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Accepted! ~Elle/Fauna

Full Character Name: Matilda Bee Quinn
Character Birthday & Age: 22nd January, 1984 / 25 years old
City & Country of Birth: Southport, Merseyside, North West England (United Kingdom)
Pureblood, Halfblood or Muggleborn?: Pureblood squib
Alma Mater: Greenbank High School, an all-girls muggle secondary comprehensive school in Hillside, Southport (very near Matilda's parents' home)
Job: Shopkeeper, Manager, and Music Promoter at Reducto Records in Diagon Alley, London

Wand: None

Physical Description:

Tilly possesses a quirky combination of her mother's uncomplicated pleasantness and light blue-green eyes, and Mr. Quinn's coppery brown hair and blue-blooded bone structure. It is worth mentioning, however, that the young woman embodies very little of that dark refinery that seems to linger in her father, whatever his personality. She is certainly much more like her mother in immediate poise: unassuming, but still jovial. While Matilda could not be called regal or overtly aristocratic in appearance, her face and movements own a sort of charm that encourage people to interact with her.

Matilida's mouth is not overly plump, but still seems to attract attention with its almost-perpetual smile and dainty shape. She has a peachy skin tone, but is fairly accustomed to spending time in the sun, having grown up near the sea. If anything, her skin will play host to tiny and temporary freckles as opposed to burning. Her arms and shoulders, however, seem to be a particularly fair and sensitive area, and will redden at times. Tilly's cheeks, might reveal a blush when she is anxious, and she has that sort of hair that tends to lighten in the hot months. In terms of makeup, she usually sticks to colorless lip balm and brown mascara to darken up her lashes. Naturalness seems to suit her.

At 5'5", Tilly has an average frame, and is considered neither too thin nor chubby. Her measurements are nothing legendary, but like her face, her shape is generally considered pleasant. She is creative with dressing herself when it strikes her, but clothes are quite obviously not always her top priority. Due to her parents' love for all things humble, Tilly has grown to be thrifty with her wardrobe. When she's working, she tends to don a uniform of jeans and t-shirts as often as she wears personalized second-hand dresses, vintage robes, or home-sewn skirts. Tilly is the sort of person to shop with if you want to find a little treasure among a pile of rubbish, or if you need to improve your haggling skills.

Personality Description:

If Matilda possessed magic and were extended an invitation to Hogwarts as a child, she would definitely have been sorted into Gryffindor. Despite her magical 'impediment', as one uncle liked to call it, Tilly has always managed to keep her head above the water and look out for herself. She is bold, but not in a particularly offensive way, and definitely not an aggressive one.

Tilly's lack of wand has taught her to use her voice and to use it well. She is very unafraid to speak her mind, but she does so in a manner that could almost never be described as insulting or perpetuating. It's usually a very friendly and likable boldness, but she can be brash or blunt at times, and certainly severe toward those people she finds deplorable, just like most lions. Tilly simply likes to lay out the whole truth on the table and help people break out of their very habitual cycles of life. She doesn't believe in pretenses or compartmentalizing one's feelings. Why should anyone be ashamed of who they are?

It would be fair to state that Matilda is much more of a tactical learner than someone who takes immediately to a classroom environment. She would rather experience something first hand, and her ears tend to be sweeter on things like music and humor than very formal lectures. Most of the people with whom Tilly works are casual friends, and are accustomed to business meetings that include lunching and laughing with the young woman, or else lounging around the record shop while discussing contracts. Matilda is a pretty good listener, but much more so when people have something interesting or very human to say. She especially loves helping people with their personal problems.

While she could certainly be called whimsical, and even delightful, Tilly is not the most traditionally graceful human being to walk the planet. She has her own brand of grace, to be exact. When she gets excited about something, she is also prone to clumsiness, but is profusely apologetic and smiley when accidents happen; it is not always easy to stay mad at the young woman, though being overwhelmed by her is understandable. Tilly wears her scrapes, bumps, and bruises with resigned pride, and will gladly tell you how she earned each one if you ask.

Due to a life without magic among magic, Tilly has become as crafty as she is bold. She has quirky remedies and solutions for everything, from healing blisters to dusting shelves that are too tall to reach. Her way of doing most things is a very eclectic infusion of traditional muggle methods and magical devices that do not require wand operation. Anyone who visits Tilly's small, cramped, treasure cove of a flat would probably be overwhelmed at her chaotic style of 'organization'. Luckily, the record shop in which she works is much easier to maneuver.

Tilly's passion in life is music. It's arguably her one true love. She is not a singer herself, unable to carry vocal tune, but she can strum a guitar well enough, is a good pianist, and will tell you if you or something you're playing is out of tune. She might not be a singer, but her ears are very trained. Tilly is a helpful person to have around if you need an extra hand in casual production. She also has an ear for uniqueness, and is unafraid to give her opinion on anything from lyrics to melody. Because she is usually a glass-half-full sort of person, the young woman is not exceptionally scathing in her opinions. But she is always honest and constructively critical.

History:

Matilda was born in Southport, a popular seaside town and port on the coast of the Irish Sea, in North West England. Her father, Benjamin Quinn (known to friends almost exclusively as Benjy), hails from Dublin, while her mother, Genevieve Walcott, grew up in Lytham St Annes, a slightly quainter coastal town also in the North West. The couple met and married in Southport, where they have been content to remain ever since. Though Matilda is their only child and a squib, the pair raised her to their fullest effort, and could not be a more pleasant little family... even with hitches along the way.

Because of Matilda's father's many differing opinions and attitudes with his own  family's, most especially his older brother Brady's, Tilly was never close with most of the Quinn family, though she knew a good deal more about the Walcotts, and often visited with her maternal side.

For twenty-five years now, this odd and semi-estranged branch of the Quinns have run an owl post station near the Southport pier. It has always been an ideal location for a wizarding post office, given the town's proximity to the sea and the neighboring countries of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Benjy and Genevieve have wanted for nothing, and their jobs managing the mail are about as close as they've come to getting involved in government affairs. Tilly was raised knowing the ins-and-outs of the wizarding postal service, and all about the wizarding world in general. She made several trips to Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley before she could even properly walk on her own, and her parents were mindful to educate the girl on everything from cauldrons to quaffles before she could summon the strength to lift either.

While Tilly's lack of magic initially came as a shock to her parents, and a disappointment to Matilda, she had little trouble adjusting to life a as a squib. After all, she'd spent her entire childhood in a largely muggle area of England, and had also attended muggle primary school beginning the age of five-- which she would have done even with an eventual invitation to Hogwarts. No, Tilly accepted her shortcomings sooner rather than later, and, taking them in stride, developed her own strengths beyond a strictly magical scale.

This is not to say that the girl didn't face persecution for what she was. When it became obvious to wizards outside of the family that the Quinns' daughter was a dud of sorts, there were whispers, pointing, and occasionally blunt remarks. The one incident that stands out in Tilly's mind, and always will, was when she attended a Christmas party the winter after her eleventh birthday, where many fledgling Hogwarts students gathered round and decided she should be 'banished' from the festivities for not possessing magic. They tricked Tilly into playing a game of hide-and-seek, and she ended up spending all of Christmas Eve sitting in a third-floor cupboard beside an empty bucket and a box of moth-eaten jumpers.

When Tilly was eleven, she moved to the local all-girls secondary school, Greenbank High School, where she was educated until the age of sixteen. The closeness of the institution to her parents' home made it easy for the young woman to visit her family whenever she pleased, which was often, considering their healthy bond. While she made friends at school, and probably benefited from the overall structure, Matilda was never been particularly taken with a formal classroom environment. After sitting her exams and collecting a few decent grades, she chose not to go on to sixth-form and university.

The summer following graduation, Matilda's parents let her explore London instead of embarking on the customary post-graduation trip many wizarding children chose. The girl was, after all, not a witch, and not quite a legal adult by anyone's laws. With the help of the Floo network and a natural inclination for conversation with strangers, the girl was soon hired part-time by the kindly owner of Reducto Records, who saw Tilly's squib-ness as an endearing quirk as opposed to a disadvantage. She took to her job as a stock girl like a pro quidditch player might take to a quaffle, and she was quickly promoted to sales associated. This might have seemed a humble success for most people, but for Tilly, it was grand. Music, which she had always loved, became a much larger part of her life. Working in a place that promoted creativity, self-expression, and uniqueness in ways that could satisfy both muggles and wizards was the perfect fit for the Pureblood squib.

A year later, at seventeen, Tilly had saved up enough galleons to lease a flat in Diagon Alley. While she still frequently visited Benjy and Genevieve, it was thrilling to have her own place. She thrived on the local culture of London, the music scene in particular, and began to network with people in all facets of the industry. It was only a couple of years more before the manager of Reducto Records decided to hand over the golden keys. Bowing gracefully into retirement, the wizard appointed Tilly full-time shopkeeper and manager, having shown her the ropes of not only running the historical shop, but navigating the music industry. The things the girl never had a knack for in the classroom seemed not to matter in this field. Her real strengths-- people skills and ear for music-- shone.

Matilda currently lives in a Diagon Alley flat only a half kilometer from where she works. A mattress in the storeroom of Reducto Records has also been known to serve as a second home when the young woman is too tired to make the short trek-- she does not, after all, have the ability to Apparate, and she hates to waste the Floo powder that she usually reserves for long-distance travel or communication.

What is your occupation? How do you go about it?
How did you get your current occupation?
How does your past and abilities justify your current skills?:

Matilda runs a locally famous wizarding record shop in Diagon Alley. Reducto Records has been around since the inception of magical music players, and before that, they sold musical instruments under another name. The shop's second floor is still devoted to instruments and musicians' needs. There are also spacious rooms for lessons (private and group), and even a tiny recording booth in the back, that seems to have been added with some dodgy but endearing charm-work, and may soon get an upgrade. The store was rechristened and really 'breathed to life' by a wizard called Mathius Elerby, who inherited the property from his family. It is currently owned by the late Elerby's eccentric son, Phil Elerby. Matilda has worked under Phil since the age of sixteen (after she sat her muggle exams and decided not to move on to higher level courses). Tilly began as a stock girl and clerk and has been running the place almost solo since the age of nineteen, the age she was when Phil and his wife retired to a houseboat outside of Majorca. They still check in from time to time, and treat Matilda like a daughter.

In addition to selling records and music equipment, and making recommendations to people who come into the shop, Matilda also helps performers and venues coordinate promotional events, local shows and tours, and local advertisement. She monitors music tutors and teachers who run lessons out of the shop. Tilly is not formally educated in multimedia advertising or public relations, but she seems to have knack for both. While not charismatic to the dangerous point of being able to force or hypnotize people into working with her, she is pleasant and engaging enough to earn the trust and business of many people who come through the shop. She has been loyal to all of Phil's customer base, and has kept most of them happy for the past five years, while also managing everyday tasks at Reducto Records. While you can be sure to find almost anything heard on the WWN in the shop, there is also lots of room devoted to more independent and underground music. Tilly is a large advocate of lesser known musicians, and does what she can introduce people (particularly the young) to new sounds.

Writing Sample:

Matilda bit her bottom lip, latching a hand on to the door frame of the store room and swinging backward, so that anyone who might be coming through the shop's main entry would see the young woman hanging in the rickety threshold at a potentially catastrophic angle. Add to it Tilly's fantastic record for such 'doorway catastrophes', and even the muggle weather stations couldn't be too off with the forecast. "Just... a little bit... more!" she encouraged herself, stretching further still. Her opposite hand held a long piece of rope that was attached to something so high up the wall that even the best pair of omniculars wouldn't be of use.

Giving one great tug, the squib dug her chipped-electric-blue-painted fingernails further into the door's frame and braced herself for the Apocalypse. Which did not arrive.

"YES!" She cheered, a little louder than necessary because she'd been working on this for far too long. She unknowingly caused a man in the next room to jump backward into a cardboard cut-out of some hairy and malnourished rockstar. Keeping the rope over her shoulder, she had managed to loop it around a brass pole that was secured in the box-littered floor. (Secured by magic, thank Merlin.)

Dragging the rope back in the other direction was less fun, but Tilly managed. And then up, up, up a ladder, and back to starting point. The young woman tied a knot and gave it a few tough tugs, as if daring it to come undone and spite her. She found herself leaning back again to study her lovely effort, but forgot that she was on a ladder and not the ground. Matilda willed her weight forward quickly, and clung to the rungs for dear life. Luck worked in her favor. Smiling at the the narrowly evaded broken neck, even while it were still possible, she clamored back down and ran her palms over the thighs of her jeans.

Looking overhead, she was pleased with the results: a sort of laundry line of record sleeves hanged like holiday lights or race track flags. It reminded the girl of muggle dry-cleaners, who did have the luxury of charms to get the work done and keep everything in place. Peaking through the door again, she grinned and waved cheerily at an entering customer-- one of many familiar faces. Matilda was good with remembering faces. "Hey you!" She called.

She gave her clothesline of albums one last glance of approval before floating through the door to properly greet the person. "That Weird Sisters tribute came in. Two galleons, ten sickles, but I'll give it to you for two if you'll take a stack of Lotus Brothers posters of my hands." Pretending to shudder, the young woman laughed lightly and seemed to blindly snatch up a random record from the depths of the racks and bins. "There's only about fifty-- of the posters, that is."

Sum up your character in one paragraph:

Matilda is a squib who chooses to lead a bright life instead of allowing herself to become a victim. She is bold and honest, but also a kind-hearted young woman. While she can be overly eager and nosy at times, Tilly always means well, and take pleasure in helping people or giving advice. Armed with a clumsy grace and love for conversation, Matilda makes a good if off-beat business person. She is a tactile learner and someone who is usually open to new things. Matilda's greatest passions are music and the varying cultures that surround it.