Nicknames: Bram, if you know him well.
Birthdate: 15th March, 1862
Current Age: 29 years
Gender: Male
Occupation: Drawing-Master, Illustrator & Art Critic
Reputation: 10
Residence: As of ‘91, a permanent cottage at the Sanditon Terrace.
Hogwarts House: Gryffindor
Wand: Poplar and phoenix feather, 12 3/4”, springy.
Blood Status: Halfblood
Social Class: Middle
Family:
Henry Abrahams | Father | 18xx - 1887
Abigail Blake | Mother | 18xx
Clara Brooks Campbell née Abrahams | Sister | 1860 | Married
-- and family
Mariah Morgan Thompson née Abrahams | 1864 | Married
-- and family
Appearance: Though he tries to, Bram has never felt completely comfortable in his own skin. At a striking 6’1” with a solid, muscular build, he thinks he comes across all wrong, like he doesn’t have the personality to match his physical presence. Naturally strong, he is not the most athletic but, growing up, he did some heavy lifting and manual work in the printshop, and in adulthood has taken up boxing and swimming as hobbies. His skin is a lightish brown and his features – wide nose, full lips, arching eyebrows – strong and chiselled. He keeps his hair close-cropped, and any facial hair similarly neat. Most distinctive are his eyes, which are a startling green-blue and possessed of a pensive intentness. Standing still, he might look intimidating: but he treads softly, carries himself lightly, and accents his suits with milder colours, happy to fade into the wallpaper and be an invisible observer more often than not. His quietness helps – although it makes him seem that much more solemn, too, when in truth, he’s just shy. He tends to smile a lot more when embarrassed.
History:
William Blake Abrahams is born in London, with his mother’s maiden name for a middle name. They are a close-knit, loving family, with a sister born close to him on each side, a hard-working wizard for a father who owns and manages a magical print-shop, and an equally magical mother who is firm but bright, with a few bold ideas about the world. (Her father was a freed slave who emigrated to Britain from Jamaica.) Bram is a quiet child with a sensitive edge, happier spending his childhood doodling in chalk and watching his peers play games than joining in – but when he frets about things, he doesn’t let other people see, which ends up in with explosive bursts of emotion. Once, at about seven, one of his friends ruins the art project he’s spent all day on – not purposely, but nevertheless – and Bram’s devastation shows itself in scattered papers and a blast of wind so strong it knocks the other boy out cold. Not long after that, he grows newly cautious in himself, and begins to struggle with a stammer that comes out when he is especially frustrated, which only leads to laughter from the children his age.
School proves overwhelming. Like his mother, he is sorted into Gryffindor... but Bram never feels like he quite fits in there. He’s not brave, particularly; not as loud and outgoing and competitive and reckless as some of the people in the common room; he barely feels like he can stand up for himself, let alone other people. He has the desire to, always; but the temptation to restrain himself and shrink back into his shell lingers. Fortunately, over the years Bram does collect a few friends to call his own, which makes school bearable, though often they’re in different houses. He enjoys learning, though – less so in the practical lessons, though charms are fun to cast if no one’s watching – and often has his nose in a book, or if not that, then quill thoughtfully poised to parchment; although he also has a habit of drawing silly little doodles of people and things on the corners of pages, and eventually learns to animate them, which amuses the few classmates with whom he finds the courage to share them.
He graduates with fair NEWTs in Ancient Runes, Astronomy, Charms, History of Magic and Muggle Studies.
But Art was always his favourite subject, and his parents see it, when he comes back to London and spends more time in the vicinity of the print-shop (which prints books, magazines and newspapers, illustrations, art reproductions and so on); it is they, and his sisters, who encourage him to dedicate himself to it properly. So Bram, a little afraid of his own ambitions, begins classes at the Royal Academy, and soon heads off on a tour of Europe – though his is much more strait-laced an affair for him than this opportunity is for some of the wealthier, more carefree men his age. Bram busies himself sketching at sights and monuments and sweeping landscapes; stays in Paris to be taught there for two years by a prominent magical painter, and then, with visits back to London in between, does stints in the Netherlands, Italy, Greece and Spain, looking for himself and learning all he can.
In 1887, his father is injured at the World Market, and Bram comes home in time to say his goodbyes before his father passes away. After that, he stays in London for good – his father’s business partner takes on the management of the print-shop, but Abigail has her late husband’s shares to live on. By now, Bram harbours the desire to be a painter – cannot imagine living for anything else but art – but while is he well-versed in style theory and art criticism and can produce competent work, nothing ever... blows him away. What he finishes is fine, usually; what he truly wants to paint he can never even seem to finish. The few pieces he’s even remotely proud of do not fare wonderfully in exhibitions, and Bram’s self-confidence continues to wane.
In the end, he can’t keep waiting for success. He hasn’t given up, but he does fall back on steady work, work that pays. For the last few years, W. B. Abrahams has established himself as a name in art criticism, for his consideration of other people’s work and writings on the old masters; he keeps up his own art in the day to day by taking on illustration projects, for non-fiction projects and novels and serials – his work is deemed ‘rather charming’, which obviously wounds him to the core – and the bulk of his pay comes from art instruction as a hired Drawing-master to aspiring society ladies, for whom art boils down to some neat watercolours and a little portrait-painting to prove their airs and accomplishments. Bram hates almost everything about this, but he is well-practised at pretending otherwise and very good at keeping his true feelings to himself. He won’t be stuck doing this forever. Surely he won’t?
Personality: On the surface, Bram might seem the strong and silent type, might appear self-possessed and calm and serious-veering-solemn. In truth, it is almost all severe shyness and a lack of self-belief, combined with a pensive air and a habit of bottling up feelings rather than showing them. Generally guarded, it usually takes him some time to open up, and he is always aware of the danger of hurting other people’s feelings – so words almost always seem safer in writing, when he has had time to carefully consider them. That said, he has an uncompromising moral attitude, a severe dislike of dishonesty, and might restrain his more passionate opinions – or hide his sense of humour – in order to seem appropriately polite and deferential, but never forsake them completely. Idealistic, loyal and humble, even in his artwork Bram finds himself lacking: a dissatisfied perfectionist through and through.
Other:
— Had a stammer throughout his childhood, so even now takes his time to speak, and, when he can afford to, says as little as possible; and the stammer still comes out when he is frustrated, embarrassed or taken aback.
— Regularly publishes reviews and articles in respected art journals and newspapers, and does paid work producing illustrations for magical novels and teaching drawing classes. Much more rarely, a painting of his own has appeared in a gallery, but to no notable success thus far.
Sample Roleplay Post:
Age: 26
![[Image: jAZi5Qu.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/jAZi5Qu.jpg)
loveliness by Lady!
