Basic Information
Name: Brand Andreas Smith
Affiliations: Neutral
Born: March 19, 1957 in England
Blood: Pure
Education: Slytherin Class of '75
Occupation: Artist
Residence: Brand lives in Leeds, Kent in a large home with his wife, Sarah and sons Andreas and Zacharias.
Family
Parents: Urias Smith and Jussa Smith
Siblings: Lille Lestrange
Spouse: Married to Sarah Smith on November 5, 1979.
Other Relatives of Note: Hepzibah Smith (dec), Sylvie Defarge (dec)
Description
Brand Smith stands at about six feet tall with a slender build, has smooth black hair that varies in length depending on his mood, green eyes, and is constantly wearing either black or brightly colored robes. He loves patterns, especially paisley, and wears those as often as he can. He has a tattoo on his right arm, three thick bands of black ink right below his elbow.
Character History
Brand first made his appearance on the Leviosa scene in December, 1976 as a boytoy for Paris Wilkes. He and Paris would meet up in his studio in Hogsmeade on the weekends, when Paris could sneak away, and on Hogsmeade weekends. (This and the bisexuality it insinuates is not considered part of his canon any longer.)
It was not long after that that he was established as Francis Bones' best friend from school, and began to flesh out as a viable character. He would soon prove to be an exceptional artist, an exceptional cook, and an exceptional person, in general.
He and Francis got along famously and even lived together for a long while in Brand's Leeds home, until disaster struck on Francis' then-girlfriend, Searlait Moran. Their relationship began to get a little rocky from there.
It only got worse when Brand's younger sister, Lille decided that, along with her then-boyfriend Rabastan Lestrange that it would be fun to practice their Imperius Curses on Brand and Francis, causing a major fight to the tune of Brand screaming at Francis to leave his home, and when Francis backed away in confusion, Brand hit him, something obviously out of character for him, but friendship-ending, nonetheless.
Not long after, Brand met Sylvie Defarge in the bar that Francis tended in Knockturn Alley. After a bit of flirting and friendly banter, Brand invited her away to his studio in Hogsmeade, thinking that she was interested in seeing some of his artwork. She, of course, took that to mean something different, and though Brand was shy and hesitant about the way their time together was going, they ended up quite fond with each other by the end of the evening.
A few dates later, they would become a couple, with Brand ever trying to persuade her to marry him, though they hadn't been dating six months. His issues with family and Esmi would soon come out and would often be a topic of argument or depression for him (and, by proxy, her), since he held everything she did up to the image of his dead girlfriend. Each time he proposed or suggested starting a family, she would calmly and maturely tell him no, and, though heartbroken, he would move on.
It wasn't until Valentine's Day, 1978 that she finally agreed to move in with him, but it was thanks to Love poisoning from one of her coworkers at the DoM, Gunnar Hitzig, that she was feeling exceptionally affectionate and agreeable, thanks to the extra emotion. Of course, Brand took this as she might finally be coming around to the way he thought about things and immediately went to work getting things prepared for her to move in. Once she snapped out of it, however, and realized her mistake, she broke it to him gently, but still moved in with him, leaving her best friend and roommate, Corinne Delacour behind.
Once Sylvie got moved in, however, Brand started to become cold toward her and realize what it was that he'd done and began to think that he couldn't live with her. This lead to them sleeping in separate beds and not speaking for a long while and Brand running off to his studio during the days that she would be at home; a sure sign something was wrong since he'd long abandoned the place since meeting Sylvie.
Finally, after February of 1978, Brand came around and saw how unfairly he was treating his girlfriend and their relationship began to smooth out and he began, slowly, to forget Esmi and move on without her and with Sylvie.
In late March, 1978, thanks to Sylvie's use of her timeturner at her job in the Department of Mysteries, she became pregnant accidentally and would move on to leave her job and stay at home fulltime. It wasn't until August of that year that they went on holiday to Sweden to look for baby furniture and eloped.
Important Points
- Brand's father died when he was seven years old; he was murdered by a gang of Muggles. It was then that Jussa picked up her children and moved to a small wizarding village outside Leeds in Kent to avoid any other interaction with Mugglekind. This has left a bitter taste in Brand's mouth on the subject of Muggles, but he would be the last to advocate their extermination.
- Brand's first girlfriend, Esmi Waldgrave, died in the winter of 1975 in a Death Eater attack on her grandfather's home. Brand found out soon after her death that she had been pregnant, and was immediately sent into a deep depression and drowned himself in his paintings, drugs, and bottles of absinthe and wine.
- Though Brand and Francis had not been speaking regularly for awhile previous, Brand was one of the Best Men in Francis' wedding to Eleanor Prewett.
For Player Knowledge (FPK)
As of August 2007
General knowledge:
Fairly well-known and highly gifted artist; anyone in the contemporary art scene in Europe should be able to recognise his name on his own and they would associate him with his mother and the wizarding fashion industry. Brand is politically uninvolved (as far as he knows, this is not necessarily true) and would have nothing to do with the Ministry or any sort of Institution if he could avoid it.
Acquaintances-level:
Shy, quiet, and keeps to himself quite a bit. Not easily accessible/approachable and probably comes off as a bit of a prat at first, given that he can be monosyllabic. Purebloods would know that he is a pureblood from an old family, and the ones more in-the-know would know that he was a bloodtraitor. People who were at Hogwarts with him probably remember him as the Prefect Who Never Took Points From His Friends, which isn't totally true, but probably seemed that way.
Friends-level/Yearmates:
Would know that he's incredibly nice. Secretive, to an extent. They would know about Esmi and how she died and how he was affected by it, if they cared enough to pay attention. These are the people that know he's quiet in demeanor, not necessarily in that he doesn't say much, like what the acquaintances would see. He was very much part of a group of friends that could be equated to the art majors that ride around on Vespas and think they're better than everyone else.
Close friends/Slytherin '75ers:
They would know that he likes to cook. They would know that, since Esmi, he likes being intoxicated (be it through drugs or lots of alcohol), but despite picking it up around February of last year, when Sylvie died, he's given it up again with Sarah and the new baby.
They would know about his moodswings and that he can be manipulative and resourceful if the need arises. They would know that he is monogamous (which seems like an important point to put, considering his classmates) and believes in love so much that it's borderlining a major fault of his. I believe someone said once that he falls in love too easily and quickly, which is totally true, though that isn't to say that the feeling isn't genuine.
These are the people that would see the more animated side of him and would have seen that he can string more than three words together and perhaps even talk in a complete paragraph.
They would also know that he is a good father to his son and adores him more than most everything else in the world.
Francis:
Would know everything about him from First Year until present. I only put this here because Francis would probably be the only character that could probably say something about Brand and have it be true. Francis would know his precise feelings on his family, Esmi and Sylvie's deaths, and Andreas.
Secrets:
He misses his sister more than he'd ever say. Now that he's married to a pureblood, though, she has been in contact with him more than she was before and has even been to visit once or twice. No one would know this but Brand, Andreas, Lille, Rabastan, Sarah, and Jussa. Though it was awkward at first, it was a happy reunion.
Brand is more depressed about Sylvie being gone than he's admitting. He's much more jaded and bitter about her death than he was about Esmi's.
Was a decent student at school, but never really put much stock into anything that wasn't practical.
Relevant Memes
Rant Meme
as of December 2004
Brand. Eee. Where to start with Brand. Brandikins if your name is Searlait.
Brand's ...well, Brand's nice. There's just no way getting around it, but I think that's okay. I think he comes off as too nice sometimes, but ... that's okay too. He's predictable and shy and effeminate and probably just my ideal guy coming out onto paper/screen/whatever.
He wasn't always nice, though. He's always been tolerant of people who aren't pureblood, as things like that never mattered to him, but he used to be just as ambitious and snarky as the next Slytherin (except, not quite as much as Lille). He's just grown up quite a bit since he left school a whopping two years ago and has mellowed out quite a bit. It's something I've not thought a whole lot on, but that mean, snarky side is in him; he just refuses to let it out anymore except when he's drunk because that whole frame of mind reminds him of Esmi and school, which were the best years of his life. Of course, now things are starting to look up, but since he's afraid of being happy again, he's fighting it as hard as he can and is making up excuses as to why he shouldn't be and/or can't be.
Esmi, though, was his girlfriend throughout most of Hogwarts, and he adored her. He never told her how much he loved her before she died, though, and that still haunts him. He doesn't think that any girl will ever match her, and while he's probably wrong, he doesn't much care to look, although Sylvie's quite nice to him and he likes her enough.
He's shy, though, and that's something he's always been, mean or not. It takes Brand awhile to get used to people, but when he does, he can be quite a chatterbox, relatively.
Like I said in Lille's answer *points above*, their father was killed in 1964, when Brand was seven, and it devastated him. He used to be a bit more rambunctious as a child before then, getting into things and the like, and only keeps getting worse as he keeps losing more and more people; and he only gets worse because he pours himself into relationships. He knows that, which is one of the reasons why he's shy, and one of the reasons why he paints so much, so he has another outlet for all the emotions he's got.
Brand, once again, like I said, loves Lille more than anyone but his mother and is selfless when it comes to her, but it's killing him to see her heading down the way she is. He nearly had her coming around to his point of view, but lost her when she started her fifth year and he'd left school. He likes to think it's not a lost cause, but knows deep down that she's not coming back. He blames the whole thing on Rabastan, however, and he honestly can not stand him. He's not sure whether that's just the Protective Big Brother coming out in him or not, though.
Scent Meme
Brand smells of oil paints, old wood, and lavender. The oils are self-explanatory, and the wood smell just comes from living in his house. The lavender, however, he's attached to and keeps a bottle of essential oil to wear. Odd, yes, but it's Brand.
20 Random Questions Meme
this is from the character's PoV.
1. I've been painting since I was five.
2. I've been painting well since I was twelve.
3. I like my hair better longer than shorter.
4. I love lavender soap.
5. I don't think I could live without love.
6. Cooking is an escape for me, be it from a Block or from, well. Other things.
7. I like feeling nothing.
8. I hate myself for selling out.
9. I hate my mother for leaving us alone.
10. I could have been closer to Lille. I hate myself for not seeing that sooner.
11. I would probably take my own life if Francis were ever to die.
12. I'm too afraid to ask for the things I want for fear of rejection.
13. I hate the taste of rum.
14. Paisley makes me smile.
15. I've never had anything other than white sheets.
16. I lost faith in the art scene when my canvas covered in a washed layer of orange acrylic sold for more than the most intricately detailed landscape of the lake outside Mum's house in Sweden.
17. I miss my father.
18. I've thought about murdering my sister's fiancé to the point that I've got a list of about twenty ways to do it without being caught. It's very tempting.
19. I wear concealment charms over my tattoo more often than not.
20. I want to be blind.
OOC Information
Character Journal: an_artistsbrand
 | PB: Michael Gandolfi |
List of Brand's logs from beginning to present can be found here.
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