Name: Chaeng - from Chang E, the woman in the legend surrounding the Midautumn FestivalZumeng - From Zuo Meng (做梦), Chinese for to dream
Blood colour: 7839A8 ▆▆▆▆▆▆
Gender: Genderfluid, uses female pronouns
Symbol: It's a moon!
Profile: Izutyu and his partner Zutifu decided that they wanted to have children of their own to raise. Feeling the urge natural for all lusii, they decided to take under their wings two trolls from the brooding cavern. For Zutifu, this was Eiylas. For Izutyu, this was Chaeng. Since both lusii lived together already, they raised the girls side by side, as sisters - an unfamiliar and odd term considering that twins were rare on Alternia, and Chaeng and Eiylas' blood colors were far apart.
Unlike the ordinary highblood, Chaeng does not seem aggressive or even much perturbed by anything. Heck, she hardly seems connected to the universe as is. There is an air of dreaminess and disconnection that pervades her actions and conversations. More than once Chaeng might stop talking to do something, and then return minutes (sometimes longer) later and resume the conversation as if she never missed a beat. In this sense, aggression and anger are perhaps the furthest two qualities that can be pegged to Chaeng.
Which leads to the hemospectrum. For one so high on it, Chaeng has no Alternian sense of it. It is there, yes. She can recognize blood colors and has been taught by Izutyu some of the stereotypes surrounding those blood colors, but it's never registered or connected to her. It's more like a fact, like there's two moons in the sky. Yes indeed, there are, now what has this to do with plants exactly? She even disregards the fact that her own color is so high and her sisters is midblood. The fact that her sister tries to disguise herself as a different blood color is confusing, but Chaeng assumes she does it to be happy. If someone were to bully her sister, she would definitely try and stop them. Bullying is not nice! And about blood color? That's stupid!
Chaeng has never felt one way or another on her gender, and only uses female forms since her sister uses them and Izu uses them as well. If it wasn't for that fact, she wouldn't care what you called her.
What she does care about is plants. Plants and herbalism. Chaeng grows her own plants outside of their hive in Four Fronds, and always uses the woods to forage for herbs and other things that are in the wild. Izu taught both girls how to see if plants are good, or what qualities they have, and how to mix them together to make salves and other necessary medicines. He also taught them to be resourceful and good with their ingredients, and this has lent some weight in Chaeng's knowledge of the world. How to make a Beetle go further, and how to used scarce plants to their full potential. When working on a brew, her dreamy quality seems to fade away and Chaeng becomes as sharp as a blade's edge, following instructions from her lusus and learning new techniques.
While Chaeng is passionate about plants, she is still learning and makes many mistakes. Izu is careful to observe the girl and make sure what she is creating won't, you know, kill everyone near.
Her other favorite hobby would have to be storytelling. Chaeng reads frequently, usually with her sister, and loves to collect the knowledge of those stories and repeat them to anyone who is willing to listen. Unfortunately, interruptions abound when she tells one, and it might not be uncommon for her to start and stop multiple times before the story finishes out.
Of all the traits given to Chaeng by her guardians, Kindness, Patience, and perhaps too much caring are the top qualities. They taught the girls to be kind to those around them and to the plants they cultivate. To have patience with all trolls, regardless of their blood color. Zutifu taught them both to see out what they explore to the very bitter end, giving Chaeng dedication and patience. Both taught them that it is all right to sacrifice for family and those close to you, but this has translated differently to both girls. Chaeng is more of a bleeding heart, while Ely is extremely sacrificial.
Ely is Chaeng's best friend and confidant. She loves her sister so much, and wants to spend as much time together as they possibly can. This can be a burden on Ely, who has taken a rather protective role of her dreamy sister. Despite the toll that Chaeng brings to Elyias, her dreamy and oblivious nature makes it impossible to take notice and change courses. If Chaeng is not with her sister, then she is out and doing something with either parent.
Strengths:
Resourceful - "It's okay, we can make it work with what we have"
Chaeng knows how to use her resources wisely, and when things are too low or too tight, she can whip up some sort of secondary fix thanks to that over active imagination that makes her dreamy. With plants, it's a keen knowledge of what the plant does in potions that allows her to substitute with relatively high success. With beetles, it understanding how to get what you need, but perhaps not getting it directly - for example buying a piece of plant with the bark is cheaper than without the bark. Small things that were taught to her by her lusus.
Patient - "No no, take your time."
Izu taught the girls the importance of waiting and biding your time. He taught them that if a plant is being slow to show up in season, to be patient and keep checking night after night until it shows. Everything has a season and watching and waiting are the safest methods of understanding your world and getting what you want.
Chaeng's attention is likely to give out before her patience, and if reminded what she had been doing, she will snap back into focus and pay attention once more.
Dedicated - "We'll see this through to the end."
Zutifu was very very big on the girls finishing things out. If one of them wanted to make dinner, then they needed to make it. No takebacksies. Chaeng was unsure at first if she wanted to do herbalism, but once she began to start and read the books, Zutifu pushed their daughter to continue to study and work.
Coupled with her patience, there is very little that Chaeng will not see to the end. As stated in Patience, her attention might be lost due to her dreamy trait, but when reminded of what she was doing, she will resume immediately. It was a small lapse to her, after all (no matter how much time has passed).
Flaws:
Dreamy/Scatterbrained - "Do you think flowers have family's too...?"
Perhaps the most overarching trait to Chaeng is this. The problem is, Chaeng never really seems to have her head out of the clouds. It seems that she is more a visitor than an actual troll living on Alternia. Her actions are often interrupted by stray thoughts that catch her fancy. Chaeng hasn't grasped what is happening around her, let alone something like time constraints or how much time has passed. Part of her seemingly infinitely patience stems from being so disconnected.
It not only effects her relationship with others, but also her relationship with herself, and furthermore with society. Chaeng never seems to really... 'get it'. Not what the bloodcaste is, not what her position in it is, not what other trolls see in her.. None of it.
Oblivious - "I'm sorry, did you say something?"
Her obliviousness, if you did not know Chaeng, would seem selfish It seems the girl is always doing something that is just down right... well, mean or oblivious. What, you were in line too? Sorry, go ahead of me then. Oh? You were asking me a question. Sorry, I wasn't paying attention, I was thinking about that new cure I am making.
What makes others see this as selfishness would most likely be her blood color... Which is precisely why she often gets away with her shenanigans. Such a highblood, who would want to incur their wrath? Certainly not another troll, no siree.
Selfless/Bleeding Heart - "Don't worry, I won't let you down."
Even if it kills her. Chaeng's self-preservation is rather low, as evidenced by her bleeding heart nature. It's not that Chaeng is incapable of protecting herself... She knows how to defend herself, but only for the traditional sense of danger. Danger from nontraditional sources - leeches, manipulators, and other such things, all don't seem like the thing to combat with violence!
Her dedicated nature also makes it impossible for her to want to stop doing something. She HAS to finish things out. if she doesn't, well, that goes against what she is taught. And we can't have that happen, can we? Same with her patient. Chaeng might be completely willing to endure something horrible for the sake of another, due to being patient and dedicated, to them or what they are going through. The traits basically mix into being one hot mess.
when very sad things happen (or very sad in Chaeng's definition of sad) she will cry. Oh, did you see how cute that little flower was, sniff... sniff.... Oh and did you notice how the lusus in the story kept coming back no matter how much it hurt? Sniff... Sniff...
Weapon: Yan yue dao (偃月刀; lit. "reclining moon blade") - Here
Appearance: Premade!
Home: Four Fronds!
The little hive is more of a round lump, with circular windows peeking out. This is similiar to a natural burrow, the type that nibblebeasts usually make. The upper area is where Chaeng and her sister live, and then there is one main tunnel that leads to a few branches were Izu and his partner live!
Lusus: Izutyu and Zutifu, the cutest pair of soft nibblebeasts
Izutyu is the size of Chaeng as a child, his head matching hers. His body is large and very fluffy and soft, and his ears are almost always perked up. He has four eyes, two sets on either side of his face, and his teeth and claws are super sharp. Around his neck he wears a jade-bead necklace. Izu was the one who taught Chaeng about plants and plant based remedies.
Izu's parenting style has been much more supportive and caring, with an emphasis on self-preservation. Zutifu's has been much more about dedication and seeing things through to the bitter end. They both support the girls as best they can, and are rather nurturing altogether.
The two Lusii were together as partners and lovers before heeding the call to raise children. As nibblebeasts are wont to do, there surely is a few small nibblebeast lusii related to them in the world. However, their connections are not important and never brought up to either sister.
