Zai

**Zai,** or **Wobu Zaihu (我不在乎)**, is one of the three main characters of the story. She is a former spy.

## Wobu Zaihu (我不在乎)

### Relationships

Hoon, Bahu, Bubu (close friends), Bubi (former caretaker, current friend), Zhongyong (murderer)

## General

Zai is a silent, cunning half-spirit. She used to be a spy inside of the Jiangshi Hierarchy, planning with Bubu to gather information on the corrupt nature of the system. She was created because I wanted to make a half-spirit. Her name, Wŏ Bù Zài Hu, literally means "I don't care" in Chinese.

She is perfectly flexible, being a spirit.

She has electric energy.

## Personality

Zai prefers not to speak much, even around those she knows. When she does, though, she's pretty casual. She enjoys sarcasm for humor, but knows not to push too far. She usually waits to take action on anything until it's getting completely out of control, unless she's passionate about it. Because she hates the spotlight, she chooses to be a silent follower to a leader unless she's specifically called for. She also silently makes sure the two she hangs out with, Hoon and Bahu, don't do anything stupid.

She has a neutral approach to life. Things come and go. She does whatever she wants, but it's never anything significant. If she knows something bad will come from it, she wont do it. She prefers to not be reckless. If something bad does happen, she simply does whatever she has to do to deal with it.

Zai just stays stoic no matter who she's with. She can be a bit more stoic than usual if there are many people she doesn't know. She will talk with anyone if prompted, unless she just doesn't like them. She tends to be pretty witty in these cases, showing her more genuine, casual side. She only really looks intimidating, but when she gets irritated, she adapts the same scary personality she gives off.

She's not very expressive normally, but it's even harder to get her to tell you what she's feeling. She's incredibly closed off, and downright refuses to talk about anything relating to her feelings. She doesn't just avoid it, she'll tell you "no". She also finds people that are too persistent annoying. Bug her or anyone else where she can hear too much, and she'll start resenting you.

## Appearance

Zai wears a simple, standard jiangshi-based outfit. Her dull-gray hat is tall and rimmed with the ball tip poking out. Spiritual matter trails off of it, constantly moving in a wavy back-and-forth pattern. Her large, fading cyan talisman is held on by two pins. It reads "幽霊" or "spirit", and also has a spiritual matter trail. Her hair is a muted-gray sort of color, and is tied up in a short, spiky ponytail. It curves around the side of her head and covers her ears. Her eye is the same cyan associated with spiritual matter, and it glows. She is missing her left eye. A gaping black hole takes it's place, a leftover bright pupil being the only thing that makes it resemble an eye. Three large black slashes cross vertically over the hole. Although she is blind in that side, the pupil follows the other like a lazy eye.

Her top is mainly the same gray as her hat. The collar, cuffs of the sleeves, and band around the waist are a desaturated blue. Plastered onto her top is her wanted poster, which was made in secret within the Hierarchy. It's held under the band. An extra cover also comes out from the front of the band. Her entire top is incredibly loose, only the ends of her sleeves and collar really being thick. Her fingers are clawed, just as all spirits' are.

Her pants are also a desaturated blue. Although she usually doesn't have feet, if she chooses to manifest them she wears thick black socks.

## Character

### Story

There is no development on when Zai was a human. It begins when she was already a jiangshi, as a spy in the Hierarchy with Bubu. At this time, her name was Kouritsu. They were both Managers, as well as close friends. They knew the dangers of being found out, but went on anyway. Eventually, Zai was found out, but didn't know it. A meeting was called without her knowing, though Bubu was there, where they told those present about a spy and that she would be made an example of. With that, a short time later, Zai was murdered by Zhongyong. Her eye was torn out in the process. Bubu was present for her friend's murder, and as collateral damage, her arm was taken off.

Shortly after death, Zai woke up, now as a half-spirit. She was confused and in shock, though someone appeared to help her. Bubi would go on to take care of Zai for the next 20 years or so, teaching her how to use her spiritual abilities and caring for her in general. She also helped Zai start speaking again, as she refused to talk for a while after her death. After 20 years, Bubi just disappeared with little warning for Zai. She had found Nai and decided to move on to taking care of her. Zai still had heavy emotional baggage surrounding her death that Bubi had failed to help her confront, so over the next 30 years, she dealt with it herself. It was soon joined by deafening lonliness. She had no interaction with anyone else in this period, and changed her name and appearance.

She ended up dealing with her death poorly, simply repressing it and having developed a form of dissociative amnesia. She completely repressed the event of her death. Along with that, however, she also forgot Bubi's identity. She didn't forget that she was taken care of by someone though, she just doesn't know who it was. She also developed an identity issue. Because she became a half-spirit, losing her physical body, she often questions if who she feels like is really her. She feels as if she lost a part of herself somewhere down the line, and frequently questions if her emotions are genuine. She also sometimes finds herself thinking "I miss her." Though she doesn't realize it, "her" is referring to her 'living' self.

### Struggles

Zai does not ask for help from others with her feelings. She doesn't feel the need to, and has just accepted how she feels. Despite the heavy amount of baggage she carries, she won't budge.

Certain words and/or phrases can trigger a dissociative episode in her. This hasn't happened yet.