Phil

This character is retired, and is no longer in play.

Journalist
Portrayed by Zooey Deschanel
Name: Philomena Thomasina Rowle
Aliases: Phil
Birthday: September 11th, 1915
Position: Journalist
Lineage: Pure-blood

Description

Phil is not what you expect when you hear her name from someone else, unless that someone is her mother. For starters…Phil…is a girl. She's around average height with dark brown hair that has a tendency to go frizzy when she has been caught out in the rain for too long but otherwise falls to the middle of her back. Her wide eyes maker her look naive and innocent, a mark for every con man or smooth talker she comes across, and yet she walks with the confidence of one who is comfortable with themselves and has the ambition to do more. She doesn't go in for anything too flashy or fashionable though all of her clothing is, on closer inspection, easily identified as being well made.

Background

Phil (Philomena) is the daughter of an aristocratic pureblood wizarding family. She can trace her lineage back centuries on either side of her family tree. Originally from Northamptonshire, Phil grew up in a grand old pile that was well cared for and stuffed with things she wasn't allowed to touch but often sneakily did. By the grace of luck the Rowles were a happy family and their children well loved and nourished. Phil's mother feels that Philomena, for she refuses to call her Phil, should focus on finding a nice husband and if Philomena wants to do something meaningful then she should help her mother with charitable works. Her father, who does call her Phil, is amused by her and thinks she is within her rights to want to do something with herself before settling down, after all Phil was always a bit quirky. Perhaps it is his own artistic experiences as a musician that have enabled him to understand his youngest child.

Phil's mother is, unexpectedly, a socialite with a true bon vivant's outlook on life. Amazingly Phil and her siblings fit into this lifestyle, it helped that they were all attractive and well-mannered children and of course there were nannies and house elves for when they misbehaved. There are five children with Phil being the youngest. St John is the eldest and is married with two children of his own. After him came Vincent and then Alfred and then Felicity.

In school Phil was a bit of a swot, but not enough to get bullied about it. She was always writing stories. Phil even went so far as to create a version of a school paper - just something for her amusement and for her friends to read. Whenever she wasn't reporting on quid matches and crushes or studying she entered writing competitions, but she also played (field) hockey and supported the house quidditch team (especially as her older brothers all played, though her sister, like Phil, preferred to cheer). Most of the Rowles have ended up in Ravenclaw so no feathers were ruffled when Phil did too. She was nosy, though that did not always end well, and usually was able to get and angle on a story even if that story was just a prefect cheating on a test. As she progressed through school Phil focused her time on developing her talents in transfiguration as this meant she could disguise listening devices or her reporter's notebook or even herself a little and spells which enabled her to manipulate perception. She was not overly adept at Defense Against the Dark Arts but passed all of her fifth year exams before choosing to focus on her favourites (Transfiguration, Charms, and Potions).

A graduate of Hogwarts, as most are, in Great Britain, she has quasi-shunned her family's wealth and privilege to take up a highly underpaid position at the Daily Prophet as their youngest staff writer. This means she is given the dogsbody jobs that nobody else wants (fashion pages, articles on finance [these are dull because everyone knows Gringotts is the safest bank in the world] and what her editor calls 'General matchings, hatchings and dispatchings'). What Phil really wants is a scoop; a great story which will get her a byline - and she wants to write a great novel one day. It is fine to have nice things but Phil knows there are plenty out there who don't and she doesn't think she is the sort who can turn her back on that kind of knowledge. After leaving school Phil and her sister took a house together in London. They live together with a house elf (Rosie) who takes care of domestic matters. Unfortunately for them Rosie is a bit absent-minded at times so they are just as likely to get salt in their tea as sugar.

Wand

eleven and a half inches, burnished ebony, sturdy, with a phoenix feather core.

Pet

Phil has a small Mexican elf owl named Suki

sukielfowl.jpg

Broom

Phil has a custom made broom from Flights of Fancy owner Laurence Toulson. She is incredibly proud of it and has been known to show it off in public if seen out with it.

RP Hooks

Excuses to Start a Conversation

  • School connections - Phil is a graduate of the class of 1933, she will likely know Ravenclaws from the year before and after her as well as others from different houses who graduated with her.
  • Electives: Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies
  • NEWT Classes: Transfiguration, Charms and Potions
  • Clubs: Art Club, Dueling Club and Broom Club

Further Reasons to Speak to Her

  • Work contacts - Phil is known for sitting in the courts or attending society functions for work. You may have seen her if you are a lawyer or involved in law enforcement or are a socialite or even a down on your luck actor or musician who does catering for the day job.
  • Family connections -She is a known pureblood witch from an old wizarding family. Many of these families interact with one another and arrange marriages for their offspring. The Rowles are one of the purest of wizarding families. Phil's mother comes from another ancient wizarding family, the Averys. As such there are expectations of dress, behaviour and marriage placed upon her. These are things which would be known to others from similar families.
  • Pub crawler - Phil is a regular of the Three Broomsticks and the Cauldron; people talk more freely when drunk.

Quirks

  • Naivety - Phil is unaware of many things, specifically she is rather clueless and bumbling when it comes to flirting. This has meant she ended up in uncomfortable situations in the past. Maybe you can rescue the damsel in distress or perhaps you are the sort to take advantage of such naivety. She also has a tendency to trust people, which means she could be an easy mark.
  • Soft-Hearted - Phil is a sucker for a down on your luck story or those who are in emotional or physical pain. It is why she still goes willingly (albeit with some grumbling) to the charitable society functions her mother supports.
  • Acute Hearing - She cannot help it, it is part of who she is and what she does or perhaps why she is what she is and what she does. Phil is nosy. Sometimes this backfires and people catch her listening in from a nearby table.
  • Self-Confident - She is very confident, the kind of confident that comes from having a loving and supportive background and the freedom to be who you are and reach for your dreams. Though there are, like any woman, things she might not like about herself she has no doubt these things are not insurmountable and she accepts them for what they are and herself for who she is.
  • Wealth: Well-to-do - Phil does not need to worry about money. Her parents have a great deal of it and have given her more than enough so that her meager wages from the Daily Prophet are not a problem. Curiously, this is not obvious about her when you meet her.

Logs

Logs featuring Phil Logs that refer to Phil

Relationships

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Drummond
A friend of a friend. Drummond is a handsome professional quidditch player and were she into that type Phil might fancy him, as is she thinks they might be friends instead if he can forgive her for putting her professional foot in her mouth. She hasn't seen him in nearly a year now.

Cassius

Cassius
She does not know him well, but he gave her her first big break by letting her interview him for an expose in the Daily Prophet. Phil liked the enigmatic man and people liked her interview, especially the editor. Now she isn't sure what he is up to; while she likes the idea of the Unity Party she's not so sure about the man. Especially given his choice in life partners.

Takeshi

Takeshi
A junior apprentice healer who sometimes works with Phil's sister; she finds his odd mannerisms most curious and has struck up a friendship of sorts with him, enough for them to speak comfortably when they encounter one another.

Gallery

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