Arawn Reztark

Name: Arawn Reztark
Birthday: Dec 21
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Element: Water
Height: 6'2
Weight: 150
Hair Color: White
Hair Length: Shoulder length, Dreadlocked
Eye Color: Black
Skin Color: Tanned
Body Type: Athletic
Personality: Hot headed, stubborn, and reckless, Arawn's personality would make more sense if the male had been born as a firebender. At least then, his bending would match his temper.
At first glance, one would think of Arawn as no more than a common 'thug'. He was raised in one of the few large cities of the world, and his fashion sense reflects this; a white tank top, over baggy jeans and sneakers/boots. You'd never believe that he's descended from a long line of waterbenders, some of who've been Avatars.
Arawn cares for very little in the world, save for people he trusts. He keeps strangers at an arms length, often at the business end of a spear of ice. But this isnt so say that he's a coldhearted person. If Arawn trusts you, you'll be hard pressed to find a warmer person.
While very much aware of his natural talent for his bending, Arawn simply shrugs it off. He was raised not to practice his bending in public for various reasons, chief among them being the 'recruiters', and he sees no reason to show it off still.
Likes:  Cold. The colder, the better for this guy. This seems to be the one thing that could possibly link him to being a waterbender. One of Arawn's more obvious likes.. is a distinct lack of clothing. He loves the feel of cold air on his skin, the coolness of water as he swims. If possible, he'll try to go about with as little clothing as possible, often with just a cloak, shorts/ jeans, and shoes. He's more of a tactile person, preferring to get his hands dirty rather than just dreaming of things.

Arawn adores his freedom, and will do anything to preserve this. His greatest wish is to travel the world, and explore. He loves going to new places, and trying out new things, but not necessarily new people. He has an endless curiosity, and is willing to try anything once, within reason. If he likes what he tries, he will be more willing to do it again.

As far as people go, unless you are Houjin, Avery, Kei, Orran or Alexi, you're attempting to push a boulder up an mountain of ice with no bending.
Dislikes: There are few things that Arawn dislikes in this world. The first and foremost is rudeness. While he himself treats everyone he comes across with cold detachment, it irks him to see someone spit his 'kindness' back in his face. It's one of the few things that will piss him off immediately, often to the point of violence. He believes in the 'golden rule'. With this in mind, anyone who disrespects someone else for no real reason should by all means have no problem with him beating thier ass.

Secondly, one of his major dislikes? Houji-- kidding.
History:Compared to his friends, Arawn believes that he has had the most 'normal' childhood. There were no grand temples in his youth save for the church his family dragged him to every sunday. His bending arts was a simple parlor trick his family used to entertain close relatives, cool drinks on hot summer days, or to create impressive ice sculptures for winter festivals. To him, Waterbending was just.. a quirk to him. It was something he could do that his friends could not, like whistling, or twisting you tongue. The only limitation that he knew of growing up was that he could not practice his bending in public...

The night Arawn was born was normal enough, if you do not account for the fact that it was the winter solstice, ironicly, the night of a full moon. Patricia was surrounded by a supportive gathering of aunts and one grandmother, each bustling around the house, doing thier part to help thier sister usher in the new life. Several water-filled hands were laid upon the woman's swollen belly, the younger sisters attempting to ease the labor pains that filled the woman's body. The elder sisters barked out instructions, giving support where needed, while the family's matriarch carefully watched on, correcting where she saw something wrong. The boy's father, Johnathan, waited in another room, pacing the floor as he waited for news.

It took several hours, but the child was delivered. A healthy, bouncing baby boy, brown eyed and crying as loud as his little lungs could muster. His mother was overjoyed, his father was the happiest man alive for the second time. Amid the celebrations, the matriarch of the family stepped forth to inspect the child.

As she laid her hands upon the boy, she began to see things. Faint, ghostly images of the child as he moved through life. She saw the choices he would make, of the havoc he would cause; an entire empire would fall because of his actions. Lives would be lost, whole rivers turned to red because of him. Determined not to see this future happen, she ordered that the child be raised in a different enviroment than his cousins. He was to be removed from the presence of other benders, and to be raised as a normal child, regaurdless if he showed potential to be a bender. The other family members were confused as to why she'd make such a decree-- she never shared with them what she saw. But, her word was law, and they followed her dutifully. Almost everyone.

Johnathan did not believe in the decree, given that his own lineage was a proud one; a long line of grandmasters, each of various elements and nations. He believed that his son was destined for greatness, and by his hand, that was what he would be!

Over the years, as the child was raised to be 'normal', Johnathan came to relealize that his son was in fact like he was, a waterbender. Excited at the thought, he immediately began to plot; ways to teach his son to carry on the proud line of his family. When the child was four, he purchased a swimming pool for the family. After grabbing Arawn, tossing him into the water and demanding that he 'swim or drown', he was estatic to see his son panic, rapidly causing the water to change from water to ice and back, before becoming steam to evaporate away in a matter of seconds.. As the pool was refilled, Johnathan explained to a still sniffling Arawn what just happened, and the history of both families.

As Arawn calmed down, he became fascinated with what he could do; he wanted to learn more, to be able to do anything that was possible. He and his father spent the rest of the day practicing, lifting out bubbles of water, as well as changing water to ice. It was simple enough lessons, ones that Arawn mastered rather quickly. With a promise to teach him more, Johnathan sent his child inside to sleep.

As the years passed, Arawn grew up under the watchful eye of his father, learning to hone and refine his skill.
After his grandmother passed when he was ten, Johnathan convinced Arawn came out to the rest of his family as a waterbender, even going so far as displaying his impressive skill. Concerned that thier mother;s decree had been defied, the family looked to Cora, the eldest daughter. In turn, she sighed and said that there was nothing to do right then-- the child was a waterbender, and he was welll trained at that. She could not take away his bending even if she wanted. She simply placed the same restrictions upon him as the rest of the children of the family-- do not use your bending in public unless it was a dire emergency. Arawn quickly agreed, and was 'welcomed' into the fold. With his family's formal training, his knowlege and was expanded greatly, far more than he would have with just his father's teachings. Given that his family was mixed benders, Arawn came to learn in great detail about the Avatar, the cycle of the elements, and the role of each element.
Over time, Arawn became confident with his bending abilities, besting most of his cousins in friendly sparing matches. For those whom he could not outright beat, he found ways to end the matches in stalemates. With the confidence, his family instilled within him a humbleness. He didnt boast his bending abilities. School, however, was another story.

In school, Arawn was the typical male athlete. He'd joined the swim team as a freshman in high school, and done very well for himself. As such, it earned him the respect and admiration of his peers. Though he was more than capable of doing so without being caught, Arawn  never used his bending to win races-- but he never was above using it to subtly influence 'accidents' to befall those whom attempted to bully the 'weird guy on the swim team'.

Being an athlete in school did come with perks; he had nearly the entire school to chose from when it came to girls. The male wasnt picky nonetheless, and eventually settled down with a bookish girl by the name of Christine when he was starting his sophmore year. It was around this time, the rumors reached his family. The kidnappings. Children being snatched, of all ages. The only thing that they had in common? They were all benders. The rumors were vicious; entire families slaughtered to get at sole bender children, houses demolished and set ablaze; else sinkholes appearing where they had no right to be.

Cora, fearing for the safety of the children, decided that Arawn and several of his cousins were old and mature enough to learn more powerful arts. During the week, the young male was kept busy as a bee; at school, he was swamped with tests, swimming and dealing with the facade of being normal, while at home-- his mother Patricia took it upon herself to teach him the art of disabling a person without revealing that he was a bender. She refered to it as chi blocking, saying that it was an old fighting style that her father had taught her to protect herself. From his father and Aunt Cora, he was taught the deadliest of waterbending techniques-- the ability to control the body of another person, to force his will over thier own and make them do as he wished...  It took a while for his lessons to be finished, but when he was, his family was satisfied that he could adequately protect himself.

Life was good for a while; His grades were up in school, there were problems with family, and he had his friends. That was, until the beach trip. It a celebraion for a victory at thier latest swim meet. You know the kind -- the cross town rivals were being played, down to the last match that ended in a tie between Arawn and a teamate. The teens had piled into a bunch of cars and driven out to one of the remote beaches. As the party ensued, Arawn was drawn away with Christine for some 'private time.' Just as things were getting fun, a scream was heard. Racing back, Arawn found several people standing around thier bonfire. The people revealed themselves to be agents of a certain organization who believed that there were were several benders among the teens. Almost immediately, panic broke out. Girls screaming and clinging to guys. Guys yelling, attempting to pick up branches and rocks to use as weapons. Arawn simply tugged Christine behind him, told her to run away and folded his arms across his chest. Rather quickly, the other teens were knocked unconcious or worse. As the recruiters stepped towards him, he quietly pulled water from the sea, and began the fight of his life.

The fight seemed to last only a few seconds to his mind, but when on for the better part of two hours. He'd managed to kill two of the recruiters until he was struck in the back..

When Arawn came to, he soon realized precisely what happened; he'd been abducted -- He, nor his family had believed that the recruiters had been so close to home. There wasnt much he could sdo at the moment: the staff kept all the students so dehydrated, that he couldnt work up a bit of spit to wet his mouth, let alone bend. If that wasnt enough, every so often, the staff would come for him, strapping him into a chair and subjecting him to brainwashing sessions. Somehow, the male was able to resist but thought it best to pretend to succumb to the sessions. In his mind, the more he acted like he was under thier control... the easier it would be for him to move under the radar, and plot his own escape. His plan was working fine, until he crossed paths with Houjin...

Following a brief scuffle, in which Arawn nearly killed Houjin through a strategic use of chi blocking, the two formed an alliance based on the circumstances; they both wanted a way out of the school, and Houjin had the plan, plus people to work with. After that... the rest is history.
RP Sample: Eat. Me.
Faceclaim: Random google pic

-Completetion karate chop!-