Maimasu

**Character: Maimasu (Mai)**

Pure white scales shimmer,

dreams drift in rippling currents—

sky beyond the pond.

River sings of myths,

whispers of a grand cascade,

a trial of flight.

Up the falls she leaps,

jade waters parting like silk,

each bound seeking stars.

A voice like moonlight,

blessing of celestial hands,

soft scales turn to skin.

Eyes wide, feet unsteady,

wind laced with a thousand scents—

what is "hunger," now?

Through the portal young,

a fish who once dreamed of flight

steps into the world.

Mai, a Koi Yaoguai has not had much experience in the world. Her life was simple- to swim, to dream, to live and see more beyond her body of water. Given new form by a benevolent Celestial, she hungers for more then just her next meal- for knowledge, or adventure, for sights and for life. Every day is a means to grow and find what it means to be more then koi, to become one with the world and find who gave her this blessing. To pay them back in kind, and to pass on that blessing through art and passion. Her life started- ever driving closer to the clouds, she strove to be there in the beyond. She found herself hitching a ride with a local group of skypirates under the tutelage of a Tengu Duelist- they promised training if she could work, and work she did. Adventure called, but her training wouldn't suffice. In their first true battle, a misstep in the rigging caused her to tumble from the side of the ship, nobody to catch her, the faces watched. Mai took a deep breath, swinging her staff around in a spectacle as she fell- soon the splash came, turned to koi once more, she swam....

Her body changed, helping her brace the impact, swim away, and return to land a Human once more. Coughing up seawater, she couldn't help but laugh at her own folly- she knew she could do better...the world around her was just another river and she would swim through it in her own way. 

She followed the gossip, making her own way to the Explorer's Guild, to the portal...to a new river