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Samantha Elise Jackson; 8th Year Styx; Medical Magic & Occlumency
Topic Started: Aug 21 2010, 12:14 PM (197 Views)
Samantha Elise Jackson
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8th Year Styx; Medical Magic & Occlumency

Personal Information
Name: Samantha Elise Jackson
Nickname: Sam
Gender: Female
Age: 19
Birthday: March 14th
Blood: Muggleborn
Wand: 7 and a quarter inches, birch, containing powdered Dragon bone.


Academic Information
Year: 8th
Level of Study: Double Degree
Area of Study: Mental Healing: Medical Magic & Occlumency
Previous Schooling: Muggle Schooling, American Institute of Magic


Physical Description:
Height: 5’10”

Build:
Sam possesses a lithe build, sleek and athletic, yet still pleasingly curvaceous. Her hourglass figure shows hips a little larger than normal, and is maintained by her love of yoga and jogging, two things she has been able to continue partaking in at will since enrolling at Elysion University. In every way, Sam is contented with her body, preferring to be happy with how she is instead of being insecure about being what she is not.

Hair:
A mess of dirty blonde stands, Sam’s hair is the centre-point of her aesthetic annoyance. While a lot of women would resort to magic to mould and shape their hair into an everyday, Sam prefers to utilise the Muggle methods her mother taught her as a young girl; this is often a great cause of dismay for her. Most often, Sam lets her hair hang loose over her shoulders, falling an inch or two below her shoulder blades when straight. Occasionally, when her hair becomes a hindrance to her – commonly while she is studying – she ties it in a simple ponytail to keep it in order. For more elegant purposes, Sam has been known to sneak some magic into her preparations, if only for time-saving purposes, to stunning effect.

Eyes:
Deep pools of hazel, so dark it is often mistaken as brown, Sam’s eyes are often so possessed of emotion that one look into them reveals the torrent of questions that swell behind them, a silent reflection of the innermost workings of her psyche. While she herself is an empath, not in need of any sort of tell to sense a person’s emotions, her eyes betray her secrets. She has been told - more often than not by family - that when she experiences strong emotion, the hue of her eyes shifts to a green or brown, depending on the emotion.

Accent: American, middle class.
Ethnicity: American, Ohio

Other:
On her 18th birthday, her mother’s birthday present to her was a tattoo; the Chinese symbol for family. This symbol represented her connection to her family on her mother’s side, and Sam’s family to come. She was given a choice of location and adornments for the symbol; she chose it a place on her lower back above her pelvis, and had two crossed, wilting red roses tattooed underneath.

Sam also has both of her ears pierced twice, and her left nostril. She often wears a simple gold stud in her nose piercing, mostly because she is embarrassed that she had it done clumsily by a friend while drunk one night, but on occasion she has been known to wear something more noticeable, such as her favoured emerald diamante stud.


Psychological
Personality:
A friendly and mostly outgoing person, Sam has been described on more than one occasion as very ‘bubbly’. She always likes to believe the best in people, and tries to show the best in herself in her everyday life. She is usually the first to try and break the ice in an awkward situation, attempt to cheer someone up, or crack a joke for no apparent reason. She believes, in some cases a little more than she should, that laughter is the best medicine and will do anything to see her friends smile.

On the flip side, when Sam is depressed by something, few people can bring her back to normalcy. When feeling disheartened, Sam will often retreat within herself, talking to few and rarely leaving her dorm or a study room in Elysion’s library. As surprising amount of schoolwork gets done when Sam is depressed, to a degree that even surprises her. Her theory is that by focusing on anything but the problem, the problem with eventually disappear, even though she knows that this is never the case. She loves to help others, but when it comes to helping herself, Sam is at a loss for ideas.

When it comes to love, Sam is hopeless. She will fall for the first guy who shows her affection that isn’t a complete and total jackass. She will believe every word he tells her, no matter what evidence people present to the contrary and when it comes down to it, she lets them hurt her every time. This is often followed by a week in solitude and a lot of anything containing sugar.

Sam is an incredibly stubborn woman. When fixed on an opinion or subject and she knows she is right, she will fight endlessly to make sure her point of view is seen and recognised. She is right, they are wrong, that’s the way it is. Period. Many find this trait to be extremely irritating, and yet they still put up with her. Usually, this is because in the end, she was right. This trait is also something compels Sam with her passion for psychology. She will not give up on someone just because they have shut down on her and put up more mental walls than she can break down right then and there. She will keep working on someone – and indeed, something – until she sees the project through. Failure is not an option.

All in all, Sam tries her hardest to be someone people like to have around, someone they can put their trust in. She is a strong, intelligent woman, a loyal friend, and holds within her a great passion for life, love and friends.

History:
Born on March 14th, 1991, Samantha Elise Jackson found the world to be something of an enigma. Throughout her childhood, she could not help but wonder if there was something greater out there than the suburban American life. That isn’t to say that she did not enjoy living with her family, middle class, living the life that most kids took for granted, but there was always a longing for more that gripped at Sam’s heart. It was inexplicable, inexcusable, persistent.

Samantha was the middle child of three, having an older brother and a younger twin brother. Many childish arguments were held about who came first, but their mother – Heather, a tall, bronze haired woman with a loving and welcoming look about her – always ended them by informing them, for what seemed the millionth time, that Sam was born ten minutes before Logan. Logan always looked indignant for hours after hearing this, and Sam poking her tongue out at him never usually helped the situation any. Darcy, their older brother, had a knack for ending the arguments between the twins; he would walk into the room, call both of them over to him and smack them on the back of the head, then say; “Grow up and shut up,” before stalking out of the room.

While Sam and Logan argued and fought like animals, there was always an undeniable bond between the two. Sam always knew exactly how her brother felt, when he was sad and when he was scared, even when they weren’t together. Her father told her it was because they were twins, and that Logan was likely to be able to do the same with her, and it seemed like he could. Many times when Sam was feeling down, Logan would be the first to see her, and the first to cheer her up. They may have fought, but he was one of the best brothers in the world.

When Sam and Logan started school, though, Logan drifted away to a group of boys, leaving Sam to fend for herself. He would still check on her, but for the most part, she was alone. Sam found it difficult making friends and, as she moved up the years, she began to find friends more in books than in people. Her favourite subject by far was history, ancient history in particular. She would spend her lunch breaks in the school library, reading book after book after book about ancient Egypt, Rome, anything she could find. She found a love amidst the history for fantasy books as well, reading whatever fell into her hands next.

It was in her fifth year of schooling, as she turned twelve, that she discovered a group of people just like her. Things would change soon, with the transition to middle school looming, and she knew she would need a group of friends to get through it. As she grew closer to her friends, she began to experience something strange. She began to notice their emotions much more swiftly than anyone else in the group. She found this odd, but put it down to nothing more than knowing her friends too well.

Everything seemed to be going perfectly in Sam’s world. She had good friends, a good school, and a loving, supportive family. Or so she thought. Out of the blue, a nearly-thirteen-year-old Sam was woken in the middle of the night by her mother and father arguing, a fight which escalated into plates being thrown by her mother, who then stormed out of the house, leaving her father to explain.

Dazed and confused, Sam listened as her father explained that Mommy and Daddy would be getting a divorce. When Sam questioned him as to why, her father took her by the shoulders, tears in his eyes, and told her she was too young to understand. One thing he did say to her that night has stuck with Sam since; as they sat in the moonlight later that night on the back porch, Sam curled up next to her Daddy, he said something wonderful to her. He said; “You decisions in life are what will create you, what with define you, and what will undo you. Never forget that.”

A year passed. Her father moved out, leaving all three children under the care of their mother. She managed to do a wonderful job balancing home life with work, and always had time for her kids, as well as the boyfriends she brought home on occasion. Sam continued with school, working as hard as she could and getting well above average marks, while still managing to stay just under being the best. The way she liked it. She moved through middle school, friends by her side, and braced herself for the years to come. She fantasised about high school next year, her senior prom, and started to notice the boys. It was about that time that the letter from the AIM appeared on her pillow one afternoon.

After a particularly gruelling day at school, Sam walked callously into her room in order to change before heading downstairs for some quality time with the television. She tossed her backpack into its corner of the room and went to collapse on her bed. As her head hit the pillow, she heard something crinkle beneath it. She rolled over and picked up what appeared to be a letter. The intricate design that had been in the wax seal was now fragmented and broken, leaving a flap of the letter for Sam to take hold of. She opened the envelope and took out the sleeve of parchment, reading the words ‘American Institute of Magic in bold, flowing script at the top, but nothing else written. At first, she thought it was some kind of joke Logan or Darcy was playing on her, until the symbol next to the header began to melt down the page, forming words as it went! Sam looked on incredulously, reading as the words formed. She had been selected for her magical ability to attend a special boarding school to better understand and control her abilities. She reread the letter four times before taking it downstairs to her mother, taking in every word; the name of the school, the ability she supposedly had – something called Empathy – and when semester was due to start.

Her mother didn’t believe it either, seeing only a letter with well scripted words on it. It was not until Sam handed the letter to her and all the words on the piece of parchment formed rapidly into a single massive ink blotch in the centre of the page that she began to question it. When she handed Sam the letter back, the words formed again, and her mother read from Sam’s hand.

It was at least six months before semester was due to start and Sam’s mother did not know about sending her to a boarding school. Sam begged her on end for weeks to let her go, saying it could be the chance of a lifetime, but Heather wasn’t ready to let go of her little girl at fourteen just yet. Sam protested that she still had Darcy and Logan, something which her mother shot down quickly with; “But I’ll miss my little girl…” When the time came, Sam felt extremely guilty about leaving, but she knew it was just the first step in her new life as a witch.

After spending so many years in Muggle schools, learning English and mathematics, science and sports, the American Institute of Magic was a major shift in educational focus for Sam. While she was still taught the basics of a Muggle education, the more intensive magical education took precedence in her life. Sam quickly discovered that, while she did possess the ability to use magic, her control over the art was considerably less distinct than that of her fellow classmates. The most basic of spells were easy enough, but more complex magic took Sam longer and longer to master, while he classmates learned and perfected them, and moved on to newer, even more difficult things. Sam began to expand her horizons into less magical subjects, even taking up an extra-curricular class of Muay Thai. The class allowed her to focus much more, giving her a clearer state of mind for when she did perform magic, and she found that she was able to master spells quicker. Her grades improved, and so did her moods. She found a group of friends relatively quickly after that, having had a considerable weight of anxiety lifted from her shoulders.

The first few weeks of her attendance after that went smoothly, without a hint to the ‘empathy’ that was noted on her letter. However, eight weeks in, she was approached by the Head Professor of Special Abilites, and the purpose of Sam’s presence in the Institute became clear. The professor told her had a special ability that few others had. She was told that she possessed Empathy, an ability that far surpassed the natural bond between twins, which was what Sam had always believed it had been. Since she had never experienced anyone else’s feelings but Logan’s, she began to question the truth of the professor’s claims. She still did not believe it fully until one night in her dorm.

Her best friend at the time, Celina, had broken up with her boyfriend after finding out he’d kissed another girl, and was alone on her bed weeping. Sam had tried to comfort her, sitting next to her and touching her lightly on the back. If she had not been told she was an Empath, she would not have picked up on the slight familiar twinge in her fingers that quickly enveloped her the second she touched Celina, leading her to feel as disheartened as her friend. As soon as she removed her hand from Celina’s back, the sensation disappeared. She did her best to comfort her friend, yet amidst all the chaos of her predicament, questions spilled into her mind in a great torrent; questions she intended to have answered.

She went back to the Head Professor of Special Abilities, who was pleasantly surprised when she asked for help in focusing and controlling her ability. He pointed her in the direction of a specialist in the school, a rather skilled Empath by the name of Jonas Thorton. He informed her that he was going to help her learn to use, control and master her ability, so that it would an asset rather than a hindrance. As with most things magical, her grasp on Empathy took much longer to gain than most would have, but she never gave up hope that she would one day learn to control it completely. Over her six years in the Institute, she learned how to control not only when she sensed someone’s feelings, but also whose she wanted to sense. Using a line-of-sight technique the specialist had taught her, she could now pick any person in sight and sense their feelings. This, however, could not be perfected; the Professor was very clear that identifying specific emotions would be nothing short of impossible, unless the emotion was quite strong.
In an attempt to combat this, Sam integrated a mental component of Muay Thai into her studies, one that allowed her to clear her mind of thought and distance herself from the world at large. She could sense someone’s emotions but not feel them herself, allowing her to better understand how exactly a person was feeling. While this did help, it still did not clear the problem entirely. She was told that she would be able to continue her endeavours in learning more about Empathy if she chose to continue her education after her sixth year concluded, something Sam had already looked into and decided on.

Out of the development of her power bloomed a new passion for Samantha. Knowing how people were feeling naturally led to another question; why did they feel that way? Sam found she wanted to try to understand why a person felt the way they did, not just that they did. She began looking into Muggle studies of psychology, especially adult psychology. She decided that when she was done in AIM, she would pursue a university course in psychology, preferably within a magical institute that would be able to tie the psychology course into her empathic ability. In her fifth year, she discovered a place known as Elysion University, in Greece. This was a third choice university, as the two American institutes were unable to cater to her needs. Elysion, however, had everything she needed. As soon as she was able, she sent an application, and was soon accepted.

Her time in the AIM, however, was well spent, if spent always looking forwards. Sam found that her Defence Against the Dark Arts marks seemed to fall far below most, while her Charms and Transfiguration seemed above her average. She pulled through History of Magic without a hitch, the theory a welcome change from constant spell-casting. She gave up flying in the first year, deciding to rely on Floo powder to get her to where she needed to go, although she did rather enjoy watching Quidditch. She even went as far as dating a Quidditch player in her fourth year, until he cheated on her in her fifth. Shortly after, she left him, with a nasty case of hives to boot.

And then, all of a sudden, it was all over. Graduation was upon her, her NEWT marks had been calculated and were everything she needed to go on to Elysion University. Graduation passed, – her brothers and both of her parents in attendance made her happier than ever – her diploma stayed with her mother, as did most of her worldly possessions. The one thing she would not leave without, however, was her graduation present from her father; a small gold locket, inside which were two photographs. One was of the whole family when she was little more than a girl of seven or eight. The other was of her and her father; she was in the air above him, and he was ready to catch her again. A playful moment that had stayed in her father’s memory forever.

Saying goodbye to her family was the hardest thing she had ever done. The American Ministry had given special permission for a Floo transportation from her home residence that day. She spoke her destination, Elysion, and threw the Floo powder into the fireplace. Green flames erupted out from the ashes, ready to envelop her and send her away. With a last look to her family, she motioned for a hug from each of them, saying her final goodbyes. And then she stepped into the flames. In an instant, everything that had been Samantha Elise Jackson was behind her. She was going to start a new life in Greece, a new life of learning. She barely had time to wonder what was in store for her before that world swallowed her whole.

Family:

  • Heather Anne : Mother, 44.
  • William ‘Billy’ James: Father, 46.
  • Darcy Thomas: Older Brother, 23.
  • Logan Adam: Twin Brother, 19.


Miscellaneous
Knowledge/Talents:
Sam has a knack for writing, one she likes to keep under the radar. During her time spent in Muggle schools before she was transferred to the American Institute of Magic, Sam had planned to take on extra English lessons in order to become an author – or, in the least, a journalist. That all changed when she discovered her power, however.

In addition to this, her fitness regime involves a regimen of Muay Thai. The mental discipline as well as the physical activity of the martial art allows Sam to maintain a balance between her body and mind, giving her peace of mind about not only her body’s aesthetic but also her ability to defend herself if necessary.

Magical Weaknesses:
While Sam’s empathic ability is strong, her magical prowess overall is somewhat diminished compared to other witches. Most attribute this lack of ability to her parentage, her Muggle heritage, and Sam is inclined to agree.

While Sam has a general lack of magical ability, it is none more so than in offensive magic. Any magic that can be used negatively against another person is magic Sam will be completely unable to command. This is due to her strong desire to help people, and her insatiable need to understand why they would choose to try to harm another.

Special Ability:
Samantha is an Empath, and a skilled one at that. She is able to sense and understand emotion almost perfectly, and – after quite a few years of practise, as well as reading several muggle books on adult psychology – gain an insight into why the person is feeling this way, through interaction and conversation with her subject. She is able to sense particularly strong emotions from a larger proximity, however, the emotion must be exceptionally strong; love, hate, lust, extreme despair.

While Sam's ability is particularly strong for an Empath, she is still limited by the typical problems an Empath suffers. While she has a leg up on other Empaths by studying psychology, Sam still only feels basic emotions. If she is unable to understand the problem a person is facing, she will not be able to understand the specific emotion. She will feel exactly like the person she is sensing, but she will not be able to identify a coherent single emotion until the problem is identified.

Granted, a person my be feeling many emotions at once and Sam, as with most Empaths, will feel them all. This bothered Sam during her training at the AIM, and was greatly helped by her studies into Psychology. While most Empaths would simply feel the emotions, Sam is able to narrow the playing field to general emotions experienced during certain events - experienced in everyday life, extraordinary circumstances, mental illnesses, etc - and will refer to her knowledge to try to better understand the problem.

Notes: [LM]
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