xxxxxTag was born in Shanghai, the eldest daughter of working class Chinese parents. In his sixth year, Tag's family moved to New York City and opened a modestly successful bookstore in Chinatown called Jin Hua Yuan. Though his parents took great pains to conceal it, Tag knew their relocation was funded by organized crime connections.
xxxxxHis younger brother and sister were born in the States, and he was very dedicated to mentoring them. He read voraciously and did well in school, but chafed at his parents' desire for him to behave like a proper lady. A neighborhood shrine to Quan-Yin served as his sanctuary, where he would seek solace in sketching and painting.
xxxxxHe received a scholarship to attend Columbia University and, in obedience to his parents, went pre-med. Upon graduating, he announced his intention to undergo masculinizing hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery.
xxxxxWhen his parents reacted with disappointment, Tag's powers manifested: everything in contact with him turned stark, gleaming white. Fleeing his parents' home and abandoning plans for medical school, he went wandering.
xxxxxHe befriended punks, anarchists, queers, and mutants of all stripes; he also learned to acquire hormones on the street, among other substances. After returning to New York, he has ricocheted between various group houses and, reluctantly, his parents' home. After being kidnapped and brainwashed by his father (who has since mysteriously vanished), he has largely severed ties with his birth family except for his sister, a lawyer specializing in mutant rights.
xxxxxAfter years of unemployment, temp work, and rapid-cycling through jobs, Tag has established a small business coloring hair...and skin, and walls, and pretty much anything you can imagine.
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xxxxxTag can modify the pigmentation of a wide variety of materials, and employs this ability extensively in his art. The change is permanent, and the depth to which it penetrates a surface varies with both how much effort he dedicates and how clearly he can perceive his medium.
xxxxxThough he is most familiar with applying it to solid objects, he can with some difficulty affect liquids or even gases (although the results vary drastically and are less stable, owing to the fluid nature of the medium). Tag's visual range extends into near-infrared and near-ultraviolet, and he can replicate any color known to him (including reflective and fluorescent ones).
xxxxxThe range of his ability is not yet known, though he finds it easiest to use on objects in contact with his body, and his control over the patterns created diminishes with distance. While the ability itself is not limited to what he can see, details tend suffer when he does not have a line of sight. Affecting large areas or creating very fine detail tends to require more time and concentration.
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