Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2014 8:09:37 GMT -8
Kim-Ly Thi Nguyen You’re tired of this, aren’t you? You’re thinking to yourself “Oh god, another official. What’s this one going to ask me?” Is that what you’re thinking? Well, we’re all tired. Grow up. Look at me. No – am I the floor? Look. At. Me. There are three things you need to know before we start: I’m not your friend, stay out of my way, and I am sure as hell not Chinese. |
CODE NAME: Phoenix |
Sex : Female | Age: 30 | Orientation: Bisexual |
Ethnicity: Vietnamese (Hmong/Kinh) | Occup. Justice Department | Affili. Government |
Physical |
Height :5'3 | Weight: 115 lbs | Hair: Black |
Eye: Gold | Skin: Dark Tan; Scarring | Build: Wiry |
Personal |
Kim-Ly tries hard to be fair. No, really, she does. But the years and her position have worn her down. She’s tired of being the minority. Of being treated as an obedient Asian doll or trophy wife. She was married once but since has fallen out of love with her ex-husband and society itself. As she likes to say “ I am the Ship of Theseus, whoever I was at twenty is (essentially) dead.” That is not to say Kim-Ly is not lacking in passion. After all, she is relatively high up in the department, that sort of position does not arrive from apathy. She is disenchanted, yes, but Kim-Ly is also an optimist. She believes in reformation and rebirth. Secretary of Justice? The Asian is fully convinced she’s the woman for the job. In another life, Kim-Ly may have been a missionary or warrior with the zest of which she pursues her cases. You know how early she got up as a girl? Too early. You know how early she gets up now? Still too early. She is a thirty year old woman. She is in her prime. How could she let anyone or anything ruin that for her? She takes her job very seriously, you see, she’s angry, not some, but all of the time. It’s not obvious. It’s softly burning, simmering under the surface of her skin. Every insult sent her way, every time she’s underestimated, she remembers it and stores those feelings for later. Discrimination against her Hmong mother in Vietnam. The injustices against her country in he 60’s. The overwhelming gender and ethnic discrimination she faced when first arriving in England. Maybe she’ll never release those feelings…but that doesn’t mean they’re not there pushing her on each day. Kim-Ly has a mission to change the system and she’s not going to lets any idiots hold her back. She’s ready for the jobs sent her way; Kim-Ly’s trained hard to succeed. She’s tough, physically and emotionally it’s hard to faze her (though her emotional distance often sets alienates her from colleagues). She’s Because of her often patronizing sense of humor, harsh philosophies, and uncompromising positions, others often tend to put Kim-Ly in two categories: Robot and Scary. And yet, like most people, she has a weakness. She never had kids and, due to genetic difficulties, she never will. That doesn’t stop her from shirking her spiky outer shell when it comes to kids. Or an injured bird. Or anything that just screams “I’m innocent, please love me.” She needs to protect others, even if that means she insults everyone else on the way. Through all this, Kim-Ly is held back by her own bitterness. She can’t move on. Any case that remained unsolved, any law that allowed the “bad guy” to get away…she obsesses over it, how it went wrong, how to do it over again and change it. Thinking about what the 3rd Indochina war did to her parents just consumes her. She hates how the world keeps going because if anything was fair, it would stop. It would stop and everyone would just realize how horrible everything was because it’s just not fair. Kim-Ly is very far from what one would consider “sympathetic”, she is far too involved in her own world. Sometimes it rains. Sometimes you ruin our favorite dress. Build a bridge and get over it because Kim-Ly hasn’t got the time for any childish complaints. She’s made a lot of enemies because of her harshness and tendency to underestimate people. It’s bound to blow up in her face one day. The worst part is that very things Kim-Ly hates most in other people are almost overwhelmingly present in herself. She frowns upon the cruelty and prejudice in society, though, in her anger and pride she commits the same infringements. The Asian is blatantly opposed to weakness or infirmity in the workplace, but her PTSD makes her emotionally unreliable. Previous injuries prevent her from living up to her own expectations. She is not as stoic as she pretends...but she tries. Maybe she'll never be the knight-in-shining armor that people picture, but she's devoted. And she's honest. Kim-Ly wants to do what's right for her people and, in the end, that's what matters...right? |
Likes | Dislikes |
+Equality: That's all she ever really wanted. To go into work and not be called a "bitch" just because she's assertive and female. To stop the people from asking "Oh, how's China/Japan/Korea?" To not see disgusting displays of luxury and waste when the next street over people can barely afford dinners. Too much to ask? +Family: Just because she doesn't really have one, does not mean she doesn't value the exquisite beauty of the family unit. +Swimming: She grew up by the ocean, she swam everyday...so yes, yes she's very find of swimming. +Formal Occasions: A chance to break out the Ao Dais! +Technology: It's soooo coooool! Did you know that there's a robot from Vietnam that can play ping Pong? So awesome, right? She was an engineer, she's allowed to geek out over a few things. +Pedicures: Kim-Ly rarely wears make up and it's even rarer that she wears open toed shoes. At the end of the day it's nice to just take off your shoes and just see ten perfect, brightly painted toenails. +Bright Colors: Life's to short to be monotone and boring, Her mother used to wear such beautiful, bright clothes. +Flowers: Her replacement children. They're everywhere in her flat; overflowing window boxes, creeping into the sink, taking up the kitchen table...there may or may not be a flock of Lotus's in the spare bathtub. Don't take them out, it'll hurt the roots. +Motorcycles: Are the Best +Fish Sauce: Is awesome +Rice: Is also awesome +Children: Maybe she wants what she can't have...but Kim-Ly's always had the urge to protect the innocent. She's thought about adopting but, well, she's busy. +Winning: She's hasn't lost any of her "games" yet. Nothing beats that final rush of adrenaline and final satisfying stab of relief when you prove that you're better than everyone else. +Fairytales: Nothing beats a fairytale ending -even if they never happen. +The Morning: The purest part of the day. Actually...the only part of the day she really experiences, by the time se leaves the office it's dark again. +Cooking: Her food is the best...why bother with cheap knock offs when you can do it yourself? +Cinnamon in her Coffee: Picture it...and early morning. The birds are chirping, you're alone in the coffee shop. You just sit there, stirring your coffee, watching the city wake up. There's no crime in the morning, the night is over. +The Rain: Cleanses everything and let's things grow. How could she not like it? +Pranks: They never catch her and they're reactions are just too perfect to pass up. | -Liars: Number one on "Reasons why Kim-Ly doesn't like the M-16" -“Boring” People: Kim-Ly needs stimulation, but, more than that, the idea that there are people on the earth who don’t hone any personal interests just frustrates her. They’re a waste of her time and honestly, they’re a waste of their own time. -Fire: She’s not scared of it…but she’s not overly fond of it either. -Burberry: Ah, 2,000 dollar coats. Another symptom of waste and affluenza. -Discrimination: Ethnic, Race, Sexual…yuck. Kim-Ly is a very strong feminist any negative comments about her gender won’t end well for the perpetrator. Professionally, she’s seen a lot of hate crimes (“Oh no Miss. Nguyen, this totally wasn’t workplace discrimination because reasons and they totally can’t sue us ‘cause rules) many of which go unpunished because of legal loopholes. So you know what? Fine. She’ll change the dumb laws. And them frame them for another incident and sue them for twice the amount. Ha. -Purses: Huge purses are neither frugal nor sensible. Why are they so big? What do people put in there? Back problems…are back problems an issue? -Gluttony/Greed/Wrath: People who engage in excess lack discipline. Without discipline, what separates human from beast? Nothing. She, at least, will not be reduced to a mere animal. -The scars on her hands: Arms and back she can deal with but…she used to make things with her hands. Delicate, beautiful, dangerous things. And now she can’t. -Winter: Nothing is green and everything is dead. Coats are awful. The wind is awful. Winter is awful. -Stupidity: Stupidity is different from ignorance. Ignorance means that someone just doesn’t know. Stupidity means that they stopped trying to understand or know. To Kim-Ly, that sort of attitude is entirely unacceptable and repulsive. -Miss Saigon: Kim-Ly remains unamused by both musicals and flimsy soap opera-y (in her opinion) plot lines. And the comparisons between her and Kim. Yeah. That’s gotta stop. -“Gooood Moooorning Vietnaaaam”:Not necessary. Is it really a good morning when there’s yelling involved? -Corporations: They can afford good lawyers, yeah, she gets it. But money shouldn’t be an excuse to avoid the law. -Cigarettes: She’s done pretty well with going cold turkey –it was an exercise in self-discipline. That doesn’t mean the cravings have stopped though, smoke one in front of her and she’ll knock it right out of your hand. And don’t ask for a lighter - |
Dreams | Fears |
Becoming Secretary of Justice: As an indicator of how far she’s come. And, is it so wrong to want something different? She’s not going to start a revolution (as fun as that sounds), but there’s nothing wrong with being an inspiration for one. Figuratively. Of course. For everyone to forget the past: Including herself. It’s time to focus on the present. Have a child: Everyone needs that one impossible dream. | Burning: See, it’s not the fire part she’s worried about. It’s the catching fire part. She’s already experienced it once and for it to happen again would be full of all sorts of cruel irony. Losing Control: She is controlled. Everything about her life is neat and organized and even if everything else goes wrong, at least she can keep her cool. But if she loses her head…she has nothing. Beheading: There is something disturbing about seeing a body without a head. French guillotines are absolutely terrifying. |
Background |
Once upon a time there was a war. There were many wars, actually, but for these purposes we’ll be focusing on the last few. But there was a war that everyone remembers…and it wasn’t a very good war. And there was a girl, Kim-Ly Nguyen who was born many years after it to a family that had lived through it. Of course, like most people, they weren’t rich but they lived as many families did because moving on is part of life –no matter what the circumstances. The country she came from had a history of invasions, and thus, a history of moving on. The problem was, Kim-Ly just wasn’t very good at that. But she flourished still, just like the rice paddies she played on and eventually worked on as a girl. She flourished far too well, for it wasn’t long until her family from the West requested her presence. Such an opportunity, her parents figured, would be rather foolish to give up. And so, at age ten, she was shipped away to London. In London, the sun was gone and old women didn’t sit around in the evening chewing betel nut. But though the girl couldn’t move on, she was adaptable. This family had fled soon after the fall Saigon and was Catholic. Kim-Ly had never thought of her father (so quiet and mysterious) as a Southern Vietnamese, he after all, was Buddhist. But this family was. Kim-Ly spent her teenage years wrapped up in holy water and incense…it was confusing. To fight this confusion she instead turned to books and stories. There were lovely stories about her country’s history, the Trinh sisters and defeated Mongolian invasions, new manuals on physics, calculus, and statics, political novels that easily caught the fancies of her imagination. She graduated early from high school at age 16. Four years later she was an engineer working for the government. Two years after that, everything seemed to go wrong at once. She’d taken an assignment from the M-16. You see, her specialty was creating weaponry…she didn’t know what she was making (that after all, would disturb protocol), but she did know that she was supposed to make one very specific part. Unfortunately, someone else did not like the project. One week after her 22nd birthday, two bombs were detonated. One at her lab. The other, in the coffee shop she was a regular patron at. Intense scarring on her back and arms landed her in the hospital for weeks. She supposed that she was lucky that she could keep all her limbs –but then the scarring on her hands was far too intense. How could she fix wires when she could feel her fingertips? How could she draw drafts when her and could not fully grasp a pencil? Her job, she decided, was over. Her marriage, an impulsive affair of approximately one year, was also over. 3 months after the accident she filed divorce papers and left her husband without another word. Kim-Ly did what she knew best; she threw herself into studying, into adapting and changing. Someone entirely new was to be born out of the dying inferno of her past life. She studied politics and law, got a new degree, exploited her connections in the government. At age 27, exactly five years after the bombing, Kim-Ly Nguyen secured herself a position in the Ministry of Justice. She was very good at getting what she wanted. Allying herself with other workers she gained a reputation for influencing immigration law reform and “breaking” corporations. Finally, at age 30, she received a promotion. In charge of overseeing the criminal justice system and information rights, Kim-Ly is more than ready to take that final jump to Secretary of Justice. Has a nice ring, doesn’t it? |
Role-Play Sample |
“That’s a pretty fish.” “It would look better if it were stuffed with apricots and grilled.” The man gave Kim-Ly an affronted look. She shrugged and turned back to the glass her hands rested neatly upon her lap. All around her children giggled and chatted…it was fieldtrip day at the aquarium. Three months since the bombing, and so, London life went on. “It’s odd,” she decided thoughtfully, “Not being able to feel your fingers.” The aquarium had insisted on giving her a wheelchair, something that Kim-Ly detested, but it meant she could rest her coat on her lap rather than carry it around. God, she hated carrying coats. It was the thinnest of silver linings. She glanced down at it thoughtfully. Technically, she’d stolen it…she had left her husband the day before and it was him, to whom the coat belonged. It wasn’t her fault he’d left it in the closet of her office. That was gone too. The kids didn’t come very close, the other tanks she imagined, were far more interesting. Blue tangs, sharks, and piranhas…kids loved piranhas. Don’t ask her why, but the past few days they couldn’t get enough of anything with teeth. Before her were the Manta Rays; bodies undulating in the manufactured waves, the swaying fake trees of sea kelp, smaller fish flocking in and out of the Rays pathway. It was beautiful. It was so different from the fiery inferno that had become her office: beams dropping from the ceiling, her plans burning in mere seconds. Her life’s work gone in mere seconds… They told her she was lucky to survive. She told them that they were idiots. Her survival had been imminent; after all, the bombers had only wanted to destroy her work. If Kim-Ly was a casualty then that was no fault of theirs. “It wasn’t even a very good bomb,” she grimaced, “There was no finesse, no strategy, they did not succeed in destroying the source of information.” The only thing they had done right was prevent her from trying again. They had given her a new set of hands that would neither close nor open all the way. And they had not underestimated the Asian. They were right; she was far too selfish –far too moral- to give someone else the job. To give them the ability to try again. “Nguyen?” The woman didn’t turn, “If you start talking about how wonderful fish are, I’m leaving,” she paused, “I quit. So they can tell you to stop following me.” The man –his name was something common, Smith or something- had been giving her checks for the past two years. They’d spoken a grand total of four times in the past. Naturally, he did not approach her. Kim-Ly bit her lip, perhaps in some other life she would have gotten out of the chair and left. Today though... something was different. Underneath the smell of fish, sweat, and wood polish was something far more exceptional. There was a thought that floated quietly on the surface of a pond, just waiting for spider to snatch it up. Kim-Ly couldn’t quite see it yet, but she felt it there forming, hard and tangible in the pit of her stomach. “To the government, I’m practically a war hero, aren’t I?” The woman chuckled, around them the crowds of people stirred, entirely unaware of the confrontation. “Admit it, they can’t deny me.” God, the majority of London was completely unaware of half the things that went on everyday. “I’ve been studying law.” They were dusty books –dusty libraries- shelves upon shelves of cases and precedencies. Engineering had been modern and new, everything sterile. If there was a portal to another world, Kim-Ly had found it. “I don’t think I need to hear-“ “No. I think you do. I want them to hear this,” she interjected softly. Her eyes glinted in the dim, gloomy lighting and Kim-Ly lowered her voice, “I’m not going back. And if the M-16 gets in my way again, I swear…I will tear it apart.” The Manta Ray swam towards the glass. She reached out resting her hands against the glass as it rushed past. Beautiful. “It was nice serving with you Nguyen.” “I’m a politician now, remember? No grudge. Just politics.” She whispered, more to the Manta Ray than anything. Her reflection –drowned in tons of water and fake kelp- just stared back at her. |
OOC Information |
OOC Name: Vi |
Contact Information: PM, Chattango Account |
She was only a whiskey-maker, but he loved her still |
I’m learning about important dates in history. Wanna be one of them? |
made by CAPTAIN of BACK TO NEVERLAND |