Appearance
Pretty, dark eyes, long silver hair, short, shapely, muscular frame.
Nari cares for her appearance but does not bother dressing to fit a part. She will wear whatever she likes wherever she is. Fortunately, what she likes is usually quite nice and she never likes to appear unkempt. Her daily wardrobe usually consists of streetwear, with a preference for purple, blue, or gold.
Maker's Mark
Beneath her human hair, beginning at the nape of her neck, Nari has a soft burgundy red mane that extends down her spine and tapers to her tailbone. At a glance, it simply looks like a peekaboo hair coloring and if she must hide it, she will shave it bare. Most of the time, however, she allows it to grow and the hair always moves as if it is underwater. Likewise, her skin does not pucker when she spends too much time in the water. In fact, she generally prefers being submerged.
Her canines also come to a sharper point than average, and her tongue is long and agile when she fully extends it.
History
Nari was born off the coast of Hong Kong on a small, well-appointed houseboat, emerging into the world as a squalling fur and scale-covered infant. While her mother slept, tended by her aunts and grandmother, her father, a shèn dragon assuming human form, soothed her with songs never heard by human ears, weaving tales of the open ocean and the unsullied sky.
For generations extending past memory, Lin Nari's family has been composed of half-bloods to the last. Their bloodline is potent, claiming ancestry from various aquatic entities that lurk in Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino folklore. Although they straddle the line between the human and supernatural world, this family and others like it, set themselves apart from the human world, appearing from the outside to be clannish and cult-like. It does not help that along with an intent focus on filial piety and ritual, they make a point to often refresh the magic in their bloodline, preferring inhuman partners to humans, and allowing matchmakers to decide for them.
As expected, Nari lived her life on the open ocean. She learned how to swim, sail, and navigate by the stars. She learned how to dive for pearls off the coast of the Philippines, and how to make mochi in Japan. In China, she studied at the feet of Wing Chun masters, honing her body for the martial arts. At home, her father taught her how to breathe rings of vapor, manipulate her body, and create pearls from poison. Her mother taught her about the human world, from how to dress and hide her inhuman ancestry, to cooking, to mathematics, literature, and other schooling. Nari was always intelligent and an avid learner, and as she grew up, it was rumored that her grandfather was considering her for a successor.
The family business was her grandfather's shipping and courier business which sailed between the East Asian islands of the Pacific. Most of their work was legitimate but the most profitable work dealt with criminal enterprises. After all, non-humans are not subject to human law, or so they believe. As such, her family has a healthy criminal empire and though she is no stranger to hard work, Nari has lived most of her life with a silver spoon in her mouth. Although he drew the line at human trafficking, her grandfather had no qualms about other dealings with the various criminal factions of the East Asian nations. Nari and all of her cousins were introduced to these illegitimate dealings from a young age, and she quickly became an accomplished gangster.
Unfortunately, by being slated as a possible successor, that put Nari in direct competition with an older cousin who had his heart set on their grandfather's powerful role. Although they worked well together as children, as they grew, they became rivals, often pushing each other to great achievement as much as hindering each other. They were both covetous, bloodthirsty, and ruthless. Their rivalry began to split the family and after a disastrous job for the Yakuza that led to the death of another cousin and the pair nearly murdering one another, their grandfather stepped in.
For their transgressions, they were both cast out without hope for atonement. Only the two of them knew the truth: her cousin was the one who started the battle while she tried to cooperate, but when it was her word against his, she had no hope. Saying a possibly permanent goodbye to her mother and father, Nari traveled East, and eventually immigrated to the US.
Like a moth to the flame, she was drawn to Easthaven, settling on in the Asian community on Balmoral street. For a few years, Nari just tried to find her feet again, working menial mundane jobs around Balmoral. However, it didn't take long before she found her way into more illicit operations, making headway into Easthaven's criminal underbelly.
With care and experience, she began to work her way into the various operations in Easthaven and surrounding cities. Eventually, the money started to flow again and Nari began clawing her way back to the way she likes to live. Two years ago, she opened the Honey & Ivy Waterfront Noodle Bar. It is her pride and joy and like her grandfather's company, it has a legitimate front that facilitates a criminal element. She has gained a solid foothold in the city.