Tabby
Derpsichord
"Impossible" is a word weak people use to justify giving up.
Intimacies
- Azure Sky - General fondness and a bit of an immature crush that she would happily crush the life from his body before telling him about. He's watched out for her enough times that Chao sees it as perfectly reasonable that she do the same in return, and given his quiet competence she sees him as somewhat of a role model; she motivates herself in equal parts by trying to keep up with and emulate him, despite not knowing all that much of his history. Chao immensely respects Azure Sky, nearly to the point of idolization. It is a quiet respect, not one she expresses to him or anyone else, but deep-rooted and absolutely genuine nonetheless.
- SCIENCE! - The pursuit of knowledge is much of what drives her, and the ability to make reality sit down and shut the fuck up is by far Chao's favorite pastime. Her schooling and exaltation alike have led per to gradually grow into a paragon at manse design, Essence manipulation, the technical principles of sorcery, the occult in general, and fine detail work - while ostensibly different fields, she makes a habit of combining principles of each whenever possible, feeling strongly that each can benefit from the others. While this mindset does not actually work out every time, Chao is in an unusual position as being one of Creation's least-known but most-advanced manipulators of raw essence as a result, and she sees a long road ahead of her.
- Captain Takeo - The only inclination that Chao has actually gone through puberty is her general incoherent affection of the good captain, which could be as much due to the handiness of having someone to lug all the materials she needs for science across Creation.
Personality
- Honor, honesty, integrity, and valor. While she is not so easily broken down into four words, those four principles guide Chao's dealings with the world around her. She has a tendency to interpret her actions liberally as they apply to normal morality, but would never break her own personal code.
- Very, very loyal, but a terrible liar, doubly so with friends - she compensates by simply not being there to have to lie. Chao is a huge proponent of the saying that it is "easier to ask forgiveness than permission."
- Chao tends to speak informally and bluntly, and while she can restrain herself if needs be, she prefers to avoid situations wherein she must. As such, she very rarely offers to be the spokesman for a group in any capacity, though she has no issue whatsoever making sure her opinions are known. Loudly. Multiple times, if need be to make her point.
- She tends to alternate between technobabble, normal language, and vague terms rapidly when trying to explain a concept to anyone as a result of how quickly her mind moves as compared to her mouth; even a relatively simple explanation of her techniques will range from a highly technical explanation of essence-conducting materials to wild gestures as she talks about how the 'stuff' goes from 'one thing' to the 'other thing.' Chao is vaguely aware of this tendency, but has trouble noticing that she's doing it until well into the discussion.
- Very self-assured, though not quite egotistical - Chao is damn good at what she does, and she knows it. She is not shy about admitting it, but tries to steer clear of outright bragging, and rarely tries to lord her talents over anyone else's; she relies on the quality of her work to show how awesome she is, rather than stooping to words that she's not always good at. As a result, she can be intensely competitive when she feels challenged.
- While friendly and personable as a rule, this is more a persona than any form of natural charisma; she's not really that great with people. Chao rarely exerts any significant presence in a room, generally trying to blend in rather than stealing the show.
- Her sense of humor that strays into the realm of the unusual at times.
- She has a strong Dragonblooded background and is still to some degree loyal to Ledaal, even knowing that they saw her as little more than a handy mortal given her failure to undergo the Terrestrial Exaltation. Chao has nothing personal against the Dragonblooded, but has been forced to accept that they probably aren't going to be talked into being cool with Solars, so she's tentatively and vaguely interested in the concept of "fixing" the Realm, even if she isn't exactly sure how.
Backstory
- Born to House Ledaal of two Dragonblooded parents of good blood, it was only reasonable that she was expected to exalt in short order. Chao received the education that all Ledaal members did, and even when she didn't Exalt as early as people hoped - just a late bloomer, obviously, it was bound to happen - her intelligence and drive for knowledge was enough to secure her a proper later education.
- Mortal or no, Chao left her mark at the academy with gusto, leaping headfirst into her studies - and experiments that led to her regular contact with the staff members of the school, as well as a certain degree of reputation unbefitting of a mere mortal. Consumed by a ravening need for knowledge, she supplemented her official classes by voraciously devouring more advanced material from the libraries of her house as well as anything she could eke from the school proper, as well as her Exalted classmates. She never realized how close she came to getting expelled more than once, but an unusual aptitude for Earthcrafting - Manse design, specifically - and Aircrafting - intricate machinery as well as a tendency to feed into her Earthcrafting - that made the pint-sized mad scientist just useful enough to both her house and the academy to keep her safe from some of the consequences of her actions.
- Infamous rather than popular, she still managed to make a few friends here and there, as well as a much larger group of acquaintances more interested in what she could do rather than her personally. Chao, unable to tell the difference and never particularly good with people at the best of times, developed the breezy, friendly persona that has stuck with her to this day; she was never exactly charismatic, but personable enough to make a passable emulation of it.
- Always a proponent of honing her body as well as her mind, Chao took to martial arts sometime during the interim. While she could never really find anyone both able and willing to teach her an actual style, she kept in good shape, picking up some of the basics from books and her inner circle alike. While her house was gradually coming to terms with the idea that she was becoming less likely to Exalt, she still held enough promise for her existing talents that Chao never had to deal as much with the stigma of failing to Exalt as most of her fellow mortals; she still got occasional comments - or insults - on the matter from fellow students, and Chao herself was more aware of the issue than she ever let on, but... what could she do?
- Ever the pragmatists, Ledaal was gradually coming to terms with the idea of her just being a handy - but mortal - engineer when Chao, ever in the business of defying expectations, decided to take it to the next level by Exalting just as she finished her latest masterpiece.
- As a Solar.
- "SHIT."
- "Oh, cool, I know martial arts now!"
- -She barely escaped the madness, leaving her room a smoking wasteland and the Academy staff - and her House - very confused about what the hell she had done THIS time. For better or for worse, as a "mere mortal" Chao was not nearly important enough to organize an Isle-wide manhunt over... but just useful enough for her house to post a small bounty for, primarily because they didn't want a talented specialist slipping out of their grasp just when they had reached the point of accepting her lack of exaltation.
- Chao, completely clueless of the roiling politics and still far too busy panicking like a champion, skedaddled the hell off of the Blessed Isle on the first ship that found to stow away on.
- Not having a lifetime of experience in avoiding pursuit, she ended up face to face with a bounty hunter within a month. Fortunately, he turned out to be a Solar too. Lonely, impressionable, and vaguely interested in helping him achieve his goal of pacifying and saving the Realm, Chao joined up with him in short order.