Character's name: Chen, Wan-Mei
Country of origin: Taiwan
Year: Fourth (So she'd be about 15)
House: Slytherin
Personality:Mei's pretty much your normal Taiwanese teen. She loves Fahrenheit, clothes, shopping, everything pink you can name. She doesn’t hesitate to greet and meet new people, and can spend many an hour talking about anything. Her seemingly innocent personality and natural warmth draw people to her. So, I guess you could say, she’s very friendly! To her friends, she enjoys sneaking up on them and attacking them with a big hug!
However, she's a very cunning girl. Mei doesn't
usually purposefully use her wit to harm others, but she isn't against the little prank here and there. She's able to sweet-talk
almost anyone, though there have been exceptions to her charm. Mei’s very ambitious, and won’t stop until she reaches her goal, no matter how hard the work. Mei is very intelligent, and acknowledges her gift though she doesn’t like to expressly point it out.
She can be rather lazy however, preferring to take advantage of those who owe her a debt, or a spell to get something she deems “unimportant” done. She acts apathetic to her teachers except the ones in classes she truly likes. If she meets you instantly dislikes you, it’ll take a lot to change her mind. It also gives her an excuse to “accidentally” misfire a spell at you. She’ll never confront you head-on though, preferring to sneak-attack you. Mei is brutally honest to the point where it can be inappropriate at times, however, it means that she loves you enough to tell you about your faults. Mei absolutely hates straight-out lies (though she isn’t against lies with truth mixed in) and will go find out the truth at all costs. You can be sure that whatever she says is true to an extent. She is slightly narcissistic (after all, her name in Chinese means “perfection”,) and she’ll admit it herself, but this normally doesn’t prove to be a problem.
When needed to though, Mei will stand up for what she believes in. She’s very faithful to her morals (the ones she values at least) and she’s very loyal to her family. She owls them often, and will not hesitate to hex you if you speak badly of them. Though she may not show it, she cares very much about her friends, and will put herself in harm’s way to protect them if need be. Mei really doesn’t care for spreading rumors herself, but she does store some interesting information if she happens to overhear some.
Overall, she’s very cheerful, friendly, and mischievous.
Appearance:
She's rather short to say the least. Around 4'11", she's almost at the 5 foot mark, but...not quite. However, this doesn't bother her, as she can sneak around unnoticed. Her hair reaches around mid-back, though she likes to magically style it every other week or so. However, there is one curl that just simply won’t go away, so having learned her lesson long ago, she just leaves it alone. She’ll usually have a pink flower in her hair (or at least something pink on her), and likes to jazz up her school uniform.
Muggle-born, Half-blood, or Pureblood?Half-blood
Strengths:• Loyal to her friends, so you don’t have to worry about her betraying you.
• She gets the job done (though the means of how is debatable), but she does quality work.
• Mei loves potions, partial to Defense Against the Dark Arts and her quick memory allows her to memorize spells quickly so Charms comes as no problem to her.
• Mei can stay awake during History of Magic.
• Cunning/Witty, she knows how to take advantage of the situation when needed.
• Mei’s very honest, but she may twist the truth just a little to keep you from finding something out.
Weaknesses/Phobias• She fails at almost every sport, except running, swimming, and jumping. Quidditch and Flying therefore, aren’t exactly her expertise.
• She…would rather not spend time around cats
• Her pronunciation isn’t top par, the incantations in Transfiguration absolutely bamboozle her and she usually ends up with undesired results.
• Being brutally honest isn’t always a strength, she has ended up offending some people, and her truth-lies don’t always work out the way she intends either.
• Bunnies. She loves the animals, and she’s most vulnerable around them, too transfixed by them to notice her surroundings.
Likes:• Bubble Tea – she was rather disappointed that Hogwarts didn’t have it
• Potions & Charms – They create so many opportunities for her
• Her friends, quite obviously
• Her cell phone, though it doesn’t work in the castle.
• Music, thankfully, her iPod still works.
• Arithmancy – it comes naturally to her
• Her snowy-white owl, Jasmine (named after the Disney movie)
Dislikes:• Herbology – seriously, she’s thankful for the people that understand the plants, but she’s not so fond of the hands on experiences with them.
• Not much muggle technology in the castle other than the things in “Muggle Studies”.
Quirks:• Slips into Chinese/Taiwanese when she’s excited.
• Sympathizes with cockroaches
Your Character's backstory:I had always known about wizards and witches. Kind of a creepy thing to announce right off the bat, but it’s true.
My mother had been a witch herself (Gryffindor, she tells me fondly). As a child, I had been told of wonderful escapades at a place called “Hogwarts” in the country my mother had been born and raised in. Taiwanese-Scottish, she had decided to return to the country of her parents where she met my normal, human father.
Before I went to bed, she would demonstrate what she called “charms”, and along the way, taught me some English. I learned the names of certain fantastic creatures that I couldn’t even imagine, such as a hippogriff.
She would waltz around the house, waving a stick called a “wand” in English, and instantly, dinner was made. It tasted pretty good too!
My father, a science dean at Taiwan Normal University (Yes, it’s really called that) would cuddle with me at random times as a kid and interject science lessons into my daily life. Whenever I listened to music, he would tell me about the physics behind the sound, or the necessary connections needed for the speakers.
Now, enough of my parents, it’s time to talk about me. I had always known I would inherit some powers of my own from my mother (thanks to a genetic lesson from my father). Finally, when I was 11, my prediction had come true.
---
I was rather popular at school. If I do say so myself, I was pretty, smart, the whole package. Then one day, the food-fight came. To make a long-story short, walls of food flew at me, as I was the popular one. Somehow, I’m still not entirely sure how, I yelled out a random spell my mother had taught me “Siste!” and all the food stopped and fell straight down 3 inches from me.
I brushed it off, assuming that physics had something to do with it, and the angle of which the food was coming at me. Life was normal after that; people had stopped ogling me as if I had zebra stripes on when leopard print was the new pink.
---
One day however, during class, I had fallen asleep due to studying late the night before. The teacher wasn’t in a very good mood that day, for reasons unknown. However, as soon as she saw me sprawled on my desk, she took her ruler and whacked it hard on my desk.
“CHEN WAN-MEI, YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING GIRL, WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO FALL ASLEEP DURING MY CLASS?”
I had woken up instantly, and glared at her as soon as the words were out of her mouth.
“GET RID OF THIS ATTITUDE NOW AND REPORT TO DETENTION AFTER SCHOOL!”
Well, that day I had plans already, so obviously I couldn’t afford to stay after school that day. Any other day, I would’ve shrugged and went along with it.
“Sorry Miss, I have plans, so I can’t stay after today,” I told her simply.
She glared at me, and started yelling again.
“YOU IRRESPONSIBLE GIRL, THE DAY YOU TURN THIS CHAIR INTO AN OSTRICH IS THE DAY YOU’LL GET OUT OF THIS DETENTION.”
Well, she was freaking out for not apparent reason wasn’t she?
Smiling, I replied, “gladly!”
I knew I had a 50-50 chance of my plan working, and thankfully, the positive 50% came true. Moments later, there was an ostrich running around the deserted room, and a traumatized teacher.
When my parents got ahold of the situation, they weren’t happy. But they knew what had to be done, and so everyday, after school, my mother began giving me lessons on how to control my magic, different spells and incantations.
Until now, I had lived life normally, learning to control my magic to a certain extent where I’d be considered “normal.”
The ostrich incident however, certainly gave me quite the power over my classmates though. Heh, heh, heh.
We just got a letter:Living a relatively normal life till now, as her mother had taught her how to control her magic (along the way, taking some classes at the very small Taiwanese School of Magic), Mei was surprised when she found a letter addressed to her sitting on top of her diary, which she had taken many pains to hide. She opened it, and to her surprise, it was an invitation for a foreign-exchange program at Hogwarts.
It had to be false, but then, anything could happen in the world of magic. Her mom was still at work in the little shop below our home. Mei decided to wait until later to tell her when suddenly she burst into the room.
“Mei Mei, have you seen…what is that?” She pointed at the letter Mei was holding, recognizing the distinct parchment that separated the worlds.
Excited, Mei answered “It’s an acceptance letter to Hogwarts! It’s for a foreign-exchange program they now have, and mom this is so exciting! Can I please go? I’m 15, and old enough to take care of myself! The Taiwanese School of Magic is so small that all I've been able to learn there was Transfiguration, Potions, and Herbology! The only good thing is that I'm a part-time student there! The rest I know is all you've taught me! Also, it's your old school, so as my mother, you should be honored that your beautiful daughter got accepted into an exchange program, and therefore, you should let me go!”
“Woah, slow down! Exchange program huh? They didn’t have that when I was there.”
---
A few weeks later, after a very enthusiastic reply via owl (there was one waiting by the window after her mother had given her permission), and a teary goodbye with her father She had apparated with her mother over to Scotland (which was a new experience for Mei). She had been introduced to Diagon Alley, her mother assisting with purchasing the necessary supplies. Hours later she was in front of the Hogwarts castle, saying goodbye to her mother.
“Make sure you owl me every day with Jasmine!”
“Mama, I’ll be fine! I have to go in now, but I love you!” With that, her mother disappeared from her sight and she was left to fend on her own.
She had gotten there late, so when she reached the entrance, she found herself being rushed by Professor McGonagall onto a stool. Then something was shoved over her, and right when she was about to pull it off and curse it, she heard a voice.
“Feisty now are we?”
Taking a few seconds, Mei realized that this was the sorting hat her mother had told her about.
“Took you long enough, genius.”
“Well, anyone would be confused if a hat such as you was shoved onto their head!”
“I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be a compliment or an insult, but either way, from the looks of it, you’re a very ambitious person, begging your parents to let you come, though it looks like they wouldn’t have resisted anyway.”
“Well, my mom
was a witch. A pretty good one too!”
“I can see you aren’t too sure about yourself though. Very well, you have a sharp mind, and from the looks of it you’d make a very nice…”
“SLYTHERIN!”
She saw a wave of green rise, clap, scream, all the theatrics and putting her best award-winning smile, she marched over there.
Good-bye Taiwan, Hello Hogwarts!
---
ABOUT ME:Name:Mimi
Tell us a little about yourself.Like the previous Taiwan, I’m also Taiwanese-American. I’ve only roleplayed once or twice however, so I look forward to learning from this experience! (the other rp’s died). I need to brush up a bit on my Harry Potter knowledge, so feel free to correct me ^^
Uhmmm what else, oh! I’m not quite sure how this’ll work, with a previous Taiwan before me, but I tried to make this Taiwan pretty different from the old one, so I’m not quite sure what the story will be behind two different exchange students from Taiwan~
Anything else?Wingardium Leviosa
Sat May 14, 2011 8:41 pm
