InsaneJournal

Character.
Character Name: Bai Li Zhong.
Age/Birthdate: 18; 12 November 2004.
House/Year: Ravenclaw; 7th year.
Bloodline: Half-blood.

Physical Description: Bai Li is 100% Chinese and has the trademark characteristics of her race: fine black hair, almond-shaped eyes, nut-brown skin, and a small stature. She stands about 5'4" and is slim and trim. Her high cheekbones, full lips, and wide, dark eyes give her an open and friendly look. She's the sort of girl who doesn't realize that she is beautiful at all, let alone as exceptionally beautiful as she is. Her fashion is about comfort, but also looking clean and nice. She wears a lot of solid colours and little that is really vibrant, like bright red or yellow. She tends to layer her shirts and never likes to wear clothes that haven't been washed since she last wore them, even if it was only once. However, her style has a definite artistic streak -- her favorite pair of pants are her loose old jeans patched with many different fabrics, a different scrap for each new rip. The first patch was for practicality; as the jeans accumulated more rips, Bai enjoyed the collage of colours that grew on the jeans and began saving interesting scraps of fabric for whenever she needed a new patch. She isn't fond of buying new clothes, especially since she likes comfort and her old clothes fit her just the way she likes. She often wears dark blue jeans, but does wear interesting skirts at times (although nothing much above knee-length). She sometimes likes to add an interesting clothing item like stockings or a tie. When looking particularly nice or semi-formal, she prefers to wear a dress that looks somewhat modest and cute. She doesn't wear sexy or suggestive clothing -- not even fishnet tights. It's just not her style. (All that when not wearing school robes, of course.) (She's not too fond of the robes.)
PB: Sook-Yin Lee

Personality: Bai Li is a gentle, happy person and a good friend. She smiles easily and laughs often. However, she is very thoughtful and has a subtle but wide emotional range. Most who know her don't know her very much at all, but that doesn't upset her. She explores most of her feelings through art -- writing or playing the piano. She isn't much of a storyteller but she is a gifted poet and often writes in flowing blank verse. She keeps a diary. She's liable to write five private entries in her journal in a single night, detailing emotions and thoughts she often thinks are strange. She's uncertain of herself but not insecure. She doesn't need objects or people to latch on to and prefers not to get into dramatic social situations. She can be very practical and also very out-of-the-box. She's generally very calm, not usually bouncy or emotionally high. She has a wry and subtle sense of humor; she's very intelligent. She enjoys reading, especially poetry and short stories. She isn't usually one for epic adventures, but prefers intellectual novels. She loves music and appreciates classical compositions and grand instrumentals as well as simple acoustic and vocal music. She loves beautiful and interesting lyrics. She loves the piano especially, and also plays it quite well. On another note, many see her as a "good girl," but this is relative. She is definitely a person of good intentions. However, if she wants a book for no evil purposes, she won't feel an ounce of guilt about sneaking into the Restricted Section. She's both kind and bold.

As for her interaction with others, Bai Li is a good and interesting friend to have. She is the most good-natured of people. She doesn't get frustrated and doesn't frustrate people. She can be confusing at times but at others she is very easy to be with; she's usually a good judge of when she ought to be alone with her thoughts, but can overcome that feeling if she needs to be with her friends. She likes to discuss ideas and analyze things with others. She's always good for a debate -- but only if you're looking for a Devil's advocate. She loves shutting down an opposing argument quickly and cleverly. She enjoys talking, but only when she has something good to say. She speaks English and Cantonese perfectly, obviously, but also speaks French fluently (enough) and knows a good bit of Welsh. She's faithful. She will do nearly anything for the well-being of her good friends, however dangerous or illegal. She seems like a calm, rational and practical person, which indeed she is, but rational to her isn't always the common definition. To Bai Li, breaking the law, for example, is a perfectly fine and acceptable thing to do when the need presents itself as long as you aren't caught. She's a talented young woman in that she can assess a situation and determine how to make it come out exactly as she pleases -- manipulative, yes, but only in the most innocent sense. She usually is fine and comfortable with the status quo. She doesn't go changing things that don't need to be changed, but she can always recognize when the do need to change. Reasoning is her strong suite; she is a natural mathematician. Arithmancy is interesting to her and she does beautifully in the class -- however, it's not her favorite. She has a fascination with astronomy. The class is perfect for because it combines all of her strongest aspects: her mathematical and analytical skills; her dreamy, poetic nature; and her keen interest, which pushes her to succeed.

She doesn't have friends home in London; when she's there, she never really needs them. She doesn't forge strong personal attachments to people, although she likes and loves them well. She has no family other than her father, who is a friendly and gentle person like her, but unlike her can have an angry temper. He would never hurt anyone and doesn't fly into rages or anything as drastic as that, but he can get angry and shout, however briefly, with great vehemence. After this he sometimes would stew in his anger for an hour or so, play poundingly on the piano for another half-hour, and then get over it, drifting into smoother melodies. Still, Bai Li learned when to stay in her room and not bother him. Even when she was very young she could sense his displeasure and knew to let him be for a while. She is sensitive to the moods and needs of others, but can sometimes confuse them with her own moods. Her father's moods were large and obvious, and very definite. Her own are subtle and complicated. She doesn't understand them at times, and neither do her friends. She never blames anyone for a thing like that, and she expects little out of her friends. However, she doesn't like people who take advantage of her and will tell them, plainly, that she would prefer to keep out of their company. When she knows what she wants, she knows. When she doesn't, she lets the feeling be and doesn't do things that might end up damaging her. She has a smart sense of herself and the world. She knows when to step away from something and when to pursue it.

Personal History: Bai Li was born in Shanghai, China to struggling parents. Her Muggle father was a poor young musician and her mother a witch, and even worse off for it. At the time the Chinese magical government was extremely corrupt and the Muggle government was taking steps to secretly "deal with" magic folk in the country. Life for the average witch or wizard was growing increasingly difficult in Shanghai -- most stayed out of China's large cities. Bai Li's father discovered her mother's magical nature only after the child's birth. The two had not been in regular contact after their brief romance, during which Bai Li was conceived. When she was born, Bai Li's mother made contact with her child's father again, hoping they could be a family. Bai's father (his name is Yan Zhong) was shocked at first but came around quickly, for he loved the woman and was overjoyed at the child's birth and at the fact that her mother finally wanted to be with him. However, very soon after this Bai Li's mother was killed by a dark wizard -- this is something Yan knows little about. (Bai Li knows little of any of this.) Fear of him is what pushed the woman to find Bai Li's father and tell him her secret, for she didn't know how long she could stay safe. Fearing for the child's safety and his own, Yan contacted an old friend of his father's, who ran a successful company, and explained he needed to leave the country. He flew to London with Bai in his friend's personal airplane; his friend also provided the necessary papers. There, Yan achieved modest success in the business world, again with help from his father's friend, who started him in the company of a British friend. He and Bai Li lived in reasonable comfort through her early childhood. Yan never took up with another woman, so great was his love for Bai Li's mother and sadness over her death, but cared lovingly for the child. He began teaching her to read and play the piano when she was only three. Although he eventually learned to speak English, he never learned to read it and Bai Li did not learn it until she was in school. She was a quick study; she soon began devouring books of all kinds. Her father was proud of her and the two were very close. It never even crossed his mind that she might have inherited her mother's gift -- not, that is, until on her eighth birthday she extinguished all the candles on her cake with only a blink. And that was only the first incident. Soon books were flying off the shelves at the local library. Now, Bai Li's poor father quickly realized where she had gotten her abilities, and although he certainly didn't think any less of his daughter because of it -- if anything he admired the gift -- he simply didn't know what to do with her. When she was nine he took her out of primary school, in mind of finding a suitable tutor for her, but that was harder than expected. As far as Yan could discover, there simply were no other witches around. He bought her math and history books, which she read and learned from on her own while her father was at work. (Although they were not poor they couldn't afford a governess, and in any case Yan did not want to risk Bai accidentally showing anyone her magic.) When they received Bai Li's letter of invitation to Hogwarts nearly two years later, it was a veritable godsend. Bai didn't want to go. Her father insisted; it was the only way, he said, that she could learn what she needed to learn and be with her own people.

After some difficulty in finding appropriate school supplies, Bai Li said a sad good-bye to her father and her home and boarded the Hogwarts Express. She made no friends on the train. She sat in her own lonely compartment and folded herself into a copy of The Golden Apples by Eudora Welty, silently wishing she was back home and wanting only to lose herself in the stories. From the moment she stepped of the train at Hogsmead Station everything was like a dream. She slipped across the black silk lake in a sickle moon, floated through the gilded corridor and stood statue-like before the whispering doors of Hell. They opened. She was a ghost adrift in a hall of smiling demons, watching simple mortal souls draped in the black shroud that twisted their faces into those same deceiving grins. She was very calm. She was the very last to be called for sorting. She walked with a passive dignity up to the stool, turned around, sat -- and snapped back to reality. The wood was cold beneath her. Her robe itched. Every student in the hall, every normal, living, human student was staring at her. The hat went over her head. (She was still very calm.) "Ah," it muttered. "A dreamer, I see."

The first thing it saw was her thirst for learning. It considered her first for Ravenclaw, then briefly for Hufflepuff, then for Gryffindor. "Gryffindor?" she asked. "I didn't even want to leave home. I'm not brave."

"Oh, but you are," the Hat whispered. "You are. And clever, too. RAVENCLAW!"

Bai Li remained homesick for a short while, but within days she was fascinated by her classes. She undertook them with vigor and excitement, and quickly excelled. She learned as much as she was able, and even -- yes, even this -- read Hogwarts: A History. Although she was not the most outgoing person, she was very kind and not shy. She made friends. She began to think of Hogwarts, rather than the London flat, as home.

Classes: Bai is a talented student and excels in most of her classes. Her best subject is Astronomy, with Arithmancy in close second. She loves Herbology and gets excellent marks in that class as well. Although she enjoys the class, she is not the most talented at Transfiguration and doesn't always put the practice in that she needs -- it's her worst subject. This year she is taking all of her core classes except History of Magic. She has also dropped Care of Magical Creatures (her 5th year elective). She is taking the required Muggle Studies and Health Science class, of course.

OWL scores: Arithmancy: O. Astronomy: O. Care of Magical Creatures: E. Charms: E. Defense Against the Dark Arts: E. Herbology: O. History of Magic: E. Potions: O. Transfiguration: A.

Sample RP: Bai Li tapped transfixedly on the edge of the empty parchment page. Two minutes. Two minutes, she told herself, to write something, and then on to Arithmancy homework. Tiny flecks of ink sprung randomly from the nib as she tapped her pen again against the sheet, still blank but for the half-hearted "Private" scrawled under the date. 9 March. Sunday. Why couldn't she think of anything to write? She'd been on an inspiration kick, dang it. She was on an inspiration kick. I am on an inspiration kick. Dang it.

She pushed herself up from her position sprawled on her stomach across the dormitory floor and wound her legs cross-legged underneath her, leaning her head against the bedpost. This was the first time in weeks she hadn't thought of something. Where was her mind, anyway?

Ah, The Pixies. She wished she could get magic recordings of Muggle music. (Hey, with that band name, who would even guess they were Muggles?) She had to make her own music boxes -- just crack the lid, and out spilled the sound. She had four, one for opera, one for classical, one for contemporary piano, and one for everything else. She wasn't usually one for constructing such things, but how was she supposed to go an entire year of school without her Regina Spektor, her Luciano Pavarotti, her Beethoven? The Weird Sisters didn't exactly do it for her. Besides, she couldn't deny it, she was proud of her invention. You could scroll through tracks with a tap of a wand.

She opened a box of Puccini and set it on her bed, with a quick mental note to make a rock box over the summer.

She leaned over the journal again, but she knew at first glance that she had given up. There would be no poetry tonight -- but she couldn't help feeling a little claw of guilt dig in somewhere in her chest. She should write something, at least... anything at all. Biting her lip, she hesitated, then scratched out the "Private" at the top of the page.

Does anyone know what to do with this Arithmancy homework?

Oh, well. Two minutes was up.

Additonal Notes:

- Obviously, I won't be roleplaying a solitary Bai Li writing in her journal in threads -- that's what the journal is for, after all. The sample isn't my most inspired passage, but I hope the subject matter isn't much of a factor since this is just to give you a taste of my writing. I promise to make threads more interesting and less choppy.

- Don't mind if the format is a little rushed, I usually use paragraph tags but got lazy! I know these are just giant blocks text, but I really wanted to get this up.

- Bai Li is more developed in my head than she is on here. I may edit or add to this in the future, as a basic character sheet for my own reference. I figured this was detailed enough for submission and I didn't have the patience to mull over it any more before applying.... heh.

- Yan Zhong rarely speaks about his past. Bai Li tries to understand this and accepts that he doesn't want to tell her about China. She knows her mother was a witch, but doesn't even know her name.

- Bai Li's mother's name was Nuo Ming (Chan) Zhong.

- Bai owns a six-year-old crow named Richard. He isn't the most dependable carrier-bird, but he'll get there if bribed correctly. I'll add more about Richard later.