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Antarctica · 09-14-2009, 05:14 PM

S. Pepper Xiao
News Section
Daily Prophet

Age: 47
Hair: Black
Eyes: Dark brown
Height: 1.78m (5'8")

Background
If it hadn't been for his magic, Pepper would never have left the little village he'd been born in, tucked away in a corner of Sichuan in western China. But he did, when he was twelve years old, to receive an education at the Wushu Institute for Excellence in Paranormal Abilities in Beijing.

Pepper took to the school easily enough, but the gigantic city proved to be an almost impossibly overwhelming experience. Tall skyscrapers and broad motorways, glinting technology, a multitude of languages and cultures... He'd been raised, as it were, on a farm and local superstitions. In an effort to make sense of things, Pepper began to chronicle the globalised world's many odd and confusing happenings in a notebook he was carrying around with him. He soon discovered that, while this did not help him understand anything any better, his bafflement sounded much better on paper.

A teacher at the Institute agreed. After graduation, Pepper, with the teacher's support, applied at the Chinese offices of a British wizarding magazine, which is where he worked for the next fifteen years, settling into a relatively comfortable lifestyle, even marrying. Eventually, the magazine was sold. Its new editorial angle - presenting Muggle inventions to interested but clueless witches and wizards - clashed with Pepper's old inability to figure out how things worked, and so he resigned. (He subsequently subscribed to the magazine.)
When his wife announced she'd accepted a job in London, they moved to Europe, both of them feeling uncharacteristically adventurous. Finding work in a variety of publications, Pepper gradually climbed higher on the ladder of reputable newspapers, finally joining the Daily Prophet.

Personality
Pepper has the instinct for writing that he's lacking in much of the rest of his life:
He was born Xiao Qiangwei, but decided before first travelling to Beijing that his name would be too difficult to pronounce. So he'd set about finding something more... suitable. Flipping through a batch of old records his parents had given him, he'd chosen one that, to him, sounded robustly cosmopolitan: Sergeant Pepper Xiao.
When he had found out what his name meant, he'd removed the first part but declared that the second "really oscillated with me, you know... That is how you say it, right?"

For a journalist, he has a surprisingly poor grasp on spoken language sometimes.
He's clueless about a lot of social and cultural conventions. The prospect of using a knife and fork makes him nervous. When confronted with something too complicated for him, such as an elevator button, he will invariably sigh and comment good-naturedly on the simpler life he'd enjoyed - well, experienced - growing up.

09-14-2009, 05:14 PM	#8 (permalink)
Antarctica Welsh Green Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 24,627	Encyclopaedia Galactica S. Pepper Xiao News Section Daily Prophet Age: 47 Hair: Black Eyes: Dark brown Height: 1.78m (5'8") Background If it hadn't been for his magic, Pepper would never have left the little village he'd been born in, tucked away in a corner of Sichuan in western China. But he did, when he was twelve years old, to receive an education at the Wushu Institute for Excellence in Paranormal Abilities in Beijing. Pepper took to the school easily enough, but the gigantic city proved to be an almost impossibly overwhelming experience. Tall skyscrapers and broad motorways, glinting technology, a multitude of languages and cultures... He'd been raised, as it were, on a farm and local superstitions. In an effort to make sense of things, Pepper began to chronicle the globalised world's many odd and confusing happenings in a notebook he was carrying around with him. He soon discovered that, while this did not help him understand anything any better, his bafflement sounded much better on paper. A teacher at the Institute agreed. After graduation, Pepper, with the teacher's support, applied at the Chinese offices of a British wizarding magazine, which is where he worked for the next fifteen years, settling into a relatively comfortable lifestyle, even marrying. Eventually, the magazine was sold. Its new editorial angle - presenting Muggle inventions to interested but clueless witches and wizards - clashed with Pepper's old inability to figure out how things worked, and so he resigned. (He subsequently subscribed to the magazine.) When his wife announced she'd accepted a job in London, they moved to Europe, both of them feeling uncharacteristically adventurous. Finding work in a variety of publications, Pepper gradually climbed higher on the ladder of reputable newspapers, finally joining the Daily Prophet. Personality Pepper has the instinct for writing that he's lacking in much of the rest of his life: He was born Xiao Qiangwei, but decided before first travelling to Beijing that his name would be too difficult to pronounce. So he'd set about finding something more... suitable. Flipping through a batch of old records his parents had given him, he'd chosen one that, to him, sounded robustly cosmopolitan: Sergeant Pepper Xiao. When he had found out what his name meant, he'd removed the first part but declared that the second "really oscillated with me, you know... That is how you say it, right?" For a journalist, he has a surprisingly poor grasp on spoken language sometimes. He's clueless about a lot of social and cultural conventions. The prospect of using a knife and fork makes him nervous. When confronted with something too complicated for him, such as an elevator button, he will invariably sigh and comment good-naturedly on the simpler life he'd enjoyed - well, experienced - growing up. __________________ Last edited by Antarctica; 11-16-2009 at 06:30 PM.