toffs
character name: Karin Desirée Thomas
age and birthday: October 17 2004 (17)
bloodline: Half-blood (Mother is pureblood, Father is technically half-blood)
home residence: Old Malden, Kingston, Greater London
house and year: Gryffindor Seventh
current classes: Charms, Divination, Muggle Studies, Potions
sexuality: Straight, oh so very straight
appearance
There's no denying that Karin Thomas was fortunate when looks were given out. She could even be described as gorgeous, with her dark skin tone (resembling her father's rather than her mother's), oval face, full lips and long dark hair that reaches her mid-back. Karin has several hang-ups about her face, however, one of which is her eyes, which she describes as a “rather boring shade of brown”. Another feature she isn't overly pleased with is her ears, which she claims stick out and can therefore usually be found hidden beneath her hair or one of a selection of hats.
Karin, like all girls, has a love-hate relationship with her body. She's constantly dieting to lose some weight from her hips and thighs area, which are slightly rounded due to a mixture of lack of exercise and a sweet tooth. It's perhaps fortunate that the weight won't shift, as slimming down her lower half would only make her breasts look larger. Karin's breasts are both her greatest sorrow and greatest joy, as she's realised the advantages they can give her, but must they hurt her back so much? She stands at 5'6'' in her bare feet, and 5'8'' in heels, which are plentiful in her closet and very good for posture, don'tcha know! A large selection of clothes and multiple beauty charms are Karin's main weapons - she's always dressed to impress.
It's her life
and her life is worth living
personality
The first impression many people get of Karin is one of a hurricane of chatter bearing down on them. She's rather extroverted, making it her aim in life to talk the ears off as many people as possible. She sees everyone as a potential friend, and treats them as such. Often her bubbliness is contagious, although many people find themselves unable to get a word in edgeways, which Karin doesn't usually notice because once she gets going, it's quite difficult to get her to shut up. Really, she's a loud mouth, and a pretty opinionated one at that - she aims to tell it like it is and while that makes her an extremely honest person, she can also be rather exhausting to be around. A filter between her brain and mouth would help, but she usually says what she's thinking at the time, and is left regretting it later. Karin is a big bundle of energy and can never sit still, as life's a party to her and she's hell-bent on enjoying it. As such, she always has to be organising something, whether it's a study session, a sleepover, or a party. And if there's nothing to organise? Well, she'll make something to organise, and drag all her friends in to enjoy it. She likes to take the lead in everything, hates sharing the responsibility, and can become rather difficult when she's not the one in charge.
It's a well known fact that Karin is rather nosey, and likes to get involved in everyone's business. She's not really a gossip, as she's good at keeping secrets and won't necessarily tell everyone what she's found out, but she enjoys knowing everything about everyone and is often so desperate to know things that she'll believe anything she's told. Karin is also known for having a rather varied vocabulary. Meaning, of course, that she knows just about every swear word under the sun and uses them frequently. Some form of expletive is usually slipped into every other sentence leaving her mouth and she's well versed in all the ways to insult people she takes a dislike to. And if she doesn't like you, boy will you know it. Karin is a fairly laid back person and as such isn't easy to rile, but when she gets mad, she really gets mad. Her temper isn't anything short of an inferno, and when it's roused she can become totally unreasonable. As far as she's concerned, she's right and you're so wrong and that's the end of it. When she's really worked up, that temper has to come out somehow. Trashing furniture and screaming are not unknown for her, and she's not above throwing a few punches. However, this doesn't happen that often, and usually Karin is her normal happy self. As the only girl in the family she can behave rather laddishly after a childhood of play-fighting with her three-brothers, but she's no tomboy as Parvati tried to bring up her only daughter as a lady. Another result of growing up with three brothers means Karin is very competitive, and will defend whatever side she's on fiercely, whether it's an argument or a Quidditch match, yet she doesn't play sports herself.
It's very rare thst Karin thinks about the consequences of her actions, and will therefore steam right into situations without any prior thought. Often the consequences don't occur to her even when the damage has been done, as she if often oblivious to other people's body language and is rubbish as picking up hints. Warnings and advice often fall on deaf ears, her head is filled with much more interesting stuff, after all. She doesn't mean to forget stuff, honest! This 'in one ear, out the other' problem she has doesn't just apply to social situations, but academic lessons, and she's been known to get into trouble many times for her shoddy wandwork. Karin is not good at facing up to it when she's in trouble - she'll usually come up with wildly creative excuses and finds it hard to admit or even believe that she's in the wrong. If possible, she'll try and avoid the problem as long as she can to avoid getting into trouble. She's the girl that would hide her mum's vase when she broke it, or ran away when the window got accidentally smashed. “It wasn't me” was a common phrase when she was young, and she was able to pin practically anything on her brothers. However, Karin does suffer from a massive guilty conscience, which means that not only does she never do anything seriously wrong, but when something is her fault she will eventually own up and apologise, although it may take her a while for her temper to die down or for her to come to terms with it in her own head.
Maybe it's due to her horrible allergy to all animals, but Karin is a complete hygiene freak. She never wears clothes more than once without washing them, and washes her own hair every day without fail. She can't stand dirt of any kind, and her side of the dorm is never anything less than meticulous. She's been known to take her rommate's clothes and bedding and wash them just because they were “bugging” her. She likes her spellbooks to be alphebetised, and all her belongings on her desk to be at right angles. She's never seen a boggart, but if she did it would take the form of a very large and very fluffy cat, which would proceed to shake itself and spray fur everywhere. She's campaigned several times for cats to be banned from Hogwarts, although it's never even nearly been successful. Cats aren't the only subjects of her campaigns however, and the latest petition she's drawn up can usually be found on various notice boards around the school. Everything from changes to the school uniform to making curfew later, to more Hogsmeade weekends to making the Quidditch boys pose nude for a calender will be campaigned for enthusiastically until something that grabs her attention more comes along. Because she's always so busy busy busy, Karin can be something of a fair-weather friend. Of course she has her close friends who she'd do anything for, but when she still doesn't know someone that well, it's easy for her to move onto pastures new. She just has a very short attention span, and has never been good at sticking with one thing for long. One hobby that she has managed to hang onto is her passion for Divination. She's inherited her mum's love of the subject, and thinks of herself as rather good at it. In fact, reading people's palms and tea leaves is one of her favourite things to do, and she is constantly predicting “tall, dark strangers” in people's futures.
However, Karin's main passion is romance. And not her own, but other people's. Her absolute favourite hobby is match making, and when she sees a chance for a match, however much of a long shot it is, she swoops in and tries to make it work. If there's no obvious matches to be made, blind dates are just as much fun! She likes to advertise herself around school as a general cupid and seller of romance and beauty potions, although the latter is probably against the school rules. Karin is a dedicated reader of Witch Weekly, and an even more dedicated reader of trashy romance novels, normally containing various degrees of smut. All this romance has given her an unrealistic expection on love, and may be the reason she's never been able to hold down a boyfriend of her own. She's 'dated' plenty of guys, sure, and has even got a bit of a reputation as the girl who'll snog anyone, but a long-term relationship is just something that she can never seem to achieve. Really, she's just waiting for a Romeo to sweep in on a winged horse and carry her off into the distance. In the meantime, she whiles away the hours by writing her own erotic fiction. She's constantly coming up with heroes and heroines to write about, and usually has around ten novels on the go at once. She sees the journal network as a very useful tool to test out the market! Karin is very open about sex, and apart from writing about it, will have very frank and open discussions about it with people that she barely knows. While she's a total flirt, she develops crushes easily, and has recently been lusting after Professor Quince.
It's the gasps, and the sighs
That say more about what's inside you
family
They say absence makes the heart go fonder, and it was certainly the time they spent apart during the war that made Parvati Patil and Dean Thomas realise their feelings for each other. Both Gryffindors in the class of '98, they'd been friends for six years before the war broke out. Parvati, a pureblood, spent the year at Hogwarts under the reign of the Carrows, and participated in the DA's guerilla tactics. Dean, who had been brought up believing he was muggle-born, went on the run before the school year began, and while he was briefly captured by snatchers, spent the months leading up the final battle at the home of Bill and Fleur Weasley. At Hogwarts, Parvati felt the loss of her Gryffindor classmates keenly, and while she had Lavender, Seamus and Padma to lean on, missed Dean and the others more than she thought she would. It was after fighting side-by-side at the final battle and watching their classmates fall that they decided to start dating.
Dating became a serious relationship, a relationship turned into an engagement, and they were married in 2001, with Seamus as best man and Padma and Lavender as bridesmaids. Dean had by now discovered from his mum the truth about his father - he was a wizard who had disappeared shortly before Dean was born, and was presumed dead, a victim of Voldemort's first reign. Dean had started to make the first steps towards getting to know his wizarding family, although both sides were tentative. By the time they were married, both Parvati and Dean had forged successful careers - Parvati as an author of Divination books and Dean as a hit wizard. The galleons from the jobs added to some of Parvati's share of the family money bought a nice house in a muggle suburb of London, perfect for children.
And they had four children in as many years, Aaron in December 2003, Karin just 11 months later in October 2004, Jackson in January 2006 and Luke in February 2007.
relationships with family
Dean Thomas (b. 1979), Gryffindor alum, half-blood, hit wizard. Karin has always been a Daddy's girl, and has her father wrapped around her little finger. As the only girl in the family, she knows she can get anything she wants from him, and if it wasn't for Parvati, Dean would spoil his daughter rotten.
Parvati Patil-Thomas (b. 1980), Gryffindor alum, pureblood, Divination author. Karin and her mother have had their differences in the past, and often end up screaming at each other at some point during the holidays. Karin has inherited Parvati's independence and stubbornness, and this makes for clashes, but they are best friends as well as worst enemies. Karin knows she can tell her mother anything, and does.
Aaron Thomas (b. 2003), Ravenclaw alum, half-blood, unemployed. Karin and her eldest brother are at an age where he is sufficiently protective of her, and she appreciates it. However, sometimes she feels he's just a bit too nosey for his own good, although that may be a little hypocritical of her. Karin is slightly jealous that he appears to have got all the intelligence in the family, and she hates that he likes stupid music and wears stupid clothes and dates stupid girls. They're fond of each other, they just don't show it often.
Jackson Thomas (b. 2006), Hufflepuff sixth year, half-blood. TBD if/when we get a Jackson player!
Luke Thomas (b. 2007), Gryffindor fifth year, half-blood. Luke has always been the sibling that Karin has got on best with, as they have the most in common, apart from both being Gryffindors! While she teases him incessantly, she's extremely protective of him and would do anything for him.
Never struck her
just to pause for one minute
history
When Parvati had told Dean she wanted a large, close family, he hadn't realised quite how large or quite how close, and when Karin Desirée Thomas came into the world on a chilly October morning in 2004, it was into a loving yet chaotic home, with an elder brother less than a year older than her. Unfortunately for the still-new-to-this parents, Karin was not a quiet baby, and rather rivalled a banshee with her ear-splitting shrieks late into the night. It's fortunate Aaron was too young to be jealous, or he may have held this against Karin later on when another baby joined the family. Karin was just 15 months old at the time, and doesn't remember a thing about the birth or arrival home of Jackson in 2006, neither does she remember the arrival of the fourth and final member of the family - Luke in 2007.
Parvati, while attempting to continue her work while she was only a mother of two, found herself in the deep end with four children under the age of five and had to commit herself to being a full-time mother. Even with Dean working reduced hours and helping out as much as he could, Parvati had to rope in her mother most days until the children were old enough to be packed off to school, one by one. As such, the house was very noisy, and from the moment Karin learnt to talk she had to shout to get herself heard. Being talkative was advantageous back in those days, as she surely would have been forgotten if she'd just sat in a corner and shut up. Fights amongst the siblings were common, and all four very quickly learnt how to stand up for themselves and hold their own in an argument.
The eldest three Thomas siblings were sent to Fern Hill Primary School as soon as each turned five, and Karin loved it. Luke never reached primary school, due to concerns about his lack of control over magic raising issues within the school. Aaron and Jackson were both showing signs of magic by the time they reached the school, but only the occasional incident which could be explain away as being boisturous or loving practical jokes. Karin loved school, but she was only there for 4 terms before her magic started to become a danger. The decision was made to pull her out of school, and from then on she was home-schooled with Luke, by the special governness their parents hired. This increased time spent together may be the source of the close bond the siblings share to this day.
Although she was home-schooled, Karin was never a lonely child. Although she was often jealous of her brother's tales of schoolfriends and hijinks, she wasn't short of playmates. Dean and Parvati had remained in close contact with Seamus and Lavender, and Karin became best friends with their daughter, Izzy. There were many other children her age that she knew via her parents old schoolfriends, and occasionally she would play with the children of the muggle neighbours, although she never really understood why she wasn't allowed to tell them why she didn't go to school. All in all, her childgood was a happy one, with many days spent playing outside, and always a sibling or two around to fight with or play with, whichever one seemed more fun at the time.
Karin loved the stories her parents would tell her about Hogwarts, and was almost as excited as Aaron was when his letter arrived. She wasn't impressed when he owled to say he was a Ravenclaw, though. Ravenclaw? Wasn't that the house for smart people? She wanted to be a Gryffindor. Her last year before Hogwarts was spent longing for the time she would board the train on Platform 9 3/4, and poring over Aaron's letters home. The day her own letter arrived was a great one indeed, and Karin has fond memories of buying her very first wand (she knocked the hat right off the old wand-maker's head), being measured for uniform and stocking up on spellbooks, potion ingredients and a cauldron. She chattered endlessly with Izzy about what house they would end up in, and when September 1st rolled around, she was almost sick with excitement.
Into Gryffindor she was sorted, just like her parents. The hat said she clearly had spirit, and willingness to fight. Karin almost told it that she didn't like fighting, but decided not to in case it put her in Ravenclaw instead like Aaron, then couldn't understand why it seemed so amused. Izzy was also in Gryffindor, which was a huge bonus, and Karin drifted off to sleep that first night convinved she was going to have the time of her life. And she did! She wasn't top in her classes by any means, but she enjoyed them. Most of all she enjoyed all the new friends she made, and occasional allergic reactions to miscellaneous animals aside, Hogwarts was even better than she thought it would be.
Her OWLs weren't amazing, but her parents praised her for the pass grades she did get. Besides, her grades were high enough to get her entry into the NEWT classes she wanted to take - picked because she liked them, not because she wanted any particular career path. She wants to be a writer for a living, although those who have read her work have often gently encouraged her to think up something else. And for a supposed author, her parents still have to nag her to write letters home.
a significant childhood memory
Karin can remember very clearly her first instance of magic. She was the last one of her siblings to exhibit signs of magic, although she has two younger siblings, and was so late that her parents were starting to worry about her. Most magical experts agree that if a child is magic, they'll show the signs by the time they're seven, and Karin was around six and a half before she showed she was magical. She was playing with a Barbie (a present from her muggle grandmother) when her brothers decided that the doll would be better used in a game they were playing. After trying to wrestle it off her, Karin snatched it back with a yell and disappeared into thin air. A loud scream alerted the family to the fact that she had apparated outside, landing high up in the branches of the cherry tree in the back garden. It took two hours, a long ladder, various family members and a broomstick to get Karin back onto firm ground, and she managed to scream continuously the whole time. While Parvati and Dean had never had such headaches in their lives, they were so pleased that Karin was magical that the whole family was treated to a day at the zoo.
Disclaimer: Karin Thomas is a fictional character for the RPG toffs, based on characters and the world created by JK Rowling.
PB: Meagan Good
Icons: From here and here.
Lyrics: Bon Jovi "It's My Life" // Maximo Park "Girls Who Play Guitars"
Player: Zee, GMT, shoot the poet!