goosemods

[dollywould]

GENERAL

NAME: Dahlia Helena Hale
NICKNAMES: Call her Doll or Dolly, she digs it.
AGE/DOB: June 18 / 17
BLOOD STATUS: Halfblood. She grew up enmeshed in the magic community of Wichita, which is very integrated with the nomaj community.
GENDER/PRONOUNS: Female, she/her. Before she got boobs she would sometimes get mistaken for a guy and that was also fine.
SEXUALITY: She knows she appreciates both male and female beauty, but she isn't sure how much of that is genuine attraction versus aesthetic appreciation.
HOMETOWN: Wichita, KS

CONCEPT: Pageant princess turned Quidditch queen tries to find herself. Doesn't.

PHYSICAL

APPEARANCE:

Dolly is a tomboy, and her fashion is definitely on the masculine end of the spectrum. Her casual clothes tend to be baggy t-shirts and jerseys that hang down to her knees, cargo shorts (they have pockets and that's important), snapbacks and ugly boots she's worn since she was a freshman. Almost all of her clothes look like they were bought for someone much bigger than her. They also have paint or glue on them. She doesn't seem to care.

Though she will allow herself to be seen in a dress once in a blue moon, she will always opt to wear pants whenever possible. In formal situations, she looks dapper as fuck in her fitted suit and tie, free of paint from head to toe.

Her hair is usually kept very short. She shaved it last year and it's grown out some since then. She won't let it get any longer, though, because she just does not know what to do with it except shove it under a hat. Kind of has a lite flavor high and tight thing going on right now.

Her arms are disproportionately short. It's weird.

HEIGHT: 5'3"

PB: Kiersey Clemons

PERSONALITY

LIKES: Painting, running, dancing, flying, sleeping in, rom coms.

DISLIKES: Waking up before the sun, dresses, makeup, using her inside voice, long hair.

PERSONALITY:

Dolly has never held back a single emotion in her life. She laughs too loud at half-assed jokes, sobs unabashedly at heartwarming movies, lets out a high-pitched screech when someone grabs her from behind, gives suffocating hugs to her best friends--whatever she does, she does it with everything she's got. There is no dilution process for her feelings, and she is not ashamed of it. Dahlia is almost never ashamed of anything, but especially not for her strong emotions, because she just does not do subtlety. She doesn’t play hard to get or put up walls, she isn’t shy or reserved, and she doesn’t see the point in power plays or diplomacy or sugarcoating for the sake of someone else’s feelings. Dolly is a blunt hammer with almost no sense of tact, which works out about as well as one might expect (as long as one expects it to not really work out all that well because it doesn’t). She doesn’t know the difference between tact and deceit and thinks a general policy of direct communication is the best way to avoid wasting everyone’s time. And Dahlia does not waste time.

Okay, maybe Dahlia wastes a little time, but she tries not to. She wants to be efficient, she wants to reach the finish line as soon as possible. When she wants to learn how to do something, she has no problem with asking for help to reach that finish line faster. She’s assertive enough to walk up and ask for what she wants, and she's definitely not easily embarrassed, so if someone younger, less experienced, in a rival house who has historically hated her seems to know something she doesn't, Dahlia will have little to no problem going to them with the request for help. Everyone has their own tricks and shortcuts, and there is no shame in using every tool at your disposal to work smarter, not harder, so you can learn as efficiently as possible. The problem is, Dolly picks up a lot of temporary passions, and she wastes a good month or more reading books and buying supplies and getting friends to teach her how to macrame, or keep an urban garden, or speak Farsi before she burns out, gets bored, and drops her new hobby. Every once in awhile something does stick, but it can be hard to tell what’s actually going to keep her interest.

The key to keeping Dahlia’s interest is to have an enthusiastic teacher. (It also helps if she has a natural flair for the hobby in question, but there’s not really anything anyone can do about that.) It’s no coincidence that her most enduring interests were taught to her by people who really love the subject, and by people she respects. Once she discovers one of those interests, she narrows in on it, and unleashes her intensity and laser focus on the task at hand. She will spend hours on minute details in her newest painting or lose herself perfecting Leo’s latest play, letting things like homework and responding to her mother’s letter and making it to dinner fall by the wayside so she can have a little more fun. Or, like, what she considers fun.

Dolly is generally a very friendly person, even if sometimes she says the wrong thing at the wrong time and doesn’t completely realize it. There aren’t many people that she actively dislikes, and the people that she actively likes get a lot of that intense attention usually reserved for one of her shiny new hobbies. She’s very demonstrative of her love--hugging, teasing, forcing as many friends as possible into karaoke duets--and sometimes needs a stern “no” when it turns out someone doesn’t actually appreciate her attentions. The “no” is all she needs, though; as a direct communicator, Dahlia expects everyone else to be just as blunt, and doesn’t tend to take things personally.

HISTORY

FAMILY MEMBERS:

Mother - Nicolette Snow-Hale, former pageant princess (notable titles include: Grand Supreme Miss Some Specific Product 1984, Miss Wichita Witch 1985, First Runner Up Miss Kansas 1986), current co-host of Wake Up Wichita!, low level local celebrity in the Wichita magic community.
Father - Garrick Hale, mind healer.
Brother - Cory Hale, 20, Coppertale alum, waiter.

HISTORY:

Dahlia Helena Hale was born the second child of Nicolette and Garrick, high school sweethearts, valedictorian and salutatorian (respectively) of Wichita Wizards' Academy, graduates with honor from their programs. They both had so much promise and potential, and when they got married it was only a matter of time before they took over the world. Which is why everyone was surprised when they had their first child and Nicolette declared she was leaving the workforce.

It didn't actually take much to convince Nicolette to be a stay-at-home mom. All the good grades and college degrees and potential in the world wasn't going to trump the expectation she'd held all her life: she was going to get married, she was going to have two beautiful babies, and she was going to spend her days changing diapers and watching Sesame Street and going to PTA meetings. And, like her mother before her, she was going to love it.
It took very little time for Nicolette to realize she did not actually love it. Changing diapers did her manicure no favors, Sesame Street was fine until you had the songs stuck in your head and your toddler was screaming for more, PTA meetings were starting to look like they were going to be full of the same adults who judged her for not breastfeeding and using the wrong car seats, and, most of all, she was bored. She had so much energy and she was spending it cleaning her house and cooking and trying to act like it was super exciting that this same episode of Teletubbies was on again.
It felt like fate when she saw the commercial for the Prettiest Princess Pageant in downtown Wichita. Once upon a time she had been a pageant prodigy and she had loved it. It couldn't hurt to enter her six-month-old baby girl in one little contest. She could make her a dress, do her hair, paint her nails. She could meet adults who maybe had some of the same interests as herself, and give her something to actually do. And while Cory sat in the audience and complained about how booooored he was to his grandmother, Nic bounced the oblivious baby Dahlia across the stage to beat out three other competitors in the 0-3 age group. They came home with a crown too big for Dahlia's tiny head and a $25 gift certificate to a local dress shop. Cory threw a tantrum. Dahlia had no idea what was going on.

Nic's one little contest turned into a lot of little contests. By the time little Dolly was able to form permanent memories she had at least a dozen tacky crowns and cheap sashes and meaningless titles. By the time she was even able to decide for herself if she wanted to fight for those crowns and titles, she didn't even realize there was a choice. Nic had kind of forgotten there was a choice herself. She was so excited to have a project to work on, and she was defensive of her venture, insisting that her time in the pageant world had taught her poise, maturity, and class. This was how she bonded with her daughter, this was how she was going to pay for her college education, this was important for her self-esteem. Garrick was just happy his wife wasn't going completely stir crazy anymore.

Dahlia was about six years old when she started to rebel. She would throw a fit in dance practice or when her grandma was yanking her hair back into something that was both manageable and appropriately glitzy. As her rebellion got more sophisticated, she would rip her dress, or deliberately screw up her routine (which was not a smart move, it just led to more dance class). When she was eight, she decided to try just hiding--which, honestly, wasn't that bad of an idea, it's just that she hid behind a plant in the lobby where the pageant was being held and got herself found by her brother in under ten minutes.
Cory was eleven, he was usually the only boy in the audience, he was jealous of the attention Dolly got, and he resented the fact that he kept getting dragged along to watch her get all this attention and these prizes. But when he saw her crouched behind that plant, ten minutes before she was supposed to go on for her talent portion, his big brother heart went out to her. He sat down on the floor by her side and said, "Man, ain't no one hiding in a shiny dress like that."
The next time Dolly felt like running and hiding, she ran to Cory, who loaned her a giant shirt and pants to help her blend in. And it worked. While Cory ran interference, Dolly tucked herself under a coffee table in the lobby, and it wasn't until after they'd done last call for her age group that the pile of laundry in the corner revealed itself to be Dahlia, the Great Waster of Entry Fees.

It still took another year and handful of disappearing acts before her mother finally accepted the truth: pageants were causing more headaches than they were worth. After a few halfhearted arguments and attempts to convince her little girl that pageants could take her so far, she gathered up all her handmade dresses and dropped them off at Goodwill.

After that, with the kids off at school most of the day, with no all-consuming extracurricular activity taking up her own time, Nic hesitantly stepped back into the workforce, and Dahlia started feeling out her own interests. First thing she tried: whatever Cory was doing. Whenever Cory was around, she would dog his steps, asking him what he was doing and where he was going and if she could come too??? After helping her escape pageants, he quickly became the Coolest Person in the World. Dahlia wanted to dress like him, talk like him, act like him. She wanted to play the sports he did and go see the same movies and listen to the same music. Cory was secretly kind of okay with that, because everyone wants to be worshiped just a little, but he was also not-so-secretly not okay with that, because little sisters were basically made for cramping your style. He would tell her off for being a Dumb Girl, and she would prove to him that she was actually basically a Super Cool Boy.

But she couldn't copy Cory forever. For one, he ran off to boarding school at fourteen. For two, she kind of liked some of her Dumb Girl hobbies. Like dancing, and art, and dumb romantic comedies, and sometimes boys. When her beloved big brother left her alone, Dolly fell more into her artistic pursuits. She wrapped herself up in dance class, she painted scenes on her bedroom walls, she customized her clothes with patches and puff paints and creative cutouts. She truly seemed to be finding her own way.
And yet, when she was fourteen and ready to go off to high school, she filled out and sent off a Gooseberry application along with a handful of art samples. Because if it was good enough for Cory, it was definitely good enough for her, right?

When Dolly showed up at Gooseberry, she expected to follow right in Cory's footsteps. He was a Coppertale, she should be a Coppertale too! He was in drama and equestrian and magizoology, she should do drama and equestrian and magizoology! But when she ended up in Ebonhide, she realized, well, maybe she wasn't going to be exactly like Cory. Maybe the three years he'd been at Gooseberry had been the three most formative years of her life, and maybe the three years she was going to be at Gooseberry without him were going to be the second most formative years of her life. She had to continue her Quest to Find the Real Dahlia, and first things first, she had to do something Cory had not done in all his time at school.
And when her new Ebonpal Leo wouldn't stop yammering about Quidditch and how it was the best game in the world and how she should try out, Dahlia gave in. She joined choir because she knew Cory couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, and when he said Outdoor Exploration was for people who just wanted to get eaten by bears, she joined immediately. She pushed herself away from her brother, figuring that eventually she would carve out her own little niche and feel comfortable eventually. And, like, maybe that'll happen before she graduates. But probably not. Probably really not.

SCHOOL

YEAR: Senior (Grade 12)
HOUSE: Ebonhide
SORTING: Azurcrest made some good points. Azurcrest made some very good points. She's fun, she's enthusiastic, she's generally pretty laid back and unable to hold a grudge. But Ebonhide said if she wanted to find herself, if she wanted to be her best, most genuine self, this was her house. They wouldn't tell her where to go, just help her find where she already wanted to go, and Dolly liked the sound of that.
WAND: Hickory wood, kneazle claw core, 8"
FAMILIAR: Red-eared slider turtle named Donatello. She is an obsessive turtle mom who goes running to Mrs. O'Hare with some new question about her little shell baby at least once a week.

CLASSES: Charms, History of Magic, Outdoor Education, Aesthetic Magic, Artificing, Astronomy.
SENIOR PROJECT: She's almost done with a massive painting of the entire Quidditch pitch during a game. When she has it unfurled it takes up almost a whole wall in the Aesthetic Magic classroom and has more moving parts than Dahlia has ever attempted previously.
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: She works hard to keep her scholarship, but her grades are nothing to write home about. She struggles with Astronomy, but her girl crush on Ms. Whittle means she just can't bring herself to drop it. She gives all of her heart and soul to Aesthetic Magic and is deadly serious about it, and she has all kinds of star-eyes for Ms. Poe.

EXTRACURRICULARS: Quidditch (Seeker), Choir, Gardening, Outdoor Exploration, Barre.

OOC

NAME: Alex
EMAIL: alexandraebaldwin-at-gmail
CDJ: 24601 / thisisalex
OTHER PREFERRED CONTACT: Dropbox
TIME ZONE: PST