your ATLA ocs look so cute and Im really interested in Ya-Wen and would LOVE to hear more :0
@wildcardwithaheart
Hey! Thank you!! I’ll put it under a read more since it’s gonna get pretty long lol
It’s not obvious at first glance because most people don’t look beyond the hair, but Ya-Wen doesn’t have ears! She was born without them and is also sub sequentially deaf. Over the years she’s learned to adapt by using a rudimentary version of seismic sense; she can gather basic information from vibrations and use it like a sixth sense to make split second decisions. Like, for instance, if someone approaches her from behind she can tell their size and intent, because each walk has its own pattern and that translates through the vibrations, and if she’s really familiar with a person then she’ll be able to tell who it is that’s approaching as well. The weaker the vibration the more trouble she has reading it, however. Her range is about 10 meters all around.
Ya-Wen was born in one of the coastal cities that had been colonized by the Fire Nation the first time, around the time Roku liberated it and Sozin was forced to retract his forces, but as soon as the avatar died then her home was among the first reclaimed for colonization. As soon as Fire Nation started setting foot on her home she wanted to fight them but realized she would have a more tactical advantage in hiding her earth bending abilities and decided to settle on being patronizing over aggressive.
Her parents ran a floral shop and she grew up with extensive knowledge of herbal properties. So if the tea shop across the street happened to be forced to host a rotten group of soldiers she’d always stop by to be charming, subtly displace random spots on the floor and trip a few guys, and slip some poison into the tea that would leave them spending some long intimate hours with their toilets.
A revolt was bound to happen eventually though and as soon as she got wind of a rebellion rising up she made off before she could get found out and arrested for her growing list of misdemeanors and joined up with the fight. After that her goal was to just be the biggest menace she possibly could and maybe it’d get Sozin to show his bitch ass face so she could punch it.
As a general rule of thumb, if you want brain cells in the group, you gotta go to Ya-Wen for them. (*insert “Ya-Wen said it was my turn” joke here*) If you have an injury she’ll take care of it, but not before cussing you out because “You dumbass don’t worry me like that!” Out of all the gang members she and Yūma are the oldest, both coming in at 26 with her being a couple months older.
She’s chaotic, foul mouthed, and will make good on talk shit get hit, but she makes it all seem like an art. And if you’re her friend she will make you learn sign language because lip reading is not as easy as people make it out to be and she doesn’t have the patience to always try and figure out what you may or may not be saying. She likes bold but complimentary make up/fashion, is actually rather fond of plays and other dramatic performances, and loves her little band of dumbasses with all her heart.
