CHARACTER INFORMATIONCharacter name: Marlen Maxinus Gaskell
Previous and/or Current Character(s) if applicable: Matilda Gaskell, Michon Dubois
Character age: Thirty-Two
Character education: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Gryffindor) – Class of 1959
Auror – 1959 to 1964; 1967 to present
Hit Wizard – 1967 to present
Strength and weaknesses (details please):Marlen is a werewolf, which in itself should say enough. While he has heightened senses and intuition, he must also combat excessive tiredness, mood swings, and headaches. His transformation cycle often interferes with any chance his body and mind have of feeling normal. This can block many of Marlen's human interactions and can rattle his ability to perform properly the few days following his transformation. However, there is none better than Marlen Gaskell in his area of expertise. He is particularly skilled in defensive spells and transformation (areas his condition has only heightened), and is considered to be a well-rounded warlock by his peers. His ability to capture the most notorious dark wizards quickly and efficiently has kept him in favour with the Ministry, though they keep a rather close eye on him. This constant judgment angers him as he feels he is not trusted by those he fights to protect, and Marlen has been known to get rather testy when he feels he is being unfairly attacked by another person.
Physical description:6'2'', chestnut brown hair, Gaskell brown eyes. Has distinctive scars from transformation on chest, legs, left forearm, and underneath chin. Normally wears dark clothing.
Personality (nice, rude, funny etc. Paragraph please.):Depending on who he is interacting with, Marlen is an incredibly kind individual. He tends to compartmentalize his emotions into different categories. The most loving are restricted to his family members and closest friends. The least are the rotten higher-ups he finds himself dealing with frequently. In between lie the neutral; co-workers, strangers, distant relations, family acquaintances, and old school friends. He tries to act as cordially as possible with everyone as he was bred to believe that gentlemanly behavior is a necessity rather than a commodity. However, this often leads to awkward interactions, most especially because Marlen can usually deduce what another person is thinking just by looking at them. He can be shy. He is often closed off and introverted. But he tries his best to be completely fair to everyone, and prides himself at being helpfully honest when necessary.
Hopes and dreams. Why are you teaching at Hogwarts?:Marlen wants to teach at Hogwarts for many reasons. Firstly, he wants to make sure students are fully prepared for what may come in times ahead in an unbiased (and free) way. Secondly, he's come to realize that with a little bit of knowledge, even the youngest witch or wizard can make a huge impact. He loved his Hogwarts days. Nothing made him happier than mastering new spells and learning more about something he feels privileged to be a part of. And even in his jaded heart, Marlen still believes that every growing wizard and witch should feel such love for school.
Biography (500 words minimum. There is never such a thing as too much.):Marlen Maximus Gaskell was born underneath the sun.
The youngest child to Dame Mathilda Gaskell and her husband Sir Maxim Gaskell, he grew up with two elder brothers and a house-full of servants ready to catch and roll with his every whim and wish. Privilege suited the youngest Gaskell. Marlen found as he grew older that he could push limits without getting caught. Sliding down the banister became child's play for him at age five. He moved on to more daring ventures (such as hiding at the top of the family's fifteen-foot Christmas tree during a holiday rendition of hide-and-seek) which gave his parents aches and pains they never experience with Matthew or Marcus. Even his elder brothers found it hard to keep up with the small wild child. But he was lovable for his hyperactivity, and he secretly stole the spot of favourite in the heart of each family member.
Moving to Hogwarts only added to Marlen's growing personality. He followed brothers who were extremely well-liked and well-behaved. While he found it easy to be the former, it was the latter that gave him a difficult time. Marlen found himself in detention as much as he was on the dueling block. As a dueling champion in every year of his schooling at Hogwarts, he discovered the area he excelled in. Matthew always did well in Charms, Marcus found his footing in Potions, and Marlen proved his worth in defensive spells. By the end of his seventh year Marlen was a favourite in the hearts of his professors and classmates. While both Matthew and Marcus retreated to office jobs in the Ministry, a different branch reached out to offer Marlen a career.
By 1960 Marlen Gaskell was a young and promising Auror for the Ministry of Magical Defense. He proved exceptionally talented in transfiguring spells and methods of attack. What was most impressive, however, was his ability to read and interpret patterns of behavior in dark wizards. It made Marlen different from those around him attempting to understand why evil occurred in the wizarding world.
Perhaps, this was what made Marlen's fate all the worse.
On October 7th, 1964, Marlen Gaskell was captured by the notorious group
Les Batons Noir in Southern France while on a raid with his unit of Aurors. They took him as ransom for some of their own who were prisoners in Azkaban and tortured him for days on end. The last act of torture was administered by Victoire Lefrenan, a werewolf aligned with the terrorist organization, who managed to bite Marlen before Aurors discovered the group's location.
Marlen died in that moment and became the man he is today: distant, focused, and subdued. At intervals he becomes his old self with those he is most comfortable with. The list is far too small. His family and best friend Dr. Gregorith Watson are his only real connections in the wizarding world. It took him three years to come back to his position at the Ministry
only after a gut-wrenching interview with the Wizengamot. He was given back his job in an altered form – he would work as a Hit Wizard, going after the darkest criminals to bring them back under justice.
His new position has made him feel more valued, but with a cost.
Marlen wants his humanity back.
SAMPLE ROLEPLAY(Please respond to to this in third person past tense. Do not write the other characters' reactions. Only your own.) The water by the lakeshore rippled, dark under the overcast sky, and thick with moss growth. Ripples grew into small waves, spreading in concentric circles that sloshed against the rocks and sent a small family of mice living in a rotted out log above the waterline scurrying for cover.
And then the lake exploded.
A fountain erupted, splattering muddy water and assorted bits of lake bottom. Something very, very large thrashed and roiled, tentacles slapping wildly at the surface.
Elizabeth despised the squid, and more importantly, she disapproved of it. It was disorderly. Truth be told, she was the sort of woman who disapproved of a great many things, the disorderly ones most particularly. A tall, severe woman in her forties who never smiled, Elizabeth was so parsimonious with praise that it was said that if good will could be saved up she'd be sitting on a pile of it like dragon over a horde. The school's Headmistress was very good at disapproval.
Brown water flowed in a tent around her upraised wand, blocked by an invisible umbrella.
“He has a cold again!” Pythagorea Proud, the school’s much-harried Deputy Headmistress fussed, as she shook a spatter of mud off of her arm. She hadn’t been as quick with her wand work.
“He won’t take his medicine. We’ve been trying all morning. Someone is going to have to deal with him!”Arms folded, the tip of Elizabeth’s pointed black and very sensible shoe tapped against the rocky bank. She glanced over at their newest Professor, her expression thoughtful. “You’ll do,” she offered flatly, her tone leaving little room for argument. This was going to prove to be a very different sort of interview...
Roleplay Response:There was chaos on the grounds of Hogwarts, but it was not any student causing the fuss.
"The Giant Squid?" Marlen muttered, squinting as flecks of mud bounced away from the invisible shield emitting from his wand.
"The squid has a cold and gets the entire staff out before breakfast. How things have not changed."He heard Pythagora yelling something about the medicine that the squid refused to take, and the next thing he knew Birch's cold eyes turned nonchalantly toward Marlen. There was something about the gaze of the older woman that made Marlen uneasy. He couldn't make sense of it. The stare of ominous villains did nothing to deter him, but Elizabeth Birch-Hurst straightened him up in a matter of seconds.
"You'll do."It wasn't a question or an offer. It was an order.
"Of course," Marlen nodded, moving forward in the drenched grass though he had no clue what he would do. The flying sprays of muddy brown water became thicker with every step toward the lashing squid. Gigantic tentacles became evident in the lashes of water.
Alright. One moody squid, apparently suffering a cold, with a bit of a…mucus problem. He hates his medicine. That much is obvious if he doesn't want to take it. Funny that they wouldn't figure out he would much rather take pills than liquid. Or a spell. Hmmm… He would have to act quickly. Once he performed the next spell, the water would become his center for the minutes it took to settle itself. Marlen stretched his arm as far as he could toward the hideous body of the creature of the lake.
I hate fish."Immobulus!"The dirt water fell hard on top of his head and knocked his feet out from underneath him. Outside of Marlen, the fountains and sprays of brown liquid ended and dropped to the grounds surrounding the lake, rolling back through the grass covered bank. The Squid had stopped his movements. Rather horrifically, the massive tentacles of the grayish creature covered in ounces of slime stretched out from the top of the lake while its head began to sink back beneath the roaring waves of the once-quite lake. Those standing by stepped forward in concern as they realized the newest professor did not stand on the bank as he had been ten seconds before.
A silent moment passed filled only with sloshing water.
"Argh!" Marlen groaned as he broke the surface of the lake. He floated nearly thirty-feet away from where he'd been standing, having been swept into the lake by the waters returning to it.
Good thing I took a swimming course, he thought dryly. Treading water was no easy feat, especially when a gigantic creature sank to the depths of the lake only inches away.
"Accio medicine!"Marlen lifted his hand just in time to catch the whizzing bottle of
Cold-be-Goneth. The crystal vial was nearly the size of his forearm, but weighed next to nothing.
Light-weight. Easy to smash. Probably…dissolvable. He could feel the twitching of the tentacles as the freezing spell began to wear off. Poising his arm in a perfect arch, he chucked the medicine directly at the slimy skull of the squid. It landed and exploded with a satisfying puff of blue smoke.
"Feel better big guy. Try to take care of yourself next time."
I'll get those class plans out to you asap!
