☽ ＴＨＥ ＥＭＰＲＥＳＳ ☾

[ayzrules]

═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

☽ ＴＨＥ ＢＡＳＩＣＳ ☾

❝ 𝐻𝒶𝓁𝒻 𝑔𝑜𝒹𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓅𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓃 𝓌𝒾𝓃𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒻𝓁𝑜𝓌𝑒𝓇𝓈. 𝑅𝑒𝒶𝓁 𝑔𝑜𝒹𝓈 𝓇𝑒𝓆𝓊𝒾𝓇𝑒 𝒷𝓁𝑜𝑜𝒹. ❞
𝑷𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝑩𝒐𝒂𝒓𝒅 ✧ 𝑹𝑷 𝑳𝒊𝒏𝒌 ✧ 𝑨𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑺𝒆𝒕

═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

𝐹𝓊𝓁𝓁 𝒩𝒶𝓂𝑒
Mei-ying Wang

𝓐𝓵𝓲𝓪𝓼𝓮𝓼/𝓢𝓽𝓪𝓰𝓮 𝓝𝓪𝓶𝓮𝓼
Most English-speakers just call her “Mei-ying”, though her codename amongst the Deck is “The Empress”. During her brief stint in the Jade Arena, she went by “Demoness”

𝒜𝑔𝑒
Thirty-two

𝓢𝓮𝔁𝓾𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓽𝔂
She doesn't know, and she doesn't particularly care. Asexual, maybe?

𝓐𝓯𝓯𝓲𝓵𝓲𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷/𝓞𝓬𝓬𝓾𝓹𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷
Mei-ying founded the Deck a little over ten years ago. Since then, she has acted as its leader, the enigmatic “Empress”. Her suit tattoo is a black spades symbol, in between her shoulder blades.

𝑀𝑜𝒹𝑒𝓁 + 𝒞𝑜𝓁𝑜𝓇 𝒞𝑜𝒹𝑒
Fei Fei Sun; #191970

═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

☽ Ａ ＣＬＯＳＥＲ ＬＯＯＫ ☾

❝ 𝒜 𝓂𝑜𝓃𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒾𝓈 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓈𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝒶 𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓇𝒾𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒. ❞

═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

𝒮𝓉𝓇𝑒𝓃𝑔𝓉𝒽𝓈/𝒮𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁𝓈
Perhaps Mei-ying's greatest strength lies in her calm, analytical mind. She is her usual composed self in any situation, and a very skilled strategist at that. In addition, she's always had a knack for analyzing other people, and she uses this to her advantage-she's quite a good actor. Her fighting style is very adaptable and combines speed with deadly precision. She is able to make almost anything into a weapon; there are times when she's escaped from tight situations armed with only a fork or a pen.

In addition, Mei-ying is charismatic and diplomatic enough to hold together the volatile personalities of the Deck, which is definitely saying something. She trusts her fellow Cards, and they trust her, which makes for an extremely tight bond. Her analytical mind, combined with her natural charisma, makes her a fair, effective leader. She knows each member of the Deck like the back of her hand, and is good at using each of them to their greatest ability while teaming them up with the members who would be best at covering their weaknesses.

𝒲𝑒𝒶𝓀𝓃𝑒𝓈𝓈𝑒𝓈
The mutations that caused her abilities to manifest also did something bizarre to her digestive system, making her unable to derive the sustenance she needs to survive from regular food. Instead, she must consume bone marrow-preferably human, but she can make do with animal, too. Her skin was bleached bone-white after her powers manifested, and she finds that she has become increasingly sensitive to the sun. Sunscreen is a must for her.

When she's in her alternate "shape", Mei-ying must consume the souls of others in order to stay alive. For this reason, Mei-ying prefers not to stay in her other form for too long-finding animal bone marrow is much easier than sucking the soul out of someone without attracting attention, she finds.

The fact that she does not fear death may seem like a strength, but what Mei-ying fails to realize is that she may not be afraid of her own death, but the other Deck members are, and they would sacrifice themselves so that she-and, effectively, the rest of the Deck-can go on and survive. This will be her undoing, someday; there is nothing that Mei-ying values more than her fellow Cards, and she puts the survival of the Deck over her own life. In addition, when faced with the cold reality of the death of a member, Mei-ying becomes much more vicious than she usually is-which makes her reckless. She will always keep a calm facade, of course, but she is at her most vulnerable in the moments immediately after the death of a Card.

𝒫𝑜𝓌𝑒𝓇(𝓈)
Mei-ying is able to transform/morph into a creature that's a combination of some kind of giant bat, gargoyle, and dragon. However, she's also figured out how to limit the transformation, and nowadays, she prefers not to undergo the full transformation, instead bringing in certain things as she needs them. Her most common 'shift' involves changing her left hand into her alternate form's claws. She's also quite fond of bringing out the wings. It's a Good Aesthetic. The transformation itself is quite painful, but Mei-ying has learned to bear it. Nowadays, she hardly even notices the pain.

Additionally, to put it simply, Mei-ying is capable of consuming the souls of others. When she's fully transformed to her alternate shape, she must consume souls to survive, which is why she doesn't like staying fully shifted for too long. In her human form, Mei-ying is still capable of consuming souls, and doing so gives her a huge boost in strength/power, though the effects wear off rather quickly. She usually kills the person in the process, by sapping too much of their 'life energy' out of them too quickly. Finally, she has superhuman strength, speed, reflexes, and agility, which is quite common for those affected by mutations.

𝒲𝑒𝒶𝓅𝑜𝓃(𝓈) 𝑜𝒻 𝒞𝒽𝑜𝒾𝒸𝑒
Mei-ying can make anything and everything into a weapon if she tries hard enough, but she's at her most efficient with a standard handgun and some daggers/knives. Her go-to weapon(s) would be her poison-soaked knives, sharp enough to cut through bone with minimal effort. The toxin is rumored to be so powerful that less than 10 milligrams could paralyze a whale. Mei-ying wears two of these knives under her clothes, sheathed in curved scabbards, so that she can quickly pull them out if need be.

═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

☽ ＰＥＲＳＯＮＡＬＩＴＹ ☾

❝ 𝐼 𝒷𝑒𝓁𝒾𝑒𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓌𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒶 𝓈𝑜𝓊𝓁. ❞

═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

▏▏At a first glance, Mei-ying certainly doesn't seem like she'd be the leader of the Deck. Polite, soft-spoken, and cautious, Mei-ying's cool calm and her penchant for darker, more subdued clothing means that more often than not, she simply blends into the background. She very rarely loses her temper, especially when compared with some of the more explosive Cards, and she is perfectly willing to bandy words about all day long, if it serves her purposes. However, if she wants someone dead, she is also just as willing to resort to violence without exchanging a single word with said person.

▏▏Mei-ying is observant and analytical; calm and collected under even the most trying of circumstances. She is logical and rational and constantly aware of her surroundings, and she picks up even the slightest of cues-she is quite perceptive when it comes to what others are thinking or feeling. Mei-ying is exceptionally meticulous and thorough in everything she does, and she tends to think everything through before she acts, covering all her bases and running through the set plan of action from every angle possible. Mei-ying is much more thoughtful and contemplative than one would expect of the leader of a fearsome band of thieves, and she is definitely willing to consider other peoples' opinions, if she deems it of use.

▏▏Ruthless and amoral, Mei-ying holds no qualms about lying, cheating, stealing, blackmailing, et cetera to get what she wants, so long as she does indeed achieve her original goal. She is very protective of the Deck, often sending them out together as opposed to having any single Card operate alone, and takes betrayal very seriously. She is perfectly willing to be patient and play the "long game", if necessary, and though she rarely lets anyone see the sharp edges underneath her calm facade, there are indeed ways to anger Mei-ying-namely by killing one of her own.

▏▏Practical and pragmatic, with both feet planted firmly on the ground, Mei-ying's calm charisma and soft-spoken intelligence is perfectly capable of holding the Deck together, despite the fact that many Cards have rather...𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘦 personalities. While she is a very capable strategist, Mei-ying is also completely confident in her own fighting abilities as well as in the other members of the Deck. Even in the tightest of situations, Mei-ying is unflinching and unshakable, calmly evaluating all her options with an eerie, cold-blooded detachment.

▏▏Above all, Mei-ying puts the survival of the Deck above her own life. She has told the other Cards that while her orders are utmost priority, her life is not. She believes that the survival of the whole is the important part, not the survival of the individual, and she is perfectly willing to let go of any grudges against people who have killed Cards in the past if it ensures that the rest of the Deck will continue to exist.

═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

☽ ＢＩＯＧＲＡＰＨＹ ☾

❝ 𝒲𝒽𝓎 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝐼 𝒶𝓅𝑜𝓁𝑜𝑔𝒾𝓏𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝑜𝓃𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝐼'𝓋𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒？ ❞

═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

━━"They're monsters," they would whisper, eyes furtively searching the dark alleyway for any trace of the infamous Empress and her Deck of Cards. Mei-ying ignores them; she's aware, yes, thank you very much.

━━"She's a monster," they would mutter to themselves, watching her striding off the stone platform that served as the battleground on the 200th floor of the Jade Arena, leaving the spectators to gawk at her defeated opponent...or what remained of them, anyway. 𝘐 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮 '𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴', 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, Mei-ying would think to herself. She'd chosen that stage name for a reason.

━━"You're a monster," the man snarled, even as blood streamed out of his mouth and the last bit of life faded out of his eyes. Mei-ying feels her blood boil, when she's reminded of him. 𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘯𝘦.

━━That man had been her husband’s brother. Yes, her husband; she had been married, once. That always seemed to surprise people.

━━Once, long ago, Mei-ying lived on a tropical island that was covered in lush, verdant greenery, before all the trash began piling up. It was one of the 'Garbage Islands', where there was arguably more plastic and Styrofoam washing up on the shore than actual seawater. It was somewhere in the southeastern Pacific, is all that Mei-ying knows. She has no desire to go back there, ever again.

━━At the age of eleven, Mei-ying was married off to the soon-to-be leader of a tribe on one of the neighboring islands. She went, reluctantly; she was afraid. She had never known anything besides the plastic tides of her home island. Turns out that the other island wasn't much different. Plastic and Styrofoam and trash, everywhere, from all four corners of the world.

━━That year was a particularly bad year for the tribe. There were violent storms and crops failed-and worst of all, most of the tribe's stores of rainwater were swept away into the plastic tide. Mei-ying's mutations began to show themselves, around the same time. Long, curved claws wrenched themselves free of thin fingers and raggedy nails; wickedly sharp fangs burst through papery lips. It was painful, so extraordinarily 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘭, and impossible to hide.

━━Though she would later learn how to reverse this process, Mei-ying had no idea what to do at the time. And when her husband's brother saw her, a combination of the girl she used to be and a hellish monster, he claimed that she was a demoness who had brought about the tribe's misfortune. The rest of the village soon rallied behind his cry-even her own husband, the man she had known for scarcely a week before they were wed.

━━They left her on a deserted island-another tropical island converted into a garbage dump-two days' away by boat. When they paddled away, Mei-ying simply watched them go, silently. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction of hearing her beg.

━━They say it takes three days for humans to die of dehydration. Mei-ying can't be sure how long it was until she felt herself slipping away, lying there on a shoreline littered with the remnants of plastic grocery bags and water bottles, but she knows that she 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥. And in the darkness, that darkness that was as stifling as the muggy mosquito summers of the islands Mei-ying called home, she was brought back to life.

━━At least, that's what it felt like. Because one moment, Mei-ying was dying, the claws and fangs that she never asked for aching painfully, and the next, she was alive. Or very nearly alive, anyway.

━━However, it wasn't long before Mei-ying realized that she wasn't "live in the usual sense of the word. Her skin was wrong-so pale and papery that it was almost translucent-and every time she tried to consume anything that wasn't from an animal, she threw up.

━━Mei-ying stayed on that garbage island for two more weeks. She discovered that she could make her claws and fangs disappear, though the process of re-arranging her entire bone structure was the most painful thing she had ever experienced. She found that she could make her shoulder-blades grow wings (they were no pristine white angel wings, but more like those of a bat's; black and leathery and surprisingly maneuverable), and that her feet could twist themselves into talons. It was an ugly, grotesque transformation, but Mei-ying reveled in the sheer 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩 that it gave her.

━━She flew back to her husband's tribe, one night. She found her husband's brother, the one who started it all, and attacked. He called her a monster. A demoness. Mei-ying smiled, and ripped his heart out.

━━After that, she tried to visit her family, but found that a recent storm had wiped out the entire island. Some part of Mei-ying was relieved. She knew how they would have reacted, had they ever had the chance to see what she had become.

━━Mei-ying went to the mainland, then. Although the islands were too far away from any major continents to get there by boat, Mei-ying could fly an impossible distance in a single day. The trip took her three days. She stopped only to hunt, and she discovered that she could consume the souls of other animals.

━━Once she got to the mainland, Mei-ying collapsed. She doesn't remember anything between collapsing and waking up on a piece of cardboard, far, far from home.

━━She soon learned that she was in the shoreline slums-an area of eastern China rendered almost uninhabitable by the encroaching sea, where you could dump anything, even people, and leave it be. Mei-ying stuck to her piece of cardboard, and she slept. She slept, until a blind boy woke her up.

━━That boy would become the first member of her Deck.

━━They gathered more allies and formed the Deck as they took odd jobs around the shoreline slums, and as they got older, they got more and more daring, venturing away for months at a time. But the shoreline was their home, like it or not, and the Empress and her Cards would have done anything to defend it, as much as they didn't like the council that governed it.

━━They began to gain notoriety after they were hired to go into the ruins of some ancient Chinese city and retrieve some priceless antiques, for an employer. After they retrieved the antiques, they slit the throat of their employer and ran off with all her wealth. When the woman asked who they were working for, Mei-ying simply smiled and told her that they were working for themselves.

━━"Go to hell," the woman spat. Mei-ying's calm eyes glittered with amusement.

━━"I 𝘢𝘮 hell," she told her, and crushed her throat.

━━From then on, Mei-ying and her Deck stole everything that they could get their hands on. Their numbers swelled. Mei-ying discovered, one day, that she would have died for the other Cards. It was nice to have something to believe in, again.

━━The Deck has made a fierce name for itself as a notorious group of thieves that isn't afraid to get a little (most times, more than just a little) blood on their hands in order to get what they want. Of course, most wouldn't recognize a Card on sight, but all of them have hefty bounties on their heads. Mei-ying doesn't care, and she knows that the other Cards don't, either.

━━Shapeshifter. Demoness. Soul-devourer. Monster. Mei-ying is all of those things. But she prefers the epithet she gave herself-"The Empress".Shapeshifter. Demoness. Soul-devourer. Monster. Mei-ying is all of those things. But she prefers the epithet she gave herself-"The Empress".

═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

☽ ＥＸＴＲＡ ＩＮＦＯＲＭＡＴＩＯＮ ☾

❝ 𝒯𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝓈𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝑒𝒹...𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑔𝑜𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓃. ❞

═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓂𝑒 𝒮𝑜𝓃𝑔
"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Lorde
(There's a room where the light won't find you/Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down/When they do, I'll be right behind you/So glad we've almost made it/So sad we had to fade it/Everybody wants to rule the world)

𝒪𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝐼𝓃𝒻𝑜𝓇𝓂𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃
Despite Mei-ying's apparent ruthlessness and capacity for inhuman mass murder, she's quite...civilized, normally. What, you think she's going to just bite into any animal she sees just 'cause she pretty much only eats bone marrow? No, if she's dining, she'll do it in style, thank you very much. Catch her at the swankiest restaurant in the entire city, drinking tea from porcelain teacups and eating from shining silver platters.

Mei-ying decided to try her hand in the Arena, three or four years ago, where she registered herself as 'Demoness'. She was quite good, but was soon distracted by more pressing matters. Oh, well. At least she got some money out of it.

In her younger days, Mei-ying was always so damn confused when people made references to the Devil or Satan or Lucifer when talking about her. She decided to educate herself (namely by reading any books/manuscripts that fell into her hands, after a successful heist), and although she now knows who Satan is, it grinds on her nerves when people call her "the Devil"-she's not a man, first of all.

Some have also likened her to the White Bone Demoness/Baigujing (白骨精) from the classical Chinese novel, "Journey to the West" (西游记). Mei-ying doesn't know if she likes Buddhist discourse any more than she likes Biblical discourse, but hey, at least this White Bone Demoness lady is the right gender!

Finally, Mei-ying wears black, almost exclusively. She always appreciates a well-tailored suit, though she's ruined quite a few of them by spontaneously shape-shifting, whoops.

𝒲𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒾𝓇 𝓂𝑜𝓈𝓉 𝓂𝑒𝓂𝑜𝓇𝒶𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝓂𝑒𝓂𝑜𝓇𝓎 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒥𝒶𝒹𝑒 𝒜𝓇𝑒𝓃𝒶?
She fought the Floor Master Pink Tourmaline (Muli, aka "The Fool") to a stalemate on the 200th floor, three or four years back. Before the two of them could finish it off, however, Mei-ying got a call from one of the other Cards- "The World" had been found dead, they said-and Mei-ying promptly flew away, which meant that she technically forfeited the match.

After dealing with the killer (let's just say that Mei-ying had been feeling a bit peckish, before she left), Mei-ying returned to the Jade Arena and offered Pink Tourmaline a spot within the Deck; it wasn't often that Mei-ying fought to a stalemate with someone, after all. Pink Tourmaline accepted ("Sure. Sounds fun," she'd replied nonchalantly, most of her attention directed to applying mascara while walking down the hall), and then Mei-ying left the Jade Arena for good. There were more important things to be taken care of.

𝒲𝒽𝓎 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝒴𝓊𝑒 𝒞𝒾𝓉𝓎?
To steal all the priceless treasures being auctioned off at the mafia's Underground Auction.

𝒲𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒾𝓇 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒶𝓁 𝑔𝑜𝒶𝓁/𝑜𝒷𝒿𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝓋𝑒?
The survival of the Deck, always. Right below that would be protecting her Cards. Does she dare say that she...cares about them?

═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

☽ ＭＯＯＤＢＯＡＲＤ ☾

❝ 𝐼 𝒶𝓂 𝓇𝓊𝒾𝓃𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃. ❞

═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

1

1

═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

☽ ＤＯＬＬＳ ☾

❝ 𝐵𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒶 𝓂𝑜𝓃𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒶𝓃 𝒶𝓇𝓇𝑜𝑔𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝑔𝑜𝒹. ❞

═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

ＣＣＣ： ＧＬＯＲＹ ＆ ＧＯＲＥ