MCKINNON, MARLENE MARIE

[aliamarie]

Player's Name: Alia

Other Characters: None (Although I might be interested in playing any of these in the future: Andromeda Black, Evan Rosier, or Myron Wagtail)

Contacts: AIM = aliaxxmarie (You can definitely get ahold of me here.)

Random Fact: I am a disillusioned Art Student.

Name: Marlene Marie McKinnon

Alias: Lena please, but Marley if you WANT to irritate her.

Age:16

Birthday:November 17th

Gender: Female

Blood: Half Blood

Sexual Preference: Heterosexual

Wand: 13 in, Inflexible, Rowan with a core of Unicorn Hair and Crystallized Boomslang Venom.
(This was her Pureblood Mother's wand.)

Pet: None. (You're kidding right? Oh... You don't know yet.)

Year: 6th

House: Gryffindor

Best Subject: Transfiguration (To have complete control over the objects in her surroundings is of great concern to our quirky little Lena. McGonagal showed special interest in her condition and the benefit that Transfiguration could have as soon as Lena entered Hogwarts. She spends a lot of her time training this skill, and the better she has become, the easier her life has been.)

Worst Subject: Divination (She thinks it is utterly nonsensical for anyone without The Sight to even try to see beyond the mortal mist that shields us from the future. Subsequently, The classes she's had with Trelawny quickly become an excuse to sketch her classmates.)

Quidditch: Yes - Chaser

Patronus: Yes - Ethiopian Wolf (Canis simensis)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Wolf

Hair: Blond, Wildly Curly, Shoulder Length (She usually keeps her out of control hair pinned up and impeccably coiffed in the back. The wispy volume of her bangs twirl around her face unconstrained by such measures)

Eyes: Pale Blue (Tending toward icy when upset, cloudy when distracted, and like that of a bubbling steam when excited.)

Height: 5'1" (She is a little thing, but don't let her stature deceive you. With one flick of her wand she could turn you into a stepladder. Who's laughing now? Not the stepladder, that's for sure.)

Weight: 105 (With a BMI coming a point and a half away from being Malnourished, Marlene's condition has affected eating habits and health her entire life. As a result she barely has breasts. But they ARE there.)

A first impression of Marlene would unfold something like this; One walking into class would notice she has two sets of parchment out in front of her, the first covered in her neat and delicate notes while the other was covered in random drawings she shaped out with her quill as equally delicate and intricate as her notes. There resting on her page would be familiar faces of the students populating her classroom, with unfamiliar shapes emerging from their mouths, ears, and skulls. Patterns and shapes intertwined to create pathways into unknown regions of her paper. She would cautiously glance from time to time at her unknowing subject. Of course one would assume that she wasn't really paying attention in class as she drew, not touching the notes that she had obviously made at an earlier time. The observer would be right of course, but surprised that when the teacher calls on her that the answers she gives are sharp and immediate, but most importantly, always correct.

At that first moment Marlene McKinnon stepped into her now beloved and hallowed halls of learning, before her sorting took place, she had already been discussed in faculty meetings, her Uncle already had a private meeting with Dumbledore, and preparations made for her; a student who would most likely have difficulty dealing with the realities of boarding school. Diagnosed as a young child, Marlene has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, an anxiety disorder that is the fourth most common Mental Disorder in Muggles, but extremely rare in Magical Blood lines. Her compulsions manifest in numerous ways, including grid-like organization of objects, the checking and rechecking habits (of doors, windows, personal things in her bag), counting things by even numbers (objects, words, letters, etc.), and eating rituals.

With all of the expectations of failure, and mental breakdown set firmly against her by teachers and faculty before she even arrived, it was a shock when she all but breezed through those beginning courses first year. As some sort of mental counteraction to her disorder, Marlene was bestowed a gift as well as a curse; an Eidetic (or Photographic) Memory. She absorbs her class materials within mere hours of receiving the books, so it never mattered if she had to take two hours and count the stones in a path around the castle instead of studying.

With all of these issues Marlene is a sheltered individual. Not sheltered from the world however, she knows how cruel and unfair it can be, but a sheltered heart rests in her ribcage. She has tried to build up a wall around herself to keep a distance from people and experiences that may trigger her OCD. Her friends are very few, but true blue. Climbing over her defenses is not a conscious act by any means, for either her or the spelunker attempting this feat. It's not done by being around her all the time, and she finds brown nosing to be revolting, it's the little things that win her affections over. Things that you don't understand why you do them, and she dose. One moment she could be utterly annoyed by an individual and the next that same person could do something that propels him over her walls and makes her interested in every part of that person. She couldn't even tell you why this is, or what will endear an individual to her.

Lena is generally quiet and absorbed in her drawings, books, music, or compulsions. However, when she is dragged out of her own head and into the real world, she can be a bit biting and sarcastic on the surface. A sufficient defense mechanism for most of the world. Catch her in a rare moment contemplating the color of the sky instead of counting clouds though, and she might just be in the right mood to talk about something real.

Marlene's past is a little more than what you could call.. Colorful. Being the type of person that people would already whisper things about, it seems rather fitting that her history would be no exception.

It all starts off with her good-for-nothing mother, Alexandra Martin McKinnon. Her mum was a brilliant witch as a young girl, passing though these same halls of leaning when she was Marlene's age. Whatever happened to that studious child the world will never know. As soon as her mother broke free of this school, Alex became a wild child. It could have been the culture of the early sixties, it could have been her confined up bringing in a strict Pureblood Household, but whatever happened to bring upon the change, the point is that this is how Marlene came about.

For Propriety's sake it was never called a one night stand in front of Marlene, but in all truth one day Alexandra went to a bar and met a handsome young muggle who worked at the local bank. Lena was conceived that night in the back of his Porsche. Both being young and hot blooded apparently tossed caution aside (or were more drunk than they thought) but Two Hundred Sixty Six days later Marlene was born back in her grandparent's house.

Of course three weeks later Dear ol' Mum Split, leaving Marlene her wand, and the option to either be brought up in her pureblood grandparent's house, or by her uncle Dean Thomas McKinnon. Luckily for Marlene she didn't have to put up with Mitzy and Donald's like her mother, mostly because they didn't want a Half-blood polluting the air in their home. It was with little difficulty that her Uncle Dean became her adopted father and mother. Cleaning up after his sister's mistakes was one thing, but Dean came to see that Marlene was the only true blessing in his life. Also haunted by the brainwashing insanity of his Pure Blood worshiping parents, he decided to really change for that little infant. So Dean took her away from all of their family, raised Lena to try and love those that hated her.

Although Lena had a happy childhood growing up in a small cottage in the middle of nowhere, It became apparent that she wasn't quite normal at a young age. Her first episode was at the age of five. Her Uncle (with all the best intentions) had decided to go and ask his parents for some money to start his own business. Dressed up in the nicest clothes they owned, the pair went to the McKinnon's Place, only to be insulted. At one point her grandmother spat into Marlene's bright hair, held up by little ribbons in pigtails. Apparently simultaneously developing both the beginnings of her anxiety disorder and eidetict memory, Marlene's first memory triggered these issues. She can still remember that day with the same perfect clarity of sound, smell, and vivid color, as every other day since then.

Her Uncle watched as Marlene began to change from the bright and happy child he knew. She became increasingly confused, repetitive, developing strange habits and rarely eating. The trials and tribulations she went through early in her life to get to the full understanding of her mind and how to navigate it were not easy tasks. Some too terrifying to mention here, but know that Lena has seen dark parts of humanity in the hospitals she was sent in and out of as a youth.

When she got her letter there was much debate whether she should be allowed to attend or not. The years had put her with some control of herself, but not enough to be perfectly stable on her own. It was with the interest of Professor McGonagal that the balance was tipped and she became a student at Hogwarts. And though that first ride on the train made her no friends as she tended to counting her fellow passengers by twos, and rearranging the snack trolley every time someone made a purchase, she was more than excited to be going to school. The promise that magic would help her live an easier life was more than she needed. Companionship didn't matter.

That first night was exhilarating, and though she was hoping to be in Ravenclaw, the surprise of being sorted into Gryffindor made her reconsider herself. Did her memory really make her intelligent? Did she conduct herself with courage and bravery like the Lion mascot of her house? After the longest deliberation of her entering class, the sorting hat had decided that this was where she needed to be, and he was never wrong. Right?

Though many of her fellow students still find her strange today, many of her compulsions are quickly and easily dealt with now through charms and spells, and you can bet who they all ask for homework help.

I have read and agreed to the rules of this site. I hereby recognize that my disobedience of these terms will result in punishment at the sole discretion of the admins.

Signed: Alia