[SH] Permissions
Sep. 18th, 2012 08:36 am.Contact Information.
[E-Mail] einigkeitundrecht @ hotmail . de
[Instant Messengers] xherrdoktor
[Plurk] [Bad username or site: x_fleurdelis @ site]
[Other]
[Preferred] plurk
.OOC.
[Backtagging] It's fine with me. I might drop old threads if they get overwhelming, but if I know someone wants to continue them, I'm down for it.
[Threadhopping] This is fine.
[Plotting] Come at me :V
[Offensive subjects] n/a
.IC.
[What's okay to mention around him/her] DE and the War would be touchy. Depending upon the content he just might be evasive and change the subject.
[Is there anything you need us to know about interacting with this character? Special physical features, special abilities, etc] He's just.... really tall. and lanky. He looks weird.
[Can I hack that strike or otherwise find out information they'd prefer to keep hidden?] No
[What would be a suitable way of disciplining them?] 8( try taking away his muggle toys, I care you. nevermind this isn't applicable.
[Can I troll/mindscrew/mess with in general?] Sure
[Can I spit at/jinx/step on/etc? (i.e. fighting)] This wouldn't be wise if your character is a student.
[Can I flirt with/hug/kiss/use other means of non-violent physical contact with this character?] I have no problems with this, as long as a student isn't involved. Touching in general is weird for him so I don't foresee him offering hugs to the students anyway.
[Anything else?] not atm!
[E-Mail] einigkeitundrecht @ hotmail . de
[Instant Messengers] xherrdoktor
[Plurk] [Bad username or site: x_fleurdelis @ site]
[Other]
[Preferred] plurk
.OOC.
[Backtagging] It's fine with me. I might drop old threads if they get overwhelming, but if I know someone wants to continue them, I'm down for it.
[Threadhopping] This is fine.
[Plotting] Come at me :V
[Offensive subjects] n/a
.IC.
[What's okay to mention around him/her] DE and the War would be touchy. Depending upon the content he just might be evasive and change the subject.
[Is there anything you need us to know about interacting with this character? Special physical features, special abilities, etc] He's just.... really tall. and lanky. He looks weird.
[Can I hack that strike or otherwise find out information they'd prefer to keep hidden?] No
[What would be a suitable way of disciplining them?] 8( try taking away his muggle toys, I care you. nevermind this isn't applicable.
[Can I troll/mindscrew/mess with in general?] Sure
[Can I spit at/jinx/step on/etc? (i.e. fighting)] This wouldn't be wise if your character is a student.
[Can I flirt with/hug/kiss/use other means of non-violent physical contact with this character?] I have no problems with this, as long as a student isn't involved. Touching in general is weird for him so I don't foresee him offering hugs to the students anyway.
[Anything else?] not atm!
CLASS SIGN UPS
Sep. 18th, 2012 08:29 amYou know you want this guy for your Muggle Studies professor.
[Sorting Hat App]
Sep. 15th, 2012 01:57 amPlayer Information
Name: Abby
Timezone: GMT +1
Personal Journal:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
xherrdoktor
Players Contact/AIM/MSN/YAHOO: xherrdoktor
Email Address: einigkeitundrecht@hotmail.de
Former/Other Characters in the RP: Dirk Strider, Dean Winchester
How did you hear about us?: ^
Character Information
Name: Theodore Purple (Almighty Tallest Purple)
Canon Origin/Series: Invader Zim
Teaching Position and why it suits them: In canon, Purple is in a position of authority, as the co-leader of the Irken population. They command the Irken Armada and direct their underlings in conquest and taking over other planets, and he is knowledgeable of the planets they take over. In this AU, he obviously wouldn’t be taking over other planets. Rather, this translates into him being familiar and fascinated with Muggle things, which is why he would teach Muggle Studies.
Suitability: As a Pureblood, his perception of the Muggle things he teaches about would be a little different than if an actual Muggleborn taught the class. For the most part, he would be fine with kids and adults alike. The only foreseeable problem would be if he came to dislike someone to the point of hatred (case in point, Zim), because it such circumstances it is hard for him to remain patient.
Gender: Male
Age: 34
Out of school living location: Canterbury, Kent
Blood status: Pureblood
Personality: Taken at face value, Purple seems like the stereotypical comic relief character. In many ways, he is. However, one should not write off his personality as lacking in depth. Even in his limited scenes in Invader Zim, a lot can be seen about what type of person he is.
Perhaps the most notable thing is that while he is inherently lazy, he also enjoys being in positions of power for the benefit. As one of the co-leaders of the Irkens, Purple has the luxury of enjoying the spoils of everything the Irken Armada has conquered. One of his favourite pastimes is eating snacks. More often than not, Purple can be seen with a drink and snacks at hand. It appears that neither he nor Red do much of anything with their leadership apart from the necessary tasks. Considering that they became the new leaders of the Irkens just because of their height, this is not all that surprising. Things have just been neat for him ever since he and Red came into power. It could possibly be argued that Purple is ambitious up to the point he’s acquired the position he wants.
With power comes abuse of power, and this is something that Purple can be considered guilty of. In Irken society, a lot of worth is placed on a person’s height. There are many instances where this has been addressed. He’s sometimes condescending to some of his shorter subjects, but it is usually in the manner of sarcasm or some level of curiosity in the sense of how can that even be a thing? He’s far from being considered a good leader; he has little qualms about an innocent person getting punished for something they didn’t do—because it’ll still get the point across.
Depending upon who he’s interacting with, Purple can be very sardonic and a bit of a bully. This is best seen in his interactions with Zim. He hates Zim and doesn’t bother to hide it at all. Of course, he has reason to—Zim is responsible for the destruction of their home planet. Most interactions with Zim are dealt with annoyance. Just to get him out of their (figurative) hair, Red and Purple tricked Zim into going onto a bullshit mission to some ~unknown~ planet that they did not even have charted. The intention was to keep Zim out of the way indefinitely, but that did not work so well, as Zim ended up discovering Earth. At one point, Purple remarked “we really should've given him a mission on a sun or a planet of broken glass or something.”
He truly lacks a filter when speaking in general. He isn’t the type to think about the consequences or ramifications of what he says, and to some degree, he doesn’t care. This also goes back to who he’s interacting with. For the most part, he treats the people he likes, tolerates, or simply has no opinion of quite well. Depending upon the topic, he might be dismissive, but he has the ability to be respectful and to give credit when it’s due. This is demonstrated when conversing with Tak and other Invaders. Again, the opposite can be seen in his interactions with Zim. “Look, we'd love to grant your request but, uh, we think you're insane!”
While many of his personality traits make him seem like an asshole, he is also capable of showing concern for the well-being of others. He wouldn’t want someone to get needlessly hurt in normal circumstances. When interacting with someone who doesn’t annoy him, he has the ability to be patient as well. He can offer decent explanations on matters that he’s informed about as well.
At times, Purple can be a prankster. His sense of humour is derived from the expense of others. If he’s going to find something funny, you can bet that it’s because someone did something stupid or got themselves in an interesting predicament. There was also an instance where he and Red tricked Zim by making Zim talk to puppet versions of themselves. (Gosh, does he love puppets!) Although Zim did not even notice, it still made for a fun experience.
The main changes that occur with the transition to the Sorting Hat AU is that he’s going to be one of those Purebloods who don’t necessarily hate Muggles or Muggleborns, but he finds their existence fascinating. He might end up saying things slightly off-colour at times, but the intention is not to be hateful. Another difference—and this is mostly stemming from him having limited screen time in a cartoon that’s just ridiculous on many levels—is that if he’s responsible for something catastrophic happening (IE, accidental death) he will feel guilty for it. His way of showing it is just more unconventional depending upon who he’s talking to. More often than not, he’d rather act flippantly and pretend it didn’t happen rather than face it.
Canon Background: here
Background (AU!Canon; HP): pooting
Theodore Purple’s childhood was nothing out of the ordinary. He was born into an affluent Pureblood family on 17 March 1978. His father worked at the ministry while his mother alternated between looking after her two boys and organising galas and charity events. It could be argued that there never really was a moment that he went without. He never knew what it was like to not have warm enough clothes or not enough to eat. He never had to seek out attention; despite his parents’ busy schedules, they always had time for their children.
Prior to his attendance at Hogwarts, Theodore spent his time attending private lessons and spending time with his brother. Although there was a two-year age difference, the boys were inseparable. Theodore looked up to his brother and followed his example. At the same time, he was Theodore’s best friend. Of course, he was also his only friend that he could regularly see. There were cousins and children of other ministry workers that Theodore knew and played with as a child, but he rarely saw them unless they came to one of the galas.
Perhaps the most unfortunate thing that came from this era in Theodore’s life was being so heavily exposed to his family’s way of thinking. From the time he was about seven—when he actually cared enough about what adults were saying to want to try to understand what was being discussed—Theodore learned about concepts such as pureblood superiority and the backwardness of Muggles. Of course, this was the normal way of thinking for Purebloods, especially when Theodore’s parents and their family friends grew up in the 1950s. Being an impressionable child, he adopted this ideas as his own due to the constant discussion of it. He was extremely isolated, though. He’d never met anyone who wasn’t magical; it almost seemed unbelievable that such people actually existed. In a way, it was similar to the concept of imagining what far-off places such as China or India based on spoken word alone. (Of course, he really would’ve had no way of knowing if he encountered a Muggle or Muggle-born at all. His parents were firm enough in their beliefs to want to keep him from interacting with them, but they couldn’t always prevent things like that from happening in the off-chance Theodore actually left the manor.)
The year 1987 marked a turning point in Theodore’s day-to-day life. Theodore turned nine in early spring. His brother turned eleven at the end of May. Theodore was finally exposed to unadulterated Muggle culture shortly at King’s Cross Station. In theory, the time that the brothers were separated for the two school years before Theodore could attend should’ve been time for him to step out of his brother’s shadow or at least learn to be more independent. But as fate would have it, that wasn’t the case. He was lonelier without his brother, but he kept in touch with him almost daily.
On 1 September 1989, Theodore was finally able to join his brother in attending the most prestigious wizard school in the world! What an exciting day that was. It came as no surprise that Theodore followed in his brother’s footsteps and joined him in the ranks of the Slytherin elite. The first few years of school were nothing out of the ordinary. He did well in many of his classes. He preferred the more hands-on classes, such as Defence Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration. History of Magic was a class he tended to fall asleep during, but he managed decent classes nonetheless.
In his third year, he opted into taking Muggle Studies. It was the only class that Theodore could’ve taken that his parents disapproved of. Knowing this made taking the class itself conflicting, but Theodore was far too intrigued to withdraw from the class. He was still under the impression that Muggles were beneath him, but the way they compensated for their lack of magical ability was astounding! This interest in what made Muggles tick was one that remained throughout his life.
Theodore was always one of those unlucky souls who found themselves with weak constitution. He grew up thinking one way, but the ‘discussions’ between a boy in the year below him—who could loosely be defined as a close friend, despite the heated debates they frequently had—started to make him reconsider. Maybe the way he was taught to think was wrong? Because wow, while he didn’t necessarily agree with these arguments, the logic behind it was sound enough. It was just too different from what he’d been taught.
It was something he could muse about in privacy, but only there. This was a common theme for Theodore. Considering his family and his brother’s watchful eye, he needed to be conscious of what he said and with whom he publically associated. Technically, he didn’t have to, but he was somewhere between lacking spine and wanting approval from his family. Hence why friendships with Muggle-borns such as Dirk “Bro” Strider were well-kept secrets but the idolisation of older Slytherin and fellow purple lover Murdoc Donoghue was…obvious.
The fact that teenage years cause a lot of confusion and tension didn’t help any of Theodore’s uncertainty either. He didn’t know what he thought and his opinions would sway depending upon who he was around. As fate would have it, without even realising it, he made a decision that changed the course of his entire life. It was nearing the end of his sixth year. It was nothing out of the ordinary; he had classes, he had exams to start studying for, he had Duelling Club. He paired off with his ‘friend.’ It was a friendly duel. There weren’t any hard feelings behind it. Everything was according to protocol, up until his friend fell and never woke up. Maybe they were both still worked up over a discussion they had earlier. Maybe they weren’t. Memory has a funny way of altering painful memories like that. Theodore did know was that it wasn’t supposed to happen. He knew that he was responsible for it, and it was something he couldn’t forgive himself for.
If there was a right way to react or continue with his life after such an event, Theodore didn’t know of it. Everything was hard and complicated. The accidental manslaughter of his friend changed him a lot, in ways he wasn’t aware of. He developed a way to bottle everything up. He didn’t try to deal with it; that was too hard. The investigation determined that it’d been an accident. That was the end of it for them, so why could it not be the end of it for Theo? Of course, he knew he was kidding himself. There wasn’t a way for him to undo the past like that. He didn’t want to talk about it, because he knew many students must’ve hated him for it. His family didn’t bat an eye because it had only been the death of a Muggle-Born. Both extremes were just too much on him, even if he was certain he hated himself too.
The way he ended up coping with his guilt was by perfecting a mask. For the rest of the school year and for that summer, Theodore was quiet. He avoided anyone and everyone as much as possible. (That was also the summer he went through his final growth spurt—6’6”/198cm, and he was doomed to being lanky for the rest of his life. He was never lucky enough to grow out of looking awkward as hell.) When he returned for his seventh year, he was determined to be invincible, to not let anything hurt him at all. This manifested into becoming even more flippant and mouthy about everything. It was just easier to deflect anything this way.
This was the attitude he took with him into adulthood. He was constantly energetic, constantly appearing as though he took nothing in life seriously at all. In this way, he simply began acting opposite of how he felt at times.
After he finished Hogwarts, Theodore came to an impasse. He had no idea of what to do with his life; he’d never considered it. There wasn’t any point in rushing to get a job when he already had the means to support himself via his parents’ money. While he tried to mull over important life decisions, he took a stereotypical “self-discovery” trip across Europe. He didn’t limit himself to where he travelled and who he interacted with because for once, he wasn’t directly under his parents’ thumb. He still held a lot of stock in what they thought of him, but he was trying so hard to figure out who he was. In all honestly, there were times he didn’t even know.
It was during this time that he rediscovered his interest in learning about Muggles. He interacted with him on his travels, he learnt things, and he tried to understand their cultures first hand. These experiences reminded him of the conversations he had in the past. In a way, maybe he was making amends by trying to learn, despite his limited perception. He doubted it, but he ended up spending several years living among Muggles and writing about them. He couldn’t understand the hows and whys from their perspectives, so his books could be considered stereotypical observations at best. He did try to take an unbiased approach, and sometimes he succeeded in this. The fact of the matter was that his Pureblood upbringing hindered this at times.
Perhaps it was for the best, though. That made all of the Muggle contraptions he encountered so much more fascinating. Tinkering with said objects was something that legitimately made Theodore happy. He never tired of learning about how things worked, especially considering Muggles lacked magic to assist them!
By the time he was twenty-five, Theodore had more or less been able to solidify his opinion that there was nothing wrong with Muggles. They were just different. Beyond that, his stance on things was a bit shaky. It was hard to completely uproot himself from the foundation he’d been raised on, especially considering he was still close to his family. As fascinating as he found Muggles, sometimes it was just easier to avoid the argument and just not his head and agree that yes, they were definitely inferior.
Over the next five years, Theodore didn’t do much with his life. Despite his family’s positions on certain topics, he didn’t get involved in wizard politics and he didn’t participate in the First Wizarding War, although his brother didn’t hesitate to join Voldemort’s ranks. Theodore stayed away from the conflict and tried to be as neutral as possible. He was content with being lazy, with being a general waste of space. For the sake of propriety, he attended his mother’s charity events and galas. He made frequent appearances to the orphanage his parents had established and funded solely for magical children. These visits were interesting, and did enjoy spending time with the kids and encouraging them to be the best at whatever they desire. Apart from that, it was a boring existence.
Hitting thirty was Theodore’s sign that, hey, his life is wasting away and he has nothing to say for it. While he didn’t feel particularly ambitious to obtain a high-ranking ministry job or something along the lines of that, he at least decided he needed a change. That in itself was a difficult decision to make, especially for someone who was more or less unmotivated to do much. After some reflection, he decided there were two things that he enjoyed immensely: studying Muggles and interacting with children.
In late 2008, Theodore applied for a job as a Muggle Studies professor at Hogwarts. He started his position in September 2009. His teaching methods tended to be more unconventional, because he preferred hands-on and engaging lessons over lecturing, but that was what made the classes enjoyable, at least for him. For the first time in years, he was doing something that made him happy. This was his passion.
He just doesn’t know that the boy he accidentally killed all those years ago is a ghost at the school.
RP Samples: here! and here
Name: Abby
Timezone: GMT +1
Personal Journal:
xherrdoktorPlayers Contact/AIM/MSN/YAHOO: xherrdoktor
Email Address: einigkeitundrecht@hotmail.de
Former/Other Characters in the RP: Dirk Strider, Dean Winchester
How did you hear about us?: ^
Character Information
Name: Theodore Purple (Almighty Tallest Purple)
Canon Origin/Series: Invader Zim
Teaching Position and why it suits them: In canon, Purple is in a position of authority, as the co-leader of the Irken population. They command the Irken Armada and direct their underlings in conquest and taking over other planets, and he is knowledgeable of the planets they take over. In this AU, he obviously wouldn’t be taking over other planets. Rather, this translates into him being familiar and fascinated with Muggle things, which is why he would teach Muggle Studies.
Suitability: As a Pureblood, his perception of the Muggle things he teaches about would be a little different than if an actual Muggleborn taught the class. For the most part, he would be fine with kids and adults alike. The only foreseeable problem would be if he came to dislike someone to the point of hatred (case in point, Zim), because it such circumstances it is hard for him to remain patient.
Gender: Male
Age: 34
Out of school living location: Canterbury, Kent
Blood status: Pureblood
Personality: Taken at face value, Purple seems like the stereotypical comic relief character. In many ways, he is. However, one should not write off his personality as lacking in depth. Even in his limited scenes in Invader Zim, a lot can be seen about what type of person he is.
Perhaps the most notable thing is that while he is inherently lazy, he also enjoys being in positions of power for the benefit. As one of the co-leaders of the Irkens, Purple has the luxury of enjoying the spoils of everything the Irken Armada has conquered. One of his favourite pastimes is eating snacks. More often than not, Purple can be seen with a drink and snacks at hand. It appears that neither he nor Red do much of anything with their leadership apart from the necessary tasks. Considering that they became the new leaders of the Irkens just because of their height, this is not all that surprising. Things have just been neat for him ever since he and Red came into power. It could possibly be argued that Purple is ambitious up to the point he’s acquired the position he wants.
With power comes abuse of power, and this is something that Purple can be considered guilty of. In Irken society, a lot of worth is placed on a person’s height. There are many instances where this has been addressed. He’s sometimes condescending to some of his shorter subjects, but it is usually in the manner of sarcasm or some level of curiosity in the sense of how can that even be a thing? He’s far from being considered a good leader; he has little qualms about an innocent person getting punished for something they didn’t do—because it’ll still get the point across.
Depending upon who he’s interacting with, Purple can be very sardonic and a bit of a bully. This is best seen in his interactions with Zim. He hates Zim and doesn’t bother to hide it at all. Of course, he has reason to—Zim is responsible for the destruction of their home planet. Most interactions with Zim are dealt with annoyance. Just to get him out of their (figurative) hair, Red and Purple tricked Zim into going onto a bullshit mission to some ~unknown~ planet that they did not even have charted. The intention was to keep Zim out of the way indefinitely, but that did not work so well, as Zim ended up discovering Earth. At one point, Purple remarked “we really should've given him a mission on a sun or a planet of broken glass or something.”
He truly lacks a filter when speaking in general. He isn’t the type to think about the consequences or ramifications of what he says, and to some degree, he doesn’t care. This also goes back to who he’s interacting with. For the most part, he treats the people he likes, tolerates, or simply has no opinion of quite well. Depending upon the topic, he might be dismissive, but he has the ability to be respectful and to give credit when it’s due. This is demonstrated when conversing with Tak and other Invaders. Again, the opposite can be seen in his interactions with Zim. “Look, we'd love to grant your request but, uh, we think you're insane!”
While many of his personality traits make him seem like an asshole, he is also capable of showing concern for the well-being of others. He wouldn’t want someone to get needlessly hurt in normal circumstances. When interacting with someone who doesn’t annoy him, he has the ability to be patient as well. He can offer decent explanations on matters that he’s informed about as well.
At times, Purple can be a prankster. His sense of humour is derived from the expense of others. If he’s going to find something funny, you can bet that it’s because someone did something stupid or got themselves in an interesting predicament. There was also an instance where he and Red tricked Zim by making Zim talk to puppet versions of themselves. (Gosh, does he love puppets!) Although Zim did not even notice, it still made for a fun experience.
The main changes that occur with the transition to the Sorting Hat AU is that he’s going to be one of those Purebloods who don’t necessarily hate Muggles or Muggleborns, but he finds their existence fascinating. He might end up saying things slightly off-colour at times, but the intention is not to be hateful. Another difference—and this is mostly stemming from him having limited screen time in a cartoon that’s just ridiculous on many levels—is that if he’s responsible for something catastrophic happening (IE, accidental death) he will feel guilty for it. His way of showing it is just more unconventional depending upon who he’s talking to. More often than not, he’d rather act flippantly and pretend it didn’t happen rather than face it.
Canon Background: here
Background (AU!Canon; HP): pooting
Theodore Purple’s childhood was nothing out of the ordinary. He was born into an affluent Pureblood family on 17 March 1978. His father worked at the ministry while his mother alternated between looking after her two boys and organising galas and charity events. It could be argued that there never really was a moment that he went without. He never knew what it was like to not have warm enough clothes or not enough to eat. He never had to seek out attention; despite his parents’ busy schedules, they always had time for their children.
Prior to his attendance at Hogwarts, Theodore spent his time attending private lessons and spending time with his brother. Although there was a two-year age difference, the boys were inseparable. Theodore looked up to his brother and followed his example. At the same time, he was Theodore’s best friend. Of course, he was also his only friend that he could regularly see. There were cousins and children of other ministry workers that Theodore knew and played with as a child, but he rarely saw them unless they came to one of the galas.
Perhaps the most unfortunate thing that came from this era in Theodore’s life was being so heavily exposed to his family’s way of thinking. From the time he was about seven—when he actually cared enough about what adults were saying to want to try to understand what was being discussed—Theodore learned about concepts such as pureblood superiority and the backwardness of Muggles. Of course, this was the normal way of thinking for Purebloods, especially when Theodore’s parents and their family friends grew up in the 1950s. Being an impressionable child, he adopted this ideas as his own due to the constant discussion of it. He was extremely isolated, though. He’d never met anyone who wasn’t magical; it almost seemed unbelievable that such people actually existed. In a way, it was similar to the concept of imagining what far-off places such as China or India based on spoken word alone. (Of course, he really would’ve had no way of knowing if he encountered a Muggle or Muggle-born at all. His parents were firm enough in their beliefs to want to keep him from interacting with them, but they couldn’t always prevent things like that from happening in the off-chance Theodore actually left the manor.)
The year 1987 marked a turning point in Theodore’s day-to-day life. Theodore turned nine in early spring. His brother turned eleven at the end of May. Theodore was finally exposed to unadulterated Muggle culture shortly at King’s Cross Station. In theory, the time that the brothers were separated for the two school years before Theodore could attend should’ve been time for him to step out of his brother’s shadow or at least learn to be more independent. But as fate would have it, that wasn’t the case. He was lonelier without his brother, but he kept in touch with him almost daily.
On 1 September 1989, Theodore was finally able to join his brother in attending the most prestigious wizard school in the world! What an exciting day that was. It came as no surprise that Theodore followed in his brother’s footsteps and joined him in the ranks of the Slytherin elite. The first few years of school were nothing out of the ordinary. He did well in many of his classes. He preferred the more hands-on classes, such as Defence Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration. History of Magic was a class he tended to fall asleep during, but he managed decent classes nonetheless.
In his third year, he opted into taking Muggle Studies. It was the only class that Theodore could’ve taken that his parents disapproved of. Knowing this made taking the class itself conflicting, but Theodore was far too intrigued to withdraw from the class. He was still under the impression that Muggles were beneath him, but the way they compensated for their lack of magical ability was astounding! This interest in what made Muggles tick was one that remained throughout his life.
Theodore was always one of those unlucky souls who found themselves with weak constitution. He grew up thinking one way, but the ‘discussions’ between a boy in the year below him—who could loosely be defined as a close friend, despite the heated debates they frequently had—started to make him reconsider. Maybe the way he was taught to think was wrong? Because wow, while he didn’t necessarily agree with these arguments, the logic behind it was sound enough. It was just too different from what he’d been taught.
It was something he could muse about in privacy, but only there. This was a common theme for Theodore. Considering his family and his brother’s watchful eye, he needed to be conscious of what he said and with whom he publically associated. Technically, he didn’t have to, but he was somewhere between lacking spine and wanting approval from his family. Hence why friendships with Muggle-borns such as Dirk “Bro” Strider were well-kept secrets but the idolisation of older Slytherin and fellow purple lover Murdoc Donoghue was…obvious.
The fact that teenage years cause a lot of confusion and tension didn’t help any of Theodore’s uncertainty either. He didn’t know what he thought and his opinions would sway depending upon who he was around. As fate would have it, without even realising it, he made a decision that changed the course of his entire life. It was nearing the end of his sixth year. It was nothing out of the ordinary; he had classes, he had exams to start studying for, he had Duelling Club. He paired off with his ‘friend.’ It was a friendly duel. There weren’t any hard feelings behind it. Everything was according to protocol, up until his friend fell and never woke up. Maybe they were both still worked up over a discussion they had earlier. Maybe they weren’t. Memory has a funny way of altering painful memories like that. Theodore did know was that it wasn’t supposed to happen. He knew that he was responsible for it, and it was something he couldn’t forgive himself for.
If there was a right way to react or continue with his life after such an event, Theodore didn’t know of it. Everything was hard and complicated. The accidental manslaughter of his friend changed him a lot, in ways he wasn’t aware of. He developed a way to bottle everything up. He didn’t try to deal with it; that was too hard. The investigation determined that it’d been an accident. That was the end of it for them, so why could it not be the end of it for Theo? Of course, he knew he was kidding himself. There wasn’t a way for him to undo the past like that. He didn’t want to talk about it, because he knew many students must’ve hated him for it. His family didn’t bat an eye because it had only been the death of a Muggle-Born. Both extremes were just too much on him, even if he was certain he hated himself too.
The way he ended up coping with his guilt was by perfecting a mask. For the rest of the school year and for that summer, Theodore was quiet. He avoided anyone and everyone as much as possible. (That was also the summer he went through his final growth spurt—6’6”/198cm, and he was doomed to being lanky for the rest of his life. He was never lucky enough to grow out of looking awkward as hell.) When he returned for his seventh year, he was determined to be invincible, to not let anything hurt him at all. This manifested into becoming even more flippant and mouthy about everything. It was just easier to deflect anything this way.
This was the attitude he took with him into adulthood. He was constantly energetic, constantly appearing as though he took nothing in life seriously at all. In this way, he simply began acting opposite of how he felt at times.
After he finished Hogwarts, Theodore came to an impasse. He had no idea of what to do with his life; he’d never considered it. There wasn’t any point in rushing to get a job when he already had the means to support himself via his parents’ money. While he tried to mull over important life decisions, he took a stereotypical “self-discovery” trip across Europe. He didn’t limit himself to where he travelled and who he interacted with because for once, he wasn’t directly under his parents’ thumb. He still held a lot of stock in what they thought of him, but he was trying so hard to figure out who he was. In all honestly, there were times he didn’t even know.
It was during this time that he rediscovered his interest in learning about Muggles. He interacted with him on his travels, he learnt things, and he tried to understand their cultures first hand. These experiences reminded him of the conversations he had in the past. In a way, maybe he was making amends by trying to learn, despite his limited perception. He doubted it, but he ended up spending several years living among Muggles and writing about them. He couldn’t understand the hows and whys from their perspectives, so his books could be considered stereotypical observations at best. He did try to take an unbiased approach, and sometimes he succeeded in this. The fact of the matter was that his Pureblood upbringing hindered this at times.
Perhaps it was for the best, though. That made all of the Muggle contraptions he encountered so much more fascinating. Tinkering with said objects was something that legitimately made Theodore happy. He never tired of learning about how things worked, especially considering Muggles lacked magic to assist them!
By the time he was twenty-five, Theodore had more or less been able to solidify his opinion that there was nothing wrong with Muggles. They were just different. Beyond that, his stance on things was a bit shaky. It was hard to completely uproot himself from the foundation he’d been raised on, especially considering he was still close to his family. As fascinating as he found Muggles, sometimes it was just easier to avoid the argument and just not his head and agree that yes, they were definitely inferior.
Over the next five years, Theodore didn’t do much with his life. Despite his family’s positions on certain topics, he didn’t get involved in wizard politics and he didn’t participate in the First Wizarding War, although his brother didn’t hesitate to join Voldemort’s ranks. Theodore stayed away from the conflict and tried to be as neutral as possible. He was content with being lazy, with being a general waste of space. For the sake of propriety, he attended his mother’s charity events and galas. He made frequent appearances to the orphanage his parents had established and funded solely for magical children. These visits were interesting, and did enjoy spending time with the kids and encouraging them to be the best at whatever they desire. Apart from that, it was a boring existence.
Hitting thirty was Theodore’s sign that, hey, his life is wasting away and he has nothing to say for it. While he didn’t feel particularly ambitious to obtain a high-ranking ministry job or something along the lines of that, he at least decided he needed a change. That in itself was a difficult decision to make, especially for someone who was more or less unmotivated to do much. After some reflection, he decided there were two things that he enjoyed immensely: studying Muggles and interacting with children.
In late 2008, Theodore applied for a job as a Muggle Studies professor at Hogwarts. He started his position in September 2009. His teaching methods tended to be more unconventional, because he preferred hands-on and engaging lessons over lecturing, but that was what made the classes enjoyable, at least for him. For the first time in years, he was doing something that made him happy. This was his passion.
He just doesn’t know that the boy he accidentally killed all those years ago is a ghost at the school.
RP Samples: here! and here
