FULL NAME: Elijah Phoenix Rainwater.
NICKNAMES: His sisters can call him Eli.
AGE/DOB: 17 / December 7, 2002 (Sagittarius)
YEAR: Senior.
BLOOD STATUS: Pureblood.
GENDER/PRONOUNS: Male. He/him/his.
SEXUALITY: Who's to say.
HOMETOWN: Crystal Grove, California. Silicon Valley-adjacent, rapidly gentrified, epicenter for American magitech, sucking the life out of the surrounding neighborhoods.
APPEARANCE:Elijah enjoys the privilege of being so extremely wealthy that he has never once been self-conscious about the kind of vibe he projects visually. For the most part that vibe is "sharply dressed, if a little preppy", but he's also been known to do things like pair rolled-up pant cuffs with sockless converse. He's been a big fan of a nice springtime pink long before he was sorted into Mothgarden, and it's a staple of his wardrobe.
HEIGHT: 6'1"
BUILD: Remarkably average.
PB: Ted Sutherland
INSPO: Pinboards/Moodboards
What would others say is their most prominent personality trait — what's the first thing people notice about them?While he's certainly not stupid, Elijah definitely comes off as... oblivious, at best. A little socially inept and extremely sheltered, his ideas about the world are informed by his ultra-rich, out-of-touch parents, his oppositionally defiant twin sister, and basically nobody else. He's privileged, he's soft, he's fussy. But he's also fundamentally harmless - he has none of the selfishness or malice of your typical rich white man, and that comes through in his soft-spoken nature and sunshiney optimism. Overall, the first impressions he leaves are neutral-to-positive. His naivety is easy to laugh at since he'll laugh along with you, his openness makes him a fascinating subject of study to those who want to pick his brain, and even if he sometimes puts his foot in his mouth he's always willing to apologize.
How would this character describe themself? What do they think are their best and worst qualities?An honest self-appraisal from Elijah is difficult to come by. He suffers from occasional low self-esteem, but also sometimes credits himself for things that aren't really his own achievements. He's "good with money", he claims, because he's racked up some personal savings in his teenage year (from his hefty allowance). He doesn't think he's good at school, but would attribute this to lack of natural intellect more than laziness (when actually the reverse is true). Lack of self-awareness is a common theme in his life. But he's right about some things about himself; he's a loyal friend and he's got a strong moral compass, but he could stand to relax sometimes and be more open to trying new things.
What drives them to action? Doing good? Getting rich? Receiving praise?His motivations are twofold, and often at odds with each other: he wants to do good in the world in a more direct way than his parents' "philantrophy", which he finds shallow and image-focused... but he also wants very badly for his parents to approve of him. While his teenage rebellion is oftentimes pretty mild, he still finds himself pushing away from the family reputation when he can. It's the easiest way for him to garner attention from his parents, even if it's not the kind of attention he wants. Attending Peckenpaugh was one such act of small rebellion - he wanted to pursue a career as a BoMB diplomat, and his parents would've rathered their children go to a private school like Malstrom. It was a short discussion, though: Elijah's never been denied anything he wants.
How does this character handle group project assignments in class? He's a contributor, but not a leader. His academic performance is wall-to-wall lackluster, but while he's not a hard worker, he is definitely eager to please. He'd never be one to slack on group project work - not with other people depending on his results. He tends to do his best work in groups or pairs, for that reason and also just because the extra support can help him out. The exception to this rule is if he pairs up with his sister, which he does often. She brings out his lazy side in the worst way.
How social are they and, introvert or extrovert, what sorts of people do they gravitate toward?Extremely extroverted, to the point of being clingy. The isolated childhood he lived with his sisters left him uncomfortable with silence, and he much prefers to be with other people than being alone. As for the type of people he's drawn to, that varies wildly. He tends to latch onto people that pay attention to him and then stick with them. He's fallen into some unhealthy friendships in this way, but luckily has done pretty well for himself at Peckenpaugh.
FUN FACTS:
This will happen someday.
LANGUAGES: English, French, Italian, Proper Sylvan. He has a natural knack for learning languages, but of course having private tutors helped the process.
HOBBIES: Gardening, fussing over his sisters, befriending local animals, playing solitaire, buying exotic plants, antiquing, learning new skills, fussing over his pets.
SKILLS:
Green Thumb: He loves plants and his garden at home is ridiculous. He tries to keep it a little lower-key here, since he has roommates.
Art? Arts and Crafts?: He is not as artistically inclined as his sister, but he does like making things and occasionally picks up a new "hobby" in, like, pottery or dip-dying. These are always short-lived.
Good Proper Pureblood Manners: He's always been a little quicker to fall in line than Imogen, so it makes sense that if she can clean up nice, he's... usually pretty put-together and polite.
Languages: He's always picked up new languages quickly, and has an ear for identifying them. It was the one academic achievement he was praised for as a child, and he's really latched onto it.
Math: A skill he inherited from dad, and one that he has made no efforts to cultivate. He has a head for mathematics, but as it's not as much a staple of wizard education as it is of muggle education, Eli isn't doing any calculus.
FAMILY: Perpetua Rain, mother.
Steve Water, father.
Imogen Rainwater, twin sister. Deeplurk senior.
Orchid Rainwater, little sister. Thorntrail sophomore. Elijah exclusively calls her "Kiddo". Affectionately.
BACKGROUND:Eli's parents are rich, famous, and eccentric - the wizard approximation of if Steve Jobs married Gwyneth Paltrow. Their marriage was the social scandal of California high society (the Rains and the Waters have been warring idly for decades). Now, thanks to their blissful union and successful business endeavours, the Rainwater name is a household one.
So Eli grew up wanting for nothing and constantly attended to. And, of course, he had a constant companion in his twin sister Imogen. More than anything else, Eli looked to Imogen to determine what "normal" was. He may be a little better behaved than she is (even today, he very rarely gets in trouble), but his sense of what's normal and what isn't... might be a little skewed.
Before long, the twins also had Orchid to compete with when it came to getting their parents' attention. Family recreational time, which had already been thin, was spread even thinner with baby-of-the-family Orchid around. But instead of being jealous of his sisters, he's always been doting and protective of them.
At Bottleby, Eli fared a little better than his sister did. He did all his schoolwork himself, and kept up with all his work academically. But as he aged and hard work became more critical to his school assignments than just sharp thinking or natural intellect, his grades began sliding too.
Transferring to Peckenpaugh was largely his decision, but he never would've done it without the support of his sisters. Besides the school's close ties with the Bureau of Magical Beings, where Elijah is gunning to work after graduation, it also just feels as far removed from their California roots as they can possibly get - maybe more of a draw for Imogen than it was for Elijah.
Whatever the cause, all the Rainwater children landed at Peckenpaugh eventually, and Elijah vastly prefers it to his old school. He's very comfortable in his position at school, and has more than a little anxiety about graduating and having to adapt to the "real world" at the end of the year. But that's a problem for next semester, right? There's still loads of time before graduation.
WAND: Laurel & white river monster spine, 12 1/2", whippy.
FAMILIAR: A much doted-upon Bowtruckle named Twiggy (he got her when he was eight, okay?). It's a small miracle this creature hasn't been eaten by Patch.
CAREER GOALS: BoMB Diplomat. Or, you know, he could work for Dad if that doesn't work out... but he'd really like to do some good in the world instead of just making money.
PART-TIME JOB: He's never worked a retail job in his young life and he doesn't intend to start.
CLASSES:
Charms: Average performance. He doesn't spend as much time on memorization as he probably should.
Potions: Average performance. He doesn't like handling the grosser ingredients and usually makes his lab partner do it.
Transfiguration: Of the core classes, his favorite and best.
C&M: He loves animals. He does not want to touch the flobberworms, however.
DADA: It's recommended for his career path, but he struggles with it. If he had to name a single problem class, he'd say this one.
Herbology: He's a standout in this class. If he weren't lazy so busy! he might have made a bid to be the TA. But he is very very busy.
History of Magic: Another class where his lack of study ethic might bite him in the ass, but at least he's interested in this subject matter.
Non-Human Languages (Proper Sylvan): He already had a pretty good foundation in Sylvan before he started taking this class, so he'd consider himself an advanced student.
Animagus Studies (Fruit bat): The only thing better than being best friends with an animal is being an animal yourself.
EXTRA-CURRICULARS:
Student Council (Treasurer): Elijah has a bad grasp on concepts like "how much things cost" and what a "good deal" is, but he is pretty handy at crunching numbers and somehow inherited his father's head for business. Being a club treasurer is approximately comparable to playing Monopoly to him, and he is going to win.
Cheer: His sister might play for a different team, but he's still gotta be on the sidelines there cheering her on. A frequent turncoat in Mothgarden v Deeplurk games. Sorry, Fitz.
Adventure Club: He joined this club to spend time with Imogen, but for someone that wants to make a career of liaising with dryads, he is not the biggest fan of camping.
Arithletes: He's great at trivia.
Debate: He's... subpar at arguing.
SORTING?: He went with the sorting path's suggestion. While he's used to being close to his sister, ending up in the same house as her was never a concern of his. He knows they're deeply different people at heart. He's a good fit for Mothgarden; open-minded and questioning, but a little fussy and particular.
NAME: JJ
EMAIL: oronsomestar@gmail.com
CDJ: ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
juliajoyOTHER CONTACT: it's too easy for you people to contact me already :/
TIMEZONE: Pacific
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I was going to say she ran for maybe-treasurer last year and lost and I think it would be funny if there was a number of times where Elijah just happened to beat her at something and she's just like "who does this fucking guy think he is"
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