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Post by milo on Aug 23, 2009 9:51:27 GMT -5
   __________________________________________________________a b o u t . y o u !
Name: Didi
Preferred Pronouns: female.
Age: two and twenty.
E-mail: you have.
Twitter and/or Tumblr: you have.
Years of RPG Experience: a fair few.
Other: draco
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q u i c k . q u i z !
How did you find us?
What about ISS inspired you to join?
Do you have any suggestions for us?
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a b o u t . t h e . c h a r a c t e r !
Name: Milo Alexander Whittle.
Date of Birth: 9 September, 1962
Gender: Male
Year: Fifth
Face Claim: Liam Hemsworth
Canon or Original? Original
Distinguishing Physical Features: Milo doesn’t like to think that there’s anything special about his appearance, or that he “stands out” in any way. Unfortunately for him, that’s not entirely true. Milo has undeniably piercing blue eyes. They’re a soft, light blue, and always seem to be smiling. It’s rare to see Milo without a smile, though, since he’s a pretty happy lad as it is. He’s also an active boy who lives a healthy lifestyle, so needless to say, he’s quite fit. Barely brushing 6’1”, Milo isn’t the tallest of the tall, but he certainly isn’t short either. For his early-sixteenth birthday, his stepfather took him to a tattoo parlour, and there Milo received his first (and probably only) tattoo: a songbird between his shoulder blades, with the word Credo written underneath in script. The songbird represents his love of music, while the word, translated to ‘I believe’, represents his faith. He considers himself to be quite average and doesn’t put a lot of significance in his appearance. All things considered, he is a handsome, healthy boy, and his eyes are definitely worth remembering.
Wand Type: Milo simply adores his wand. It was the first one he tried at Ollivander’s, and he can still remember how the slightly-creepy old man had looked at him and smiled, though he seemed more pleased with himself than with the match. The wood is made of vine, the core is dragon heartstring, and it measures at exactly eleven inches. The wand performs excellently in Charms, but isn’t so great at Defense Against the Dark Arts. That doesn’t matter to Milo, though. His wand was his first real, solid connection to magic, and he wouldn’t trade it in for even the most powerful wand out there.
Patronus: German shepherd. Shepherds can be fierce guardians of their loved ones, but are also sociable and extremely lovable.
Boggart: It’s shameful for Milo to admit that his Boggart is rather selfish. It takes the form of a tombstone with his name on it, and underneath it says “He died alone.” Milo doesn’t necessarily fear death, but he doesn’t like solitude, and his greatest fear is that someday his friends will all have moved on, he’ll lose everyone he loves, and he will eventually die alone.
Personality:
o p t i m i s t i c
Milo tries to see the bright side to every situation. Of course, sometimes there isn’t one, like with the attack on Hogsmeade. That aside, he tries to see the best in people, and refuses to judge them before he gets to know them. He always strives to do the right thing, whether or not he’s terrified of it. Milo does his best to be good, both to himself and to others. He’s generally a cheerful boy, and is rarely in a bad or sour mood. He does his best to do no harm, be it physical or emotional; however, he isn’t the best at ‘reading people’, so he can sometimes say something hurtful without meaning to. If he finds out, he’ll immediately apologise, and he’ll mean it. He values honesty and sincerity and justice, and tries stick to his convictions in day-to-day life. There is good in everyone, and something good can come out of even the worst situations, he knows it. He believes it. Milo’s biggest downfall is that when things do finally get to him, when he can’t see the silver lining and when something actually penetrates his thick skin, it hits him hard. When that happens, he can act completely against his character and even do stupid things he regrets. He’s not used to being sad, so when he actually is, it hits him much harder than it should and he has no idea how to help himself out of it. However, it does take a lot to get him to that point; there would have to be something deeply personal lost or taken or changed, and the one time he does remember it happening, he didn’t manage to do anything too bad, and it didn’t last very long before he was back to his cheerful, normal self.
t o u g h
It might surprise a lot of people to learn that Milo is one tough cookie. Spending time in women’s shelters as a kid made him grow some pretty thick skin. Growing up, he’d always been on the small side, and was often picked on because his size was supposed to ‘make it easy’. Milo never fought back, but he never let any bullying kids have their way with him, either. Now that he’s aware of wizardry, he figures his accidental magic probably had something to do with it. (For instance: One time at a shelter, he’d helped one of the younger kids to his feet after being shoved down by a bully. Just before the same bully was about to punch him in the back of the head, Milo and the little boy somehow wound up behind the bully himself.) Still, he took the phrase, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” very seriously as a kid. Nowadays he knows words can be the most dangerous way to hurt someone, but he still doesn’t let those sorts of things affect him. Rumours and insults seem to just slide right by because he refuses to be a victim. He’s not going to change who he is to appease others. Milo refuses to let himself be bullied in any way; though he refuses to be goaded into a fight, he will stand up for himself, and for others. Isn’t that the right thing to do?
f a i t h f u l
Despite being raised by a Christian mother, Milo doesn’t like to call himself one. He believes in God, yes. He believes in Jesus and believes the events of the Bible actually happened at some point in history, even if he thinks some of the things it talks about are a bit… out-dated. But he doesn’t like organised religion, because he thinks it drives people apart instead of bringing them together to celebrate their faith. He’s not the type to spout scripture, and he doesn’t try to push his beliefs on others. If anything, he keeps his faith mostly to himself. It’s not that he’s embarrassed by it; he just doesn’t think it’s anyone else’s business. He chooses to believe and follow the word of God because it’s what makes him happy, and, he believes, can be his biggest aid in helping make others happy. There are all kinds of faith, and being a religious person is only one of them. Milo is also exceptionally faithful to his friends; he has never, and will never, go behind their back for any reason, even if they have a spat. He doesn’t like the idea of taking sides, but if it came down to him trusting his friends over trusting the word of someone he didn’t know, chances are he’d trust his friend. He’ll stand by them and defend them as much as he possibly can, because – and he’s not afraid or ashamed to admit this – he loves them.
d y s l e x i c
Milo isn’t stupid. He can understand things taught to him if they’re spoken or demonstrated, usually rather fast. But it’s hard to feel like you’re smart at all, or even on par with normal intelligence, when reading and writing are next to impossible. Milo has dyslexia, so everything gets jumbled together and he can’t make sense of it. The problem is that his dyslexia is a great source of shame for him, so he doesn’t really talk about it. It’s pretty obvious to see that something is wrong when he tries to write, but he refuses to tell a professor and get proper help. He doesn’t know that it’s a learning disability with an actual name. He doesn’t know he’s not the only one who has it. All he knows is that, no matter how hard he tries, words and letters just don’t seem to make as much sense to him as they do to other people. Milo is optimistic, yes, but he definitely isn’t untouchable. Dyslexia is a major sore spot for him. He does anything he can to get out of reading and writing in public, preferring to doodle his messages when passing notes to classmates. When professors call upon students to read aloud, he tries to shrink into his seat as much as possible to avoid being chosen. Over the holidays, he purchased a Quick Quotes Quill for himself, and though it’s been handy when writing essays, he knows he’s not allowed to use it for exams; he has to admit that he’s scared of failing the written portions of everything, despite being quite good at the practical. Besides, the Quill itself is more for the benefit of professors. It doesn’t make things any easier to read for him. But right now, it’s the best he’s got.
Likes:
+ Milo absolutely loves music. To him, there’s no greater form of expression. He plays the guitar and knows a little piano, and sings in both the Hogwarts choir and his church choir during the summer.
+ Because of Milo’s dyslexia, he’s had to come up with other forms of communication. Thus, he’s become quite skilled at doodling, so much that he does it just to pass time as much as communicate.
+ Milo enjoys being fit, and the exercise it takes to get that way. He absolutely loves to run, and insists that he could outrun anyone in Hogwarts.
+ Candy is a major weakness. Milo definitely has a sweet tooth and will devour anything sugary.
+ Strange as it sounds, he actually really likes astrology. He doesn’t believe in it, but definitely finds it interesting, and kinda funny, too.
Dislikes:
– The one thing that will make Milo immediately distrust a person is dishonesty. He absolutely cannot stand a liar.
– “Ditzy” people are a major pet-peeve. He hates when people dumb themselves down, especially if a girl does it just so that a bloke will like her.
– Something about the colour yellow really bothers Milo. He doesn’t know what it is, or why, but he just really doesn’t like it.
– School is incredibly hard for Milo. He has dyslexia, but he doesn’t know that. He thinks he’s just dumber than his classmates, which isn’t true. Learning is just more difficult for him.
– Milo is religious, but he certainly isn’t a close-minded person. He especially hates when people label him as such; well, he doesn’t like close-mindedness in general, but especially when people think he is.
History:
m o t h e r
Mary Lewis was a very good girl, as anyone who knew her or her family could attest. She kept her room tidy so her mum didn’t have to. She went to school with her brothers and learned all that she could. On Sundays, she went to church and sang in the choir, and helped her mum cook food for others in the afternoon. Mary was the founder of her school’s Faith Club, which welcomed Christians and Catholics (she swore that she’d welcome others, only no one else ever came), and every few months she and the club would do different things to collect money for charity. Overall, Mary was the shining example of a well-brought-up little lady, a source of pride for her parents, and someone her six older brothers saw fit to protect.
Sunday was her favourite day of the week. Sure, the cooking was frantic and made the kitchen stifling hot, even in winter, and she almost burned the house down once or twice, but it was all right. The mornings made the afternoons in the kitchen much more bearable. She and her family would walk the half-hour trek to church, where her father served as priest. While her mother played the organ, Mary would sing with the tiny choir, and sometimes she would get a solo. Mary absolutely loved singing, and often begged her parents to let her take a train to London when she was older so that she could try to get a career in music. Her parents made a deal: if she worked hard in school, and made the honour roll at the very least, her mother would accompany her to London as a graduation present and help her audition for record companies. So Mary kept up her end of the deal, and was in the running for valedictorian when tragedy struck.
Around two months before her graduation, an anti-religion group had come into town, declaring the Word of God to be lies invented by men to control and manipulate the population. They had started off small, only handing out pamphlets and protesting outside of the Church. Mary’s father had politely asked them to stop, but they had refused, and their antics only escalated. They chased people away from the church and even graffiti’d the outside walls. Mary’s father urged the people of the town to be patient; they would move on soon enough, once they’d seen that they had no effect on them whatsoever. But enough was finally enough when one of them cornered Mary after school and told her to tell her father to close the church if he wanted to keep his family. When she passed along the message, her father contacted the town’s law enforcement, which attempted to arrest the group… but they couldn’t find them. They searched for a few days before assuming they’d skipped town, and things seemed to go back to normal.
But that Sunday, when the town had gathered in the Church, there were some members of the group waiting for them inside. Mary’s mother told them that they would be forgiven for their crimes, but they had to leave. Without an argument, they walked out. That was when they boarded up the doors from the outside and set fire to the church.
Mary and her father watched the whole thing; Mary had tripped on the way to church and injured her ankle, so her father offered to carry her. It had slowed them down just enough so that they weren’t trapped inside with the others. Later, they learned that everyone inside had perished. Mary’s mother and six brothers were gone, and the group managed to get away.
After that, her father became a different man. He blamed God for what happened, turning away from religion entirely. He barely spoke, spending most of his time holed up in his bedroom. Mary went in to clean it during one of the rare times when he was out, and found an envelope with her name on it under her mother’s pillow. It was the two train tickets she was promised. Mary didn’t want to abandon her father, especially when he needed her, but she couldn’t give up on her dream. Her mother would have had to save up so much money to get these tickets so that Mary could have a chance. So, during the night, she packed a bag for herself, deciding that she would go. The day before she left, she attempted to tell her father, but he refused to acknowledge that she was even there at all. Promising to come back when she made it big, Mary left him.
But Mary Lewis never made it big.
t h e . f i r s t . f o u r . y e a r s
She was working in a restaurant and living in a shoddy studio flat when she met Carl Leighton. He was older, in his mid-thirties, but he was handsome and charming. Mary went on a few dates with him, letting him spoil her, and it was the first time in months that she’d actually felt good. When she confessed to Carl that she wanted to be a singer, he told her that he had connections with a recording company and could get her signed on in a snap. He promised to make all of Mary’s dreams come true, he promised to take care of her, he promised so many wonderful things… Mary believed she was in love, so when he only asked for a night together, she said yes. Mary had always wanted to wait until after marriage to make love, but they were in love, so that had to count for something, didn’t it?
But Carl Leighton (if that was even his real name, she would often think afterward) was a liar, and was gone before Mary awoke the next morning. He’d taken her stash of tips that she hid under the bed and had nearly two hundred pounds saved in there, and left Mary alone without a word or a single hope.
As it turned out, Mary wasn’t alone. She was working the morning shift at the restaurant, trying to earn back some of the money she lost, when she became very sick and asked to leave. Another waitress jokingly asked if she was pregnant. At first, Mary said no, but then she began to worry and wonder. A trip to the doctor confirmed it, though: she was going to have a baby. Milo Alexander Lewis was born on 9 September, 1962, almost a month before he was due, and Mary loved him more than she had ever loved anyone or anything else – even singing.
After that, things went downhill. The restaurant that had been Mary’s sole income for over a year closed down, leaving her without a job. Without a job, she couldn’t pay rent, and her landlord was unsympathetic toward a single mother without work. As hard as she tried to find a place to live, nothing was affordable, and no job allowed children in the workplace. Mary couldn’t afford to have anyone looking after him; they had to resort to shelters, where a growing Milo was looked after by volunteers while Mary desperately tried to search for work. No jobs seemed to stick for more than a few months. Mary was an excellent worker, but her priority had to be Milo, which didn’t sit well with her employers. Despite taking work wherever she could get it, it was never enough. For four years, she and Milo drifted from shelter to shelter, sometimes being in a flat for a few months or weeks at a time before being out on the street again. During that time, Milo’s accidental magic began to show, and Mary tried hard to ignore the fact that her child was different. But he was a good boy, and a tough little kid, always hugging his mum when she looked sad and being her support as much as she was his.
s t e p . f a t h e r
Donald Whittle had always lived a privileged life. He’d grown up in the West End of London and attended Eton College, playing on various sports teams during his time there. He was the star athlete in football, and decided that he didn’t want to be a lawyer like his father when he graduated. No, he wanted to play professional football. He was certainly good enough for it. He tried out for several national teams, and evidently was good enough to make Chelsea. While Donny wasn’t the star player on the team, he certainly wasn’t the weak link, either. Eventually, his father accepted that being a lawyer just wasn’t his son’s calling, and came out to support his games.
It was at one of these games where Donny met Mary Lewis and her young son, Milo. Mary had been working at one of the food vendors at the stadium, and hid Milo in the staff change room while she served customers. But Milo had always liked sports, and he definitely liked exploring. He got terribly bored just sitting there waiting for his mum, especially when the game was over. While the last few guests filed out and got food to take home with them, Milo sneaked out, hoping to get one glance at the field for himself. That was when Mary decided to go check on him, and panicked when she realised he was missing. Frantically she searched for him, calling out his name and not caring that her boss was threatening to fire her for bringing her kid to work.
She found him down on the grass, kicking a ball with Donny Whittle and laughing gleefully. Mary rushed down and scooped Milo up in her arms, scolding him for running off, but just being glad he was okay. Donny offered to buy Mary and Milo ice cream to calm them down, and with Milo’s enthusiasm, Mary accepted. Milo had never had ice cream before, though he’d asked Mary for it more than once.
To make a long story short, Donny and Mary ended up getting married a year later. Mary and Milo took his name and moved into his house, though they had a hard time believing their troubles were over. Mary never got a recording contract, but she did manage to get a job singing at a local club every weekend. Donny’s football career was cut short due to an injury, but when Milo began showing interest in football, he decided to be a coach for children’s teams. It seemed as though the Whittles were going to live happily ever after without a care or concern in the world.
h o g w a r t s
Milo was eleven when he received a very strange letter from a place he’d never heard of before. It took him a while to figure out what the letter said, but when he finally did, he was dumbstruck. It had to be some sort of joke, right? He couldn’t be a wizard. Magic wasn’t real, and anyway, wasn’t it something only evil people did? He didn’t think he was evil. He didn’t worship Satan or anything. He was a good kid, he believed in God, he wasn’t a wizard!
When two officials from the Ministry of Magic showed up to explain everything, Milo didn’t know what to do. He was certain he was going to be damned for this. Why him? What had he done? But the Ministry officials assured him that magic was only bad if you did bad things with it. One of them took out a wand – a real magic wand – and produced a bouquet of colourful flowers from it and gave it to Mary. That wasn’t so bad. Milo could be a good wizard, like Glinda the Good Witch. After that, he began to look forward to this new school for magic. Maybe there, he wouldn’t have to read and write so much and no one would think he was stupid. And since starting school, he’s been completely in love with magic. To him, it’s not destruction but creation. Quidditch is probably his favourite aspect of it; flying is definitely more fun than football. And yes, people do do horrible things with magic, but people can also do really good things. And Milo? Well, he always tries to do good.
Sample Post: lol you know what I write
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c o n t r a c t !
I solemnly swear that I, Didi, have read the rules, understand clearly what my responsibilities are now that I am joining ISS, and will abide by these standards set by the staff.
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