RICKETT, AINSLEY LYDIA
Jan 27, 2014 1:00:32 GMT -5
Albus Potter, Sebastian Nott, and 3 more like this
Post by Ainsley Rickett on Jan 27, 2014 1:00:32 GMT -5
[presto]
SIXTEEN
FEMALE
GRYFFINDOR
HALF-BLOOD
HETEROSEXUAL
CRYSTAL REED
AINSLEY LYDIA RICKETT
 “you want me to be a tragic backdrop so that you can appear to be illuminated, so that people can say ‘wow, isn't he so terribly brave to love a girl who is so obviously sad?’ you think i’ll be the dark sky so you can be the star? i’ll swallow you whole.” ainsley rickett was born on may 12, 2008, the first child of anthony and mafalda rickett, who were two years apart in age and happily married at the time. ainsley never got much time as an only child with her parents as a baby, because less than a year later, her mother was pregnant with another child. raegan rickett was her new sister and they got along quite well when they were growing up, considering that the age gap between them was pretty small, and they looked after one another like any two sisters would. when ainsley was three years old and raegan was two years old, mafalda became pregnant with her third and final child, who was born without any complications and made an excellent addition to the already loving and functional rickett family. ainsley was beyond pleased that now she’d have not only one, but two sisters to dote on, which at her young age was one of the first signs of her caring nature towards her siblings. as a child, ainsley loved to be with her family, even if they were doing nothing but just sitting around together. her parents were only home on evenings and partial weekends due to their jobs, though, leaving ainsley and her sisters in the care of several nannies throughout their childhood. her father was a famous quidditch coach and her mother was an auror, and that combined with their relations with families such as the notts, malfoys, and yaxleys ensured that they were very well–off and a part of the long–standing higher class in wizarding society. ainsley cherished both her parents and listened to everything they had to say and followed all the rules she was told without any hassle. she enjoyed the responsibility that she already had in helping to look after her two sisters whenever her parents were away, but she never abused her power, treating her siblings with exceeding kindness and respect. despite having two younger sisters, ainsley never felt a lack of adoration from her parents in these early days of her childhood, either, receiving a great deal of attention from both whenever they were home. in her spare time, she adored reading, starting off with all the books about magic she could find around the house that she was able to comprehend, and then moving on to muggle fiction upon nagging her mum to take her to a muggle bookshop soon after she’d exhausted all the knowledge she could from the children’s books around the rickett household. she also picked up on a bit of muggle non–fiction, which gave her a lot more knowledge about the non–magical part of the world than most children her age in the wizarding world would care to read about. reading has been her favorite hobby ever since, and she can’t help but fall in love with the characters and stories that she reads about in books because at times they seem so much better off than herself and her own life, giving her an opportunity to escape as long as she can take in the words on the pages. soon after her tenth birthday, however, ainsley’s world changed forever in a tragic turn of events. her mother passed away in what her father informed her and her sisters as an “accident,” sparing them most of the details (it wasn’t until a few months later that ainsley, who was already above average when it came to intelligence and practical sense than other kids her age, put the clues from whispered adult conversations she’d overheard together and figured out what had really happened). on her way home from work one night, mafalda had been walking home instead of simply apparating, and had been confronted and threatened at wandpoint by someone who had been following her on her walk home. it was the brother of a criminal that mafalda had recently locked up as a part of her duties as an auror, and he demanded that she unlock her brother at once. she refused, thinking that she’d have enough time to distract him and grab her wand from her pocket to defend herself. unfortunately, mafalda did not return home that night at all, and the man succeeded in running away after he killed her. it was obviously the most overwhelming thing that ever happened to ainsley, who never could have imagined something of that magnitude occurring within her family – her family, who had been perfect and content with their lives and each other and were always positive and looking forward to the future for more good things to come. one morning she went to school after waving her mother goodbye, and when she went to sleep that night, her mother was dead. time passed, but over the next year, ainsley still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that she had truly lost her mother. she was very lost and very sad, but moreover, her sisters had been even younger than her when their mother had died, which made her feel guilty about her own sorrow somehow, as if she didn’t deserve to be depressed because her sisters must have been much more unaware and confused about the situation. since then, ainsley has never looked back when it comes to always being there for her two sisters. she did whatever she possibly could to console them, care for them, and make sure they didn’t feel like they were alone like she was starting to. she didn’t realize it at the time because she was still young herself and was doing as much as was in her capability to shield her sisters from anything bad that came their way, but looking back at it now that she’s grown up a bit, she sees those few darkest years in their lives as her stepping in and trying to fill her mother’s role. she showed her first signs of magic during this period of time, furiously breaking a glass vase in her room with magic when one of her distant aunts came in and tried to give her “friendly” (but in actuality rather condescending and insensitive) advice on how to cope with her current familial predicament. to this day, only the people closest to ainsley that she trusts completely know that her mother died when she was younger – she has no desire to advertise this fact to new people she meets, because she doesn’t want their pity. she doesn’t want to be that poor girl whose mother died, because her mother would have wanted her to be far more than that, and she is determined to prove that she will be. she carries her mother’s death with her constantly, though strangely she forgets about it sometimes until something triggers the memory and she finds it hard to breathe because suddenly she has to remind herself that this is it – this is her life, not a piece of fiction, and she is a girl whose mother died, not a character whose life can be altered if the author wishes it. ainsley’s protectiveness over her sisters became an even more prominent part of her life when her father began to date other women. he tried to be secretive about it at first, but his actions didn’t escape ainsley’s naturally inquisitive and observant nature for long. she didn’t tell her sisters, thinking that they wouldn’t understand it. ainsley kept it all to herself, the bitterness building inside her as she stubbornly refused to confront her father about it until the right time came. sadly, her attempt to keep her sisters in the dark for their own good failed, as she walked in on a furious raegan who had just discovered their father kissing another woman. anthony got rid of that particular girlfriend immediately when he saw how upset his daughters were, and ainsley still tried her best to act like an adult regarding the matter, explaining to raegan that her father technically wasn’t doing anything wrong, that he wasn’t cheating on anyone because their mother wasn’t in the world anymore, and that maybe he needed to see other people so he wouldn’t feel so lonely. ainsley’s words of what she then thought of as wisdom came back to haunt her when she realized that her father bringing women into their home was certainly not a one or two time occurrence – she walked in on the same thing time and time again beginning when she was eleven, nearly every time it being a different woman since her father had begun to swap girlfriends regularly. this frustrated her to the point where she eventually snapped and full out screamed at her father one night. he took her yelling in stride, seeming to perfectly understand how she felt and vowing to change for the better. she bought it, but to her astonishment over the next few weeks, his behavior and apathetic attitude towards his children didn’t change at all. thankfully enough, she received her hogwarts letter soon after, which she was beyond excited about, though she felt selfish because she so desperately wanted to get away from the rickett house and leave her sisters to deal with their father’s complete disregard for how the three sisters felt about the women he accompanied himself with. she was torn, believing she was self–centered for even thinking such a thing, but also feeling more betrayed than ever by her father, who only a year and a half ago would have given up anything to shower her with love and now hardly paid any attention to her or her younger sisters. he spent the majority of his time at his job, and the rest out with various women, some that ainsley met and some that she never knew of but just assumed existed when her father not coming home for several nights in a row became a recurring pattern. it seemed that his wife’s passing had broken something in him, something that he could never get back, because the difference in the way he treated his daughters before and after mafalda’s passing was so stark that anyone would have said it was two separate men entirely. he’s never remarried, and ainsley used to fear that this was a possibility, but she doesn’t anymore, because she’s well–aware of his dating habits, most of which are based off young women being allured by his wealth and status. upon reaching hogwarts, ainsley found it strange that the sorting hat was conflicted on whether to place her in slytherin or ravenclaw, since she’d always thought that ravenclaw would be the most fitting house for her. because of this premade notion in her mind, she was extremely shocked when she was placed into gryffindor at the last minute, almost feeling cheated – as if the sorting hat couldn’t decide on one of the two best choices and had thus just placed her in a random house. she sulked over that for several days, but all in all, she was simply happy to be a student at hogwarts because it had gotten her away from the bitter and uncomfortable atmosphere at home due to her father’s antics and it also gave her a place to shine and let her intelligence have a proper outlet through all of her classes. though it was obvious that she was clever and determined to get the highest marks she possibly could, she was by no means a know–it–all, opting to be the quiet student at the back of the classroom who actually paid the most attention to the lesson and spent countless hours in the library afterwards reading and revising in order to achieve the marks she did. she was also not arrogant or self–righteous about her academic standing, welcoming competition from other high–achieving students without her smile faltering in the least, and she found that people tended to respect her for these traits. in addition, ainsley quickly came to the realization that not everyone in her year at hogwarts was as smart or as mature as her, especially in the years that followed when students her age were busy gossiping about who fancied who while she was busy writing to her youngest sister at home to make sure she was alright and worrying about her even if she said yes. since raegan was in her first year at hogwarts when ainsley was in her second year, she could look after her much easier starting then, even though her sister had been sorted into hufflepuff like their father. ainsley’s social skills had never been as strong as raegan’s, but she didn’t have much difficulty socializing or making friends. she became friendly with most of her year–mates early on, keeping good connections with as many people as she could whether they were in her house or not, as she had never seen the point of house rivalries. she has a tendency to put on a nice smile and wear a friendly and approachable attitude among her peers, which isn’t how she really feels towards all of them, as there are many people who she dislikes from afar for assorted reasons but will smile and nod politely at them if they ever chat with her. she’s never been outright unkind to anyone, and the reason people she might dislike likely don’t realize it is because she’s very talented at putting on a certain face in a crowd that doesn’t betray her real emotions, even though she doesn’t do it on purpose. it’s just a habit she’s picked up because she wants people to like her (not desperately, however, as she would also be perfectly content with people disliking her if they choose to – though this is rare, because the majority of her fellow students can rarely find anything to dislike about her), while at the same time she doesn’t necessarily like everyone, but also doesn’t feel the need to bluntly voice her opinions about people who she happens to not like. even sebastian and chloe nott, who she considers the cousins she’s closest to, do not recognize that she can have a mean streak in particular situations, although the sole person she is absolutely and unapologetically horrible to is her father. she is true to her feelings only with the people she’s closest with, mainly her best friends, faye stanley and adaline beaumont. it’s those two who bring out the best and the worst in her, as she can be properly reckless when she’s around them, though she’s still the relatively reasonable and responsible friend among the three who will ask “should we really be doing this?” while knowing that they a) shouldn’t and b) still will, and then will promptly shut up and go along with whatever it may be. faye and adaline both roll their eyes and share a look of disdain when their classmates suggest that ainsley should consider ‘loosening up,’ as this is something she hears frequently and has gotten extremely tired of, because her friends can attest to the fact that she can be an entirely different person when she’s in the right mood and wants to be. in third year, ainsley began to discover what sexism was. there were certain things that guys were able to do that girls weren’t without getting called names and being made fun of, which she immediately didn’t think was fair. there were also things that guys thought that they could always do better than girls and thus girls shouldn’t even get the chance to do, which made her even more furious because she couldn’t fathom why gender should matter when measuring someone’s abilities, whether it be their level of intelligence or athleticism. it started out with a discussion going on in the gryffindor common room one evening that she just happened to walk past on her way up to her dormitory. after overhearing a bit of the conversation, which consisted of a group of older boys talking about how an all womens’ professional quidditch team like the holyhead harpies is laughable because women aren’t that good at the sport anyways, she couldn’t resist jumping in, finding their ignorant and misogynistic way of thinking completely outrageous and finally having a reason to use some of the facts and figures stored in her brain from all that she read as back–up to efficiently prove her points. she still fearlessly jumps into debates such as these as quickly as she did that night when it comes to matters of women deserving equal privileges as men and other subjects of importance to her, and sometimes she doesn’t even register that she’s doing it – she’s just so passionate about certain issues that she goes on the defensive automatically when she hears someone disagreeing with her, even if they’re older and therefore apparently more mature. following this incident, she also became interested in reading the newspapers that arrived in the great hall by owl every morning, affiliating herself with the current news, events, and politics of the wizarding world as much as possible. this is how her aspirations to work a high–end job at the ministry of magic surfaced, and her ambitions have not lessened ever since. at the start of her fourth year, ainsley watched her youngest sister get sorted into slytherin and was immensely proud of her, also glad that she was at hogwarts and didn’t have to be alone with their neglectful father during ainsley and raegan’s school year anymore. on the other hand, she began to observe drastic changes in raegan’s behavior as the year progressed, such as her taking up habits like drinking, smoking, and snogging whoever she could. any type of sense she tried to put into her sister’s head was a failed attempt and a waste of time and energy, because raegan seemed determined to do whatever she wanted without any fear of the consequences. ainsley struggled to figure out why her sister was behaving the way she was, but it didn’t take her long to realize that it was her way of begging for their father’s attention, which they both knew she wasn’t ever going to get. she still worries about raegan on a daily basis, constantly hearing rumors around the school about all the things she’s involved in, but besides strongly advising her sister to get her act together (which only seems to encourage raegan more to continue on her current path) there’s not much she can do to stop it. she feels at times like she’s failed her, that she hasn’t been a good enough older sister or role model or replacement for their mother, but ultimately she’s aware that she can’t control everything that her sisters choose to do, and can only advise them as to what she thinks is best for them, no matter how much they may resent her and call her uptight for it. fourth year was also when ainsley started to notice boys in a different light, since before then she’d always seen them as nothing more than friendly competition in her lessons (she still does, but her view has just changed slightly in that she finds some of them attractive and others not so much). she’s actually friendly with a lot of guys – she gets along with them just as well as she gets along with girls. despite her easy–going nature when it comes to talking to boys, she’s never been in a relationship or even been kissed, and the latter is a truth only known by a few people because most just assume that she’s surely had her first kiss by now. though it gets her feeling inadequate and baffled on occasion, especially since she knows that she’s not exactly bad–looking – she doesn’t see herself as super pretty, but she doesn’t see anything wrong with herself, either – but it’s not really at the top of her priorities list, as she’s not in a hurry to kiss or date anyone just because she hasn’t yet. she lives by the philosophy that if something is going to happen, it’ll happen when the time is right and she can’t force it to happen faster, because she’s not very outgoing in the flirting department. it also doesn’t help her case that for the most part, she stays away from the party scene because she’s not a fan of alcohol – she’s had wine before when she’s been home alone over the past couple of summers just to see what it’s all about, and she knows that people her age don’t drink wine and party, but she truly isn’t that interested in partying. she doesn’t refuse offers to attend parties at hogwarts because she’s stuck up or too invested in her studies as some people choose to conclude, but because she genuinely doesn’t think it’ll be fun for her. as for her clothing style, ainsley doesn’t consider herself to dress a certain way all the time because she has a variety of clothes and ends up wearing whatever will suit her mood on a particular day. she can go from fancy skirts, blouses, and high heels one day to baggy trousers, muggle band t–shirts, and runners the next day. her favorites are the extra things you can add to an outfit, such as hats and scarves. she doesn’t care a lot about her appearance or what people think of her for it, but she does despise it when people categorize other people, especially girls, based on their clothing style – she doesn’t think that a girl should be labelled girly just because she wears dresses or skirts and likewise she doesn’t think that a girl should be labelled a tomboy if she wears more casual, boy-ish clothes. she thinks that people should be allowed to dress however they want without getting put into the role of a certain stereotype for it. HOPE EIGHTEEN EST |
TABLE BY TRINITY @ ADOXOGRAPHY
