Title: MCKINNON, marlene
Description: sixteen;; sixth year
Description: sixteen;; sixth year
Marlene McKinnon - September 26, 2007 12:38 AM (GMT)
Marlene Maria McKinnon
played by: Aesop
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- THE PUPPET
nicknames : Marlie;; and to her cousin Mallowmar
date of birth : August 13th 1960
house : Gryffindor, of course.
age : Sixteen years.
year : Sixth.
wand type : 11 1/2 inches, mahogany, unicorn tail core
blood line : Muggle-born.
pets : She has a Nothern-Hawk Owl named Wallace, or Wally for short.
- THE LOOKS
eye color : Vibrant blue-green.
height&weight : 5'4" and 105 pounds.
played by : Adriana Lima
full appearance :
She's small and slight, but has a very commanding presence. Her voice is light and flowy, like a good piece of music, and hardly ever raised. Her accent isn't really too noticeable, except if she's talking for a long time or getting angry because then it tends to slip without her realizing. Something about her just makes people pay attention when she talks, even if they shake their heads and roll their eyes after she's finished. Which tends to happen quite a bit to this girl. She has perfect posture and can balance a book perfectly on her head. Not that she ever tries it out. But dancing since she was just a child has taught her to carry herself in a confident, graceful manner. Marlene walks with a sort of sway, like she's floating on the wind rather than clomping along like most teenagers do. She never swings her arms or changes her step. Just a careful placement that's subconcious of her feet, left, right, left, right.
Her body is thin, lithe, just as a dancer's should be. She doesn't have the biggest bosom or anything like that, but was blessed with good genes from her parents. She looks sharp but in a soft way, almost wiry. Her stomach is flat, well-toned but not overly muscular as the rest of her body. Her legs are probably her favorite aspect of herself, or perhaps her tummy. Not really the convential reply from a girl, eh? Her skin is olive-colored, tan like she's spent ages under the sun, which she used to, but stays that way even in winter. Though from her Irish father, she inherited a few freckles that dash across the bridge of her small nose and the part of her cheeks under her eyes. It's hard to see with her dark complexion but when someone's very close to her it's noticeable.
Marlene has dark, almost black hair that falls down to her mid-back. Usually it's styled different each day, sometimes let down in loose curls or pinstraight. Other times it's wound into a tight bun at the back of her head, mainly when she's dancing, or in a single braid down her back when she plays Quidditch. Her eyes are big, surrounded by thick, dark lashes and startlingly bright against her skin. They're a sort of Mediterranean blue-green, as though the water she spent so much time in reflected into them. Her eyebrows are carefully plucked, not too thin, but having to be shaped as she doesn't want to look like Groucho Marx. She was lucky enough to have pretty good teeth, not perfect as they would've been with braces, but no overbite or snaggle tooth or crooked rows anywhere. They are very white though, from her obsessive brushing.
Most of the time, she wears the required school uniform, obviously. However, on weekends and vacations, she usually has a nice wardrobe. She wears many long scarves in winter, colorful as can be. And generally different colored leggings with oversized turtleneck sweaters or tunics. Another favorite is off the shoulder long-sleeved shirts. They're just comfortable to wear. She isn't outrageous in her dress or anything like that, not wanting to draw too much attention to herself. But her outfits are always fashionable and tasteful, as she's quite classy despite her forwardness.
- THE INSIDES
Laughing. He who cannot laugh, cannot live.
Writing. She's not amazing, but she does it for herself.
Dancing. Life without art is life without beauty.
Italian. Who wouldn't ache to hear their native tongue?
Fashion. Looking good is 3/4 of feeling good.
Taking care of people. Kindness is the answer.
Intellectual boys. There's far too many stupid ones.
Rain. There's nothing more poetically beautiful.
Leggings and scarves. They're her favorites.
Lattes. Who doesn't?
dislikes :
Arrogance. Who needs that sort of attitude?
Uncomfortable silences. Seriously, is there anything worse?
Being treated badly because she's muggleborn, or even poor.
strengths :
Quidditch, oddly enough.
Care of Magical Creatures. She loves animals.
Persuasion. The accent does wonders.
Potions. Even though the field she wants to go into doesn't need it, she continues taking it.
weaknesses :
Pride. She's never one to accept help.
Insecurity. Never measuring up to the cooler, prettier girls.
Saying the wrong things at the wrong time.
She smokes sometimes. She can't help it. Her best friend did. It's a comfort thing.
habits/quirks : She often bits her bottom lip when nervous or else lets her mouth hang slightly agap when concentrating. She brushes her teeth like a maniac. After she eats, no matter what time, if she can.
boggart : Failure. She can't bear to let anyone down.
patronus : A unicorn. Her happy memory is swimming in the aqua blue water of Faro with her best friend, Lorenzo, and discovering a hidden cove.
dream job : To be a dancer. Whether for some magical musical or a muggle one. She loves it. It is her passion.
overall personality :
Most people who meet her will describe Marlie as outgoing, a very charismatic person who speaks with a genuine interest to all. She's the one who always has time to talk to the quiet kid in the class or help someone who's dropped their books in a hallway. She always has a kind word to share and a fresh smile to flash. This kind of natural openness draws her to people and people to her. She's rarely seen standing alone, as she's always conversing, even to complete strangers. She's one of those that believes strangers are simply friends you haven't met yet, as naive as that may seem. And often, she seems naive but it's only because she'd rather see things beautifully distorted than so harshly realistic. She knows truly what's what, but that doesn't mean she necessarily wants to.
Laughter is never far from her lips just a book is never far from her hands. Despite being an extrovert, she does have times when she just wants to curl up in the common room with her latest novel and read the real world away. Often, this doesn't come true since she spends so much time around people. But there are times when she stays up all night just watching the fireplace and reading or writing in one of her numerous journals. There are just so many thoughts in her mind, abstract or clear, that to contain them all would probably cause an eruption of her brain. So she writes them down and doesn't have to dwell on them anymore, but doesn't have to forget either. Forgetting is something she doesn't like to do. However, when she isn't writing, she's in the Room of Requirement, dancing. It transforms into a studio for her, with mirrors on every wall, a bar, stereo, etc, etc so that she can do what she loves so much. Dancing is still something she's shy about, though, so most people have never seen her do it.
When it comes to anger, she's slow to fire up and quick to cool down. People can pretty much walk all over her without so much as her smile faltering. She's patient and will answer a question as many times as someone asks without getting frustrated. However, one thing that really gets under her skin is someone tormenting someone else. It's something she won't stand for. And she will tell them to cut it out, several times, and if they don't, the fireworks happen. She explodes and if no one's ever told you, Italian anger is fierce anger. But within a few minutes, she'll apologize for losing her temper and be back to her honey-sweet self again, and forgive whatever happened, though she won't forget.
Though she rarely exposes it, Marlie is quite intelligent. She doesn't judge anyone, truly doesn't judge and so plenty of people confide in her. She makes excellent grades and better than that, she understands things in life. Not everything, because everything is a lot to understand, but a lot of things. More things than people would expect from a girl like her. But the thing is, for as many friends as she has, not many truly know her. For example, she likes laying upside down and reading. Why? She has no reason for it. She just likes it. It makes her happy and there's nothing simpler in life that doing what makes you happy.
- THE BEGINNING
hometown : Sorrento, Italy.
mother and father : Lisa Marie Bruno and Aidan Davis McKinnon.
brothers and sisters : Younger twin siblings Logan Emilio McKinnon and Angela Marcy McKinnon, younger brother Luca Aidan McKinnon, and older brother Phinneaus Calvin McKinnon.
other relatives : Elijah Quinn McKinnon, her eighteen year old cousin who's the only other magical person in her family.
overall history :
Marlene grew up in the typical Italian-Irish family, big, loving and full of alcohol. For all their faults, her family was an embracing one, always with an open door and open heart to all. Her parents were married at eighteen and began having children right away. They lived in a pale, chipping concrete house with a thatched roof, as was the style of lower-class Sorrento. The rooms were crowded, stuffy, and laundry was hung in the backyard on a line. There was always work to be done and mouths to feed. Mister McKinnon worked building buildings, repairing roads, and digging ditches for a construction company. Her mother worked as a maid in the wealthier households of their town. Marlene rarely went to the public school three miles from her house and eventually stopped going all together once her mother fell ill. When this happened, her brother dropped out of school as well and began working alongside his family to benefit the family. Marlie became the residential cook, cleaning woman, and babysitter to her younger siblings.
Mrs. McKinnon tried to provide for her family, even as she was sick, but the efforts were too much. Her eldest daughter had to take over and did so without complaint. She learned to sacrifice for her family whether it was food or time or kindness. She read books to her mother and younger siblings, bathed them, feed them. She hung the laundry, swept the bare wooden floors, scrubbed the walls. She knew her father and brother worked hard to bring home the money and so she worked hard to keep things in order. Eventually her mother regained her strength, though had to take a lower paying job as a shopkeeper, and the children became older. They were able to help more. The household ran, not smoothly, but it ran all the same. Hunger was always rumbling in their stomachs and dirt was always prominent on their hands but it was a small thing compared to the love that filled the emptiness in their bellies and the respect that grew for one another in their calluses.
Marlie was only ever really good at writing and only had the talent for dancing. Otherwise she talked like any normal child, fluent in Italian and later English. She enjoyed laying on the rocky shores of the local beaches and eating ice cream with her friends. There was nothing to suggest that Marlie was anything more than an ordinary girl. However, like all young witches and wizards, there were some peculiar events that went on around her. When she was three, she grabbed the dying plant on the windowsill and moments later, it was lush and green as when it had first grown. When she was seven, her father was yelling at her and she was growing steadily angrier until her door slammed in his face and wouldn't open for several minutes. When she was ten, she awoke in bed from a wonderful dream of flying to find she was hovering a few inches over the mattress. Other than these instances, mere oddities in her mind, she found herself like any other kid she knew.
On the late afternoon her eleventh birthday, a hot dusty day, she returned from the beach and walked up the long path to her house, stopping at the mailbox to bring it to her mother. It was that night that her mother discovered the letter from Hogwarts and screamed, promptly dropping a ceramic dish and scaring the rest of the family. None of them could quite believe that magic existed, until her cousin Elijah's name came into the conversation. So that year she left for Platform 9 and 3/4, accompanied by her beaming wizard cousin, still amazed that such a place as Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry existed. As she boarded the train and watched it pull out of the station, she knew her life was changed forever, clutching the wand she'd bought in Diagon Alley to her chest. And she cried, for the first time in years, that night for the ache inside of her unlike anything she'd ever experienced. She missed her family, so boisterious but so gentle. She missed the little broken house she lived in and the wild flowers that grew so lovely outside her back door. She had eaten so much at the feast that she thought she'd never be hungry again but there was a hollowness in her chest that was worse than any hunger for food.
Marlene Marie McKinnon grew into a young lady. Returning home every summer, though not on holiday vacations because her family couldn't afford to fly her from England to Italy more than twice a year and she didn't want to impose on her cousin in London. Because of him, she wore the nice clothes she had and was given new school supplies each year. She couldn't ask for anything more. There were always some students hanging around the castle and being the social butterfly she was, she made friends with them all. Or, atleast tried to. She wrote many letters to her family and Elijah, and received many back. However, there was one person who never answered. Lorenzo DeGesari. He was her best friend growing up, living in the small villa next to hers (next to meaning a mile). And even worked in the same business as her brother and father. But once she shared her news of being invited to Hogwarts, he had changed. He called her a freak. He wanted nothing to do with her. No matter how confused she was, no matter how hurt, she had learned to accept it. Though, she never did stop writing.
- THE PUPETEER
contact : Just PM me for my AIM. x3
roleplay example :
Why was everyone so mean to each other? She'd watched so much go on in such a short school day, the jeers between students, paper balls zooming, sad, angry, lonely. Everyone was lonely. Whether they'd admit it or not. Marlene was lonely, even though she could easily go find someone to talk to. Sometimes you needed someone who wasn't there. Someone who couldn't be there, even if they wanted to. Like her mother. She missed her mother. Her whole family, really, but her mother most of all. There was a special bond between a mother and daughter, especially when Marlie had spent so long caring for hers. But sometimes they didn't even want to. Like Lorenzo. She hadn't heard from him in over five years, though she knew what he was doing due to her brother. He had a girlfriend, well fiancee now, and was soon to be married. And he hadn't even tried to contact her.
It stung to think about it. When they used to laugh that he'd be the Maid of Honor at her wedding and her the Best Man at his. When they used to promise that if they weren't married by twenty-eight, they'd marry each other and have a family of their own. And there he was, breaking the pact they'd made as he had every right to do, but not even telling her, nevermind not inviting her. She'd wanted to be there to watch him stand at the alter, experiencing the most beautiful thing in the world. To profess your undying devotion to a person before your friends and family and even God, if you believed in him as she knew Lorenzo did. Despite whatever had happened between them, she'd always hoped they would find their way back to friendship. There was no way they could share so much together and then fall apart completely. Apparently, he felt differently.
Well, she realized long ago that it was impossible to make someone love you if they didn't want to. And she guessed their friendship was no longer important as she'd done something wrong by getting that letter over five years ago. She hadn't meant to abandon him, maybe that was how he felt. But if he did, that was ridiculous of him. She'd written him a letter every day of her first year, and banged on his door that summer, begging him to stop being angry. To no avail. He simply locked it and had left her to yell herself hoarse. And she still wrote, though not everyday, and she'd given up on sitting on his front stoop. That was how it started, weening away from a friendship, a little at a time. Though it technically might not count as weening if the other person had gone cold-turkey on you.
Marlie wouldn't deny that she'd lost quite a few people over the years, but it was nothing compared to how many she'd managed to keep. She was the type of person who you'd lose contact with for years and then suddenly receive a phone call with her warm, inviting voice on the other end of the line. She was the kind of friend that you might forget for awhile, but you'd never completely be rid of. Maybe that was a good thing, maybe it was a bad thing. All she knew was that she liked people and she liked good people. There were too few of them in the world and she didn't want to let the ones she'd found disappear out of her life. She missed everyone everyone she'd ever lost, missed them so fiercely sometimes that even if it had been years, it felt like hours since they'd separated.
Sure, she had made new friends at Hogwarts. Plenty. The Gryffindors embraced her and she couldn't be more grateful for their hospitality. But sometimes she missed laying in the meadows near her little villa in Sorrento, floating on the aqua water at the beach. This homesickness she'd kept since her first year and while it wasn't so bad most of the time, sometimes it seized her and suffocated her. She nearly cried with an onrush of emotions, and then felt terribly silly afterwards for feeling this way. Anyway, it wasn't something she'd admit to anyone. At sixteen, you weren't supposed to miss your mommy anymore, but she did. People couldn't help feelings. Just as she couldn't help the heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach as she thought about Lorenzo and his impending marriage to a faceless girl (that's how Marlie pictured her).
Ah well, at least she'd never fallen in love with him. That would've made things worse, not that they were easy now. Pulling a cigarette out of the messenger bag beside her, Marlene lit up and watched the passing students all around her, bustling around the little shops in Hogsmeade excitedly. She looked back down, not wanting to talk to anyone when she was in this peculiar mood, exhaling the smoke and starting her novel. You couldn't have everything in life, of course. But sometimes a cigarette that reminds you of an old friend and a new book can help.
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Sirius Black - September 26, 2007 12:44 AM (GMT)
Accepted.
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