Post by Martin Abbott on Nov 12, 2023 3:40:01 GMT
MARTIN WOODWARD ABBOTT
BASIC INFORMATION
Age and Birthday: 28 years; July 30th, 1985
School Year or Profession: Sixth Year (Undercover Reporter)
FAMILY & HISTORY
Place of Birth: Sheffield
Notable Relatives: None
Character History: For most Muggle kids, receiving a letter of acceptance from one of the most prestigious magical schools in the world is a dream come true, but not so much for Martin who spent seven years trying desperately to find his place at school. Part of the problem was that Martin liked being a Muggle. To him, Muggles lived in a world of laws and reason, governed by mathematics, scientific advancement, and infinite creativity. By contrast, the magical world was chaos, untethered by reality and shockingly dull. Once magic's initial awe wore off on Martin, it all kind of just became business as usual. When all your problems can just be magicked away, Martin once argued, the world loses all reason.
It didn't help that Martin was a shy kid who cared more about what was on TV back home than like, whoever the reigning wizard chess grandmaster was or the professional Quidditch standings. He tried desperately to get someone to care about Pokemon with him, but ultimately spent his time at Hogwarts in the library reading or writing, though even the library lost its muster after an unpleasant run-in with Rose Zeller left Martin in the hospital wing. He had no visitors.
It wasn't until graduation that Martin finally connected with another magical person, meeting Liliana Quinn at the last Forbidden Forest party of his Hogwarts career and the only Martin had ever attended. Martin and Liliana spent most of that summer together, only going their separate ways in late August when Liliana traveled to South America and Martin moved to the United States to study journalism at The University of Chicago.
I need to take a minute to explain how a magic person can go from Hogwarts to a Muggle university. Hogwarts has a number until-this-moment unreferenced general education courses that develop and maintain basic skills such as writing and mathematics. Other courses convert to Muggle studies on transcripts, such as Transfiguration reading on a Muggle transcript as "physical science," as long as the course contains an acceptable percentage of like concepts. This is all in accordance with the Uniform Education Statute of 1947 which established a mechanism for students of magic to transition simply and discreetly into Muggle institutions of higher learning, as well as modernizing magical curricula to curb illiteracy in Hogwarts graduates.
Anyway, Martin left England because he felt he needed a change, and it all really started with Liliana. She was the first person to show Martin that he was more than just the dumpy quiet kid with the stupid interests. Maybe if he hadn't already accepted a scholarship from UChicago he would have followed Liliana to study brooms in South America, but their paths were destined to diverge and that was okay. Things would be different from now on.
Martin reentered the Muggle world with no intention of ever returning to the magical one, and for a long time he made good on that promise. Martin transformed in college into the person he'd always wanted to be, a social creature who thrived among people. Out of college, Martin worked for a few months outside of college at a small Chicago magazine, but a strange thing started to happen: he actually found himself looking back fondly on his time at Hogwarts, often thinking about that month with Liliana. So, that was how it came to be that, after vowing never to return, Martin moved back to England to work as a journalist in the magical world.
Martin's interest in college had been counterculture and radicalism, and he found a comfortable niche working as a freelance journalist embedded in fringe groups. His first big report was written while living on a knotgross farm in Northern Ireland. He stepped the challenge up when next he infiltrated a pureblood gang that fancied itself as the next death eaters. His work on that story had led to the arrest of over a dozen blood supremacists.
The Daily Prophet chased Martin for years, but he could never commit to one publication for fear that a mainstream institution would kill his edge, but ultimately the structure of a full-time job had grown appealing to Martin as he entered his later twenties. After a few successful features in the Prophet, Martin was handed the biggest story of his career: go back to Hogwarts, figure out what the kids care about these days and write it, all part of some youth initiative at the Daily Prophet to increase sales numbers with recent Hogwarts graduates.
And that was how Martin ended up back at Hogwarts, masquerading as a sixteen year old. It wasn't a difficult plan to pull off, nobody cared who Martin was when he was at school remember? But returning to the place that had hurt him for so many years would prove to be the greatest test yet.
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name or Alias: Travis
Pronouns: He/him/his
Experience: About 22 years
Other Characters: Lawrence Gable, Theodore Platt, Fox Bishop, Kermit Palantine, William Clay, Sherrod Macready, Bryant Tannen, Dane Darling
Role Playing Sample: I'm Travis