Post by sakari on Oct 13, 2008 1:50:08 GMT -5
Name: Sakari Maguyuk
Age: 29
Gender: Female
Group: Southern Water Tribe citizen
Nation: Water Tribe
Bender?: No
Physical Appearance: Tan skinned and dark haired, Sakari is exactly like what you would expect to see from a Water Tribe woman. She has a soft, round face, and well defined lips. She has almond shaped blueish grey eyes. Her eyes are bright, youthful, and full of life.
She is not a skinny little twig by any means, instead having an attractively curvy body. Her once flat stomach has been left with a bit of a pot belly due to child birth, though it is not noticeable beneath her clothes(especially the winter parka). She tends to gain a bit of weight in the winter, needing the extra weight for survival, but for the most part her active life style keeps her in fit shape. She stands at about 5'10" tall. She has long, strong legs. Her hands are rough and calloused from the work she does, though her feet remain soft because she rarely wandered barefoot; the cold arctic wouldn't allow for it.
Her dark chocolate brown hair is thick and goes to about her mid-back. It is naturally wavy, and curls a bit at the ends. In front of her ears are small tufts of hair that curl into small ringlets. She has long, messy bangs. Her hair is pulled into a messy bun in a half-ponytail fashion, leaving much of it down. Sometimes she pulls all of it up if there's any particular reason she shouldn't have her hair down, but this is rare. Strands of hair stick out of the bun and there is a white feather poked into the base of it.
Clothing/Armor: Due to the harsh Southern Water Tribe environment, she is normally seen wearing a large fur parka made of animal hide. The leather side of the hide is stained a light grey-ish blue, making up most of the outer part of the parka. The inside of the parka is a soft white animal fur. At the hems, the lining of the fur sticks out some and shows from the outside. Sewn to the cuffs, hood, and the lining along the bottom is thick, fluffy fur, possibly wolf. The undercoat of this fur is white, while the guard hairs are dark brown. What looks to be white fox tails hangs on the side of the parka at the lower hem, two on each side. The two tails meet together at a small ball of fur that fluffs out in every direction. There are also three tails like this hanging from each of her shoulders, but they are sewn directly into the seam at the sleeve instead of having the ball of fur. Across the middle of the parka is a piece of fur, like a belt. She has two parkas like this, one that is kept clean for every day wear, and one that is used for hunting. The hunting one has blood, dirt, and many other stains absorbed into it. The ornate fur is rough and growing bare in patches. The nice one, however, is kept just that: nice. She has thick, fur lined boots, the outer leather mocha tan in color. Hanging from the sides of each boot is a white fur tassel with black on the tips, possibly an ermine-like creature's tail. On her hands are heavy gloves, blue on the back and grey on the palms. Beneath this she wears navy blue pants and a light long sleeved shirt. Over this, she has a light robe, dyed a more brilliant blue than her parka, that is lined with white on the hems. Tying it is a white sash. The sash gives this outfit a rather flattering appearance, making her waist look smaller.
Though normally a cold temperature almost constantly, the environment surrounding the Southern Water Tribe does have its seasons, meaning the heavy parka is not exactly appropriate attire. Although it is rare for the temperatures to escalade to what most people would consider "chilly" as opposed to "freezing", in the occasions that this does happen, Sakari has a much lighter outfit prepared in order to not get overheated. She also frequently wears this indoors. She wears a light dress-like outfit, made of a rather dense fabric which is, like most of her clothes, a pale grey blue color. The skirt part of it goes to about mid-thigh, nearly to her knees. Though not necessary for warmth, it is lined with fur along the bottom of it, the sleeves, and around the neckline. Two furry tassels, hang down on her shoulders and a strip of white fur is on the dress under the bust. It is short sleeved, though under it she wears a dense navy long sleeved shirt that clings tightly to her skin. It has a loop around the end of each sleeve that strings around her middle finger on each hand. She also wears matching navy stockings that tuck in to her fur boots. These boots are a different pair, lighter and cooler than her winter boots despite still being fur lined. These are grey instead of tan.
Weapons: One of her weapons of choice is an Inuit Qilumitautit, also known as a Bola, which is made of several straps of Tiger Seal skin tied together with pieces of bone on the ends of the leather straps. It can be used similar to either be thrown at birds to catch them in flight, or can tangle the legs of larger animals. She also carries a decorative knife made of whale bone, though this is not much of a weapon, it is more used as a tool for cutting the animal after it is killed. The knife is thick and broad. Finally, her primary weapon of choice, a harpoon-like spear. The tip is made of a hard black stone sharpened into two jagged blades with teeth to stick into flesh. She keeps it very sharp, not wishing for an animal to suffer longer than needed. The long staff is made of wood traded from some Earth Kingdom merchants. The long pole is very decorative and ornate. Also, if need be, her Polar Bear Dogs can be used to attack, though for hunting purposes she wouldn't do this. She would only send her dogs to attack something if it was a life or death situation where she could not fight something off herself.
Personality: Sakari is high energy and strong willed. She longs for excitement, and often her wander lust takes her and her dog sled team far from home, not returning sometimes for weeks. Sometimes, she gets the urge to just leave the water tribe and travel the Earth Kingdom, but as much as she longs to, she has a strong sense of loyalty and responsibility to her son, her mother, and her tribe. Although her independent nature often causes her to wander off, her family is greatly important to her, and has been since she was just a little girl. So, despite her wandering, she always returns home.
Though often considered quite tomboyish for obvious reasons, she also had her feminine side. She naturally has a nurturing, caring nature, not only to her son, but to her mother, her polar bear dogs, and everyone around her. However, that's not to say that she's not tomboyish. Ever since she was a child, on the few occasions that she would hang out with children her age, it was normally the boys. One of her favorite things was when her father would let her hang out with him and his adult friends, or when she could spend time with an old war veteran and hear the epic tales he had to tell.
She is ADD to the extreme. Even when doing something she enjoys, she finds it hard to focus her energy on just one thing. As a child, her father had to do lots of work to teach her patience, especially when hunting. Her mind wanders constantly and sometimes she has been known to space out into day dreams. Occasionally, she has a habit of not fully thinking things through. This gets her into trouble quite often.
She has great respect for nature. Even the animals she killed she respected. They were killed for necessity of survival, not for the thrill of the hunt(though that's not to say she didn't enjoy it). Every animal is sacred to her, and even in death, deserved to be treated with care. She has paganistic beliefs in the spirits of nature around her. She is careful not to hunt in any way that could disturb the natural balance of the environment.
After the death of her father, she was left incredibly depressed, having lost her father, her teacher, and her best friend, all because of her foolishness. However, later in life after the death of her husband, she developed a new way of dealing with hardship. Bad things happen, and must be moved past in order to continue through life. Now, she tends to try to take tragic events in a stoic, unaffected way, however it has more of an affect on her than she lets show. To her, dwelling on the past will only cause weakness, so she forces herself to push through it, or at least not let on to how much it really hurts her. Often after something like a death, she becomes more quiet and withdrawn to the people around her. She tends to spend a lot of her time away from everyone, and gives short, thoughtless answers any time she is addressed.
She is very stubborn and hard headed. Fiercely independent, she hates to be told what to do, and will make it known. She won't stand for anyone getting in her way. At times, this can make her incredibly difficult to get along with. An example of this would be when her husband told her she could not go off to war to fight the Fire Nation because she had to take care of Koa, at first she threw a huge fit over it. It wasn't fair, she demanded. He could stay and take care of Koa and she could go to war instead. But Itigiaq wouldn't allow that. It took quite a while until Sakari recognized her importance with her family and tribe for her to accept it.
Background: On a cold winter's day twenty nine years ago, a new loyal citizen of the Southern Water Tribe was born. She was the daughter of Anuniaq, a strong hunter, and Akna, a skilled artisan in many fields. Sakari learned many thins from her parents. From her mother, she learned things such as sewing, tanning hides, cooking, painting, and her mother's specialty, carving. She learned how to turn stone and bones into artwork. Some times her mother would even trade for exotic materials to use, and together they even learned how to use metals and wood, rare to the water tribe. It was with these techniques that Sakari made her own harpoon and knife. However, it was not weapons that she and her mother specialized in making. She spent much of her time making little figurines: things like bears, seals, and penguins. Sometimes when the earth kingdom merchants would come in, she would get pictures of exotic animals like shirshus and badger moles. Sakari found great joy in carving these beasts she had never seen with her own eyes.
Although her mother had a great impact on her, it was from her father that she learned most of the skills she continued to use. Always having a taste for some kind of excitement, Sakari delighted in joining him on his hunting expeditions. He taught her how to hunt different animals, such as seals and even sometimes whales, and how to command a team of Polar Bear Dogs. Since she was a young girl, she went with him on every hunting expedition he took, whether it be fishing, seal hunting, or whale hunting.
Most of the village was rather reluctant to accept the fact that Anuniaq was taking her along to go hunting. First off, she was a girl, and for a girl to hunt was about as strange as a girl being a warrior. Second off, who in their right mind would take a mere child hunting? It was far too dangerous, not to mention could result in the loss of an animal due to her being noisy or something. However, none the less, Anuniaq continued taking Sakari with him, teaching her every little technique he knew. These skills helped her later in life when the men left for war and Sakari was left as one of the sole providers of food for the village.
She killed her first tiger seal when she was 7 years old(though with her father's help) and was so proud that she skinned the whole seal and kept its pelt as a rug. This pelt still rests on the floor of her home.
Even though she was a hunter, she had great love and respect for all animals. She had an exceptional fondness of the polar bear dogs. Her father gave her her own Polar Bear Dog puppy to raise as her own when she was nine. She named the puppy Akiak, meaning Brave. He was her dear companion and friend. He never ran as a part of the sled team, instead constantly staying by Sakari's side. Even when Sakari and her father were both on the sled, so was Akiak. He was perhaps the most spoiled and pampered out of all of her family's Polar Bear Dogs.
Sakari didn't have too many close friends in the Water tribe. She was often too busy with her family or her Polar Bear Dogs to really bother with human friends. However, she did have a few of her neighbors that she was close in age to that she was friends with, but never any one really close. She got along well with adults. Often she would spend time with the elders of the tribe, taking advantage of the vast knowledge they had to pass on to the younger generation like herself. Her father would sometimes take her with him when he hung out with his hunter and warrior buddies.
Sakari's childhood was filled with happiness and joy. Considering the humble simplicity of the water tribe, she considered her life to be filled with excitement. However, she would soon have to face terrible sorrow when tragedy struck. At age twelve, her father took her on his final hunting trip, planning to hunt simple turtle seals or something of the sort. However, when faced against perhaps the biggest Polar Leopard he had ever seen, he decided that Sakari should stay back at the dogsled and that the Polar Leopard would be his quarry. He never returned from that hunt. As her father was hunting, Sakari thought she would be able to help, so she tried to attack the Polar Leopard. It turned, and attempted to slash her with its mighty dagger-like claws. It as her Polar Bear Dog that saved her, biting the Polar Leopard's upper foreleg. It roared in pain and slashed violently, striking Sakari's father before shaking off the dog that was biting it and savagely ripping out his entrails. Sakari was horrified, and nearly fainted as her father lied dead and bleeding, and her dog whimpered, crying for help. However, she knew that there was nothing she could do. Nothing....
She returned shamefully to the village, in tears. The next morning, there was a funeral service for her father. Several of the villagers took a hard hit from the loss, but none were as upset as Sakari. Not even Sakari's mother grieved as much in comparison to Sakari. How could she let such a thing happen? How could she CAUSE such a thing to happen? It was her foolishness that brought their demise. Had she allowed her father to handle it and not gotten in over her head, the event would have never taken place.
For months, she sulked around the village. She spoke to no one except when addressed, she went through her daily routine monotonously and numbly. She was not herself during that time. She was not the usual light hearted, hard headed girl she always was. She was just... silent. She lost a lot of weight during that time. Despite her trying to hide it by not complaining to anyone, she had fallen into a deep depression. Her mother felt helpless, unable to offer her daughter any comfort. Sakari's free time was spent in her home using the skills her mother had taught her to make Polar Bear Dog figurines. By the time she snapped out of this depression, there was enough Polar Bear Dog figurines to make 3 stone dog teams if they wanted to. However, slowly, she began to forgive herself for her mistake, began to brighten up, and she even eventually started to hunt once more.
When she was 19, she fell in love. A young man name Itigiaq. He was a bit older than her, at 23 years of age. He was a highly respected man, son of one of their strongest warriors. He admired Sakari's feisty and energetic nature. When she was 20, they were married, and by 23, she had given birth to a baby boy, Koa. The time spent during pregnancy and afterwards was rough for her. She didn't like not being allowed to go hunting or even dog sledding. She just had to stay home with her mother, making sure to stay safe so the baby would be born as healthy as possible. Finally, Koa was born. This still meant a few weeks without any hunting, but she was used to it by then, and at least she had her little baby boy to keep her interesting company. After a while, Koa was old enough that he could be left with his grandmother, and Sakari was ready to go back to hunting.
Sakari was 24 and Koa was only a year of age when Itigiaq went off to war. She longed to go, but her mother needed her, for she was becoming an old woman, and Koa needed her. Not to mention, it was also considered improper for a woman to go to war. But who was she to care for that rule? She was a hunter! She crossed the gender line plenty of times to do what she wanted to, and not what culture said she ought to as a woman. Being denied being allowed to go fight in the war, Sakari threw quite a fit. It took almost a whole day for her to get over it and accept it. Then, she bit her dear Itigiaq a fond goodbye....for the last time.
After only 4 months of Itigiaq's absence, Sakari learned that she, like her mother, had become a widow. Sakari mourned over his death. It devastated her. Not to mention, she now had the task of raising Koa without a father. Sure, she had her mother to help her, but when she thought back on the impact in her life that her father had, her heart ached to know that Koa wouldn't have someone like that for him.
Now that the men are gone, Sakari is looked to as the primary provider of food. Most of them can all fish or hunt small prey, but it is the knowledge and skills that her father taught her that the others lack that allow her to bring home enough food to feed everyone. Sometimes she leaves for a very long time to find large prey like Polar Leopards or whales. Sometimes a whaling expedition could last up to a week. She is blessed to have her mother there to take care of Koa, however, very soon she does plan to start bringing the boy on some smaller hunts. Sometimes, in order to allow Koa the socialization with other children that Sakari seemed to lack in her youth, she will leave him with a family who has several children and let them take care of him for a few hours or however long that hunt will take. In times like these where the Southern Water Tribe is on its last strings for survival, they have banded together more and more as one large family instead of a group of people in close proximity to each other. Sakari not only does her part with bringing in the meat, her mother and she continue as they have before with sexing clothes, tanning hides, cooking, preserving food so it will last. Much like when she must leave Koa with someone else, she also returns the favor by watching any of the children whose parents are busy with something.
Being a part of the same tribe as them, Sakari is friends with Katara and Sokka, although are not incredibly close to them. They are good friends, but the relationship is rather average and normal, just from being a part of the same tribe. Koa, however, sees Sokka as an older brother, and is a part of Sokka's group of "warriors." As for Katara, Sakari doesn't have much connection to her any more than any of her other fellow tribe members and friends. No sisterly bond, no unbreakable friendship, simply tribe members and friends. However, when they found Aang, and trailing with him came lots of trouble, she was one of the many who wanted to get rid of Aang and get rid of the threat to their village. Although she had a bad feeling about Katara and Sokka leaving the tribe with Aang, she was glad to see that the Avatar had left, and with him, the problems he drug along.
Sample RP:
((I know that someone else is making a profile for Koa, but for the sake of this sample rp, may I use him as my character, since he is kinda mine until the other person gets his profile up?))
"Don't worry, its not far until we get back to the village. Its a straight path from here. Do you remember what I told you to say to make them run?" Sakari asked her son. The boy thought for several moments. What had she said? He was too excited to pay attention, how was he supposed to know? It took him several moments, thinking back to the past hunts--actually, even just earlier in the day-- to remember what it is his mother said to command the team. Finally it came to him.
"Mush!" the boy yelled cheerfully. The Polar Bear Dogs strained just a bit as they struggled to break the ice that had trapped the sled's runners to the ground. Their muscles quivered and tensed before finally, the sled broke free and they took off running. They tore across the ice as though not even pulling the load consisting of Sakari, the beaming young Koa, and the lifeless penguin. The cold wind brushed across Sakari's face, inducing the familiar sting of ice crystals whipping across her face. The fur around her hood rippled and shook as it gathered flecks of white powder. Like always, the feeling was exhilarating.
Tiny Koa, however, was far less familiar with the sting of the wind. The cold bite was now considerably greater than any he was used to now that he was standing on the back of the sled in front of his mother like a 'real musher', as opposed to being bundled up in the front of the sled with a blanket to block the ice like he had many times before. However, today, he had proven to be a true hunter, for the quarry in the sled was his prey, meaning it was his job to take it back home, just like Sakari had many many years ago with her first kill.
Sakari smiled at her son as he ranted about the hunt, as though she hadn't been there and he had to fill her in on every detail. "... And then, I made him go away from the other penguins and I picked up a rock and put it in my sling shot and swung it around. At first I wasn't sure it it would hit, but it did! Right between the eyes!" he ranted.
Sakari chuckled. "Yup, that was a pretty good shot. You did well." she said. Her mind drifted off to the day when she had brought home her first kill. It was perhaps the happiest day of her childhood. She thought back to how all of the hunters humored her by praising her for her work and commenting on how difficult it must have been to kill such a beast. Her mind drifted blissfully to thoughts about her childhood hunts, and her adoring father. It was disappointing to her to think that her father couldn't feel the same pride now for his grandson that he had felt for her that day. He would have been so proud......
"Mom..." Koa's voice said to his mother, who seemed to have spaced out. "Mom! Mom, are you even listening to me!?" he demanded.
"Oh, yes, of course. You did an excellent job killing the penguin" she said, though she had a look of shame when she realized she had drifted off into thought and had stopped listening to the boy.
"That's not what I said. I asked, where are we!?" Koa exclaimed. Sakari looked around. The dogs had stopped running and they were surrounded by empty tundra, having completely passed the village.
Age: 29
Gender: Female
Group: Southern Water Tribe citizen
Nation: Water Tribe
Bender?: No
Physical Appearance: Tan skinned and dark haired, Sakari is exactly like what you would expect to see from a Water Tribe woman. She has a soft, round face, and well defined lips. She has almond shaped blueish grey eyes. Her eyes are bright, youthful, and full of life.
She is not a skinny little twig by any means, instead having an attractively curvy body. Her once flat stomach has been left with a bit of a pot belly due to child birth, though it is not noticeable beneath her clothes(especially the winter parka). She tends to gain a bit of weight in the winter, needing the extra weight for survival, but for the most part her active life style keeps her in fit shape. She stands at about 5'10" tall. She has long, strong legs. Her hands are rough and calloused from the work she does, though her feet remain soft because she rarely wandered barefoot; the cold arctic wouldn't allow for it.
Her dark chocolate brown hair is thick and goes to about her mid-back. It is naturally wavy, and curls a bit at the ends. In front of her ears are small tufts of hair that curl into small ringlets. She has long, messy bangs. Her hair is pulled into a messy bun in a half-ponytail fashion, leaving much of it down. Sometimes she pulls all of it up if there's any particular reason she shouldn't have her hair down, but this is rare. Strands of hair stick out of the bun and there is a white feather poked into the base of it.
Clothing/Armor: Due to the harsh Southern Water Tribe environment, she is normally seen wearing a large fur parka made of animal hide. The leather side of the hide is stained a light grey-ish blue, making up most of the outer part of the parka. The inside of the parka is a soft white animal fur. At the hems, the lining of the fur sticks out some and shows from the outside. Sewn to the cuffs, hood, and the lining along the bottom is thick, fluffy fur, possibly wolf. The undercoat of this fur is white, while the guard hairs are dark brown. What looks to be white fox tails hangs on the side of the parka at the lower hem, two on each side. The two tails meet together at a small ball of fur that fluffs out in every direction. There are also three tails like this hanging from each of her shoulders, but they are sewn directly into the seam at the sleeve instead of having the ball of fur. Across the middle of the parka is a piece of fur, like a belt. She has two parkas like this, one that is kept clean for every day wear, and one that is used for hunting. The hunting one has blood, dirt, and many other stains absorbed into it. The ornate fur is rough and growing bare in patches. The nice one, however, is kept just that: nice. She has thick, fur lined boots, the outer leather mocha tan in color. Hanging from the sides of each boot is a white fur tassel with black on the tips, possibly an ermine-like creature's tail. On her hands are heavy gloves, blue on the back and grey on the palms. Beneath this she wears navy blue pants and a light long sleeved shirt. Over this, she has a light robe, dyed a more brilliant blue than her parka, that is lined with white on the hems. Tying it is a white sash. The sash gives this outfit a rather flattering appearance, making her waist look smaller.
Though normally a cold temperature almost constantly, the environment surrounding the Southern Water Tribe does have its seasons, meaning the heavy parka is not exactly appropriate attire. Although it is rare for the temperatures to escalade to what most people would consider "chilly" as opposed to "freezing", in the occasions that this does happen, Sakari has a much lighter outfit prepared in order to not get overheated. She also frequently wears this indoors. She wears a light dress-like outfit, made of a rather dense fabric which is, like most of her clothes, a pale grey blue color. The skirt part of it goes to about mid-thigh, nearly to her knees. Though not necessary for warmth, it is lined with fur along the bottom of it, the sleeves, and around the neckline. Two furry tassels, hang down on her shoulders and a strip of white fur is on the dress under the bust. It is short sleeved, though under it she wears a dense navy long sleeved shirt that clings tightly to her skin. It has a loop around the end of each sleeve that strings around her middle finger on each hand. She also wears matching navy stockings that tuck in to her fur boots. These boots are a different pair, lighter and cooler than her winter boots despite still being fur lined. These are grey instead of tan.
Weapons: One of her weapons of choice is an Inuit Qilumitautit, also known as a Bola, which is made of several straps of Tiger Seal skin tied together with pieces of bone on the ends of the leather straps. It can be used similar to either be thrown at birds to catch them in flight, or can tangle the legs of larger animals. She also carries a decorative knife made of whale bone, though this is not much of a weapon, it is more used as a tool for cutting the animal after it is killed. The knife is thick and broad. Finally, her primary weapon of choice, a harpoon-like spear. The tip is made of a hard black stone sharpened into two jagged blades with teeth to stick into flesh. She keeps it very sharp, not wishing for an animal to suffer longer than needed. The long staff is made of wood traded from some Earth Kingdom merchants. The long pole is very decorative and ornate. Also, if need be, her Polar Bear Dogs can be used to attack, though for hunting purposes she wouldn't do this. She would only send her dogs to attack something if it was a life or death situation where she could not fight something off herself.
Personality: Sakari is high energy and strong willed. She longs for excitement, and often her wander lust takes her and her dog sled team far from home, not returning sometimes for weeks. Sometimes, she gets the urge to just leave the water tribe and travel the Earth Kingdom, but as much as she longs to, she has a strong sense of loyalty and responsibility to her son, her mother, and her tribe. Although her independent nature often causes her to wander off, her family is greatly important to her, and has been since she was just a little girl. So, despite her wandering, she always returns home.
Though often considered quite tomboyish for obvious reasons, she also had her feminine side. She naturally has a nurturing, caring nature, not only to her son, but to her mother, her polar bear dogs, and everyone around her. However, that's not to say that she's not tomboyish. Ever since she was a child, on the few occasions that she would hang out with children her age, it was normally the boys. One of her favorite things was when her father would let her hang out with him and his adult friends, or when she could spend time with an old war veteran and hear the epic tales he had to tell.
She is ADD to the extreme. Even when doing something she enjoys, she finds it hard to focus her energy on just one thing. As a child, her father had to do lots of work to teach her patience, especially when hunting. Her mind wanders constantly and sometimes she has been known to space out into day dreams. Occasionally, she has a habit of not fully thinking things through. This gets her into trouble quite often.
She has great respect for nature. Even the animals she killed she respected. They were killed for necessity of survival, not for the thrill of the hunt(though that's not to say she didn't enjoy it). Every animal is sacred to her, and even in death, deserved to be treated with care. She has paganistic beliefs in the spirits of nature around her. She is careful not to hunt in any way that could disturb the natural balance of the environment.
After the death of her father, she was left incredibly depressed, having lost her father, her teacher, and her best friend, all because of her foolishness. However, later in life after the death of her husband, she developed a new way of dealing with hardship. Bad things happen, and must be moved past in order to continue through life. Now, she tends to try to take tragic events in a stoic, unaffected way, however it has more of an affect on her than she lets show. To her, dwelling on the past will only cause weakness, so she forces herself to push through it, or at least not let on to how much it really hurts her. Often after something like a death, she becomes more quiet and withdrawn to the people around her. She tends to spend a lot of her time away from everyone, and gives short, thoughtless answers any time she is addressed.
She is very stubborn and hard headed. Fiercely independent, she hates to be told what to do, and will make it known. She won't stand for anyone getting in her way. At times, this can make her incredibly difficult to get along with. An example of this would be when her husband told her she could not go off to war to fight the Fire Nation because she had to take care of Koa, at first she threw a huge fit over it. It wasn't fair, she demanded. He could stay and take care of Koa and she could go to war instead. But Itigiaq wouldn't allow that. It took quite a while until Sakari recognized her importance with her family and tribe for her to accept it.
Background: On a cold winter's day twenty nine years ago, a new loyal citizen of the Southern Water Tribe was born. She was the daughter of Anuniaq, a strong hunter, and Akna, a skilled artisan in many fields. Sakari learned many thins from her parents. From her mother, she learned things such as sewing, tanning hides, cooking, painting, and her mother's specialty, carving. She learned how to turn stone and bones into artwork. Some times her mother would even trade for exotic materials to use, and together they even learned how to use metals and wood, rare to the water tribe. It was with these techniques that Sakari made her own harpoon and knife. However, it was not weapons that she and her mother specialized in making. She spent much of her time making little figurines: things like bears, seals, and penguins. Sometimes when the earth kingdom merchants would come in, she would get pictures of exotic animals like shirshus and badger moles. Sakari found great joy in carving these beasts she had never seen with her own eyes.
Although her mother had a great impact on her, it was from her father that she learned most of the skills she continued to use. Always having a taste for some kind of excitement, Sakari delighted in joining him on his hunting expeditions. He taught her how to hunt different animals, such as seals and even sometimes whales, and how to command a team of Polar Bear Dogs. Since she was a young girl, she went with him on every hunting expedition he took, whether it be fishing, seal hunting, or whale hunting.
Most of the village was rather reluctant to accept the fact that Anuniaq was taking her along to go hunting. First off, she was a girl, and for a girl to hunt was about as strange as a girl being a warrior. Second off, who in their right mind would take a mere child hunting? It was far too dangerous, not to mention could result in the loss of an animal due to her being noisy or something. However, none the less, Anuniaq continued taking Sakari with him, teaching her every little technique he knew. These skills helped her later in life when the men left for war and Sakari was left as one of the sole providers of food for the village.
She killed her first tiger seal when she was 7 years old(though with her father's help) and was so proud that she skinned the whole seal and kept its pelt as a rug. This pelt still rests on the floor of her home.
Even though she was a hunter, she had great love and respect for all animals. She had an exceptional fondness of the polar bear dogs. Her father gave her her own Polar Bear Dog puppy to raise as her own when she was nine. She named the puppy Akiak, meaning Brave. He was her dear companion and friend. He never ran as a part of the sled team, instead constantly staying by Sakari's side. Even when Sakari and her father were both on the sled, so was Akiak. He was perhaps the most spoiled and pampered out of all of her family's Polar Bear Dogs.
Sakari didn't have too many close friends in the Water tribe. She was often too busy with her family or her Polar Bear Dogs to really bother with human friends. However, she did have a few of her neighbors that she was close in age to that she was friends with, but never any one really close. She got along well with adults. Often she would spend time with the elders of the tribe, taking advantage of the vast knowledge they had to pass on to the younger generation like herself. Her father would sometimes take her with him when he hung out with his hunter and warrior buddies.
Sakari's childhood was filled with happiness and joy. Considering the humble simplicity of the water tribe, she considered her life to be filled with excitement. However, she would soon have to face terrible sorrow when tragedy struck. At age twelve, her father took her on his final hunting trip, planning to hunt simple turtle seals or something of the sort. However, when faced against perhaps the biggest Polar Leopard he had ever seen, he decided that Sakari should stay back at the dogsled and that the Polar Leopard would be his quarry. He never returned from that hunt. As her father was hunting, Sakari thought she would be able to help, so she tried to attack the Polar Leopard. It turned, and attempted to slash her with its mighty dagger-like claws. It as her Polar Bear Dog that saved her, biting the Polar Leopard's upper foreleg. It roared in pain and slashed violently, striking Sakari's father before shaking off the dog that was biting it and savagely ripping out his entrails. Sakari was horrified, and nearly fainted as her father lied dead and bleeding, and her dog whimpered, crying for help. However, she knew that there was nothing she could do. Nothing....
She returned shamefully to the village, in tears. The next morning, there was a funeral service for her father. Several of the villagers took a hard hit from the loss, but none were as upset as Sakari. Not even Sakari's mother grieved as much in comparison to Sakari. How could she let such a thing happen? How could she CAUSE such a thing to happen? It was her foolishness that brought their demise. Had she allowed her father to handle it and not gotten in over her head, the event would have never taken place.
For months, she sulked around the village. She spoke to no one except when addressed, she went through her daily routine monotonously and numbly. She was not herself during that time. She was not the usual light hearted, hard headed girl she always was. She was just... silent. She lost a lot of weight during that time. Despite her trying to hide it by not complaining to anyone, she had fallen into a deep depression. Her mother felt helpless, unable to offer her daughter any comfort. Sakari's free time was spent in her home using the skills her mother had taught her to make Polar Bear Dog figurines. By the time she snapped out of this depression, there was enough Polar Bear Dog figurines to make 3 stone dog teams if they wanted to. However, slowly, she began to forgive herself for her mistake, began to brighten up, and she even eventually started to hunt once more.
When she was 19, she fell in love. A young man name Itigiaq. He was a bit older than her, at 23 years of age. He was a highly respected man, son of one of their strongest warriors. He admired Sakari's feisty and energetic nature. When she was 20, they were married, and by 23, she had given birth to a baby boy, Koa. The time spent during pregnancy and afterwards was rough for her. She didn't like not being allowed to go hunting or even dog sledding. She just had to stay home with her mother, making sure to stay safe so the baby would be born as healthy as possible. Finally, Koa was born. This still meant a few weeks without any hunting, but she was used to it by then, and at least she had her little baby boy to keep her interesting company. After a while, Koa was old enough that he could be left with his grandmother, and Sakari was ready to go back to hunting.
Sakari was 24 and Koa was only a year of age when Itigiaq went off to war. She longed to go, but her mother needed her, for she was becoming an old woman, and Koa needed her. Not to mention, it was also considered improper for a woman to go to war. But who was she to care for that rule? She was a hunter! She crossed the gender line plenty of times to do what she wanted to, and not what culture said she ought to as a woman. Being denied being allowed to go fight in the war, Sakari threw quite a fit. It took almost a whole day for her to get over it and accept it. Then, she bit her dear Itigiaq a fond goodbye....for the last time.
After only 4 months of Itigiaq's absence, Sakari learned that she, like her mother, had become a widow. Sakari mourned over his death. It devastated her. Not to mention, she now had the task of raising Koa without a father. Sure, she had her mother to help her, but when she thought back on the impact in her life that her father had, her heart ached to know that Koa wouldn't have someone like that for him.
Now that the men are gone, Sakari is looked to as the primary provider of food. Most of them can all fish or hunt small prey, but it is the knowledge and skills that her father taught her that the others lack that allow her to bring home enough food to feed everyone. Sometimes she leaves for a very long time to find large prey like Polar Leopards or whales. Sometimes a whaling expedition could last up to a week. She is blessed to have her mother there to take care of Koa, however, very soon she does plan to start bringing the boy on some smaller hunts. Sometimes, in order to allow Koa the socialization with other children that Sakari seemed to lack in her youth, she will leave him with a family who has several children and let them take care of him for a few hours or however long that hunt will take. In times like these where the Southern Water Tribe is on its last strings for survival, they have banded together more and more as one large family instead of a group of people in close proximity to each other. Sakari not only does her part with bringing in the meat, her mother and she continue as they have before with sexing clothes, tanning hides, cooking, preserving food so it will last. Much like when she must leave Koa with someone else, she also returns the favor by watching any of the children whose parents are busy with something.
Being a part of the same tribe as them, Sakari is friends with Katara and Sokka, although are not incredibly close to them. They are good friends, but the relationship is rather average and normal, just from being a part of the same tribe. Koa, however, sees Sokka as an older brother, and is a part of Sokka's group of "warriors." As for Katara, Sakari doesn't have much connection to her any more than any of her other fellow tribe members and friends. No sisterly bond, no unbreakable friendship, simply tribe members and friends. However, when they found Aang, and trailing with him came lots of trouble, she was one of the many who wanted to get rid of Aang and get rid of the threat to their village. Although she had a bad feeling about Katara and Sokka leaving the tribe with Aang, she was glad to see that the Avatar had left, and with him, the problems he drug along.
Sample RP:
((I know that someone else is making a profile for Koa, but for the sake of this sample rp, may I use him as my character, since he is kinda mine until the other person gets his profile up?))
"Don't worry, its not far until we get back to the village. Its a straight path from here. Do you remember what I told you to say to make them run?" Sakari asked her son. The boy thought for several moments. What had she said? He was too excited to pay attention, how was he supposed to know? It took him several moments, thinking back to the past hunts--actually, even just earlier in the day-- to remember what it is his mother said to command the team. Finally it came to him.
"Mush!" the boy yelled cheerfully. The Polar Bear Dogs strained just a bit as they struggled to break the ice that had trapped the sled's runners to the ground. Their muscles quivered and tensed before finally, the sled broke free and they took off running. They tore across the ice as though not even pulling the load consisting of Sakari, the beaming young Koa, and the lifeless penguin. The cold wind brushed across Sakari's face, inducing the familiar sting of ice crystals whipping across her face. The fur around her hood rippled and shook as it gathered flecks of white powder. Like always, the feeling was exhilarating.
Tiny Koa, however, was far less familiar with the sting of the wind. The cold bite was now considerably greater than any he was used to now that he was standing on the back of the sled in front of his mother like a 'real musher', as opposed to being bundled up in the front of the sled with a blanket to block the ice like he had many times before. However, today, he had proven to be a true hunter, for the quarry in the sled was his prey, meaning it was his job to take it back home, just like Sakari had many many years ago with her first kill.
Sakari smiled at her son as he ranted about the hunt, as though she hadn't been there and he had to fill her in on every detail. "... And then, I made him go away from the other penguins and I picked up a rock and put it in my sling shot and swung it around. At first I wasn't sure it it would hit, but it did! Right between the eyes!" he ranted.
Sakari chuckled. "Yup, that was a pretty good shot. You did well." she said. Her mind drifted off to the day when she had brought home her first kill. It was perhaps the happiest day of her childhood. She thought back to how all of the hunters humored her by praising her for her work and commenting on how difficult it must have been to kill such a beast. Her mind drifted blissfully to thoughts about her childhood hunts, and her adoring father. It was disappointing to her to think that her father couldn't feel the same pride now for his grandson that he had felt for her that day. He would have been so proud......
"Mom..." Koa's voice said to his mother, who seemed to have spaced out. "Mom! Mom, are you even listening to me!?" he demanded.
"Oh, yes, of course. You did an excellent job killing the penguin" she said, though she had a look of shame when she realized she had drifted off into thought and had stopped listening to the boy.
"That's not what I said. I asked, where are we!?" Koa exclaimed. Sakari looked around. The dogs had stopped running and they were surrounded by empty tundra, having completely passed the village.