Post by Saaga Sun on May 27, 2012 18:14:58 GMT -5
Saaga Sun
name: Saaga
gender: female
age: 20
element: Non-bender
animal companion: -
::looking pretty good[/font]
hair color: auburn
eye color: left eye green, right eye blueish jade
skin color: pale and peachy
overall appearance:
Saaga is quite short, just barely over 5 feet tall. Her body is curvy and pearshaped, with her hips being slightly wider than her shoulders. She has a round face and a rather pointed chin.
Her eyes are mismatched, the left one being a shade of poison green, the right one being bluer in tone. Saaga was born without her left thumb, the finger ending in a stump halfway toward the second joint. That's why she wears a prosthetic thumb made of metal. She can't grab things very well with her left hand due to not being able to bend her fake thumb.
Saaga keeps her auburn coloured hair cut relatively short, because long hair would get in the way while she works. Her hair is thick and prone to curling.
Saaga can usually be seen sporting baggy knee-length trousers and a jacket with heavily padded shoulders to balance out her wide hips. For footwear she prefers to use wooden geta-sandals, with varying heel sizes. Her Earth Kingdom-heritage is visible through her clothing.
Fullbody reference
Face reference
::what I'm thinking[/font]
likes: Spicy food, debates and paisho
dislikes: dishonesty, people who can't stick to their principles, insects and rain
sexuality: Heterosexual
overall personality:
Saaga is best described as an outgoing, outspoken person. She isn't afraid to talk to people and likes to strike up heated conversations about different hot topics, like politics. She is blunt to the point of rudeness and doesn't back away from her opinions. People often mistake her for being demure and sweet, judging her by appearance. Often they're also left in shock by the truth. Saaga isn't apologetic about her behavior and is in fact easily angered when people jump to conclusions about her.
Because of her past experiences she lives by the creed of 'living her life to the fullest and not caring what other people might think'. During a gathering she is often the person who's talking and laughing the most and the loudest. She has little respect for authority figures such as the police and often criticizes them where she can be heard. This has lead to her being arrested a couple of times.
Saaga has a very dark sense of humour, relying heavily on sarcasm and irony. She has very little patience for stupidity and is often the first one to point out any holes in a person's reasoning and logic.
Despite being rather forceful and indignant towards people, Saaga is very loyal once tamed. Even though she likes to keep to herself and stays mostly away from home, she is still close with her roommates and would do anything for them. She holds elderly people in high regard and can often be seen playing paisho with them in Republic City Park.
Saaga has never been in love, but values her friendships above all else. Se will listen to people confide in her and offer advice ( though it may not be what people would like to hear) and gives them space if they need it. But she can also be rather possessive and needy and has a habit of getting jealous easily.
::a past to remember[/font]
Saaga was born on a small island off the coast of the Earth Kingdom, a full three days boat ride from Republic City. No benders had been born to this island in generations and during the Great War, occupation from the Fire Nation had been minimal due to the islands insignificance from a strategic viewpoint. As such Saaga grew up without ever having seen even one bender.
Her parents owned a forge where her father would make scythes, knives and other tools used in farming and hunting. Her mother was a glassmith and eventually passed her knowledge onto Saaga.
Saagas early life was the epitome of normal. She played with other children her age, most of whom were boys and often they would all gather round and listen to village elders' stories about the Great War and benders and spirits and the Avatar. One avatar was even said to have been born on their very island, many centuries ago. Even though many of the stories were deeply rooted in history and fact, for Saaga they felt like fairy tales. After all, she had never met or seen a bender, or a spirit and even the Great War was something from a distant past, by the time she was born.
Her parents taught her how to read and write, her mother being especially adamant that she learn calligraphy, sewing and other skills regarded as feminine, much to Saagas chagrin.
She would have wanted to learn how to fight and farm like the boys, or even work as a blacksmith like her father. Unfortunately her disability, her birth defect prevented her from doing some of the things she would have liked to do. Blacksmithing especially was out of the question and for a time this upset Saaga, because she had wanted to continue her fathers business.
Saaga then chose to learn the art of glassblowing from her mother, and to her surprise she found she rather enjoyed working with glass. When she worked the molten glass she did not have to worry about her left hand, as she didn't need to use it for anything more than support. While being her mothers apprentice she also found a new respect for her and took great pride in everything she taught her.
Despite being very close with both her parents, Saaga still preferred her father's company over her mother and would imitate her father in everything he did, be it the way he walked or which foods he preferred. She would confide in him when she was having troubles and when she was having arguments with her mother, her father would be the referee and the voice of reason.
Because of their close relationship it came as a huge shock to Saaga when her father suddenly fell ill, right on the eve of her sixteenth birthday. Her father had always been so strong, she could not even remember a day he'd been sick. And now he was reduced to such a fragile state, as to be bedridden.
Around the time of her father getting sick, many of the other islanders started showing signs of similar symptoms. Soon half the population was infected and the disease showed no signs of going away, instead growing worse by the day. It didn't take long for the first patients to start dying and by then the whole island was in a state of panic. Bodies needed to be burned to prevent the sickness from spreading, but even so many people disobeyed the rule and made burials in secret.
Saagas mother started making plans to leave the island, to go somewhere and get help. Unfortunately it was already too late. Saagas father succumbed to the illness leaving his wife and Saaga to mourn over their loss. Losing her father made Saaga realize that if they stayed any longer, everyone would die.
She and her mother rounded up every person in their village who had not yet fallen ill and together they started their journey to Republic City. On a large boat the trip would have taken only three days, but the villagers had to make do with an old dingy, barely capable of holding in all the passengers. Thus the journey lasted well over a week, and by the time they got to their destination half of them were starving and broken by the rainy weather.
Their plight did not even end on the docks of the city. As soon as word of their arrival reached the authorities, the boat and all of its passengers were put in quarantine to make sure the disease they had escaped from had not in fact followed them. For two months Saaga had to watch as the people she had grown up with slowly broke down in front of her, formed cliques and fought for the food scraps they were given. From time to time people came to check upon them, but none of the sick individuals received medical care in fear of 'contaminating the rest of the city'.
By the time the refugees were released from their isolation, half of them had perished including Saagas mother.
She was left bitter by the experience and holds a grudge against authority figures even to this day.
It did not help that finding work and lodging in Republic City proved to be a near impossible task on its own. Eventually she and five other surviving islanders managed to find a small one bedroom apartment in one of the less prestigious neighbourhoods. Reduced from having a house of her own, with just her and her family, to having to live with five other people in a single room ate away at Saagas pride.
Once she managed to find work as an assistant glassmith, she found herself keeping away from the apartment as much as possible, preferring to wander around the city 'til late into the night.
Having now lived in Republic City for three and a half years, Saaga has mostly managed to leave her tragic experience behind her. She still keeps away from the apartment, returning there only to sleep and wash up. She has also given up on her past naivety and adopted a more realistic attitude towards life.
