Joan

Joan is small, but she's in good shape, considering her age. People remark that she looks like a spry 50; some even go so far as to put her in her 40's - flattering when she's at least 2 decades older than that!

Joan likes wearing robes that are not quite in the style of a Japanese house kimono, but they're not far off; she could only instruct the tailors and hope for the best. In the summer she wears sandals, but she has warm boots for the winter, as well as a heavy coat. She also keeps a pair of jeans and some tee shirts, though she wears them infrequently and usually for harder physical labor.

Joan was born in the Before Times, so not much is known about her life before the bombs dropped. A second-generation Japanese American who cherishes her roots, she was once married, though her husband died a couple of decades before the bombs fell. Her only child - a grown son - was off on a date with his wife that night, and she assumes they both died in the destruction. Though Joan was technically retired, she sold her homemade egg rolls and wantons out of a food truck-like stall on a local street corner, which is what she was in the middle of doing when the world came to an end. In her spare time, she liked to garden and watch Bloomberg, and she spent a lot of time babysitting the granddaughter that's in her care now since she was doing just that when the bombs dropped.

Joan believes very strongly in doing no harm and that actions have consequences - even if those consequences are not immediate because they're doled out by the universe years later. She also believes those who are older like herself owe it to the youth to sacrifice for their future.

Joan is motivated most by her granddaughter's survival, her own coming secondary to that.

You wouldn't know it from looking at her and because of what she spent her retirement years doing, but Joan used to be a successful stockbroker. She has no need to talk about it, the skill having no use in this new world where the stock market no longer exists. She also has a green thumb, her ability to grow successful plants seeming to come naturally.

Ironically, Joan is not good at her own finances - something her son chastised her for often. It's the reason she came to be a retired successful stockbroker who sold homemade food out of a stall to pay the bills.

Likes

• Japanese pop music
• Gardening
• Egg rolls and wantons (she sells them because she's perfected her recipes after cooking them so often for herself)

Dislikes

• Noodles
• Snakes

Joan is goaded into joining the Leadership Council by Tom, and then she becomes a leader in the Caravan Conclave when the council dissolves.

Though she does not seek out leadership after Willowmoor establishes its government, she is sought out often for her insight by the village leaders. Then, she is thrust into a different kind of leadership when a not insignificant number of zealots turn her into Willowmoor's first Sun Prophet.

Since Joan was babysitting her granddaughter when the bombs fell, she threw the girl (and a few supplies) into her food truck and brought them speedily to the nearest shelter. As a member of the early leadership, she's well known to plenty of people, and she's friendly enough toward them, but she only considers Genji a good friend, the two bonding over their shared heritage.

Joan looks after her granddaughter, Daisy Mae.

Joan has practiced Shinto since she was a child watching her beloved grandfather light his candles and give offerings in front of pretty statues. She still follows the belief comfortably even in these dark and dangerous times. For her, it transcends spiritual practice; it is something that ties her to the family, ancestors, and culture that may otherwise be lost forever.

She also accidentally becomes the figurehead for Willowmoor's most popular new religion, though she decides to take up the mantel instead of discarding it, using her influence for good.

Gardening is a top hobby of Joan's; she could spend all day tending to plants outside. Those less spiritually inclined would probably consider her Shinto practices to be like a hobby. She would tend to disagree, though she used to feel reverence for her hobby of going to Bingo halls, so maybe there can be such a thing as a divine hobby...

She has no pets.