Accepted! ~Elle/Fauna
About You, the Writer:
We will never ask any member to disclose any personal information.
Your Nickname: (A moniker to identify you, the writer.
Can be your first name or a nickname.) Ken
Have you read and do you agree to the Code of Conduct?: Yes
How did you find us and decide to write with us? Through an existing AO player (Moira Randall)
If you have written other characters here, list them all:
Full Character Name: Flint Kendall Fleetfoot
Character Birthday & Age: August 1, 1969, 39 yrs old.
City & Country of Birth: Seattle Washington, USA
Pureblood, Halfblood or Muggleborn?: Halfblood
Alma Mater: Red Rock Academy, Sedona Arizona with specialties in Charms and Creatures. Apprenticed under Adalbert Waffling in Charms
Position at Hogwarts: Professor of Charms
Wand: a fir wand, worn but still lovingly maintained. The length is just shy of ten inches long. The core consists of griffin feather. This wand belonged to my mother and was an excellent fit according to the master wandcrafter in Boston
Physical Description: Standing at an even six foot, Kendall was once a very fit man, but age and bureaucracy have softened him around the middle slightly. Still intimidating with his hard dark eyes, they radiate warmth at the right moments. His warm smile offsets the hardness of his features. Part native American, it is barely noticeable in his complexion or coloring.
In his younger days Kendall would wear his hair in a ponytail, and keep it long, nearly half way down his back. now he wears it in a well maintained short crop, and is always clean shaven.
There is a native runic tattoo on his left shoulder blade which is an amulet of protection. Essentially it is nothing but ink, but Kendall accepted it for his family, especially his father. If asked Kendall hates tattoos as they are generally over-done, yet secretly finds they can be attractive..
Personality Description:
On first impressions Kendall is often described as unapproachable. Much of this is due to his outward appearance not to his demeanor. His students have often described him as one of their better instructors, but Kendall has previously been known for his administrative functions more than as professor.
He is fiercely competitive, especially where school honor is at stake. He can have a wickedly sharp tongue, sometimes being his own worse enemy, breaking relationships before they can really get started. Much of his acerbic attitude is due to the treatment he has endured by who he thought to be the most important woman in his life.
He is often seen as cynical where personal relationships are concerned, and often scoffs at passing students who display public affection. When not in class he will be either found in his own quarters, behind a mountain of books, or beside the shore of the black lake contemplating his life in preferred solitude.
History:
Flint Kendall Fleetfoot was born at home in a Victorian house in Seattle Washington. His mother Amber, died shortly after childbirth leaving her son in the care of his grandmother Amethyst. It is family tradition for several generations that the female children have the names of gems, and the males of stone. After his father's ship was lost at sea (age of 7) Kendall and his Grandmother moved from Seattle to Welshpool in Wales, back to Amethyst’s home, a small mixed magical/non-magical village. Kendall attended the local elementary school where by the time he was nine had convinced the teachers to use his middle name instead of Flint. The last person to call him Flint was his Grandmother who passed away in 2000 just as Kendall reached the pinnacle of his career.
Kendall was originally accepted to Hogwarts and sorted into Gryffindor. It was only mid term of his first year when the family returned to Phoenix due to the failing health of his grandmother. However he had met who he believed to be his soul mate in Aiene McDuffy, a pureblood Slytherin. For the short time he was at Hogwarts, the two were inseparable, ignoring the typical house rivalries. Kendall did miss the warmth and dry atmosphere of Arizona, and although heart broken to leave Aiene, picked family over his own happiness.
Kendall returned to the US where he was enrolled at the Red Rocks Academy in Sedona Arizona. Kendall studied hard, and his competitive nature came out, not often to his favor. He graduated top of his class with specialties in Charms, Creatures and Defense. He was then accepted to an apprenticeship with Adalbert Waffling, author of Magical Theory. Kendall studied and achieved his mastery in charms in just under seven years.
By the age of 30 Kendall was traveling around the world, studying spell origins for a working manuscript. As part of his travels he taught his own knowledge of Western and European magics in exchange for shelter, and local knowledge. It was during an extended stay in China where Aiene McDuffy came back into his life between November 2002 and February 2004. They briefly married before Aiene left, having the marriage annulled by claim of pureblood family rights. She returned to England to pursue family business, never to converse with Kendall again.
In the last few years Kendall has struggled to keep the school operating his research active, often under adverse political or economic conditions. His own wealth often being used to support the schooling in less developed countries when the Ministry would or could not, until he couldn't keep the pace any longer. Deciding to make a new start with what was left of his fortune, Kendall decided to leave the United States and it’s government behind, returning to Europe hopefully for the long term. He has been working on a manuscript on ancient Native American charms, and hopes to complete and find a publisher. He has yet to find the kind of love he held once for Aiene, however he is somewhat cynical of love now.
Elaborate on your expertise in your field:
Entering his apprenticeship with a specialty in charms, Kendall studied aboriginal charms as his mastery. During his travel and research, he was asked to teach the local magical children in the ways of western magic in return for learning their local techniques.
He has published several articles in the New American Journal of Charms, as well as co-authoring two charms textbooks used for lower year students at his alma mater. Kendall has also on occasion given lectures at Red Rock on his research for peers and students alike.
His personal library is extensive with one of the largest private collections of books on spell origins. His interests extending beyond the Americas to Asia and Aboriginal Australia. Kendall plans on using summer breaks to continue his research on Egyptian Curses and charms, particularly for mummification and preservation of magical items.
What is your teaching philosophy?:
The classroom is a place for creating happy mistakes. Under controlled and supervised conditions Kendall is most willing to allow freedom for the students to work on their spell craft. Preferring small group instruction as he found in his own study groups was most effective, he most often holds mutliple mini-group lessons. Kendall also has no love of the typical house rivalry and will encourage and enforce house unity in his class.
Writing Sample:
Show your character in a scene that illustrates their
best and worst aspects of their personality. Include action, dialog and thought.
The students waited with a good amount of unrest for the new charms professor to enter the classroom. Groups of three or four divided by house gathered speculating upon all they had heard of the new instructor.
This classroom was stuffy, unlike the airiness of the previous Charms classroom that they had enjoyed so much. This room was much more typical of the other classrooms, with small multiple paned leaded glass windows mounted high on the walls. Tapestries adorn the walls depicting odd scenes of ancient people, some with wands and others with staves, all performing some sort of magic. The language surrounding each tapestry a unique and unreadable form.
At the back of the classroom, behind the anxiously waiting students, a tall form appears blocking what light entered from the hallway. His features hidden by the light behind him. With arms crossed, folding his robes about his body, Kendall enters the classroom, slowly making his way towards the first group of students.
“I hear that he is an American! Like the Yanks have anything they can teach us!” said one Slytherin snidely. Kendall smiled. Good, let them underestimate me. Should I play into their thoughts? Be a bit of a bumbling fool? he thought.
Slipping quietly through the clusters of students who had still not notices his stealthy entrance, he noticed a smaller group dressed with blue trim discussing one of the hangings he had only hung the evening before.
“I’ve seen something like this in a book my father owns. It is Columbian if I recall. Something about the creation of the first human to animal transformation.” a young man said to the impressionable girl beside him. She continued to dote upon each word he was saying as he tried to describe the rest of the contents of the ancient fabric.
“It is Columbian,” Kendall said quietly from behind, but with a voice of authority that immediately quieted the room. “If the book you are speaking of is ’Human Transfiguration: an origin of South American Animagi’ then you would be correct. It was a difficult chapter to write.”
The class quieted and quickly took their places as the new professor continued his dialogue.
“This tapestry is ancient as are all the others in the room. They are protected by preservation charms, but that does not mean they cannot be easily damaged or destroyed.” As he said this Kendall ran his fingertips along the woven shape of the caster’s wand.
“His name was Acarapi and her’s was Ximena” he pointed to the creature depicted in the tapestry and continued. “They were lovers who longed to find the peace of the gods by communing with the creatures of the forest.”
He paced to the front of the class and leaned against the desk, the wood creaking under his weight. “What you see in this documented history of the story is transfiguration gone wrong. The charm they generated turned her from a beautiful woman into a grotesque creature that suffered a horrible death at the hand of her own lover.”
Silence met him as he awaited the inevitable questions. It was several moments before a single hand rose.
“Yes Mr.?” he quickly looked for a class roster on the desk behind him, becoming frustrated when he could not find it.
“Sir? It is…”
“Yes I am sure it is!” Kendall snapped while having no patience for the class while his desk was such a mess. “Damn house elves likely moved it to my study thinking I need it there. I love the silly things to bits, and they do make the best dinners, but why must they try and organize things that they do not understand!” By the end of the tirade Kendall’s voice was reaching it’s maximum volume.
A noise behind him startled him, Kendall snapped his arm around, wand tip glowing white, and a spell already being murmured under his breath. The anger on his face readily apparent, a combination of frustration and intolerance of the interruption.
“WHAT?” Kendall yelled at the poor young soul who stood in the doorway of the classroom.
“Please Professor, the Headmaster would like a word?”
The wand wavered slightly as the point dimmed to nothing. “Class dismissed.”
Sum up your character in one paragraph:
Kendall has seen and dealt with some of the best and worst that the magical and mundane world has to offer. He is driven to succeed but without someone to share it with. His research has become the mort important thing in his life, however he is not completely adverse to a relationship if someone can get inside the walls he has erected to protect his heart. His fierce competitive streak has gotten him in trouble before, and may do so again, and he has had to wear his embarrassment on his sleeve more than once.
Flint Kendall Fleetfoot: Field Researcher