Jade Nguyen

Jade Nguyen is a member of the rebellion who's based out of District 13.

History
Jade Nguyen's story begins with her parents. Her mother, Lian Nguyen, was a teenager from District 7. Her father, Joseph Durant, was an older man native to District 13 who had struck out on his own. Frustrated by the lack of violent action against the Capitol, Durant took refuge in the forests of District 7 along with two other collaborators, Kruen Musenda and Weng Chan. Durant first encountered Lian Nguyen when she was still a teenager. A handsome but manipulative man, he lured the girl into his encampment in the woods and made her his "bride".

From this initial act of violence, Jade was born into a world hellbent on revenge.

There was no Rebellion proper then, but the rumblings were beginning to take a more concrete form. Desperate people, angry people like her father wanted revenge on the Capitol. They wanted to destroy the society of Panem and start over fresh.

Lian Nguyen died of illness shortly after Jade was born, and her earliest years were spent hiding in the forests of District 7 with her father and his compatriots from District 13, where she overheard their whispered plans for revenge. This meant little to her until she was around six years old and forced to begin her "education". Her father and his friends had a plan for her and for the future of District 13. They would act on their own and inspire the people to rise. Using young Jade as an example, they would cultivate a rebellion of their own.

Her specialty would become covert missions, and she was trained to carry out small scale attacks on Capitol officials in the outer Districts while recovering technology and supplies. The men in charge of training her were abusive, both physically and mentally, and her mistreatment was justified as being necessary for the survival of the District and the ultimate destruction of the Capitol. Durant, being older than the rest, died when Jade was nine years old. After this point she became almost completely dependent on her handlers, Musenda and Chan, turning to them for all of her needs and obeying them utterly. These men weren't part of an organized Rebellion. They were guerillas, fighting on their own because it was what they believed in, and Jade was their weapon.

This had been her father's plan for her from the start, and as she underwent the intense conditioning, this caused a split in her personality. Part of her was docile, nurturing, even childlike. That personality would be referred to as Jade. The other half of her was merciless, unfeeling, and brutally violent. She began to refer to that part of herself as Cheshire. Cheshire loved to kill. She craved revenge more than anything else. And Cheshire despised the softer, gentler Jade.

She began carrying out her assassination missions at age 13. These were small missions, but she was highly effective at making the murders she committed look like natural deaths. As her skill grew, whispers of her involvement eventually reached District 13. While her killing career flourished, she began to resent the abuse she'd been subjected to by Weng Chan and Kruen Musenda. When the bodies of the pair were found in the forests outside of a District 9 settlement, no one batted an eye or even missed them. And that was just how Jade wanted it.

By the time she was 22, she was a highly respected (and feared) assassin working as a free agent terrorist in the outer Districts, and she found herself recruited by the fledgling Rebellion to work for them. She knew little of District 13 and initially dismissed the Rebellion as child's play. After all, her father and handlers had left District 13 to act on their own before she was even born. The leaders of the Rebellion weren't pleased by her dismissal, but Jade Nguyen, it seemed, was too valuable an asset to let slip away. There was little they could promise her in exchange for her loyalty besides the chance to kill. So when the opportunity presented itself for her to commit a very high profile assassination, she was compelled to accept.

In order to make a splash, she was sent to the Capitol to carry out her most high profile assassination to date: the murder of President Snow's wife. Jade arrived in the Capitol and assumed a cover as a socialite, rubbing elbows with celebrities and attending fancy parties. At one such event, she encountered a former victor named Roy Harper. The two were instantly drawn to one another, though it was obvious to her that there could never be a real future between them. After successfully carrying out her mission and returning to District 13, Jade discovered she was pregnant.

Though she tried to ignore her developing pregnancy, it could not be avoided. Initially, she intended to raise the child herself in District 13, but Jade faced enormous pressure from the higher ups in the Rebellion to terminate. There was speculation that motherhood would tame the murderess, that the assassin queen would go soft if exposed to her own maternal instincts. It was sexist and it was cruel, but Jade had to admit, they maybe had a point. Ultimately once her daughter Lian, was born, she decided to contact Roy and give their baby to him to raise, with the stipulation that their daughter not come of age in the Capitol.

Still focused on revenge for District 13, she continued her warpath on various Capitol targets across Panem. It wasn't until the 75th Games and the new format Games that her goals and tactics began to shift. Once it became clear that the off-world Tributes could be used to benefit the Rebellion, Jade was selected to work with District 10 defector Bucky Barnes to oversee them as they arrived in District 13.

Personality
Jade is tall, graceful, and exotic looking, the kind of woman who stands out in a crowd and commands the attention of everyone when she enters a room. She has an air of authority to her, but there is also something ruthless or sinister about her. She is cold, but she isn't unmovable, rather she seems like the kind of person who shouldn't be moved to extremes of emotion, or else.

Her sex appeal is an asset as far as she's concerned, and she's more concerned with using it to further her missions than she is in using it for her own ends. She can be seductive, but actual human connection is difficult for her. It's not impossible to get through to her, but it takes persistence that most people just don't care to spend on her. That or a foolhardiness that others simply lack. For the most part, she's calm, with a sort of blasé attitude about most anyone or anything that crosses her path. You are beneath her. You aren't worth her skills or her time, and you'd better not engage with her or push her, otherwise you're not going to make it out alive.

While she is a commanding figure, she's also quick to follow orders. She absolutely loathes the Capitol and would wage an open war on them if she could, she also believes in the order and hierarchy of the Rebellion. She's like a mafioso in that way; breaking the law while following the orders of those above her. Her loyalty to the Rebellion is more out of necessity that belief in their methods. She was raised to be a terrorist and assassin from the time she could walk and she knows what she's doing, but she also knows the value of pooling one's assets. The Rebellion makes a better ally than an enemy, and if they're all fighting against the Capitol, why not make nice?



Jade kills without mercy or a second thought. If she ever had any fear of punishment or an afterlife, those fears have been completely replaced by bouts of legitimate sociopathy and the extremes that make up her personality. Her method of choice, poison, is pretty apt to her personality. She can have a venomous personality, excessively biting or cruel for no real reason other than she finds it amusing.

However, despite her murderous inclinations, Jade is capable of compassion and love, if the connection is there. She loves her daughter, out there somewhere in Panem, and she loved Lian's father once. But the same woman who could carry a child, love her, and ultimately spare the girl's life could torture and murder other people without batting an eye. It's the shift between the poles that makes Jade so dangerous.

There are two personalities within the one body of Jade Nguyen. The first is Jade. Jade is gentle, affectionate, loving, and is almost stunted as a little girl. She's giggly, friendly, and even a little shy. This part of her personality is the true Jade, the woman underneath the hardened, murderous exterior. Jade cries easily. Jade is emotional. Jade can fall in love and Jade can feel empathy. Because of this, Jade is extremely dangerous to Cheshire.

Cheshire, on the other hand, is a dominating, unfeeling sociopath. She takes pleasure in causing pain and feels absolutely no sympathy for anyone. Emotions make one weak, and Cheshire is all strength, all the time. Cheshire struggles to suppress Jade, denies the existence of the heart inside of her, though it is truly a struggle.

Jade is mentally ill, to put it bluntly. Years of abuse at the hands of her mentors, coupled with the trauma of acting as a child assassin have taken a toll. The only way she can really cope is to assign the bad behavior to Cheshire and the good behavior to Jade. Both personalities are aware of the other's existence, and they are aware that they inhabit the same body, and sometimes it's a toss up as to which personality may come through on a given day.

Both parts of her are motivated by rage and the desire for revenge. Part of that comes from her frustration and lack of agency in her own life, but deeper than that is the sense of injustice that she feels toward anyone in authority. She actually works well within the hierarchy of District 13, rather her rage is focused on those she deems undeserving of power, i.e., the Capitol. Initially, she bucked against the authority of the Rebellion, having succeeded as a free agent killer since her teen years, but as time marched on, she came to recognize that the enemy of her enemy was her friend, and that being a competent assassin meant she could hold some clout within the Rebellion.

She's not exactly moved by the hardships of others. The plights of offworld Tributes don't concern her. She views them as weapons in the coming war at best, and as more mouths to feed at worst. She's also not especially bothered by the Games or by trouble in the other Districts. She views the war with the Capitol as more important than the yearly reapings, and while she was born in District 7, she feels no sense of loyalty toward the place or people. The only person she truly cares about is her daughter, Lian, whose whereabouts are unknown. And while the vague threat of Lian growing up and getting reaped looms over her, Jade is adamant in her belief that her child is safer in one of the Districts than she would be in the Capitol or in District 13. Jade is hardened and cruel, used to suffering. That needn't be Lian's fate too.

Jade is surprisingly obedient, and she values that trait in others. She is orderly and disciplined, and she has little patience for those who cannot live up to her high standards. She also gives no fucks about the off-world Tributes, except in that they are tools by which the tide of rebellion could turn. She doesn't care if they live or die, to put it bluntly. She wants to use them, just as the rebellion has used her from day one. She doesn't tolerate laziness and she doesn't tolerate excess. Anyone needing of an extra moment to breathe is a total waste of time and deserves to be culled. There are far more important things to do besides reflect on the past or grieve.

Abilities
Jade is considered a master assassin, and is proficient in various martial arts, firearms, and explosives. However, her signature weapon is poison.

Trivia

 * What are her thoughts on world peace?
 * Answer all that and more here!