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Tweak says, "You're that pinball wizard!"

shoot you in the head is my rob zombie cover band (zombiephile) wrote,
@ 2010-07-11 11:24:00

Entry tags:

application: completed, game: breach

Victoria Burke for modthebreach

→ ooc: about you
Name: Brandi
Age: 26
E-mail // AIM: garnet.sunrise@gmail.com // brandied plum
Previous experience: Here at my CDJ, and here as a wiki.
Timezone & availability: CST; right now, availability is during the day, most evenings, and generally one weekend day.
CDJ // Personal journal:

zombiephile
After reading the rules, describe activity requirements for your character: Two pieces of activity a month (activity = journal entry of 10 sentences/200 words, narrative of 3+ paragraphs, log of 3+ tags)

→ ooc: about your character
basics:
Name: Victoria Cornelia Burke née Rosier
Age // Birthdate: 23 // 14 January, 1957
Residence: The Grove House, outside of Hereford, Herefordshire, England
Blood Status: Pureblood (really, must you ask?)
Loyalty: Supporter of the Death Eaters
Identity Status: Unknown. Really, if one absolutely must assume, it would be fair to assume that, given the Rosier family politics and viewpoints on such things, as well as her husband's family business, Victoria might just share the same viewpoints and ideals. But of course, she is but a woman, and a mindless socialite at that, so really, is it all that dreadfully important what beliefs she may or may not personally uphold, or which "side" she might or might not support?
Financial Background: The Rosiers are upper-class and, while not exactly Blacks or Malfoys, still comfortably wealthy (though Marcel is notoriously miserly). The Burkes make a comfortable living through Borgin & Burkes, though they are by no means swimming in excessive funds as, say, the Blacks and Malfoys are (the marriage between Victoria and Gaius was arranged more for reasons of connections to dark objects and maintaining purity than financial reasons).
Wand: Ollivander, Elm, 8 in, unicorn tail hair

physical:
Height // Build: 5'7" // stocky and sturdy
Eyes // Hair: Blonde // blue
Style of dress: Classic and elegant. Victoria is rather fond of pastels on a whole, though she does have a few pieces in her wardrobe of darker hues. Except in a few very rare cases, yellow is entirely out: with her fair skin and blonde hair, yellow just does not flatter her except in the exactly perfect shade. Her clothes are generally a tad on the plain side, with few adornments beyond the occasional lace or ribbon accents. Jewellery is kept simple and tasteful, and she would never dare to step foot outside without a hat.
First Impression: A poised, elegant, charming socialite, if not a bit on the tall side.
General Description & Distinguishing Marks: Victoria bemoans her height more than anything. She has no idea where, exactly, her excessive height comes from, but she would gladly give it away to anyone who may want it. She feels as though she positively towers over the rest of the ladies, and even some men too, though she isn't even necessarily the tallest of the society ladies. If not for the fact that a lady does not slouch, she would almost be tempted to slouch down a bit to appear less tall, though of course that would be absolutely unseemly. She is also nowhere near as slender as her younger sister, but there is a slight benefit to her build: her midwife assured her that her build was perfect for bearing many healthy children, which really is her first priority as a society wife. Her skin is fair and mostly unblemished, thanks to always ensuring that she is wearing her hat before venturing out of doors. She is as blonde and blue-eyed as her siblings, and she generally keeps that blonde hair pinned up and always (yes, always) adorned by a hat whenever she ventures out of the house.
PB: Romola Garai (icons)

personality:
General Personality: To Victoria, there is nothing worth doing that is not worth doing well. There is really no excuse to not strive to do well in your endeavours. Victoria strove to do well in her classes in school, even those which she did not care for. Those courses were summarily dropped after sitting her OWLs, to better free her time to concentrate more on the courses that she opted to continue with. It is for this reason, this devotion to everything she does, that the Sorting Hat hesitated and considered putting her into Ravenclaw, before deciding upon Slytherin. She has the determination and discipline to devote herself to doing well in whatever it is she puts her mind to, whether it's scores in school or in being the perfect socialite.

A lot of what makes Victoria who she is are her parents. One of Victoria's primary fuels is the desire to Not Be Like Her Mother. In Victoria's eyes, her mother was a selfish woman who cared more for her own pleasures than either the good of society or the raising of her children. As such, Victoria has a deep-rooted desire to avoid anything that could be considered a vice that would take away from her expectations as a society wife and mother. She puts her own happiness last, because to put herself first would be selfish, and if she started caring about her own happiness first, if she pleased herself before she pleased everyone else, then she feels that this would turn her into her mother, which terrifies her more than anything. To avoid becoming her mother, she cannot let herself be happy until everyone else is, first. She works hard to first make sure that her husband, and then her family, is happy and cared for before she dares to consider her own happiness. And even before her own happiness comes her charity work. It has become that what makes her happy is knowing that she is doing exactly what is expected of her as a society lady, as a wife and soon-to-be mother, as a daughter and sister. If she has any free time, she devotes that to charities and to bettering herself as a lady of society.

Of course, she is a worrier. She worries that people will fear that the apple did not fall far enough from the tree, that she will become like Her Mother. She worries about her father and her brother and her sister. She worries constantly that she will be a poor mother, as she doesn't have a good example in her own mother to emulate. She worries that, although the midwife assured her that her unborn child will be a boy, it will be a girl, that she will be incapable of providing her husband with a proper heir. She worries that, despite her best efforts to the contrary, she will do something that would be seen as a failure. She worries that these dratted muggles and muggleborns will completely tear society down by its ears and set the entire world topsy-turvy. She could very well give herself a complex with all these worries. But she just saves her melt-downs and panic attacks for private, and she presents a composed, calm, put-together face to the public, as charming as the next seemingly-brainless socialite, knowing full-well that diplomacy is the best way to get things done, and being on good terms with people is the best way to get sensitive information from them. She could not quite necessarily be considered a schemer, but she does know that certain things must simply happen a certain way for everything to go well.

Something that she has inherited from her father is a bit of a sense of frugality. She refuses to spend one knut more for something that she absolutely must, and she avoids buying frivolous things as much as possible; anything purchased must serve a greater purpose, particularly for her husband or for her unborn child. Purchasing things on a whim is a waste of money, and purchasing things for her own enjoyment simply will not do, especially if the money could instead have gone toward something for her husband or child. Somewhat inconsistently, however, she will lavish gifts upon loved ones. This tends to tie in with her desire to make sure that those in her life are happy: extravagant gifts were so rare in the Rosier household that she has come to equate those with happiness and love. So while she wouldn't buy something extravagant for herself, she will perhaps gift friends and family with something fancy or extravagant for their birthday or for Christmas, because she wants for them to be happy -- but of course, even when buying such lavish gifts, she still does not spend more on them than absolutely necessary, and she truly thinks the gifts through before shopping, rather than picking the first thing she sees on a whim.

And the war. The war distresses Victoria. These muggles and muggleborns, they're jealous, and they're taking out their jealousy on the innocent citizens of the wizarding world. Victoria sees them as a horribel disease, determined to destroy the history and culture of the wizarding world with their horrible jealousy, determined to undermine absolutely everything that makes their world great and wonderful. And that terrifies her. The fact that her father and her brother are involved in something to do with the Dark Lord (she does not know exactly what is going on, just that something is going on) concerns her and feeds into her worry: she worries about something happening to them because they are (in her eyes) standing for everything that is right about the world: the culture, the history, the heritage. She supports what her brother and father are doing, whatever it is they're doing, so long as they manage to preserve their lifestyle and come back alive.
Strengths & Weaknesses: Her biggest weakness is, of course, her inclination toward worrying. It is a highly distracting trait, one that draws her attention away from other, more pressing matters: if she is overly concerned with her worries and with holding them inside, she cannot be appropriately attending to whatever needs attending to. She also lives somewhat inside a bubble, not aware of the things that are done by the followers of the Dark Lord (or even that her father and her brother are among those doing these things). She absolutely believes that it is the muggles and muggleborns who are doing these horrible, wretched things, and all that she and those like her are attempting to do is to safeguard the culture and history from these barbarians who are set to destroy it. She cannot see the world outside that which she has been taught, and she steadfastly refuses to see beyond the bubble.

As far as strengths go, she is determined. Anything that she starts, she will see through to the end, no matter what. She will not give anything less than complete devotion to any endeavours that she takes on, and she will not give up.
Mental Health: Victoria is not insane. She does not see apparitions, she does not hear voices in her head, she does not have difficulties carrying on a coherent conversation. But to call her firmly mentally stable and sound might be a bit of a stretch. She has a few issues (primarily Mother Issues), and she is rather prone to panic attacks in private, but she puts together a calm and collected front when around others, even those with whom she is close: her family and close friends. She has been schooled from a young age to approach stress and pressues with grace and poise, and she saves any melt-downs for private, and so that is what she does. Her family and close friends may be able to pinpoint when she is on the verge of melting down (an increased rate of breath and her heart beating faster; widening eyes that begin to slightly dart about; longer pauses before speaking [so that she can better prepare her responses]; perhaps even a bit of a tremor or tightness to her voice; and, of course, excusing herself for a moment [so that she may go melt down in private and recompose herself before returning]), but she does absolutely as much as she possibly can to avoid melting down or having a panic attack in front of anyone, even her husband or her siblings. There is little doubt that those she is close to at least guess that there is something going on with her at times like these, but she does hope that those who do guess at least don't particularly go out of their way to provoke such reactions out of her.

magical training & occupation:
School: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
House: Slytherin
Years: 1968 - 1975
Prefect/Quidditch/School activities: Prefect (1972-75); Charms Club; Slug Club
N. E. W. T. Scores:

Astronomy: Acceptable
Charms: Outstanding
Potions: Exceeds Expectations
Transfiguration: Outstanding

Magical Strengths: Her strengths are in the realm of precise and delicate movements: Charms, Potions, and Transfiguration. She is utterly distraught at the mere Exceed Expectations that she earned on her Potions NEWT (for which she entirely blames her mother's ill-timed suicide, though she would never vocalise that), for she knows that she is far better at potions than that. Potions and Charms both require a steady hand, as well of a knowledge of exactly what movements create what effect: stirring your potions counter-clockwise instead of in figure-eights would produce disastrous results, as would using the wrong wand movement for a spell. You must have your wits about you, as you stir a potion or cast a charm. And, of course, transfiguration is (in a way) an extension of charms: you must know precisely the wand movements with which to cast your spell. As long as she tamps down on her tendency to worry, she is a skilled spell-caster and a skilled potion-brewer.
Magical Weaknesses: Well, for one thing, there is Herbology. Although she gave it her all, she despised the class the entire time and dropped it as soon as she sat the OWL for it. Getting her hands dirty was an absolutely horrendous experience. Additionally, as she is simply a society lady and housewife, her practical applications of her magic are limited entirely to what she learned in school and what are commonly used about the house. Although she may have the skills to brew complex potions, she has hardly brewed anything stronger than a Pepper-Up potion. She didn't even brew her own morning sickness relief potions, she purchased them ready-brewed from her midwife (mostly out of a worrisome fear that even the slightest mistake might harm the baby). Likewise, her practical usage of charms and transfiguration are limited to those which would occur about the house.
Current Occupation: Wife, mother-to-be, socalite, philanthropist
Previous Jobs: Not applicable. As if Victoria, a lady and a Rosier, would ever deign to dirty her hands by working for a living.
How is your character involved in the war? Victoria is involved in the war insomuch as any proper society lady is: by supporting the men in her life in their more active roles in the war. If you must insist upon an active role, then hers would be in maintaining the society that the Dark Lord and his followers wish to preserve. Philanthropism, primarily, but also maintaining the expectations of a society wife: by bearing and raising heirs to understand the society that they will, in the future, take an active part in. It is Victoria's duty to teach her children that which these heathens are attempting to destroy: the history, the culture, the heritage. It is her duty to instill in her children the pride of the pureblood, to raise them to fight to preserve it. It is also her duty to support those (such as her brother and her father) who are fighting to preserve their culture, whatever it is that they are doing.

family & relationships:
Immediate (& Influential) Family:

Son:

Father:

Mother:

Brother:

Evan Rosier

Sister:

Cassandra Rosier

Paternal Grandfather:

Paternal Grandmother:

Maternal Grandfather:

Maternal Grandmother:

Cousins:

Bellatrix Lestrange (née Black)

~~Andromeda Tonks (née Black)~~

Narcissa Malfoy (née Black)

Family Relationships: To say that the Rosier family has complex relationships would be like saying a torrential storm is nothing but a light shower. There is, of course, mother dearest. Iris was the perfect example (so to speak) of what a society woman absolutely should not be, ignoring her children's existence in favour of her vices. Although Victoria originally sought approval from her mother, she soon grew out of that childish notion and viewed her mother with the same cool detachment with which Iris viewed her children. Victoria publicly mourned her mother's death, but inwardly, she was honestly more distraught over the timing of Iris' death, as it occurred just before she was to sit her NEWTs.

Daddy, however, was a different story entirely. Although he hardly spoiled his children (in fact, he was notoriously tight-fisted), he was more lax and indulgent with Victoria and Cassandra than he was with Evan. The desire to do her mother proud was replaced by a desire to do her father proud, so she has inherited a bit of his miserly ways, and rather loathes to spend money on "frivolous" things.

Victoria is absolutely fond of both of her younger siblings, of course. After Iris' death, she stepped up and took upon herself the mantle of Lady of the House, gracefully walking the thin line between mothering her younger siblings, who were nearly adults themselves, and remaining simply their elder sister. Even before Iris' death, Victoria was particularly fond of Evan, and she took to smuggling him food and sweets if he was ever punished by their father and sent to his room without supper. She trusts both of her siblings, and they remain her closest confidantes, and among the first that she turns to for comfort and company.
Sexual Preference: Heterosexual, naturally
Significant Other: Gaius Burke (b. 1953, former Ravenclaw)

history:
(Please provide a minimum of one paragraph per section. Make use of the game time line, and try to be specific on dates, especially if your character is Order or Death Eater. We want to know exactly when they joined, as well as why and how. )
Childhood: There are times when an arranged marriage ends up being perfect and leading to, if not love, then at least mutual affection and dignity. The marriage between Marcel Rosier and Iris Greengrass was not one of those types of arranged marriages. No, it is simply not possible for any other couple to exist that is worse for each other than Marcel and Iris were for each other. Marcel was a contented rock while Iris was a caged bird aching for the freedom of the sky. Despite hopes that Marcel would be able to tame the free-spirited (by society's standards) Iris, their marriage was a tumultuous and rocky one. Neither was happy with the match, but they went through with the wedding regardless. By the time they "got down to business" and produced three children (Victoria first, followed by Evan and then Cassandra), they were as separate as two people could be while residing within the same house (at least Morningside House was large enough to accomodate them both).

The children were handed off to nannies and house elves, with Marcel being the only parent to take a hand in the raising of the children; Iris was hardly around at all, and she all but ignored the children when she was there. When she was much younger, Victoria did not think anything odd about this arrangement; she believed that all children were raised in such a manner; she still attempted to make her mother proud of her and worked in vain attempts to garner attention from the flighty Iris. It wasn't too terribly long before Victoria realised that, no matter what she did, nothing she did was enough to gain her mother's attention. She also began to realise that her family was not normal, that other children's mothers took a more active role in their lives. And so, instead of devoting herself to trying to please her mother, she instead turned to her siblings, and also decided to try to please her father, instead. She became content to focus on her siblings and her father and ignore her mother, as if Iris did not exist at all. She would be the perfect little girl, and show Iris exactly what she was missing out on by ignoring her own children. Anything she was given to do, she strove to do well and succeed in it, from piano to singing to horseback riding. She positively loved the plays that she, Evan, and Cassandra would stage, and she delighted in being given opportunities to sing or to play the piano at social functions, once she was old enough to attend.

While the children were growing up, Iris was off in a downward spiral of scandals and improper behaviour: gambling (and racking up quite a debt at it), attending parties instead of attending to her family, taking lovers (which was bad enough on its own; the fact that they were half-blooded or worse made it even more scandalous), visiting pawn shoppes ... well. Marcel was careful to shield his children from his wife's indiscretions, but Victoria could hardly help but notice how little time Iris actually spent at home.
Hogwarts/School: Of course, every young witch or wizard delights in the day that they receive their Hogwarts acceptance letter, and Victoria was no different. Although she was sad to be leaving her brother and sister behind, Victoria was absolutely thrilled to be finally going off to Hogwarts in September of 1968, a scarce eight and a half months after she turned eleven. She would excel in school, she knew, and she would make her father proud by being a perfect young lady who never once stepped out of bounds as a student. Being sorted into Slytherin was absolutely perfect, though she would not have objected to Ravenclaw, as the Hat briefly considered. The dungeons, though dank, were a rather acceptable home away from home, and she wrote letters to her siblings constantly, until Evan joined her at Hogwarts in 1971 (Victoria's fourth year) and Cassandra joined them in 1972 (Victoria's fifth year). When Evan joined Victoria in Slytherin, she was delighted to be able to show him around their common room, and although she was saddened that Cassandra did not join them in Slytherin, she was nonetheless proud of her baby sister for making Ravenclaw.

The biggest shock to Victoria was that she was forced to consort with half-bloods and mud-bloods. Of course, being raised to be a Proper Lady, (and knowing that you catch far more flies with sugar than with vinegar) she was (publicly) unfailingly polite to everyone, regardless of their lineage or their financial status. Of course, she did not go out of her way to spend time with mud-bloods or half-bloods, but she would not turn away from them in disgust.

In her fifth year, her devotion to being an exemplary student paid off in the form of prefecture. Her proudest moment was receiving the badge with her supply list for fifth year. She devoted herself, in the following three years, to being the best prefect that she could be: honest, fair, trustworthy. She was absolutely distraught when she was not made Head Girl, but ultimately decided that such an auspicious title might scare away potential suitors, or make her less acceptable as a potential wife. After all, proper society ladies shouldn't let authority go to their heads, and her desire to be Head Girl was just that: proof that her authority as a prefect was going to her head.

Academically speaking, Victoria devoted herself to doing well in all subjects, even those she disliked. After all, just because she disliked them, that did not mean that they were any less worthy of being studied. And she was always able to drop the classes that she disliked once she had sat through the OWLs (of course, she was utterly relieved that the new mandatory "Muggle Studies" course was added to the Hogwarts curriculum after she was finished at school). As soon as she had a choice in the matter, she dropped down to four classes, those which had held her attention and which she had thoroughly enjoyed over the past five years. All of her studies were to be culminated in her NEWT exams, which she spent the entirety of her seventh year preparing for (yet another reason why it turned out to be good that she was not named Head Girl; she was able to devote time to her studies that would elsewise be occupied in Head Girl duties).

Unfortunately, just before she was to sit her NEWTs, an owl from home came, bearing terrible news: their mother had died. Victoria, Evan, and Cassandra were rushed home, and they learned that their mother had drowned in a nearby lake. Two summers prior, she had nearly died after an "accidental" overdose of Dreamless Sleep Potion, and her death was ruled to be another unfortunate accident (though it was a secret that everybody knew that it was suicide: her wand lay snapped on the bank of the lake, and her pockets were filled with rocks). When Victoria finally sat her NEWTs, her concentration had been shattered and, with the loss of that important study-time, she did not fare as well on her exams as she had hoped, earning a horrifying Acceptable on one, a positively dismal Exceeds Expectations on another, and only two Outstandings. She blames her mother's ill-timed suicide for her marks, and (although she would never vocalise these thoughts to anyone), she does wish that her mother might have at least, for once, been considerate enough to take her children into account and commit suicide after their exams. Of course, by this point, Victoria was so far emotionally detached from her mother that her death no more impacted her than she would have been by a stranger (as Iris was essentially a stranger to her children), but the timing of the death, the funeral, the forced grieving period ... it all simply conspired against her and drew her focus away from her studies.
Recent History: Iris' death did have a sort of bright spot in its timing: as Victoria was just finishing up with school, she was able to gracefully take on the role as Lady of the House at Morningside. This was a perfect opportunity for her to display just how absolutely perfect she would be at being a Perfect Society Lady and how absolutely different she was from her mother. She personified grace and charm, showcasing exactly how well she had been raised, not tainted in the least by her mother's lack of social graces. She was the consummate society lady, and it was not long before Marcel arranged a marriage between Victoria and Gaius Burke, the heir to the Burke half of the store Borgin & Burkes (which Gaius was being groomed to take over his half of). Victoria was absolutely thrilled to be placed in such a wonderful match.

As soon as her fate was set in stone with the arrangement of the marriage (because breaking such an arrangement was purely unthinkable), she devoted herself entirely to her future family (while still, of course, fulfilling her duties as stand-in Lady of the House for her own family). Victoria and Gaius were married in December, 1976, and Victoria immediately set to work attempts to do her duty as a society wife: to bear an heir for her husband, to carry on the Burke name. To her dismay, she continually failed to get pregnant. She was positive that there must be something horribly wrong with her, that she was a failure as a proper wife to her husband. And, of course, the fact that muggles and muggle-borns were attacking proper witches and wizards certainly did not help in the slightest; she was entirely too worried about everything: the fate of the wizarding world and also her lack of an heir for her husband.

To her absolute delight, she found out in the spring of 1980 that she and Gaius were finally, finally expecting a child. Victoria vowed to follow absolutely everything that the midwife told her to do, down to the letter. She is steadfastly determined to have a wonderfully healthy baby when he is due in October (and it was just in early June that the midwife confirmed that the baby would, indeed, be a boy). Being pregnant is the absolute best experience that Victoria can imagine, and now if only the rest of the wizarding world would shape up and go back to normal, she can properly raise her child in a proper society environment.

→ ic: samples
First Person Sample:
The baby is kicking again. I do not believe there is anything more joyous than to have a little life growing inside of you, and to feel him kicking and moving about. He will be a happy and healthy baby, I am absolutely positive of it. Especially as we have already decided upon a name for him: Marcus. Marcus Alexander Burke. I simply love the way that the name simply flows off my tongue. Oh, I am so excited about this little bundle of joy. October truly cannot arrive nearly quickly enough, I am so anxious to meet my son!

Warded to Cassandra.

Tea sometime this week, darling? We must catch up. How are the wedding preparations proceeding?

And speaking of weddings, do you have any thoughts about young ladies who would be appropriate for Evan? You are much closer in age to him than I am, would any of your classmates be appropriate to bring forth as suggestions to father? Evan cannot neglect his duty of providing an heir for much longer, especially as we will both soon be married.

Warded to Evan.

Surely you are not too busy for your darling older sister, my dear? You must join Gaius and me for supper sometime soon. I will not take no for an answer, brother dear. Please do not force me to beg to spend a bit of time catching up with my darling brother.

Third Person Sample:
Victoria stood before the mirror in just her dressing gown, thoroughly examining the way her belly swelled and bloomed out from her. She had never been a fan of her own figure, but she absolutely adored how she looked pregnant. Of course, as soon as Marcus was born, she would need to devote herself to losing the baby weight (and perhaps just a bit more), but for now, she reveled in the large, swollen belly that stood out ahead of her. She knew, as well, that Gaius was just as pleased about the pregnancy as she was. It had taken quite a while, but they were finally so close to securing an heir for the Burke name, Victoria could practically taste it.

Stifling a slight sigh, Victoria stepped away from the mirror, slipping her robe back on as she moved from her dressing room into her sitting room and sat at the desk. A quill and inkwell sat at the ready, along with plenty of parchment and stationary for writing letters, lists, and anything else she could imagine. Her journal was tucked away in one of the drawers, but she need not bother with that at the moment. Instead, she placed a sheet of parchment on the desk before her, prepared a quill, and began writing out a list of everything that she could think of that they still needed for the baby. They were already preparing the nursery, but Victoria was absolutely positive that, unless she created a new list nearly every week, she would surely forget about something that would be drastically important.

Her quill moved swiftly down the page, filling it with everything she could possibly think of: the furniture was already covered, but clothing, toys, nappies, decorations for the room, all these and more were things that she knew were best purchased before the baby arrived. And although there was still three months until Marcus was due, there was always the horrifying possibility that he may be oh-so-slightly early, and of course the best way to shop would be to take one's time and consider all the possibilities; purchasing something on a whim simply would not do, especially not for something so important as supplies and necessities for her baby.

So she made a list. She would reference it against last week's list, to see if there were any discrepancies, if she forgot something that she had listed previously, or if, while creating the new list, she had thought of more things that were needed that she hadn't thought of before. Certainly, she must be dilligent, she must not be lacking as a mother even before the child was born.