Submitted by Hola-Meg-a-Cola on Wed, 11/12/2003 - 23:03
Posted in
Race: Human
Sex: Female
Real Name: Adriana Theresa Lautari
Nick Name: Drea
Birth Date & Location: 25th June, 1980 - Rumanian Woods, Romania
Position: Granddaughter of the Elder/Future Head Elder
Group Affiliation: Kalderash Clan
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Description:
Adriana is a classic Roma girl. She stands at 5'5”, with long, deep brown hair, which looks almost black at times. This is why her mother called her Adriana, which means "dark" and her last name, ‘Lautari’, means ‘musician’ in Romanian. Her skin is also tinted dark, or tan, as many in her clan are. She has deep brown eyes.
Although she grew up in the United States, knowing English as her first language and speaks with an American accent, she can speak perfect Romani.
(Adriana is played by Jamie-Lynn DiScala formally Sigler)
Background:
A Gypsy Princess Is Born ~
Adriana Lautari was born to Gypsies at the end of June in 1980 in Communist Romania. Mere hours after she was born, her grandmother, Yolanda, the Head Elder, performed tests that confirmed that she possessed the abilities of the next future elder. Her parents were most happy, but trouble loomed.
Yolanda discovered through premonition that in nine years, the Soviet Union would fall and so would communism. Soon after, Anti-Roma feelings would arise again, causing danger to hang over the heads of all the Roma in the future.
The Move To America ~
Fearing for Adriana's safety, the clan smuggled her out of the country to America, where Adriana's Uncle – Enzo Lautari and his non-Roma wife lived in Mount Vernon, New York.
To support his wife and niece, Enzo was a violinist in the Broadway orchestra. The money was good and he was able to perform his favourite hobby. Enzo soon taught Adriana her ethnic language, Romani, and the violin, finding a common bond between him and his brother's daughter.
Enzo and his wife, Lorraine, agreed to send Adriana to the local Catholic school where she worked. Adriana quickly made friends and became a straight A student, much to the pleasure of her clan, to whom her uncle wrote to monthly.
But Adriana soon noticed that some of the students started giving her dirty looks. It seems that not everyone liked Adriana, though the real issue was what she was. A Roma. They went as far as to throw rocks at Adriana and some off her friends during lunch one day. She had to learn the hard way about racism.
At a young age, Adriana was told by her uncle the story of what happened to a future elder of their clan, nearly 200 years ago. At sixteen, the girl was kidnapped by a beautiful vampire named Darla. That night, she presented the girl as a "birthday present" to her long time lover, Angelus.
All through that dreaded night, the vampire couple beat, raped (by Angelus), tortured, and, eventually, murdered the poor girl. Shortly before dawn, the girl's body was placed at the step of her father's caravan. When she was discovered there the next morning, the whole clan fell into despair. The girl's sisters sobbed uncontrollably day and night.
Throughout the week, the shattered Roma worked on the ultimate revenge, not only for their loss, but also for the loss of thousands.
The night that when Angelus, Darla, and another vampire couple were to leave Romania, the Kalderash made their move. They managed to send word to him about what they were doing. Once hearing this, Angelus immediately left to find the Clan and stop them. But by the time he arrived, it was too late. The Roma had restored his soul, so he could be tortured by every death he was responsible for.
Adriana was seriously affected by this and vowed that she would make sure that Angelus and all vampires would forever suffer.
Meanwhile, Adriana also became an excellent dancer, just like her mother. She was taught traditional dances by her Uncle Enzo's friends' wives, who also hailed from the Kalderash Clan.
Racism not only haunted young Adriana at school. During holidays, they would visit Lorraine's all American family, who from the beginning, strongly disapproved of Lorraine's marriage and her agreement to raise Adriana. Actually, it was her parents who disliked Enzo and Adriana. Lorraine's brothers and sister were on good terms with her husband and niece and often visited them.
The Jones offspring were very estranged from their parents except for holidays. Most of the time, Mr. and Mrs. Jones ignored the young Roma girl.
But at times, mostly when Lorraine's father was drunk, he would yell and beat poor Adriana, calling her a "filthy gypsy". With much regret, Enzo wrote to his family, explaining the incidents and begging his mother Yolanda not to curse Lorraine's father, for his wife’s sake. There was more to The Jones' hate for Enzo and Adriana than meets the eye, but Adriana never found out, mainly because Enzo and Lorraine never knew of the source of their hate either.
When the Soviet Union (and the Berlin Wall) fell, The Kalderash People, the Lautaris, and Mr. and Mrs. Jones all rejoiced. Enzo and Adriana were now able to visit their family and fellow Romas, while Lorraine could visit her parents during that time, without having her husband and niece, whom she grew very attached to, harassed and abused. The Joneses were just glad that they would have to rarely see "the gypsy scum" ever again. As for Enzo and Lorraine's children, Victor and Rosaline, they would see their Roma relatives with Adriana since their own grandparents despised them.
During her visits with her clan, Adriana was taught basic Roma majick from her mother and grandmother, who she affectionately called her púridaia, meaning, coincidentally, "grandmother" in Romani.
Adriana grew close to her parents every time she saw them, but it wasn't as strong as the one that she shared with her uncle and aunt.
In 1998, Adriana graduated from her Catholic High School as Valedictorian and with a scholarship to Boston University. The Kalderash Clan was so overjoyed, that they completely forgot about the current situation at the Hellmouth in Sunnydale, California, which costed the lives of two of the Kalderash; Adriana's aunt, Jenny Calendar, or Janna, and she and Adriana's mother's Uncle Enyo’s.
Adriana studied to become a teacher while at Boston University. Once again, she made many friends and worked for the Boston Orchestra to make extra money. Life was treating Adriana very well. . .
The Clan Calls ~
. . . Until eight years later, when her duties as a Romani came into play. The Kalderash Clan has always kept a close eye on Angelus, but recently, the Gypsy performing the task was killed in a mysterious car accident. So, Yolanda assigns her granddaughter to Los Angeles to look over the enemy of the Kalderash People.
Adriana does what her beloved púridaia tells her to do. She sets up a transfer from Boston University to the University of Southern California. Little does she know that the feared Angelus is the least of her problems while in the City of Angels…
Powers/Abilities:
All elders of the Clan receive excruciatingly painful premonitions. Currently, Adriana has not received any. She's thankful for that, "Less to worry about," she says.
Adriana knows many ‘gypsy tricks,’ such as levitating objects in mid-air, disappearing and reappearing, knocking someone out with only a word, and changing one object into another. She has been taught a few spells and curses, but nothing major. Adriana is an amateur at magic.
Items:
For classes, Adriana has in possession an Apple laptop.
She also brought her precious violin, hand crafted by the wood workers of her clan.
Adriana also wears a sterling silver cross, given as a present from her beloved Aunt Lorraine.