kyuubi

Name: Chie Tsukino

Age: 21

Gender: Female

Type: Aspect

Appearance:

Chie is a slight young woman, her petite frame often making her seem much younger than she is. She has a round, youthful face, framed in shoulder-length hair, although the effect is lost once you hit her dark eyes. She hasn’t been through as much as any other person in her situation, but that’s because she’s a fighter, and it shows on her face. There is a glint of ferocity in her eyes, a predator’s look in a prey’s body, which helps people think twice about messing with what they think is a delicate flower.

On her back she has tattooed a large illustration of a woman in a fox spirit mask, dressed in kimono and holding a pair of swords. The tree in the image’s background climbs over and around her shoulder, trailing down her arm in a tattooed sleeve of a Japanese poem, intermixed with images of petals, fox spirit fire, and stylized black bars and waves.

Personality:

Chie is a strong woman. She may be small and she may be in a subservient position to the Jade Lotus right now, but it’d be a mistake to think for one minute that she is timid or weak of character. She is proud, almost too proud, and does not take disrespect or wrongs against her lightly. But she’s also smart, and she knows when to pick her battles and how to play them: while she may seem to allow people to steamroll over her, she will get them back for it, whether they know it or not. She knows, and that’s all that matters. To pull that sort of behavior off, making people none the wiser to the things she might otherwise be up to, she has to be an excellent actress. Chie can put on just about any face with ease and make it convincing. Her true self is something she only exposes to a select few—otherwise, she has a persona to act out with everyone.

Chie can be incredibly emotional, especially concerning the people she cares about. She can’t control it, but she can hide it well until she finds other means to let it out. She never forgets a slight against her, and will nurse that grudge until the ends of the earth. She’s not all negativity, though. Beyond a rather vengeful nature and the number of masks she wears, she’s an intelligent, thoughtful, passionate woman. There isn’t a thing in the world that she does halfway.

Sexuality:

Bisexual

Constants:

Aspect of the Kitsune, Japanese Fox Spirit:
Curiosity – Chie is a generally curious person, although she is most curious about people and what makes them tick. She has a need to figure out who people are underneath all of the masks they put up. She wants to know how they work, their moral compass, their hopes and dreams, why they behave the way they do. If they are stoic, she’ll make it her job to get a rise out of them. If they’re constantly happy, she’ll press them for their thoughts on darker topics. Because she's so used to putting up a façade herself, she usually has a pretty good idea if someone is doing the same. She'll poke and prod, looking for the weak points, dying to know what it is that they're hiding. And the more they protest, the curioser she becomes.

Plays By Her Own Rules – Chie’s moral compass is a little... skewed. What’s right and wrong, to her, is more than a little subjective. And when she finds something wrong in the world, she strives to correct it, in her own way, which may or may not set off someone else’s morality alarms. She cannot let a supposed wrongdoing slide by, but considering her position in life, she has to avenge it in more subversive ways. Instead of an obvious act of vengeance, she’ll do something smaller. Pepper in the tea, a tattooed character that has a double meaning. Maybe no one knows what she’s done to teach someone a lesson, but she knows and the universe knows, and that’s satisfying enough.

Honor-Bound – Honor and loyalty are extremely important to Chie. Her word is everything. If she makes a promise, she has to keep it. She has to. Swearing on your honor and then breaking that swear would make your honor mean nothing, and therefore you would mean nothing. What is the point in living as a dishonorable, untrustworthy person? Therefore Chie is extremely careful about what she says. If she has no intention of doing something, she won’t give her word to do it. But if she does, then she’s bound to follow through with it, no matter what.

Aspect Origin - Chie's personality becomes much more base, more animalistic. She is already highly emotional but she becomes even more so, and with less control. Her sense of morality tilts even further, replaced with almost whimsical ideas of right and wrong. Her acts of vengeance are more obvious, in some cases more violent, even. She becomes even more adept at taking on other personalities, even the personalities of others in a kind of possession or channeling. She tends to inspire a kind of fear-based respect wherever she goes: people revere her, but only out of terror of what she'll do if they don't.

City History:

Chie’s father, Genkichi, was an enormous, beast of a man in his day. Covered in tattoos from the back of his neck to his ankles and with a karate black belt around his waist, no one could touch him. He wasn’t heavily involved in the Yakuza in Japan, but he did a great deal of their body art, enough to consider him “their’s.” And this was okay with him, until he met his wife and they had a baby girl. Suddenly Genkichi realized just how dangerous the Yakuza truly was, and began making plans to flee to America to escape their influence.

When the Yakuza learned of this, they retaliated. They couldn’t lose their most talented tattooist, so they cut Genkichi’s legs off with a katana so he couldn’t run but left his arms so he could continue to work. Genkichi only barely survived, infection causing his once massive, impressive frame to shrivel up. He is alive now, but is weak and restricted to a wheelchair. But he could still use his hands, and remained bound to the Yakuza, too terrified of what they would do if he tried to escape again.

When Chie was ten years old, a Yakuza member began taking an interest in her. He knew that soon she would start to become a beautiful young woman, and he wanted her. Because Genkichi was often summoned to Yakuza lairs to do their tattoos, he saw what happened to the girls they got their hands on. For ten long years, he had been a coward, but it was time now for him to protect his daughter and wife again. They lay in wait for a while longer, then finally decided to stowaway on a boat headed for America, leaving everything, carrying nothing.

They eventually made their way to Eidolon City, working themselves from the ground up until they were able to open their own tea shop in Chinatown. Working for the Yakuza had not ruined Genkichi’s love of body art, and he taught Chie the art as well, even tattooing her himself over the years. Although frail and bound to a wheelchair, he taught her karate as well, watching her and instructing her from his chair.

For a long time, things were peaceful. Chie grew up mostly in Chinatown, her parents wary of letting her go too far—they had no idea if the Yakuza was still looking for her, and surely the man who’d been interested in her would recognize how she’d grown up. Chie’s world was small but happy—she loved it. And then organized crime came and ruined it again.

The Jade Lotus invaded their tea shop, taking it over and claiming it for their own to make into an opium den. If they wanted to live, they would have to meet a quota of selling opium, even if it meant going outside of the tea shop to deal in the rest of the city. And when they found out about Genkichi and Chie’s ability as tattooists, they made that part of the deal as well.

Once again, their little family is pressed under the thumb of a power greater than their own, but where can they run to now? Her parents have begged her to flee but she will not leave them behind, especially as Genkichi’s health is declining. They have nowhere to go. This is their home, and this time, they will not leave it.

Special Skills and Abilities:

Fluent in Japanese, nearly fluent in Chinese. She knows enough English to carry on a conversation, but it’s accented and she doesn’t understand some words or idioms. She knows enough karate to defend herself, her arms very strong for her size because of her work as a tattoo artist. She knows tebori, the traditional art of Japanese tattooing, done completely free hand.

Weaknesses:

Jade Lotus – Chie and her family are pressed under the thumb of the Lotus. They’ve taken over their tea shop and given them a quota of opium to be sold weekly or else it’s their lives. Chie has to be careful about how she acts and what she says, lest it get back to the Lotus. She absolutely hates the whole damn group, so pretending to be civil or at least respect their power is incredibly difficult for her.

Grudges – Chie never forgets anyone who makes a mark against her. She’s got a mental list of everyone who pushed her or teased her when she was a child, and can recall every cruel thing each individual member of the Lotus has done to her family. And she plans payback for every single incident. Needless to say, she doesn’t forgive easily, and holding on to that much negativity certainly can’t be good for her in the long run.

Distinctive – Although she doesn’t have a full body tattoo like her father, Chie’s back piece and her sleeve mean that wearing certain clothing revealing clothing immediately makes her stand out. Even if no one can recognize her face, all it takes is one look at her tattoos to identify her, and it’s not as though she can remove them.

Her Family – Chie’s family is her life. With her father sick and wheelchair-bound, Chie is stuck in the city as much as they are. She would never leave them, and threatening them is an easy way to get her to do what you want. She is especially close to her father and would do anything in the world for him, except leave when he tells her to go. Because of her tattoos, it’s not as though it’d be that easy for her to hide anyway.

Bound By Her Word – If Chie makes a promise, she has to keep it. She would rather die than go back on something she’s given her word on, even if that’s something she would hate to do. She’s careful about what she promises, but she can’t always avoid it. If anyone figured out that it was essentially a fail-proof way to manipulate her, it would basically be the end of her. Threaten her family to make her swear to do something, and you’ve more or less got the perfect puppet.

Strengths:

Creative – Chie’s tattooing technique means that all of her work is done freehand. There are no outlines, no preplanning—she just does it, and somehow it always comes out beautifully in the end. She’s a skilled artist and she loves what she does, even if most of her work is done for the Lotus these days. Most things that are visually artistic in some way, Chie can pick up fairly easily, from painting and drawing to ikebana. She just has a knack for it.

Many Faces – Chie is a good actress. She can basically be whatever the situation or person calls for. It makes her a good saleswoman and a genius for getting out of sticky situations. What it doesn’t make her, however, is genuine. Chie lies so much about who she is even she forgets sometimes, but her family is always there to remind her.

Family or Connections:

Her parents, Genkichi and Hiroha Tsukino. The Jade Lotus, unfortunately; Lian is responsible for making sure she meets her opium quota.

Residence:

An apartment above her family’s tea shop in Chinatown.

Career:

Opium dealer, tattoo artist, tea shop waitress.

PB: Aya Ueto