Jane Elizabeth Addington

[Background] [Personality] [Description] [Outfits] [Family]

• Name Meaning
  • Jane: god is gracious
  • Elizabeth: god is an oath
• Birthdate: April 25, 1939
• Role: First Year Student
• Hall: Yates
• Wand: Cedar wood wand, 14 1/2 inches, with an aquamarine crystal core.

Background

The Addingtons and the Suttons were good friends, so it was only natural that these families, who made the crossing to America together, would want their families to join. To both families, it seemed to be fate that the Addingtons were blessed with only one child, a boy – Spencer Ogden Addington, while the Suttons had two girls – Octavia Aileen (born in 1909) and Darcey Evette (born in 1910). Because Octavia was older (though only by just over a year), the Suttons decided that she and Spencer should eventually be joined.

Through the years, the families spent as much time together as they possibly could, giving Octavia and Spencer ample time to get to know one another. All three children were thick as thieves and good friends, though at their tiny ages, there were absolutely no glimmers of romance budding, nor hints that there might eventually be.

In 1913, Spencer went off to Scattergood School for the Magical Arts, housed in Yates Hall. He found his comrades there much more engaging than the two little girls who were so much younger than he was and as a result, a sort of estrangement began between the Addington child and Sutton children. The summer after Spencer left the school was Octavia’s first year at Scattergood. By some strange coincidence, she was also placed into Yates Hall as well, and though she had heard little of Spencer from his own communication, those who had attended school with him occasionally shared news between themselves. It was this way that Octavia began to reacquaint herself with him, however indirectly it may have been.

Darcey joined her at the school in the next year and was, of course, put into Yates Hall with her sister. It was in Octavia’s fourth year at Scattergood that her parents and Spencer’s parents began to heavily intervene with how their children did (or didn’t) interact. Octavia’s parents told her in no uncertain terms that she was to write to Spencer at least once a week, and though she did so grudgingly, she did write letters. Spencer was under the same direction from his own parents to send letters as well, and the two began to exchange letters fairly regularly. At the start, the letters on both sides were short and lacking in any detail or real show of interest. Over time, however, more and more information made it into the letters, and soon enough the two had begun to share their lives together through their letters. By the end of Octavia’s fifth year, she began to look forward to the weekly letters and even occasionally wrote more than the prescribed weekly letter, receiving fairly prompt replies in answer.

By the time Octavia graduated, she and Spencer had begun to feel more than friendship for one another. They attempted to keep this out of the watchful eyes of their parents, but it was a difficult task, given how eagerly both families wanted the match to work. Spencer had begun work as a musician just after leaving school, often doing little more than playing piano in pubs or acting as a temporary singer for the occasional band who passed through the small town where his family lived. It didn’t take him long to decide that he needed to move elsewhere, given the lack of opportunities in the small town. His parents were upset over this decision, but Spencer was immovable. His decision was made, and within the month, he had secured a small place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Conveniently, this allowed him to visit Octavia on the weekends when she was allowed to go into Silverdale. News of these trysts were reported back to their eager parents who wisely said nothing to Octavia and Spencer about this news.

Just after she left Scattergood, Octavia quickly packed her bags and without any prior consultation with her parents, left for Philadelphia. In early 1928, she and Spencer were married in a quiet civil ceremony, for which the only witness was Octavia’s younger sister, Darcey. They conveyed this news to their parents just after they returned from their short honeymoon (a trip to Niagra Falls on the charity of some close friends of Spencer’s), and were met with both extreme anger and joy. Joy, of course, that their children had after all been wed, but anger at their being kept out of the loop. Ultimately, the feeling was of joy, and despite the protestations of Octavia and Spencer, a large reception was thrown for the newlyweds in their hometown, to which nearly everyone in their acquaintance was invited.

Spencer quickly returned to pursuing his music career, getting jobs whereever he could manage to find them. With Spencer’s odd hours, Octavia found herself getting slightly bored during the day. Their apartment was tiny, and she found that she could only rearrange the cupboards and scrub the floors so many times before it became redundant. She began to search for work, though since she had little experience, she found it was difficult to secure anything that truly interested her. After lamenting about this to Spencer, he was quick to suggest that perhaps she become the manager of the band which he had recently formed. She was good with numbers and had grown to be a charismatic young woman over her adolescent years, so this seemed something worth trying. The two fell into their now joined careers with zeal.

Years passed quickly and their parents began to get worried for the family line. Darcey had as yet showed no signs of settling down, and though Octavia and Spencer were married, they had as yet produced no heirs. Their expert use of contraceptives was the reason for this, though they would never have admitted this to their parents. By late 1933, they decided that it was about time for them to start having children, and it was in early 1935 that Topher Randall joined the Addington family. Two years later, Elsdon Baldwin followed his brother. He was followed by Colten Headley. Three boys in four years was an unplanned development, and while both parents kept working, they decided that they certainly could not afford to stay in their current apartment. Just before Jane Elizabeth joined the family in 1939, they moved into a fairly large house in the outskirts of Philadelphia.

The children grew quickly in the Philadelphia suburbs. Topher, Elsdon, Colten and Jane (known to her parents and older brothers as Janie, which was the name she, too, preferred) were schooled at home, both by Octavia and Darcey, who had come to live with them to help care for the children. They played with the children along the street once their studies were done, and it was during these days that Janie learned to fend for herself against the children who lived along the street, among whom few girls were found. Janie quickly earned a reputation as a scrapper, for she was quick to retaliate for any shove or slight, giving bloodied noses, blackened eyes and even the occasional concussion.

In 1946, Topher was the first of the Addington children to leave for Scattergood. He was put into Yates Hall as his parents had been. Two years after him, Elsdon followed, and Colten came into Yates Hall the next year after that. In 1950, it was Janie’s turn to go to Scattergood. She, too, was destined for Yates, and while she did not relish the fact that she would be in the same hall as all of her brothers, she could not be more excited to spend time with other boys and – more specifically – girls her age on a full time basis.

Personality

As the youngest of four children and the only girl, Janie learned quickly to stick up for herself. She is quick to fight back when she feels she has been done an injustice. She could be considered a “scrapper”, and despite liking girly things, her parents have often had to make apologies on her behalf with the parents of other children – girls and boys alike – for Janie’s behavior. Janie herself tends to favor so-called ‘girly’ things such as dolls and dressing up, which her parents and brothers attest to her being female.

Janie is a passionate individual, which is prone to make her fairly irrational. When she sets her mind that something is a certain way, almost nothing will convince her that it is otherwise. As a result of this passion, she is also prone to high highs and low lows; when she is happy, she is ecstatic, and when she is sad, she is in despair. While her mother and father attest this to her “being a girl,” most would argue that she is “being a drama queen.”

Despite her theatrics, Janie is a determined girl. She is able to set her focus to something with amazing steadiness, something none of her brothers has ever been able to manage. It is for this reason that she often finds solace in reading and writing. A testament to this is her need to keep books (usually fiction novels filled with lots of action and gore) around her and the stack of journals which she began keeping around age seven and still keeps up on a daily basis.

Description

Janie is a short, fairly stout girl. She has no feminine curves as yet, and the most shape she can boast is created by her baby fat, which abounds. She has very straight, dark blonde hair which is cropped at shoulder length. A thick fringe of bangs hangs down over her fairly large forehead, usually in a dissheveled way. Her fairly large eyes are fringed with brown lashes underneath thick eyebrows. They are sometimes blue and sometimes green, depending on what she happens to be wearing or what mood she happens to be in. Janie has a fairly small, shapely nose set above her full, pink lips. These encase a fairly oft-seen smile with mostly straight teeth. Janie’s arms and legs have many scars and often have fresh scrapes along them due to her sometimes reckless nature. These scars are of varying ages and some are more visible than others.

Outfits

None yet…

Family

• Spencer Ogden Addington (b. 1902)
  • Octavia Aileen (Sutton) Addington (b. 1909)
    • Topher Randall Addington (b. 1935)
    • Elsdon Baldwin Addington (b. 1937)
    • Colten Headley Addington (b. 1938)
    • Jane Elizabeth Addington (b. 1939)