Post by Rei Misora on Aug 3, 2012 16:29:52 GMT -5
Name: Rei Misora
Age: 23
Gender: Female
Nation of Origin: Fire Nation
Bender? What Element?: Yes, Fire
Fighting Style - Her firebending form is evasive, and very acrobatic both in practice and concept. When engaged, she utilizes parkour, bouncing around in high or awkward places that a lot of people would be afraid to go. She is extremely light and agile. She knows how to land, and how to take a fall. Her firebending can aid with this as well. She has been known to use jets of fire to enhance her jumping ability, both in height and distance covered - Or to cushion an impact between her body and another object. She makes full use of her terrain, and can easily run up walls and do back flips and other tricks off of them. Instead of taking an all-out-offensive route and blasting the crap out of her opponent, she likes to let them make mistakes, and she capitalizes when they do.
In addition to being evasive, she is quite capable of parting fire with her own firebending, and using fire barriers against other kinds of attacks, whether it be as simple as someone throwing a rock at her, or an enemy blasting her with their own bending. She can redirect lightning, but refuses to learn how to conjure it herself. She adopted a technique where she uses fire as a distraction, or blinding aid and either flees or improves her position. The brightest flames burn at the lowest temperature, and she's taken full advantage of this.
She prefers non lethal, non injuring abilities, but I suppose in a life or death situation, or to save another person, she could be forced into more direct firebending blasts and streams. She has been trained for such. In such an event, her high spirited temper would likely take over, and she wouldn't really be Rei anymore. At her core, that isn't the person she aspires to be. Everyone has their limits though.
She shows no bias when training her students. She shows them everything firebending can do. But she advises them to be aware of their surroundings, so that they don't damage themselves, or other people. Currently she's trying to learn how to stay in the air on jets of fire, but last time she tried it she sprained her wrist on a hard fall to the ground.
Physical Appearance:
Rei is of moderate height, and has a lanky, mildly boney, and almost anorexic look to her. Like she doesn't quite eat enough. She's a light, thin young woman with a small bust and little to no bum. Despite her relatively small girl parts, she has smooth feminine features. Her hair is long, raven and straight, and goes down to her bum. Or rather, lack of bum. It goes down to where her bum would be. She is known to keep it in place with a red, fire nation themed, bow, which keeps her hair from flopping over her head and getting in her face too much, and aside from that she just lets it hang. Her pale skin is virtually flawless, save for a few scrapes on her elbows and knees from falling down a lot in training. Her face is cute, and relentlessly round. Her face is one of the few soft places on her body. Even when she isn't smiling, it looks like she could be. This makes her approachable, especially to children - as well as men. Her lips are full, and she wears modern make up in moderation; usually rocking a light, pink lipstick and modest purple eyeshadow to compliment her bright golden eyes. The mascara she uses looks natural, but feels oily to the touch. Usually though, Rei is locked into training, and has little time for self awareness.
Clothing:
From top to bottom, her white lotus sentry style work uniform is as follows. It consists of headgear, namely a a padded hood, with it's most prominent defense at about ear level all the way around the head. In the form of a metal crested headband, this defense is intended to protect her ears and temples from strikes to the head, and the padded hood is meant to curb some impact from blunt force trauma, while maintaining mobility and flexibility. The crest curves and becomes larger at the center of her forehead, downward over the bridge of her nose, and upward, forming a merged diamond formation. At the very center of this, is a round flower insignia, supposedly of the flower her organization is named after.
The hood merges with the rest of her outfit, albeit underneath her rounded piling, which is white and similarly flower decorated. It looks like a giant white flower, and due to Rei's lanky body, spans well over her shoulders, fully concealing them. The piling is a contrast to most of her outfit, which is predominantly blue with white as a secondary color. There is no blue on the shoulder covering at all, just silky platinum with flakes of a lighter, almost white gray. The piling isn't attached to the outfit, it generally floats and moves just a bit slower than Rei does, only serving it's purpose as a functional clothing when she is standing still or walking. She often takes if off in combat or training because it tends to blow up in her face and contest her quick, concise style.
The rest of the robe is the same color as the hood, a night sky color, with the same silvery platinum color as the piling on the forearm and shin armor, as well as her belt. Her boots are formed from these two colors as well, with the silver on the treads and heels, and the blue covering the front and sides. Overall, the nightsky fabricated portions of the robe hang and move as Rei does, and the silvery armor portions are very form fitting and solid. They provide actual armor for her, despite being exactly the same color as the fabric piling.
Even though the white lotus has that strict dress code, underneath that robe she can wear what she wants. In her hair, she rocks a bright red bow, to show that she is fire nation. The bow stays, always. No matter what she is wearing. And when I say its red, I mean FF0000 red. She doesn't mess around with her bow.
Her undercover field outfit is a darker blue than her sentry outfit, it is almost black, and is a martial arts style of robe, with a like colored shirt and underwear underneath. She wears a soft red martial arts belt that matches her bow, and ties it with a knot and both strands hanging down at the same length. Without the belt, the robe would open on it's own. Her pants the same same dark color, and are ultra light and form fitting, unlike the robe which just kind of droops.
For the summer, she wears what she would in the fire nation, bright hued t-shirts and skirts in her nation's colors, and wide aviator style sunglasses that cover a good portion of her head. For more casual events, her outfit can really range from a dress to slacks, sometimes a sweater if it gets foggy and chilly.
It was winter when she went to republic city, and they don't really have clothing for snow in the fire nation due to it's temperate climate. Upon arrival, she purchased a burgandy trenchcoat, which was the closest to red she could find. It has a fur lining from the water tribes, dyed an imperial purple for the modern woman in republic city. She wears this coat over basically anything, and usually pairs it with a scarlet cotton toque and burgandy fur-lined snow boots as well.
Equipment?: She travels light, and aside from food, maps, and other situational traveling supplies, is very simple. Situational traveling supplies might include a tent or sleeping bag if she's leaving the city, or a boat if she's leaving by sea. But because her outpost is on an island, she has little use for these items on a day to day basis. All these supplies are provided free of charge by the order, and they come in order colors, white and faded blue.
Personality:
Rei Misora is a charismatic young lady, quite sociable and talkative in recent years. She was pretty shy in grade school, but her year in university lead to a lot of new friends, parties, and a new found confidence - and so she's blossomed into a bright rose of approachability, especially to men. Rei is quite the little flirt, and has no qualms about using her charms to her advantage - whether it be during missions, or for her own superficial personal agendas.
Because of her upbeat attitude, children love her, and she loves kids too! Around her students, she is a confident, albeit fun authority figure. She shows no bias in class, and she makes a marvelous, fascinating teacher. Although it's true that a lot of the boys just sit and stare at her, her cute voice is mesmerizing, even hypnotic in many regards, and her students tend to succeed at greater percentages than others.
After her recent visit to Republic City, coupled with her degree in psychology, she has considered eventually representing the fire nation on the council. She has a dynamic interest in politics and law, and has the silver tongue to pull it off.
She is afraid of hurting other people, and losing her cool, she is afraid that it's possible one of her students will get hurt in training. She's also afraid of being alone. As a social butterfly, she relies a lot on the feedback of others.
She likes warm weather, and ironically, snow. But she dislikes the cold weather that comes with snow, so she'd rather see it out a window. She likes a little bit of alcohol once in a while (or a lot of it), and she dislikes people who abuse their bending. She dislikes Amon, due to his hidden identity and cowardice tactics. But she respects the general disposition of the equalists. It would be pretty hard for someone to be burnt with firebending, or bloodbended if bending didn't exist.
That being said, she will still go toe to toe with them, because at a higher level, she believes that it's the person who is in control, not the person's talents. She will protect her lotus brothers and sisters with everything she has, and would die for any one of her students.
Background:
She was born in Fire Fountain City. Satomobiles, planes, and large vessels were every day norms for her, growing up - but her family was far too poor to afford such things. Parents are both poor working class, with her mother making the bulk of their income - which was spent on bills and taxes and clothing. Her mother works at the powerplant, using firebending on coals and lightning bending in the generator. Her dad wasn't actually her biological father, but he was, in her opinion, the best man she knew. He is a non-bender, and he only worked part time until recently. He hunted and fished, and although he sold some of it, a lot of the time it was used to put food on the table. Sometimes he would get lucky and be able to trade it for wine or vegetables and bread. In any case, until recently he did that full time so that he could be home when Rei got home from school. He would do dad things like taking her out in the rickety boat they managed to buy, or swimming. Most nights though, he just made supper for His wife and Rei, and helped Rei with her homework. Unfortunately, he wasn't a terribly academic man, and she'd be better off without him doing most of the answers for her.
She never much liked school, she was much more interested in firebending. It wasn't because she liked fighting, it was because she admired her mother, and the woman used firebending every day just to keep things together. Rei didn't get to see much of her mother until after graduating. A lingering depression from that caused her grades to sink, and she found herself cutting class and hanging out with boys, being a real tomboy herself. She was only ten, so it wasn't romantic or anything. She failed grade six because she didn't care.
There was a school for firebenders up the road, and she always liked to watch them practice when she didn't have school. One thing she noticed though, that a lot of the students were there only to gain power, to defend themselves and unleash pain on people who bullied them. So many were cast away, and not many were very thrilled.
One particularly detestable lad decided to breathe fire at the school's tree when he left, completely unaware that the girl liked to sit in it and watch the training over the wall. She was burned, quite badly on her hands, but she parted fire that day and it could have been a lot worse. That's when she knew she was a firebender. She fell out of the tree after being hit, and the boy looked at her in total horror - and up at the tree he had set on fire, and he realized why he had been cast out of the school. The boy lead the twelve-year old up the hill, into the school, where he was chastised and scolded for burning the poor girl.
"Narl, please heal her."
After she explained that she liked watching the training, and that she actually firebended, Master Shien raised an eyebrow.
"Can I be a student? I don't have much money...but..."
"A student?" Shien asked. "This isn't a business...
"You could have been seriously damaged if not for your fast reflexes... come by tomorrow, and I'll test your aptitude." He told her.
The following day, she did come back. Twelve was the cut off mark, the white lotus firebending master would not train anyone younger than twelve. And to be honest, it was fairly superficial training, designed more to test the girl's character than her talent with fire. But without even being told that, she aced it with flying colors. It wasn't her aptitude with fire that they cared about, plenty of children were discarded for carelessness, and there were plenty of other firebending teachers in the land with less strict rules. But Miss Misora showed a patience and responsibility beyond her years. She treated fire like a sacred gift. The very first thing she asked the master wasn't how to shoot fire out of her finger tips. She asked:
"How do I put out a fire?"
The master was very surprised by this. "Put one out?"
"Yeah... How do I protect people from fire?" She repeated.
"In ten years teaching firebending, no student has ever lead off with that question." He informed her. "But when you think about it, it's important, isn't it?" He asked rhetorically, with a pause.
"Putting out fires is often seen as something a waterbender or eathbender would do, by drowning or smothering it, but as a firebender, you can extinguish them instantly."
"How?" She asked.
"When you parted fire, did you notice that you shrunk it? If you continue that motion, the fire will further shrink and become less and less dangerous. In a few years, you'll be able to stop a burning building in just a few seconds. And stop grease fires and chemical fires that water and earth just can't put out."
"That's awesome!" She told him.
"I don't want anyone to have to get burned again... Master..I've been meaning to ask you...why is there a waterbender here?"
"Master Narl heals students multiple times a day, because unfortunately, young people do abuse fire...He's been here for years." Master Shien explained to her.
"But shouldn't he be in like...the water tribe?" She asked.
"Normally he would be...but the school you're standing in is neutral to all nations. This is White Lotus territory. Masters of all trades and arts can come here. Obviously he doesn't have a lot of waterbending students..." Shien joked.
"But he does a good job of healing...I don't even have scars."
"You're lucky Rei... plenty of victims of our element have been damaged quite seriously."
"I know... even the Fire Lord..." She sighed, solemnly.
"Rei Misora... I will teach you firebending. You won't be a full member of the lotus until you master your art, but you have impressed me."
Rei smiled up at the master. "But I'm being honest...I'm not trying to..."
"I know. You're a sweet girl...We don't know each other very well yet, but you couldn't have possibly given a better first impression."
The next Saturday when she came to train, she was measured up and given her first white lotus robes.
For seven years, she trained on the weekends, going to school full time during the week. With her new found abilities came a heightened confidence. Even though all they were teaching her about firebending and balance, Rei's grades in school improved into the high eighties across the board. She was genuinely happier with where she was going in life, and there was a certain glow about her. In school, it was pretty standard issue, you had popular kids, music nerds, artsy kids, pai cho nerds, etc. Rei was always distant from her classmates due to her duties. Rei liked it that way, being a loner. She still loved her masters and peers in the white lotus to death, and even though it was only on the weekend, she found training greatly enjoyable. When she graduated, she was nineteen years old, and in her last year of school she barely managed to press an average of 90.1 percent, and was eligible to gain a learners grant from the fire nation government, which would assist with her post secondary schooling.
She decided she wanted to be a firebending instructor herself, and used her grant to take a year away from the fire nation at the best school in the world, Ba Sing Se University. The trip was long, and school was still bleh, but she liked what she was learning and it turned out Ba Sing Se had a white lotus camp as well. She learned about children's psychology, and various disorders that were known. Teaching methods, how to take advantage of visual, verbal, and hands on learning. She learned how to cope with disobedient ones, and how to enforce discipline and understanding. She was taught that there was no specific way to gain their trust and loyalty, that it was something she herself would have to do. By the end of this course, which lasted two years, she posted better grades than she had through all of public school, and got a 94.6, which was .6 percent higher than was needed to be a child psychologist. So yeah, she gets kids.
She was a junior member of the white lotus before, but after they found out how well she'd pressed herself in school, and how well she was doing on her firebending exams, they decided to recruit her as a full member. Rei was thrilled for the chance, and before long, she was training students and scolding them for being too rash and hardheaded. Rei had a real way with children, because she was still a big kid herself. Sadly, seventy five percent didn't have the aptitude to become members of the white lotus. Still, more students from her class made it in the door than from any other class. Most of the white lotus instructors started teaching right out of high school, but Rei's extra effort paid off for her.
Another year went by, and she was twenty-two. The masters decided that it was time to teacher her how to produce lightning. It wasn't something they took lightly, because it was exceedingly dangerous, and doing it wrong could cause permanent damage to one's self.
"I would never have a use for it." She told Master Shien. "Lightning is chaos. The white lotus represents order. It's kinda counter productive."
As of now, she is on her way to republic city due to an increased crime rate and rumors that the avatar is there. She is considered a full member, and will be working primarily as a firebending instructor and sort of reserves agent. Meaning she will receive her missions on a need to know basis. It's about the equivalent of being a private in the army.
Sample RP:
"Sifu Rei, when are you gonna teach us how to redirect lightning...?" One of her students complained.
"Pupil Zue...stand up..." She told the small girl sternly. Suddenly, she turned to the child and glared, taking a stance that normally summoned lightning. Zue gasped, and cowered, hiding behind her desk, and Rei smirked a bit and stopped doing what she was doing.
"Relax... I don't use lightning... Redirecting lightning is a counter punch maneuver, Zue. It's only ever going to be useful to you if you are attacked by another firebender. It requires perfect timing and a lot of concentration, and leaves you vulnerable to third party attacks. if all you're worried about is power, you're missing the point. And if you're that scared of lightning Zue... you're not ready to learn that technique yet anyway."
Zue's eyes watered up, and she smothered her face in her lap, letting out a whimper. A hundred years ago, a child in the fire nation would be strapped for such insolence in the wake of a teacher. But Rei was a kind hearted girl, and a good teacher. She crouched down next to the child, and placed her hand on her back.
"There are other counters you know... ones that don't involve...you know...being struck by lightning. I don't want any of you to have to feel the pain of being burned by a firebender... It isn't fun, believe me... Why don't I show you a technique to use fire as a menacing distraction, or visual barrier? Its hard to hit someone if you can't see them..."
"But that's boring..." Zue grumbled. Rei chuckled a bit.
"You have a lot to learn, kiddo... Peaceful solutions are what the white lotus are all about."
"But some people can't be reasoned with that way..."
"But everyone has to be given the chance..." Rei retorted. "Everyone is worth a chance at redemption...everyone. If we start judging people by their past, with no chance for...parole, so to speak, then we become the very monsters we despise. But you can't become who you despise if you don't hate anyone..."
Zue lifted her head, wiped her tears, and she nodded.
"Sifu Rei?" She asked.
"Yeah?"
"I want to master your fire illusions now."
Rei chuckled, and nodded. And class continued.
Age: 23
Gender: Female
Nation of Origin: Fire Nation
Bender? What Element?: Yes, Fire
Fighting Style - Her firebending form is evasive, and very acrobatic both in practice and concept. When engaged, she utilizes parkour, bouncing around in high or awkward places that a lot of people would be afraid to go. She is extremely light and agile. She knows how to land, and how to take a fall. Her firebending can aid with this as well. She has been known to use jets of fire to enhance her jumping ability, both in height and distance covered - Or to cushion an impact between her body and another object. She makes full use of her terrain, and can easily run up walls and do back flips and other tricks off of them. Instead of taking an all-out-offensive route and blasting the crap out of her opponent, she likes to let them make mistakes, and she capitalizes when they do.
In addition to being evasive, she is quite capable of parting fire with her own firebending, and using fire barriers against other kinds of attacks, whether it be as simple as someone throwing a rock at her, or an enemy blasting her with their own bending. She can redirect lightning, but refuses to learn how to conjure it herself. She adopted a technique where she uses fire as a distraction, or blinding aid and either flees or improves her position. The brightest flames burn at the lowest temperature, and she's taken full advantage of this.
She prefers non lethal, non injuring abilities, but I suppose in a life or death situation, or to save another person, she could be forced into more direct firebending blasts and streams. She has been trained for such. In such an event, her high spirited temper would likely take over, and she wouldn't really be Rei anymore. At her core, that isn't the person she aspires to be. Everyone has their limits though.
She shows no bias when training her students. She shows them everything firebending can do. But she advises them to be aware of their surroundings, so that they don't damage themselves, or other people. Currently she's trying to learn how to stay in the air on jets of fire, but last time she tried it she sprained her wrist on a hard fall to the ground.
Physical Appearance:
Rei is of moderate height, and has a lanky, mildly boney, and almost anorexic look to her. Like she doesn't quite eat enough. She's a light, thin young woman with a small bust and little to no bum. Despite her relatively small girl parts, she has smooth feminine features. Her hair is long, raven and straight, and goes down to her bum. Or rather, lack of bum. It goes down to where her bum would be. She is known to keep it in place with a red, fire nation themed, bow, which keeps her hair from flopping over her head and getting in her face too much, and aside from that she just lets it hang. Her pale skin is virtually flawless, save for a few scrapes on her elbows and knees from falling down a lot in training. Her face is cute, and relentlessly round. Her face is one of the few soft places on her body. Even when she isn't smiling, it looks like she could be. This makes her approachable, especially to children - as well as men. Her lips are full, and she wears modern make up in moderation; usually rocking a light, pink lipstick and modest purple eyeshadow to compliment her bright golden eyes. The mascara she uses looks natural, but feels oily to the touch. Usually though, Rei is locked into training, and has little time for self awareness.
Clothing:
From top to bottom, her white lotus sentry style work uniform is as follows. It consists of headgear, namely a a padded hood, with it's most prominent defense at about ear level all the way around the head. In the form of a metal crested headband, this defense is intended to protect her ears and temples from strikes to the head, and the padded hood is meant to curb some impact from blunt force trauma, while maintaining mobility and flexibility. The crest curves and becomes larger at the center of her forehead, downward over the bridge of her nose, and upward, forming a merged diamond formation. At the very center of this, is a round flower insignia, supposedly of the flower her organization is named after.
The hood merges with the rest of her outfit, albeit underneath her rounded piling, which is white and similarly flower decorated. It looks like a giant white flower, and due to Rei's lanky body, spans well over her shoulders, fully concealing them. The piling is a contrast to most of her outfit, which is predominantly blue with white as a secondary color. There is no blue on the shoulder covering at all, just silky platinum with flakes of a lighter, almost white gray. The piling isn't attached to the outfit, it generally floats and moves just a bit slower than Rei does, only serving it's purpose as a functional clothing when she is standing still or walking. She often takes if off in combat or training because it tends to blow up in her face and contest her quick, concise style.
The rest of the robe is the same color as the hood, a night sky color, with the same silvery platinum color as the piling on the forearm and shin armor, as well as her belt. Her boots are formed from these two colors as well, with the silver on the treads and heels, and the blue covering the front and sides. Overall, the nightsky fabricated portions of the robe hang and move as Rei does, and the silvery armor portions are very form fitting and solid. They provide actual armor for her, despite being exactly the same color as the fabric piling.
Even though the white lotus has that strict dress code, underneath that robe she can wear what she wants. In her hair, she rocks a bright red bow, to show that she is fire nation. The bow stays, always. No matter what she is wearing. And when I say its red, I mean FF0000 red. She doesn't mess around with her bow.
Her undercover field outfit is a darker blue than her sentry outfit, it is almost black, and is a martial arts style of robe, with a like colored shirt and underwear underneath. She wears a soft red martial arts belt that matches her bow, and ties it with a knot and both strands hanging down at the same length. Without the belt, the robe would open on it's own. Her pants the same same dark color, and are ultra light and form fitting, unlike the robe which just kind of droops.
For the summer, she wears what she would in the fire nation, bright hued t-shirts and skirts in her nation's colors, and wide aviator style sunglasses that cover a good portion of her head. For more casual events, her outfit can really range from a dress to slacks, sometimes a sweater if it gets foggy and chilly.
It was winter when she went to republic city, and they don't really have clothing for snow in the fire nation due to it's temperate climate. Upon arrival, she purchased a burgandy trenchcoat, which was the closest to red she could find. It has a fur lining from the water tribes, dyed an imperial purple for the modern woman in republic city. She wears this coat over basically anything, and usually pairs it with a scarlet cotton toque and burgandy fur-lined snow boots as well.
Equipment?: She travels light, and aside from food, maps, and other situational traveling supplies, is very simple. Situational traveling supplies might include a tent or sleeping bag if she's leaving the city, or a boat if she's leaving by sea. But because her outpost is on an island, she has little use for these items on a day to day basis. All these supplies are provided free of charge by the order, and they come in order colors, white and faded blue.
Personality:
Rei Misora is a charismatic young lady, quite sociable and talkative in recent years. She was pretty shy in grade school, but her year in university lead to a lot of new friends, parties, and a new found confidence - and so she's blossomed into a bright rose of approachability, especially to men. Rei is quite the little flirt, and has no qualms about using her charms to her advantage - whether it be during missions, or for her own superficial personal agendas.
Because of her upbeat attitude, children love her, and she loves kids too! Around her students, she is a confident, albeit fun authority figure. She shows no bias in class, and she makes a marvelous, fascinating teacher. Although it's true that a lot of the boys just sit and stare at her, her cute voice is mesmerizing, even hypnotic in many regards, and her students tend to succeed at greater percentages than others.
After her recent visit to Republic City, coupled with her degree in psychology, she has considered eventually representing the fire nation on the council. She has a dynamic interest in politics and law, and has the silver tongue to pull it off.
She is afraid of hurting other people, and losing her cool, she is afraid that it's possible one of her students will get hurt in training. She's also afraid of being alone. As a social butterfly, she relies a lot on the feedback of others.
She likes warm weather, and ironically, snow. But she dislikes the cold weather that comes with snow, so she'd rather see it out a window. She likes a little bit of alcohol once in a while (or a lot of it), and she dislikes people who abuse their bending. She dislikes Amon, due to his hidden identity and cowardice tactics. But she respects the general disposition of the equalists. It would be pretty hard for someone to be burnt with firebending, or bloodbended if bending didn't exist.
That being said, she will still go toe to toe with them, because at a higher level, she believes that it's the person who is in control, not the person's talents. She will protect her lotus brothers and sisters with everything she has, and would die for any one of her students.
Background:
She was born in Fire Fountain City. Satomobiles, planes, and large vessels were every day norms for her, growing up - but her family was far too poor to afford such things. Parents are both poor working class, with her mother making the bulk of their income - which was spent on bills and taxes and clothing. Her mother works at the powerplant, using firebending on coals and lightning bending in the generator. Her dad wasn't actually her biological father, but he was, in her opinion, the best man she knew. He is a non-bender, and he only worked part time until recently. He hunted and fished, and although he sold some of it, a lot of the time it was used to put food on the table. Sometimes he would get lucky and be able to trade it for wine or vegetables and bread. In any case, until recently he did that full time so that he could be home when Rei got home from school. He would do dad things like taking her out in the rickety boat they managed to buy, or swimming. Most nights though, he just made supper for His wife and Rei, and helped Rei with her homework. Unfortunately, he wasn't a terribly academic man, and she'd be better off without him doing most of the answers for her.
She never much liked school, she was much more interested in firebending. It wasn't because she liked fighting, it was because she admired her mother, and the woman used firebending every day just to keep things together. Rei didn't get to see much of her mother until after graduating. A lingering depression from that caused her grades to sink, and she found herself cutting class and hanging out with boys, being a real tomboy herself. She was only ten, so it wasn't romantic or anything. She failed grade six because she didn't care.
There was a school for firebenders up the road, and she always liked to watch them practice when she didn't have school. One thing she noticed though, that a lot of the students were there only to gain power, to defend themselves and unleash pain on people who bullied them. So many were cast away, and not many were very thrilled.
One particularly detestable lad decided to breathe fire at the school's tree when he left, completely unaware that the girl liked to sit in it and watch the training over the wall. She was burned, quite badly on her hands, but she parted fire that day and it could have been a lot worse. That's when she knew she was a firebender. She fell out of the tree after being hit, and the boy looked at her in total horror - and up at the tree he had set on fire, and he realized why he had been cast out of the school. The boy lead the twelve-year old up the hill, into the school, where he was chastised and scolded for burning the poor girl.
"Narl, please heal her."
After she explained that she liked watching the training, and that she actually firebended, Master Shien raised an eyebrow.
"Can I be a student? I don't have much money...but..."
"A student?" Shien asked. "This isn't a business...
"You could have been seriously damaged if not for your fast reflexes... come by tomorrow, and I'll test your aptitude." He told her.
The following day, she did come back. Twelve was the cut off mark, the white lotus firebending master would not train anyone younger than twelve. And to be honest, it was fairly superficial training, designed more to test the girl's character than her talent with fire. But without even being told that, she aced it with flying colors. It wasn't her aptitude with fire that they cared about, plenty of children were discarded for carelessness, and there were plenty of other firebending teachers in the land with less strict rules. But Miss Misora showed a patience and responsibility beyond her years. She treated fire like a sacred gift. The very first thing she asked the master wasn't how to shoot fire out of her finger tips. She asked:
"How do I put out a fire?"
The master was very surprised by this. "Put one out?"
"Yeah... How do I protect people from fire?" She repeated.
"In ten years teaching firebending, no student has ever lead off with that question." He informed her. "But when you think about it, it's important, isn't it?" He asked rhetorically, with a pause.
"Putting out fires is often seen as something a waterbender or eathbender would do, by drowning or smothering it, but as a firebender, you can extinguish them instantly."
"How?" She asked.
"When you parted fire, did you notice that you shrunk it? If you continue that motion, the fire will further shrink and become less and less dangerous. In a few years, you'll be able to stop a burning building in just a few seconds. And stop grease fires and chemical fires that water and earth just can't put out."
"That's awesome!" She told him.
"I don't want anyone to have to get burned again... Master..I've been meaning to ask you...why is there a waterbender here?"
"Master Narl heals students multiple times a day, because unfortunately, young people do abuse fire...He's been here for years." Master Shien explained to her.
"But shouldn't he be in like...the water tribe?" She asked.
"Normally he would be...but the school you're standing in is neutral to all nations. This is White Lotus territory. Masters of all trades and arts can come here. Obviously he doesn't have a lot of waterbending students..." Shien joked.
"But he does a good job of healing...I don't even have scars."
"You're lucky Rei... plenty of victims of our element have been damaged quite seriously."
"I know... even the Fire Lord..." She sighed, solemnly.
"Rei Misora... I will teach you firebending. You won't be a full member of the lotus until you master your art, but you have impressed me."
Rei smiled up at the master. "But I'm being honest...I'm not trying to..."
"I know. You're a sweet girl...We don't know each other very well yet, but you couldn't have possibly given a better first impression."
The next Saturday when she came to train, she was measured up and given her first white lotus robes.
For seven years, she trained on the weekends, going to school full time during the week. With her new found abilities came a heightened confidence. Even though all they were teaching her about firebending and balance, Rei's grades in school improved into the high eighties across the board. She was genuinely happier with where she was going in life, and there was a certain glow about her. In school, it was pretty standard issue, you had popular kids, music nerds, artsy kids, pai cho nerds, etc. Rei was always distant from her classmates due to her duties. Rei liked it that way, being a loner. She still loved her masters and peers in the white lotus to death, and even though it was only on the weekend, she found training greatly enjoyable. When she graduated, she was nineteen years old, and in her last year of school she barely managed to press an average of 90.1 percent, and was eligible to gain a learners grant from the fire nation government, which would assist with her post secondary schooling.
She decided she wanted to be a firebending instructor herself, and used her grant to take a year away from the fire nation at the best school in the world, Ba Sing Se University. The trip was long, and school was still bleh, but she liked what she was learning and it turned out Ba Sing Se had a white lotus camp as well. She learned about children's psychology, and various disorders that were known. Teaching methods, how to take advantage of visual, verbal, and hands on learning. She learned how to cope with disobedient ones, and how to enforce discipline and understanding. She was taught that there was no specific way to gain their trust and loyalty, that it was something she herself would have to do. By the end of this course, which lasted two years, she posted better grades than she had through all of public school, and got a 94.6, which was .6 percent higher than was needed to be a child psychologist. So yeah, she gets kids.
She was a junior member of the white lotus before, but after they found out how well she'd pressed herself in school, and how well she was doing on her firebending exams, they decided to recruit her as a full member. Rei was thrilled for the chance, and before long, she was training students and scolding them for being too rash and hardheaded. Rei had a real way with children, because she was still a big kid herself. Sadly, seventy five percent didn't have the aptitude to become members of the white lotus. Still, more students from her class made it in the door than from any other class. Most of the white lotus instructors started teaching right out of high school, but Rei's extra effort paid off for her.
Another year went by, and she was twenty-two. The masters decided that it was time to teacher her how to produce lightning. It wasn't something they took lightly, because it was exceedingly dangerous, and doing it wrong could cause permanent damage to one's self.
"I would never have a use for it." She told Master Shien. "Lightning is chaos. The white lotus represents order. It's kinda counter productive."
As of now, she is on her way to republic city due to an increased crime rate and rumors that the avatar is there. She is considered a full member, and will be working primarily as a firebending instructor and sort of reserves agent. Meaning she will receive her missions on a need to know basis. It's about the equivalent of being a private in the army.
Sample RP:
"Sifu Rei, when are you gonna teach us how to redirect lightning...?" One of her students complained.
"Pupil Zue...stand up..." She told the small girl sternly. Suddenly, she turned to the child and glared, taking a stance that normally summoned lightning. Zue gasped, and cowered, hiding behind her desk, and Rei smirked a bit and stopped doing what she was doing.
"Relax... I don't use lightning... Redirecting lightning is a counter punch maneuver, Zue. It's only ever going to be useful to you if you are attacked by another firebender. It requires perfect timing and a lot of concentration, and leaves you vulnerable to third party attacks. if all you're worried about is power, you're missing the point. And if you're that scared of lightning Zue... you're not ready to learn that technique yet anyway."
Zue's eyes watered up, and she smothered her face in her lap, letting out a whimper. A hundred years ago, a child in the fire nation would be strapped for such insolence in the wake of a teacher. But Rei was a kind hearted girl, and a good teacher. She crouched down next to the child, and placed her hand on her back.
"There are other counters you know... ones that don't involve...you know...being struck by lightning. I don't want any of you to have to feel the pain of being burned by a firebender... It isn't fun, believe me... Why don't I show you a technique to use fire as a menacing distraction, or visual barrier? Its hard to hit someone if you can't see them..."
"But that's boring..." Zue grumbled. Rei chuckled a bit.
"You have a lot to learn, kiddo... Peaceful solutions are what the white lotus are all about."
"But some people can't be reasoned with that way..."
"But everyone has to be given the chance..." Rei retorted. "Everyone is worth a chance at redemption...everyone. If we start judging people by their past, with no chance for...parole, so to speak, then we become the very monsters we despise. But you can't become who you despise if you don't hate anyone..."
Zue lifted her head, wiped her tears, and she nodded.
"Sifu Rei?" She asked.
"Yeah?"
"I want to master your fire illusions now."
Rei chuckled, and nodded. And class continued.
And we've yet to actually see them such a thing. At best, what we see with Fire Lord Sozin, is some form of manipulating heat. In Sozin's case that was siphoning the heat from lava, redirecting it outwards and thus causing it to cool.