Post by kei on May 8, 2006 0:44:41 GMT -5
Name: Kei
Age: 19
Gender: Female
Nation: Earth Kingdom
Bender?: No
Physical Appearance: Kei has a dancer's build; slender and fine-boned, with a bit of muscle. She is well developed and stands about 5'4". She is a bit light, but still in a healthy weight range.
Her large, almond-shaped eyes are forest green, and it has been noted that one can see to the depths of her soul simply by looking into them. She wears her expressions openly, unafraid to show people who she really is.
Her fine brown hair goes down to the middle of her back. It is left down and styled longer in the back than the front. She has an even, slightly-tanned complexion. Her facial features are delicate; smaller in form.
Her stance is relaxed, casual. She feels at home with her surroundings. When she moves, she does so with a learned grace from the years of dancing she has dedicated her life to.
Clothing/Armor: Generally, Kei's outfit consists of the following. She wears a forest green skirt of moderate-weight fabric, underneath which are ivory-hued trousers of the same matierial. For her top, she wears a long-sleeved ivory colored top of light fabric with draped sleeves that end at her wrists. Over this, she wears a forest-green overshirt, on which the sleeves go down to about her elbow. These sleeves are not draped. The lower half of the shirt (From the base of the sternum down) is dyed a still darker green. She wears the same black chinese slippers with any outfit. Around her neck is a copper dancer's medallion. On it is engraved the sybmbols for peace, life, energy, and joy.
For less formal occasions and training, Kei usually wears a white kimono top with black trim and black pants. The pants are one width all down the leg so as not to constrict her movement.
Weapons: Accepting that, in this day and age, it is a bad idea not to carry a weapon of some sort, Kei has become proficient in the Bo Staff and carries one whenever she is not dancing. She can use it well in defense or offense.
Personality: Due to her upbringing, Kei has a serene outlook on life. She does her best to remain calm and and is loyal. She hates this war and does whatever she can to remind people of the peace that once was. Being a pacifist, she would rather seek compromise than fight, even if she has been angered. She has a strong will and is unafraid to stand up for her beliefs, which reflect her upbringing. She sees violance as completely unnessesary to life, and believes that those who have commited atrocoties in this war must have no soul. She likes a neat living space because she believes that one's lifestyle reflects what is harbored within their soul, and any kind of messiness tends to make her tense up because she sees it as an insinuation of chaos within.
Background: Born to an Earth Kingdom soldier and his wife, Kei's early years are a story all too common. Her father was often away, and she lived in constant fear of him not returning. The few close friends that she had helped to ease that fear, and she spent as much time with them as seh could, as playing helped to distract her from these thoughts. The young girl had a zeal to learn, and her mother taught her all she knew about reading and writing, as well as some history. Kei, though not understanding all of it, took it in as well as she could. All in all, Kei's life was fairly smooth, but when she was five years old, her worst fears were realized. A messenger came that day and spoke to her mother. That same evening the little girl learned that her father was dead.
For nearly a year, Kei and her mother mourned. Her mother did the best that she could, but her simple weaving did not bring in enough money to support them both. At the age of six, Kei was given to the temple to be raised in a way other than the life of poverty.
She was raised well; unexposed to the warring world; and the nuns gave her a decent education. Every day, the girl, who was in the youngest portion of the age group, would eat a decent breakfast of rice. After the morning meal, they were launched into their studies. Kei learned conventional skills, like reading and writing, in addition to more useful skills, such as cooking and sewing. There were portions of the day set aside for a kind of recess, where the students would mingle, but Kei was not usually a part of these groups. She liked her classes, she loved the templt, but, somehow, Kei knew that something was missing. She found herself increasingly drawn to the music of the temple. That was when she learned about the dancers.
Graceful, beautiful; they seemed like angels to the eight-year-old girl. They were lost in their own world, seeing life as a continuous dance. Someday, this view would become Kei's as well, but for now she only watched as they preformed the sacred dances. One day, she was caught as she practiced the steps she knew in on of the great halls. The dancer who found her was impressed by her passion, and spoke to the nuns, who agreed that such talent should not be wasted. At the age of nine, she was accepted into the dancers' ranks.
Most of the dancers had started at an earlier age than she, and at first Kei was treated with scorn. But she worked hard, asking the dancer who had first discovered her for help in learning the dances.
The dancer, whose name was Miki, took her as an apprentice of sorts, and Kei looked up to her as a kind of surrogate mother. Miko trained Kei to move gracefully, and put her through exercises to test her balance. The streaches that she was put through on a daily basis enhanced her flexibility and allowed her to bend in surprising ways to pull off the dance move correctly.
Every morning, the routine was the same: They rose and ate, then stretched out for thirty minutes. Then they would move into simple dances. As the day wore on, the sequences that they drilled through became more complex, and gradually, they worked through the movements that made up the more complicated sequences. Kei learned from the harsh criticism that followed her through the halls, and sorted out the true statements from the gossip. Using this to improve, she worked harder than ever.
For ten years she worked, and gradually the scorn changed to grudging respect as she rose to a master of the dance and recieved her dancer's medalion. Now she travels between temples for different ceremonies, though she never stops learning the dance.
Sample RP:
Kei stood motionless, illuminated by a shaft of light that shone down through a hole in the domed ceiling. The stone room was deathly still as she took a deep breath and raised her hands above her head. Her wrists crossed, folding her hands into a butterfly position as she rose on her toes and held that stance for a moment, asking the spirits for guidance. Then the first drumbeat sounded, and she gave herself to the dance.
The music vibrated though her body, striking her soul, which responded with its own sweet chord of sound. The music told her to move, and she did so eagerly. Whirling, leaping, crouching, spinning; her flexible body replied to the dance's command. She moved with a grace that was part practice and part instinct. Her brown hair, strung with gold and green ribbons for the occasion, floated about her head. She no longer noticed the audience, for the dance has no consciousness, and she had become the dance.
Gradually, the music faded, and Kei ceased her motion. She returned to her starting position, raising her hands once more in thanks to the spirits as the final note faded. Then she turned and left the platform.
As she stepped outside of the temple, she grabbed a pillar for support as the rush of the dance faded to a dull thrill in the back of her mind, waiting to be awakened at her command. As the dizzy spell faded, the dancer looked up. Then, deciding she needed a walk, she stepped out into the town street.
Age: 19
Gender: Female
Nation: Earth Kingdom
Bender?: No
Physical Appearance: Kei has a dancer's build; slender and fine-boned, with a bit of muscle. She is well developed and stands about 5'4". She is a bit light, but still in a healthy weight range.
Her large, almond-shaped eyes are forest green, and it has been noted that one can see to the depths of her soul simply by looking into them. She wears her expressions openly, unafraid to show people who she really is.
Her fine brown hair goes down to the middle of her back. It is left down and styled longer in the back than the front. She has an even, slightly-tanned complexion. Her facial features are delicate; smaller in form.
Her stance is relaxed, casual. She feels at home with her surroundings. When she moves, she does so with a learned grace from the years of dancing she has dedicated her life to.
Clothing/Armor: Generally, Kei's outfit consists of the following. She wears a forest green skirt of moderate-weight fabric, underneath which are ivory-hued trousers of the same matierial. For her top, she wears a long-sleeved ivory colored top of light fabric with draped sleeves that end at her wrists. Over this, she wears a forest-green overshirt, on which the sleeves go down to about her elbow. These sleeves are not draped. The lower half of the shirt (From the base of the sternum down) is dyed a still darker green. She wears the same black chinese slippers with any outfit. Around her neck is a copper dancer's medallion. On it is engraved the sybmbols for peace, life, energy, and joy.
For less formal occasions and training, Kei usually wears a white kimono top with black trim and black pants. The pants are one width all down the leg so as not to constrict her movement.
Weapons: Accepting that, in this day and age, it is a bad idea not to carry a weapon of some sort, Kei has become proficient in the Bo Staff and carries one whenever she is not dancing. She can use it well in defense or offense.
Personality: Due to her upbringing, Kei has a serene outlook on life. She does her best to remain calm and and is loyal. She hates this war and does whatever she can to remind people of the peace that once was. Being a pacifist, she would rather seek compromise than fight, even if she has been angered. She has a strong will and is unafraid to stand up for her beliefs, which reflect her upbringing. She sees violance as completely unnessesary to life, and believes that those who have commited atrocoties in this war must have no soul. She likes a neat living space because she believes that one's lifestyle reflects what is harbored within their soul, and any kind of messiness tends to make her tense up because she sees it as an insinuation of chaos within.
Background: Born to an Earth Kingdom soldier and his wife, Kei's early years are a story all too common. Her father was often away, and she lived in constant fear of him not returning. The few close friends that she had helped to ease that fear, and she spent as much time with them as seh could, as playing helped to distract her from these thoughts. The young girl had a zeal to learn, and her mother taught her all she knew about reading and writing, as well as some history. Kei, though not understanding all of it, took it in as well as she could. All in all, Kei's life was fairly smooth, but when she was five years old, her worst fears were realized. A messenger came that day and spoke to her mother. That same evening the little girl learned that her father was dead.
For nearly a year, Kei and her mother mourned. Her mother did the best that she could, but her simple weaving did not bring in enough money to support them both. At the age of six, Kei was given to the temple to be raised in a way other than the life of poverty.
She was raised well; unexposed to the warring world; and the nuns gave her a decent education. Every day, the girl, who was in the youngest portion of the age group, would eat a decent breakfast of rice. After the morning meal, they were launched into their studies. Kei learned conventional skills, like reading and writing, in addition to more useful skills, such as cooking and sewing. There were portions of the day set aside for a kind of recess, where the students would mingle, but Kei was not usually a part of these groups. She liked her classes, she loved the templt, but, somehow, Kei knew that something was missing. She found herself increasingly drawn to the music of the temple. That was when she learned about the dancers.
Graceful, beautiful; they seemed like angels to the eight-year-old girl. They were lost in their own world, seeing life as a continuous dance. Someday, this view would become Kei's as well, but for now she only watched as they preformed the sacred dances. One day, she was caught as she practiced the steps she knew in on of the great halls. The dancer who found her was impressed by her passion, and spoke to the nuns, who agreed that such talent should not be wasted. At the age of nine, she was accepted into the dancers' ranks.
Most of the dancers had started at an earlier age than she, and at first Kei was treated with scorn. But she worked hard, asking the dancer who had first discovered her for help in learning the dances.
The dancer, whose name was Miki, took her as an apprentice of sorts, and Kei looked up to her as a kind of surrogate mother. Miko trained Kei to move gracefully, and put her through exercises to test her balance. The streaches that she was put through on a daily basis enhanced her flexibility and allowed her to bend in surprising ways to pull off the dance move correctly.
Every morning, the routine was the same: They rose and ate, then stretched out for thirty minutes. Then they would move into simple dances. As the day wore on, the sequences that they drilled through became more complex, and gradually, they worked through the movements that made up the more complicated sequences. Kei learned from the harsh criticism that followed her through the halls, and sorted out the true statements from the gossip. Using this to improve, she worked harder than ever.
For ten years she worked, and gradually the scorn changed to grudging respect as she rose to a master of the dance and recieved her dancer's medalion. Now she travels between temples for different ceremonies, though she never stops learning the dance.
Sample RP:
Kei stood motionless, illuminated by a shaft of light that shone down through a hole in the domed ceiling. The stone room was deathly still as she took a deep breath and raised her hands above her head. Her wrists crossed, folding her hands into a butterfly position as she rose on her toes and held that stance for a moment, asking the spirits for guidance. Then the first drumbeat sounded, and she gave herself to the dance.
The music vibrated though her body, striking her soul, which responded with its own sweet chord of sound. The music told her to move, and she did so eagerly. Whirling, leaping, crouching, spinning; her flexible body replied to the dance's command. She moved with a grace that was part practice and part instinct. Her brown hair, strung with gold and green ribbons for the occasion, floated about her head. She no longer noticed the audience, for the dance has no consciousness, and she had become the dance.
Gradually, the music faded, and Kei ceased her motion. She returned to her starting position, raising her hands once more in thanks to the spirits as the final note faded. Then she turned and left the platform.
As she stepped outside of the temple, she grabbed a pillar for support as the rush of the dance faded to a dull thrill in the back of her mind, waiting to be awakened at her command. As the dizzy spell faded, the dancer looked up. Then, deciding she needed a walk, she stepped out into the town street.