Human:

Anastasia was born shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Her father, Valerik was a Russian businessman while her mother, Oksana was a Belarusian waitress from Minsk who was working at the time in Moscow. Valerik would use his late work hours as an excuse to visit Oksana during her shift and he would drive her back to her apartment afterwards, which was close by. The two spent more and more time together as the season passed. When Oksana found out she was pregnant with his child, Her and Valerik felt that Russia was no longer a safe place to raise a child. It was then that they decided to move to the United States to raise their baby thus Ana was born and raised in the Little Moscow district of King George City with both of her parents. They chose this location because it was affordable (as this is a poorer district and they came in as lower class immigrants) as well as it being familiar enough in culture to their own it would make the transition more fluid.

As a baby Ana only spoke Russian however her parents decided that it would be safer and she would have a better future if she spoke English. Due to this, she has a mild Russian accent however living in the States and speaking English for as long as she has, has dimmed down her accent significantly from her childhood. She also does not speak Belorussian despite being from Belarus. She does recognize when it is being spoken but cannot speak it as she was raised by those a part of a time without Belorussian independence. (She also knows that certain Cyrillic characters are Belorussian not Russian but as she only learned the Russian Cyrillic alphabet, she can’t read them, only know that they are the same ones her parents have written and that they aren’t part of the Russian alphabet). She was raised as an only child since she was always a bit of a handful, and her parents decided early on that they could really handle one.

Anastasia’s drive being a firefighter came from when she was young and her house caught on fire during the night. Nobody was hurt in exception to the family’s dog, Sobaka (Cобака literally meaning dog), who wasn’t able to be pulled out in time. Young Anastasia was upset about the death of the family dog and blamed the firefighters for not coming in time to save both her beloved pet, as well as the stuffed animals in her room. As an adult she strove to be a firefighter, committing herself to learning the necessary skills, and eventually was able to take her place as an official firefighter of King George City. She begun training to be a firefighting at the age of eighteen. It was there that she met Thomas, a fellow student also dreaming of being a firefighter. The two bonded over their passion for the profession and became fast friends, giggling together over the grumpy police chief who looks like a basset hound and is older than sin. The two became closer, eventually dating and moving in together. On the four year anniversary of being together, a proposal was made and the two became engaged when she was twenty two. The two of them decided to continue firefighting even after engagement as they were still young and career focused on the passion that had brought them together.

The two of them worked together in the King George City (KGC) Fire department. For a city with so many people, the station was still homey enough that Ana quickly made friends with most of the people there including bonding with the fire dog, Spot (who no, was not a dalmatian but a really chubby black and white cocker spaniel who smelt funny). When her parents decided to move back to Russia, Anastasia opted out, as she had no place there after spending her whole life in the US. She still has contact with her parents, who occasionally come up for a month or so at a time to visit her, although Anastasia admits she is thankful that her parents come up only twice a year, as she can only handle so much of her mother’s constant bickering about her getting married before her, urm, expiration date. The pierogi shop woman, Natasha checked on her often after her parents moved, occasionally with food or necessities, acting as a caretaker in her parents place. Anastasia assumed it was because her parents asked her to but she never dared to ask.

The month was July, seven months after the two had become engaged when the group got called for an apartment fire in the city east. With how dry things had been, fire calls were common but this one was large with stench of black smoke. Dozens of firefighters were called including both Thomas and Ana. The other two firefighters from their district, Marty and Franklin were also called out along with outside city stations. The scene was havok, steam billowing and the sounds of chaos was deafening. Thomas was saying that he needed to go back inside because one person wasn’t accounted for, and that putting out the fire would be left to them. Anastasia wasn’t happy about this and tried insisting with him that there was almost no chance of the person inside still being alive and that running into the fire wasn’t worth the risk but Thomas didn’t take to the idea, saying that, as firefighters, they needed to do whatever was necessary to ensure the safety of others. He smiled and told her he would be right back after rescuing the last person so hesitantly agreed and let him go in, while she went to help with the hoses. But he never came back out and even after the fire was extinguished, there was no sign of him or any remains to suggest his death. A police case was opened at Ana’s demand for the missing husband to be however after another two months there were still no leads so the case was dropped and the PD pronounced him as dead, stating that the fire must have been hot enough to turn him to ash although Ana refused to believe that there would be no remains, had he died.

As the church was already booked for their wedding, Thomas’ funeral was held shortly after in the church with Ana’s bereavement leave covering the time to arrange the funeral to be on their would-be wedding day. Ana showed up to the funeral in her wedding dress, stubbornly convinced that fiancee wasn’t actually dead and wouldn’t dare forget their wedding day. Of course the groom did not show up causing Ana to have a public outburst in front of everyone, refusing to leave the church until her husband to be came to come get her. She waited about three hours after the funerals end waiting however he never came and defeated, she finally agreed to go home.

After that Anastasia went through a mourning period, leaving the fire station and firefighting for a five months in solidarity of the “death” or lack thereof of her fiancee. She eventually came to the decision that she would continue firefighting, in hopes to one day be even half the hero Thomas was. After talking to the firehouse, they took her back in and at twenty three, she returned to fight fires, however, feeling that the name Ana had too many ties with Thomas she cast it aside and started going by her middle name Valori instead, refusing to let any others call her Ana. This rule was later broken when she told Faust of her name, allowing him to be the only person who can call her Ana since Thomas.

Her fate binding happened after she was caught in a situation of her own, where she knew there was a non accounted for still inside the theatre fire. Thinking of Thomas, she decided she would this time take the chance and she ran inside however she got trapped inside and couldn’t get out, thus not being able to save the last person. The Phoenix had come to the Mortal world and after seeing her bravery, bound itself with her so that she could save the last person in the fire and make it out alive. She Fate-bound as a phoenix was at 24, a year after returning to the fire station and two years after Thomas disappeared.

Fae:

Euphemia Redcrosse was a Phoenix of House Redcrosse in the fiery city of Findias. She was somewhat small for a Phoenix but her pride was in the long plumage of peacock patterned feathers the colours of molten gold and flames. She was a proud phoenix, fiery and bold in nature. But it also made her difficult and even her handlers had trouble rendering her still.

The first memory she has is of a room with nicely intricate patterns ingrained into the walls, patterns she would later burn with fire and tear at with her talons. But no matter how much damage she did to them, they didn’t fall, it was something even her flames could not break down or destroy. This room is where they kept her. She remembers very little of life before that room and even less of the identities of fae parents, whoever ir wherever they were or are. “You belong to Redcrosse” they told her she didn’t have memories that seemed to say otherwise so she accepted that. Her family owned her and that was that.

Before the war, despite being a noble, she interacted with other very little, aside from the few that had come seen her in her room to feed her and even then it was brief. Business as usual. She was kept locked up, a caged “bird” used only as a neverending supply for both her feathers and for her healing.

When the war broke out, Euphemia was ordered by her house to use her phoenix abilities to assist in the war. She learned quickly that it was the war was far from over, and that all the suffering she was enduring would never cease as long as she stayed in Tir Na Nog. Knowing that leaving would mean she was turning her back on her house, Euphemia fled Tir Na Nog, leaving the world of the terrible nobles behind.

She swore that day to never to fight for others again however it was not an easy habit to break, not when she had lived her whole life doing just that. When she found Anastasia, she was awed that there was another being who, like her, had risked it all for the sake of others. Why would she do it so willingly?

When Anastasia got caught in the fire while trying to save the last human in the theatre fire, Euphemia realized there was a way to save her. Same them both. Not out of habit, not because that was the way she knew, but because she wanted to. Because she had the freedom to make a choice to save something on her own terms. When she entered the flames, the human was dying and sacrifices had to be made. But that’s what phoenixes do right? The two fatebound, an unconcious dying woman and a Phoenix and Valour was born.

Fatebound:

Valour as a fatebound is a mess. While Anastasia was a mostly positive person, melding with the phoenix, Euphemia is what made Valour so angry and bitter in nature. She has resentment issues left over from her captivity in Tir Na Nog and from it has a fear of being locked or trapped in things as well as the suffocating dark. Because of this anytime she enters a dark space she will light it up with fire to make the darkness dissipate. She considers her fatebinding to be a burden, possibly due to the fact it was a desperate last minute decision that placed the burden of her fae side on her otherwise happy human half, making Valour the hurt being she is. It implies maybe she holds some sort of resentment towards her fae side or a plausible rift between the two halves but this was never really confirmed.