.OOC.
Name: Anna
Email: anna.katherine@gmail.com
AIM: dramaqueen57575
Experience: Extensive. I have played Remus for several years, James for several more, and I've played all the marauders at least once. Most recent Moony experience is with Handful of Dust on Insanejournal, and previously greatest journal, with the usernames "otemporaomoony" and "howhighthemoon," respectively.
.Relationships.
John Lupin.
Remus's father, from whom his middle name originated. John, a pureblood, is a kind man with a receding hairline and thick glasses who works for the Ministry of Magic in the Goblin Liason Office, part of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. John also offends werewolves with nasty habits of biting little children in his spare time. Remus's father was never the sort of man who thought that you needed to tell your children that you loved them, except perhaps on birthdays and special occasions. It was implied, wasn't it? In the school of stiff-upper-lip British men, John was not cold, but neither was he warm and fuzzy. He was generally straight-backed and well within the realm of propriety, though he wasn't usually one to criticize those who weren't... unless they really needed criticizing.
Unfortunately, during the summer of 1966 John Lupin found himself especially irritable with the recent increase in werewolf bites he saw coming through the Department, and loudly and openly denounced Fenrir Greyback as the cause for this upward trend. An enthusiastic young journalist who happened to be doing research at the ministry regarding the changing policy in magical creature regulation happened to be witness to this rant, and used him as a source in an article, stating his slightly inflated opinion as grounds for tighter restrictions for werewolves such as Greyback who demonstrated consistently violent patterns of behavior. Because Greyback caught wind of this, the six-year-old son of John and Mary Lupin, a little boy called Remus, was punished. Those who knew John best would say that this incident caused him to distance himself more from his son, perhaps because he never truly forgave himself for what happened because of his own transgressions against the werewolf.
Mary Lupin.
Remus's mother, who came up with the boy's first name, is a muggle English teacher for year ten students. Though she would never say this to Remus, when she found out that she was pregnant with John's child in their fourth year of marriage, she had sort of hoped that the child would be a girl. In all fairness, this was because she assumed that boys were rowdy, boisterous troublesome things who broke furniture and burned books, both incidences that would have made Mary Lupin dissolve into a fit of tears. Remus, fortunately, could not possibly be any less this way, even though his best friends are the veritable embodiment of all those things which Mary found most worrisome in the prospect of male children. Mary loves Remus very much, but it isn't the loud, overwhelming, squeeze-you-till-your-eyes-pop-out sort of love that James receives from his mother. It was more the read-you-a-book-when-you're-sick-in-bed sort of love, and Remus was content with that. This being the case, Mary Lupin was the most likely source of Remus's fondness for books.
James Potter.
One of Remus Lupin's best friends. Sometimes, a part of him really envies James, because he could never possibly be like James, and being James seems so much easier than being himself. He could never be funny and easy and reckless and physical like James. Not when he grew up feeling like a grown man in a boy suit, or a foreigner in his own skin. When they were younger, spending time with James was fun, but the aftermath never failed to remind Remus of what it must be like to live through a tornado. You remembered things like, oh, there used to be a lamp where that pile of glass shards currently resides. Or else, oh, that massive puddle of something that looks suspiciously unlike water isn't supposed to be on my floor. That said, James has probably always been the most normal among them... which Remus thinks is sort of sad, considering his formerly woeful ineptitude with the female species.
Fortunately, however, it seems that Lily finally deemed the sincerity with which he lovingly flailed like a trout out of water to be endearing, and now the two are inseparable, much to the delight (and occasional passing jealousy) of James's long-time companions.
Sirius Black.
One of Remus Lupin's best friends. Actually, despite the fact that Sirius is the one who leaves him most thoroughly and most consistently confused, Sirius is probably his best friend. It's weird to think of him like that, because James and Peter are obviously also his best friends, but it's different with Sirius. He doesn't know what it is, but Remus is more comfortable and a tiny bit more open around Sirius than he is around the others. Sirius makes him feel more or less accepted, if not entirely understood, even though he does give him hell about everything. It's that Sirius, like himself, isn't quite a golden boy like James is, and it's something about how similar Sirius' animagus form is to his transformation. It's a wonky sort of kindred spirit thing that functions on a different level than his friendship with James. He knows Sirius is a crazy wanker, but he has his back.
He does not like to give it a lot of thought, though. He knows he isn't Sirius's best friend (or James's or Peter's, for that matter), and he can't help but feel a little twinge of something like selfish disappointment when he realizes that he isn't his best friend's best friend. But it's alright. He knows he couldn't be James.
Peter Pettigrew.
One of Remus Lupin's best friends. During school, Remus ended up helping Peter with lessons more than he helps any of his other friends, which is unsurprising. James and Sirius, Remus thinks, have more natural aptitude for magic than Remus does, but they don't apply themselves. Accordingly, Remus is left with the oftentimes challenging, but always rewarding task of instructing those who have more difficulty with various concepts than he does. He doesn't approve of letting his friends copy his homework - which isn't to say that he hasn't allowed it from time to time - but he actually does enjoy helping them when they need it, and Peter is usually the friend who needs it. Remus allows himself a certain amount of pride whenever he is able to explain something formerly confusing to someone else in a way that they can understand, and he almost never says no to a student who asks for his help. In any case, Remus likes Peter. Peter is a very good friend, but Peter also frustrates him sometimes. Mostly when he's looking at Remus in a way that makes him concerned that he is the least interesting person in the universe, which Remus may well be imagining.
Since Hogwarts ended, he has found that he hasn't seen as much of Peter, but he hasn't seen as much of anyone, really. It's just that Peter is usually the least active about, say, coming round to make sure Remus didn't forget to eat while studying one day and starve to death.
Girls.
He has never had what he would consider a real girlfriend. He's been on a few dates, and he's found himself interested in a few girls, but ultimately, it wasn't a feeling that was sustainable as anything more than conversation and friendship. Truth be told, he'd really rather have girl friends than girlfriends. Girls are just people, but with breasts. This isn't to say, of course, that he never thinks about girls. He's always had, for example, a certain standing fondness for Elizabeth Bennet that has only grown over time.
However, even if he were to find a girl that he liked, a relationship would really be out of the question for someone with his condition. They couldn't very well get married, since the stigma of marrying a werewolf would be too great, and the regulations preventing werewolves from working are so extensive that he could never provide for his family. And if they had children, the resulting offspring could very well inherit the lycanthropy (and the large nose) that has plagued Remus all his life. He wouldn't wish his life or himself on anyone, certainly not someone he loved.
.History.
Blood.
Halfblood, and a halfbreed. His mother is a muggle and his father is a wizard.
Family.
Born on March 10, 1960 as the only child of John and Mary Lupin, Remus lived a happy and fairly boring life in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, where his family had lived for some time. His parents were his only surviving family beyond a few cousins who lived too far off to see very often, and he learned to entertain himself at home pretty early on, reading any books he could get his hands on. His mother, a muggle school teacher, encouraged this, borrowing stacks at a time of books from the school library for her son, who devoured them ravenously.
His father, a pureblood wizard named John Lupin, was a kind man with a receding hairline (which Remus, fortunately, did not inherit because it's X linked) and thick glasses who worked for the ministry in what Remus had always assumed was a dull, paper-pushing sort of job. However, he made an important decision during this time that drastically changed the course of Remus's life. He offended Fenrir Greyback, who in turn, bit Remus Lupin four months after his sixth birthday while the family was on holiday. His parents, especially his father, blame themselves to this day.
From then on, transformations began. He always had to be home an hour before sunset once a month just to be safe, had to stay in a basement with a new door that long, sharp nails couldn't claw through, had to have visits to a special doctor in the Dai Llewellyn Ward for serious bites, and was stuck with a mark that would follow him around for the rest of his life beginning on the lower ribs of his left side. At present, Remus does not know who the werewolf was that bit him. More notably, he has always felt a certain amount of pity for him, as he knows that a werewolf has little or no control over his actions after he has transformed. It has been his assumption that the knowledge that he bit someone when he transformed must be torturing the poor fellow, as Remus knows that it would torture him if he had been the one who bit someone, a fear that constantly assails him during sleepless nights when the full moon is nearing. (Of course, this is wasted pity, because Fenrir Greyback is a crazy bastard.)
History.
Fearing that Remus would be rejected from school because of his condition, Remus's parents worked very hard not to get his hopes up, speaking very little of the school that his father attended and downplaying the demonstrations of Remus's magical ability that popped up from time to time. However, his parents were practically tearful with joy when Remus received his Hogwarts letter from Albus Dumbledore. The special arrangements that the headmaster made allowed Remus to attend school, and he was sorted (though with some difficulty) into Gryffindor with such adorable scamps as James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. Though it was a bit of a stretch for him, Remus befriended these three, facilitating in some of their more harmless pranks (and some of the less harmless ones) and doing his best to talk them out of others.
However, he never actually planned to tell them about his lycanthropy, fearing that he would loose the only friends that he had ever really had. Despite his best efforts to keep it a secret, it was early in their second year when James, Sirius and Peter finally discovered the truth about where Remus actually disappeared to every month. Remus was pleasantly shocked when they didn't dump him on his arse right then and there. Sirius and James were actually smirking - which was worrisome enough in and of itself. But it would be three more years before Remus discovered what would be the meaning of that smirk that passed between Sirius and James.
His time at Hogwarts continued to pass fairly uneventfully... well, as uneventfully as time can pass for a werewolf and marauder. Every month, he left school to "visit a sick aunt." The transformation from human to werewolf was difficult and painful, and if isolated, the wolf become frustrated and harmed itself when unable to attack. The villagers mistook Lupin's howling as extremely violent ghosts. The house was dubbed "the Shrieking Shack" and became known as the most haunted building in Britain. Although it was not actually haunted, Dumbledore promoted this rumor to discourage curious villagers from exploring. Eventually, the old haunt would become the marauder's secret hangout.
It was shortly before the full moon in their fifth year that a declaration was made: they were officially becoming animagi. Remus gave a long-suffering look, but they seemed eager, and Remus had never been good at keeping them from doing things they really put their mind to. Initially doubtful of the legitimacy of this plan, he opted to forget about it in interest of other pursuits and in an effort to keep himself from disappointment - not only because it was highly illegal, and if he'd believed them, he would have been forced to attempt to prevent it. However, much to his surprise, where once had stood James Potter, now stood a rather majestic stag.
Sirius took to the transformations just as easily, and though his prefectly virtue told him that this was probably a bad idea, Remus was a quarter past caring. Certainly when he realized that for once in his life, he really had friends who cared about him enough to risk something this. In retrospect, he thinks that it was very selfish of him to allow them to risk that much for him, and he also feels guilty for violating Dumbledore's trust. He doesn't deserve such good friends, he thinks, and it is out of both love and gratitude that he lets them get away with so much.
However, even with several good friends who didn't seem to care about his status as a werewolf, Remus realizes that most people are not nearly as accepting as his friends are of such a condition. In light of Ministry movements, he lived through his school days with the constant concern that, once they had grown weary of marginalizing muggleborns, halfbreeds would become the ministry's new target of choice. Would the reason for his self-loathing become an object of public scorn? Remus read the paper religiously, watching the headlines for news of recent ministry resolutions that might mean the end of life as he knew it. He had tried to keep his friends from realizing the cause of his concern, but he had been known to occasionally wake up in a cold sweat from a nightmare that he'd been tagged, or that he'd been put down to prevent harm to others.
Sixth year dawned, and he and Sirius got the brilliant idea to map out the school. It would come in handy for their last two years of Maraudering, they decided. Plus, they could hand it down to some upstart mischief-makers, and may they use it wisely. Sirius, James and sometimes Peter, often explored the many hidden passageways of the castle, and pretty soon they had a comprehensive map.
It was Remus who really helped them out with making it happen, who read every book that the library had to offer on cartography and the founding of the school in the hopes that something of use would pop up. It was he who spoke to the portraits in an attempt to charm a bit of information out of them. It was he who suggested that they charm the map so you could see where anyone was at any given time, and he had a fair amount to do with the discovery of how such a thing could be done. Essentially, while the others were exploring, Remus Lupin spent several months in the library making sweet, sweet love to the logistics.
Sixth year was also the year that Remus Lupin almost killed Severus Snape. Not in the sense that James and Sirius frequently said they would do, but far more literally. Though he was not there for the inception of this prank gone wrong, his understanding was that Sirius, fed up with Snape, had tried to deter him from prying into their private lives any further by sending him to face a fully grown werewolf - where he would likely be pounded into a pulp by the whomping willow tree rather than make it through. Unfortunately, Snape is not so much stupid as he is stupid looking. He managed to bypass the willow with relative ease and little more than a black eye, and he headed down the path towards impending doom. James, however, recognizing the immanent danger of Sirius’s folly, ran after Snape, barely managing to save his life just as the git opened the door of the shrieking shack, spying the dangerous werewolf that Remus had become and learning his secret.
When Remus awoke the next morning with no real knowledge of what had occurred, the situation was explained to him, and a horrible, empty feeling settled in the pit of his stomach that refused to go away for a very long time afterwards. It was a betrayal. The thought that one of his friends, Sirius Black, would do something that stupid that it put everything he held dear in a sort of terrifying limbo, was enough to make him feel ill. It was an emotion that couldn’t have been mistaken for anger by anyone who knew Remus Lupin at all. It was really a sort of sickening, miserable disappointment with a side of self-loathing and a renewed sense of complete isolation. There was nothing like feeling as though your friends had simply used you as means to an end - killing someone - to make you feel good about yourself.
James was actually surprisingly helpful in making him feel better without doing anything that was directly intended to do this. In a perverse way, it made him feel better to know that James was angry with Sirius, even if he didn't like that they weren't the close twosome that they had always been. He was relieved when they overcame their differences - even though Remus was actually quicker to forgive Sirius than James was, simply because it was in his nature to cut his friends a hell of a lot of slack. However, his trust in Sirius wavered considerably after the incident, and during the time that he and James weren't talking as they normally would, Remus couldn't really bring himself to try to be there for Sirius the same way James would have been.
But it became easier to put this aside when Sirius really needed him to - the summer following that year, Sirius was driven to run away from home in order to live with James, finally having had enough of their horrible expectations, the crazy pureblood bullshit that he was expected to subscribe to, and they had all done their best to help him through the difficult transition. Though, on the other shocking side of summer events, while Sirius was staying at James' house and the other boys had been visiting, James was made head boy.
At first convinced that this was a very elaborate joke - honestly, it was almost like making Sirius the head boy - Remus came to realize that there was a certain amount of sanity within the madness, and though he was slightly disappointed that he hadn't been made head boy, he also understood. Remus didn't really have the people skills to talk to people all the time and get them to do things or not do things, and to boss people around in the way he would have to if he were head boy. James, however, was very good at giving orders and having them followed. He was happy for him. Or, he would be, so long as he didn't start taking points from Slytherin because he was upset by Snape's nose.
Seventh year, for Remus, began uneventfully. Prefects' duties still were to be attended to, studying still had to be done, career planning had to be considered, etc. Remus spent perhaps the larger part of his seventh year to himself reading, studying, understanding, working towards his intended profession - Remus wanted to go into research, or to become a professor. He was one of very few students that Professor Binns knew by name, which certainly said something about his standing in History of Magic, arguably his favorite class behind Defense Against the Dark Arts. He wanted to study the history of defense, learn the practical ancient magic, discover old and forgotten spells and bewitchments. It sounded thrilling to him like the idea of being a curse breaker sounded to James. It was just how he was.
Of course, it was their last year, all of theirs, and Remus also made time for friends, mischief, pranks and the like, having several almost-brushes with the rules, but never quite. All people suspected Remus of was keeping bad company. Well, everyone except Severus Snape, whose hatred for Remus was only intensified by this encounter - He was a monster! People like him shouldn't be allowed to attend school. People like him should be locked up! - and it bothered Remus more than he let on. He liked to be liked.
For James, however, the year was far more eventful. When Lily finally agreed to date James, few were more shocked than Remus Lupin, though he was also very happy for his friend, and mildly concerned for Lily. She was one of his friends, too. He did what little he could to talk up James - he wasn't so bad, really, when he wasn't trying to impress Sirius, which he always was, but he had a good heart, he was a good guy - and the two of them ended up getting on like a house on fire.
Indeed, James was a lost cause. He was blissfully gone forever in the land of beautiful women named Lily Evans who could make him do anything she wanted with the crook of her finger. So, while he didn't see much of James during his seventh year, he did get to spend some time with Sirius, and a bit with Peter, so all in all, it was a nice year. In the end, with more than a bit of nostalgia, they ended their term at Hogwarts with a less-than-rousing rendition of Auld Lang Syne and the ceremonial hiding of the map. It would be found one day, certainly, by another group of ragtag troublemakers. Marauders, the sequel? Remus suggested once, jokingly. No, never, was the general consensus. Often imitated, but never duplicated.
During the spring of his last year at Hogwarts, his fear became closer to reality: werewolves were now required to register with the Ministry of Magic as "Dangerous Magical Creatures," to accept a registration number to be imprinted on the nape of their neck for identification purposes, and to provide future employers with that information on their applications. Essentially, they were now officially and systematically stigmatized and unemployable. Though in theory, they were protected under the Wizards with Disabilities Act of 1932, it was always difficult to prosecute these cases, as most employers forced applicants sign a waver stating that they would settle any disputes through mandatory binding arbitration - a quasi-legal institution that almost always found in favor of large businesses rather than private individuals - at the beginning of the application process. Besides, the prejudice against werewolves in that society was such that few judges would faulted the company for its discriminatory hiring practices anyway.
Accordingly, though Remus graduated in the top of his class with excellent recommendations from nearly all of his professors, he was unable to obtain and secure a steady job. Accordingly, his living expenses are paid for by his friends, mostly James, who inherited a great deal of money from his parents. Reluctant though he was to accept help, refusing his offer several times, he was eventually forced to accept after his own savings dried up and he lost his third job. He now works part time at a muggle book store making minimum wage against commission so he doesn't feel quite so completely and utterly useless.
.Personal.
Personality.
As a child who grew up with Lycanthropy, Remus never had many friends. Holding people at an arm's length is something he had grown accustomed to, never saying more about himself than he really had to and mostly engaging in either witty banter over silly, pointless topics or intelligent discussions over broad, important topics. He harbors a certain amount of resentment towards the world for making him what he is, a werewolf, and struggles with bouts of self-loathing because of it. However, a major turning point for him was the day he found out that his three closest friends, the remaining marauders, had trained to become animagi (unregistered and highly illegal, no less), just to make his transformations easier. So he really had friends with whom he didn't share a last name, for once in his life.
He spent much of his youth alone and looking for ways to entertain himself. Remus has a strong interest in books of all sorts, especially books with fading covers, cracked binding, fragile, yellowing pages and the faint smell of old wood that every good library possesses. Essentially, he likes the classics. Extra points if the book was written before he was born. One of his favorite books, for the time being, is Pride and Prejudice. It is due in part, though he would never admit it for fear of being mercilessly teased, to a strong fondness on his part for Mr. Darcy. Though he's sure that it's entirely platonic, and perhaps more of a jealousy, since he also loves Elizabeth Bennett and their irritable banter that barely hides rapturous feelings so rarely found in life.
Some of his other favorites include The Count of Monte Cristo, The Importance of Being Earnest, Wuthering Heights, Romeo and Juliet, Les Miserables, Anna Karenina and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He does not, however, like Dickens. Not blessed with the same blind self-confidence as many of his peers, which Remus would like to explain as some sort of chemical imbalance on their part, he is often one to avoid confrontation and assume in an argument that he is wrong, thus, he finds books much easier to deal with than people on the whole, and spends a lot of time in his familiar corner of the library. Books are also much quieter than annoying boys and much less likely to make fun of your jumper.
Remus is very smart, especially where books are concerned, but he doesn't have quite the same natural magical talent that James and Sirius seem to possess. He worked much harder for his grades, which were excellent, and often pulled his friends through at the last minute with those essential History of Magic notes, but when it came to Potions, he feels pretty hopeless. His best subjects were Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms, though last he checked, he also had one of the highest averages in his class for History of Magic. He also reads a moderate amount of Latin, though he doesn't like to talk about it, as it is the sort of thing that gets you teased until you want to hang yourself with your school tie.
Remus always put up with a lot. Surprised that he was able to find any friends at all given his condition, he does his best to hold onto them. This caused his appointment as prefect to be a bit of a conflict of interests. He didn't want to get his friends in trouble, and obviously, they deserved to be in trouble a lot of the time, but with the badge, he had to. And to be perfectly honest, he did like a certain amount of order. But even with the badge, he gives out a lot of warnings and lets small things slide with a certain defeated little noise and an exasperated eye roll, or a long-suffering sigh.
One thing Remus had always been glad of is that no one knew any real reason to hate him, and following that, no one really seems to. He is a likable person. He works very hard to be. Obviously the Slytherins weren't keen on him as a member of the infamous marauders, but they are not as mean to him as they could be. He doesn't hate anyone arbitrarily, either. Though he has developed something of a dislike for Snape, he wouldn't say he hated him, and he has a great deal of respect for his natural talent in potions, an area in which Remus floundered. Of course, now, the arbitrary hatred has been upped some, what, with the required werewolf registration and all. He could always tell when a potential employer got to that line on a job application by the eye twitch, the look of horror, and the distinctive sneer that briefly puckered his lips. Nope, being a werwolf certainly didn't win you any friends.
The older he has gotten, the more introspective he has grown, because he has more and more to hide and more people to hide it from. There was more injustice in the world, and your own personal grief had to be put aside for the greater grief of the universe. Remus holds a lot of things back and has never been able to fully share himself with other people, partly because he was just never important enough to merit an in depth discussion. His tendency to shut people out from his most private and personal life is probably one thing that would encourage rumors about his loyalty, but openness is simply difficult for him. It isn't his fault.
He does, however, open up more to his friends than those outside of his inner circle would think. Remus isn't usually the person who suggests a dangerous prank, or the person who personally charms the Slytherins' underwear pink, but when he is alone with his close friends, he won't hesitate to laugh and joke around. Though, not usually at the expense of others. Well, sometimes with Sirius at the expense of James and his never ending quest to win fair maiden's heart, but that's different. Remus is not afraid to tag along for a prank every so often, even if he would usually rather be involved in the research and development stage, and he doesn't let the opportunity for a perfect one-liner pass.
Meyers-Briggs Personality Type.
ISFJs are characterized above all by their desire to serve others, their "need to be needed." Most ISFJs find more than enough with which to occupy themselves within the framework of a normal life, as they are very much bound by the prevailing social conventions, and their form of "service" is likely to exclude any elements of moral or political controversy. They specialize in the local, the personal, and the practical.
ISFJs are often unappreciated, at work, home, and play. Ironically, because they prove over and over that they can be relied on for their loyalty and unstinting, high-quality work, those around them often take them for granted--even take advantage of them. Admittedly, the problem is sometimes aggravated by the ISFJs themselves; for instance, they are notoriously bad at delegating ("If you want it done right, do it yourself"). And although they're hurt by being treated like doormats, they are often unwilling to toot their own horns about their accomplishments because they feel that although they deserve more credit than they're getting, it's somehow wrong to want any sort of reward for doing work (which is supposed to be a virtue in itself). (And as low-profile Is, their actions don't call attention to themselves as with charismatic Es.) Because of all of this, ISFJs are often overworked, and as a result may suffer from psychosomatic illnesses.
In the workplace, ISFJs are methodical and accurate workers, often with very good memories and unexpected analytic abilities; they are also good with people in small-group or one-on-one situations because of their patient and genuinely sympathetic approach to dealing with others. ISFJs make pleasant and reliable co-workers and exemplary employees, but tend to be harried and uncomfortable in supervisory roles. They are capable of forming strong loyalties, but these are personal rather than institutional loyalties; if someone they've bonded with in this way leaves the company, the ISFJ will leave with them, if given the option. Traditional careers for an ISFJ include: teaching, social work, most religious work, nursing, medicine (general practice only), clerical and and secretarial work of any kind, and some kinds of administrative careers.
ISFJs are warm and demonstrative within the family circle--and often possessive of their loved ones, as well. Being SJs, they place a strong emphasis on conventional behavior (although, unlike STJs, they are usually as concerned with being "nice" as with strict propriety); if any of their nearest and dearest depart from the straight-and-narrow, it causes the ISFJ major embarrassment: the closer the relationship and the more public the act, the more intense the embarrassment (a fact which many of their teenage children take gleeful advantage of). Over time, however, ISFJs usually mellow, and learn to regard the culprits as harmless eccentrics :-).
ISFJs have a few, close friends. They are extremely loyal to these, and are ready to provide emotional and practical support at a moment's notice. (However, like most Fs they hate confrontation; if you get into a fight, don't expect them to jump in after you. You can count on them, however, run and get the nearest authority figure.) Unlike with EPs, the older the friendship is, the more an ISFJ will value it. One ISFJ trait that is easily misunderstood by those who haven't known them long is that they are often unable to either hide or articulate any distress they may be feeling. For instance, an ISFJ child may be reproved for "sulking," the actual cause of which is a combination of physical illness plus misguided "good manners." An adult ISFJ may drive a (later ashamed) friend or SO into a fit of temper over the ISFJ's unexplained moodiness, only afterwards to explain about a death in the family they "didn't want to burden anyone with." Those close to ISFJs should learn to watch for the warning signs in these situations and take the initiative themselves to uncover the problem.
Likes.
Chocolate, most antiquated things, Charms class, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Intellectual discussions, nature (in manageable doses), Philosophers, Shakespearian lexicons, unusual words, verbosity in SOME cases, propriety much of the time, though he lets his friends get away with a lot, old fashioned letter-writing
Music: Jazz, Classical, Big Band and Swing, especially: Benny Goodman Orchestra, Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Thelonious Monk, Glen Miller, Ella Fitzgerald, Debussy
Literature & Poetry: John Keats, Arthur Rimbaud & Paul Verlaine, 16th century literature, 17th century literature, 18th century literature, Bronte, Byron, biographies, books, Chaucer, Cicero, Dante, "Don Quixote," Dunne, Edgar Allen Poe, Catullus, Bram Stoker, Charles Baudelaire, "Emma," Ernest Hemmingway (even though he lost points in Remus' book for being a complete arse to F. Scott Fitzgerald), Fiction in general, Horace, J.D. Salinger, Jack London, Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott, Mary Shelley, Oscar Wilde, "Pride and Prejudice," Satire, Shakespeare, Sonnets, Tennyson, The Canterbury Tales, Tolkien, Vanity Fair (the book, not the girly magazine), Vergil, Voltaire, Whitman, William Wallace, Wordsworth and William Butler Yeats.
Intellectualism, Research and Philosophy: the Age of Reason, Albert Camus, Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Bernard Mandeville, George Bernard Shaw, Francis Bacon, John Paul Sartre, Mendelian Genetics, Newton, Nietzsche (even though he probably had Syphilis and was entirely too pessimistic), Rousseau, The Enlightenment, Thomas Morgan, Thomas Paine, Thoreau (even though Emerson pushed him around) and Winston Churchill.
History (and Travel): British History, the Carolingian Empire, Catherine the Great, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, India, Frederick the Great, The French Revolution (largely for its historical significance), Habsburg Empire, King Louis XVI, Latvia, Medieval Europe, Napoleon, The Georgian Period, The Reformation, The Renaissance, and the classics.
Art: Thomas Gainsborough, Titian, David (the French painter, David, pronounced like Daveed), Cassatt, Degas, Renoir, Rodin, Michelangelo, Monet, Renoir, Waterhouse and the Pre-Raphaelites
Dislikes.
Dickens (who he swears writes like he is being paid by the word, or something), sand, bad chocolate (if there's such a thing), cats, insanity (most of the time), disruptiveness, impropriety, things that are loud and obnoxious, being avoided, being shunned because of what he is OR who he is, Potions, the fact that a werewolf can't get a job anywhere doing anything.
.Appearance.
Standing at 5' 9¼" (176 cm), Remus John Lupin is, at approximately sixteen years old, a young man with medium length dusty brown hair that tends to curl and wave, especially when it's humid, framing a fairly nondescript jaw. He has warm brown eyes, which turn almost golden around the full moon, fair skin that doesn't get much sun, and a penchant for argyle and faded jumpers: some have gone so far as to suggest that he raids his grandfather's closet for his wardrobe selections, though this is largely untrue, even if his mother did buy a few of his sweater vests at an estate sale a few blocks from their home in Blackpool.
He is covered in scars of varying sizes, all of which he's fairly ashamed of, especially a pronounced scar that begins on the lower ribs of his left side that is shaped like a crescent moon. He has a sort of large nose without much shape to the tip of it and a fine, faded scar running from one cheek to the other. He doesn't have the same pronounced, striking features that James and Sirius do, and he hates to admit that he's a bit envious. Envy, he believes, is different than jealousy. Envy is when you want something that you know you can never have. He is fairly thin, sometimes sickly looking, and he doesn't have the attractive athletic look of James or Sirius. However, he has a nice, lean build, accompanied with the awkward angularity and jutting shoulder blades of a boy who grew a great deal while he wasn't paying attention.
He's relatively shy around people he's not familiar with, but he's more open and talkative with his friends. Even so, he comes off as being sweet, but introverted and introspective. His introversion has only increased with age, because there has been no one he wanted to share things with. He got used to being quiet about himself and spending long periods of time alone. This isn't to say that he can't talk to people. He’s good at it, which would make him a good teacher. He knows the right things to say, he just sometimes has trouble saying them. He doesn’t hate himself. He just isn’t happy with himself.
PB.
I'll never tell.
.Other.
Abilities.
Since he was a child, Remus has been distinguished from his peers in a very distinct way: he actually likes classical music. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata has given him chills for as long as he can remember, and his mother realized that his love for music might feed naturally into a career as a concert pianist. Accordingly, Remus took piano lessons from a rather crabby old woman who lived a block down the street. Though she may have spent more time criticizing his posture and the length of his fingernails than actually teaching him piano, he did eventually become fairly comfortable playing one, but he doesn't have a natural aptitude for it. He's a decent piano player who hasn't done much playing in the past several years and would be rather rusty if he started back up now.
Otherwise, Remus knows a little bit of a few languages other than English. He can read a bit of Latin, or as much as he could teach himself over long, boring summer afternoons with a copy of the Ovid's Amores in English, the Amores in Latin, and a Latin-English dictionary. This, however, is pretty much where his foreign language aptitude ends. He used to take French, which means he can probably count to twenty in French if he thinks about it, but do little else. He can also say, "I would like to travel to Norway" in Norwegian, which seems spectacularly unhelpful, as anyone to whom he would say this would be in England, and therefor, English-speaking.
Quirks/Facts.
When Remus thinks about what he would do if he suddenly came into a great deal of money, as he used to do frequently while he was reading Great Expectations, he thinks first and foremost about buying a first edition copy of Pride and Prejudice and The Three Musketeers. This is peculiar in that, among other things, he wouldn't actually be able to read a first edition copy of the latter, as it was written in a language he does not actually speak.
Remus absolutely abhors grammatical errors, misprints and bad writing. If you get too many of them too close together on a page, he can't read it. He truly cannot make himself read it. People who have witnessed the event say that you can tell when he's reading something that is poorly written because a vein in his temple starts to throb.
He chews on his thumbnails through the holes he's picked in the edges of his jumpers when he gets nervous. Just his thumbnails, notably, and not any of his other nails.
He reads National Geographic for the articles.
He knows what poem he wants to be read at his funeral: Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening by Robert Frost.
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
.Soundtrack.
I am a Rock: Simon and Garfunkel
A winters day in a deep and dark december / I am alone, gazing from my window to the streets below / On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow. [...] I have my books and my poetry to protect me / I am shielded in my armor / Hiding in my room, safe within my womb / I touch no one and no one touches me.
I am a rock / I am an island.
Brothers on a Hotel Bed: Death Dab for Cutie
You may tire of me as our December sun is setting because I'm not who I used to be / No longer easy on the eyes but these wrinkles masterfully disguise / The youthful boy below who turned your way and saw / Something he was not looking for: both a beginning and an end / But now he lives inside someone he does not recognize / When he catches his reflection on accident
The Shape I Found You in: Girlyman
You were spoken for / I spent twenty lifetimes at your door / But your heart was busy within / Building bomb shelters under your skin / That's the shape I found you in
Best Imitation of Myself: Ben Folds
I feel like a quote out of context / With holding the rest / So I can be for you what you want to see / I got the gestures and sounds / Got the timing down / Its uncanny, yeah / Youd think it was me
Reckless: Tilly and the Wall
Oh reckless, a boy wonder, so quiet, nose broken / Oh, you're standing there, look tired as your singing / And you're on fire, they're throwing punches /So backwards the landscape you thought you knew, it starts unwinding / Now you're jumping through their hoops / You're just trying to dodge all their questions / They're shooting bullets / Cause we all want to hear but you can't, you can't / And we all want to see but you don't, you don't / You are amazing
Journal Sample: Here
Log Sample:
Do I have to put one? I could go look but I'm really lazy.
Cast Page Blurb:
Diligent, intellectual, hard-working and somewhat reclusive, Remus was never a typical Gryffindor graduate or a typical boy of his age. As a child who grew up with Lycanthropy, the shy and bookish Remus Lupin never had many friends. Holding people at an arm's length was something he had grown accustomed to, never saying more about himself than he really had to and engaging instead in either witty banter over silly, pointless topics or intelligent discussions over broad, important ones. Though his secrecy does sometimes make people suspicious, it isn't as though it's a situation that can be helped. He does, however, open up more to his friends than those outside of his inner circle would think. Remus isn't usually the person who suggests a dangerous jaunt, or the person who personally charms the Slytherins' underwear pink, but he won't hesitate to tag along for a wild adventure every so often, even if he would usually rather be involved in the research and development stage, and he doesn't let the opportunity for a perfect one-liner pass. Though his spirits are a bit lower these days, now that he's unemployable and 'tagged,' he's still a relatively content individual with a long-suffering sigh hidden just behind the soft lilt of golden brown eyes.
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