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Apr. 24th, 2025 07:20 amYichen Wang, nicknamed Chenchen by his family, "Little Yi" by his brother and just Yi by his gang friends, is an early twenties Dutch-Chinese university drop-out who works for the Amsterdam gang, the Pikes, as a part of their team of heavies. He's recruited by the leader of the gang, Baahir, to infiltrate the notorious crime king, Guifford's faction instead. Like this, he meets Marcel whom he'll eventually develop a close connection and understanding with.
Yichen is the youngest of three children to the Wang family who's lived in Amsterdam since his grandparents immigrated from Shunyi in China to the Netherlands in the 60's. His grandmother was an excellent cook and had the idea of opening their restaurant, The Palace Food, just known as Palace to most people, to introduce proper Chinese cooking to the city.
Her two children, Yichen's mother and uncle, took over the restaurant afterwards and it is now a family enterprise and the most popular, best-rated Chinese restaurant in all of Amsterdam. On a daily basis, it is now primarily Yichen's mother and sister who run the kitchen, while his father is in charge of the finances and his older brother is finishing his studies to become a doctor.
Yichen himself entered university at age 19 to study law, but dropped out a year later because he was bored with the heavy, technical law texts and couldn't concentrate on them. After this followed a period where he had a fall-out with his family, who was collectively disappointed in his failed attempt at an education and due to some untreated mental health issues as well as an increasingly stressful home environment, he started doing drugs, ending up at the periphery of the Pikes' gang. Realising this was a way to make quick, good money (as well as pay off the debt he'd amassed) that would shut his parents up, he started working for them.
Moving through the Amsterdam underground thrilled him much more than university ever had anyway.
To be of use to the Pikes, he has become an apprentice electrician and now works part time for one of Baahir's connections in that business.
His parents don't ask any questions, because every week he turns in a full salary to them, helping them make ends meet at the restaurant.
Yichen is bisexual with a slight male leaning, closeted and largely inexperienced with men, though he's had a few longer relationships (none longer than a year) to girls. When he encounters Marcel, he isn't yet fully aware of the extent of his attractions and it makes for a very confusing introduction to discover them while under the amount of pressure and stress that working undercover entails.
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Apr. 24th, 2024 07:10 amCANON
canon: Original
background: Here
canon point: Defaulting to when Yichen in his early twenties begins infiltrating Marcel's gang.
notes: Yichen is a Dutch citizen, living in Amsterdam, of Chinese descent. I try to be mindful of his cultural background and ethnicity when writing him, but if I screw up, let me know.
PLAYER
contact: PM to this journal.
active times/pace: CEST/CET player. Tries to be online at least during the evening my time, but it varies. More one tag a day player than anything, but if you hit me up at the right time, I can still boomerang a bit.
brackets/prose: Definitely brackets preference, but will match. I default to present tense, but can also match other tenses.
offensive subjects/triggers: Not any.
IN CHARACTER
physical affection: Go for it. Reactions may vary depending on CR.
physical violence: Sure, give me a heads up if you're aiming to do severe damage.
relationships: M/F or M/M.
psychic info: No shields. Ask if you need info for our CR.
magical info: No magical powers. Good with playing opposite characters who do have them.
medical info: Nothing relevant. He's in extremely good health.
offensive subjects/triggers: Yichen is working in a world of crime where drugs, weapons, murder and the like is everyday business. If this should be a sensitive or offensive subject to you, please let me know, so I can avoid tagging you!
OUT OF CHARACTER
backtagging: Yes, for as long as there's interest on both sides.
threadhopping: Make sure everyone involved is okay with it first.
fourthwalling: Difficult as he's an OC.
not interested in: Smut, neither M/F or M/M.
random facts |
Apr. 25th, 2023 08:19 amspeaks 2 languages fluently, mandarin and dutch. speaks 2 other languages with a passable fluency, english and german.
lived at home with his parents until he dropped out of university, after which he moved into an apartment in one of the seedier parts of amsterdam where the access to drugs and the gang environment was easier. initially bc it was cheap living there, eventually he stayed because the flow of substances was easier to manage from the inside.
"manage" is a bit of a joke, tho. everything considered.
things he likes: c-pop (especially jolin tsai, don't judge), dogs (he's never owned one, however), his mother's jiaozi (he'll pick this over any other dish on the menu any day) and rain (the only one in the gang who won't complain about being out when it's raining).
things he doesn't like: the strained relationship he's developed to his family in general (with his complex feelings for his brother being a special branch of this). politics and law (he's a bit of an anarchist, really). babies (doesn't see the appeal, doesn't like to hold them, come get him when they've learned how to speak) and clingy girlfriends.
which is incidentally the only kind he knows, so.
is a pretty good dancer and could excel at breakdance if he gave it a try. instead he currently uses his skills to rehearse c-pop and k-pop choreography in deep secrecy at home.
trained wushu with his brother from he was 6 till he was 9 at which point his 14 year old brother got his black belt, something that made yichen practically rage quit. he'd later pick wushu back up after he started getting into the gang life, to be able to fight better.
is also good with firearms, has an extremely steady aim and nerves of steel.
currently lives in a studio apartment opposite town from his parents. works part-time as an electrician for some dirty guy that his gang leader knows. spends the rest of his time playing heavy for the gang, collecting debts, threatening people, interrogations and shoot-outs, the like.
tries to keep his family as separate from his gang life as possible, but amsterdam isn't a big city, comparatively, so sometimes their paths cross anyway which is one of the only things that can really tap into his fear response.
dated two girls during the 14-ish months he was studying law, first the girl of his mother's choosing, mei, who was a friend of a friend's daughter. they were totally mishmashed personality-wise, but actually had a bit of sexual chemistry going which ensured they stayed together for half a year. they also remained friends after their split.
after that, yichen would start his detour from his family and mostly in spite, started dating elisabeth, a dutch arts history student much older than him, though they only lasted three months.
since then, he's been mostly happily single, especially since he's started realising that he's also attracted to men (and bulging arms, don't judge).
difficult not to notice this when you're surrounded by big, bulky, strong as fuck, gym addicted criminals on the daily.