(no subject)

[seekah]

GENERAL

NAME: Holden Dylan Bright
NICKNAMES: His name is two syllables and pretty easy to pronounce, but he doesn’t really dissuade any nicknames.
AGE/DOB: 17 / 27 January / Aquarius
BLOOD STATUS: Halfblood. Wizard dad, muggle mom.
GENDER/PRONOUNS: Male / he / him
SEXUALITY: Heterosexual. He’s pretty certain.
HOMETOWN: Boston, Massachussetts.

CONCEPT: Well meaning doormat with foot-in-mouth syndrome.

PHYSICAL

APPEARANCE: Ginger as hell. Lanky, pale, freckled all over, red hair that grows way too long and he tends to go too long without haircuts. Seriously, what’s with all these gingers at the school that aren’t plagued with freckles. Dresses like a muggle and doesn’t like to stand out. Lots of hoodies and jeans and t-shirts. Completely uncomfortable in old-fashioned wizarding robes, and his school uniform is really pushing it. Rumpled. Uncombed hair. Kind of a mess. And not even a hot mess. Just a mess.

HEIGHT: 5’10.

PB: Caleb Landry Jones

PERSONALITY

LIKES: Eating, Quidditch, carbs, winter, baseball (the SOX, man), cryptozoology/any news stories about strange creatures, muggle rock music, Irish folk music (don’t tell anyone), hamburgers (okay, he likes to eat, a lot), cooperation, naps, the idea of craft beer.

DISLIKES: Swimming, showing off, arguments, gossip and rumors, literature (yeah he’s the son of a well-known writer, that doesn’t mean he likes books), being talked down to, being the center of attention, dueling, public speaking, loud noises, abrupt changes outside of the Quidditch pitch, showy enthusiasm, showiness in general, horses (he’s very afraid of them).

PERSONALITY:

The thing about Holden Bright is that he always means well. He really does. He wants everyone to get along and get over themselves and their drama. The truth of the matter is that he's ultimately too awkward and often too straight-forward and blunt to navigate the murky seas of a bunch of teenagers stuck in the same school in the middle of nowhere. Though also, being the child of two academics tends to bring that out.

Holden is a true Bostonian. He knows what it’s like to be around privilege and pomp and circumstance, and it seems tacky to be deeply impressed or boastful. He has this strange New England practicality and ability to weather storms and hardships, and not get too dramatic about things. The wizarding world still seems largely fussy and unnecessarily showy about things, and he often forgets he can do things with magic. He can best be described as a guy of simple tastes, or just “simple” in general - simple tastes, simple sensibilities, and overall, many often just see him as simple-minded. He is happiest where he is most comfortable - away from conflict, strife, danger, in his own little comfort zone. The only thing is that most of his life has been in the middle of it, and mostly of his own doing, albeit inadvertently in an attempt to escape it. He doesn’t like strange surroundings or abrupt changes - yet plays the most dynamic position on the Quidditch team. He doesn’t like pomp and circumstance and likes things to just go as normal or planned - yet he’s at a prestigious wizarding school very far removed from his home in Boston. Overall, practicality and utilitarianism is a way for Holden to control that which he can’t. He's not exactly pragmatic or stubborn, he just knows what makes sense to him, and often it revolves around that which takes the smallest fuss or show. . .while his life often makes him venture out of this little comfort zone of his. However, when pushed, he can stick to his guns and revert back to his New England spartan practicality of “get over it and deal with it.” And often, that means he has to throw himself under the bus, deal with the fallout, and move on.

It’s how he reacts that sets him firmly in his Gooseberry house, and how he handles those unexpected curves of life. Often times, he finds fighting against the current is much more trouble than it’s worth, and he just goes along with it. While he’ll whine to himself and bottle up his feelings, he’ll compromise and agree and go with the flow. He doesn't altogether reject things he doesn’t like or doesn’t want to do - most of the time he does give it a try, just to get it over with. But he doesn't have the sunniest attitude about it, and nobody can really expect him to. It’s just a way of throwing himself under the bus to get over the hurdle. He really doesn’t want to fuss or dwell too much, and if others won’t yield, Holden will be the first to. Holden distrusts too much happiness or cheer or enthusiasm; it all seems fake and overhyped to him, and it’s embarrassing to him. If he is ever enthusiastic about anything, he strives to hide it. The most one will hear from him if he approves of something is mostly along the lines of "oh, yeah, that’s cool." He's not showy, he's not very "worldly," but rather than reject or get hostile about something he doesn't understand, it manifests more in him not really being able to hide his surprise. He's never quite rude about something different to him, or at least tries not to be - even if sometimes he asks dumb and misguided questions. He can be talked into being more open-minded, it just doesn't come very naturally to him. Sometimes he'll get into arguments that he doesn't realize he's having, just to explain himself, but often his thought process only makes sense to himself. He just gives a sigh and mostly gives up, there's no real use getting hostile about it. There are other things to worry about. . .like everything else. Yes, he’s a pushover, but maybe with time he can learn to wield it as diplomacy rather than being a doormat. And maybe being the first to give in is a type of selfless bravery, but he won’t bother talking and hyping it up like that because ugh, get over yourself.

Boston isn’t the most sophisticated of places compared to how he sees Los Angeles or London, and ceremony and importance make him intensely awkward. It makes him keep his head down and try to say the least he can so he doesn’t get noticed. He doesn’t want to make waves, doesn’t want to fight against the current, and can revert to a meek and shy kid around authority figures, imagined and actual. He doesn’t want to put himself out there when he doesn’t have to, often being a Quidditch player takes up all that emotional energy and leaves none. Arguments and conflict also sap him of his energy, so he tries to avoid them, or puts himself in the line of fire to calm parties involved down. If people are happy and getting along, he’ll be less stressed, which is always a goal of his. He wouldn’t say he’s an introvert, because he likes having a crowd to go along with, but he’s never going to willingly put himself in the center of attention, and gets very shy and awkward when he has to. Of course, he’ll begrudgingly go along with it, because that’s just Holden’s way. He’ll talk down victories of his, saying it’s no big deal, and a nagging voice in the back of his head seems to expect the worst. Maybe this is just a defense mechanism to deal with disappointment if he’s always expecting it, because he likes to be realistic and let things happen. If one isn't entirely turned off by the lack of sophistication and grace and sparkling charm, they'll find a straight-forward, unpretentious, regular kid, he likes to think. Overall, despite his generous shortcomings, Holden is a practical, straight-forward, plain guy just making his way through this stage of his life - an often chaotic life that brings him lots of attention and the other things he doesn’t quite want in it, but what else is he supposed to do than just deal with it?

HISTORY

FAMILY MEMBERS:

- Hippocrates Bright: Father, wizard, Irish-born noted wizarding author and literature scholar. Fled Britain during the outbreak of the second wizarding war under the guise of studying American literature traditions, muggle and wizarding alike.

- Catherine Bright (maiden name O’Hare): Mother, muggle, American literature professor at Harvard University.

- Maggie Bright: Sister, witch, 13 years old, Horned Serpent student at Ilvermorny.

- Too many Irish-American aunts and uncles to count back home in Boston, all muggles, mostly construction workers and teachers.

Cousins in the Finnegan family back in Ireland.

HISTORY:

Hippocrates Bright is better known in wizarding Britain than he is in America, and the accomplished author came to the states at the outbreak of the second wizarding war to both escape the terror, and to expand his studies and knowledge. His travels brought him to the Ivy League-heavy New England, centered in Boston, where he spent many years with hidden magical ability to peruse Harvard libraries and pick professors’ brains, under the guise that he was an Oxford scholar. While he did learn a lot, what he didn’t bargain on was falling for one of his colleagues at Harvard. Catherine O’Hare was a native Bostonian and professor at the university, and their growing relationship kept him at the school for longer than he bargained for. He was offered a teaching position at Ilvermorny for a short-lived attempt at a wizarding literature writing course, and wizarding England always seemed like a bureaucratic mess for him even after the war ended, so he stayed and they finally married.

Of course, with the marriage and the birth of their first son Holden, he still hadn’t told his wife where he was going to work every day, and struggled to hide his magical ability from them both, having heard inter-marriage was much less common in America. Maybe things would blow over and he could keep the secret, but all his vain hopes were dashed when the three-year old started closing doors in his room on his own, or seeming to summon teddy bears from across the room. With another baby on the way, and fearing the worst, and only having muggle literature to inform him on how religious muggles dealt with the unknown, Hippocrates found himself having the uncomfortable, awkward talk of truth. They stayed together, and Catherine found herself having to confront the new double life she was now sharing with her wizard husband - which meant that her children now belonged to a society that had all but been hidden to her for her entire life. But, Catherine was a Bostonian, and a New Englander - she took a very practical approach to it, and Hippocrates would help guide their children into their wizarding way of life.

For Holden, that first manifested in Quidditch. While Quodpot was more common in the states, Hippocrates was still an Irish wizard, and Quidditch was life. There was enough of a wizarding presence in Boston that they were able to find concealed pitches to watch scrimmage games and even get him a toy broom, and Holden quickly took a shine to the first major exposure of the wizarding world he had been shown. In efforts to get Holden to open up and get involved, Hippocrates bought his son a training broom at the age of six. At first too afraid to really play with it, it took him two weeks to take it out flying on the little children’s pitch in Boston, with his father bribing him with ice cream and hamburgers after their trip to the pitch. Luckily, it worked. Holden was seemingly inseparable from his broom ever since that day, and would spend hours hovering two feet above the ground (as far as the training broom would fly), wanting to be the best he could at it. When he asked to go to his first Quidditch match, he was hooked. He couldn’t wait to go to school and learn to really fly. He’d spend all summer riding his bike with his father to the pitch and flying, he’d lock himself in his room and hover around the floor, practicing with a toy snitch. Holden got better and stronger, and was often told he had a natural ability that would shine if he practiced hard enough. It made up for the fact that he never really cared for staying in and reading, as his parents loved, but they never minded too much, and saw their shy boy open up so much when he was on his broom.

When he was eleven years old, it was time for his formal wizarding education to begin, and Holden was sent to boarding school - or so the muggle O’Hares believed, still having the truth hidden from them. He retreated further into himself through the trip being in a place that seemed so far away from living around both muggles and wizards, after being given his wand, and the only thing keeping him motivated around the strange surroundings was the hope that he could play Quidditch - anything on a broom and he was happy, even if he begrudgingly had to deal with the rest of the classes in order to stay on a team once he was old enough. He was sorted into Pukwudgie almost instantly, which confused him greatly since he was told it was a house of healers, and he didn’t want to deal with anyone else’s skinned knees, broken bones, or blood other than his own. It was all a lot of fuss, he thought, but it at least gave him a Quidditch team to rally behind and play for.

His studies were lackluster, average at best, and he struggled, not having known as much about the wizarding world that his classmates did. It was a means to an end for Holden, and he didn’t want to stand out too much around the other kids. There would be enough of that when he tried out for the Quidditch team in his third year, making Seeker. When he wanted to try, he definitely could succeed, even if his flying prowess was the only goal of his for a time being. He was an excellent, focused seeker, able to shut himself off to everything but watching for the snitch. Holden didn’t like the seeming jock reputation that came along with it, as he got plenty of attention after his victories, but just kept to himself and tried to downplay his talent.

Along with the social attention it got him, it also attracted an offer from Gooseberry High, the prestigious school for the outstanding and special. Holden never wanted to be special, he didn’t want to bother with the prestige, and at first he told his professors he didn’t care to go. After his father insisted, and told him it would be one of the best schools for him if he wanted to go professional, Holden (once again begrudgingly) accepted. He didn’t want to be around a bunch of other students more talented and special than he was, it would just rub salt in the wound that he was no big deal.

He knew he hated it when he got in and was sorted into the fish house. He knew some of the students from Ilvermorny, but he was slow to make friends until he got to the Quidditch team. At least they spoke his language, when he made Seeker, and even helped them get far in the inter-house games. There was no doubt that he was there for athletics and that alone - he was still an average student. This next year, as he has been pushed by his professors and father, he knows he has to try a bit harder with the academics if he wants to keep going far. It’s going to prove to be a struggle, but he’ll keep his eye on that goal, just as he always keeps an eye on the snitch.

SCHOOL

YEAR: Junior
HOUSE: Ribbonfin
SORTING: It was an easy decision - he didn’t want to be moody, he wasn’t outgoing, he certainly wasn’t bossy as he walked into the ceremony with sloped shoulders and a surrendering attitude. The Ribbonfin argued with the others saying there was no need to even question, and he shrugged and said “I guess the fish knows.” It was literally over in under a minute. His yielding and willingness to go with what others dictate for him made it abundantly clear that he was a Ribbonfin - even if he wasn't in a place to really argue or try something new, as offered from the other houses. The path of least resistance seemed best for him.
WAND: Old-fashioned, English oak and Phoenix feather core, 12 inches, swishy.
FAMILIAR: A box turtle named Ted. After Ted Williams. He later learned it was a female turtle but kept the name.

CLASSES: Charms, Herbology, History of Magic, Outdoor Education, Magical Rudiments, Magizoology
SENIOR PROJECT: Holden is. . .hoping to figure that out. He wants to work on a broom charm, but doesn’t really know what he wants it to precisely do just yet.
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: Overwhelmingly average. Quidditch usually takes priority, and he does just enough to squeak by. Now that he’s a junior he has to try harder and work on that balance, so he’s definitely gearing up for actually studying his books more. He likes Magizoology, however.

EXTRACURRICULARS: Quidditch seeker for Ribbonfin, Gaming Club.

OOC

NAME: Madeline
EMAIL:
CDJ:
OTHER PREFERRED CONTACT:
TIME ZONE: US Central