Name: Jo
Character name: Leigh Baisley
Feature you are applying for: Occlumens and Legilimens
Description of the character: Leigh is a very driven, focused and meticulous woman with a penchant for being in control of situations and making sure things and people in her life are cared for properly. She is the oldest child in her family, and has never been one to take anything lying down. She is all about taking action and making achievements. Since she was a small child she’s held a strong sense of bravery and fearlessness. She seems to have been born with a confidence that makes her stand out when others are unwilling to do what she would happily do. She is also very intelligent and does not mind working tireless hours to learn or work. She is also very observant and has a great eye for detail. She is very in tune to the emotions of those around her. The problem is that she does not always address others’ emotional needs to their liking. She is a bit self-centered in that she puts her goals before her friends needs. With family, she is more giving of herself. Leigh is also physically strong and athletic. She is a Quidditch player and what she lacks in skill, she makes up for with speed and determination.
Leigh’s downfalls are as follows. She sometimes takes too much risk. She is analytical of situations and assures others she is in complete control, but can walk the line between a genius sense of daring and stupidity. Having others around in the Order and the Ministry to weigh in on her decisions helps restrain her, as has her years of training to achieve Legilimency and Occlumency. She also sometimes neglects those she cares for in favor of her work. She is tune to others’ emotions to a great degree, so she carries a lot of guilt when she decides to put work first – and she often does. It makes it hard for her to maintain romantic relationships and in some cases, friendships, too. Leigh also likes to escape emotional hardship. She turns to work for this, too. When her father would turn to smoking a lot to ease his stress, Leigh would do double the coursework necessary or she would clean like a madwoman (a habit she continues to carry) out of concern for his health. She also would turn to work to escape the pain of thinking about her younger brother’s debilitating illness he was born with.
In Leigh’s history, it became apparent from weeks into her life that she was in possession of magical abilities. When she would cry at night, lights had a way of flickering and her toys would fly across the room. Her pureblood and muggleborn parents took notice of how powerful she was and made sure to nurture her abilities in what they deemed the right direction. Leigh’s father is a pureblood Auror, employed at the Ministry of Magic, and he took to instilling his beliefs and attitudes into his first born. Since Leigh’s father has always been the light of her eye and she is a complete daddy’s girl, as a child she not only sought out all the lessons her father had to teach her, she wholeheartedly agreed with his values, even the ones she didn’t quite understand.
As Leigh grew older and she did come to understand all that her father and the Ministry stood for, she took an even stronger stance toward their side. Leigh is an independent thinker and she could have decided to follow dark magic’s path, but it represents everything she is against. She does not agree with wealth or blood types determining anyone’s status, she believes a strong sense of order is a necessity for a society to function efficiently, and she is very against Voldemort’s agenda.
Once of school age, Leigh sought out as much information she could about how she could join up with all forces against Voldemort. She dreamed not only of becoming an Auror like her father, but also of joining the Order. She excelled in Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. She wanted to be as valuable an asset to her future goal groups as possible, so she set out on a quest of sorts to acquire more abilities than she currently possessed. Two that were of particular interest to her: Occlumency and Legilimency. Leigh turned to her father’s friend, Brandon Silverman, who enlightened her. She didn't want to go to her father; she thought she'd learn better from an outside figure with whom there would be more formality. With the knowledge of not only the details at which these powers could be used, but also that he could potentially teach them to her, Leigh begged and begged him to allow her to learn from him.
Through his teachings, Leigh became strong in both areas. Mastery will take years, but she now possesses both skills. Learning was not fast and it was not easy. She met with her educator for years worth of lessons in her off-time, and she had to keep very quiet about all that she was learning. Most challenging to her was mastering restraint and patience, which she did manage to do in time. As a consequence of her extracurricular endeavor, she lost many potential friends and social opportunities. She had bigger goals in mind though. She became obsessed with learning about the interworkings of minds; all types of matters of psychology and what drives people; and how to become more manipulative to be able to open the door into people’s minds. She already had the intrinsic ability to perceive others’ feelings, she just wanted and had to go much deeper. She mastered Occlumency first. That was easier than Legilimency. She was good at keeping others out, though in her personal life she needed to do exactly the opposite. Legilimency was a lot harder and took a lot more work to achieve.
Once Leigh had a firm grasp of both, she and Brandon both came to a consensus that she was likely qualified to help the Order. That was out of his hands though. His son Kendrick was in the Order, but he was not privy to Leigh's studying with him. Leigh wanted to keep it that way. She turned to someone she was close to who she knew in the Order, her friend Jocasta Callaghan. She pleaded with Jocasta to help her get in, displaying her skills, drive and readiness. After deliberations, an approval was reached by additional Order members and she was accepted in. She was so driven to change the way her world was heading, for those she knew – and for everyone she didn't know who mattered just as much. The news of her acceptance into the Order became the driving force in her life. An added plus was that she could escape anything flawed or exceptionally painful in her life by throwing her efforts toward fighting the big fight.
Application: I am applying for Occlumency and Legilimency for Leigh. I feel both not only fit her character, but also apply well toward her goals and stance in the Ministry as an Auror, and in the Order.
As Leigh joined the Order before several major battles with Voldemort and his followers, she would have used these skills to help the Order. Legilimency would have been used in extracting memories and emotions from enemies, prior to battle and during battle; and Occlumency would serve to protect her, and protect any information the Order or her Ministry connections provide to her for use and/or safekeeping. She would have used and will continue to use her powers for good and would be completely willing to teach them to other members of the order once she masters them. She is a natural leader and teacher type, so it would be rewarding to her. That said, she would be protective of them and quiet about possessing them to anyone who should not know of them.
As a character, she is strong, determined, intelligent, up for challenges and she wants to fight for her society. These attributes alone make her a vital asset to the Ministry and to the Order. She cherishes Hogwarts, the memory of Dumbledore and her friends and family. She has a lot that drives her for this line of work. She also is very observant and in tune with the emotions of others. These characteristics aid greatly in her ability to grasp and use Legilimency and Occlumency.
Leigh's learning these skills from Brandon Silverman is not unrealistic, despite that he is an NPC. Brandon also trained Jocasta Callaghan and would be very qualified to handle carrying out such lessons.
Future plots: Much is well at the moment in the wizarding world, but it is vital to have people prepared to deal with disasters before they strike. Leigh will be one of those people at the front lines, armed and ready with the memories of all that happened, and the foresight at what could again occur. She will remain active in her duties as an Auror and member of the Order and will want to continue to learn, grow and bestow knowledge and experience she has gained unto others. Leigh will be able to use Legilimency and Occlumency in any upcoming Order plots on the board, either to teach, train, gain information or fight. She will use Legilimency when she deems it professionally necessary in order to maintain the way things are right now. She’d like to be as on top of things as possible and learn of any potential negativity that could arise before it becomes an actual threat. She will use Occlumency accordingly if she feels a threat.
Leigh’s Legilimency and Occlumency skills, and the time she’s devoted to them, will affect her personally going forward. She has had to keep her training under wraps. When she was younger, she told her friends outside of her circle of trust that she took massive amounts of tutoring, and horse riding lessons on her holidays off. These were lies. She has had to carry the burdens of a lacking social and romantic life as a result.
She will continue to train. She would like to do so with Brandon, but if a played member of the board is needed, she will be more than happy to learn more from an additional played character, like Jocasta. I would like to play out some of her training, which is now at an advanced level. The same is true of teaching it to others. I am not applying for her to have it just to have it.
I have spoken with several drivers about planning future plots. Leigh will have a plot with Jocasta where the two work together using their special features while on a job for the Ministry. She will also be able to plot with Ira Ilyina, Aramanth Stringfellow and/or Chase Ashton, all who are dark wizards whose drivers have approved future plotting using at least one of the features. Memory extraction would be the likely occurrence in these cases.
RP Sample using the feature (approval from Helena who plays Brandon's son): Setting: Seven years ago.: As soon as Leigh entered the space in which she trained with Brandon, she could tell it was going to be a different sort of lesson because there were no books out and ready. He always had them out, without fail. They’d been focused on theory and reading for a while now. She wondered if she would get to actually do some field application with what he’d been teaching her. She stayed silent as she took her usual seat, observing the room around her. He was not present yet, but that was not uncommon. The man had a life outside of training her and she took every session as a gift from him. She would wait hours for him to come if she had to.
When he arrived and greeted her, she smiled, waiting to hear what he would say about the lesson today. Instead of speaking, he grabbed his nice robe and headed toward the door he came from. Leigh stood up to follow. They’d been talking a lot about perceptions and anticipating the actions of others. This was all part of the lesson. She had to know what was going on without direction. She, too, grabbed her robe, rose and followed him. Before going outside, he stopped, informing Leigh that they were going to apparate to the home of a friend of his. He instructed her that there would be three adults present: one who was a friend, one who he trusted but was not close with - for they had issues in their history, and one who he did not know (but who was close to his friend who assured the person could be trusted). She was to determine who was who – and which one of the three owned the home. Then, once complete, in only the presence of the friend and trusted acquaintance, she was to perform Legilimency to determine how Brandon’s non-friend had wronged him in the past, and how he felt now. This was deep, personal stuff. Leigh had only ever been inside Brandon’s head, and not for something so specific. Leigh nodded, pondering the emotional depth of this exercise and how challenging it could prove to be.
When they arrived at a home in wizarding London, Leigh followed Brandon to the door. There, the two were indeed greeted by three people, but all must have been briefed as to the lesson because they all just said hello the same way and they took a seat. Two were men and one was a woman, all middle-aged and dressed nicely. It was so awkward not knowing whose house it was. Leigh took a seat and looked around. The house was modest, but nicely furnished. She tried to put the house to its owner. They all wore similar shades of beige so their clothing said nothing. All were acting the same way, too. But one was settled a little further back on the couch. Leigh quickly decided the house was his. She noted that the woman kept eyeing a sock under a nearby chair, but she did so in a very obvious manner. Leigh felt the woman was trying to mislead her to believe she cared about tidying ‘her’ home.
Brandon turned to Leigh and told her to begin. Leigh pointed to the man on the left. “This is his house,” she said. Brandon grinned, as did the man. “Why do you think that?” he asked. Leigh explained her reasoning; that he appeared the most comfortable. “And she wants me to think this is her home but it isn’t.” She explained why and Brandon chuckled. “Very good, Leigh. Astute observations. Do not allow yourself to be misled, and do pick up on the little things.” The test was far from over. Leigh thought for a moment. She narrowed his friend down to one of two people, either the man the house belonged to or Brandon’s acquaintance. It did not belong to the person Brandon did not know, because Brandon settled into a particular chair and placed his wand just so in a groove on it. For a second, Leigh had decided the man who owned the house was Brandon’s friend, but a second thought changed her mind. Yes, Brandon seemed used to the place, but the remaining two people had body language that hinted they were a couple. They both had rings on of the same style and they crossed their legs toward each other. “I’ve got it,” Leigh exclaimed. “These two are a couple, and one of them is your friend. You said before we came here that you trusted the person you didn’t know as they were close to your ‘friend.’ The other man, the one who owns this house is your acquaintance, but you’ve obviously visited here a lot. Perhaps you have meetings of some sort here?”
Brandon’s eyebrows rose and he smiled, congratulating her on getting so far in the test. “Your perceptions and observations are paying off.” The three other people looked pleased at her decisions about them. Leigh nodded with a slight smile, still focused on the couple. Now she had to decide whether than man or woman was friends with Brandon. That was harder. She began to think and continued to look at the couple. Suddenly her head felt dizzy and heavy. She thought for a second she was getting a headache, but the pain was shooting, and her mind was suddenly filled with something. She gasped. Brandon had purposely misled her. Legilimency was not going to be tested here. Occlumency was! She’d suspected as much, because she’d only tried legilimency once with Brandon and it didn’t go well. It seemed awfully soon. But Occlumency, she’d had more experience with. Leigh jumped into defensive mode. She had to close off her mind as best she could. In her head she grasped for memories, feelings, thoughts, and emotions and pictured them locking. In her mind’s eye, an almost prison existed where she could contain these things. There were more cells than could be described. But this was different than ever before. She’d never been taken so off guard. She couldn’t get them all. She forced herself to stop feeling shock, stop analyzing the situation and lock, lock, lock. The deepest parts she held back the strongest. Her temples ached with how hard she was trying.
After what felt like forever, Leigh felt the invasive presence leave her head. She let her head fall into her hands and one of the men spoke. “Well, I know how you feel right now, and I was able to reach several of your memories my dear, - you’re quite a Quidditch player - but I must say, you did a very good job.” Leigh looked up at him weakly. It was the one who owned the house. Brandon apologized for misleading her. He introduced the three people formally now, with names and all. “I had to have you completely off guard so you would know what it’s like,” he said. Leigh was a bit irritated because of the physical pain she’d endured, but she nodded at him. “I understand. I really do now.”
From that day on, Leigh would never forget that first feeling of an outside presence getting into her head, and she knew much better how to scramble to protect herself.
