basic info
name: Ming Li'an, or 明力安 in Chinese. Her last name, Ming (明), means shining or clear, and her first name, Li'an (力安), means strength and peace, respectively. Her parents named her after what they hoped she would bring to the future.
nickname: Some of her friends call her An, but most people just call her Ming. She hates it when people call her Mimi, because that was her mother's pet name for her.
gender: Female
age: Currently 19, but she will turn 20 on December 26th. Most people think she's a lot younger than she actually is though, because she's so small.
sexuality: heterosexual
personality: Since the death of her parents, Ming never lets people get close to her anymore, and usually comes off as standoffish and aloof. She's also extremely reclusive and her idea of a good time involves spending the entire day zooming around on her 3D Maneuver Gear - alone. Talking unnecessarily, such as making small talk, is something that she rarely does. Usually, everything she only speaks the battlefield and can go days, or weeks without talking, if other people would let her.
Personal weakness is something that she is unable to tolerate and she hides most of her emotions behind a mask of sarcasm and disdain. Usually, her default expression is a scowl, complete with furrowed eyebrows and narrowed eyes. Most people call her cold and unfeeling, because she doesn't care as much about the loss of human life. While it is true that it doesn't bother her, she does not like people dying for an aimless purpose. The war against the Titans, to her, is like a game of chess. Sometimes, sacrifices have to be made to achieve a certain endgame.
Those that do manage to become her friends are far and few in between, because she respects only those with strength and intelligence. Strategy is very important to her, and she will not go into battle if she feels that the plan is not logically sound. She is very straightforward and will not hesitate to speak her mind, regardless of who she is talking to. Ming will often question orders from her squad leader and criticize, which has led to her being reprimanded more than once. During the middle of fighting, she will often go her own way and ignore orders, if she feels that it is right to do so, depending on the situation. She always keeps a cool head, even if she is surrounded by the dying screams and corpses of her comrades, because letting emotions get the best of her never works out well.
She hates feeling weak and will always put in maximum effort into anything she does, as long as it builds up her strength. Despite how she acts, Ming actually does care how others view her, a characteristic that branches from her dependency on praise and her low self-esteem. She doesn't care if people dislike her, but if they don't see her as capable, she will do anything to change their mind.
As an only child, she finds it hard to make compromises or follow orders that she knows are faulty, partially because she is a natural-born leader, and partially because she hates not getting her way. Ming is also extremely competitive and when this spirit flares up, it is one of the only times that she doesn't seem utterly bored or apathetic. She seldom yells at people unless she feels that it is necessary, or if she can no longer keep her feelings bottled up.
physical traits
rank: Rookie
special title: N/A
group: Scouting Legion
job: N/A
height: 5'0"
weight: 115 lbs.
hair color/length: Her hair is black and tumbles halfway down to her waist.
eye color Chocolate brown
appearance With a small stature and wide eyes, it is easily for people to underestimate Ming Li'An. She looks delicate and fragile, but if you call her that, she will do everything in her power to make you pay.
However, the impression isn't exactly untrue. She is pretty strong for her size, but compared to many of her comrades, she has always fallen behind in matters of brute strength. Mostly, she relies on her short height, flexibility, and large amount of core strength to duck and weave through the air, avoiding Titans with relative ease. Unfortunately, her lack of strength makes the matter of actually killing the Titan more difficult.
She usually has an expression of distaste on her face, which some people joke will give her premature wrinkles. Once in a while, though, she actually will smile, if someone is being especially witty, but the amount of emotions that pass through her face are very limited in number.
On days when she's not on a mission, Ming wears a black blazer and skirt, but most of the time she is forced to wear the standard military uniform given to the Scouting Legion, even though it's the most hideous shade of tan she's ever seen (ugh).
stats
toughness: 4
intellect: 7
dexterity: 6
character info
likes:
»when she doesn't have to explain things to people: Being a person of not many words, Ming often just likes to assume that people know exactly what they're doing (AKA exactly what she wants them to do). For some reason that she cannot fathom, usually they don't, but even she can't help from smiling in those rare instances in which everything just works out perfectly.
»3D Maneuver Gear: Growing up in Shiganshima, Ming was somewhat of a wild child. She climbed trees and swung around on branches, so being in the air on her 3D Maneuver Gear brings her back to a better, more peaceful time, back when her entire family wasn't dead. Furthermore, she's actually good at it, which is definitely a plus, and when she's zooming across streets and buildings, she doesn't have to talk to anyone.
»science: The one book that her family owned was a general science book published some time back. It covered everything from basic astronomy, one of the oldest sciences, physics and mathematics, and chemistry. Science, she believes, combined with human ingenuity, is the key to a prompt victory over the Titans, rather than just waging a hopeless war of attrition, confined within walls.
»tea: Probably the best way to win her favor is to get her some nice tea, something that her mother used to make her whenever she was sick as a child. She tries to make her own, but due to scarce resources, it usually tastes horrible. Giving her some nice oolong, or jasmine, or green tea is pretty much equivalent to a life debt, in her opinion. Well... almost.
dislikes:
»incompetent people: It doesn't matter if it's a civilian that can't follow basic evaluation procedure, or a comrade that messes up a mission because of some stupid mistake, Ming just can't stand idiots. Those that are weak, by natural selection, will be devoured by Titans. It's just the way the world works.
»feeling weak: Because she was bullied when she was younger, when resources were scarce and everyone was fighting to stay afloat, Ming hates feeling like she's weaker than others. Or helpless, in any way. She wasn't able to help her parents during the Fall of Shiganshima, but come the next Titan attack, she vows to actually make a difference. This is one of the driving factors behind why she works so hard, because anything she lacks in natural talent, she can make up for in blood, sweat, and tears.
»cowards: Those that aren't strong enough to succeed on their own merits, and must hide behind the skirts of others deserve no respect, in her opinion. Soldiers that have dedicated their lives to the king, and choose to go back on their words, should be executed -- immediately. If not, they'll just hold others back.
»titans: Well, this is pretty obvious. They did kill her parents, after all.
fears:
»being abandoned: Because her parents died when she was so young, Ming is afraid of being left behind by others. In one of her recurring nightmares, she is on the battlefield, and just when the last Titan falls, she turns around and finds all of her comrades dead. She hates this fear, because it proves that she is dependent on others, at least emotionally, but she can't quite rid herself of it.
»losing: In her mind, losing means that one is weak. While this is probably not the healthiest life motto, it has driven Ming to push herself to her limits, to prevent herself from ever becoming what she hates -- what she used to be. She is constantly striving to improve the strength of her own body and mind.
»letting someone get too close: In a world where everyone she knows could be alive one moment, and dead the next, Ming knows that it's risky to get too attached to anything. In life, it could mean a second round of devastation. In the middle of the battlefield, it could mean death.
motivations:
»becoming stronger: Being able to handle herself without the aid of others is something that she constantly pursues. She absolutely hates being looked down on (but because of her height, this frequently happens - literally), and wants to become the greatest soldier that humanity has ever seen.
»avenging her parents: One of the greatest reasons that she kills Titans is because they are responsible for her parents' death, and her departure from a happier, better life. She sees them as no more than monstrosities, a kind of thought that allows her to slaughter them without mercy on the battlefield.
»finding new ways to fight titans: Human beings cannot fight a losing battle forever. With each year that passes, the human race grows weaker and weaker, losing more and more soldiers that cannot be replaced quickly enough. Science and innovation are the key to the future. Ming often experiments with new tactics to face Titans, much to the disapproval of her squad leaders. Currently, she is working on a chemical formula that can temporarily blind or impede the vision of Titans on a mass scale (it hasn't worked so far, but she's not giving up anytime soon).
character history
background:
The year is 835 when Ming Li'an's parents leave their three year-old child behind for the first time. As with any child, she barely notices their departure, choosing instead to totter around with the grace of a young, clumsy duckling, right into the door of their next-door neighbor, Mrs. Brown. Sara Brown is an homely woman with circular glasses and a kindly smile, and she is all too willing to find a new playmate for her daughter.
"Sorry for the trouble," Ming's father says, pulling the strap of his bag across his shoulder. "Xue-Long and I are traveling inland on urgent business, and we can't afford to take Li'an along on such a long journey. I hope she won't be too much for you to handle for a couple of weeks."
Mrs. Brown beams and places her hand on Ming's shoulder. "No problem! She's such a lovely girl - no trouble at all."
Ming's mother, Xue-Long, takes her husband's hand, thanks Mrs. Brown again in a quiet voice, and then they're gone. Amy Brown, Sara Brown's rambunctious four year-old daughter, steers Ming upstairs immediately, to get lost in dolls, dresses, and so very many frills.
This is the first, but definitely not the last time that Ming is left in the custody of Mrs. Brown, a ritual that continues on smoothly up until she is seven years old. But eventually even her respect for her parents can't stop from questioning why her mother and father, two perfectly ordinary people, would need to travel north so frequently.
Her mother, Li Xue-Long, is the sole librarian of the extremely compact Shiganshima library. Books are copied by hand, and most are so valued that most are chained to the tables where they stand. The majority of the Shiganshima library, a one-roomed facility, consists of information about the Titans, monstrous creatures that have become the stuff of legend. No one has seen them for a century. They are about as real to Ming as the monster in her closet (which she stopped believing in years ago).
Her father, Ming Li-Shu, is a teacher. Ming remembers his hands, sweeping large, beautiful letters across paper, black ink juxtaposed against a white surface. She learns to read from an early age, from a general science book that is held as a family treasure, as valuable and sacred as pure gold. Instead of princesses and lost kingdoms, her first fairy tales consist of old astronomers and physicists, mathematical formulas as beautiful as the street performers that pass through Shiganshima every once and a while.
"Mom. Dad," she says, timidly, one evening, right after they've eaten dinner. "Why do you travel inland so much. Is it to deliver books, or...?"
For such a straightforward question, her parents take an extremely long time to answer. They send her to her room, and just when she thinks that she's done something irrevocably and horribly wrong, her parents open the door and sit next to her on the bed.
She has never seen her father with such a serious look on his face. "Li'an," he begins, rather gravely, as if he's announcing the death of some famous noble, like he often does at the dinner table. "Your mother and I ... haven't been entirely honest with you."
That night, she hears a story that seems as wild as everything Amy has ever told her, spun out of the fabric of tall tales and legend itself. Her mother and father are not really a librarian and a teacher, but rather a pair of assassins belonging to an organization that operates outside of the law. Frustrated with the constraints placed on them by the strict social hierarchy, in which any mobility involves joining the military, her parents made a name for themselves underground, robbing and killing nobles, and redistributing that wealth to the poor; they took only a small amount for themselves.
Most startling of all, they want her to continue the family business. The next day, Ming runs away from home, for the first time in her relatively short life. She runs and runs and runs for what feels like miles, into the forest behind their little, one-story house, until she's forced to stop and catch her breath. Her parent's are assassins. They kill people. They are expecting her to kill people as well.
Darkness falls, and she finds herself trudging back to her house, albeit reluctantly. Just as she can see the bright windows and the dark silhouette of a roof against a starry sky, she feels an arm encircle her neck, and a rasp in her ear.
"Stay still, little girl, and no one has to get hurt." The voice is foul, and it's breath - fouler. She's heard about these human traffickers that have been terrorizing Shiganshima in recent years. They take anyone that they can get their hands on, but usually children, especially of Asian descent; Asians, her ethnicity, were persecuted in the past for some reason, but the fact has never played a large role in her life until this day.
Furious tears form in her eyes, and before she can even think, she reaches over her shoulder and jabs out behind her, blindly. By sheer luck, she manages to prod the man in the eyes - hard. He gives a yell of pain and surprise, and she manages to wriggle out from his loosened grasp, sprinting towards her house.
In a moment, her parents are outside, holding her in their arms, murmuring soothing words. She doesn't remember too much else, besides her mother's rage and the slicing noise of her katana, a beautiful silver blade that Ming had thought was only decorative, and the grimness of her father's face as he slashed a man from throat to navel.
She also remembers that the next day, her parent's began training her in the art of fighting. It starts out simple: being accurate, dodging, punching, learning to become comfortable with a blade in her hands. Ming spends an entire week just carrying the katana around wherever she goes until she stops being afraid.
Three years pass, and she improves explosively, so much that she begins sparring with first her mother, and then her father. She can hide the canopy of a forest, scale a tree in a heartbeat, and launch an ambush without a second thought. Another three years, and her parents take her on her first mission, all the way into the north, within the bounds of Wall Sina. They take out a corrupt noble that's been cheating the peasants under his protection, and while her parents don't let her do much, it's perhaps the most exhilarating moment of her life. She's stronger, and faster, and she's never been more happy.
The year is 845 when everything goes to hell.
The Fall of Shiganshima is as catastrophic as they say. She remembers the way her parents' faces harden, as they get the news that the wall has been breached. She remembers her mother, ushering her out the door, pressing her long katana into Ming's numb fingers. She remembers running, boarding the refugee boats just in time to see the forest behind her house topple in the path of an Aberrant Titan.
At first, she lives on the street, until someone finally notices and sends her off to a refugee camp. From there, she's sent to an orphanage, at age thirteen, and thus begins the worst year of her life. Ming is quiet, small, and still shell-shocked from the loss of her former, peaceful life. She is unaccustomed to the bustle of people within Wall Rose, and thus she is singled out.
Resources are scarce - this she understands. She doesn't complain when the boys at the orphanage steal her food, or her blankets. This all changes, however, when they try to lay a hand on her mother's katana.
"What a nice weapon," a boy, Thomas, sneers at her one night. "Where'd you steal it from?"
"It's my mom's," Ming says blankly.
Thomas moves toward Ming until he's towering over her, which isn't very hard to do, considering she's sitting at the communal dining table. "Give it here."
"No," Ming says, scowling, and she clutches the blade closer to her chest. She's going to return it to her mom, once she finds her.
"Yes." Thomas makes a grab at the scabbard of the katana, and tries to tug it away from Ming with a grunt.
The orphanage caretakers find Thomas, ten minutes later, howling on the ground, clutching at his bleeding eyes. The police are brought into the affair, and Ming faces charges for stabbing Thomas in the eye with a fork, permanently blinding him.
The officer in charge takes pity on her. With so much death going on around them, no one's going to care about a guy that got stabbed through the eye with a fork. He strikes a deal with Ming. All charges will be dropped if she chooses to dedicate her life to protecting the king and his subjects.
Ming agrees, joins the Trainee Squad, and graduates five years later, 2nd in her class. Strength training has changed her for the better; at least, now, she can slice through the nape of a Titan without too much difficulty. She chooses to join the Scouting Legion, instead of the Military Police, so that she can fight more Titans and make more of a difference.
On her first mission, she fails to fully cut through the nape of a Titan, too inexperienced, and watches one of her comrades be devoured because of her err.
On her second, she returns to Shiganshima to scout the area around Wall Maria, before rebuilding operations commence. Sneaking away from her squad, she goes back to her old house, only to find it half collapsed. From the wreckage, she salvages the dusty science book from her childhood, which she takes with her.
But nothing could have prepared her for what she saw behind her house, in the forest which she grew up in. Suspended in the midst of Titan vomit, she sees the partially decayed corpses of her parents, glassy-eyed, with flesh peeling of their faces. She finally gets the news about her parents that she has hoped for all along -- and wishes she never had.
Ming leaves more than her old life behind, that day. But she also leaves with a new found determination in her heart, to find new ways to defeat Titans, bring the war to an end, and -- from the despair of Trost and Shiganshima, from the deaths of thousands upon thousands -- piece together the remnants of humanity into a brighter future.
Thank you for reading (I hope you had as much fun as I did writing this), and please do not hesitate to tell me if you'd like to see any changes made, no matter how trivial. Yeah, and about the character's history ... sorry. I kinda wanted to try something new-ish, but I'm not too sure if it worked out. .-.
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Subject: ming li'an (COMPLETE AND READY TO BE REVIEWED) 
