âIf itâs for Xiaolong, then thereâs no telling how far Iâm willing to go.â
Full Name: Celeste Xifeng Liu
Nickname:Xifeng
Age: 18
Gender:Female
Sexuality: Asexual Biromantic
Nickname:Xifeng
Age: 18
Gender:Female
Sexuality: Asexual Biromantic
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Height & Weight: 5â 4â, 117 lbs
Distinctive Markings:
Scars: None significant enough to speak of.
Birthmarks: She has one on her waist that looks somewhat like a vestigial, misshapen wing.
Tattoos: None. Theyâre a waste of money.
Clothing Style: She tends towards comfortable and useful clothing, although of course she tends to buy cheap clothes, especially from thrift stores. Itâs not that she doesnât care about fashion (she would actually like some of the more impractical and/or expensive outfits), but simply that she canât afford to care.
Personality:
In three words: Tsundere Ice Queen. Xifeng isnât good with her emotions, period. Part of this is from experience, since if she cares less about things sheâs less likely to be upset when they go wrong (see her father for that one).
She has a short temper that flares up often and often doesnât go out until a while later. The only person who she has never loses her temper with is her baby brother, so beware of touching a hair on his head.
When it concerns her brother, Xifeng becomes an absolutely devoted older sister. Woe betide anyone who decides they donât like him.
Likes:
Dislikes:
Fears:
Strengths:
In three words: Tsundere Ice Queen. Xifeng isnât good with her emotions, period. Part of this is from experience, since if she cares less about things sheâs less likely to be upset when they go wrong (see her father for that one).
She has a short temper that flares up often and often doesnât go out until a while later. The only person who she has never loses her temper with is her baby brother, so beware of touching a hair on his head.
When it concerns her brother, Xifeng becomes an absolutely devoted older sister. Woe betide anyone who decides they donât like him.
Likes:
- Her 3-year-old little brother: Dante Longwei Liu. She sometimes calls him Xiaolong, because itâs cute and heâs cute.
- Toffee: Delicious. Sometimes if she gets a raise or if itâs a special day, sheâll buy a small amount and share it with her brother (she makes sure that he brushes well afterwards)
- Money: Obviously. It helps her pay the bills and make Xiaolongâs life easier.
- Music: She likes music a lot. It helps her stress levels go down, and itâs fun to sing along with her brother. Her favorite genre is actually punk rock (it helps her with her anger), and whatever her brother likes (which tend to be nursery rhymes and theme songs).
- Flowers: She really likes growing flowers, and when theyâre cheap sheâll buy some seeds or sprouts to grow in the apartment and the planter box. She also knows how to make flower crowns, a secret special ability.
Dislikes:
- Her first name: who would name their Chinese child Celeste, really?
- People who donât like her little brother: Thereâs the door.
- People who spend money like water: She works hard for every dollar she makes, so this irritates her a lot.
- Child Protective Services (CPS): Sheâs generally had bad experiences with them.
- Alcohol: Her father could be the textbook example picture for DARE programs
Fears:
- Anything bad happening to her little brother: This is her biggest fear, actually.
- That sheâs going to end up being unable to care for her little brother to the satisfaction of Social Services: More specific, but this definitely has grounds in reality.
Strengths:
- Determination: Xifeng is pretty bullheaded, which has helped her in the past.
- Devotion: Once she decides she likes you (an arduous process) Xifeng becomes pretty devoted to helping you. Sheâs actually a total mother hen to her friends.
- Intelligence: While this is sort of second to her determination, Xifeng is still pretty smart and can maintain good grades in school while juggling part-time jobs and her little brother.
History:Xifeng actually grew up as a well adjusted child in a loving home. Her mother loved her, her father loved her, and most of all her parents loved each other. So much so that as a child she was often left alone, or given to the care of numerous but trusted babysitters. Still, she was happy because her parents were happy.
At that time, Xifeng was a cheerful, carefree and perhaps slightly immature child. She got good grades, had a few good friends, and generally never wanted for anything. Life was good back then.
From elementary school to middle school to high school, she generally had a nice, normal life. In her second year of high school, things started to change.
First of all, her mother finally conceived and gave birth to another child. Her parents had been trying for years, and Xifeng got a baby brother at last (although her parentsâ naming skills were questionable as always. Dante? Really?). From the start Xifeng and Longwei were inseparable. A good thing, because her parents were still flighty and relied on Xifeng to take care of Longwei when they took nth honeymoons and dates that lasted longer than ever. Still, it was a happy time.
The second change came about when her mother got into a car accident. Cliche, yes. But thatâs what happened. It was such an open-and-shut case that you could get whiplash from it. Essentially, she had been carpooling with a friend when a distracted driver rammed into the passenger side of the car. The friend got away with a few scrapes and bruises and the image of Wei Liu shredded into human meatloaf amongst a tangle of metal.
The death of her mother hit Xifeng hard, yes, but it knocked her father into the ground, and he never got up. While her father had occasionally indulged in a small tumbler of alcohol when it had been a particularly stressful day, now he never seemed to stop drinking. When he didnât have a bottle or glass in hand, he had a picture of his dead wife. Zhao Liu had never been an angry drunk, just a sentimental and sometimes rather silly one (especially at college parties). He never seemed to stop weeping, or staring off into the distance. After a while (i.e. when his company notified him that his vacation was coming to an end), he went back to work, but he was so changed and so gloomy that his company eventually cut down his job to one that he could work from home.
Even though she was also mourning her motherâs death, Xifeng had Dante, who was too young to truly understand death. He kept asking her when Mom was going to come back. Eventually, she explained that Mom had gone to a place in the sky, and they werenât sure when she was coming back. But between school, Dante, and her own grief, Xifeng fell behind in maintaining the household. Her father wasnât helping--in fact, he was making most of the mess, not bothering to throw away old bottles or empty TV dinner trays. In fact, he was barely there. Once, Xifeng actually tried to go to CPS, to get her brother and her away from her father, but she was told that because he was providing a steady income and wasnât actually abusive, it would be very difficult to remove her.
So they stayed. Life went on monotonously, with Xifeng and Longwei trying to spend as much time away from home as possible. Finally, the siblings were granted a ray of hope when she was accepted into a college across the country with a full ride scholarship. Taking hold of that opportunity, she cashed in money that she had made in part-time jobs in preparation of either going to college or beginning work, and flew herself and her brother to New York City.
Family:
Her father, Zhao Liu, whom she refuses to recognize.
Her mother, Wei Ming-Liu, who is dead
Secrets: Xifeng keeps a lot of secrets, partially because she doesnât want her brother to worry, and partially because of their financial situation.