Esther Morrell

Esther Yuuhi Morrell
Biographical Information
Born	1 November 1994, 23
City of Birth	London, England
Blood status	Pure-blood
Physical Information
Gender	Female
Height	5’5
Hair Colour	Black
Eye Colour	Black
Skin Colour	Fair
Relationships
Father	John Morrell
Mother	Shizune Morrell
Siblings	Liam Morrell Isui Morrell
Extended Family
Maiko Biladeau-Yukawa Kohaku Yukawa
Pet(s)	Prada (Bunny)
Magical Characteristics
Wand(s)
11”, plum, kitsune heartstring. Springy but temperamental. (Made by Minato Ōoriyashima)
Patronus	Rabbit
Education
School	Hogwarts
House	Slytherin
Class of	2013
Classes Included
Character Information
Playby	Kiko Mizuhara
Biography Network Threads
Sly

A fifth year Slytherin, prefect, teacher's pet, heiress to the Lipwitch cosmetics empire and ancient Ōoriyashima Clan. Ambitious, capable, and terrifyingly shrewd beneath that too-cute veneer, Esther is a girl who has made a name for herself as someone smarter than she lets on, her social ambitions spanning well beyond the confines of her House. Like many girls her age she is quite obsessive about her looks and has her own insecurities about her self-worth – which she hides behind a cutthroat attitude – but in the end she is still quite confident, certain in her right to lead. She is not yet sure what she wants to do, someday, but it will probably involve bossing people around.

Physical Description

One of the prettiest witches of her year, Esther is widely considered gorgeous, and for good reason. Almond-shaped eyes gleam with adorable mischief. Her silky hair is kept in a neat, darling bob. Her skin is smooth and clear, free of blemish (-though, granted, she’s always had access to the best products money can buy), and there is a very catlike sort of grace to her rarely found in others of her age. Her smile – wide, lush and self-assured – is brilliant.

But perhaps the most remarkable is how put together she is. Her nails are always impeccable, never chipped or bitten; her accessories always complement her outfits, rather than overwhelm. Her makeup? On. Point. And for a teenager, Esther exhibits an exceptional sense of style; from girlish pastels and wedge heels to fairy-like skirts, berets and suede ankle boots, hers treads the line between classic and fashionable. Innocent yet mature. Prep school meets The Devil Wears Prada. Childhood dancing, piano, winged horse riding and martial arts lessons – as well as a traditional Japanese mother – have only enforced this.

Still, don't be fooled by her perfect posture; underneath the skirts and blouses is a slim but agile figure, one capable of scaling walls and throwing a much larger person over its shoulder. Like all Ōoriyashima witches, Esther is adept in hand-to-hand combat. She is stronger – and faster – than she looks, and it is an advantage she exploits gleefully.

Personality

At first Esther seems like a perfectly nice person. She doesn't care about House or blood purity, or make fun of people's poverty or appearance. She is open-minded about Muggles and muggle things to the point of doing her halfblood friends proud. She is respectful towards teachers and worries about breaking breaking the rules, but proudly claims delinquents and troublemakers as her friends and viciously cuts down anyone who maligns them. She loves fashion and takes a great deal of pride in her appearance, but isn't afraid to get dirty for the sake of work or having fun.

But perhaps most telling is her patience. Though she might not seem like it when she is tutoring her friends, those small bursts of exasperation are for letting off steam note than anything else; in between, she takes care to explain things more simply and tries to answer every question she can, especially in terms that might be more readily understood. Underneath that polished exterior, Esther knows that everyone works at a different pace. All that she – or anyone else, really – can do is coax them along.

It is when she uses that knowledge for selfish gain that people should watch out for. Among staff and students alike, she has cultivated a reputation for being ambitious, precocious, helpful and charming—if competitive, cutthroat, and occasionally shallow. 'Two-faced' would also be accurate, since the image she projects around adults differs from the person her peers know in many ways.

For one, she can be quite catty. When she isn't bowing or smiling cutely, Esther's gaze is assessing, constantly searching for flaws or cracks in veneer even when she doesn't mean to; a casual glance can turn into a long and detailed list of scathing criticisms. Her altruistic endeavours aren't always altruistic. She loves gossip (especially scandals) and social politics and enjoys the power that comes from directing both. For all that she is assured in her own superiority (which she never flaunts, of course), Esther secretly craves respect and admiration, which she instinctively feels can only be gained through being the best. Anything that threatens that – or tries to – is mocked or undermined.

Unsurprisingly she makes a poor loser. She will even obsess over it, if she feels that she has been cheated.

Still, venomous streak aside, Esther is more than the vain and fussy "princess" persona that some still take her for. She provides structure and support, and takes care of the details so that everything goes smoothly. When loved ones are in a bind, she doesn't hesitate to help them. If she is overly cautious about something, that is because she is putting as much thought into it as she does with her own appearance. And though she might be judgmental and reserved about letting others into her tight-knit circle of friends, she is actually one of the nicer, more welcoming ones of their group; when the rest of them plunge recklessly ahead, she is the one who lingers behind and watches their things—there to share little harmless stories and make the newcomer feel more welcome.

History

Childhood

Esther's childhood was a privileged one. The secondborn and only daughter of two very wealthy, important individuals in the Lipwitch empire, she has never wanted for anything. Expensive clothes, shoes, flying ponies—anything one might expect of a witch of her circumstances, she had it. As far as childhoods went, hers was rather sweet.

And it would have been very bland and boring, too, were it not for her mother.

Driven and strong-willed, Shizune Ōoriyashima was a formidable witch who fought tooth and nail to fulfill her ambitions. When she married Esther’s father, she was determined that her children would be as Japanese as well as English, so she ingrained in them traditional beliefs and values and made sure they knew Japanese. Every summer they spent a month in Ukiyojima. Impressing upon her two eldest children the value of hard work, community and self-control, Esther and her older brother Liam did not spend their free time in leisure, but followed a strict routine—one that often left them bruised and exhausted by the end of the day. Even seemingly sedate arts such as ikebana and chadō took their toll.

Still, Esther did her best. She pushed herself until she could keep up with her older cousins; she pushed herself until she could beat them, one after the other. Liam became a rival. If she was expected to do her best, then she would be the best. But then it grew apparent that her best and the best that her family expected of her weren't exactly the same; nor did she agree with her family's values as much as she did before. She loved glamour and thrived on competition. Not only did she want the romance that fashion offered, she believed in it, too. She didn't want to be stuck in a lab, toiling over new formulas for makeup, or in a boardroom arguing over numbers and quotas—she wanted to wear the makeup, to be face and recipient of everything she valued: beauty, glamour, admiration. Celebrity.

She, Esther Morrell – daughter of Shizune and John Morrell, granddaughter of Jonathan Morrell, the founder of Lipwitch – wanted to be famous for herself.

But she couldn't be—not yet, anyway. After all, she was still just a kid.

Hogwarts

In Slytherin, Esther has thrived in its politic-heavy climate from the very start. Though she was only a first year, with zero siblings or cousins to help pave the way (Liam had been Sorted into Ravenclaw and was totally disinterested in school politics), her allure extended to the older years, her pretty face and her charm encouraging the older girls to take an interest in her. Playing dress-up was just the start; eventually, she was taken under their wing, and under their watchful eyes was taught how to “properly” comport herself– how to dress, how to carry herself… how to search for weaknesses and exploit them to her advantage. Image was important, she was taught as someone pressed a skirt and blouse to her chest before pushing her behind a screen; it affected how one perceived you, and thusly treated you. People did not look to the bag lady for leadership, or any sort of informed opinion; nor did they rely on the bedraggled cretin for any sort of competence. Only ham-fisted fools first resorted to violence, magical or otherwise…

Of course, her time at Hogwarts hasn't always been smooth sailing. Not all the older girls were taken with her, and as the school underwent drastic changes and upheavals, she found herself slowly doubting what she knew. After the events of February, she has since become withdrawn and been having trouble sleeping.

Academics

In addition to being a straight-O student and a prefect, Esther is a member of Duelling Club, the Treasurer for Potions Club and Seeker for the Slytherin Quidditch Team.

Academically, she is not a perfect student. She is bright, articulate and well-read, as well as conscientious about her work, but much of her brilliance remains closely tied to personal interest; when bored, her efforts are still acceptable, but lackluster. Some of her textbooks have been known to house tabloids and fashion magazines, her notes doodled with the name of This Month’s Hottest Man Alive, shoes, or strange little diagrams of other people’s names, each one connected to the others with suspiciously specific lines…

Relationships

Despite a perfectionist streak that has her smoothing out her skirts and touching her hair almost obsessively and a deep-seated need for approval from authority figures, Esther's closest and most important friendships include the ones she has with the wild likes of Bastian Desrosiers, Juni Zamperia, Lua Taylor and Connor Todd. However, she is also very good friends with Hattie Woolfolk, Alistair Spectre, Nell Augustine, Ettie Grimstone, Fred Radley and Kelvin Watkins, particularly those who share her favorite interests (fashion) and appreciation for perfect grades.

Unbeknownst to her, two of them harbor a very big, terrifying crush on her.

She idolizes Jordyn Dimbleby (who she considers a "big sister"-like figure and mentor), Professor Juliette Vaillancourt and former Professor Lucrezia Di Luca.

But family is also important to her, and she is especially proud to know her cousins Maiko Biladeau-Yukawa and Kohaku Yukawa. Her relationship with her mother, Shizune, is more complicated, but Esther still looks up to her and wants to make her proud. With her father, John, she is "Daddy's little witch" through and through.

Less pleasant are her relationships with unfriendly, self-styled rivals and those she deems particularly odious, such as Casey O'Doherty, Lovella Stone and Ayla Collins. Even older students – cute, older boys – lose their appeal after they have proven themselves lazy or obnoxious.