Character Name: Graciela De la Vega
Age: 20
Ability:  Legilimens - Congenital
Level Requesting: Expert
Ability: Occlumens
Level Requesting: Expert

Why is this magical ability important to your character?
Graci is a natural legilimens. This was heavily incorporated into her history and discussed with Morgan and Quinn prior to the character creation. 

How did your character learn this ability, if applicable?
She was born as a legilimens. She naturally developed her skills in occlumency as a coping mechanism for her natural abilities, further she was tutored in this skill during her time at Beauxbatons. In a way, her professors approached her being a natural legilimens as having ADD. She struggled with focus, but through mastery of occlumency, she was able to focus her mind. 

Any Additional Comments?
While Graci was born with her skills as a legilimens, she developed her mastery of occlumency as a means to protect her mind and limit the flow of information. When she contracted Epidemic X, she lost the ability to control information coming to her. She cannot block things out anymore. So, while her skills as a legilimens still exist, she has lost the occlumency as that was a learned ability linked to her control of magic. 

Have you read the rules?
I did.

Role-Playing Sample of your character using this ability:

The things that went unsaid were far more interesting to Graci than that which was voiced. This had long been the case. The nasty little flashes of envy, the cruel harsh honesties that were thought by not spoken. Those were the things that let one see truly into the heart of a person. Graci used her innate skill to help herself. On the stage, she could anticipate her director's critiques and respond to them even before they were voiced. In an interview, Graci could glean the true answers to the questions she asked, whether the interviewee wished to give them or not. Secrets were never safe with her around--and that was a fine skill to have in the gossip business. 

Being able to hear the thoughts of those around you could become an overwhelming thing, though. Especially if you happened to lose control.

That was happening with alarming frequencies since Graci had fallen ill with this mysterious magical stealing epidemic. She had learned to block out the noise. While at Beauxbatons, she had been taught how to build up walls to protect her mind and focus, but those had all fallen away now. With her magic gone, so had gone her occlumenitic protection. 

She knew the protection was gone--but Graci would not stop living her life. She would not stop her work at the Palace Theater. She was Veronica Sawyer. She was a leading lady in a production set to run a full run--this wasn't just a little summer production. This was for real. But as the curtain rose, she knew she was in trouble. 

The witch tried her very best to stay in character--to just make it to the end of the scene. Her lines were mingling in her mind with the judgements from the critics in the front row. She was struggling to find the right words. It was just all so loud. Heather Chandler was covering for her. She had to get off stage. The moment came for her exit, and it could not have been any later. She crumpled as soon as she was hidden behind the curtain. Her hands pressed against her head. A calming draught was pushed into her grasp by one of the other wixens on staff at the theatre.

Everyone thought it was just nerves. It wasn't. But maybe the draught could help. She knocked back the vial without hesitation. Another pain potion was exchanged for it straight away when she managed to complain about a headache. This was not the first time she had mentioned such suffering. Headaches were plaguing her constantly these days anytime she was in a crowd. The noise was still loud--rattling around in her brain, filling her ears like a buzz of swarming hornets. But she could still sing. She could still perform. She would push through this. She had done it for every rehearsal. She could do it now. 

Updated

Character Name: Felicity Amara Avery
Age: 39
Ability: Empath
Level Requesting: Expert
Why is this magical ability important to your character? She has always been good at reading people and understanding what makes them tick. A good part of the reason why she became a psychologist in the first place was her Empath ability, because it definitely gives her a leg up in understanding how people are feeling. It was incredibly useful in her articles, especially the one with Rosalyn Sheridan, which we will all see below in the roleplaying sample!
How did your character learn this ability, if applicable? Born with it, maybe it's Maybelline
Any Additional Comments? N/A
Have you read the rules? I may have perused them... maybe.
Role-Playing Sample of your character using this ability:

When she had been at Oxford, when she’d had to be thinking about what she wanted to specialize in, criminal behavior had just been what had come to mind. She couldn’t quite put a finger on why it had fascinated her the way that it had, but there really just hadn’t been a choice. She had known nearly from the beginning of her masters program.

This was what she was meant to do.

And when she had thought about her future, when she had thought about where she would be after graduation, this has been the sort of thing that she’d thought about. Interviewing criminals, writing articles… getting inside their heads’. Rosalyn Sheridan was one of the most infamous female serial killers in the United Kingdom—getting to interview her and write an article about it was the sort of thing that could make a person’s career.

It wouldn’t be her first article, not by a long shot, but she had a feeling that this was going to be different than her past articles. There was already quite the buzz in the psychology community that it was even happening.

Today would be the first interview. Not the last. She was sure it would take several, in order to get all of the information that she needed. But she was ready for anything.

Once she stepped foot into the room, and told the guards that she would be fine on her own, she focused in on the woman at the table. She was handcuffed, of course, and her face was devoid of any expression. Trying to put on a poker face but Felicity could feel it.

Disgust, barely concealed rage, enough to prickle at her skin, but she pushed it away. She couldn’t let someone else’s feelings get the better of her.

Instead, she pushed those feelings aside and stopped at the table in front of the woman. “Ms. Sheridan, my name is Felicity Tripe, it’s nice to finally meet you.”

Amusement now. And the woman had finally looked up at her. Still her poker face remained intact, but she could feel the woman’s amusement so clearly that it might as well be her own. “Nice to meet me. I’ll admit, that’s a new one.”

Character Name: @vayda
Age: 45
Ability: Air Elemental
Level Requesting: Expert
Why is this magical ability important to your character? It is something about her that stands out from the rest of her family, and it's just very important to her, okay? Her specialization in it at university made her elemental magic stronger than she'd thought possible. Of course, losing her magic has made it complicated -- she hasn't lost it entirely, but she has lost control of it, so now it's more likely for her to unintentionally worsen a thunderstorm because of her mood or something.
How did your character learn this ability, if applicable? Born with it, though going to Şolomanţă and specializing in Weather Witching gave her more control over the gift than most Elementals can hope to have.
Any Additional Comments? N/A
Have you read the rules? Of course not, not ever.
Role-Playing Sample of your character using this ability:

Sometimes people came into the bakery that were just in completely poor moods, and she didn’t know why they felt like they could take that out on everyone around them. Depending on the day, depending on her mood, sometimes she thought that they could use a lesson on kindness.

But she didn’t just slip powders and poisons into everyone’s coffee just because they didn’t say please when they ordered their coffees.

That just wasn’t necessary in the slightest. She couldn’t go around killing people for their moods, except for the one time that she had done just that. But that was an exception, obviously. It was just… not the same thing.

Vayda had been in a good mood when she had woken up that morning. Had gotten to the bakery early, but then she had gotten into a bit of a… heated discussion with one of her suppliers. She had a promised order by the end of the day that had needed a certain amount of boysenberries — out of season, of course, and he had only sent her one case.

The argument left her frustrated near to tears, and with a massive problem to solve. How was she supposed to find boysenberries by the end of the day? Not even by the end of the day. The pastries needed to be ready to be picked up by closing. She had to find more of the berries within a couple of hours, at the most.

The patter of the rain on the roof of the bakery distracted her for a moment, and she realized that the light smattering of rain had picked up over the last couple of seconds.

Boom

A burst of thunder came next, and she realized that she was letting her emotions get the better of her. She took a breath, counted to five, and then exhaled. Rain had already been on the forecast today, that hadn’t been her, but she knew she wasn’t likely making it any better in this kind of mood.

Taking another breath, she tried to calm herself down further, and the next boom of thunder was quieter than the last.

Good. That was better.

Updated

Character Name: Oralie Slughorn
Age: 16
Ability: Aura Reading
Level Requesting: Beginner
Why is this magical ability important to your character? Oralie has always been portrayed as intuitive, this expounds upon that. Further, as the character has been reworked to have ties to the Burkes, this enriches that relationship as Melanie also has the ability. It makes sense, too, for another of the same line to possess the same biological ability.
How did your character learn this ability, if applicable? She was born with it.
Any Additional Comments? She looks forward to learning to better understand and control this with @melanie as her mentor.

As she has grown older, her perception of auras of others has increased, but her knowledge of how to control and understand what she perceives has not. I see her having the ability to ascend to an expert level, because she has the innate potential in her, but does not fully understand what information her ability can relay to her. Nor does she know fully how to suppress it, or if this is even possible to do.
Have you read the rules? I have.
Role-Playing Sample of your character using this ability:

Tugging at her mother's skirts, the toddler scuttled around. Her face was knotted up in confusion. Oralie always bore this expression when she was looking at one of the many portraits that lined the walls of the Slughorn estate. Isidore was becoming increasing annoyed with the child. She had never had any patience for dealing with children, her own included. Nannies, tutors, and house elves were responsible for care and instruction more often than not.

It wasn't that Isidore did not love her children. She just quite preferred them at an older age. Babies were fine and adults were fine. But children and teens left much to be desired.

The elegant woman sighed, and swept her hands down her sleek, well tailored robes. A tight forced smile thinned her lips and she loosed Oralie's grip on her skirt, grimacing at the streak of some unknown substance against the pale silk. A scolding came tumbling from her tongue as she vanished the stain and performed a cleaning charm on Oralie. The reprimand went unnoticed by the girl. Oralie's focus was elsewhere.

Oralie was looking from her mother to the new portrait her father had commissioned of Isidore. It'd just been hung. Her little brow furrowed and the girl's eyes narrowed. She did not understand. She never understood when she looked at paintings. They didn't make sense. They didn't look right. The people were so plain in them. They did not glow properly. It did not make sense.

"But mummy, why do the paintings look so different than real people?" The whine in her voice grated on her mother's nerves.

Isidore huffed, making a dismissive remark about artistic interpretation that was far too elevated in vocabulary and phrasing to be understood by a child. She did not understand why Oralie went on like this. The painting was remarkably life-like. Truly, it was like looking in a mirror, perhaps a charmed mirror that showed you you very best self...but still, it was her. Her features were impeccably duplicated, as was her expression. It was charmed, too--her blood contributed to the paints so that when the charm work was complete, the version of herself in the painting was a genuine as the one that stood looking at it. Both the living and the painted Isidore bore the same expression of disappointed frustration as they looked down at their daughter.

What could be done?

Updated

Character Name: Megara Grant

Age: 30

Ability: Animagus

Level Requesting: N/A

Why is this magical ability important to your character? Megara began with a theory involving animagi and werewolves while still a student at Hogwarts, which lead her to brew the animagi potion and become one herself years later. This fueled her theory and research, creating a successful career for her until the muggleborn registration. After having her wand snapped, transforming into her animagus form was the only real magic she could perform, and the only sense of freedom she was allowed.

How did your character learn this ability, if applicable? Brewed the animagi potion.

Any Additional Comments? She is no longer able to change into animal form at all since she has become infected.

When she was able to turn, however, she took the form of a wolf, consistent with her patronus. The animal looked similar to the sub-species of red wolf, most likely an ode to her bright red hair, and shocking green eyes kept from her human form.

Have you read the rules? I have!

Role-Playing Sample of your character using this ability:

Breathing in the crisp night air, the woman looked up at the night sky as the the full moon reached it’s highest point. Any thoughts that she may have had were interrupted by the distant sounds of howling. Megara rarely used the ability she had, allowing herself approximately one night a month to run with the werewolves in the woods. Truth be told she would likely spend most of her time as a wolf rather than a human if she didn’t give herself the limitation. She told herself that it was purely to be used for research purposes, her ability. Even though it was something she created for herself, she was grateful to some unknown superior being for allowing her to have it, to be able to get close to creatures that no one else dared to be in the same vicinity with.

But she’ll be damned if they didn’t enjoy reading about them. She had done fairly well for herself thus far. The curiosity driving witches and wizards to learn more about the unknown was enough to pay her bills without any other supplemental income. Albeit barely.

Another howl broke through her thoughts, but it did nothing to diminish the smile on her face; if anything, it allowed the grin to become wider. After having trailed this specific werewolf pack for weeks, Meg was looking forward to seeing how they interacted with each other in animal form. They were a social bunch, Megara noted, as the howling continued. When there was a break in their calls, the barks and growls could be heard in the otherwise quiet night. Meg was ready to join them.

Megara began walking towards the forest’s edge, stretching and shaking out her limbs as she did so. Changing into a four legged creature didn’t necessarily make cardio any easier on her body once she turned back into her human form. Her legs would be sore tomorrow, of that she was sure. They always were no matter how many times she did this. It was an unfortunate side effect. But a worthy one. The witch crossed the treeline and the transformation smoothly began mid-step. Where there once stood a small statured young woman there now stood an equally (comparatively) small-statured wolf with reddish-brown fur and striking green eyes. Surprisingly still human-like in their expression.

Raising her head to the sky, her now highly-sensitive snout and ears were able to discern in what direction the wolves ran. Or it would have, if they weren’t seemingly split up all throughout the trees. Noise and scents invaded her senses from all sides. Leaning back on her haunches, the animagus waited for a pause in their communication before raising her maw and letting out a loud howl of her own.

The werewolves went silent, neither the sound of their feet nor their voices being heard for several seconds. They didn’t begin again until Meg released another short howl into the air. The call of their own kind. There was movement in the woods again after a brief second, the creatures slowly advancing on her position, being as cautious as such creatures could be. They were naturally aggressive, but otherwise similar to regular wolves in many ways. It was what allowed them to interact with them without immediately getting mauled to death – although she would be lying if she said she wasn’t terrified of that possibility. As the first of the large wolves could be seen lumbering through the trees, she focused on steadying her breathing.

Let the games begin.

Updated

Character Name: Sonia J. Lazare
Age: 29
Ability: Parseltongue
Level Requesting: Expert, since it seems to be intrinsic
Why is this magical ability important to your character? She was born with it, and it's been part of her life and drive to do the best she can do, and keep things hidden
How did your character learn this ability, if applicable? She was born with it
Any Additional Comments?
Have you read the rules? yiiiiii
Role-Playing Sample of your character using this ability:

 "We've got to stop meeting like this," Sonia told Paiwari.

The snake tilted its head, refusing to answer.

"Stop giving me the silent treatment! I know you're upset at me. I know you can still understand me."

"You left," Paiwari hissed. "Again."

"And now I'm back, see? I'm back, and I told you, I always keep my promises." She crouched down, running her hand over Paiwari's back, the familiar feeling calming. "If you snap at me, I won't be."

Paiwari behaved for once, though she could still feel his displease. Piwari was a snake she'd grown up with, one of the first she could remember talking to. A good friend, really. She'd missed him in her time in Şolomanţă near as much as she'd missed her cousins. She was the first human he'd talked to, and there was that special bond between them. She'd wanted to bring him with her, but he'd said it was far too cold. Her parents had agreed at once, though they'd told her it was too dangerous to take Paiwari.

"Why are you here now? You only come all the way out to see me when something's wrong."

"Nah, can't I come because I missed you?" Paiwari tilted his head. "Fine, I'm going off to Europe. There's a job opportunity there, and i want to prove someone wrong."

Paiwari hissed his displeasure, coiling up. "Why? Don't ask me to come."

"Told you, a job. I can be real important there. And I won't, I can't. Everyone say, I got to be quiet about talking." Sonia forced a smile for her own benefit. "I'll miss you, you know."

"Then stop leaving." Paiwari slid out from under her hand.

"Eh? That's how it's gonna be? Then bye, because I don't have time for this."