Post by zhi on Jun 7, 2008 19:08:54 GMT -5
Name: Ituha
Age: 20
Gender: Female
Group: Southern Water Tribe Citizen
Nation: Southern Water Tribe
Bender?: ‘Course not
Physical Appearance: For the most part Ituha appears fairly average amongst the other women of her tribe, despite being the second youngest adult in the community. Though it is not uncommon for Southern Water Tribe women to be a bit on the chubby side, Ituha would be considered heavy even by SWT standards. She stands at about five feet, five inches in height and weighs roughly two hundred and twenty pounds. She has a stocky, solid build with a good portion of her weight situated around her middle, hips and thighs. Ituha posesses an ample bust by all standards, though it may seem a bit over emphasized by her thick parka.
Her arms and legs are strong but rather short and plump, inline with her overall build. Ituha’s feet are on the small side while her hands seem to be a bit large and appear toughened by hard work. Ituha’s skin is a dark milk chocolate tone, free of blemishes, for the most part, while the palms of her hands and soles of her feet appear a few shades lighter in color.
Her face is round with a small, rounded chin framed by chubby, prominent cheeks. Ituha’s lips are full and seem slightly puckered, as her small mouth appears almost squished between her pudgy cheeks. Her nose is of average size and blunt, rounded at the tip, keeping to her overall appearance; soft and lacking sharp corners or angles. She possesses walnut-shaped cobalt blue eyes that often reflect purpose, determination and at times weariness or cynicism. Above these, arc thin, but dark-in-color eyebrows.
Though she would not admit it, Ituha’s favorite personal feature about herself would be her thick, dark brown hair. For the most part she keeps her hair parted at the front in the very center and wears clips made of whale bone that act in a similar fashion to “hair loopies”. Though the clips are roughly an inch thick and hold larger locks of hair than “loopies” do. The locks that run through the clips are pulled back, behind her ears and are incorporated into a tight bun at the back of her head. Few have seen Ituha with her hair down. If not clipped and pulled back into her usual bun, her hair would reach down her back to the ends of her shoulder blades.
Clothing/Armor: Like all members of her tribe, Ituha posses a typical thick, fur-lined parka. It was specifically made for her by the village seamstress nearly four years ago and shows signs of considerable use. The parka is a faded Carolina blue overall with, now off-white fur trim around the collar, the front of the hood, the wrists and the V shaped dress hem. Around the parka, just beneath her breasts, there is a band of similar white fur outlined at the top by a two inch thick band of midnight blue fabric. Similar, though smaller bands of the midnight blue fabric wrap around the shoulder seams of the parka, outline the fur hem at the base of the dress portion and also outline the fur cuffs. The parka shows several faded blood stains upon its front and around the fur cuffs, as well as overall fading and discoloration.
Beneath this well-worn parka, and beneath her top’s skirt portion, Ituha usually wears a pair of somewhat baggy dark blue pants, just as thick and cozy as her parka to protect against the frigid temperatures of the South Pole. Around the ankles, the pants have fir trim too, though this is often hidden when she tucks the pant-legs into her mukluks. The next article of clothing Ituha wears under her parka could be considered similar to a shortened, sleeveless hanfu garment. It’s a matching Carolina blue with cream colored trim on the lapel hems, collar and the V shaped hem at the ends of the skirt portion that hang down to about mid-shin. The skirt portion is cut at the sides up to mid-thigh, producing a front and back flap. Over the short hanfu style garment, around her waist, she wears a black leather belt. Beneath the garment she wears a simple, long sleeved off-white linen shirt. The cuffs of the shirt’s sleeves are bound tightly along the forearms by strips of light blue fabric.
Ituha wears dark blue, thick, fur-lined mittens, but at times, these agitate her when she is working with her hands and she has developed a bad habit of setting the mittens aside, sometimes loosening them. Upon her feet she tends to wear a pair or two of off-white wool socks and pair of worn, Tigerseal skin mukluks.
Though Ituha has never left the South Pole though, to adapt to warmer weather, or when indoors, she simply sheds her parka and switches out her undershirt for a short sleeved version. Additionally she has a few pairs of dark blue pants made of lighter material and a pair of light, knee-high dark brown leather boots designed from captured Fire Nation boots, though the reproductions lack the up-turned toes.
Weapons: When the men left two years ago to fight the Fire Nation in the Earth Kingdom, the women of the village were forced to take on many new and essential jobs, hunting in particular. Ituha was pleased to take on these new responsibilities and took to “men’s work” quite easily. She is familiar with the use of hunting spears and harpoons but these weapons are not hers personally, rather, they belong to the entire village.
However, Ituha does own a traditional Ulu knife. More a tool than a weapon, the knife consists of a four inch long bone handle that, unlike the vast majority of knives, runs perpendicular to the blade. The blade itself is six inches in length and similar in appearance to the curved blade of an axe. A notch is cut out of the back of the blade to allow ones fingers to wrap around the handle; the blade is made of highly polished copper and appears well cared for. The Ulu is extremely versatile and can be used for skinning, cleaning animal carcasses, cutting food, preparing fish and many other tasks.
Ituha carries her Ulu under her parka; its blade fits into a leather sling that hangs from a strap attached to her belt. Though Ituha has never trained with weapons with the intent of engaging in combat with another human being she figures she could use her Ulu like a push dagger or fist weapon if the need arose.
Personality: Ituha is very strong willed; she does things her way and if questioned, will not back down. This trait has led to many disagreements with her mother. For the most part, she likes to appear tough and in control of the situation at all times, welcoming challenges and responsibilities. To most she seems blunt, temperamental and no-nonsense but she possesses a little-seen softer side as well. However, softness, Ituha feels, is not something to show with the village in its current state. She doesn’t want to appear weak to the older women of the community, especially not to her mother.
At first glance Ituha may not appear particularly bright, though she does lack a formal education, she is not unintelligent. She has many practical skills and the ability to problem solve as well. Ituha can read and write to an extent, but her figures are sloppy and her skills are limited at best.
Unfortunately, due to the tough façade she puts up, her tendency to be a bit overassertive and just a general feeling of discomfort when in social situations, Ituha has found making new friends rather difficult.
She has had little interaction with people from “beyond the sea”, having experienced only a few raids in her lifetime. For the most part, Ituha is uncertain of people from the other nations and, in general, would look upon them with mistrust until proven otherwise.
Ituha is far more than she appears, or would like to appear, however. Beneath it all she can be a loyal and loving friend. With a soft spot for children and a love of gazing at the stars and moon at night she keeps many things to herself to remain a pillar of strength in the eyes of her village. She finds herself lonely at times but would never admit to it and despite the regular conflicts between her and her mother, Ituha has always admired her strength during the hard times.
Background: Ituha was born in a small costal village to influential parents Kateri and Kosumi. Her father, Kosumi, was one of the most experienced Polar Bear Dog mushers in the village, keeping a team of six Bear Dogs right outside the small family’s igloo. Kosumi and the team routinely made runs from home to the other villages to trade and several times to bring aid to raided villages.
Ituha’s mother, on the other hand, was a skilled craftswoman and, though she was younger than most of the other villagers, she developed a reputation as a source for advice on all manner of subjects. Villagers could count on her for expertly skinned pelts, well prepared food and precisely hand-made tools along with her seemingly never-ending pool of wise words.
Kosumi and Kateri were fairly young at the time of their daughter’s birth and were quiet enthusiastic parents. At the time Ituha was born, there had been a veritable lack of female births in the village and for some time after as well. In the year before and following, however, there were several males born; a few of those boys would become friends of Ituha’s later on.
Little Ituha was a rather loud baby and kept her parents busy, but they loved her no less. Finding that she was easily amused by funny faces they discovered an easy way to keep the little one happy. When Ituha turned two, her father took her along to one of the other villages on his sled, the young girl enjoyed the mini-adventure greatly, but Kateri wasn’t so pleased with the outing and scolded her husband.
As the young girl grew, she became more curious and at times wandered about the village and out of her parent’s supervision. During one of her toddling adventures Ituha visited her father’s Bear Dogs. One had recently had puppies and, not knowing the dangers of coming between the mother and her litter, the young girl reached for one of the furry little creatures. The mother, seeing little Ituha as a threat to her babies, snapped and growled at the girl. Ituha jumped back and fell down in the snow, thoroughly terrified. Sobbing and fearful cries soon attracted many of the villagers to the scene.
Over time, Ituha’s traumatic experience with the Polar Bear Dog would develop into a bit of a phobia that she would be forced to fight often, as her father's proffesion made avoiding the animals impossible. Despite the run-in with the mother Bear Dog, Ituha’s childhood was relatively pleasant. She began to show signs of being a hard worker and around the age of five her mother began to teach her a variety of domestic skills. Ituha proved herself helpful to her family and willing to work, though she seemed to have developed a stubborn streak and insisted on doing her chores in ways different from how her mother or father had originally instructed.
Up until the age of six or seven Ituha remained busy with the tasks her parents presented her with, she had had very limited contact with the other children of the village and when not busy, the girl spent much of her time alone. Kateri and Kosumi became worried about their daughter and encouraged her to play with the other children. With few girls her age around, Ituha soon found roughhousing with the boys to be an enjoyable way to pass the time.
Even when young, Ituha was a bit overweight and was occasionally teased by her friends, though they soon learned that she wasn’t going to take such treatment, even if it wasn’t always meant in an offensive way. Often she would tackle the teasing boys into the snow and pin them until they “pologized”. Most learned to respect her, and she formed genuine friendships with many of the local boys over time. Kosumi found it amusing that his daughter had earned the respect of the boys as an equal, though Kateri, on the other hand, felt Ituha was on the wrong path.
She attempted to persuade her daughter to play with the few girls her own age but Ituha wouldn’t give in and continued to do as she pleased. Ituha was, however, willing to take the time to learn new skills; her father taught her how to fish and catch Crabturtles and her mother began to school her in calligraphy writing and reading. The girl struggled some with the writing, though and it seemed like her hands just didn’t want to make the characters correctly, no matter how hard she tried.
Over the next few years Ituha’s life changed little, the village did suffer a raid, though it had seemed to be more of a strike to promote fear and demoralize the villagers than to really kill anyone. Her daily chores were always done on time, though always done the way Ituha felt they ought to be done, and her studies continued as usual.
Ituha’s life began to change in several ways, however, when she reached her early teen years. She began to notice the boys, whom she’d always thought of as friends, in a different way. They, on the other hand, didn’t seem to treat her much differently and her interactions with the boys became increasingly awkward. Eventually Ituha made an effort to avoid them and turned her attention mostly toward her work around the village.
As time went by Ituha became rather anti-social and made an effort to put up a toughened façade in hopes of avoiding awkward social interactions. The, now teen boys of the village still held their respect for their old friend and tried to include her in their activities but Ituha, by now, felt very confused about just how she was supposed to fit into the community and often turned them down.
With Ituha’s sixteenth birthday approaching, Kateri readjusted her daughter’s chore schedule to keep her around the house more. Kateri felt that she could better prepare Ituha for married life by placing greater domestic responsibilities upon her. Ituha became wise to this scheme though, and a fierce argument broke out between mother and daughter.
Kateri insisted that Ituha was on the wrong path and that she needed to think about her future and make alterations before it was too late. Ituha felt that her mother was attempting to control her and resisted. And, though it was fairly common practice to quickly arrange a marriage for girls around the age of sixteen, Ituha did not believe she was ready for such things. She would likely never admit it, but the girl was frightened about her future as much as her mother worried, just where would she end up?
Fortunately, her father, Kosumi, convinced her mother to drop the subject, at least for a while longer. He felt that Ituha was, perhaps, not ready yet for marriage, much to the girl’s relief. Ituha’s parents had a long talk and eventually decided to wait for at most a year or two in the hope that their daughter might mature some and become more at ease with the idea of a an arranged, or at lest quick, union.
Ituha was still uncertain of her future, she felt that the boys of the village would never see her as anything more than a playmate from their childhood. When she’d been a child, she had sought their acceptance and now, as she reached her seventeenth year, that seemed to be working against her. She wished they would see her as a woman and not simply an old friend. She considered trying to say or do something that might attract attention but never built up the courage to do so. Ituha simply buried herself in her daily tasks and watched the boys she fancied from afar, as they honed their fighting and hunting skills.
Though it did not happen right away, and certainly not without warning, Ituha’s life would take another turn. Rumors and talk of fighting back against the Fire Nation had circulated the village for years, but no one truly believed that such an effort would really be attempted. That is, until Hakoda, the Tribal Chief of all Southern Villages declared that he wished to lead a force of warriors north to aid the Earth Kingdom against the Fire Nation.
With this, the Villages began to prepare their forces, the boys and men trained harder and constructed new weapons, driftwood was collected to fashion boats, food was prepared and cured for the trip, everyone pitched in. Ituha worked hard each day, she searched the rocky beaches and dragged great pieces of driftwood back to the village for the woodworkers to use. After a few months preparation, though, the day to launch had arrived.
As the boats left, Ituha had decidedly mixed feelings. Her father was leaving, as were her friends, and she would miss them all, especially one of the young warriors whom she’d had off and on feelings for over the last few years. On the other hand, with the men leaving, Ituha’s mother would be unable to force her into any sort of prearrange marriage. Another factor would soon become evident as well, with a lack of man power around the Village; Ituha would be allowed many new responsibilities that she would quickly take to.
She was now looked upon to fish, hunt and perform other tasks that had traditionally been left to the men. Suddenly Ituha had direction, purpose, something she could really commit herself to and she shined in her new liberated state. “Men’s work” was new, exciting and drew her interest; she worked hard, toughened up and became increasingly assertive and prideful. As she grew into her new, and much loved responsibilities, she began to hide away personal feelings and thoughts from those around her. As the years passed, she stopped thinking about the boy who’d gone off to war, forsaking the idea of finding love; she devoted herself to her tribe.
Now, at age twenty, as she continues her proud service to her community, Ituha likes to think of herself as a leader and pivotal member of her village, able to hold everything together and provide for her people. She does receive praise and secretly relishes in it, though recently she has begun to wonder what will happen when the warriors return. Will she be forced from her position as a key member of the village? Will her responsibilities and powers be taken away? Deep down, Ituha keeps much to herself; would she be willing to share her inner thoughts and whatnot with anyone? She doesn’t think so.
Sample RP: Ituha stepped out from her tent, the cold polar wind stung her cheeks slightly but the girl paid it no attention. The cold was nothing to her; she had weathered great storms and felt temperatures that, if described, could make an individual from nearly anywhere else in the world shiver at the mere thought.
Now, as she peered into the darkness of early morning, the young woman stretched and stifled a yawn. The night before had been a late one for her, she’d spent several hours making repairs to her Canoe after it had been damaged by a collision with a small berg of ice the day before. She had constructed the small boat herself and was quite proud of it. Roughly ten feet long, the boat was open topped and had room for three people, though Ituha usually went out alone with fishing and crabbing equipment taking up a fair amount of space.
Her mother had insisted that the boat be scrapped but Ituha would do no such thing and felt strongly that she could make the necessary repairs so that her fine little boat could sail the coastal waters once again.
The young woman looked out at the horizon momentarily; the sun wouldn’t be up for another hour and a half or so. Just the way she liked it. Quietly as she could, Ituha padded through the thick snow, moving around to the rear of her tent where the Canoe was kept. There it sat, resting silently, upside down upon a wooden frame to keep it off of the ground and relatively dry.
She reached the boats side and quickly tugged off her right mitten, running a pudgy hand over the area that she’d repaired. Ituha was pleased to feel, more so than see, that the fix had successfully dried. The new wooden panels she had affixed to the hull, covering the gash, seemed to be sufficiently attached by the seaweed derived glue substance she’d used.
Now the real test would begin, she thought, as she replaced her mitten. In what might be perceived as a fairly impressive feat or strength, the young woman reach her arms about the center of the boat and lifted it up off its stand then began shuffling across the snow, out of the village and toward a nearby inlet that fed into the sea.
Age: 20
Gender: Female
Group: Southern Water Tribe Citizen
Nation: Southern Water Tribe
Bender?: ‘Course not
Physical Appearance: For the most part Ituha appears fairly average amongst the other women of her tribe, despite being the second youngest adult in the community. Though it is not uncommon for Southern Water Tribe women to be a bit on the chubby side, Ituha would be considered heavy even by SWT standards. She stands at about five feet, five inches in height and weighs roughly two hundred and twenty pounds. She has a stocky, solid build with a good portion of her weight situated around her middle, hips and thighs. Ituha posesses an ample bust by all standards, though it may seem a bit over emphasized by her thick parka.
Her arms and legs are strong but rather short and plump, inline with her overall build. Ituha’s feet are on the small side while her hands seem to be a bit large and appear toughened by hard work. Ituha’s skin is a dark milk chocolate tone, free of blemishes, for the most part, while the palms of her hands and soles of her feet appear a few shades lighter in color.
Her face is round with a small, rounded chin framed by chubby, prominent cheeks. Ituha’s lips are full and seem slightly puckered, as her small mouth appears almost squished between her pudgy cheeks. Her nose is of average size and blunt, rounded at the tip, keeping to her overall appearance; soft and lacking sharp corners or angles. She possesses walnut-shaped cobalt blue eyes that often reflect purpose, determination and at times weariness or cynicism. Above these, arc thin, but dark-in-color eyebrows.
Though she would not admit it, Ituha’s favorite personal feature about herself would be her thick, dark brown hair. For the most part she keeps her hair parted at the front in the very center and wears clips made of whale bone that act in a similar fashion to “hair loopies”. Though the clips are roughly an inch thick and hold larger locks of hair than “loopies” do. The locks that run through the clips are pulled back, behind her ears and are incorporated into a tight bun at the back of her head. Few have seen Ituha with her hair down. If not clipped and pulled back into her usual bun, her hair would reach down her back to the ends of her shoulder blades.
Clothing/Armor: Like all members of her tribe, Ituha posses a typical thick, fur-lined parka. It was specifically made for her by the village seamstress nearly four years ago and shows signs of considerable use. The parka is a faded Carolina blue overall with, now off-white fur trim around the collar, the front of the hood, the wrists and the V shaped dress hem. Around the parka, just beneath her breasts, there is a band of similar white fur outlined at the top by a two inch thick band of midnight blue fabric. Similar, though smaller bands of the midnight blue fabric wrap around the shoulder seams of the parka, outline the fur hem at the base of the dress portion and also outline the fur cuffs. The parka shows several faded blood stains upon its front and around the fur cuffs, as well as overall fading and discoloration.
Beneath this well-worn parka, and beneath her top’s skirt portion, Ituha usually wears a pair of somewhat baggy dark blue pants, just as thick and cozy as her parka to protect against the frigid temperatures of the South Pole. Around the ankles, the pants have fir trim too, though this is often hidden when she tucks the pant-legs into her mukluks. The next article of clothing Ituha wears under her parka could be considered similar to a shortened, sleeveless hanfu garment. It’s a matching Carolina blue with cream colored trim on the lapel hems, collar and the V shaped hem at the ends of the skirt portion that hang down to about mid-shin. The skirt portion is cut at the sides up to mid-thigh, producing a front and back flap. Over the short hanfu style garment, around her waist, she wears a black leather belt. Beneath the garment she wears a simple, long sleeved off-white linen shirt. The cuffs of the shirt’s sleeves are bound tightly along the forearms by strips of light blue fabric.
Ituha wears dark blue, thick, fur-lined mittens, but at times, these agitate her when she is working with her hands and she has developed a bad habit of setting the mittens aside, sometimes loosening them. Upon her feet she tends to wear a pair or two of off-white wool socks and pair of worn, Tigerseal skin mukluks.
Though Ituha has never left the South Pole though, to adapt to warmer weather, or when indoors, she simply sheds her parka and switches out her undershirt for a short sleeved version. Additionally she has a few pairs of dark blue pants made of lighter material and a pair of light, knee-high dark brown leather boots designed from captured Fire Nation boots, though the reproductions lack the up-turned toes.
Weapons: When the men left two years ago to fight the Fire Nation in the Earth Kingdom, the women of the village were forced to take on many new and essential jobs, hunting in particular. Ituha was pleased to take on these new responsibilities and took to “men’s work” quite easily. She is familiar with the use of hunting spears and harpoons but these weapons are not hers personally, rather, they belong to the entire village.
However, Ituha does own a traditional Ulu knife. More a tool than a weapon, the knife consists of a four inch long bone handle that, unlike the vast majority of knives, runs perpendicular to the blade. The blade itself is six inches in length and similar in appearance to the curved blade of an axe. A notch is cut out of the back of the blade to allow ones fingers to wrap around the handle; the blade is made of highly polished copper and appears well cared for. The Ulu is extremely versatile and can be used for skinning, cleaning animal carcasses, cutting food, preparing fish and many other tasks.
Ituha carries her Ulu under her parka; its blade fits into a leather sling that hangs from a strap attached to her belt. Though Ituha has never trained with weapons with the intent of engaging in combat with another human being she figures she could use her Ulu like a push dagger or fist weapon if the need arose.
Personality: Ituha is very strong willed; she does things her way and if questioned, will not back down. This trait has led to many disagreements with her mother. For the most part, she likes to appear tough and in control of the situation at all times, welcoming challenges and responsibilities. To most she seems blunt, temperamental and no-nonsense but she possesses a little-seen softer side as well. However, softness, Ituha feels, is not something to show with the village in its current state. She doesn’t want to appear weak to the older women of the community, especially not to her mother.
At first glance Ituha may not appear particularly bright, though she does lack a formal education, she is not unintelligent. She has many practical skills and the ability to problem solve as well. Ituha can read and write to an extent, but her figures are sloppy and her skills are limited at best.
Unfortunately, due to the tough façade she puts up, her tendency to be a bit overassertive and just a general feeling of discomfort when in social situations, Ituha has found making new friends rather difficult.
She has had little interaction with people from “beyond the sea”, having experienced only a few raids in her lifetime. For the most part, Ituha is uncertain of people from the other nations and, in general, would look upon them with mistrust until proven otherwise.
Ituha is far more than she appears, or would like to appear, however. Beneath it all she can be a loyal and loving friend. With a soft spot for children and a love of gazing at the stars and moon at night she keeps many things to herself to remain a pillar of strength in the eyes of her village. She finds herself lonely at times but would never admit to it and despite the regular conflicts between her and her mother, Ituha has always admired her strength during the hard times.
Background: Ituha was born in a small costal village to influential parents Kateri and Kosumi. Her father, Kosumi, was one of the most experienced Polar Bear Dog mushers in the village, keeping a team of six Bear Dogs right outside the small family’s igloo. Kosumi and the team routinely made runs from home to the other villages to trade and several times to bring aid to raided villages.
Ituha’s mother, on the other hand, was a skilled craftswoman and, though she was younger than most of the other villagers, she developed a reputation as a source for advice on all manner of subjects. Villagers could count on her for expertly skinned pelts, well prepared food and precisely hand-made tools along with her seemingly never-ending pool of wise words.
Kosumi and Kateri were fairly young at the time of their daughter’s birth and were quiet enthusiastic parents. At the time Ituha was born, there had been a veritable lack of female births in the village and for some time after as well. In the year before and following, however, there were several males born; a few of those boys would become friends of Ituha’s later on.
Little Ituha was a rather loud baby and kept her parents busy, but they loved her no less. Finding that she was easily amused by funny faces they discovered an easy way to keep the little one happy. When Ituha turned two, her father took her along to one of the other villages on his sled, the young girl enjoyed the mini-adventure greatly, but Kateri wasn’t so pleased with the outing and scolded her husband.
As the young girl grew, she became more curious and at times wandered about the village and out of her parent’s supervision. During one of her toddling adventures Ituha visited her father’s Bear Dogs. One had recently had puppies and, not knowing the dangers of coming between the mother and her litter, the young girl reached for one of the furry little creatures. The mother, seeing little Ituha as a threat to her babies, snapped and growled at the girl. Ituha jumped back and fell down in the snow, thoroughly terrified. Sobbing and fearful cries soon attracted many of the villagers to the scene.
Over time, Ituha’s traumatic experience with the Polar Bear Dog would develop into a bit of a phobia that she would be forced to fight often, as her father's proffesion made avoiding the animals impossible. Despite the run-in with the mother Bear Dog, Ituha’s childhood was relatively pleasant. She began to show signs of being a hard worker and around the age of five her mother began to teach her a variety of domestic skills. Ituha proved herself helpful to her family and willing to work, though she seemed to have developed a stubborn streak and insisted on doing her chores in ways different from how her mother or father had originally instructed.
Up until the age of six or seven Ituha remained busy with the tasks her parents presented her with, she had had very limited contact with the other children of the village and when not busy, the girl spent much of her time alone. Kateri and Kosumi became worried about their daughter and encouraged her to play with the other children. With few girls her age around, Ituha soon found roughhousing with the boys to be an enjoyable way to pass the time.
Even when young, Ituha was a bit overweight and was occasionally teased by her friends, though they soon learned that she wasn’t going to take such treatment, even if it wasn’t always meant in an offensive way. Often she would tackle the teasing boys into the snow and pin them until they “pologized”. Most learned to respect her, and she formed genuine friendships with many of the local boys over time. Kosumi found it amusing that his daughter had earned the respect of the boys as an equal, though Kateri, on the other hand, felt Ituha was on the wrong path.
She attempted to persuade her daughter to play with the few girls her own age but Ituha wouldn’t give in and continued to do as she pleased. Ituha was, however, willing to take the time to learn new skills; her father taught her how to fish and catch Crabturtles and her mother began to school her in calligraphy writing and reading. The girl struggled some with the writing, though and it seemed like her hands just didn’t want to make the characters correctly, no matter how hard she tried.
Over the next few years Ituha’s life changed little, the village did suffer a raid, though it had seemed to be more of a strike to promote fear and demoralize the villagers than to really kill anyone. Her daily chores were always done on time, though always done the way Ituha felt they ought to be done, and her studies continued as usual.
Ituha’s life began to change in several ways, however, when she reached her early teen years. She began to notice the boys, whom she’d always thought of as friends, in a different way. They, on the other hand, didn’t seem to treat her much differently and her interactions with the boys became increasingly awkward. Eventually Ituha made an effort to avoid them and turned her attention mostly toward her work around the village.
As time went by Ituha became rather anti-social and made an effort to put up a toughened façade in hopes of avoiding awkward social interactions. The, now teen boys of the village still held their respect for their old friend and tried to include her in their activities but Ituha, by now, felt very confused about just how she was supposed to fit into the community and often turned them down.
With Ituha’s sixteenth birthday approaching, Kateri readjusted her daughter’s chore schedule to keep her around the house more. Kateri felt that she could better prepare Ituha for married life by placing greater domestic responsibilities upon her. Ituha became wise to this scheme though, and a fierce argument broke out between mother and daughter.
Kateri insisted that Ituha was on the wrong path and that she needed to think about her future and make alterations before it was too late. Ituha felt that her mother was attempting to control her and resisted. And, though it was fairly common practice to quickly arrange a marriage for girls around the age of sixteen, Ituha did not believe she was ready for such things. She would likely never admit it, but the girl was frightened about her future as much as her mother worried, just where would she end up?
Fortunately, her father, Kosumi, convinced her mother to drop the subject, at least for a while longer. He felt that Ituha was, perhaps, not ready yet for marriage, much to the girl’s relief. Ituha’s parents had a long talk and eventually decided to wait for at most a year or two in the hope that their daughter might mature some and become more at ease with the idea of a an arranged, or at lest quick, union.
Ituha was still uncertain of her future, she felt that the boys of the village would never see her as anything more than a playmate from their childhood. When she’d been a child, she had sought their acceptance and now, as she reached her seventeenth year, that seemed to be working against her. She wished they would see her as a woman and not simply an old friend. She considered trying to say or do something that might attract attention but never built up the courage to do so. Ituha simply buried herself in her daily tasks and watched the boys she fancied from afar, as they honed their fighting and hunting skills.
Though it did not happen right away, and certainly not without warning, Ituha’s life would take another turn. Rumors and talk of fighting back against the Fire Nation had circulated the village for years, but no one truly believed that such an effort would really be attempted. That is, until Hakoda, the Tribal Chief of all Southern Villages declared that he wished to lead a force of warriors north to aid the Earth Kingdom against the Fire Nation.
With this, the Villages began to prepare their forces, the boys and men trained harder and constructed new weapons, driftwood was collected to fashion boats, food was prepared and cured for the trip, everyone pitched in. Ituha worked hard each day, she searched the rocky beaches and dragged great pieces of driftwood back to the village for the woodworkers to use. After a few months preparation, though, the day to launch had arrived.
As the boats left, Ituha had decidedly mixed feelings. Her father was leaving, as were her friends, and she would miss them all, especially one of the young warriors whom she’d had off and on feelings for over the last few years. On the other hand, with the men leaving, Ituha’s mother would be unable to force her into any sort of prearrange marriage. Another factor would soon become evident as well, with a lack of man power around the Village; Ituha would be allowed many new responsibilities that she would quickly take to.
She was now looked upon to fish, hunt and perform other tasks that had traditionally been left to the men. Suddenly Ituha had direction, purpose, something she could really commit herself to and she shined in her new liberated state. “Men’s work” was new, exciting and drew her interest; she worked hard, toughened up and became increasingly assertive and prideful. As she grew into her new, and much loved responsibilities, she began to hide away personal feelings and thoughts from those around her. As the years passed, she stopped thinking about the boy who’d gone off to war, forsaking the idea of finding love; she devoted herself to her tribe.
Now, at age twenty, as she continues her proud service to her community, Ituha likes to think of herself as a leader and pivotal member of her village, able to hold everything together and provide for her people. She does receive praise and secretly relishes in it, though recently she has begun to wonder what will happen when the warriors return. Will she be forced from her position as a key member of the village? Will her responsibilities and powers be taken away? Deep down, Ituha keeps much to herself; would she be willing to share her inner thoughts and whatnot with anyone? She doesn’t think so.
Sample RP: Ituha stepped out from her tent, the cold polar wind stung her cheeks slightly but the girl paid it no attention. The cold was nothing to her; she had weathered great storms and felt temperatures that, if described, could make an individual from nearly anywhere else in the world shiver at the mere thought.
Now, as she peered into the darkness of early morning, the young woman stretched and stifled a yawn. The night before had been a late one for her, she’d spent several hours making repairs to her Canoe after it had been damaged by a collision with a small berg of ice the day before. She had constructed the small boat herself and was quite proud of it. Roughly ten feet long, the boat was open topped and had room for three people, though Ituha usually went out alone with fishing and crabbing equipment taking up a fair amount of space.
Her mother had insisted that the boat be scrapped but Ituha would do no such thing and felt strongly that she could make the necessary repairs so that her fine little boat could sail the coastal waters once again.
The young woman looked out at the horizon momentarily; the sun wouldn’t be up for another hour and a half or so. Just the way she liked it. Quietly as she could, Ituha padded through the thick snow, moving around to the rear of her tent where the Canoe was kept. There it sat, resting silently, upside down upon a wooden frame to keep it off of the ground and relatively dry.
She reached the boats side and quickly tugged off her right mitten, running a pudgy hand over the area that she’d repaired. Ituha was pleased to feel, more so than see, that the fix had successfully dried. The new wooden panels she had affixed to the hull, covering the gash, seemed to be sufficiently attached by the seaweed derived glue substance she’d used.
Now the real test would begin, she thought, as she replaced her mitten. In what might be perceived as a fairly impressive feat or strength, the young woman reach her arms about the center of the boat and lifted it up off its stand then began shuffling across the snow, out of the village and toward a nearby inlet that fed into the sea.