Encyclopedia: Here it be!
Ability/Talent: Calming Presence
Why does it fit my character?:

Gem never really had the positive reenforcement he felt necessary for any child to prosper.
His home life was simply unsatisfactory, with the way his parents would always be quarreling, shouting, and putting each other down -- it was the opposite of relaxing, calm, a safe space where he could feel like he truly belonged. He spent much time out of the house, or locked up in his room where he could feel like himself, whether it be writing, reading, or having conversations with himself to feel more... comfortable.

In the rare instances that Gem spoke to anyone else, he found himself mostly sitting out on the sidelines, watching, speaking to anyone who might've considered him an option. His voice is soft, and while he stammers and sometimes struggles to put his thoughts into words, many find it amusing - comforting, even, to be reminded that everyone his human, no matter how composed they seem. He speaks with his hands, he can get loud, he laughs at just about anything, and always, even if it isn't on purpose, makes everyone feel like they belong.

Gem isn't sure where his soft presentation came from, the way his brown, fluffy hair curls around his cheeks, or the fact his eyes are brown and hazy, or maybe the fact he's always moving. His preference in clothing is often sweaters, the same pair of pants and shoes, nothing that really makes him stand out very much. His smiles are small, and although the words he speaks in hazardous situations are seldom genuine (especially when he hardly knows what he's doing and panicking on the inside), there's a type of reassurance that you can lean back on and feel all right with.

"You're real comforting for some kid who looks like they've got ants crawling up and down their back," Leland, a close family friend, said. "I reckon you've got some kind of charm on you, man. It's weird. Say, don't tell me you've been going off doing dr-"

"Aw, shut it, Leland," Gem cut in, "I'm not all that calm, yunno. I'm always freakin' out-"
"That's the thing! You're always freaking out, but your face always looks-a lot like you've just recieved news that water is wet."
"Water inn't wet- what'd'ya mean?"
"I dunno. I dunno what I mean, exactly, but you're nice to be around. Just a good presence, I guess. Real calming, it's hard to freak out and feel all worried when you're there, like everything's gunna be fine, even if it really isn't."
"Weird."
"Totally weird."

Gem's reassurances aren't always spoken, he's good at making others feel like they aren't alone in a situation they might not have prepared for. If you look at him across a class when there's been a test given and pull a face-- expect him to pull a face back, a playful one, just so you're aware not everyone knows that they're doing. Simple things like that, knowing you've got someone to listen and understand, is comfort enough. He just wants to be the comfort in people's life that he never got an opportunity to have, even if it's so brief as a small smile or a pat on the back.

Statistics:
Stamina: 5/10 // Evasion: 7/10 // Strength: 4/10 // Wisdom: 7/10 // Arcane Power: 6/10  Accuracy: 6/10

Status: Approved

Link

Parselmouth

Stamina: 4
Evasion: 5
Strength: 4
Wisdom: 8
Arcane Power: 5
Accuracy: 4

Word Count: 564

STATUS: Approved

Link to your encyclopedia thread: [x]

Name of Ability or Race that you Are Applying for:
First Year: Perfectionist

Describe why this fits your character (not why you the player want it):

Perfectionist:

Reducio

The accusations of being “Little Miss Perfect” are not unwarranted.

There’s little room for error in her household. With watchful eyes in every corner, and opponents wishing ruin on the family, they made it clear to her early on that failure was not an option. Many would consider themselves lucky to have the opportunities she has, and she herself doesn’t take her education in vain. Hiring the most exceptional tutors (several of which friends of her parents) for an array of subjects was just one of many measures taken by Mr. and Mrs. Stavrou to build mental capability within their daughter. Her family knew the importance of wits and well roundedness and believed there was always more to learn about the world should one want to rise above it.

Her pre-Hogwarts years were mostly a blur of decisions made on her behalf. The typical home-schooled day for her would comprise literature lessons immediately after breakfast, then history, maths, and etiquette. It wasn’t until Phaedra was ten, almost eleven, years old and in possession of her own wand that she could fully immerse herself in magic, and her parents were quick to rehearse blaming their own magic should her practising look suspicious. Perhaps from having nothing else to occupy her time, self-studying was her haven; playing music, sticking a nose in a book in her family’s library, and working on minor wand work outside in the gardens are only a few examples. After a while, her movements grew increasingly nimble, but still far from her potential. Her mother always proclaimed how fitting her wand was— versatile and for the intelligent.

Once starting her first year at Hogwarts, Phaedra was incapable of leaving her deeply ingrained habits behind at home. Learning best from close interaction, Phaedra has a clear preference for sitting in the front row during lectures and avoids aimless strolling to arrive early after bell’s first chime. She finds break periods to be a good use of time to rewrite her notes neater and more comprehensive, and has a small study group of like-minded, equally perfectionist friends. It would pain her to lose her O average.

Phaedra thrives under praise, especially those of influential people, and for years she has held a reputation of being a teacher’s pet. Her parents and grandparents are her closest role-models of unexcelled wizardry and she mirrors them in favour of receiving their validation. Their expectations may seem forceful, but Phaedra strives for perfection and shows a continual dissatisfaction with anything short of it. Although she denies it, she very much cares about judgment and can be her own harshest critic.

Besides her family and a select few peers, she mostly trusts herself. Phaedra has grown arrogant from her accomplishments but has nearly perfected the art of making her actions seem natural and little effort. One day, she plans on joining the duelling team and starting several clubs of her interests to better improve as a witch.

Word Count: 492

Stats: STA: 6, EVA: 8, STR: 1, WIS: 10, ARC: 10, ACC: 10

STATUS: Approved

Link to your encyclopedia thread: Link
Name of Ability or Race/Talent that you Are Applying for: Lovely Creature
Describe why this fits your character (not why you the player want it):

Sophie had always been called pretty even as a very young child with her striking doe-like grey eyes, honey blonde waves, and tiny button nose. Not only that but she also carried a grace and elegance of some sort despite her young age which was likely from her many years of intensive training in both contemporary and jazz dance. Her immense physical beauty seemingly only grew more evident as she became older. Both her parents weren’t exactly unattractive so it was unsurprising quite frankly that they would have an good enough looking child. No one, however, was quite expecting her to be quite as pretty as she was.

Despite the seemingly numerous advantages to being attractive Sophie often scorned it. She didn’t want to stand out the slightest bit, especially not because of things like her physical appearance. Sophie had been 8 years old when she truly discovered the downsides of her beauty.  She was sitting alone on a small bench in the school’s garden during recess and reading when two girls crept behind her with a small pair of scissors. Sophie, being absorbed in her book, didn’t realise what was happening before it was too late. Her formerly long and luscious blonde hair had been cut unevenly so that it went up only to her ears. Luckily Sophie was a witch and the next day she came back looking exactly as she had before the incident had happened although she had she’s tears that night in fear of what would await her the next day. As it turned out unsurprisingly the two girls had merely been envious of her and had thought that having short hair would lessen Sophie’s prettiness.

When Sophie was ten she decided that she would made an effort to stand out as little as possible due to the frequent envy that resulted from her beauty. She did this by intentionally choosing to wear more simple items of clothing like loose monochromatic t-shirts and generic blue jeans no matter how much her mother insisted she wear dresses, skirts, and jewellery to school. She also tried to be less outgoing, beginning to talk less in school and to try less to make friends and acquaintances although she certainly did not let this effect her grades as they were a top priority for her. Sophie’s efforts, though, were not generally not all that successful and often just resulted in making her beauty accentuated in some way. 

(410 words)

Please list out your stats using the 6-point stat system:
Stamina: 6
Evasion: 5
Strength: 5
Wisdom: 9
ArcPower: 6
Accuracy: 4

STATUS: Approved

Link to Encyclopedia

Applying for: Sixth Sense

Why it fits:

Learning to work with books taught Alma very quickly that things were not always as they appeared. Books that looked perfectly harmless could kill you with a single brush of bare fingertips against innocent parchment. Her family had driven the point home by showing her every single cursed book they had in their shop, sealed away by complex (and costly) wards, reinforced glass and even more wards. They ranged from cookbooks that would change the nature of ingredients they came into contact with to books that would proudly repeat the erratically written words ‘You’ve been poisoned’ over and over as soon as a victim had touched its previously blank pages.
Her uncles would tell her horror stories of books that could steal one’s identity and even your very soul if one wasn’t always vigilant.
It resulted in many sleepless nights for Alma, kept awake by whatever horrific scenarios her imagination concocted, yet it also taught her to never trust a book by its cover. Literally as well as metaphorically speaking.
New people were met with cautious distrust, she would no longer shake hands in fear of people trying to poison her and she would see evil in even the most mundane of situations. Over time, these habits would disappear as Alma learned to hone and trust her instincts.
It was her older brother that noticed just how her awareness had increased when he had been home for Christmas one year. Still striving to become a ward-master and curse-breaker, he had brought home his most recent project to work on during the dead days between Christmas and New Years. It had been given to him by one of his senior colleagues: A harmless puzzle box, picked up somewhere on a magical market in Singapore, that had been warded to heaven and back. Her brother, Orpheus, had been given the task to unravel the wards and open the box before New Years. He had made great progress on it, nearly at the end, when Alma had slapped the entire thing out of his hand, claiming that there was something off about it. She endured the endless teasing of her Uncles that were convinced that she thought there might be an evil spirit inside, but she emailed adamant that her brother would be far better off returning it to a proper ward-master to take a look at it.
Two weeks later, it turned out that the ward her brother had begun to unravel had been done so poorly had it would have snapped like an overly taut bow, had Orpheus put any more stress on it. The result would have been a near-catastrophic magical backlash that could have easily killed him, if not the entire family.
Her family apologised for taunting Alma and, to make up for it, did their best to help her hone her instincts however they could and over the next years, Alma would start to develop something very much like a sixth sense for danger.

Word Count: 496

Stats:

Stamina: 6
Evasion: 6
Strength: 6
Wisdom: 11
Arcane Power: 9
Accuracy: 7

STATUS: Approved

STATUS: Approved 

Link to your encyclopedia thread: https://www.hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?f=169&t=8643
Name of Ability or Race/Talent that you Are Applying for: 's Grace
Describe why this fits your character (not why you the player want it):
Lilith's parents always hoped to train her so that she would be ready to one day join the family business or at least be able to stay safe. Being wizard assassins was dangerous work and they always feared that work would come home with them. They both agreed that she was too young to be told about their work so they needed to come up with a solution on how to teach her the necessary skills. They decided hide-and-go-seek was an excellent game to teach their daughter stealth. When she was five, they started training her. At first, like any five-year-old, she would hide in obvious places like under a blanket. Her parents chose not to indulge her and would immediately find her. This forced her to be more creative with her hiding spots. Her father was the best at finding her, it usually only took him at most 10 minutes. To help her out, her mother gave her daughter tips on hiding in the shadows. As Lilith got older, she slowly learned to become undetectable to the point that when her father entered the room she was in, sometimes, he would not know that she was there.
One day when Lilith was 9, she playing hide-and-go-seek with her father. She had just gone to hide when her parents’ greatest fear came true. Their work had followed them home. They had been completing a job for a Dark Wizard named Abel Brunel. The details were laid out and they were going to meet him again once the job was completed. But Brunel had other plans as he wanted to erase any evidence of the job. He intended to murder the Hayes. As he approached their house, Lilith’s parents sensed that something was wrong. They had no time to find their daughter before he would the reach the door. Lilith had decided to hide in the pantry that was attached to the kitchen. A few minutes after the game had started, Lilith heard footsteps enter the kitchen. She assumed they were her father’s. It was dark and only a small sliver of moonlight entered through the window. This allowed Lilith to watch the shadow of a man get closer to her hiding spot. She held her breath when she saw that the man was standing right next to the pantry door.
Brunel stood next to the pantry door looking around for any trace of the Hayes. His long ebony wand was ready and the words of the killing curse were on the tip of his tongue. He looked around the kitchen. He didn’t sense anyone so he left to continue searching the house.
An hour later, Lilith’s father found his daughter in the pantry, relieved that no harm had come to her. He gave her a rib crushing hug.
“I found you!” he said in a cheery voice.
Lilith remaining blissfully ignorant of the danger replied, “What took you so long Daddy? Was I good at hiding this time?”
“Yes, my baby girl. You were very good this time,” said her father with a small tear in his eye. 
WC: 518

Please list out your stats using the 6-point stat system:
STAMINA: 3
EVASION: 5
STRENGTH: 1
WISDOM: 10
ARCANE POWER: 10
ACCURACY: 6

STATUS: Approved

Link to your encyclopedia thread: https://www.hogwarts.io/viewtopic.php?f=169&t=4356
Name of Ability or Race that you Are Applying for: Keen Eye

Neculai found himself from time to time wandering through the small and dimly litted streets of Sighișoara. The heel of his boots making a clacking sound as he walked over the cobble stoned paved way. It wasn't the first time he had been found "lost" in this town, in Neculai's opinion getting lost in a city is the best way to get to know it. After a while from walking he noticed he got into a part of the city he hadn't visited yet. This section contained all kinds of shops, but the one that caught his eye, was an old juwelers shop. As he had only recently gotten back in Romania with the Clan, he still needed to get a present for his mother. So he did what he could best, he stole several objects that had that glittering/shiny look.

Stealing had become his second nature. Keeping an eye on the shopowner aswell as whatever could catch his eye. It wasn't like he had to steal to be able to survive or anything. The Clan wasn't wealthy, but they had enough to keep going. The Clan didn't care for wealth or riches as they were always on the road, their only concern was the one of survival. As much as the young Dhampir had tried, he had always felt a little like an outsider. No matter how hard he tried, he would never be able to completely fit into the wizarding world either. So he stole and in its own twisted way it gave him that warm feeling like he did belong somewhere. He belonged to the scum of the night... It was better then not belonging anywhere.

The pale boy entered his mothers mansion as always he opened his burlap bag and presented his parents with souvenirs from the many travels he had made with the Clan. As he told of the many things he saw along the road, he noticed for a split second that his father had a sorrowfull look on his face. Reaching his hand in the burlap bag once more he gave his father a golden locket. The watch had belonged to Neculai's grandfather. It contained two pictures of his Uncle and one of his Grandmother. The boy had done something that, if the clan would find out, he would be casted out for. Stealing from the head of the Clan was a punishable offence, but he couldn't help himself. He knew his father was exiled and excommunicated from the Clan, but he just wished that his Father could still feel like a part of it. Thus he had stolen the locket so his father would never forget who he was, where he came from and most important of all, so he never felt like he didn't belong, just like Neculai.

Word Count: 465

Please list out your stats using the 6-point stat system:
Stamina: 9
Evasion: 7
Strength: 7
Wisdom: 7
Arcane Power: 3
Accuracy: 3

STATUS: Approved 

Failure was always an option.

Isaac Dralt had insisted that failure was often the opportunity for betterment. It was easy to remember one's mistakes, but rather than be haunted by them, he encouraged they simply serve as a lesson. It was with this mentality that his young son Pericles developed the decision: he would get all of his mistakes out of the way as early on as possible. He heckled his parents with a seemingly infinite myriad of inquiries. Where does magic come from? Why do you speak the spells sometimes, but not other times? Who invented magic? What is this? Who is that? Why? Where? How? Fortuitously for his early education, they were patient persons. His mother was well-versed in magic's place through the natural world, namely herbology and potion making. His father was an esteemed Auror, quick with his wand and brimming with Ministry-certified information.  They enabled their son's hands-on interaction with their works, where it was permissible and safe to do so, instilling in him their shared regard for patience makes perfect. He was not punished for not knowing something, but encouraged to take his time with coming to understand a thing before involving himself with it. A potion, a spell: whatever the content, he was trained to seek a subject's context, history, purpose.

What questions they could not answer, a book could provide instead. Young Peri would pore over obscure tomes, old manuscripts, outdated almanacs, whatever informational literature he could come across. Being on the sheltered side due to homeschooling, his parents served as prime examples in all execution of magic or magic-related practices, and so he studied them with hawk-like attentiveness. He watched the way they cast, be it with or without incantations. He mutely mouthed the spells they spoke and would practice proper wand movements with sticks while wandering outside. They were a harmonious couple, and given the stability of his household, Pericles scarcely suffered any undo distraction. That is of course, until his father was afflicted with vampirism during a Ministry mission.

At the tender age of six, the lad had confidentially convinced himself that he must be the "man" of his household while Isaac was detained "recovering in special therapy". He obsessed over lightening his mother's household load, compensating where he could without a wand of his own, and in the meantime planning for his father's return. He read all he could of vampirism, of vampiric experience and experimentation, of unconfirmed legends pertaining to cures. Just maybe, if he became an exceedingly excellent wizard, he would be the one to crack the code and restore his family to its former harmony. Just maybe, by dedicating himself to being as excellent in his achievements as possible, flawlessness in his work would yield never before seen accomplishments. Just maybe, he could set things right by playing the part of a perfectionist.

Failure was no longer an option.

STATUS: APPROVED