Physical Description

As a child, Augustine looked quite like a house-elf, features drawn huge on a typical energetic kid’s body. For the most part, she grew into them, except for her eyes: oversized orbs of chipped mineral which are still her best known feature. They would still be akin to a house-elf’s, too, if it weren’t for the saving grace of perpetual, heavy-lidded sleepiness and the balance of now-small ears. Their dusky mood is an asset in print and on stage, for it gives Augustine a sultry quality and a subtlety to her art. While her family might accuse her overacting in her day to day life, she has rarely been accused of it in the theater.

Much less alarming, a tumble of warm hair melts over her holiday-kissed shoulders, ending in a mid-length cut. These are the the syrupy hues of a sundae, a dangerous combination that seems ever unattainable in rainy England, and is thus a delight upon the eyes. Again, this warm appearance contributes to Augustine’s photogenic quality, but it also makes her cold, in a way.

Brows and lashes are of a darker, coarser cocoa than her hair, unruly like many a Fortescue's, but certainly helpful for expressing one’s self on stage, a nice balance to those tired eyes. If they are the stuff that Augustine’s aunt would pluck from her own daughter, the family’s youngest actress lets no one touch her gifts.

This practice does not extend to her body, of course, which is yoga-lithe, spin-toned, and tight. Much thanks to a pirate-y personal trainer who pushes her hard with the lifting and boxing. Cardio and toning are among the only things Augustine can pay attention to for extended periods of time (outside of learning or practicing her lines) without having some sort of meltdown, period of being drawn into her own thoughts, or bout of extreme flakiness. In fact, any fights in the gym are bound to include boxing gloves, and any wizard twice her size would be hard pressed to walk away from a session without sore muscles— even if Augustine still has trouble triumphing in day to day tasks, like boiling pasta or weeding her front garden.

In other arenas of her life, Augustine appears more bird-like than kick-ass. Oversized, long-sleeved tops in various hues of gray, black skinny pants or soft yoga sweats, small sleek boots or cuddly knitted ones, her day to day wear highlights her smallness. While Augustine enjoys dressing up for events and certainly for the stage, she believes that overdone looks for the hungry dogs on the sidewalks are garish and try-hard.

When she does dress up, she attempts to emphasize her best features and create the illusion of others: shoes and short dresses to make her legs long and her torso shorter and curvier; tight bras to lift her bust, updos that elongate her neck and arms, and colors that show off her tan or make her eyes pop. She favors smoky makeup. Augustine stands around 5’3 or 5’4, more often rounded up for showbiz.

Personality Description

Augustine is a very intent actor. If the passion she applied to her craft were applied to all areas of her life, she might have made a respectable Hufflepuff. But the stage is one of the few places where her energy and her work ethic are properly channeled, where she has a reputation for being professional and promising. (At least with the polished production itself, the audience in their seats, the critics with the quills.)

This reputation is important to Augustine, it is something she clings to, but once the stage doors close behind her, she becomes much less reliable an adult. More than one colleague has witnessed bouts of moodiness, her quarrelsome agitation during rough run-throughs still in development, her demanding side. When she’s particularly anxious over a developing production, she has a habit of drawing into herself or getting lost on a tangent. She repeats lines at her mirror, like a babbling mad-woman, and woe is the person who interrupts Augustine with the necessities of her rider. She’s even gone head to head with costars when lines are not set in stone and scenes are still being worked out. Augustine is unafraid of giving her input if she thinks it will make for a better production. She has the stuff of a future producer or director, to be sure. And it is in these moments a glimpse of her true Gryffindor spirit can be seen.

It comes full force on stage, where Augustine cloaks herself in her characters, takes them on completely. They are her sword and shield, a sort of freedom that few people get to experience so regularly. Being someone else means giving up responsibility and reservation, which is quite easy for Augustine.

Outside of her work, the witch’s ability to take care of herself is dubious. It is something she never grew out of, particularly after her younger sister grew into the role of older sister. Augustine still cannot cook a simple meal, doesn’t think to dust shelves or lock doors, and looks rather helpless in the way of a baby bird when she’s bound up in oversized sweaters and throw blankets after a night out. Having found success at a young age, she has never had to learn how to be an adult without being surrounded by other adults who have been relegated those cumbersome daily tasks and chores that usually come with adulthood. Augustine is generally more plagued by the paparazzi waiting outside, the terms of her contract, pleasing the important people, than the dishes in the sink or whether she’s remembered to buy that very particular list of groceries she sees in her fridge every morning. And she is particular, for a woman who is so codependent on her sister.

While her public persona, the one off stage, is carefully managed, glimpses of a wobbly legged Augustine leaving a holiday party have been seen before in tabloids. Rumors of difficulty or storminess are not unheard of. It is up to Theodosia to tidy those up. At home, she can be emotional, melodramatic, easily sick, overindulgent, needy of sleep and vices and attention. More than one stage hand has seen such a creature firsthand, too.

And yet, her alternate habit of drawing into herself when she’s anxious means it is not always easy to get answers out of her or keep attention. Augustine’s needs and desires are sometimes left to interpretation. When a conversation is not going her way, when she knows she’s about to lose with a more senior actor or a producer, she is likely to interrupt or change the topic, to maddeningly cut off the finality of another’s decision. These moments are later corrected with perfect posture and demure, graceful acknowledgement— things to keep the higher ups sweet on Augustine. Still, she wants desperately for those relics of theater to see her brain, her talent, her devotion to her art, things easily negotiable when one has also a pretty face upon which to rely.

On the red carpet, she is supremely likable and basks in the attention, the Wizarding Britain equivalent of old Hollywood glamor or new Hollywood glossiness. She is playful and quick in interviews, able to engage quite easily with big crowds or industry pros when it comes to publicity game.

History

Augustine is the oldest child of two, in a large, loving, and often exuberant extended wizarding family. Not the first Fortescue to go into the world of dramatic arts, she was encouraged from a young age to follow her passions; growing up in London was helpful, for it allowed Augustine to hang about the theater where her aunt took the girl under her wing and gave her bit parts in summer productions. By the time she’d gone away to Hogwarts, Augustine already had it in her head that she would one day attend W.A.D.A.

Lavish letters to a baby sister confirmed as much: Theodosia was her first true audience. Her favorite charms involved ones which allowed her add flourish to her letters… or her art, which revealed itself with corridor antics and elaborate answers to questions in the classroom. She paid most attention in Charms, History, and Transfiguration, anything that might aid her in the world of artistic endeavors. (Of course, textbook history was always a much drier thing than the spruced up stage versions she would come to love, and Augustine was known to lose her patience or wing a test more than once). While not the picture of a bookworm, her first couple of years in school were made happier by the library’s extensive collection. Many a person would be surprised to know that Augustine is a fairly regular reader.

The witch's first Hogwarts trip to Hogsmead resulted in the buying of a rare pair of mirrors which later allowed the sisters to communicate more animatedly (about things more frivolous than what such devices were used for during the war). And by the time her much more responsible, level-headed little sister was old enough to join her at school, Tine was one of the most active members in the school’s drama club.

She graduated with an acceptance letter to the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts, her childhood dream, and flew through the school’s courses like a natural seeker after a snitch. (Which is not to say that those two years were brief or easy, but the classes came more naturally and with more pleasure than anything Tine had studied at Hogwarts). All of those history lessons were rehashed in poetic stage plays, and her first starring role was as a young lover to a Wizengamot member during a time of political turmoil. Rave reviews lead to cushy jobs nearly straight out of school, but the interim between graduation and full-time acting was a whirlwind of little sleep and many an audition of varying levels of success.

By the time her younger sister graduated, Augustine had found public success and was in desperate need of someone to juggle her life and social obligations. Caring for herself had never come naturally, and she had more than once found herself at the wrong end of the a tabloid photographer’s lens by then.

Her life now has rare moments of calm, with Theodosia to keep her schedule, manage her meetings, and answer yes or no to requests of all kinds. Her sister’s support has also inflated an already healthy ego, and has allowed Augustine to be pickier and more demanding, to stay out later with fewer consequences, and to hide the more embarrassing moments of her life.

Describe your job duties and how you go about them.

Augustine's day to day life depends largely on what role she has at any given moment. Lately, she has only accepted major roles in critically acclaimed productions. Once theater season begins, she is generally more well behaved and reigned in with the routine of performing several times a week than when she is between roles or when a play is in the development process or publicity rounds. She usually sleeps in, then works out with her trainer, takes a long "lunch break" (shopping, time with her sister, moping about, reading, studying lines-- it completely depends.) Late afternoons are for hair and makeup, followed by either dress rehearsal or some sort of public event. Her theater time lasts a few hours each night, and then it's usually out to another event, a high end dinner at a favorite haunt, or a party that might last into the night and keep Augustine in the public eye. Usually one night a week, Augustine has a "girl's night" in which she pampers herself (and her sister, if Dosia can put up with the nonsense and the cucumber eyes). Weekends off (a rarity in theater) are often for on-location photo shoots travel.

Elaborate on your expertise in your field.

Augustine has been acting since a young age. She began with small parts in her aunt's productions, and continued by joining drama club at Hogwarts and volunteering for theater groups in her summers. After Hogwarts, she attended the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts, where she studied acting and theater, including the wizarding classics. She had several small professional roles before earning her first starring role on a London stage while still in school. Upon graduation, she began to work full time as an actress and has been able to make a living doing so. In the past few years, she has garnered public attention and publicity in magazines, tabloids, and at events.

Sum up your character in one paragraph.

Augustine is a dramatic creature who (when everyone is lucky) channels her 'gift' on the stage and in the spotlight. Though she is still learning how to be an adult and manage her daily life, she has a glossy public persona that creates plenty of fun and chaos for her friends and family. Augustine craves praise for her art and is liable to wreak havoc getting there. She is, nevertheless, entertaining company.