Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2018 17:03:38 GMT -7
hello there, my name is Belladonna Burke but you can call me Donna. i'm a Adult and 34 so that makes me a graduate of Hogwarts. You could say I'm cunning, ambitious and determined but I personally think that I am maternal, savvy and hilarious. People say I look a lot like Ruth Negga, but I don't really see it...
Belladonna Arya Burke
pronunciation:
beh-LAH-daw-nah, daw-nah
nickname:
has gone exclusively by donna since school.
age:
34
date of birth:
8th of December 1990
gender & pronouns:
she/her.
blood status:
pureblood
sexuality:
heterosexual
schooling:
Hogwarts - Slytherinoccupation:
business owner - gamblin galleons casino
wand:
maple, 8 1/4", phoenix feather, swishy
playby:
ruth negga
appearance:
donna looks much like her playby in features. she is 5'2", though do not allow her height to fool you, she will toss you in the gutter as well as any bouncer ever could. with a strong grip, and a secret smile, she looks as cheeky as she is friendly. don't let her poor you a drink, because she'll tell you she has loose wrists and you'll be drunk before you know it. she has a tattoo of a pair of square, horn-rimmed glasses on her shoulder in memory of a boy whose name she never says out loud.
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personality
likes:
- strawberry malbaros
- sweet preserves
- collecting strays
- playing poker
- counting money & cards
- cooking (badly)
- holding grudges
dislikes:
- pureblood traditions
- her burke, no good cousin
- her sister (except not really)
- bad hands
- swindlers
- empty pockets
- the younger versions of herself.
erised:
donna simply wishes to keep her casino afloat and save her soul at the same time, before it's truly too late.
amortentia:
strawberry flavoured marlbaros, sweet jams and the tang of ethanol.
boggart:
donna fears discovery, that her underhand tactics will be discovered and her niece will become a victim of her own hubris. and most of all, she fears her very blood and what it means for her because of how she has used it to her advantage in the past.
overall personality:
As a child Donna was taught that smiling was a weapon and crying was a foul weakness. She grew up in the perpetual shadow of Knockturn Alley, paired with an unloving mother and a flighty father. It meant that Donna was forced to grow up - and fast. The arrival of her sister taught her what it meant to care for something other than yourself, and when her mother finally left she took her childhood with her. From then on, Donna had to make rather mature decisions, which was quite far from what any child her age should be doing. She is of curious and strategic mind, ranging from her fascination with strange things and her ability to make a meal out of just about anything. Though, her sister would perhaps have something to say about her cooking prowess.
Though as a teenager Donna was very much a follower, she possesses a kind of compassion that was taught over time. Her lack of socialization as a child, paired with the small-minded opinions of her kin meant that Donna was rather late in her understanding of ‘difference’. Or, more her ‘appreciation’. Muggles were just another oddity to be popped in a jar and set on a shelf. They were not… real. And therefore, not worthy. It took Donna to meet a Muggle she wanted to know. That being said, before then she was always gentle with her sister, that is a maternal instinct that she carried with her from a very young age. It just took a very long time for Donna to appreciate it.
Donna is not just a strategic thinker, she is also funny. Her defence mechanism in school was just never to take anything serious. This was not an asset to those deemed ‘lesser’ by her friends, because Donna could cook up a rather mean-spirited jest about anybody. Her friends simply pointed and Donna shrewdly picked apart their victim with her sharp tongue, and quick wit. This made her a side-kick of sorts. Thankfully, as an adult Donna has softened her blows to a more shared kind of humour. Though she still enjoys the odd jab at patrons, for old times sake.
With an ability to make something out of nothing, Donna may not be the perfect wizard, but she is a a mathematical whiz kid. Her experience at bookkeeping has given her skills not always appreciated among her pureblood peers. It does, however, make her a rather good poker player. She has a fantastic poker face and after winning far too many hands, nobody who knows her will play with her. Not unless they want to lose. It’s fortunate that few wizards consider the concept of ‘counting cards’.
Most of all, though, Donna is simply tired of the old pureblood traditions. It cost her her home, her father, and her love. Known as a bit of a spinster - since according to society she has been single for a very long time, she runs the casino and enjoys her solitude. Though, this is more strategic than most would think as she uses her casino as a front for the Purifiers, but also is an open line to the other side. She has never been much of a risk taker when it came to her reputation, as loyal as loyal can be, or so she will have you think. Donna has an impenetrable poker face.
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personal history
mother:
geraldina burke 'nee bulstrode, deceased, home-maker, etc.
father:
mortimer burke, deceased, business owner - borgin & burkes.
siblings:
jessamine hilla burke, 30, business owner, partner.
pets:
bloodhound named sic, often found sitting by the door of the casino.
history:
When Geraldina Bulstrode agreed to marry Mortimer Burke she was promised a life of upstanding, pureblood society and comfortable wealth. The Burke’s had, after all, been prominent members of the pureblood community for centuries. They owned a very well known shoppe in Knockturn Alley, where people would often venture far and wide for its speciality contents. Alas, things are never as simple as they seem. What she in fact got was a damp, dingy flat above Borgin & Burke’s and a husband who was more interested in collecting than paying attention to her. The more upstanding Burke’s had smartly married out, living in the countryside and away from the shadow of a consuming, niche shoppe and an obsessive, consuming ownership.
Belladonna ‘Donna’ Burke was born first, less than a year in to their marriage. A skinny, sickly looking baby; ‘Dina often suspected that Knockturn Alley was sucking the life out of her and her children, but Mort refused to leave. And Dina was young and hopeful enough to keep trying. Divorce was not a widely accepted reality among most pureblood families, especially when the match had been made for the benefits of blood alone. There was no place for her back home, but there was no place for her in Knockturn Alley, either. She trundled on, though disaffected and quite harsh and resentful toward her daughter, but she still went on to have another. ‘It’ll keep Donna company, eh?’, said Mort, overjoyed to have another child, though he wished too long and too hard for it to be a boy. ‘You cursed it’, Said Dina when she gave birth to a second girl, no heir in sight. It drove a wedge down the middle of their marriage. Where Mort was able to pretend for quite some time, his own ignorance keeping him comfortable, even he could not deny the resentment in his wife’s pinched face.
Belladonna was a child taught harshly not to cry, it was a sign of weakness and Dina found the sound so shrill and unacceptable that it made her lash out whenever she heard the telltale whine. By the time her little sister Jessa was born, she was pressing the same mentalities on to her. Though, they were inseparable. Donna was barely four, left to cart around a baby Jessa. She grew up in the damp darkness of Knockturn Alley, it was no surprise that it grew to be home for her and her sister. While Dina had the capacity and experience to dream of better, her children never did and she was never one for telling stories. She rarely took them out, and Mort never left the shoppe. Donna wasn’t brought up to dream of fancy things, she was quite a rational girl. Though, she did have something of a temper. Watching her mother fly in to wild mood swings, it was no surprise that she displayed the same capacity for rage. Her little face turning purple, pinched lips that would part in an almighty scream. Soon, though, she learned to take her rage out on pillows instead of glassware.
Belladonna was just six when Dina finally left, baby Jessa barely edging past two. One morning Dina was there, pacing the living room like a caged animal, and the next she was gone. ‘She’ll be back’, Mort would say, and Donna would nod silently. Later, Donna would realise that she gave up on her mothers ghost long before her father ever did. In the end, the firewhiskey stole him before anything else could. But, strangely enough, Donna loved her father. Her relationship with the man was an odd one. He was no affectionate or even very kind, but his wild fascinations were of great interest to Donna. She often followed him around, a silent shadow - for any sudden movements and she would be promptly told off - but she learned how to walk in his shoes. The way he marveled over dark oddities. He was fond of going off on drunken tangents about his new arrivals and for Donna they were like fairytales, she ate them up, her only proper connection to the outside.
When Donna wasn’t following her father around, the girls studied at home. At the very least Mort valued education, the only visitor the girls had from the time that Donna was six until she was 11 was a rather stout woman with a handbag full of books. She was the no-nonsense type and Donna hated her guts, but no amount of badgering could scare her off - she was rather experienced in the art of handling bratty pureblood children. She escaped the awful woman and her ancient teachings when she received her letter to Hogwarts, admitting her as a brand new student. She was not at all surprised to find it behind the door, having loitered underneath their windowsill every morning as she waited. The owls were never found of Knockturn Alley, always flying in days late as if they took the long way around.
At Hogwarts, Donna was just another ‘prestigious’ pureblood Slytherin. Though she was of course from a broken home, it denied her the privilege of taking a high spot among her peers, she was still ‘better’ than the alternative to most. It wasn’t quite as easily spoken of, the War made everyone rather private about their intolerance in the early days, it was obvious to Donna that she had a certain amount of power. An ‘in’ if you must. She latched on to it, her first venture in friendships outside of her own blood. Though perhaps not the kindest and most compassionate of people, her pureblood friends had a certain level of respect for her and Donna enjoyed that. Her early days were something of a blur to her, and she doesn’t recall them kindly as an adult. A bratty, snotty kind of girl who picked on weaknesses because it made her awful friends laugh. She was a funny little thing at least, quick to crack a joke at the expense of others. A wasted kind of humour really, but who was keeping track? Not Donna.
Things changed for Donna at 17. It was the summer before her last year at Hogwarts that she met Evan Pettersen. A handsome, lanky boy from East London. She’d long since discovered the wonders outside of Knockturn Alley and had even gone to a few clubs on her friend’s recommendation. Of course, it meant leaving her blind drunk father, but in those days Donna allowed her sister to take the reins. Her rebellion made her selfish, made her mad at the man who created her. It even made her kiss a Muggle boy with glasses and crooked teeth. A ‘mudblood’ if you will. What was only supposed to be an act of rebellion soon turned in to something more. She wrote to him all of her final year, they spoke about how he was planning on going to Cambridge. She never did tell him where she flew off to for school, afraid of what he would think of her if she did. By the time she graduated, with simple results and a forgettable face, she was quite mad in love. It was a terrible, awful secret.
The only person who Donna dared tell was her sister. They were something of a team, fearless and nasty, the only person who could stand the other for long periods of time. Donna used to say it was ‘immunization by exposure’. In reality, it was their secrets. It bound them in more ways than one. For instance, the girls had been singlehandedly keeping Borgin & Burke’s afloat since Donna was about 16. She might not have been a whiz at Charms or Transfiguration, but Donna was good with numbers. She kept the books up to date, made sure their meagre staff were paid their tuppence on time and hid their father’s awful reality. Jessa was good with stock, she could spot an oddity from a thousand yards. And when the doors were locked tight they dragged their father from the nearest pub and cleaned the vomit from his shirt and shoes. Mort had never been the same since Dina ran off, because for as much as she hated him, the poor sod did love her.
After graduation, Donna took control of the shop full time while Jessa finished school. The girls had long since agreed that they would die before they allowed their home to sink, and funnily enough that included the shop. Neither were afraid of the variety of customers who swept in to their little abode. Nor, where they fools easily taken advantage of. The girls dragged the establishment away from ruin with their own wits, but Donna was still sneaking off to meet her mismatched lover. She juggled her two realities with varying degrees of success. On the one hand she could not deny her hearts desire, but on the other she still laughed when a customer made a hideous joke about Muggle failings. All without his knowledge, or her fathers. He would never approve, even blind drunk.
As it turned out, Mort would die long before he had to learn of his daughters shame. Donna was 26, her sister 22, both perfectly acceptable ages. The girls were not surprised, the Healers had long since warned Mort about his terrible habits. He passed away in his bed, with a glass of firewhiskey in his hand. ‘Just as he’d have liked it’, Donna had said, though she felt heavy with sorrow. The girls expected to run the shop from then on. It was their inherited home surely. The first black mark against pureblood tradition came when they learned the awful truth. Neither of the girls were entitled to the deeds for the shoppe. Rather, it would go to the first male heir. They had no brother and so the girls not only lost their father, but their home as well. Where they were born, raised and grown. Everything that Donna had ever worked for lay in that shoppe and it would go to a smarmy, distant cousin. The rage that swelled inside of Donna was so consuming that she disappeared for a week, taking refuge with Evan under the guise of a vacation.
When Donna returned, she returned with a plan. She’d never truly leave her sister, no matter that she was married with a daughter. When she landed on her doorstep with a sack full of cash and a ‘for sale’ sign it should not have been a surprise. Donna and Jessa purchased the Gamblin Galleons Casino with their meagre inheritance and a Muggle loan that Donna had no intention of ever paying back. They welcomed the elite and the magical only, building a rather high praise from well-to-do wizards as a prestigious and up-and-coming venue for all wizarding needs. And, most of all, their desires. They offered an array of games and traditional drinks. Though, their most popular offer was their assortment of private party rooms available for rent, especially among the scheming pureblood. A society that valued privacy and secrecy above all else, Donna and Jessa were quick to catch on when it came to what their customers wanted most.
Again, Donna was juggling her two conflicting lives. It took a toll on her relationship with Evan - whom was studying for his phD, and with her sister, who was struggling with her own issues, a messy divorce and secrecy of her own. It all came to a head when Donna was 29. Evan was no longer accepting Donna’s lukewarm excuses for her absences and her mysterious family life. Suddenly, all the good in her life felt like it was slipping from between her fingers. Evan wanted more, the casino was booming but demanding, and worst of all, Donna had to pretend she hated the person she felt closest to - her sister and her niece. All because of scandal and expectations.
The day that Donna planned to leave her beloved, he died. He had been cycling to meet her so that they could ‘talk’. Donna was going to tell him everything before she ended it all, they were simply a part of two different worlds. He was hit by a speeding car while on his bike, the head injury so severe that he never woke up. Donna blamed herself, and most of all, the traditions that drove them apart. Nobody but Jessa knew that she was grieving. And perhaps the complete lack of understanding and consideration drove her further away from the ideals she was raised with. Despite the fact that the only reason they did not know was because she made it so.
Donna grew more distant and critical in the passing years. And the world grew darker with her. Her business invited more and more high level purebloods, and soon the Gamblin Galleons Casino was being used to hold very serious meetings for a rogue group called ‘the Purifiers’. It was the perfect front, though perhaps a little obvious and soon Donna found herself being ‘inspected’ much more than she usually would be.
It was the destruction of Ilvermorny that finally shifted Donna’s loyalties. Though she had been wavering for years, and the killings did open her eyes, but it’s difficult to break away from old habits. Currently, Donna is battling with a new reality. She is now a blood traitor, and her casino is the highest paid, extravagant meeting place for the formidable Purifiers. Not to mention she hates her beloved sister, or so she’d have you think…
site events reaction:
donna at first turned a blind eye to the beginnings of the purifiers. from the unexplained deaths, to the disappearance of students. it was 'none of her business', but the more she tried to ignore it all, the more obviously she could not. as her casino filled with a concerning amount of new faces, and her private rooms became all the more popular, donna realised that this was not something that would be a passing fad. like a trendy hairstyle or a new monster jazz band. this was something that only intended to grow. the explosions of the departing carriages of beauxbaton and durmstrang shook donna, though she did not let it show. it was a display of arrogance she had no expected and it scared her. her niece, so young and a future student, it could have been her. she was just a half-blood after all. finally, when they blew up ilvermorny donna was forced to face the terrifying scope of her 'allies' and what it meant for her own future. this is when she switched sides, though not on the surface. donna had seen what it meant for those who went against the purebloods, even harry potter could not evade them, or so she assumed. and if the 'chosen one' could not defeat the purifiers, then donna best keep her head down as she ventures in to unknown territory.
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alias
name:
chanel
age:
22
time zone:
gmt
reference:
rissy
other characters:
too manies...
