Rika Martinez

Concept: Tulku from the Burbs.

AKA: Master Dorje

Desc: A 14-year-old mixed race young woman. Bright and winning smile. Eyes that seem to say, “I know something you don’t” Confident and polite far beyond her years. Long glossy black hair. Fuck heels, sneakers please. The beginnings of her mother's impressive rack. Musical laugh.  Has a calming air about her.   Is considering a tattoo for her next birthday, but can’t decide what. 

History: Okay. This is where it gets complicated. Rika is the daughter of a former stripper and a former biker. But that’s really on the surface of things. See. Rika is actually a Tulku. She is the reincarnation of a full-on Bodhisattva named Master Dorje. At least that was his name in his last incarnation. It goes further back than that. Rika’s mom is part Tibetan and wouldn’t you know it, this is perhaps the first life that the master was born into that wasn’t within miles of his monastery.

   And you know, Rika/Dorje is pretty okay with that. You know, being a Tulku, she/he is actually pretty chill. And Rika/Dorje has found that life outside the monastery walls is pretty interesting and complex and maybe the other Bodhisattva’s are missing out on great opportunities here out in the world.

Take her parents for example. “Jasmine” (Real name=Dawa) was working at the Caboose some years ago when she met Julio. Back in those days both had a taste for nose candy and they kind of fell into it fast. Julio used to ride with the Diablos. And while he still has friends in that M.C.  There were a couple of cabrons that couldn’t keep their hands off his Kool-Aid, and that lead to him getting ousted and getting the shit kicked out of him.  Dawa took him home...and he never really left after that.

After Rika was born, things changed. Neither one of them felt the need to anything to do anything more to themselves than a couple of beers on the weekend. Julio stopped smoking. Julio, further, put his knowledge to work and now owns his own auto-mechanic’s shop. (He’d be a rich man if he weren’t always cutting deals for poor folks from his neighborhood.) Dawa went back to school, got herself a C.P.A credential and now works at a neighborhood bank as it’s primary loan officer. (Truth be told, she’d have risen higher than she has ,but occasionally she gets a gut instinct about a person and decides to go with her gut. So far, she’s never been wrong but it does tend to get her in hot water with the bank manager.) In the back of both of their minds, is the idea that to do otherwise would be a terrible disappointment to their daughter.

And you know, funny thing, but the tenor of the neighborhood changed after Rika was born. Craziest thing.  Poor folks minded their own business and took good care of the things they owned. The gangs shuffled off to fight over another patch. There was a slow effort at gentrification. Oddly it wasn’t some weird hostile takeover. Some people just left the neighborhood never to be seen again and some new folk moved in and suddenly the Hood was essentially in the burbs. If anyone squawked about it, they didn’t squawk loud.

The main reason for this is that Master Dorje has fierce powers where it comes to the spirit world. Demons and other sorts of baneful spirits perish in terrible fiery agony at her/his touch. Most of them see her inner light and are scared shitless of it.  Ghosts tend to be laid to rest at her touch.  Her BFF Latrice had demon problems until she grabbed her wrist and whispered, “Know peace, little blossom.”  And from that day on, her demons were gone... Well. it should be mentioned that Latrice wrestles with her attraction for Rika, which Rika doesn’t help much by being a tiny bit gender-fluid. But other than that...BFF’s all the damn way.

And Rika is still growing into her powers. Even Dorje doesn’t exactly know how much potential she may yet possess.  The one thing though that is yet undeniable is that she is still mortal. And the baneful spirits may yet find a way to come at her indirectly. Rita listens to this from Dorje (She hasn’t internalized him yet) but she is at the age where she is wondering what path to walk in this life. She’s been a warrior. She’s been a healer. She’s been a priest many times.  She wonders if maybe politics might offer her the best opportunities to help people and raise souls to greater understanding. Time will tell.

Attitude: 

“Ok normally, when a person runs for student council they run on a platform of trying to get a soda machine in the Caf. And hey, that wouldn’t be uncool. But I think that maybe my platform is more about doing things to stop bullying, promote gender equality, and working for greater orientation acceptance. We’re supposed to be learning about the world. Let's learn how to make it a better one. Thank you for your time!”

Skills: Does not drive. But could likely sail a small ship unerringly using only the stars for navigation.  Has a decent pile of dots in both Mentals and Socials and is perfectly average in Physicals for a girl her age. Probably knows fuck-all about modern medicine, but could probably whip up a poultice if she had to.  Has strong social skills and is developing fairly well in beginning to understand the modern age she’s growing up in. Occult 5 with numerous Tibetan flavored specialties to draw on.  Also: 5 dots of Brawl and an attendant 5 additional dots of a soft defensive fighting style. Although Rika already knows that if something comes to blows, she’s likely already failed...and she takes those failures very personally. Speaks fluent Spanish and Tibetan

Gear: Bedazzled smartphone and over-developed thumbs to go with it. Lip gloss pilfered from mom’s stash. Gum. Pocket-knife with Diablos logo on it. Pocket diary written in archaic Tibetan.

Home: Casa Martinez is a peaceful island. The neighbors have become good friends over the years and often come around to soothe their jangled souls. Dawa has actually become fairly good at dispensing good advice to their friends.  and Julio, for his part has helped a few people out of jams that required a little more...force. Not that anyone thinks about it much, but if some disaster were to befall the Martinez family, the neighborhood would come out of the woodwork to help them out in their time of need.

Circle: Rika has her friends and a few people she knows online. Her peer group doesn’t extend very far, but she’s never ever scared of meeting new people and has the utter invincibility of a 14-year-old when it comes to walking up to new people in different places. So it may not stay that way long.

Story Uses:

“Well, that’s silly. Who’d want to hurt me?”

Obviously, There are creatures that would rather like to see Rika taken off the count. They cannot, however, (read=Are too chickenshit) come at her directly. Your PC’s might be in the unusual position of having to protect her, or, worse option, might be the ones tasked to take her out.

“Car crapped out? Must be destiny. My dad’s a mechanic!”

Rita is the sort of character that it’s kind of fun to spring on a PC, especially if they are having the worst day ever. She can, with effort, push down derangements, calm frenzies, suspend mind control, and exorcise spirits and ghosts almost at will.  She can be the answer to very many prayers.

Connections:

* Knows all the "Old Girls" at The Caboose and refers to them as Auntie (stage-name here) Can't help but bump into them at the grocery. On those rare occasions when Dawa goes to visit them, Rika tags along and even Carl and Razor Burn are polite. Anybody who knows Burn knows that it's probably because Psycho-Pirate told him once that if he so much as looks at Rika or Dawa wrong, they'll never find his body.

* On rare occasions, she has to ride the bus to get someplace. She and Charlie have had long intricate talks about things.

She's also had some contact with Lewis Flowers and she's seen his aura.  She'd like to set him free, but he avoids her like the plague.

* Has heard tell of Grace Cook. Went looking. Found her, but wasn't able to lay her to rest. It was frankly disconcerting. More study is required perhaps.

* Caused John Patmos to spontaneously discorporate once at a chance encounter. It was frankly disconcerting...for both of them. John has NO idea what was able to do that to him and he is, as you might imagine, a bit concerned.

* Loves The Grimoire. Her favorite after-school stop.

* Loves Rory O'Halloran's truck Paddy's Wagon. Has a bit of a crush on Walter, who has a bit of a crush on Luna Krumholtz at the Grimoire. So it's a little tricky.