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Post by bran on Aug 6, 2012 0:22:11 GMT -5
   __________________________________________________________a b o u t . y o u !
Name: diddums
Preferred Pronouns: anything femme
Age: twenty-something
E-mail: you have it
Twitter and/or Tumblr: you have it
Years of RPG Experience: who even knows
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: Brennan “Bran” Cillian Doherty
Date of Birth: 31 May, 1961
Gender: Male
Year: Sixth
Face Claim: Dylan O’Brien
Canon or Original? Original
Distinguishing Physical Features: When you look at Bran, you can basically tell that he’s a bit of a loner. When his hair is long, it curls all around his head way too much for a boy. Nowadays he does his best to keep it as short as possible, meaning a buzz-cut that looks slightly less ridiculous than when it’s long and wild and unmanageable. His eyebrows basically look like caterpillars nesting on his forehead. He has thick, thick, dark brown hair all over his head – and that’s basically where the hair growth stops. Sure, he went through puberty and has hair in the “usual spots”, but nowhere near as thick or dark as on his head – which, he supposes, is a good thing, since he looks freaky enough as it is. Facial hair growth is a rare thing for him. His eyes are a dark brown, rimmed with eyelashes far too long for a bloke to have that give him a slight feminine look. His “button nose” and full lips add to this, as well as his skin, which is alarmingly smooth and soft for a teenage boy. He’s a very skinny boy with little muscle tone; as a child, he was actually a bit chubby, but when puberty hit he shot up like a tree and lost his puppy fat. He’s not very strong physically, but that’s something he’s been trying to work on lately. Despite his lack of strength, if he starts to run, chances of catching him are low: he’s very fast.
Wand Type: Redwood with a unicorn hair core, nine-and-a-half inches. Very swishy, great for Charm work.
Patronus: Reticulated giraffe.
Boggart: A giant bat.
Personality:
what they see
“Bran is an absolute angel. He never gets into any trouble at home, not like those delinquents down the block! Bran doesn’t even associate with them, he’s such a good boy. Every summer he comes home with his marks, and we pin them to our kitchen door because he’s so clever, we just want to see how smart he is every day, and he makes us so, so proud. And he has so many friends! He tells us all about them when he comes home, and tells us everything about his adventures at school and the little pranks he and his friends pull on each other, and he writes to them every morning and tells us how they are when he gets a letter back. We still haven’t met them, but I want to soon, because they sound so fun and so sweet, so very sweet. But of course they are, they’re Bran’s friends, of course they’d be darlings. He’s such a clean boy, too. I never have to tell him to tidy up his room. He always does that on his own, and it’s so pristine when he leaves for school that I barely even have to dust it. He’s got a place for everything, he’s so organised – I do hope he’s like that at school, but I’m sure he is. He must be! Now, Bran’s a little private for my liking, but he’s never done anything bad – I don’t think we’ve ever had to ground him – and it’s healthy for a growing teenage boy to have secrets. I’m sure if I searched his room enough, I’d find a stash of dirty magazines or a pack of cigarettes somewhere, but he’s going to try new things all the time, and I’d just prefer he did it in the safety of his own home than get into trouble somewhere else. But I don’t think we’ll run into any of that with him. He’s just too much of a sweetheart.”
“Bran Doherty? Oh, well… I don’t really know him. He’s just… really, really quiet, you know? He’s the type of bloke that keeps to himself. He’s the one that’s always in class before everyone else and he’s always the last to leave; I suppose he doesn’t hang around in the corridors chatting or anything, just goes straight to whatever’s next. All right, I’m going to be blunt and say that I think he’s… he’s a little bit geeky. I mean, he looks geeky, for one thing. He just… has that… that air around him, if that makes sense. I know that’s not nice, but I don’t make fun of him for it! Though I… I suppose other people might, but I haven’t seen anyone do that yet. Well, I imagine he’s smart, because I never see him in any remedial lessons or anything. I do know he’s quite good at Potions, and I think it’s because he doesn’t have to talk at all in that class. He just sits there and brews it by himself, never looking up at anyone until it’s done and he hands it in to Slughorn. It’s a little weird, if you ask me, but I guess he’s just the shy type. He doesn’t really talk to people unless he’s spoken to, from what I’ve seen. I think he’s been doing better this year because our spells have been non-verbal, so he doesn’t have to say anything aloud. Poor bloke, I think he’s really just that shy. So… I suppose he’s nice? Or he can be nice? I honestly just don’t know.”
“I don’t like him, not at all. I made a comment about his hair once back in fourth year, and he never said anything to me at all, but he just glared at me like he wanted to kill me or something. I didn’t even say anything mean, just that it looked like a shag carpet – in my defense, he wasn’t supposed to hear me. Then, a month later, I’m having breakfast and my coffee just… randomly disappears while I’m talking to Tori. I look around for it, and then suddenly it’s back right where I left it. Trust me, I looked around to see who’d taken it, but I didn’t even seen Doherty in the Great Hall at all. I thought maybe I just imagined it, so I went ahead and drank it. Not even an hour later, I couldn’t remember my name. Literally. And just my name, too. I knew my age, I knew my house, I knew I was a pureblood, I knew all sorts of things about my past and events and tiny little details, even, but I couldn’t remember my own damn name. This lasted almost a day before it wore off, but I swear I’d never been more terrified. Even when people told me, I couldn’t remember what it was – my name, I mean. I swear some sort of Forgetfulness Potion was put into my coffee, and I know it was Doherty, but I can’t prove it and he’ll never own up to it, I know that. Anyway, I haven’t said anything to or about him since, just in case.”
“Okay, Bran Doherty is a dirty little thief. Listen, I’m not one to not like people, but I definitely don’t like this kid, okay? He caught me smoking pot down by Hagrid’s hut one day before class, and told me I should put it out before I got into trouble. So here I am thinking ‘Oh shit, this kid’s gonna snitch on me’ and decide to offer him a drag – you know, see if I can get him on my side so that I don’t get in shit. Anyway, he said no and told me to put it out now because I didn’t want Hagrid to find out why there was always that funny smell around his hut, did I? So I put it out – and already I don’t like this kid at all – and we go through class, and I’m looting around in my bag afterward trying to find it so I can finish it, and the damn thing is gone. Trust me, I turned that thing inside out, and it wasn’t there at all. Fortunately, my stash was safe, but I know he stole my joint. Jerk.”
what he sees
In a world full of labels, there are a few Bran most associates to himself. “Loser”, sadly, is one of the top three. Ever since he was a kid, he was the one who was always picked last for teams, but first to get picked on. He was a chubby thing, growing up, and had wild and curly hair and huge eyebrows, which made him a quick and easy target for bullies. His self-esteem has never been high, despite his parents’ attempts to raise it. His mother constantly doted on him, and his father spoiled him with gifts, but they were just so weird and not like all the other parents that he was embarrassed of them, and their encouragement didn’t really help how he perceived himself. Often as a boy, his classmates would call him a “Freak”, and he quickly began to believe it. He knew from a young age that he was different, and not just different in that he was a wizard (his mother was a witch, so he knew about magic his whole life) but different in that his mind was different. As he grew, he realised he could remember things, from events to minor, small incidents – in great detail. The more the thought about it, the more he realised how superior his memory was. Honestly, he’d be one of the most reliable witnesses to a crime, because his details are spot-on. Because of this, he’s able to do exceptionally well on exams with multiple choice answers. However, he doesn’t do as well on essays, because he doesn’t really have a way with words even though he knows the information inside and out.
Being teased and harassed the way he was, he’s learned how to fade into the background to not be noticed. When he was younger, he used to just sit back and take it quietly. But now that he’s a teenager, he figures it’s time to move past the whole “having your head stuck in a toilet” phase, and he will fight back. Bran will never throw a punch, because he knows he’s physically not strong enough to fend for himself and he’s not reckless enough to try. He will run away and fight his battles later, usually by plotting some odd form of revenge. So far they’ve mostly been pranks – itching powder in shorts, jinxing the offending classmate so that every third word is a curse, putting Forgetfulness Potion in a drink so the bully forgot his own name – that sort of thing. But just because they’ve been fairly harmless doesn’t mean he hasn’t thought of worse punishments, he just won’t do any of them because it’d be pointless. He likes to sit back and watch how things result, and to be honest, he normally enjoys what happens. Bran feels like he has a right to, given what he puts up with. He doesn’t mind the fact that brewing a potion as a form of revenge can take a while; if he knows the result will be worth it, he can be very patient. Not to mention it catches the bully completely off-guard, which makes them more vulnerable to the effects of whatever potion they might be ingesting. Don’t expect Bran to own up to the crime if he’s ever questioned or caught, though – he definitely isn’t the sort of person who’ll accept punishment, even if it’s deserved. Of course, he’s completely different with the few friends he does have – more accurately, people who put up with him. Now, he won’t say that he’ll never say a word against them. He’s loyal, yes, but he’s not a martyr. If he has to choose between being honest and getting friends in trouble versus taking the fall for them, he’ll give them up in a heartbeat – but he will cover his tracks and have the finger of blame pointed at someone else, if he can. He’s actually quite selfish, and will save his own hide first before even thinking about getting someone else out of trouble. If you’re a Potions partner with Bran and you forgot some ingredients, you’re shit out of luck, because Bran will not share a damn thing. He looks out for himself, because as far as he’s concerned, he’s the only one who ever will.
Bran is the first to call himself a “Geek”. He loves comic books, and though he doesn’t have a particular love of learning and knowledge, he does like science and likes to combine science with magic. His hope is to one day head the Department of Experimental Magic, and be the youngest wizard in history to make some grand discovery. Despite his hobbies, Bran doesn’t have an active pursuit of knowledge; honestly, the science stuff is just for kicks (and he likes to blow things up), and making a discovery is more in the pursuit of worldwide fame and acknowledgment rather than a desire for knowledge. He knows that one day, he’ll look back on people who bullied him in school and laugh because his annual income is at least three times their own and he’s a more successful person than they’ll ever be. He wants to be famous someday, not in a cheap celebrity gossip way but famous for what he’s done. He wants to be wealthy and he wants to be in charge. Basically, Bran wants all the things in adulthood he doesn’t have while growing up. If that means he has to be a Geek, then so be it. He’s also, secretly, a bit of a romantic. He has a number of romantic poems and sonnets memorised to one day recite to the girl of his dreams, if he can ever find her and work up the courage to get his tongue to work right. Because Bran isn’t as in touch with his emotions as “normal” people, he often over-dramatizes how he feels in the love department. He interprets any crush he develops as true love and often pines over the girl from a distance, growing increasingly jealous and possessive over her even though he never takes any action. Bran is terrified of rejection, so much so that he doesn’t even try. As well, his feelings for girls thus far have always been superficial: based on looks, or how her laugh sounds, or if she has a particular talent, more than who the girl really is.
But hey, in his opinion, if no one is going to look past his surface level, he isn’t going to waste time looking past theirs.
Likes:
+potions
+solitude
+comics
+winter
+romance
Dislikes:
–springtime allergies
–toilet water
–his hair
–sports
–group projects
History:
Seamus Doherty was absolutely bored with his life.
For one thing, he worked in a box factory. Making boxes. Absolutely thrilling job. Several years ago, the plan had been to earn enough money to get a proper education. But he got too comfortable at the job he was at, and stayed, and got raises and one promotion, and now he was stuck and he was bored. When he was a kid, he’d wanted to be a paleontologist. He had a fierce love of dinosaurs and wanted to learn all he could about them. As he grew older, he developed a taste for adventure, and decided that perhaps archaeology could be more exciting than paleontology. He wanted to travel the world and make discoveries and have his life be something exciting, not... not this. But, there was nothing he could really do about it. Sure, he was making good enough money so that he could live off it comfortably, but he wasn’t making enough money that he’d be rich enough to quit and go travel any time soon.
Along came Polly.
Her name, when she introduced herself, was Lady Pollyanna. She travelled – for a living! – with a small carnival, and she was their resident psychic. She also, Seamus noticed, was the assistant in the magic show. She was beautiful and funny and strange and Seamus was sure that he fell in love with her right then and there, and wasn’t even scared when she pulled him onstage to be a volunteer for a trick because she actually grabbed his hand. Now, Seamus had an open mind, so he always liked to believe that things like magic existed and wasn’t just a trick of the light, but even he was alarmed when the magician turned his arms into vines for a few seconds. But when he blinked, his arms were back, and whatever happened hadn’t hurt. He decided to go with it and continued to stare in awe at Lady Pollyanna.
That night, there was a raid on the carnival. Seamus rushed over as soon as he read the headline, and saw that everyone had packed up and left, leaving behind anything too damaged by fire to take with them. While firemen worked at putting out some leftover flames, Seamus heard a small cry for help and ran to see who or what it was. As he feared, it was Lady Pollyanna, who was pinned under a heavy pile of wood. She took Seamus’s hand, and asked him to get her wand because it was just out of her reach. Seamus had been confused and initially refused, saying it was more important to get the wood off, but Polly stopped him and assured him that all she needed was her wand. Obediently, Seamus grabbed the stick she was indicating and handed it to her. She flicked her wrist, and suddenly the boards lifted off her just enough for her to wiggle out from under them. Seamus stared, wondering if it was a trick, but she looked at him very seriously and asked him not to tell anyone what just happened. Seamus obeyed.
Polly was… strange. Oh, Seamus loved her with all his heart, but she just had strange ideas sometimes that seemed a little too out-there. She never ate meat, for one thing, or anything that came from an animal – not even cheese! And she always wanted to try things from different cultures, even buying their clothes and wearing them. In one case, trying something like that meant wearing no clothes at all – at least, not in the house, or in the communities where nudity was allowed. Seamus had to admit he kind-of liked that one a little.
A few months into their relationship, Polly got pregnant. Seamus offered to marry her, since he planned on it someday anyway, but Polly just smiled and said “they would know when they were to get married”. Seamus figured bringing a child into the world was a pretty big sign, but Polly seemed so certain that now wasn’t the right time that he shut his trap and didn’t argue. Anyway, they were happy together, married or no. Their only child, a son, was born on 31 May, 1961, and they named him Brennan Cillian Doherty.
Bran – as he preferred to be called – was always a quiet child, and often bullied at school because of strange things that would happen around him. Seamus would always defend him to his teachers, saying they couldn’t possibly believe a little boy could make chalk brushes fly off the board or make a fellow student’s fingernails grow abnormally long in just over an hour. Although it certainly was Bran behind it, no one had any idea how to explain it – except for Polly, who told Seamus and Bran in private that she was a witch, a real witch, and that Bran was a wizard and showing signs of accidental magic. Seamus took a few moments to process the information before accepting it, and simply settled for being a little jealous at being so ordinary.
Bran loved his parents, even though they were different from the other mums and dads. His mum was especially strange, always going on about auras and tea leaves and strangeness like that. They went through a whole year where she was convinced there was some sort of ghost in the house and that it was possessing her. Bran was fascinated with the paranormal, but he didn’t think this was possession. Still, his dad arranged an exorcism, and Polly believed she was ‘cured’. Polly doted on her son constantly, showering him with love and affection, and Seamus – who, in the years that had passed, received several promotions and pay raises – bought him enough gifts to overfill two toy chests. But neither of them could give Bran what he really wanted: a friend. When he got his letter to Hogwarts, he hoped it’d be a fresh start for him. No one would call him a freak, because they were all freaks too.
But even at Hogwarts, he was different. He’s learned to accept that he’ll always be different, and has to settle for learning how to be better than everyone else. He wants a better future than the thickheads who picked on him, and wants to be their boss someday so he can bully them the way they bullied him – minus, maybe, dunking their heads into a toilet. He wants a lot of things, really. He just has to work for them.
Sample Post: next time.
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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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