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General Info
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| One-Shot: Bloody Idols: Tuesday |
An Ying Xing: played by Jonathan
Attributes: Bod 5 Chi 1 (For=7) Mnd 8 (Cha 9) Ref 8 (Dex 10) Skills: Gambling +8 (=15) Guns +8 (=13) Martial Arts +3 (11) Seduction +6 (=13) Info/Gambling Culture +2 (10) Driving +2 (12) Detective +1 (9) Gun Schtick: Signature Weapon (Luger, below. +3 Damage) Weapons: Luger (Call it equivalent to a Beretta Model 21 Bobcat, 8/1/8+1; 11/1/8+1 as the signature weapon) Unique Schtick: Expert at calculating odds. Can make a Fortune check at Diff 4 at any time; if successful, knows the Difficulty of an upcoming check that can be seen. Wealth Level: rich Archetype: Gambler
Background
An Ying Xing (literally 'Fortunate Shadow')
27 YOA, 5'10", 165lbs.
Long black hair, pale complexion, blue-flecked violet eyes.
An Ying Xing was born in Kowloon to middle-class parents. He had a decent childhood, a good schooling, and kept true to the old ways at the insistence of his grandmother. Always personable, somewhere along the way, An Ying learned of his remarkable luck and worse yet, how to use that luck.
He didn't go out of his way to get into trouble, though his luck seemed to throw various opportunities of dubious character at him. He in fact turned to gambling as a way to stave off the tsunamis of "opportunities" being thrown at him, and it is here that he seemed to excel.
Very quickly, he came to support his family greatly. Though they were concerned that the monies he won were fully legitimate, he was very scrupulous about his winnings, and reassured his family that nothing of what he won was in any way illegal.
An Ying adheres to a strict code of honor of sorts. Unless his opponent is a professional gambler, he never plays for more than his opponent can afford. He never gambles drunk. If he wipes out his opponent, he makes sure his opponent has at least enough to find lodging and a meal for one night.
He never gambles to excess, and never pushes his luck; he never lets himself get goaded into "just one more hand" or "upping the stakes a bit." Luck stays with one for only so long before moving on, and a good gambler recognizes when the Fortunes start looking elsewhere for the evening.
Seeing gambling as an honorable profession and not merely a way to swindle or hustle people, (in fact, in some ways he sees it as an almost solemn praise of the Fortunes) he never cheats and expects his opponent to show the same courtesy. If he discovers someone cheating, he doesn't get mad: he simply stops playing with them, ever... preferably after clearing them out to within an inch of their bank accounts. To him, the accusation of cheating is as serious as the accusation of robbery.
At the same time, however, he sees a game won fair and square as binding, and welching on a bet equivalent to cheating.
Despite his scruples, and despite his desire to pursue gambling as a polite profession, he has had more than a few scraps in the past. His first gambling mentor, who taught him the ins and outs of proper gambling, also taught him wushu for his own protection.
Since his first mentor was a woman, this would have an interesting effect in later years: it would later be the source of some initial mirth among people he got into fights with, that his preferred style is mulan quan wushu, a distinctly feminine style. (That his name is somewhat feminine, adds to the initial amusement.)
Those of his opponents who choose to face off with him physically find that he's actually really very good, and mulan quan wushu is startlingly effective. He has never killed anyone while using wushu, though certainly this is in part because he is not that skilled in it. A few gambling dens, however, have been slightly the worse for wear for one of these altercations.
An Ying is always well- and elegantly-dressed, wearing a high-collared shirt and black suit, his black hair flowing free down to his waist, and never without his cane.
When on the street, he always wears a long dark coat and leather gloves; he avoids bright sunlight mainly because his pale complexion and eyes make him susceptible to it, so in daylight hours when infrequently outside he is rarely without sunglasses even on partly cloudy days.
He is calm and collected, friendly and pleasant company, and while gamblers tend to work best alone he is certainly not above working with others towards a common purpose, though he only hesitates to "double team" a gambling opponent. He does not live beyond his means, and makes it a point to save much of his winnings in a variety of ways.
He would often make investments in local charity and cultural programs, including martial-arts schools. However, it is only recently that he has looked at stock and futures investments.
A year ago, his successes in Kowloon raised the ire of some of the local gangsters, and at the suggestion of some friends he has taken to carrying a firearm. The particular weapon he chose is a reconditioned Luger Parabellum, since more modern firearms are anything but elegant.
It turns out he's rather a good shot, perhaps owing to his calm and collected demeanour. He has had to take one life with the weapon. An irate gangster had unwisely (and unknowingly to An Ying) bet a good portion of his boss's money on a particular card game; had An Ying known, he would have refused to participate in the game.
The gangster took great exception to An Ying winning, and attempted to take back the money by force. At first comfortable with beating the stuffing out of the gangster and his friends, An Ying was dismayed when the gangsters began to pull firearms, and the drawing of his own weapon was entirely in self-defense.
As it was, the tong boss was disappointed but held no rancor for An Ying when that one explained what had happened. The boss strongly suggested, however, that An Ying would most easily avoid any repercussions from the gangster's death, and unwanted police attention, by doing certain favors for the tong.
An Ying is not pleased by this -- he sees working with the tongs as an unsound wager -- but he wants his family to remain safe from any possibility of retribution as well.
He has so far managed to keep his hands relatively clean of any blood, as the favors he does for the tong tend to mostly involve creative larcenies and money laundering. The tong boss, so far, has not asked anything of An Ying which would bring him into conflict with his scruples.