(Yu Hua) Althaea Chen Keaulani

From Secondheaven

Current revision as of 08:18, 19 June 2007

Basic Information

Appearance

Beautiful and unafraid to hide it, Althaea is very vain and will always take meticulous care of her appearance. She has a keen aesthetic sense and puts on make-up and jewelry that is 'just right' and infallibly matches whatever she's wearing. She mostly likes to wear her long black hair loose, but will occasionally tie it up in exceptionally warm days. She absolutely loathes wearing anything not dresses or outfits with skirts and the only pants in her wardrobe are her exercise clothes.

She comes off as very elegant in both dress and manner. Althaea is seldom seen without a smile, and tends to speak softly when not teaching (since the students need to hear her during class).

Visible Markings: None.

Not Readily Visible Markings: A butterfly tattooed above her right breast, usually concealed under layers of clothing.

Althaea's PB is Kelly Hu.

Personality

By no means an introvert, Althaea is friendly and polite to pretty much everyone she meets. Her level of openness largely depends on the receptiveness of those she speaks to - the more outgoing people will see a much more talkative and friendly woman than the more shy and reserved ones. She has no qualms talking about anything - shyness is decidedly a trait she doesn't have. She's also very open-minded, and anyone wishing to talk about more polemic topics will find a friendly ear in her.

In spite of her seeming openness, she is in fact a very reserved person and doesn't easily let anyone into her life. She isn't against having casual flings and encounters that are purely sexual in nature, but when it comes to forming relationships, she tends to back away. Althaea never talks about herself or her history prior to coming to Second Heaven, and anyone trying to pry will find themselves without answers to their questions.

She's flirty and sexual and doesn't try to hide it, although inside the school she dresses and acts with the required propriety. She's very dedicated to her job, and although she's strict, she also seldom fails her students - it's very hard to get perfect scores, but one will seldom get anything less than a B- with her unless they never show up and don't hand anything in.

History

Born in Manoa, Hawaii, to a Hawaiian mother and a Chinese father, Althaea was the third and last child born into their marriage. Her mother, unfortunately, died of sickness a year after she was born, leaving her and her two older siblings for the father to raise. Their father, an art teacher, offered them a modest but fairly comfortable childhood, unable to afford excesses but with enough income to cover every bill.

She picked up the passion for art from her father, and at a very early age she began to draw and paint. She showed promise, and her father encouraged her to continue her art studies - which was made easier when he was hired to teach Art at a French university, and the family moved to Paris (she was around twelve at the time). After graduating from High School, she pursued an Art major with a focus on painting and art history, and began teaching in schools shortly after graduating.

After moving to Europe, she first came in contact with the Japanese culture - through the rather obscure at the time japanese animations. She got into it quickly, and it was a rather influential part of her art style's development as a teenager. As anime got more popular and widely available, she began to grow more curious about the roots of the animations - why it was so widely produced, why the style was so peculiar, and so forth. That curiosity is what led her to study the japanese culture, and it quickly grew to become one of her personal passions. She took courses to learn the language, traveled to Japan a couple of times, and after getting a degree attempted to emigrate to Japan and teach there - and after being turned down in several schools, happened upon SH. A Japanese boarding school. More importantly, in Europe. More more importantly, in need of an art teacher. She wasted no time in applying for the job, and ended up selected for it.

She kissed Paris goodbye and joined at the end of the school year in 2003 as a temporary replacement for the previous teacher, and ended up staying permanently from the next year on, setting up residence in Schubert. She pays regular visits to her father - who still teaches at a college in Paris - every year, and occasionaly receives visits from him as well as her siblings and their children.

Other Information

Why Second Heaven?: Interesting teaching methods, good pay, appealing location, and a fascination for Japan's culture.
Favourite color/food/activity/subject: Red/Shrimp/Painting/...Art?
Least favourite color/food/activity/subject: Hot Pink/Onions/Exercise (loathes but does regularly)/...um.
Likes: Cooking, reading, surfing the interwebs, psychology, asian languages and cold days.
Dislikes: Dirt, greasy hair, bitter foods, broken nails and very hot days.
Family: Father, Mother (deceased), two older siblings, a slew of nieces and nephews.
Languages: English (fluent), Cantonese (fluent), Japanese (fluent)
Remake?: Yes
OC?: Yes

School Information

Subject Taught: Art
Years in SH: 4
Heads: Anime Club

Relationships

• Justice Everette Bridges – ♥~
• Terre Caine – Notch in her bedpost (the HORROR).