OOC
Game: New Salem
Journal: peytoplay
Played By: Katie Jarvis
Basic Stats
Full Name: Peyton Isabelle Carter
Gender: Female
Nicknames: Pey, Peyt, Peyts …
Date of Birth: May 14, 1991
Age: 19
Zodiac Sign: Taurus
Sexuality: Straight
Marital Status: Single
Hometown: Bristol, England
Current Residence: Dunmoody, Ireland
House: Ravenclaw
Year: Alumna; 2009
Bloodline: Half-blood
Wand: 8 in, poplar, unicorn tail hair
Pet:
Occupation: Waitress
Family
Father: Glen Carter (muggleborn; manager in a music shop; Ravenclaw 1980; b. 29 December, 1961; d. 3 February, 1998)
Mother: Jolene Mays (half-blood; mediwitch; Slytherin 1987; b. 23 June, 1969)
Step-Father: Alexander Mays (half-blood; music teacher; Hufflepuff 1980; b. 28 February, 1962)
Half-Brother: William Mays (half-blood; b. 15 September, 2006)
Half-Sister: Georgina Mays (half-blood; b. 31 December, 2008)
History
Glen Carter was a failed musician. It wasn't that he wasn't good, he could play the guitar just like ringing a bell, he just lacked the drive and strong will to actually go out there and "be discovered." But music was his passion, and he ended up getting a job in a music shop, which sold both recordings and musical instruments. And that was where he met Jolene. Nearly eight years younger than him, a fresh graduate from Hogwarts, she wandered into the shop one morning to buy some music in the summer of 1987, and they engaged in a long discussion about music, delighting in shared tastes and butting heads over how "amazing" Celestina Warbeck really was. Later that afternoon, Glen was kicking himself for not asking her out before she'd left with her purchase when Jolene walked right back into the shop and asked him out to dinner.
Two years later, Glen and Jolene were married, and it was within another two years that their daughter, Peyton Isabelle, was born. Glen still worked in the music store, though he'd worked his way up from simple cashier to manager, and Jolene was a mediwitch. Both were still passionate about music, and they passed that passion on to Peyton. Glen would sit beside her crib and strum his guitar and sing for her, while Jolene (who couldn't carry a tune in a bucket and couldn't play an instrument to save her life) would put records on in the nursery to play for her. At the age of four, Glen took Peyton into the music store and told her to find the instrument that "felt right" to her. Peyton ended up in front of a piano, and Glen had an old friend (Alexander Mays) teaching her to tickle the ivories within a week.
Of course, Peyton's childhood wasn't a completely idyllic one of nothing but music. War was brewing, and though they tried, the Carters couldn't stay out of it forever. Especially with Glen a muggleborn. Jolene was tipped off by a coworker that the muggleborn registration business was not what was expected, and the next night, Glen disappeared without a word. He went on the run to try to avoid Azkaban, leaving Jolene and six-year-old Peyton to fend for themselves. Jolene was questioned about her husband's disapperance, of course, as was Peyton, but neither had any answers. Not until the following February, when they found out courtesy of the Prophet that the "dangerous fugitive" Glen Carter had been cornered by Snatchers and was "accidentally killed" in the ensuing fight.
After her father's death, Peyton grew withdrawn and moody, and Jolene reached out to everyone she knew in the medical field to find somebody to help her. Peyton saw several mind healers over the course of the following year, but none of them were particularly helpful. Finally, it was actually Alexander, who was still teaching Peyton to play the piano, who came up with a way to help the now-eight-year-old: music therapy. He helped Jolene find a therapist to work with Peyton, and Alexander and Jolene started growing close as they both mourned Glen's death. Peyton was twelve when they got engaged, and they got married in July of 2004, shortly after Peyton came home from her second year at Hogwarts (and Peyton chose to keep her father's name instead of taking Alexander's). Within the next four years, Peyton was joined by two younger half-siblings: a brother William in 2006 right after she returned to school for her fifth year, and a sister Georgina in 2008 while she was home for winter hols in her seventh year.
The music therapy helped Peyton a lot with dealing with not only the emotions from her father's death, but also with coping with a new father and suddenly having two little babies around the house. The piano became her refuge from everything, a way to calm herself and regain her sense of inner peace. Even while at school, she would seek out the choir room and its piano whenever she needed to destress. Although she wasn't all too big on singing (she could sing better than her mother, but singing wasn't her passion), she joined the choir to accompany the singers on piano. She was not your stereotypical Ravenclaw, nose buried in books, obsessed with homework, but rather the type who loved to get into discussions about anything. Discussions, not debates, she didn't like taking sides.
It was when she returned to school after Georgina was born that Peyton started having trouble sleeping. Ever since her mother's remarriage, actually, Peyton had occasionally had a sleepless or restless night, but they were few and far between until those last months of her Hogwarts life. She took to spending more time at night down in the common room to avoid keeping her roommates awake, and would then often be found there in the morning, dozing in one of the armchairs, or her head cushioned on a textbook at one of the tables, her homework imprinted on her cheek. She never mentioned it in any of her letters home to her mum, and when she returned home that summer, she kept to herself in her room when she couldn't sleep, quietly pacing back and forth or writing out music in her notebook.
Much to her disgruntlement, it was Alexander who discovered her issues with sleeping. And he, once again, had the answer: he bought her an expensive piano, the muggle kind that ran on electricity, but altered to run on magic instead. He even helped to soundproof her room, so that she could work on the piano late at night without disturbing the babies. Peyton appreciated the gift, and it's one of her more cherished possessions, but she dislikes that it was her step-father who noticed and not her mother. With the babies around, Peyton felt largely ignored by Jolene, who seemed to view Peyton as a live-in babysitter, often asking Peyton to watch the babies on short notice, so she could run to the store, or go out and get her hair done. Whenever Peyton expressed an interest in going out to get a job, Jolene dismissed her, saying she wasn't ready for it, and she and Alexander would continue supporting Peyton.
After a year of this, Peyton couldn't take it anymore. She hated being just the babies' babysitter, and even though she had no idea what she wanted to do, career-wise, she went out and got a job anyway: at The Four Courts in the wizarding village of Dunmoody. Her mother was upset with her for getting the job, but as a nineteen-year-old, Peyton was perfectly capable of getting and keeping her own job, and there wasn't much Jolene could do to stop her. And when Peyton expressed the desire to move out of the house into her own flat, Jolene once again tried to fight her. Again to Peyton's disgruntlement, Alexander once again stood up for her and talked her mother into letting her move out, so long as Jolene approved of where she lived and any roommates she might have. And so, Peyton ended up moving to Dunmoody, where she answered an ad for a roommate.
Personality
Peyton is something of a quiet, introverted girl. She withdrew into herself after the death of her father, and she never really fully recovered. She's a polite young woman, and she keeps to herself, not wanting to stick her nose into other people's business. Really, she'd be perfectly happy to be more or less left alone, but she also frequently yearns for company and companionship. Company other than her mother, step-father, and half-siblings, especially. After a year's worth of being a glorified babysitter for William and Georgina, she's not so much a fan of little kids, and would rather just avoid them if possible. She doesn't have a problem with children in general, she just doesn't like taking care of them.
The piano is Peyton's solace. Even just sitting around and tinkering with the keys, not really playing, is enough to make her feel calm inside. She writes her own music, but only for herself. Like her father, although she absolutely loves music and it's her passion, she doesn't have the driving personality to go for any kind of career in the music industry. Peyton is far too shy to share her own music with anyone. She doesn't even play in front of other people generally, regardless of whether or not it's her own compositions. She just doesn't think she could take the rejection if people didn't like her playing. She would rather just enjoy having it as a beloved hobby and pasttime.
Peyton has problems with sleep. Insomnia, to be precise, though she's refused to see any healers about it. She doesn't think it's a problem, constant tiredness and difficulties falling asleep and staying asleep are just the way things are, the way she sees it. She sleeps whenever she can, and when she can't sleep at night, she'll sit at her piano and play around on it. Sometimes, that even helps her to fall asleep, but she doesn't think that being put on sleep potions (her mother's suggestion) would help anything, which is why she's refused to get help.
Quirks, Features, and Habits
- Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata is her favourite piece of classical music. She can play the whole thing on the piano without the sheet music, and she'll sometimes hum it too. She even has a section of the music tattooed on her left side, across her ribs. Her mother does not know about the tattoo.
- Along the same lines, nighttime is Peyton's favourite time of day. She likes the general quietness after everyone else has gone to sleep, and the sky is much prettier at night, with the moon and stars up above, than it is during the day, with the blinding sun.
- Although she loves to play the piano, she is not a performer. The open mic nights at The Four Courts might occasionally be vaguely sort of kinda tempting, but don't ever expect Peyton to sign herself up to play: you'd have to trick her into it. But she loves watching other people perform, particularly other musicians.
- She's not really big on fashion, choosing to dress simply in jeans or sweatpants, and t-shirts and hoodies. Most of her clothing tends toward blacks, too; there's not much variation of colour or style in her wardrobe, and she doubts very seriously whether or not she'd be able to successfully walk in heels. She doesn't do much with her hair, either, just a ponytail if anything.
- She has an armful of bracelets (okay, six so far) that she wears on her left wrist. Her father liked getting her little "handmade" bracelets when she was a little girl, so those kinds of things remind her of him. Every year on her father's birthday since she was thirteen, she's bought herself a handmade bracelet of some kind in his honour, and she never takes them off.
- She bites her nails pretty much all the time. They're always bitten down to the quick, with ragged edges. She also gnaws lightly on the pad of her thumb when she's thinking.
- She drinks a lot of coffee and caffeinated sodas, but no alcohol. She doesn't much like the taste of alcohol in general, and she hates the fuzzy, woozy feeling it gives her. But coffee is definitely her lifeline, as are sodas.
- She likes plain vanilla ice cream with no toppings or anything, just a cup or cone of straight vanilla ice cream, no bells or whistles, thank you.
- She's allergic to strawberries.
