Anna Bracha
From DevilshireWiki
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 Alison Brie as Anna Bracha | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Contents |
Background
The night Anna Bracha came into the world not too many people celebrated. Her mother, a young, unwed teenager was too exhausted to want to hold her and the social worker that did so hours later as the doctor described her in perfect health was distracted by the time, the nasty weather, and the date she had later that night. Named Anna by the night nurse, she was handed off to a foster family and thus her journey through the agencies of Massachusetts began. Honestly, it really wasn't such a bad life. When all you've known is upheaval it doesn't seem so strange to change families every few months. It seemed like bad luck seemed to plague the baby girl, with any adoptions falling through at the last minute either due to sudden medical reasons, lost paperwork, or other issues cropping up. Due to all of the environment changes, Anna mostly kept to herself and her schoolwork, never really around long enough to make friends good enough to keep. When foster care couldn't be found, a group home usually could, and the staff there were friendly if overworked.
It wasn't until she was fourteen that Anna realized there were things in this world that shouldn't be there. She was particularly bright, but years of moving from place to place left her with a stilted understanding of personal space. That is, locked doors and windows. It was common for her to break curfew and sneak out to do some more breaking and entering into local bookstores and libraries. It wasn't to steal, so she convinced herself it was all right, but to look at the books the group home wouldn't let her read. New Age-y stuff on magic and mythology. Books that claimed dark forces walked the earth nightly to feed on the blood of the living. The stuff that all teenage girls get interested in at some point, although none of the books talked about those sorts of things sparkling.
Since he vampires hadn't strayed very far from the cemetery, a handy church was nearby which she hurriedly slipped into, huddling down between the pews and sobbing her eyes out, entirely terrified all night. When a priest found her the next morning, the police were called, it was determined she was a witness to the triple homicide that had taken place the previous night just down the street, and while she swore it had been too dark for her to recognize anyone, plans were made to transfer her to another care facility in another county for her own protection. Uprooted once again and badly shaken by her experiences, it'd be another year and a half before Anna ever ventured outside after the sun went down, but her curious nature and an almost rabid thirst for knowledge again had her creeping out to visit the depths of the public library at night and read the dusty tomes most people had forgotten were even there. She was surprised the first time she was ever able to cast her first spell, mostly because the book caught on fire, but after years of training and a more intensive studying of chemistry, she actually got good at it. Quite good. By the time she was eighteen and thus became a ward of herself instead of a ward of the state, she was quite a practiced magic user.
The problem with magic and a thirst for knowledge being that there's always more to know. Some of it hidden away with regular locks which she was quite good at, some of it hidden away with magical locks, which she was getting better and better at mastering. She fell in with a bad crowd upon graduation from high school, the sort that traveled in dark circles--and not just magical ones. She kept up with part-time classes at a local state-school, but had trouble paying for anything more than that with the secretarial job she'd managed to land. As such, she started gambling. Street dice first, then poker. High stakes poker with players who were sore losers and stakes
The same could be said of her magic use. By the time she was twenty she was well past the new age section of the local Barnes and Noble, being taught by magical groups and making contacts in the magical world. She was talented and she was cocky: the more she learned, the more she boasted that her powers and her mastery of magic made her invulnerable. She used charm spells on her boss to get him to give her a raise. This would have been a great way to settle her debts and make an honest living, but it went all straight back into poker. Her money desperation only pushed her further into magic, trying spells that were far beyond her means. Summonings to try to get demons to do her bidding. Grant her wishes. Win her a fucking hand of poker so she could pay her rent which was months past due.
Everyone told her it was dangerous. Even Anna knew it was stupid, though the same thought process never kept her from gambling and it didn't keep her, one night, from casting a spell that opened a doorway and allowed something far more powerful than she'd ever dealt with to pass through. Pass through and breeze on by the wards she'd set up. Pass through and proceed to absolutely demolish her. When she woke up in the hospital she'd broken eighteen bones, almost all of them vital for movement. Those she knew in the magical world were livid with what she had done, what she has unleashed, and how difficult it would be to fix. She vowed to help them, although no one wanted to even speak with her, never mind work with her in this context.
She dove into her studies. Immersed herself in things that the elders were afraid to touch. She was absolutely determined to help fix the mess she'd caused, even if she had to gamble her whole soul away to do so.
...in the end, she pretty much did. It took two years of tracking and fighting and defeats and deaths before they finally cornered it, with enough power to maybe, maybe turn the tide. But not before heavy losses were accumulated. With its last dying breath (though it didn't really breathe, it was far more metaphysical than that which she explained at length to a hunter one night, much to his dismay) it cursed her--that her gift would be her downfall and that her one protection would cause her far greater damage in the end--and tried to drag her down into the hell it had waiting for it on the other side.
Anna barely survived. Thankfully, there were quite a few talented wizards to be had that could perform miraculous healing spells, but while they could heal her bodily wounds, they could not heal the deep shock she had fallen
A year at Maclean was spent without her speaking one word. She moved about as if in a trance, did what she was told, and was otherwise confined to her room so that she didn't do herself harm. Social workers assumed this was just delayed guilt and trauma from the homicide she had witnessed. She couldn't speak to tell them. One day when sitting down to dinner, she blinked down at her food then politely asked a passing nurse for the salt. After the fuss had died down, another year was spent convincing everyone that she was in fact sane, although her memory was somehow faulty, confusing the nightmares she had as reality. The doctors helped her sort that all out, and in the end she firmly believed that her mind was just playing tricks on her. That the murder she had seen at such a young age had traumatized her and the human mind can go through drastic hoops to try to protect itself. Since she was clearly bright, a few of the nurses got together upon her release and arranged for an interview in the north-shore town of Devilshire where one of them had a son that taught psychology at the local University. He needed an assistant and once she was there for six months, she could start taking classes at a reduced rate. She thanked them gratefully, packed up what few things that belonged to her, and set out to Devilshire where she could live a quiet, normal life while trying to work through her issues.
And find a poker game.
Personality
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Powers and Abilities
Anna is actually a pretty accomplished spell-slinger, but she's mostly blocked that part of herself off. Her increased magical resistance comes from her stern belief that magic does not exist. Any magic she uses will likely be an accident and be followed up by loads and loads of medication and therapy lest she start hallucinating again and end up at the funny farm.
People
Ringo - Anna finds his belief in superstition odd and the fact that each time she sees him he dredges up memories long since buried is not comforting. She's pretty sure he's suffering from a mental break much like she did, only he hasn't been treated for it, which makes her a bit more sympathetic to him. Maybe a little too sympathetic, since she's started actively enjoying his company. He's quirky like she is and he doesn't ask a lot of questions about her past, which is a bonus.
Louis - Some guy that's always around when that stupid horn blows. He was pretty helpful when an ad campaign went horribly wrong. Then he turned out to be a HUGE JERK! ALL THE TIME!
Mitchell - A really nice guy that helped her through the storm one day and made sure she was all right during the Christmas shopping riots. And then he went and killed a doggie in front of her and told her Ringo was dead! What is up with that!? Still, he helped when she had a concussion. She is just not at all down with animal cruelty!
Trang - A woman Anna met and one who she assumes is an avid drug user and/or mentally unstable. She directed her to a shelter one cold winter's night so she wouldn't freeze to death. Having spent a lot of time with mentally unstable people, she's got a soft spot for those who show signs of being in that sort of trouble.
Yvonne - Anna didn't get this woman's name, but she was very nice in trying to get her down out of the tree she got stuck in thanks to some overzealous wassailing.
Carl - A really nice college kid who is underaged and interested in poker. Friend for life? Maybe. Sucker for the moment? Absolutely!
Keith - Irish McNuggets.
Emma - A helpful librarian lady who at least is always nice and calm when she gives answers.
