<-- back to characters page
Adenine Dunsmuir- Former Scattergood student, now 'Vitality challenged' ghost
Scattergood MOO [connect]
Description:
In life, Adenine looked like any other smallish, thin, gangly pre-teen: hair a bit on
the untameable side, extremely frizzy in some places and curly in others, and pulled back
in a ponytail and then held with a pink headband. Her face is heart-shaped,
pointy-chinned, high cheekboned. Fair skin, no freckles save a birthmark just under her
right ear. Then there's her teeth, which are a little crooked, but have no braces, and the
light-grey eyes. She is on the thin side, as previously mentioned. Though she is small for
her age, she has long features: a long nose, long fingers, and all grown awkwardly as if
puberty has begun to, but not quite set its grip on her body.
But then there's the real question of her coloring. Is that white hair, or is it just
extremely pale blonde? And her skin, is it really supposed to be that pale? Good grief;
it's as if too many veins are showing through and it's taken a blueish tint. Upon closer
inspection, however, one might notice that Adenine is, indeed, transparent. Yes, that's a
chair you can see through her body. Yes, as a ghost, she is supposed to be that unhealthy
shade of white.
The girl wears a snug robe of forest green with no decorations but the Scattergood crest. The deep pockets of her uniform bulge out slightly at the bottom, as if they store a few bulky items. Beneath this required garment she wears ordinary clothing, a pair of bright magenta leggings (in contrast to the robe's color), white tennis shoes, and a white turtleneck.
History:
Adenine Lauren Dunsmuir was born to parents Joanne Fraser and Terry
Dunsmuir in
Adenine was always a bright child: she learned to read at the age of
3, and then taught her younger brother to do the same when he was old enough. (This
brother is Jarod, three years her younger.) At the age of five, Adenine’s parents
began to put her through various extracurricular activities, hoping that she would find
one to her liking. From piano lessons to painting to soccer practice, the girl tried just
about everything the city could offer between kindergarten and fourth grade, but never
found any to her liking. She was, in fact, more content to stay in her room and read, or
play with the other children on her block.
This ragtag collection of youngins consisted to Adenine, the
second-to-oldest, Cassie, the granddaughter or her neighbor who was older by six months,
Jarod, Jarod’s friend Jose, who practically lived at the Dunsmuir house anyway, and
two twin girls from across the street, Tiffany and Jennifer. Under the leadership of Queen
Adenine, as Cassie called her, the group created a succession of clubs in the Dunsmuir
backyard. (The theme or purpose of these clubs shifted weekly, but often the purpose
involved climbing over fences and sneaking through backyards, looking for “suspicious
things”, which could range from an open window on a cold day to a broken birdbath.
Long stories were told by at least one of the club members as to why the item was so
important and needed to be investigated.)
Halfway through Adenine’s fourth-grade year, her mother lost her
job, but managed to find a better one at the
It was an odd day indeed, then, when a letter arrived from
Scattergood. Convenient, as the family was looking for a good sixth-grade for their
daughter, thinking about putting her in a private school, but this was something more
interesting. Terry had “forgotten” to mention that he was, in fact, of fully
wizard blood. Though he had married a Muggle, he had hidden his true job at a local
ministry office. (No one ever seemed to question why his named never appeared on any
articles in the paper.) Adenine was delighted to find the letter, and she immediately
began to imagine what sort of things she would be doing in a Magical school.
In her first year at Scattergood, Adenine discovered many aspects of
the wizarding world with which she was unfamiliar. Heretofore, she had imagined that
wizards would all be tall, ancient, and wise, with long white beards (and possibly a grey
pointy hat, to boot.) Imagine her surprise to find out that she, too, was considered one,
or would be, at least, upon graduation. Her favorite class so far has been
transfiguration, despite not having any particular talent in the subject. It seems that
she is eager to turn her pet turtle into a kitten, for at home, she could never have a
furry pet due to her mother’s allergies.
Her seventh-grade year was a bit more eventful. She made better
grades, including in Potions, her least favorite subject. She befriended a few of the
younger students. And based on her left-behind skill of batting in softball, a favorite
sport as a child, she tried out for and to her surprise, made the school’s Quidditch
team as a Beater. The year was marked by an interesting event in which a student from
Schiller entered the school unnoticed and began picking a fight with Adenine and a
sixth-grader. After he set a table on fire, Adenine called for help, and a six-way duel
ensued, including a teacher, two upperclassmen one of whom was a dragon animagus, and the
younger students who spent most of the time huddling in a corner. That was Adenine’s
first encounter with a dark wizard.
Early in April 1994, Evelyn Grey Dunsmuir, Terry’s mother, suddenly was rushed to the hospital. Her inoperable tumor was threatening her life. Adenine was called home for the weekend to spend time with her family. She returned to school, but the next day, three things happened. The first was that Adenine’s parents sent her an owl saying that ‘Nana’ had gone into a coma. This letter was answered. A second owl came a few hours later with funeral arrangements. Adenine was to leave school immediately.
This never happened. She was last seen on April 4--shortly before her
birthday--in her afternoon Herbology class. Her parents went to go see __________ the next
day when she didn’t show up at the bus station like she was asked, thinking that the
school wouldn’t allow her more time off. However, none of the Scattergood staff or
students had seen the girl. She hadn’t attended any classes or slept in her dorm
room. Since there had been another occurrence of a runaway Scattergood student just months
earlier, the case was brought to the police.
One month later, when the girl still hadn’t appeared, the police
offered a possible explanation: Perhaps after the death of her grandmother, out of grief,
she had committed suicide. Few believed it, citing her overwhelmingly positive outlook on
life. Even her closest friends had noticed no change in her behavior. Her parents
grudgingly accepted this story, but to this day describe their daughter as
“Missing” as opposed to “Dead.”
Even Adenine doesn’t believe that she’s dead. But then again, no one’s told her that. Yet.
Persona:
Adenine may not be the most outgoing of pre-teens, but she has no
inhibitions about pointing things out or asking questions when she is curious, which is
pretty much all the time. The girl certainly has her ideas and is not afraid to express
them. She is coming out of a long childhood phase of know-it-all-ism which earned her the
nickname “The Walking, Talking Encyclopedia” from at least one impish family
friend.
She is normally quite enthusiastic about most things and although not
the most talented of wizards, so far undiscouraged by her lack of ability in, above all,
Potions, along with her problems with intoning certain spells. (Although she has a
remarlable talent for learning other languages, she is plagued by verbal dyslexia when
pressured to repeat a few words in any tongue but English. And she also can’t
pronounce trilled Rs, tending to butcher some words. And names.)
That was in life. Now that she is…well, Undead, Adenine is no
different. In fact, at this moment, she’s not aware that she’s dead. Seemingly
oblivious to such details as walking through walls, the girl believes herself to be quite
alive and well. That’s because no one’s really broken the fact to her yet that
she’s a ghost, or as she would prefer to be called if it didn’t burst her
bubble, Vitality Challenged.
And then there’s the question of her amnesia.
You see, there’s a small gap in Adenine’s memory that she isn’t really aware of, and that gap covers such important events as the death of her grandmother and the circumstances of her own death. The last thing she remembers, she describes as sitting at her desk and reading something, and before that dinner, and then the first 12.98 years of her life. And she remembers everything that happened after her Summoning. But there’s that hole, with vague boundaries…
Logs:
Asparagus! Ick!
The Ice Escapades
First encounter with a 'Dark Wizard'
A meeting in the woods
Never talk to strangers
A wolf at the door
Too late for the woodcutter
Raising Adenine Dunsmuir
Event Lienuvel, Death Counselor
Start of school feast, 1994
Adenine's character blog (on SGMOO server)