#does anya chalotra look different somehow??

[curiosity-killed]

Witcher fam is officially the worst at disguises

[gayregis]

Hi good morning can we talk about twn ciri for a sec? There is something about the way she’s portrayed by the actress that just drives me CRAZY and I don’t know quite how to put my finger on it. I think she’s just so reserved and serious and haughty, whereas in the books she’s really playful and lively and exaggerated and just?? Has emotions?? And also I was spoiled by Peter Kenny’s fantastic accent for ciri and can’t think of her any other way. ANYWAY WHAT R UR THOUGHTS CUZ IM SURE THEY’RE GOOD

ohohoh yes. just as a prefacee and for context, freya allan (ciri’s actress) is 18 years old, and i am 19 years old, so to say i didn’t like her acting in twn isn’t me bullying or being harsh on a minor. in addition, i also don’t think her acting was bad. i think her acting was great, but it was just out of character for ciri, at least the ciri we know from the books... i do not think the directors treated ciri with enough weight as she needed to have in the narrative. like with yennefer, they gave her way more screen time and much less significance in the overall story, because the moments that they gave them to be on screen were just pure filler with no effect on the character development, relationship development, setting, themes... the audience never learned anything useful when they were on screen, besides lore about aretuza and cintra that would immediately escape their minds after the episode was done.

i know for a fact that this “out of character” acting for ciri (her being “so reserved and serious and haughty”) was a result of the directors and people running the show, and NOT freya herself as an actress. like with joey batey and anya chalotra i think, they got the short stick in this deal. they’re actors, so their profession is to act, but they don’t always get to decide HOW they’re supposed to act and portray these beloved characters. that’s what the director is for, right? to direct how scenes play out, to make sure the characters are in-character. and the writers are the ones that write the actors’ lines and the scenes they exist in, so “then it’s just like any other place,” or “who’s yennefer,” and other ridiculous garbage throwaway lines were the writers’ fault and not the actors. i just think it’s important to establish that even though yes, freya is an older teenager/young adult, she’s not responsible for a lot of decisions involving ciri and the character. plus since she is 18 and just got done being 17, i feel like this is the first time she’s actually been able to legally make her own decisions. 

plus in this topic, because i’ve never mentioned it anywhere before, i’d like to bring light to how it’s super shady of netflix to decide to hire an actress for ciri who is BARELY an adult actor, because child actors (as opposed to adult ones) are restricted by many different laws concerning how many hours they can work, etc. the fact that freya is 18 means that they can give her more work and disregard any regulations that may have applied to a child actor, and i think i literally read this from lauren hissrich in an interview, that “older actors are easier to work with than child actors” or something like this, that it’s difficult to shoot with child actors due to the immense restrictions. so although they phrased the casting choice for freya allan more in the sense of “well, we were GOING to cast someone younger, but freya was just so fantastic in auditions that we NEEDED her in this production” is suspicious to me, i think they did it so they wouldn’t have to deal with the headache of laws surrounding child actors (note that i do NOT doubt that freya is a great actress, i liked her acting, i mean look at the scenes she is in! she is actually acting, unlike henry cavill).

speaking of henry cavill, anyone want to mention his 19 year old girlfriend or his “opinions” on the #MeToo movement? no? my more conspiratorial theory is that they might have just wanted to get a barely legal actress for ciri because if cavill were to “do anything”... ahem... it would be less complicated for all of the legality than if he “did anything” to a child. i’m not calling cavill a r*pist but he has made his views on women explicitly clear, and a LOT falls under the umbrella of sexual assault and harassment. innappropriate comments, etc... i don’t trust him to respect women just as much as i don’t trust him to act.

that was a big preface that pretty much went nowhere, apologies... but i think it’s significant to look at the context around the actor or actress when they’re likely being a tad exploited on set. but yes, ciri does come off as super out of character to me in the majority of scenes she is in. it’s because her character was set up to be a white feminist fantasy of being declared innocent from the sins of her family because she feels bad about it, with her “being so privileged and then she finds out her grandmamma committed mass genocide and she has to realize that her royal ways!” instead of anything related to what we see in the books, of a vulnerable child losing that childhood and trying to cling to some sense of normalcy and family. they set her up as “a princess” and not “a child.” 

in the books, she’s just a child, and then geralt learns she’s a princess and teases her that she doesn’t look much like one, being lost in a forest with a snotty nose... she’s not introduced in a royal court surrounded by noble guests. i doubt that books ciri spent all of her time in court, either... according to the lore, she wouldn’t even be able to sit down and she would have to stand in calanthe’s presence (season of storms, the princes must stand in the royal court alongside their father while coral gets to sit because she is a sorceress... of course, this is cidaris and not cintra, but it still stands). she is a princess, but she has difficulty acting like one... it’s something i’d rather erase from my mind because it’s one of those “problematic points of canon that only exist because they live in a medieval society,” but it’s made clear that calanthe gave ciri the belt for misbehaving, multiple times. ciri is obviously interested in more childlike pursuits and acts outside of her station a lot. after all, she is the reason that their entourage got pulled into brokilon in the sword of destiny, because ciri fucking ran away since she didn’t want to be brought to and married off to prince kirsten of verden.

again on ciri’s age, she was 8 or 9 when we first meet her in the books, and 14 when we meet her in the netflix series. that’s a vast amount of difference in age, not only by years, but by development and experience. an 8 year old is a 3rd grader, a 14 year old is a high school freshman. i think that makes a lot of difference in not only how much agency a character is treated with, but how an audience views them. i mean, 14 is a good age for a YA novel protagonist - think harry potter or percy jackson. ciri in the netflix adaptation was set up more as someone relatable (to those younger watching) as she’s like the hero of her own story! she escapes from her evil evil evil pursuers and has this great power she doesn’t yet understand! whereas books ciri is meant more for an audience to feel like geralt toward - protective, parental, you find a child in the middle of the woods, and you’re thinking, “what’s with this... sassy lost child?”

sapkowski is also the master of a good character reveal. i think ciri, cahir, regis, even characters like vilgefortz, have these GREAT reveals as to who they were all along! surprise, surprise, there is no black knight of cintra, it’s just a young man paralyzed with fear and pain! surprise, surprise, the guy that knew a lot about vampires and lived near a cemetery and dresses in all black is a vampire (ok, this reveal is weaker... but you’ve got to admit, the actual reveal scene... alright). 

ciri had a GREAT character reveal in the books. since we see everything from geralt’s perspective, she’s just some child, she’s just some brat geralt finds in the wilderness, he doesn’t have ANY reason to feel any sort of way to her, and he practically adopts her and she feels safe with him. he recognizes her vulnerability as a child and does anything to protect her and guide her. this is what is meant by “something more,” their relationship from the beginning was something more than strictly destiny. destiny may have led them together, but it did not make them become family, they did that themselves. and later when geralt learns that ciri is the princess of cintra, the child surprise promised to him, does he even consider destiny as part of the equation. and this is actually what drives them apart, because geralt believes that he will and refuses to ruin her life by introducing her to the blade, and thus, death. because it’s not incredibly special that ciri is a child surprise, i wouldn’t say it’s horribly common, but it’s not like she’s the only one. and she’s definitely not the only child to be taken/taken in and raised by witchers. and geralt knows what being raised as a witcher is like, and he refuses to do that to her, because he actually loves this child as his daughter. and this is where the conflict stems from, because geralt spit in destiny’s face and said, fuck you, i’m not going to hurt this child. and destiny said, i’m going to hurt her anyways.

in the netflix series? the first time we see ciri... is in cintra! the surprise is RUINED!! child surprise, more like child already-revealed. the audience has no reason to watch anymore, because we already know who she is and what happens to her. they literally kill calanthe and eist off in the first episode, and then expect the audience to CARE about them during episode 4 when they adapted a question of price. in the books, dandelion telling geralt the accounts of the massacre of cintra was a heavy scene, it was a tragic scene, and you knew somehow that it was geralt’s fault because of how he had refuted destiny, you had the lore on your side if you had been reading the stories beforehand, you understood why this was happening and what has happened to ciri.

also side note, i sincerely think the massacre of cintra is better coming from geralt’s best friend, someone he’s known for years and trusts immensely, also a poet so his account is horrifyingly immaculate and it really hits that mark of chilling, rather than geralt just... idk being there? i didn’t watch this far but he showed up to cintra and calanthe threw him in jail? this makes no sense, why would she... anyways. but yes, dandelion is a character that serves to be there for geralt, so it makes sense for him to tell geralt about cintra because then geralt can respond and thus demonstrate to the readers/audience all of the emotions about it that he is feeling.

but yeah so to summarize, my thoughts are that ciri really comes off as a weaker character in the netflix series than in the books because:

they treated her as older and introduced her as the lion cub of cintra and not as just some child found in the woods, taking BOTH the “child” and “surprise” out of “child surprise”

they removed geralt’s paternal relationship to her and why exactly he is significant in her story, and hyped up the “destiny” thing instead, which came off as completely meaningless, not to mention annoying to hear repeated when there has been no significance developed behind the word. i mean, they cut out both brokilon and something more (i will NOT accept that scene as the ending scene of something more. that wasn’t a hug fit to pick your kid up from afterschool, much less a hug that you run towards your kid with when you thought they perished and you were responsible for it, when you risked your life just to maybe be able to see them again. there was also no dialogue, no “geralt, you’ve found me! after all this time! i knew it! i’m your destiny! say it, i’m your destiny? am i your destiny?” “you’re much more than that, ciri. much more.” so that sucked).

they chose an older actress for ciri, likely to evade having to respect their actors by working within the confines of child labor laws, but not only this, they treated her older in the narrative and made the viewer empathize with her instead of with geralt, the parent... ciri only is supposed to become a “relatable” character when she reaches 13 or 14, in blood of elves and in time of contempt.

they reduced the significance of how deep her trauma was from the massacre of cintra (she makes one offhand comment about how cahir had a bird on his head... that’s not gonna cut it for me. she’s so far experienced a total of zero nightmares about the black knight of cintra).

they gave her a bunch of filler scenes that had absolutely no impact on the broad story or her character development or relationships with other characters (doppler plot). they also made her arc surround unlearning being a princess and finding what epic powers she might have, and nothing comes from both of these points. she doesn’t develop any character because of these points, they’re just there for more filler.

a tad unrelated but: they made yennefer’s wanting a child more of an obsession than a goal the character just happens to have, and have sexualized her character immensely, moreso than in the books... plus the fact that they made her super appealing to the audience and to every other character including geralt from the start (she’s not someone who is icy at first, then warms up), makes me feel like we are never going to get ciri and yennefer at ellander. ever. i just can’t imagine it with this ciri and this yennefer from the netflix series.

[ofmcxie]

&&. ( ada rhodes ) was just spotted in amsterdam. rumor has it ( she ) is a ( 768 / appears [25] ) year old ( vampire ) who resembles ( anya chalotra ). ( she ) has been said to be ( dauntless & protective ) but also quite ( possessive & volatile ).with all the chaos surrounding the magical underworld, ( she ) has chosen to align with ( the vampires ). ( she ) is currently serving as ( an assassin ). hopefully the city doesn’t devour them whole. // fulfilling celine dahl’s rival

(( Hey guys!! I’m Jade and will be playing the lesbian vampire disaster that is Ada here. I’m always awful at these intro things, but i’m really looking forward to rping with you all :D Feel free to hmu for plots anytime because I live for them lol. Also, i’m going bullet point in the hopes I don’t write an entire essay and it gets too long to read, but we’ll see how well that goes...xD ))   

Backstory: 

Ada didn’t had the easiest start in life. Born to simple farm folk who never really wanted her, in a time of knights and holy wars when a woman’s sole purpose was considered marriage and children.  

She had never been that kind of girl. One of her earliest memories being a time she had tried to go out training with the boys only to be dragged back to their homestead to help her mother cook.

Her father drank a lot, and was an incredibly abusive individual. It certainly wasn’t helped by the fact he was a self-riotously religious man, and Ada had been born with a defect. Her irises had taken on a purple hue from the day she had opened them; not enough to be obvious unless you truly looked, but he had deemed it a mark of the devil. 

Ada hadn’t seen it that way. Instead, growing to relish in her uniqueness. Like a physical manifestation of her defiance burned into her very soul, it meant she wasn’t born to be weak. 

It caused a great many fights with both her parents who weren’t exactly good people at the best of times, going to bed beaten and hungry more often than not.

The years that followed were no kinder, Ada haven all but given up until one night, were a chance encounter would change her life forever. 

She’d been following the well-trodden path home when she’d been ambushed.    

Having nothing of value to give the bandits, they’d settled for some other form of payment. 

She’d tried to fight them tooth and claw when she realised what was happening, unarmed so fighting dirty, their blood both under her nails on her lips by the time they’d got her to the ground. But they had her now, and they were angry...She’d grown up used to getting in fightings, it was probably the reason she’d lasted as long as she had, but there were just too many of them.      

Ada had been incredibly lucky that day. The men not having time to do much of anything before they were being flung off her with such a speed and force that it blurred together. She couldn’t even see what was causing it, but was pretty certain she heard bones crack as they hit trees. 

She’d jumped to her feet uncertain whether to expect the same fate, but the whole situation had her reeling, and she’d fallen to her knees again before being able to do anything about it.      

An eery quite followed suite, and by the time she’d caught her breath long enough to look up again -- she would have never been prepared for the sight that met her. 

It was a woman; beautiful, covered in blood dripping from her mouth and...glorious. Where most would have been terrified Ada only found herself awestruck. 

She’d briefly contemplated if this individual’s fangs were a defect as her eyes had been, and the words were out of her mouth before she realised what she was saying.      

The comment may have been idiotic, but it seemed to snap the woman out of whatever trance she had been in. A low chuckle leaving her lips instead going for Ada’s neck. 

They’d begun to talk, and she’d found this woman was a skilled assassin of all things, apparently it’s easy to do when no one ever sees you. Women certainly weren’t capable of such a thing; it made her work easy. 

By the end of the night they’d ended up in a contract of sorts. This woman would teach her some tricks of the trade in exchange for her blood whenever asked for.  

Ada was hardly innocent, and if meant gaining even a modicum of power over her own life then she would grab it with both hands. 

They met in that very same spot often after that. Three years of being taught certain tricks; where to nick so you could leave the scene before anyone would notice, what substances made for the least traceable poisons.

She’d also helped her get over how she originally reacted to pain, teaching her how to lean into it instead. It was good thing to have in one’s repertoire if she ever got caught and interrogated -- But she unwittingly developed a slight thing for it in the process though she’d be damed if she’d ever admit that, and while she’s 100% a sadist at heart, she does still have a small weakness for it on certain occasions. 

The addiction of a vampire bite was no small thing either, and Ada began to believe she might be in over head with this woman; until the night raiders ransacked her village.  

She’d been left for dead, convinced it was the end...and yet woke up with a new lease of life. 

The woman had turned her, their relationship no longer being a one way street it seemed.    

Ada stayed with her for a few centuries before they eventually branched off on their own, though they’re still incredibly close to this day. 

Over the years that followed, she quickly gained notoriety for her ability to complete with freelance kill contacts so efficiently, and eventually flagged on the vampire court’s radar --- In the end being taken into their employ of her own volition, more than happy to serve the species that had granted her freedom. 

It was during one of these contracts she met an insufferable fallen angel who happened to be after the same person. It turned into a weird game of cat and mouse trying to thwart each other’s attempts, and Ada’s not even certain who actually got the kill in the end, but they still argue about it to this day.  

She’s been working for the king and his inner court ever since, and is incredibly loyal to them. She takes pride in being good at her job, and has no qualms killing for them without question -- Her only hard line is children, but that particular request has never come up anyway...     

Personality: 

Ada keeps her true nature very lowkey and acts differently around most people aside from a select few. She’s very much the ‘look like an innocent flower but be the serpent under it’ type character, and incredibly manipulative when she wants to be. This is especially prominent in the fact that Ada’s gay af, but she has no qualms flirting with men when they’re prey or she needs something from them. 

She really does love the colour of her eyes and is glad they didn’t change when she was turned, but on a job she’ll usually experiment with different coloured contacts due to the uniqueness of such features. 

Additionally, Ada’s completely down with this notion of vampires coming out of hiding, believing them to be a superior species that shouldn’t have to bow down to mutts or mortals just because their precious guardian angels deem it so — She plans on doing whatever she can to help further that cause.            

Connections: 

I’m literally open to anything, but here are just a few thoughts: 

Enemies with benefits: Filled by Celine Dahl. These two HATE each other; like passion of a thousand suns hate. I mean, Ada isn’t always the calmest person at the best of times, but Celine can somehow PISS HER THE FUCK OFF MORE THAN ANYBODY ELSE IN THE HISTORY OF EVER. With that being said, there’s also this weird pull between them. It’s like all that anger and hatred and loathing spills over into everything they do -- but Ada kind of lives for it. They just try to get under each other’s skin in every way possible. They’ve even slipped up a few times and had some pretty intense hate sex because FUCK I HATE YOU SO GOD DAMN MUCH AND I REALLY WANT TO HURT YOU BUT YOU’RE ALSO REALLY HOT AND NOW MY HAND’S AROUND YOUR NECK AND YOUR STUPID FACE IS INCHES FROM MINE AND...screw it, i’m totally topping though don’t even try!!

Fuck buddies/booty calls 1/4: Rosalia Fuentes, TBA. Ada has nothing against sex workers and sees it as a reputable job like anything else, but like, girl is egotistic af and frankly sees the thought of paying for sex offensive of her skill set. These would basically just be her go-to people whenever she’s back in Amsterdam, and wants someone who’s just completely dtf from the moment they meet up rather than pursuing someone new.

Vampires with the same maker who she weirdly considers family despite hating the term: TBA. I just...love the idea of this? Like Umbrella Academy-esk sort of misfit family that would actually kill for each other.   

People who’s family members/loved ones she’s killed, not that they’d know it was actually her...Or if they do there’s no way to prove it: TBA. Just give me allll the angst!    

I would love you 5eva if you actually brought her Maker here. 

Her favourite blood doll: TBA. Same as the fuck buddies connection, but already pretty addicted to being bitten. Ada doesn’t mind paying for this sort of thing as much, though this would be someone who doesn’t make her pay for it even if they work as one, or maybe that’s not even what they do for a living? Basically an individual Ada would consider making personally her’s if she was around more consistently and didn’t run the risk of having them in constant withdrawal mode.   

Anything else you can think of, come at me!!

[billiesanders]

( anya chalotra, enchantress, she/her & cisfemale ) is that ( black magic woman ) by ( santana ) playing? ( wilhelmina ‘billie’ sanders ) must be nearby!  heard folks say the ( seventy three ) year old ( pharmacist ) was at the thanksgiving fair, ( browsing some of the craft stalls ) when chaos ensued. during the glitch, ( she lost control and accidentally set fire to some of the stalls. she didn’t stick around to see if there were any fatalities ).

𝕓𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕘𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕 (𝕥𝕨: 𝕕𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕙 𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟, 𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖, 𝕘𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕝 𝕤𝕒𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤)

born in oregon, 1909, to madan and grace sanders, billie knew she was different from a young age.

things would break all around her when she had a tantrum, she'd wish bad things upon people and they'd actually happen; her mother, all too aware of the truth in the situation, tried her best to keep things under wraps for as long as possible until the fateful day of billie's eighth birthday.

she and her older brother, george had a turbulent relationship as siblings, arguing and constantly finding new ways to irritate the other. they were playing together in the family home when george stole billie's favourite birthday present and threatened to destroy it in front of her very eyes.

in a fit of rage, billie tore the teddy bear from his hands with a shriek and before her mother could tear billie or george away from the situation, the house was in flames. madan and grace lost almost everything in the fire, including their beloved son.

for fear of rumours being spread about their only surviving child and the powers she possessed, the sanders family made the heartbreaking decision to leave their lives behind and move to letum falls, oklahoma, in the hopes that the small town would provide a new home and a fresh start.

it was then that grace sat billie down and explained everything – how she'd inherited the gene from her mother, and her mother before her, and so on. she described billie as an enchantress, something that the girl would've laughed off if she hadn't seen her own destruction with her own eyes.

she was never allowed to attend school with other children for their safety and her own. instead, her mother taught her at home, educating her about her powers and the responsibilities that came hand-in-hand with them.

the older billie grew, the more control she gained over her abilities.

at the age of twenty four, she chose to decelerate her age, maintaining her youthful looks but gaining wisdom beyond her years as she moved from town to town, lying low and being careful to avoid creating much of a reputation for herself anywhere.

with all of the time in the world, billie made use of it and studied various skills on her travels, including pharmacy which served her well when she returned to letum falls after the passing of her parents.

the death of her brother still haunts her to this day, the guilt weighing heavy on her heart. it's one of many reasons why she's reluctant to let people get close to her; if she could do that to her own family, who knows what could happen to someone who wasn't a blood relative?

billie now works in a pharmacy, utilising it as an opportunity to meet and learn about the residents without needing to establish friendships or relationships with them.

the thanksgiving fair brought memories of her brother's death flooding back – the sight of flames engulfing everything in sight took billie right back to her bedroom as an eight year old, and she couldn't bring herself to stick around for the aftermath. she has no idea whether or not there were any fatalities in the fire, and she has no intention of trying to find out. the less she knows about the situation, the better.

𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪

call her wilhelmina if you dare

billie comes across as a very self-assured, confident person but she’s not quite as confident as she seems.

she can be hesitant to share details about herself with other people, failing to see the point in it when it’s the here-and-now that really matters.

having lived for over seventy years, she's loved and lost and is increasingly reluctant to establish meaningful connections anymore. she believes that her own personal feelings are primarily irrelevant and impractical, serving no purpose other than acting as an unnecessary distraction.

one of her bigger issues, however, is her bluntness. despite her wit and sarcasm, she can be polite and civil, friendly almost, but if someone asks her a question, she won’t try and sugar-coat her answer – they’d better be prepared for a straightforward, honest reply, whether they’ll like it or not. as a result, she is often perceived as pragmatic and cold.

her morals are perhaps slightly questionable and, especially regarding her abilities, she can be considered ruthless, but billie is a firm believer that the ends justify the means. 

billie does try and keep her abilities on the down-low but to be honest, when you’re as careless as she is, it’s inevitable that someone is gonna find out (possible connection hint hint)

she doesn’t particularly care what others think of her (at least, not outwardly), but for those that have somehow managed to establish a close relationship with her, billie would sacrifice herself for them without hesitation.

𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕟𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤

friends w/ benefits

pharmacy customers

unlikely friends

enemies

exes/previous flings

literally anything and everything

[aparecium-hq]

Welcome to Aparecium, Christie! You have been accepted for Lily Potter with Aisha Dee as the faceclaim. Thanking for being willing to make the switch! We love the clear personality of your app. It’s evident you have a strong idea of who Lily is, even if she’s still struggling with that herself. We’re excited to have you! Check out the new member checklist, and jump right in.

Character Basics

Birthday (Age): 12th May 2008 (19) Gender (Pronouns): Cis female, she/her Sexuality: Lily herself has no idea. Sure, back at Hogwarts, she’d had crushes on boys, had gone through a stage her mother had, with no small dose of amusement, dubbed her ‘boy crazy’ phase, but she’d never really had a boyfriend. It wasn’t that no one had asked her out, but rather that somehow, as soon as any boy seemed to reciprocate her feelings, Lily found herself losing interest; she doesn’t know if that means she isn’t interested in boys or if she just hadn’t been interested in those boys in particular. Meanwhile, she’s not too sure how she feels about girls either. She has girl friends, she loves her girl friends, and if they tend to be very touchy and affectionate, well, girls just do that. It’s the warmth that spreads inside her every time they hug or hold hands that makes Lily question herself, though; is it just the happiness that comes from friendship or is it potentially something romantic? She has no idea. Blood Status: Halfblood Hogwarts House/School: Hufflepuff Occupation: Artist Faceclaim: Anya Chalotra Any requested changes? Nope!

Biography:

At home, Lily is spoiled rotten. Toys, attention, affection, you name it, she has it. She’s Mommy’s favourite, Daddy’s princess, the baby of the family, and Lily revels in it all, adores the feeling of being adored; it’s not just a good childhood, it’s the best childhood. Stupidly, naively, she thinks school will be like that too. She wants to grow up, she wants to join James and Albus in Hogwarts, she wants and she wants, and up to this point, everything Lily Luna Potter wants she’s gotten. But growing up, it turns out it’s not all that.

In school, no one asks her what she wants, they just try to tell her instead, how she should act (“Hufflepuffs are supposed to represent patience and kindness”), who she is (“The Boy Who Lived’s youngest, Ginny Potter’s daughter, Luna Lovegood’s namesake, James and Albus’ sister”) and when Lily pushes back, they call her hot-headed and rude. It pushes her off-kilter; she’s not used to people assuming the worst of her. But Hogwarts isn’t home, and her classmates aren’t her parents, and Lily Potter isn’t universally adored.

She has to work hard for everything, from people’s love to her grades, and it’s new, but she doesn’t exactly mind. It’s refreshing, almost, to have the chance to be perceived as someone other than the Potters’ little princess and to be able to create a new image for herself. But while she doesn’t mind hard work, she does mind the press sticking their noses where they don’t belong; it’s hard enough to navigate puberty as it is and it’s even harder with eyes on her at all times, just waiting for her to mess up. Honestly, screw the press. Lily vows not to mess up, if only just to spite them.

Except. That’s easier said than done. Teenagehood is marked by lapses of judgement, by mistakes to learn from, and Lily is no exception. It’s not as though she’s committed any Azkaban-worthy crimes or anything, but there are things she’d rather keep to herself, you know? So what if she may have crossed a line or two while playing a prank on a girl she saw talking to the guy she liked? She knows it was wrong, she apologised, but how is that news-worthy? Wix play pranks on each other all the time, she knows; uncle George’s told her stories. But none of her peers end up making headlines like HARRY POTTER’S DAUGHTER FACING EXPULSION OVER A RUTHLESS “PRANK”. Which isn’t even true, by the way, she was never about to be expelled, but do those dementors care about the truth? No, of course not. They only care about their stories.

She misses one of James’ games, they speculate he doesn’t want her there. She mentions that Muggles would probably not be too accepting of magic, they paint her as some prejudiced asshole. She has a bit too much to drink, they question the way her parents raised her – and about this one, in particular, she personally tracked down the author of the article to tell them to their face precisely what she thought of their “reporting”. No matter what she does, though, it seems that there are people who don’t agree and Lily just can’t figure it out.

But she wants to. By Merlin, she wants to. She wants to stop being “controversial”, she wants to make her parents proud, she wants people to stop acting like she’s embarrassing her family. Again, she wants and still, no one seems to care that she does. But by now, Lily’s grown used to hard work and her determination has never been under question, either; she knows she can change the narrative if she just keeps pushing, but the question now is, is there even a point? Maybe it’s okay to let people have their misconceptions and spread their rumours; as long as Lily and her loved ones know the truth, does it matter? She’s not sure.

Character Questionnaire

Answer at least three of the following questions about your character. This could be in character or a third period explanation.

How does your character feel about their family? She loves her family, there’s never been a question of that in her mind, which only makes it all the harder whenever she catches herself wishing she’d been born in a different one. It makes her feel terrible, even just considering it, because her parents are wonderful, and so are her brothers and cousins, and she does really love them all! But the expectations that come with being a Potter are a bit much and she could definitely go without them. She hates the feeling of all that attention on her (which is ironic, really, because she’d loved attention as a child) and while she would never actually want to trade her family, it’s hard not to consider what-ifs.

What does your character value in a friendship? Hard work. Perhaps it’s the Hufflepuff in her, but Lily knows without a shadow of a doubt that friendships take work. She’s seen people drift apart, turn from practically siblings to strangers, all because they give up and let it happen, and she tells herself that would never be her. But she and Hugo aren’t as close as they used to be, and for some reason, no matter how hard she tries, it’s like there’s a gap between them she can’t close. That’s okay, though; she’s not planning on giving up on Hugo anytime soon. If someone can figure it out, it’s the two of them.

How would a stranger who has just met your character describe them? Does this stranger have access to newspapers and online sites? Because if so, Lily doesn’t even want to begin to imagine what they might think of her. The thing is, the media seems so determined to push this narrative of her being a wild child and Lily is so angry at them for doing it that it kind of ends up working. She’s snappy with reporters, she pretends she doesn’t care what they think, she speaks her mind and she does it loudly, just to spite all those journalists who try to put her in a box and silence her.

That’s not her, though. That’s not Lily. Or rather, it is, but it’s who’s she’s become rather than who she is at her core. So if a stranger carrying all those preconceptions of her was to meet her, they would probably be surprised first and foremost. “She seemed a bit… shy? Only at first, though, then eventually she just became really chill and easygoing. Yeah, no, she’s actually really cool.”

What magical skill or talent is your character most proud of? Her Charms work. She’s always had a knack for Charms (though not for much else, as the tabloids love to remind everyone ever since her NEWTs results came out) and incorporating it in her job was a child’s game. She doesn’t only do enchanted portraits, of course – she has enough eyes following her as it is. But whenever wix come to her requesting magical portraits, it feels good to have full confidence that she can perform all the right charms with her eyes closed. Not literally, obviously, although… it would make for a fun experiment. She’d have to see about getting Lydia on-board and giving it a go.

Para Sample

Please include at least 3 paragraphs to showcase your writing style.

She slams the newspaper down on Raphael’s desk and the feeling she gets as she does isn’t as much of a déjà-vu as it is reminiscent of a habit with how often she’s found herself in the exact same situation. It does nothing to lessen her irritation; they’re not taking her seriously, any of them. Oh, here she comes again, they probably say when they see her march in. Just send her off to complain to Selwyn again.

She’s sick and tired of being written off as a daily annoyance and, unfortunately for Raphael, it seems his coworkers have decided he’s her scapegoat. Lily stifles a bristle, just barely; if he wants to blame anyone he better blame them.

“Harry Potter’s youngest celebrates nineteenth birthday with a wild night in town,” she quotes, not even needing to look at the damn headline, having already memorised the whole thing. Her tone manages to remain even, somehow, but as she goes on to continue, she can feel her annoyance increasing by the second and it becomes audible in her voice too. “Since when did the Prophet turn into a gossip rag? Who even- who even cares what I do for my birthday, it’s my birthday! And I have a name, by the way, and it’s not Harry Potter’s anything. It’s Lily. Lily Luna, hi, nice to meet you. Except it’s not really.”

She’s launched into a whole rant now, hands on her hips and all, and she would usually feel bad for not letting him get a word in, but hey, they weren’t concerned with hearing her when they printed out this thing, why should she be the bigger person? She lets it all out, going through all the points on her mental list of things wrong with the blasted article, and finally, when she feels satisfied, she looks at him expectantly.

Then the prick has the nerve to say, “Is that all?” and Lily has to wonder what sort of headline the Prophet will come up with if she hexes one of their journalists right here, right now.