#uranus.

Meet MATILDA CHENERY. They are SIX HUNDRED and EIGHTY-TWO years old and hail from BOBOURDEAUX, FRANCE. Matilda embodies the constellation, ROSA, and the planet URANUS. They use she/her pronouns. Matilda teaches DIVINATIONS and DEFENSIVE MAGIC at Polaris. Their faceclaim is LINDA CARDELLINI.

URANUS reminds me of a knowing smile, a well-loved vegetable garden, cups of tea, an always open office door, good wine, blueberry pie, all-out holiday decorations, infectious laughter, vague yet sound advice, flowers, open windows, a crackling fireplace, a wall full of dream journals, a spotlight shining on a stage, old Hollywood, books, a cluttered desk .

BIOGRAPHY

Matilda was the first in her family to be born a witch, which caused some confusion in her life, to say the least. She lost her mother early on to the Bubonic Plague and, after that, it was just her and her father and their family farm. Her psychic magic inclination manifested itself when she was a kid, though she didn’t know that being able to read her father’s thoughts was anything out of the ordinary. Money was tight, though, and although Matilda would have been content living on that farm forever, her father arranged for her to be married to the son of a Blacksmith as soon as she was of age. Whether she loved him or not was never important; she became a wife and a mother, just like she had always felt she was supposed to be; together, they raised three beautiful children. Matilda stopped aging at a normal rate when she was in her 20s, though, and she watched her family grow up and die while she seemed to be frozen in time, no explanation available to her. By the time she outlived her great-grandchildren, Matilda was convinced she was cursed. Her family was, too, and eventually she was cast out on her own. Matilda was never meant to be alone.

The crazier she thought she was, the more Matilda retreated to her mind; eventually, she unknowingly taught herself how to travel to the Astral Plane, as it became a better place to be than reality. Then again, she assumed it was a hallucination and not a real place. It was there that she met the witch that had then been sponsored by Virgo, and over time, the two of them figured out how to make a connection on Earth. Matilda left to join the then-Virgo to study at a small makeshift school in Paris, where she began to heal just by knowing there was an explanation to everything. Matilda looked at her time in Paris as an opportunity to truly reinvent herself and figure out all she was capable of. Her psychic abilities combined with her maternal nature led her to be the ideal (and final) candidate to be sponsored by Rosa before the constellation’s official retirement. Paris had truly saved her, and when she left that school almost fifty years later, she was an entirely new person.

When she finally landed at Polaris, it felt like home. It had started off as an opportunity for her to give back to a community that essentially breathed life back into her, but it eventually became a lot more than that. Matilda thrives in a family-like environment, and that’s what Polaris is to her. She’s eccentric, to say the least; centuries of living primarily in her own mind, the minds of others, learning the magical art of divination and dreams–well, she’s not the most rooted in reality. As odd as she is, though, her inherently kind, maternal nature and her passion for teaching has her well-loved by the students. Plus, she’s got some pretty fun fire tricks up her sleeve, which always come in handy when she needs to grab the attention of a room. Her classes can be unconventional, but they’re effective.

An out of place aside: Outside of practicing magic, Matilda has always romanticized acting and has done so to varying degrees over the centuries, starting soon after she reached Paris. She’s performed in various stage productions across Europe and America, and even did a small stint in Hollywood movies in the 50s & 60s for the hell of it. She has a lot of good stories once you drag that fact out of her. Also, she’s 100% tried to put on various drama productions at Polaris over the years… to varying degrees of success. But whatever, it makes her happy.

Over the years, she’s truly perfected most aspects of psychic magic, but she’s careful to respect the boundaries of others at Polaris unless she fears for someone’s safety. The last time she broke her own rule was seven years back when a student, nearing the end of their tenure at Polaris, was starting to edge toward being overwhelmed by dark magic, something completely out of character for them. Matilda had tried to raise concerns, but no one would listen to her, so she read that student’s mind. Through mental communication and manipulation, to her horror, Matilda came to find that that student was being manipulated and controlled by another powerful psychic, and that student had been taken over too much to come back on their own. Matilda tried to take over that student’s mind, fighting an invisible force she couldn’t find the source for, but she could only gain enough control to get that student away from Polaris when it became evident that the whole thing was going to come to a head. What ensued in an empty field was a great battle; Matilda, knowing the student was an innocent vessel for whoever was controlling them, throttled back her true power tremendously for fear of hurting them, while her opponent held nothing back. It very nearly cost her her life.

After a few months’ recovery, Matilda returned to her position at the school with a newfound passion for Defensive Magic, knowing full well that whoever had possessed that student is still out there and was unsuccessful in their original goal. She’s very focused on helping students strengthen their minds and learning how to defend themselves in the event of an attack, terrified that she’s not going to be able to prevent a major tragedy from happening next time. The safety of her students is her top priority.

INCLINATION & PLANETARY MAGIC

Uranus is a quirkier teacher, but the students absolutely love them and it’s rightly reciprocated. With high parental instincts, Uranus is always willing to lend a friendly ear to their students. While they might use some unconventional methods of intruction, Uranus is a master psychic and while they could read their students’s thoughts, that’s a line they don’t want to go down. Uranus was in a major, life-threatening accident a few years back, which is how they petitioned for and created the Defensive Magic course. It’s their baby of a class, and they manage the spells and charms around the castle for protection.

CONNECTIONS

Inevitably Unhappy Ending: Matilda and this person (another teacher or someone from town) have been in love for quite some time, but due to a tragic precognition Matilda had, she knows that they can’t be together without a great cost. Whether or not it’s worth it is a constant, daily test, but thus far she’s maintained her distance for the greater good.

Wine Club: Matilda is from Bordeaux – obviously, she loves herself some wine. This is a group of people (students & teachers, of age only, she’s v responsible, thank) who get together every week or so, drink a too expensive bottle (or several) of wine, and just relax.

Lost One: This is someone who has an inclination for Psychic and/or Divination abilities who’s struggling in some way. Matilda feels a connection to them, be it a maternal feeling or something else, and she understands she’s in a unique position to help them. She exhausts a lot of mental energy on helping them, either through dream communication, other planes of existence, or something else.

Drama Club: A club for… drama. They don’t really have a structure. This kind of just happens when Matilda wants it to, and these are her go-to students that she wrangles up to throw themselves into some major production. They’re likely used to having scripts just shoved under their dorm doors in the middle of the night. It’s v chaotic, but a blast.