trustsnone

PLAYER
NAME: Amanda
PERSONAL LJ: lady_flamewing
OOC COMM?: Should already be there.
EMAIL/MESSENGER(S): AIM: KuramaMama / EMAIL: fencer.yamasaki@yahoo.com
TIMEZONE: PST from June to September, EST the rest of the year

CHARACTER
NAME(S): Chataya
PB: Song Hye Kyo
OCCUPATION: One of the Madam's girls.

BACKGROUND HISTORY: Chataya doesn't remember much of anything. Not even her real name. The very first thing she can remember is being handed a stale heel of bread from the backdoor of a bakery. She remembers the dirt covering her hands, from scrounging and digging. She remembers how the cobblestones of the roads were cold and hard against her bare feet. She remembers how she used to watch the nobility go by, and wonder at how they had so much, while she had so little.

Most people's eyes skitter over a dirty little street orphan, and Chataya got used to that pretty fast. It's the ones who don't that you have to watch out for - she remembers that, too. Shop owners were usually all right - they'd let her scrounge through their trash, or beg the food that was starting to go off, the stuff they couldn't sell to their customers anymore - but there were other people. Bad people. People who used to corner her in alleyways, offer her a slice of bread or the leg from a chicken, if she'd just stand still and be good. She wouldn't.

She knows, instinctively, not to trust anyone. The other kids of the city don't talk to her - she's too dirty, too wild. Their parents herd them away whenever she approaches. The other orphans, the ones in the orphanage, they're no better, even if the sisters are. But Chataya doesn't know if she trusts them, either, with their perpetual smiles and soft voices. She doesn't think anyone is really that kind.

So she can't remember how it happened. How one night, she found herself in a dark alley, cold and hungry - but not alone. How she didn't notice the men creeping closer to her in the dark, not until they were almost on top of her, close enough to catch her when she tried to run. What she does remember, though, are the hands ripping at her hair, her clothes. The smell of alcohol in the air. Heavy breathing and harsh voices - and then, suddenly, nothing at all.

She wakes up somewhere warm, soft. Somewhere that smells nice. And when she opens her eyes, she sees the most beautiful woman in the world. She won't learn until later just who this woman is and what she can do, but for now it's enough that the woman asks her name, and when she says she doesn't know, the woman just smiles and offers to give her one. Chataya, the woman says, and Chataya knows it's right. It's hers.

The woman, of course, is Rivelata's Madam. Chataya grows up with her, learns the tricks of the trade, as it were. She remembers the first time she ever sees herself, in a mirror, after the Madam has given her what must be her first bath. She remembers being astonished at the pretty young woman staring her in the face. She remembers the Madam smiling at her in the glass, and Chataya learns that she would do anything for that smile.

She still trusts no one - with the exception of the woman who saved her life, who gave her a name - but she learns to pretend. She learns to smile and to flatter and to change herself at will to suit the needs of whomever she is serving. She learns manners and poise and pretty little phrases - and in the process, she learns the kind of power she has. No longer will she be taken advantage of - instead, the advantage will be hers.

PERSONALITY: Growing up on the streets made Chataya tough, strong-willed, and stubborn. This is her real personality. She doesn't trust anyone, but she is capable of liking them. She gets along well enough with the other girls, and particularly well with the Madam, to whom she owes her life. Chataya can appreciate when someone is kind, or nice, but she tends to look for ulterior motives behind these behaviors from everyone but the Madam.

She feels absolutely no qualms about what she does for a living, and she's good at it - her life-debt to the Madam inspires her to take on as many customers as possible, in order to bring in as much revenue as she can for the Madam. Because of this, she's learned to mold her personality into various different aspects, according to whatever her client might want. A blushing maiden, an aggressive woman, she can do it all. But her truest self is and will always be a street-toughened young woman, sure of only herself.

She is well-aware that she is beautiful, and even more aware that this lends her a power over men - the sort of power she was at the hands of the night the Madam saved her. She has no reservations about flashing some skin to get what she wants, and will flirt with men and women alike in the hopes of earning her keep.

STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES: Chataya is strong-willed, stubborn, and an accomplished liar - she has to be, really, with her profession. It is nearly impossible to determine a lie from the truth with her. However, because of her past, she forms almost no human attachments - she doesn't trust anyone enough. She goes through life perpetually lonely, but too afraid to really open herself up to anyone. She has some knowledge of self-defense, and a particular penchant for throwing knives, but is really not capable of doing much to defend herself in more than a scuffle on the street.

SPECIAL ABILITIES: Nothing magical at all - she's about as ordinary as they come. The only thing worth noting about her is that she's managed to get pretty good with throwing knives, which she keeps strapped to her thigh in just about every occasion. Her aim's good, and she could probably manage to injure someone pretty badly, but it's unlikely she could kill. Not without a particularly lucky shot.

SAMPLES
THIRD PERSON: Chataya woke to a shaft of soft morning sunlight filtering through her light curtains and falling across her face. With a soft, sleepy sound, she rubbed a slender hand over her eyes and stretched luxuriously, the airy sheets on her bed sliding off one bare shoulder.

She sat up, letting the sheets pool in her lap, and stretched again, until her spine let off a series of resounding pops - her back always tensed up after a long night. Maybe she could get one of the girls to give her a backrub.

Combing the fingers of one hand through her hair, she swing her legs over the edge of the bed and stood, shrugging on a light robe and moving to the window. She pushed the curtains aside gently and peered out into Husband's Alley, her robe hanging loosely about her shoulders.

All was quiet, thankfully, especially after that strange mess that had happened a week ago - and the Madam had said the new King (and wasn't that odd, but it wasn't likely to change much around this place) had offered to send some of his men in to clean up the resulting damage. No doubt, not a few of those soldiers would stop in for unscheduled visits to the Madam's establishment, but that was nothing new. Soldiers were men, and all men could be pleased - one way or another.

She turned from the window with a sigh, meaning to head down to the washroom and clean up for the day, and that was when she noticed the leather-bound journal sitting on her bedside table.

FIRST PERSON: [the sound of flipping pages]

I know what this is. The Madam has one of these. I wonder if it's -

Oh. Hm.

[switches to writing, a graceful - if somewhat hesitant - script]

Well, as the Madam has previously informed me that these journals will only record the voice or writing of their owners, it would appear this belongs to me.

My name is Chataya. It's a pleasure to meet all of you.