Kasen Ameuro

Backstory
Stifling -- that would be the one word Kasen associated with her childhood back in Japan. She was never the most popular girl in class, nor particularly smart (an offense that, according to her mother, Kasen made to spite her and diminish her older brother's accomplishments), but Kasen did have the patience and skill to become a part of her high school kyūdō club. In fact, she is quite talented, and even made it to nationals two out of three years. Her mother never cared for the sport, saying it was eating up valuable cram school and study time that Kasen desperately needed. In defiance of her mother's wishes, Kasen never went to cram, got a part-time job, continued practicing archery and even left the country less than three days after receiving her high school diploma. England sounded like as good a place as any...

Kasen, of course, bit more than she could chew, never having to deal with the multitude of ethnic groups and cultures in Japan. The few months between her arrival in Europe and the start of school was spent honing her English skills -- which were passable but certainly not good enough to pursue a degree when she first moved -- and making sure she did not meet an unfortunate accident while staying in her tiny, university-leased apartment. Soho might have been a nice, "open" place, but it was still plagued by thugs and other unsavory types that Kasen would rather avoid. After hearing about her worries, Alex Kemp, the older gentleman who lived in the flat above Kasen's, offered to give her shooting lessons (according to the other tenants of the house, he often offered to the people who just moved in) on the weekends at a nearby shooting range. Kasen, believing he was talking about archery, happily agreed, as it would be a little taste of home that wasn't mediocre sushi. Imagine her surprise when she found out Alex was going to teach her how to shoot a clay pigeons, not a bale of hay! He was a good enough teacher though, giving Kasen a great primer and basic understanding of firearms and gun safety. It seems the Alex was a retired member of Her Majesty's Armed Forces, but a lot of the kids who lived in the building were convinced he was a former MI operative. The thought made Kasen smile and ruffle their hair a bit, but she didn't really think so. Alex was older sure, but what nearly-thirty year old would leave a spy organization?

By the time school started, Kasen was speaking as good as any Brit (although she still had problems with some of the slang) and her neighbor was fairly sure she would be good enough with a gun to not "shoot your fool head off" in a crisis. Kasen always resented that remark -- kyūdō was all about keeping calm under pressure and it was obvious that she brought that basis to her shooting!

Although she had planned on getting a bachelor's in politics, Kasen ended up changing tracks early before the end of her first semester to Journalism. Kasen would admit that the whole reason she changed though was to continue having classes with a particularly handsome young professor but it got her into a field she enjoyed so... nothing wrong with that. Switching to journalism in fact led to Kasen beginning the vigil. On a weekend trip to the range, Kasen, camera in hand, was attacked by this... well, now she knows it was a werewolf, but at the time, she just knew it was big, furry, and trying to bite her neck off. It was only thanks to the extensive padding (partly because of the frigid British weather and partly because having an extra inch can save a life from stray bullets) that she wasn't bitten. A shot rang out, then two, then a third and whatever creature that was attacking her slumped over. Kasen didn't even have time to try and push it off when she was hauled up by an exceptionally grim looking Alex. The man had a strained look on his face as he began to hide a revolver that was not the gun he came to the range with. He pulled her out of the area, ignoring both the corpse (maybe it was a corpse? Kasen never did check to see if Alex killed it) and any questions the teen had. That was her first foray into the supernatural, but it certainly was not her last, especially after Alex turned up on the telly, a victim of an 'unusual mauling similar to an animal attack'. She began to look for supernatural activities everywhere, submitting her photo articles into her school paper. Of course, these articles were always put in the "Fiction" section and people talked about her brill photoshoping skills, but that didn't stop Kasen from spending hours outside the classroom, looking for the truth in what monsters haunt the streets, and Alex's death. Her hunts were certainly not the most spectacular things (more often than not she ended up getting into scrapes or falling into some weirdoes who call themselves the Abbey), but she learned a lot.

After graduation, Kasen opted to stay in the United Kingdom with a permanent residency. She joined a good size newspaper (what? It's not like Kasen only wrote articles about monsters! She had plenty of international politics articles that make her not look like a hack) and worked on trying to balance the Vigil and her day job which distressingly ended up overlapping quite often. A bit of a reputation has popped up about Kasen at work -- no one can deny that she's a brilliant photographer, and a good writer, but she's always barking up the wrong trees, looking for conspiracy theories in every crime scene or up-and-coming diva. Research into the local neighborhood watch led to a group of magic users, a string of copycat deaths were really the work of a ghost, stuff that belonged in the Fortean Times or Lobster, not a real newspaper! It got to the point that her boss regulated Kasen to doing research for other journalists and writing in the International section. Quite quickly, Kasen figured that it would be best to downplay the supernatural in her articles, and instead opted to post the unedited versions on the web (the highly unedited versions - a day and a half after the final copy is printed, so hopefully her boss won't notice) so she could continue having a job. These articles brought Kasen to Network 0, after finding out someone was reposting her work on the Secret Frequency. Getting a password wasn't a pain, and since then Kasen has been posting and interacting with other members of the Network.

The decision of taking the paper 'global' came at a surprise -- news readership was solid throughout the UK, but small (and ever shrinking due to the Internet) -- but none of the writers was willing to say anything about it. Especially since there were plans to move an offer to be a correspondent for the paper abroad. It took a bit of running around (and blackmail and bribery), but Kasen got one of the coveted spots -- Georgia, USA. It meant she did not need to learn a new language, or anything.

Right now, Kasen is just moving into the states with her cat Rin, in a little bedsit that her company has provided. There's been talk around the Network about something 'odd' down in Georgia, and Kasen wants to know, even if no one else in the Compact wants to give it a shot.

Personality
Kasen is a perfectionist, a byproduct of her upbringing, and holds herself to a high standard. This, quite obviously, can create a load of problems, since it is impossible to have everything work out the way she wants it to, and leads her to try to micromanage everything, even her friends. Upon meeting new people, she acts unfailingly polite, but has no problem twisting words or unleashing scathing remarks with a smiling face. She might not be the center of attention, but Kasen is always right behind them, taking in everything that is happening to write about later.

Appearance
Clocking in at a whopping 5'2", Kasen has a light complexion and a petite build that hides just how athletic she can be. Her hair and eyes are both an unremarkable brown that, combined with height and build, makes her look stereotypically Japanese. Although she dresses business casual (a nice blouse paired with pants normally, but pencil skirts are acceptable), Kasen would rather prefer to wear a pair of jeans and a comfy, yet fashionable sweater.  She would be rather pretty if she smiled more... Probably... But she never thinks so.