DUNSTAN, ANNA (l'Académie des Seiseux sorciers et sorcières)

Title: DUNSTAN, ANNA
Description: mailwoman, thandie newton

Anna Dunstan - May 1, 2012 12:56 AM (GMT)

ANNA TERESA DUNSTAN
played by: ryker

THE PLAYER
Your Online Name: Ryker
Do you have any other characters? Henri, James, Maya, Peter, Sadie
What are your contacts? See staff contacts

THE BASICS
Full Name: Anna Teresa Dunstan (maiden: Rodriguez)
Nicknames: Mrs. Dunstan to everyone under the age of thirty. Anna to everyone else. She hates nicknames though her husband can call her anything he wants. Except for “shortie”. She hates that word.
Date of Birth and Age: November 18, 1971 (41)
Job: [Mailwoman for the Senate(Public)/ Pony Express Lower Class Spy (Private)
Her spy work consists of mostly working on the streets and lower class society. Delivering messages back and forth between the Senate and the opposing forces is all in a day’s work for her. Anna also uses her ability to transform into a light draft horse to spy on selected individuals when they are working on the streets of New Orleans.
Former House: Renard

THE APPEARANCE

Face Claim: Thandie Newton
Other notable features: - Stands at the mere height of 5'1. Her brothers swear she was adopted.
- Has two tattoos - tribal horse head, and the eagle with the snake (Mexican crest).
- Several scars and rope burns from when she was once young, wild, and crazy. (She still is the latter two on occasions.)
- Her nose is slightly crooked from when she broke it during her first flying lesson and refused to have it fixed out of embarrassment.
- African (Kenya)/Mexican (Reynosa) - Prefers to be called Hispanic if anything. She wants nothing to do with her mother's side of the family.
- Her eyes appear almost black despite being very dark brown.
- Never takes off a small turquoise ring that her husband gave her during the early years of their marriage. If asked, she'll only say "ya'll have to pry it from my cold dead fingers."
- Her animagus form is one of a light black draft mare with light grey spots across her muzzle area. She uses the form mostly as a working horse for a carriage driver or one of Barker’s many mounts if travel is needed.

THE PERSONALITY
Personality:
There is no middle ground for Anna’s personality. She is a black and white person in every sense of the ideal. Her intensity and passion can often lead others into assuming the worst about her behavior. Not to mention the fact that she has a hot temper, often flying off the handle over some infraction that her mind insists is larger than it really is. She is extremely sensitive to her emotions often having “rollar coaster” moods from one moment to the next. As with all of her personality, she does not understand moderation and when to step back. With Anna, it has always been full-steam ahead non-stop. It has been foretold that Scorpios embody the best and worst of humankind, it is entirely true for Anna. She can be the most noble of women one moment and a terror from the darkest pits of hell the next.

While she might have not always liked who she was, Anna has always known who she was as a person. She is extremely self-assured about her own personality. The strengths and the weaknesses. It is this knowledge that has led her thus far on her job; she understands the darkest sides of her self as well as the good. Though, she does not always listen to that knowledge, Anna has progressed into the eagle form of the Scorpio personality. She is also intuitive about people’s behavior and mannerisms. She can read others extremely well, after years of practice with her husband who will often say one thing but his body language says the other. However, she still stumbles with reading into words and wordplay. She prefers body language.

Very few souls are as stubborn as Anna. Her inability to bend and budge has cost her several relationships, jobs, and nearly her life at times. Once she believes she is correct on a subject, she will give her self an ulcer trying to prove it to anyone who disagrees with her. If she is beaten at something, she will wear herself down till she has beaten the other person or has died trying. Like a terrier after a bone, Anna is one determined and wily individual. Her methods at her job for delivering messages are not always the legal ones or even the right ones. If attacked, she will kill. It’s not uncommon to hear that Anna has pulled a knife in a wand fight or thrown sand in an enemy’s eyes while dueling. She merely says it’s leveling the playing field.

As cynical as Anna is, it is hard to believe that she can be naïve or even an idealist. However, a grand example of this behavior is her full belief in whatever her brothers (especially Amar) tell her. Once, Amar told her that the boogey man would eat her alive unless she ran jumped into her bed every night. It took fifteen years for her father to finally break t he habit. As for her ideals, she likes to believe in the best of the people she loves even coming down to a dangerous loyalty. She has endangered her job several times in defense of her husband and brother’s “unruly” actions in their chosen fields. If any of them were to transfer to the dark side, Anna would follow in a heartbeat out of pure sheep-like loyalty.

Anna has never been the type to tell the world her thoughts and feelings. She keeps herself hidden often giving her what her husband has called “a steel heart”. Even her family and best of friends do not know the deepest secrets and desires of her heart, she always keeps a part of herself hidden in any relationship. It is a constant fear that she will be hurt again that causes this behavior. Even in relationships, she has a tendency to find faults or ways out of them never letting them come to full fruitation in fear of being wounded once more. While some might confuse shyness with reserved ness, Anna is a rather shy individual. She has a tendency to stumble, ramble, and blush around people that she’s not familiar talking with. Over the years, she has gotten better about it, her work allowing her to create another more confident outgoing persona to hide behind. However, her shyness has gotten her into trouble several times – her ramblings during the first meeting of Lukas’ parents have always left a little gap of understanding between her father-in-law and her.

There is a physical need for freedom in Anna’s soul and entire being. Like her spirit guardian, the horse, she has little tolerance for people or situations that limit her freedom. If she feels trapped in a situation or by a person, she can react into two different ways. Most of the time, her sense of flight is stronger and she will merely run from the situation or pretend it does not exist. A fine example of this was her depression during Sadie’s pregnancy. On the other half of the time, Anna can become violent or verbally aggressive in her need for freedom. An example of this behavior is during the rather nasty fights that her husband and her have, she knows the weakest points of her husband and knows exactly what to say to bring him to his knees. As she has gotten older, she has learned how to calm the feeling of entrapment and how to deal with the situations that rise up. However, it does not stop the ever-constant need to take off running full speed down the road away from her husband, children, and everything.

Like most Scorpios, Anna is an extremely jealous person. Although, her jealousy is often related to affection – if her husband is being cared for or fawned over by another female, her brother’s marriage to Mai, and her youthful jealousy of her uncle Segundo’s love for her cousin, Stella. She’s not the type to get jealous of materialistic things – she could care less about that five thousand dollar dress or how so and so has a job in the Senate. On the same level, she is an extremely judgmental individual always jumping to conclusions about people before getting the facts. Once she forms an opinion on a person, it is hard for her to budge or break it. Anna can also be extremely resentful towards those that have hurt her. Once a person had betrayed her (in any sense), she tends to put them from her mind pretending that they do not exist or are not worth her time.

FAMILY & HISTORY
Family Members:
Lukas Dunstan (Husband)
Ian Dunstan (Son)
Sadie Dunstan (Daughter)

Any other family member of importance:
Mexican (from Reynosa)/African (Kenya)
Nyaria Kione (Mother)
Marcos Rodriguez (Father)

Segundo Rodriguez (Uncle)
Teresa Rodriguez (Aunt)
Ramon & Cristina Rodriguez - Félix (First and Second Cousins)
Estrella (Stella) & Mario Castillo -Elías, Francisco - (First and Second Cousins)

Mai Rodriguez (nee Blackwind) (Sister-in-law)
Amar Rodriguez (Brother)
Maya Rodriguez

Nico Rodriguez (Brother)
Mary Rodriguez (nee Hamilton) (Sister-in-law)
Sara Rodriguez
René Rodriguez

Alejandro Rodriguez (Brother)
Xavier Rodriguez (Nephew)

Husband's Side: (German)
Jonah Dunstan - Father-in-law
Leah Dunstan - Mother-in-law

Niklaus Dunstan - Brother-in-law (Deceased - Died fighting in Europe against Lord Voldemort)

Erik & Gemma Sheppard (Sister-in-law & husband)
Nicole Sheppard & Andrew Sheppard(Niece & Nephew)
Place of Birth: Santiago, Texas
Social Class:Middle (born/raised as lower working)

History:
Anna doesn’t believe the place and time of her birth is the starting point of her life. She was born the second child of Nyaria Kione and Marcos Rodriguez. As for the details of her parents’ relationship before her birth, she doesn’t know nor does she care. It’s not important to her therefore it shouldn’t be important to anyone else. All she knew was her father’s comments that her mother refused to marry him and they lived together as husband and wife without the curtsey of a ring on Nyaria’s finger.

It was a year later that the trouble began or perhaps it had begun before her birth, she isn’t certain of the true facts of the case. Her father began to suspect her mother of having an affair with a single neighbor, a white neighbor. The suspense grew after Nico was born and Marcos immediately realized in the back of his mind that the boy was not his flesh and blood. His skin was paler than his brothers and his eyes had the hint of hazel in them. Neither the Kiones or Rodriguez’s had any other eye color but brown in their families.

It was the birth of Alejandro a year later and not so planned that saved the relationship for the next six years. Marcos’ suspicions faded away after seeing another son of his own flesh and blood. During this time, it could be said that Anna’s life really truly began to form and prosper in the small town of Santiago, Texas. It was clear from the start that she was her father’s favorite – he would carry her around and tell her about the ancestral traditions and magic. Even as a young child, she was a troublemaker – always dropping vases out of the two story window of their home to see how many it took to catch her mzazi’s attention. Her fascination with her father’s line of work and the equine world started early as well. Often, Nyaria would catch her daughter scrambling over the fences of the pastures to tag along with her father and her babu, Amir. When caught, her padre would only laugh and swing her up on his shoulders calling her his little “vaquera”.

While Nico and Alejandro split off from the elder two siblings to cause their own mischief, Anna would tag along behind her older brother matching him step by step grin by grin much to the older boy’s annoyance. It was becoming clearer to her parents that she had begun to hero-worship her elder brother. Her cousins Stella and Ramon came over from time to time to play with the other children. However, Stella had better things to do (at her age even) than to hang out with her rough male cousins and her tomboy cousin as well. Ramon, however, took to Anna teaching her how to do things that most boys her age knew – how to swim, fight, and spit.

At the end of each day, Anna would curl up in her mother’s lap begging for a story of her ancestor’s and listening to her mother’s soft voice as she fell asleep. Her father may have been the sun of her life but her mother was the constant ray of sunshine surrounding it. Till the day that her life truly began, it was two weeks before her birthday that her mother left her and her family. A day that has caused Anna nightmares for several years and a constant sadness in her heart that has yet to be healed even by her family’s grace and love.

Her face pressed against railing of the staircase as she struggled to fend off her brothers for her spot. “Callete!” She whispered loudly to Alejandro as she lightly shoved him away from her spy point. “Padre and Mzazi are fighting again, aren’t they?” Anna turned her head to glance down at Nico who had his face pressed against the railing beside her. Biting her lip, she turned back to the conversation below watching the shadows of her father and mother on the wall. Feeling herself being lifted up, she struggled trying to get back to the railing. “Not fair!” She cried as Amar took her spot telling her rather roughly to be silent.

Pouting, she narrowed her eyes at her brother’s back before climbing up on top of it ignoring his requests for her to get off. With a loud “shhh”, the four of them grew silent as the three shadows on the wall faded as the adults came within view. Her father was running his hands through his dark hair suddenly looking very tired and old. Anna’s eyes widened at the sight switching over to her mother. She held her breath only hearing the fast paced beat of her heart as she saw her mother, her beautiful Mzazi, wrap her arm around the waist of their white neighbor.

Falling off her brother’s back, she sat on the floor stunned for a second as she heard the fighting begin again. It was a mixture of Swahili and Spanish being thrown back and forth. Her parents often reverted to their native languages when they were fighting or upset. She had caught some of the words, her face becoming white with everyone of them. Her cousin, Ramon, had taught them the curse words as a joke never realizing the harm they did now. “Putilla! Malaya!” Her father’s face had turned red as he began to yell at her mother pointing towards the door. Her mother stood there with a proud smile on her face as she whispered something to the white man. Though she was young, it had become very clear what her mother had done.

The white man looked up towards Nico then exchanged heated words with her father. Before her father could hit him, he had his hand raised; her mother promptly shoved the white man out of the front door that she had opened for them. Without thinking, Anna cried “Mzazi! Mzazi!” scrambling to her feet and halfway tumbling down the staircase to her mother. Her father’s face blanched at the sight immediately looking up to where her brothers lay frozen watching the whole scene before them realizing that their mother had an affair with a white man.

Grasping her mother’s leg, Anna cried out to her again and again as Nyaria moved towards the door gently trying to shake her daughter off. Realizing that she wasn’t going to get the girl off, she grabbed her daughter fiercely by the shoulders shaking her. “Kaa Vema!” With those words, she promptly shut the door behind her leaving Marcos and their four children behind.

With a cry, Anna had run upstairs into the bedroom that she shared with Amar. Locking herself with a blanket in the bathroom that was between the two children’s bedrooms, Anna began to sob in earnest realizing that her mother had promptly abandoned and rejected her. It wasn’t till thirty minutes later that Amar with the help of his brothers managed to pick the lock and successfully open the door.

Surrounded by her brothers, the four children curled up underneath the blanket holding each other’s hands the entire night as their father struggled to figure something out. Marcos had called his brother, Segundo, and his wife, Teresa to watch the children the next day while he went out searching for some sort of answer. Her extended family happened to be the best distraction that a girl could get. Her cousin, Stella, played with her cousin’s hair doing it up in pretty hairstyles as her mother had suggested distracting the young girl from the truth. Ramon and Segundo handled the boys taking them out for quadpot practice out in the front yard.

Aunt Teresa was muy simpatico towards her niece and tried her best in the next week to take over the older female role in the family. Though her mother had cast her aside, it was here that the fierce loyalty to her family began. In her darkest hour, they had held her hand and comforted her. To this day, she still believes her family would never abandon her and is fiercely loyal to them.

It was after that first week that they got the call that her Babu had suffered a stroke. Marcos promptly packed up house and moved his kids into Amir’s large home to be with the man. It was the first time that Anna had ever seen her Babu. It was a moment that neither of them would forget. Instead of cowering behind his harsh words about her being a girl or his glare, she had glared right back putting her hands on her hips declaring that he was a rude old man. Marcos had been terrified that his daughter had insulted an elder promptly asking forgiveness. However, the old man chuckled and played with his granddaughter’s hair declaring the she was a true “Rodriguez.”

The next day, Anna always jokes that she met the love of her life in the form of Mai Blackwind. Marcos had brought his children to meet the neighboring families –the Blackwinds. Anna had been shy around the neighbors. They were people to be respected and feared she had been told. Though she was eight, she knew the importance of appearances and a good impression.

It wasn’t till after spending an hour hiding in her father’s shadows that she met Ayita Sinclair. The older Native American woman bent down to the girl’s level opening up her arms for a hug. Recognizing the warmth in the woman’s brown eyes, Anna had fled her father’s shadow into the strange woman’s arms finding comfort. Ayita had given the girl a small hug exclaiming how pretty she was tweaking one of Anna’s braids bringing a smile to the young girl’s face. It was next that she was introduced to Tse Blackwind who promptly asked the young girl if she wanted a horse of her own. It was in those few minutes that Anna had been sold to the Blackwind completely.

Holding Ayita’s hand, Anna was then introduced to Ayita’s two children –Tocho and Mai. The boy grinned teasing Anna about her flimsy braids pointing to his own thick ones. It was then that Anna stuck her tongue out at him and the strange friendship between the two had begun. Mai, however, wasn’t about to lose the bright eyed brunette to her brother. Grasping the young girl’s hand, she pulled her away from her brother into the barn where the foals were kept. On the way, she had introduced herself as Mai and she was going to be Anna’s new best friend. Even through the years, that fact has never changed.

Anna’s first show of magic was right before she left to join Sei. Unlike her brother who had shown his magical talents early on, Anna seemed to be a slow learner. It wasn’t until the day that she found Nico crying in one of the pastures that her talent was shown. He had been badly beaten up by some neighborhood boys who had learned the truth behind his true ancestry. In a desperate effort to comfort her younger sibling, Anna had tried to think of something to make him happy while staring across the plains of the area. In a brief second, the grass began to transform into tiny butterflies making their way towards the startled children. It was a brief moment, however, for the children began to scream and run back to their father declaring that the land had come alive with bugs that were trying to kill them.

Much to her father’s delight, Anna’s letter from Sei came two weeks later. His favorite child was to be a little witch. One it seemed, with a knack for transfiguration. Much to her delight, Mai was going to Seiseux as well! Eager to be with her role model and best friend, Anna had pranced around the house for a week waving her letter in any unsuspecting victim’s face she could find. Her babu seemed less amused than most but Anna could hardly care less. She was going to be a witch! However, the moment of happiness was soon shattered upon her sorting of Seiseux. Her best friend had gotten sorted into Taureau where her older brother had been sorted. Anna? Renard.

With a bitter feeling of disappointment and longing, the young girl had reluctantly left for the Renard table. Sitting down next to a rather outgoing brunette with freckles and hazel eyes, Anna had never felt more shy or alone in her life. It wasn’t till the girl noticed her and introduced herself that the feeling passed. Her name was Samantha Harris though she preferred to be Sam. With the familiar mischievous grin and twinkle in her eyes, Anna felt herself beginning to feel safer in this new home of hers. On the opposite side of the table sat a second year, he had merely glanced over for a second before introducing himself as Lukas Dunstan. The introduction was brief, as Anna had turned back to the charming stranger of Sam.

Her time in the early years of Sei was not that different than her time had been at home. She was still shy with a streak of outgoing nature that hid it well. Mai and Anna still snuck out of their dorm rooms to cause mischief around the plantation especially running off to see the magical creatures of the bayou. It wasn’t till her third year that her life changed once again. It was becoming clearer to Anna that she was having unnatural feelings towards her best friend. The sight of Mai’s dark eyes looking in her direction could make her heart skip a beat. The quick smiles could make her face light up. When the older girl spoke to her, Anna could feel her heart pound and herself tremble for some unknown reason. It didn’t take long for the girl to realize she was in love. With her best friend, another girl.

Raised in a Catholic family, the realization of her bisexuality (she still found men attractive yet not as attractive as women) had been hard on the young thirteen year old. It hadn’t been until one night when they were laying on the bayou grounds after hours that Anna had kissed Mai. Her first kiss. With an eager innocent hopefulness, she had waited for Mai to confess the feelings that she had just shared. However, Mai had looked at her with a look of pity and sadness as she explained not only was she not attracted to girls like Anna but she was in love. With Anna’s older brother, Amar. Running away into the bayou, Anna hadn’t come back into the wee hours of the morning and had avoided Mai the entire week after. It wasn’t till her little brother’s best friend, the old Lukas Dunstan, had casually asked her out that things had changed. Heartbroken over the rejection and fearful of rumors that might spread, Anna had agreed to be his girlfriend for a little while. It hadn’t lasted long. With the wild ideas of a teenage boy on puberty, Lukas had wanted things different from what Anna had been expecting. Needless to say he lost his virginity and cheated on Anna with a 5th year. The relationship promptly ended leaving Anna with a broken heart and wounded pride.

Acting out had been her reaction to the whole fiasco. She began to start to harass her teachers in class with smart alec remarks, skipping class even to hang out on the bayou, and to top it off she began to get into duels with fellow students. It was her transfiguration professor, saddened that his star pupil was turning into a menace, that suggested she take her passionate nature somewhere else – dueling club. In dueling club, Anna found an alternative to her intensity and raging emotions. It seemed to help the situation that she was in as the troubles in class began to calm down.

What happened next was anything short of a surprise to the young girl. Samantha Harris, a good friend and her best house mate, had asked her out one evening in the common room. In the privacy of the empty room, Sam had confessed that she had a crush on Anna for a while even to the point when they had first met. Anna’s shy nature and devilish innocence had been intriguing to the more outgoing girl. It began as a simple hidden relationship. Stolen kisses in the library, holding hands in the darker hallways of Sei, and sneaking out to cuddle in the barn. Under Sam, Anna began to feel more comfortable with herself growing more and more outgoing. Needless to say, the scrawny girl with freckles and black eyes began to blossom into a determined young woman.

However, Anna could not hide that her heart still belonged to one dark eyed girl – Mai. It began to infuriate Sam as Anna began to push Sam away in efforts to keep the girl out. If she never got close, Sam could never hurt her the way that her mother and Mai had. Needless to say, Sam dumped Anna in the summer of her 4th year right before she started her 5th year. It was around this time that Mai and Amar began dating. Like the previous situations, Anna began to act out once more this time towards her brother and father leaving strained relationships at home.

She began to feel trapped as if she was drowing at a high speed. It was then that a small black snowflake appaloosa foal was born – Running Fox. Though she already owned Fox’s mother, Anna had begged and pleaded her father to keep the colt. He was an ornery one – always thinking with his stomach and his need for speed. However, Anna felt a kinship with the horse. His need for freedom and to be free was the same as hers. With the horse to distract her, Anna’s attacks against her family began to lessen. It was during this time that an old favorite popped up again in an effort to get him to go out with her. Lukas Dunstan. The boy had gone through amazing feats (hanging himself upside down off the roof of Sei for example) to convince the girl to go out with him.

At first, Anna had not been too keen on the hot tempered arrogant quadpot player. However, there was a charming nature underneath Lukas’ smile and a familiar warmth that had intrigued the young girl. Soon, the look of wariness and distrust passed into shy giggles and little smiles in his direction as he showed off. Neither did the two know that they were beginning to fall for each other – the most unlikely pair of all. At school, he began to show his possessive nature more and more by holding her hand (always began by subtly brushing hers several times before lacing) in front of Samantha and Mai. An arm slung around her shoulder there and a hurried kiss when Samantha was around. Anna, however, hadn’t cared much to the shock of her overprotective eldest brother. Instead of running off at the first sight of possessiveness, Anna seemed to enjoy the attention.

To this day, Anna knows that some considers her husband too possessive of her. However, she understands his need for such behavior and truly enjoys the fact of his constant need of her. In Lukas’ arms, she can be herself and not have to carry on the show of being strong. It was that summer that her father offered Lukas a job on the ranch allowing the older man to meet this “boy” that his little girl was falling for. Marcos and Lukas hadn’t liked each other at first glance. Amir had liked Lukas even less – he was white. The same color of the man that his own daughter had run off with. Needless to say Amir manipulated Marcos’ weak mind into thinking the same making the relationship become more and more hidden over the summer.

However, something had happened that summer. After a brief incident with her grandfather and Lukas, Lukas had finally snapped and told her that her family was fucking crazy promptly dumping a rather shocked and distraught Anna. Little did anyone know that Amir had accused Lukas of raping his granddaughter after catching the two eager teenagers out in a field one day. Torn between her loyalty to her family and love for Lukas, Anna had remained silent condemning him. Needless to say, it would be three years before the two spoke kind words together again.

Six months after the break up, Anna had gotten back with Samantha once more. The older girl had confessed that she had reacted too harshly before and had been jealous of Lukas’ attentions on her ex. Now it seemed to be in reverse, Lukas would get angry whenever the two girls showed up in a room. However, the three were sworn to secrecy. No one knew that Samantha was a lesbian or Anna was bisexual. They intended to keep it that way. Fate had other plans. While visiting Anna over the summer, Samantha had been caught in an embrace with the girl in the living room by Amir. What happened next was anything but pretty.

Anna still doesn’t talk to this day about what exactly happened. All that is known by the family members is there was a nasty fight leading Anna to have to defend herself and Sam from her homophobic racist grandfather’s wrath. During that time, Anna’s father had come in and found out leading him to disown his daughter on the spot. To this day, Anna cannot speak about her father without breaking down into tears over the feelings that he causes to well up inside of her. His disownment was on the same level of her mother’s leaving. Anna had broken up with Sam during those moments out of cowardice – not wanting to deal with a girlfriend on top of being disowned.

However, it was her brothers that had shocked everyone. Amar had promptly announced that if his sister was no longer Marcos’ daughter then he was no longer Marcos’ son. The chain reaction that followed with Nico and Alejandro had broken Marcos’ spirit completely. Amar went on to live with his girlfriend, Mai. Nico and Alejandro moved into the crowded home with Segundo and Teresa. Ramon had left to live out on his own a year prior – finding little room for herself at her uncle’s, Anna accepted Ramon’s offer to live with him. When asked about the time period, Anna only shudders and laughs declaring that “bachelorhood” is as ugly as it sounds. Through hard work and part time jobs, Anna managed to graduate Sei entering into a specialized auror program for spies. A certain type – animagi.

During her 6th year at Hogwarts, her behavior and natural talent for transfiguration had reached her boss’ ears. Eager to meet the cunning bright eyed witch, he was convinced that she would be an assest to his program – the Pony Express. For the next two years, she began training in the art of the animagi and delivering small mail packages. It was a boring job as nothing seemed to be happening that was remotely interesting. Till the day that her boss announced that he wanted to send some members over to Europe to help with the war, Anna eagerly signed up.

It was on the docks of the ship in New Orleans that was going to sail to London that she met Lukas again. With a wild crazy eyed look in his eye and a pleading in his voice, he had begged her to stay in America. Anna knew the reasons why – most people who went off to Europe did not return. However, remembering what he had done, she had steeled herself against him had walked off. It had taken begging, pleading, convincing, and finally three little words to get Anna off the boat and back into his arms. However, Lukas Dunstan had forged a miracle that day that might have saved Anna’s life – she didn’t go to Europe.

In fact, she ran away with Lukas. Two years later, the two married in a small church surrounded by friends and family. Their marriage was unconventional by most means. Lukas was not home two to three nights out of the week due to his job and Anna had started getting jobs that led her out of state. It was six months later that the two bought a very old fixer upper plantation home that had been knocked down to a dismal price. However, the estate was falling apart and deemed too dangerous for most people to live in. The newfound Dunstans merely saw a project that could be expanded on through their lifetime. The house is a symbol of their marriage in their eyes. It might be a little down trod and falling apart at times but it’s steady as a rock and filled with tender loving care.

However, their faith and love in each other was tested the moment Anna found out she was pregnant. Anti-marriage and anti-children, it had come to a shock that she had accidentally gotten pregnant. Irrational fear clouded Anna’s mind as she began to have panic attacks on a daily basis about the upcoming child. Lukas, torn between wanting to run and helping his wife, could only stand by helplessly as Anna battled her own inner demons. Her aunt, in an effort to help, started teaching Anna how to garden during the time allowing the feelings of entrapment and her own mother’s betrayal to ease the young woman’s mind. Gradually things got better to the point that Lukas believed everything was going to be okay.

He was wrong.

The day that Anna gave birth to Sadie, it became clear that there was psychological stress. She could only stare helplessly at the squalling infant saying that she didn’t want her becoming irrational whenever a nurse tried to bring her near the child. In the two months that followed, hell had begun for Lukas Dunstan. It had taken some coaxing into letting Sadie nurse from Anna but the woman still would cry on the sight of her daughter and the panic attacks began to increase. It took two months for Anna to come to terms with the fact that she was a mother and would not repeat the mistake her mother had. Fearful of further disapproval from her husband and her own baby rejecting her, it had taken weeks before Anna felt comfortable enough to hold her own daughter alone for the first time.

However, Anna will never forget the moment that she had snuck out to comfort Sadie when she was crying for the tiny girl to quiet in her arms and stare back at her with a tiny glee. The look of love and longing in the small child’s eyes was enough to break any barrier that she had put up. Though it was small and has been tested through the years, a small bond between mother and daughter formed. In an effort to make up for the first two months, Anna began to spoil Sadie giving into her every whim in hopes that her daughter would never learn the truth. Two years later, Anna found herself pregnant again.

This time everything was different. Anna was calmer, more self-assured, and even proud to be carrying around the child. Six months in, Anna declared to her husband that the child was a boy. As no proper girl would ever kick her mother in the manner the child was kicking. Three months later, Ian Jonas Dunstan was born. Fascinated with her young son, Anna carried Ian around everywhere not noticing the growing jealousy in Sadie’s eyes. Luckily, her daughter was distracted by her father’s constant spoiling. The years that would follow were normal compared to the rest of their lives. Anna began to move upwards in her job allowing her more dangerous positions as the children grew older.

Sadie became her father’s daughter while Anna developed an extremely strong bond with her son. His nature was easier for her to understand than why Sadie needed a new dress for the fifth time that week. When she turned thirty six, her training to become an animagi was finally complete. A light black draft was her choice of a form and she teamed up with an older man named Marcus Barker to lead the lower class street spying for the Senate. The years that Hurricane Katrina and Rita hit were the hardest on her. She could only remember sitting in her sister-in-law’s house crying on Mai’s shoulder in a separate room from her husband at the news of the destruction of their home in Lake Charles.

Her husband’s hard work and love had been halfway destroyed. On the outside though, Anna had brushed away her sorrow to remain strong for her frightened children and panicked husband. With a half smile at the damage when they had returned, she had turned to Lukas saying they would rebuild it better than before. Through the years, Anna has accepted the role of matriarch and rock of her clan. She knows when Leah and Teresa have passed; the torch will be brought to her. However, the rumors of black magic and death eaters leave an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach. She knows something is going down – something sinister and ugly.

However, Anna Teresa Dunstan has always been one sneaky hoe.

QUOTE

Sample Post
This is a post of Anna when she was younger on a college site that Sugar and I came from.

Silence filled the room after he had spoken about Kimi and his relationship. Staring ahead at the road, Anna tried to focus on the white lines counting them in her head. It was a prevention technique to cause her from screaming at herself for being stupid. For believing that Lukas hadn’t found anyone else, that she had been special to him alone. A part of her wanted to demand that he pull over so she could run off to be by herself at that moment. Another part of her wanted to call up a friend to drive her home. However, her pride didn’t want to make it even more obvious that he had won this argument. Not trusting her own words that would be fueled by her feelings, Anna stared straight ahead at the road ignoring the pain swelling up inside of her. She should have known better – he had been trouble from the start and had never pretended it. Now, she was just another on his long line of females that he had broken – either their hearts or their prides. Unfortunately for her, she had been stupid enough to allow him to break both.

The silence would have continued if not for the other low blow – this time a more suicidal blow. Slapping her hand down on the side of the door gripping the door handle, Anna took a deep breath. Closing her eyes, she straightened herself in the seat in an effort to calm herself down. He kept talking. He was digging his own grave. Turning to him, she spoke in a low even tone that was beginning to rise every second. If either of them knew any better, they would have ended the conversation then and there. “Don’t you ever talk about my brothers in that manner.” Making his way towards him, she gripped the side of the dashboard for support. “Amar happens to be a fucking man that doesn’t run for his responsibilities. He’s not perfect, Lukas! I fucking know that! But at least he was smart enough to grow some balls and step up to the plate when someone asked him.” Inching almost all the way to his side, she pointed a finger in his face trying to control the urge to hit him. “And he doesn’t toy with the emotions of people who ---“ Almost immediately, she retreated to her side like a snake retreating to its den after realizing it’s prey with bigger than it thought. “Forget I said anything, easy enough for you right?”

He was talking again – hitting her with another blow to her damaged pride. Jerking her head back and blinking at his first comment to show her displeasure, she shut her mouth. Closing her eyes when he presented the truth from the other night in front of her, Anna felt her jaw twitch in annoyance. “Well fuck me for having hormones! Fuck me for wanting to sleep with you! At least I wasn’t the one who was so god damn eager to get it off! You might have had what you wanted if you weren’t!” Blanching at her words, she put her hand over her mouth and glanced away from him. Fuck. Did she just say that out loud? The slips were coming at a more frequent pace now. Usually, Anna never let herself speak during arguments for very long for that reason. She always walked away before she could start screaming out her own feelings. He was breaking down the distance between them in his single blows and she didn’t like it. Not at all.

Almost immediately, Anna slammed her feet out on the mat in front of her and jerked her body back into the seat to keep from flying into the window. Grimacing at the sharp impact, she looked at Lukas as if he was crazy. “Mother of God, Lukas! I’ll put on the fucking seat belt!” Before she had a chance to comply with his demand, she noticed that he had flipped on the turn signal. What the hell was going on? Had they hit something? Was the truck messed up? Lost in her own thoughts about the fact that Lukas had just nearly killed her by slamming on the breaks when she had her seat belt off and the fact her back was killing her, Anna didn’t register his words. When he ripped off the seat belt and began walking to her side of the car, Anna began to register what was happening.

He was going to leave her on the side of the road.

She stopped breathing. Her legs felt like heavy weights as he jerked opened the door yelling at her to get out. Afraid of what he was going to do next, Anna nodded silently and slipped out of the seat onto the road. Her face had gone deathly pale as he got back into the truck locking the doors. Her heart began to pound in overdrive as he sped off leaving a cloud of dust. Everything she had was in the truck with her bags. She had no way of getting back or anywhere. At the realization, Anna began to tremble in earnest as she sat down on the ground tucking her knees to her chest. Burying her head into her knees, she finally gasped for breath as she began to feel her trembles turn into full-blown shakes. Too terrified to cry in fear someone would see a young crying woman on the road and go in for the kill.

He had left her. On the side of the road.

Hearing the slamming of breaks in front of her, Anna peeked up from where she had her head in between her knees. Her breath caught in throat as she saw Lukas running towards her yelling that he was sorry. Without a second thought, she ran to him clinging to his chest. As he tried to pull away to say or do something, Anna clung tighter to his shirt as she trembled still from what had happened. Staying like this for thirty more seconds, Anna finally pulled away before swinging her hand back and punching him hard in the jaw. “YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE. YOU KNEW I’D ….YOU KNEW…Oh God you left me….you left me….“ her voice began to break as she talked causing her to retreat to the safety of the truck. Slamming the door, she put on her seat belt and pressed herself into the side of the door as far away from him as possible. As he returned to the truck, she gave him a wide-wary look as if he was going to do it again any second now.

There was eight hours of silence afterward. It wasn’t till he brought up her work that she had spoken or even acknowledged his presence. As he yelled at her, Anna’s rage backed off into the dark corner where it had come to be replaced by a feeling of shame. Looking at him for a few seconds, Anna closed her eyes blowing through her lips as if she would with a cigarette. Fuck. Against her better judgment and safety, she reached out to barely grasp his leg in an effort to get him to listen. “I have never…ever…thought you were fucking stupid, Dunstan. God, you’re …fucking ….” Brilliant. It had been on the tip of her tongue but she quickly retreated her hand away as the impact of the meaning of his words sunk in. “You think I honest to God enjoyed last night?” Her voice was filled with bewilderment as she spoke shaking her head as if she could get the implications out of her mind. “It’s called faking it, Dunstan. Faking an orgasm? Acting? Surely, you of all people, have heard of that?” Her mind was frantic in a way to get him to understand how much she hated every single second of her job. That she wasn’t some filthy whore who brought anyone into the bathroom or the back alley if they had fifty bucks on them. To convince herself that there was still something inside her that was tainted and dirty.

“You think I like getting traded like that? Being paid and bought for like some sort of animal? The fact I can’t say a word to these guys? As long as they don’t physically harm me, Moore lets them do whatever they want, Dunstan. I have never been as disrespected as I am in there by a man. “ Her hands slapped down on the seat as she looked at him. “And I fucking don’t need any of it from you of all people!” She retreated back into her shell with its barbed wire walls by the end of her retort. It was getting too personal. Anna needed to reform the distance between them. He was getting too close. The worst part was that for a second in the past few weeks of their relationship together that she had enjoyed it. That was not supposed to happen. Twelve years of practice had made her a fucking master at keeping her distance and with one smile; Lukas could make her want to step out of her comfort zone. It was suicidal.

By the time they had reached his parents’ house, the fight had been driven out of her. A mild acceptance that she was going to be nothing more than an annoying pest of a friend to Lukas had begun to set in. Still, she was determined to make a good impression on the family. As he touched her arm, Anna felt her heart wrench painfully wanting to scream at him why he kept doing this to her. Saying that he didn’t want her in that form then using the smallest of gestures to proclaim he cared for her in something other than the sexual nature. Nodding at Gemma’s words, she nearly choked on air at the last statement. “Yeah…Yeah…” Exit B. Where was Exit B? Her hand scratched the back of her neck as she gave the girl a weak smile. “He’s already met the family…. wasn’t exactly…chipper. There might have been an unloaded shotgun, a carving knife, and a water hose involved.” Realizing that she just made it sound like her brothers had planned a mass murder, she quickly threw up her hands. “Not that anyone got hurt you see…just…scare tactics.” Stop talking.

Muttering a “you have no idea” to the girl’s other comment, Anna turned her attention to Mrs. Dunstan. Politely taking in the good natured pokes about her tiny stature and weight, Anna graciously declined a dinner roll that the elder woman had nearly shoved in her hand. The words may have been changed between two different women but Anna saw what was happening. The overwhelming sense of guilt caused her to walk outside with Gemma to wait for Lukas. Leah was too good for a woman for Anna to continue to lie to – lying about her relationship with her son, what she was, and why she was living with him. As Lukas whispered angrily in her ear, Anna’s eyes flickered to Nik as the eldest boy laughed out loud looking at Lukas. Turning to look up at Lukas, she gave him a wolfish smile before speaking loudly. “Oh! I keep forgetting Nik is enlisted! I mean one look at that scrawny frame –“ She turned to eye Nik before giving him a cheeky smile. “and I thought he just worked at the local Grocery store! They clearly have lost their standards if your brother is enlisted. I mean, I could even take him on and win.” Reaching down to grasp Lukas’ hand before he could say a word, she pulled them towards the door before turning around to give the siblings a broad smile and wave. No one fucking made fun of her Lukas and got away with it. Brother or not.

“I would say you can thank me later but your brother will probably either kill me or convince you I’m the spawn of a she-devil.” Well impressing the siblings was definitely out of the loop now. She’d have to concentrate on the parents. Realizing she was still holding his hand, Anna let go of it with a guilty flush ducking her head with a sorry. As the conversation at the table began to turn to her, Anna merely shrugged at the comment of rodeos feeling her old confidence come back. Now they were on a subject and lifestyle she knew about. “Depends on what you do and how crazy you are doing it. Racin’ is generally pretty harmless. It’s the bullridin’ that’s where the crazies go. But you ladies probably all know about that being involved with enlisted men.” She cringed inwardly as she spoke. Fuck that came out wrong. Did she just accuse Nik and Jonah of being crazy? Not that she wasn’t thinking that they were – a good sort of crazy though. The kind of crazy needed to put your life in danger twenty-four seven. As Leah commented about her not getting hurt, Anna bit her lip and raised her eyebrow in response. “I wish I could agree, ma’am. So does my doc.” She let the comment drop not wanting to go further into her injuries over the years. It was the reason she stopped going to the doctor and going for home remedies. If she had to tell her doctor one more time that she busted her leg open because she was riding bareback at dangerous speeds through uneven terrain one more time, he was going to ban her from riding period.

As Lukas whispered in her ear, Anna turned to look at him blinking in a confused manner. “It just happened and I didn’t think you’d care…you’ve been kinda moody…” He was doing it again. Giving her little things that made her believe there was something more. Turning her head away, she took a deep breath trying not to be too obvious in front of the family. It would do no good if one of them figured out the feelings of lovey-dovey were not mutual. Their act would have been up. And it nearly was. Feeling the pressure of Mr. Dunstan Sr’s eyes on her Anna began to panic. She had to do something fast. So she choked – literally! As Lukas began to whisper to her, she waited for the right moment when she was “in his arms recovering” to speak to him. “Fuck, Lukas! I panicked okay! He was staring! I’m not good at lying you should know this! If he asked me something, I would have blurted out the truth. That – That you don’t even care for me in that manner in which they all think and I’m just the puta you took in!” Her voice had raised a little on the last part unaware that she had done so. If she had, she would have run for the hills – yelling that you were a whore in front of the family dinner was not smart. Not even talking about it was.

Sitting down, Anna casually brought Lukas into the conversation smiling at Leah as the woman praised her son. However, her glee for Lukas was short. His father began speaking. At the first words of “this lawyer crap”, Anna visibly flinched as if she had been the one hit. Reaching under the table, she placed her hand on Lukas’ knee in what was to be a reassuring gesture. As the man continued, Anna’s fingers began to dig into Lukas at the irritation that the old man’s words brought her. Her eyes were fixed on the elder man as they continued to narrow in a tell-tale sign of Anna’s infamous temper. She was not going to impress anyone tonight but at least she was going down with a motherfucking bang. A momentary distraction came when Nik spoke, his words causing Anna to duck her head for a moment to hide the simple pleasure of being called Lukas’ girl. Her eyes caught the frown on Lukas’ lips causing the glee to quickly end. She was forgetting herself.

Clearing her throat loudly, Anna felt all five pairs of eyes on her as she spoke. Keeping constant eye contact with the eldest male, Anna proceeded to dig her own grave. “Mr. Dunstan, if you excuse my behavior, I would like to “pitch in” to your little conversation. I think Lukas has plenty discipline. After all, dragging yourself to class every day, staying late in the library so you can earn top grades, and taking on much more than you should for your work load does constitute discipline and hard work, am I correct? Then again, I could see how someone like you thinks the only kind of discipline he needs is to be waving a gun around and getting himself killed.” Feeling a sharp kick in her shin, Anna turned her head slightly to glare at Lukas before continuing. “Furthermore, I really hardly think you should talk about discipline, respectability, and all that fun jazz. You can’t even grasp that your son wants something different than you. Let him live his own life and you can live yours.” Where was the shotgun for suicide? She could feel her insides beginning to churn in nerves the entire time. What the FUCK had she been thinking? She needed to play it off. Even if it meant making herself look bad, or spitting out some of the truth in the process. After all, she was pretty sure the entire family hated her guts by now. “If anyone here needs discipline, I think I’m the front runner for that. My police records can speak for me quiet plainly.” She then returned to her meal waiting for the eldest male to strangle her, yell, or ask her to leave.

After several minutes of uncomfortable silence, Anna excused herself to Lukas’ bedroom. “You stupid fuck. Can’t you just keep your god damn mouth shut for once?” She muttered to herself as she saw the door opening to Lukas. Closing her eyes in an expectant yell and leaning away, she opened one of them and relaxed when he grabbed her hand. The shakes began to slow down in frequency but were increasing in pressure. “I-I need a cigarette. Just a bit of nicotine…” Oh God, she did sound like an addict. As he asked why she had kissed him, she shrugged it off. “Your sister thinks we’re dating! I went along with it.” It wasn’t till he spoke again – saying the word US that Anna let go of his hand immediately. “Why are you doing this Lukas? Is this funny to you?” She eyed him with tired wary eyes. “Am I so fucking obvious that you have to keep playing me like that?” At his confused look, Anna looked around the room taking deep breaths to keep herself calm.

“I mean you kiss me and you try to sleep with me. I can deal with that. That’s you being you.” She waved her hand at him to emphasize her words. “But then you invite me to meet your family, start calling us US, then you hold my hand…Jesus! This isn’t funny, Lukas! You have a girlfriend or whatever she is to you!” Her heart was pounding wildly in her ears as she listened to the words coming out of her mouth. A part of her wanted to backtrack while the other half encouraged her to get this off her chest for once and for good. Then she could run – somewhere to a place where he couldn’t find her with his mixed signals. “I know I’m a whore, Lukas! I get paid to act! But that doesn’t mean I don’t have fucking feelings!” With those words, she laid her hands on his chest giving him a weak shove. “I’m going downstairs to inform your family that I’ll be leaving in the morning. I’ll be out of your hair in D.C. as well by the time you return.” If she hadn’t already informed everyone within the country by screaming out those words at him.

The Headmaster - May 1, 2012 01:38 AM (GMT)

MESSENGER/SPY
First, I really love the fact that Anna’s animagus form really shows off her personality, her inner need to remain free. Though it is the psych nerd in me who notices that! The fact that Anna only has an on/off switch with her emotions rather than the ability to dial things back is one of the things that makes her the person she is. Granted, she has calmed down a lot since she was young, but you can still see the young girl in the woman she has become. The fact that while she likes to act all cynical and tough when she would trust anything Amar tells her is very endearing. It brings her a vulnerability that otherwise would have been greatly missed. I love Anna and I’m excited to see how the Pony Express impacts her life!

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