Citizens of Steelhead
The Yakuza Queen
(This post ties in with this post.)
She was a recent arrival to Shanghai, and an outsider even amongst outsiders amongst outsiders. While most about her answered to names like Li, Jing Fei, and Huan, she had been born "Aoi," a name no member of the triads would ever mistake for being Chinese. There were few present to recognize her as native to their homeland, but they wouldn't welcome her as one of their own either. The blue-black wings that had given her the name she was born with had marked her as one of the Tengu, and not even remotely human.
No, here she was alone.
That was alright with her. She had not come looking for a people. She had come to learn about the West. She had been just a fledgling when the black airships had arrived and forced her homeland to open to the West. During the long, protracted civil unrest that followed, she had grown, and watched. While most of the Tengu had retreated into the mountains she had come down, had boarded ship, and sailed across the vast ocean to this place.
Though she was a daughter of bushi, that same stubbornness that had driven her outward while her clan pulled inward had driven her to choose survival over honor. Within days of arriving she had used her outsider status to carve a tiny niche in the underbelly of Steelhead, using her personality where she could, and her katana where she had to. Now she had a small house, a few girls, an occasional crate of illicit catnip, and the first sniffs of suspicion from the Tong. She was a yakuza rival starting to elbow in to their turf. They would have to move, and soon.
She would simply have to move first. The moment she found a spot of weakness she would drive her blade into it, hard. She had already started laying in preparations for the day. When she struck, the Tongs would know they had been kissed.
As she stepped out of her house, accompanied solely by one of the girls, an explosion rolled across the harbor. within seconds she could see the black smoke curling up into the sky. Calmly, she turned and arched an eyebrow toward the girl at her side. The girl bowed and hurried off as quickly as her yukata allowed her.
Soon the young woman returned. She hurriedly bowed, then began to whisper in Nihongo. "An explosion by the Dragonlands Hotel. They say it was the Tong."
Aoi, or "Alana" as she had chosen to rename herself in this new land, smiled. "Bring everyone. we have work to do."
She was a recent arrival to Shanghai, and an outsider even amongst outsiders amongst outsiders. While most about her answered to names like Li, Jing Fei, and Huan, she had been born "Aoi," a name no member of the triads would ever mistake for being Chinese. There were few present to recognize her as native to their homeland, but they wouldn't welcome her as one of their own either. The blue-black wings that had given her the name she was born with had marked her as one of the Tengu, and not even remotely human.
No, here she was alone.
That was alright with her. She had not come looking for a people. She had come to learn about the West. She had been just a fledgling when the black airships had arrived and forced her homeland to open to the West. During the long, protracted civil unrest that followed, she had grown, and watched. While most of the Tengu had retreated into the mountains she had come down, had boarded ship, and sailed across the vast ocean to this place.
Though she was a daughter of bushi, that same stubbornness that had driven her outward while her clan pulled inward had driven her to choose survival over honor. Within days of arriving she had used her outsider status to carve a tiny niche in the underbelly of Steelhead, using her personality where she could, and her katana where she had to. Now she had a small house, a few girls, an occasional crate of illicit catnip, and the first sniffs of suspicion from the Tong. She was a yakuza rival starting to elbow in to their turf. They would have to move, and soon.
She would simply have to move first. The moment she found a spot of weakness she would drive her blade into it, hard. She had already started laying in preparations for the day. When she struck, the Tongs would know they had been kissed.
As she stepped out of her house, accompanied solely by one of the girls, an explosion rolled across the harbor. within seconds she could see the black smoke curling up into the sky. Calmly, she turned and arched an eyebrow toward the girl at her side. The girl bowed and hurried off as quickly as her yukata allowed her.
Soon the young woman returned. She hurriedly bowed, then began to whisper in Nihongo. "An explosion by the Dragonlands Hotel. They say it was the Tong."
Aoi, or "Alana" as she had chosen to rename herself in this new land, smiled. "Bring everyone. we have work to do."
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