FULL NAME: Adrian Galileo Gildersleeves
NICKNAMES: Ay, Adri, and A.G. But really he'll respond to most things that sounds like they could've been derived from his name.
AGE/DOB: 16 / January 19, Capricorn (Aquarius Cusp)
YEAR: Junior
BLOOD STATUS: Halfblood
GENDER/PRONOUNS: Male. he/him, they/them.
SEXUALITY: ❌ no touch ❌ no look ❌ no thanks ❌
HOMETOWN: Barebone, KY
Don't believe everything wikipedia tells you—this "ghost town" is only ghosted by muggles. Barebone, Kentucky is a bustling midwestern magical metropolis along the Indiana-Kentucky border, home to the well-rated NAQL team the Kentucky Fireballs. Barebone's two big businesses are brewing and magi-medical research. The city is dotted with distilleries and breweries, and home to one of the most prestigious magical research hospitals in the nation. The end result is that the divide between rich and poor is especially pronounced in Barebone, and the cost of living is in some parts absolutely astronomical.
APPEARANCE:Adrian looks a bit like if you took Michelangelo's David and made it just a little bit wrong. He is striking, certainly, but birdish with a funny smile. He carries himself always with unsurprising jock-like swagger, the biggest boy in the room even on the rare occasion that he isn't. He moves like water, which is to say, mostly with ease, but also like water prone to getting caught in dithering swirls or diverted from his intended path. The point is, though, that he always keeps moving.
Given his druthers, Adrian would dress in bright, pretty colors: daring styles, busy prints, flattering cuts. He has an eye for these sorts of things certainly, but lacks the confidence to jump into them on his own. So, it's t-shirts and plain hoodies, jeans and sweatpants and sneakers. Typical jock boy clothes.
His accent, a deep country bend, is so pronounced that it at times invites ridicule. Adrian, himself, is incredibly well-spoken, if you'd just listen to the contents of his words, but he absolutely sounds like a yokel.
HEIGHT: 6'1"
BUILD: Athletic
PB: Rocco Fasano
INSPO: Pinterest Adrian Gildersleeves is Cedric Diggory-esque in that you can be fairly positive that he’s going to get himself lost in a maze and accidentally killed in a horrible but heroic and self-sacrificing way. Unfortunately, with no Tri-Wizard Tournaments on the horizon, it looks like we’re all stuck with him a bit longer. Puppyish with a dumbass streak, he’s a sweetheart, but one prone to truly stunning acts of clumsy foolishness. Indefatigably bright and sunshine-y, he’s difficult to ignore, but not particularly pressed about
having attention; like, what if a Batman villain weren’t a Batman
villain so much as someone who is equal parts quirky, obnoxious and helpful-but-not? It’s exhausting.
Like a puppy, as I said. He’s the sort of person whose very existence prompts a strong response. Adrian is not a “take him or leave him” kind of guy.
For all that incandescent energy, Adrian is actually quite shy. He likes his personal space, detests feeling tied down and is not on the hunt for attention. Expectations make him quite nervous; he’s prone to second guessing himself and
people added to that mix makes it worse. This may come as a surprise since Adrian knows how to look confident, but in practice he is deeply insecure. His young life has been spent hiding that weakness, though, growing up with parents who regularly exploited it, and it takes a careful, attentive eye to see just how hesitating and cautious he is. He prefers to hide it behind movement — swerving away from anything he can’t combat with a soft smile or fiery anger.
People are his blessing and his curse. He is particular about boundaries, about space, about trust, but is remarkably free with his love. He just
really likes to make people happy — likes feeling that he is doing good. In his estimation the world can be a terrible place, and if he can do anything to make it a little less bad, he wants to—but I digress. Adrian may be shy but he is no introvert. He likes being surrounded by people, it’s just that the spotlight is not quite his favorite place. He’s actually content to do his own thing by himself, but so too is he delighted to include others in his nonsense. Being the charismatic commander-in-chief is never his goal, more that doing things is improved by having company. Even though he frequently finds himself in leadership positions, Adrian sees himself as less a leader and more of a guide and facilitator. He’s here to help, not take command, and he never nominates himself for leadership roles. Perhaps that’s why people trust him in those spots.
Adrian has a reputation for airheadedness, but do not mistake a soft and gentle heart for weakness. For as much as he is a teddy bear, he can also be
quite bearish. Fiercely protective of loved ones, stringent about his boundaries and unable to leave well enough alone when he’s upset about something, he comes off as a scorching ball of nuclear reactions just as often as he is a warm ray of sunshine. Adrian has a strong sense of justice and an almost pathological need to be
good — likely stemming from his family’s history. He makes himself vulnerable, but he’s also terribly sensitive and can be easy to upset. When he feels wronged, Adrian shuts off the tap and can be downright icy. Suffice it to say,
all of Adrian's moods are Big.
He is also brilliant. Though half of his report card might call this statement into question, look into what he says and it’s undeniably true. Clever, quick on the draw, and empathic, Adrian is the platonic ideal of High Int, Low Wis, because for all that brain power, his mind is best put to use solving problems and making plans and
not considering potential consequences. He isn’t too worried about getting hurt, which is why he’s always diving head first into situations that will harm him (physically and emotionally). He’s fantastically resilient, too, but prone to letting emotional hurt linger far longer than it needs to. And if he feels as though he's been wronged, he tends to shut down and shut off, closing people out instead of talking things through. Though diplomatic in most other contexts, when it comes to himself, he's quite reluctant to talk things through, a hypocrite.
Adrian is unflaggingly brave, adventurous and open to new experiences, but these distinctly Mothgarden qualities are tempered somewhat by a grounded and very Thorntrailish desire to do good. Do no harm, but take no shit. Adrian's a hard partier, playful, teasing and game for most activities, but he pumps the brakes if he thinks someone who doesn't deserve it is getting hurt. He punches up, not down, and while he
does have a great deal of patience for those he perceives as needing his protection, even this can come across as patronizing. Like the party paladin, it makes him nearly impossible to deal with if there’s even a little bit of friction between you two.
FUN FACTS:
🌅 MBTI: ENFP / ENNEAGRAM: 1(w2)
🌅 Really wants to get into tabletop gaming. Really does not want to run a game, himself, and too shy to solicit membership in a pre-existing group. Collects dice, though. Lots and lots of dice.
🌅 Fired from his job at the Dis 'n' Dat last year for playing dodge ball with an overripe melon on his lunch break with some other guys. He is now terrified of Mr. Shamburger and makes other people go to the Dis 'n' Dat for him if he needs anything.
🌅 Hates mushrooms.
LANGUAGES: English, some ASL
HOBBIES: table tennis, billiards, darts, reading pop engineering and symbology magazines, exploring abandoned places, buying dice he will almost certainly never use
SKILLS:
NUMBERS: While you may not think it, the way he chokes trying to calculate tip amounts, Adrian has a real head for numbers. Perhaps more precisely, it's that they make sense when they are applied. He's got a knack for interpreting data and picking up equations easily. Basic Algebra may not be his best friend, but you'd never know the way he zips through his work in Hermeticism, Symbology and Arithmancy.
PROBLEM SOLVER: Maybe not quite in the sociological sense — in that regard, he's more of a problem causer — but Adrian thinks like a programmer. He's good at looking at a big picture, a big problem, and breaking it down into smaller, solvable parts. It may be more of a learned skill than a natural inclination, an ability he's developed from learning to deal with his sometimes ludicrous anxiety.
BAR GAMES: Growing up in his grandfather's tavern, Adrian picked up pool, darts and other games of skill. His math-loving brain really helps him along at games like this.
PING PONG: Table tennis is Adrian's sport, perhaps more than even Quodpot. He loves pick up matches in Gaming Club, and wishes the bowling alley had space to play.
ATHLETIC: Fit and full of wiry muscle, Adrian's a strong boy, agile and quick on a broom. While he wouldn't call himself a dancer, he's taken dance for years and participates in House cheer. He stays active and, obviously, is good enough on a broom to earn a quodpot captainship in his junior year. It's less natural talent and more force of will. Adrian's always pushing himself to be normal and better and most of all not bad, and part of that has been training and training and pushing himself athletically.
LISTENING: Adrian has a way of making you think he really cares about everything you're saying to him. He looks engaged, he asks questions, he listens. That may be partly why Mr. Youngblood tapped him for a captainship.
FAMILY:Libitina Provenza (mother, former healer)
Dr. Libitina Provenza is a woman of single-minded focus who has never allowed others to tell her what she can and cannot do. For a time, this made her something of a celebrity in her small, specific corner of magical medicine. Regrettably, that insistence upon forging her own path erred far too selfish, and now she is serving a lengthy term in jail for dabbling in the dark arts. Adrian's relationship with his mother is fraught. He understands, now, that he was living with someone who, while deeply charismatic and adept at appearing loving, saw and sees him as little more than an extension of herself without an inner life. Adrian is afraid of his mother and those like her. He does not like speaking of her, and avoids having a relationship with her.
Thomas Gildersleeves (father, healer)
Thomas Gildersleeves was acquitted of charges implicating him in the dark magic experiments his wife Libby was spearheading. Then, a scant two months later, he deposited his young son in the care of his own father and left the States, ostensibly for "charitable work" as a healer somewhere in western Asia. Outside of a yearly cash-stuffed birthday card, Adrian does not hear from his father, and does his best to forget about him.
Emrys Gildersleeves (grandfather, tavern proprietor)
Emrys Gildersleeves is a Welsh transplant to the United States, having settled here permanently after meeting and marrying the love of his life while here on holiday. In the many, many years since, Emrys has run a successful little tavern in Barebone, Kentucky, known for supporting and featuring local brewers. Emrys has a whole slew of grandchildren, but Adrian has become more of an unlikely youngest son than anything. He does his best as a retirement age single dad, and Adrian loves him for it.
BACKGROUND:Libby Provenza wasn’t a wide-eyed ingenue lucky to nab a spot at Barebone Medical Research Institute. No, Healer Provenza had been at it for a while when she got the offer, and she earned this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity solely on the successes of her own hard work (though some would say her ruthlessly cutthroat practices and utter disregard for the feelings
and safety of her colleagues may’ve also played a part). It should come as no surprise, then, that Libby carved a name for herself in her niche field very quickly. In short order, she was given a full research team to oversee. Among them Thomas Gildersleeves, a young local boy turned healer who
was wide-eyed and fresh from medical school. Tom and Libby hadn’t attended Peckenpaugh at the same time, but still they bonded over their shared alma mater. Something of a romance bloomed quickly after that: Libby was charming and Tom was charmed. Somehow, in all of this, they skirted discipline for work romance despite the supervisor-subordinate relationship. Their two year courtship ended with a fantastic wedding, and a short while later they had a son.
Adrian was a happy baby. The sort of smiling creature that’s just glad to be here, thanks for having him. Bubbly, not fussy, just a delight to be around. For the first couple years he was his mother’s constant companion — she went back to work quickly, but liked to bring her baby boy along. Still, calling him doted upon isn’t quite accurate. Less kind (or perhaps more honest) gossip was that Adrian was less her child and more her fashion accessory. And the gadflies would never be proven wrong. As Adrian grew into a curious and unweildy toddler, he spent more and more time with nannies or his grandparents, less time at his mother’s side. Less time seeing his parents at all. Adrian came up as much in his grandparents’ care as his parents, split between the wealthy wizmcmansions on the north side, and the family’s tavern in the lower class south end of Barebone. This all made sense to Adrian, of course: Libby and Tom were distinguished healers at a preeminent research facility. Adrian was supposed to be proud that they were busy with such important work.
And for the most part he was. For the most part he was still happy. As far as Adrian knew, their lives were normal. He was too young to understand all those red flags his parents were flying, and too preoccupied with being a kid to notice them at all. He started school at a private academy in north Barebone alongside the children of other wealthy healers, researchers, entrepreneurs and athletes, and distinguished himself both academically and athletically — at least, so long as the academics in question were Transfigurations or mathematics. Outgoing, but always a little awkward, Adrian didn’t
quite flourish socially, but he did well enough.
Normal. That was what they were supposed to be. His parents, barely around, were obsessed with seeming
normal. Unfortunately, there was a reason for that, and the tight rope they walked was finally fraying. One morning when he was seven, Adrian’s grandfather came to get him as he often did, but this time he packed up far more of Adrian’s things than usual. This time on their way to the tavern they stopped to meet with a man in a suit. The somber man and Emrys Gildersleeves discussed serious things in hushed tones. Words like
indictment and
custody were thrown around. From that day on, Adrian lived with his grandfather in south Barebone and around him things devolved into a chaos he didn’t understand.
As Adrian understood it at the time, his mother had been accused of hurting people, and using forbidden magic to do so. His father, while not so clearly tied to what his mother had done was also “facing charges” for “involvement” in her schemes. There were police, there were reporters, there was absolutely no peace as the story of Dr. Libitina Provenza swept across the nation. There was no hiding what had happened. The kids at school may not’ve understood, either, but they learned from
their parents how to react to Adrian and his family. Adrian was outcast, his closest friends forbidden from seeing him, his social life was effectively over. Even that didn’t matter, though. With assets frozen and Emrys Gildersleeves unable to foot the tuition bill for Adrian’s private school, he was pulled out and sent to a local public school, instead. Public school was a torment, too, but he at least wasn’t ostracized.
The media circus around his former home was unavoidable, and reporters even spilled over into his grandfather’s neighborhood from time to time, trying to get an interview out of Emrys, or a photo of Adrian for the papers. While his grandfather did his best to shield Adrian from everything, there was no avoiding it, really. The boy came to understand the nature of his mother’s crimes in excrutiating detail. It terrified him, made him worry that he might grow up to be like her, and so he dedicated himself to the opposite.
Those years around the trial — and the trial did go on for years — were difficult. Adrian had lost his grandmother not long before it all started, and Emrys’s tavern suffered for all the media hubbub. It was tough for a while, financially, socially, existentially, but Adrian and his grandfather kept pushing through. The tavern survived on the loyalty of local customers and the extended Gildersleeves family. If Adrian’s father hadn’t been disowned
before the trial ended, that he left abruptly a few months after he was acquited to “practice healing overseas” (and abruptly disappear) sealed his being cut off from the family. In all of this, the rest of Adrian’s family was careful to assure him that he
wasn’t like his parents — even as outsiders, including the media, continued to wonder if he
was.
Junior high was two years of more typical pre-teen hell. Adrian was awkward, but people had moved on from the Libby Provenza Dark Arts murders, and Adrian not sharing a name with his mother helped to shield him from association with her. He spent his seventh and eighth grade years just trying to figure out what a normal life was. It was complicated, of course, by the fact that his mother insisted on staying in his life as much as she could, through visit requests and owls with lengthy guilt trips. Adrian lost a lot of sleep over nightmares about his mother, now cast as a monster in his memory.
When it came to high schools, he applied for Vercoer, and certainly had the grades for it, but his name and family background ensured that Vercoer didn’t have room for him that September. So, to Peckenpaugh he went at his grandfather’s insistence. He didn’t want to leave his grandfather behind — the tavern was just starting to get back on its feet — but getting away was what Adrian needed. Very few people at Peckenpaugh even knew who Libby Provenza was, and if they did, there was no connecting her to her son.
Adrian has spent the last three years thoroughly enjoying being a nobody. Not a private school kid with a blue collar upbringing, not a rich kid at a poor public school, not the son of a notorious Dark Wizard, just Adrian Gildersleeves, Quodpot Captain, Symbology TA, friendly menace.
WAND: 10", Pink Ivory Wood, Tatzelwurm Whisker. Adrian inherited this beautiful heirloom wand from his mother's side of the family, gifted to him by a great grandfather he's never met on his eleventh birthday. Despite being quite old, the
extremely pink wand still retains its glassy finish, and was re-cored especially for Adrian's use. He hadn't expected such a fine wand would suit him (especially since his own mother doubted he could handle it), but the wand took to him and thus far has never failed him.
FAMILIAR: Emperor Perimedes the Conqueror, a magical teacup pig that is...actually the size of a teacup. It's not unlike having a very strange rat as a pet. You can call him Peri.
CAREER GOALS: There are a lot of career options that sound
super nice to Adrian. He'd like to put his Arithmancy and Symbology studies to good use. He'd also like to work in a field that helps people. Professional athletics is, despite his captaincy, not really on the table — he's had enough exposure to the spotlight for his liking.
PART-TIME JOB: N/A
CLASSES: Adrian's a joy to have as a student if he likes a class, and a pain in the ass if he doesn't. When he takes quickly to something like mathematics, transfiguration or symbology, he's instantly invested. He struggles with other courses, and easily discouraged he falls apart as a result. Adrian is brilliant, but focusing in class can be a real challenge, one he isn't necessarily willing to undertake. His grades reflect that.
CHARMS: Adrian after thinking about his Charms assignment. His need to succeed and prove himself puts Adrian in the unenviable position of being stressed out about Charms literally always. Ms. Gunzenhauser's gentle grading style helps. He
really is putting in the effort. She can see it, and that makes a difference because otherwise his grades would be abysmal.
(H) TRANSFIG: The whole equation thing has always just made sense to Adrian, and so he's never had much trouble with Transfiguration. He finds the course matter engaging, and while he doesn't
love the class, it's a joy compared to things like Charms and DADA.
ARTIFICING: As with many students in the course, Artificing is one of Adrian's favorite classes. He's not a gifted Artificer, and honestly took it only to supplement his Symbology work, but he finds the work rewarding and relates to Dr. Ranui's nerves, how particular and emotional he is. His performance is quite good.
(H) HERMETICISM: It may come as a surprise to learn that Adrian is a Hermeticism wiz, given how poorly he's done in other classes, since dropped, and how much he still panics about Charms. But, again, that head for numbers and drive to understand everything in a minute way pays off. He does quite well in the class, and takes pride in his performance.
HISTORY of MAGIC: Ms. Dorkins is a lovely woman. Adrian would honestly prefer she spend the whole class period getting upset about things instead of making them actually memorize dates and such. His grade in this class is ... middling.
OUTDOOR MAGIC: Adrian may really struggle to get a bubble head charm right, but he knows his way around a broom, at least! And he's real good at all the running, jumping, flying shit.
(H, TA) SYMBOLOGY: Adrian, like Mr. Stirling, has an easy time seeing the nuts and bolts of magic, which makes him a natural at Symbology. He dabbles in just about all aspects of the course, from make up to needlework, but his primary interest is in complex glyphs—spell after spell layered on top of each other. Adrian's approach to Symbology is, like his instructor, decidedly engineer-like. Perhaps that's why Mr. Stirling selected him as TA.
ARITHMANCY: Advanced predictive magic is hugely fascinating for a kid who's constantly jumping to conclusions about things. Arithmancy is, doubtlessly, Adrian's favorite class, even if he does leave it looking exhausted. He kind of wishes it were offered more than twice a month.
EXTRA-CURRICULARS:QUODPOT (Defensive Captain, Kestrel): Putting Adrian in the defensive captain spot seemed a natural choice, gregarious, team-oriented and absolute fire on a broom, he is every bit the golden boy athlete. This is his third year playing first string Quodpot and his first year in the co-captain seat.
HOUSE CHEER: As though Adrian weren't busy enough already, he occupies his time in the quodpot off season as a member of Thorntrail's cheer squad. Sure, he probably could've made the Quidditch team, but he's more into the support and spirit building aspects of being on the squad.
DUELLING & WANDWORK: Truth be told, Adrian joined this club because he couldn't hack it in DADA, but he's extremely self-conscious about appearing pro-dark arts. Joining duelling and wandwork felt like a way of "proving" that he wasn't "like his mother." He is a boy with a head for numbers, not wandwork, and his performance in the club is middling at best.
GAMING CLUB: Chess and Monopoly and video games are fine, but what Adrian really loves are games of skill like billiards and darts. He's also a die hard ping pong fan and always wants to play a game.
PERFORMING ARTS CLUB: Adrian got involved in the club because of dance and found he deeply enjoys performing, as well. He's not much of a Main Character guy. He likes weird parts.
SORTING?: Adrian is one of those rare instances of a student who really belonged nowhere else. Despite a Wildgulch mother, a father in Mothgarden and a smattering of Deeplurkers and Whintossers in his family history, no House struck quite such an accord with Adrian as Thorntrail did. The House of Squatch, with its emphasis on loyalty, hard work, community and good deeds, was catnip to young Adrian who desperately wanted to be
good and to find a sense of belonging. It doesn't even matter what the other Houses asked, or how he might have fit into them if he'd picked another door. There's no universe where Adrian didn't seat himself in the Thorntrail quarter of the auditorium at the end of his sorting.
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SLP: Quodpot Captain - Defensive
POSITION: Kestrel, Varsity Quodpot
WHY THIS SPOT?: There was no question that Adrian would be getting on a broom eventually, though his Welsh grandparents pushed for Quidditch over Quodpot. It was the more explosive sport that wound up sticking. Big boy Adrian may not have been a natural on that broom, but there is one thing he is good at: pushing himself to be better than he was yesterday. Quodpot is a Normal Sport for Normal Teen Boys to be interested in, and so through his most difficult years Adrian poured himself into being Very Normal and Very Good at Quodpot. What that wound up meaning was the boy came to high school seeming like he had designs on a professional career. He did not, but he still takes the game seriously.
Adrian loves the game, but he cares most about about his Kestrels. He approaches captaining, unsurprisingly, with the empathy of a Disney sports movie protagonist. Passionate about the sport, yes, but more passionate about the team. He is unflaggingly optimistic about Peckenpaugh's odds, or at least he pretends to be if those odds are stacked against them. Adrian supports the team as a whole, but stays in his lane, mostly — he's the defensive captain, and is focused on defensive plays and working with Kestrels and Falcons to ensure as few quods land in the pot as possible. With regard to offensive plays and strategy, he defers to Val.
Broadly, while not a strategist, he is good at analyzing data. Not a terribly reliable gift on the pitch, but great for pre-game planning. Peckenpaugh's Quodpot players usually take the pitch with a pretty good idea of what the other team's strengths and weaknesses will be based on previous games.
IDEAS?:
I want to run scrambled Quodpot / Quidditch games featuring players from both sports and will RP with myself to achieve this if need be.
As though this team weren't goddamned weird enough, I'd love to loop in numerology and introduce some silliness with Adrian making sweeping statements about teammates/the games based on like...player jersey numbers.
Going to work on trying to build the Kestrels into a bit more of a cohesive Defensive Buddies group. Will loop in Falcons. Also expect Big Sports Feelings.
SLP: Symbology TA
POSITION: Symbology TA
WHY THIS SPOT?: Adrian had a passing awareness of Symbology from his brief time spent in a richie private prep elementary school as a child, but had completely forgotten about the field until he came to Peckenpaugh. He even had to be kicked out of Divination first. It turned out that this was really what he wanted — a technical class that would let him mix in some Numerology/Arithmancy. Perhaps it was Adrian's similar approach to Symbology — eager to explore all its corners, problem solving like an enginner — that made Mr. Stirling decide to tap him as Symbology TA last year. Whatever the reason, it seems he was the right choice.
IDEAS?: 👏 Symbology 👏 Student 👏 Embroidery 👏 Club 👏 Slash 👏 Quilting 👏 Bee 👏 Nerds 👏
Would like to collaborate with Artificing and Aesthetic Magic on stuff.
Adrian runs a study group for all years and can be come to as a "safe" mod alternative to Mr. Stirling for questions about sigils and glyphs.