Lobelius Ivening Taberford

[Lobelius Taberford]

E L S E W H E R E   A D U L T

CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character Name: Lobelius Ivening Taberford
Gender: Male
Age: 43 years strong (and amazingly supple!)
April 18th, 1897 (Aries)

Education: 
1915 - Graduate of Hogwarts, Hufflepuff House
1918 - Diplomate of the Applied Arts of Herbological Study
              Valedictorian of his graduating class
              Honors in Herbs and Proficient in Potions
              Completed with 1 semester abroad in Morocco
1924 - 6 month Field Study in the Amazon Jungle
1932 - 1 year sabbatical in Tibet studying meditation

Residence:
45 Milburn St
Kirkcudbright, Scotland

Family Estate outside Thornhill towards Dumfries, Southwest Scotland

Occupation:
Herbalist

Do you plan to have a connection to a particular existing place (for example: the Ministry, Shrieking Shack) or to take over an existing shop in need of new management?
Lobelius feels a connection to all things, spiritual, physical, visual... but occupation-wise not as of yet.

Requested Magic Levels:

• Charms: 7
• Divination: 6
• Transfiguration: 9
• Summoning: 10

Do you wish to be approved as a group with any other characters? If so who and for what IC reason?
Unfortunately not applicable.  Give Lobes time, he'll make his own friends!

Please list any other characters you already have at the site:
Leanderaskos, scruffy-haired Hufflepuff

Biography: (300 words minimum.)
August 1935
That was the last of the boxes removed from the fireplace. Though they had been delivered by Floo, somehow one of the corners had gotten singed. Lobelius made sure to avoid the corner as he easily picked up the weighty box to move it into the room. The label on the top read in neat script ‘Sitting Room’. Excellent. Not too far to go, then.

Placing it next to its fellows, the blue-eyed wizard exhaled deeply- it was not a sigh, however, merely a precursor to an even deeper inhale. Now it was time to unpack and get settled. Digging in was always the best part.

Moving into a new place was nothing new to Lobelius. He knew he’d traveled around far too much for his mother’s tastes. But he had made sure to write and communicate through other means as was available. He knew she would be glad his stay in Scotland was now to be for some time. As he had collected the understanding of herbs and the magical elements of nature, he had also been considering the benefits of planting roots of his own. All the same, he wouldn’t have traded any of his experiences the last twenty years for the world. Well, perhaps that one time he’d tried that bowl of goat liver stew, that he probably could have done without.  Low in fat, but as it turns out, also low in digestibility.

Taking a step back and stretching, he looked over the space that was now his in his own Scotland. There was something about the light here, or perhaps the air, that was unlike anywhere else. It felt like home.

A smile widened on his face and he began opening boxes. It was like opening pieces and memories of himself.

Furniture settled invitingly and the light slipping into afternoon, Lobelius filled the last of his bookcases. Perhaps a flick of the wand might have been faster, but there were some things best done by hand. If he had learned anything in his time in Tibet, it was that process was often just as important as product.

Though he’d left the kitchen largely packed outside of his tea pot, the sitting room was now mostly settled. A lone box remained. Kicknacks, odd ends, the things that made a place his own.

Cup of tea steaming coziness in his hand, Lobelius took a meditative sip before setting the cup on its saucer and placing it on a serviceable side table. With his foot he shifted the potted polypody his sister had given him as he’d left. The note she'd attached still there. Whatever they said about elder siblings being unpleasant had never met the eldest Taberford heir. Sweet in temper and sharp as a tack, the two siblings had nothing but affection and admiration between them. The plant’s ferned leaves, brushed is neighboring flitterbloom, whose flickering vines reached out in tentative acknowledgment. Again, he smiled. It was important that his house plants all got along. It was better energy for the house. 

It was something he had noticed when he'd gotten his first Fanged Geranium while at Hogwarts, that it bit people less after he'd placed it next to his planter of flowering Germander. It had probably been seeing a better example for its snippy neighbor. His dormmates hadn't been so convinced. This thought had only cemented in his studies after Hogwarts and in this dissertation work with Mandrakes.

Fond memories and formative years.  Even now, every sip of black tea he drank took him back to the late nights studying, pouring over notes and devising mnemonics. He ran a thumb over a scar on his third finger where he’d been bitten by a cobra lily. His lab partner has laughed quite a bit at that one. He chuckled now at the memory as he unrolled the certificate he’d earned at the completion of those three years of dedicated study and postgraduate practice. The parchment still felt fresh to his touch and the embossed letters and formal script  were as crisp as the day they were bestowed. Amazing how even seventeen years could be traversed in a blink of an eye.  He wished he’d taken more photos.

His stay in Tibet, however, had more than made up as far as pictures were concerned. From his year sabbatical, he’d gotten snaps of the monks, the temple, the hills and mountains the surrounded them. In one particularly inspiring photograph, wisps of cloud rolled over the mountains, catching the rising sun as they flooded the valley. Being at the temple, it had been easy to feel the breath of the mountains, and to really see the world as a living thing in its entirety. Several weeks he had spent just learning again how to breathe the thin, refreshing air, let the vibrations of the winds and the mediation chants ennervate his lungs and grow his inner positive energy. Now he felt more in tune with the magic and the pulse of his body.  He had gotten more in tune with his chanting voice as well. What a truly worthwhile trip!

The photos he placed on the side table next to the set of arm chairs in front of the fireplace.  They we memories still close to his heart, like so many other moments he treasured.  The scroll of his favorite chant however he placed over the doorway like a blessing, much life the one that graced the modest foyer of the family estate near Thornhill.   Though he'd just left it only this morning, being back had awoken a deeper longing for home than even he realized he'd had.  But with his sister confined for the remainder of her delicate situation, having a home of his own seemed expedient. At least he was still back in Scotland. It wasn't quote lonely, afterall he always had himself and the opportunity for more friends he just hadn't met, but the new house would need time to feel really lived in.  He ought to host a dinner party. 

After his own, more palatable recipe for goat liver stew, and perhaps a braving cabbage and chickpea slaw he'd grown quote fond of, they could all take tea in this very room, perhaps admire the rug he'd purchased in the out of the way shop in Morocco.  Either way, he would have plenty of stories of travel to share in exchange for those of home and friends and family.

Perhaps he ought to unpack the kitchen next.

Roleplay: 
You come across one of these posts on the site. Please select one & reply as your character:
Option Two -
The snow had been falling steadily all morning and it didn't look like it was going to stop any time soon. Joshua Campbell scrunched his face up in a frown as he lifted his gaze to look to the sky. Snow. It really was quite a bother.

And it certainly didn't make it better that Diagon Alley seemed to be getting more and more crowded. Joshua sighed and pointed his wand at the large box that was currently placed on the doorstep of his shop. He had to get going. He had an order to deliver.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" The elderly man muttered and watched the box hover in the air for a moment. Honestly, did St. Mungo's really need that much tinsel? And with glitter of all things? He sighed again. If it hadn't been for the rather convincing stamp on the order, he would have been likely to believe it had been a prank by one of those orphaned rascals living up there. 

Oh well, there was no point in waiting. Joshua deftly stirred the box down the doorstep and out onto the street, carefully levitating it above the heads of the crowd.

"Coming through! Coming through!" His voice sounded over the chatter of the crowd. "Keep out! Move ahead! Go on!" This was going way too slow. People were in the way and walking like they had all day! He huffed. Luckily the road was down hill.

"Coming through! Coming th--- arrrgh!" Joshua let out a loud shout as his feet suddenly slipped in the snow and sent him, the box, and several long strands of tinsel tumbling into the person who had been walking in front of him.

"For Merlin's sake!" Joshua muttered angrily as he hurried to his feet again, red and gold tinsel now decorating his black coat. "I am so sorry! This blasted snow!" He looked apologetic at the person he had crashed into.

Roleplay Response:
Sometimes there was nothing like the bustle of the city to raise one's own energy.  Everyone with errands and appointments and visits to be made.  A slow day would be a sad day in Diagon Alley.

But that was not the day Lobelius found it this particularly frosty morning.  Though the winds nipped at noses, wizards and witches still found plenty to coax out of doors and into streets and shops.  He himself had just paid visit to his favorite herb shop in the district to select the ingredients for a new brew he had been concocting, meant to help clear the mind and also soothe worn throats. Perfect for the mediation course he planned to begin.

A neat but tightly bundled parcel tucked under his arm, Lobelius made his way up one of the Alley's many twisted streets, careful of the ice patches still unbroken by foot traffic.  Had his hands not been full, he might have stopped and helped melt some of it but he couldn't set his packages on the ground in car the dried herbs might get damp and become ruined.  But he wouldn't have to be dodging ice for long, soon he would be at the Floo station and then in his sitting room ready to brew.

Just as he turned with a smile to say hello to an acquainted shopkeep,  when he became suddenly showered in holiday tinsel. The bemusedly puzzled look that turned towards the sky was brief as he was soon collided with the tinsel's apparent source.  Reflexes sprung an arm to help the boy remain upright should his foorting still be unsteady.

"Merlin, what a special way to spread cheer this season! Very creative! A parade of one? How festive!" Lobelius smiled in obvious approval.

When the boy apologized, Lobelius chuckled, "Yes, the streets are quite covered, I was just thinking if only I could help remove some of it on my way to the Floo, but my hands being full, you see--" However, his hands were somehow now empty, as if in the tinsel his parcel had disappeared. It hadn't, of course, merely dropped.

Seeing this, Lobelius merely exclaimed, "Oh!" and flicked his wand to retrieve it.

But it was too late, the bottom looked well on its way to being soggy. 

"Well it seems both our packages have gone asunder! Would you like any help collecting yours before I head back to Preservus Herbulus? I'll be needing yo replace my stores, and this way I can ask Madame Jenkins how she keeps her derigible plums in such order, which I plum forgot!"

OTHER
How did you find us? With the power of hopes and dreams.

[Theodore Beauchamp]

Accepted!