Statistics[]
Alias: Elisabeth Ollerton
Full name: Elisabeth Dymphna Smith
Nicknames: Beth, Bee
Age: 23
Date of birth: July 16, 1980
Blood: Muggle
Wand: N/A
Affiliation: Elisabeth is one of Scotland Yard's Special Division, also known as the Witchfinders.
Home Life[]
All of Elisabeth's family is believed dead. She rarely mentions them except in occasional asides.
Mother: Cliona Ollerton Smith.
Father: Ned (Edmund) Smith
Siblings and other family of note: Twin brother (older by 6 minutes), Zacharias Smith
Home: A postage stamp-sized studio flat in London
Finances: Middle-class but lives as if she's lower-class. She's saving up her money although she keeps it in assorted places around her flat as well as in a bank.
Personal Life[]
Personality: Elisabeth is oddly pragmatic, something that was either inherited from her father or by growing up with two romantics who didn't always have their feet on the ground. She's blunt when necessary and extremely common-sensical as well as clever. However, despite this pragmatism, she has a nasty habit of being able to form and hold a grudge as well as a strong stubborn streak. She's confident (sometimes a little too confident) when it comes to her intellectual abilities; something that sometimes causes conflict with others. While she's aware that she's plain, it's something that she's grown to love about herself- she likes the fact that it's her smile that attracts people, not her face- and were someone to suggest she change herself, she'd flatly refuse. All in all, she's a very confident person.
Perhaps one of her greatest weaknesses is her love for practical jokes and her sense of humor. She has difficulty remaining serious in situations that other people feel call for it and often uses "gallows humor" to talk herself through a difficult experience. This is something that irritates people very quickly (especially as she's the kind of person who would joke at a funeral); however, it's a survival skill that she's developed and refuses to give up. Because of this spirit and sense of humor, she's often seen as being reckless, despite the fact that she's not.
While Elisabeth is perceptive, it is an alert, almost edgy kind of perception. She notices things quickly- she’s not the type to sit and watch things. While she notices a great deal, she is used to being constantly challenged to think and react very quickly, making snap judgments. As a result, her perceptions are quick and unfortunately, not always changed when she has a bad impression of someone’s character.
This trait isn’t one that everyone notices (or that she lets them notice). It’s caution and Elisabeth has learned that caution or fear can provoke uncertainty in those who follow you. Above all, she tries to be a good leader and to lead by example. While her quirky sense of humor and ability to carry on a grudge don’t always play into that, she tries quite hard.
Marital status: Single
Sexual orientation: Not stated
Strengths: Confident, good sense of humor, plucky, excellent wit, good dancer (won championships in school), intelligent, good fighting skills, excellent at talking dirty, graceful.
Weaknesses: Over-confidence, often perceived as careless, bad temper, stubborn, holds a grudge, vindictive and somewhat hypocritical at points, blunt, often uses personal goals to avoid the fact that her life has little consequence or meaning, has left issues with her family and what happened deliberately unresolved.
Boggart: Herself, completely and utterly helpless.
Patronus: N/A
Mirror of Erised: Herself with a family of her own, 2.5 children, a white picket fence, a house with a ballroom
Amortentia Potion: a very slight hint of men's cologne, sandalwood, and smoke
Miscellaneous/Quirks: Loves to sit in trees- always did as a child and being somewhat childish herself, never quite outgrew it. Loves heights and things associated with them- trees, mountains, airplanes. Wanted to be an astronaut very badly when she was a little girl. Memorized constellations like some kids memorize dinosaurs- stars are still somewhat talismanic to her. This ability often helps her navigate at night in unfamiliar countryside. Very active person (although this doesn’t mean she exercises, per say, or that she’s a fitness freak). If she can walk or bicycle to a place, she will. Bicycles everywhere- loves to pedal as hard as she can down hills. Not terribly fond of cars- one of her friends died in one during the war when it was exploded in a confrontation. Complicated relationship with magic- on one hand, she loves it and is fascinated by/jealous of it- on the other hand, she relates it to losing her family. Wretched cook. Absolutely no talent for it. Secretly likes MREs because the taste can’t be blamed on her. Favorite food is peanut butter. Not for its taste but for its versatile properties and the fact that you rarely have to cook it. Huge practical joker that can take a joke well. Has a broad sense of humor and is rarely offended by much of any jokes being told, however bad in taste or subject matter. Loves childish activities- carousels, rollercoasters, amusement parks, zoos, circuses, etc. Loves to dance and is very, very good at it. Not self-conscious about doing that or singing. Hates television, mainly because there’s too much sitting still and not thinking involved. Also hates curry, cologne and red roses. LOVES to write in her journal but is extremely random at times about how she does it. Entries tend to be long and somewhat conversational as is most of her writing. EXTREMELY patriotic.
Aesthetics[]
Appearance: Elisabeth might be considered plain by some people with a long nose and unexceptional features- the main thing that sets her apart from other women is the sparkle in her lively eyes and the fact that, despite the fact of the war, she normally has a grin on her face and the general aura of being about to do something she shouldn't. She is slender, long-legged and tends to move in such a way that it often looks as if she is dancing, rather than walking. Her face is very expressive- sometimes a little too expressive- and she's fond of using that talent to get a smile out of someone. She’s charismatic without being terribly attractive and fond of laughing. Her sense of fun, constant motion and high energy often overpowers all other impressions. Despite her northern English origins, she's actually worked quite hard at erasing the lower class from her accent, although it still slips out in vulgarities when she's irritated, stressed or feeling comfortable.
Height: 5'3"
Weight: Not stated
Hair: Dark brown
Eyes: Dark, tend to alternate between grey and brown.
Style of dress: Her working clothes tend to consist of a light jacket, jumper, tank top, jeans and boots. In reality, Elisabeth adores being able to dress up although she doesn't.
History[]
Elisabeth was born in Liverpool, England to Ned and Cliona Smith. Her brother and fraternal twin, Zacharias, arrived 6 minutes before her. While the pair of them were not stereotypical twins (they never developed a twin language- too much fighting over the syntax), they were exceptionally close when they weren’t trying to hit or throw one another into a wall.
Life in the Smith household growing up was one of constant pushing, taps and affectionate shoves. A generally shared family trait, that of clumsiness, caused them all to show affection by rough gestures rather than by gentle hugs or kisses. (This isn’t to say that it was in any way abusive.) Childhood was happy despite the fact that dinner three nights of every seven was macaroni and cheese and both of the older Smiths worked themselves dry at a ceramics factory where pay was low and satisfaction lower. While Beth remembers her parents as hating their jobs, she also remembers them as loving each other and as loving her and Zach. She grew up comfortable and secure in her family’s love, particularly that of her mother, with whom she was very close. She was bright and generally regarded as the smart one of the family, while Zach was considered the creative one. In actuality, there was a lot of crossover between those roles but teachers and family friends tended to categorize the twins thus.
Zach’s letter from Hogwarts shook Beth to the core. It had always generally been believed that if one of the twins got a scholarship or went to higher education, it would be Beth. Zach’s interests never lay academically unless a picture was involved whereas Beth was considered a brilliant, if sometimes iconoclastic, student by teachers and peers even at a young age. For Zach to get it rather than her shocked them all.
This shock was intensified when Cliona clarified exactly what kind of school it was. She had simply forgotten to mention any of the wizarding world to her children or to her husband. What they had believed for years were idiosyncrasies of their slightly batty mother were actually the results of growing up a Squib in a pureblood family. The house was racked with the fighting of Ned and Cliona as well as the constant conflicts of the twins. And in the end, Zach went to school but not after wrenching at the family dynamic, something that Beth has never quite reconciled with herself although she knows it is irrational. She felt when he left as though he was abandoning her to a world she was trying desperately to leave- the idea of growing up and having to work the same jobs her parents did growing increasingly more frightening as she got older. She felt betrayed.
Her relationship with her mum also changed during this point as did hers with her dad. Whereas previously, the Smith twins had gravitated to the same-sex parent, with the combination of Zach’s blossoming homosexuality and admittance to Hogwarts, he spent more time with Cliona, leaving Ned and Beth on the outside of conversations they simply didn’t understand. At first, Beth simply refused to talk to her brother on vacations. As time went on, she began to understand that she just missed him too much since he spent most of the year away from her and gave in. At that point, she started drilling him, wanting to know every detail of wizardry and Hogwarts. If she couldn’t be a wizard, then she wanted at least to understand them. Ned followed her lead and slowly, the family began to heal again.
Life was fairly simple after that until the murmurings of war began to disrupt things. First, Zach started writing her letters about the oddness of school, and then the summer after his sixth year, their father had a heart attack and died in the hospital. Beth, who had been on track to receive scholarships and go on to university, completely blew off school as the result of being unable to deal with the loss of her father and feeling inadequate about how to comfort her brother and mother. While Zach managed to return to Hogwarts, Beth’s school performance from that point on was so poor that she finally had to work 2 jobs when she did get out in the hopes of financing her university education.
Life was further disrupted for her and Zach when he began seeing another wizard named Colm Hennessey. While Beth felt attracted to Colm initially, the attraction soon wore off as she saw that he was pushing Zach to make the peace movement much bigger than the joke that they had both known it was. She thought that her brother’s ego was getting out of control, not to mention that she didn’t feel Colm was right for him to begin with. The last straw was when she caught Colm snogging a member of the peace movement, and then went to Zach about it, only to have him do nothing. She was so angry for him and at him that she said several things she shouldn’t have and stormed off. While she heard about him from Cliona, she was so very angry with him that she refused to speak to him.
Then, six months later, he disappeared. Before Beth or Cliona had time to worry about that, they received a knock on their door and found themselves pulled out onto the street where muggles were being thrown into lines to be placed in camps. The pair of them were sent to a detention center outside the city and questioned as to their knowledge or their alliances. They believed this camp to be run by the Ministry- in actuality, they had been Disappeared by the Death Eaters, although Elisabeth would not discover this until later. The records that were kept by the Death Eaters were sporadic and often muggles were not "officially" admitted to the camps or listed until months after they had arrived. This was the case with Beth and Cliona- they had been in a camp for six months before they appeared on any official documentation. Shortly after their records had been established, Beth was called into an office.
Inside the office was sitting not only an administrator but also her brother’s ex-lover. Surprised, Beth said nothing but allowed him to secure her release. Afterwards, Colm told her that he had betrayed all of the names in the peace movement, explained how very guilty he felt about it and told her that he had gotten her released for Zach’s sake but that he couldn’t get Cliona as well. Beth blew up at him over all of it, of course. His subsequent statements led her to believe that they had managed to get Zach’s name from him as well and that her brother had been taken out and killed with the other activists whose deaths were on Colm’s conscience.
For her, this was the final straw. She could no longer sit passively while her family and her country were destroyed. She decided to join the fight to save England as she could not save her family and with sheer determination, Beth forced her way into the witchfinders, working with them both to contain the Obliviators and in small rescue missions into the camps. She was unable to save her own mother, however, the woman having been lost in the camp system due to Beth’s inability to get to her before she left the detention center. The full impact of this has never really hit her- she simply doesn’t have time to mourn Cliona or Zach. Her mourning for them was done with laughter rather than tears- being a field agent has led her to learn strength, something that she didn’t possess when her father died.
However, despite her will, all that she truly wants is for things to be the way they were- she doesn’t believe that muggles and wizards can co-exist nor does she know if she particularly wants them to.
Current Activities[]
Elisabeth is officially considered a Senior Field Agent for the Special Division of Scotland Yard. Unofficially, she is a member of the "Witchfinders", a muggle group devoted to protecting the muggle world from the magical one.
As far as Beth’s occupation before the war- she was mainly engaged in taking odd jobs while she struggled through college. She worked as a janitor at an elementary school and a clerk at a magic shop at the time the war broke out completely, planning to attempt to pursue a military career or overseas teaching due to the fact that she perceived it as the only way she was going to finish an education.
Meta[]
Player: Gwen
PB: Nora Tschirner