Accepted! ~Elle
Your Nickname: Jessica
Have you read and do you agree to the Code of Conduct?: 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: Akiva Katz, Archer Radley, Phineas Maele (Secondary), Jordyn Dimbleby, Margo Amherst
Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary
Full Character Name: Josephine "Joie" Dionne St. Just
Character Birthday & Age: 34; November 20, 1974
City & Country of Birth: Montrose, England
Blood Purity: Halfblood
Alma Mater: Hogwarts; Ravenclaw
Job/Position: Gringott's Curse Breaker
Wand: Her wand is 13 inches long and carved from padauk wood. This is most assuredly not her first wand, and was attained in Western Africa after her second wand was destroyed during a curse breaking assignment. It is handcrafted and designed just for her, reflecting much of her personality in it. The wood is springy and supple with a smooth handle. The wood itself is a brilliant red, characteristic of the tree’s natural coloring and there is only a preservative covering on it, nothing changing its natural color. It is carved with a number of traditional Adinkra symbols: the fihankra (security/safety), the kwatakye atiko (bravery/valor), mframadan (fortitude/preparedness), nyansapo (wisdom, ingenuity, intelligence and patience), and onyankopon adom nti biribiara beye yie (hope, providence, faith). It’s core is a Runespoor fang, harvested directly from a hunt.
Physical Description: Josephine is very surprising. She has a very middle of the road build, appearing to be of an average height with an average weight. Some of her facial features are very striking, particularly her facial features. She has very full lips and large, green eyes. Her eyebrows are curved in such a way that it looks like she is constantly judging or scrutinizing something. She has the ability to be illusive with how she is feeling, and from working in some… less than stand up places, she developed quite the poker face.
For the rest of her body, her limbs are very long and powerful, muscles in her arms and legs very defined from going through some of the more… wild areas of the world. Her hands, attached to her long arms, are very elegant and she has long fingers, suitable for playing piano. In between her pointer and middle fingers on her right hand she has a permanent grey-black mark from cigarettes, a habit she has yet been able to kick or even tried kicking. She has a number of scrapes and scars from going out on missions, but nothing substantial enough to comment on in an extended manner.
While out in the brush, Josephine has adopted the style of an antiquity explorer. She wears mostly practical fabrics, more than usually khaki, trousers, and boots. She has a sharp sense of her own style though, and while not running halfway around the world and taking items from foreign tombs, Josephine dresses smartly though not quite as practically as she might ransacking tombs. She likes bold, strong fashions that can easily catch eyes but also allow slipping into the shadows.
Build/Body type: Healthy, very athletic with a curvy frame to hang it all on.
Estimated Height/Weight: Approximately five feet and seven inches tall (1.524 m) and 155 pounds (11.07 stone).
Hair color: An auburn red
Eye color: Green
Skin color: Usually fair, but after extended stays in Africa, slightly freckled and noticeably darker. Obscurely free of wrinkles – magic is suspected, though no proof exists.
First Impression: “This woman is a curse breaker?”
Any odd/outstanding features?: Her red hair, to be sure.
Personality Description: Being a curse breaker requires a certain level of confidence, sense of adventure, and determination. Josephine has all of these things and a sharp mind to go with it. She is calculated and clever with the ability to plan ahead of time and attack dangerous situations with a high level of skill. The mixture of intellectual curiosity and adventure suits her lifestyle. Always having been interested in languages and cultures, she also manages to study up on what cultures she is going to enter for each mission. Her library at home is filled with books about African, Asian, and South American wizarding cultures as well as dark magic, arithmancy, ancient runes, and charms manuals. She moves around a lot, though she spends several months in England at a time, usually studying on her next mission or approaching an issue of domestic cursed objects.
Josephine uses her mind all of the time, she is constantly thinking and calculating to figure out her next move. Though she comes off as a do-er before all else, she plans at least a basic outline of what she is going to accomplish and never approaches a dangerous situation without a back-up plan. She is a successful woman and doesn’t half ass anything, particularly related to her career. Her achievements are important to her and she wishes to show off how good at what she does she is.
She’s passionate about the things she really does enjoy – music, cultures, work – and very much dedicated to knowing as much about a subject as she can. She is an honest woman and does not usually stray from telling the truth, unless it is opportune, and she can be a bit opportunistic about who and what she’s dealing with. There is a level of sophistication about Josephine and though she runs through some of the most dangerous areas in the world, she exemplifies a level of class about her, respecting other cultures and peoples as well as herself.
She tends to be emotionally reserved and does not invest a lot of time in people who will not benefit what she is working on. She has many contacts all over the world, from a number of walks of life, which she keeps up as best she can whenever she is traveling. She finds people to be stepping stones towards the ultimate goal and has a hard time connecting on levels that are not related to work, particularly after her father’s death. Being left by her mother also left something of a damper on forming close, personal relationships. If one’s own mother could abandon her, what is to say someone else might not?
When she is interacting with people, she has a tendency to be cynical and sarcastic, though nearly always in a charming, pleasant sort of way. Part of her career is dealing with people – whether good or bad is of no concern to her if she gets what she needs, and she has learned to walk a fine line. She can be highly flirtatious when she needs to be and uses it to her advantage. It is very easy for her to twist words and use them to charm who she needs to when she needs to. This can be manipulative and heartless, but she does what she needs to do to get a job done.
There are a few people who may get on the friendly side of Josephine, but they are more than usually like her, and find banter more appealing that polite conversation and have a certain jaded nature as well. She likes complicated people, just like puzzles, and finds that anyone who is too simple lacks depth, and has no problem saying so. It is hard to become her friend, she openly acknowledges it, and is highly judgmental of those that try. She can be unfriendly, but is never ambivalent – she has an opinion of you, even if you don’t know it.
History: Josephine St. Just was born in Montrose, England to Etienne and Lucienne St. Just. Before the birth of their only child, the couple had been married for several years and spent much of their time travelling. Lucienne, Josephine’s mother, played a large part in French quidditch, having been a member of the team. Lucienne, or Luci, as she was affectionately called, played Keeper for the National Team and Etienne travelled with them, having amassed enough money from an inheritance. As Luci’s career took off, Etienne became something of a manager for her, and took over planning the trajectory of her career.
With rising fame, she received offers from teams all over Europe to enhance her prospects of becoming of a household name outside of France, Etienne proposed that they make the switch. It was not, initially what Luci wanted, but after looking at the offers, she decided the Montrose Magpies, with their impressive record and skill would be a good use for her talent. Etienne was happy to uproot their lives and relocate to England, knowing full well the advantages of going along for the ride.
Luci enjoyed success with the Magpies, forming a very good relationship with the rest of her team and helping to only further the team’s success. When she was thirty, Lucienne had to at least take a break from Quidditch. Etienne wrote up the press releases, set up press conferences, and arranged for her to make a graceful exit for the time being until she could reenter the Quidditch pitch. Her reason for leaving was not something anyone expected – Luci and Etienne were having a child (a surprise to everyone, including them), and it was too dangerous a sport to risk continuation.
Lucienne found herself growing bored and tired of being at home and pregnant though. She did not find a thrill in having foot pain or back pain, but Etienne doted on her, made sure she was comfortable and did his best to ensure that she was as happy as she could be. He absorbed the idea of being a parent far better than Luci did, resenting the fact she had to stop in the midst of an incredible career to become something she had never intended to be – a mother.
But, Etienne had convinced her it would help her career a bit; give her a bit of a family name, something to look forward to. But, it didn’t change much as her pregnancy progressed. Etienne was still a doting husband, Luci was still restless and unhappy. As the due date approached and the weather got colder and finally, in November, Josephine was born. For some reason, Luci just never acquired that parental instinct and did not desire to be a mother, at all, even after seeing her child. She wanted to go back to the field, she wanted to do something with herself beyond that, but Etienne was content.
It was not a surprise when, after recovery, Luci demanded a divorce and her freedom back. Etienne was not exactly surprised, but he was upset by it. He loved his wife and clearly wanted his daughter to have both parents, but there was little he could do. Since Luci was technically the one bringing in the galleons, Etienne actually made out very well in the divorce, having everything he needed, including the English home and a very nice vault full of gold to take care of Josephine.
She became his pride and joy as Luci left. There was very little else for him to focus on, though he did find the time to get part-time work at a Quidditch supply store in Montrose. He was able to give Josephine whatever she wanted, and through the course of her early childhood, was also able to bring her all over Europe, particularly to France to visit his parents – who loved her and treated her like a princess, and anywhere else he could think to bring his daughter, including more exotic locations they came to love, like Vietnam, Algeria, Ghana, and South Africa.
Etienne never dated while his daughter was growing up and spent much of his time taking care of her or doing his part time work for himself. He fostered whatever Josephine liked to do, including learning how to play Quidditch. They did not speak of her mother much, Josephine did not know her – she had never really bothered to visit and only sent some birthday or Christmas presents, if she remembered, and Etienne still felt slightly betrayed by her. It didn’t come up and it didn’t have to. Josephine was imbibed with the desire to travel and experience, to solve and discover which played heavily into her disinterest in her mother and moving onto more exciting things.
When her eleventh year hit, Josephine was embarking on a new adventure. Both of her parents had attended Beauxbaton’s, but as a resident of England and lifelong resident, though she spoke both English and French (with a number of proficient dialects in between), Josephine was invited to walk the hallowed halls of Hogwarts. She was excited to go, though upset to leave her father for such long tracts at a time – and put an end to all the traveling that they did whenever they chose to. Having a schedule was certainly something new for the young woman.
But, she was ready for a new adventure, and she was very smart – her father read to her constantly during her formative years and hired exceptionally qualified tutors to start her on her basic subjects, she was ready for school. So, as the date to Hogwarts approached, Josephine and Etienne spent a good majority of their time getting ready for the big departure. She was given all the best things he could afford, and Joie went off to school anticipating what she was going to be learning. Now, she read up on Hogwarts, the houses, everything she had to know before she went in, but could not decide where she wanted to be.
It was not for her to decide, as she learned, the Sorting Hat would do it for her. When she did arrive, Josephine was composed and curious, but not outwardly excited. She wanted to see what was going on, but she did it from an observatory standpoint. Being toward the end of the sorting ceremony was slightly boring for the active child, but once she got up there, she felt her heart racing and stomach churning. The hat was placed atop her head and it did not immediately scream. In fact, it mumbled to itself for several moments, causing Josephine a good deal of worry. Was she not going to fit in anywhere? It considered several possibilities until finally, in its bellowing voice, declared “Ravenclaw!”
Once separated into houses and getting to know classmates, Josephine found that she was far more adventurous and daring than her housemates. She enjoyed studying and most assuredly never got enough of playing wizarding chess or solving any puzzle that was thrown at her (her favorite part of the day being solving the riddles to get back into the common room), but she also liked to test limits and decided that getting in trouble for things wasn’t exactly the worst that could happen. She had a smart mouth and an insatiable need to take up bets and prove anyone who challenged her wrong.
She enjoyed Hogwarts and did well in all of her classes, liking most of her classes and doing quite well. Whenever she would go home, her father would take her on another adventure, though if it was a holiday, more than usually they spent it in Lyon with his parents. Other than that, her need for travel was satiated and going back to school was always slightly bittersweet for her. When she was old enough, Josephine tried out for Hogwarts Quidditch, making it onto the Ravenclaw team without much of a problem. The fiery redhead was a fierce competitor and people noted the similarity of her aggressive playing style to that of her mother.
Josephine was always a fairly good quidditch player, never quite the level of pro, but that never bothered her. She did not desire to enter the Quidditch circuit, just having fun and taking the daring game while she didn’t have anything else quite as exciting to do. As her years at Hogwarts progressed, Josephine focused her education on ancient runes, arithmancy, charms, and defense against the dark arts – practical subjects that relied on a keen mind and level of skill that she was intent on mastering.
The young woman was not particularly social and had more of an attraction to wandering than tying herself down with anyone or anything. The one strong relationship she had was with her father and he supported her interest in travelling and discovering as much about the world as she could, even helping her research possible careers she wanted when it was time for that. They came upon Curse Breaker, which piqued her interest like nothing else had. Josephine wanted to explore, discover, and adventure while being able to exercise her mind – something curse breaking allowed her to do.
It was a sensible choice, albeit a dangerous one, though Etienne did not necessarily love it, he supported his daughter. She was finishing up Hogwarts and getting ready to start training for her future career, studying very hard and mastering her subjects as best she could. Her wand work was superb and her mind was sharp, having been part of dueling club as well, it looked as though she was in for a successful future.
After she graduated, Josephine started training with Gringott’s. She is not a particular fan of goblins, but they know what they are talking about, plus there were a healthy amount of wizards and witches that were involved in the training process. Josephine was glad for it and excelled in her program, having a sharp mind and very little fear of much of anything. Halfway through her training in Egypt, she received an owl that her father had fallen very ill and she was needed at home.
Josephine immediately dropped what she was doing to return home, the only person she would ever do that for. Etienne was suffering terribly with a heart condition, previously undiagnosed without any symptoms and it was surmised that he would not live much longer. Josephine stayed home and took care of him, feeling the restless pull back to her work, but with what her father had done for her, she stayed behind and looked after him while he was ill.
They were allowed to leave medical care and return to their home in Montrose. Etienne was stubborn and held on for eight months, where Josephine took on the role of primary caretaker. She was never the exceptionally domestic type, often trying very hard to take care of her father but having a difficult time cooking and cleaning. When her father passed away, Josephine was devastated. She knew it was coming, there had been plenty of time to prepare for it – Etienne had taken care of most of the arrangements himself, but it did not make it any easier for her. What was worse was when her mother dared show up to the service.
Josephine could not believe that the woman had come to such a personal event when she had walked out on them. There was almost a scene, but Josephine restrained herself on behalf of her father. She did make it very clear, however, that her mother was not welcome and that she would not see her again. Without ties to the one person she had grown up with and having gotten rid of her mother completely, Josephine was free of responsibility. She returned to the training program and initially had to start all over, though moved quickly through from a good mind and keen memory of the things she had already learned.
When she finished training, Josephine embraced the part of her that loved travel and adventure and started working all over the world. Her favorite location to work became Western Africa, where one wealthy kingdoms littered the land and finding the tombs amidst some of the wore torn areas – finding the items that were cursed by ancient magic and breaking down those curses and hexes to retrieve the treasures and keep them out of the hands of warlords and black market dealers. The humid, heavily green areas were her favorites, allowing her the thrill of moving through the jungle and despite the muggle problems going on, she was successful.
She spent most of her adult life travelling, including the time during the Second War. Updates were given sparingly and did not arrive safely on most occasions. Only receiving charred or half-eaten pieces of parchment in the jungle gave her a small sense of what was going on, but she did not spend much time in England anyhow, only returning for small periods of time to receive new missions. The war was not of an intense interest to her, not because she did not care, but because she had very little invested in England anymore, except her place of employment, and there was no shortage of work outside the country to keep her in.
Through the course of her adventures, Josephine has gone through two wands, on her third now, and very attached to it. During her last expedition to Burkina Faso, her wand was destroyed and a local wand maker volunteered to personalize her wand for her, a token of appreciation and good luck. He was an expert carver and decorated the wand with a number of symbols he thought to be indicative of Josephine’s character. The wizarding community he was part of also gave a runespoor fang for its core, giving a strong sense of power and respect to the woman. After this point, Josephine has managed to keep this wand for nearly eight years.
It was slightly gratifying to know that purists were not going to be taking over the entirety of the wizarding world, however. She did not wish to lose her prime position, nor did she wish to move her things and English headquarters from her childhood home in Montrose for fear of being executed for something. It also became more appealing to stay in England for longer periods of time after the war was over, finding that the war brought an influx of dark objects that may or may not have been obtained legally from their locations.
Gringott’s had special interest in some of these items, particularly the ones that may still have curses on them, and Josephine has worked on retrieving several objects with the odd international mission thrown in. She recently spent ten months in the Western provinces of China, locating an ancient burial site with suspected expensive, rare, and cursed ivory and jade pieces. She is between missions now, but has been told of rumors of strange objects causing some trouble. Josephine has been bidding for this particular investigation through Gringott’s but has gotten no word of it yet, until then she will either receive an official mission or take it upon herself to do a bit of snooping until she gets sent out again.
Describe your job duties and how you go about them: A Gringott's Curse Breaker is required to have a healthy love of adventure and danger, as well as a sharp mind. Going into some of the most dangerous areas of the world and solving puzzles that have been created to last through the tests of time and keep others out, a person must be tenacious and creative to get around that. Josephine takes her job very seriously and enjoys taking up the challenges presented to her. It is important to, before every mission, figure out what exactly you are looking for, and what you might encounter. Having a plan is an important part of what Josephine does and she certainly doesn’t enter a situation or a group of people without some idea of what she is going up against.
One must be creative with the use of magic and be adept at wand work. A healthy amount of study in other types of wizarding magic, not just western magic, is required, and the ability to constantly learn something or develop a new strategy is imperative to success. Josephine has formed a network of contacts all over the world in order to assist her in any item relocation and possession.
Elaborate on your expertise in your field: Josephine completed her education at Hogwarts from the house of Ravenclaw. Her final NEWTs were in Arithmancy (O), Ancient Runes (E), Charms (O), and Defense against the Dark Arts (O). After graduation, she attained a place in the training program for curse breakers, working in Egypt with a training group before she had to come home for an extended stay to take care of her father.
After her father passed away, Josephine returned to Egypt to complete her training with a new group. She excelled in her program with a renewed vigor for what she was doing and passed with flying colors. She has worked in the field for 12 years since passing her training program and has much on the job as well as off the record education.
Writing Sample:
Sum up your character in one paragraph: Josephine is an intense, passionate woman with a career that allows her to embrace her love of traveling and adventure as well as the intellectual stimulus she requires to stay interested in any one thing. She does not form many personal relationships and approaches most with the bend of advantages to her career or some other aspect of her life, failing to put much faith in people after some of the losses she incurred during her childhood. She can be cynical and sarcastic, but does so with a level of sophistication about her when she does. Josephine embraces other cultures and new information, which aide her in her career as well as constantly expanding her views on the world and other people. A lifelong learner and explorer, Josephine takes on interesting cases to challenge herself and move forward in new and interesting ways.
Josephine St. Just: Gringotts Curse Breaker