Zahava Yael Azoulay

by steph

35

age

woman

gender

06/01/1983 20-09-5743

birthday

blood status

muggle-born

sexual orientation

she's had a girlfriend, that's all i know

epidemic x status

She will be sick, though she hasn't been in the country long enough, yet.

occupation

Pediatric Healer
Maternity Healer

general appearance

Wavy black hair, which she either grows long or chops off as her mood demands. Laughing brown eyes, a mouth quick to smile. She's fond of large earrings. A pierced belly button her parents still don't really know about.
Not that she lives with them, but it's still a reminder to take it out when she visits.
Or did, at least.
Since who knows when she'll next be out of this damn country. It's not happening before she gets what she came for, at least.

Lime green really doesn't look good on her, but it's the color St Mungo's wears, so . . she tries, no matter how washed out it makes her look.

former school

Bet Kesem Tel Aviv

former house

None

achievements

never got caught sneaking out of school-- which is far more than Sarai could have said.

university

Hebrew University (I would prefer she doesn't have an alum tag at this time, if possible?)

university major(s)

Healing

years attended

2001 - 2006 (five year program)

skills

defusing arguments.

lying-- that used to be a casual skill. she got better. usually she seems so genuine that people don't quite pick up that she's lying? she reads like she'd be a bad liar, but she's really not.

talking to kids-- she wouldn't be a pediatric healer if she wasn't.  

Multilingual-- Hebrew, Arabic, Judeo-Arabic, English, Ladino, French. In somewhat of that order, really. French is at a bottom.

Stubborness-- bit between her teeth, and she rarely lets it out. She says that's a skill, at least.

Being pushy-- this one is. . .fairly self-explanatory. She is, really. She mostly does know when to stop which is why this is under skills.

Wandless magic-- this goes without saying. That's what her place taught, and she didn't know Europe used wands for a while.

weaknesses

people in pain.

far too easily manipulated by Vavi. And Ranke. And May. Somewhat Yelli. Shlomile too.  Actually, by people in general, and especially her nieces and nephews.

Seeing the best in people, which is linked to the first, but . . .well, she usually does try see the best in people. Unless they're wearing another certain tattoo on their forearms, that is. Not that she can really ask to see, though. . 

Stubbornness-- same as the former.

Reckless-- with herself, that is. Not with patients. Never with patients.

Sarai. Thirteen years are a lot, and technically there were more of being friends. At the end it was almost more arguments than anything, and it was mutual, but the last straw was Zahava's decision to go to Britain-- which she knows.

Marriage-- she can be in long-term, steady relationships. That doesn't bother her. She can live with the person for years, she can love that person for years. But marriage for herself has always seemed dark and forbidding, something chained.

positive traits

Active, agreeable, amiable, cheerful, compassionate, earnest, friendly, hard-working, humorous, loyal, playful, responsible, sociable, stubborn, thorough

negative traits

Abrasive (she tries to keep it down here), dishonest, somewhat hedonistic, impulsive, loyal, pliable, pushy, opinionated, reckless, stubborn,

hobbies/interests

archaeology, archaeological law, history, listening to lectures, all courtesy of Sarai. she used to spend a fair amount of said lectures seeing how much Sarai could have distractions and keep her train of thought. her results are still organized, and she never got around to burning them.

illusionary magic

Karaoke during certain nights of Nisan. And Adar. And Tishrei. And Shevat. And a lot of Friday nights. . . 

chilling? She likes relaxing. She's not really a yoga person, though, more of a "Lie in bed, maybe turn on Hulu or Netflix" type. A "Curl into a book" sort of person, but she's very open to being manipulated convinced into anything. She'd gotten pressured into Pilates a few times, and you know, she really doesn't see how that's relaxing, but to each their own. PiYo is something she was dragged into once though, and that's a hard and fast line that no one can ever convince her towards again. Unless they make large eyes, or distract her enough.

The outdoors, hiking. 

Finding new music.

Clubbing used to be one, but she's older now. And do you know how small Israel is? She's ran into former patients too many times.

accomplishments

being here unharmed

Master of the quick getaway, usually helped by pretty lights. No one said it had to be subtle. But she can do subtle, it's just usually harder.

Yearly Fun Aunt of the Year certificates proudly made by nieces and her nephews. She kept all of them, of course. ("Ranke, where's this years'? You're hurting my feelings. If I don't get one by late September, I'm telling our parents of the time you convinced me to take you to the Pashut Festival")

character history

Zahava Yael Azoulay was late-born, and a complete surprise to her parents. This pattern would follow her throughout her entire life, really. Zohra and Amran had only really planned for one child, and they were getting sentimental enough to keep the other as Yocheved was getting married and Avri was growing up quick,. They'd thought she would be easier to deal with, as they'd already had a kid, and they had plenty of practice by now, with nieces and nephews and cousins.

Little Zahava, though-- well, not that children really listened, but Zahava seemed to take great pleasure in not listening. More than Avri had. Tell her to stay put, and she'd be on the kitchen cabinet the moment their back was turned, precariously balanced in ways that didn't seem natural. She also took pleasure in wandering off, and while Zahava made a lovely grandchild, she was a somewhat difficult daughter. She was joined often enough by a niece when she was seven or so, and took to little Shlomile-- Shlomit-- at once, though she'd play with the children of cousins often enough, as for some reason Yocheved didn't really bring her children over for all that they were closer to Zahava's age.

Shlomile calmed her down some, though not all. As soon as the terrible twos happened, nine-year-old Zahava was making it worse. She could never stand her niece crying, and that was a pattern that would continue with the rest of Avri's children. Her parents thought she'd learned her lesson when Vavi was born, except Zahava just really got worse. It wouldn't take a genius to realize that Aviya had realized she met her fiercest ally and soon-to-be best friend as she was placed in Zahava's arms.

Very shortly after, there was a visit to Zahava's house by a veritable crew of people. That there was enough for a minyan of men and a minyan of woman, was Zahava's first thought, and then some sort of worry when she realized that her parents didn't know the people there. It was lucky, then, that Zahava's only sibling was so many years older, that she was uncomfortably situated between generations, because suddenly there was a secret they absolutely needed to keep. Zahava had magic, magic was real, and she needed to be taught. Each of the people present was magic, and each of them was in charge of a sort of school, or a circle of study.

They talked for hours and hours until decisions were reached. People stayed, even as their places were discussed to not be the proper place to go, and offered their opinions on the remaining options that were left. Zahava was included in the discussion, which felt enormous. Finally, a path was decided upon, and Zahava went with it.

Bet Kesem Tel Aviv was small, secular, and a day school. Well, it wasn't truly a school in the usual sense-- more of a circle of learning that had splintered off from another after a debate. That was, after all, how most Israeli magical schools came to exist if they were newer. Bet Kesem's sibling circles often overlapped and included a fair amount of Palestinian circles. It was good to mix as much as possible, was Bet Kesem's ideas. After all, Palestine and Israel together totaled no more than thirty thousand acres, and most circles and schools mixed at least somewhat.

Zahava made friends in the yeshivas, madrasas, secular schools, and other learning circles. Like many of the other schools in the area, it didn't start with wanded magic, which Zahava only learned really existed when she ran into some wixen on vacation. She'd half-assumed that to be another myth, really, like the tree of life actually existing. Some of her other-born friends were just as puzzled as she was, really, so that was fun all around.

They graduated, and Zahava was lucky enough to squeak by a conscientious objector. She was the last year, and it was only because her birth had been registered in usual places. It was the first time that her usual heritage had made a difference-- asking someone about their families was seen as rude, and it wasn't marked down on papers. For censuses, the question wasn't even asked, which everyone knew was a steadfast hard-and-fast rule in response to what happened in Europe. It only mattered to remember they had to get out of serving by any way possible, and the kids from the other families had known how to do it from younger ages. Most of Israeli others had significant usual heritage, after all, and would be found in usual censuses.

Zahava became a great-aunt, didn't see her sister much more often, went into university, and studied medicine with children. She had a good enough mind for that, and she adored children-- though certainly not enough to teach. She moved into maternity healing too, and she wasn't quite the best in her class with the latter, she was still certainly good enough to be in the top third of her class.

It was then she re-met Sarai. Re-met, because while she and Sarai had drifted around each other for around seven years, and been in similar groups of friends, they didn't really know each other. Sarai was somewhat of the hanger-on with her nose stuck in a book that they'd usually have to try setting on fire for her to come, or she'd be the one who always got caught. Sarai had grown up in the years they'd been at universities. And . . .things progressed as they usually do. They didn't move in together for some time yet, but they visited each other often.

Years passed by without incident, or interesting things happening, really. Zahava's nieces and nephew came to visit, she spoiled them, Vavi talked her into getting a belly piercing, Ranke convinced her to take him to a nudist festival, Shlomile to buy her copious amounts of alcohol, Yelli to overlook sneaking out several times. She had some boundaries, of course-- they didn't know about Sarai as anything other than a distant friends, and they didn't and wouldn't know she had magic. They thought she was unemployed, actually, because while she knew a fair amount of regular doctoral practices, Vavi was studying to be a doctor and would have several questions Zahava would be unable to answer. They were regular, after all. This was another life she had to keep from them, no matter that Yelli's school name might make her raise an eyebrow. It was probably some type of new-age feminism thing, after all.

Things weren't perfect between her and Sarai. They'd been good for a while, but there were constant questions of marriage by others, and. . Zahava didn't want that. Everyone knew it, that she didn't want to marry, and never had. Gender of her partner made no difference, but she mostly. . .just didn't want to. And Sarai had been fine with the settled-inness for a decade, but it wasn't the same to her. Marriage came with more protections, more rights. It was a bit of a sore spot, but they let it go.

Yelli graduated her school, went to England, and Zahava was vaguely aware what was happening in the usual world, but the other world. . .it wasn't good. Not from what the papers said, both local and world-wide. So she was worried, and when Yelli called them, she seemed even more worried, and Zahava was sure she knew what was happening, but Vavi was right there, and Zahava couldn't ask if her niece was a witch. Even the other times they talked, she wasn't sure how to bring it out. She would need Yelli there to bring her in if she was wrong, and she . . .couldn't figure out how to do that the times Yelli came for the holidays.

And then stuff went wrong more there, and Zahava heard more, and it wasn't making her happy. She fought with Sarai more, and Sarai started to go on longer trips. When her brother visited for the holidays again, she tried to pry at the school Yelli went to, and got nothing. Shlomile got married (Zahava was a bridesmaid, of course), and Vavi drank and Zahava worried for all three of her nieces again, because Yelli might be in trouble and Vavi was starting to have a drinking problem, and Shlomile. . .well, Zahava had never thought she'd get married, so she was also concerned about why and if she really wanted it. (She worried, of course)

And then she decided to go to England to find out for herself just what the hell was going on. Good papers were easy enough to fake-- after all, it shouldn't raise too many eyebrows that she was born in a usual hospital because a lot of people were. How much magical heritage someone had wasn't explicitly marked down, and the censuses were carefully kept nameless. All the people she'd had at her house? They certainly wouldn't betray, and they visited all the families with magical children. It was still a pretty sheqel though, to have them expertly made and matching. They needed to get past the toughest security, after all. She's only somewhat certain that new documents weren't made for her, though they very well might have been.

After all, if her suspicions about Yelli who wasn't answering her damn phone were accurate-- someone had to know. Someone had to do something, and it might as well be her, because she still had magic, and failing that, she still had her personality.

parents

Zohra Azoulay, née Abuhatzeira & Amran Azoulay

siblings

Yochoved Sassoon (Ezra Sassoon) -  born 1964, professor at a university

Avri Azoulay (Lihi Cohen Azoulay) - born 1967, judge

children

lo

never

partner

Sarai Aviv - archaeologist, historian, curse-breaker, runologist, gemetriast, adjunct professor at the same university they graduated from.

ex-girlfriend, former partner of thirteen years.

other family

Aliyah Sassoon (Yshai Cheriqui) - born 1985, travel agent
Omri Sassoon (Avigail Sassoon née Abergel) -  born 1987, real estate lawyer
Shlomit Cohen (Itamar Cohen) - born 1990, general practice doctor 
Aviya Azoulay i Cohen - born 1993, environmental lawyer
Ayelet Rivka Azoulay  - born 1996, in hiding
Ran Azoulay i Cohen  - born 1999, student at the University of Girona

Eitan Cheriqui -  born 2005, secondary school student
Itay Sassoon - born 2007, primary school student 
Yonatan Sassoon - born 2007, primary school student
Maya Cheriqui - born 2008, primary school student

She has other great-nieces and nephews, she knows, but . . .she doesn't see them all too often, although she did try enough. They're the other side of the family, as sweet as Maya might be.

family history

Zohra and Amran were a perfectly normal couple, thank-you-very-much. There was no knowledge of strangeness in either of their families-- oh, there might have been the odd cousin or great-great grandparent, but they were all very normal, even with that. The Abuhatzeiras had approved of the Azoulays, and vice versa, as there wasn't much to really disagree with. They were old enough Moroccan Jewish families, lived in the same or similar towns, and were roughly connected by friends, the marriages of cousins, and at times, schooling. Their families weren't friend enough to the extent that Zohra and Amran knew each other when they were children, but enough so that they knew at least some names and had some humorous memories.

Once Zohra and Amran arrived in Israel, they had two children named Yocheved and Amran. Their children grew up quick and well, and as all siblings are, they were very different from each other. Comparison-wide, Yocheved as the Wise Child, and Avri was the Simple Child. So they strove to encourage their children in the ways they saw fit, and they. . .mostly succeeded. Yocheved did what she wanted, what she felt. Avri did too, really, they were both stubborn children.  At a young age, Zohra and Amran could guess at what was going to happen. Yocheved would go along a well-known path, and Avri would find his own, really. They didn't get everything right-- they didn't know Yocheved would push herself away from them, they didn't know Avri would end up so miserable and move to another country. But they started noticing Yocheved first, because she was older, because her actions happened first. They did what they could to keep her with them, and she continued drifting.

And then Zohra got pregnant. Again. To everyone's surprise, including her own, because she'd thought she'd been in menopause.

other

again, she's hiding her blood status!

She carries an antidote to Veritaserum with her everywhere, and has several bottles where she stays

face claim

Emmanuelle Chriqui

status of application

Incomplete

have you read the rules?

yes

how did you hear about us?

i can only make so many jokes

roleplay sample

She just wants to dance 

Shut your eyes,
Dancing barefoot 

Accepted