Meiyun Lai

Name: Meiyun Lai
Age: 19
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5’6 / 168 cm
Weight: 116 lbs. / 53 kg
Hometown: Tokyo, Japan
Alignment: Face


Appearance:

Ring Gear:

Casual:

Working at her family’s restaurant:

Swimwear:

”This isn’t going anywhere public, right?”:

Entrance Music:

The Struts - Pegasus Seiya:

History: Though she was born in Tokyo, Meiyun is a third-generation Japanese citizen, and ethnically of Hakka Chinese ancestry. In the 1960s her grandparents moved from Taiwan, fleeing the nearly-40-year period of martial law known as the White Terror. Finding work in the city, her grandfather opened a restaurant in town, which has been run by her family ever since.

...And, as of now, it hasn’t been doing all that good business-wise. It consistently gets 2.5/5 star reviews, and everyone who eats there remarks that the food is average, but can’t exactly place what makes it average. Slowly but surely, the family's revenue dwindled as people regarded the restaurant as a good place to eat if there were no other options, but not anyone's first choice. Meiyun was working hard to help out with the operations, but as she grew older and lost her childish optimism (well, not that much), she realized that her family’s reputation was at stake. She wouldn’t stand for her good name being sullied, and she knew that her family had the potential to succeed and thrive. And she would take it upon herself to restore their honor!

Which she decided to do by signing up to AFW. Her parents were confused about it at first, asking how she expected to help their business through becoming a wrestler. After all, Meiyun had already been helping out around the restaurant as, at various times, a waitress, janitor, assistant chef, delivery girl, menu consultant, and mascot, and everyone expected her to carry on with its operations as her father had done when he inherited the restaurant from his father. Even then, Meiyun, despite her impulsive and sometimes foolhardy nature, was excelling in school; if she wanted to go on to become a doctor or a lawyer, no one would have doubted her given her academic performance and her indomitable spirit. And then there was the fact that she had trained in dance from a young age, and everyone was confident she could do well in such a career if she chose to pursue it.

But Meiyun had made up her mind. As she rationalized it to herself, she didn’t want to go into a more intellectual pursuit that would require more school; she wanted to get out and do things, not sit around in classrooms all day taking notes! Not only did that seem unbearably boring, but she didn’t want to wait a few more years to start getting the money and fame she would need to bring respect back to the Lai name. She needed results!

Not only that, but wrestling spoke to the deepest, nerdiest parts of her. She was a fan of the sport, but she was even more of a fan of shonen manga - and becoming a wrestler, to her, was the closest thing there was to being a shonen protagonist. The action and the intensity was there, and as someone who looked up to the heroes of manga, Meiyun only saw it as a natural progression in her life. She was drawn to the strong spirits and determination of the heroes in the stories she read, noticing how no matter what setbacks they may have encountered or defeats they might have incurred, they were always able to pick themselves back up, and every time, through training and effort they came back stronger than ever before. Beyond that, she noticed that shonen protagonists tended to start from humble beginnings, lacking innate talents of their own, but managing to achieve success through sheer will and refusing to give up. To Meiyun, who couldn’t find anything in her life she felt she was especially good at, this inspired her - she wanted to prove that, through striving to do her best and give it her all, she could become great. As far as she was concerned, wrestling seemed like a natural fit.

When it became clear that Meiyun wouldn’t budge in her decisions, her family accepted that she knew what her mind was set on, and they sent her on her way. Now in training to join the ranks of AFW, she’s eager to carve a path for herself.

Personality: Meiyun is an eager, energetic, and excitable girl, and nothing seems to keep her spirits down for long. It doesn’t take much to whip her into a frenzy, and she’s quite vocal about it too, able to ramble on nonstop about any subject she’s particularly passionate about - there have been multiple occasions in which she talked so much she’s had to catch her breath. She’s also a very empathetic person who cares a lot about the people close to her, be they family or friends. She always wants to do what she can to cheer someone up or help out if it’s needed, even if it comes at her own expense - and that goes just as much to her friends as it does her family. As a corollary to this, she's also afraid of failure or disappointing others, and her biggest fear is to let others down; she strives hard to make sure that never happens to her. She’s still a competitive person who likes getting in fights so that she can prove she’s the strongest, but she’d prefer that they be in the boundaries of the ring, under rules, and that she and her opponent can respect one another.

In the ring, Meiyun’s passion for shonen manga shines through. She enjoys playing herself up with all the spirit of a shonen hero, punctuating most of her actions with screaming and dramatic statements. Those who know her personally can attest that this isn’t so much an act she puts on so much as it is how she tends to see the world, but it tends to come out the most when she’s thrown into the heated and competitive nature of a match.

While she isn’t stupid, Meiyun isn’t very practical. She has a tendency to be impulsive and act without thinking too hard about what she’s doing, preferring to take what she thinks will bring her immediate results over considering her options. She can be forgetful at times and can overlook the obvious, being the type to leap before she looks. Some would say that her very decision to become a wrestler was made in such a mindset, but she’s confident it will work out if she puts her mind to it, as she’s a very determined person, even to the point of being stubborn. She’s convinced herself that if she ever fails, she just needs to get back up and try again, and that no matter how many times it takes her she’ll eventually get things right if she keeps at it.

Trivia:

• Meiyun is very fond of pigs, which she thinks are cute. This is despite the fact that her family’s signature dish at their restaurant is twice-cooked pork. She was devastated when she found out that pork comes from pigs, but she was able to look over it thanks to her love of food.
  
• Speaking of which, she tends to be a pretty big eater.
  
• She’s the middle child of three sisters, all of whom work at the restaurant.
  
• She came up with a few dishes on her restaurant’s menu, which tend to be incredibly large and/or spicy, serving mainly as challenges for patrons to consume.
  
• She’s very meticulous about cleaning.
  
• Meiyun still helps out at her family’s restaurant whenever she can, but her availability is limited due to her commitments with AFW.
  

Fighting Style: In the ring, Meiyun’s strategy can be summed up well with just three words: attack, attack, attack! She’s very aggressive, focusing on hitting fast and hard. She doesn’t put much effort into defending herself, thinking that she won’t need to if she can inflict enough damage quickly, and she’s capable of keeping up the pace well enough to hit her opponents faster than they can retaliate. However, in her enthusiasm it’s easy for her to get tunnel vision and to lose sight of her surroundings, and she often takes risks that don’t always play out in her favor. Additionally, she tends to put all her energy into coming out of the gate swinging, and she can burn herself out through getting carried away with her offense. Overall, her lack of experience, coupled with her headstrong and over-eager personality, means she can make some rookie mistakes.

Meiyun is able to innovate her style well. She’s trained in dance, and she makes use of her knowledge to dodge around her opponents’ attacks, as well as using the motion of her body to attack with her hips and shoulders. In terms of more conventional moves, she prefers strikes as they can work well into her fast-paced assault, though she can handle herself with throws and holds as well.

Favored Match Types: Meiyun is open to any match type. She’s willing to try anything, and her go-getter attitude helps motivate her to do her best no matter the situation.

Signature Moves:

Cannonball:

Hokuto Hyakuretsu-Ken:

Finishing Moves:

Superkick:

Relationships with Other Characters:
N/A