Your Nickname: SJ
Have you read and do you agree to the Code of Conduct?: Yes
Are you over thirteen? Yes
How did you find us and decide to write with us? Other
If you have written other characters here: Yes
If Yes, list them all: Active: Sophie Flickwick, Zeke Abraham

Inactive (while I decide what to do with them): Dolly St. James, Effie Finnigan, Liviana Wiedman, Magnolia Nettlebottom, Waverly Roh-Ballentyne
Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary

Full Character Name: Linden Mae Pilliwickle
Character Birthday & Age: 8/16/1995 (14)
City & Country of Birth: Piddlehinton, Dorset, England
Pureblood, Halfblood or Muggleborn: Halfblood
House & Year: Ravenclaw 4th Year

Wand: 11 inch smooth and pliable Ash, Unicorn Tail Hair core

Physical Description:
Build: Underdeveloped, at 14 it is extremely vexing to the fashion minded Ravenclaw that she seems to have yet to hit puberty. She is narrow everywhere, her limbs slender without a lot of definition or tone to them.
Height: 5'6" which she finds highly irritating as her brother is already 5'10.
Hair: Golden blonde, often worn in various braids, just below her shoulders in length. Often uses beautification potions and enhancements to achieve curls or perfectly pin straight hair.
Eyes: Almond in shape, ranges in dark brown to a shade of deep hazel.
Skin tone and complexion :  Very fair, prone to sunburns even in overcast weather. Has not yet suffered massive breakouts and bad skin many of her peers have, still very baby-faced.
Style influences: Lindy considers herself a very fashion minded sort of girl, she enjoys pouring over Witch Weekly's who-wore-it-better and style sections. She mastered walking in heels by the time she was ten, though her mother refuses to actually let her wear them outside of the house. She had a very light hand when it comes to make up; preferring to look more fresh of face and dewy than "glamorous". She keeps her uniform classic and simple; a walking shrine to the idea that less is more.  She adores very girly dresses and antique jewelry, but she understands the importance of comfortable jeans and jumpers too.


Personality Description:
The most important thing one needs to know to understand Linden Mae Pilliwickle is that she’s not just a twin; in essence she’s a triplet. She and her brother along with her cousin Poppy were raised a bit like a litter of puppies. Poppy was such a high maintenance baby that her mother required a lot of help from her more naturally maternal sister Holly (even though the twins were only a few weeks old themselves). This is a trend that would carry on all of their childhood and actually only grow more so after Poppy’s parents’ divorce. Being one third of a trio is hard work, especially when your bother is known for being a naturally happy and easy going chap while your cousin is in constant need of attention and must be handled with kid gloves because she’s so small and sickly. It is not unnatural for some resentment to form, and thought she loves her brother and cousin dearly… that long rooted resentment still lingers in the fourteen year old as she constantly tries to separate herself from the pack and stand out from the other two.

It is this desire that brings about the less savory parts of Lindy’s personality; the act she puts on that is fussy and always needs to be right, the over eager desire to tell people they’re wrong. She does not endear herself to the masses with this behavior but she hadn’t quite worked out a better way to shine; especially in a house full of academically minded peers. She has yet to learn being haughty and knowing everything won’t get her where she needs to go. Chalk it up to growing pains but she seems to have latched onto the more negative traits of being a Leo. Under all of the bollocks and acting like she’s twenty-four rather than fourteen is a good heart, with a hunger for knowledge, insatiable energy, and a creatively adventurous mind. Her leadership skills could use some fine tuning but that is mostly because she’s had to fight with two other Leos her whole life to be top banana.

If Lindy has one love outside of gaining knowledge it is being pretty; some might even call it a mild obsession. She pours over beautification treatments, style magazines, and top notch Wizarding designers in equal measure. If a cult existed solely to worship Darian Morgan designs, Lindy would be their high priestess. She views style as an art form. While the Pilliwickles don’t really have the money to support her desired style habit, Lindy is quite clever with a needle and can sew a passable knock off. She may act as though she thinks it’s all a frivolous waste of time (after all it doesn’t particularly jive with her snobbish intellectual tendencies) but deep down it’s something she aspires to; the same way her father loves experimenting with magical gastronomy; Lindy loves meddling in fashion.


History:
Linden Mae Pilliwickle was born a good hour and a half after her brother Quentin, in what her mother likes to lovingly joke was her first sign of willful stubbornness. All throughout the pregnancy Holly claims to have felt Lindy’s personality forming; her strong nature, her endless energy, and regular 3AM dance sessions on her mother’s poor bladder. In comparison Quentin has always been easy going, relaxed, nonplussed by his sister’s (and not much later in life his cousin’s) bossy nature. Compared to her sister’s pregnancy Holly Pilliwickle (nee Potts) had a glorious time; with two happy healthy babies coming into the world. It was this ease v. chaos that would lay the ground work for how the twins would be raised alongside their cousin Poppy. As the older sister, Holly (and subsequently her husband Jack) took on much of the responsibility that Rosie just didn’t seem able to handle.

Life carried long like that, the three of them being raised like a litter rather than three separate children with singular identities for the first three years of their lives; always with a little more focus on how small Poppy was, how much attention she needed. It was just the way of things until that horrible night shortly after the twins turned three. The ripples of war had touched the Finnigan and Pilliwickle clans in its own way; friends injured in the fighting, worrying over Mr. Pilliwickle’s blood status, questioning if they should follow Effie Finnigan’s lead and head stateside until the matter was resolved. In the end all stayed firmly planted where they were and the war passed with only slight damage to their well-being.

Jack sustained critical injuries toward the end of the war and though they were able to save him he would have been stuck on desk duty for the rest of his career with The Ministry. The other side effect of knowing what it’s like to almost pierce the veil is realizing how much of your life you’re willing to give up and what dreams aren’t worth letting go of. It was in this spirit that Jack Pilliwickle and Ronan Finnigan finally stopped finding excuses and opened a family pub, experimenting with Magical Gastronomy.  Life seemed to be on a fairly even keel for much of the twins’ life after that – right up until Uncle Ronan and Aunt Rosie got divorced. Once again it fell on Holly to help as much as possible and while Lindy didn’t want to feel cheated, it was something that she struggled with. The only feeling that was possibly worse was the guilt she felt every time her mother reminded her that Poppy didn’t have the kind of life Lindy had been given. At eight the most you understand is that your cousin is not only spoiled but she gets all of your Mummy’s attention too.

The years between seven and eleven are a bit of a blur, the constant struggle to be both part of something that she loved and the desire to escape it. When at long last the trio boarded the Hogwarts Express, Lindy felt nothing but a great sense of relief. She felt the odds of them all ending up in the same house was next to impossible. Their personalities were all so different and they each placed a high premium on traits assigned to specific houses. It wasn’t until it was all said and done (with Poppy in Slytherin and Q in Gryffindor) that Lindy felt the slight twinge of panic, not sure if she really did want to be separated from her other thirds. Of course it really was the best thing for all of them, because while they remain incredibly close, it has given Lindy a chance to find her own way, her own sense of self, though she still struggles with the fact Poppy is her best friend and also the single most infuriating person on the planet.

Ravenclaw has been a good home for Linden, at least mostly. It is not always easy to be the smartest in the room, especially when it just so happens that you’re not. Being wrong (or at least the fear of it) is extremely hard for the 14 year old. Growing pains abound for most people her age (boy or girl) but it is decidedly harder when you’re already constantly competing for attention on the home front. She has learned not to particularly show it, but balancing her insecurities has gotten even harder this last year as around her the perception of boys and cooties have really started to change. Everyone is so very grown up and Lindy wants to be so very grown up too; but when you’re tip toeing into grown up territory it is very hard to be as sure that you’re the most-right-smartest-person when everyone else seems very much more experienced than you. It was all much easier when boys tried to give you tree frogs or pull your hair, and sometimes she wishes everything could just freeze and be that simple again – but she can’t ever admit that because it seems Q and Poppy are quite happily developing into the next phase of being adults and Linden can’t bear the thought of being left behind!

Classes:

Core Classes Astronomy Charms Defense Against the Dark Arts Herbology History of Magic Potions Transfiguration No

Electives Arithmancy Divination Muggle Studies

How Do You Fit Into Your House?:
Lindy loves learning for learning’s sake; she always has. Being smart and placing a high premium on the acquisition of knowledge has been what set her apart for Q and Poppy since they were very young. Being clever was her answer to Quentin being so very easy going and Poppy being so high maintenance. She plays at being rather ostentatious or persnickety; but under that grab for attention is just a mind that is hungry to devour new information; locking it away like a prized treasure. 

Writing Sample:
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Sum up your character in one paragraph:
The most important thing one needs to know to understand Linden Mae Pilliwickle is that she’s not just a twin; in essence she’s a triplet. She and her brother along with her cousin Poppy were raised a bit like a litter of puppies, which is still rather true to this day. At the tender age of 14 she is trying to suss out just where she belongs and having a bit of trouble with the idea. She is a ravenous reader and collector of knowledge, with a deep desire to constantly be right, but also liked and often struggles with the internal conflict of not being able to be both.