Phantomlink959

Atypicals Anonymous

It's more of a writing preference thing for me. I don't mind the occasional flashback, but I have trouble writing them when they don't tie into the story naturally.

Atypicals Anonymous

I probably wouldn't. I like to save that kind of detail for character interactions, like when they're talking about their past.

Atypicals Anonymous

Chunlan 'Lan' Zhu

A Simple Wok

“Order coming up, Mister Lin!” I gave a quick shout to notify the last customer of the night. From inside the street side restaurant, it was obvious how cold the outside world was. The few people still lingering late in the evening were dressed warmly; steam from their breath clearly visible, but inside it was hot. Gas stoves in tight quarters tend to make things pretty warm, and while everyone else was freezing I was sweating.

With a quick tilt of the pan, I dumped the assortment of stir fried meat and vegetables into a cardboard to-go container and passed it over the counter. An alarm went off on my phone to mark that my shift was over and it was time to close up, so I flicked off the gas so the pans could cool back down. “I hope she gets here soon, don’t wanna be late…” I hadn’t actually been scheduled to work tonight as the owner’s son usually took this shift, but he had come down sick so I offered to fill in for him. As I started to close the shutters dividing the enclosed kitchen from the street, I heard the click of a door as my manager stepped inside.

“Thank you for taking Jun’s shift, Lan. You look like you have somewhere to be. Go on, I can close up for the night.”

I’d had a lot of bosses, bit Miss Cheng was one of my favorites. A friend of my grandma’s, actually, “Thanks Nana Cheng. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I gave her a quick hug before rushing out of the shop, pausing to grab my backpack. The fastest way home was cutting through the alley behind A Simple Wok and climbing the fire escape, and I needed to get my jacket. It was hot inside, but as soon I was in the open air the cold hit me like a ton of bricks. For all the advantages my abilities came with, I had no resilience against extreme temperatures; and I had a long way to travel for tonight’s meeting.

Four and a half miles

Isn’t exactly what most people would call a quick bike ride away, and far from being walking distance, but I’d made further trips for worse reasons. I stopped pedaling and coasted up to the Central Park Community Center, checking for familiar cars and bikes as I arrived. I’d made good time getting here so, I guess I was a bit ahead of the others. I stopped to catch my breath and brushed a crimson lock out of my face, tucking it behind my ear. “Damn, must’ve lost a clip on my way over.” Oh well, not a big deal. I retrieved the bike lock from my backpack and secured my bike to a rack near the front door. I didn’t expect anyone to steal it, and even if they did it wasn’t a big deal - I could always buy another one. But I liked this bike.

As I stepped inside, I could hear the tail end of some unfamiliar song echoing from a stereo set up near the refreshment table. Boxcar Joe had talked about Erina before, and mentioned she liked to listen to Rush while she was setting up for meetings. I’d arrived late last time so I hadn’t seen it firsthand. “Good evening, Doctor Slate.” I piped up cheerfully as I stepped inside, shedding my winter coat and taking note of a well dressed girl with curly brown hair. I wish my hair was curly, but that was one thing I hadn’t inherited from mom “And… Thalia, right?” I inquired, snagging a bear claw from the pile of danishes and grabbing the seat nearest to the other early arrival.

I tucked myself as far back into the folding chair as possible so I could sit cross legged without falling over. Easier than it sounded, owing to my naturally thin frame. “You’re dressed fancy. Just get in from a date or something?” I asked, twisting myself abruptly in my seat to face her. The shifting weight caused the folding chair to rotate in place, eliciting a brief but high-pitched squeak against the tile floor. I winced, putting on an apologetic smile, “Sorry.”

The Bureau of Supernatural Affairs

@KatherinWinter I'm waiting on @Blueflame. Now that things are moving again I'm trying to keep my responses a bit more contained.

Atypicals Anonymous

@RumikoOhara
The link to the Discord is at the very bottom of the OP.

We can talk character links once you're in the server, might be easier to have a proper discussion on there.

Atypicals Anonymous

@RumikoOhara

I'm thinking of switching characters, the alternative one I had originally been considering is actually a PI like Angel is, though he's a fair whack older (in his 40s)
How would you feel about tying backstories together, have his agency be the one Angel interned at?

Atypicals Anonymous

A write-up on the company mentioned in my character's sheet:

Pretty far away from New York, admittedly, but it may come up at some point. GM-willing, it will definitely factor in to my character eventually.

Atlas Biotech
A biotechnology company in Silicon Valley, near the San Francisco Bay area. Specializes in cutting-edge prosthetic technology.

Atlas Biotech was founded 5 years ago by the enigmatic (and reclusive) billionaire Fulton Atlas, who built his fortune from renting his patents out to bigger companies. It is a relatively small company for the industry, with just under 200 employees; a large portion of work are security belonging to another company owned by Atlas. The rest of the employees are composed of material scientists, programmers, robotics experts, and assorted medical staff. The company's main product line are custom-fit prosthesis for retired military personnel and injured athletes, built to accurately replicate the function of their lost and damaged limbs; but rumors circulate that the company is on the verge of a major breakthrough in the field of cybernetics.

Atypicals Anonymous

Personal Information

Name: Chunlan “Lan” Zhu
Age: 21
Gender: Female
Occupation:
Neighborhood or Borough in Which You Reside:
Chinatown
Questionnaire
Note: These questions are for research purposes only. Please respond honestly, completely and without omissions.

Describe the nature of your Atypical abilities.

I Don’t, or I guess can’t, sleep. Or get drunk. I’m either fully awake and alert or comatose, and that applies to sedatives too. They had to put me under for surgery when I was a kid and right around they were taking me off the table they started to wear off and I was fully awake again, didn’t have that slow waking-up still mostly unconscious phase normal people get.

Briefly describe the series of events that led to who, what and where you are today.

I’m a third generation Chinese-American on my dad’s side and seventh or eight generation Scottish-American on my mom’s side. I guess we first noticed my powers when i was six. I kept leaving my room in the middle of the night looking for stuff to do because everyone else was asleep. My parents got worried after a couple of days and took me to the doctor, they did some tests- brain scans and stuff- but they couldn’t find anything wrong with me. I wasn’t suffering in any way, so they let it be. At first I started reading a lot to keep me busy, then I ran out of books so I wandered downstairs to my grandma’s book store. I got really good at reading really young, soon as I’d worked my way through all the shelves I could reach… I wanted to try going outside and exploring.

Thing is, when my parents realized I didn’t sleep, they put a padlock inside the front door. So, I found a chair to stand on and moved up to the next shelf. Then, I found my first detective novel, can’t remember which one but it gave a pretty specific description on how to pick locks. So, I decided to try it. It took me a few days to work it out, but I taught myself how to do it. That’s the first time I ever slipped out at night. I got scared pretty quick when a stray cat tried to bite me, but I kept getting braver and seeing more. Didn’t run into any trouble for quite a few years, but when I was 11 I almost got stabbed by a hobo. I ran home scared again and told my parents, then dad forced me to take self defense lessons. He let me pick, so we went to a few demonstrations and I decided on Shaolin style kung fu. I didn’t tell my dad at the time, but it’s because I saw a picture of a monk’s spade in a book and wanted an excuse to try and use one.

From then until I was about 17 I spent my free time practicing random stuff like sewing, cooking, schoolwork, and of course my kung fu. Got pretty good at it, even earned my black belt.

You can probably guess what happened next. I started taking part time jobs to earn money so I could buy that monk’s spade I was talking about. Bunch of places only had late night shifts. So I took them. I was doing my homework in the evenings, school during the days, and working all night. By the time I graduated high school, since I wasn’t paying bills or spending much money, I had saved up enough to pay my way through a bachelors. I mean, I didn’t. But I could have! Once I was out of school I took a couple more jobs to keep me busy at night, work in the book store during the day. I don’t have many friends, I guess people think I’m weird. Which kinda sucks. Anyways, not a lot of friends so evenings I do like I used to and wander around. I met the hobo who tried to stab me again, he’s actually pretty nice. He’d been mugged a couple days before and was a bit jumpy. HE remembered and felt bad about it, so I asked him to tell me about what it’s like being homeless. One thing I learned is the phrase “If you want to know something, ask the rats.” People tend to overlook people like that, they blend into the background. When people don’t notice you, they talk about stuff you shouldn’t hear. And word travels fast.

Once I made friends with him, he taught me all kinds of stuff. How to learn things by asking the rats, how to get in and out of places unnoticed, how to get around the city quickly and safely. Turns out, he’s different, like me. He can…. Sense, when people know something he needs to find out. He’s not actually poor, he found out about Obsidian so he went off the grid to protect his family, even moved across the country. I guess I reminded him of his daughter, he showed me where he hides his stuff so if anything happens to him I can send it back to his family.

About a week ago, he went missing, so I went and got his stuff. His stuff was gone, but he left me a letter and an invitation to come here. Spending time with me made him miss his family, and he figured it was better for them to be together than have him be alone and hunted.

So, I came,
How would you describe your appearance to someone who is blind?

For the most part I’ve got typical chinese features. I’m taller than normal though, about 5’9”. I’ve got short red hair and blue eyes. Between the asian heritage and martial arts training, I don’t much going on in the chest or butt. My favorite outfit is white sneakers, tan capris, and this pretty crimson cheongsam that Nana got me when I was little. I grew up, but no out, so I like to wear it as a shirt. It’s silk with black orchids embroidered on it. She got it because my name is “Spring orchid”

How would you describe your personality? Likes and Dislikes?

I’m naturally extremely curious. I have a habit of wandering into places i probably shouldn’t, but I’ve never been hurt or in any real danger.

I used to have trouble making friends because people thought I was weird, but I’ve always been friendly to people. It’s better to be nice to people than angry at them, you know? I do get distracted easily and I go off on tangents a lot, so sorry about that. I sometimes forget that other people have to sleep and call them in the middle of the night to see if they wanna go do something, but that’s just because I get lonely sometimes.

I like martial arts, books, gardening, and exploring new places. I’m a vegetarian. No particular reason, just seemed like the thing to do.

What is your current state of mind?

Excited to meet new people, plus I read a book on how to train animals and I’m making great progress with the squirrel who lives in the tree next to Nana’s book store.

If your current place of residence was destroyed under mysterious circumstances, which of your belongings would you attempt to recover from the rubble?

Well, most house fires happen in the middle of the night, so I’d probably make sure everybody gets out okay. Most of our money is in the bank so even if we lose some sentimental stuff we’ll survive.

What is making you happy right now?

While I was on my way to the meeting, that squirrel let me pet it and didn’t try to bite me.

How did you hear about AA, and what made you want to attend?

A psychic hobo gave me a flyer and told me I should give it a shot.

What is your greatest fear?

Getting rabies.

If you could give up your atypical abilities, would you?

Nah.

Please suggest any refreshments you'd like to see at the next AA meeting.

Acorns, in case I manage to adopt the squirrel I’ve been training. Otherwise, apple juice and carrot sticks.

Atypicals Anonymous

@over easy Should I PM you my Character sheet?

Atypicals Anonymous

@over easy Always err on the side of caution, as they say.