In-Character
Full Name: Poppy CraneNicknames: —
Birthdate: March 7th, 1868
Current Age: 23
Occupation: Lady’s Maid
Reputation: 7
Residence: Wellingtonshire, Hogsmeade
Hogwarts House: Gryffindor (dropped ‘83)
Wand:
Apple, nine and three quarter inches, with a unicorn tail hair. Swishy.Blood Status: Muggleborn
The wand itself is quite light in colour, and Poppy has wrapped the otherwise unremarkable hilt in a lavender ribbon.
Social Class: Working Class
Family:
Rosemary Crane nee Fisher, Aunt & Guardian [1841]Appearance:
Hiram Crane, Cousin [1865]
Chester Crane, Cousin [1869]
Lillian Fisher, Mother [1847-1869]
Lucy Fisher, Grandmother [1822]
History:At five feet and four inches, Poppy has always been on the tall side of the spectrum, with an easy smile and a halo of natural brown curls that would make it very easy for her to stand out if her very role as a lady’s maid was not to blend in. Caramel skin reveals her mixed heritage and is largely unblemished, though she does have a small birthmark beside her navel that she will claim looks like a dragon (no one else has ever been in a position to dispute this).
Her wardrobe primarily consists of simple, neat, and dark-coloured clothing, as is befitting of a woman in her position. Even within her free time, Poppy adopts much the same to dress her lithe frame, though is confident enough with colour-changing charms to modify her attire when the occasion suits.
Poppy is right-handed. Her PB is Nathalie Emmanuel.
Personality:By her mother’s estimation, my mother got everything she deserved in life. A housemaid, she was dismissed on more than one occasion for being overly friendly with her employer, and was this particular brand of friendliness that led to me. Dismissed now and with child, my grandmother (very) reluctantly allowed her to return to the family home.The Beginning
It was there that I spent the early years of my life, though my mother suffered from melancholy and did not live to see me in leading strings. My gran, though, was a good parent to me, at least until the peculiarities began…
She knew, of course, what the oddities meant; her daughter, my aunt, had suffered them, too. And so, at the age of seven, I was packed away to Kent to live with my magical aunt and her magical family.
I went to Hogwarts, of course—though it’s much less an “of course” when you didn’t know magic existed for the first half of your young life. The autumn of 1879 saw me set off with my tabby (Hercules) and second-hand books to join Hiram at school, the first time I’d been educated outside the home. It was a mixed bag, really.The Middle
It was neither that I was stupid nor that I did not wish to learn, simply that I was not special or gifted, as so many of my peers seemed to be. For my four years at the school, I remained firmly at the bottom of the middle of the pack, and while it rankled from time to time, I did not begrudge it overmuch in the grand scheme of things.
I did begrudge my departure.
My father, though, I expect, aware of his role in my existence, had never seen fit to provide for me and, with mediocre school performance, it was only a matter of time before my aunt could no longer justify the expense of my continued schooling. She got me a position as a maid in the household for which she served as housekeeper, to which she and I walked up in the morning and home in the evening; when I was older, she taught me to apparate, which made the process much quicker. I never loved it, but it was the expected thing.
I made sure to never follow in my mother’s footsteps.
It was almost half a decade before opportunity truly presented itself once again in the opening of the Blishwick School of Domestic Magic. With some money saved, and my cousins no longer in school requiring fees, I was able to attend training in cosmetic techniques with an eye towards becoming a lady’s maid. It was still not exactly the dream, but it was surely a step up from vanishing poo and dusting the mantle!
A boring step up.
My first posting ‘did not work out’, a fancy way of saying I fled like a thief in the night after my mistress’ husband tried to proposition me and cleverly forgot to mention it moving forward.
My next posting saw my mistress become a widow at the ripe old age of 26 though, mercifully, she’s due out of mourning any day now.
I wish I could say I knew what I wished my life might be, when I was young enough to let my fancy run away with me, but I am far too practical now to throw away a Good Thing, even as I can’t help but feel as though I am simply going through the motions until Death comes to claim me. Surely there must be something more to life than working an unfulfilling job, marrying a boring husband (a fate I avoided by rejecting two proposals since turning twenty; I say this not out of conceit but out of a desire to be accurate), and repeating this cycle in perpetuity?
Other:LOYAL — DETAIL-ORIENTED — LOOKS BEFORE EVEN CONSIDERING LEAPING — GOOD AT READING SOCIAL CUES — PROBABLY MORE FRANK THAN SUITS A LADY’S MAID — GOOD-NATURED
SKILLS:
- Formally trained in cosmetic/hairstyling techniques, both magical and muggle
- Good enough with needle & thread for basic mending
- Quite a mind for numbers
TRIVIA:Sample Roleplay Post: —
- Boggart: TBD
- Amortentia: TBD
- Poppy, like the rest of the Cranes, is a member of the Church of Magical Jesus
- Prefers to do things the ~muggle way, when possible
Out-of-Character
Name: KayteAge: 30
