FULL NAME: Marguerite Maribelle Morgenstern.
NICKNAMES: Maisy, preferably always, so much so that some people may be surprised to find out it's short for something. M&M if you're being cute.
AGE/DOB: February 19 / 17.
YEAR: Senior.
BLOOD STATUS: Halfblood.
GENDER/PRONOUNS: Female. She/her/hers.
SEXUALITY: Oh, definitely heterosexual.
HOMETOWN: Elflock Falls, WV. Born and raised!
APPEARANCE:Maisy has certainly inherited her aunt's sense of style; she is always smartly dressed and put together. Fashion is her primary mode of self-expression. Unlike the bespoke items at Junebug's, though, Maisy prefers thrifted and retro looks. Or anything for the #aesthetic, really. It's a blessing she doesn't have easy access to Instagram in her hometown, because if she did, she'd be on it all the time.
HEIGHT: 5'1"
BUILD: Stout, but fit.
PB: Sarah Jeffery
INSPO: Pinterest.
What would others say is their most prominent personality trait — what's the first thing people notice about them?Is "loud" a personality trait? Maisy is loud. And for someone who knows the importance of a good first impression (she holds onto her snap judgments like nobody else), she's not particularly concerned with making them. Maisy is unapologetically Maisy at all times, for better or worse. While she's strong-willed and capable of being a little abrasive, though, she also doesn't have a truly malicious bone in her body, and the fact that she clearly lacks all the shrewdness of a classic mean girl is probably her most redeeming quality. While she thinks very highly of herself and is clearly someone that considers herself a witty and endearing Elizabeth Bennet type, Jane Austen would probably wryly describe her as more of a Lydia: "untamed, unabashed, wild, noisy, and fearless."
How would this character describe themself? What do they think are their best and worst qualities?A litany of compliments. To hear Maisy tell it, Maisy is the most amazing person in the world: friendly, creative, talented, a quick learner, a veritable font of good relationship advice, a loyal and supportive friend, a sharp dresser, someone who never wakes up on the wrong side of the bed. But she's not so self-important that she can't think of some negative qualities for herself, too. Like, sometimes she's too much of a perfectionist. Or too self-sacrificing. Or her own harshest critic. She can go on like this for ages, and it's probably enough evidence for any reasonable person to conclude that her real weakness is self-delusion at best or narcissism at worst.
What drives them to action? Doing good? Getting rich? Receiving praise?Maisy keeps moving because she's afraid to stop. Idleness makes her uncomfortable in the extreme and being alone with her thoughts is her personal nightmare. A lot of the things she does, she does for the sake of avoiding boredom. But she has some secondary goals, too, mostly in service of keeping herself entertained. She wants badly to be adored by her classmates; she wants as many friends as possible (a few enemies can be exciting, too). Being intrigued by good gossip and secrets makes her nosy - if she can be up in someone's business, she's happy. And for all her negative emotions that she doesn't know how to process in a healthy fashion, she has her art and her hobbies. Why self-reflect when you can artfully tear up a pair of jeans or throw some paint at a canvas until you feel better?
How does this character handle tense social situations like arguments/fights?Diversion! For someone who generally enjoys drama, Maisy hates being in the center of a conflict. She likes hearing about these things second-hand, but if she finds herself adjacent to an argument (or, god forbid, in the middle of one), she's going to try to change the topic as quickly as possible. She's actually not bad at doing this, either; she's saved a lot of parties by suggesting a friendly game of quidpong right before the tension snaps. At heart, Maisy's in it for a good time. Laughing about someone's silly crush behind their back is fun; watching them cry and knowing you're responsible is very not.
How sensitive are they?Maisy likes to think of herself as unfazeable and unaffected by everyone that isn't her, and she does a good job of projecting that vibe. She's very rarely struck by self-consciousness, but she's also very rarely confronted with criticism. For most of her childhood, she was wildly validated by her doting family, and she expects everyone to love her just like she is in her daily life too. When people don't, well, that's fine! ... she says. In reality, she's pretty sensitive to rejection. But sadness, uncertainty, and fear are emotions that she doesn't know how to deal with, and she hates experiencing them. She's not the kind of person who cries in the shower or mopes around, but it comes out in other ways: self-destructive behavior, making huge messes with her art, bottling it all up and saving it for later.
FUN FACTS:
ESTP / 7w6 / Big Feelings Pisces
LANGUAGES: Just English, but she's very good at deciphering thick Appalachian accents.
HOBBIES: Thrifting, restoring antiques, making herself the center of attention, hosting themed events, complaining, speculating on other people's relationship status, matchmaking,
SKILLS:
Intuition: Maisy is a bird of prey when it comes to juicy bits of gossip. If you're acting off, she's going to notice, and she has a nose for secret drama. Is she slightly psychic? No, probably not. But she could be.
Painting: She painted a mural on her bedroom wall when she was seven and she's been painting ever since. She mostly works in acrylics, but has been experimenting with oil paints in class this year.
Fiddle: Most Morgensterns have some kind of creative streak in them, and impromptu folk music jam sessions are common at family dinners. She learned to play the fiddle from her grandmother, and frequently brags that she's the best at it of the grandchildren. (She also plays percussion for marching band and the ukulele, although only "decently" and "not very well" respectively.)
Elbow Grease: When she's thrifting for clothes or furniture or just about anything, she's not looking at the product as-is. She's looking at what it could be. She loves fixing things up or making a cute outfit out of a terrible one.
Owl Handling: Even the crankiest of birds has a secret headscritch spot they'll go wild for and she will find it. She has no fear of being pecked, and plenty of scars on her hands to prove it.
Thrifting and Haggling: She knows how to find a deal, and the fact that she's known every thrift store, pawn shop, and antique market owner in Elflock Falls since she was a child means that she has no shame in asking for a reasonable discount.
FAMILY:May Morgenstern, mother. Former Deeplurk. Deceased. Maisy's memories of her are a little hazy, but very fond. She worked for the BoMB and died in a work-related accident when Maisy was six.
June Morgenstern, aunt & legal guardian. Former Thorntrail. Proprietor of Junebug's.
October Morgenstern, aunt. Former Wildgulch. Owl breeder.
Darcie Morgenstern, older sister. Former Mothgarden. Currently away at college, which Maisy hates. She's studying hermeticism and magigenesis, and is like, a total genius.
Tamsin Morgenstern, older cousin. Former Mothgarden. Works with her mother at the owlrey. She's like a second sister, and Maisy is relieved she didn't leave town for school like Darcie did.
Many other Morgenstern women live in Elflock Falls or nearby, but not with Maisy & co. These include Great-Grandmother Earnestine (the proprietor of Morgenstern & Daughters, a local antiques market), Grandma Margery, Great Aunts Orla and Marlyse, and a healthy smattering of second cousins however many times removed. Maisy is the youngest cousin of her generation and the only school-aged Morgenstern at the moment; after many years of being the baby of the family there are now some new additions aged six and under.
Also, there's: Merritt Morgenstern, many-times-great grandmother. Ghost. A founding citizen of Elflock Falls. Hangs around City Hall and offers unsolicited advice to local politicians.
BACKGROUND:The Morgenstern women have been a fixture of Elflock Falls for as long as the town's been around. Allegedly descendant from a nomaj Salem "witch" who escaped execution and named herself after
the devil, they rarely marry and only have daughters. How much of this is fact versus fiction is up for debate, but as far as Maisy is concerned a couple things are for certain: she has no idea who her father is, and she's been doted on by her large and largely female family since she was a small child.
Her childhood wasn't entirely idyllic, though. When she was only six her mother died in a work-related accident, leaving her and her sister to the care of their aunt June. While June was nearly ten years younger than her eldest sister, she'd known that May's job was dangerous when she agreed to be the girls' godmother, and she took to guardianship easily. A doting if slightly absent-minded parent, she and Maisy have always been particularly close.
Not long after Maisy's mother died, her other aunt and cousin moved into the house she shared with Aunt June. Living communally is another tenant the Morgenstern family abides by; Maisy's unorthodox little family unit never seemed all that strange to her. Her creative and brilliant relatives encouraged all her passions and rarely told her "no". By the time Maisy started at Peckenpaugh, most walls in June's house were covered in her murals and artwork, and she was thoroughly unprepared for the brutal rejections that come along with being a high schooler.
For Maisy, new classmates were the most exciting part of leaving Elflock Local. Forever intrigued by other people, their feelings, and their secrets, she was eager to get to know her new school friends, whether they wanted to be friends with her or not. Now, in her senior year, she has a reputation for being pushy and a little irresponsible (many a freshman has fallen prey to cool-older-student-Maisy's peer pressure at parties), but also? Fun. And fun is really the best thing you can be, in her opinion.
WAND: Larch & snalleygaster heartstring, 12 inches, whippy.
FAMILIAR: Luckybird, a red Eastern screech owl.
CAREER GOALS: Probably a famous actress/singer/artist.
PART-TIME JOB: Clerk at Spellunking. All her wages go directly back into the register, so she might as well be paid in weird shit and ugly clothes.
CLASSES:
Charms: The Morgensterns are famously talented at charms, and that natural aptitude is the only thing that makes this her best class (other than art). She picks up new spells without much effort, blithely succeeding her way through advanced topics against all logic.
Potions: She's only in potions because it's required for Aesthetic Magic. Much like her inability to cook without setting something on fire, her forays into potion-brewing are often disastrous.
Herbology: Also being taken on recommendation from Mr. Potkin, but she's a little better at it than potions. She wouldn't say she has a green thumb, but she's never killed a plant, and she thinks that should count for at least a C+.
Home Magic Ec: Cannot cook a meal to save her life. Hazard to herself and others.
Music: While she can play a respectable violin aria without making your ears bleed, her real talent is in fiddling. Pieces that require panache and energy are her strength; her technical acuity can be lacking.
Wizard Lit: Has a lot of opinions about books. A frequent instigator of debates, although not a usual winner of them. If nothing else, her Wild Mass Guessing about plot twists is amusing.
Aesthetic Magic: Much like her performance in music, her painting style is loose, energetic, and messy. If you were being kind you might call it impressionistic.
EXTRA-CURRICULARS: Cheer, Band/Marching Band (Violin/Percussion), Performing Arts Club, Gaming Club, Film Club, Print/Yearbook.
SORTING?: Maisy is a Wildgulch/Deeplurk toss-up in personality. The Sorting Path actually suggested Wildgulch for her during her sorting. But the Morgensterns have been attending Peckenpaugh for generations, and Maisy has been familiar with its houses her entire life. She decided she'd be a Deeplurk, like her mother, when she was seven years old. The fact that she was stubborn enough to ignore the Sorting Path's suggestion is probably good proof that she can hold her own in Deeplurk house regardless.
NAME: JJ
EMAIL: oronsomestar@gmail.com
CDJ: ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
juliajoyOTHER CONTACT: come to my house
TIMEZONE: Pacific
