Birth Name: Jeffrey
Chosen Name: After much deliberation, Jeffrey decided upon the name “Benjamin Disraeli”, much to his master’s disapproval. It was only after he threatened to scream his birth name from the rooftops, thus making years of magical training pointless, that he got her to consent.
Age: 19
Description: Jeffrey stands out at the ministry for his boyish appearance, which he plays up deliberately to get on his coworkers’ bad sides. He’s still at the age where suits hang awkwardly on his lanky frame, so he seems to still find it acceptable to show up at work wearing black trousers and a white shirt under a checkered sweater-vest. Like his master, Jeffrey is reasonably tall but unreasonably skinny, consisting of skin, bones, and not much else. His mop of soft, blonde curls and large green eyes framed by girlishly long lashes make him look oddly aristocratic, and he’s somewhat fond of preening at the compact mirror in his desk drawer when no one is looking.
Personality: Like most magicians, Jeffrey was at one point a sweet, wide-eyed, innocent child who grew to become a horrible prick due to necessity for survival. In the words of Victor Hugo, he is a “charming young man, who is capable of being terrible”, though the “charming” part is painfully superficial while the “terrible” part permeates to his very soul. He is British politics personified; earnestly ruthless, enthusiastically ambitious, and motivated entirely by self-interest and paranoia. He’s not difficult to categorize; he’s generally despicable, merciless, and corrupt to the bone, although he’s very good at hiding it under a thick facade of charisma and flattery. He is exceedingly talented at worming his way into the good sides of other magicians, particularly women, although he has very little true friends, primarily because he can’t find it in himself to trust anyone. On the outside, he generally presents himself as a cheerful, polite, laid-back individual, if somewhat snarky in private.
Brief History: Jeffrey grew up under the kind and caring tutelage of one Ms. Jessica Whitwell, which meant that most of his childhood was spent running around in a constant state of fear. While Whitwell didn’t care much for his wellbeing, she was singularly interested in developing his talents, and so Jeffrey learned quickly, summoning midlevel djinni by the time he was thirteen. It was around this time that he first summoned Syara, a fifth-level djinni who hadn’t been called to Earth since the fifteenth century. Their first encounter was somewhat awkward, with Syara poking cattily at Jeffrey’s small stature, and Jeffrey trying and failing miserably to intimidate the djinni. Fortunately, Jeffrey’s master was also present, and she quickly dismissed the demon before disciplining (read: nastily punishing) her apprentice for his timidity.
Most apprentices would have turned their attention on some less intelligent foliots, but for Jeffrey, the humiliating experience only drove him to want to control the djinni. A short year later, when Ms. Whitwell began allowing him to perform summonings unsupervised, the first demon he called upon was Syara. To his surprise, the demon did not immediately launch into invectives like his last twenty summonings had, and the surprise alone was enough to make Jeffrey forget that he had planned on subjecting the djinni to the Shriveling Fire. Unsure of what to do next, he and the djinni somehow fell into a pleasant conversation about their favorite midday snacks (Jeffrey’s being coffee and scones, the demon’s being some nice, plump, imps), until Jeffrey remembered that this was a demon he was dealing with- a nasty, evil creature that only wanted to hurt him- and hastily dismissed Syara.
A few months later, when Ms. Whitwell recommended that he settle upon one demon to carry out the majority of his tasks, he chose Syara, not really knowing why. She seemed a bit surprised at his less-than-ambitious decision, but they seemed to get their work done, and so she didn’t complain.
Jeffrey tended to assign Syara the more complicated missions, falling back on afrits and the occasional marid for the tasks that required sheer force (although this always required the assistance of Ms. Whitwell). Although his summoning repertoire expanded as he grew older, Jeffrey found that Syara was always the most reliable option, although he chalked this up to the djinni’s natural cleverness as opposed to any relationship of trust that might have sprung between them- that would be absolutely ridiculous. As Jeffrey’s power grew, so too did his ego, stocked by his natural aptitude for magic combined with his master’s considerable power and influence. Nepotism landed him in his first government post (junior assistant to the Information Minister) when he was fifteen, and Jeffrey quickly climbed up the hierarchy, stepping on many fingers and pentacles along the way to reach his current post.
Position: Jeffrey became the Junior Security Minister when he turned eighteen, mostly because his master, Jessica Whitwell, was the (senior) Security Minister. He deals mainly with domestic threats, summoning large numbers of foliots and mid-level djinni on a daily basis to deal with unrest in the city.
Strengths and Weaknesses: After years of training with Jessica Whitwell, Jeffrey is about as accomplished as a magician can get, dripping with power albeit completely deficient in physical ability. He’s agile enough to call up three or four djinni with a second’s notice, but couldn’t run a hundred yards if he tried. His ability to talk himself out of any dilemma is unparalleled, and so is his aptitude for catching colds and being reduced to a miserable, sniveling mess.
Favorite flavor of jam: Blackberry
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Originally Posted by Syllanna
