In the total span of eight years, Lala has used—more like, abused a grand number of four wands. Whomever said wands are not easily breakable, has obviously not met one disastrous Layla Styles.

Her current temporary wand is one springy stump (get it? stump—because it's 10" long... no? no. okay) of jet-black Ebony. It holds an unimpressive Unicorn Tail Hair for a core and looks absolutely ridiculous, as its bent shaft makes it hard to actually point with. Not to mention it's completely hazardous in her hands. However, she's mostly prone to popping her own eye out, rather than anyone around her.

Still, keep your distance.

Lala's appearance is literally deceiving. Although her physical appearance holds no reflection on her personality, her status as a metamorphmagus makes her prone to sudden, and often drastic, physical changes. However, while terribly bothered by some of her physical shortcomings, she's comfortable enough in her own body to not make any drastic changes.

Of all the things she believes to be deeply wrong with her own body, her lack of height is, slightly ironically, her greatest issue. Sometimes. At other times, she flaunts her shortness as if it's a superior trait the plebs could never understand. Measuring a measly 154 cm, or 150 if her mop of hair is discounted, the lack of stature isn’t helped by her small frame and rather childish face. Fortunately, it's easy to combat with her impressive collection of high heels, even if she doesn’t really wear them all that much, preferring more practical footwear.

Originally, her hair was a dull shade of brown that she hasn’t seen, or allowed anyone else to see, since the tender age of 14, instead changing its style, length, and color as soon as she gets bored of it - which tends to be about once a week, typically the length of time taken before she loses interest in anything. Her eyes are a similarly boring not quite brown, not quite green, and awfully doe-like. Which works great for the puppy face she likes to rock when things do not go her way, aided by her face - which is generally adorable: small button nose, check; small mouth, check; bright toothy smile, complete with dimples, check.

Lala speaks with her entire body, sparing no muscle from use. After all, why speak with your face when you can accidentally hit somebody by flailing? It’s certainly interesting to watch when she’s worked up over something, provided you’re at a safe distance. There are days, however, when her laziness goes into overload and she can't bare to spare you so much as a turn of her head.

It’s a pattern that follows into her speech - typically, extremely vocal; thanks to her lack of a brain-to-mouth filter it’s far harder to shut her up than start conversation. But then again, there are days when nodding does the trick just as well. If it weren’t easy to tell from her accent, her speech is littered with colloquialisms that make her upbringing in Ireland obvious - along with her copious usage of the internet, her use internet slang and text speak contrasting with a voice made low and raspy by years of smoking.

Clothes are one of her more consistent passions, not that she would ever consider following something as trivial as fashion, following a personal series of fads that are as short-lived as those followed by the masses. Incapable of sticking to a single style, she derives great pleasure from hunting down vintage and thrift shops to find new clothes, mixing styles and colors to create something that’s...well, something. As unpredictable in her fashion choices as everything else, one day she'll be clad in neon from head to toe, and the next she'll channel some gothic Victorian character, as comfortable being the image of power-businesswoman as wearing a dumpster chic outfit.

Layla is complex, multifaceted but also surprisingly simple, even more than others she is a walking collection of paradoxes. As easily loud and obnoxious as subdued and meek, typically she is bold and passionate and never afraid of giving anyone a piece of her mind.

With a range of interests that’s broad as the sea, Layla loves small and adorable things like kittens, which are the best thing on the planet,she loves low budget gory movies just as well.

Which explains why, during her relatively few years, she has started on everything and rarely finished anything. Always smart, this furthered her inclination to give it considerably less than  her best effort, unless the subject fascinated her. Conversation with her can be... confusing, as topics are changed through connections that may appear illogical to anyone else, especially since she brings them up without warning. Alternatively, it may have been that she’s simply grown bored, her attention span for most topics lasting mere minutes, which is why some - herself included - would describe Lala as fickle. Although she’s unlikely to admit as much, while she sometimes can find some semblance of order in her own chaos, usually she's just as clueless as any who observe the mess that is her life.

It’s a situation only worsened by her violent mood swings; one day you'll be her best friend, constantly hugged in tentacle-like grips and the next she’ll bite you if you so much as attempt to make your existence known to her. This in mind, it’s hardly surprising that she can come out as socially awkward, and there are days when she should not be in human company, acting like a particularly aggressive guard dog who would happily tear your arm off should you come into range. Fortunately, those days are rare, and usually she’ll readily engage in any sort of social contact. While her particular brand of social interaction isn’t to everyone’s tastes, her usually friendly demeanor is appealing, a little snarky and sarcastic for some, but funny and quick to rouse attention in her next madcap plan. Her sincerity can be brutal at times, however, and even where you might seek gentle reassurance she’s more likely to give you the blunt, and possibly painful, truth.

The one constant in her life is her art, the one thing she’s kept a consistent passion for, and although occasionally she has to war against art blocks, the moment she’s supplied with a tablet, or brush, or any other medium of producing art, she’s dead to the world around her, completely absorbed in finishing her work. While she can go for hours working on a single piece without rest, she’s also mastered laziness and procrastination to the point of being an art form, sometimes unable to do so little as roll out of bed.

While she loves art more than anything, she’s almost as incapable of surviving without music, the only times she passes without a backing track is when she's sleeping or watching a movie. If her iPod will be unavailable, she fills the void with her voice. Which, people tell her, is far less odious than she thinks.

Generally unconcerned with the world at large, while she’ll enthusiastically rake over every moment of the last episode (or any episode, really) of Dr. Who, Skins, Lost, Being Human, Misfits, Breaking Bad or any one of the many series (be it TV,  animes or Korean dramas) she watches, mentioning the headlines in today's paper will have her staring at you blankly, confused about to what you’re referring, unless it’s something that’s caught the imaginations of those she follows on Tumblr, or her friends on Facebook. Incapable of surviving without the internet for long, her time at Hogwarts was a harrowing experience and she was never more relieved than when she could return home and open her internet browser again. It’s why she’s still uncomfortable with many aspects of the wizarding world and finds much about it to be ludicrous, or downright wrong despite being part of it, albeit reluctantly, for the better part of her life. (Particular mentions go to wizard fashion, the lack of electricity, and Quidditch—how is that even considered a sport?)

But under the quick wit and smart-mouthed remarks she suffers from a range of insecurities, which range from her looks to her life choices (which could've been a lot smarter or delayed a lot of years), her future, and her personal life. And while she does talk a lot, (sometimes incessantly) she doesn't say much about herself, unless talking with someone close to her. It’s her poor decisions that enable her to give such great advice, but she’s incapable of following it herself.

Also damaging to forming her relationships are her trust issues, partly derived from growing up without a father but mostly because she’s made some truly awful decisions where her romantic life is concerned. It means she responds disproportionately to perceived betrayals, especially betrayals of confidence, and will go to great lengths to impress the importance of privacy on those who betray her trust. Her lack of fortune in romance means that she can be bitter towards those who have had better success in that area, especially those whose happiness is overwhelming.

Michelle Styles met Fergus McDermott at Glastonbury Festival on June 17th, 1989 while The Pixies were playing, and somehow, she danced her way into Fergus' arms and that was that. They fell in love on June 18th while “I’m Gonna Be” played. By November, Michelle had moved from London to Fergus' miniscule Dublin apartment, and they were expecting a child. By March the next year Michelle was at the hospital giving birth to an adorable baby girl.

Fergus was nowhere in sight.

Brokenhearted, trying to figure what what she could do in a foreign town, barely out of university and with a newborn child, Michelle was at her wits end and refused to see her own daughter for days after her birth. But when the baby was finally in her arms, after an emergency intervention by her mother, a strong-willed widow and ex-university professor, it all clicked into place. The little girl was perfect, and happily had almost nothing of her father in her. She'd be named Layla, because Michelle was certain that from that point onwards she'd have her on her knees, begging, before she'd go insane. And while the inspiration for her middle name, Eileen, was nowhere near appropriate for a young infant, it was one of Michelle's favorite songs and no one could do anything about it.

Once Michelle had found a job, life settled down easily, as it was agreed that her mother, Mary, would stay home with Layla, who was incredibly well-behaved, and had both women well-rested and brimming with happiness. Well, until Layla’s metamorphmagus abilities revealed themselves in spectacular fashion, her hair turning purple on her third birthday while Michelle played The Beatles's "Birthday.” Normally, any human being would panic. Michelle stared at her dumbfounded for a few moments, settling on blaming her hectic work schedule for the hallucination, but just as she’d decided that, Layla’s hair turned pink. So she laughed and urged her to do it again, which she did.

Of course, she hadn't considered the repercussions it could have if anybody were to witness it. A few hours later, when Layla was in bed and she’d had time to fully digest the information, she was unable to dispel images of her child being seized and locked away in some government facility for alien testing. Happily, Lala - the girl’s name for herself, which she infected the rest of her family with - understood "no", so the incidents were kept at home.

Other than that, however, her problems were few; she was curious and very active, always signing up for this after school activity or that club. Friendly and relatively obedient in school, apart from the few times she questioned her teachers, mostly, Lala was raising herself... She never asked for help, and once she was told something it did not need repeating. She did have a bit of a lazy streak, but if threatened with no play-time or unplugging the PC, it did the job.

At the age of eight, she started showing other abilities apart from her sudden changes in physical appearance, which was when Michelle started to get a little worried. Well, more than a little, because they seemed to be directly connected with her emotions, and the girl switched between emotions as quickly as her future career. After a few tense years, all was explained when she turned 11, and it transpired that Lala was a witch and there existed an entire magical world, kept secret from the muggles, something Michelle was more enthusiastic about than Layla.

Life at Hogwarts was generally awesome, if incredibly weird. She made friends  just as easily as she had during her muggle schooling, and attempted to convert everyone to the wonders of muggle technology although it didn’t work properly in the magical environs of Hogwarts, just as much as all her friends attempted to explain the magical world to her. Of which she managed to grasp a little less than 20%. Fascinated with some subjects, like Care of Magical Creatures and Charms, Lala couldn’t bear the tedium of others, like History of Magic and Astronomy. Despite her hatred of those subjects, her interest in other areas of the magical world was great enough that she made it her mission to read the entire Hogwarts library, something she didn’t even come close to achieving. Despite that, the moment she arrived home on break, she'd hug and kiss her computer, crooning to the lovely Kitty (of course she named her computer - doesn’t everyone?) for at least an hour. Almost her entire Summer break would be spent locked inside and basically glued to her computer, attempting to catch up with everything she’d missed while away from it.

During her fourth year she started hanging out with what were best described as the delinquent element of the school, and she picked up some rather distasteful habits, making several poor life decisions and generally started on some things at an age that was definitely too young. However, she still managed to set some boundaries for herself, even if said boundaries were well past appropriate for her age, they at least ensured that she maintained average grades. And while her mother had picked up on her... experimenting, she had given Lala some cautionary looks but chose to remain silent. She knew her own daughter and she knew the only way she'd ever learn was if it hit her in the face. While Lala got a lot of slaps from life, she managed to pull herself along, somehow.

By her sixth year, she had grown more distant from her family becoming something of a punk herself. She had gotten herself into some situations (most things reminiscent of teenage rebellion, taken to far more worrying levels) that left her bitter, rather closed and blasé, beginning to use her sharp tongue as a defence mechanism. Despite that, she somehow maintained good relations with some of her professors, keeping a firm line between schoolwork and... everything else.

Beginning drawing at the tender age of three, by 16 she had finally made enough money from her summer jobs to get herself a graphics tablet and it was then she finally knew what she was going to do with her life.

At 17 she took a class in painting enchantment so she could begin to master her own style: a fusion of digital painting, printing and enchanting. She graduated from Hogwarts with mediocre grades, not the least bit interested in success, as it had literally no relevance to her future career, and soon after returning home, she packed her bags, hugged her mother and grandmother and took off for London, where she's currently struggling to make a living.

Basically incapable of holding a desk job and working after a set schedule, or responding to any sort of authority, she mostly gets by through freelancing her art. However, from time to time she is forced to take on a job to cover her bills. Thanks to her inconsistent income, she has the bad habit of showing up unannounced at her friends houses and demanding food to fill her aching belly when her fridge has been empty for too many days.

Describe your job duties and how you go about them:
Lala's job is to draw what the client tells her to draw, and attempt to make it artistic despite the idiotic demands of 90% of her clients. With the exception of book illustration, where she also demands royalties, she works under individual contracts for each project, with final payment when the product is delivered.

She caters to both the wizarding and the muggle world. However, while her muggle business is more lucrative, less time consuming and lets her work on such things as concept art for video games or graphic novels, she is more professionally satisfied by her wizarding work. The process is a lot more complex, but it also leaves so much more room for creativity. Who needs gifs when you have magical illustrations? That also have their own personality!

The process usually starts with a meeting with the client, in person, by owl or e-mail. That's followed by a lot more meetings, until either Lala manages to make sense of the client's demands or the client understands that " it will never work, not in a million years, not even if the pigs start flying." After everything is clear, Lala will attempt a few test sketches that she will submit for review with the client. If those are okay-ed, she will move on to doing the actual product. If it is not, there'll be another meeting, another set of sketches, until it is okay-ed.

Some projects move faster than others, and if she has previously illustrated for a client, it usually means one single meeting. She has a few favorite authors for whom she has been illustrating for years, like CeeCee Donovan. Some of her clients give her complete free-hand and those usually turn out to be her best works.

Elaborate on your expertise in your field:
Her artistic inclinations have made themselves known as young as three, when Lala found her mother's nail polish bottles. After that it was a series of art lessons, art clubs and artsy after-school activities. She competed in various Art Contests during her muggle school years and acquired many certificates and trophies. At Hogwarts, her first step was to join the Wizard Art Appreciation Club, in which she participated until her Sixth year, but "Wizarding" had nothing in common with digital painting, so that was a no-no.

When that stopped being any fun she instead started doing illustrations for the Hogwarts Howler, and when at home, commissions for various weird people on the internet. She competed in various online contests for concept art, and won, which was how her muggle career started.  Her wizarding career started to take off after she graduated her Enchantment in Painting class and got referred to a young author in need of an illustrator, who, surprisingly, was perfectly fine with inexperienced (by which they meant cheap) artists.

She has about two or three big projects a month (with the odd quick commission) in the muggle world and usually just one project per month in the wizarding work, seeing as she prefers to work with children's book and there aren't that many children literature writers.

Layla, or Lala as she is more frequently called, is short, obsessed with the Internet, and constantly confused by the wizarding world. Although an artist by profession, she is sometimes forced to work more staid jobs to cover her bills, something that is made difficult by her wild mood swings and dislike of most of humanity. She's wild, rather loud and loves cats, clothes and the internet culture. She'll make you uncomfortable and regret nothing! Chances are, if she's angry, her hair will instantly turn a vivid red, right in front of your eyes.

Special Ability: Metamorphmagus

What level is this ability at?: Intermediate

At what age did your character gain this ability?: Birth

How did they learn or hone this ability?:
Lala's third birthday came with the manifestation of her metamorphmagi abilities, which should've come as a shock, call the exorcist sort of event to her muggle family. Except, it didn't. Let no one say Lala is the craziest or weirdest of her family... Surprisingly, while she was very young it was fairly easy to control, understand that if her mother said "no, bad Lala" it was no.

However it became much harder to control once her magical abilities also kicked in. Everything seemed to be directly connected to her emotions, so the slightest change in temper could mean suddenly sporting blue eyes and knee-length hair, while also causing various objects to levitate. It was a few rough years of fighting her instincts and playing dumb, and explaining why her mother let her dye her hair so young or why she'd wear extensions or contact lenses.

However the second she was at Hogwarts and her ability had been explained to her, she let it take whatever course it wished, but also struggled to control it and shape it her way. Concentrating on purple hair, would sometimes make her grow a pig tail... So it was rather rough for a few years. She's still not able to do full body changes, like changing her body type completely or changing more parts of her body at the same time, but through a lot of practice, she's able to make herself taller.

Describe how the Special Ability influences their life.  What do they use it for?:
Her emotions are still deeply linked with her ability. Her hair and eyes, pretty much work as a rather obvious mood ring. And given that her moods could have moody moods, she can easily go through 20 different colors and styles a day. And while most of the time, she has no problem with it, it does give "wearing your heart on your sleeve" an entirely new level of depth. She's started  working at containing it, but seeing as her mind is all over the place, it's highly unlikely this will ever change...

She mostly uses it to change her appearance slightly, like her hair and eye color. When she feels like wanting to be a different person, she'll attempt more severe changes, for example her facial anatomy... or the size of her rather flat bust.  However, those are only for fun, and usually when she's out clubbing or attempting to dodge being recognized when she doesn't feel very chatty.

Write a description of what happens when your character is exhibiting this Special Ability:
While some of her less drastic changes are fluid, colors bleed into the other, hair lengthens or shortens smoothly, until they reach their final, desired stage. These sort of small alterations, come naturally, and she does not need to concentrate on them at all, sometimes changing in the middle of a conversation.

However, more complex changes, structural or anatomical usually appear stumped and sudden, before easing into a more natural flow. They require a certain amount of concentration on her part, and some sort of planning and hesitation. They, also, sometimes, do not have the desired effect at all.