Panda

Panda

Pistol Adept
Unwilling Catboy
Discord	@r0adic
Reddit	TandoPando
Metatype	Elf, Nocturna
Street Cred	0
Notoriety	0
Public Awareness	0
CDP	22
D.O.B.	September 10th, 2060
Age	25
Folder	[1]
Priority	Metatype - D Attributes - B Magic/Resonance - B Skills - E Resources - B
#Max IGs/Ascension	0

Character Information

Summary

A Nocturna Adept that's very adept with a pistol, Panda is a short, wiry elf whose only resemblance to the bear is his black & white colour pattern. Rather, he's significantly more catlike than usual for his subspecies.

Like someone learning to skate for the first time, Panda is struggling not to slip while he adjusts to life on his own in Seattle.

Goals

Maintain his freedom. - Panda didn't run from one master to find another. If he can help it, he wants to keep his newfound independence.

Find more lucrative employment. - While he moonlights as a bountyhunter, there's gotta be work that pays better for someone who can handle a handgun like him.

Background

Originally born to a couple that joined a commune on the outskirts of Metropole in Amazonia, they eventually perished from something within the jungle and left a young Preto an orphan to be raised by the group. Before he was even old enough to speak, he experienced a SURGE. The leader of the commune, an Awakened fellow in the Aztec tradition, accused the young boy of murdering his spirit twin. The white marks on his body were its blood, and his feline features stolen from its corpse. Raised largely as a pariah from his earliest memories, he was kept off the books but was eventually unloaded onto a gang who saw potential in the novelty, leaving the commune with a tidy profit.

It took awhile for the gang to earn a return on Preto. There was something uncanny about him, setting off animals fight-or-flight and making people look at him askance and, to the gang's surprise, it turned out his allergy to the slop they were serving wasn't bullshit. He wasn't great as a drug mule despite his quickness, with cops picking on him even when he was clean, and his metagenic weakness meant he struggled to hold the AK of a soldier. Frustration had him sent off to be a dancer when he was old enough. While he could put on a show with a pole, his unnerving nature made it hard to find success. But one man's unnerving is another man's titillating and the prodigal son to the head of a minor Renraku branch found him irresistible. Once again he was offloaded, leaving his previous owners with a healthy sum and him in the entourage of someone heading back to Japan.

Life was on the up-and-up for Preto. Sure, he had to wear a collar with a little bell and whatever else the young master wanted, but he had comfort and luxury. He loved the attention and became even more prideful when he came into a late Awakening during a Shinto festival, his senses coming alive when he swore he felt the passing of spirits through him; blossoming into an Adept meant he get to sleep on the same floor as his master and soon he earned the privilege of sharing the same bed. It felt like things could only get better from there until he learned that being called 'their pet' was more than a term of endearment.

The young master had plans for their cat, to shape him into becoming something that doubled as armcandy and bodyguard. So just after his reflexes were deemed sufficiently honed, Preto woke up on strapped to an operating table. A surgeon and his owner were talking about how to make the necessary touch-ups to have Preto fit the ideal measurements. When it became clear he was panicking instead of understanding about what was going to happen to his body, he was knocked out.

When he woke up, Preto felt something missing inside of him. Something taken that he could never get back. His convalescence was extended not just from his body's natural weakness but his refusal to eat. Surgically altered to be more agile, he withered to the point of emaciation.

Two people found this unacceptable. Preto for one, and the young master's father for another. The patriarch found what his son was doing was worse than reprehensible: it was shameful. It brought dishonor that they were playing so much with something that was beneath even the average metahuman, an animal. If the young master was to eventually succeed him, they had to grow up and leave this "toy" behind.

A situation was setup where Preto was to travel to Seattle, ostensibly for an extended stay in a recovery clinic. However, a very conspicuous hole in the usually tight security presented itself, a clean break from the Tacoma Internation tarmac to the wider city beyond. Pilfering a credstick from the young master, he decided to make a run for it. Of course, the obvious pathway to freedom was orchestrated by the patriarch with a team posing as security waiting to liquidate him just at the threshold. Preto was fast enough and lucky enough to blaze past them into freedom.

Freedom was expensive, it turned out. Beyond the difficult landing adjusting to life on his own, work was scarce. He was a shifty-looking runt, and people were more willing to let a junkie guarding a stash than take a chance on him. With the funds on the credstick dwindling, he turned to bounty-hunting; bringing back the meanest-looking trogs bound on the back of their own bikes brought Preto a bregruding tolerance and along with enough nuyen to slow the hemorrhage of his funds.

It hasn't been enough to put him in the green, though. He's only been able to go after the lowest hanging fruit, those too stupid to cover up their tracks, live-streaming their crimes and haunts. Still, he's hoping it's the start of a record that would lead to more lucrative work.

Narrative Significant Qualities

Positive

Agile Defender & Metagenic Improvement (Agility) - It is difficult to imagine how Panda manages to bag a troll with a rap sheet heavier than he is until one sees him move; the lil' skidmark is fast. It's easier to catch smoke than his tail.

Keen-Eared, Low-Light Vision & Functional Tail (Balance) - Panda's resemblance to a cat is more than superficial.

Restricted Gear - Panda was meant to be shaped into a little princeling's bodyguard and, unbeknownst to him, the young master's seal is imprinted on the Muscle Toner inside of his glute.

Negative

Allergy (Common, Mild): Soy - It takes a lot of vigilance to keep soy out of his diet. Whether as soy sauce, soybean oil or soykaf, it sneaks into a lot of places. He turns down food unless he knows for sure what is in it.

Nocturnal & Allergy (Common, Mild): Sunlight - Part and parcel of being a Nocturna, Panda avoids working during the day.

Records on File: Renraku Computer Systems - From his time as a pet, they've got information even he doesn't know about himself in their data vaults.

Big Regret: Time spent as a Pet. - The memory of the young master's face when he went under anesthetic still can wake him up with a cold sweat. He can't believe he once loved that man.

Critter Spook & The Goat - People can't believe someone shared a bed with him. Some blame the shifty eyes, others the unnatural white skin, but all agree something ain't right with him. Animals feel it even more acutely, making even the most good-natured golden retriever growl like a cornered wolf.

Run History

Name	GM	Metaplot	Threat	Date of Run
An Overnight Nocturnal Trip	LHOG		High	14 May 2085
A Beautiful Song	Fangblade_		High	25 November 2084
Go Ahead, Make My Way	LHOG		High	20 November 2084
Diggin'	Fangblade_		High	15 November 2084
An Autoclave's Heat and Pressure	LHOG		Medium	9 November 2084
Little Rat, Big Hole	LHOG		High	29 October 2084

Affiliations

Contacts

Contact	Connection	Loyalty	Archetype	Profession	Aspects	Chips
Auntie Amelia	4	1	Fixer(N,K,G,A)	Elderly Troll	Gossiper, Old Adept, Tea Horse Road, Shadow Networker, Seattle Streetwise	Even
Goro Mazamoto	3	1	Legwork	Yakuza Enforcer	The Gambler Rolls The Dice, Good Old Underworld, Foot In The Shadows, Veteran Yak	Even
Greg	3	1	Fixer	Skraacha Gumshoe	Skraacha, Ork Underground, Gumshoe, Drugs, Ex Renraku Neo-PD, Orc Family Man	Even

Allies

Skraacha +5 Rep

People of the Orc Underground +2 Rep

Enemies

Mitsuhama Computer Technologies -1 Rep

Telestrian -10 Rep

Laesa Syndicate -5 Rep

In Character Information

Matrix Search Table

Threshold	Result
1
3
6

Shadow Community Table

Threshold	Result
1
3
5

Assensing Table

Threshold	Result
1
2
3
4
5

SINs

Julio Irons - Rank 4 SIN (Bounty Hunter)

Appearance

At a glance, Panda seems like a Giacometti sculpture that's walked out of an exhibit with his eerily thin frame and peculiar complexion; most of the fur covering his body is the same colour as wrought iron, with the exception of some splotches of chalky white. There's one splotch over his right eye the size of a grapefruit, and another on his left elbow of the same size. There's some splatter as if flicked from a paintbrush running up the back of his right leg, and a blob hugging the side of his chest in between his pectoral and hip. In addition to the white fur, all of his exposed skin is the same chalky white such as his eyelids, his lips and his palms.

His ears look pilfered off a panther, furred and slightly rounded, and a long tail running off his spine. His pupils have the vertical slit of a feline and his eyelids have a slight inwards angle to them, giving him a natural scowl.

His unhealthy thinness and shiftiness makes him seem like a go-ganger aching for his next fix, and his aloofness and choice of gear does little to suggest otherwise. A huge revolver is strapped to his hip and he seems more likely to injure himself by breaking his wrist than hitting is target, and his armoured coat seems at least a size too large for him.

Clothing

When spotted out in the streets, Panda is typically wearing a graphic tee, his one allowance for fashion while purse strings are tight.

His usual coat, a size large enough that the cuffs extend past his wrists, is left undone when the dreary weather permits. Black and shiny, it matches his tall boots.

Covering his legs is a pair of jeans, with the knees reinforced with an extra patch of synthetic denim. They fit his leg closely, accentuating their length. He rotates between a few pairs of these.