Hazel Keating, Super Texan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lilwitchhazel) wrote2017-05-02 10:24 pm
lilwitchhazel) wrote2017-05-02 10:24 pm
❦ Hazel, the adultening ❦
"They say youth is wasted
Wasted on the young
So then tell me
Why are we having so much fun?"
GENERAL
NAME: Hazel Temperance Keating
NICKNAMES: Haze. Hazelnut. Keats.
AGE/DOB: 16 ; December 11th, 1998
BLOOD STATUS: Half-blood
GENDER/PRONOUNS: Female ; she/her/hers
SEXUALITY: Heterosexual
HOMETOWN: Anson, Texas (Born Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England)
CONCEPT: Sassy cheerleader "isn't scared of anything," wants to show world who's boss.
PHYSICAL
APPEARANCE: Hazel loves being outdoors, and because of that when out of uniform and in ~*adventure mode*~, she’s generally in whatever helps her move – pants for hiking and climbing, boots, loose flannel tops. This is especially important given her favored pastime of climbing trees. While not scaling the many tree offerings, however, she far from shuns more feminine fashion; Hazel owns an array of rather put together, cute outfits that she’ll don when not expecting to be running around in the woods. Her mother is also a talented knitter, meaning she's in possession of quite a few cute sweaters. Hazel owns a pair of "lucky" cowboy boots she's named Bessie. She can often be found wearing Ty Hawkeswood's letter jacket which is definitely not from their school and is definitely ridiculous.
In uniform she looks moderately uncomfortable, but honestly it's not the clothes and more that she's unhappy with being told what to wear. Her uniform is often slightly disheveled, and she spends much of her time fussing with her crosstie. She rarely wears her vest, but alternates freely between the skirt and pants.
Despite being small, Hazel packs a punch - cheerleading has given her lean muscles, making her stronger than she might appear at first glance. She carries herself with confidence, and unless she's in a seriously bad mood there's a definite perkiness about her and a bounce in her step.
HEIGHT: 5'3 1/2"
PB: Dove Cameron
PERSONALITY
LIKES: Sports (any and all). Climbing trees. Cheerleading. Tumbling. Dancing. Camping. Coppertale. Rats. Attention from boys. Smooching. Potions. Adventure! Danger!
DISLIKES: Any of her teams losing. The cold. Crying, especially in front of people. Feeling scared. Shakespeare.
PERSONALITY:
Hazel would be described by her mother as rambunctious and by her father as spirited. She’s loud, excitable, and almost always full of energy. Rarely does she find herself feeling shy or embarrassed, even if most others would be. While she doesn’t seek out the limelight, she certainly doesn’t mind it either, and her generally loud nature and her aggressive support of sports teams (she can become almost amusingly vicious) often land her in the way of attention.
Hazel used to only casually flirt with thinking about the future but has returned with a bit more seriousness. Her senior project, which has been a part of her plan since she began at Gooseberry, is a major focus for her in her junior year. She still takes hanging out with friends, climbing trees, and generally playing around seriously, but she's spending less time on such pursuits. Her optimism remains, even if she finds herself a little less sure of Gooseberry.
Hazel has a good heart and tries her best to do right by others. Her uncle's condition has lead her to be particularly sympathetic to outsiders, and she attempts to see the good in everyone, at least initially. It's not surprising then that Hazel is immediately friendly with strangers; unless, of course, they are rooting for an opposing team. She's sassy to everyone, even her closest friends, and can veer towards bossy because she often thinks she knows what's best.
She has a serious protective streak that exacerbates her bossy inclinations, and this has only become more pronounced. Hazel sees herself as a protector, tasked with caring for her friends that are less capable than her. It's a little condescending to be sure, but it comes from a good place and she is willing to accept that maybe others don't need her as much as she thinks they do.
Following rules is not always on Hazel's mind - if she finds a particular rule to be pointless or sees an even mildly compelling reason to break one, she'll do as she pleases without hesitation. Because of this disregard for rules she can often bump heads with figures of authority, but she has no strong opinion in general towards authority as a concept.
She can occasionally be a little mouthy, but she makes an effort to stop herself from saying anything particularly mean; she's more reserved on the journals simply because she has the chance to appropriately censor herself. When writing, she often crosses out her initial thoughts. Otherwise, she's generally straightforward about most things and prefers to be realistic if she thinks others can handle it. Simply saying what she thinks means that her communication is often relatively effective, but Hazel is particularly bad at verbalizing her more sensitive feelings, especially love. Woefully ignorant of how to approach affection beyond simple friendliness, she will generally behave like a little boy on a school yard, picking on boys she’s interested in and trying to show them up.
She approaches problems head on and tries her best to remain, at the very least, defiant in the face of adversity. Hazel hates to cry so she tries to treat every problem like a challenge, not something to be upset over. She is rarely afraid (or so she claims). Normally one to embrace change, the events of the past year have left her a little more resistant - longing for the security of routine, she's trying to be a little less wild and a little more focused.
At the beginning of her junior year, it's clear that the events with Anonymous continue to affect her more than she'd like. Hazel has a bit of trouble sleeping now, has nightmares more frequently than she used to, sleeps with her wand under her pillow, and generally is more mistrustful of everything. She refuses to acknowledge this trauma and treats it with stubborn dismissal, to the point where she finds herself a little unsympathetic to others trying to work through what they saw and experienced. She's fine, why aren't they? Hazel has generally avoided talking about the end of last year with anyone, and may become belligerent if pushed too hard on the subject. The recklessness she exhibits now can many times seem more defiant than simply rebellious. She wants to prove to herself, and everyone else, that she is completely recovered. She'll get better with time, but for now there's this unfamiliar side of Hazel that rears its head every so often.
SKILLS
LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English.
PATRONUS: A large wolf, a nod to her werewolf uncle whom she loves dearly. Can successfully cast a full bodied patronus.
SKILLS:
[Potions]: Hazel grew up helping her mother prepare poultices and other medicinal concoctions, so potions making comes naturally to her. She's always done well in the class and her senior project focuses on her abilities there.
[Healing]: With a nurse for a mother, Hazel also grew up around healing in general. Though she hasn't been formally taught anything, she expects her experience around and with healing spells to be useful in Pre-healer Studies.
[Cheerleading]: Skilled at tumbling and dancing (thought more the former than the latter), Hazel is a strong cheerleader that takes both the athleticism and the cheering part of the sport seriously.
[Sports]: Strong understanding of Quidditch, Quodpot, and American Football, with growing knowledge in Ice Hockey. Hazel also has some skill in playing both ice hockey and Quidditch thanks to training with Chris, along with playing both sports for fun her sophomore year. Her abilities from cheerleading and sports lend to her strength and coordination in general, so things that require athleticism often come easier to her than they might to others.
[Tree Climbing]: She does this as much as she can and thus is pretty good at knowing what a safe route to take is, and how not to break her neck.
[Crocheting]: Hazel understands the theory behind crocheting and can do many different stitches, but her technique is a little sloppy so often things turn out a little lumpier than intended.
[Transportation]: Hazel obtained a driver's license over spring break her sophomore year. She obtained her Apparition license over the summer.
HISTORY
FAMILY MEMBERS:
Daisy Keating
Mother | Nurse at St. Barnabas’s Hospital for Magical Ailments
A kind, soft-spoken woman who seems quite different from her daughter but is, in fact, quite similar. She’s very straight-forward and no-nonsense and is quick to point out what she deems as harmful words or behavior, but in a very gently reprimanding way. She's got a lot of sass bottled up inside that she generally tries to temper with kindness. She attended Ilvermorny, spending a year abroad in England where she met Hazel’s father, Felix. She herself is a Muggle-born witch.
Felix Keating
Father | Quodpot/Quidditch instructor/consultant
Felix is boisterous, like his daughter, and aggressively into all sports, both magical and Muggle. Originally a minor-league Quidditch coach in England, their move to the United States lead him to create his own Quidditch/Quodpot camp for aspiring pro players. This camp runs four times yearly, and Felix remains an occasional consultant to local schools. He's somewhat of a bad influence on Hazel in that he rarely reprimands her for misbehaving and often encourages her to explore areas she maybe shouldn't.
Lief Ellis
Uncle | Wand maker's assistant
The twin brother of Hazel’s mother, Lief has played a large role in his niece’s life, even when she was abroad in England. The two share a close bond and he often gives her calming advice that she wouldn’t listen to if it came from her mother. When he became a werewolf when Hazel was four years old, the family moved to Texas to be close to him and help him manage his situation. The wood Hazel's wand is made of was actually harvested by Lief himself and made by his employer. Lief is a quiet man who displays obvious discomfort in social situations. He's the family member Hazel is closest to.
HISTORY:
Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Hazel’s upbringing was rather uneventful initially. She saw much of her father’s parents and occasionally her mother’s, along with Lief, a Muggle aunt, and her three aunts on her father’s side; her family was close knit and heavily involved in her life, and though she was raised by two magical parents she spent much of her time around Muggles, leaving her with what Daisy feels is a healthy dose of reality. Though the family had initially planned to stay in England indefinitely, Lief’s contraction of lycanthropy lead Daisy to uproot her family so she could be closer to her twin brother. Luckily, Hazel’s father was completely amenable to this, and they moved back to Daisy’s hometown of Anson, Texas when Hazel was four years old.
Despite her uncle’s lycanthropy, neither one of her parents were concerned for her well-being when in his presence, so young Hazel spent a large deal of time with Lief and never saw his condition as anything to be afraid of. When Daisy and Felix were busy with work, Lief would bring Hazel into the wandmaker shop he worked in to babysit her. On his breaks they’d spend much of their time outside, exploring the nearby park and playing all sorts of games. When Hazel was old enough to begin school at Paint Creek, a local magical K-12 school, both her and Lief were saddened by the fact that they’d get to spend less time together.
However, in school Hazel flourished, at least socially. Though she occasionally got into tiffs with other students because of her rowdy ways, she was generally well-liked by her peers, and her energy drew many to her. Her teachers were a little less pleased by her inability to sit still and her occasional dismissal of subject material she didn’t care about, but ultimately she was an average enough student and not too much of a troublemaker. Her parents, though occasionally exasperated by Hazel’s habit of getting a plethora of scrapes and bruises from her mischievousness, were glad their daughter seemed to be enjoying herself and performing acceptably in her classes.
It wasn’t until Hazel was around 12 that she seemed to find a focus – she began to take a little more interest in her mother’s work, given that her own magical talents were finally beginning to blossom. At home she helped Daisy mix poultices and eagerly learned about healing spells from her, both of which she used to help avoid some of her mother’s ire when she came home roughed up from a day of exploring. Though not focused on schooling, her skill was hard to miss. These talents lead her mother and uncle to both suggest looking into Gooseberry as a chance to get a higher quality education. While Hazel was hesitant to leave home she was eager to improve her abilities. Once accepted, it was with a mix of excitement and fear of leaving home that followed Hazel to Gooseberry.
Once at school she found her groove without much trouble. While once again performing on an acceptable level in most of her classes, her intense focus in potions and herbology gained her at least some positive attention from professors. Her aggressive support of her Quidditch team, learned from her father’s colorful commentary on American football, Quidditch, and Quodpot gained her attention from her fellow students. The environment was ideal for her as well; she immediately took to the woods, despite warnings, and found herself at home in her new school. Her adamant support of the Coppertale Qudditch team landed her on the cheer squad her sophomore year, much to her excitement, and she found that despite being far from home, Gooseberry was where she belonged.
Hazel's sophomore year brought about some general changes in her - a better appreciation for the opposite sex being one of them. Involvement in kissing games at Grotto parties gave Hazel a small taste of some of the power she could wield over boys, and helped her to realize that yes, she's definitely a fan of kissing. Much of her year was spent embracing this carefree attitude and applying it across the board. Kiss lots of boys, do lots of reckless things, break lots of bones; up until the end of second semester, her sophomore year was all about expressions of freedom. She took up hockey and played in the sophomore Quidditch league, and generally tried to let herself just be a kid. Even with the general increasing anxiety about the woods and the entities in them, Hazel trusted that things would work out.
Nearing the end of the year, however, the realization that her senior friends would be leaving started to bring her down. The horrifying ghost at the second sophomore seance didn't do much for her mood, either, but the true game changer was the final night at Gooseberry. Forced to confront the fact that she couldn't protect all of her friends, Hazel still did her best to power through and ignore her fear and worries. Even with all of this, there was never any question about returning to Gooseberry. The Coppertale was not about to let some "forest shit" and ghosts ruin her home away from home.
Her summer was quiet luckily, primarily revolving around spending as much time with her family as possible and trying to process what had happened. Friends visiting served as a good distraction, and while she returns still rattled she's much better than she was at the beginning of the summer.
SCHOOL
YEAR: Junior
HOUSE: Coppertale
SORTING: Hazel is virtually the definition of a Coppertale - confident, competitive, and loud, she had no doubts about her house when entering the cave, and neither did the emblems.
WAND: Flameleaf sumac, phoenix feather core, 9", swishy. This wood is particularly unruly and some are actually allergic to it.
FAMILIAR:
Joe Montana is not the most inspiring of rats, but he's cute as heck and the definition of a lover. He's constantly sleepy, sweet, and is something of a pacifying tool for Hazel. Cuddle buddy of any and all, he only responds to his full name unless food is offered. Best. Rat. Ever.
CLASSES: Outdoor education. Potions. Herbology. Transfiguration. Charms. Magizoology. Defense Against the Dark Arts.
ADVANCED STUDY: Pre-Healer Studies.
SENIOR PROJECT: Work on improving the Wolfsbane Potion for werewolves; Hazel will focus on creating an easier method of brewing the potion by creating 'starter packs' to reduce time and complexity of production.
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: Average in general, but with real skill in healing magics, herbology, and potions. Also, somebody's taking DADA way more seriously now thanks to the events of last year.
EXTRACURRICULARS:
[Cheer Squad]: Though she's from a contact sports obsessed home, Hazel was never one to scoff at anything that required physical prowess. Her energy and fearlessness meant she fit right in with cheerleading, and upon properly joining the team her sophomore year she put her all into the sport. She built up her skills in tumbling and dancing quickly and continues to improve as much as she can. She's a dedicated member of the squad and if you claim cheering isn't a sport she will Fight You.
[Outdoor Exploration]: Just throw Hazel out into the woods and let her do her thing! Even after the events of her sophomore year the Coppertale retains a deep love of the outdoors and just wants to be outside, climbing and exploring. She tries her best to behave on club outings to she doesn't get in trouble and get sent home.
[Crafting]: Hazel's only marginally the crafty type (crocheting is the only thing she's even close to having down), but she's got Cole and Pippa to support! Plus, she loves giving gifts and making
[Intramural Hockey]: Not officially school sanctioned, but Hazel inherited the league along with Rosy.
Changes for Y2
❦ Updated concept
❦ Minor additions to appearance
❦ Minor additions to personality throughout, with a big chunk at the end re: Y1 end game
❦ Added Y1 and summer history
❦ Added Pre-healer studies
❦ Added crafting club + prose about clubs
❦ Added skills
❦ Replaced Artificing with Transfiguration via retcon
❦ New Y2 icons
❦ I NOW HAVE A PERSONAL JOURNAL that I mostly linked for sparkle text