Cole Moss - YEAR TWO

[colemoss]

GENERAL

NAME: Cole Arman Moss
NICKNAMES: None
AGE/DOB: Sixteen / March 19 (Pisces)
BLOOD STATUS: Half-blood
GENDER/PRONOUNS: Male & He/Him
SEXUALITY: Bisexual|Demisexual. Cole is interested in both girls and boys but really only begins to feel physical attraction to people once he has an emotional connection with them. Prior to this, he does recognize that people are attractive and does appreciate physical beauty, but this assessment is more like an artist noticing a pleasing aesthetic than anything else. The only people that he's had a pronounced physical attraction to are Coralee Wong (following a dose of Amortentia that left him very confused) and his ex-boyfriend, Calvin Evercreech. If asked, he'd have a difficult time labeling himself.
HOMETOWN: Richmond, Virginia

Cole grew up in a small wizard-only neighborhood on the outskirts of Richmond known colloquially as Adastra; this is a play on the town's motto, Sic Itur Ad Astra, which means Thus We Do Reach the Stars. Presumably, some witch or wizard thought this was clever or poetic at some point. He spent his childhood either there or off at boarding school (Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and Gooseberry Alternative High School). As a result, he has very little experience with or knowledge of Muggle culture, but thinks some of their artwork is pretty amazing.

CONCEPT: Absent-minded daydreamer and artist that is annoyingly adept at magic.

PHYSICAL

APPEARANCE: Cole isn't particularly tall in stature, but he has an effortlessly slim body that's become leaner and more muscular after a summer of dance practice and intense, focused work. He has a pleasant, expressive face that most people can read like a book and dark, thick hair that's always a bit unkempt, perpetually giving him the look of someone that just woke up. Given his habit of napping during the school day after a late night of working on his project of the moment, this might not be so far from the truth.

While Cole has a good sense of aesthetics and style that's readily apparent in his designs and his artwork, he rarely turns this sense toward himself. When not in uniform, his clothes tend to be casual and just vaguely bohemian, with sneakers, faded jeans, loose tops (whether t-shirt or button-up or sweater) that often feature some sort of pattern, and the use of simple accessories like scarves and jewelry. None of this is particularly exceptional and that's not something he's interested in changing. While unconcerned with fashion, he's an artist and has a habit of drawing on his own skin when he's idle or bored or sitting through lectures, often leaving him with detailed patterns on his hands and forearms in Sharpie marker or pen. This sometimes leaves smudges on his clothes or other things that he touches, but this doesn't seem to bother him. He also has a permanent tattoo of a window, crafted with magical ink, on his back just below the base of his neck. Like much of the art in the wizarding world, the tattoo isn't stagnant; at different times, the window will be opened or closed or have curtains drawn, the scene and the seasons outside will change, and other alterations may occur. There seems to be some correlation between his mood and how the image appears.

Cole has a difficult time keeping his mind from wandering and, when forced to engage or pay attention, he tends to move a lot. He taps fingers, bites his lip, shifts, and the like. Overall, this makes him seem a little twitchy. He dislikes prolonged eye contact.

HEIGHT: 5'10"

PB: Jordan Rodrigues

PERSONALITY

LIKES: Art. Drawing + Painting. Sewing. Creating in general. Daydreams. Dreams. Sleep. People-watching. Mint (leaves, candies, teas, etc.). Hot chocolate. Giving himself Sharpie tattoos. Drama Club. Dance. Multi-tasking. Details. Inspiration. Collaboration. Graphic novels. Trying new things, especially artistically. Making gifts for friends.

DISLIKES: Forgetting things. Losing things. Studying. Lectures. Being tired. Being bored. Pressure. Conflict. Metaphors. Black humor. Daisies (he has an allergy). Lying.

PERSONALITY:

Cole is introverted and creative, a young man that's prone to living in his head rather than in the world around him. It isn't uncommon at all to find him staring off into space, completely checked out and lost in thought, or for him to lapse into such a state in the midst of a moment's pause or an activity or even a conversation. Perpetually distracted by his wandering thoughts and vivid imagination, he has difficulty focusing on one thing at a time and is quick to become restless and bored and exasperated when dealing with anything that doesn't completely fascinate him. There are not many things which can hold his attention with any reliability; the sole exception to that is art. He is enthralled with creating and can spend hours drawing, painting, or otherwise bringing something new and unique into the world. He has an overly active mind that makes him simultaneously precise and scattered, the sort of person that notices and remembers everything when he's actually paying attention but doesn't pick up on the significance of what he knows and is constantly missing the forest for the trees. This also makes him irresponsible; he often loses things, seems to be lacking in common sense, and is generally unreliable.

Despite this scattered focus, Cole isn't stupid. Even without trying or giving something his full attention, he is bright and intuitive and immensely talented when it comes to magic. He learns and remembers spells with startling ease, often only having to see them once to perform them and requiring minimal practice to become proficient. He has always been deemed 'gifted' and many teachers have attempted to motivate him or pressure him into trying harder than he does, only to have him immediately disengage from them. While he likes magic, he can't stand the pressure of 'potential' and mostly just wants to be left alone to focus on what matters to him. This effortless ability doesn't always endear him to his classmates and, while he's normally unaware of it, some find it just as frustrating as his instructors do. Additionally, while he's gifted with magic, he often lacks the practicality to know when to use it or how using it might benefit him. He might know how to cast a water-proofing charm or transfigure an umbrella without any effort at all, but that doesn't mean that it would occur to him to do either when it's raining.

While not shy, Cole has underdeveloped social skills and often comes across as awkward and oblivious in his interactions with others as a result. He struggles to correctly read expressions, body language, and social cues, the silent aspects of communication which most people interpret with a certain level of fluency. He also has difficulty detecting lies or sarcasm and, unless corrected, tends to take almost everything literally. While no longer quite as naive as he once was and no longer willing to believe everything that he's told without asking questions (especially from people that have treated him poorly or lied to him in the past), he's still uncommonly trusting and easily manipulated or misled by circumstances. While not unfriendly, all of these difficulties sometimes make dealing with other people seem like an overwhelming prospect and he prefers to spend time with people he knows or people that speak directly and plainly. He would typically prefer to be around someone that's direct (even if that also makes them bossy or tactless or mean by the standards of others) than someone that would say things they don't mean. He dislikes insincerity as a rule and is both terrible at lying and at realizing that he's being lied to.

Fortunately, apart from being socially inept, Cole is a fairly amiable person and that can make his various shortcomings and eccentricities easier to deal with. He's good-natured, never hateful or intentionally cruel or judgemental toward other people, and has a surprisingly good (if somewhat goofy) sense of humor. He is also adaptable, willing to try almost anything for the sake of a new experience or a good time with the proper prompting, though he isn't especially wild or rebellious on his own. All of this only applies assuming that other people can get his attention, of course. True to his house, he dislikes confrontation and prefers to take the path of least resistance most of the time. He would rather ignore a problem or adapt to a concession than confront someone head on and often withdraws from everything when he's overwhelmed. He is a follower, not a leader, and is very comfortable playing second fiddle and taking his cues from other people, for better or worse. There is one exception to this willingness to follow others or back away from conflict, though, and he has a surprising stubborn streak when it comes to protecting his friends. When he thinks his friends are at risk, he'll dig in his heels and try to stop it or try to protect them however he can. He has few close friends and he'll be loyal to the ones he has, even if it means going against his nature.

Cole is typically a fairly confident person, able to accept and acknowledge both the good and the bad about himself. But he's not without self-doubt and there are times when he dwells on how difficult it can be for him to connect with other people no matter how much he talks or how much he listens or how much he tries to feel what other people feel. Because there's a different between being on the outside because he wants to be and being on the outside because he has to be. He's easily hurt by the implication that he's somehow defective or that his thoughts or feelings don't matter just because they're his and that's just how he is. These feelings were stirred up by a fellow student on the Anonymous Post during his sophomore year and have been a little closer to the surface ever since.

SKILLS

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English. Just English.

PATRONUS: A spider. Spider webs can be among the most beautiful and intricate structures created in the natural world and building them is a fundamental, necessary part of a spider's survival. This is a fitting parallel for Cole's relationship with his art. He wouldn't know what to do or how to live without it. In addition to being associated with creation and resourcefulness, spiders are often connected to the limitless, the mysterious, the powerful, and the strange. Like Cole, they're a little hard to get and a little misunderstood.

Cole can cast a full Patronus.

SKILLS:

Drawing & Painting: Cole has been drawing and painting since he was very young and he took to both like a fish to water. He can (and will) spend hours at a time working in his sketchbook (with pencils or ink or copic markers) or on a canvas and his style is versatile depending on what he's wanting to do or say or even just on what he's feeling. He's a talented artist. By incorporating magic into his artwork, he's been able to create simple moving pictures, images that change over time, and other interesting oddities. He often draws his classmates around campus and has dozens of sketches of basically everyone.

Costuming: Cole only learned to sew during his freshman year but spent almost the entirety of the summer before sophomore year honing his skills and experimenting with different patterns, stitches, and designs. A quick learner, he's become adept enough to create all sorts of intricate garments and has solidified a reputation as a seamster by taking the lead on costuming for two plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Into the Woods, and by making formal suits and dresses for himself and several of his friends.. He has an eye for design and is good at creating aesthetics that fit a particular mood or theme. In addition to sewing, he's knowledgeable about hair and makeup and the crafting that goes into creating masks and other costume accessories. What he doesn't know yet, he's willing to work to through trial and error; he usually gets their eventually.

Dance: Cole began learning to dance as a sophomore, first seeking out lessons because he wanted to be sure he'd know what to do if the boy he was bringing to the school's masquerade wanted to dance with him. He took to this quickly and came back to learn more later in the year with the encouragement of an upperclassman, Rafael Ramirez. He's still learning but after attending a dance workshop over the summer and practicing consistently, he's getting better all the time. While he's fairly good when given instructions to follow, he struggles with free form and is still learning to feel his way through the music. He'll need guidance to get better and he can't choreograph on his own. So far, his focus has mostly been contemporary and hip hop.

Magically Adept: Cole is a gifted wizard that understands the mechanics of magic almost innately and can perform most spells with minimal effort or practice. This allows him to excel and to remain at the top of his classes despite being an otherwise poor student (he doesn't take notes well, he doesn't study much or always get his assignments done on time, etc.). This doesn't always endear him to his peers.

HISTORY

FAMILY MEMBERS:

Oswin Moss (Father) - Half-blood - Obliviator: An Obliviator with the Federal Bureau of Covert Vigilance and No-Maj Obliviation (F.B.C.V.N.O.), Oswin became a widower when his children were quite small. While he is kind and has always taken care of his family, he is also stuffy and serious and overbearingly pragmatic in most regards.

Hana Moss (Mother) - Half-blood - Deceased: Hana spent most of her life suffering from a chronic illness that could never be cured, even by magical means, and made a living as the bookkeeper for a wandmaker before marrying Oswin. She then became a homemaker, keeping the house and raising her children, until her condition suddenly worsened and she passed away. Despite her poor health, she was a warm and vivacious woman according to most that knew her.

Lucasta Moss (Stepmother) - Pure-blood - Perfumer: A witch that uses her considerable talents in herbology and potions to create a stunning array of magical and non-magical perfumes. A flighty and free-spirited woman, she is a disappointment to her Pure-blood family, but quite happy with her simple life, her doting husband, and her two adopted children. Even though one of them hates her. She is much younger than her husband and quite stunning, leading to no shortage of comments about Cole's 'hot mom' from his less tactful peers.

Nate Moss (Brother) - Half-blood - Student: A focused, no-nonsense type and a protective older brother, Nate's attempts to control Cole are part of what pushed him to transfer from Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to Gooseberry Alternative High School as a freshman. While the relationship between the brothers improved somewhat during Cole's sophomore year, their vastly different relationships with their stepmother continue to put a rift between them and Nate being vehemently against Cole returning to Gooseberry for his junior year after everything that happened has created new tension between them. It's complicated.

Nate is currently attending a university, where he's studying advanced potions and potion theory.

HISTORY:

Cole Moss was born and raised in Richmond, the younger of two children and the son of a well-off but not particularly remarkable couple. His father worked with the Federal Bureau of Covert Vigilance and No-Maj Obliviation (F.B.C.V.N.O.) and his mother, plagued by a chronic illness all her life and physically frail, maintained their modest suburban home and cared for their children. Introverted and imaginative, even as a small boy, he was slow to learn to talk and to socialize but took immediately to picture books and coloring and playing pretend games with his mother. These were happy and uneventful years, but he has few memories of them or of his mother. When Cole was only four, complications from her condition caused Hana to pass away in her sleep, only to be found by her sons and her husband the following morning.

This loss was terrible and the family pulled together to try to cope and move forward without Hana. Unfortunately, Cole couldn't relate to his father or his brother as he had with his mother. Oswin was serious and pragmatic, Nate was rambunctious and competitive, and neither had any sense of appreciation for creativity. Feeling perpetually out of place, he gradually retreated more into himself, spent more and more of his time drawing and daydreaming, and grew into a quiet, artistic oddball. When Cole was six, he began attending Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with his brother, was sorted into Horned Serpent, and began the study of magic. Despite being naturally talented and making excellent grades, he was a poor student, frequently getting into trouble for being late, ignoring instructions, or not paying attention (he could never stop himself from doodling or sleeping or letting his mind wander during class). He did almost as poorly with his peers because of his stunted social skills and distracted mind, struggling both to make friends and to avoid being picked on by other children. While a protective older brother kept any teasing or bullying from touching him, Cole was nevertheless unpopular and mostly a loner.

This didn't change as Cole got older; he remained a socially inept eccentric, a talented wizard with limited interest in studying magic, and an abysmal student with top notch grades. He also spent more and more time with his art. He graduated from crayons and markers well before the end of elementary school, moving on to pencils and inks and paints and charcoal. Anything that he could get his hands on, really, and anything that would let him experiment with new techniques and styles. Unfortunately, he also developed some habits that further solidified his status as strange. He watched and sketched his peers. He took to sleeping between (and sometimes through) classes in all sorts of places around campus, both because he swore that inspiration always struck when he was dreaming and because he was staying up so late working on his other projects in the dorms. Still, he wasn't the only strange one around and he kept the same small circle of friends that he'd always had, mostly fellow artists and outcasts that didn't expect him to be anything but what he was. So school wasn't all bad.

When Cole was thirteen and home for the summer, he learned that his father had become romantically involved with another (much younger) woman for the first time since his mother's death. Rebellious and upbeat and just a little vain, Lucasta was an unexpected partner for Oswin but the two had been taken with each other immediately. Nate despised Lucasta, but Cole actually got along with her. She was perfectly equipped to draw the boy out of his shell, she appreciated his art (which, by that time, had become quite good), and the two became close. Unfortunately, this caused friction between the brothers. Nate became increasingly aggressive and overtly critical toward Cole, while Cole stopped talking to Nate almost entirely and avoided him. The relationship between them remained tense and, when a letter from the Gooseberry Alternative High School arrived offering him a chance to go somewhere else in the fall, he was quick to accept it. The revelation that Cole was running away from him was almost enough to make Nate come around...but not quite. The two parted ways, heading off to different schools once the summer was over.

Unprepared for how difficult starting over would be, Cole felt intensely out of place and had difficulty connecting with anyone for the first few weeks at Gooseberry. Instead of trying, he fell back into old habits: focusing on his art and spending almost all of his time alone or so disengaged that he might as well have been. This might've continued for some time if a student from the Drama Club hadn't shown up in Aesthetic Magic looking for volunteers to help give an upcoming production some artistic flair. He agreed on a whim, ended up enjoying the work, and stayed. He wasn't suited for being on the stage, but he excelled at decorating sets, detailing props, applying makeup, and even styling wigs and became a capable crew resource for the club. This also allowed him to form connections with his peers, make a few friends, and begin finding his place in a new school. For the remainder of the semester, he did well in his classes (with as little effort as always), indulged his every artistic impulse, and continued to work with the Drama Club. He also decided that he liked Gooseberry.

The summer after Cole's freshman year was eventful. His father married Lucasta, he and his brother awkwardly attempted to mend fences (with some success), and Cole began teaching himself to sew so that he could try his hand at costuming for Drama Club. He also grew five inches, got a tattoo, and began experimenting with a few mind-altering substances from Lucasta's greenhouse to see how it would impact his art. It was a busy summer.

YEAR ONE

Upon returning to Gooseberry for his sophomore year, Cole found his small social circle unexpectedly expanding. Not only did he rekindle friendships with Micah and Ennis, but he also befriended Ana and Hazel and developed an unlikely friendship with his roommate Calvin, who had previously disliked him. No longer as much of a loner, he formed a kinship with this group and became especially close to Calvin, who often worried about him and attempted to take care of him. He came to trust the other boy implicitly and tried to make better choices so he wouldn't have to worry quite so much. He wasn't always successful but he did try.

Largely untouched by the strange things that began happening around campus and mostly convinced that Anon was a friend (because of Ennis' certainty on the matter), the first major disruption of Cole's sophomore year was being dosed with Amortentia and 'falling in love' with Coralee Wong. While he didn't do much more than admire and draw the girl while under the influence of the potion, the aftermath was very confusing. He'd never felt that way toward anyone before and he missed the feeling when it was gone, so he convinced himself that he had real feelings for her and she quickly began to take advantage of him. Several of his friends tried to intervene and eventually helped the boy get over his infatuation by getting her to lose her temper in front of him and lash out at Calvin. The confused feelings didn't fade all at once but they did go and he was able to start moving on. During this time, Cole continued to grow closer to his friends (even following them into the woods for a seance) and found his niche in the Drama Club, taking the lead on the costume/makeup/hair designs for the year's first play, A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Not long after, Calvin confessed that he had feelings for Cole and, certain that he understood what he felt this time, the two began dating. Cole fell hard and, for the next two months, the boys slowly explored their deepening relationship. Then Calvin's family told him he wouldn't be returning to Gooseberry for his junior year and, attempting to make things easier for both of them, he abruptly broke things off. This hurt. A lot. But realizing that Calvin was leaving soon and that he didn't want them to still be on bad terms when he did, he reached out and asked if they could try to just be friends again. And, though it was awkward, they did try.

As the end of the year got closer and the entities in the forest began to make themselves known more frequently, Cole became increasingly worried about his friends (especially Calvin and Micah) and tried to talk them into staying out of the forest. When he couldn't, he forced his way into another sophomores seance. He didn't like pushing or almost getting into a fight with Calvin or lying to prefects, but found that he could do those things when he had to. The fact that all it got him was a terrifying experience and several weeks of nightmares before the end of the school year finally came didn't quite make him regret it. On the night before graduation, when dozens of students were spirited away, he experienced a strange but peaceful dream world before being woken up and joining Hazel, Ana, Zach, and Ariadne in rescuing Micah and Todd. Then, finally, he went home.

After everything that had happened during the school year, Cole needed the summer to work through his feelings and process his experiences. He largely withdrew from everyone, only sending letters to his nearest and dearest, and devoted the break to art. He drew and painted dozens of pictures that expressed everything in ways he never could with words, he attended an artists' retreat to surround himself with people like him and refocus his heart on his work, and even enrolled in a beginners' dance workshop to explore this developing interest. It was a purge of a kind and it did him a lot of good and he's ready to return to Gooseberry. Mostly.

SCHOOL

YEAR: Junior (Grade 11)
HOUSE: Ribbonfin
SORTING: Always content to live and let live, prone to avoid confrontation, and slow to anger, Cole wasn't difficult to sort and was selected by Ribbonfin almost immediately. Lacking the intensity for Ebonhide, the levity for Azurcrest, or the aggression for Coppertale, he could really only fit among the fishies anyway.
WAND: Pine, Re'em Horn Core, 9", Pliable
FAMILIAR: A barn owl named Leonora. She's grumpy and fussy, but very loyal to Cole. She is, by far, the more reliable of the pair and often screeches loudly at her boy when he is late for classes or meals, won't get out of bed, or is generally not doing what he needs to do. She dislikes the cold and, yes, sometimes does demand a ride in Cole's jacket. She is named for one of his favorite artists, Leonora Carrington, and often makes appearances in his art.



CLASSES:
✦Core: Charms, Herbology, Hermeticism, Potions, Transfiguration
✦Electives: Aesthetic Magic, Artificing, Defense Against the Dark Arts
✦Advanced: Animagus Studies
ADVANCED STUDY: Animagus Studies (Spider)

Cole is and always has been at the top of his class in everything, including Transfiguration, and he's interested in pursuing Animagus Studies mostly for the experience. He's fascinated by the idea of seeing the world from a different perspective and incorporating that into his artwork. Because his Patronus is a spider, he assumes that his Animagus form would also be a spider. Once it occurred to him how different everything might look and sound and feel as a small, eight-eyed arachnid that can climb on walls and ceilings he was determined to try. He's also very curious about the prospect of making webs. That's something he's never tried! While he has no practical plans for being an Animagus, he's passionate about it and has expressed his interest to Ms. Rhee as a sophomore.

SENIOR PROJECT: Cole hasn't considered this yet. At all. And likely won't for a while.
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: Cole is a bright and naturally gifted wizard that makes excellent grades despite putting in relatively little effort. While not always at the top of his classes because he often fails to complete assignments or turns things in late, he almost always aces his exams and does extremely well during practical demonstrations. While he does equally well in every subject, his favorite class is Aesthetic Magic and his least favorite class is Defense Against the Dark Arts.

EXTRACURRICULARS:
Drama Club: Crew Only. Cole has been a member of the Drama Club since his freshman year and has helped out with costuming, makeup design, hair design, props, and set design/building on a number of productions. During his sophomore year, he was put in charge of the costuming, makeup design, and hair design for both A Midsummer Night's Dream and Into the Woods. The end result of his efforts are always beautiful, but he can sometimes push himself too hard and not delegate responsibilities to other students as much as he should.

Craft Club: President. This club is new and was petitioned by Cole and Pippa. While Cole is technically the president, that's more because of his artistic talent and creativity than his ability as a leader. He has a lot of good ideas and he's excited about the club, but he sometimes struggles to keep things organized or properly explain everything. He's trying! Pippa is his Vice President and he relies on her a lot.

Dance: Unofficial. Last year, a senior named Rafael Ramirez instructed him in the basics of dance shortly before a school event so he could be a proper date. He proved to have a talent for it and, with some encouragement, he took part in several small dance-related events as a sophomore. This was the first physical activity he really enjoyed and, over the summer after sophomore year, he participated in some basic dance workshops to explore the activity a bit more. He's still new to this and he needs guidance, but he's come to enjoy it.

OOC

NAME: Katie
EMAIL: ollinsong@gmail.com
CDJ: ollinsong
OTHER PREFERRED CONTACT: None
TIME ZONE: CST

Comments

CHANGES

[colemoss]

GENERAL
- Sexuality
PHYSICAL
- Appearance
PERSONALITY
- Likes (removed: Puzzles, Games, and Cards; added: Dance, Graphic Novels, Collaboration, Hot Chocolate, and Making gifts for his friends)
- Dislikes (removed: Physical exertion; added: Black humor, Daisies, and Lying)
- Personality (minor revisions throughout)
SKILLS
- All
HISTORY
- History (added Y1 history, revised verbiage/cleaned up previous history)
SCHOOL
- Added Animagus Studies, dropped Astronomy :'(
- Extracurriculars