~Bian strolls onto the scene, clad in simple jeans, shoes, and a sweater. A coat is toted over one shoulder. The woman is perhaps in her late 20s or early 30s, and bears an attractive face that demands attention. She could easily work as a model, one would assume, and evidently goes to great lengths to keep her features unmarred and just the right amount of make-up applied. Her ebony hair is allowed to hang freely, framing her chocolate-brown eyes and crookedly cynical smile. She is certainly a woman of great confidence in social arenas and seems in good physical shape to boot. Unfortunately, she seems unaware of the danger she places herself in by simply strolling about unescorted. Her blood sings from her arteries and veins, calling hemaphages of all colors to swarm for her attentions. Damn mosquitoes.~

OOC: Appearance 4 (bold), Potent Blood

"Don't tempt fate."

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History

Youth

Thu Cai Bian, also known as Marie Thu, though she remains unaware of this fact, is the granddaughter of a most famous Penangallan queen. This Thrashing Dragon is known as Qwan Thi, and her Court reigns over the majority of northwest Viet Nam and northeast Laos. Her mother, Qwan Qi An, was one of the Half-Damned and one of the Golden Courts' many diplomatic Shade Walkers. Her mother's visit to a neighboring Court that had all been overridden by akuma left the Dhampyr imprisoned and impregnated after lengthy excruciation. Many months later, she gave birth to Bian, but was then murdered. However, before the akuma could take the strange joss-bearing child for study, the Penangallan queen, mother of the Dhampyr, arrived to lay waste to the entire range of akuma. Having sided with hengeyokai to aid in this endeavour, she hardly noticed or cared that her granddaughter was taken off to be given a chance in a proper life. The shapeshifters knew the Kuei-jin's sin was sending Qi An to a Court full of suspected infernalists. They had no doubt Bian would be treated with similar callousness if left at hand. Bian's hengeyokai saviors arranged for her to be sent to America, far from Qwan Thi's influence.

In America, she grew up in the adopted home of Charles and Amanda Vasker of San Diego, California. Mr. Vasker was a retired diplomat to Vietnam. She was given a more American name of Marie and learned of her Vietnamese heritage. She even learned the language, as well as French. Her foster parents were doting and perhaps a mite overprotective. But even then, Bian knew she was gifted with a great deal of luck. She wasn't necessarily happy about it -- that luck often turned on her. She found herself winning petty games of fortune and losing the friends she played against in the same day. By the age of sixteen, she was adopting a rather cynical outlook on life. She was hardly able to experience anything new due to over-watchful parents. She had a great deal of personal fortune, but it was quite individual indeed. She lost friends as quickly as she made them.

Early Years

So Marie ran away. She boldly went out to live on her own. Her youthful wanderings soon brought her back to Viet Nam and Saigon. It wasn't long before her vagrant lifestyle forced her to sell her body for money and food. Her good fortune enabled her to avoid many street dangers other young people face in Saigon (and she certainly didn't want to deal with a pimp). Marie became well-acquainted with the seedier side of life. And for a few years, it is how she lived -- in someone else's bedroom.

But at the age of nineteen, her luck changed for the better. She became a trusted student and aide for Dao Hu, an expert martial artist in the qwan-ki-do style. She learned much about meditation and ch'i and other esoteric factors during this period. And they interested her enormously. Marie was a loyal helper for Mister Dao. And she began research that would bring her to the age of 24 before it bore fruits. She began to understand the nature of joss, of fortune bad or good, in the world at whole. She still did not quite understand her own strange, inherent brand. But she even learned through studying esoteric texts in her teacher's library how to bring ill fortune to those who displeased her. Of course, she called upon this power infrequently for fear that the bad joss she called would return to her threefold. For many more years, this life-style prevailed. Her checkered past was nearly forgotten by the age of 30.

Recent Years

And eventually, her studies came to an end in the Far East. Marie realized she would have to search for the ghosts and demons of legend to uncover more of her past. Familiar with the myths of Western monsters from her American-borne childhood, she returned to America to begin her research. Marie spent several months in California, but actually afraid she would run into her former foster parents, she decided to travel elsewhere. Her meanderings brought her to Kansas City. In Little Asia and in the Western sectors, she renewed her search while honing her own abilities in the unlikely case she should actually come across the legends and fairytales of her past.

But now Marie has at last encountered the supernatural, the shen. She was invited to join a "Court", in fact, as one of several mortal employees. Handling the Court's finances, she also began to delve into the secrets of the shen. She was indeed curious about all of the supernatural and magical things occuring around her. But she also wanted to discover her own heritage. She knew it could not simply be a random gift, her inherent joss. She had to find out the truth. And perhaps, she hoped, these shen will help. Still, she knows better than to rely on someone else. Marie served in this Court for two years, learning an immense amount about the supernatural in the meantime. She was careful -- or lucky -- enough to avoid experiencing much of what she read about, however. When the Court of Infinite Ages deteriorated, she stuck with "her own kind", joining up the House of Yizhi to carry on her studies and investigation. The Shih, she realizes, are as learned as the shen -- and safer to be around. Hopefully, her curiousity will not destroy her and her friends.

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Magical Style & Paradigm

Marie's shadowy magic is limited to the passing on of bad joss. Her studies in her teacher's library demonstrated several ways Southeast Asian and Chinese peasants would jinx those who offended them. She memorized these simple rituals, and began to personalize for an eclectic combination of methods. At the heart of her cursing, Marie employs two special traditional crafts. She uses mu-jen dolls and polong bottles. The "voodoo dolls" of the East, mu-jen are traditionally crafted from tung wood. However, Marie uses other woods depending on the form of the curse she wishes to inflict upon the subject. Polong bottles are small glass flasks that supposedly house an evil spirit of misfortune. The polong spirit thus held can be forced to do its master's bidding, such as casting evil eyes on those who offend the master. For Marie, the polong bottles don't actually hold any kind of spirits, but they do hold the ritualistic belief of the spirit-summoning and cursing. (Of course, this belief could one day jump off to become a Path of Summoning/Binding if Marie pursued it...)

Bian always knew of her strange connection to joss, good and bad. "Unlucky at love, lucky at cards" certainly applies here. She never suspected it had any real supernatural origin, just that her life was much more "interesting" than average. Nevertheless, through meditation and focus, she adapted her inherent fortune and shaped it into the peasant rituals. Now her curses were wrought with a combination of traditional ritual and modern (and usually profane) expression. Her natural talent with joss seems to make her curses that much more potent. Thus, through mu-jen, polong, meditation, verbal expression that is a cross between modern profanity and traditional mantra, and Marie's own unique joss, she can inflict all kinds of bad whimsy on those who offend her.

However, Marie is loathe to use her skill. Like many Orientals, she believes in karma. And dropping curses -- even minor ones -- in people's laps is a sure way to stack one's karmic deck with all the wrong cards. She casts her curses sparingly and only when the person truly deserves it...or she's just really pissed off.

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Weakness
Voice of the Cynic

Marie has encountered many stumbling blocks. She has lost countless friends. Inwardly, she can't help but blame herself. Outwardly, she blames the world. And she digs herself a deeper hole every time.

Likelihood of Corruption

High.

Bian has been sticking her nose into the business of the shen. Eventually, an undesirable party will notice her curiousity. If she doesn't change, her sardonic mind-set will be taken advantage of.



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