Player

Alias: Panda
Active email address: See previous applications
Instant Messenger Details: see previous applications
How did you find us?: I made it
Previous RPG experience:almost 10 years, now. O_O Am I too old for this, yet?
Character

Full Name: Giacomo Lewis Gallow. Everyone calls him 'Jack' due to constant battles with mis-spellings and pronunciation of his given name
Gender: Male
Blood: Full blood – metamorphmagus
Canon or Original?: Original
Date of Birth: 27th September 1979
Place of Residence: Bristol
Immediate Family: Penny Gallow - Mother (60)
Nico Gallow - Father (65)
Veronica (Ronnie) Gallow - Sister (26)
Marcell (Marc) Gallow - Brother (29)
Sophia (Fi) Gallow – Sister (35)

Occupation: Currently out of work, living off the Ministry…But looking for a job, Gov, honest! Outside working hours, Jack enjoys hobbies that give him plenty of exercise such as burglary, muggings and the occasional car jacking.

Physical Description: The term, ‘a face only a mother could love’ comes to mind when describing Jack. He is not ghastly, but he has the pitiful look of the boy picked last for Quidditch. In unfortunate addition, many people are surprised when he Jack reveals his Italian name. His roots in the country are so far watered down that the only thing that really connects him these days is that name. The same goes for the rest of his family.

His hooded, big blue eyes are disproportionate to the thinness of his face, and they sit above bags that suggest more than a few nights without sleep whilst also piling on a few extra years to his appearance. His nose is much too large and his ears (pierced twice in the left lobe) stick out just a little at the top. He tries to cover the latter with his hair which is straw like both in colour and texture. He has no ‘hairstyle’ to speak of, just an easy to maintain, semi-long cut that looks a fraction different every time he is out. His chin (which is weak) has a cleft, and is often covered by part of his goatee. It follows that he also likes to sport a thin, blonde moustache to try and help soften his face. It doesn’t work so well because the moment he opens his mouth, a gold canine tooth is on display, as well as a heavy Bristolian accent.

Standing at 6’2, Jack is all bones and little meat. Meaning big feet, skinny legs, knobbly knees, no bum and a display of ribs when he stretches. His elbows are pointed, his neck is just that little bit too long and he is missing half his pinky finger from his left hand.

Despite being full blooded, Jack can often be found in a mish-mash of fashions, from military jackets and workers boots to leather tunics. This comes from his mother; a half blooded squib who lived out her teenage years with a muggle grandmother.

His body is pale and hairless with just enough muscle to stop him losing an arm wrestle to his sisters. He has a multitude of small scars on his hands and arms from minor incidents over the years with nothing that stands out.

Jack's smooth skin and almost comical features have an air of elasticity to them which is fitting, as he is a metamorphagus; a talent he inherited from his father. This gives him the ability to alter his physical appearance at will. Jack does not use this to make full-time changes to his face because he thinks he looks handsome.

Personality: Jack is many things; inarticulate, gassy, underhanded, a bit of a plonker, but not least of all, a bad lad. Always in trouble as a boy, his misdemeanours could be passed off as mischievous and endearing. However, as he grew older and continued to cause trouble, he became a problem.

But he is not rotten inside, nor is he spiteful. At the core, he is self-involved and fancies himself a Jack of all trades (no pun intended), albeit these trades range from thievery to blackmail, smuggling to the use of small hand-held weapons from scythes to knives. Jack will do just about anything for the right price, his limits changing and expanding depending on who he is doing business with. He has been working for shady characters long enough to know the difference between 'challenge' and, 'suicide mission'. His habit of getting involved with the wrong sorts has earned him no brownie points with his family but despite them thinking little of him, Jack still aims to appease them. Unfortunately this has only succeeded in labelling him the 'black sheep' of the family.

Money aside, there are lines which Jack will not cross. After all, he fought on the right side of the war, picking their pockets along the way. The one job he will refuse outright is an assassination, claiming that it goes against his personal code. The truth is two-fold. He could never think of a good place to hide a body, and he lacks the strength to haul anything larger than a dead dog.

Jack does not drink; learning early on that he was a light weight. Instead, he sticks to drinks that just resemble alcohol so that he can save face in places like the Hog's Head and Wench and Warlock. If he is found out, he will rarely tell the truth about the matter, scrambling instead to make something up that will save his reputation.

Jack's natural talent with metamorphagi is something he tries on with the ladies, putting on disturbing displays of morphing that send many women running for the door. Unsurprisingly he has very little luck with women but it never deters him, fancying himself a charmer even when being slapped around the face. This is due to some family history he is very proud of. Jack's name is shared by one infamous man who was also, so he is told, a metamorphagus. Jack's ancestor is Giacomo Casanova; infamous lover and name sake; a fact that he drops frequently in a bid to earn himself a warm body for the night. Unfortunately this doesn't help him much, either. He learns to live with it, however, brushing off the uninterested women as 'frigid' or simply paying someone to take care of him when the need becomes too great.

One of Jack's biggest vices is gambling and despite his other shortcomings, he is particularly good at maintaining his poker-face. He will gamble in both Muggle and Magical areas, but prides himself on never cheating. He likes the thrill of the unknown, of high stakes and of the blood-pumping rush of potentially getting his teeth smashed in if he loses. His strong poker-face comes from being exceptionally good at lying. This comes from years of practice and it helps that, while Jack is very good at breaking and entering or incapacitating a man twice his size, people find it hard to believe that this bumbling fool of a man could ever do anything more advanced than scratch his backside.

History: Jack was born the eldest brother into what would quickly grow into a family of six, his sister Ronnie taking the place as eldest sister. He grew up in a nice, well-to-do family atmosphere, his mother always quick to smother her children with affection, his father more stand-offish and stern. His father, as well as being strict, was a man who was determined to cling onto the things about himself, and his lineage, that made him stand out. As such, he exuded much pride over his ability to change his appearance at will, as well as the connections he made through life—often boasting about parties or functions he attended with high-ranking Mnistry officials—and not least of all, his vastly watered down Italian heritage.

There have not been any Gallows living in Italy for five generations and these days, any traces of this background are only present in Nico's obsession with the country and the fact that everyone in the family was made to learn Italian so that they could be 'proud' of their background. The combination of his European roots and his boasting made Nico someone who was respected in public but mocked in private. Even his children would make fun of him when they thought he wasn't watching.

Never deterred, Nico spent the majority of Jack's childhood holding plenty of parties where his offspring were stuffed into dresses and suits and paraded or compared to the other children in the room. However, as children are wont to do, they never stayed primped for long. It was always Jack that cracked first, coaxing the other children to play hide and seek, only to lock them in the upstairs cupboards if they upset him. He would convince the other children that their parents had brought them here to replace his father's house elves, dare them to go out in the snow without their coats on, or go into the loft...alone. All of it, in Jack's opinion, was good fun. He wasn't hurting them, or calling them names but alleviating his boredom; a fact his parents scorned him for, but only lightly (in public). When it progressed into gruesome experimentation with his metamorphagi, his parents, distracted with fundraising or dinner parties, would pat him on the head and explain that he was, 'still learning to control it'. When the parties were over, however, it was not uncommon for Jack to receive the slipper or belt for his trouble.

However, as this continued into his teenage years it became more of a problem. Jack endured every one of his father's punishments from cleaning floors with a brush and bucket, to the belt. It was unfortunate that Jack lacked the common sense to learn from this. Instead, he learned to run faster or worse, try and hide the belt, only to feel the smart of his father's ring hand on the back of his legs.

His mother's doting didn't help matters; immediately after Jack was punished, she would wipe away the tears and tell him it was okay, that his father didn't mean it. Then he would be plied with treats, without his father knowing. As Jack entered school-age, he had learned that by misbehaving, he would be rewarded, and so it continued.

At Hogwarts, Jack was sorted into Slytherin and he quickly learned that whatever he had gotten up to at home, it was nothing compared to some of the children in his house. He was picked on mercilessly, not only for his metamorphagus ability but for his ridiculous name and all manner of things that made him an 'easy target'. Worse, was that as he got older, he was picked on by the younger years, too.

His resentment made him pick, unsuccessfully on others smaller than himself, skip classes to avoid a beating and frequently sleeping in the common room instead of his dorm. When he was caught by his head of house for skipping class, his parents were dragged to the school to discuss the issue. Nico insisted his son stick up for himself; how dare he tarnish the family name with this cowardice. As with many parents, he didn't understand the severity of the situation and as such, his parent's left Jack with a message that helped to shape him into the...man...he is today.

Jack started lashing out, standing up for himself and, by his fifth year, he found himself in a loose-fitting group of 'friends' who allowed him to tag along with them for the sheer joy of watching him traumatise muggle-born first years with his metamorphagi. Jack left Hogwarts without any real friends and at least one girl who, literally, ran away from him when she saw him in the hall.

Out of school, Jack turned down the option of going into further education and instead, returned home. His mother doted on him further, and with his father applying pressure for Jack to move out and get a job, he only received more from his mother, eradicating any incentive for him to leave.

Like a spoiled child, he revelled in no longer having to drag himself through school and the feeling of inadequacy. Jack spent his (now accessible) trust fund on three things:

alcohol
gambling
women

Hardly a play-boy, Jack's money was gone within a year, leaving him penniless and still jobless, much to his father's fury. He was called lazy, an embarrassment, even a criminal by his father and then, without his mother to come to his aid, he was thrown out of the house with just 100 galleons and told to 'sort himself out'.

At 19 he was sleeping in doorways and gambling what little money he had in Knockturn alley. He tried to make contact with his family on numerous occasions but all his letters were returned, unopened, to the post office in Hogsmeade. Soon, he gave up, only seeing family members on occasion and usually by accident.

With this distance between himself and his family, Jack had no choice but to come into his own. So, he took what skills he had learned growing up and put them to use, stealing a money pouch from a blind old man enjoying a pint in a shady pub. Over the next year, Jack stepped up his pick-pocketing to thievery and mugging; attacking vulnerable looking witches and wizards and, despite injury, he learned how to best them.

He took enough money to rent a boxy apartment in Knockturn which was used strictly for sleeping. Drunk on half the money Jack used the rest on a game of runes which lost him the shirt on his back. He had run up a considerable debt with a wizard who turned out to be a high ranking official in the Ministry. As such, Jack paid off his debt in two ways. First, he was used for Intel on what was going on in Knockturn alley—a dangerous task that made him a turncoat. He used this opportunity to save his own skin by better controlling his ability to change his appearance. He made slight adjustments to his face and body to pass himself off as just another face.

During a time when unrest was at its height, Jack continued to make a nuisance of himself and yet he managed to successfully gather information for his contact on movements within knockturn alley without conjuring suspicion. While Jack would love to brag that it was down to his finesse and natural talent, it came down to no one paying him enough heed to think he might be a threat beyond owing someone money. Learning this, his Ministry contact upped the stakes; reducing Jack's 'service length' if he committed to going above and beyond. And so Jack was forced to expand his repertoire of pick-pocketing and mugging to breaking and entering and surveillance spells. And, after a nasty run-in with a Death Eater that later wound up in court, Jack took it upon himself to carry more than just a wand for a weapon.

The second part of Jack's debt didn't come into play until the Ministry caught news of Merlin's Temple and the Death Eaters that resided within. Plans were drawn up discretely for Jack to infiltrate auror ranks, his contact insisting that there were men in there working for the other side. Jack's hands were tied; it was this, or Azkaban. Jack was not built for war. He bruised easily and had only just started to learn how to hold his knife properly . So, as the day rolled closer, Jack became more and more anxious, looking for a way out. A blessing came in an unusual form. The Ministry official he worked for was arrested two weeks before the attack on Merlin's Temple after it was discovered he was using Ministry funding to gamble with. Jack was never named (as this would only have added blackmail to his existing charges) and during Merlin's Temple battle, Jack could be found nowhere near it, instead preferring to get drunk (which took only one small measure of whiskey), and bitch about Death Eaters.

It was fortuitous that he stayed out of that particular battle because Jack is certain today that if he had gone, he wouldn't still be alive. On a less-grim note, the years following the war were plentiful for him. There was plenty of pillaging to be done (if it can still be called that), a drop in the economy brought with it depression and as a result, more gambling. Jack actually found people worse than him and he began to make a small profit, using the time to improve his tactics. He continued to to act illegally to help himself to extra funds until, during the winter of 2008, Jack was caught in the house that had Ministry connections (again!) This time it was the home of Isabel Carrington; the Mistress of a high ranking member of the Wizengamot. It was misfortune that led to Jack being caught by the man himself and when he tried to make his escape, he was chased by hexes; one of which removed the tip of his little finger.

Jack was finally sentenced to a term in Azkaban. Only his mother was present at the trial. Jack served a total of 4 years in confinement (maximum sentence for his crime, thanks to the offended pulling some strings) and has emerged skittish but fancies himself 'hardy'. Jack has returned to a world where wizards are making attacks on muggles, and muggles are doing what they do best; passing it off as a series of muggle attacks. Things are hotting up and Jack is keen to find himself a decent hiding place.

Wand: 6 inch willow with a shivering shrub root core. In Jack's opinion, this is the pansy of the wand world.

Do you know what you want to do with your character? Do they have purpose?: Getting him a day job would be good to start with.

Miscellaneous: Jack has a monstrous grey Irish Wolf Hound called Sid. Sid is cheery, but a walking disaster and while he has the very best of intentions, Jack has had to move twice because of incidents with his beloved dog.

Jack is particularly talented at picking locks both muggle and magical and on the flip-side, his lock spells are innovative and difficult to crack.