OOC
GAME: Era Zero
DESCRIPTION: 1940s Riddle-era RPG, with Grindelwald and the Knights of Walpurgis.
DATE: December 2006
PB: Jamie Johnston
JOURNAL: tamingdames
CONCEPT: Spawned from a mention in the backstory of Jane's Olive Hornby regarding her on-again, off-again relationship with the seventh-year Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain. I also played Kaia Linwood for years and years — all the way through Hogwarts and into adulthood — at Hogwarts MOO, which was set in the 1910s/1920s, so it seemed oddly poignant to resurrect her NPC older brother in the 1940s.
IC
FULL NAME: Damien Matthew Linwood
HOUSE/YEAR: Hufflepuff, seventh.
POSITION: Quidditch captain and Chaser.
DOB: 22 August, 1925
BLOODLINE: Presumed Muggleborn, actually halfblood.
FAMILY:
Matthew Linwood (Ravenclaw alumnus, estranged father).
Rachel Keefe-Linwood (mother, housewife).
Kaia Linwood (Gryffindor, little sister).
Jonathan Valemoor (stepfather).
Delaney Valemoor (stepsister)
BRIEF HISTORY: The beginning of Damien's life was relatively simple and unproblematic. He had a mother, a father, a cramped yet loving environment to grow up in, and multitudes of boys around the neighbourhood to kick around a football with. Nevermind what those Americans called it — soccer it was not, because soccer was a ridiculous name, but football, now that was a game fit for the gods. He was your typical tomboy, sports fanatic, and a bit of a ringleader in his group of boys. Damien had an easy charm about him which drew others to him like flies. And if the family was poor, well, Damien did his best not to weigh them down. Growing up into, through, and after the Depression, his father taught him frugality, ways to skimp on expenses, and to save one's money. And when little Kaia came along — a complete accident, but don't let her ever hear that — Damien did his best to take the girl under his wing. The sister was his, and he'd be damned if anyone else could bully her but him. He was the perfect older brother.
As the family lived in Purley, a little south within Greater London, Damien attended St. David's School the entire time — up until his Hogwarts acceptance letter. By that time, however, Matthew and Rachel had already had their series of turbulent arguments and the quiet, serious man simply disappeared from their lives. The Linwoods, deprived of their patriarchal figure, reeled and struggled to come to terms with the fact that Damien's childhood accidents were a bit more than simple bizarre accidents. Rachel, having her suspicions that Matthew had been hiding a bit more from her than she initially thought, kept trying to contact her ex-husband somehow; but it was as if he had vanished off the face of the earth. After ignoring a certain number of the mysterious letters, a polite knock on the door inevitably led to a Hogwarts representative patiently explaining to Rachel what exactly was going on. As the summer drew onwards, eventually she dropped off her girl with the neighbours and took Damien down to this so-called Diagon Alley.
His first year was a shabby one indeed (Damien had secretly been dreaming of going to Eton College, despite the fact that his academics weren't good enough to merit a scholarship and there was no chance of the Linwoods affording it), and the Muggleborn boy was dressed in and carrying second-hand equipment, much like his soon-to-be dormmate, Alastor Moody. His rapid encounter with purebloodist ideals didn't have Damien developing the same frantic desire to prove himself and be the Very Best, but he simply retreated from whoever thought badly of him. Damien clung instead to friendly faces and easy smiles: whoever would accept him. He kept trying to ply others with his charm, winning friends wherever he could. No matter if most of them were superficial and he doesn't have a lot of people he can consider soulmates — at least he was liked, damnit, and Damien was determined to be one of the most popular boys in Hogwarts.
Things changed slightly when Kaia also turned eleven and received the same letter from the school. The girl was overjoyed — she'd been worried that her older brother was going to have all the fun.
Fortunes changed when he was thirteen and he came home for Christmas to discover that his mother had a new guest, an amiable man named Jonathan Valemoor. He was relatively wealthy, but lived in a cramped house a district over with his daughter, Delaney. Damien found himself immensely distrustful of this stranger, but eventually warmed to Rachel's new companion. Damien has two memories or images of his own father: One is the wise protective figure who guarded him from everything and taught him everything. The other is the one who would argue and shout with his mother, and who simply abandoned the family one day and left Rachel to empty-handedly file for divorce in the absence of a husband. Jonathan could never fully replace Matthew, but perhaps he'd be a worthy substitute. They all moved into the same cramped house, but at last, their financial situation was relatively stable. Damien started wearing higher-quality robes, and strutting himself a bit more for attention; this is around the time he discovered girls, and made an awkward game out of it.
Everything changed again in 1939. Fourteen years old, and England joined World War II. The entire family watched the developments with unease, but eventually grew used to the change of atmosphere in the United Kingdom. They were all glad that Damien and Kaia were both nestled away in Hogwarts most of the year, and Damien made a point of guarding his little sister and being secretly very, very happy that she was with him and therefore safe. Whenever at home for the summer, both boy and girl found themselves slowly tiring of the taste of rationed spam and hating the manufactured meat dearly. If only for the food, they longed to return to the cooking of the Hogwarts house elves.
Last year, the Blitz took an especially damaging toll on Damien's psyche. For the first time, his mother and stepfather openly forbade him to come home for Christmas as London was being continually bombed. The headlines in the Muggle papers both shocked and horrified him, and the Hufflepuff constantly stole his sister's paper and hid it away so she wouldn't see the photographs.
Now seventeen, Damien's fear of the war is ever tripling. His girlfriend (or have they broken up again? sometimes it's hard to tell, yet sometimes it's incredibly easy to tell, especially with the part where they pointedly ignore each other at the dinner table and in classes and in the common room), Olive Hornby, is a rabid supporter of England's role in the war, but with the moment Damien became legal in the wizarding world, he also became terrified of getting conscripted. He's not certain how Muggleborn boys are supposed to cope with this.
He still doesn't know the truth about his father's heritage, but he has his share of hefty suspicions, especially considering Kaia's magical talent. Their stepsister, Delaney, still lives with the family in London, and Dames can't help but find himself constantly exasperated by the girl, and has little patience for her finicky nature and lack of understanding of the wizarding world.
PERSONALITY: Damien Linwood cannot stand to be alone. It is his biggest form of emotional dependency, and one that he hates admitting to. He must always have at least one other person in the room (he's used to this, after years in a small house, and always with those boisterous neighbours over), and he simply doesn't know what to do with himself when the room is empty and everything. is. quiet. He's an intensely social being by nature, and behind his charming exterior — where he strives to gain the largest assortment of friends and admirers as possible — Damien is deeply worried and uncertain.
His exterior is a fairly solid one, however, and it takes an incredibly keen eye to discern his moments of weakness. To almost all the world, the seventeen-year-old appears breezy and unconcerned, the mellow counterpart to Olive. He considers himself a gentleman, although an incredibly flirtatious one. He attempts to let most problems slide right off his back, and avoids confrontation as much as possible — when confrontation is necessary, however, you'll find that Damien has a sharp and spiteful edge to him. He can sulk and ignore you for as long as possible, or simply drop subtle, loaded comments that might, just might, be construed as barbed insults.
Whatever the situation, though, Damien's personality is a strong and magnetic one, which often draws others to him. He'll often blatantly ignore the more purist-minded students of the school, casting off their opinions as unimportant.
School-wise, he hasn't been the best of students. His academics have suffered in the wake of his flourishing social life and extracurricular activities (what with Quidditch eating his life, and the Duelling Club being a fond pasttime), scoring only one O on his OWLs. Mostly, he survives by frantic activity sprees, churning his way through the homework at the very last minute — and most often the night before. Not all of the subjects come easily or naturally to him, so as a result, Damien has to push himself to do well. Considering he isn't actually good enough in Quidditch to follow it professionally after Hogwarts, his obsession with the sport is technically a waste of time. If his father only knew, he'd be terribly disappointed.
APPEARANCE: At first sight, Damien is clearly a Quidditch player, soccer player, and simply a well-built young man. Dirty blonde hair and innocent blue eyes make him appear more "cute" than openly "handsome" — he has a finely-featured face, but there certainly isn't anything rugged about him. He can't grow a satisfactory beard, and has just about given up on it, and instead maintains a perfectly clean-shaven face. Dames carries the definition of boyish good looks, and has learnt to ply this to his advantage. Cheeky grins and playful arches of the eyebrow seems to be a staple of his teasing and flirting repertoire.
VIEWS on politics and Grindelwald: Damien hates the Muggle war and he hates the magical war. He has his feet firmly planted on the Allies and the Ministry's side of things, but he wants to keep his head down and out of trouble as much as possible… which is just about impossible, considering the all-encompassing nature of these wars. And yet, as he keeps telling himself, he is not a stupid idiotic idealistic Gryffindor, risking his life on the line for no reason at all. Damien just wants his family to be safe, which is becoming more and more difficult these days. He's just waiting for the morning his conscription letter arrives, and dreads it.
VIEWS on blood purity and his/her social status: To everyone's knowledge, Damien is Muggleborn, which automatically makes him scum in purists' yes. Yet he views this label as a point of pride — he's immersed in both worlds, one foot in each, capable of surviving in either. He snubs purebloods for their willingness to ignore the world around them and forcibly remain oblivious to Muggle lifestyles. If a wizard stumbles in conversation — say, confusing "electricity" with "eckeltricity" — Damien will instinctively react with mocking, which definitely isn't one of his more attractive sides. All of this has evolved as a defense mechanism, however. He refuses to be talked down to simply because of his blood, and is determined to remain popular and maintain a high social status within Hogwarts despite that.
SOUNDTRACK
THERE IS NOTHING LIKE A DAME - reel big fish
LOGS
December 22, 1942: Visiting Parker
January 6, 1943: Captain Linwood vs Captain Boot
