Application Guide
Player information
Name: Lil
Contact: pierette @plurk
Are you 18 or over? Yes
Other characters played: N/A
Character information
Name: Lydia Bennet
Age: She’s 18 and looks it - a fresher at uni
Date of Birth: 16 June 1998
Canon: ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen
Species: Witch
Lydia obviously isn’t a witch in canon. Throughout ‘Pride and Prejudice’, Lydia is depicted as being a flighty character, and she scatters furthest from her family nest. But she is very much dependent on her sisterly bonds too. I’ve used this natural dual instinct of independence and strong familial bonds to AU Lydia as a witch, as it reflects how community-oriented witches are. Lydia thrives on company, and throughout her canon, learns that she’s ultimately more powerful stood with her sisters rather than running away. Allowing her to learn the true joys of standing with her sisters in a coven, in the same way she comes to trust her sisters in ‘Pride and Prejudice’ would be interesting to play out.
Role: Lydia’s a student. She’s been aged up so she’s 18, a fresher at University. She doesn’t have a job, and has absolutely no intention of getting one. Lydia is very good at partying and having fun. She likes drinking, dancing, and spending money. She’s always skint, constantly borrowing and cadjing off her family.
Lydia would fit into either Circle Daybreak or the Redbright Institute.
In
Circle Daybreak, Lydia would be a student, learning her craft. She’s not the best student. Although she’s not stupid, Lydia feels like there are way more important things than her studies: she’s very much in London to enjoy herself, rather than study.
At the
Redbright Institute, Lydia would be ostentatiously taking one of the short-term bespoke courses specializing in spell writing and casting. Again, whether she turns up to scheduled lessons is another thing entirely. Lydia’s flighty and unreliable, and just not interested in learning.
Rank: She’s a level 1, wherever she ends up.
Background: Lydia’s led a quiet life, growing up on Longbourne Estate near the small town of Meryton in Hertfordshire. Despite having 4 sisters, all quite close to her in age, she’s led a lonely life really. The family is one of the oldest covens in England, though small. They tend to pass their lives under the radar, living quietly in the country, content not to enter the political fray that is London, though some would argue that the Matriach, Mrs Bennet, is simply not intelligent enough to hold her own.
Lydia’s been brought up by a series of magical au pairs and governesses, all of whom she shared with her older sisters, Kitty and Mary. Constantly fussed over by her mother, ignored by her father, petted by her eldest sister, 27 year old Jane, and left to get into all sorts of mischief with Kitty, Lydia’s grown up into a bright, chatty, young witch. She enjoys exploring the surrounding countryside with her sisters, and shopping in the nearest town, Meryton, with Kitty. But life is beginning to bore her now: she’s watched Jane and Lizzie, the oldest of her sisters, go off to university and jobs and actually start to live their life. She’s watched Mary become more closed off and dedicated to her music as she strives for an orchestral seat. And she wants her life.
In her eighteenth year, she applies for university in London, seeing the capital city as a vibrant, exciting, dangerous place. She’s not particularly interested in learning more of her craft: she has basics mastered, and growing up surrounded by it has made it seem mundane. For now, she’s just eager to explore life – a non-magical life, and all the fun it brings. For now, she wants to be human. She wants to live.
Personality: Lydia is fun. She comes across as being completely superficial and lighthearted. She’s bubbly and chatty. She likes to party, to drink, to enjoy life, and not think too deeply about anything much. She’s giggly and silly. She lives for the moment, and throws herself whole heartedly into new experiences. She doesn’t take life seriously: she’s in London to have a good time, rather than to work hard, and as far as she’s concerned, nothing is going to stand in the way of her indulging herself. She has no intention of studying hard; she’s always been a bare minimum kind of girl, getting grades good enough to keep her parents off her back, but certainly not engaging her brain to it’s fullest. University’s going to be no different.
As the youngest witch in the family, she’s been completely indulged by her mother. Even when pennies have been tight, she’s been allowed to buy more frivolities, to indulge just a little bit more than her sisters. As a youngster, she was able to throw the most spectacular tantrums, until her whim was given into. Because of this, she achieved what her sisters considered to be proper milestones in the life of a young girl, such as going to mixed parties, rife with alcohol and a lack of supervision at a much younger age than any of them. She still holds this trait today: she’s the first to branch so far away to study, and she plans to have a lot more firsts whilst she’s away from her mother’s watchful eye too.
Lydia is boy-crazy. She absolutely adores boys. Though she’s not had a great deal of time to socialize with them (those parties so totally don’t count because what do grotty spotty teenagers know?), she is desperate for male attention. She enjoys shopping in Mertyon with her sister, Kitty, flirting with the boys there. She pours over magazines, ‘Glamour’ and ‘Elle’, reading techniques and tips, and enjoys trying them out on the boys from the local boarding school. She loves looking at glossies of male celebrities, and often daydreams of the day when a man will finally claim her for his own. She can be foolish and silly: her heart often leads her head, best demonstrated through her relationship with Wickham in the novel. She is absolutely vain: she knows she’s a pretty girl and fully uses this to her advantage with lads. She seeks her mother’s approval constantly, and indeed, her mother encourages her to look for a good match throughout the novel, perhaps contributing to her fixation on lads.
Lydia is untamed. Brought up by a series of au pairs, and largely ignored by her actual parents, Lydia’s been brought up without many boundaries. She does what she wants, and rarely listens to authority. The one person who tends to hold sway over Lydia is Jane, but even then Lydia’s strong will is difficult to crush. Social conventions mean little to Lydia: she tends to speak her mind, whether she’s being outrageously inappropriate or not. In the novel, this is seen in her conversation about Wickham not marrying Miss King. She calls her a ‘nasty little freckled thing’, not so much out of malice, but out of a blunt honesty she refuses to hide. She’s bold and she is unwilling to censor herself.
Lydia is unreliable. She is described as ‘flighty’ in the novel. Because she’s so impulsive, plans she’s set can fall through, jobs won’t get done, and studying is something she does only when there’s absolutely nothing else to do. She rarely thinks before she acts, again demonstrated in the novel by her flight with Wickham.
Lydia is emotional. She tends to wear her heart on her sleeve, and like her mouth, her emotions don’t have much of a filter. She’s bluntly honest, to the point of being unbearable. She is resolutely optimistic throughout much of the novel, and her bubbly, champagne like nature is prevalent throughout. It’s dreadfully obvious when she’s feeling anything but cheerful, and in her immaturity, she does little to hide her emotions, instead preferring the attention that they might attract her.
Lydia is immature and selfish. She thinks primarily of herself, of her looks, her fun. She doesn’t think of the consequences of her thoughtless actions. Coming into Undergrounds, this will be reflected in her constant disregard for her study: she’s satisfied to waste her father’s money – money he can ill-afford to spend – in order to have a good time. Her family come second, but they are a distant second. She sees them as useful for money, and as a support network when she needs it. She craves attention from absolutely anyone, and this often takes the form of flirtation. She’s not overly concerned about what other people think about her: for example, she’ll talk endlessly about men, regardless of whether her audience is interested. Talking with such little restraint about men, and so often, might lead to connotations of ‘silliness’ in Austen’s world, or ‘flirt’ in our own, something which many might be concerned about, but Lydia, in her selfishness, simply doesn’t care. She’s completely naïve in her views of the world, again demonstrated in her relationship with Wickham in the novel. She feels genuine affection for the man so willing to lead her into disrepute, and cannot see that he is stringing her along. It is with this innocence that Lydia will be arriving in London.
Powers & Possessions: Lydia’s adept at some low level magic: she can make flower crowns and simple glamours appear. She’s well practiced in the hair straightning spell, though she somehow can’t make her hair curl by magic yet.
She knows basic location spells and protection spells, though both are weak and the connection can easily be lost/broken.
Potions are not her thing: she’s not really brewed any before (the hot cauldron makes her hair frizz and her face too red and sweaty to be bearable). She doesn’t have much desire to learn, either.
She’s most interested in learning spells that will enhance her in the immediacy: spells for applying flawless makeup would be something she’d actually study!
Samples: http://thetube.dreamwidth.org/6326.html?thread=1698998#cmt1698998Both samples, one with Nancy and one with Dodger, are both in this link. I am happy to provide you with the 300 word sample too, if these aren’t substantial enough.
World buildingN/A
Locations: N/A
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