Saitou, Rei, and Keimaru[Finished]

Full Name: Saitou Shinichi, Rei Koike, and Keimaru Irion
Gender: Male, Female, Male
Age: 19, 15, 4
Element: Fire, Air, Water
Birthplace: FNC, WAT, SWT
Position: Former-Fighter in the Arena, Former-Healer for Arena Survivors, Former-Fighter in Training
Training:

Saitou:

Firbender/Lightningbender: Expert

Hand-To-Hand: Expert

Knife: Intermediate

Rei:

Airbender: Intermediate

Healer(Non-Bending): Intermediate.

Keimaru:

Waterbender: Beginner

Personality:

Saitou: [Word Count: 242]

If he forces a smile, it means he wants to hurt you, or is too downhearted to conjure up a real one. His talent lies, not in his ability to speak well, or explain himself in great detail, but in his ability to mask his emotional state completely. He is cool, calculative, and surprisingly caring. He developed a hard shell while he was forced to fight animals, and, at times, other humans. It also helped him develop a Pi Sho outlook on everything his opponents do, it’s like playing a game, they move, and you move accordingly to defend or counterattack.

He has a higher likelihood of becoming complacent than most, due to his desire to find peace. It has helped him quite a bit, being around, and helping Keimaru and Rei, both of whom expect Saitou to stay on his guard, just in case they decide to prank him or, otherwise known as, be annoying. He’s pretty quick with a joke if the opportunity presents himself and is fond of challenges, as well as for fighting injustice. He’s a pretty calm, and family oriented, preferring to liken himself to a fatherly, caring figure over a warrior.

It’s one of the primary reasons he chose to take Keimaru and Rei into his care, aside from the fact they were slaves, he wanted to be able to take care of them, and keep them safe until he managed to help them get home.

Rei: [Word Count: 185]

Rei is a kind-hearted, gentle young girl who found the fact she was a slave with so many younger people to be extremely traumatic. Her mind had a hard time coping, and she tends not to talk about it, or what she was forced to witness if she can help it. Her tone is always soft, even when she’s angry. There isn’t a mean bone in her body, though she is quite fond of pranking Saitou. She knows that they need her as much as she needs them, due to the loss of quite a few friends in the pits.

She was the only one who paid any real attention to her captors, but they were smart, never mentioning their benefactor’s name, never even a whisper. It was frustrating to her, because she would have liked to be able to turn them in, but, given that Saitou had already been hurt once by them, and that Keimaru was too scared to even try to remember what they were training him to do, she let it rest, keeping her thoughts on the matter to herself, usually.

Keimaru: [Word Count: 100]

Keimaru is far too trusting for his own good, which is what earned him a spot in the arena, what held his place as they tried to train him to kill. His mother would’ve been furious with him if she could have seen how they treated him, or how he reacted. He had actually begun to lose touch with who he was, forgot about his sister too. It pained him greatly to experience that, at least, until Saitou brought him back. He uses Saitou as an anchor to help him remember his family, and always wanting to go back home.


Abilities:

Saitou: [Word Count: 216]

Saitou’s abilities vary greatly; he spent much of his time in the arena, and learned how to fight in desperate situations. The reason he survived is because he has the ability to adapt to changing circumstances in battle quickly. To this, he can switch styles at a moment’s notice if his opponent moves to change their styles. Though he prefers Firebending stances, his tutor, or, more appropriately, his slave master, taught him the basics of Air, Water, and Earth, just in case Saitou needed to know them while battling someone, or something.

He prefers to rely on power over strategy when using flames, but has trained himself to look for a weak spot instead of just firing blindly. He also managed to learn how to regulate his own body temperature with his Chi. It helps him to survive in the harshest climates in the North or in the South, pretty much his own way to negate the effects snow, rain, and other cold weather has on his bending.

Mastered Firebending Abilities: Blazing Rings and Arcs, Blocking Fire, Fire Blade, Fire Bomb, Fire Daggers, Fire Lashes, Fire Streams, Fire Whip, Fireballs, Fire-Jabs, Fire Kicks, Shield of Fire, Charged Attacks, Jet Propulsion, Intertwined Fire Stream, Fire Augmentation, Breath of Fire, Pressure Control.

Self-Created, Self-Mastered Technique: Body Temperature Control.

Rei: [Word Count: 144.]

Rei is an 'ok' Airbender, most of her talent and focus was redirected after being captured to be a healer rather than a bender. It wasn’t really her choice, it was either patch up the people who could survive, or get thrown into the arena. She chose the obvious choice.

The choice she made led her to be able to stitch together less severe wounds, usually bites, burns, or blade wounds. Her hands are also practiced at relaxing people, which she demonstrates whenever someone has been fighting, usually to calm them down, or to get them to let out whatever emotions they have pent up inside them.

Mastered Airbending Abilities: Air Ball, Air Blast, Air Manipulation, Air Shield, Air Punch and Air Kick, Enhanced Agility, Enhanced Speed.

Nonbending Abilities: Practiced, but not perfect stitching, and disinfecting abilities. She knows how to make the pain subside, somewhat, and can keep you from getting infected.

Reimaru: [Word Count: 72]

Keimaru is young and inexperienced, even when he was captured, his primary focus was upon learning to Waterbend to even the smallest percent as well as his mother could. It wasn’t so much that he couldn’t control water, he just has trouble connecting with it. He can’t feel the extension of his arm water usually feels like for most Waterbenders.

Mastered Waterbender Techniques: Water Manipulation, Channeling the Stream, Water Whip, Water Wall/Shield.


Appearance:

Saitou is lean and muscular, with messy black hair, and a newly earned scar over his left eye.

Rei is rather petite, though she appears to be older than she is, with light brown hair, and delicate, pale skin.

Keimaru appears much like his father had, with short black hair, and golden-yellow eyes. He's four, don't expect much in the way of appearance.

Height: 5'4", 4'11", 3'11"
Weight: 165.56lbs, 135.67lbs, I don't know, average weight for a kid his age.
Eyes: Yellow, Dark Blue, Golden-Yellow
Hair: Jet Black, Light Brown(Auburn), Black
Skin: Lightly Tanned(Caucasian), Pale, Light Waterbender

Saitou: [Word Count: 261]

Saitou used to take pride in his appearance, fix his hair up, and look good. Now it’s gone from actually trying to form it to simple washing and brushing. He just had come to realize how he looked matters very little, especially when you’re trying to escape from murderous slave masters, with a child and young teenager in tow. He often does his best to keep them looking good, however, even a parent might not recognize their child if they look like a vagrant. He dresses in older Fire Nation clothing, preferring the style his ancestors wore, though that’s not to say he won’t dress more modern if he’s offered the chance.

He typically walks taller, more proudly than most former-slaves would, refusing to allow his treatment at the hands of his masters to affect how he views himself, which is in a rather bright, and higher light. The scar on his face is a constant reminder to his torment, and the countless lives, both man and beast, he was forced to take for the sake of enjoyment and physical gain. His hands have become quite calloused from countless scuffles with animals ranging from Wolf-Bats to Badger-Moles.

His usual response to encounters with unknown people is to be defensive, especially if they seek to learn something of his past, which he views as being none of their business. He doesn’t put out an aura of hostility, but an aura of constant caution, always very aware of his surroundings as necessary, usually less so when he’s not around large groups of people.

Rei: [Word Count: 172 ]

Rei is a very mature individual for her age, carrying herself, not quite as highly as Saitou, but still higher than most former slaves. She’s usually more cautious than Saitou ism afraid of even something as small as a dark alley or a man who looks even slightly shady. Her perspective of people is, if they look like they’re leaning toward being dark, they usually are. She dresses in light colors, usually blues, red, or oranges. She has a choice because any money Saitou may obtain is usually spent on her and Reimaru, though she often says he deserves things to, she can’t help feel somewhat sad that her guardian doesn’t care for himself as much as he cares for them.

Her skin is pale, as noted before; she usually keeps her hair down, brushed neatly, and nearly always clean. She prefers to stay away from towns or cities, fearing their captors may have reported them as thieves or bandits, though she’s proved wrong every time Saitou convinces her that it’s ok.

Reimaru: [Word Count: 107]

Reimaru finds that he dresses the best when someone else tells him what to wear, otherwise he’d be running around in quite a state, probably earning stares of confusion as to why he was dressed so strangely. That being said, Rei is usually responsible for his clothes and his hair, keeping him presentable just in case the run into his mother. He appreciates all the two of them do to keep him happy, dressed in typical Waterbender attire, which makes them quite an odd group. He often times jokes about how they all look like some kind of travelling circus, given that their outfits look nothing alike.

History:

Saitou: [Word Count: 1004]

Saitou, on the day he was born, was greatly cherished, his parents couldn’t be happier, their son was adorable, a head of soft, short black hair, and two curious eyes. His first image was of his father, staring at him, his earliest memory, then, suddenly, there was movement, and yelling, a blast of red and orange, and then screaming. From his place, all he saw was a serious, unhappy old woman appear, a tired looking teenage girl hanging on her arm, begging, pleading with her to let her keep her son, to let her keep her little Saitou, but she soon vanished, a hand wrapping around her neck and dragging her out of view.

“You should have known better than to have a child at such a young age.”, she said, throwing a blanket over Saitou’s face, and moving him. He didn’t know where to, hardly understood what was happening, but the next face he saw was one of an old woman, staring down at him, frowning, but her eyes were glowing as she leaned down and picked him up, “Let’s get you inside, little one.”

He hardly remembered much else, just that one memory, a jumble of confusion. Had he been kidnapped? Did that mean his parents were still alive? He wasn’t sure, the memory pained him simply because he didn’t know if he hadn’t been wanted, or if there was some sinister choice by someone to take him from his family.

His earliest moments at six years old were of his experiences at the orphanage, mostly involving interactions between him and the other children who seemed to enjoy his company, due to his proclivity to be an, all around, fair and kind person. He was actually quite happy, despite that memory nagging at him; he was able to grow the way any normal, non-abandoned child would. Especially given the amount of care he and the other children received from their caretaker, and elderly woman who had no children of her own, and so spent her time taking care of children in need.

Saitou had been her favorite simply because she saw his kind-hearted ways, and likened him to being her little helper. It’s sad to say that her time came when she was reclaimed into the arms of the great spirits, leaving the world, and the children she’d cared for behind. Saitou took it in stride, he knew that she’d be happy no matter where she went. It was at this time that a man, under the command of Count Arashi was sent to collect some of the older children for training to become fighters in his arena, though no one knew it, under the guise of a wealthy widower, the man provided a promise of comfort for quite a number of children, claiming to be quite like the woman who’d once cared for them.

It was a lie, and the torment they put some of them through proved too much for some, who often times died in their sleep after being pushed beyond their limit one too many times. Saitou was their favorite, especially when forcing him to fight his friends, tearing apart the innocence of his soul.

There was one day in particular, only a year before he broke himself, Rei, and Reimaru free of their captivity, that he tried to say no, standing firm, his hands clenched, at the age of eighteen, he’d already become an excellent Firebender, and they tried to force him to fight a boy nearly five years younger than himself.

“I’m not going to fight him!”, he yelled back, but the man was fast, and cruel, gripping his hair, and turning him to face the boy, “He is the enemy, you need to learn to fuel your anger, let it become hate, and unleash it on your opponent. No mercy!” Saitou struggled, elbowing the man in the chest, and pulling free before being shoved to his knees by a brutish Non-Bender, “But I don’t hate anyone. Especially not my opponents. I’m not going to fight him.”, he repeated. The man smirked, grabbing Saitou’s hair again, pulling his head back with his left hand, cocking his right fist, “By Ozai, YOU’LL LEARN TO HATE THEM!!”, he screeched, “Or you’ll suffer the consequences.” Saitou’s instinct, his anger got the better of him, and he spit directly into the man’s face, he closed his eyes as the man’s hand shot forward, expecting a blow, but what he got was worse than anything he could have ever imagined.

When he awoke, he couldn’t see out of his left eye, and for a few , brief moments, he was sure he was blind, then a soft, sad voice, accompanied by a gentle touch to his uninjured cheek calmed him, “Don’t move…I need to finish bandaging it.” He was faintly aware of numbness in the left side of his face, and he spoke quietly, “Wh-What happened?” There was a dreadful pause, and then the girl spoke, “He burned your face…I’m sorry…it’s a miracle you didn’t lose an eye…b-but…you should be ok…I imagine the scar will be pretty nasty though…” Saitou was silent, “Thank you…for taking care of me…” She sighed, “It’s my job…I don’t want to fight, so I decided to become a healer…I’m Rei…what’s your name?”

“Saitou…”

The year passed quickly, and as Rei predicted, Saitou’s face bore an awful scar, earning him both a terrifying appearance, and increased popularity. The time leading up to his escape showed an increase in bets placed on his head, as victor, as well as increased numbers of viewers, to see ‘The Boy with the Scar’, perform his feats of skill and prowess. All it was could only be described as humiliation, salt upon his wounds. Rei was his only comfort, always understanding, and kind, as was the recently captured boy, Reimaru, who seemed to take a liking to him quickly.

Together, in the night, they hatched their plan for escape, and together, they managed to subdue the guard, and escape into the night.

Rei: [Word Count: 646]

There were a few moments of Rei’s childhood she remembers best, most of them were with her mother. She didn’t know her father, never did, he was gone when she was born. What she did remember was how much fun she had, going out to picnic and play with her mom, who seemed to view her as the only important thing in the world. It made her feel like she was really the only thing that mattered. Of course she wasn’t always like that, as she got older, her mother focused on teaching her about defending herself, and, most importantly, how to protect and take care of the people you cared about most in her life.

She started small, having her sit by when she sewed up a particularly bad wound, she didn’t know why doctoring people was so interesting to her, but she spent more time inside, learning to properly sow than she did outside learning to Airbend, which contributed to her desire to fix injured people when she was taken two years later, at the age of thirteen.

They knew who her mother was, and although she didn’t know it at the time, they were crooked, one of the reasons her mother struggled to feed them even though her chosen career was usually paid well, and they forced her into a deal paying ‘protection’ fees. It drained her to a nearly completely empty pocket, though Rei never knew about it until they took her, telling her about how they knew who she was, the reason they’d told her someone was hurt to get her attention.

They blindfolded her most of the way, and when she could see again, she was standing over a boy only a few years older than her, who appeared to have had a sword slash across his abdomen, most of his organs were actually revealed to her, and she felt a very strong, sudden urge to vomit, but given the expected her to help him, she had to fall back on what her mother had told her about particularly bad injuries, ‘stay calm, breath in slowly, breath out slowly, close your eyes and count to ten, then start working’.

She did just that, and within a few moments, she’d managed to, although messily, seal and disinfect the wound. The men seemed pleased, and proceeded to lock her away until she was needed again. It went on like this, most of her patients either screaming bloody murder or passed out. Only one intrigued her, the boy’s whose face had been burned, not in the arena, but by one of their captors, for choosing to suffer over hurting someone when they weren’t even really fighting. He had spoken to her, and she had learned his name, and they became fast friends.

He told her much of his time in the arena, the pain he experienced, and she did her best to calm him down, to help him. To be quite honest, she spent most of her nights crying, adopting his pain as her own, and coping the only way she knew how. In this instance, her mother’s breathing technique didn’t work.

It wasn’t until a few months before they made their escape that Reimaru was delivered, like a sack of potatoes. He took to Saitou quickly, and to her. It was strange that she’d had a child given to her, a pretty talented young Waterbender, and the forced him to learn to bend same as the other trainees. Refusal meant inhumane treatment, usually five minutes getting beaten with whips, or lashes. She had to heal Reimaru up more than one time.

On the night of their escape, she had been the one carrying Reimaru, while Saitou lit as much ablaze as he could before running for it, disappearing into the woods, escaping their years of torment at the hands of heartless men.

Reimaru: [Word Count: 303]

Reimaru, youngest of the group he was part of, hardly remembers much of home, it was sad, really. He was born in the Southern Water Tribe, along with his twin sister Chinatsu. Of course, being as young as he is, most of his history occurs once he was kidnapped. It wasn’t Chin’s fault, he was just too curious for his own good, her wandering about, and him going out to find her. He’s more like his mother than his father, preferring to stay close to home. He has a real reason for that now; a man had seen him, a four year old boy, holding a suspended ball of water in his hands. Talent meant money, and he easily captured him, leading him into an alley between houses, and taking him without much real effort.

Getting him out was simple, and finding Arashi’s arena, known only to those invited, was easy as well. He got a fair price for the boy, and vanished with his pay.

Reimaru, meanwhile, being trusting, had made a terrible mistake, and now awoke among terrible smells and mean, smelly men. There was only a few people who were like him, nice, honest. One of them was a nice girl who took care of him, and reminded him of his mother. Oh, his mother, she must’ve been worried sick, and Chin, poor Chin. Saitou had a scar, which he didn’t seem to like, but Reimaru thought it was pretty cool, always trying to get up the courage to ask what it was, what had happened.

The night of the escape confused Reimaru greatly, Saitou yelling at Rei, telling her to run, and the smell of fire and smoke. He didn’t know what had happened until the next morning, when he saw the sun for the first time in months.


**OPTIONAL**
Sample RP:*Optional only for members who have done a sample RP with an expert-tier character before* (420 words minimum, must be from character's point of view--3rd person and 1st person acceptable)

Character Box: [Leaving this junk blank, I'm not going to try to convince all of you Saitou is different than Zuko.]

He's flawed in many ways, but he's got few similarities, he's kind-hearted, family-oriented, and has hardly any regard for himself over other people, if anyone, he's closer to being like the original Iroh, minus being old.

[Skidoosh]

Holy hell, that was a long app. The good thing was that I enjoyed reading it

Approved bro

I smell trouble. especially with something else that I saw in the works in a different thread.

Just know that in order to have something like this, they have to stay together. If that is to change, I doubt it'll be a problem. That is not where I sense the trouble.
Ultimately though, it's very well-written, and the latter two characters are unique enough by my understanding. the former of the three however, strikes a bad note with me. a few minor differences aside, he still comes off a bit too much like Zuko to me (admittedly, a slightly cooler and therefore less douchey Zuko, which says a bit).

So ultimately, I am conflicted. Maybe I am overanalyzing a bit too much, but I am seeing signs, subtle ones admittedly, of what looks like an idealized pairing of idealized canon-ish characters from the show.
Again, maybe I am reading a bit too much between the lines here, but I couldn't in good conscience let something like this past my radar for the same reason that I will not let Ren's WIP through without some good strong tweaks.

However, it is well written and Kei/Rei are A-OK (I am sorry for that terrible rhyme). Thus, I will have to remain Neutral on the matter, and see what the other staff have to say. The difference between a neutral and a reject is that when rejected, we specifically tell what to change. By remaining neutral, I am simply setting myself aside because I might be overanalyzing something and/or have a stick up my ass or something else. Thus if the other staff approve as is, then all is well or whatnot.

please don't take this personally or anything. I am not mad at you or anyone else for that matter.

Yeah, looks good. Approved

I have thought it over enough and realized that I might have been overthinking it at 330 in the morning, though the resemblances I see, still remain the same.

The Earth Queen Approves of This Profile.