((posted for Fu-Ling, BTT Winner))

Age:: 22
Gender:: Female

Affiliation:: Loyal, slight lean towards indifferent

Appearance::
Because the first thing you notice about a person is their appearance, Fu-Ling takes great pride in hers. And perhaps the most obvious feature about her is her long, straight, dark hair. It flows down elegantly to her waist when she wears it naturally, though it’s typically knotted with a thong or peace of thread into an ostrich-horse-tail. On special occasions, she’ll loop it into a topknot with a soft band of maroon or golden fabric.

Her sweeping bangs frame an elegant face. Her eyes are gold (inherited from her father) with copper undertones (courtesy of her mother). They’re almond shaped and framed with long, dark lashes. Her eyebrows are naturally long and slim, giving her an open, patient facial expression. Her olive-toned skin is free from any blemishes or freckles, though upon further inspection contains small scars from dealing with various animals. Otherwise, it still retains its youthful pliancy and smoothness, and is covered with fine, dark hairs (when she doesn’t shave them off).

She has a dancer’s build: strong, yet lean and graceful. Her gait is smooth and well-practiced, and her limbs are long. She has skinny fingers and feet. Her bust is modest and her hips are slim, but she’s fairly attractive, if not necessarily pretty. Fire Nation-style dresses are her clothing of choice when she’d not traveling. When she is, typical garb consists of a tunic with belt, breeches, and well-worn boots. She also has fingerless gloves made of a supple, soft leather, which is more to provide protection than warmth. When she is required to look her best, she dons a traditional fire-style kimono, coupled with light, flat-heeled slippers. Less formal dress consists of a snug wrapped dress with high heeled shoes, worn on such occasions as a date or informal party.

History::

Fu-Ling was born on the summer solstice, which was unfortunately two weeks premature. She was therefore extremely small, so her mother, not knowing how to handle the situation, believed that feeding her child more frequently or larger meals would make up for the smallness of the girl. Her father, a more practical and sensible man, wasn't around during that time, because he had been called to duty in the Fire Nation Army as a recently promoted Colonel, assigned to gather and train new recruits. So while the family reaped benefits of his enlistment, especially in terms of security and money, the man was never really around for many years.

The mother, not realizing her mistake, continued overfeeding Fu-Ling even after the girl had reached a healthy weight, meaning she was quite over weight even as a toddler, and she stayed this way for a very long time. Fu-Ling's brother, 3 years her elder, would continually harass and tease her about her weight, calling her vicious names and aggressively prodding and pinching her fat. Fu-Ling grew up in a very small colony just budding on sea side in the Northern Earth Kingdom, so there were very few children her age. However, her brother joined in a gang of the local boys (most of which were older than he) so he always had their support when he went to tease his sister.

Fu-Ling grew up very lonely and quite miserable, though she didn't realize this wasn't normal feelings. She simply believed that all girls with older brothers were made to be teased. Her mother, a distant, optimistic person, assumed nothing wrong and continued overfeeding her child. Fu-Ling's only real friends were her father's war hounds and dragon hawks, as well as the family cat. She developed a love and affection for animals of all kinds, even if they didn't reciprocate those feelings. She was withdrawn, so while her mother taught her reading and writing and the basics of being a proper young girl, Fu-Ling kept to herself and tried to avoid her brother as much as possible.

She looked forward to the times when her father would return home for a day or so as a vacation. He would always sit at her bedside, telling her epic stories about the battles he'd fought on the front lines, the close victories of the war and the powerful losses he experienced. He by no means attempted to shelter her from the reality of war: on the contrary, he encouraged her to embrace the emotions she felt, telling her to be proud of the men who died to keep her safe at night. She loved these bedtime tales, which were as fantastical and amazing as any other child's fairy story. His heroics inspired her and made her feel empowered in spite of being physically weak. Every time he left to go back to the war front, she would always feel a deep sorrow inside of her, and a sort of helplessness at the feeling of imminent loneliness that always followed.

For years, Fu-Ling would be the fat girl, cute but intrusively overweight. At her highest weight, she was almost 170 pounds, a weight which she did not wear well despite being tall for her age. She would always fail to escape her tormentors, always return home with red eyes and muddy clothes and bruises and even cuts all over her skin. She would always feel sad and anxious. And she would always think this was just normal for a girl with a brother, that it was supposed to be like that.

When Fu-Ling was 12 years old and her mother told her that her father was coming home for good, she couldn't contain her joy. But when he came back, the look in his eyes and the way his expression fell would be burned in her mind forever. His first words stuck with her for years, haunting her when she felt sad and troubling her dreams. "Oh, Lingsie," he said in such a sad way. Fu-Ling realized in that moment that he was disappointed. He had his son: strong, aggressive, overwhelming, useless. And then he had Fu-Ling, so eager but so incapable. She was neither strong, nor successful, never really respected or appreciated, and in that moment, with that phrase, she knew it.

So she begged for his forgiveness. She told him she vowed to get better, to be the daughter he always wanted. He was shocked at first, not understanding. But when she pleaded with him to help her, he realized that he had to accept. She was so distressed that he couldn't bear to see her go on like that.

So from that moment on, she allowed him to shape her into the woman she is today.

The first major change came almost immediately. Her father and mother got into a minor argument about her eating habits. Her mother simply shrugged it off and allowed her husband to take over the eating regiment: which he did fervently. He taught her about self-control and moderation, about balance and health. Though she wasn't sure if she could change her eating habits, she realized that with enough willpower she could force herself to earn his approval. She she followed his instructions, he was happy, so she would eat his food and learn to cook his meals just to earn his appreciation. It took a while, but she eventually realized that she legitimately liked what she was eating and what she made for herself.

Soon after that, she began following his habits and copying his routines. He would wake up early every morning for a light jog, and so every morning she would be right there with him, stretching her limbs, then forcing herself to match his pace. Though at first she couldn't keep up with him for more than a few moments, she kept pressing herself to go faster and run farther each and every morning. This, coupled with her healthier diet, gave her strength for the first time in her life. Her firebending ability (inherited by none other than her father) manifested itself soon after, and Fu-Ling's father was so proud of her that he gladly offered to teach her. Her feelings of loneliness and worthlessness vanished when she saw the proud look in her father's eyes, despite her physical body.

The fat gradually disappeared over the following months, as did her tormentors. Her brother withdrew into his gang, and spent most of his time away from home. Fu-Ling had no problem with this. She and her father spent hours each day together. As her self-worth and physical ability grew, so did her love and appreciation towards her father. He taught her life lessons which would shape her personality and make her a willful, strong woman. She was told to speak her own words instead of mimicking like the lizard-parrot, and never to be treated like the floor, which everyone steps on. She was taught that the best way to wound your enemy was by being proud and happy, because so long as he was your enemy he could never best you if you were happy. She was taught that the first time a person sees you might be the only time you have to make a good impression. This was a time of a lot of growth in Fu-Ling: she not only grew as a person, but she grew in height, starting to balance out the weight she'd had for years.

On her 13th birthday, her father gave her a sparrowkeet as a pet, which she loved dearly and took care of affectionately. When she reached puberty, she would eventually start calling it Joy, and it would be the creature she cried to and spoke to passionately. Her mother also helped her through this transition, and it was around then that Fu-Ling began opening up to girls her age and making true friends for the first time. Soon after this, her father caught her brother with his gang painting revolutionary symbols on the side of a building. The father, a patriot at heart, was enraged, and instantly threatened the boy with disowning if he didn't remove the symbol at once. The prideful boy refused, and was kicked out of the family on the spot. Humiliated and enraged, he left and Fu-Ling never saw him again.

The loss was a blow to the family. Their mother mourned the most, while their father was just angry for a while. Fu-Ling didn't mind as much: after such a long time being tormented by her brother, it was almost a relief to know that she wouldn't have to fear being hated and teased. It took a long time, but the family began to move on. The father seemed to disregard the fact that his son was a traitor to the Fire Nation. The mother was never one to linger on the past; she simply believed that he had moved out and found a beautiful place to live his life. Fu-Ling all but repressed the memories of her childhood, though she still would occasionally remember her brother and wonder where he was.

As the years passed, the small colony became an industrious, rapidly growing fishing town. Fu-Ling's mother was raised as a fisherman's daughter, so the added family income, as well as her father's army status, pushed the small family to the top of the town, where Fu-Ling's father became a sort of leader and elder. Fu-Ling continued to train with him during the day and study literature and manners with her mother at night, but it got to the point where she was provided for fully, and the only work she did was caring for her sparrowkeet. She met with her female friends often, and they would go out to restaurants or go for walks in the park for fun.

By the time she was 16, she was a tall, graceful young woman, attractive if not pretty. A lot of her youthful beauty came from her confidence: having shed the physical and emotional burdens of her childhood, she was free to feel happy and proud. She was fairly precocious, as her parents had taught her well how to be a proper Fire Nation lady. It wasn't long before she began to have encounters with boys her age, and she quickly developed an almost obsessive fascination with the male anatomy. Her parents didn't seem to mind her bringing boys home at night and leaving with them the next morning. Fu-Ling became sexually promiscuous, and quickly learned that it was much more practical to spend one night in bed with a boy than trying to bother with a dramatic relationship.

This is eventually what really led Fu-Ling to becoming a powerful woman leading into her adulthood: not only was she mentally capable and physically confident, but she was aware of the expectations placed on a girl of her age and social status, and she knew how the world really was. She was never one to be sheltered, but neither was she overexposed and scarred. She simply believed that she knew what was right. She could give insults and take them. She knew when was a good time to laugh and when was a good time to remain quiet. She had a couple of close friends to support her, her parents to guide her, and her pets to uplift her.

But it wasn't enough.

She knew a woman her age would be expected to get married as soon as possible, an idea that was neither appealing nor realistic in her opinion. On top of that, she was feeling restless. Even when she was around her father, home felt clustering and entrapping. Soon, the idea of staying in the large town was intensely frightening, and on top of that she was expected to be married. Even when she tried deviating sexually, the caged animal feeling inside of her grew aggressively, forcing her into an anxious state.

She was eventually forced to tell her parents how she felt. To her surprise, they gladly gave her their blessings. Her mother assumed Fu-Ling just knew what was best for herself, and didn't feel the need to argue. Her father had spent enough time with his daughter to know her heart, and he'd figured such a time would come eventually.

Her parents sent her off with a small fortune and a dragon hawk her father had raised named Flicker. She had her firebending, her (somewhat lacking) ability to care for herself, and the blessing of her parents, and so she set out into the Earth Kingdom to find what she was missing.

For the past three years, Fu-Ling has been traveling throughout the massive Earth Kingdom. She'll occasionally stop by in Fire Nation settlements when she finds them, but has never stayed longer than a couple of months in one place. She always finds a way to visit her parents back in her hometown twice a year, but can't stand to stay more than a few days for fear of that choked, clustered sensation.

Currently, she doesn't really have a purpose in life. She's a drifter, a wraithlike beauty, ghosting from place to place without really caring. Simply moving around and having no ties is so much simpler and easier than the complex, difficult life that a family entails.

Personality::
She enjoys taking walks, adventuring, going for runs, and practicing her fighting style and firebending. She will get jittery if forced to stay in one place for too long, and some people would consider her rash because of this. She's constantly looking for new experiences and is willing to find creative outlets. She's a fairly quick learner, and is typically willing to observe and listen. She doesn't like reading, however, as she finds it tedious and time-consuming. She'd rather go out into the world to learn instead of be trapped in one place to hear a single person's viewpoint. Fu-Ling also likes to think that she forms her own opinions and won't easily be swayed or coerced. Though she has a lot of common sense, this can lead to her acting frustratingly stubborn. It also causes her to distrust strangers (she is more distrustful of women than men) initially, but is willing to open her mind more to people she trusts more.

She was raised to neither back down nor pick fights: she has no problem with speaking her mind, but she is cautious to do so and will easily hold her tongue if she thinks it is the best. When someone upsets her, she's much more likely to switch to aggression, however. She has a strong sense of justice and doesn't believe bad things should go unpunished. This isn't to say that she's unwilling to forgive: she believes that what goes around will come around, and a person's mistakes will come back to them if not learned from and attended to. However, she cannot accept being wronged outright, while also forcing herself to take responsibility when she understands her wrongs.

She prefers peace over war, negotiation over arguments, simplicity over complexity, and basics over details. She gets frustrated when she thinks others are acting foolishly or intentionally dense, and she tries her hardest to keep dramatics out of her life. She has a deep sense of loyalty to her family and the nation that her family is affiliated to, even if she doesn't agree with the actions their leader has taken. This has caused her to be biased against other nations, even to the point where she holds disdain for the water tribes, considering them an uncivilized race, and dislike of the earth kingdom, who she finds somewhat simplistic and dull.

She has always believed that appearance is important to make a good first impression, and she takes good care of her body and clothing, especially when it comes to her long hair. She has a healthy self-esteem, and knows her limits fairly well. This occasionally leads to an inflated ego, as well as overconfidence and lack of humility, depending on the situation.