6) Describe your character's happiest memory.
POWERING through these things, trying to get to the current date.
Amahl: He is standing on a beach. The sand is uneven, large portions have been torn into great shimmering streaks of glass. The water washes around his feet and he lets out a deep sigh. He looks down at his little brother, an almost blank expression is on Quinn's face as the messy-haired firebender watches the boat they both see approach the shore again. This island has been their home for the better part of the year. Daily attacks and trials have become their reality. Ninjas cloaked in all black striking while they slept. Animals of foreign origin let loose on their campsite. Luili herself appearing and striking them down with bending the likes of a demigod. But today her boat was calm and she stepped off it looking at the brothers with a smile full of pride; they had passed all of the tests. Luili's voice was like smoke as it wrapped Amahl and his younger brother in words of praise on becoming the new leaders of Jinhai, and before he could register the joy Quinn leapt up and hugged his brother. In the warmth of that embrace and in that moment Amahl had become something great, and managed to take his brother with him. They were now gang leaders, heads of Jinhai, and the world was theirs for the taking.
Barung: With a final grunt and an enormous heave a huge stone left his arms, flying through the air at his sparring partner. Khan was already past his limit, but Barung knew full well that was when the bastard was at his most dangerous. They were both only sixteen, but their skills at bending the earth were far superior to anyone in their age group. Khan slammed his face into the stone, his forehead tearing the enormous boulder into shale and sending it soaring back to Barung. And then every stone in the air stopped, and hung like a photograph of that moment. Their momentum gone the rocks slipped to the ground, shaking and clicking off one another and the boys mentors both stepped in nodding their heads and beaming. Barung's grandmother patted him on the knee, laughing at the ferocity of which her grandson battled. He looked across the way at Khan's father showing him a proper stance that would have delivered a finishing blow to his opponent more quickly than a wild storm of shattered rock. But Khan's mind was elsewhere, both he and Barung could see in one another that they had finally done it together; become master earth benders. The dinner that night was simple but hearty, and Khan, Barung, Khan's father and Barung's grandmother laughed, drank, and ate to their heart's content. The four of them would never have a night like that again, but for that one shining moment they all sat and loved one another's company. For Barung that is the last night of his childhood.
Gurien: Spending an entire night weeping into the soil at the outskirts of the city left Gurien's face sore. He had been wracked by nightmares of roots crawling into his veins and his stepmother trying to tear them from his body. He sat up and rubbed his head, it was throbbing. What had happened to tear his life so far from what it had been? It was all that witch's fault. The thought sent a pulse of rage down his spine, but it settled, he was too exhausted to feel anger. He reached into his shirt's pocket and removed the sack of coins he had stolen from his home in his hurry to flee. They were worthless to him now. Anywhere that he would spend them his stepmother would hear about and find him. Anywhere he would go that was too shady they would recognize his higher class and brutalize him. Nobody in this city would take him in, and Gurien knew loneliness like he had never known before. He tossed the bag into the woods, and with a loud splash it fell behind a bush. Water! Gurien climbed shaking to his feet and trampled through the Forrest to the small stream now littered with his coin. He stuck his face into the water and screamed as loudly as he could, his head came up with tears and a huge thin smile, thankful that he could at least drink something cool. His eyes caught a glint in the water, the purse of coins was ragged and the coins looked brand new, save one. It sat like a dusty stone, but it called to him none the less. It was unremarkable, but in it's structure was a simple calling beauty, four elemental symbols etched around a circular base. He tried to turn away for a moment, but the coin called for him, it demanded his attention. He could not comprehend his actions, but he lifted it from the water and held it above his head and then it happened! The water of the stream stopped and looped around him like a coiling snake, the earth below him shuddered and opened like the womb of gaia granting him entry! Gurien fell for what felt like a lifetime as his body shuddered with this new unbelievable energy coursing through him! His descent was stopped by a single trunk of a tree, outstretched towards the opening that Gaia had made for him. This subterranean tree had caught him and with a smooth movement of his wrist he moved the branch to the cavern's floor with him on it. This tree had bent to his will as had the water and the ground below him. Tears of joy began to fall across his face as he arched his head up in awe of his epiphany. He realized that he needed to abandon the world of man before he could become what he was destined to be; the Father of Gaia.
Hamash: In his adult life Hamash has had many good and bad days. And the Darkest Day of Jingdou is by far one of the worst he can recall, all of the violence and bloodshed and he could do almost nothing to stop it. But when he left the city with his four followers he turned and asked them if they believed they could truly stop the corrupt, violent city they were leaving. If this was a task they could accomplish or if they were futile idealists. They were pensive at first, but all four took a deep breath and looked back at Jingdou before turning to him and one by one dropping onto one knee. They swore right there that they were convinced that Hamash could end this gang-ridden violence and corruption. And in that moment the Avatar felt more powerful and confidant than he had in decades. Hamash remembers that moment with a heart filled with joy and anticipation at the aspect of the world once again being brought to peace.
Khan: The last one stood there. Eyes darting between Khan and Barung, like a cornered mouse. His knees buckled and he turned, sprinting away, screaming for mercy. Khan blasted off an orb of flame at his feet to keep him running, his booming laugh filling up the slums. Barung chuckled openly and the pair exchanged nods. They had just kicked out the last of the slum's middle-class slumlords using the poorest of Jingdou for their profit. The slums were perfect for the two of them, a lawless place where nobody would give them trouble. Where they could be free. That night was blazing hot, the city was buzzing with activity, dancers in the street and waterbenders creating fountains for grateful children. But Khan and Barung lay on their backs in the slums, staring at the stars, surrounded by the crumbling buildings and empty bottles and bowls from the feast the very grateful people of the slums had laid out for them. They both passed back and forth a huge gourde full of liquor they had tore off the backs of one of the deposed slum lords. In this moment Khan had first felt the reassuring rush of the freedom he had sought out for what felt like his lifetime. The slums were free, liberated by he and Barung, and now they were his home.
"Ah've gaht it, Barung." Khan rolled his massive bulk over and looked to his friend, "Wha'll cahl arselves Raikoke."
"Hmm, you mean like that volcano?" Barung brushed the hair in his eyes back and nodded, "Raikoke is a good name. We'll be the Order of Raikoke." Khan burst into laughter, drunken guffaws rolled across the slums and he sat up.
"Heh. . . Ordar. . . Das a fukin funny," and he gripped up the gourde and finished it off.
Okan: "Happy memory? Ha! That's a fucking joke, right? Life is suffering, and I am an agent of that pain. The happiest I've been recently? Well that's easy, some know-it-all solider told me he could do my job ten times over because he could firebend, and I caved his fucking skull in with the bench that he was sitting on. The look on his face when he couldn't focus for two seconds and get a fire punch going was priceless. Like a roosterpig that just realized it can't fly fast enough to escape a cleaver. Wide-eyed terror and then. . . Crunch."
Quan: The flames around her rose, roaring for her blood. That wasn't normal fire, that was ashbird fire. The warehouse they had found themselves in was burning hotter by the second. Quan would worry about weather or not the scores of Ashbird grunts she had to cut through to get to this point would escape the flames, but she couldn't afford to loose focus. She saw the swordsman before her, a Raptor in the Ashbirds ranks. She heard the whaling of sirens all around her as the JEG and the allied nations attempted to destroy hundreds like him. Where she stood now was not a place of power, her muscles were roaring and her instincts were to flee, her ice would be useless with the air this hot. She made eye contact with the blackhaired ashbird swordsman and pointed her blade at his heart. He smirked, and mimicked her stance. Quan sprung and they began the dance known to swordsmen across the globe. And as her body and his sliced across the air, the flames screamed at the sky, like a roman crowd demanding blood. They were warriors of body and steel, clashing on equal footing, neither standing down for a second. And in that blissful warfare Quan felt complete and content.
Wutai: "Three years ago when my little sister had gotten a day off from university I went to visit her at Ba Sing Se Academy. She was excited to see me and together we set off into the city, exploring shops and tea and restaurants, laughing and enjoying the city. She was so happy to hear about my work in the fire nation and although it was really an unremarkable day. . . we were both so happy that the day just feels. . . Ideal. I still go back and visit some of those shops to remember what we once had. Before the city took her from me. She was just. . . In the wrong place at the wrong time." He shook his head and left the tea shop, sharing memories of Ba Sing Se had become too much and he needed fresh air.
It took two seconds for his leader to find him, and place a warm shawl around his shoulders smiling at him. Sakari spoke, "That was a really sweet story."
Wutai remained silent, wrapping the shawl tighter around his arms.
"And not a syllable of it was true." Sakari tightened her lips and glared at him.
"Absolutely not," Wutai leaned against a wall, "The real story is far more interesting."
