Player Information
Name: veetee

Age(must be 18+): 18
IM screen names:
Email: refracted.ion@gmail.com

Where did you hear about us?: Through an ad on regulus_is_love on LiveJournal, and now I play here.

Why did you apply to Tempus Fugit, and what do you feel you can bring to the game?: I'm applying to Tempus Fugit for a second character because I really enjoy the atmosphere, plot, and the respectful nature and talent of all the players involved. I adore that an RP can impress me so much. I'm applying for a second character because I would very much like to play female, and I think that the scenario that she is being brought under would help to enrich and deepen the overall plot of the game.

Previous RP experience: Currently, I play Regulus Black here. Until recently, I was playing Regulus Black, Antonin Dolohov and an original character over at House of Gaunt.


Character Information

Name of character you are applying for: Amarissa Cross

Age of character you are applying for(physical age, if one of the resurrected): 25

Birthday: October 12, 1975

PB: Shannyn Sossamon

Wand: 9 inches, made of Hazel wood with a core of Phoenix feather. Hazel is known for being perceptive and truth seeking. Phoenix feather is known for inspiration, creativity, inner strength and justice.

House at Hogwarts: N/A

Family
Parents: Viola Calavera and Dominic Cross
Siblings: Gabriel Cross (deceased) and Sofia Cross
Family interactions (how does your character get along with his/her family members?):
Amarissa was always very close to her family. They were a tight knit group and she was definitely the baby of the family. Few things would separate them. Her father was a man of almost heroic standards to Amarissa, and it crushed her when he died. She has spent her life trying to leave up the standards of what she believes her father would do or want. While she was close with both of her siblings, she was slightly closer to her older brother, Gabriel than to her sister, Sofia. This was possibly because he had magical abilities like her, but also because Gabriel was always quick to take Amarissa under his wing. After the death of their father, he did serve as a new parental figure, and was always inclined to offer her advice or take her around when he was traveling with his Quidditch team. Sofia was the quietest of the three of them, a strong contrast to Amarissa's rambunctious nature, but the two were still fast friends, and a source that Amarissa would often turn to before her mother. The person that Amarissa had the most trouble relating to is probably Viola. Viola and Amarissa have two very different personalities, and while Amarissa loves her mother very much, their opinions and ideas often clash, bringing about numerous heated arguments. It would often take either her father or one of her siblings in order to help the pair see eye to eye.
Occupation: Auror
Residence: Currently, she's about to leave her home country of Spain in order to move to Britain in order to continue her job. Her new residence will be Number Thirteen of Grimmauld Place.
Financial status: Things are slightly strained under her current paycheck. She supports her mother and her nephew, so they get by, but they don't have all of the comforts that Amarissa grew up with.
Political views: Liberal Separatist. While Amarissa grew up in a family that was only partially magical, she would feel that their situation may be an exception. Additionally, with the turmoil that the wizarding world is finally starting to get over from the wars, she wouldn't see the point in trying to create such chaos so soon again. Also, she wouldn't be certain that a Muggle that has no magical connections would really have a right to have a glimpse into their world. However, with her job cover being that she is being sent to watch integration as it takes place within Britain, her official stance would be neutral.

Blood Status: Half-blood. Her mother is a Muggle, but her father was a wizard. She's not exactly sure how pure his blood was, though both of her grandparents on his side have magic.

Sexuality (Please note, if you are playing a pureblood character who is also gay/bisexual, there are guidelines): Heterosexual, though she often doesn't have time to partake in dating and there tends to be a bit of confusion with her nephew being thought a son.

Physical description

Height: 5'8”
Weight: 140 pounds
Distinguishing marks: Amarissa has a beauty mark on the left side of her face near the corner of her eye.

Give us a description of your character's appearance:
Amarissa has dark brown eyes and dark hair to match. Her hair is a darker shade of brown highlighted with the odd bit of lighter brown. She tends to keep her hair very short. The longest she'll ever let it grow out is to her shoulders, and then she'll quickly become irritated with the maintenance of it. Typically, it's kept shorn close to her scalp and styled a slight bit, her bangs pushed to one side of her face. Her skin is often darkly tanned, a combination of the heritage from her mother and because she adores being outside.

She's very lithe and comfortable in her body. Often, she'll wear lots of loose clothes, throwing on whatever is available at the moment. Skirts and flowing tops are a personal favorite, anything that allows for a great deal of personal motion (even if means not a lot of clothes entirely) but often the job of an Auror calls for something a bit more protective. She doesn't tend to bother with make up or jewelry, usually too impatient for such items since she finds them unnecessary, enjoying a more natural look than they provide. She has no piercings and only a single tattoo on her right shoulder blade.

Give us a description of your character's personality (for example, are they a confident person? Do they speak their mind? What are their flaws and good points? We want to know that you have a good understanding of your character, so feel free to use examples and make it as in depth as possible):
Amarissa is extremely adventurous. She picked up a love of traveling from her exploits with her father's work, and has never really lost the taste for going to new places. That characteristic gave birth to a natural inclination for anything challenging. She's not one to back down from a dare, but delights in the opportunity to overcome. As a result, the Ministry would often send her places that it wasn't always necessary allowed in, but needed to slip about without making a stir. Amarissa was good at feeling these situations out. Her actions often bordered on brash, but there was always an element of thought to them and she would never do anything that would really and truly endanger her family or the integrity of the Ministry. She would often go on her gut feeling, sometimes going against orders, but only when she had some element of logic to back her up. To this point, it hasn't failed her yet, but if it ever did, it would certainly cause a fiasco. Because of her adventurous inclination, she's also very curious. She doesn't like to show it, but she does have a natural eye for people, and will often like to find out about them. This extends to customs and different cultures, always up for submerging herself in a place and an experience she hasn't been before.

Though she usually is a fairly friendly person and enjoys having a good time, she isn't shy when she finds a person that has a personality she clashes with. She's blunt with the truth, almost to the point of being rude. Censorship is something that she's only started to find with working with the Ministry, and has started to try and be a little more light handed with her words, but when she's truly angry, that's a difficult task. She can also be extremely temperamental. Certain subjects and certain people will set her off in an instant, and her volatile temper is difficult to cool after that. She's stubborn to a fault, and will not back down once she's made her point. Amarissa will stick to her guns in word and deed, and it's hard to change her mind once she's made it up.

Amarissa dearly enjoys having a good time. She's comfortable around large crowds of people, especially when they're all loud and moving. She likes people who can make her laugh, though she isn't usually one to joke back very much. Her own humor is usually dry and slightly witty and will be fixed with a bite of a smile or a smirk. Because of this, her type of humor isn't always understood and she can sometimes come off as a bit callous, and when she's angry and unrestrained, she'll straight off come off looking cruel.

She is often unable to commit to individual people, resulting in scores of attempts at having a proper boyfriend, but that's a factor that only bothers her slightly. She's a hard worker and is usually completely caught up in her job, and the time that isn't taken up by that is consumed by her nephew. She's slow to let people come in her life, but usually once they've gained entrance, she's fairly attached to them.

History
Please give us a brief history of what happened to your character past canon to bring them to this point. if playing an OC, please give a much longer history to show how your character fits into this world.
Amarissa Cross was the born the youngest of three children to Viola Calavera and Dominic Cross. Her father was an English wizard who met her Muggle mother while traveling through Spain. He came from a wealthy wizarding family (though not extremely prominent) and was part of the International Relations department within the British Ministry of Magic. He was over fifteen years Vioa's senior, but Dominic took quickly to Viola and courted her for quite a bit of time until she agreed to allow them to develop a proper relationship. She was more sober and serious, while he was adventurous and a daydreamer. They were married with little protest, though the engagement was almost called off when Viola discovered that her fiance was a wizard. It was a revelation that took her a slight bit of time to come to terms with, but she ultimately decided that he was still the man that she had chosen to spend her life with and that the magic was just an extra layer of depth. Over the course of their marriage, she would become extremely intrigued about this trait and want to learn as much as she was able to.

By the time their first anniversary came along, their son, Gabriel had been born and was about a month old. Sofia was born two years after Gabriel, and Amarissa seven years after Gabriel, five after Sofia. Out of the three of them, Sofia was the only one that didn't develop any magical inclination. Amarissa and Gabriel both showed signs of magic at a very young age, strange occurrences that just couldn't be explained until Dominic began to watch them, vague smiles spreading across his face. He, of course, understood just what these signs were.

Despite the fact that their family was steadily growing, Dominic continued to work within the English Ministry, constantly moving Viola and their children around. Their main home was technically located in Spain, a home that Viola just couldn't bear parting with, but they were rarely there. During the younger years of Amarissa's childhood, she went to many different countries and was constantly learning about different cultures and languages. Having developed her father's pension for adventure, she enjoyed it a great deal, always eagerly asking questions (even when the situation didn't always call for a child's comments). Out of the three children of her family, she was always the most rambunctious, and was often her father's choice to come with him when he was going on business, introducing her to many of the other witches and wizards that he worked with.

However when Amarissa turned ten, her father died. He took with a fever one evening while on a return trip back to Spain. Before he was able to reach medical aide and attention, he had passed away, leaving his family uncertain of just what he had been stricken with. Viola, now a single mother with three children, moved the entire family back to Spain. By this time, Gabriel was nearing the end of his wizarding school (he had attended a small school in Greece), and Sofia was only partially through her Muggle schooling. Amarissa had been tutored briefly by her father and was enrolled to attend a Spanish wizarding academy for girls when she turned eleven. Their family gained a little bit of money from their father's job in the Ministry, and the Crosses, Dominic's parents, agreed to pay for their schooling until they were finished. It was enough to sustain them for a good year, and during that time, Gabriel was starting to be scouted for playing Quidditch. He was picked up by a Spanish team, and his salary was enough to keep their lifestyle comfortable.

Losing her father made Amarissa extremely temperamental and stubborn. While she had been a very outspoken and friendly child, she became withdrawn as she she went into her schooling. In her first year, she fought with many of the other girls, talked back to a few of the teachers, and made few friends. Perhaps the only things that accounted for the fact that she wasn't suspended (though she spent many nights in detention), was that the death of her father was known and because she displayed a good amount of talent. While she might have been suffering emotionally and mentally, her studies were still top notch. Her work was always completed, and she tended to be one of the first to successfully learn whatever spell or potion was being worked on.

It took until nearly her third year in school for her to completely adjust to the new environment. She finally developed a good circle of friends and shed much of her somber and moody tendencies and slowly transformed to became a devious and witty teenager. Amarissa continued to excel at schooling, taking precedence in Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts. While she was an avid Quidditch fan, making sure to try and go to as many of her brother's games as possible, she never played herself as her school didn't have any teams (a disappointment she perhaps never really got over). She was even able to travel a few times with her brother to some of the games that were set internationally, renewing her love of traveling.

In her final year of schooling, her siblings decided to go to England in order to stay with their grandparents for awhile. It worried their mother to have them there by themselves. Gabriel had been looking at being traded to a different team, probably in England, while it was decided that Sofia could attend a university there. Amarissa was to finish her schooling in Spain, and was potentially going to follow her siblings to England. She had already decided that she wanted to be involved in the Ministry like her father had been. In the end, based on her high marks and recommendations full of praise from her teachers, she decided to go into training to be an Auror. Instead of also going to Britain, she began her three years of training in Spain. It was an exciting experience, giving her for the first time, a true challenge. Amarissa had to work diligently in order to secure the marks needed, and was found that no matter how hard she worked, it was always expected that she push just a bit further.

However, it was shortly after this time period that rumors of the Dark Lord returning in England started to reach her. Her family was largely untouched during the first war. Their mother had perhaps never really understood the depth of what was happening around them, as they traveled and their father was involved in the discussions, but not the battles. Amarissa's oldest brother perhaps experienced a bit more, already in school when the Dark Lord fell the first time. Amarissa could remember the worry that had painted her father's features over the situation, but had been too young to remember hearing about Death Eater attacks or the occasional friend of their father's (often someone she had never met) being killed. So, in the beginning, it was a matter of concern, but even Amarissa didn't understand how deeply it would affect the world. From his position in England, Gabriel told her, not sparing any horrors, of what was going around them. He wrote of how he was, perhaps and for the only time, ashamed of his career of a Quidditch player, wishing that he could do more to help. For the first time, Amarissa had a personal view of the war that was raging. It horrified her to hear of the stories that her brother was able to pass along. Her Auror training was just about to become complete, and she found herself feeling that she had picked the proper role for herself.

Her mother began to protest her career choice as the war took a sharp turn. There was a definite uprising of dark wizards and the ideals that the Dark Lord was sporting, making it an interesting and fast paced first year for Amarissa. She came in a few good, close scrapes and Viola seemed unable to handle the danger that her daughter was “choosing” to put herself in. Barely a year later, though, the news came from England : Gabriel and Sofia had both been attacked. The message was confused and barely legible, and Amarissa and Viola instantly hurried to England to see what had occurred. It was the worst they could have expected. Gabriel and Sofia had been out one evening and had apparently been cornered, Sofia seen for a Muggle and Gabriel considered impure. They had been given the choice to merely hand Sofia over, but Gabriel had struggled and fought and been killed in the duel that followed. Sofia had survived, but was addled, her mind driven into a permanent state of insanity. A further surprise was found in the fact that Sofia had a son that she hadn't yet brought herself to tell Amarissa or Viola about. He was just a few months old and bore the name of Brandon Cross, but there was no sign or inclination of just who his father was. The Crosses offered to take the boy and raise him, but Amarissa and Viola took him back to Spain instead. The death of her son and the insanity of her oldest daughter caused a break in the family. Viola blamed the Crosses for not taking better care of the pair, and for being irresponsible in reporting Sofia's pregnancy. Sofia was permanently admitted into St. Mungo's and despite Viola's resentment, the Crosses paid for all medical care she could ever need. Upon their return, Amarissa submerged herself in her work, now almost solely responsible for the income of the family. She continued to live with her mother to help raise Brandon, but was home extremely late most nights and the days she was home was often spent doing piles of paperwork. She didn't consider herself a very good parental figure, but she attempted to do the best that she could to help out her nephew. At the same time, she was trying to put in a transfer to go to England to assist in the war there, but was denied the request time and time again, kept in Spain in order to protect them from experiencing any more of the continuous struggle.

The end of the war spelled out a time of celebration that didn't quite reach Amarissa. She remained strongly chained to her work, hunting down the last few remains of the thresholds of Voldemort supporters, most of whom had quickly given up their loyalties between the fall of the Dark Lord and the stringent policies that England was implementing. Though she was wary of it at first, the sudden break in the flow of her work allowed her to spend more time with her nephew. It cultivated a close bond between them, and Amarissa found herself extremely attached to him. Her mother, her, and Brandon began to become a close knit family of their own and she fell back a bit from the politics of her job, only watching as Britain began to try and close the gap between the wizarding world and the Muggles.

Then, Amarissa was called in for a special case, one that she wasn't allowed to speak to anyone about. It perplexed her at first. When she first heard the details of what exactly had occurred, she assumed that either the being was perhaps an altered Inferi or was a baldfaced lie. However, Amarissa was wrong on both accounts. She was shown one of the first resurrected dead in Spain, a boy that had been brought in by his terrified wife when he had seemingly just shown up again. Amarissa had studied Inferi a great deal, had a good track record and was brought into the situation because of that. She worked with a team to inspect the differences between the resurrected and the living, trying to piece together just what was happening. When they expanded a bit, she was shifted slightly from the research and mostly began to bring in whoever she could. She would investigate, ask questions, and then ensnare the freshly revived, bringing them in to the Ministry. The Spanish Ministry tried to keep the entire affair closely wrapped up, but they were insatiably curious to discover if this was happening in other places of the world or merely Spain. As a solution, the order was sent down to Amarissa that she was to be sent to England as a representative of the Spanish government. Her official story would be the observation of the integration processes and the reactions to it. However, she was also supposed to look for any signs that the British government knew of the revived and to look for the resurrected themselves. While Amarissa was ambiguous about the situation at first, not wanting to leave her mother and her nephew behind in Spain, she also was aware that she was probably best suited for the job and found herself unable to deny the request.

Plotting

What short and long term goals do you have for your character?: Short term would to have Amarissa meet a lot of the characters that are about. She would have very limited, if any at all, personal connections to the rest of the cast, and it would be important for her to initially build some sort of relationship, if only for the purpose of her job. Long term, her goal would be to start assembling files of who exactly the dead are, certainly reporting back to the Ministry in Spain, and perhaps also beginning to involve the Ministry of England. She would also be interested in investigating just how the dead are returning, how whole their beings are, and the oddities that may accompany such a magical transformation. In short, deepening the knowledge of what exactly is occurring with the resurrected.

How does your character feel about the post-war world? (The Wizarding Community becoming more open to muggles, captured Death Eaters receiving the kiss, or being stripped of their wealth and property for lesser offences): Amarissa is dubious about how Britan is handling their affairs and worries solely on what the effects will be on the overall wizarding community. She thinks that opening the magical world entirely to every Muggle is probably not a great idea and is definitely being rushed way too fast. She is no fan of Death Eaters and believe that they all deserve some form of punishment, but she dislikes Dementors a great deal and wishes that the repercussions involving such distasteful creatures would be cut out completely.

Now that we are familiar with your characterization, please provide us with role playing sample so that we can get an idea of your writing style.
Amarissa had just slipped down into the hot, soapy water, letting out a slight hiss of a sigh as her muscles began to relax. It felt amazing on her sore body, having just arrived home after being sent half way across the country in order to do an in depth study on an area that was potentially flocked with Inferi. She had arrived there only to find that the reports were greatly exaggerated. There had been two Inferi, which still had sent slight shivers of disgust up Amarissa's spine. Inferi were perhaps the foulest beings she could think of except for Dementors. To ensnare a person's body and hold it captive after their death in order to accomplish any means could only be conceived of by an extremely sick and twisted mind, and Amarissa couldn't even begin to fathom the want to use corpses as walking, fumbling weapons. And in that way, two Inferi were still far too many. She had dispatched them in a quiet manner, studied them, conducted her research and recorded several possible leads as to who had created the Inferi. To her own surprise, she hadn't been asked to stay and completely confirm these ideas, but had been summoned home. She had arrived home late last night and collapsed on top of her bed, grimy and completely exhausted. The traveling cloak that was trapped over her shoulders hadn't even come off as she collapsed face down against a pillow. However, when Amarissa had woken up the next morning to find her hair in matted clumps and a sour taste in her mouth, the only place that she could think of seeking out was the bathroom. The bits of steam curling around the bathroom as she filled the ancient, chipped bathtub with hot water were absolutely exquisite.

Much to her dismay, she had barely tilted her head back around the rim when there came a loud and insistent knock on the door. Amarissa raised her head, a dreary and tired look accenting her face. There were dark circles underneath her eyes that she couldn't hide no matter how much she tried. And though she might complain slightly about the way that her calves were so sore that she could barely stand and that the weary sensation that filled her body was absolutely bone deep, everyone near her knew that it was the only way that she would have it and feel that she was properly performing her job.

“Tia!” Brandon's young voice called from outside the door, straining to be heard above the sound of the running water. “The man from work is here!”

Even though she didn't need to ask him anything further about what that meant, she wouldn't have had the chance. She could hear his feet hit the floor as he ran back across the floors and towards where their visitor was waiting. Frowning a bit, Amarissa lifted herself out of the tub, water streaming slightly down her frame as she abandoned what had been her haven for a matter of seconds. Though Brandon was familiar with whoever was here, which meant that it was probably Hector, who she worked just beneath, it was still strange that someone had been sent straight to the house. She had just returned, after all, and the letter summoning her back didn't indicate that there was going to be any need for such an immediate report. And there had certainly been no owl preceding a visit. Pursing her lips a bit, Amarissa wrapped a towel around her frame and headed out into where Brandon was pressed around the corner of the room, watching Hector. She figured he had probably said hello, ran to deliver the message and then been overcome with shyness to precede into further conversation with the overwhelming Auror that was currently standing in the entrance of their home, arms tucked securely behind his back.

He turned to look at her as she walked into the room, and his eyes barely even skipped over the fact that she was wearing a towel, obviously fresh from a bath.

“Cross,” he greeted her with a slight inclination of his head. “Get dressed. We're going in.”

That was all the explanation she managed to draw out of him, despite her insistent presses and cajoles for information. He had remained silent and stern, and eventually she had slipped into her bedroom and pulled on a pair of loose black pants, a white shirt, and her robes to go over that. On her way back to where he was standing, she grabbed a small velvet bag that was filled with Floo powder. Undoing the drawstrings, she offered it the other, who took a small pinch and threw it into the wide fireplace.

“Be good while I'm gone,” Amarissa said to Brandon, running a hand over his dark hair even that she knew the boy was unlikely to cause any trouble for her mother. He was almost always quiet, all dark eyes that reminded her completely of Sofia.

Then she threw her pinch of powder into the fireplace, the crackle of the colored fire moving up to meet her. Seconds later, she was at Hector's side again. His pace was clipped and accurate, and though he was always a somber man, she could tell by the urgent arch of his step that there was something important happening. Whatever was about to be revealed to her couldn't wait past this morning, barely past the instant that she had returned home.

Their feet pounded down the winding staircases, taking them lower and deeper into the heart of the building. They passed a few people that nodded at them occasionally, their gaze sliding over Hector to share a brief smile with Amarissa. She wasn't sure how deep they were going, but she didn't question, just followed. Finally, when they reached a level where no one was lingering about, Hector stepped out into the hall and stopped in front of the first door.

“What you are about to learn,” he said in a low voice. “Is not to be shared with anyone. Anyone. Do I make myself clear, Cross?”

Amarissa nodded twice, not unaccustomed to such warnings. A great deal of the information that they dealt with was fresh and sometimes precarious, unready to be released into the sprawl of the general population. Some of it was dangerous and to be so flippantly spoken was stupid. It was a rule that she understood, but Hector also was aware that she would have known all this. So whatever was about to be shown to her was something so dire that it bore a need to have her reminded.

He opened the door and she walked inside, aware of his presence behind her the entire time. The majority of her concentration shifted to what was going in front of her. The room was spelled, meant for observation, so that Hector and Amarissa could stand on one half without the other side being aware of their presence. Amarissa walked slowly inside, nearing the shimmering veil that seemed to hang in front of them. Behind the spell, there were two Ministry officials, one an Auror and one a Medical Official, standing around a man that was sprawled out on a low table. It looked as though he had been stunned, but the scene didn't strike Amarissa as particularly odd. She raised one eyebrow slightly and turned to look at Hector, waiting for his explanation.

“We received a notification from an elderly woman yesterday morning,” Hector said in a low voice. “That her husband had come into the house rather early. He was sitting at the kitchen table, reading the morning paper. And he had also been dead for the last twenty years. Not only had her husband apparently risen from the dead, but returned a great deal younger than the age he died at.” Hector raised a hand and pointed at the unmoving boy. “That man was dead two days ago.”

“It's an Inferi,” Amarissa said with a slight shrug, sounding unimpressed.

“It's not an Inferi,” Hector said with a slight shake of his head. “I do not know what he is, but I can tell you that is not an Inferi. He's completely lucid, coherent. Can recall his life up to his apparent age, but has no recollection of anything after that or of dying.”

Amarissa turned to look at him fully, trying to understand the implication of what he was saying. That someone had returned from the dead and that they were unaware of why. She paused.

“You're telling me we're working with zombies?”

He ignored her comment completely.

“I want you, Cross, to go in there. Look at him. Try and find out what's brought him back, what magic it is. If it's Dark. Then go and start looking for more of them. I want you to help me figure this out.”

Amarissa pushed her lips to one side for a moment, and then grasped at the magical barrier with her fingertips and parted it so that she could walk through the veil.