chen XiaoYin | The loyal handmaiden

 

“CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN. MAKE 'M WASTE MONEY, MOSTLY”

FACE CLAIM : Jessica Henwick
BACK-UP FACE CLAIM : Arden Cho, Ailee (either would change her ethnicity and subsequently her name)
HEIGHT & WEIGHT : 169cm, 56kg

APPEARANCE : 

— Thin but clearly strong, XiaoYin has the build of someone who worked on a farm for their formative years, but hasn't quite kept up with that level of manual labor in the past couple of years. She's still lean and strong, but less obviously muscular than she used to be. Her looks no longer betray that she packs a punch and she intends to use the underestimation that brings to her full advantage. Her face is beautiful in a way that makes it surprising how little it has come to play or been commented on in her life. While she's usually a very outwardly expressive person, she can keep her emotions out of her facial expressions and voice to an uncanny degree - a skill learned from years of gambling. She is used to walking around with an averted gaze, her posture is something that waxes and wanes in step with her confidence.

FASHION STYLE :

— Growing up poor, XiaoYin never had much of a chance to develop a fashion style. Being the oldest girl, she was lucky enough to have a wardrobe that mixed new clothes with hand-me-downs from her two older brothers. Her clothes tended to be cheap but somewhat in style whenever she got something new, some clothes were self-made and others were slightly oversized and clearly made for boys.

 

— When she began her work as the princess' hadnmaiden, she was suddenly into the limelight. Being around the princess almost constantly meant that she had to look somewhat sophisticated, but also plain enough to not steal any spotlight. Dresses were in block colours, her hair was left open or tied back in two unassuming braids. Her outfits also never had more layers than absolutely necissary - she had to get dressed quickly in the mornings. Even in the palace XiaoYin's wardrobe valued efficiency over fashion.

 

— With this confusing amalgamation of styles, XiaoYin never developed much of a fashion sense herself, seeing other things has her priority. She has, however, learned to make due with whatever clothes she can get her hands on and feels at home anywhere from the pretty but modest dresses of her royal employ to the rolled up sleeves of her brothers' clothes.

 

“OUR PAST ONLY DEFINES PEOPLE LIKE US,

WHO HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO FALL BACK ON”

PERSONALITY : XiaoYin grew up among people that had little expectation for her to be a lady. Much like in her clothing, hard work, the ability to think on her feet and mischevious humor were valued and encouraged. She was raised to always do her best and to be a little opportunisitc when push came to shove. Her family never had much, so if the opportunity to sell something over price or to hustle someone out of their money presented itsself, she would be dumb not to take it.

Having only ever recieved a bare bones education, she has never had the chance to build anything resembling raw intellect. She lacks the relevant knowledge and the practice that could help build skills like strong memory, pattern recognition or assiciation with long-ago heard information. Instead, XiaoYin learned at a young age to read people's expressions and overall demeanor quite well and now coasts on her intuition. She is the definition of street smart, her brain power shines in situations relying on understanding people and potentially using that understanding against them, if need be.

Her sense of humor is part quick wit, part absurdist. Shooting the with her brothers led to the development of their own sign language, because none of them let the joke die down naturally and instead built on it until it had reached its bizarre and extreme conclusion. And it proved to be quite useful - if paired with people that get her dryly delivered humor, bulding interesting hypotheticals can have surprisingly useful results.

Because she grew up struggling financially, she has a slight revolutionary streak. Having befriended the princess she might not be gunning for the guillotine, but some redistribution of wealth and re-thinking of the class system are definitely parts of her dream future. Because her family has always valued her opinion and made sure that every single family member is heard, XiaoYin used to be quick to voice her honest opinion on things. Not criticising horribly and using "brutal honesty" to justify being horrible, mind you. She was just at a level of outspoken that "commoners" seldomly direct at those of higher social standing.

Because she did exactly that, she became a target for bullying for years. It got to her pretty badly, over time turning her reserved and anxious around anyone she doesn't have a strong bond with. From the outside this looks like shyness. Really, she's just grown used to her words being turned back on her and her rough and tumble manner of speech being ridiculed. Her defense mechanism has been to shut down.

BACKGROUND :

— THEY CARVED OUT THEIR OWN CORNER OF THE WORLD

Let me tell you a story. No doubt you will hear many versions, if you dig deep enough, one of them is true. Only time will tell whether it is this one.

Many years ago, the man was born, facing the rising sun through a small porthole, in a cramped room at the Anchor and Rose in. They say it takes a village to raise a child, but it takes the Piranah Isles to truly raise a pirate. The man grew up navigating by starlight and getting lost in the daytime. Rude words and a rough edge were second nature and if you had cut him, all were sure his veins would spill saltwater. His parents were often at sea, but someone was always around.
A friend by the name of Jasper, only a year younger, grew up by his side. Together, they roamed first the streets and uprooted boats of the Isles and later uprooted the carefully structured hirarchy of the ships they worked on. When they were fourteen and thirteen, they started as cabin boys, then sailors. While Jasper showed affinity for talking and tricking people into doing his bidding, the man shot like no other. They rose in the ranks of their own disciplines, but shared quarters, stories and advice. They moved ship whenever Jasper's plots were getting too close to being revealed. They were passed from crew to crew, into less kind hands and more cut-throat environments. And yet, they rose to meet any challenge and crossed the moral lines of their childhood without so much as blinking, when courage benefitted them. Whenever it was dangerous to rock the boat, they kept their head down. Jasper was good at derecting attention on or off himself, when it was needed. The man, however, was content to do his job - most people payed him little mind as it were. He could have sworn he was destined to live and die on the ocean, with the stars above and his friend by his side.

The woman did not believe in fate. She didn't want to - it was much easier to believe it was simply a fact, that her family wouldn't listen when she spoke. If it were fate, that would mean she had done something to deserve it. And that was a dangerous thought, one that she did not think remotely true. So the woman believed in facts. The fact that the sun would rise in the morning and that it would set again at night and nothing would have changed, only her mind would have grown more restless. She prayed to the same four walls of her room, because she was told to pray. Yet it seemed strange to pray to any spirit or god beyond them.
When she was fourteen, an old man in the market showed her a book filled with complicated words and strange symbols. She showed it to her father, who took it in his hands, paled and layed it back on the table as though it would burst into flames, if he were not careful. So, naturally, she went backt the next day and bought it. Carried it home roughly, to prove to herself, that it would not combust if she did. As an excuse to go back to the market, she had eaten all the bread the night before and so she snuck out into the woods that night and collected the herbst the book told her would cure her stomach ache. After, when no eyes were on her, she prowled through the forests, in tune with the wolves. She picked the herbs that looked like the sketches in her book until her pockets were filled with leaves, her hair was filled with twigs and her eyes glowed like the stars.
Every third day of every week, she would hike to the market, her boots in her hands. If the old man was there, she would say hello and when she didn't see him for months, she would worry. She seemed the only one, who did. In the market, the sunlight caught in her dark hair and the wind lashed against her face. She felt like she could breathe. The woman laughed at the idea of fate, because the facts told her that nothing would change. She tried to carve out her own little corner of the world anyway.

It is one such day at the market and the sun is not as bright, as it should be. They meet and the man's grin is shy and crooked as he tells her, he's a fisherman. He's not, of course, he's lying.
At this point, Jasper has his own ship. Their ship, he calls it, but sometimes the man isn't so sure. Jasper is a captain and he keeps his name. The man has never had a name that stuck, except for when they start calling him by his one unfired gun. On Jasper's ship he becomes the Hound of the Sea and really that just means he does the dirty work. It also means outside of the ship he's the one that's feared, because he's the one who is seen. And because men who only follow orders believe themselves better and men who feel they can justify themselves are harder to threaten. They still share quarters for old time's sake, but again, sometimes the man isn't so sure if he's wrong to feel watched. His friend has always been smarter than him and he's not delusional enough not to know, that he uses his mind to place people where he wants them. And maybe, just maybe, the man didn't place himself on a ship that darkens the skies, guns in his coat, blackpowder staining his forarms and his trigger finger won't stop twitching... Maybe he was maneuvered there and maybe he should have blinked when he crossed the lines of morality that seemed so clear-cut and unbreakable when he was a child. Maybe he should have looked back, just once.
The woman sees the questions in his eyes and the twiching in his finger and she doesn't know what they mean. But she does know he's lying and she simply smiles. Honestly, he's almost glad for it.
Her family still don't listen to her much. She hides the book below her pillow, reads by candlelight, or outside in the moonlight. At least her family take whatever drinks she offers them. She cures colds and calls it ginger tea and her mothers lips are drawn thin. Scowling, as she takes a sip, but she does take a sip and she doesn't ask and that's what really matters. The woman is a woman and she knows, that means she means less. But she feels like she has more to say, than most of the men she meets. They only seem to want to talk about the buisness and about how pretty she's grown. Instead she wants to speak of the way her heart beats with the forest, how the moonlight always seems just bright enough for her to find her way and read her book. She wants to speak of the old man at the market, with his relaxed smiles and his words that never seemed to make any sense, but always felt important. The way she was never sure if he was winking, or if his eyelids were drooping and the way that never seemed to matter. She wants to speak of the world beyond her own four walls. Instead, she forces her smile to reach her eyes, nods, speaks when spoken to. She bites her fingernails in public, so maybe the men will stopp telling her she's pretty. She bides her time. She lies with her words and her face and her movements.
The woman lies enough, that she recognizes, that the man isn't that good at it. If his lies don't even reach his eyes and fingers, he has a lot to learn. She takes his hand in hers and he feels like he can breathe. She says "I don't want to go home yet." What she means is I don't want to go home at all. What she means is take me home with you.
His smile turns soft and sad and then fades into a frown. Home, he thinks. He's not sure what that means, isn't sure if he ever knew. Not in this language, not in any other. A year ago he might have said the sea, or Jasper, or the Isles. Where's home?, he thinks. Maybe he doesn't bleed saltwater. Instead he smiles and says "then stay".
So he takes her to the docks and they lie on private property and he shows her how to draw lines between the stars that can lead her wherever she wants to go. She shows him, how to draw lines between the start that mean nothing but the pictures you find between them.
They part ways before dawn. The woman says "a relationship takes time neither of us have". The man says "you have no life outside walls and I have no life within". They may not have been so eloquent but old stories and half-truths are rewritten until the people want to hear them.

Two nights later they secure passage on a ship transporting cured meat. They stow away to a far off land and pluck new names from thin air. They plant food, because everyone else seems to. They leave fate and facts and guns behind and build a new life from sweat and pride. She sold the book at a market when she arrived, all relaxed smiles and wise words and drooping eyes. She still remembers the few recipies she found uses for.
If you cut the man, he bleeds red. His trigger finger will never stop shaking and he will never sell his one unfired gun. She has seen him on the sea and he knows she knows, but he starts shaking when he mentions his friend. She takes his hand and they stroll through their farm with their boots in their hands. Their hearts beat in time with each other. The sun rises every morning and sets every evening, as it always has. The woman prays to life itsself, beyond her four walls or not.

 

— ROUGH EDGE WAS SECOND NATURE ::: FOUND HER FOOTING IN HER INTUITION

They have children, nine of them. They had two boys before our subject of interest was born. Their eldest daughter was named XiaoYin. She never knew a world without her older brothers and can't remember one without most of her younger siblings. The main farmhouse was filled with cries for the first few years before their eldest matured into toddler age and years later laughter and yelling, both cheerful and in argument, ricocheted off the walls.

The siblings grew up loved equally and their bond among themselves was strengthened by the fact that they had to help out on the farm to make ends meet. Education for the poor consisted mostly of someone's parent teaching basic reading, writing and numbers in a room crammed so full with children, they barely had to heat it for the amount of body heat present. What the Chen kids didn't learn in school was substituted by thier parents. After all, they were raising a flock of farmers and merchants. XiaoYin and her two older brothers were delegated the task of carting the farm's produce to the markets of the larger towns in the vicinity as soon as they were old enough to be somewhat respected. The reading, writing and math they had learned from school and their own parents was quickly put to practice and the three of them soon grew into excelent hagglers and salespeople. 

As they grew older, they diversified the cities they sold at. The younger siblings took over the closer towns (though only Mingzhu took to it as well as the eldest three), while Li Jun, Guoquiang and XiaoYin went on longer journeys to cities on the coastline. On one such trip to a coast town during a time when money was tight, they joked about their old traditions of cheating at bets by speaking Rénlèi. Because of the long nights of their travels, they had become decent at a fair few card and dice games. Really, it was a logical step to helping out the family's income by gambling. Really, it was the next logical step to devise a system to cheat. Their first few trial runs with the newly conceved system of hand signals got them kicked out of a few taverns and it was only when they brought the rest of the Chen kids into the plan to come up with more signs, that they found success. While her education was subpar and her intellect was either not outstanding or just never practiced and encouraged, XiaoYin found her own footing in her intuition, her understanding of people's reactions and her to an extent her ability to talk things up or undermine them. As a result, her success at gambling scams and games involving reading people's minute reactions was high while her brothers were better at relying on their knowledge of statistical likelyhoods and the actual rules. Together, their sucess was enough to add to their budget so that they could afford better farming equipment and more donkeys. Better equipment meant better produce, more donkeys meant farther trips.

()add bits about pirate stories

Over time they could deliver to the capital and as their reputation grew, they even delivered a few items to the palace. They were one of many suppliers, were payed off by a kitchen hand and honestly, they were fairly certain they were getting ripped off. But delivering to the castle was a reputation boost that helped at the markets and... well, even though they were always just passing through and rotated the cities they delivered to, there's only so much you can cheat at cards before you get caught and banned. Their secondary source of income was still bringing in cash, but the number of places that would allow the Chens to gamble were slowly dwindling. With two parents and nine children, someone was bound to have the foresight to realize that that income would have to be subsituted in the long run. So palace deliveries, it was. Even though they were most certainly employed under the table and were being payed by someone who pocketed a fair bit of money meant for them - the reputation boost was enough to result in a net positive.

Unfortunately XiaoYin was not one for keeping shut for long, back in the day. And so one day she manned the cart delivering to the palace and spoke up against the miserable payout they were getting at an actual castle. In hindsight, she's not sure what she expected. She was laughed off, told to take it or leave it and after arguing a little while longer, XiaoYin recognized that they were easily replacable to the kitchen staff of the palace. Her family on the other hand... they weren't reliant on the income the palace brought them, but it was nice to see her younger siblings to get their own new clothes every once in a while. So she grit her teeth and chose to bear it.

Of course, that wasn't the end of it. Where the Chens had been lowly farmers to the kitchen staff that took their deliveries, they were now a target of active ridicule. Somehow Miyuselle's class system had managed to play people who had risen through the ranks form the lower middle class out against the lower class. And so XiaoYin was mocked whenever she made her deliveries to the castle. Her somewhat course speech was laughed at, as were her cheap and often out-of-fashion clothes. While she had never payed much attention to style, the comments about her language got ot her. After all, it was one of the quickest ways to single her out as both less educated and less fortunate and because she had had the guts to speak up against unfair treatment, that was now being used against her.

Over time she grew quieter and more shy in a sort of ripple effect: starting from anxiety around palace folk it soon expanded to anyone of significantly higher social standing and as the bullying continued and affected her more and more, it eventually encompassed anyone she hadn't grown up around. When she interacted with strangers, though no less rough and tumble, her boisterous nature was overcast with demure subserviance. Unless in her elements of talking up sales or around taverns' game tables, she just wanted to get conversations over with.

Still, she continued the deliveries. Took those meagre earnings into taverns that night and lost herself in gambling and hustling until she had replaced every royal coin with someone else's money. Often she was able to walk out with more than she had invested, or at least make her money back. Whenever she was not, she felt sorry for her family's sake, but indignant otherwise. Because there hadn't been much to lose in the first place.

 

— HADN'T BEEN MUCH TO LOSE ::: HELD HER HEAD LOW AND TUNED IT ALL OUT

One such palace delivery day almost three years ago now... well it was more of the same, really. XiaoYin hauled produce off the cart and into the storage rooms, while the kitchen staff watched. Some engaged her in conversation, only to twist her words back on her. She had long since learned to answer as short as possible, but they found something to ridicule anyway.
And then someone stepped in and everyone fell quiet. XiaoYin was busy balancing cabbages on a shelf and hoping they wouldn't roll off of each other and onto the floor. The silence was the most unusal thing to happen to her all day and she was instantly on guard. Turning around slowly, she became acutely aware that the only thing she had to defend herself with was whatever vegetables were in arms reach. And she was pretty sure that if someone came at her with a knife, retaliating with cabbage wasn't going to save her.

The silence only lasted a beat and then the blabbering started. XiaoYin, from the confines of the storage room caught the word "sorry" a couple of times, but couldn't make out much more. Then, people began flocking into the storage room and apologizing to her directly. Nothing could have been more unnerving, so she just pushed through them, back outside to the cart. To either see what had prompted this in case it was a setup for another cruel joke, or to get on with her job. Uncomfortably, the kitchen staff followed her back out, still apopgizing with questionable sincerity but a strong air of anxiety.

Their nervousness seemed to be directed at a young women XiaoYin hadn't seen before. Her dress was fashionable and although it was sparingly adorned, the cloth and attatched ribbons and pearls were probably worth more than the Chen's whole farm. For some reason, the good samaritan was grinning at XiaoYin like they were both in on some plot. Raising her eyebrows in surprised scepticism, XiaoYin gathered more vegetables in her arms and turned to walk back to the storage room. Only to be met with what looked like more than half her tormentors piled up around  her, trying to get their apology heard. Even if XiaoYin had thought their delivery sounded sincere, the fact that they were seemingly only offering her the baseline of human respect when under surveillance, meant that she wasn't going to let them off the hook so easily. "It's whatever. 'M not here for aplogies, just let me do my goddamn job in peace." and she shoved her way shoulder-first into the storage room, past stunned kitchen staff.

When she came back out, she fully expected the rich lady to have slunk away, disappointed that the good old saving-the-poor-person-to-make-yourself-feel-better hadn't worked. Instead, she wsa still standing there, grinning even wider. Huh. Alright, then. Seeing her again, seemed to prompt the staff into action, who were now apologizing to the lady on XiaoYin's behalf. Things like She's just a commoner, she doesn't understand the finer nuances, don't take it personally, they're never thankful anyway for all that you do for them and - XiaoYin held her head low and tuned them out as best she could, trying not to let it get to her. At the mention of thankfullness, she had to stop for a moment to take a breath and steel herself. Not a moment later silence fell once again. This one felt even more intense than the first - something was clearly up. Good god, XiaoYin wanted nothing more than to get out of here.

This time, the lady followed her into the storage room. "Will you do it?", she asked.
"Do what exactly? Sorry," short answers. Keep it short, keep it simple. People saw her as simple anyway and maybe she was, no one questioned her style of answering. Impossibly, the lady's grin turned even more mischevious.
"Be my handmaiden! Oh, I'm the princess by the way." XiaoYin stood there for a moment, trying to comprehend what had just happened. "I'm not a handmaiden. I deliver vegetables," and okay, maybe the whole quick-on-her-feet thing was failing her today. The princess rolled her eyes. "You could learn! It's not that hard. Besides, you'd really show it to all of them." XiaoYin held back a scoff. Not that hard. Sure, the princess had lived her life every day - XiaoYin only knew what noble's routines looked like from vague recollections of stories she had never been very interested in. And this was royalty. Showing up the kitchen staff seemed like a nice fantasy, but what XiaoYin lacked in smarts she made up for by knowing people. And being socially elevated above her bullies would mean they would torment her more subtly.

Seemingly sensing her hesitation, the princess mentioned the salary a handmaiden would get her. She would earn what they usually made in four months in one. XiaoYin thought of the clothes and games her siblings would get, they could replace that wheel on their biggest cart that had always given them trouble and delayed their journeys by a few hours. They would be fully prepared for the day they'd be blacklisted from even sitting at the game tables of every tavern in the country. Droughts wouldn't hit them so hard, winters wouldn't hurt so much. it, if the actual princess of Miyuselle wanted to play saviour so badly she was ready to employ a vegetable saleswoman as a handmaiden just to show her own kitchen staff... who would XiaoYin be to refuse.

 

— STORIES SHE HAD NEVER BEEN VERY INTERESTED IN ::: SHE FUMBLED HER WAY THROUGH

She started work a week later, having gone back home and gotten her belongings and said her goodbyes. She was half convinced the princess would call the whole thing off, before she got back to the castle. But to her surprise, the princess was right there, waiting for her with that same grin. Her parents seemed to be less approving if the raised eyebrows and rolled eyes were any indication. But there was no stopping the princess, apparently.

Once they were alone and she was being shown where her chambers were and where her duties lay - again, why was the princess doing this herself, shouldn't some other member of staff... When she was being shown around, the princess mentioned that she expected XiaoYin to give her honest opinion at all times. She had thought it was a joke at first and had let out what she hoped was an appropriate chuckle (could she be executed for misreading royal social cues?), but the princess had grabbed her shoulders, looked her dead in the eyes and repeated the request for honesty. So XiaoYin had tested the waters and asked "Your parents don't approve, I have no experience with any of this. I don't even understand what half your hairbrushes do. Why do you have so many? Sorry, the actual question: Why exactly did you hire me?" Oh boy, she would have to get that nervous blabbing under control within the day. The princess had held eye contact and had answered "You talk and act like adventure, like in the books. Or at least the closest I've ever seen." Privately, XiaoYin wondered if that was a sweet sentiment or uncomfortable stereotyping. Before she came to any sort of conclusion, the princess had continued "You didn't seem surprised that I was the princess. Why not? People are usually more shocked about that reveal." For the first time of many, XiaoYin answered the princess' mischevious expression with her own crooked grin. "You were dressed like what a rich person thinks poorer people look like." And for the first time of many, the princess laughed a laugh equal parts delighted and caught off guard by the answer.

She got along surprisingly well with the princess. Her clueless rich qualities should have been off-putting, but her awkward sincerity and lust for adventure made the whole thing strangely endearing to XiaoYin. The princess meanwhile, seemed excited to have someone around, who had such a different perspective to everyone she had ever known. Unlike her budding friendship with the princess, the actual work did not come naturally to XiaoYin. The altering perspective that made her exciting to her charge made her a pain in the to everyone else, though they were all too proper to phrase it that way. Rising with the sun and helping the princess stick to a routine was easy for her, but she fumbled her way through lacing up corsets she didn't understand, putting on makeup in ways that hopefully enhanced her features. Honestly, for the first little while, the princess secretly did most of her own makeup, whispering to XiaoYin what she was doing and why. Assisting her at royal functions was worse. The open bullying she had endured from the kitchen staff had made way to snide looks and comments she so quiet they had to have been designed to be barely heard by her - and it was the whole staff now. Between the two of them, XiaoYin the princess managed to remember the names and a few conversation starters for all the guests, but really that was supposed to be the handmaiden's job alone. They figured it out and treated it like another little adventure every time, much to the dismay of the king and queen.

Her friendship with the princess only grows as time goes by. Although by the very defintion of her job, they are around each other constantly, they become inseparable. Although XiaoYin is shy and reserved, born out of anxiety, around almost everyone in the palace, she fully opens up around the princess after about a year. The princess' finds acceptance for her unladylike behaviour in XiaoYin's rough and tumble nature, but recognizes that both of them need to be more careful around high society - for different reasons, but the outcome is the same. When the princess is engaged, XiaoYin feels for her. As rough as the poor have it, at least they are free to marry who they please (assuming they don't fall in love with someone well above their own social station, who isn't ready to give up almost everything). At least XiaoYin will never find herself in an arranged marriage. Even if that were a reality for the lower class, her family respects her opinion and autonomy too much to make those kinds of choices for her.

Speaking of her family, they are still one of the suppliers of produce to the castle. XiaoYin makes sure she is always there to meet whichever sibling has the dubious honor of making that particular trip this time - the princess joins them more often than not. XiaoYin treasures the contact with her family. The Chens developed a rotating system that could spare two family members a week, who could travel to the capital where XiaoYin could visit them. When she expressed worry about the farm, they responded "The money you're sending us on top of what we usually make... we've been able to employ a few neighbor's kids that could be spared at their own families' farms. Giving back to the community and all that." XiaoYin could not be more proud. Although most of her family laugh at her stories of noble's snobbishness, they all like the princess. Over the last three years (the full time she's been employed as the handmaiden), they have all gotten the chance to meet the princess at least once. Although her clueless privelige earns its fair share of eyerolling, they appreciate her earnestness and lust for adventure.

 

— THERE WAS NO STOPPING THE PRINCESS ::: MIGHT AS WELL DUST OFF THE OLD SKILL

And then that lust for adventure s them over. Pirates raided the capital. Dead of night, the silence is broken, everything is in uproar. There's the sounds of gunfire, guards dying by knifepoint. When the pirates take the princess, XiaoYin... should probably call for potential guard-backup. But anybody else can take that job. Her job is to look after the princess and she will take that seriously. Even if she silently curses the day they ever became friends as she sneaks after the group. After all, if they weren't friends, she would wash her hands of the whole thing and move back home. Instead, she's leaving the only country she's ever really known and travelling off into god knows where. It's surprisingly easy to stow away with the cargo. The pirates that were busy not kidnapping the princess are grabbing provisions from the docks, but are distracted when royalty arrives. A guy with a blonde ponytail, looks especially frazzled at this turn of events, XiaoYin notices. Nevermind that, she thinks as she curls up in a crate the pirates had briefly abandoned to gawk at the princess. She hears chatter about how heavy the crate is, but no one makes a move to check.

She barely even feels it when they leave the harbor. In a crate in the belly of a ship, the only indication she really has that they're moving is that she can vaguely hear commands being yelled. She waits as long as she can bear it, before she slips out of the crate and tries to get her bearings. She despises pirates, but the princess had read at least a couple of stories that heavily featured them, so with a bit of trial and error, XiaoYin manages to find her way around until she finds the princess. Who is guarded. Which is how XiaoYin ends up dragged before the captain and his advisors or whatever those bastards do exactly.

She fully expects to be told to walk the plank or some . Instead the imposing figures share eye contact that looks almost like a helpless question of what do we do. No one offers up an answer. Someone asks her if she can work and what she can do to help out, but XiaoYin's heart is beating too fast for her to remember who asked. So she begins talking. Giving good pitches was one of the few things she was ever talented at, might as well dust off the old skill and convince them to keep her around.

 

— ()THERE WAS NO STOPPING THE PRINCESS ::: MIGHT AS WELL DUST OFF THE OLD SKILL

Though XiaoYin's heartbeat spreads the blood of pirates through her veins, her ancestry is also that of a deserter. Someone who had moral qualms with the way of life and took an out when he had the chance. XiaoYin's strenths lie in her ability to read people, though her upbringing and lack of education don't always mean that she can respond in ways that would use that ability to its fullest extent. If attendees of a royal ball seem to imperceptably perk up when talking about certian subjects as though they have interests they keep hidden, she doesn't have the appropriate elvel of sophisitication to actually engage them in a conversation about those interests. Nevermind her reservations about talking to strangers. She can convince people to buy items for more than they're worth, she can read the room of gambling tables and around people she trusts enough to open up to, she crafts ideas that are wild and strange enough to work. If allowed to flourish or backed into a corner, XiaoYin defaults to ideas that - however over-complicated - give her and her allies the element of surprise. She has the potential to become an excellent negotiator, someone to assist in battle plans by adding elements so far out of the box that enemies wouldn't know what had hit them - probably because it was an item not designed to hit people.

All her life those skills have gone unnoticed, underutilised and unappreciated. For the first twenty-two years the furthest her talents were able to flourish was childhood games in the neighborhood, dingy gambling halls and perfecting the sales-pitch for different vegetables. XiaoYin had made peace with the fact, that she had a background of poverty that had barred from the good education and facilitation of intelligence training that she would have needed to make something out of herself. Her anger at the class system was riveled by the internalized shame of low intellect. As revolutionary as her thoughts were, she never felt qualified to do very much about them. Even less so, after the bullying by the palace's staff began. She had stood up for herself and her family, had spoken up about the injustices of the class system and it had made her a target. Of laughter, mean spirited imitation and comments that reinforced what she already knew: she expressed herself like a stereotypical village idiot, some kind of buffoon and if anyone was to ever meaningfully change anything about the treatment of the poor in Miyuselle, it couldn't be her, however much she wanted it to be. Better not to try, to keep her head down, to not rock the boat.
And then she was dressed in fabrics that were treated like semi-valuable scraps by the palace staff and that she spent her days trying to keep as pristine as possible, knowing that one of her three dresses cost as much as the clothing budget for nine siblings back home. And despite the intense care she took of those clothes, she never felt at home in them. They were a stark reminder, that she was a fish out of water here, strange and other and the way she painstakingly washed every stain out of her sleeves instead of rotating to a different dress gave the staff another reason to whisper, to roll their eyes, to giggle It was obvious how anxious she was in a position that neither suited nor welcomed her. Tight bodices changed her breathing almost imperceptably and wearing skirts made her aware of the wind as fabric twirled against her skin. Her talents were stifled in clothes she couldn't afford, the expectance to stand upright yet continue to keep her head down. Her persuasion was used to ensure that people saw her as unimportant and payed as little attention to her as possible, minimizing the bullying as best as she was able. People-reading was relegated to helping the princess navigate precarious social encounters. Where her skills had been limited in their reach before, at the palace they were kept on a leash of expectation and judgement.

Abord the nightingale, XiaoYin finds an environment that embraces and facilitates those talents. As she twists her sales pitches to be about her own usefulness, her knack for persuasion keeps her alive for the first time. Her slightly strange thinking process

() put in sth about her proficiency in improvised weapons earlier

 

TRIVIA :

— Her father having such a bad experience and history with piracy, it was his main goal for his family to never get close to (or god forbid, wrapped up in) piracy. As such, stories about pirates were terribly exaggerated in thier household until pirates seemed like the worst of the worst - both morally reprehensible and utterly terrifying. All in an attemt to keep his family far away from ships flying skulls and crossbones.

 

— Because her father was a pirate, Chen family sign language incorporates a lot of pirate hand signals. Xiaoyin is shocked to realize that she can follow a surprising amount of secret conversation - and keeps this ability to herself. She's on a ship with a bunch of cut-throats, who look out for themselves. If she wants to get herself and the Engaged Princess out of here alive and unharmed, it helps to keep her aces far up her sleeve.

 

— She is devastatingly good at gambling and the various card or dice games that underly it. Growing up poor in a family of nine devious children who pass through port towns for a living, these are skills she developed to help keep food on the table. Again, this is an ability that she will keep hidden, although if you watch her facial expressions very carefully (which almost no one does, why would they), you might notice that there's a hell of a lot of backseat gaming going on and XiaoYin is internally yelling like someone who got cut off on a highway.

 

— Isn't much of a drinker. Her time in taverns has historically been spent hustling people out of their money. The clearer the head, the better, so she never had more than the one or two drinks necissary to avoid suspicion. Now, stuck on an actual pirate ship full of people who are planning god knows what for the Engaged Princess's status and pretty face, keeping her wits about her is a more pressing matter than it ever has been. As a result, XiaoYin refuses alcohol outright.

 

— This might change when she learns to trust the crew a little better, but even then she won't drink much. Alcohol just isn't her thing, even though being the direct descendant of a pirate, she could probably put away a respectable amount. She's just not interested.

 

— ()not a fighter, proficient in improvised weapons

 

“I am coming home to you

if it's the last thing that i do”

FAMILY : 

— mother : Chen Jianhong / the family farm's manager / strong-willed, intelligent, mischevious, dismissive / close
Jianhong is one of those people, who - now that she's living a life she enjoys - has a twinkle in her eye at all time. Life is amusing and she is making the best of it. Supportive of all her children, she was about as confused as XiaoYin was, when her daughter was employed as royal handmaiden. But proud of her nonetheless.

— father : Chen Changrui / the family farm's official gardener / loyal, kind, protective, paranoid / close
Unbeknownst to his family, Changrui sports a self-chosen name, that holds no ties to his childhood. The only part of his life that he'd consider really living, he's spent keeping an eye on the water, just in case his past catches up to him. He has a resulting protective streak when it comes to his children. When it comes to anything but pirates, he is kind-hearted and soft-spoken in his approaches to most things.

— (1) older brother : Chen Li Jun (ft. Lewis Tan) / 27 years old / the family farm's accountant / brilliant, personable, cheerful, protective / close
All the intelligence and the job of the worst and least accurate stereotypes of nerds without the clichee of social awkwardness. Much like his siblings, Li Jun grew up in market stalls and gambling halls and has the social skills to match. Still, he has oldest-brother responsibility and as much as Guoquiang and XiaoYin have dragged him into hairbrain schemes, he is the most responsible out of the bunch. That designation as the responsible brother is ultimately what makes him make the most impactful choice of them all.

The first time XiaoYin doesn't show up to a family visit, they assume she's sick or somthing. The second time it happens it's the twins who are on rotation to see her and they return with the news that the Princess was abducted by pirates almost two weeks ago - coinciding with XiaoYin's sudden lack of interest in meeting her family. No one they talked to had cared enough about a handmaiden to know if she had dissapeared the same night. ChunHa, as a travelling bard by profession, was already in the capital, so she conned her way into a job interview as a cleaner at the palace and once she was inside, took a wrong turn and marched herself over to speak with the head of staff themselves, demanding to know when exactly her sister had disapeared. Worst suspicions were confirmed.

Changrui might reveal his connections to piracy here, or he might not. No matter either way, XiaoYin and Guoqioang have dragged Li Jun into trouble his whole life (with little convincing), but ultimately it was always his choice to participate and the excuse of "making sure you es don't get yourselves killed" was only ever an excuse. It was always a choice he made and so he took his father's gun and left his home. XiaoYin was torn away from her family and home in her effort to stand by a friend. But two can play the game of being whisked out to sea in pursuit of a loved one and Li Jun wasn't ripped from all he'd ever known - he marched out into the unknown with a purpose. He forced fate's hand. He kept his father's gun unfired, having inherited the feeling that those bullets are to be fired when the time comes, whatever that might mean.

He introduced himself at the docks and pinged around crews until he met pirates. "Met" is obviously putting it kindly, but he surrendered before the attack even begun. Which the pirates found endlessly funny - they've seen spineless cowards, but this guy is on a whole other level. And then they recognize his gun as his father's famously unfired pistol. Depending on whether his father revealed his backstory when he heard that XiaoYin had been taken or not, the pirates' sudden respect will either surprise Li Jun, or he'll already know and use it to his advantage. As opportunistic as his sister, he'll weild that reputation to get a position as a crewmember.

He might learn the name of the Nightingale, he might not. Either way, he once again jumps from pirate crew to pirate crew in search of his sister or information of her or the Nightingale's whereabouts. Maybe he's inherited his father's uncanny shooting ability or maybe he uses his intelligence to make himself useful on the ships he ends up on, rising to a position of... not power, exactly, but something just a bit above the average crewmate.

While XiaoYin tries to hide how much she cares for the princess in order to keep weakness hidden, it's hard to actively look and ask around for someone withouth tipping your hand. The captain of the ship he is on is another contender for pirate king and a far less moral one than Takuya.
Li Jun is an easy target for him: here is a capable man, who has been raised to believe the worst about pirates, whose sister has been taken and who has no prior knowledge of pirate politics. It's the easiest thing in the world to feed him made up horror stories about the morals of the Nightingale crew. How they treat prisoners. How they treat women. Li Jun isn't one for revenge, but if someone tries to actively stand between him and his sister and can't be negotiated with in a timely manner, he's more than willing to step over their body to bring her home. Without him noticing, he is puppeteered across his own moral lines, much like his father was years ago, maybe even taking up his old moniker of the Hound of the Sea.

— (2) older brother : Chen Guoquiang / 26 years old / the family farm's manager / organized, mischevious / close
Not quite as smart as Li Jun and not quite as intuitive as XiaoYin, Guoquiang found his particular brand of brain power in his organization skills. Keeping a clear head under stress, he has made the perfect manager for the farm and all it's various market-endeavors. He's the one that put the rotation system in motion that allowed the Chens to visit XiaoYin.

XiaoYin is number 3 and the oldest girl. She is very close to her entire family, probably being closest to her parents and two older brothers. Li Jun and Guoquiang were the two she travelled with for work most of the time. Interactions aren't further described as we go on, unless there's something notworthy.

— (4) younger sister : Chen Hui Ying / 23 years old / tavern owner in a nearby town / strong-willed, enthusiastic / close

— (5) younger sister (the older twin) : Chen Mingzhu / 20 years old /  the family farm's customer service / polite, intuitive, open-minded, persuasive / close

— (6) younger brother (the younger twin) : Chen Xiaoliang / 20 years old /  the family farm's donkey trainer / friendly, shy, soft / close

— (7) younger brother : Chen Zhijian / 19 years old / in between jobs / currently rebellious, mischevious, kind / close

— (8) younger sister : Chen ChunHua / 18 years old / travelling bard / creative, flippant, quick-witted / close

— (9) younger brother : Chen Zhang Wei / 19 years old / student, the family orchard's inofficial gardener / studious, intelligent, shy / close

 

NOT FAMILY :

— charge, employer, friend : The Engaged Princess / princess-y stuff / depends on who gets chosen / best friend

XiaoYin has been on payroll for three years now and the Engaged Princess was painfully forgiving of the fact that XiaoYin had no idea what she was doing for about half that time. Seeing adventure in her handmaiden, they started off on the right foot, since both of them are a little rough around the edges in a world that expects them to be ladylike. The engaged princess being the youngest child, while XiaoYin is the oldest girl in her family has had its impact as well - the energies of older and younger siblings create another fun contrast between them.

XiaoYin cares deeply for her friend. Despite not understanding much of noble society, she has made efforts to help her make good impressions over the years. Despite having heard nothing but horror stories about pirates all her life, she has directly gone against her father's advice and followed the princess into the belly of the beast. The crazy things we do for the people we care about.

 

 

— reluctant kidnappers : The Nightingale's Crew / pirate-y stuff / depends who gets chosen / aquainances at best
XiaoYin is very prejudiced against pirates, so she's predisposed to disliking them. On the other hand, the pirates have wound up with another woman on board and they're just not sure what to do with this one. Many of them probably secretly commend her for her breakneck loyalty. Despite disliking them she's kind of on a wavelength with a lot of the pirates and gets along with them surprisingly well (in the moments she forgets the horror stories) and is very uncomfortable with that fact.

As her pirate traits become more and more evident, they will probably be surprised every time, but may well begin to see her as one of their own - much to her excitement and dismay.

 

CHOSEN APPLICANTS :

These are all suggestions, of course - group dynamics and such are absolutely up to you and I'm sure you'll think of awesome things! I just got excited seeing the cast page

 

 

— () : Undina Cadralia / The Young Mermaid / you tell me ;) / 6/10

 

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— () : Undina Cadralia / The Young Mermaid / you tell me ;) / 6/10

 

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— () : Anoushka Joshi / The Woman of Science / you tell me ;) / ()

 

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— () : Noha / The Captain's Daughter / you tell me ;) / ()

 

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— () : Euphemia Rohan / The Governor's Daughter / you tell me ;) / ()

 

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— () : Zyanya / The Voodoo Witch / you tell me ;) / ()

 

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