Fu Mei

Melody of the Torrid Pulse
Hungry Red Dragon of the Laughing Rainbows
Assistant Minister of the Harvest of the Court of the Ebon Flame

Description


~Golden flesh and dark-brown eyes hide an unfathomable and terrifying hunger. Like a girlish dancer or free-spirited hippy, Fu Mei boasts a gracious smile and a silvery laugh. Her demeanor shines like a lantern in a world of dark, angsty shit. And even so, her gaiety is not a simple “versus the darkness” attitude. It is simply because she seems to know and want something most people don’t understand and even hide themselves away from: something terrifyingly primal. Clad in golden bangles and often a baggy silk blouse in rich crimson, capri-length black leggings, and sandals. A macrame belt is slung around her waist; when expecting trouble, a sheathed knife is often attached on one side of this belt. In danger or not, a clay flask hangs from the other side –- ooh, she’s a lush. Satin-black hair may alternatively be formed up in curious ponytails and buns, or allowed to hang shoulder-length freely. Several rings are worn on her spidery, agile fingers. A toe-ring adorns the smallest toe on both of her exposed, delicate feet. Those slender legs arrive Mei onto the scene with a determined purpose that defies conventional focus. The biggest questions that her smooth-faced, youthful beauty pose stunned onlookers is simple. What is she after, and could it be me?~

OOC: Appearance 4 (lovely); Style 1

(Demon Form) ~All pretense at humanity falls away. Mei gains a few inches in height but her physical enhancements are largely due to an unbound ferocity that tears apart anything in her path. All of her jewelry and clothing vanish, and her body assumes an almost sexless visage. Only the hair on her head remains and it whips about in hell-wind only she feels. Her eyes become wide orbs of terrible hunger, black and empty save for tiny flames of a demonic fury. More terrifyingly, flames wreathe her entire body, daring any to touch this heavenly yet damned personage. Upon assuming this form, Mei usually spreads a pair of long bat-like wings. This wingspan of twelve feet, which is as emblazed as her body, raises her into the air. She hovers so that all may behold and fear this demonic yet angelic form. Her arms extend, the long fingers ending now in wicked, curved claws dripping blood always.~

OOC: Appearance 0; Horror

"There is no ‘normal’ life. There is no ‘abnormal’ life. There is only life."

History


Life

Fu Mei was a Shanghai brothel girl in the late 1800s. Her sordid life was no choice of her own, born into it from a prostitute mother…the father forever unknown. From an early age, she was taught to respect through fear the men who ran the brothel. Her mind was broken, and she gave into the dreary, filthy existence as a cheap, underaged hooker. To avoid beatings from her “benefactors”, Mei sought out at least four or five men every day to please.

So Mei detached herself from the experiences. Indeed, by eighteen years old, she was completely desensitized to the act of sexual intercourse. The rest of her life had dried up, too. The food had lost its taste. Ribbons were drained of their color. Her mirror was cracked. Nevertheless, Mei commanded a great deal of business. And while Mei may not have much enjoyed it, she never failed to use all of her nubile skills to please her “customers”.

But when neither one’s heart and mind both slip from the activity, it becomes apparent. Before her nineteeth birthday, customers began to complain. One night, drunk and disgusted, Fu Mei was taken to the pier. Her throat was slit and she was dumped into the harbor. Her dead body floated for a few minutes, then sank to the bottom and was covered in silt. Fish nibbled upon her corpse for weeks while her twin souls flew apart. Her Hun lay in limbo while her P’o was dragged by demons. Too banalized to notice a difference between the devils and her former life’s pimps, Mei was thrown into the Pit of Salt and Iron.

The Pit of Salt & Iron

There she labored without hope or consciousness for what seemed like years. She learned to wield a pick to chip away at the gray-yellow, sulphurous stone. Her dress was lashed to shreds by her diabolic captors’ whips but the salt in the pit provoked screams she did not truly feel. She had forgotten how to be hurt in this mindless, meaningless labor. The demons were not pleased. They did not obtain delight from her lashed shrieks. They decided she was being wasted there in the pit. And so she was dragged away to the Iron Brothel, where monstrous devils lay with her. They hurt her. They made her scream until true pain returned to her eyes. She was ravaged for what seemed a life-time, her beset pleads laughed at, her screams causing rejoice.

But the demons’ pleasure was short-lived because Fu Mei had had enough. They inspired more than pain in Fu Mei. They inspired rage and hatred and not so impotent as they hoped. Always the emotional actress, Fu Mei’s hopeless distress became an act that let the demons’ guard down. The abused P’o slipped out of the Brothel and it was nonetheless a harrowing escape. Fu Mei ran and ran, sneaking behind a diabolic courier along a foul road out of Yomi Wan. From there, Mei found herself once more on the floor of the harbor. Her body was there, and with a desperate vigor none had ever seen, she screamed and battered at the Wall til at last she crashed through and back into her body. The Hun was summoned from its limbo and with a gurgling gasp, Mei’s eyes opened wide.

Second Breath & Ré

But the tiny bites fish had taken out of her corpse and, the gaping slash across her throat had not yet healed. Bloated and rotten from months of death, Mei swam to the surface. All she could think about was food. And she didn’t much care what she ate. She climbed up the pier, screaming again to hear her own voice, hungry eyes seeking sustenance. The chih-mei sprawled upon a family of homeless in the nearest alleys. Their screams fell upon deaf ears but not blind eyes, for the spirits saw her chi-thirsty rage and sped away to report it.

One spirit informed the Wan Kuei. Another told the Wantong (werewolves). It was a race to find the chih-mei; the Wantong intended to destroy the abomination while the Wan Kuei hoped to salvage and redeem it. Mei’s chi-lusty wanderings took her from the alleys towards her former home: that brothel where she had been born and raised and raped daily. The same fury that she felt in the Pit of Salt and Iron returned thricefold. In a furious onslaught, Fu Mei flew into that place, shredding pimp and prostitute alike, feasting on torn bits of human flesh.

And it was auspicious for Fu Mei that one of that patrons that night was a Magistrate-Subverting Dragon, Lo Gan. The vampire fell upon the chih-mei in a glorious rage of Yang, subduing her quickly and easily, and dragging her before the Mandarins even as the mortal police neared. The appropiate rites were performed the next night. Fu Mei was restored on December 13th, 1895.

Curious as to Fu Mei’s origins, the jina Lo Gan took it upon himself to instruct the hin. He learned of her human life from quiet lips. Fu Mei then bent herself to Lo’s tutelage, accepting the path of the Thrashing Dragon as her own. The Flesh Court’s astrologers determined that she would be very useful in the future, particularly since her Dharmic direction leaned towards the Hungry Red Dragons. Lo Gan introduced Fu Mei immediately to the concepts and truths of raw Yang. In a few years, Fu Mei became quite adept at the kuan and prana of the Dance of the Thrashing Dragon.

Though she was not a natural athlete or fighter, she possessed a greater virtue: an obedient, receptive mind. Years of being beat down by cruel masters served her well in the Courts of the Kuei-jin. Fu Mei accepted the tenets of her Dharma, the laws of the Wan Kuei, and the principles of their Disciplines and applied herself diligently. The humble grace with which she carried herself seemed to please her elders. She graduated from Lo Gan’s initial training, ready to find her place in the Middle Kingdom, and in the Flesh Court of Shanghai.

The Koa

In service to the Court of Flesh, the Mandarins knew she was still a diamond in the rough. Worldwide war was on the brink. But she needed time to shape herself and her skills before she would be of any real use. Her Koa began in late 1903. Mei struggled to reassert her place in the city, and began to wander its alleys and pubs in search of both chi and wisdom. Lo Gan watched her from afar, though he was busy with his own duties and could not protect her all the time. Fu Mei had to learn on her own just how ugly others in Shanghai could be, and spend a few years just wandering and watching how others lived. She indulged in her appetite when she had to and acted when appropiate. But mostly, she watched. Mei watched criminals harm others with impunity. She saw officials turn a blind eye with the passing of filthy bills. And she observed citizens turn away to “mind their own business”. It filled her with a sense of loathing so great that accompanied by the Demon Within’s scoldings, she was nearly sent spiralling into a pool of self-destruction.

And this harsh acquaintance with this dark side of the world might have stifled another’s spirit. Fu Mei just took a step back, revisualized the world, and strode forward again. Determined to “grin and bear it”, Mei’s quiet demeanor slowly vanished. It was replaced by a bright smile and laughter that echoed through clubs and alleys alike. It followed trails of blood from foolish men and bones of the monsters that dared showed their face in her meek-seeming presence.

Her elders noticed this progress and were pleased. Lo Gan visited Fu Mei one evening and presented her with a silk ribbon dyed in the blood of monkeys. It was an award, he reported, for her steady progress through the Koa. And then he encouraged her to take it a step further, to go from observation and detached gaiety, to true living. He recommended that she indulge in as many activities as possible -- perhaps not all at once, but to certainly expand her horizons. He also told her then to be careful, to not overdo it. Fu Mei only laughed. She never overdid anything and graciously accepted the gift, tying it in her hair.

For the next twenty years, Fu Mei did just that. She dabbled in drugs, sex, parties, crafts, romance, wilderness trials, and extreme emotions. And Fu Mei was gloriously happy! She was so pleased that she had returned from death that she felt guilty…but only for awhile. Fu Mei had wholly accepted the Second Breath, not because she reveled in the powers unlife bestowed, but because she had a second chance at experiencing life!

Her Koa, however, was interrupted with the onslaught of World War II and the invasion of the Japanese. Worse than just a miltary siege, Japanese vampires assaulted their Chinese cousins. And it was soon discovered that many of these so-called gaki were vile akuma slaves. Fu Mei linked up with her Court-mates and did her best to fight these demons off. She watched more than a few of her brethren, many whom were more able fighters than herself, fall.

Rage replaced fear, however. Even the terrifying glow of hima warriors did not daunt the young Hungry Red Dragon. With both her peers and superiors, she leapt full-throttle into the ranks of gaki. The Midnight War was as brutal as the human armies’ war, and neither side seemed ready to cede to the other. When the Flesh Court’s esteemed Ancestor was wantonly assassinated by wicked killers from the Koga uji, the battle seemed ready to turn and Fu Mei was nearly destroyed along with her comrades.

America’s atomic bombardment of Japan, however, changed all of that. The enemy was spiritually defeated, and the Flesh Court shoved back as viciously as they could. The Japanese vampires were forced to retreat, and only a few bold, particularly hateful akuma remained, hidden in Shanghai still. The city was still left in tatters, many people dead or worse. Fu Mei regarded the devastation with a broken heart. Many of her friends were dead, including Lo Gan, his soul sent spiralling into oblivion all because of other vampires had given into mindless, pointless greed.

Maturity

The Silent Mandarins came to power and through one of their agents, Fu Mei was contacted in her haven. She was found weeping, sinking into a mire of diao and bitter sorrow. The jina offered little comfort when he asked her if her loyalty was still to the Flesh Court, and if she would come to serve the Silent Mandarins. He told her that her Koa was over -- it had ended with the Japanese invasion really, and she knew it. So she agreed, feeling obligated only by duty. It gave her no comfort though, and only rage and hatred guided her into a new Wu.

The Wu, the Golden Tiger Stars, was one of three Wu initially formed to counter the lingering akuma threat in Shanghai. Her brothers and sisters, mostly Devil Tigers and fellow Thrashing Dragons, shared her vengeance. While the others in the Wu were generally the detectives and spies, she was her Wu’s warrior. And several akuma fell before her pure, chaotic Yang-fury and terrifying, angelic claws and flames. She gained a reputation, her “drunken” kung fu giving her an unpredictable edge. Combined with the fury of the Dragon Dance, she was a terrifying and fearless combatant. Many Kuei-jin came to address Fu Mei as the “Crimson Tornado”.

Eventually, decades gave way to a more peaceful era. The Cold War ended, but Shanghai was still in tumult. The threat of the akuma remained even still and the risk of an Ancestor being assassinated again prevented the position from being filled. The Flesh Court was kept from fulfilling its place in the Quincux because of the harsh political instability. Fu Mei could only sigh. She was no politician and was frankly wholly uninterested in amassing political influence. She wanted to enjoy her existence again, as she did before the invasion. This seemingly-denied desire, combined with her overwhelming bent to the powers of Yang, led to her metaphysical imbalance. She ate nonstop, managing to stop of course at devouring too much chi (and people), but human food was game, and she ate pretty much whatever was placed before her. In many ways, she was suffering a sort of depression-based eating disorder. Of course, her undead metabolism made it impossible to put on weight and she neither felt the need to vomit it back up. It was essentially a rare neurosis called phagomania, and she weirded some of her peers out with that habit, as if heeding inner urges to “eat to be a big girl”.

Then the Golden Tiger Stars was already falling apart with the unexpected fall of Ti On, the Wu’s leader and Northern judge, to an angry Wantong’s claws. The guanxi decayed and the Wu’s usefulness had begun to fade anyway. In time, the members each went their own separate paths. Fu Mei turned back to the city in search of that peace and happiness she once enjoyed. But it was a different place now. Commerce was such that people had higher ambitions but smaller minds than she remembered. Mei was growing dissatisfied with her home metropolis and took to wandering the surrounding hinterlands and villages. She avoided mistrustful (and often vicious) hengeyokai and acquainted herself with nature.

And it was in the grassy fields to the west that Mei rediscovered her path. Keen eyes sat observing the flatlands one summer evening. An owl swooped down, plucking a screeching mouse from the field. The field erupted as several other mice fled and a flock of birds trying to settle down for the night took to the air. As many small animals fled the predator, the smallest went nowhere. Fireflies lit up the scene, not at all afraid of their predators, engaged in their nightly, seasonal activities. They shone bright and beautiful and Fu Mei once more smiled with genuine happiness, her eyes reflecting the hundred lights. She finally understood in the way that it was meant to be understood that her path was not about enjoying life…but understanding it better than anyone with only one lifespan could ever understand it. This deduction may have come easier to others, but Mei’s education had been sundered by war. She was now ready to learn.

Recent Years

Fu Mei rose from lotus position and dashed into the field, laughing and dancing. She danced her way back into the city, laughing before her friends, and bowing with an exhilarated heart before her lords. She took a new nickname of “Little Lightning Flea” and begged for the right to wander the world. The Mandarins did not object, realizing she had unknowingly introduced herself to the Laughing Rainbows sect. A message supposedly from the Thousand Cranes Mother herself had arrived weeks before Fu Mei had returned to the city informed them as much. Mei was no longer the soldier the Mandarins wanted and she was released from her duties in the Court of Flesh. The Thousand Cranes Mother’s letter was enough to convince them that her path must lie elsewhere.

Of course, the elders presumed her definition of the “world” was the Middle Kingdom. Fu Mei was more interested in visiting America, to see this Western land’s innovative life-style in spite of warnings of its barbarism and corruption…and Kin-jin. She retired from the Middle Kingdom, traveling across the Pacific and from the West Coast to the country’s interior. Rumors of a growing Oriental presence in Kansas City’s Little Asia district and of the need for more Kuei-jin therein drove her to this destination. Although she still felt uncomfortable and wary about this new setting, Fu Mei hoped to prove useful to the Court of the Ebon Flame. And more importantly, away from a wartorn and politically-minded Quincux, she hoped to uncover truths of reality and of life in this New World.

The P'o


Whether she admits it or not, Fu Mei wishes she knew her parents. In truth, she wants to be a parent. Before she can do so, she feels that she must understand how parenting works. And unfortunately, she was robbed of that sort of life before her Second Breath. Mei never knew her parents. The tragedy still haunts her and that manifests as her Demon Within. Always trying to guide her to do the “right thing”, Mei finds that her “conscience” is really an overprotective control freak. Mei knows she could learn much about how not to parent from her own P’o if its urges and hungers didn’t push her always towards oblivion.

Significant Other


Fu Mei hired Hasina Tate in the late spring of 2005. Did she really need a bodyguard? No, of course not. But Mei recognized the danger Hasina could potentially pose the Court, since the First Interrogator jilted this "softer" one of the Tate twins. Mei wanted to keep the girl close to the Gui Ren. While she could have possibly just killed the girl, she knew she was doing young Haima Tate a favor -- and by extension, Hasina. And while Kaji recognized the potential Urn in Haima, he failed to recognize the likelihood of Hasina's fall, too -- except Hasina would make a better Dragon than Tiger! Besides, the Yang-imbalanced Mei prefers to keep Chi-on-tap (and sex-on-tap...) readily available, especially someone as tasty as Hasina.

Then in 2009, Hasina and her sister celebrated as they once used to. But this time, their powers soared out of control and caused a terrible accident that claimed their lives, too. Mei wept for her loss, but rejoiced when Hasina (and her sister) took the Second Breath and returned to her, now as pupil rather than servant…

Hasina

Significant Other


Jiang Da-Chun joined the Court of the Ebon Flame in late 2005. Fu Mei soon linked up with the younger Thrashing Dragon, acting as a guide for the Koa. Of course, especially due to their Dharmic inclinations, the relationship went beyond that. Together, the two vampires began to explore all the wonders of living emotions…and the delights that their more pliable forms could provide. Perhaps their pleasures will even provide keys towards enlightenment, but it may very well just prove to be distractions!

Da-Chun

Weakness

Hell-Bitch



Try as she might, she's not alive. She's undead. Worse, she's an undead creature that clawed her way out of hell. And no matter how she rails against Yomi Wan, she carries its horror and taints and perhaps forever. Her wild heart, her bent towards Yang, makes her as reckless and brutal as she is bold and brave.

Likelihood of Corruption


High.

She's a vampire. Nuff said.

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