Physical Description

Emmylou has light, thick hair-- something of a lion’s mane-- which she usually lazily tames with rubber bands or clips, in low, breezy buns or loose ponytails. Her locks are a rather ambiguous color, resting comfortably somewhere between dirty blonde and chestnut brown. She’ll color her hair from time to time, thanks to whatever box of potions she manages to order with her monthly allowance. But she isn’t a girly-girl. Lou simply enjoys the change, and insists each time that the color-of-the-moment looks best with her features. Her mother disagrees, and usually frowns when Lou comes home with charmed chocolate locks.

Mum also has the habit of waving a wand at the frizzy mass, painstakingly bringing out the curls which lie beneath her daughter’s tousled storm of hair. Lou hasn’t the patience to sit straight-backed in the chair while her mother goes about this ‘photo opportunity’... and she doesn’t shy away from sharing this opinion.

Emmylou’s complexion is peachy-white, burns easily in the sun, and also shows any little mark, scratch, or blemish in a glaring red. Because her skin is sensitive and usually dry, Lou tries her hardest to remember to dab it with cream before bed or after Quidditch practice. Sometimes, though, the pink in her cheeks from a windswept, sunny day makes it look as if the teen is either curiously embarrassed or vaguely enraged. While a tomboy on the field and also frequently in everyday life, she has no definitive style of dress. Like most teenagers, she enjoys experimenting with her aesthetic self-expression.

Growing into an average female weight, and just a smidgen taller than the girly prototype, Lou has lean muscle and long limbs. She is somewhat doe-like in posture, her legs taking up more room than the rest of her. She has strong, athletic thighs and soft upper arms, and is beginning to see the gifts of womanhood beneath her quidditch jersey.

Like many of her family members, Emmy’s best feature is her smile. She has nice, full lips and big glittering teeth.


Personality Description

Lou is headstrong like many a Gryffindor. She is also friendly, quirky, and excitable. She doesn’t shy from sharing what’s on her mind, and she is easily sassed by people who think that they can get away insult-free when they tease her. Long endeared to the childhood nickname of “Emmylou”, she has in recent months tried harder and harder to shed the dolly moniker. Particularly now that her father, the originator of the cutesy title, has passed away, the girl simply doesn’t feel right letting others carry on the tradition. But that doesn’t mean they haven’t. She is largely still called Emmylou by familiar faces. And, in the end, it brings a sort of private comfort to her, to keep the name.

Unlike Nora, who is book smart, and Edie who is an earnest worker, Emmylou rests somewhere comfortably between lazy and wild. She is not the student her sisters were, and she is certainly not unknown to the school administration. Having long admired her cousin George, the young lioness prefers sports, hands-on classes, and chatty group work. Her best subjects are Astronomy and Care of Magical Creatures.

An enemy of alarm clocks, pins and needles, good posture, and balanced bank accounts, Emmylou lives on her own schedule, and makes rash decisions. She can be a loudmouth, but she is generally friendly, if eccentric. She only gets rough when she’s up against a hardheaded boy, and even then, she’s prone to using her wand as often as her fists. She is quirky and imaginative, the sort of girl who would build forts of blankets, or make hats out of old newspapers.

When she was young, Emmylou’s mother enrolled her in gymnastic sessions to squeeze the extra energy out of her daughter. This resulted in a few sprained wrists and ankles, and surprisingly increased drive for life and adventure. Emmy might be a spitfire who thinks too quickly, but she has very good balance. However, she’s more abled above the surface than her cousin George, who can both swing from trees and hold his breath for stupidly long amounts of time.

Having watched George narrowly escape expulsion, Lou has gone through bouts of studiousness, but none have lasted particularly long. She’s a procrastinator, a girl who cracks down on books is self-enforces memorization at the last minute. He grades range from average to scraping by, with the exception of her better subjects, which usually steady her marks and keep her on track. She owes much to the outdoorsy, livelier subjects and their professors, who pulled through O.W.L exams.

While her father’s death has soured her to pouring her heart into schoolwork, it has also made Emmylou steadfast in her dislike for the real bad guys. Temperamental, she nevertheless protests serious acts of violence and crimes against people who are simply “different” in nature. In addition to admiring youthful souls, she tends to also cheer for the underdog. (Even a cheeky Gryffindor can see potential in the underlings.)

History

Emmylou is the youngest daughter of Leon and Cecelia Carter. Her oldest sister, Edie, takes after their mother, a patient if overly-nurturing Hufflepuff, who has nevertheless been tested many a times by Lou herself. Edie, seven or eight years Emily’s elder, now works a steady job at the Ministry, record keeping for her late father’s department.

Nora, formerly Leonora, is the middle child, and not even two year’s older than Emily Louise. She and Emmylou are usually at odds, Nora being a no-nonsense Ravenclaw, and much quieter than the baby of the family. She is the only person in the family to call her baby sister by her given name, Emily. When she’s particularly infuriated, she uses to entire title. Nora currently interns with an experimental spell-writing company, acting as something of a liaison between the inventors and the publishers.

Having been housed with the lion’s, Emmy is something of a daddy’s girl. Or was, until the tragic fall of the decorated auror. Now in her final year at Hogwarts, she seems to have traded places with her favorite cousin, rebelling more than usual while he buckles down and considers his future.

Lou has vague dreams of following in her father’s footsteps, but does not have the grades or discipline to make it a reality. Right now, she lets her emotions out on the quidditch pitch, and thinks she’ll make a fine reserve chaser, sports manager, or sales rep for an international equipment wholesaler. After all, charming people and taking their money is much easier for Lou than sitting at a desk or getting ultra-serious with her wand work. She also loves younger children, and sometimes thinks about coaching amateur teams of pre-Hogwarts divisions.


How Do You Fit Into Your House?
Emmylou is ballsy, brash, and cordial. She has the backs of her friends, and won’t back down in the face of foes. She is opinionated, honest, and means well-- but sometimes these things get her into trouble, because Lou has the habit of diving headfirst into any number of ridiculous situations without stepping back to breathe and weigh the consequences. Now in her final year, Lou walks a tightrope between maturity and rebellion.

Sum up your character in one paragraph.
Emmylou is the youngest in her family, but certainly not the shiest or most modest. She stands up for her beliefs and also leaps at the first sign of adventure. She is amicable and fairly talkative, but can also be defensive or stubborn. She loves sports, the outdoors, and proving herself.

Career Change
Character Name: Emmylou Carter
Character Biography: http://absitomen.com/index.php?action=profile;u=430
Previous Job/Position: Witch (despite her employment, her writer has been late to this)
Position Applying For: Puddifoot's Barista and Reducto Records Manager

Why have you chosen to change careers?:
Emmylou has rent to pay, and London isn't cheap.

For a while now, Lou has been working at Madam Puddifoot's in Hogsmeade. The lively young witch has fun tottering around behind the espresso machines, perfecting her latte art, and interpreting the dregs of tea cups unsolicited. Even the dirty work of cafe life is pleasant enough with the lovely management. Plus, making coffee for regulars and strangers alike provides a nice outlet for her chattier side.

The realities of adulthood have nevertheless inspired Emmylou to take on a second job, lest she have to return to her mother's sofa or forgo sometimes-costly weekend adventures. Lou has thus arranged her hours at the teashop so that she can work evenings managing Reducto Records in Diagon Alley. Her flat has become flush with delicious coffee and cool music.

Elaborate on your expertise in this new field:
She brings previous experience of having survived the hospital tea room to Puddifoot's much less depressing atmosphere. Lou's outgoing personality and trustworthy smile make her an ideal candidate for taking orders and engaging in small talk. Her skill with charms might have been put to good use at elsewhere, but a live-and-die-by-it career isn't what she wants right now (mostly because she doesn't know where she wants to settle), and so she puts her wand to good use during the rush hours of caffeine consumption.

The Reducto Records offer transpired with a healthy dose of Carter luck. Lou has been on good terms with the upper management and owners for a while now, and has been an increasingly frequent customer (or good neighbor, anyway) since she moved to London. But that aside, her personality is largely what bagged her the job. As with her Puddifoot's role, Lou spends plenty of time chatting with customers and pointing them in the right direction. It's a natural role for the witch, who is also quite comfortable with taking charge during in-house events, signings, and small concerts. She's arguably better at the special events aspect than chasing twelve-year-olds into their piano lessons during the summer-- or making sure the tutors don't hex anyone-- but what she might lack in strictness or administrative background, she makes up for in character. Plus, she's marginally older, more reliable, and more likable than the handful of kids who work under her.

Describe your new job and how you go about doing it:
At Puddifoot's, Lou takes and fills orders, both behind the counter as a barista and as a server. She sometimes acts as hostess, and also helps the rest of the team with routine duties like cleaning, opening, etc.

At Reducto, Emmylou frequently works the register or walks the floor to interact with customers. When there's an event, she's the primary contact in-store. She does some schedule-making for other employees as well as the occasional bit of owling and enlisting (contracted music tutors, event bouncers, PR teams, distributors, delivery owls, and so forth).

Overall, Lou does a lot of quick learning on the job, and keeps her celebrity-awe at a respectable minimum for Reducto events.