Leandro de Sousa

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Basics

Full name: Leandro Netuno de Sousa
Age: 23
Date of birth: 17 November 1993
Birthplace: Macau, China
Current location: Laguna Housing Community
Blood status: Pureblood
Occupation: Lifeguard at Laguna Beach House
Major: Dragon-Training
Year in University: Second

Looks

Hair style colour: Brown and curly. Leandro likes to capitalise on his surfer boy good looks by leaving his hair unkempt, as if he had just gone for a swim and did not bother to comb.
Height: 6'2"
Eye colour: Dark brown
Tattoos: A dragon tattoo on his right arm.
Piercings: Both of Leandro's earlobes are pierced.
Body type: Toned, due to being a swimmer, equestrian, former Quidditch player and lacrosse player.
Dress sense: Casual. Leandro prefers to wear jeans and boat shoes with either cardigans or plaid button-downs over simple shirts. He is also rarely seen without his bead necklace, Cartier men's watch, and leather plaited anklet. And of course, he never takes off his wedding ring.

Personality

Likes:
- Sports, especially swimming, horseback riding, Quidditch, lacrosse and tennis; he likes to stay fit, and what better way to do so than to engage in competition with other people?
- Beaches; hence his choice to work as a lifeguard at Laguna Beach.
- Animals and magical creatures; beneath his jock-surfer hybrid image, Leandro has a soft spot for animals. He is especially fond of dragons, a fascination that was sparked by reading about them from his Asian mythology books.
- Food; despite being a pureblood, Leandro is quite a good cook thanks to his friendship with the family chef and her daughter. He especially enjoys okonomiyaki and minchee chow dan.
- Warm-temperate weather; having grown up in Macau, Leandro had a difficult time adjusting to Japanese winters. To this day, even after studying in Japan, Leandro still finds it difficult to deal with British winters.
- Firewhisky; he is good at handling alcohol and enjoys drinking very much.
- Certain illegal substances; they help him relax.

Dislikes:
- Too much formality; it is difficult for him to deal with pureblood pretentiousness when his most genuine encounters were with halfbloods and muggleborns.
- Rules; another effect of his pureblood upbringing.
- Elitism, oppression and creature/animal abuse; having witnessed pureblood families (his own included) oppress halfblood household help and House Elves, Leandro is disgusted by how terrible some people can be.
- The academe, and the system with general; it comes with his intense hatred of rules oppression and inequality.
- Theoretical classes; he would rather attend the practical/hands-on ones any day.
- Pop music; as much as Leandro hates snobbery, he can totally understand why some people wish death to such trashy music.
- Inactivity; it makes him feel rather restless and useless.
- Lying; just because he is good at it doesn't mean he enjoys doing it.

Quirks:
- Too helpful for his own good
- Can't sleep without going for a walk or slow jog
- Oddly enough, despite his dislike of rules, he is rather anal about keeping everything neat and organised
- Keeps a dream journal and totem

Flaws:
- Ill-tempered; when he loses his temper, he can never bite his tongue and prevent himself from insulting people.
- Overly emotional; the cool, beach-loving jock image is merely a facade—Leandro feels his emotions deeply and strongly, and he is prone to prioritising them over rationality when he makes decisions.
- Unable to be himself; though he badly desires to 'find himself' and be true to his passions, he has been trained too well to please other people and keep up appearances.
- Short-sighted; he lives too much in the now and is not too aware of the consequences his actions can bring.
- Naive; despite how much he fancies himself to be cynical, his privileges saved him from seeing the worst that can happen in the world. He is, therefore, quite selfish due to has naivete.

Strengths:
- Physical strength, stamina, and agility; it comes with excelling at numerous sports.
- Animals and creatures; his instincts are well-developed regarding how to study their reactions and how to handle them well.
- Lying; again, it is another effect of being raised a pureblood and yet having much more respect for halfbloods and muggleborns.
- Charismatic; he has a natural charm which especially works on women. It may not work on some pureblood women, though, as they are raised to prefer men who are more sophisticated in their bearing.
- Languages; he can speak English, Portuguese, Japanese and Cantonese.

Weaknesses:
- Anyone who is being oppressed or abused; Leandro will immediately drop whatever he's doing in order to help. Unfortunately, this makes him an easy target for emotional manipulators.
- Literature and history; aside from mythology and magizoology, he doesn't really read much. It is another thing that made him quite an embarrassment during pureblood gatherings.
- Food; he eats a lot, which makes him even more self-conscious about his body. This, in turn, forces him to swim or do 200 curl-ups.
- Adventure; Leandro doesn't know the meaning of the word 'dangerous'.
- Babies; seeing them reminds him of Chun Tao.
- Reading people's motivations; he prefers straightforward interactions and hates it when people are fake or use subtle insults / manipulation.

More Information

Trigger warning: miscarriage/death

Most people merely stayed in hotels for a brief amount of time, never staying long enough to be spoiled by room service, a nice view from the window and recognition from the hotel bartenders. Leandro, however, grew up in a hotel. And it wasn't just a tiny hotel room, too—Leandro's family owned a 6-star hotel and casino chain, and so he was free to go wherever he pleased.

Hotels, however, can get boring and even uncomfortable if you were lucky enough to grow up in one. Instead of staying on the pool deck and swimming bored laps, Leandro spent his childhood on Hac Sa Beach. There, he made friends with the locals, all the while hiding the fact that he was a pureblood wizard. On the beach, he did the opposite of what his parents taught him—he made friends, he skinned his knees, he had fun. And though his parents tried to control his movement by sending maids and bodyguards with him, Leandro was simply uncontrollable. He distracted them with one pranks after another, until eventually his parents decided to limit his beach time.

Grounded in the hotel, Leandro had to find new ways to entertain himself. Befriending the guests was a terrible idea. They were often either snobby families or men who had a gambling addiction, and it just wasn't the sort of crowd a child could have healthy interactions with. One day, after waking up from his afternoon nap, Leandro decided to head to the kitchen instead of ordering for room service. In the kitchen, the staff immediately fussed over him, asking him if there was anything they could give him. A young girl sitting by one of the counters was displeased with this, annoyed by the fact that Leandro got attention so easily. 'What's so special about that kid, huh?' She angrily asked Head Chef Jiang, who was beside her. 'When I come here, people ignore me.'

Chuckling, the chef patted her daughter on the head and beckoned for Leandro to come over. 'Leandro, dear child,' she said, 'I'd like you to meet my daughter, Jiang Chun Tao. Chun Tao, this is Leandro. Please be nice to him, his grandfather is my boss.'

Put in her place, Leandro expected the girl to immediately become shy and apologise for her rude behaviour. The girl, however, merely stuck her tongue out and stomped away. Though annoyed by the girl's disrespect, Leandro was also intrigued, and he spent the next few days looking for her and trying to win her over.

Chun Tao wasn't easy to befriend. Despite Leandro's efforts to talk to her, Chun Tao merely ignored him and walked away. It was only when he stopped trying that he managed to win her over. In the kitchen, Chef Jiang was experimenting with the Portuguese seafood rice when Leandro came in and declared he was hungry. Chef Jiang, having taken a liking to the boy due to his efforts to befriend Chun Tao, asked for him to try out her dish. Leandro took a bite, eyes closed as he savoured the salty taste of seafood in his mouth, and it was almost a full minute before he opened his eyes and exclaimed how delicious the dish was. Chun Tao, who took great pride in her mother's cooking, overheard the compliment and began to warm up to the boy.

Leandro began to spend his afternoons in the kitchen. He especially timed it so that there were the least number of guests, which meant that Chef Jiang had the time and space to teach Chun Tao and Leandro had to cook. By the time he was nine years old, Leandro could cook amazing Macanese dishes, and it was his pride in this skill that caused him to lose his best friend.

His parents had put Chef Jiang on probation, on the grounds that she wasn't doing her job by teaching Leandro how to cook. Chun Tao, meanwhile, was banned from visiting the hotel. His family also took away the Chef Jiang's benefits and privileges in the hotel. Stricter bodyguards were hired to make sure that Leandro wasn't stepping into the kitchen and mingling too much with 'nasty halfbloods and muggleborns'.

For almost two years, Leandro knew nothing but sadness. He couldn't comprehend how his parents could take Chun Tao away from him, and why they considered Chef Jiang and 'her lot' to be of a lower class than their family. Happiness, however, eventually came back in the form of Mahoutokoro. Since his mother was Japanese, she felt it would be best to send Leandro to her alma mater. Portugal was too far away, and his mother wasn't about to risk Leandro meeting Chun Tao again by sending him to the Chinese school. The fact that it was a Chinese school was actually a huge factor to Mariko's insistence on sending Leandro to Mahoutokoro, but of course she would never say that to anyone. Especially not when they were currently situated in Macau... and that her husband was a part of a triad.

In Mahoutokoro, Leandro had freedom to choose his friends. He avoided his cousins, who were a part of the pureblood crowd, and decided to get to know halfbloods and muggleborns instead. The muggleborns interested him especially—he wanted to know how it must've been like for them to discover that there was a magical world. And though they could never get him to read manga and all that sort of stuff, studying at Mahoutokoro introduced him to the world of dragons. All the while, he couldn't stop thinking about how Chun Tao would probably love them, too.

At eighteen, he graduated from Mahoutokoro with the highest honours. While a part of it was due to a desire to please his family, he truly enjoyed learning, even if he had some problems with the rigidity of the education system. Still, he wanted to prove to the world that 'troublemakers' such as him could still excel, and that they were quite formidable students in their own right. What brought him happiness, though, was the fact that he was allowed to come home to Macau again. After years of celebrating Christmases and spending his holidays in Japan, he would get to see Hac Sa Beach again. He would be able to gorge on Chef Jiang's food. What he looked forward to the most, however, was to be reunited with Chun Tao.

People typically forgot about their childhood friends, but Leandro was anything but typical. Chun Tao had changed him, though at that point, he still wasn't aware how and why. One night, as he was having a smoke along the beach, he saw a beautiful long-haired woman who was walking towards him. 'Hello, Leandro,' her sweet, cheerful voice greeted him. 'It's me, Chun Tao. Don't you recognise me?'

He certainly didn't. Gone was her short spiky hair and scrawny build—she was now a full-grown woman, with a sweet, playful smile and toned long legs. And yet, Leandro could still see traces of mischief in the way her eyes light up, and how she was tilting her head at him as if he were an interesting specimen.

They spent the night watching the waves and the stars as they caught up, telling each other what they had been up to all these years. Chun Tao had gone to the Chinese wizarding school, acing most of her classes and earning an acceptance letter into the Chinese university by doing so. She was uncertain, though, about entering university, as she felt like it was too early to decide on a lifelong career. Leandro was still undecided about his future as well—he loved dragons, but he wasn't sure if he truly was cut out to be a dragon-trainer. They spent the next few days together, with Leandro telling his family that he was visiting his old favourite sites alone. After months of sneaking out and finding ways to be with her, Leandro finally kissed Chun Tao one night, and daybreak found them making love.

When Chun Tao missed her period, Leandro was already certain that he would keep the baby. The family, of course, was against it, but Leandro wouldn't have any of their opinions. He married her against their wishes, and when they cast him out and disowned him, they moved with Chef Jiang to Hong Kong. Chef Jiang found a job in a four-star restaurant, and Leandro took care of his wife as she went through the difficult stages of pregnancy.

The seventh month was especially the worst. Leandro still couldn't find a job, and Chun Tao believed she had brought misfortune onto Leandro's life. But the real misfortune only happened one day when she was found bleeding at the bottom of the stairs. Leandro immediately rushed her to the hospital, but it was too late—the baby had died, and the miscarriage was taking its toll on her body, too.

At the funeral, Leandro told Chef Jiang that he would be moving to the UK. He couldn't bear to stay in Asia—he would only see her everywhere, the emptiness in his chest hurt so bad that he felt as if he couldn't breathe. Chef Jiang, understanding his decision, merely nodded and gave him Chun Tao's diary from back when they were children. On her diary, Chun Tao had written about how sad she was to be banned from the hotel. Some parts were quite difficult to read, as the ink was smudged by tears, but Leandro didn't need to make out the words to understand what she meant. He knew much it hurt. The stains from his tears when he read her entries was a testament to his own pain.

Family

Mother:
Name: Fujiwara Mariko
Age: 56
Living or Deceased: Living
Blood type/Species: Pureblood

Father:
Name: Osvaldo Luis de Sousa
Age: 59
Living or Deceased: Living
Blood type/Species: Pureblood

Siblings:
Name: Monica Yuu de Sousa
Age: 17
Living or Deceased: Living
Blood type/Species: Pureblood

Wife:
Name: Jiang Chun Tao
Age: 19 at the time of death
Living or Deceased: Deceased
Blood type/Species: Halfblood

Family History

The Sousa family are one of the oldest known pureblood families from Portugal. In fact, it has been said that all Portuguese nobility and purebloods have at least a drop of de Sousa blood in them. Though the House of Sousa was mostly involved in politics (such as in helping create the Portuguese Empire), many of the families have branched into different fields. The Macau Sousas, for instance, own a 6-star hotel and casino chain, and they are also linked to a triad which keeps the lower criminals in line. Of course, having connections to a triad is exactly not good for pureblood image, so the Sousa family keeps this information to themselves.

Despite their more modern means of keeping their wealth and status, the Sousas are still quite traditional. Members of the family are still expected to marry into other pureblood families, and propriety (minus gambling, which is merely a bored elite's way of showing off wealth) was to be prioritised at all times. Most of the Sousas do not work—though the current Patriarch or Matriarch makes sure that all of their businesses are doing well, most of the work is done by those who have pledged service (and their lives) to the family. Some Sousas engage in respectable recreational activites, such as Quidditch or dance, but no member is allowed to pursue such activities as 'careers'.

The Sousas recently strengthened their business ties with the Fujiwara clan through marriage. The Fujiwara are a noble clan from Japan, though some members have also taken to investing in hotels and casinos. Through the Fujiwara clan, the Sousas are learning more about art and culture in Japan. Not one to miss opportunities, the current Patriarch is working with the Ministry of Magic in Japan in order to celebrate the Brazilian-Japanese international relationship. Through this move, the Sousas will become even more well-known amongst Japanese pureblood families, thus widening their connections in the Asian Wizarding World.

Other (Optional)

Wand: Cherry, dragon heartstring, 10 inches
Broomstick: Always the latest; his family can afford it, after all.
School that they went to: Mahoutokoro
House they were in: The Gryffindor equivalent
Why you chose your major: Dragons. Enough said.

OOC

OOC Alias:
Best Way To Contact: PM

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