Post by Sarika on Aug 2, 2012 21:00:28 GMT -5
Name:Sarika Sadik
Age:23
Gender:Female
Nation of Origin:United Republic, Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe heritage.
Bender? What Element?: Yes, a Water bender with very little healing abilities and absolutely no blood bending.
Physical Appearance:A peppy young woman, Sarika is a very traditional water tribe beauty. A mix of Earth and Water heritage, Sarika takes after her Northern Water Tribe mother much more than her Earth kingdom Father. She bears her father's sepia toned skin, though a few shades lighter, and indeed has his tough hide as she's survived a number of falls from her bike onto the hard surface of Republic City's roads a number of times. More often than not her pretty little face is slightly dirty, with rings around her eyes and smudges on her elbows and nose from the dust and grime kicked up by the Satomobiles she rides among.
Her hair is piled high on her head usually, dark umber and thick. While Sarika keeps it long, she certainly styles it in an interesting fashion. Thick bangs are swept from a center part to the left of her face, cut to hang beyond her chin at a sharp angle. Much of her hair is pulled back tightly into a rather large, bulbous sort of top not that sits on the back crown of her skull while the lower half of her hair is divided into three traditionally woven Water Tribe braids, tied off with ribbon at different sections throughout the braids. All together her hair reaches past the small of her back when let down.
Her face is oval in shape, with a small chin that brings her jaw together. Plump lips offer a coy smile which is often painted in copper rose, revealing an rather characteristic missing canine tooth on the left side of her mouth, a souvenir from a run in with a Satomobile during her early days as a cycle messenger. Where as some modern young gals of Republic city might find the missing tooth a tragedy, Sarika finds it endearing and thinks it lends her a tad of sass. she has a very traditional water tribe nose, broad with a flat bridge that gently curves out from her face. Yet there in her wide eyes, rimmed by very thick, feathered eyes lashes is her father's heritage in bright spring green hues.
She has a womanly body, classic in its shape. She has a clearly defined collar bone and her shoulders are strong, but her muscles are rounded by a soft covering of fat. Keeping her back straight, Sarika has a round bosom, that blends smoothly into the curvature of her waist. Her body lacks muscle definition, and she squishes here and there. Yet she takes no shame in it, coming from a blended family of Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom where women were valued not for their delicateness and finesse but for their ability to work in and around boats and the shore. Her lower body is just as strong, perhaps more so, with wide hips and a backside that is accented just so by her pinned up skirts.
Clothing: Sarika is a classy woman at the poorer end of the middle class. None the less, there is no point in being good if you don't look good. One of her favorite outfits is one that she threw together with Ai Fen's advice. Starting off, Sarika wears high collard, light slate grey blouse that hugs her form, lightly patterned with floral embellishment. The sleeves have a very minimal airy poof at the shoulder seam to allow for movement of her arms, but the sheath of fabric sits slight against her upper arm before forming into a petal-sleeve at her elbow. Layered over her blouse is a long, sleeveless qipao the color of maya blue that has simple piping along the collar which is split in a mandarin style to show the grey blouse. Traditional knot-work holds the left-side fold against her breast secure in at least three segments but only two are visible. Around her waist is a wide belt made of interwoven, wide bands of textured fabric, almost a tweed, in in traditional royal blue alternating with a pale taupe for contrast. The interwoven bands result in a corset or obi-like belt with diamonds of alternating color, much like the hilt of some swords.
The qipao mentioned before has been heavily altered by the changing fashions of Republic city and while the top half is very traditional, the bottom skirt which hung normally to her ankles has been pinned up in two places, right above both knees on the outside. The maya blue fabric hangs in large sweeps both in front and behind her, the satin-like jewel tones of the folds catching the light just right when she's out in Republic city's night life. A pair of ivory disks, plane and smooth, sit at the point of each skirt's fold, pining the fabric together with a tuff of white fur hanging from each securely. Under her skirt are Sarika's shapely legs, from years of cycling around Republic City, which she covers in black tights. The ensemble is finished with crisp drove grey boots that have a small kitten heel made of layered wood. they come up to just past her ankle and feature a decorative panel on the front of the show that has tiny tiny silver buttons running around the edge. they have a reinforced toe, the reinforcement panel adding an extra decorative detail to the front of the boots.
While working at Narook's Sarika is forced to endure a rather bland uniform. A lemon cream blouse is worn, both the female and male blouse featuring a fluted collar though the female's collar tends to be rather fluffier with a deeper V-neck than the man's. Over this, a jacket styled off the formal Shen Yi style is worn. The fabric is of quality, and a powder blue in color and the right most panel folds over the left. The lady's uniforms have long, bell-shaped sleeves, while the men's have long straight sleeves and each sleeve, in addition to the collar, is trimmed in a thick 2 inch band of steel blue, lightly stitched with pale thread in the designs of koi fish and cranes. The jacket is fitted around the waist, and Sarika often wears a crisp, white half-apron while serving over the long, straight legged pale cream colored pants.
Sarika prefers to wear short skirts, or dresses that have been pinned up or somewhat altered with tights under them. Top wise, she enjoys a variety of long sleeved and short sleeves with various trim, loving vintage materials and designs from previous fashion turns. She may not be able to afford much, but she does buy quality and Ai Fen sometimes lets her have her out of fashion castoffs.
Equipment?: Sarika runs around Republic City with a cheap, beaten up bicycle that she's painted in wide swaths of dark blue, speckled with flecks of white paint. The bike has many scratches and many dents in it's frames. She's wrapped the handlebars many time, adding in strips of white cloth to the worn leather to make a diamond pattern. The seat is a banana seat with a high curve that provides support when she chooses to ride without hands on the bars. When running deliveries for the noodlery occasionally, Sarika has a messenger bag made of many layers of canvas fabric stitched together. The fabric is a dark coffee brown, and stained and discolored in splotches. A collector of sort, Sarika has sewn buttons and trinkets to the outer flap of the bag including coins from other countries that she's picked up. Her bag consistently smells of stir fry.
Personality: Loud, proud and in charge, Sarika has been described as a water spout. Made out of calm elements, but ready to rock the world. The young woman works hard day and night both as a waitress at Narook's Seaweed Noodlery and as an independent delivery cyclist, often for shadier clients wishing not to attract attention. The busy life style suits this rabid Pro-bending fan who often spends her nights glued to the radio in Narook's kitchen, sometimes balancing one or three orders while waiting for the next call. Sarika, like her name is peppy and cheerful. She always has a smile and a teasing glint in her eye and is more than happy to serve as unequivocal leader in any and all situations. A lover of music and dance, she often twirls her way through the tables and booths at Narook's to her customers, bringing them their trays and dishes with a flourish, She loves to show off.
She tends to also think she's right. All of the time. Just like her grandmother. She rarely apologizes and rarely feels she has a need to. Sadly this tends to extend to her understanding of others' feelings - empathy is not her strong point. She may not understand people's emotional pain, past experiences and why something she said may have caused hurt. Sarika understands physical pain better as she herself had been the unfortunate recipient of a few nasty bumps and bruises and would take the time to heal a wound as best she could. Despite her lack of emotional empathy she is very loyal to her pals, especially her BBF, heiress Ai Fen Fán, and cares greatly about them. Except when the pro-bending championships roll around. You see, Sarika is a fan of such teams as White Falls Wolfbats, the Ember Island Eelhounds and The Harbor Town Hog Monkeys (Her home team). Ai Fen tends to choose those teams EXACTLY opposite of her for some vague and silly reason and the two best friends will go be at each others throats during the Championship season.
Speaking of the gorgeous Tahno, Men, watch out. This rabid probending fan is quiet the flirt and is known for it. She knows how to work those hips of hers and that little smile of hers. Sarika loves to flirt and loves the perks that come with it such as the attention and free dinners - the more money she'll have saved up for herself. She'll gladly slide up to a person of the male persuasion, batting her eyes and asking them to lift something heavy for her. Or if she's waiting tables, she'll sashay about in hopes of a better tip. Watch out for broken hearts!
While Sarika may be bold and that could be a good thing, it leaves her open to foolishness. Sarika is brave.. but brave to the point of stupidity. It hasn't gotten her in trouble yet.. seriously.. but it's bound to. Especially as Republic City becomes darker. She's given little thought to her future, or what she wants to do with her life. she's always loved to doodle and write but has never thought how she might make those into a career. She's not the studious type and lacks skills any sort of honed and trained skills despite crewing small and large fishing vessels, skills which she doesn't even consider because they were just a necessary part of her life. She does enjoy cooking though and is a whiz with her Mother's recipes, some of which she has tossed towards the cooks at Narooks' when they want some authentic water tribe cuisine. They also occasionally let her help in the back during the late night shifts with orders when one of them needs a break or if it's quiet. She lacks that culinary finesse though but the potential is there and for now, she'll deal with waiting tables and harassing the boys in the back.
A water bender by nature, Sarika has had little formal teaching and couldn't follow the proper traditional forms if her life depended on it. Instead, she tends to be very aggressive and direct with her bending, a visual representation of her personality with the water whip being her favorite move. She has little healing skill though her mother did try to each her, Sarika's nature is far to direct for the spiritual aspects of healing anything beyond a small cut or scrape. The Equalist movement doesn't bother Sarika much. She doesn't really see her bending as much more than a fancy party trick since it's been there as long as she can remember. Ai Fen doesn't seem to mind her bending either and she's a Non-Bender so Sarika believes the Equalist movement will probably die out and people will return to their normal lives. It is a shame not everyone's a bender but.. what can you do about it?
Background:Little Sarika was born on the coast of the United Republic in a little old harbor town, aptly named Harbor Town, that had fell on hard times during the war. Her father, Jin Sadik, was a young fisherman working on his father's small fleet of boats to supply the fairly young Republic City with fresh catches of fish. Water tribe immigrants, both from the North and South tribe often came to the Harbor City, unable to find work in Republic City proper as the shores and dockyard were used more for importing and stocking the city than fishing. The daughter of one of these immigrants, a woman by the name of Echuche, caught his eye and slowly the Earth Kingdom fisherman began to try and woo her. Initially discouraged by her staunchly traditionalist father, their romance went on behind the scenes for over a year with Jin spending nearly all of his spare time doing what he could to earn the respect of Echuche's father.
Eventually, he did not want to wait longer. Gathering up a bouquet of tradition panda lillies, he proposed to her one afternoon in the spring. She eagerly accepted, having been smitten by his kindness and humor for Jin took after his father thankfully and never inherited his Mother's snark. They were married that winter as a light snow fell, Euchuche wearing a necklace carved from soapstone. It had taken quiet a while to win over Euchuche's father who frowned upon the Sadiks' despite their bravery during the war as members of the Rebellion. Really, it was the matriarch, a woman by the name of Jialing, who drove him up the wall - She ran around Harbor town like she owned the place.. and was eventually elected Mayor in her sixties.
Their first child came two years later, a little boy, the first of three, named Kundan followed by Devak a year later and the youngest three years later Amaresh. Three strong sons in the Sadik line and all three were terrors to their poor mother as they grew older and Euchuche longed for a daughter. They tried again, and their last child, Sarika, was born in the summer. She was an easy baby, calm, cooing and easily fascinated by her hands. She was a little breath of relief to her stressed mother.
Summers were often spent, just the two of them once her brothers were old enough to accompany their father and grandfather out fishing. Sarika loved to go on walks with her Grandmother who often took her in ostrich horse wagons to the market to buy produce and meat. It was from watching her grandmother haggle that she learned her rather sparky personality. Soon, Sarika was haggling on behalf of her grandmother at the age of four, using her adorableness to win them over. During this time just before school, Sarika revealed her water bending, a trait she must have inherited from her Mother as Jin's family had never shown any bending. Her mother asked some of the Water Tribe citizens who had settled in Harbor Town to teach her daughter the basics, and a local woman who had healed to educate Sarika in healing. Sarika enjoyed her lessons, but was far to distracted to follow them.
Very intelligent, Sarika went to the local harbor town school at around age of five and was in a class with many students all around her same age. The town had not yet adopted a age -division style of teaching despite the growing influx of students and families due to Republic City. She proved to be average in school and to gain many friends. She showed interest in many of the simple sports, playing on local school teams as one of the more competitive children, even participating in local area ostrich horse races. As she grew older, she learned to use this competitiveness to her advantage, always sucking up the teachers and adults and sometimes even tattling on other students. Yet she remained popular, considered one the prettiest girls in the school.
Sarika's brothers meanwhile also attended school but spent many weeks a year out at sea with their Father and Grandfather fishing and eventually all dropped out of school at approximately age of fifteen to peruse various trades. Fishing was the family business.. but Devak had a knack for the business side of things, procuring deals with the tradesmen who took the fish to the Republic City markets. Kundan was going in the complete opposite direction, wanting to leave the life of the tiny village and move out. Anywhere. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do or where he wanted to go but right around the time he turned 19, having no ties to Harbor Town, he took one of the family's ostrich horses and set out. Amaresh really took to the fishing life, but also to the sailing aspect of it, building himself a small, two man boat and constantly is out catching the wind in the Mo Ce Sea.
Sarika became a sister in law twice in a period of four years as her brothers settled down. Devak married an Earth Tribe woman and then moved to Republic city as a representative for the fishing union of Harbor Town. Amaresh stayed local, settling down with a fine chef who kept him full and happy, just as he like. Sarika as the baby of the family, was, of course, going to be the heart breaker. At the age of 20, having shunned suggestions from her mother to get married, decided to pack her backs and leave Harbor Town for the glorious Republic City. Her Grandmother and Grandfather encouraged her to go, both having left their families at early ages during the waning years of the 100 year war to travel, to learn, and to do whatever they could for themselves and their countries. It took many nights of convincing for Jin and Euchuche to allow their baby girl to go but in the end, they sent her off with Devak after a visit.. in his brand new Satomobile. Sarika did not get to drive.
The city was incredibly frightening and wonderful all the same time. Overwhelmed at first, Devak and his new wife allowed Sarika to room with them for a number of months and Devak was able to use his connections to secure his little sister a waitressing job at the premium place for Water Tribe Cusine, Narook's Seaweed Noodlery. Sarika loved it immediately, bantering back and forth with the customers and catching Pro-bending matches in the back kitchen with the cooks and dish washers. She had known of pro-bending back home in Harbor Town, after all they had their own team called the Hog Monkeys, but Radio wasn't nearly as prevalent and the signals sometimes had trouble reaching the small port. Sarika became enraptured with the sport, which was incredibly fortunate as the water benders of the sport tend to enjoy the Noodlery. Within six months, using both her savings, as well as a little help from Devak, Sarika was able to rent a small studio apartment above the Noodlery. She's furnished it in a eclectic mix of antique Earth Kingdom furniture, borrowing a few of the worn out Water Tribe decorations from Narook's. A year later, she was able to afford a bicycle as her transportation around the city and with a custom paint job, Sarika was out causing foolishness and mayhem.
Enter Ai Fen. The best friends met at the first Pro-bending game Sarika was able to attend. Ai Fen was sitting only a few seats from Sarika, dressed rather modesty but carrying all the grace of a heiress. The game just happened to be Kolau Komodo Rhinos vs. the Harbor Town Hog Monkeys. The two young ladies were passionately getting into it, rooting their individual teams to victory all while shooting glares at each other when they shouted over the other. The Kolau team won that night, with Ai Fen rubbing it in Sarika's face but the water bender kept squabbling with her over how the referees favored the Komodo Rhinos and how this move and that move should have been fanned. Finally, the two made it outside the Arena.. and the argument stopped briefly for Ai Fen to offer Sarika a ride back home, which Sarika accepted. The fighting resumed.
And that's how the two girls became BBFs and sparring partners when the Championships were on the line.
Sarika meets up with Ai Fen at least once or twice a week now and has for the past year or so. The two often eat out, a lot of times on Ai Fen's tab, for which Sarika feels very guilty about (for about all of five minutes), and many times at the Noodlery. They enjoy walking about the city, with Sarika causing trouble and Ai fen driving the 'getaway' Satomobile. Sometimes Ai Fen has brought Sarika to a few upscale events and in return, Sarika drags Ai Fen to the street parties her neighborhood holds during the summer months. She likes to have Ai Fen up to her studio apartment where they listen to the radio if they can't get tickets for that night's events.
Between Pro-bending, waiting tables at Narook's (BUT NEVER TAHNO'S!) and nearly causing street races with Ai Fen, Sarika has found a pretty happy niche in life. She's in no hurry to move up from her job, entirely unsure what she could do as she has poor water bending skills, and only a family background in fishery. She still thinks of herself as rather childish and truth to be told.. is avoiding the real world. Until the real world hits, she'll be around serving bluefish and beer.
Sample RP:
The wind whipped through her hair, her bangs stringing out against the curvature of her face while her braids, bandaged in bright maya blue ribbon, strung out behind her. She rode easily along, without much of a care through the streets, Sato mobiles on her left. Sarika was sitting upwards instead of leaning over the handlebars, her arms dangling at her side as she cruised along on her beat up bicycle. The sun was warm and inviting, cycling through the shadows cast by the tall buildings of the City. The bike's front wheel swung back and forth on the thin tire, her body dipping to side and side to counteract the turns.
Off of work by early afternoon, due to covering an early morning shift for a co-worker, she had received a telegram from Ai Fen saying that she had tickets to tonight's game. Spirits love that girl and her one-track ditzy little mind! Floating about on cloud 9, Sarika was humming a little ditty to herself, not even watching where she was going as usual through her grime coated goggles. The streets of Republic City were congested as usual with Sato Mobiles running back and forth, and folks strolling along the sidewalks. Even three years later, the City was so much different than her old home of Harbor Town. According to her Grandmama and Grandpapa, Harbor Town was still pretty much the same despite the drastic changes that had taken place in the United Republic through out the years. She smiled, thinking of the salty air that she could smell streaming through her sea-side home at all hours. Here in Republic City, only if the wind was blowing right did she ever get a good smell of the salty air.
A sudden honk kicked her out of her thoughts and Sarika lurched forward to grab at her wide handlebars as her bike wove from side to side wildly, threatening to crash. Her heart started pounding instantly as she looked to her left side. A Sato Mobile driven by a long faced man had nearly hit her, deliberately driving close to her. He was laughing through his rearview mirror, having nearly splashed her with dingy water. Her upper lip curled into a sneer , her nose twitching as she released the handlebars once more. With her bike under control, Sarika inhaled deeply, her hands now poised flat and downward infront of her. Her waterbending tingled inside her and she could feel the pull of the water. She drew up a thin rope of the dingy, khaki colored water with one hand rising up her head, the other hand pulled at the center of the water, curling it up and snaping the rope from the pool. With her hand clinched into a fist, Sarika swung back over her shoulder and then cracked the water whip towards the driver's SatoMobile. The water cut through the air in a thin stream, held together by the spiritual, as it reached towards the back window. The water splashed against the window with a loud splurt, not damaging the Satomobile much to Sarika's chargin.
She frowned as she released the water and the stream fell to droplets as it hit the street. The car sped off, faster than she could peddle and the water bender let herself admit defeat this one time. Her shoulders drooped with a sigh, and Sarika lifted a hand to brush back her bangs from her face. "Damn drivers.. "
Age:23
Gender:Female
Nation of Origin:United Republic, Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe heritage.
Bender? What Element?: Yes, a Water bender with very little healing abilities and absolutely no blood bending.
Physical Appearance:A peppy young woman, Sarika is a very traditional water tribe beauty. A mix of Earth and Water heritage, Sarika takes after her Northern Water Tribe mother much more than her Earth kingdom Father. She bears her father's sepia toned skin, though a few shades lighter, and indeed has his tough hide as she's survived a number of falls from her bike onto the hard surface of Republic City's roads a number of times. More often than not her pretty little face is slightly dirty, with rings around her eyes and smudges on her elbows and nose from the dust and grime kicked up by the Satomobiles she rides among.
Her hair is piled high on her head usually, dark umber and thick. While Sarika keeps it long, she certainly styles it in an interesting fashion. Thick bangs are swept from a center part to the left of her face, cut to hang beyond her chin at a sharp angle. Much of her hair is pulled back tightly into a rather large, bulbous sort of top not that sits on the back crown of her skull while the lower half of her hair is divided into three traditionally woven Water Tribe braids, tied off with ribbon at different sections throughout the braids. All together her hair reaches past the small of her back when let down.
Her face is oval in shape, with a small chin that brings her jaw together. Plump lips offer a coy smile which is often painted in copper rose, revealing an rather characteristic missing canine tooth on the left side of her mouth, a souvenir from a run in with a Satomobile during her early days as a cycle messenger. Where as some modern young gals of Republic city might find the missing tooth a tragedy, Sarika finds it endearing and thinks it lends her a tad of sass. she has a very traditional water tribe nose, broad with a flat bridge that gently curves out from her face. Yet there in her wide eyes, rimmed by very thick, feathered eyes lashes is her father's heritage in bright spring green hues.
She has a womanly body, classic in its shape. She has a clearly defined collar bone and her shoulders are strong, but her muscles are rounded by a soft covering of fat. Keeping her back straight, Sarika has a round bosom, that blends smoothly into the curvature of her waist. Her body lacks muscle definition, and she squishes here and there. Yet she takes no shame in it, coming from a blended family of Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom where women were valued not for their delicateness and finesse but for their ability to work in and around boats and the shore. Her lower body is just as strong, perhaps more so, with wide hips and a backside that is accented just so by her pinned up skirts.
Clothing: Sarika is a classy woman at the poorer end of the middle class. None the less, there is no point in being good if you don't look good. One of her favorite outfits is one that she threw together with Ai Fen's advice. Starting off, Sarika wears high collard, light slate grey blouse that hugs her form, lightly patterned with floral embellishment. The sleeves have a very minimal airy poof at the shoulder seam to allow for movement of her arms, but the sheath of fabric sits slight against her upper arm before forming into a petal-sleeve at her elbow. Layered over her blouse is a long, sleeveless qipao the color of maya blue that has simple piping along the collar which is split in a mandarin style to show the grey blouse. Traditional knot-work holds the left-side fold against her breast secure in at least three segments but only two are visible. Around her waist is a wide belt made of interwoven, wide bands of textured fabric, almost a tweed, in in traditional royal blue alternating with a pale taupe for contrast. The interwoven bands result in a corset or obi-like belt with diamonds of alternating color, much like the hilt of some swords.
The qipao mentioned before has been heavily altered by the changing fashions of Republic city and while the top half is very traditional, the bottom skirt which hung normally to her ankles has been pinned up in two places, right above both knees on the outside. The maya blue fabric hangs in large sweeps both in front and behind her, the satin-like jewel tones of the folds catching the light just right when she's out in Republic city's night life. A pair of ivory disks, plane and smooth, sit at the point of each skirt's fold, pining the fabric together with a tuff of white fur hanging from each securely. Under her skirt are Sarika's shapely legs, from years of cycling around Republic City, which she covers in black tights. The ensemble is finished with crisp drove grey boots that have a small kitten heel made of layered wood. they come up to just past her ankle and feature a decorative panel on the front of the show that has tiny tiny silver buttons running around the edge. they have a reinforced toe, the reinforcement panel adding an extra decorative detail to the front of the boots.
While working at Narook's Sarika is forced to endure a rather bland uniform. A lemon cream blouse is worn, both the female and male blouse featuring a fluted collar though the female's collar tends to be rather fluffier with a deeper V-neck than the man's. Over this, a jacket styled off the formal Shen Yi style is worn. The fabric is of quality, and a powder blue in color and the right most panel folds over the left. The lady's uniforms have long, bell-shaped sleeves, while the men's have long straight sleeves and each sleeve, in addition to the collar, is trimmed in a thick 2 inch band of steel blue, lightly stitched with pale thread in the designs of koi fish and cranes. The jacket is fitted around the waist, and Sarika often wears a crisp, white half-apron while serving over the long, straight legged pale cream colored pants.
Sarika prefers to wear short skirts, or dresses that have been pinned up or somewhat altered with tights under them. Top wise, she enjoys a variety of long sleeved and short sleeves with various trim, loving vintage materials and designs from previous fashion turns. She may not be able to afford much, but she does buy quality and Ai Fen sometimes lets her have her out of fashion castoffs.
Equipment?: Sarika runs around Republic City with a cheap, beaten up bicycle that she's painted in wide swaths of dark blue, speckled with flecks of white paint. The bike has many scratches and many dents in it's frames. She's wrapped the handlebars many time, adding in strips of white cloth to the worn leather to make a diamond pattern. The seat is a banana seat with a high curve that provides support when she chooses to ride without hands on the bars. When running deliveries for the noodlery occasionally, Sarika has a messenger bag made of many layers of canvas fabric stitched together. The fabric is a dark coffee brown, and stained and discolored in splotches. A collector of sort, Sarika has sewn buttons and trinkets to the outer flap of the bag including coins from other countries that she's picked up. Her bag consistently smells of stir fry.
Personality: Loud, proud and in charge, Sarika has been described as a water spout. Made out of calm elements, but ready to rock the world. The young woman works hard day and night both as a waitress at Narook's Seaweed Noodlery and as an independent delivery cyclist, often for shadier clients wishing not to attract attention. The busy life style suits this rabid Pro-bending fan who often spends her nights glued to the radio in Narook's kitchen, sometimes balancing one or three orders while waiting for the next call. Sarika, like her name is peppy and cheerful. She always has a smile and a teasing glint in her eye and is more than happy to serve as unequivocal leader in any and all situations. A lover of music and dance, she often twirls her way through the tables and booths at Narook's to her customers, bringing them their trays and dishes with a flourish, She loves to show off.
She tends to also think she's right. All of the time. Just like her grandmother. She rarely apologizes and rarely feels she has a need to. Sadly this tends to extend to her understanding of others' feelings - empathy is not her strong point. She may not understand people's emotional pain, past experiences and why something she said may have caused hurt. Sarika understands physical pain better as she herself had been the unfortunate recipient of a few nasty bumps and bruises and would take the time to heal a wound as best she could. Despite her lack of emotional empathy she is very loyal to her pals, especially her BBF, heiress Ai Fen Fán, and cares greatly about them. Except when the pro-bending championships roll around. You see, Sarika is a fan of such teams as White Falls Wolfbats, the Ember Island Eelhounds and The Harbor Town Hog Monkeys (Her home team). Ai Fen tends to choose those teams EXACTLY opposite of her for some vague and silly reason and the two best friends will go be at each others throats during the Championship season.
Speaking of the gorgeous Tahno, Men, watch out. This rabid probending fan is quiet the flirt and is known for it. She knows how to work those hips of hers and that little smile of hers. Sarika loves to flirt and loves the perks that come with it such as the attention and free dinners - the more money she'll have saved up for herself. She'll gladly slide up to a person of the male persuasion, batting her eyes and asking them to lift something heavy for her. Or if she's waiting tables, she'll sashay about in hopes of a better tip. Watch out for broken hearts!
While Sarika may be bold and that could be a good thing, it leaves her open to foolishness. Sarika is brave.. but brave to the point of stupidity. It hasn't gotten her in trouble yet.. seriously.. but it's bound to. Especially as Republic City becomes darker. She's given little thought to her future, or what she wants to do with her life. she's always loved to doodle and write but has never thought how she might make those into a career. She's not the studious type and lacks skills any sort of honed and trained skills despite crewing small and large fishing vessels, skills which she doesn't even consider because they were just a necessary part of her life. She does enjoy cooking though and is a whiz with her Mother's recipes, some of which she has tossed towards the cooks at Narooks' when they want some authentic water tribe cuisine. They also occasionally let her help in the back during the late night shifts with orders when one of them needs a break or if it's quiet. She lacks that culinary finesse though but the potential is there and for now, she'll deal with waiting tables and harassing the boys in the back.
A water bender by nature, Sarika has had little formal teaching and couldn't follow the proper traditional forms if her life depended on it. Instead, she tends to be very aggressive and direct with her bending, a visual representation of her personality with the water whip being her favorite move. She has little healing skill though her mother did try to each her, Sarika's nature is far to direct for the spiritual aspects of healing anything beyond a small cut or scrape. The Equalist movement doesn't bother Sarika much. She doesn't really see her bending as much more than a fancy party trick since it's been there as long as she can remember. Ai Fen doesn't seem to mind her bending either and she's a Non-Bender so Sarika believes the Equalist movement will probably die out and people will return to their normal lives. It is a shame not everyone's a bender but.. what can you do about it?
Background:Little Sarika was born on the coast of the United Republic in a little old harbor town, aptly named Harbor Town, that had fell on hard times during the war. Her father, Jin Sadik, was a young fisherman working on his father's small fleet of boats to supply the fairly young Republic City with fresh catches of fish. Water tribe immigrants, both from the North and South tribe often came to the Harbor City, unable to find work in Republic City proper as the shores and dockyard were used more for importing and stocking the city than fishing. The daughter of one of these immigrants, a woman by the name of Echuche, caught his eye and slowly the Earth Kingdom fisherman began to try and woo her. Initially discouraged by her staunchly traditionalist father, their romance went on behind the scenes for over a year with Jin spending nearly all of his spare time doing what he could to earn the respect of Echuche's father.
Eventually, he did not want to wait longer. Gathering up a bouquet of tradition panda lillies, he proposed to her one afternoon in the spring. She eagerly accepted, having been smitten by his kindness and humor for Jin took after his father thankfully and never inherited his Mother's snark. They were married that winter as a light snow fell, Euchuche wearing a necklace carved from soapstone. It had taken quiet a while to win over Euchuche's father who frowned upon the Sadiks' despite their bravery during the war as members of the Rebellion. Really, it was the matriarch, a woman by the name of Jialing, who drove him up the wall - She ran around Harbor town like she owned the place.. and was eventually elected Mayor in her sixties.
Their first child came two years later, a little boy, the first of three, named Kundan followed by Devak a year later and the youngest three years later Amaresh. Three strong sons in the Sadik line and all three were terrors to their poor mother as they grew older and Euchuche longed for a daughter. They tried again, and their last child, Sarika, was born in the summer. She was an easy baby, calm, cooing and easily fascinated by her hands. She was a little breath of relief to her stressed mother.
Summers were often spent, just the two of them once her brothers were old enough to accompany their father and grandfather out fishing. Sarika loved to go on walks with her Grandmother who often took her in ostrich horse wagons to the market to buy produce and meat. It was from watching her grandmother haggle that she learned her rather sparky personality. Soon, Sarika was haggling on behalf of her grandmother at the age of four, using her adorableness to win them over. During this time just before school, Sarika revealed her water bending, a trait she must have inherited from her Mother as Jin's family had never shown any bending. Her mother asked some of the Water Tribe citizens who had settled in Harbor Town to teach her daughter the basics, and a local woman who had healed to educate Sarika in healing. Sarika enjoyed her lessons, but was far to distracted to follow them.
Very intelligent, Sarika went to the local harbor town school at around age of five and was in a class with many students all around her same age. The town had not yet adopted a age -division style of teaching despite the growing influx of students and families due to Republic City. She proved to be average in school and to gain many friends. She showed interest in many of the simple sports, playing on local school teams as one of the more competitive children, even participating in local area ostrich horse races. As she grew older, she learned to use this competitiveness to her advantage, always sucking up the teachers and adults and sometimes even tattling on other students. Yet she remained popular, considered one the prettiest girls in the school.
Sarika's brothers meanwhile also attended school but spent many weeks a year out at sea with their Father and Grandfather fishing and eventually all dropped out of school at approximately age of fifteen to peruse various trades. Fishing was the family business.. but Devak had a knack for the business side of things, procuring deals with the tradesmen who took the fish to the Republic City markets. Kundan was going in the complete opposite direction, wanting to leave the life of the tiny village and move out. Anywhere. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do or where he wanted to go but right around the time he turned 19, having no ties to Harbor Town, he took one of the family's ostrich horses and set out. Amaresh really took to the fishing life, but also to the sailing aspect of it, building himself a small, two man boat and constantly is out catching the wind in the Mo Ce Sea.
Sarika became a sister in law twice in a period of four years as her brothers settled down. Devak married an Earth Tribe woman and then moved to Republic city as a representative for the fishing union of Harbor Town. Amaresh stayed local, settling down with a fine chef who kept him full and happy, just as he like. Sarika as the baby of the family, was, of course, going to be the heart breaker. At the age of 20, having shunned suggestions from her mother to get married, decided to pack her backs and leave Harbor Town for the glorious Republic City. Her Grandmother and Grandfather encouraged her to go, both having left their families at early ages during the waning years of the 100 year war to travel, to learn, and to do whatever they could for themselves and their countries. It took many nights of convincing for Jin and Euchuche to allow their baby girl to go but in the end, they sent her off with Devak after a visit.. in his brand new Satomobile. Sarika did not get to drive.
The city was incredibly frightening and wonderful all the same time. Overwhelmed at first, Devak and his new wife allowed Sarika to room with them for a number of months and Devak was able to use his connections to secure his little sister a waitressing job at the premium place for Water Tribe Cusine, Narook's Seaweed Noodlery. Sarika loved it immediately, bantering back and forth with the customers and catching Pro-bending matches in the back kitchen with the cooks and dish washers. She had known of pro-bending back home in Harbor Town, after all they had their own team called the Hog Monkeys, but Radio wasn't nearly as prevalent and the signals sometimes had trouble reaching the small port. Sarika became enraptured with the sport, which was incredibly fortunate as the water benders of the sport tend to enjoy the Noodlery. Within six months, using both her savings, as well as a little help from Devak, Sarika was able to rent a small studio apartment above the Noodlery. She's furnished it in a eclectic mix of antique Earth Kingdom furniture, borrowing a few of the worn out Water Tribe decorations from Narook's. A year later, she was able to afford a bicycle as her transportation around the city and with a custom paint job, Sarika was out causing foolishness and mayhem.
Enter Ai Fen. The best friends met at the first Pro-bending game Sarika was able to attend. Ai Fen was sitting only a few seats from Sarika, dressed rather modesty but carrying all the grace of a heiress. The game just happened to be Kolau Komodo Rhinos vs. the Harbor Town Hog Monkeys. The two young ladies were passionately getting into it, rooting their individual teams to victory all while shooting glares at each other when they shouted over the other. The Kolau team won that night, with Ai Fen rubbing it in Sarika's face but the water bender kept squabbling with her over how the referees favored the Komodo Rhinos and how this move and that move should have been fanned. Finally, the two made it outside the Arena.. and the argument stopped briefly for Ai Fen to offer Sarika a ride back home, which Sarika accepted. The fighting resumed.
And that's how the two girls became BBFs and sparring partners when the Championships were on the line.
Sarika meets up with Ai Fen at least once or twice a week now and has for the past year or so. The two often eat out, a lot of times on Ai Fen's tab, for which Sarika feels very guilty about (for about all of five minutes), and many times at the Noodlery. They enjoy walking about the city, with Sarika causing trouble and Ai fen driving the 'getaway' Satomobile. Sometimes Ai Fen has brought Sarika to a few upscale events and in return, Sarika drags Ai Fen to the street parties her neighborhood holds during the summer months. She likes to have Ai Fen up to her studio apartment where they listen to the radio if they can't get tickets for that night's events.
Between Pro-bending, waiting tables at Narook's (BUT NEVER TAHNO'S!) and nearly causing street races with Ai Fen, Sarika has found a pretty happy niche in life. She's in no hurry to move up from her job, entirely unsure what she could do as she has poor water bending skills, and only a family background in fishery. She still thinks of herself as rather childish and truth to be told.. is avoiding the real world. Until the real world hits, she'll be around serving bluefish and beer.
Sample RP:
The wind whipped through her hair, her bangs stringing out against the curvature of her face while her braids, bandaged in bright maya blue ribbon, strung out behind her. She rode easily along, without much of a care through the streets, Sato mobiles on her left. Sarika was sitting upwards instead of leaning over the handlebars, her arms dangling at her side as she cruised along on her beat up bicycle. The sun was warm and inviting, cycling through the shadows cast by the tall buildings of the City. The bike's front wheel swung back and forth on the thin tire, her body dipping to side and side to counteract the turns.
Off of work by early afternoon, due to covering an early morning shift for a co-worker, she had received a telegram from Ai Fen saying that she had tickets to tonight's game. Spirits love that girl and her one-track ditzy little mind! Floating about on cloud 9, Sarika was humming a little ditty to herself, not even watching where she was going as usual through her grime coated goggles. The streets of Republic City were congested as usual with Sato Mobiles running back and forth, and folks strolling along the sidewalks. Even three years later, the City was so much different than her old home of Harbor Town. According to her Grandmama and Grandpapa, Harbor Town was still pretty much the same despite the drastic changes that had taken place in the United Republic through out the years. She smiled, thinking of the salty air that she could smell streaming through her sea-side home at all hours. Here in Republic City, only if the wind was blowing right did she ever get a good smell of the salty air.
A sudden honk kicked her out of her thoughts and Sarika lurched forward to grab at her wide handlebars as her bike wove from side to side wildly, threatening to crash. Her heart started pounding instantly as she looked to her left side. A Sato Mobile driven by a long faced man had nearly hit her, deliberately driving close to her. He was laughing through his rearview mirror, having nearly splashed her with dingy water. Her upper lip curled into a sneer , her nose twitching as she released the handlebars once more. With her bike under control, Sarika inhaled deeply, her hands now poised flat and downward infront of her. Her waterbending tingled inside her and she could feel the pull of the water. She drew up a thin rope of the dingy, khaki colored water with one hand rising up her head, the other hand pulled at the center of the water, curling it up and snaping the rope from the pool. With her hand clinched into a fist, Sarika swung back over her shoulder and then cracked the water whip towards the driver's SatoMobile. The water cut through the air in a thin stream, held together by the spiritual, as it reached towards the back window. The water splashed against the window with a loud splurt, not damaging the Satomobile much to Sarika's chargin.
She frowned as she released the water and the stream fell to droplets as it hit the street. The car sped off, faster than she could peddle and the water bender let herself admit defeat this one time. Her shoulders drooped with a sigh, and Sarika lifted a hand to brush back her bangs from her face. "Damn drivers.. "
