Approved! - Kelly & Kit
Your Nickname: Bri
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? Friend
If you have written other characters here: Yes
If Yes, list them all: Zia Piselli
Jai Patil
Claire McByrne
Jules Deville
Edolie Fern
Frederick Dodger
Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary
Full Character Name: Ruby Lilith Quinn
Character Birthday & Age: [March 20, 1981, age 29]//Mandaran: April 22, 1988
City & Country of Birth: [Undisclosed Location]
Blood Purity: Pureblood
Alma Mater: -
Job/Position: Alliance of the Mandara
Wand: Oak with fur of her mother as core. About 10 inches. Doesn't really use.
Physical Description: Nearly everything about Ruby's outer appearance is done in rebellion of the Mandaran culture. When at home-base, Ruby walks around completely naked just as everyone else does. However, Ruby shaves herself completely -- a misalignment from the naturalist Mandaran views. Additionally, she cuts and dyes her hair. Wearing 'false' clothes, the current fashions of the wizards, is an even bigger offense than being clean-shaven, so she reserves those outfits for her escapes to the Wizarding World. Ruby gets most of her fashion advice from photographs in the abandoned houses she inhabits, so her style isn't necessarily on-point, but she does have a natural knack for putting things together. She makes attempts to learn what is appropriate and what isn't, but the lines are blurred when you spend most of your time walking around in the buff.
Clothes for Ruby are more about convenience than impression. She prefers things that are loose-fitting and mainly ends up wearing things that cover only the important parts. Overalls and rompers are frequently seen in her wardrobe amongst the slip dresses and short skirts. As you can imagine one who steals most of her clothing would be, Ruby is rather grungy and doesn't have a clear-cut bathing schedule. She cleans just enough to stay relatively clean-shaven, which is just often enough to get by in the Wizarding World, apparently. She has a penchant for crazy heels and loves being taller than everyone else. She's already 5"10', and 5-inch heels guarantee that she'll be towering over most of the men in the room. Her height and questionable clothing choices gain a lot of attention, but Ruby doesn't normally pick up on body language - nor does she much notice her own.
Bare feet are also a consequence of nudist behavior and so Ruby has tremendously calloused, ugly, but strong-skinned feet. She has many scars scattered across her body from numerous fights on top of the years of being a werewolf. She has a few small tattoos, most of which were required by the Mandarans but a few that she got herself, none of which have much significance outside the Mandaran culture.
Personality Description: Right from the start, Ruby was always more of a 'lone wolf.' Her family was very involved with the pack culture -- oftentimes leaving her to her own devices. This on top of her parents' overwhelming encouragement to be headstrong and fierce allowed for Ruby to develop her own sense of independence. She's tough and rather stubborn, but has a different set of values from her family and her culture. Throughout her childhood she was taught that fights can be with either gender, and so she's never backed down from a fight with a boy. This intimidates most wizards -- creepy , slimy men do not mess with her because she exerts a confidence that clearly shows she could crush them. She's scrappy and clever.
Ruby's free spirit doesn't like the obsessiveness and dangerous traditionalism of the Alliance of the Mandaran. So much of her doesn't understand why her people bother worshipping a condition that they can't control, a condition that ultimately hurts people. Her free spirit also prefers to be temporary; Ruby does not stay in one place for too long. Although she always returns to the Mandarans -- this is required; they would be too suspicious if she left, would come searching for her, and that would be worse -- Ruby travels, peeling off on her own for days or weeks at a time. Just enough to stay under the radar. One of her more wolf-like features is her superior sense of smell, which allows her to detect whether a house has been abandoned or not. She's unparalleled at finding the best (sometimes even the most lavish) places to stay -- but of course prefers to be very much alone.
Being alone is not something that she wants all of the time, though. Ruby is not much for romance, but enjoys the company of men (and women) that make her feel that special type of sensual excitement. The Mandarans don't believe that sex is about commitment; rather ,it is about connection and release. Commitment is more about partnership and support. They're pretty open and frank about sex; it's natural, after all, and carnal.
Staying 'under the radar' is one of her best skills. It is natural for someone who is Mandaran, after all. They are a culture completely off-the-grid, forced into secrecy because of their dangerous beliefs. She's fairly straightforward about everything in her life -- she lets her people know what parts of the culture she does not support. But she does this only to the point that will keep her and her family safe. Ruby is smart, possibly smarter than many of the people she has grown up with. She is perceptive beyond compare and has a very good sense of knowing when to keep quiet. Her honest nature can come across to rude or callous to some in the Wizarding world, but many are appreciative of her forthrightness. Ruby is much better at withholding the truth than she is at lying, although she is rather adept at that in certain situations. She can keep a straight face even under great duress and is remarkable at keeping her emotions at bay. Ruby fights only when her strength or someone she loves has been attacked.
The Alliance of the Mandara believe in following a paleo-like diet, in that they do not eat any processed foods. It's all about raw meat, mostly, and grain alcohol, which is not very paleo but does test one's strength quite a bit. Ruby enjoys splurging on greasy junk food and tequila when she makes her way to the Wizarding world. She also loves hot sauce, especially on top of anything that's been fried. Although she misses most jokes, she has a deadpan and sarcastic sense of humor that gets most people. Though she only knows a few spells, Ruby is pretty nifty with a wand. She's rather daring and will try anything once (especially if you egg her on).
'Careers' were not really a point of discussion in the Alliance of the Mandara. They had their own form of education and taught basic and useful magic, but their main focus was on developing and understanding the 'word of the Mandara.' There were some scholars, but they were really just the people who taught the next generation about what it meant to be a member of the Alliance. Ruby never did well in any of these classes but upon discovering books in the Wizarding World, has taken up quite a hobby of reading, writing, drawing and painting.
History: Vesper Quinn and Ayla Lyall gave birth to Ruby Lilith Quinn beneath a red moon, prompting them to name her after the old scarlet gem of lore. None of them had seen a ruby, for none of the Alliance of the Mandara had visited the Wizarding World in decades... perhaps it had been centuries. Certainly, Ruby's parents had always been loyal members of the Alliance. Their family names were old, and both the Lyalls and Quinns were deeply intertwined with Mandran history.
Since they were so involved in Mandaran culture, Ayla and Vesper did not spend much time with their daughter Ruby. Besides, the Mandrans were encouraged to let their children grow wildly. They would develop naturally as they should. It produced many bad seeds, but in their environment it was difficult to say whether being 'bad' was even very 'bad' at all. Ruby seemed to have a different set of values from her more brutish peers. They went around in packs, their leaders often making attacks on Ruby because she wasn't part of a group. She was that lone wolf, straying from the herd.
When she was still young, before the third full moon of her seventh year, Ruby witnessed a Mandaran tradition that occurred on nights with no moon. They sacrificed one of the wolves they raised and bred, drinking its blood and sporting its fur and calling it worship. None of them had watched the wolf's eyes as the elaborate killing ceremony had occurred; Ruby did. She had seen innocence, terror, and confusion in the wolf's eyes and could not see how they were respecting the animal they were claiming to adore.
Her sister was born on a night with no moon , which represented a world of bad luck for hte Quinn name. No Quinn had been born under a no moon for generations, and thusly Ruby's sister was named Mallory (ill-fated, unfortunate) and was neglected even more than Ruby had been. It was as if she didn't exist, and it was heart-breaking for Ruby to see the baby so desperately and innocently vying for her parents' attention, especially since she knew that they would never it to Mal.
This made Ruby feel as if she needed to care for her sister and became a motherly figure for her. She protected her sweet sister from the vile comments of her superstitious and traditional parents, not understanding how they could be so cruel to their own kin when they valued the Alliance so faithfully.
When it came time for Mal to become a werewolf, Ruby had been 10 years born a wolf and hardly remembered what the ceremony was like. Only family and officials were allowed in, and when the wolf who was changing her sister attacked during the gruesome ritual, Ruby's animal instinct kicked in and she lunged at the wolf. Since she was in her wolf form as well, she did a remarkable amount of damage for just one lunge and that Mandaran sported a scar for the rest of his days. She had seen in her sister's eyes the emotions she'd seen in the wolf so many years ago, the feelings she finally understood when she'd been wolfed herself. Fear, confusion, and innocence. This couldn't be right.
Ruby began spending more and more time away from the pack, bringing back gifts for her sister and telling her to keep it intensely secret. The gifts were, of course, from abandoned houses she'd been able to sniff out and squat in. The desire to shirk her own culture made Ruby want to embrace another, and the 'vile' Wizarding World she'd heard about for so long was the perfect candidate.
Describe your job duties and how you go about them: Having a 'job' in the Alliance of the Mandara is not something that Ruby was ever interested in. As a relative of one of the older families of the Alliance, Ruby gets away with not contributing to society and instead reaps the benefits of the packs beneath her own family's However, she hardly takes advantage of these benefits as she spends most of her time galavanting around in the Wizarding World.
Elaborate on your expertise in your field: Absolutely nothing. If anything, Ruby probably should avoid the Wizarding World at all costs. But she's getting sick of the Alliance and maybe wants to shut them down....
Writing Sample: Sum up your character in one paragraph: Growing up in an off-the-grid commune, home to a cult of werewolves, created a unique, clever fighter in Ruby Quinn. She has her own agenda that is unclear to anyone outside of herself, but is overall a good-hearted person with the right intentions.
Ruby Lilith Quinn: Alliance of the Mandara