Scorched: Application
Out of Character Information
player name: Merry
player livejournal: halflingmerry
playing here: El Spiko (samianscar )
where did you find us? Le grande eisdamme !
are you 16 years of age or older?: Yes.
In Character Information
character name: Remus John Lupin
Fandom: Harry Potter
Timeline: Immediately after death. Came to Anatole dead and was revived.
character's age: Born 1960, died 1998. The rest depends on your perception of Time.
powers:
HPwiki: "a very talented and powerful wizard", (non-magically) “able to extract the best in everyone.”
Lupin's strongest aptitude is defensive magic. His reflex will always be to defend rather than attack. It's very hard to take him by surprise. Innate strengths include the reflexive (usually involuntary) charge that can kick in when conscious defenses are down. Basic occlumency.
Some would call lycanthropy a kind of power. He doesn't. To him it's always been a disease. However, it probably does strengthen his offensive powers, and definitely gives him some magical immunities.
In Anatole, he may find it's no longer directly linked to a lunar cycle. Instead it may be more reactive to emotional state. The plus side of this: he can channel its reserves, like superhuman strength, while human. The down side: transformations may prove negative-response-related.
Mundane powers: near-eidetic memory, acute perceptiveness (sometimes mistaken for legilimency)
skills:
more HPwiki: "Exceptional skill at dueling and knowledge of magic." “Defense Against the Dark Arts Master”, “Nonverbal and wandless magic expert” (“both are very difficult, indicating Remus’ magical power and skill”), “Master Duelist”, “Charms expert”, “Flying skills”.
Areas of expertise: Defense Against the Dark Arts and Muggle Studies. (Always interested in history and philosophy/religion.)
Lupin has a near-encyclopedic knowledge of spells, which includes the Dark Arts-not just as prerequisite to Defence Against. He (also) picked up spell-building from James and Sirius. Their genius was largely in the knack of perceiving and manipulating the intangible, mechanical components of magic. It can be handy way of thinking about magic, that leads to nonlinear ideas about it. That may be Lupin's greatest talent: thinking at things from different sides and finding new approaches. He's the most unjudgmental and patient listener you’re going to find. Best teacher ever.
pets: James used to say Moony was his own familiar. Nowadays, the man could really do with a cat or something.
equipment: Latin, chocolate, and a broken wand.
update: acquired, a working, intact wand ( willow, 10¼", swishy, nice for charm work )
canon history: Born in 1960, of mixed blood, he rarely talks about his early life. At age eleven, he was bitten by Fenrir Greyback and made a werewolf.
He was admitted young to Hogwarts by Dumbledore personally. The Headmaster didn't want to see the boy lost to his disease. To help him become a full and productive member of the wizarding world, Dumbledore took several extraordinary steps.
A tunnel was dug from the Whomping Willow (protecting its entrance) connecting the Hogwarts grounds to the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade. Every month, Remus locked himself in the Shack to transform without posing a threat. The sounds became legendary and caused the Shack's notoriety. Back at Hogwarts, he was always mended by Mme. Pomfrey, who, along with Prof. McGonagall, helped Dumbledore keep his condition secret.
The arrangement worked to keep Lupin safe-but incredibly lonely. Along came James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettrigrew. They befriended Lupin, rather in spite of himself and his terror that upon discovering his secret they would abandon him for it. Discover it they did, and instead of leaving, they committed the greatest act of devotion Lupin has ever known: studying to become Animagi to keep him company. His wolf form proved docile with their animal forms, so his monthly incarceration in the shack was replaced with adventuring ("Marauding") with his friends. It was the first happiest time of his life.
The second happiest time of his life came many years later, after more periods of pure awfulness. (Life always seems to balance like that, in stupendous extremes. Not for wizards, a moderate life...)
The awfulness included long periods of loneliness and drifting. Antilycan prejudice kept him often jobless, even homeless. Then, Halloween 1981: the most awful day of his life, when (apparently) Sirius Black killed James and Lily Potter and Peter Pettigrew. In one stroke, everyone he lived for was gone. -Except Dumbledore, to whom he eventually returned, leading to, at last, the good bit: Lupin became Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts.
Lupin loved teaching more than anything. His students for that too-short term considered him the best DADA professor (and perhaps one of the best teachers, period) they'd ever had. Not least, in James's and Lily's son Harry, Lupin found a new familial friend to whose care he could devote himself. This of course ended too quickly, but as it had to... with the (sort of) redeeming trade-off of discovered the truth about Peter and Sirius. [ Details here ]
Another rather rotten period ensued, though he was more used to it now, and there were mitigating factors. He had Sirius back, for a time, and continued to help Harry and serve Dumbledore in the Order of the Phoenix. Though he was very glad to contribute to the war effort, it was still Lupin's lot to have depressing, isolating duties. In this case, they took him away from the people he wished to help (especially Harry) and too close to the side of himself he was always trying to escape: working with other werewolves.
Every time he returned to the Order, he grew steadily closer to Nymphadora Tonks. At last, she wouldn't let him sacrifice his feelings any longer (or hers, thank you very much) and they were married. The prospect of having a child nearly threw him over a very bad edge indeed, but he got back on track. The third, maybe best, happiest time: finally, finally whole and happy with his wife Tonks and son Teddy, helping their friends.
-just in time to be killed in the final battle of the Second War alongside Tonks.
Strange, terrible balances, indeed.
personality: An utterly undemonstrative man, yet an extremely capable and talented wizard. There is a quiet assurance about him that makes him a calming presence, even in the situations where unselfishness and reason are usually the first things to go. He's intensely private, yet penetratingly perceptive and sensitive to those around him. And he always, no matter how removed or strange the person involved, always cares. If someone is in need, he can often help with a gentleness and diplomacy that others can't manage. His popularity as a teacher was largely due to his skills in positive reinforcement and mediation; his thoughtfulness, kindness, and humour.
Once, the unfortunate flip side was that he had difficulty when negative reinforcement was required. Certain histories, personal and worldly, may have been reshaped had he been able to face antagonising those who'd offered him acceptance. At this point in the afterlife, he may have gotten better at this.
Though he's exceptionally skilled at helping others deal and grow helpfully through pain, he’s also been exceptionally unable to let go of his own losses. Most of his life has been lived with one foot in the past. [ It remains to be seen whether having died himself will help deal with the next round. ] Not liking this about himself, he's always done his best to throw his entire focus off himself and devote himself to others. He lived to help his friends, to serve Dumbledore, to teach, to care for Harry. (As said: Teaching, Marauding, and Tonks/Teddy were, to him, the bright moments of his life.)
[ Note: Given that he was just violently killed in action after seeing the love his life struck down... it should be noted that Lupin may not be quite his relaxed & groovy wonderful self for the first little while. ]
why do you feel this character would be appropriate to the setting? Bellatrix Lestrange. The one person, above even Voldemort, he’s harbored violently vengeful fantasies-had literally Unforgiveable dreams-about. She killed Sirius. Now she’s also killed Tonks.
Either he’s here as a ghost to haunt her-or, having lived most of his life in a semi-self-imposed purgatory anyway, it makes sense he wouldn’t be able to let go simply by dying. (Or wouldn't want to.)
That's the entry point. How he develops past it remains to be played, but Lupin can't be fueled by vengeance for long. Whether he succeeds or his better nature prevails, he'll eventually look for a more nurturing and constructive cause. If there's any way to start teaching again, he'll do it. Probable pet causes:
- working past the Anatolian-Scorched prejudice [ I see him playing chess with Magneto now ]
- Restoring information on the Veneficus
- [ Grandiosely, therefore secretly ] Learn and teach to create a new generation of Veneficus, to attempt to restore this world.
...Alternately, if Bella does something like introduce an infestation of boggarts, Lupin'd be a great exterminator.
Writing Samples
Network Post Sample I:
[OOC: Lupin 1.0, the initially undead, obsessed, and exceptionally grumpy]
[ see first post ]
Network Post Sample II:
[OOC: Lupin 2.0, after settling in a bit; his more typical ] [ voice ]
I'm happy to announce-not to rub it in anyone's face-that I've been having wonderful success with storytelling hour. Being seen to teach or preach is deservedly hazardous, but it seems Anatolian children can be simply entertained by the Scorched without ruffling too many feathers. Dreams of a school without these barriers notwithstanding: I'm relieved and content with this, equally as a starting place or an end in itself. Anyone, of any age or affiliation, is encouraged to stop by.
Now a general request. I've been thinking of writing something formal on the Veneficus. There's so much in the air about them but I find little in the way of a paper trail. If you have any information, anything at all, no matter how legendary or ridiculous, I would love to hear it. Stories can have value beyond the factual.
If you have just arrived and know my voice, call me. I'll find you.
Sona si latine loqueris.2
2[ "Honk if you speak Latin" ]
Third Person Sample:
Gradations in the mist. A man in dull, drab clothes, with silver-flecked hair and ashen face, walking from shadow to shade. If his outline seems blurred it must be the Mist... or maybe this is his dream of himself. Very tall, doesn't look it for a stoop; cranelike in his long, spindly limbs and heavy-held head; unexpectedly young but torn face prematurely aged. He'd fit in so well among bookshelves and chalkboards, without the scars. In his hand, hanging at his side as if forgotten, a wooden stick, cracked, upper half hanging off the lower by a thread. Plods through this world without giving it a glance: focus far gone, far, far away.
She'd come out of nowhere, shouting him a warning
and though she succeeded in throwing herself between
him and the killing curse that had been aimed at his back
and deflecting it, they fought back to back for only an instant,
their minds crashing together knowing it was their last chance
-teddydamnyourunilove-
The curse that hit him in the shoulder and face spun him around and forced him to his knees; only to catch her in his arms with the cruciatus that left her convulsing and crying his name; and the white flashes turned suddenly green and she-
Stop, stop... he stops. One shoulder crashes to the nearest wall and he presses the sides of his head with both hands. The glimmering thread of the broken wand flickers, so close to his thoughts-
Until he hears the sound of someone crying. He raises his head. His outline is suddenly distinct. He blinks, frowns, glances at his wand for the first time, then sticks it in his pocket. He sets off in the direction of the sound at a slow, loping run-strangely fluid for one who hobbles when he walks. Another's pain would still (thank you, yes) always supersede his own.