#winstonintro

FIRST SOME HISTORY

TW: CHEATING AND IMPLIED HOMOPHOBIA

Anna Penelope Barnes was born in Washington, DC to Robert and Victoria Barnes. The second born and only daughter of the four Barnes children she was often quoted as her mother’s pride and joy, and her father’s favourite. 

Her childhood was privileged and yet largely unextraordinary compared to her peers. Of course she was a little spoilt, attending the best private schools in the city and denied nothing that she wanted, but that was just like every other little girl in her class.

It was at twenty-two when things truly changed.

Newly graduated from Columbia, following in her beloved father’s footsteps, Anna was miles away from home when Robert announced that he would be running for Congress. She was ecstatic, it was a natural career progress he’d been discussing for as long as she could remember.

She immediately moved back home, scrapping plans to go to Harvard Law and instead settling for Georgetown, she became an active supporter for Robert’s campaign. She worked at the office and showcased her winning smile at every photo opportunity.

It was all going so well, right until it crashed and burned.

All it took was one intern forgetting to knock, a quiet conversation overheard in the bar two blocks away, and the rumours were flying through town. Robert Daniel Banks Snr and Judge Hemmings caught in an illicit affair, both men’s wives and children found out from the headline.

Anna was devastated, betrayed. She’d put her life on hold for him, changed plans to accommodate him and he’d been so careless. And above all else, he had lied to her. She could have forgiven anything, would have understood and loved him just as she always had, but she wasn’t sure she could forgive him for breaking her mother’s heart. Or if she was honest her own.

And so in the aftermath, a messy and public divorce for her parents alongside her siblings as equally unsure as she was of where they stood, Anna packed up and moved to Boston like she’d meant to do after college. She went to Harvard, but not for Law as she originally planned. In distancing herself from her father she suddenly wasn’t sure it was ever her choice to begin with.

Armed with a Post-Grad in Business Economics and a slightly harder shell than she might have had before, Anna began working at Hercules National Bank five years ago as an agency trader. 

AND NOW A LITTLE PERSONALITY

Anna has always been driven, she was under the impression she knew exactly what she wanted and she needed to do anything to get it. Looking back on her earlier years now she might see pressure that she didn’t before, but she’s of a firm belief it made her tougher.

She has a healthy ego, from years of being praised and generally exceeding expectations. She’s been known not to take criticism all that well.

G E N E R A L

FULL NAME: katherine luciana vargas

NICKNAME(S): kat, kit kat

TROPE: hidden depths

B A S I C S

AGE: twenty-eight (28)

BIRTHDAY: november 1, 1993

NATIONALITY: american

ETHNICITY: mexican

GENDER: cis-woman

PRONOUNS: she/her/hers

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: panromantic

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: pansexual

POLITICAL AFFILIATION: liberal

RELIGION: atheist

OCCUPATION: bartender at winston commons

LANGUAGES: english, spanish

R E L A T I O N S H I P S

PARENTS: lucia vargas (mother), gabriel walker (father)

SIBLINGS: jace walker (older, half-brother)

SIGNIFICANT OTHER(S): none.

CHILDREN: none.

CLOSEST FRIENDS: tbd.

RIVALS: tbd.

ENEMIES: tbd.

P H Y S I C A L   T R A I T S

FACECLAIM: lindsey morgan

EYE COLOR: brown

HAIR COLOR: dark brown

HEIGHT: 5′8

BODY BUILD: slim

NOTABLE PHYSICAL TRAITS: eyes, smile

AESTHETIC/STYLE: cute & casual, likes to wear stuff that makes her feel good

P E R S O N A L I T Y

POSITIVE TRAITS: brave, determined, adventurous, loyal

NEGATIVE TRAITS: untrusting, secretive, stubborn, resentful

TYPICAL MOOD/EXPRESSION: smile

ZODIAC SIGN: scorpio

MORAL ALIGNMENT: lawful evil

ENNEAGRAM: type eight - the challenger

MBTI: entj

HOGWARTS HOUSE: slytherin

M I S C E L L A N E O U S

SKILLS: turning an average day into an adventure, listening

HOBBIES: sings in the shower, guitar, yoga, used to ice skate

FEARS/PHOBIAS: love, inadequacy, snakes

FAVORITES: iced coffee, burritos, thunderstorms, sunrises over sunsets

B I O G R A P H Y

katherine irene vargas was born in san bernadino, california on november 1, 1993 to a young woman named lucia vargas. lucia was very young at the time, just on the bring of her 19th birthday. lucia had never planned on having children, so the discovery that she was pregnant with kat was a shock. the man she had been with, only ever known to kat as her ‘sperm donor gabriel’, was a couple of years older than her at the time. they had met at the local community college and began engaging in a fling. unbeknownst to lucia, gabriel already had another child with another woman. upon finding out lucia was pregnant, he took off, breaking all contact with the pregnant mother-to-be.

lucia was in way over her head from the start. she could barely take care of herself, let alone raise a child. lucky enough for the both of them, kat’s maternal aunt (lucia’s sister) stepped in and allowed lucia and kat to move in with her. kat’s aunt, helena, was a godsend when it came to helping raise kat. the woman quickly fell in love with kat, and the two formed a bond from early on.

the bond between kat and helena only grew as kat got older. the two did almost everything together, but when it came to lucia, kat was always hesitant to get close to her. lucia was always out. she would say she was looking for work, but really, she had fallen in with a bad crowd. lucia became resentful of helena, and the further she fell, the angrier she was with her life. things came to a head when lucia and helena broke out into a fight one morning. lucia left with her keys in hand, and they never saw her again. kat was only five at the time.

from then on, helena raised kat as her own. they didn’t have much, but they really cared for each other. that didn’t mean kat was an easy child. she was more than helena had bargained for. kat was the type of kid at the playground who would jump off the top of the slide instead of going down it. she would reach out to touch the flame on a candle just to see what it felt like. and that was the kind of spirit that drove her life. It drove helena insane, and she constantly joked about wrapping kat up in bubble wrap and a helmet for the rest of her life. that probably would have done her some good.

as kat grew up, she began to come into her own. she was full of life and energy. she made good friends at school and was an average student. but she didn’t care too much about her grades. sitting in a classroom for eight hours a day never really appealed to her. she had a tendency to be late or to cut a class here and there. who could blame her, really? kat yearned to live life every second of every day. more than anything, kat loved falling in love. she did it with practically everyone she met. there were a lot of relationships that came and went throughout her teens, but she never learned. kat gave her heart to practically every one of them. she couldn’t help it...it was just who she was.

when kat was sixteen, a boy a few years older than her showed up on her doorstep. he claimed to be her brother, the other child born to their father gabriel -- jace walker. jace was a bit of a lost soul himself. his life was not going according to plan, and when he was just about tired of screwing things up for himself, he felt like he could use a little familial support. kat was sceptical of him at first, but in time, the two bonded. it was as if they had grown up together all along. they fought, bickered, laughed, cried. jace became fiercely protective of kat, and kat always wanted to help jace. but jace was a bit of a train wreck most of the time. that made her job much harder.

kat eventually graduated high school and made her way on to college. she stayed close to home, opting to go to california state in san bernadino so she could still see helena and jace. college turned kat into a bit of a partier. she had so much energy, and for the first time, she had all the freedom she had dreamed of. eventually, kat was going out almost every night. she had hooked up with a group of girls that lived on her floor, and they began to travel everywhere together. bars, clubs, frat parties. it was practically impossible to balance it all with her school work. so, her school work began to fall. kat was on academic probation by the end of her first semester. even with that, she wasn’t too concerned. she was busy having fun with her friends. that was, until one night. the girls were at a party that her friend vanessa’s boyfriend had invited them to. the night was proceeding like any other night until vanessa’s boyfriend made a move on kat. kat tried to stop it, not wanting to do anything that would hurt her friend. but that wasn’t before vanessa saw. vanessa was pissed at kat and absolutely had a meltdown.

by the next day, vanessa was already at work, bashing kat to pretty much anyone who would listen. vanessa and her friends teamed up against kat. a week later, practically every ‘friend’ kat thought she had made had been turned against her. she felt like she was back at square one. confused and lonely, kat did the only thing she could think of. she threw herself back into her school work. there was a lot of ground for her to make up at this point, but she knew she needed to get serious. fooling around had only left her sad and friend-less. kat began working harder in her classes in hopes of eventually getting her business degree. it had always been helena’s dream to buy a restaurant and run it. kat wanted to be a part of some day making that happen for her aunt.

kat eventually made her way through college, and she found a few close friends that remained true through it all. kat was 23 when she graduated, now having to face real life for the first time. kat began working for a small investment group. it was there she met victor. victor had started working there just after kat, and the two hit it off almost immediately. victor was charming, handsome, and seemingly perfect. he had just moved to town, and kat enjoyed showing him around and being his guide. kat and victor quickly began dating, and she was mesmerized by him. victor was always showing off with his knowledge about finance or the world. kat was falling in love with him. eventually, kat asked for victor’s help in growing some of the money her and helena had saved up for their restaurant. they wanted to take it and invest, and since victor seemed to have a lot of experience, kat trusted him to help. her trust in him turned out to be misplaced. the day after kat had turned over all their funds to him to invest, she found his apartment empty, desk cleared. no note, no call. his phone number was no longer in service. she had been swindled, and kat never even saw it coming.

kat felt immense guilt for what she had done to her and helena’s savings. she blamed herself. although helena had forgiven her, kat could tell she still harbored a little resentment about the whole thing. kat decided to keep her head down and focus on working for a little bit. she was determined to try and pay back every cent.

after a couple years, kat met logan at a party thrown by a mutual friend. she hadn’t really dated much since the whole victor situation, so she was extremely guarded. but, logan was cute. he had his own kind of unique charm, and he intrigued her. kat wanted to know more. and so, they started dating. kat quickly learned that logan wasn’t always as charming as he presented. he could be a bit of an asshole, and it didn’t take her long to notice. but for some reason, kat stayed with him. she wanted to make the relationship work. some might have said she was using him for his money or influence, but that wasn’t her intention when things started out. kat really tried to convince herself that she loved him. she worked hard at it. when the time came, logan proposed to kat. on paper, he was perfect. so, what could she do but say yes?

kat and logan spent months planning their picture perfect wedding. helena wasn’t crazy about logan, but kat seemed so happy, so she tried to give him a fair shot. logan’s parents did not approve of kat, but they knew better than to battle their son. so the wedding moved forward.

on her wedding day, kat found herself standing in a big church, in an uncomfortable wedding gown that she hadn’t even picked. she looked around and realized this wasn’t her wedding. it was another wedding that someone else had planned. it was a wedding for a different bride. she couldn’t marry logan. she didn’t love him. if only she had realized that before she got to the alter. kat told logan she couldn’t marry him and ran back down the aisle. kat jumped in her car and drove off, leaving behind her fiancé and a church full of confused guests. it was the worst thing she had ever done...at least, she thought it was at the time.

little did kat know, helena had gone after kat. she drove around for hours trying to find her niece. she just wanted to be there for her. to support her. but kat was hiding out far away from where she thought anyone would find her. it was getting late and helena was tiring. she decided to head back home to see if kat had circled back. helena didn’t even realize she had run the stop sign. she looked to the side and saw lights barreling toward her. and then there was a crash.

kat got the call from the hospital on her cell phone, and she hopped in the car immediately. tears were streaming down her face, her hands gripped the steering wheel so hard her knuckles were white. she rushed into the hospital, desperate to find her aunt. she had, unfortunately, been moments too late. the doctors had just announced helena dead from injuries sustained during the crash.

kat was in shambles. she didn’t know what to do or how to live with herself. she blamed herself for the crash. if she hadn’t run out on her wedding...if she had just gone home...the day after helena’s funeral, kat said goodbye to jace and jumped in her car. she started driving. she drove forever. she slept overnight in her car or at cheap motels. she had no destination. kat just needed to get away. somehow, after a long time of traveling, kat found herself just outside of massachusetts. she didn’t know why, but something drew her there. the northeast seemed like the farthest she could get from california. so, kat drove around until she eventually settled on moving to boston.

tl;dr: kat was born to a young, single mother but raised by her aunt. the two were very close. she has a half-brother named jace. she’s adventurous and spirited. she’s had some messy romantic relationships in the past which contributes to her lack of trust. right before she came to boston, she left her fiancé at the alter and her aunt died in a car accident, for which, kat blames herself.

C U R R E N T L Y

kat’s been in boston for two years now. she has left everything from her past life behind, although she hasn’t really come to terms with it. kat’s learned to push through (and bury the rest)!! kat presents as upbeat, friendly, and witty. one thing she truly enjoys is her job as a bartender at winston commons. she loves chatting with people and learning about their lives, providing counsel, or even just serving as a listening ear. kat especially loves any opportunity to cheer someone up on their bad days. 

still, the life kat left behind still haunts her sometimes. in the dead of night, it hits her out of nowhere. the guilt. the hurt. but she doesn’t talk about it--not with anyone. most people around the city and winston don’t know where she came from, just that she’s here now. and she plans to keep that information guarded and locked deep inside. she’s just trying to be happy. to believe once again that life can be good.

C O N N E C T I O N S / P L O T S

ride or die: i would love for there to be someone who has become kat’s closest friend and confidant. someone to hang out with, laugh with, be protective over, etc.

will they, won’t they/flirtation: someone kat might flirt with or even has become close to. maybe it’s a regular at the bar? they have the will they, won’t they energy, but they haven’t really crossed that line...yet.

unrequited love: i have a feeling she would be the type to have someone that was in love with her or something, but she never knew or never wanted to admit that she knew. she sees herself as having given up on love.

frenemies: someone she bumped heads with a lot. maybe they got in each other’s way or just couldn’t stand each other.

flings, hook-ups, exes: anything like this i’m totally game for.

hateship: am i a sucker for a hateship/enemies-to-lovers trope? perHAPS