Alizarin Medraut Application

[Alizarin Medraut]

The Basics
Name: Alizarin Medraut (the only nickname he will answer to is “Zarin” and hates the nickname “Ali”)
Former Character's Name:

Character Details
House Request:
     Slytherin would best suit his personality, in my opinion. He has few acquaintances and even fewer friends. Those that know him would claim him to be either emotionless or a robot. While he did well in school, he viewed knowledge to be nothing more than a means to an end. Acts of altruism are rare from him unless he perceives a potential gain for himself and he will see any pact or deal through to the end (though woe betide any who do not uphold their side of the bargain). The only thing he will not do to uphold his side of a bargain or to pursue a goal is physical harm though that has less to do with avoiding violence as much as the risk there is of somebody drawing blood (curses and blackmail are fair game).

Year:
First year (preferred)
Second year

Bloodline:
Halfblood

Magical Strength:
Conjuring and Summoning

Magical Weakness:
Divination

Biography:
     His family is a disjointed one. His father left about five years after he had been born, leaving him with his mother, older sister, and younger brother. Times were hard and his mother struggled to keep the family together, let alone fed and clothed, so it was from this period in his life that he gained much of his characteristic quietness and independence; after all, the quieter he was, the easier it was for him to steal. Three years ago, on his eighth birthday, his father returned. With him came a gambling addiction and a tendency to bring home homeless bums in search for a night’s rest. The family’s already strained budget could not handle the additions and it was not long before both of Alizarin’s siblings succumbed to sickness and died, the family having been unable to afford good food (even with help from his mother’s small box garden), the necessary medicine, or doctoral care to help them. Though he too had been ill, he had recovered with only minor damage to his nervous system (he’s uncoordinated, his sense of feeling is duller than most, and both hand and legs tend to tremble uncontrollably when he’s excited or under extreme stress). Even at the age of ten, he took his recovery and siblings’ deaths in stride, viewing it as simply another of the many things humans do. His father, on the other hand, took it badly, convinced that he had been the one to bring about his childrens’ deaths. Five months before his eleventh birthday, Alizarin came home from school to find his father muttering strange things under his breath and waving around a small wooden stick. He wasn’t noticed, so he didn’t mention it as he snuck into his room. It did, however, pique his curiosity and he spent many sleepless nights rooting through his father’s “desk” and reading the books he found there. One month later, and his mother had finally had enough and chased his father out of the house once more. He ignored his father’s plea to come with him and instead remained with his mother until the day a strange letter came in the mail...

Additional Information
Personality:
     Alizarin is quiet, preferring to communicate with others through hand gestures and facial expressions than words. He isn’t shy, but he keeps to himself. He doesn’t care much for others, simply not understanding them very well. He seems self-centered, but that’s only because he has little to no empathy for others and is motivated entirely by his own interests. Some might consider him to be a psychopath, but he doesn’t have the destructive needs that it requires. He is manipulative, especially for his own gain, and often sees people more like figures or tools than actual people. There are certain people, especially his mother, that he will obey without question. Teachers, he respects as “distributors of knowledge” but nothing more. He has a sense of entitlement along the belief that, if you can’t protect it, it was never yours in the first place. While he would never go out of his way to steal anything, if it’s there, he will not hesitate to take it with him. On the flipside, that means he doesn’t care much when others take items from him, though, it should be noted, he gets extremely possessive over his sweets. He is willing, all exaggerations aside, to fight tooth and nail over any (perceived) threats to his stash of candy. It is not uncommon then, for his pockets to be filled with wrappers of all kinds and has gotten into the habit of bartering Chocolate Frog cards in return for quills, extra ink, or more candy.

     He goes through life merely observing things, and because of his lack of interaction with others he has a more “innocent” view on things (innocent being a relative term here, he understands how people work, but not why), finding joy in the more natural sides of magic. He has an especially strong rapport with plants, having spent hours reading about them and spending time in his mother’s garden (though magic plants, he has found, are completely different from what he is used to). He has a forgetful nature and will often forget to eat, sleep, or shower when pursuing whatever his current goal is. Once he has one in mind, he will stop at nothing until he finally reaches it. He loves wintertime and the cold and will often be found wandering around in the snow wearing nothing but shorts and a t-shirt (it is only due to his mother that he has not yet suffered from hypothermia or frostbite). While he doesn’t like interacting with people, that isn’t to say that he doesn’t like being noticed by people. If asked, he’ll say that he dyed his hair green out of a sense of unity to the plants that he so adores and will refuse to believe it to be the call for attention it really is. Due to reasons he himself doesn’t really understand, he has intense haemophobia to the point that even the sight of red paint, if at just the right hue, will push him into a panic attack. The very thought of being in Gryffindor terrifies him for this very reason.

Appearance:
     Alizarin has green hair. Not even his mother is quite sure how he managed that. If asked, he’ll say that he bleached it with lemon juice in the sunlight then dyed it with boiled spinach water, but then, he also says that he can speak to cats and his emotionless tone of voice makes it hard to tell when he’s being sarcastic or not. He’s thin from too many days going without meals and has permanent dark circles under his eyes from insomnia and a tendency to forget to go to sleep. The illness that damaged his nervous system two years ago had stunted his growth so now he stands a good four inches below average height.

Sample Roleplay:
Option I
    Alizarin jerked back, clearly surprised by the outburst. He gave a shrug and walked past the mournful boy, but paused and glanced back at James from the corner of his eyes. He glanced up at the ceiling, clearly debating with himself. He came to a decision and dug his hands through his bag. He turned around and took a picture with the camera he had unearthed. He ignored the older boy, carefully replacing the camera in its case. Once finished, he held out a small package of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans and, looking James straight in the eye, told him: “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but when would you like a copy of the photo?”

[Meriwether Throckmorton]

Hey Alizarin! Welcome to Hogwarts!

There's just one thing, before we can approve your application:

- We don't allow unnatural hair color without administrator permission. Is having green hair very important to Alizarin's character?

Please consider revision You're very close to having your application accepted!

Thanks!
Meriwether

[Alizarin Medraut]

     Green hair isn’t an integral part of his personality but only in the sense that it isn’t something he’s really aware of. As a child, he was vaguely aware that green plants were good and it soon became his job to take care of the small box garden his mother had. Thus began his fascination with plants and, eventually, the color green. With his mother as busy as she was, his natural tendency to distance himself from his peers, and inclination towards sneaking around, he never really got the attention he needed and his want for attention manifested itself in other ways - in this case, his hair. Over the years, he had experimented with different things, from shaving his head entirely, to growing it out and intentionally tangling bits of garbage into it. The green hair is merely his latest faze. Hopefully, as he learns to grow more social and accepting of people, his subconscious need for attention will finally be filled and he’ll be willing to let his (naturally brown) hair grow out. (In other words, it’s something that should go away if things go well).

[Esme Vartan]

Hey Alizarin! Welcome to the site.

As Meriwether said, we don't allow hair or eye colors not found in nature. Based on your explanation, however, I could see this working one of two ways:

1.) Alizarin has green hair and is required to magically alter it before attending Hogwarts (as Hogwarts is a conservative school and would not look kindly upon neon colors)

2.) Alizarin opts to color his hair green magically, when in fact it is a color found in nature.

We're all for playing out your character's development, but I can't imagine Hogwarts looking kindly on a student with such a radical color choice. Let me know if either of these options work for you, or if you'd like to revise your application differently.

Thanks!
Esme

[Alizarin Medraut]

   I apologize for the confusion on my part and I think I would like to go with the first option. If I have interpreted it correctly, I believe you are saying that Alizarin’s hair is naturally green? If so, then I think it would be the dark, nearly black green I had first imagined, though, as mentioned in his appearance section, he had attempted to lighten it into a blond by bleaching it with lemon juice. Unfortunately, it only made his hair a neon green (much as you had imagined it). It would still be something that he had done subconsciously for attention (changes in physical appearance, if drastic enough, tend to catch most peoples’ attentions) and after the bleaching he found he was rather pleased with the garish shade. With his personality, it would be believable to think of him as spouting half-truths to those who seek answers from him - especially if he does not know that person well. In accordance with Hogwart’s dress code, he is willing to have his hair magically altered back to to its dark, nearly black hue.

[Arnaud Gaudet]

Hi, Alizarin!

The idea would be that he comes to school with a perfectly normal hair colour. Maybe naturally it is a strange colour, but it would not appear to be so at Hogwarts, it would look black, brown, red, blonde, a normal human colour.

The primary reason for this is that we consider things like this to be special requests. We like to see people play out characters on the site for a couple of terms so we can get an idea of how they will handle things like this, and make sure that it wouldn't be used in place of other character development. Down the road, you might be able to request that Alizarin's hair show up as the unusual colour at Hogwarts, and if you've invested enough time in the character and added to the site with you're roleplaying it could change then.

[Kiyohime Ryuujin]

My apologies for barging into this thread unannounced, but I've been helping Alizarin out with accommodating the unique hair color to the Hogwarts uniform code.

Esme's response was rather confusing and I would like to clarify it. So you are saying, even with naturally green hair, Alizarin would be required to dye it into what is considered a natural color by human standards? I have no idea what Option 2 means.

I think Alizarin did a good job of explaining why he has green hair. If we start out with him having normal colored hair, then we miss a key character transformation in terms of physical traits as Alizarin learns to be come more socially accepting of others.

The question remains: Is there a possible circumstance that would allow Alizarin to go to Hogwarts with a naturally dark green hair color, or it not allowed with a new character period?

[Alizarin Medraut]

I mean no disrespect to anyone but, at this point in time, I think it best for me to "throw in the towel," so to speak. Personal preference must give way to school (and Mod) rules, and while I would have liked to have a physical way to portray a part of Alizarin's personality that he refuses to acknowledge and would never intentionally show through his actions, this has grown to be too much of a hassle. Let us instead say that, at some point in time before being accepted to Hogwarts, Alizarin had green hair. Whether it was natural or dyed I leave entirely to personal interpretation. For all intents and purposes Alizarin has black hair and will continue to have black hair unless some sort of outside incident occurs that states otherwise.
I apologize for any inconvenience I, or my character, have caused.

[Esme Vartan]

Please post your revised application and we'll take another look.

[Alizarin Medraut]

THE BASICS
Name: Alizarin Medraut (the only nickname he will answer to is “Zarin” and hates the nickname “Ali”)
Former Character's Name (if you had one):

CHARACTER DETAILS
House Request:
     Slytherin would best suit his personality, in my opinion, though I am sure he would do well in Ravenclaw. He has few acquaintances and even fewer friends. Those that know him would claim him to be either emotionless or a robot. While he did well in school, he viewed knowledge to be nothing more than a means to an end. Acts of altruism are rare from him unless he perceives a potential gain for himself and he will see any pact or deal through to the end (though woe betide any who do not uphold their side of the bargain). The only thing he will not do to uphold his side of a bargain or to pursue a goal is physical harm – though that has less to do with avoiding violence as much as the risk there is of somebody drawing blood (curses and blackmail are considered fair game).

Year: 
First year (preferred)
Second year

Bloodline:
Halfblood

Magical Strength (pick one):
Conjuring & Summoning

Magical Weakness (pick one):
Divination

Biography:
     His family is a disjointed one. His father left about five years after he had been born, leaving him with his mother, older sister, and younger brother. Times were hard and his mother struggled to keep the family together, let alone fed and clothed, so it was from this period in his life that he gained much of his characteristic quietness and independence; after all, the quieter he was, the easier it was for him to steal. Three years ago, on his eighth birthday, his father returned. With him came a gambling addiction and a tendency to bring home homeless bums in search for a night’s rest. The family’s already strained budget could not handle the additions and it was not long before both of Alizarin’s siblings succumbed to sickness and died, the family having been unable to afford good food (even with help from his mother’s small box garden), the necessary medicine, or doctoral care to help them. Though he too had been ill, he had recovered with only minor damage to his nervous system (he’s uncoordinated, his sense of feeling is duller than most, and both hand and legs tend to tremble uncontrollably when he’s excited or under extreme stress). Even at the age of ten, he took his recovery and siblings’ deaths in stride, viewing it as simply another of the many things humans do. His father, on the other hand, took it badly, convinced that he had been the one to bring about his childrens’ deaths. Five months before his eleventh birthday, Alizarin came home from school to find his father muttering strange things under his breath and waving around a small wooden stick. He wasn’t noticed, so he didn’t mention it as he snuck into his room. It did, however, pique his curiosity and he spent many sleepless nights rooting through his father’s “desk” and reading the books he found there. One month later, and his mother had finally had enough and chased his father out of the house once more. He ignored his father’s plea to come with him and instead remained with his mother until the day a strange letter came in the mail...

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Personality:
     Alizarin is quiet, preferring to communicate with others through hand gestures and facial expressions than words. He isn’t shy, but he keeps to himself. He doesn’t care much for others, simply not understanding them very well. He seems self-centered, but that’s only because he has little to no empathy for others and is motivated entirely by his own interests. Some might consider him to be a psychopath, but he doesn’t have the destructive needs that it requires. He is manipulative, especially for his own gain, and often sees people more like figures or tools than actual people. There are certain people, especially his mother, that he will obey without question. Teachers, he respects as “distributors of knowledge” but nothing more. He has a sense of entitlement along the belief that, if you can’t protect it, it was never yours in the first place. While he would never go out of his way to steal anything, if it’s there, he will not hesitate to take it with him. On the flipside, that means he doesn’t care much when others take items from him, though, it should be noted, he gets extremely possessive over his sweets. He is willing, all exaggerations aside, to fight tooth and nail over any (perceived) threats to his stash of candy. It is not uncommon then, for his pockets to be filled with wrappers of all kinds and has gotten into the habit of bartering Chocolate Frog cards in return for quills, extra ink, or more candy.

 He goes through life merely observing things, and because of his lack of interaction with others he has a more “innocent” view on things (innocent being a relative term here, he understands how people work, but not why), finding joy in the more natural sides of magic. He has an especially strong rapport with plants, having spent hours reading about them and spending time in his mother’s garden (though magic plants, he has found, are completely different from what he is used to). He has a forgetful nature and will often forget to eat, sleep, or shower when pursuing whatever his current goal is. Once he has one in mind, he will stop at nothing until he finally reaches it. He loves wintertime and the cold and will often be found wandering around in the snow wearing nothing but shorts and a t-shirt (it is only due to his mother that he has not yet suffered from hypothermia or frostbite). While he doesn’t like interacting with people, that isn’t to say that he doesn’t like being noticed by people. He adores cats and will often speak to them both in private and public. He also claims to be able to understand cats, but whether or not this is true (it isn't) is debatable. He tends to answer questions with half-truths, especially if the question is on a personal matter, and his emotionless tone of voice often makes it hard to tell when he is being sarcastic, joking, or sincere. Due to reasons he himself doesn’t really understand, he has intense haemophobia to the point that even the sight of red paint, if at just the right hue, will push him into a panic attack. The thought of being in Gryffindor terrifies him for this very reason.

Appearance:
     Alizarin has black hair and brown eyes. He’s thin from too many days going without meals and has permanent dark circles under his eyes from insomnia and a tendency to forget to go to sleep. The illness that damaged his nervous system two years ago had stunted his growth so now he stands a good four inches below average height. He is meticulous about his appearance whenever he remembers to take care of himself, but usually goes around the school in unkempt, if not dirty, clothes.

SAMPLE ROLEPLAY
Option I:
     Alizarin jerked back, clearly surprised by the outburst. He gave a shrug and walked past the mournful boy, but paused and glanced back at James from the corner of his eyes. He glanced up at the ceiling, clearly debating with himself. He came to a decision and dug his hands through his bag. He turned around and took a picture with the camera he had unearthed. He ignored the older boy, carefully replacing the camera in its case. Once finished, he held out a small package of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans and, looking James straight in the eye, told him: “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but when would you like a copy of the photo?”

[Esme Vartan]

Mr. Medraut,

Congratulations, your application to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has been accepted.

Term begins 01 May. Currently, students have gathered at the Summer Campus. Your admission is joint for both the school and the summer campus, and we encourage you to spend your summer there. Should you choose, you may also visit our Elsewhere board via the Floo Network to visit or purchase school supplies. We look forward to seeing you at the Castle.

Regards,

Head of Ravenclaw