Mai Pembe

> When The White Fang makes the world a better place for faunus, then you'll see why I did this! I won't let anyone treat me like a monster anymore.
>
> Mai Pembe

## Media

### First Appearance

"Dearly Beloved"

Mai Pembe is a secondary antagonist and former side character in Team OPRA's story. She was a student at Beacon Academy and was a member of Team TLIP with Tin Toulouse as her partner. It is revealed she is a White Fang agent planted into Beacon to help with destroying it and furthering the White Fang's goals. She fights with her dual revolver-butterfly swords called WhatsHerName and WhatsHisFace.

She first appears in "Dearly Beloved" when she volunteers to spar with Tanner during a combat class. There she teases him and ultimately bests him. Afterwards she finds him working out and makes acquaintances with him. In "Last Night of the World" She is seen talking to a green-haired girl at the punch bowl during the Beacon Formal before Tanner asks her to dance.

In Volume 3, Mai participates in the 40th Biannual Vytal Festival with her team. In "Moses Supposes", she is seen eliminating two members of Team PSMA and securing the victory for the team despite the elimination of Ignis. Afterwards, Mai rendevous' with The Assassin to aid in his assassination of Ophelia, eventually being intimidated into doing so. In "Paper Dragons" she and Tin Toulouse fight against a Shade Academy duo which secures them a position in the singles rounds. She later is paired against Tanner Ackerman during "And Then There Were None" and beats him, which causes the latter to fall into a depression.

During the Battle of Beacon, she manages to seperate Ophelia Demoiselle from her group and leads her to The Assassin before fleeing. She then runs into Tanner before revealing herself as a White Fang agent before fighting him and escaping.

After the Fall of Beacon, Mai's current whereabouts are unknown.

## Appearance

### Physical

Standing at 5’6 and weighing shy of 119lbs, Mai has an average frame for a woman of her stature. She has pale skin with yellow eyes and black hair that is tied into a high bun on her head. She has a round head shape. Being a faunus, Mai’s trait is her long fluffy panther’s tail.

### Attire

Mai’s initial attire consists of a dark grey sleeveless turtleneck shirt tucked into a pair of dark brown capri jean pants. Mai also has a pouch attached from a belt loop that hangs on her thigh and two holsters for her weapons on both sides of her. Over her turtleneck, Mai wears a sleeveless hooded midnight purple and black vest. On her feet, Mai wears a pair of purple and grey sneakers.

## Personality

Mai is a mysterious young woman. While being open about her ‘past’ and having an incredibly friendly and casual persona to her, people cannot help but think that there is something deeper, that what she says is just the surface of something else. Mai has a certain level of bravado to her, she often teases and jests people to get a reaction out of them. Mai is also incredibly cunning, able to read someone inside and outside of combat.

But underneath this is a woman with a deep anger towards how the world has treated her and her people. Being apart of the White Fang in its current, corrupt state, Mai believes that this is the only means of being respected and treated with the equality that the faunus deserve. But even deeper is a scared little girl, one who has recklessly abandoned her old life to join a group that is doing more harm to their own people than good. Mai hasn't realised it yet but the life she has chosen may not be the one that will help give the faunus the respect they deserve.

## Background

According to Mai she grew up in Vacuo and was trained under her aunt before attending Obscuros. At some point during or afterwards, she joined the White Fang with Sienna Khan as its new leader.

Before the story of Team OPRA, Mai was chosen to infiltrate the academy and aid in the eventual invasion from the white fang and grimm. During the initiation she meets Tin Toulouse and becomes his partner, forming Team TLIP with Lillian Armfeldt and Ignis Artifex.

## Abilities and Powers

Mai is an incredibly fast and agile fighter. Her weapons allow her to cover both short and long ranges in fighting. In addition to this, Mai also uses her semblance to throw off enemies as to where she is before attacking them. She prioritises stealth in her combat as well, going to take the enemy out from the shadows without anyway of others noticing.

### Weakness

Mai's agility and stealth comes at the price of her being a bigger target with stronger people, people who can break her aura more easily with their heavy attacks. Mai is also shown to heavily rely on her semblance by dodging attacks that could be easily avoided otherwise.

### Weapon

Mai’s weapons are called *WhatsHerName and WhatsHisFace.* They are the *Twin Butterfly Sword Revolvers (TBSR).* They are a twin pair of black and purple six-shooter revolvers that can transform into a pair of sharp butterfly swords. They transform by having the grip incline to form a handle and the blade underneath the barrel telescope outwards.

### Semblance

Mai’s semblance is called *Magic Circle.* By ‘drawing’ a circle, Mai can teleport short to medium distances. This allows Mai to move distances more quickly and also throw off her enemies by teleporting around them before landing a strike. The farther Mai wants to teleport, the more aura she'll need to use to do so. Mai can currently teleport with one person at a time.

## Relationships

### Team TLIP

* Tin Toulouse: Mai and Tin have a friendly partnership on the surface. However, deep down Mai shows a disdainful attitude towards him. She often believes him to be a complete idiot who is reckless and has no idea what he's getting himself into.
* Lillian Armfeldt: Similarly to Tin, Mai pretends to have a big sister/little sister relationship with Lillian. Underneath though Mai loathes Lillian for her status as an elite human, and thinks that she's nothing but a dumb annoying pretty girl.
* Ignis Artifex: During her time masquerading as a beacon student, Mai often found herself comforting Ignis and giving him a confidence boost. This is just to keep up appearances however, and Mai really sees Ignis as a pathetic weakling who doesn't deserve to become a hunter.

### Others

* Tanner Ackerman: Mai initially thought low of Tanner. His status as the son of a general in a fascist dictatorship like Atlas made her secretly despise him. She enjoys ribbing and teasing him for his arrogance. But over time, Tanner began to slowly grow on Mai as they hung out together. Much to Mai's denial she and Tanner are close, which made their final confrontation at the fall of Beacon more difficult for her to go through with her choice.
* Ophelia Demoiselle: Mai dislikes Ophelia immensely. She fakes a friendly best friend type of friendship when in reality she thinks she's dumb and clueless. She showed complete apathy towards putting Ophelia up against someone so dangerous like The Assassin, knowing full well that she would die. However, Ophelia is also an individual who made an impact on Mai, evident in how the latter showed hesitation towards helping with her almost-murder.
* The Assassin: Unlike most relationships Mai has with those around her, she respects and deeply fears the Masked Man. She fully knows his identity both as a person and as a strong and deadly assassin for the extremist group. Mai is shown to cower in fear when he threatens her.

## Trivia

### Allusion

* Mai Pembe is inspired by the character of Whatshername from the 2011 musical *American Idiot,* which used songs from the Green Day album of the same name.
	+ Her weapon's names are nods to the song itself.

### Colour Naming Rule

* Mai is a Vietnamese name that translates to ‘Golden Flower’, connecting her name to the colour gold.
* Pembe translates to ‘Pink’ In Turkish.

### Miscellaneous

* Mai's faunus trait resembles the tail of a Panther.
* Mai's zodiac sign is Aquarius.