{ "He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions." }
Barefoot Friends || Elephant Revival
Nickname:
Gwen [Her English name]
"I do not dislike my given name. However, these days people seem to prefer to change it for the comfort of those around them. I adapt to the times."
Age:
Twenty-Five [115]
Gender:
Female
Sexuality:
Heterosexual
Vampire type:
Homo Vampyrus Chiroptera
Occupation:
Librarian [By Trade] Inventor [By Hobby]
{ 5'2" } Being of Chinese Descent, it makes sense that Guiying should be on the slighter side. That being said, she somewhat dislikes her height. It is inconvenient in reaching high things, and she fears people respect her less due to it.
Weight:
{ 110lb }
Eye colour:
{ Blue } Blue eyes in someone of pure Chinese descent is nearly unheard of. Guiying's genetics, however, are of course different due to her being a vampire. Blue eyes have appeared about once or twice a generation in her family.
Hair colour:
{ Black } Some might argue that her hair is actually very dark brown, but Guiying stands by the assertion that her hair is black. It's certainly very, very dark, regardless of what color one might like to call it.
General Description:
Being a Chiroptera, Guiying's appearance is variable. Some in her family have said that there is no true appearance, only the most common one. She disagrees, and would describe her common appearance as her base one. She as a slight build, standing at an unimpressive height. Her physique does not hide the great strength of most vampires, given her genus, but she is in shape all the same. Hardly a body builder shape, though --more of a 'goes on walks regularly, eats properly' sort of health. Her skin is very pale, as she is unable to go out in the sunlight without blistering and burning, though it has a few scars from underestimating the speed with which the sun would rise. She keeps her hair short, for ease, though as a child it once grew very very long indeed. Her face has a sort of delicate look about it, due to a small nose and mouth, which perhaps matches her small frame. So, as far as physique and structure, she is petite and looks perhaps more fragile than she is. Of course, her ears are slightly pointed [not seen in the pictures, but just assume], the mark of a Chiroptera, but she does not have the flat nose of the genus.
{ Quiet, Introverted, Motherly, Patient, Cautious }
Like most Chiroptera, Guiying tends to fall more into the introverted category. She enjoys being around people, certainly, but too much exposure can be tiring for her, who is most relaxed with a book or working on some project or another. Crowds are something she certainly stays clear of, feeling uncomfortable when made to be in large groups of people. It follows that speaking to large groups makes her even more uncomfortable, and in fact Guiying has difficulty forming comprehensive sentences when made to give a speech of any type to a crowd. It is for this reason that she doubts she will ever be a member of the Elders, despite the fact that the small population of Chiroptera increases the chances of all members of the genus. She is naturally more soft spoken, anyway, and thus might worry that her voice would be drowned out and she might be unable to properly express the interests of her people.
And yet, her words to carry a certain amount of weight. What she lacks in vocal volume, the girl makes up for in a competency which people respect. She may be bad at speaking in front of crowds, but she is a skilled inventor, and this gift means she often has something people want --giving her some level of influence. Competency aside, it is truly another aspect of her that might allow those around her to listen when she speaks. Guiying has the sort of firmness when she does try and assert something that makes people pay attention. After all, when the quiet one speaks, it is more likely that they have substance. Her authoritativeness is almost similar to that of a mother in some ways, the sort of wisdom one takes on the belief that she is looking out for them. She is indeed rather motherly in some ways, fiercely protective of her loved ones and quick to try and comfort a friend.
Guiying is often the one who must hold back friends who are about to start a fight, or try and explain that one must choose their battles. Because of this, she has gained two reputations: one as someone who lacks strong convictions, which is not necessarily true, and the other as a coward. If coward means cautious, than she is fine with this. Guiying believes that it is important to stand for what one believes in, but also that not all battles can be won; patience is required to see things through to the end.
{ Reading } { Advancing Technology } { Engineering } { Hot Tea } { Written & Spoken Chinese } { Evening Walks } { Libraries } { Star/Moon Gazing } { Historical Novels } { Musicals / Opera / The Balley } { Type O Blood } History } { Fellow Chiroptera [Usually] } { Necklaces } { Jade } { Painless Feeding } { Rivers / Ponds } { Cheesy Movies } { Peanut Butter & Chocolate } { Funny People } { Dark Eyes } { Subtlety } { Small Acts of Kindness or Affection } { Warmth } { Soft Blankets } { Cats }
{ Sudden Loud Noises } { EDM, Most Very Digitalized Music } { Cruel Bluntness } { People With Short Attention Spans } { Decline of Reading } { Public of Speaking } { Too Much Attention or Too High Rank [She prefers to remain under the radar] } { Chewing Gum } { Racism } { The Beach } { Carbonated Beverages } { Cheap Alcohol } { Jumping Into Things Head First } { Mistreatment of Books } { Genus Prejudice } { Messy Eaters [Applying to Bloodsucking, in Particular] } { Blistering in The Sun } { Acts Done Simply for Recognition }
Guiying was born into a time in which China was being torn apart by imperial powers. Westerners had plugged Opium into the economy, leaving many of the Chinese people incapacitated by addiction to the drug. Technically, a monarchy still existed, but merely as a figurehead while other countries took all they wanted or needed out of China, leaving the country weak and dependent on foreign economies. She was born in a rural village, where her family were the closest thing to royalty in the area, living well in a large house on a hill. Her family had been old money, which is not surprising considering how incredibly old her parents, both Chiropteras, were. No one really questioned how long the Zhang family had been in that house, and in fact some in the village rumored them to be heavenly beings, others thinking them monsters for the fact that they never came out when the sun was out.
In this house, Guiying was raised like a little princess. She was the eldest daughter of the main wife, and thus treated much better than her half sisters, the daughters of her father's concubines. These girls were often descended from human mothers who had come to the house under the promise of wealth and comfort, staying even once they realized the truth of the family. Some never figured it out at all, having been convinced her family just suffered from an ancient curse which prevented them from venturing into the sunlight. For the first few years of her life, she was allowed to jump and play and be lively with her brothers, for she was closer to them than her sisters. However, soon tradition dictated that while her brothers skip and play, she must become more still, more quiet. She was taught to read, and write, and count, for her parents knew this to be important, but while her brothers learned skills to lead a house, to be a scholar, she was confined to sewing exquisite dresses. She considered herself lucky, that her parents did not believe in the practice of footbinding, and that she was allowed an education where many were denied one.
As political unrest continued, and the Chinese struggled to take back their home, Guiying's life was much the same in a rural area that these problems seemed like a dream to. At a certain age, older than the usual for humans of similar status but considered appropriate for Chiropteras, which are often found in China, her parents began to speak of arranging a marriage for Guiying. By this point, her liveliness and temper had been subdued. This was the case for her brothers as well, for with age Chiropteras often seem to calm down. She was introverted, certainly, but also soft spoken and cautious, things that were more a sign of her position as a woman in a wealthy family than of her bloodline. She was arranged to marry into another Chiroptera family, to their eldest son, Min.
She lived with the Liang family for several years before the marriage took place, and while she never loved Min, she came to be friends with him. His family was kind to her, at least. Their marriage was still new, however, when the hunters came to their village. Hunters were unusual in China at the time, and in fact these ones were Westerners from the city who had heard rumors of nocturnal families in their rural area. Guiying managed to survive because Min showed her a secret hideaway in which he had often played as a child. She hid there, praying that he too would remember the little room and come. He did not. Perhaps in the past she would have fought, but in this period of her life Guiying was reserved, fearful. Kind, but cautious. When she finally had the courage to leave, prodded mostly by hunger, she found that everyone had been killed.
A young widow, she returned to her family home. They had heard the news, and accepted her as an honored widow returned. It was not long before the war would descend upon China, however, and with the constant airstrikes. When the rape of Nanking happened, the city not being altogether too far from her home, and the news returned that many of her family members had been killed in it, Guiying and some of the other younger members of the family decided that they would leave China. They had the funds for it, but in the chaos, their plans ended up being delayed several years. It was a long time before ultimately she was the only one to move to America and, through a lengthy process that involved pulling strings with the Chiroptera community in America, become a citizen.
This was of course another struggle of its own, as she worked to learn English, create a life for herself, etc. But she was a quick learner, and still had the money from her family. She worked night jobs, of course, usually in restaurants or factories. When she had enough money, the woman even began to attend night classes. She spent her life thus for a few decades, perfecting her English and moving on due to her hard work. Her family had been influential in the Chinese vampiric community, but here she was simply a no one --and Guiying, known often as Gwen, liked this. It lessened the attention on her, made it easier to move about independently, etc.
And now, she lives in Las Vegas, working as a Librarian. She's made her own pretty sum of money through stocks in family business back in China, where such things are now prospering, and occasionally visits home. The money allows her to live well despite a meager wage, and allows her to spend time tinkering and programming little things that she does not sell commercially, but will make for friends and others in her community. Thus lives Zhang Guiying, one of very few Chiropteras in Las Vegas.
Family/Associates:
Her family all live in China still, and she goes back to visit them occasionally. Many of them have died by now, and many died during WW2 at the hands of the Japanese. There might be one or two distant relations in America, children of her half sisters, but they are probably not Chiroptera, and she doesn't know them.
Otherwise, TBA
