Raika

[forte]

BASICS
name - Raika
age - 17 years.
gender - female

BIRTH
Nation - Earth Kingdom. She identifies with no nation.
element - None.

APPEARANCE
height - 5 feet, six inches; 1.68 meters; 168 cm.
weight - 120 pounds; 54.5 kg.
build - She's short and slight; In the past she has had a perpetually undernourished look due, of course, to malnutrition. Food was hard to come by while living in the orphanage.
hair - Her hair is dark brown, almost black, and cut to be as convenient as possible. Straight bangs cut across her face right above her eyebrows. The rest of her hair reaches a couple of inches below her chin. It's naturally straight and ends in shaggy spears on either side. She almost never puts her hair up unless she's swimming and has to be able to see.
face - Raika's face is rather round, her eyes large and her features symmetrical; she's attractive enough, but not so much that it draws attention to her, and as she doesn't put any stock in appearances, she doesn't wear any make-up to draw attention to it. Her face often has smudges of dirt on it.
distinguishing features - Her skin is naturally quite light, and when exposed to harsh sun for long she both burns and tans. When tanned her skin has an olive complexion that isn't noticeable normally. She has many small, light freckles on her cheeks beneath her eyes and on the sides of her face. Her eyes are dark brown but take on a liquid quality when directly exposed to morning sunlight. The irises turn a beautiful golden tawny color and take on a sort of depth, as if the flecks of darker color in her eyes are rocks or fish in an ochre pool.
other -

HISTORY
When she was only a few days old, Raika was left on the stoop of a destitute orphanage in Ba Sing Se. Even as a small child she was headstrong and adventuresome, and as soon as she grew old enough to be allowed to play outside, she often led a troop of other orphans into the mean streets of the Lower Ring. There she raised herself and taught herself to survive. She found work on the farms outside the wall and sometimes ran jobs for criminals (her childlike innocence made her an unlikely candidate in investigations). These were the qualities that kept her from being adopted, for no one wanted a willful child for whom thievery was second-nature. She used some of what she earned to buy food for herself and her fellow hungry orphans, especially the youngest ones in the house. She stole food, too, and so trained herself in the art of stealth. Still no one wanted to adopt her. The matron of the orphanage eventually lost hope of ever ridding herself of Raika through adoption, so she began to search for a husband for her when she was fourteen. Few suitors were interested, and those who were, she didn't like. The matron's frustration grew as her sixteenth birthday came and went; her refusals to marry became more stubborn, and one day it hit her: why did she put up with it? So she gathered her possessions and stole away in the night. With what little money she had Raika boarded the train out of Ba Sing Se and now finds herself broke and alone, but far from helpless.

PERSONALITY
As previously mentioned she is extremely stubborn, willful and headstrong. She doesn't take orders well and believes that she knows what it will take to survive. She trusts her instincts and rarely lead her astray.
But Raika is also kind-hearted. Her time at the orphanage showed her how good it feels when strangers are kind, and so Raika makes it her duty to help those she can wherever she goes.
She has cast off the burdens and oppression of society and now shuns every aspect of it. She hates money, buildings, clothes, and such junk.