Thomas Cummings

From Incantatem

Revision as of 06:48, 24 November 2008

Nutshell

• 50 years old
  
• Head of the Auror Department
  
• Totally badass
  
• potrayed by Hugh Laurie

The Surface

His face is weathered, and lined. He hardly bothers to keep his face clean shaven, giving him a rugged, some would call handsome, appearance. He keeps his wavy brown (but is beginning to fade to gray) hair cut short. His eyes are gray, and they have the ability to transform to cold and stern to warm and caring. He has a low brow and a long face, he usually tries to hide his feelings, but he naturally animated.

Thomas is tall and has the build of someone who was very athletic in their prime. He does his best to stay in shape, and has managed to keep himself staying pretty lean. However, to his disappointment age managed to fade much of the tone he used to have.

He wears primarily dark colors. He often wearing his outer wear indoors, giving him the impression of always being ready to leave. One of his most distinctive accessories is his black boots that show as many battle scars as he does. His other notable item of clothing is his cloak. It is long and and indistinguishably dark shade of either brown or gray. Inside are numerous pockets, and he has been known to pull out the most unexpected of items from it's depths. It may be actually charmed to have more pocket space, but more likely it's just rather big. Most of the clothing he wears is muggle fashion, although he wears robes on important occasions.

Thomas has a scar from being hooked on an anchor as a young auror on the right of his navel through to his lower back. On the back of his left shoulder, there is a smattering of short scars from a wall exploding next to him. There is a mark left between his right shoulder and neck where he was stabbed by a cursed blade. A dark scar from Adrik's dark magic runs from his neck to the bottom of his ribcage. A pale, straight line stretches down the center of his chest. His most noticeable scar in regular day clothes is a rather nasty scratch across his right cheek.

Personality

Freinds

Thomas goes for the "tough guy" image around strangers because he doesn't want to appear vulnerable to any potential Death Eaters. However, around the people he trusts the most, he opens up a little. He is not one to spew emotions, but he is likely to lightly joke about his biggest worries. To acquaintances and business colleagues, Thomas can come off as cold, formal, stern and serious. He wants to appear professional and indestructible to everyone. However, around his closer friends, Thomas becomes slightly sarcastic and seems to get a sense of humor, no matter how dry it is- he thinks it's there. That, along with a much more casual demeanor and posture, is the only way to really tell if he's friendly with someone. Other then that, he doesn't show attention, affection and would probably never admit it if he even liked somebody without using his job as an excuse.

Enemies

Thomas usually doesn’t hide it if he doesn’t like somebody. He would never outright lie about being able to tolerate somebody when he can’t. It drives him nuts whenever people pretend to be friendly with him, particularly politicians because he thinks that it only causes misunderstanding. In a physical conflict, Thomas fights hard, though never uses unforgivable curses. He thinks that his professional enemies are heartless scum and isn’t concerned with hiding his opinion. His personal rivals are people that annoy and berate him, but often he tries to simply avoid these people. Only a few have annoyed him to the point of getting mixed up in his profession, like his incident-less file on Cillian Rodrigo.

Family

Thomas’ only immediate family member that is still living is his sister Bridget Cummings. She is the only person that Thomas would flat out say that he loves and would do anything for. He worries about her quite a bit because she doesn’t have the best common sense. However, due to his devotion to his job, he only sees her every few months, in particular on Christmas Day- the only day that Thomas takes off completely every single year.

Thomas never intended to have his own immediate family. He never wanted to get amrried, and certainly didn't want to have children. As somebody who was devoted to his job completely, he never understood how he could rebalance his life to include a family. As a young man, however, he did use sperm banks to make a few quick bucks in a time when he was supporting his sister. The free magazines were pretty good to, since Thomas would never look through them without a proper excuse.

What he never expected was it to come back and bite him.

Public

Unfortunately, Thomas Cummings is a slightly public figure. Part of is job as Head of the Department of Magical Defense is to makes announcements on behalf of the auror department. Generally he tries to be as vague as possible. Not in a bureaucratic way, in his not so humble opinion, but in order to keep department secrets safe and protect the publics well being. He gets a lot of political scrutiny both positive and negative (mostly negative recently >>). No amount of criticisms on his politics seem to phase him, and he still likes to boast and glorify himself and his job as much as he can.

Romance

Relationships are one of the things that Thomas is convinced that he doesn’t need. Considering his record, he gets along pretty well without them, in fact, very well without them because he seems to like women that he thinks are slightly dangerous. Into the first stages of a romantic relationship, Thomas pours the affection that he never shows for anybody else. He is chivalrous and he tries to be as romantic as possible. Sadly, Thomas is not very creative, so he falls back onto classic dinner dates at whatever place he can find that plays Jazz.

After a while (depending on how much Thomas likes a woman) he drifts back to his career. At that point the length of the relationship only depends on how many missed dates, sudden departures and distracted conversations that a woman can endure. On top of that, he is horriblly critical of marriage. This makes a steady, long-lasting relationship a virtual impossibility for Thomas. However, he has had a few serious relationships in the past.

Helene Laroque

Nobody would have ever expected this relationship to last as long as it did. Between Thomas' terrible "Franglish" and his rough-around-the-edges habits as a young man, Helene had every reason to be turned off. However, it was by chance that Thomas caught her while she dared herself into a dangerous situation. How could she turn down her hero when he asked for a drink? At first, Thomas put all of his effort into trying to be classy enough for her. It was an exhausting endeavor, and right as he was about to give up on impressing her, one passionate night broke down their stand-offish wall.

It would be a stretch to call what they had a 'good relationship'. Both Helene and Thomas were quite independent and very concerned with their careers. They gave each other quite a bit of space, and that is how they liked it. The did unite under the common cause of Aevum Fidelis, but even that added just as much reason for argument then it did for cooperation. Even through their near-constant fighting, they watched each other's backs and their trust never faltered. They loved each other as passionately as they argued.

After a while, they found that it would be more convenient if they shared an apartment. Helene was in France half of the time anyway, so why should she really bother renting out her own place? They never quite settled into living together as a unit. There were definitive lines about who owned what, and neither of them cared to cook. Half of the time their arguments left Thomas sleeping on the couch anyway. Of course, Thomas would complain (mostly to Killian) about how he couldn't stand her and how much she wore him out, but never really wanted to end it.

When Helene's father died, her mother had a bit of a mental breakdown. She needed to return to France to take care of her. She asked Thomas to come with her, after all they had been living together for almost a year. Thomas turned her down. He had his dream job in the UK. Plus, France was just so full of French people. Well, Helene was miffed about that turn of events and went back to France, furious with Thomas. They only remained in communication for matters concerning Fidelis, but since they were two very active members before, and now both were avoiding it, activity began to decline (due to other factors as well). When the last organization of the society disintegrated, they refrained from talking to each other. Today, Thomas remembers little of their relationship besides it being hell on earth in terms of arguments, and some really outrageous sex.

anthem- Love Should Never Feel Like This by Alice Cooper
Video- http://youtube.com/watch?v=sxxOyGK1pMk

Norah Kaplan

Norah and Thomas were thrust together when Thomas was the only witness in a certain incident. He saw a Death Eater kill a muggle rights activist and engaged him in a duel. The Death Eater suffered some substantial injuries, and died in Azkaban soon after without a chance to testify. Thomas was left in a situation where he could be charged with murdering the Death Eater and was the only witness. He and Norah spent quite a bit of time practicing for the case so he didn't blow it. After that, Thomas was sure to go to her with any legal issues that came up.

This co-worker relationship went on for some time. After Thomas broke up with Helene and started to routinely take trips to the legal department, something else sparked between Norah and Thomas. They drove each other insane. They were both flirty, but at the same time wanted to maintain a very, very professional image. Obviously this caused a degree of sexual tension in the workplace. The tension broke rather suddenly, with a make out session all over a back office. The usual occupant of that office was rather surprised to find the two of them, of course.

And so it began. Norah wasn't only a lover to Thomas, but a friend. He could always count on her to help him through sticky situations and be his emotional support. They had a lovely relationship while they were dating; lovely enough that Norah could forgive being late to a reservation a few times and Thomas could forgive a lecture or two. When they began living together, it only strengthened their relationship and any outsider would think the two could be planning on marriage and a family.

This is where things start to get tattered at the corners. Although Thomas was quite in love with Norah, he had a very hard time expressing it. Telling her those three words "I love you" were rare and scattered, and Norah began to doubt how seriously he took their relationship. Coupled with the fact that Thomas was rising in the ranks among Aurors, working right under the Department Head, put extra strain on the relationship.

Their relationship, that seemed so stable for years, was basically stable because it was at a standstill. For years, they didn't talk about marriage or having children, neither of which were at the top of Thomas' priority list. It finally filtered up when Norah made an offhand joke about his immature habits. Thomas certainly had a hard time of admitting that they they were that legitimate of a couple, considering his philosophy about keeping his closest friends at an arm's distance in hopes it would keep them safe.

Unable to make long-term plans or commitments, Thomas began to grow distant from Norah. He had an even worse time telling her he loved her when he knew he couldn't commit later with marriage. It felt like there was a timer on how long they could stay together, at least to Thomas. He couldn't imagine himself as part of an elderly couple with a family, and started to feel guilty for failing to be the man of Norah's dreams. She couldn't have a normal, happy life with him. She could only be second place next to his job, and she deserved better than that.

On one mission removing a psychotic Death Eater from society, Thomas was hurled with threats against Norah. Thinking back to the murder of his parents, Thomas couldn't bare to imagine seeing the Dark Mark over their apartment. He came home late from work that day with a heavy mind, forgetting about his dinner plans with Norah and her mother. When Norah came home, she was fuming and the argument was enough to prove to her that Thomas didn't want to see her anymore.

However, nothing could be further than the truth. Leaving her tore Thomas up inside, but he rationalized that it was for the best. He maintained a professional relationship at work, almost as if five years never happened, and saved his loneliness for home.

It was far to great an effort to keep themselves apart, however. They continued to need to work together, and caved into snogging in the office again. This led to years of waves of affection. Sometimes a brief expression of passion to a few days where they almost seemed like a couple again. Every time, they forced themselves to cut it off, rationalizing that they would only hurt themselves more in the end. The mutually chose to stop these kind of flings so each one of them could move on.

Today, Thomas and Norah still work together, with their romantic feeling suppressed. Still craving for her attention, and since he can't achieve it by making her happy or pleased, Thomas tends to give her a hard time. He has little concept of ownership and often borrows things from her office. He finds ways to think of her quirks as annoying instead of charming and teases her about still wanting him. He doesn't mention the five years they spent together, instead he treats her like they had a fun, but fated to end, fling. Even though he claims that he's moved on, Thomas knows that he's unlikely to love another girl as much as he loved Norah.

Anthems-
Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)- Journey
Walk With You- Bedlight for Blue Eyes

Lamia Von Muar

Thomas has known Lamia vaguely since he started his Auror training. He only knew her vaguely, when she hung around the office with coffee. He thought she was rather pretty, and friendly, but other than that, didn't make much note of her. For years, they appeared to be similar ages, but when she continued to remain unchanged, Thomas offhandedly mentioned something about it to a colleague. He informed Thomas that Lamia was ambassador to the Vampire Romanian Retreat. Well. That was a turn off.
With a strong prejudice against vampires, Thomas ignored Lamia for decades. Every once in a while, information would come his way, concerning her books or interest in the Dark Arts, but day to day Thomas found no reason to be suspicious of her. She slipped under his radar for years.

It was when Adrik Sergo, a vampire, became leader of the Death Eaters, did their paths cross again. Thomas would often go to Lamia to try and figure out how vampire-death eater jurisdiction would be held. Despite his aversion to politics, he found Lamia easy to talk to and still as friendly as ever. She was always willing to help bring down rouge vampire criminals. Thomas grew to have a sort of affection for her, even though, intellectually he knew that they were almost, but not quite, on the same side.

When the two of them settled that unless the VRR took down Adrik, they would both be drowned in paperwork, Lamia decided that she should try to capture Adrik alone. Thomas knew that this attempt would be suicide, so offered to protect her as a personal favor- to avoid politics of course. In the course of this mission, Thomas took a blow for Lamia that landed him in St. Mungos. Since Lamia brought him to the hospital, Thomas felt a stronger affection than ever, she practically saved his life and all. He found himself increasingly embarrassed by Prissy and his injuries, far more than his usually unconcerned pride would admit. Thomas struggled with accepting that maybe he had stronger feelings for the pretty, friendly vampire than he thought.

During the period that Thomas was struggling about what to do about these feelings, he was mortally wounded, and needed to spend a few weeks at home to recover. Lamia brought him some of his work, since he couldn't get to the office. When Thomas finally made it back to work he walked in on the aftermath of Lamia and Vlad's make-out session. Any spark or a crush exploded inside of him with jealousy. It was okay if he had a crush that he ignored, but he found it hard to bare her being with somebody else. Plus, she always struck him as far to proper and too professional for that kind of hanky panky in reality. But married? Thomas settled on believing that Vlad had somehow pressured her into it. Even so, he resolved to ignore her as much as possible.

That didn't work so well, because now that the image of Lamia vibrant and sexual was implanted in his mind, every time Thomas bumped into her, it seemed like every move she made was a graceful seduction. It didn't help that he kept getting caught in events such as getting locked in a closet with her. Thomas couldn't deny any longer that he was attracted to her, despite the fact she was a vampire, despite the fact she was married and despite she had no interest in him. Or so it seemed.

She requested to meet Thomas late at night in his office. Anxious, Thomas waited, unsure of what she had in mind. Lamia confessed that Vlad oppressed her at home, and although he felt pity for her plight, Thomas glowed with pride knowing that he was right. He offered to help, and Lamia hinted that she really loved Thomas. He was more than willing to become her escape. However, she told him that Vlad put a trace on her to track any adulterous behavior.

And so, the office vixen leaves Thomas in a frustrating position. He wants to start a relationship, but their situation makes it too dangerous. The two were caught together once, consequences avoided by Lamia's quick thinking, but the possibility was still there. Thomas knows that if he wants to take this seriously he would have to be careful and plan ahead, but he is unsure how much thought he wants to put into an adulterous relationship and how close he wants to get to a vampiress.

Deeper

That's all great, but what is Thomas really about, you ask? Well, you were curious enough to read his wiki page, so I'm going to tell you. Thomas Cummings wants to be a hero. The romanticized, fight the villain and win the girl hero. Unfortunately, Thomas is also under the impression that success comes from sacrifice, and has forfeited most of what makes him happy. With all of this unhappiness, it has made him cynical, and he's forgotten what his original goals of being an auror even were. This is why:

• He seems distant from his friends
• He seems so serious around the office
• He doesn’t seek out relationships
• He can’t maintain relationships that he likes
• He only eats food that can be kept in his desk
• He is a workaholic
• He won’t use Unforgivable Curses
• He makes opinions quickly and almost irrationally
• He is attracted to danger

History

Nutshell

Growing up near Oxford, Cummings naturally went to Hogwarts for his education. He was sorted into Gryffindor, where he was very successful. He was a prefect in his sixth year and head boy his seventh. He was determined to become an Auror since his third year. It fed his sense of adventure and challenged his magical ability.

It wasn't long after becoming an official Auror, that Voldemort rose to power. His Death Eaters targeted Aurors and their families. Both of his parents were targeted and killed. Instead of devastating him, it only made him more passionate about weeding out Death Eaters. However, Cummings works less with revenge, but more out of a fear that murders will happen again. Consequently, he always feels a tiny twang of guilt every time the Death Eaters cause another atrocity.

Thomas often feels protective of his wild younger sister. She is very independent and reckless, and he's often worried about her getting hurt.

Childhood

Thomas' childhood was not particularly disturbing or traumatic, but it undoubtedly had a profound impact on his world views. His father, a muggle, was an English professor at Oxford University. His mother was a Healer at St. Mungos with a lot of magical talent. Thomas never went to school as a child, he learned to read and write from his father, and consequently his writing is significantly more eloquent than his speech.

For the first five years of his life, Thomas was on only child. His mother worked a lot, but his father was attentive to the young boy. His father, who adored Thomas' mother, explained that sometimes she had to make sacrifices to do what was right. At work she was helping hundreds of other people. Mr. Cummings told stories of old valor to his son, stories like Beowulf and King Arthur. The Once and Future King in particular inspired the young boy, and he wanted to be like Arthur. He wanted to be brave and strong, and the only way he knew how was to be like his mother, make sacrifices.

When Thomas was five, his sister Bridget was born. He took responsibility for the girl. He picked up a fairly serious demeanor from the students he met through his father. He always felt more of a connection to students than with his peers. They entertained him, but none stuck around for very long, moving on after three years. His sister was aloof and imaginative, which made her an excellent playmate. The five year difference, made Thomas more like her babysitter than a peer. The boy grew up under the impression he was an adult.

Magical ability began to manifest when Thomas was about eight. He stopped his sister in midair as she fell out of a tree, for example. His favorite moment of accidental magic was when he was racing on his bike with another young boy, and his bike began making intimidating motorcycle sounds.

School

Thomas' mother was sorted into Ravenclaw while she was at Hogwarts. When he received his letter, Thomas expected the same. However, when young Thomas heard the hat's song about the bravery of Gryffindors, he knew right away that is where he wanted to be. Lucky for him, the hat didn't wait a second before proclaiming Gryffindor. To this day, Thomas has a lot of pride in his school house, and even has a gold and red banner in his apartment to prove it.

School was the first chance Thomas had to prove himself as capable and mature. This was the hero's journey he was waiting for. The first year he spent there, the boy made few friends, instead focusing on his schoolwork. By his second year he realized that his peers would have to be his friends, in this environment, not his teachers, like what he was accustomed to. He hung around with a few older boys on the Quiddich team. They were reckless and cocky, but never broke the rules. Unless they were justified, of course. Thomas avoided anything against the rules like plague. He was not cool, just a gangly kid with braces- he had teeth so bad they were almost dangerous- that the older kids tolerated.

In his third year, Thomas joined the Quidditch team as a chaser. He helped his friends the year before, one a chaser and the other a keeper, so he had the skills and connections he needed. This, accompanied with getting his braces off over Christmas break, gave him new confidence. He embraced the Quidditch team and worked tirelessly to improve his skills.

Timeline

1945- Birth
1956- Received letter to Hogwarts, Sorted into Gryffindor
1957- Got braces D:
1958- braces off! Became chaser on Gryffindor team
1963- Graduated from Horwarts, joined Auror training program
1966- Graduated from auror training
1970- Joins Aevum Fidelis
1972- Parents killed by Death Eaters Giovanni San Fennetti
1975- Dating Helene Laroque
1977- Break up with Helene when she needs to move back to France to take care of her mother
1981- Dating Norah Kaplan
1986- Break up with Norah
1990- Really break up with Norah
1992- Promoted to Head of Auror Department
1993- see site plots
1995- Present

Plots

Site Wide

He is rabidly against Voldemort, Death Eaters and anyone generally leaning toward that side. He is activly fighting them.

Personal

Part 1- The Hunt for Adrik On routine questioning in knocktun alley, Thomas was caught in a scuffle in the pub. One of the death eaters that attacked the aurors was Adrik Sergo. Thomas followed up the incident by contacting Lamia Von Maur (aka Mirielle Quinn, the ambassador to vampires. They organized to capture Adrik together in order to avoid complications concerning a Ministry trial. Adrik escaped the duel and Thomas came out with a major slash, putting him in St. Mungos for a brief time. He and Lamia ran into Adrik again during the Quidditch World Cup and this time they made a successful arrest. Adrik is currently in Azkaban while his jurisdiction is negotiated. He escaped four months later, setting up the chase once again.

Part 2- The Strange Case of the Stuttering Professor Thomas and Graham Ryleigh were the two aurors who arrested Freja Mithra during school, which Thomas feels no pride in despite the fact he has several choice adjectives for Freja. A year later Thomas returned to Hogwarts to arrest Professor Beckett Rhys for the murder of a ministry worker. Beckett remains in Azkaban while Thomas and Killian argue about his sentence. Beckett was finally released when the victim’s wife confessed. Thomas, found this to be a rather suspicious move, however and informally questioned Glass about the incident.

Part 3- I’m All for Domestic Bliss… Meanwhile, Priscilla Gastby is attempting to turn Thomas into a proper gentleman by pulling him away from work to go to the movies. However, this was a disaster and the two had a falling out for a few weeks. However a few sandwiches and some arguments patched them up, and now Priscilla is determined to find Thomas a girl. Unfortunately, his only arousing encounter with a woman recently was a teenager's prank in a bookstore. As his professional relationships become strained with Graham, in an incredibly manly way, Thomas looks for time with his friends for support. It doesn’t ease his tension enough to stop him from firing Gavin in a rage. The fact that Thomas just turned fifty and is starting to come to terms with his age isn’t helping his bad mood. At least he has bright new recruits to look forward to. However, Thomas could never had expected Carson to show up to the boy’s poker night.

Part 4- The Cillian Rodrigo Files After receiving a mysterious letter Thomas ventures to the forbidden forest to ambush the terrorist. This leads to a dangerous motorcycle duel. Thomas is nearly killed before he apperates back to St. Mungos. He was given dreamless sleep potion to heal but he continues to take it nearly every night to avoid nightmares about seeing his own beating heart. Simultaneously, Thomas is trying to find evidence on Cillian Rodrigo that is more solid than “he’s annoying”. Finally, he gets an opportunity to arrest the boy because he failed to file his magical creature registration. Thomas brings him to Azkaban for questioning and is provoked into beating Cillian into a pulp. It came back to haunt him in court, however. Norah Kaplan, his ex-girlfriend, served as the prosecuting lawyer and was sure to chew him out for acting like an idiot. The case ended with Cillian being freed and Thomas getting a two week suspension for abuse.

Part 5- A Dangerous Affair Lamia Von Muar not only is a business partner to Thomas, but is also his primary romantic interest. Unfortunately, he walked in on her and Vladimir Quinn kinoodling in her office and found out they were married. Despite his efforts to avoid her, he accidentally locked himself in the closet with her along with darkness and a large amount of tacks. They met again in an elevator where she insisted on a meeting in Thomas’ office late at night. She confessed that she was being controlled by Vlad and suggested she really loved Thomas but feared Vlad put a trace on her in case she tried anything adulterous. Meanwhile, Vlad sent his crony, Rajni, to annoy Thomas with poetry. Frustrated with this humiliation, Thomas tries sending a letter then storming Vlad’s office to get himself heard. The effort was in vain, however, and later Rajni catches Thomas and Lamia in a romantic moment. Lamia flees to wipe the girls memory, and Thomas frantically tries to find her the morning after. After that cooled down, Thomas had pushed almost all hope for the affair to work until Lamia showed up in his office late one night. With renewed optimism, Thomas a date away from the Ministry and Vlad. To be continued...

Part 6- The Law is Out of My Hands Minister of Magic, Willibuster Whood, approved a controversial law mandating Muggle registration and it threw the ministry of magic into hot debate. Although Thomas was okay with Magical Creature registration, he doesn’t agree with law. First of all, confused Muggles are a huge hassle for his department. Secondly, Death Eaters would kill ( or grievously injure) for the files to use as a hit-list. Thomas tried discussing this issue with Athelgar, the former Head of the Auror Department. The Minister continues to put pressure on Thomas and the Department of Magical Defense, through threatening letters. In retaliation, Thomas and Helene regrouped the old society Aveum Fidelis, and had the first meeting in nearly fifteen years.

Part 7- Papa Bear Carson Greer stood out to Thomas as a trainee. He couldn't pinpoint it, but the girl reminded him of himself in many ways. He spent some time talking to her during an improptu basketball game. A few weeks later the trainee admits to him that he's her father. Agitated, the agree to pretend it never happened and to keep to business as usual. Conflicts of interest begin to arise when both Thomas and Carson are caught in a fight with Adrik.

Fun Facts

• Appiration is his favorite mode of travel. He enjoys it. He's weird.
  
• He convinced the rest of the Aurors to dress up as knights while supervising the Hogwarts masquerade in 1993
  
• He has never been as devoted to a woman as he is to his work and consequently has never been married
  
• His patronus is a Grizzly Bear
  
• He can see Threstals. Duh.
  
• Amorentia smells like coffee, burning wood and new leather
  
• He sees bogarts as himself old, decrepit, crippled and useless. And retired.
  
• He inherited a piano from his parents that he played as a teen. It has gone unused for years, except as a shelf for boxes of criminal reports.
  
• Thomas never forgets a face, but often a name
  
• He is quite apt a drawing, and sketches occasionally
  

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