Character's name: Valentin Mihanović
Country of origin: Croatia
Year: 6th
Age: 17
House: Ravenclaw
Personality: Valentin is a person who likes to live in slow motion. Walking, reading, working, waking up, most everything he does he goes at with a nice, relaxed pace. Valentin was raised without very many restrictions, and for the most part, his parents were lenient and carefree with him. As a result, Valentin likes to do what he wants, when he wants it; he‘s not afraid to twist or flat out break the rules. It takes a lot to make Valentin do something he doesn’t want to. Despite this, he doesn’t like arguing, and even if one person is angry with him, Valentin will always reply with a calm, sometimes sarcastic, response. He tries to always have a smile on his face, even when it’s really not appropriate. He just likes to be smiley, even though it can get him in an awkward situation when it’d be best if he wasn’t grinning like a hyena.
Despite being a bit lacking in the empathetic area, Valentin is usually quite easy to get along with…or at least, he likes to think he is. It’s hard to set off his temper, he really doesn’t like arguing, and so he tries to be as easy to talk to as he can. Some people don’t believe he has an angry side at all, as friendly as he can be. Even when getting a detention or something equally unpleasant, Valentin never loses his temper. Instead, he’ll laugh it off. Valentin does get cross with a lot of things, but instead of actually showing his irritation, he tends to rant at a small journal he keeps on his person at all times. One should not be mistaken that he actually writes his feelings out in this journal- when he is alone, Valentin merely yells at the hunk of paper, and occasionally doodles out the object or person of his anger. He only keeps one with him, but has replacements ready, for when the journal runs out of paper(or is otherwise…destroyed). Valentin would be very embarrassed if someone came across his journal, and thus is quite protective of it- it’s the only evidence that he is more sensitive than he’d like to be.
Valentin loves being surrounded by others, he wants to be friends with everyone, and hardly makes enemies. On the off chance he makes an enemy, Valentin still treats them as he’d treat a friend, generally oblivious to any ill will towards himself. While some could think he was merely a tad dense, Valentin follows the age old saying, ‘keep your friends close, but your enemies closer’. He is more suspicious to his rivals than he seems…but he would never let someone know that. While his hospitable demeanor makes it easy for him to make friends, Valentin has an internal struggle with letting himself open up. He doesn’t like talking about himself, and will almost always deflect a conversation to the other person involved, or simply change the subject completely. One of the rare situations that can set Valentin off is when someone pries too much, tries to force Valentin to open up more than he’s ready to. He distances himself from that person after snapping at them, but forgives quickly. With anyone he knows might try to get him to talk about himself, the Croatian is more guarded and cautious.
Valentin is horribly bad at relationships. He loves to flirt, and is quite good at it. He's a shameless flirt, and he'll admit it! But he thinks it's a wonderful way to start a conversation. Anything past flirting is a nono. Valentin has never had a significant other, and never intends to; he’s terrified of how bad he’d be, knowing he’d be subjecting himself to actually having to talk about himself. He also knows that opening up is something he is very unused to, and he would be awfully bad at it. He gets frustrated more easily, and always feels guilty if he’s mean. He knows when he’s done wrong to another, and apologizes profusely, but still feels shame. Commitment is difficult for him as well, with people. Because he just finds himself more and more asinine when he tries to further a relationship with anyone, Valentin merely avoids relationships at all costs.
Academically, Valentin is very bright. He studies as long as he has to- memorizes entire books- until he understands a subject completely. Every little detail is important to Valentin, he’s always observant. For all the extra time he takes to study, he has high standards for himself, to the point of being a perfectionist. While his work is nearly always late, save for the rare assignment he gets done on time, he never accepts anything but the best from himself. His memory is impeccable, and he would be utterly shocked with himself if he forgot someone’s name, or didn't know a question on a test. Valentin tries to memorize the names of every student he can, so come chance to speak with them, he’s got their name! He doesn’t realize that’s it’s…odd, to know someone’s name before having met them, unless they bring it up. Even then, it doesn’t stop him. This is simply his way of making friends- and it usually works for him!
With school work, whenever something has an absolute deadline that can’t be missed, Valentine works hard to make it. It’s difficult for him to actually work that fast, as he’s used to working at a nice, slow pace. He can get things done at the rate most students do- but it’s quite stressful for him. Timed tests or quizzes included- he still has the desire for his work to be perfect is what drives him to get it done before the cut off date, because work that can’t be turned in late is automatically a zero score, and he is not okay with that. A failed assignment turns Valentin’s attitude very sour- luckily, almost never happens, as he just doesn’t let himself miss an absolute deadline, no matter how bad for his disposition it is.
Valentin likes to be liked. He enjoys the attention from others, it’s why he surrounds himself with people. When with those friends he considers especially close, he’s eager to please. He’d help them with anything: studying, making more friends, breaking rules, playing a prank. While he may not be the best choice for some things(because he simply can’t keep up with pranks, nor is he a fast teacher), he does whatever he can to get that certain person to like him more. Gullible is a good word for it. Valentin quells his more suspicious nature when he’s around his closest friends, and it’s very easy to get him to do anything, within reason. He has loose lips as well- definitely not a person you would confide a secret it. With the right persuasion, Valentin will let anything that doesn’t have to do with himself slip.
Appearance:
Valentin is tall, though lanky and only slightly built. His shoulders are broad, but his body still thin- he looks very much like a young man, not a boy, but not yet an adult. He has long legs, but knobby knees and an awkward walk, like he isn’t quite used to his own body yet. His skin is of a lighter tone, but he has a slight tan, gained from the swimming he likes to do in the summer and fall. He couldn’t be called pale, but not tan either, only a happy medium, and he has a nice resistance to sunburns, as well. His eyes are a bright teal, a clear mix of blue and green. His hair is a pale, greyish, mousy brown, and cut in layers, leaving it free to be poofy and disheveled. Most of his hair is short and tousled, but in the front, he grows the hair just in front of his hair into long strands, reaching his chest and curling out to the left at the tips. He has a fondness for cravats, and almost always replaces his Ravenclaw tie with one of his choice.
Muggle-born, Half-blood, or Pureblood? Muggle-born
Strengths:
Eye for detail - Valentin takes his sweet time with just about everything, and as a result, he tends to pick up every small detail there is. He searches for them, and prides himself on seeing them.
Reads body language well - Because he tends to pay attention so attentively, he's learned to understand body language quite well, although, he rarely utilizes his ability to read it.
Questions everything - He might not seem the type, but as soon as he learns something, Valentin has to know why it works that way. Present a problem to him, and he'll get the answer- and a whole lot more.
Outgoing - He likes people, and likes having friends! No matter where he is, he‘s destined to gain at least a handful of new friends.
Swimming & Flying - Valentin is actually alright at physical activities, but he prefers flying and swimming above everything else.
Charms, Transfiguration - While Valentin scores good marks, as most Ravenclaws do, he prefers these two classes the most, and focuses on them the most.
Weaknesses, phobias, quirks, etc.:
Stressed out easily - Especially if he loses his rant journal, he gets stressed as soon as things start getting out of his comfort zone.
Clumsy & awkward - Valentin had a very sudden growth spurt, and on top of already being naturally gawky, his height and strength make him feel a little uncomfortable in his own skin.
Doesn’t like talking about himself - He won‘t splurge any secrets about himself, if he‘s pressed, he‘ll get irate. It takes a long time and a lot of persistence to get him to open up.
Gullible - If he happens to really like someone, he throws out all inhibitions and is easy to persuade into doing something he might not do on his own.
Bad at fighting - He takes a long time to make decisions, and if someone throws a punch, by the time Valentin‘s decided whether to leave or hit them back, they‘ve probably already stupefied him.
Terrified of magical creatures and plants - Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology are really not for him…
Your Character's backstory:
Valentin’s life started in a quiet town in Makarska, Croatia, a small town in southern Croatia. His family, all Muggles, was very well off, and he grew up in the same manor home his whole childhood. His mother and father were both working, and his grandparents from his father’s side lived with him, along with an aunt from his mother’s side. Valentin was spoiled a bit as a child, and not looked after as strictly as some parents would have preferred. From a young age, he found just going at his own pace was the way to be. His family didn’t force him to ‘work harder’, as his teachers put it, and instead encouraged him to just be a relaxed little kid without a care in the world. This though, was not because they were irresponsible or uncaring- it was compensation for their constant family feuds. Valentin had on more than one occasion, been witness to a heated argument between his parents and his extended family that lived in the North. Not a single holiday went without some form of fighting, and Valentin learned early on that it was better for him to only smile and listen to whatever his parents said.
Valentin did love the family he had that lived in the North, but when he was 5, an argument seemed to have sparked between the two branches, and a fire had been alit, and boy did it burn. The first time he saw his father arguing with an uncle from his mother’s side, Valentin ended up hiding under his bed until the family was forced out of the home. His aunt came to comfort him, but the memory was engraved in his mind already. From then on, until he was 8 years old, Valentin had to deal with the family’s constant feuding. Though his guardians were always kind to Valentin, he was nearly always caught in the middle. Every fight seemed to be about something petty, and even when they couldn’t be held in person, it seemed neither side was able to be mature and keep their hands off the phone. Most of the fights didn’t end in violence, but one just before his 8th birthday was concluded by an ambulance having to take away his father’s brother to get stitches. From that young age, Valentin decided he hated fighting and arguing, seeing it cut a deeper gap between the family members. He was a pacifist- in school, he would never fight with another student, nor his teacher, or even the odd smelling man that sold vegetables on the market street. He built a façade, and even though he knew his parents tried to make up for their vendetta against the other part of their family.
Valentin’s extended family wasn’t seen again after he turned 8 until he was 10 years old. Valentin wasn’t sure what happened, as they managed to keep him far in the dark, but when he again got to meet his family, he realized they had stopped fighting. On a warm September day after walking home from school(walking was rare for him, he was usually picked up by his grandfather), he found his uncle waiting for him. There was no yelling about ridiculous things, like a borrowed car, or screaming over how Valentin should have been raised…instead, it was quiet. Valentin was bewildered. He had no idea what happened, and no one, it seemed, was going to tell him. All he could later conclude, was that they’d be reunited by some means…though he never learned of it, his grandfather from his mother’s side had somehow mediated for the branches.
Valentin found himself able to relax and appreciate his lifestyle when his family seemed to have come together once more. They went to church together again, had civil get-togethers, and sometimes came down just to take Valentin out to see a play or go shopping. He developed a serious taste for the more elegant clothing in life before he’d even turned 11. For a while, Valentin was happy as could be, more so than he’d ever been since he was a toddler.
As the situation between the sides of his family started to end, strange things had began to happen to Valentin. It only happened when the still young Valentin got really upset; his cat Anton was hit by a car, when he broke his arm after falling down stairs, when his grandfather died…each time, his house flooded. His family was bewildered- the water seemed to come from nowhere, they never suspected the cause to be magic. Sure enough though, a month before Valentin turned 11, he received a letter from a Wizarding charter school.
Valentin was convinced to go to the school, to try out his magic, learn to control it. But his first year was anything but pleasant. He soon met the elite, Pure-Bloods, who called him many a foul, rude name. He learned about all sorts of magic, all the classes he had to take…some were okay. Valentin soon took a liking to Charms and Transfiguration. But other classes, such as Flying…he didn’t open up well to. Most of his other classes, he struggled in. For the first time in his life, Valentin found himself falling behind because he couldn’t handle the courses. Valentin had a hard year, and when he returned home, he was completely worn out. He barely made any friends- and he used to be a very popular student. He hated his the school, and come the next year, he refused to attend again. It was the year after what would have been his second that Valentin was convinced to give it another chance- convinced by a witch from the Girls’ school who he’d become friends with, and met on the weekends in his first year. Again, the third year was hard. He struggled again, even more so than his first year, because he had to make up for the year he’d missed, along with the year he was currently in(he’d refused to be held back; by then, he’d already started shooting up, and was taller than most his age). It was difficult, and he was once again, burnt out by the time that year of school ended…but he’d made it. Valentin decided to keep attending the school, and became more successful each year, until a few months before he started his sixth year.
We Just Got A Letter:
It was just a month before his birthday when Valentin received his letter. And owl flew into the boy’s room one lazy afternoon, but Valentin, with his wonderfully delayed reaction, stared at the owl for five minutes before doing anything. He shooed the bird out of his room, to which it replied with an unhappy flutter of wings before flying back out and away. Valentin retrieved the note from the floor where it’d been dropped. The school was exclusively for boys- the sister school for witches though, was only a small distance away. The letter explained the school’s location, very vaguely, and listed the supplied Valentin would need when he arrived. As Valentin read over the letter, a deeply confused expression was spread across his face…he didn’t understand it- this was certainly a hoax. Magic..? That just…wasn’t possible. It wasn’t real. It was against what he’d been taught in church, and he wasn’t sure what to think.
He brought the letter to his parents, but they weren’t much help in deciphering what the letter could have possibly meant(all of them simply rejected the absurd notion of ‘magic’). A bit alarmed at the content of the letter, his parents ignored the letter. His parent’s fear rubbed off on Valentin; but the letters kept coming, they had to do something. By the tenth letter, Valentin was absolutely terrified of owls, and did not want to go to this ‘Wizarding’ school; his parents wrote a letter to…inquire about the school. A representative was sent to the home of the Mihavnović’s muggle household, to explain to them everything they needed to know, and proved to them magic was real. Valentin was not accepting, though, he was curious. His religious upbringing told him there was no such thing as magic, that he shouldn’t dare dabble in such…things. But he and his family decided to give it a chance.
After the struggle in his first and third year, Valentin went on with school and was much more successful in just about everything. His previous hate of flying was conquered, and he found ‘Quidditch’, which only increased his love for flying. While he was still oh so curious about how magic worked(in Muggle school, he’d loved science; it had an answer for everything, and it had far fewer mysteries than magic did), he simply embraced what he was learning instead. His teachers worked well with his consistently late work, for they found he did substantially better when they simply let him do as he needed. Valentin, by his 5th year, was happy with being a wizard, he loved it, even. He had risen above the teasing from certain pure blooded students, and grown into a boy who was friends with easily three fourths of the school.
When he received a letter inviting him to join an exchange program and attend Hogwarts, he was enthralled. He wasn’t worried about anything- in fact, his biggest worry was not being able to get the teachers to let him turn in late work(even then, he was pretty sure he could convince them). He took his sweet time replying to the letter, and even forgot to tell his parents about it…they weren’t very pleased when they found out three days before Valentin embarked to Scotland, but it was too late to tell him he couldn’t go, he was already packed and ready. His exchange was a go.
The Sorting:
Valentin, after a long train ride to Hogwarts, found himself the laughing stalk of the other 6th years. He carriages drawn by Thestrals…the Thestrals…no one else could see them! Valentin already knew he did not like magical creatures, but was he really hallucinating that…thing? The contorted look of fear and confusion that stretched across his face must have really been amusing, because each time someone looked at him, they burst out laughing.
“…It’s right there, why can’t you see it?” Valentin muttered, outstretching a finger to point at the boney, skeleton like creature. The Croatian jumped as the thestral shook it’s head, in a very horse-like manner. The students around him laughed again as he withdrew his finger protectively, and felt his lower lid twitch. What was with this school? He hadn’t seen these odd things at his old school…was it too late to go back?
After a traumatic, and slightly bumpy, ride into the castle, Valentin sat at the first table he saw with an open seat, not even taking note of the house the people at the table were. He got a few odd glances…but flashed a smile(he had to redeem himself, he’d been laughed at enough!), and winked at a couple of girls sitting just across from him.
He managed to strike up a conversation with the people sitting around him…it wasn’t hard! He soon learned they were Gryffindor. Now, Valentin knew some basics about Hogwarts…but he’d only figured that out because he’d heard people talking about it on the train and asked. His Hogwarts, A History book had only been read to page five, and that’d taken half the train ride…the rest he’d used to sleep. Naps were nice, and he didn’t want to be exhausted for the sorting…
While the students were called up, Valentin almost wished they called the students by first name, so he could wait longer to be called, and just chat more with the people he’d met already. They seemed like nice people, he liked them! Valentin though, kept receiving ‘shut up you loud fool’ looks from people at other tables, who wanted to hear people being sorted into their houses. Valentin found the Gryffindors he’d befriended had eventually turned their head to watch out for the new students as well- cheering loudly whenever a call of ‘Gryffindor!’ was shouted.
The festivities made Valentin happy, everyone seemed so in to it all…he couldn’t help but join the Gryffindors in cheering- but then again, he started cheering each time, no matter the house, simply because it was amusing. The students around him laughed each time he stood…but Valentin laughed with them. It was all in good nature! He felt light hearted now, and had forgotten all about the thestrals he’d seen earlier.
Valentin strided up slowly to the front of the room, comfortable in front of the crowd(actually, he liked having their eyes on him!), and made sure to walk just slow enough he could catch a few rather…complimentary comments. Though, he mostly heard ‘why is that guy walking so slow?’ and ‘he looks like he has to pee, he walks funny’, but he wouldn’t let that get his ego down. Oh no. Valentin finally reached the front of the room and sat down at the stool, and listened as the Sorting Hat was placed on his head. Indeed, the hat had some snippy things to say! But Valentin just cracked an amused grin and spoke back to the hat, even tried a joke(though, the hat just made an odd snorting noise and Valentin wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not). He tried to keep up a chat for a while with the hat…he was notorious for doing everything else slow, he might as well have kept the hat busy for a while and make sure his notoriety followed over to Hogwarts- “RAVENCLAW!”
Valentin blinked in shock, having been in the middle of a sentence when the hat so suddenly cut him off. He sat there for a minute after the hat was taken off his head, and thought about what’d just happened…hmm. Well, he wouldn’t get to be with the Gryffindors, but he knew he liked them now, at least. Finally deciding(he was getting some really odd looks at this point!) he should go join the Ravenclaw table, Valentin stood and strolled over to the table, hands in his pocket, and put up another smile as he prepared to start chatting up his new house.
ABOUT ME:
Name: Allen
Tell us a little about yourself: I am your current Rai. Yo'. I don't think my extension ran out yet..? If it did oops, sorry, throw me in the rejection bin. I gave up editing this because I fail, so this is just the same as the first app.
Anything else? Silver
Fri Dec 30, 2011 1:17 am
