[spoiler=Part 2]
On her 18th birthday, Ling sprang for an introduction into a magic school for Jiao to teach her the basics and help her make something of herself. She had the gift, as evidenced by her intentionally curing hangovers at the bar, and casting orgy on some unsuspecting patrons, but no daughter of Ling's would be stuck at the bar. Damn it, her daughter would "be someone", even if she couldn't do it legally. Ling also invested as much as she could into a real SIN for her without her husband finding out. Where Chao had his women, Ling had her daughter in Jiao. It was also at this school where Jiao got her distinct tattoo on her right leg. She grew tired of all these annoying things like "rules" that the school was attempting to teach her and that the only beautiful women were those without tattoos. After a drunken or deepweed high, she doesn't remember which, she found herself back at a tattoo parlor and got herself inked with the dragon Lung on her right leg and it was a big one too. Stumbling back into the school in the early hours she awoke to find herself puking in her private restroom toilet. "Daaaaaaaaaah fuck." Jiao muttered as she usually was much better at keeping track of her alcohol consumption. Trying to clean herself up for class, she looked down at her leg and saw the rather large dragon tattoo and it finally dawned on her what she did......"OMG...I thought that was a dream." Violently she tried to scrub it off to no avail but then soon found herself massaging it like a sign of pride and love. She always viewed her dragon keepsake as a element of power and she guessed this tattoo was a way of her describing what she could not describe in any other way here at the school. Either that or she was still suffering recoil from Deepweed possession. Regardless, she made the decision to love that thing.
It was towards the end of this schooling, she met a man, Michael Trevase, who introduced her to the world of shadowrunning. He was a corp, as most of her interactions were back then, and he got himself a floozy while away from Mainland China here but she didn't want to "go away". Since she was of the notable sort he couldn't just hire someone to take him out so he tried going to the magic school and finding someone who could "convince" her to go away. Many of the mages laughed at his idocracy and gave him scowls and told him to go away. Jiao, on the other hand, loving a challenge, strolled up to him outside. After suffering through his tale of woe for about 30 minutes, she realized a potential plan for the run. Simply just redirect her energies towards another hot man. Simple enough. It's not like Hong Kong had a shortage in the ritzy area, she just had to show the piss poor lady how to be a seductress like she always knew.
That all changed as soon as she met the mark. Being unique attuned to people's sexual desires from watching them in her youth, her gaydar pinged on this mark rather loudly. It also explained why she was clingy on Trevase, she was trying to be straight versus actually accepting who she was. Now, this was rare in the 2060s. Most people don't give two cents about it, but there were some groups that did. Especially ones that relied on political marriages to keep a corporate power struggle going. After all, her mom was in one of those such unions. Coming up to the mark, she snuggled beside her, a bit closer than most people would normally like, but kept her head outwards towards the men on the dance floor of the local club. "So see anything you like?" She whispered saucily into the mark's ear. It was a simple, genderless request. With her lowcut top and enticing perfume, any straight person would have backed away slightly and then talked a bit about the men or assume Jiao was drunk. However, a lesbian might stammer first, like a man in a sense, unable to not look at the person whispering with the perfume as a guiding aide.
"I uh....He's cute... " The mark said pointing at a random man in the crowd, but not really paying attention to it all. "But really I'm waiting on my boyfriend. No sense in waiting on me. I'm sure he'll be here in a bit." She ran her hands along her half drunk glass nervously. She's probably been nursing the beer for a good half hour wondering what was going on.
"Boyfriend must be a loser." Jiao remarked rather abruptly, casually, and matter of fact. Before she could retort back, she ran her hands along her nursed beer glass as well, giving her the sense of touch over a female's fingers. "He's obviously stood you up for what 30 minutes now...What's your name, hun?" Jiao asked this even though she knew the mark's name, she wanted this to seem like an authentic meeting.
"Nancy DuBois...<ooc>pronounced dew bwah</ooc>" A American from the sounds of things. No French accent remained, in fact it was a little Southern. Must be a long line of corporate inheritance to hide that accent. The woman also obviously worked out and had a shoulder length hair, probably worked for a military corp of some sort like Knight Errant. Instinctively Nancy took to Jiao's fingers like silk running across her body. She shivered a bit and turned her head away from the males and focused almost solely on Jiao. "So what brings you out tonight?" She gulped as she desperately wanted another sip of beer but did not want to break the contact. She hoped maybe Jiao would release her fingers and allow her to take a sip and maybe give her some relief that was clearly pooling up inside of her.
Taking the hint, Jiao released her hands and ordered herself the finest beer off their menu but let her eyes run up and down Nancy's well maintained skin. "Well, I was looking for some rather beautiful company tonight..." She let her voice get slightly quieter at the word company implying that she was more her type this evening than any of the boys.
"You're...?" She wanted to say lesbian but she couldn't even bring herself to say the word she was that far into the closet.
"Bisexual..yes." Jiao replied looking to ease the tension a bit from the mark. Really she didn't have a clue herself as she never really fell in love and more enjoyed the sensation of sex. She wondered if that made her a sociopath for a bit but desperately needed to get that off of her mind and turned towards her and replied. "Known since I was a kid that I was attracted to girls and boys...Just kind of ran with it. " Such a liar, you're beauty sexual and you know it...With a bit more confidence she could be my type... Again more thoughts she didn't want and thankfully Nancy took over.
"Oh...well...like what's your name?" Nancy stammered through. Trying to learn more about this obviously attractive, confident woman. Jiao gave her name the name, Ping Ya, with a bit of sauciness. She did this in case she too became clingy and she misread her. "So ...Ping...maybe we could talk somewhere more...*erm* private...so you and I can discuss Michael a bit more privately. I might have some work if you're interested...being such an attractive woman as you are."
Keeping with her happiness bouncy seductive persona, she blew some air against Nancy's ear as she spoke. "Of course...if that's what you'd like to discuss Nancy." By phrasing it like this, she also left it open to "discussing" other matters. Soon the duo marched up to her room, where Jiao activated a lot of the toys that were loaned to her by Michael to make sure none of the other corps had bugs in her room.
"See completely private...No one can hear us Nancy." She commented as she turned off the devices. "Last one.." Jiao noted quibly to the younger counterpart. As she moved towards the center of the room, and consequently towards the bed Nancy then immediately grabbed Jiao's face and kissed her rather forcefully and Jiao went along with it. Rather enjoying it actually.
"Oh how I've been wanting to do that with a female for so damn long." Nancy's bluntness surprised Jiao. She expected Nancy to try to lightly kiss her not a full on makeout session. Apparently this woman has kept her desires hidden a while. Nancy attempted to move her hands onto Jiao's body to which Jiao politely stopped. As much as she wanted to sleep with the woman to secure her trust, this would do nothing about her boyfriend problems.
"First, we figure out your boyfriend issues, then we can play around." Jiao commented as she used her silky smooth hands to slightly push away Nancy's. Tapping the bed, she invited Nancy to sit on it. "Oh don't worry about that...My parents will just hire a hit man to kill him for standing me up. No worries. I'll just tell them tonight he was a jerk, which he was."
She said that rather casually as if Michael had broken an arrangement and deserved to die. Men and their lies...Always getting in tangled webs in order to get a quick win...Gotta play the long game in sexual matters or you get fucked...literally
"Honey if being a jerk was a punishable offense, you'd be dead many times over for leading him on that you're interested in him sexually. It's obvious you're a corp looking for a face mate instead of a marriage partner. Anyone with a decent gaydar knows you're in the closet. " Jiao commented back with the same level of fact and tone as Nancy did to her. "Instead how about you say you mutually broke it off and we find a way for you to have your cake and eat it too."
Nancy gulped and recoiled slightly scooting backwards..."How did you know???!?!?!?! How...?!?!?!" She hopped off the bed and towards a corner of the room. "I mean I did everything my image consultant said...Growing out my hair, wearing a skirt, doing my makeup, watching fashion trends...Everything...when all I want to do is sit and home and watch a sports game with a girl beside me." Crouching down, she put her hands in her face like she wanted to cry.
Slowly gliding off the bed, Jiao curled up next to the distraught woman and wrapped her arms around her shoulder. "I'm well gifted at this type of thing, but that's beside the point. The more you accept yourself for who you are, the more you can find other women like you." She snuggled up against the mark letting her cry against her shoulder.
Subtly taking the hint, Nancy did and through her tears Jiao could understand something about how her family would be in ruins if she didn't marry a corporate guy in a certain amount of time as the corporate by laws required it or she'd have nothing. It was a this point Jiao knew her way in. Touching her cheek, she politely turned her eyes towards her own. "Have you heard the term, beard?" Nancy tilted her head back and forth and Jiao knew the answer but waited for her anyway. "It's when a gay guy and lesbian date each other to give the world the appearance of being straight. "
"Oh! You mean someone like me?" Nancy's eyes perked up. She believed there may be a way out after all. Jiao nodded to the now pliable mark. "Let's get you cleaned up, we need to head to a gay friendly bar, like Temptation, and get your evening and life going right."
"Those exist! Oh my gawd! Oh my gawd!" Breaking the connection, Nancy reverted back to almost a younger version of herself and went into the bathroom to fix her mascara and such and came back out still looking like a million bucks but like she was in the closet. "Let's add a few final touches..."
Normally Jiao wouldn't help out a mark this much, but Jiao for some internal reason wanted this girl to be open to herself to experiences. Jiao mused and picked up a local Hong Kong magazine for the room. "Find a hair style you like in there and wish you had...(slight pause). It will be worth it." Jiao made the decision to use the makeover spell on the girl. If she's going to go all out and get her a beard, she might as well make her happy in her own skin.
After a few minutes, the lady went for a very short almost buzz cut type appearance which more than suited her looks. With a snap of her fingers, Jiao made it happen. "You're a...Wowza..." Nancy went back and ran her hands through her almost non existent hair. "And you picked me?" She asked incredulously.
"What can I say?" Remarked Jiao with a bit of humor. "I have a thing for girls in distress and not showing off their true beauty." First true thing you've probably said all night. After switching into the pants and top from Jiao's closet they went to the gay bar and found her a beard for the night and ended up back in Jiao's room to celebrate and how to tell the parents.
"Now that is how you have a good night!" Nancy exclaimed rather excitedly at Jiao as they stumbled into her room. The alcohol had made her a bit louder and they found themselves two attractive women in the room. In order to cement that Ping was trustworthy and she wanted an excuse to use the Orgy spell on herself, Jiao roughly kissed the girl. Nature took its course and she helped the girl understand what she was missing by hiding in the closet. She tried to return the favor and she actually wasn't bad at it. In fact she was good so she didn't have to use the spell and forgot. Either that or the beer she told herself. Jiao tends to blame a lot on beer so she always practices moderation now.
The next morning the duo turned and looked at themselves, "Well...This was fun..." Jiao let the air hang as she knew she had to say goodbye to shower and get to class. It was a really fun night of sex and mayhem and she got paid for it. "Let me guess..You have to go? " Nancy replied with the same bit of uneasiness.
"Yeah...I do. I have to get back to some things and you, darling, have a life to fix with your beard and parents. I wouldn't want Michael being killed over your issues now yes..." Jiao continued with the same tone.
Happily the girl mused on. "Oh right!" Reaching for the clothes Jiao lent her she said "I'm sure we can trade right? I bet my clothes are more expensive and towards your tastes..." She threw them on rather quickly trying to give her no chance to object but Jiao wouldn't have anyway. "Oh and Ping?" Jiao turned her head toward the mark. "Take this..." She opened her large feminine purse and a small hand crossbow peaked out. "My parents always find me a weak little thing and assume I can't fire a crossbow but in reality I've been secretly firing their gun collection for years. I figure you might have more of a use for it than I." She ran her hands almost seductively down her arms.
Good god what have I done, I actually want to bed this girl again...which is rather rare for me.
Nodding in thankfulness, Jiao took the purse. "I'll call it Nancy, so if I ever have to fire her, I'll remind myself of your kindness as well. " In reality Jiao made a pact herself that day. She would never ever allow herself to fire a combat spell or a weapon unless she had to because it would remind her of this incident.
The duo then departed and she reported to Michael a mission well done, all with 2 minutes to spare before her boring Path of the Wheel stuff she was doing. She respected the values of beauty that the group gave but ugh those lectures were so boring and unbeautiful. They should do something better.
Michael Trevase ended up being a corporate Johnson who set her up with all sorts of solo runs without going through a fixer. She worked as a fixer a bit with him for a time, meeting another fixer in the game, but mainly she loved the solo run. As she leveraged her magic she routinely got paid to do the advanced scouting for other people's runs in stral Space, or to extract information from a pliable target through less obtrusive means. This helped maintain her lifestyle but moved her further and further away from Hong Kong and she spent a solid year in China, picking up a few bits and pieces of the language. Occasionally, she even got paid just for sex and the orgy spell which she loved.
Her favorite run involved a man paying her to electrocute her with stockings and have a picture of it for his own recollection. The man was an electricity mage/addict and could never quite shock himself though and wanted to see if someone could do it. Sure enough Jiao got the shot for the sicko but it was some of the easiest money she ever made. But when she took it, she discovered the inherent electricity running through everyone and wondered if that is what she tapped into to be able to notice and read people well that everyone has their own "current" so to speak.
After that year in China, she received a communique that her mother Fan had died. She came back as fast as she could, but it was too little too late. Social "nobles" and people with purchasing power had inflitrated the bar. Because of her extensive use of the makeover spell in her prior runs and not having a picture of a childhood, she looked like an imposter when trying to claim her own birthright in the bar. Sure she had the dragon tattoo she had gotten in her rebellious youth but it was distinctive. Anyone could copy that. She had nothing to prove it. Sure Ling knew it was her, but there was nothing Ling could do about it as her noble status prevented her from intervening. Jiao's biggest regret is that she could have had the Rounded Keg to herself. She did manage to steal the emergency money (50000 nuyen) hidden away at the bottom of the floorboards Ling told her about. It was meant for Fan in case Jiao had medical bills or some unforeseen obstacle but Fan wouldn't need it now.
Back in her home town, Jiao aka the Princess, continues to market herself to solo runs, all the while maintaining her love of beautiful and precious things. She is very much a stereotypical elf and doesn't try to hide it. She will have sex with anyone to complete a mission or who is hot enough and loves to be the center of attention but doesn't really know what "love" is. Sure she says it all the time, but it's a foreign concept that weighs people down in her mind. A friend like her Mr. Johnson (of which she knows the true name of but never uses it -- Hence the high loyalty), is worth more than any "love". The closest thing was Nancy, but she tries to avoid thinking about that.
Some of these runs had her run in tandem to the local doctor crew as she rarely ever saw combat but boy was she good at fixing people up. If your nuyen was good, she didn't care what caused you to be that way unless it bared medical importance. She often asked for medical reasons or to determine if the people could pay, rather than what most people asked out of managing their own political alliegances. Because Princess changed her face so much she never really cared what those were. Morality and what is "good" is only beauty. Healing people is a part of that beauty. Anyone who would disrupt said beauty deserves to die.
Occasionally some of these solo runs were to track a mark from one place to another and gather proof that they were truly going into said place or not going into said place. Princess had a gift for this. Her natural eyes just seemed so much better than most for this task.
In her off time, Jiao spends it at her place trying to make a mini museum of sorts, at an actual museum for ideas, or monitoring local fashions. Jiao is a "beauty" snob and makes no efforts to hide it. Which works out because no one expects the Princess to be a runner. If anyone happens to ask who knows her, she's a Paris Hilton type or a "problem solver", not a runner. It's only a matter of time before a group needs a face though and the beauty of the job or challenge would be impossible to resist....
[/spoiler]