CHARACTER INFORMATIONCharacter name: Abel Dstrazio
Previous and/or Current Character(s) if applicable: Casper Baines, Michael Albear
Character age: 25
Character education: Homeschooled
Strength and weaknesses (details please): Abel has a large amount of patience and the ability to adapt to situations quickly. He enjoys sharing knowledge with others and finds teaching to be one of his favourite things to do. Though it would depend on one’s opinion of whether it would be his weakness or strength, Abel cares for all of the students that he tutors and would do everything he could to help them, even if it means putting himself at risk.
His biggest weakness is of course his blindness and the constant discomfort he lives through. He often has moments where he becomes closed off, very prone to avoiding touch and likely to become slightly irritable even though it may not be as bad as he actually feels it is. When in a bad mood, he does have a vindictive streak; once he dislikes someone he will give them chance and chance again but he will make it harder for them to redeem themselves every time.
Abel struggles with wand movements on occasion, and thanks to the smells often putting him off, he also struggles with potions.
Physical description: Abel was lucky that his blue eyes appear as normal as possible despite the accident and his blindness, giving him the opportunity to appear as someone with normal eyesight at first-impression. His dark hair is very well-kept.
Due to his condition, Abel tends to dress so that he is covered from the neck down; his clothing includes long-sleeved shirts, jackets, trousers, gloves and sometimes even turtleneck shirts if he can't find a scarf. He always likes to dress nicely, preferring to appear presentable in an effort to hide the things that are wrong with him. Though he doesn't look at people for their ‘book cover’, he knows that others do. He does sometimes, when in a new place, allow himself the aid of a long umbrella as a walking stick to suitably guide his way through corridors.
Personality (nice, rude, funny etc. Paragraph please.): Abel likes to believe that he behaves like a gentleman: polite, sweet and as helpful as he can be. Due to his disability, he is often very determined to succeed. However, when he does get caught in the undercurrent of his circumstances, it is very rare that he will show it until he reaches the privacy of his office or home. He likes to tease though, sly in his way of playing pranks. Abel believes in fun and play but that might be because he isn’t too worried about who he meets; he believes that people should work hard and play harder. One’s personality is all that matters and their looks are just a bonus.
Hopes and dreams. Why are you teaching at Hogwarts?: Abel finds teaching a great joy. His greatest hobby is the study of languages and spells that don’t exactly follow the norm. He finds it fascinating that words hold great power and even more so with runes. His dream so to speak is to be able to pass on his great knowledge, to be able to communicate and ‘see’ the world in so many different ways and through many other perspectives; to him that includes different cultures that can be shown through language and knowledge.
He also wants to give hope if possible to those that have their own problems, to teach them that things can get better, and if he can help students find hope in themselves then he finds that his life if worth living.
Biography (500 words minimum. There is never such a thing as too much.): Abel was born to a family that held no real lineage aside from their name and the knowledge that they were pure of blood. Abel’s mother and father, though they may have known of the family’s past, refused to utter any words on the matter. It was those secrets and the knowledge that they were purebloods that saw their family on a comfortably large set of land in the countryside, with a comfortable house and a farm to work off of.
Their land lacked the extremist rules that filtered from the city, and instead the family was brought up on the ideals of God. To be kind to those around you, to turn the other cheek, and to not commit violence on anyone. This, however, did not mean that they were very soft on their children; Abel and his brother Cain were brought up with the freedom to be themselves but with the discipline that would curb any bad behaviours.
Within the family, Abel was born a healthy baby boy, and was not long after followed by his younger brother, Cain.
The two grew up happy and at first, the two brothers got on well. But as they grew, Cain became jealous of Abel. Unfortunately, the elder boy knew nothing of these feelings. The reason was never really brought to light, but whatever had turned his sweet memories into bitter nightmares of his older brother would cost young Abel his sight.
At the tender age of 8, Cain’s jealousy took a turn for the worse. Upset and with strong feelings of having somehow been wronged by his brother, he felt more and more that Abel had received something he had wanted. Cain, with untrained magic fueled by these emotions, had lashed out in anger in a blast that harmed both of the brothers: the end result left Abel blind with no physical marks or signs, and Cain with a mark from the backlash of his accidental magic.
This event caused the family to split internally; the brothers no longer spent time with one another, Cain refused to so much as look at his brother, and Abel began learning how to live life without his primary sense. Shortly after, Cain was sent to a boarding school while Abel stayed home to be homeschooled and continue adjusting to his new life.
Cain ran away at the first chance he could, as Abel was left to face entirely new struggles.
Slowly, Abel started to develop a form of fibromyalgia that included all three versions of allodynia. On good days, this left him in discomfort with anything he touched, including the clothes he wore on his back. On bad days, it left him in utter agony with very little comfort to be found. During his ‘flares’ he could not even be held by his mother - the touch was often too painful to bear. The sun, baths, noises, and even
tastes caused him discomfort, and even sleep became a nightmare during these intense episodes.
Though his condition became worse gradually, his mother managed to help him find ways to cope with the pain that did not lead to a reliance on man-made medicines or other unorthodox methods of pain relief. This is a day to day struggle for Abel, however, even as an adult, as he always faces temptation to try other methods.
None of this stopped him from becoming the self-sufficient man that he is today: a blind man that refuses ask for help or to use a cane unless desperate, and who uses his gift in magic in every way possible to lead a normal life. He does, however, try to cover himself thoroughly in his clothing to help ease the brush of people against him in crowded areas and to ease the sun’s rays (and possibly because he has been told once it looked rather interesting to the eye). His clothing tends to be fully made from cotton or silks, since these seem to hurt him the least.
He has become a rather experienced linguist, and is fluent in many tongues as a result of his interesting hobby of studying languages.
The only aid he will allow himself aside from his magic is a Fallow deer named Delilah, whom he found as a fawn, orphaned thanks to either the war or a hunting accident. His familiar was found when he left his family to live in London, where he became a tutor for hire for many wealthy families (including the Albears). Now, he is looking to teach at Hogwarts, to impart knowledge as a professor and to teach young minds what it means to be strong.
Though he has worked for an interesting new start on life since the accident that left him blind, he still hopes that he will get to see Cain again someday. Abel has his suspicions, however, that his brother fights on the wrong side of the war.
SAMPLE ROLEPLAY(Please respond to to this in third person past tense. Do not write the other characters' reactions. Only your own.) It was the largest office in Hogwarts and, perhaps to students and newcomers, the most intimidating. The shelves were filled with various odds and ends, with a place of honor for the Sorting Hat, and the walls held all the portraits of past Headmasters and Headmistresses.
In the middle of the room sat a large desk. Everything was in order, for the current occupant had always despised a messy desk. It was the sign of a messy mind, and she had always favored neatness.
A clock sat on the desk, which currently showed the time to be 2:05. The meeting was supposed to begin at 2:00 precisely.
Along with order, Anneka valued punctuality. She was a very busy woman these days. Even during the summer, she had a number of matters to attend to. Interviewing and hiring staff was only of those matters. The newest potential member of her staff wasn't making a good impression.
She paced the room, black heels clicking against the stone floor. When the door finally opened, Anneka turned, her expression reminiscent of a Russian winter. "You are
late."
Explain yourself was what her face said.
Roleplay Response:Ah…
He was late.
Abel had planned ahead, knew that this place was new and therefore a maze of darkness, smell and sounds. It made him terribly nervous and thanks to that his familiar, Delilah had grown agitated with the constant squeeze of fur on her back.
As he walked, counted the steps, tapped his umbrella to the floor occasionally, the pointed tip clicking on stone and left a reminder embedded to the walls to remind the man where he had come and where he would go. Too bad it’d take him longer to go back, not because he forgot but because the tone of this woman’s voice was cold, it sent winter cascading down his back. It gave him...relief. It numbed the ache of skin but it left him guarded.
How terribly rude of him to be late for such a forceful woman. He did quite enjoy women that held teeth and a bark. Very endearing really.
“Terribly sorry, m’lady. I believe I took a wrong turn…” Abel trailed off.
He’d walked into a wall, punishment from the shawl covered doe by his side. He really shouldn’t have teased her about the buck embroidery he’d felt while shopping.
“I hope I did not keep you waiting for too long, I would hate to have delayed you in more important matters, terribly rude of me to keep a beautiful lady like yourself waiting.”
A small bow, a tip of his head and then a quirk of his mouth as he asked in Russian,
“Forgive me?”
