full name (westernized) Xiuhua Lu
date of birth 8 August 1988 (26)
hometown Hangzhou, China
species Human (Sensate)
conflict Xiuhua has always been plagued with a sense of not belonging since she was a little girl, a feeling that was only exacerbated when she lost her twin brother, who she felt like was half of her soul. While she often felt awkward around the other children who trained alongside her, her sense of loneliness is made worse around her parents, but she's never sure if it's real of if she's projecting her own feelings about the absence her brother's death has created. And when strange things start to happen, her mind will once again be concentrated on the mysterious circumenstances surrounding Xiubo's death.
relatives Zhiming Lu (father, 51), Yaling Zhou (mother, 48), Xiubo Lu (twin brother, deceased)
occupation Tea farmer.
skills Given the near two decades she dedicated to gymnastics, Xiuhua has a strong upper body, lower body, and core strength as well as a much admired balance. She's also flexible, nimble, and quick on her feet, all of which is bolstered by a near subconscious lack of fear. Even though her life no longer revolves around gymnastics as it once did when she was competing, she has more or less been able to maintain her skill level by quietly practicing when given free time. Aside from her native language Mandarin, she's fluent in English and proficient in Russian.
blurb By the time Lu Xiuhua turned six years old, she had experienced both a loss and a decision that defined her life. Despite how hard she tried to reflect on and probe her memories, she had never been that clear on what exactly happened to her twin brother Xiubo, as if the entire event occurred in a strange fog that continues to cloud and confuse and frustrate, keeping the answers tucked away just out of reach. However, what took place after has forever been burned into her consciousness, a memory played on a constant loop -- the face of the gymnastics scout so perfectly etched into her mind that it warps into near tangible fear behind her closed eyes, the sounds of her hysterics as she watches her parents leave the training facility that would soon become a makeshift home for the years to come reverberating in her ears like a distant theme when things get a little too quiet, and she can still feel on her cheeks the tears she shed in privacy as her gymnastics training began with the trainers doing their best to keep her loneliness at bay. She has never dared to ask her parents why, too afraid of the answers she expects to receive, but yet she trained until her natural talent turned into formidable skill. Making her parents proud had been her top priority, even when her coach told her to make her country proud. Gymnastics became a part of her identity, and she is not quite sure she knows who she is without it. All of the training and practice paid off as Xiuhua became a nationally ranked gymnast, going all the way to compete in the Olympics. She had an illustrious career, earning both titles and medals, and had two skills named after her. She became what her coach had wanted, a pride to her country. However, a fading star isn't worth much to a country when younger models are vying for their chance, and so it was with little fanfare that met Xiuhua when she returned to a life of normalcy, a life that she could now live as her own. Only, what sort of life did she even want when it seemed like she had already lived the life that was meant for her? It was with the help of the national team, who wrote recommendation letters on her behalf, that she managed to study at Peking University where she focused her major on international politics. Her previous experiences, she found, were more than just about tumbling, but also connecting with people from different backgrounds and representing China on an international level, and she found she liked both. However, before she could start a career in politics, her parents called her back home because her mother, hands weaker and wrinkled by time, needed her assistance in following the family tradition that had started by her grandmother. She is now working besides her mother helping to pick tea leaves, a skill she recalled learning with her brother while creating their own way of communicating through whispered songs and whistles, and while she's struggling to find a new place where she belongs, she's slowly trying to piece everything together by looking back on what was and looking forward to what could be.
tl;dr Lu Xiuhua was born in Hangzhou, China to parents who were surprised as anyone else that they were having twins, but given that a boy followed just minutes after her birth, her parents were typically overjoyed at the discovery. She knows she owes much of her life to her twin brother, and his death still haunts her. At just five-years-old, she was thrust into the life of a gymnast as practice of the sport dominated every aspect of her life, but all of the hard work paid off as her presence dominated the sport that had captured her existence. After retirement and looking for a new path, she entered university and found herself to be a good fit for international politics due to her childhood spent around people from all over. However, she was soon swept back into the presence of her parents, as they needed her help with picking tea leaves. It's very much different from where she ever pictured herself, but she likes spending her time outdoors and trying to reconnect with her family in an attempt to belong, and she often takes solace in gymnastics like it's an instinct.