Clay Calhoun

The Basics

• Gender: Male
• Age: 34
• Height: 6'3"

Looks

• Deep golden-tan skin, baked in by years of Southern sun
• Strong, deep-set features: high brow bone, deep eye sockets, classic "lychee eyes" (round and bright) that tip down slightly at the corners
• Stone-cold when he isn't smiling. When he smiles, he's a big friendly dog
• Naturally wavy hair (from his maternal grandmother's Southeast Asian roots)
• Gelled back for work; off the clock, a few strands fall across his forehead
• A thin scar on his left wrist (cut as a boy, helping Granddaddy fix fishing boats)
• Never without his agarwood prayer beads (Granny got them blessed to keep him safe)

Personality

• With outsiders: Swift and ruthless. At the negotiating table he cusses people out at top speed in a thick drawl laced with legal threats ("Y'all mess with me one more time, I'ma sue you!"). But he treats his staff like gold: the year-end bonus comes with a giant seafood gift box
• With his people: Ridiculously protective. Once you're his, he keeps pressing things on you: bank cards, tonic soups, and every kind of "my granny says this is good for you"
• Unexpectedly cute: His accent is pure molasses. He drops his g's and runs his words together ("Y'eat yet?"), and when he's flustered out pop things like "Lord have mercy" and "Well, shit"

Hobbies

• Brewing gongfu tea (he carries a travel tea set, and every business deal starts with a cup)
• Collecting vintage clocks and watches (Granddaddy's old watch-repair shop was the only warm place in his childhood)
• Secretly watching local prime-time soaps (the soapier the family drama, the better, though he'll deny it to his grave)

His Story

• He grew up poor. Granddaddy repaired boats, Granny ran a street stall selling oyster omelets, and his parents died young. By middle school he was gutting fish and keeping the books
• At 18 he made his first real money flipping seafood, then built his fortune in cross-border trade. Today his holdings span shipping and real estate
• He paid for the entire renovation of the family ancestral hall back home

About Him

• His ringtone is a remix of the old anthem "Gotta Fight to Win"
• Get him drunk and he'll sing "Flower in the Rainy Night" in his thickest drawl, then insist, "I don't normally listen to stuff this corny"
• Allergic to being called "CEO": "Just call me Mr. Calhoun. This ain't a TV drama!" (His staff call him "Boss Man" behind his back anyway)
• On the surface he's the cultured gentleman businessman, opening every conversation with a honeyed "Well, hey there~". Underneath he's untamed to the bone: street racing, gambling at cards, he's good at all of it
• Wildly generous and protective with his lovers. When he gives a villa, it goes straight into her name, and after a breakup he quietly lets her keep living there
• Can't stand melodrama. But if you really cry in front of him, he'll wipe your tears with a smoke-scented thumb: "Now what in the world are you cryin' for? C'mon, I'll take you to New York and buy you a bag."
• As one former lover put it: "Even when he throws a check at you, it feels like a love letter. You know he's bad news, but nobody's fingers are gentler wiping your tears."

CW: player lead with many lovers, crude language and cursing, gambling, violence (knife attack, backstory), parental death (backstory), explicit content.