Annabelle Aponte 

Background:

"I wuz born in Brooklyn, y'know, in 1974. Back n' th' day, the folks wuh tryin' t' make a livin' doin' nohmal jobs like Ma's sec-erah-tarry job an' Papa's job at th' plant. It wuz a hahd time fo' th' family, an' here along comes litta Ana, unexpected-like, an' complicatin' things. I woon't'a blamed 'em if they wooda resented me fo' that, but they din't. They wuz th' best folks I evuh cooda wished foh. They wuh great."

"Papa, that's Carlos Aponte, y'know, that's like his name, he wuz workin' REAL hahd in that plant out in Joisey. An' Mama worked inna office, typin' an' stuff. My brothuhs, did I mention them? My brothuhs wuz all older'n me, an' boy!! Wuz that a load'a fun growin' up or WHAT!! <laughs hysterically> They wuz al-wayz gettin' me inta trubble, boy that wuz a pain! But they wuz great at th' same time, I mean they loved me alot, y'know? An' when I got olduh I nevuh hadda worry about the local Guidos givin' me a hahd time, y'know? So it all worked out. An' of course they would' been lost without me, I mean I wuz the little STAH, y'know? It wuz the best times..."

"Right, but I'm borin' youse wit these unim-pohrtant de-tayls. My family life was great, even though we wuz poor. My brothers, Johnny, Raul, and Paolo, they worked hahd thru high school so's they could help out and also to go to college ta make my Ma happy. Me, I would do housework stuff an' help my Ma with dinnuh, cuz the boyz could not cook, I don't care what ya would threaten dem with. It wuz hopeless! But I always wanted to be something big, y'know. I wanted to be an ac-tress. I wuz gonna be so big I wuz gonna make my parents proud, and buy dem a new house inna bargain."

"Life is funny, y'know? I mean, who'da thunk that their little girl wuz already diff'rent. I mean, I knew I wuz diff'rent cuz I wuz such a ham, y'know? And I could make people laff all th' time! But I mean rilly diff'rent."

"I AM gettin' to th' point! Hold on t'yer shorts! Geez...yur so im-pay-shunt <laughs>!"

"I wuz havin' some hard times wit' my folks about the actin' thing, y'know we wuz Catholic an' they wuz poorh, an' thinkin' that I needed t'get married an' stuff like that. I wuz sixteen at th' time. But I knew what I wanted, y'know? So I'm standin' in my backyahd at like two inna mohnin', cryin' about th' fight we'd had. Now normuhly, my folks would do ANYTHIN' t'make me happy, I wuz the baby y'know. But then they thought I wuz gonna throw my life away doin' some actin' thing that wouldn't work an' then I'd be a mess, right? An' my brothuhs, they wuz yutzes, I mean they wuz majorin' in Beer Consumption 101 in college, y'know? They were football an' pretzel kinda guys. An' normally I wuz one'a th' guys t'them, but this time they wuz backin' my parents, the bums."

"Anyway, so here I am cryin' real quiet like, an' lookin' up at th' stars an' thinkin' that's what I wanted t'be, a star. An' I wanted so much to be up there in the sky, t'just fly away an' be high above it all."

"Have you evuh had a dream where ya flew? Y'know, the ground just kinda falls away from yer feet an' ya float up inna sky, lookin' down at the ground where ya just wuz? I useta dream that alot when I wuz a kid. Only this time, it wuddn't no dream. I wuz up inna air lookin' down at my parents backyard. I musta been a honnert feet inna air!! <laughs> No, I'm see-rious!! Th' family house wuz this little Victorian deal, we rented a'course, an' th' next thing I know I'm lookin' down at the top a' the roof! I could see the roofs of all the houses, an' the lights an' people in th' bathrooms an alla dat! And that's when I KNEW how diff'rent I wuz. Either that, or I hadda UFO encountuh <laughs hysterically, snorts>."

<suddenly serious> "So I was not exactly yer typical Puerto Rican girl from Brooklyn anymore, y'know? I had somethin' special besides my good looks and sensa' humor... oh, stop. An' that's when I knew that whatevuh I wanted I could do. Like I had my own personal angel watchin' out fuh me."

"I went ta college t'make my folks happy. I went to a JC, th' same one my brothuhs went ta, an' a'course they were done by now. They had gone on t'diff'rent things, Johnny went on ta the University, an' Raul had gone on t'work at an office in Manhatten. Paolo, well Paolo decided t'be a cop, an' he's still a cop in NY, y'know. My Ma worries that he's gonna get shot, if only she knew what her baby's doin' out in Cal-i-four-neye-ayy!! Anyways, so th' whole time I'm in JC, I'm tryin' out fo' auditions and tryn' ta get a gig, y'know, actin'. I had took some dramah in high school, an I wuz takin' some at JC, actually it was my majoh. But I din't tell my folks that a'course. So I'm tryin' out fo' parts an' at night I am tryin' my "wings" y'know, flyin' about th' town. Not so's I could become a soopuh hero like Odduhsey, but just fo' th' fun of it! It wuz so coo-wul!! Oh, I LOVED it!"

"Y'know, in retrospect I shouldn't a' told ANYBODY. I mean, I shoulda' just kept it t'myself, y'know, 'Ana can fly, don't tell anyone'? But no! I wuz only like 18 around then, y'know, so I tol' a few people that were like my nearest an' dearest. An' a'course I told my brothuhs, I mean fo' sure that is not somethin' ya keep from y' brothuhs. An' a'course I din't ell my Ma or Pa!! Get real, y'know whatImean? So unfortunately, I got inna bit a' trouble cuz a' my mouth, an' that's why I eventually ended up here. Not that Armitage ain't a good place t'be!"

"Y'see, my buddy Tommy, actually he wuz an old boyfriend, had gotten himself inta some trouble with the Mob. Now, I hadn't told Tommy about my little flying trips, but Gina, who knew Tommy from high school too, had heard from Colleen. A'course Colleen wuz my best frien' from way back when, an' I had actually showed her, not just told her. So's she knew I wuzn't crazy or just lookin' fo' attention. A'course by th' time it gets t'Tommy, I'm soo-puh-man's twin sistuh."

"Now lemme clear somethin' up. I go t'th' gym, an I do aerobics t'work out. I boxed wif my brothuhs since they wuz always pickin' on me, an' I c'n hold my own an' all dat. I am not now, nor am I evuh gonna be, soo-puhman, y'know. My abs, while they CAN bounce a penny, do NOT bounce bullets, y'know? An' th' only time I c'n see thru walls is at the white sales at Nordstrom. So that's that. I fly, y'know, but I am not rilly what'chu call soopuh hero muh-teeriul. But tell this to Tommy, right? He comes t'me fo' help, an' I'm like, uh, call the police, y'know? In fact I knows a good cop (my brothuh Paolo, silly!). But nothin' doin'. He wants me t'save him. We're out in th' college parkin' lot aftuh my night class, an' I'm just inna middle a' tellin' him tuh for-get it when these two Guidos shows up an' gets all in our space."

"Y'know when I wuz first flyin', aroun' 16 or so, I read inna comic book that Paolo gave me about this guy called the Angel. He had wings an' he could fly. That wuz, y'know, basically it. An' he wuz a soopuh hero. Now what I always wondered is why no one evuh just shot his ass an' left him inna alley? I mean, get real, this is New York!"

"So I knew we wuz in trouble. An' Tommy, he wuz just th' soul a' masculinity, reminded me what I saw in him back in high school. He tells 'em ta back off, cuz I got soopuh powuhs. Oh, they laughed that up. And then he starts blubberin' an cryin' an actin' like a girl. I am so shoor. Total turn-off. So they is hustlin' us inta this cah, an I figger, if I get in that cah I am nevuh gettin' out, y'know. So as he's grabbin' me by my sweatuh, tearin' the cashmeer fuh God's sake, I just closed my eyes and shot up about a hunnert feet offa th' ground like THAT. The Guido holdin' my sweatuh screamed like a girl an' then my sweatuh tore! 300 pounds a' fat Italian ripped th' thing right offa' my bod! An' he fell all th'way back t'th' ground an' landed on top'a his cah. Caved in th' whole top, glass flew everyway-er!"

"Now does Tommy, who has now just WRECKED my life AND my sweatuh, do somethin' heroic an' useful? No, he just screams an' tries to scramble away from this jerk who now has a gun out. An' here I am, in my bra and jeans, floatin' up inna air exposin' myself an' makin' like a skeet shoot. An' I figger if I don' do somethin' fast, I am gonna be perforated! Would that not be a crime? I mean, look at this skin <rubs length of arm>! No bullet holes would be bettuh, don't'chu think? So just as he is raisin' up the gun I flew at him as fast as I could an' smashed inta him."

"Further proof I am not a soopuh hero: physics class. Yeah, I know, wit my accent y'figgered I couldn't do basic math, right? Heh. OK, take a 135 lb. object. Now accel'rate that object to, say, 70 mph. Slam that object inta another object, say, a 300 lb. hunka lasagna named Guido. Guess what?"

"It hurts!! Ow! I smashed inna him an' knocked him fo' a good one, an' then I made a less n' graceful four point landing... okay, it was more like a face-plant... into th' pavement. Fortunately I wuz movin' at an angle, not straight down. Anyways, I felt this pop an then my shoulduh wuz on fi-yuh!! Plus, I banged my head an' couldn't see straight. I knew how t'fall but I wuz careenin' offa Guido pretty fast. At least he dropped th' gun."

"Again, Tommy fails th' idiot test an' tears off, runnin' away at top speed. I dunno, mebbe that wasn't so dumb. But he left me, the creep! An' I wuz tryin' t'get up an' get away, but I coodn't see straight. So I'm crawlin away on my hands n' knees, tryin' t' get up, an' Guido is gettin' up, less hurt than I am, an' fishin' around for his gun. I know if he gets it I am dead meat. Finally I make it t'my feet an' start runnin, just as he finds it an' starts shootin'. Well I ducked behind some cahs just in time t'avoid gettin' shot, an' made a run fo' it!"

"If only that wuz th' end of th' story..."

"Of course Tommy got caught again. An' a'course he spilled it who I was. I now have th' Mob after me. They don't really wanna mess wif my family cuz my brothuh is a cop, but they are lookin' all ovuh fo' me. An' they ain't gonna take 'I'm sorry' fo' an ansuh, y'know? So much fo' my brilliant acting caree-yer."

"I spent th' last 5 years on th'road mostly. I did some small plays in California. Nothin' too big. I worked fo' a travellin' circus fo' a while as a trapeez artist. Easy when y'can fly an' are already decent at that stuff. That's actually how I got out to CA inna first place. But, they eventually found me there too. I've been different people entirely. I'm real good at voices an' accents an' stuff. Listen:"

"I have NO idea how I managed to elude my pursuers long enough to come across your organization, but I believe we can be of mutual benefit to each other."

"I c'n do alllmost any kinda accent, laddie. An' with th' rrright amount'a prreperrration, I could nae doubt be a' bonnie use to ye, aye?"

"So, like, fer shure, maybe we can like, work together, you know? Cause I am like, sick of roaming from place to place and not having a name, you know? And my parents? I would like to be able to write them without worrying about being found, you know? And that is all stuff you can help me with, right? Ohmigod, I'm so shure."

"Buhsides bein' a skilled ac-tress, I c'n fly. Y'know, that has GOT t'be useful in doin' somethin' besides circus work an' bein' a soopuh hero, right? I ain't sayin' I'm perfect, but I'm a lot better'n y'might think, an' I'll give ya my all. Catholic girl's honor! Whaddaya say?"

Tactics/Powers:

Ana grew up in a poor neighborhood in Brooklyn with 3 older brothers. She is quite skilled at fighting dirty, and knows some boxing. Her only paranormal ability is her ability to fly unaided and with no visible effects. She is also somewhat more resistant to cold and windshear than a normal human, and has a slightly tougher bone structure to allow her to survive falls. She is very people-handy, though, and would prefer to charm her way out of a situation if at all possible. She has an amazing knack for remaining calm in difficult situations.

Lifestyle:

Ana lives in a studio apartment in San Francisco's SOMA district. She has done some south of Market plays, and even performed at Fort Mason's dramatic center. She takes acting classes at SF state. She doesn't own a car, but takes the bus and public transit everywhere (sometimes she cheats and flies); being from New York, she never learned to drive. She lives tastefully and well, but is basically comfortable with a minimum amount of "things", except, of course, clothes, which she accumulates at a frightening rate. She loves to club-hop and go dancing, but bemoans the lack of "eligible men" in the Bay Area as compared to NY. She stays in close contact with her family through false addresses set up by AI Inc, as well as through Internet and phone accounts routed through AI's offices. She visits on the holidays, but is extremely careful not to be observed, often arriving in the dead of night under her own power. Her hobbies include writing and playing with her pet bunny, Herman (a female lop), as well as her pastime, shopping. Accompanying her on these jaunts are her friends Shaggy Jones and Lisa Bozeman, fellow acting students at SF state; she has known them only a few months, but they are her best friends on the left coast. Shaggy is a grunge kinda guy, who thinks he is a poet. Lisa is a mulatto actress from New Orleans, and enjoys Rastafarian music.
 

Appearance:

Ana Aponte is 5'6" and weighs around 130 lbs. She has beautiful cafe-au-lait skin and large black eyes. Her features are Latina, and she is quite stunning. She's the kind of woman who can look good in sweats and a t-shirt. Her hair is long and wavy black. She is generally very relaxed and casual, wearing jeans and sweaters or even tights and sweatshirts, depending. She can pull out the evening gown and fill it out quite nicely when the occasion calls, however, and has a very shapely figure. She most typically wears what she calls "hoochie clothes", that is, kind of flashy, almost-tacky outfits ala Rosie Perez. She gets asked to dance a lot at clubs. She does NOT look like she sounds.

 Personality:

Ana is loud, funny and charming. She puts on a cheery, sunny face for the world that covers most of her secret hurts and pains. She believes that you have to accept life as it comes and value it as a gift, and her gift to others is to make them laugh and enjoy life more. She grew up with 3 brothers and is quite happy drinking beer with some friends in front of a football game on TV; she can basically be "one of the guys" fairly easily. She is aware of how attractive she is, but is not stuck up... she is reluctant to get seriously involved with mobsters chasing her, however. She misses New York and normally lets her accent come out unabashed. When she chooses, however, she can imitate a Californian easily. Raised Catholic, she is not particularly devout, but carries many Christian beliefs inside her. She is somewhat patriotic in an abstract kind of way, believing in America but not particularly trusting the current government. She is kind and fair, and does not enjoy hurting others in any way. She enjoys helping people, and believes things work out in the end. If there is one thing she has a hard time with, it is seeing her own potential for good and how much she affects people in a positive way.