full name Anastazja Ece Cassavetes answers to Ana, Staz, Taz (very few), Lynx (Arkadi) date of birth & age 10 June, 1988 & 32 occupation Private Security for ~Arkadi hometown Moscow, Russia residence Memphis, Tennessee relationship status Single sexuality Heterosexual parents Layland; father (deceased)
Calista; mother (deceased)
siblings Arion; older brother (35)
informative details
++ Lefkada,a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, and original hometown of Layland Cassavetes and Calista Andrianakis. They belonged to two of the families that made up the Greek Mafia, of which Layland was on his way to becoming a made man. The two grew up with one another, forming a fast friendship and often having each others back when they were out and about - with other watchful eyes keeping tabs on all kids belonging to the mafia. It surprised no one when Layland and Calista pushed that friendship to something more, most of them had bets on 'when' it would happen rather than 'if'. The pair were married when they were twenty-four, and two years later on September 8, 1984 their firstborn (a son named Arion) made his arrival into the world. At first, Calista wanted to protect her child from the lifestyle they were part of, not wanting to bring him to any family gatherings or going anywhere uncessary but it quickly became more of a burden than anything else. He was safer with the families watching over one another versus her trying to do it all herself, especially if Layland was off taking care of business. Nearly four years later, their second child -a daughter- was born. It was very quickly realized that Anastazja was the complete opposite of her brother. Where Arion was calm and quiet, Staz was chaotic and practically banshee-like.

++ In order to try and curb their daughter's rambunctiousness, Layland took both his children camping every other week and taught them survival skills. It was something Staz took to like a fish to water. Arion could have cared less, but he went along with it, not that he had been given much of a choice in the matter. When she was six, the family uprooted themselves and relocated to Moscow, Russia to stay with a longtime friend of the family who also happened to be tied into the Bravta. There were no real details given for the move, other than Layland needed to lay low. Staz wasn't initially happy with the move because it disrupted her survival training that she had really come to love, but it resumed a few months after they were settled in their new city. The training even intensified given the different environment and climate Russia possessed, which delighted the little girl to no end. While she managed to make a few friends, mostly kids of mafia members, she had a penchant for staying to herself or pestering someone into teaching her something. Usually it was martial arts or the Russian language, except for the one time he nagged an older woman into explaining to her what the hell the purpose of the nesting dolls were. She still didn't understand it after that conversation.

++ Eventually life caught up to Staz when she was thirteen. Arion had stayed home with a stomach bug while his sister and parents went out for dinner. He assumed they would be bringing something back for him, but they never came. The little family owned, and mafia protected, restaurant was attacked out of the blue. Several were killed, Layland and Calista among them, while others were severely injured. Staz had been hit twice and suffered head trauma, resulting in her losing consciousness. She was out for four days before waking up in unfamiliar territory and faces she didn't recognize. It didn't help that she had a hard time remembering certain things past her birthday and name. Initially the Chechen Mafia had taken her after the attack as leverage, they knew of her father and assumed the bravta would come for revenge and to retrieve their fallen soldier's daughter for fear of them selling her to the highest bidder, or worse. Instead, with the recon they had done on the Cassavetes family, they realized they could use her to their advantage. Train her to become a soldier of their own, a little black songbird that lurked in the night. It was a plan that seemed farfetched, but put into play the moment she was strong enough to lift herself from the medical bed. Her memory not being up to par was a blessing and made the brainwashing a lot easier to carry out.

++ Over the course of the next eight years, Staz was trained in multiple forms of combat and as well as weapons proficiency. She slowly gave up hope trying to remember who she really was or where she originated from. As far as she knew, nobody ever came looking for her and to the world she no longer existed. Her brother did look for her, mostly on his own as the Russian mafia had bigger issues to contend with than the disappearance of a single young girl. Arion eventually gave up hope, assuming she was dead and ditched somewhere over time. Between the training and the brainwashing, Cassavetes became nothing more than a last name to Staz. Emotions were essentially beaten out of her until she appeared cold and detached to everything other than her loyalty to the Chechen Mafia and whatever the mission may be. Sure she still felt a thing or two here and there, but nothing that couldn't be fixed by a training session or a few rounds with the hot scout that could barely keep his eyes off her when in the same room. There were no feelings there, no attachments, just a good time. When she was twenty-two that was when they finally started sending her out on assignments to multiple countries. Those years of training and learning different languages came into play so she could blend in and be quick about her missions.

++ Staz became quite good at what she did, perhaps a little too good to the point where it scared a few of the mafia men. Something she teased them relentlessly about. In fact, over the years the only thing that she seemed to fail at were relationships outside of the families. She was too secretive, too independant, too aggressive, too whatever excuse the guy used to call things off. It suited her well enough, she preferred work over relationships anyway. It wasn't until she was twenty-seven when they gave her a particular mission within Moscow. She studied the files and paperwork they had on Arkadi Redmont, the name not ringing a bell, until she had a plan to carry out the hit. It was supposed to be like any other assignment. Put the man down, return home. Simple. Except, it ended up not being simple at all. At first everything went off without a hitch, she took out Arkadi's personal security with very little trouble, but it was the man himself that proved to be more challenging than she expected. It was a good fight between the two of them, both undoubtedly would be nursing some injuries after the conclusion if one or both of them weren't killed first.

++ It was in the middle of the altercation that things began to change, a hard blow to the head jarred loose some very old memories for Staz. She muttered in her native tongue, and how many people who were from Russia spoke Greek? In that moment something stirred in Arkadi, realizing that he only knew of a handful of people that spoke Greek, two were confirmed dead, one was deeply rooted with the bravta, and the fourth -a female- had been presumed dead for over a decade. He spoke her name, temporarily pausing his attack when he caught the confused look on her face. Staz had stopped dead in her tracks, she hadn't heard her actual name in quite some time, especially not Anastazja. Nobody called her that anymore, nobody within the Chechen Mafia even called her Staz. To them she was simply known as 'Karakurt', nicknamed after one of the deadliest spiders on Earth found in Russia. The fight ended there, and more of an interrogation took place between the two of them until Staz's memories of her childhood came flooding back. She was still intent on carrying out her mission, unsure of what to believe, until Arkadi offered her a lot more than what the Chechen's were paying her. Money spoke volumes after all. Whether or not he could trust her not to turn on him was a different story, but Staz seemed to be more out of her head than in as she tried to process everytyhing - especially after learning the last fourteen years of her life were nothing more than web of lies woven between one another The bravta wanted her put down, as far as they were concerned she was the enemy, but upon realizing whath they had done to her, her parents, Staz was all too happy to give up what information she had on their rival mafia. It wasn't a whole lot, but it was enough to convince them to spare her life for the time being.

++ That had been five years ago, and while Staz was still conditioned to certain things, she had learned to become somewhat human again instead of some sort of brainwashed robot. She was reuinted with Arion, which helped a lot in bringing down those barriers that had been built up over the years she was gone. Though she swore she'd never turn on Arkadi, the man still insisted on paying her a high amount to further asure she never got any bright ideas in the event everything was just part of some scheme. As she got herself settled, she was met with another proposition of sorts - Arkadi wanted to relocate to America. To Memphis, Tennessee to be more exact and he wanted her to come with him to continue being his personal security. She wasn't sure she was up for the task, but perhaps uprooting herself and getting something of a proper fresh start wasn't a bad idea. Frankly, putting an ocean between herself and the Chechen's seemed like a great idea too. Arkadi even paid to have her vehicles transported over as well as her two dogs that she had just adopted two years prior. The move was made beginning of July 2020.

rapid fire facts ++ Speaks fluent Greek, Russian, German, Czech, Mandarin, and English
++ Owns a 2018 Aprilia RSV4 RF LE (Limited Edition 1 of 125)
++ Owns a 2015 Audi R8
++ Very outdoorsy - prefers being outside to inside
++ Profcient with weapons and hand-to-hand combat
++ Has two hippo's Castor & Pollux
               
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