Posts
1
Archived Applications / Mia Lorelei Kedding — Herbology
« on: 01/04/2016 at 08:29 »
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character name: Mia Lorelei Kedding
Previous and/or Current Character(s) if applicable: Aries Paladin & co!
Character age: 18
Character education: Beauxbatons, year 1; Private Tutoring, years 2-3; Hogwarts—Ravenclaw, years 4-7
Strength and weaknesses (details please):
Personal Strengths
Decisiveness. If there’s one thing to admire about Mia Lorelei Kedding, it might be that she settles things quickly and does not waver in making decisions. Irresoluteness is not a part of her character. This trait of hers might prove useful in teaching when it comes to dealing with unruly students and maintaining order in the classroom.
Passion. When she loves something, she loves it devoutly. Though applying to be a professor was something she only recently decided to do, she is truly absorbed by the subject that she would like to teach and would put her all into educating others on it. Diligence and ambition are two things that she has in spades.
Curiosity. Perhaps what most qualifies Mia to be a professor are her curiosity and academical inclinations. She is well-read and well-learned, a Ravenclaw born and bred who is in love with the very idea of knowledge. The world is a puzzle to her, and though she has her academic biases such as Herbology and Conjuring and Summoning, the thought of picking up any bit of knowledge—even trivia—excites her because it means she’s one step closer to unraveling the great strange world she lives in. She does not shy away from learning about things in which she has no talent in, or has never heard of; to her, everything in life is worth some consideration. Teaching Herbology would allow her to delve more deeply into the subject; in doing so, she might infect students with her curiosity for it.
Honesty. She has tendency to express herself without any regard for what others might think. This might make for some awkward scenarios and unpleasant acquaintances, but it also earns her the respect of those who value reality and truth. In teaching, her tendency to say what she thinks would mean that she can give real and valuable feedback to her students.
Personal Weaknesses
Poor Interpersonal Skills. Given that she is a grumpy, dry, and distrustful person who is also rather unsociable, Mia Lorelei isn’t particularly good at engaging people, which might affect her communications with students considerably and cause some friction or tension in the classroom.
Impatience. Short-tempered and restless, Mia Lorelei is a person of action who doesn’t like having to wait for people or things. As a teacher, this may make her a little less tolerant of students who are experiencing issues with material or having a hard time keeping up with her pace in the classroom.
Judgmental Tendencies. Excessively critical, distrustful, and somewhat elitist, the snobbish Mia Lorelei Kedding does not tolerate well the people whom she deems unintelligent, willfully ignorant, crass, or base. This quality of hers would undoubtedly affect her teaching, making her very biased towards various students.
Physical description: A willowy, fair young woman with empyrean blue eyes, Mia Lorelei Kedding is a delicate beauty whose looks are almost perpetually marred by either a lipsticked scowl or unwelcoming blank expression. Spruce as anything, she pays close attention to her appearance less out of vanity than fastidiousness, which mandates that her nails be painted but kept short and neat, and that her hair always be in some pretty yet practical coiffure. She has a penchant for the colors blue, green, and white, and is almost never seen without some glittering comb or silky ribbon in her hair.
Personality (nice, rude, funny etc. Paragraph please.): Beneath her icy exterior lies a fiery personality. Being quite the cantankerous character, Mia Lorelei doesn’t often make stellar impressions on many people; though she curbs her roughness and brusqueness around those whom she deems her superiors, she is, on the whole, hard to get along with, and has few friends. Among her former classmates she was known for being bright but extremely prissy and snobbish. Those whom she takes a fancy to will find, however, that she is capable of fierce affection and great loyalty.
Hopes and dreams. Why are you teaching at Hogwarts?:
Is being a professor Mia’s dream? Frankly, it isn’t: it was only ever a conceit that the girl entertained in the arrogant manner of any particularly swottish student who, whenever confronted by the thought of future careers, feels themselves capable of working only in the loftiest, most white-collar positions. She doesn’t feel any particular calling to be a professor, and doesn’t even like children very much.
Why is she even applying, then? Well, we imagine that it has something to do with conducting research in a field she adores. Though she looks the part of a prissy princess that wouldn’t dare muddy her hands, Mia adores wildcrafting, gardening, hiking, exploring, and rambling; indeed, she loves anything to do with nature, which holds the deep, visceral fascination for her that society does for the thoughtful socialite, or power does for the climbing politician. As a little girl she dirtied her knees in planting seeds and ruined pinafores on bark when she climbed trees; as a slightly bigger one, she clips advertisements for carnivorous plants, lovingly personifies potted plants and calls them her pets, devours treatises on herbalism, and delights in understanding the mechanisms of fungal reproduction. Herbology is one of her few passions and she wants to be a Professor out of sheer love for the subject.
In other words, Mia primarily has selfish motives for applying to be a professor, for she desires to exploit the ample resources available at Hogwarts for her own Herbological research. However, there is a slightly altruistic bent to her desires as well, for she wants to inculcate a love for the natural world in the younger generation. Too few people seem to understand her love of nature, and she wants to change that (even if she doesn’t quite realize it).
On a different note, she also wants the measure of protection that Hogwarts affords during these troubling times. While it might seem counterintuitive for a former victim of interrogations to return to the site of their torture (hello Hexenreich!), Mia recognizes that even an occupied Hogwarts is still one of the safest places to be. This safety is particularly important to her in light of her developing elemental abilities.
(Of course, we also believe that vanity might play a small role in her application, for she’s always been very much enamored with titles and status and would just love to have ‘Professor’ ennobling her person.)
Biography (500 words minimum. There is never such a thing as too much.):
In 1924, one minute before the midnight of All Hallow’s Eve, a giggling, bouncing baby named Jasper Ezekiel Kedding was welcomed into the Kedding family’s tree. Two minutes later, in the wee hours of Samhain, his twin, Mia Lorelei Kedding, came writhing and howling into the world.
Born the seventh child of nine, and the third daughter of four, Mia Lorelei Kedding had a pleasant, untraumatic, and thoroughly ordinary early childhood. Wrapped in ribbons and lace by her mother and doted on by all her distant relatives, the diffident, stuttering little creature would not have made much of an impression on you had you met her back then: to all who met her, she seemed just another tadpole in the endless pool of Kedding spawn, only remarkable for her fondness of books and plants, awkward honesty, and remarkable ability to blend beautifully into the background. There was nothing really wrong with her and nothing really right with her; Mia Lorelei Kedding simply was, and that was that.
As she grew into a slightly older child, however, circumstances changed, and so did her personality, blooming out from the seed closeting it. Alongside the introverted and bookwormish sides of her personality sprang countless other sides: distrustfulness, dryness, skepticism, acerbicity, insecurity, self-loathing. The catalysts for all of this were the bullies and intimidators she slowly acquired by dint of her crossness, growing tendency to speak her mind, and unspeakably irritating prudishness. Slowly Mia Lorelei began to harden into a nasty little specimen of frosty manners and fiery tempers, throwing herself into a self-imposed exile from human society, and distancing herself from the majority of her family. No human’s company, she decided, after years of wicked family friends and one hellish term at Beauxbatons Academy, was worth her efforts. After being uprooted from Beauxbatons because of the ongoing war, she begged to be allowed private tutoring, and soon was stewing happily inside the comforts of her own home, learning her lessons through tutors and eschewing all company besides theirs.
Yet her nearly hermitic lifestyle was soon to be upended by her own curiosity, and she was soon uprooted yet again. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was a school that had always captured her imagination, and despite her own qualms, she dearly wanted to see it one day. Ultimately it dawned on her that she couldn’t very well have the full experience of the place as an adult, so at the age of thirteen she began making inroads in transferring herself into the school, fussing over school credits and pleading with her parents once more.
This whim of Mia Lorelei’s was to change her whole life dramatically, for it was her experiences at Hogwarts that would cause the girl to discard some of her delusions and move into her next stage of development: adulthood. Once Mia Lorelei began the rough transition back to society and all its evils, her growth resumed, and things finally began to fall into place. Gradually accustoming herself to her own skin, Mia Lorelei began to break out of her shell and shed some of her insecurities, participating in activities that she had never thought herself capable of, and liberating herself from her own stifling expectations. Five years at Hogwarts eventually changed her mind about who she was: she had always pegged herself as a outsider who was good for little more than marks and books, but in facing Hogwarts’ odds and achieving more than she thought she ever could, she was forced to admit to herself that she might not be all that useless. Five years of struggling to redefine herself, and the achievement of honors like Prefect, Dueling Finalist, Spellbound Editor, Senior Hospital Wing Nurse, Quidditch Captain, and becoming the friend of Adelaide Ross, fired up Mia Lorelei's zest for life and her own self, changing her for the better.
A new door in her life has just opened, however, and she stands unsurely on its threshold…
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:
The greatest care had gone into the creation of her appearance for today’s interview. Last night she had pressed her outfit so many times that it had almost burned through and filed her nails so carefully that they now resembled tiny seashells; this morning, she had transfigured her shade of lipstick thirteen times, fussed excessively over each curl slicked into her coiffure, and jabbed herself in the eye with her wand while curling her lashes to the slightest hair. Teaching was hardly a debutante ball, she knew, but styling gave her more confidence, which she would undoubtedly need in a job interview conducted by none other than her former Headmistress.
Would appearances benefit her now that she was late, though?
Perhaps they would. Proper attire just might save her hide today, she thought grimly, heels clicking quickly round the corner of the hallway. Immaculate appearances might very well offset her lateness, indicating that in no way was she completely slipshod. Hopefully thoughts along those lines, satisfactory answers to the interview questions, and a dose of luck would pull her upwards in the Headmistress’ estimation, and—and–
Her train of thoughts derailed as she entered and found Ivanova looking at her coldly. ”You are late.”
Ignoring the nervous impulses squirming beneath her skin, the young woman bowed her head in subtle acknowledgment of the sin committed. “I am very sorry, Headmistress. Please abridge my interview if you deem it necessary.”
Forcing her slightly sweating palms to rest by her sides, she demurely awaited further instruction. She did not offer an explanation for her lateness: it had not been asked for, and she did not want to provoke Ivanova’s wrath any further by needless elaboration. She also did not want her words to be misconstrued as arrogance.
