Nervously approaches the stool...

[saiyako]

• What sort of profession in the wizarding world would you choose and why?
  
  There are a few possibilities... Wandering the far corners of the world, hunting Dark Creatures or seeking out rare ones (Crumple-Horned Snorkacks XD), sounds like fun, and I have had enough training in fencing and martial arts to know that with seven years of training at Hogwarts, I'd be pretty good at defensive magic and duelling, and wandering the unexplored corners of the Wizarding World, boldly going where no wizard has gone before, sounds awesome...
  
  Another thing I'd love to do is be a translator of ancient and/or foreign magical text (and wizarding manga, because I'm sure the Japanese wizards are producing better comics than "Martin the Mad Muggle"). I've loved languages since I started studying Italian in grade 6, and now I'm studying Japanese and Latin at uni... I just love languages, and I really enjoy translating. There's just something so satisfying about having the power to render a work readable for people who don't read the original language, and the sense of accomplishment when you figure out a difficult passage just feels so good. Translation spells are all very well, but I don't know how much I'd trust them over a translation that a human mind has carefully worked out, with attention to all the nuances of both languages, even if spells probably are more reliable than Babelfish and its ilk.
  
  The other profession I might choose is music... I'd love to sing in a wizarding rock band. I do have some musical ability (I sing fairly well, and I used to study piano), I love performing in front of an audience, and I'm sure I could come up with better lyrics than Celestina Warbeck. ("I'll thank you to give back my heart"? Ick.)
  
  
• If you could teach one class at Hogwarts, what would it be and why?
  
  Either Defense Against the Dark Arts, Arithmancy or Ancient Runes. Or Astronomy.
  
  DADA because, of all the classes we actually get to see, it's my favourite. Also, assuming I could get past my boggart problem (see my answer to the boggart question below), I think I'd be good at it. After all, it's a kind of combat, in a way (I mentioned my martial arts experience above, didn't I?), plus it requires a good knowledge of magical creatures and their weaknesses - and I'm good with remembering monsters' weaknesses... whenever I learn a new one, I file it away in my head as another survival tip for my characters. XD
  
  Arithmancy because it involves numbers, and maths was my best subject at school. Also because I really love the numerological systems (especially the rare times when different numerologists can actually agree on their systems XD). Or magical systems in general, really.
  
  Ancient Runes because of my love for languages and translation (see my answer to the job question above), and also... you know what I just said about magical systems? That. Plus, I keep imagining it as being something like learning kanji, and kanji are fun. XD
  
  And Astronomy because it was one of my obsessions as a kid. I've always loved space, and the stars, and the planets... who wouldn't want to spend their nights contemplating the beauty of the night sky (and teaching young wizards and witches how to appreciate it, too)? Plus, Astronomy classes are all at night, aren't they? And I'm very much a night person, I hate mornings.
  
  
• This year, The TriWizard Tournament is being held once again and you're of age. Do you put your name in the Goblet? Why or why not?
  
  Absolutely, I'd put my name in! It's a once in a lifetime chance, ne? Even though I'd be scared of what I'd have to do, I couldn't bear to not put my name in and then always wonder if I might have been chosen, and how I might have done... If I put my name in, at least I'd know I tried.
  
  
• If you could choose your animagus form, what would it be and why?
  
  Definitely some kind of cat. I've always loved cats (every species of them), and even when I go off and get interested in other animals to compare myself to for awhile, I always come back to the cat. They're the best and most beautiful animals in the world, and the ones I identify with most strongly. Like the cat, I'm a natural loner who, while I like to have my friends around, hates spending much time with random people. I also like to sleep a lot, and while a lot of people (even people who call themselves catlovers!) hate their predatory nature, I love to watch the way a cat moves when she's hunting, or playing with a mouse... I want to be that agile and quick. And I could never be a vegetarian, I like meat too much. And milk. XD
  
  I've even picked up some of my instinctive physical reactions to fear and anger from feline behaviour... although I've been always been annoyed by the fact that I can't purr. Maybe I'm a big cat, then, that can't purr properly either... like a tiger.
  
  
• What HP character do you identify with most and why?
  
  This is a difficult question... I think you're really asking which character I'm most like, but it's often not the characters most like me that I identify myself with while reading a story. So this is really two different questions for me...
  
  First, the character I identify with the way I usually use the word, the one whose head I usually put myself in while reading or watching HP, is Sirius. And this is the part where I have trouble explaining why. It may be partly because it was Sirius' arrival that made the Potterverse suddenly a darker, deeper and more dangerous place for me than it was for the first two books. Also, I can sympathise with the way he's misunderstood and distrusted by so many people, and yet when he meets his friends again, with everything he's been through, he hasn't lost the ability to find that closeness with them again. Plus he's brilliant, lazy, arrogant, and hates being told what to do... so I guess he's more like me than I thought. XD
  
  The characters I usually think of as being most like me, though, are Neville, Luna, and Snape.
  
  Neville because of his lack of his confidence in his ability, the way that he's utterly lost when something happens that he hasn't prepared for, and the way he's always underestimated by both himself and others. Plus, spending four or five years at boarding-school without making any friends? So would have happened to me.
  
  Luna because we're both so utterly out of step with everyone else, and we know it, and don't care. In fact, we're even quite proud of it. XD
  
  And Snape because of the way he's still holding grudges and hurts from his school days that everyone keeps telling him to let go, and no one ever seems to take his pain seriously and help him deal with it. I have friends who understand my pain from high school now, but I didn't at the time, when I was being bullied and psychologically tortured by my classmates. And when I was bullied, I reacted like Snape, rather than like Neville or Luna, fighting back with all my rage and pain.
  
  
• What would you see if you looked into the Mirror of Erised?
  
  I would see... myself signing copies of the latest volume of my published manga series, for a group of fans cosplaying as my characters (including two girls cosplaying as the hero and his boyfriend XD). I'd then get pictures with them in combat poses (me versus one of the cosplayers, using the combat moves I'd know from studying kendo). Then I'd be going home to the house where I live with my closest friends and lots of cats.
  
  
• If you won a million dollars, how would you spend it?
  
  Gah, I've never been good at "if you won a lot of money" questions... I suppose I'd first buy the perfect house for myself and my closest friends to live in. Then I'd take them for a trip around the world, going to all the places we want to go (in my case, Britain, Ireland (both of which I've wanted to travel to since I was a kid), New Zealand (Middle-Earth, yay!) and of course the otaku holy land, Japan).
  
  And finally... hm... if I had enough left, perhaps set up my own manga translation business?
  
  
• What was your ideal job as a kid? Has that changed? What is your ideal job now?
  
  I wanted to be a lot of things as a kid... First ambition I can remember was to be a zoologist, because I love animals, and I used to study the names of all the different classifications. But I dropped that when I realised I'd have to actually handle animals, not just know stuff about them.
  
  After that, I wanted to be either an author (because I love books and writing so much), an actor (*points to what she said up above about loving to perform*), or an astronomer (*points to the teaching question*), and later a linguist or translator (*points to what she said before about loving languages*). Wow, I think I've already answered most of this question...
  
  Anyway... it's hard to study acting and astronomy at a professional level where I live, and I'm not good enough at dealing with the real world to be able to move away somewhere else for it, so I had to turn away from those, but I kept on with my writing and languages.
  
  My ideal job now, though, is to write and draw manga, because I love the format and a lot of my stories come to me visually... unfortunately, I can't draw well enough, so my back-ups are novelist (working on it... slowly) and manga/anime translator (next best thing, right? XD And I'm working on making this possible in the future).
  
  
• If you were able to invent one spell, potion, or charm, what would it do, what would you use it for or how would you use it, and what would you call it?
  
  Transgenera (literally "across genders"), aka the Victor Victoria Potion. When you drink it, it temporarily transforms you into an opposite-sex version of yourself. It can be used in a couple of different ways... one is to deepen the cover of spies, by allowing them to more easily pose as someone else without the extra risks of pretending to be an existing person (and having to periodically gather that person's hair). (Although this might be tricky if the existence of the potion was well-known.) Another use might be by diplomats who might otherwise be barred from assignments they'd do well because of their gender (for example, female diplomats would now be to able to sent to countries that don't allow full rights to women).
  
  People living alternative lifestyles would also find it useful. It would be much easier and less dangerous than sex reassignment surgery for transgender people, for example (although you'd need a constant supply of it), and it would give a solution to same-sex couples who want to have children of their own.
  
  Also, one of my friends wants to use it to cherry-bomb the boys' toilets. XD
  
  
• If you were to face a boggart, what would it turn into? And what does it turn into when you throw the counter-spell, Riddikulus?
  
  Um. I think I'd need a lot of extra help when we got to this bit in DADA... My greatest fear is losing parts of myself ("parts" meaning not only physical body parts, but also senses, faculties, abilities...), so the boggart would probably approach me in the form of a double of myself with missing parts (maybe gouged-out eyes, which is one of my strongest squicks, or in a wheelchair, or with symptoms of Alzheimer's, or a vacant, Dementor-kissed kind of expression), and I honestly can't figure out how to make that funny. Making it turn into a large doll or mannequin wouldn't help, because those creep me out too.
  
  Although I was lucky enough to get a boggart that found my fear too abstract a concept to grasp, I'd probably find myself facing a giant spider brandishing a hypodermic needle. In which case I'd turn it into a plastic toy one (Mr Potato-Head style), and have it trip and squirt itself with the now needleless syringe. Which is full of whipped cream.
  
  
• What do you look for in a friend?
  
  Common interests are the first thing. My world revolves around my obsessions, so if I don't have common interests with someone, I can't even have a conversation with them... so that's vital.
  
  A sense of humour. I like people who can make me laugh, and I like my jokes not to fall flat... My social interactions are awkward enough without that.
  
  Patience, and lots of it. My short temper, and the fact that although I'm smart, I can also be really bad at everyday things that normal people take for granted, mean I'm a very frustrating person to around at times.
  
  Creativity. As a roleplayer, I like fellow writers and RPers around. XD
  
  Individuality. I hate people who just follow the crowd... but then, those people wouldn't like me, either, so it's all good.
  
  Trustworthy. My friends are the people I can open up to and be vulnerable with, so if I befriend you, I need to know you won't turn on me, or kick me when I'm down, or tease me beyond what I can take.
  
  Intelligence. You don't have to be bookish to be my friend, but you do have to have a fully working brain. I find stupid people frustrating to talk to and not fun to be around, and I prefer people I can exchange ideas with, and brainstorm with, and joke with, knowing they'll get my references and quotes.
  
  
• What trait most annoys you about other people?
  
  Just one? But there are so many things that annoy me about other people!
  
  Nn... I guess what I hate the most is when "normal" people look down on others for being different... especially when it comes in the form of people who read "Literature" looking down on people who read genre fiction, or people telling anime fans to grow up and stop watching cartoons, or gay/bi/trans people and single or childfree women being looked down on for not buying into the so-called "ideal" of being "happily married with 2.5 kids and a white picket fence". Or even just people looking down on people who have odd interests, or like to do things in their own ways rather than following the crowd...
  
  Basically, I hate people who believe that following the crowd and aspiring to the traditional norms is the best and only way to live.
  
  
• What do you think are your top five abilities or qualities?
  
  Intelligence: I was always the nerdy kid who was good at maths, spelling and grammar, and carried a book everywhere, and none of that has changed. I learned to read very quickly (had an adult reading age at 14), and I usually pick up the rules of languages and other conceptual/theoretical systems quickly (although I'm not so good with practical/physical ones). Although my interests have narrowed more now, I was also the kid who would read anything and everything she could get her hands on, including nonfiction, and encyclopaedias... I also found out later that one of my favourite books, which I read, understood, and loved at 14, is one that many adults have trouble with, and it still baffles me that they do.
  
  Creativity: I'm a writer, a poet, and a roleplayer, and I love to build worlds. And I've always had a great passion for stories and mythology.
  
  Curiosity: I love to learn, and know things, and understand things... What I said about being the kid who'd read anything? It applies here, too. And once I get interested in something, I need to learn everything I can about it. Also, I hate people keeping secrets from me, even for my own good.
  
  Sense of Humour: My teachers were always surprised the first time they heard me laugh... I was the shy, quiet, withdrawn girl who didn't talk to people, but as soon as someone told a joke, I'd be laughing the loudest and the longest. My best friend actually refused for a long time to let me read Discworld novels around her because she said my laughter hurt her ears... And while I'm not "the funny one" among my friends, I do contribute my share of jokes.
  
  ......?: I don't know what to call this fifth one, really. It's my ability to go on and deal with the world, and with people, and with all the problems caused by my autism, despite everything... It might be plain stubbornness, or pride, or some kind of courage... I really don't know. But it's good. And it keeps me going.
  
  
• What do you think are your top five weaknesses or worst qualities?
  
  Gah, this is hard... I can think of so many... but I'm going with these five.
  
  Selfishness: I'm very self-centred and thoughtless of other people's feelings by nature. It often doesn't even occur to me when I'm trying to make a decision, or putting forth a strong opinion, that other people will have feelings about it that don't necessarily match mine... and when I am reminded of that, it takes some effort to then try to put those feeling on the same level as my own for the rest of the discussion. And even then, I don't feel happy about it.
  
  Procrastination: I'm a horrible procrastinator, and I often end up wearing myself out trying to get assignments done before the deadline, even though I always promise myself I'll start earlier next time. This is even worse for thing I don't have deadlines for, and is the main reason I don't have any of my novels (or much fanfic) finished yet.
  
  Indecisiveness: I hate making decisions. Really, really hate it... The Myers-Briggs test classifies me as a Perceiver, someone more comfortable with information-gathering than decision-making and boy, is it right... When there's a decision to be made, I try to avoid being the one to make it, and if I can't, it can take me ages to decide... and even then I still might not be happy about having to close off the other option. (Maybe you guys noticed this in the job questions? XD)
  
  Perfectionism: I hate getting things wrong. I hate having to hand in a test without answering all the questions, and thus knowing I can't get full marks. I hate for any of my work to be flawed. I'm also something of a grammar Nazi, which annoys my friends sometimes.
  
  Oversensitivity: I've always been very emotional and sensitive. I've never taken well to even gentle teasing, for example, and I've only recently begun to learn to handle it. As I said above, at school I used to react to teasing as Snape did... And I still can't handle it when people make digs (playful or otherwise) at beliefs and feelings that are really important to me - I'm likely to go off and sulk (if it happens online, I might not feel like coming back on for days), or if it's bad enough, I end up crying or lashing out viciously.
  
  
• Define in your own words the following key traits:
  
  • Courage: Not letting your fear stop you from doing what you have to or want to.
    
  • Loyalty: Sticking by your friends or the people you've committed yourself to, and having faith in them even when it's difficult.
    
  • Intelligence: This means a lot of things to me... The ability to solve problems and puzzles. To learn quickly, and then retain and apply what you've learned. To recognise and understand the connections between different things, ideas and symbols. To learn from your experiences and mistakes, and figure out where you (or someone else) went wrong, and how it might be fixed.
    
  • Ambition: The desire to prove yourself, to be great, or to do something great - in whatever way you define "great".
    
  
  
  
• Name: Just call me Sai.
  
• Age: 29
  
• Where did you find out about us? I have a friend here, who's been wanting me to join for a while.