reputation the school had accidentally built up. Maybe it was because Beauxbatons students were encouraged to take pride in their appearance and none of the other schools really cared that much.

Either way, Cassie enjoyed subverting people's expectations. She herself was entirely average in the looks department, and - just as she was told to do - took pride in that. Makeup was itchy so she never wore it. Skirts were impractical so she never wore them. In fact, Cassie's fashion sense only went as far as finding the funniest thing written on a t-shirt and wearing the same pair of jeans multiple days in a row.

It was probably because of this lack of care over her own looks that Cassie found it difficult to categorise other people's. Of course, there were some people who fell squarely into the categories of either beautiful or ugly. A vague standard of prettiness was something that everyone learnt as a child - it was engraved into you as you grew up that some people were pretty, and some people were not. But most people, in Cassie's experience, lay in between. And even for those who fit into their boxes, that didn't mean anything to Cassie. Why should a person's appearance change your perception of them, when it's what's on the inside that matters?

Love was another thing that Cassie found confusing. She had friends who crushed on celebrities, or on people who they'd seen in the corridor but never spoken to. Cassie, though, didn't understand how you could just look at someone and decide that they were 'hot', and see them as a possible romantic partner. It was all a bit silly. How did facial symmetry and a particular type of hair make a person desirable? Sometimes, Cassie would find herself stuck on the outside while her friends had conversations about the people they crushed on, or how hot the new kid was. She didn't entirely mind this - after all, she was clearly correct in not judging people by appearances - but sometimes ended up wondering why it happened. Was crushing as much of a big deal as some people made it out to be? Did your appearance really matter? What-

But then she would force herself to stop. There was no point going down a rabbit hole of trying to work out the reasons behind her classmates' actions. Maybe people could be pretty, but they were never attractive to Cassie. She was just impartial to all that nonsense.[/size][/reducio][reducio][size=90][b]Year Five | Obnoxiously Strong |[/b] [i]+15% strength[/i]
In Cassie's very-almost-fifteen years on this Earth, she had gained a certain wisdom: people, it turns out, can be very strange. Raphael Aveline, aka the quiet kid on the broomracing team, was one of those people, and it surprised Cassie just how well they got along. Usually, the girl tended to surround herself with people like her: namely, people who talk a lot. But she'd started hanging out with Raphael what seemed like years ago, and somehow her own chatter combined with his lack of it produced a comfortable middle ground. And anyway, there wasn't much time to talk when you were racing 50 feet in the air, or listening to football commentary on the radio, or lining up to take the perfect shot.

Raphael and Cassie had initially bonded over a shared interest: sport. Cassie hadn't really expected them to have anything else in common, but as time went on she found herself doing more and more things with Raphael. They weren't best friends by any sense of the word, but they had a sort of camaraderie that came from spending unimportant moments together. Eating lunch. Class projects. And, in the last year or so, working out.

It had been Raphael's idea, of course. Cassie had always thought of working out as incredibly boring, but when Raphael brought a stupid amount of weight-training equipment with him to Beauxbatons and declared that he needed to be stronger to be a better broomracer, Cassie wasn't going to let him beat her. They may be friends, but that didn't mean that Cassie was okay with the boy thrashing her in every broom race just because he'd put the effort in to get some muscles. So, Cassie had joined him in his quest for strength, and it really wasn't as boring as she'd expected. Not only was it fun working out with a friend, but she and Raphael managed to find ways to mix it up beyond what you'd find at a regular Muggle gym.

Weight-lifting looked boring when Cassie saw it on the TV, but adding a sense of competition to it made Cassie far more excited to keep trying more, and more, and more. Whether Raphael was interested in beating Cassie was debatable, but Cassie was certainly interested in beating him, and even if she couldn't feel the benefits of such work straight away, over time she couldn't help but notice the muscles that were slowly making their appearance whenever she looked in the mirror.

And it wasn't just weights. Pull-ups were something that Cassie had always thought looked fun, but she had never really been sure how you were supposed to do them. They looked very serious when all the practise you had was monkey bars at primary school. Luckily for Cassie, Raphael didn't really know what he was doing either, which made it easier for her to just have a go and see what happened. Still, regular pullups were fun, but what was more exciting was pullups in unexpected places. Doorframes, her broom, even the quidditch hoops, all bars became equipment in Cassie's eyes. And the thrill of drangling so far up you'd break both your legs if you fell only added to Cassie's enjoyment (although she and Raphael did suspend a bedsheet beneath them between their brooms, so they didn't actually crash down to earth when they fell).

Raphael and Cassie tried out and practised plenty of other excerises too, and Cassie had to admit that she hadn't thought many of them were possible without access to the sort of sym equipment that required electricity. She was a sporty sort of girl, yes, but her sports had always been limited to football, broomracing, and quidditch. Working out was something new to her, and she'd always assumed that you needed a gym membership to get started. But that wasn't true at all. Thick elastic bands - the proper name for them was 'resistance bands', but whenever she used them Cassie had to fight the urge to just flick them at Raphael like an elastic band at school - could do pretty much everything that a machine could in Cassie's eyes, and even in the magical halls of Beauxbatons Cassie was able to get fitter, and stronger.

The change was more noticable to other people than to Cassie herself. Even when she went home for Christmas, her relatives were amazed at how different she looked, but Cassie passed it off as the normal sort of "haven't you grown?" that she faced every time she returned home. She doubted that her strength had increased as rapidly as her parents and grandparents thought it had, but it had definitely increased. The weights she lifted got heavier. She could do more and more reps. And, slowly but surely, her strength became obvious. And it was all thanks, surprisingly enough, to the quiet boy from the broomracing team.[/size][/reducio][/quote]

Approved - 30/6/23 Magdalena

NPC Name: Ye-jun Lee
Link: HERE
Year: 5th
Stats: OLD Stats: Sta 9, Eva 9, Str 10, Wis 9, Arc 7, Acc 9
New Stats: Sta 10, Eva 10, Str 12, Wis 10, Arc 7, Acc 10
Proof Graduation and 4th duel win

Abilities: The Martial artist

Reducio

Ye-jun was always interested in martial arts. His favourite sport may have been running but he would go to a gym here and there when he felt particularly frustrated with something. His father was always a fan of kickboxing so it was also a good bonding activity for the two of them. Still, it was never his main point of interest. That is, until summer 2023 came.

All the school workload and the precarious family situation of his cousin finally got to him and Ye-jun snapped. He has been attending a summer business school for four years and a few kids there were always getting on his nerves. Because he kept to himself, they thought he was easy to bully but never succeeded to provoke him in the past. Ye-jun left the days when he would be scared of such people hidden in his dark past. As long as they didn’t bother anybody else, it was bearable. That summer however, his patience finally run dry and the situation turned bloody.

“I don’t know what happened back there but nothing excuses such violence towards your classmates. You could have killed the boy!” That was not true. Ye-jun was livid back then but no one held him back. In the end, it was he who managed to stop himself in time. This was not a good time to argue though. He understood why his father was angry and to be perfectly honest, he was as well. He was angry and he felt extremely guilty…and yet…he could not feel truly sorry for his former classmates. The furry still seemed to be holding the reins at this time. It was somewhat surreal. How did he even get here? Seeing his reaction…or rather the lack of thereof the older man simply continued his scolding. “This can’t happen again, understand? If you won’t talk to me, we can get you a professional help but you definitely need to manage that temper of yours.” The Beauxbatons student nodded obediently, not trusting himself to speak just yet. “If you need to fight, join me in the gym…in fact, I’ll expect you to attend a proper classes. You are banned form the school now anyway so you should have plenty of spare time.” From his tone, it was pretty clear he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Not that Ye-jun wanted to refuse. He actually thought that was an excellent idea. Letting some steam out should help, right?

And so, the young boy jumped right in. He finally understood why Eun-ji had the need to constantly practice her ballet skills. Running was already good when he needed to clear his head but it was more of a calming activity, done in solitude with time to think things over. The more intense training made it so you didn’t have time or energy to overthink, which was incredibly helpful. Besides, the coach seemed to think he was pretty talented and apparently enjoyed having him on the team. At one point, the man even tried to convince him to commit fully and go for competitions with them. Alas, as a student at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, the Korean boy could never accept. He probably shouldn’t anyway. Training and learning to control his fists was good but what if he turned competitive and everything he tried to do here ended up having the exact opposite effect? No. He was content with learning something new and having an outlet for his emotions.

His father often came to monitor his progress or spar with him and seemed especially satisfied. “Good you keep it up.” Finally, it looked like Lee Sang-hoon was slowly letting go of his anger a well. Ye-jun still had plenty things to figure out but this was a good start for sure.

Extracurricular: NONE
Content Changes: Ye-jun is going through a phase where he might be more likely to snap and be aggressive when provoked (this will come into effect this summer). He will be struggling to fix it throughout the next school year (perhaps longer) so I want to mention that briefly in the personality section.
The text would be as follows:

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Ye-jun appears rather cold or posh to strangers and he does so intentionally. He used to be made fun of for his looks when he was a kid so he is very choosey about his inner circle even now, when he became quite popular. He is more on the quiet side but there is an aura of confidence surrounding him. He worked hard to build it up so it’s very hard to make him second guess himself. He loves to learn and is generally successful in anything he does. He is not a genius by nature but he is definitely a hard worker. Ye-jun likes to run in his free time as it helps him clear his head. He loves animals and is very reliable for those he deems close enough. He has a very warm side to him but doesn’t show it often. That being said he is not arrogant and tries his best to be polite with strangers.

While Ye-jun used to utilize his strength mainly for defence in the past and only when absolutely necessary, due to an incident that happened in summer 2023 he grew more unstable and likely to snap. The pressure of his studies and his family situation got to him and he became much easier to provoke. Thankfully, Ye-jun is very much aware of the problem and is currently doing his best to get back on track.

Trunk Coding: You can just leave it as it is. No aesthetic changes necessary.

Approved Magdalena 30/6/23

NPC Name: Maximilien de Fostoncy
Link: here
Year: fifth
Stats: sta 7+2=9 · eva 11+3=14 · wis 13 · str 4 · arc 7 · acc 11 (+5 from graduation)
Abilities: applying for 5th year ability Non-Human Enthusiast

Reducio

Maxi had always been a swot.

From the time he could remember things he was into stories, or to be exact, fairytales and legends. First were the wizard novels and adventures found in his father’s studio — there weren’t many of them, but Maxi found great pleasure in reading them before he ever started his study in Beauxbatons. As soon as he enrolled he’d secretly borrow those muggle fairytales from his muggleborn classmates, and managed to read them when his grandfather was not around. Years passed, and Maxi was finally able to come to a conclusion out of this somehow fanatic passion — that, no matter who the main character was, be them wizard or muggle, a prince, princess, knight or a mere normal person, there was always something — or rather someone — that was never absent in such books.

Creatures.

Be it dragons or phoenixes, be it vampires or werewolves. They might be the ones that unfortunately fell in love with the princess at the same time as the prince, or might be some evil forces that tried to eat the knight in distress. Anyway, it seemed that they were inseparable from such stories, let it be muggle-ish or wizarding (only their forces in the wizarding stories might even be stronger to match the abilities of a wizard). Maxi’s interest in these beings was provoked.

He started to do research on these creatures. Being a wizard who was even able to meet these creatures in person if he was lucky enough (though it seemed now that he wasn’t that lucky, after all), it wasn’t difficult for him to gather relevant books and literature, and not before long he was able to absorb himself in the creatures’ world. Their characteristics were the first thing he paid attention to, and then their special abilities, their breeding, and their languages. Maxi thought he had known them better through such researches, and indeed he did. He soon became the introducer of magical creatures among the boys in his dorm, and, with his ability of story telling, he was quite welcomed.

Maxi had always been a storyteller.

The first time he’d compose a poem, he decided to write about a young Dhampir. He put his knowledge about the vampires and dhampirs into practice, but disappointedly found that he was still far from writing them well. The knowledge he got about them were basic, and he was far from an expert to use the information at his will. And so, he set out for the library again after class, and spent a week’s evenings reading the books he borrowed from the library in his dormitory. He took notes and drew graphs, and finally he thought he had gained a much deeper understanding of this certain breed. Maxi was excited and soon threw himself into writing. The poem was successful according to his friends, and was commented as “authentically vampirish”, even though none of them had ever seen a real vampire. Maxi was exceptionally glad about this first small but firm step — he had grasped the key of learning more about these non-humans. And so, he ventured his way further and looked up more information about them.

Hogwarts was known for its diversity, which Maxi respected a lot. The more times he visited Hogwarts, the more interested he got in it. If possible, he would really love to meet one or two not-perfectly-full-human students and get to know them and their special race eldership. Even though this wish had not been completed so far, Maxi was still running fast on his non-human research track. He continued to read and to take notes, and to compose poems and write novellas featuring non-human characters. And if there was one word to describe him, that would be…

Enthusiast.

WC| 631

Trunk Coding:

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Code: Select all

[quote][quote][center][size=150][b][i]- TRUNK -[/i][/b][/size][/center][/quote]
[quote][center][size=115][b]| stats |[/b][/size]
[b]sta[/b] 9 · [b]eva[/b] 14 · [b]wis[/b] 13 · [b]str[/b] 4 · [b]arc[/b] 7 · [b]acc[/b] 11
[size=95][i]+3 from [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=13594&hilit=&start=50#p215087]quidditch win[/url] & [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?p=463143#p463143]broom racing win[/url] & [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?p=594611#p594611]duelling win[/url][/i][/size][/center][/quote]
[quote][center][size=115][b]| abilities |[/b][/size][/center][color=transparent]—[/color][b]year 1.[/b] lovely creature
[reducio][size=95]At the time Maximilien was born, he was considered handsome. It was not really a surprise, though, since his parents were all extremely good looking. Mélanie Janvaque was one of the most gorgeous girls in class in her school days, and Vincent de Fostoncy was secretly had a crush on by many students. Honestly speaking, no one in the family wasn’t good looking — from Louis to Maximilien.

Successfully inherited his mother’s eye color and hair color, the boy was fairly good looking. He had good the straight nose of the de Fostoncy family, and thin, pink lips. His eyelashes were long, and were of brown color. His mother regarded him as a doll when he was sleeping. Actually, even if the boy’s awake, he was like a gorgeous statue.

When walking on the streets in Lyon, Maximilien was looked attentively by many strangers. They stopped when he and his father passed by, and pointed at them secretly. Sometimes the boy’s ears would catch a few words like “handsome” “good looking” “lovely”. He was young at that time, and did not really take these things seriously. However his father was glad. Glad that someone had praised his son.

Attending fancy balls played a large part in the family. Louis de Fostoncy, the current count, especially loved these kinds of activities. Taking the beautiful Madame de Fostoncy, the handsome Chevalier de Fostoncy, and the young de Fostoncy heir was just extremely agreeable, since whenever and wherever the family of four showed up, they would earn applause and praises. People admired the wealthy family, but especially, envied their beauty. They dragged the young heir near them, and examined him carefully, hoping to point some flaws on his face out. However, they failed. Maximilien was too lovely to find out a flaw. If you had to point something out, you might say that he’s a bit chubby — but he was still a good looking child. The old ladies especially loved this pretty boy. They talked with him for hours, even if the boy got bored. 

By the time he was eleven, Maximilien had became even more handsome. He had mostly grew his chubby cheeks out, became taller, athletic built, and was always dressed in elegant dark colored clothes. The boy was still admired and envied by many others, and the future count of the de Fostoncy family was highly estimated. 

Without a doubt, Maximilien de Fostoncy was always a lovely creature.

WC | 405[/size][/reducio][color=transparent]—[/color][b]year 2.[/b] perfectionist
[reducio][size=95]Growing up, Maximilien had always been a perfectionist. Being stubborn, he wanted everything to be the best — which he would not regret afterwards.

From the age of four, his grandfather forced him to stay inside the house and study spells and potions for the whole morning. His father was his mentor — and to his surprise, Maximilien did everything extremely well. One day Monsieur le Chevalier taught him a difficult potion, and within hours, Maximilien could revise the recipe correctly. Vincent was surprised. But what he did not know is, after he had gave the book to the young Maximilien and left, the boy copied the recipe for seven times. It was really long, but he still did it.

Upon the time he was accepted into Beauxbatons, Maximilien was hard working student. He loved Charms and Potions, as well as Defense Against the Dark Arts. Most of his classmates had seen this boy working alone late at night in his dormitory, and many of them had seen him practicing spells in an empty classroom. The library was nearly Maximilien’s second home — he did not have many friends, so he visited there a lot during weekends. 

The boy wanted everything to be perfect. He studied hard, did physical exercises everyday, and kept a healthy diet. He was proud and stubborn, so it helped him to be perfect. Day by day, he continued to study in the library and his dorm. And as a result, he improved day by day.

He received seven Os in his examination. His grandfather and father was really glad, but they still lacked knowledge of how hard Maximilien had worked. Most things were perfect — and that’s exactly what Maximilien wanted to see. He was overjoyed to see his academic results, and the boy decided that he would even study harder afterwards. He wanted himself to be the best, though he had never spoken it out loud.

When it’s the summer before his second year, Maximilien spent tons of time reading in the library in the de Fodtoncy Estate. While his grandfather was busy showing off at friends’ houses, his father busy running the wine estate, and his mother busy visiting her own maiden family, Maximilien read, and learnt. He had briefly met his cousins for two days, and all they saw was the boy was reading whenever and wherever. Maximilien loved it, and decided to do everything well. 

His knowledge of spells and potions were extending every moment. It’s no surprise that he had already became a perfectionist — because, Maximilien de Fostoncy was just born as one.

WC | 424[/size][/reducio][color=transparent]—[/color][b]year 3.[/b] spell spread[reducio][size=95]Summer. Summer was always agreeable for Maxi, and especially this one. Monsieur le Comte had accepted the Duke Springhall’s invitation for him staying over for July, and thus Maximilien arrived at the Springhall Heights as soon as his schoolyear ended in Beauxbatons. The Duke welcomed him warmly, and he soon won the old wizard’s favour - who agreed to give him some lessons on duelling.

We would skip the part of how Maxi won this special favour, as even the boy himself was quite ignorant of the reason. Maybe it was because of his fine etiquette, compared to Edmund and Lindsey - or it was simply because that the Duke desperately wished to teach some young wizards the art of combating magic. Maxi knew that Edmund was nowhere near the title of a duellist, and Lindsey was on her house Quidditch team, and the Duke wasn’t very into that - somehow he regarded duelling as “the only sport that’s worth participating”.

But anyways, everything started within a week he arrived. Maximilien began to visit the Duke’s personal studio daily at 10 o’clock in the morning, and showed up as the very last one for tea. Finding his interests in the ancient English books about duelling, Maxi was more than happy to expand his knowledge. He was a perfectionist and wished perfection in everything, after all. Practicing always came after simple reading. It would be countless times every day, when Maxi raised up his wand and uttered the incantation out. The Duke would watch over every single spell he casted at the dummies (the Duke Springhall [i]did[/i] have one or two in his studio), and offered him some help. And then he would teach the young Frenchman some strategies and tactics, the latter found [i]everything[/i] fascinating, including the stern looking old wizard himself.

But no. None of these were as fascinating - as grand as what happened the other day, when he was about to leave in a few days. It was just like every other morning in York, cloudy and a little bit rainy. Facing two dummies and having the old wizard closely watching, Maxi raised his wand up. [color=#586d9d][b]“Flipendo!”[/b][/color] he uttered in perfect English, which made the Duke’s knitted brows smoothed. As what both the old and the young had expected, one line of blue light flashed out directly from the point of Maximilien’s wand. It was [i]perfect[/i]. Not the strongest version nor the most powerful one, but already ideal enough for a thirteen-year-old. Seeing the would almost certainly hit the dummy on the left, the Duke was about to say something, when -

It was all of a sudden, and it was unbelievable. But it was [i]true[/i]. As true as he was named Maximilien René Pascal Jacques Vincent Louis de Fostoncy. The spell split in two and targeted both of the dummies. Both were knocked over, and Maximilien stood there with surprise, wand still raised up in the air. The Duke was just as silent as the boy was, sitting there motionlessly.

[color=#5c5c5c][b]“Nice work, young man.”[/b][/color] the old wizard finally started, nodding approvingly. [color=#5c5c5c][b]“Few wizards can achieve that…only those who are truly talented…”[/b][/color] Lowering his wand and stepping forward to right the knocked-over dummies, Maxi smiled at the old wizard. [color=#586d9d][b]“Thank you, Monsieur le Duc.”[/b][/color] he said softly, while slowly raising his wand up again at the dummies.

He utilized his left days in the Springhall Heights to practice and get tutorials from the Duke - who helped him to learn to control his split spell. Maximilien knew that a grander spell meant a higher chance of failure. So he had to practice hard, like what a true perfectionist would do. Day by day his skills improved. And although backfiring still happened occasionally, he was far more better than what he had done the very first day he when discovered his skill. 

When he packed his things to leave for the Hogwarts Summer Camp on July 31st, it was raining outside. James Kingsleigh, the Duke’s clerk, offered to take him to the York train station, where he could set off for London. Maxi accepted this gratefully, and the two walked together silently in the rain, luggage in hand. James regretted not taking his wand with him, as they would only be able to conjure one umbrella using Maxi’s wand - instead of two, and Maxi shook his head. [color=#586d9d][b]“I believe it’s alright, Mister Kingsleigh.”[/b][/color] he smiled, while reaching for his wand. [color=#586d9d][b]“Pluvia Velo.”[/b][/color] 

James watched the the young French boy conjuring two umbrellas and passing one to him in surprise. However, he remarked nothing. Just a simple, grateful nod, and the two continued their walk in the rain with two umbrellas. No one was going to get wet. The skill was useful - thought Maxi. Indeed.

WC | 798[/size][/reducio][color=transparent]—[/color][b]year 4.[/b] perfectionist II[reducio][size=95]What was exactly [i]obsession[/i]? Maxi was longing to know the answer. He’d looked for it in his grandfather’s library, polled a few classmates for their opinions, and pondered it while wandering through his family’s wine estate. That was, until someone told him that he was prone to obsessions. It was certainly a helpful clue, now all he had to do was look through his hobbies and things that piqued his interest to figure out the answer. 

Lovely ladies? No, that wasn’t supposed to be an obsession. Flowers? Erm, he didn’t do much gardening to be honest. Spellcasting? Perhaps, he’d been practicing diligently and eager to know more about the art of combating magic, but he had already left the duelling team. In terms of extracurricular activities, earlier that year, he had switched from the Beauxbatons duelling team to broom racing. At the beginning he thought it was nothing than a mere impulse, only because racing sounded like the perfect combination of broom and spells, both of which he didn't want to miss. His grandfather was entirely supportive (how honourable for his grandson to be recognised on the track, and just think of the renown and scholarship!), as was his father, though the latter was slightly concerned that his son wouldn't be as dedicated to spellcasting as he had been previously. Maxi reassured Vincent that this would not happen, and he devoted himself into training without wasting any time. He started small, riding and avoiding obstacles and attacks. Day by day he got better, learning from experienced teammates and actively engaging in team practices. And he was certainly achieving things - he could target opponents moving fast on brooms as if they were on their feet, and he could as well ride through the wind and remain unmoved. Maybe that’s just what obsession was.

Oh, and there’s writing. Maxi did not forget about his little interest of writing, whether it was a poem, a fantasy, or a novella. People could dismiss this pastime as whimsical, especially when they come across the nymphs and nightingales written on the parchment, but Maxi adored them. It played a significant part in his life, and he made sure that he could write at least two poems and a short fable every week, no matter how busy he was. When he returned home for summer, Maxi secretly presented his mother his latest work as a gift without letting his grandfather or father know (they wouldn't approve of him writing this because it's “useless”, he knew it). A story about a well-educated young lady who overcame all hurdles with tenacity and pursued her dream career as an artist, despite her family’s opposition. When Mélanie read it, she couldn’t help but shed tears because the protagonist resembled her a lot but ended up realising her drea, unlike her. Impressive, she told her son tenderly, you really have a knack for this, my dearest little Maximilien, and I love it so much. Maxi smiled upon his mother’s comment, feeling that everything was worth it. Nobody knew how hard he had worked on the novella - how many times had he revised it? Seven? Eight? And at least two times were thorough amendments. When he was finally satisfied with his work, he transcribed the whole story in neat handwriting on fresh parchments, which took another three days to finalise. Indeed, he sure had some talent in this and writing the story did offer him much joy, but the effort paid also played a big part in making the whole thing perfect. Maxi never regretted it taking up his free time though, he knew perfecting the present for his mother was all he really wanted. Was that, by any chance, some kind of obsession?

He thought about many things, things that had, no matter briefly or chronically, once occupied his mind. After days meditating on the subject, Maxi thought he could now answer it. To strive for perfection. Maybe that’s what [i]obsession[/i] really meant.

WC | 663[/size][/reducio][color=transparent]—[/color][b]year 5.[/b] non-human enthusiast[reducio][size=95]Maxi had always been a swot. 

From the time he could remember things he was into stories, or to be exact, fairytales and legends. First were the wizard novels and adventures found in his father’s studio — there weren’t many of them, but Maxi found great pleasure in reading them before he ever started his study in Beauxbatons. As soon as he enrolled he’d secretly borrow those muggle fairytales from his muggleborn classmates, and managed to read them when his grandfather was not around. Years passed, and Maxi was finally able to come to a conclusion out of this somehow fanatic passion — that, no matter who the main character was, be them wizard or muggle, a prince, princess, knight or a mere normal person, there was always something — or rather someone — that was never absent in such books. 

Creatures. 

Be it dragons or phoenixes, be it vampires or werewolves. They might be the ones that unfortunately fell in love with the princess at the same time as the prince, or might be some evil forces that tried to eat the knight in distress. Anyway, it seemed that they were inseparable from such stories, let it be muggle-ish or wizarding (only their forces in the wizarding stories might even be stronger to match the abilities of a wizard). Maxi’s interest in these beings was provoked.

He started to do research on these creatures. Being a wizard who was even able to meet these creatures in person if he was lucky enough (though it seemed now that he wasn’t that lucky, after all), it wasn’t difficult for him to gather relevant books and literature, and not before long he was able to absorb himself in the creatures’ world. Their characteristics were the first thing he paid attention to, and then their special abilities, their breeding, and their languages. Maxi thought he had known them better through such researches, and indeed he did. He soon became the introducer of magical creatures among the boys in his dorm, and, with his ability of story telling, he was quite welcomed.

Maxi had always been a storyteller.

The first time he’d compose a poem, he decided to write about a young Dhampir. He put his knowledge about the vampires and dhampirs into practice, but disappointedly found that he was still far from writing them well. The knowledge he got about them were basic, and he was far from an expert to use the information at his will. And so, he set out for the library again after class, and spent a week’s evenings reading the books he borrowed from the library in his dormitory. He took notes and drew graphs, and finally he thought he had gained a much deeper understanding of this certain breed. Maxi was excited and soon threw himself into writing. The poem was successful according to his friends, and was commented as “authentically vampirish”, even though none of them had ever seen a real vampire. Maxi was exceptionally glad about this first small but firm step — he had grasped the key of learning more about these non-humans. And so, he ventured his way further and looked up more information about them.

Hogwarts was known for its diversity, which Maxi respected a lot. The more times he visited Hogwarts, the more interested he got in it. If possible, he would really love to meet one or two not-perfectly-full-human students and get to know them and their special race eldership. Even though this wish had not been completed so far, Maxi was still running fast on his non-human research track. He continued to read and to take notes, and to compose poems and write novellas featuring non-human characters. And if there was one word to describe him, that would be…

Enthusiast.

WC| 631[/size][/reducio][/quote]
[quote][center][size=115][b]| extracurricular |[/b][/size]
broom racer[/center][/quote][/quote]

Approved - Mags 30/6/23

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Pending Lear Sept 10

We need your first instance of magic.

A quick reminder: there is no pet system for iNPCs.

Approved Lear Sept 10

Here is a link to your encyclopedia page

Approved Lear Sept 10

Approved Lear Sept 10

[quote][b]Is your character a Broom Racer?[/b] No
[b]Is your character a Quidditch Player?[/b] Yes
[b]Is your character a Duelist?[/b] No[/quote]
[quote][b]Stats:[/b] Stamina: 10 | Evasion: 12 | Strength: 13 | Wisdom: 4 | Arcane Power: 0 | Accuracy: 15

(+4 from duelling wins ([url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?t=13876&start=50#p222151]1[/url], [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?t=20756&start=30#p406326]2[/url]) & quidditch wins ([url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?t=21955&start=80#p460013]1[/url], [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?p=775004#p775004]2[/url]))[/quote]
[quote][b]Abilities:[/b] Evasive Maneuvers (WC: 481 words)
[reducio]"C'mon! Let's play!" Messy red hair bounced up and down with the girl, trying to get the two others to join. Isabelle nodded, a smile spreading across her face as both the girls turned towards Helen. The young woman glanced between the two, before letting out a soft sigh with a smile. "Alright, but just one round. Go on, you two, hide." Kit chirped in excitement, quickly dashing off. It wasn't often that she could get the two to play hide and go seek. They preferred to stick with the original, apparently.

Light footsteps would be heard, trailing around different locations to not give Helen any clues. But eventually she would stop, hiding behind a couch. It certainly wasn't the best hiding spot, but it would have to do. Wherever Isabelle might've hidden was a question for later. Now to wait.

It wouldn't take long, before Kit would find herself glancing around, trying to find where Helen had gone. She had peeked up too much, red hair rather visible against the colorless background. The young girl realized this a moment later, keeping her position for a few moments longer while Helen came towards her. She'd wait for the last minute, before quickly bouncing back out of reach. Kit decided to test her fate a little more, allowing for one more chance. A few moments of waiting, before another quick dodge out of the way, laughing from the adrenaline. It was a fun little game for the young girl, but she'd dash away, trying to find the next hiding spot. Blue-green eyes would glance around the next corridor, running in before she realized that Isabelle was standing in the middle of the walkway.

"Did you get tagged?" The younger girl would ask, bouncing on her feet slightly. Her sister would say nothing, but began to close the gap between them. A hand would whip out to try and tap the redhead, but she had side-skipped, barely getting out of the way. "You did!" she gasped, a grin widening. She would pause for a moment, before running before Isabelle or Helen could tag her in her surprise. Having two on one posed an interesting challenge, as they directed her towards a dead end. Kit didn't notice until she was almost against the wall, keeping out of both of their reaches. But in a dead end, there was only so much ducking and weaving one could do until they got tagged. Fingers would barely graze her arm, and the girl would stop, quickly turning around to face the others.

"Well that wasn't fair," she pouted, a little out of breath. Helen shook her head, huffed laughter escaping her. "No, Kitkat dear, there was nothing fair about what you were doing. We needed our own tactics to win." Isabelle would nod, offering her sister an impressed smile. "I think we'll just stick to regular hide-and-seek."[/reducio]Savior (WC: 459 words)
[reducio] Quidditch was a fun sport. Dangerous and way more competitive than she had realized. There had been talk back at home, but the importance of quidditch never really set in until Kit was trying out to join the team. Sports had never been about winning, but rather being a group to spend time with and get to know. Still, it was important that she in some way aided the team. The height of play was scary enough, not to mention adding bludgers into the mix.

One of the practices, they practiced catching in a more controlled and safe environment so that teammates might be able to help each other better when the real game came around. It was strange to have a new weight on the broom. There was some struggle with maneuverability and keeping the other person on at the same time. But still, it sounded like the perfect way to help out. Maybe even prevent some of the more serious injuries that could occur when one fell down from such a distance.

Practices remained the same, but Kit spent more time figuring out what best to use as a substitute for an additional person on the broom. Backpacks stuffed with books worked well, trying to move around easily enough without the bag toppling over and free falling down to the ground. It was strange to have less space on the broom, but the girl adjusted, challenging herself to have more room on the back of the broom. But having two people on a broom was just one step. The other was catching.

This was more challenging to practice, generally required someone else to help out. One way was by tossing the previously used backpack down to be caught. The distances were small at first- a light toss between the two, but the distance and height increased as Kit grew more confident with this skill. This didn’t mean that the backpack stayed intact, however, books pressing their edges into the fabric until it ripped. No new scratches or tears had been seen in a while, though, significant improvement from the start of her outside practices. 

The second way was carrying someone. This almost always drew laughs the first few times as Kit struggled to figure out how best to get a person onto the back of her broom. For what sounded like the simple part, the second year found it rather complicated, making sure to put padding down before ever trying to pick up her friend. While the quidditch player had yet to use this new skill in a game, she was positive it would be useful at some point. Plus, it was another way for her to help out from a distance. Or on the same broom.[/reducio]Calming Presence (WC: 447 words)
[reducio]"Kit, you know you shouldn't do something like that." It was back in elementary school, after Kit had jumped off of the top of the play structure as a dare. She hadn't gotten hurt, but a teacher had spotted and told her parents about it. And so now she sat, listening to them scold again and thinking about other things. More important things in her opinion. "Isabelle wouldn't do such a thing." Katherine agreed with that, of course. Isabelle wouldn't do such a thing- but she didn't expect herself to be her older sister. So all she did was wait- and nothing else happened. She was let off and went back to playing around in the house. So why worry about expectations if all her parents would do was talk about it? Isabelle was already the better sibling, so why should Kit compete?

And with that, Katherine was generally a relaxed person- a care free person living a care free life. Sure, there was school and some stresses that came with it, but the witch didn't care about grades so long as it was passing. Plus, she had quite a few resources from her older sister and from her grandparents via owls. Her parents weren't pleased with low grades, but as Kit had never felt like the favorite of her parents, she learned to shrug it off like the other times her parents talked about disappointments. And since nothing was done asides from voicing disappointment, shrugging it off was easy. There was little punishment in Kit's world and so she could continue to be care free.

Instead, her focuses could be entirely on the activities she enjoyed- quidditch, music, and art. Everything else could remain at a passing as the second year spent most of her time working on what made her happy. The school-fun balance didn't shift much since first year, and yet it was enough to start something big. Her enjoyment in her activities and how she spent her time made her happier. And her happiness boosted confidence, conversations, and her care free nature. It created new friends and helped her find more activities that interested her, clubs that sounded really cool or muggle sports that she had never heard of before.

Her own contentment and happiness with her life changed how she held herself as she became a third year, no longer a new student yet not a role model either. This feeling and presence of her own calmness and relaxed nature could be felt by others around her- smiles to strangers, positive outlooks, and encouragement became more commonplace as she realized how it affected others, happy to spread her carefree nature to others.[/reducio]Evasive Maneuvers II (WC: 441 words)
[reducio]Kit was a little miffed by her summer quidditch performance. While she saved the seeker and scored one goal in a rather short game, that was the extent of her achievements when the intention had been to save three people and perhaps score a few more shots. How underwhelming. Still, it gave the Beauxbatons student a new goal and something to aim towards- she probably couldn't learn how to carry more people on her broom, but practicing how to ride precisely and efficiently while weaving through the pitch would certainly help. The French school didn't have much in the way of a training pitch, but they did have an impressive racing track and a hedge maze.

And so that was how the girl trained, spending additional time outside of her normal practice to bob and weave through the mountain tunnels and hoops, occasionally offering for other students to hit bludgers at her or throw things at her that she needed to catch- just to make things a little more complicated. While the new practice included many trips to the medic ward as she crashed into the sides of the rockface or got hit by a particularly bad bludger, these visits grew less frequent with time. From shakily flying through the course to bobing and weaving at high speeds, it was clear that the additional practice mixed with the usual sports routine had advanced her precision and technique. It came with the added benefit of being able to dodge bludgers a little easier as she didn't want to get hit along the way to save someone falling from the sky nor slow down in case they got too low to thr ground and Kit could no longer catch them.

Her focus improved her flying, but the student also realized that it helped in other situations. Getting precise movements on a broom meant proper balance and quick calculated moves and leans to get the right direction, easily translating to her own balance and quick moves on land. Moving at such speeds required quick glances and decisions, helping both when targeted by bludgers, spells, or pushy students in crowded halls. While a little different, the observation allowed her to find a new practice for this curious skill. Kit had little skill in dueling, but she could offer herself up to be a training target and learn a little from the other duelists who had to duck, spin, and roll away from spells on a daily basis. It did mean seeing the mediwizards again after she had just reduced her visits, but now the Beauxbatons student knew how to evade both in the sky and on land.[/reducio][/quote]

Approved Lear Sept 10

Name: Aurélie Nathalie Duval

School: Beauxbatons

Year: First Year

Status: Pureblood

Appearance: Aurélie is an angular girl with a narrow face, a thin nose, and bony features. She's got brown hair that is about shoulder length and large blue-gray eyes. She's average in height but underweight, giving her a slender frame. She's got a light dusting of freckles along her nose and cheeks.

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Personality: Though she has a small body and an open face, Aurélie is fierce and strong. She's spontaneous and funny, more outgoing than her family. And while she has a rougher, harder exterior, she's soft on the inside. She has a soft spot for her family and any friends that she grows close to. She's protective and loving after you meet her. While she likes to surround herself with lots of people, she keeps only a few people truly close to her.

History:

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Aurélie was the only child of Élodie and Augustin Duval. Which means that she grew up all alone. Since both of her parents were extremely doting, she grew up suffocated under their affections. From the minute she was born, she was the center of their attention. They wouldn't leave her alone for a second, not wanting to waste a moment of her childhood.

While Aurélie enjoyed the attention in the beginning, trying to make her parents proud at every step of her life, she soon grew tired of it. She didn't get a single minute to herself and this bothered her. And though she knew that her parents only meant well, she decided, at the age of six, to sit down and have a talk with them.

As anyone could imagine, the "talk" didn't go as well as young Aurélie had wanted. Her parents were anxious, confused, and, most of all, disappointed in her. From then on, though they tried to reduce their overprotectiveness, they did little to improve it.

That was why Aurélie decided to spend more time outdoors. Since her parents were both introverts, they didn't get many party invitations, except for the general pureblood occasions. She made as many friends as possible and did her best not to coddle them like her parents had to her. She chose only specific people to get close to so that she wouldn't feel the same way again either.

Aurélie stayed close to her parents, but couldn't wait to attend magic school so she could meet more people. She became ecstatic after receiving her acceptance letter.

First Instance of Magic:

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Aurélie first experienced magic at the age of eight. She had just broken her right arm by falling out of a tree, skipping two days of school as a result. One of her neighbors had sent her the past days' homework and Aurélie had sat at the dining table, looking at it in disgust. She couldn't write with her left hand, so she had to wait for her mother to come down and help her. Staring at the first page, she saw the blank where she had to write her name and closed her eyes, pained, wishing that she'd never been foolish enough to climb that tree. Now she couldn't even write in the answers in her homework sheet. When she opened her eyes, she'd been stunned to see that her name had in fact written itself upon the sheet, in the same loopy handwriting as her own. She blinked, but the words were still there. Aurélie blinked again, but this time, when she opened her eyes, the words were gone.

Aurélie was born in the bustling metropolis of Paris but was raised in Marseille, which she now considers her true home.

Is your character a broom racer? No.

Is you character a quidditch player? No.

Is your character a duelist? Yes.

Stats: Sta 6 | Eva 5 | Str 6 | Wis 6 | Arc 5 | Acc 7

Abilities: None

Obligatory sports win update~

NPC Name: Raphael Aveline
Link: Here's the football nerd
Year: 5

Stats:
Old: Sta 8 ᚐ Eva 17 ᚐ Str 14 ᚐ Wis 5 ᚐ Arc 0 ᚐ Acc 18
+1 in Str from PC Duelling win here makes
New: Sta 8 ᚐ Eva 17 ᚐ Str 15 ᚐ Wis 5 ᚐ Arc 0 ᚐ Acc 18

Abilities: No changes
Extracurricular: No changes (still a racer)
Content Changes: No changes
Trunk Coding:

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Code: Select all

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[size=150][COLOR=#9c7749]S[/COLOR][COLOR=#916f44]t[/COLOR][COLOR=#86663f]a[/COLOR][COLOR=#7b5e39]t[/COLOR][COLOR=#6f5534]s[/COLOR] [COLOR=#644d2f]&[/COLOR] [COLOR=#59442a]A[/COLOR][COLOR=#4e3c25]b[/COLOR][COLOR=#43331f]i[/COLOR][COLOR=#382b1a]l[/COLOR][COLOR=#2d2215]i[/COLOR][COLOR=#211a10]t[/COLOR][COLOR=#16110a]i[/COLOR][COLOR=#0b0905]e[/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]s[/COLOR][/size]

ꕤ

[b]Sta[/b] 8 [COLOR=#5e472c]ᚐ[/COLOR] [b]Eva[/b] 17 [COLOR=#5e472c]ᚐ[/COLOR] [b]Str[/b] 15 [COLOR=#5e472c]ᚐ[/COLOR] [b]Wis[/b] 5 [COLOR=#5e472c]ᚐ[/COLOR] [b]Arc[/b] 0 [COLOR=#5e472c]ᚐ[/COLOR] [b]Acc[/b] 18
[size=90][url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=15247&p=243862#p243862]×[/url] [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?p=371279#p371279]×[/url] [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?p=427470#p427470]×[/url] [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?p=463143#p463143]×[/url] [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?p=593834#p593834]×[/url] [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?p=681700#p681700]×[/url] [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?p=736641#p736641]×[/url] [url=https://hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?p=784009#p784009]×[/url][/size]

The Muggle Condition [COLOR=#5e472c]ᚐ[/COLOR] Fearless [COLOR=#5e472c]ᚐ[/COLOR] Evasive Maneuvers I + II
Obnoxiously Strong
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Broomracer[/center]


The Muggle Condition [size=75][412 words][/size]
[reducio]Growing up, Raphael hadn't cared about many things. 

School was boring, it was hard to focus on learning dry things from books while locked into a room with twenty-five other kids and a bunch of stale air. More often than not, his gaze strayed from the numbers on the page in front of him to the window and the blue sky beyond. If only they'd let him [i]move[/i].

People were boring, with their endless drama and demands, asking of him things he didn't want to do, hadn't cared to do. The squabbling of other kids over whose pen this was, who got to sit next to who, who was invited to which birthday. Raphael usually didn't want to go. They were boring.

What he did care about, though, were sports. Any kind of sports was good - PE classes at his school saw him excelling in athletics, although he preferred ball sports - but from the moment his father took him to a local club's match, Raphael's true love proved to be football [size=75](the British football, not the American kind)[/size]. The football field was where you could see his usually impassive expression change for one of excitement, where you would see him passionately chase after a ball - where he felt like himself. There were evenings spent on goal practice alone, satisfaction rushing through him when he managed to aim the ball in the exact corner he wanted, a smile on his face that was rarely seen. The football field was where Raphael was most at home.

It was where his father would find him at 8 pm when the sun went down and he'd missed supper, and where he would have gone in the mornings if not for that pesky thing called school. (He'd tried. His father hadn't been pleased.) An avid fan of Liverpool F.C, Raphael was already dreaming of his career as a professional player... until that invitation to [i]l'Académie de Magie Beauxbâtons[/i] came and threw a wrench into his plans. No football there, no sir, just more time spent sitting in classrooms, trying to do things he wasn't good at, the magic he was supposed to learn failing more often than it should and not powerful even when it obeyed.

At least they had other sports, and all that time spent ducking between two opponent players trying to steal the ball from him, or burying the ball into the net, paid off there, too. Still... it wasn't the same.
[/reducio][center]ꕤ[/center]Fearless [size=75][403 words][/size]
[reducio]Growing up, Raphael hadn't cared about many things. 

He hadn't had to. Born into a storybook family - father, mother, him, and a little sister five years later. Wealthy enough to not lack anything he might want, talented enough to slip through the first few years of school without getting into trouble for his lack of investment. Life had been easy, free of worries, things that broke were easily replaced. For the first few years of his life, Raphael had been as carefree as a butterfly, chasing after things that were colourful and interesting, never worrying about falling for he could fly.

It didn't hold though, few things as happy do. After his mother left when he was a boy, something changed. What had been simple [i]carelessness[/i] grew into something more. Where things hadn't fazed him before, now they didn't interest him. Unconcern turned into apathy. You might expect that his mother leaving when he was young, but not so young as not to realise the implications, might have left Raphael with a fear of separation, a constant worry that his father, his sister, his friends would leave, too. That things that broke would be gone for good. For Raphael, it did the opposite.

It had taken a while for his father to notice, longer than it should have, perhaps, but when he did, he grew concerned. He could not remember the last time Raphael had come to him with something that excited him, worried him, much less frightened him. This was an eight year old boy who didn't fear the dark or needles at the doctor, did not flinch from dogs, stared down a fifty metre drop without blinking. He got rid of spiders by himself, mostly because his sister asked him to, was not intimidated by teachers, and showed no sense of self-preservation when facing fire. It was worrying for more reasons than one.

People often use the word "fearlessness" to describe "bravery", but in truth, the two are very different. Fear is something natural, something healthy, often, that keeps us alive. Warns us to stay away from things that might hurt us. Bravery is conquering those fears when they are unwarranted, or when there is a reason that defies self-preservation. Fearlessness, on the other hand, means that there was no fear to begin with, and it is not usually something that should be pursued. 

Raphael was not brave. Raphael was fearless.[/reducio][center]ꕤ[/center]Evasive Maneuvers [size=75][437 words][/size]
[reducio]Growing up, Raphael hadn't cared about many things. 

Sports and his sister, those ranked at the top. His friends and father were somewhere up there, too. That was mostly it. So when Raphael had started attending Beauxbatons, three of those four things had suddenly been out of reach. Not completely, of course. He could send his family letters, and could have asked them to deliver messages to his friends, too, although he could not explain why he had suddenly left to attend a fancy boarding school. Or where that school was, or what it was called. Really, most of his friendships didn't hold for very long after that.

He still kind of kept up with his favourite sports teams via a radio that was somehow enchanted to function around magic, and could thankfully be set to receive Muggle radio channels as well. As for playing, Raphael threw himself into the sports that Beauxbatons had to offer. Duelling relied too much on magic, and not enough on physical activity, but broom sports, those were fun. (Not as good as football, but who could ask for that?)

And so, rather than spending his free time on football fields, Raphael started spending his free time on brooms. Dodging bludgers. Dodging obstacles. Dodging other players trying to crash into him. Dodging spells aimed at him. Dodging magical beasts that were added to the broom racing courses because apparently, in the magical world, no sport was complete without the very high risk of serious injury. Not that football players did not get injured frequently, but at least the rules tried to prevent rather than encourage this.

There was a learning curve to it, of course. You didn't just sit on a broom for the first time and magically have perfect control. Well, unless you were Harry Potter, maybe. But Raphael did have a knack for sports, and the determination to make up for his lack of experience. More of the latter than the former, if you asked him.

He supposed you couldn't really spend that much time playing wizard sports without at some point developing reflexes that were borderline supernatural. It was hard to explain, really, what set off his instincts. The whistling of a ball coming closer at a speed that threatened to break bones, the odd draft of air, the sounds of a mumbled incantation, sometimes just the feeling of hair standing up at the back of his neck, an inexplicable sensation telling him that [i]something[/i] was coming, and Raphael moved to evade, in a swerve or a loop, dropping a few feet or rising up to dodge what was coming.[/reducio][center]ꕤ[/center]Evasive Maneuvers II [size=75][439 words][/size]
[reducio]Three years after Raphael had started attending the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, he still felt kind of bitter about it. More than bitter... cheated, that was probably the right word. Forced into a world where he constantly felt out of place, worse than he had before.

He had never been good at making friends, and with the loss of all his known relationships, his approach had changed more towards… actively avoiding. It had not seemed worth putting in the energy, the thought was exhausting. Hence, more than ever, Raph had started spending his time focused on sports. Broom racing, Quidditch, those thankfully did not require magic, and soon enough Raphael spent more of his waking time on a broom than on solid ground. Last summer, for lack of alternatives, he had picked up running as a sport he could do both at home and at school, and it had quickly turned into a habit. 

That had come with an unexpected side-effect of social relationships… kind of sneaking up on him. He would not call them friends, exactly, more slightly less annoying acquaintances, maybe. That he enjoyed doing sports with, and did not mind hanging out with generally. But no, definitely not friends. 

After all, he obviously only spent time with them because there was a tangible benefit. It was hard to play football by himself, and only dodging trees by himself, without competition, and without unexpected attacks coming from the side, got too easy after a while. Clearly, training himself to dodge incoming balls quicker, more effortlessly, more instinctively, was the only reason he kept asking Cassie to play with him, and that during one of their many morning runs, he had finally also asked Ye-jun if he was interested in playing some football every now and then. 

It was not wrong, of course. Training with Cassie, playing with Ye-jun, it sharpened his reflexes. More than once, a small smile snuck onto Raph’s face when Cassie exclaimed in surprise after he had shifted his broom to the right just enough to escape an incoming projectile that he could not possibly have seen coming. It even evolved into a game of Cassie randomly throwing things at him, trying to catch him off-guard… with a surprisingly low quota of success. The intended effect was definitely there. Yet, if he was honest, the more time passed, the more the (very effective) training became an excuse, to see Cassie, to hang out with Ye-jun. 

Well. No matter the reasons, excuses or not, by the end of his third year at Beauxbatons, Raphael had uncanny dodging abilities… and possibly even a friend or two.

[right][size=75]Mentions of Lee Ye-jun and Cassie Heather McGregor-Martin approved by @Eun-ji Lee Hunt and @Lucia Fox.[/size][/right][/reducio][center]ꕤ[/center]Obnoxiously Strong [size=75][612 words][/size]
[reducio]There's always this one person around you that pushes you to do better, set your goals higher, work to be the best self you can be. Or at least, everyone should have a person like that.

Raphael never thought he'd need one. He'd been perfectly content pushing himself where it mattered, training by himself to be faster, more nimble, more accurate (while, of course, completely neglecting other school work). And then he'd met Cassie, her relentless enthusiasm and energy. At first, he'd mostly respected her as a fellow broomracer and football fan. They'd started playing together and training together, until one day, he'd turned to laugh at one of her jokes, and realised that they were probably friends. (Surprise?) In the last year, however, their relationship had turned into something even more... weird. 

It had started because Raphael had decided he needed to build up some muscle mass to be a better broomracer, and thus he had allocated half of his trunk for weight training equipment when he'd returned from summer break in 2022. (The trunk had been ridiculously heavy, and his poor non-magical father had been cursing non-stop while heaving it out of his car when he'd dropped Raphael off for the new school year.)

Cassie had, of course, quickly figured out what he was doing - the fact that he'd been using the nice weather to work out outside had possibly tipped her off - and, since she was almost-as or perhaps even-more serious about broomracing (depending on who you asked) as he was, had immediately decided to join, or rather, beat him, to both Raphael's bemusement and amusement. It was Cassie, so... he supposed he didn't mind her inserting herself into his workout sessions.

As things tended to go, it quickly turned into a mix between competition and ridiculous sort of game between them. They would compete on who could do more reps with weights, more squats, more push-ups, and then, of course, the most prestigious class of silly rivalries: Who could do more pull-ups in more absurd locations. The bar he'd brought to lock into doorframes was only the beginning, and to no one's surprise, it was Cassie who suggested taking things to the - as she put it - [i]next level[/i]. But then, Raphael certainly hadn't resisted the escalation of events, and couldn't deny that some of the competitive spirit he brought to football games and broomraces was starting to infect him here, too.

So they did pull-ups on their brooms, floating a not very dangerous but certainly not very prudent distance above ground. Cassie won that one, Raph's hand, slick with sweat, had slipped after a few, and he'd fallen two meters to the ground. They did pull-ups on doorframes, which was perhaps less dangerous, but also more difficult, as there was less grip to cling to. Raph had secured a win there, his finger strength proving superior. And, finally, they did pull-ups on the Quidditch hoops. Raph could later not recall with any certainty who had come up with that one, although he was inclined to blame Cassie. At least they'd come up with a safety net of sorts, that would save them from plummeting almost 10 meters to the ground if they fell. (Which, needless to say, they did.)

All of said competition did have one big advantage, however: The training definitely worked. The exercises became easier, so he adjusted the difficulty; he increased his pull-up capabilities from three to seven to nine. Weights got heavier, workouts got longer... and if he got into the habit of slightly flexing his newly acquired muscles whenever a pretty girl walked past, well, who could blame him?
[right][size=75]Mentions of Cassie Heather McGregor-Martin approved by @Lucia Fox.[/size][/right]