#x. development.

TAKE A LITTLE WALK TO THE EDGE OF TOWN — 

Faceclaim: Jason Ralph

Height: 5′8″

Weight: Lean and gangly. He’d grown considerably once he left behind the poisons that had kept Alecto and himself so sickly as children, but they’d left their mark. 

Eye color: Dark brown.

Skin tone: Pale.

Hair color: Light brown. 

Describe hairstyle: Shoulder length and obnoxiously floppy. He is forever pushing it out of his face and his eyes but stubbornly keeps it long.

Grooming: Clean, but chaotic. While there is an ingrained reminder in the back of his head that he must look presentable, Amycus often misses the finer details while he is busy thinking about more important things. This leads to undone buttons and ink smudges and mismatched socks (amongst other tragedies.)

Distinguishing features: Dimples, entirely wasted on a man who rarely (never) smiles. Long, elegant hands. An exceptionally cold and clinical stare. Reading glasses that he appears to forget he is wearing.

Tattoos: The Dark Mark. 

Who do they take after? His father.

Left or right-handed? Ambidextrous. 

How do they dress? His best attempt at inexpensive and conservative wizarding wear (the former due to the unfortunate state of the family estate, the latter to dutiful adherence to family expectations) that somehow always falls somewhere closer to eclectic due to negligence or a general misunderstanding of how fashion works.  Most assume it is just another of his quirks - it’s not at all intentional. He almost exclusively wears dark or neutral shades, with the occasional, baffling appearance of dark reds, purples, greens or prints which he wears in considerable layers due to almost always feeling cold. He blames this on his years at Durmstrang. 

Any special accessories? If so, why are they special? An intricate golden pocketwatch that is an heirloom passed down from his grandfather, given to him when he came of age. It is extremely delicate, beautifully made and has a habit of ticking backwards if he spends too much time in the Time Room. Amycus is curiously sentimental about it, perhaps because he’s had to curse it so many times to keep his mother from trying to pawn it. 

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT TASK: THE BASICS

Full name: Amycus Cyrus Carrow

Name origin: Amycus - a son of Poseidon in Greek mythology and King of the Bebryces. Cyrus - borne by many kings of Persia including Cyrus the Great, who conquered Babylon. Carrow - either a habitational surname or from the Irish-Gaelic carach.

Name meaning: Amycus - ‘friendly’.  Cyrus - ‘far sighted’, ‘young’, or ‘sun’. Carrow - ‘cunning’ or ‘an itinerant gambler’, or alternatively thought to be named from Old English carr 'rock' (a Celtic loan word) + hoh 'spur of a hill' or Welsh for ‘dweller at the foot of a hill.’

Nickname: Amycus has never been the type to attract nicknames, at least not well-meant ones. Amy, very rarely when he was a child.

Nickname origin: He only ever recalls his mother calling him Amy when he was poorly as a child and it isn’t a fond memory.

Do they like their nickname?: Not in the slightest. 

Age: 25.

Birthday: 13 January, 1955. Capricorn.

Blood Status: Pureblood.

Patronus:  Amycus cannot, and is unlikely to ever, form a corporeal patronus. If he could it would be a Raven. Frequently associated with loss and ill omens, Ravens surface throughout many mythologies spreading prophecy and insight, carrying the messages of gods. There’s a mysterious quality to the raven, they can be charismatic when they require something of you and excellent at hiding themselves when they don’t want to be seen. Greedy and vain. Curious and yearning for freedom. They are observers who only step into the light when it is to their advantage.

Boggart: It’s the smell that comes first — damp earth, rotting leaves, the slimy new growth of those old woods, milky earthworms writing through freshly turned soil. It’s thick and cloying, suffocating in the dark. Then the weight of it, soft at first, spilling across his skin. Each shovel full growing heavier and heavier as he sinks in, deeper and deeper into the earth, in amidst the roots of the trees that gleam white like bone. It’s hard to see in the dark but he knows who it is who holds the shovel, who takes his time to slowly fill the grave that Amycus’s own clawing fingers can’t seem to catch a grip on, to climb out of. His father still cuts the imposing figure he had when Amycus was just a child. This is what happens to blood traitors.  (Amycus discovered early on what it is to fear your own potential.)

Wand Type: Pine, 11 3/4″, Dragon Heartstring.

Sexuality: If he ever figures it out it’ll be an utter miracle. He finds other people almost as baffling as his own emotions. 

Relationship status: Single.