Name: Terayama Hisako
Age: 13
Gender: Female
General Description: It would be easy - perhaps too easy - to describe Hisako as 'delicate'. A willowy young thing, she stands just a fraction taller than five feet five, though she gently insists that she is unlikely to grow considerably taller than her mother. Her build is light, with skinny limbs, pianist's fingers and an awkward gait reminiscent of a wobbly young fawn learning to walk, which is a particular rite of passage for teenagers the world over struggling with too-long legs and silly floppy arms. Hisako tries rather hard to act and move with grace, however, and improves slightly every day despite it feeling like an uphill struggle. She tends to wear clean pastille colors in unflattering but comforting, safe styles and her hair is slowly being tamed into some semblance of a style despite its naturally bushy, haphazard ways.
The young girl's features are slightly soft - round face, button nose, wide brown eyes and quiet smile - but she has elements of her mother in her look to hint that in a few years she could be considered rather pretty in a modest sort of way. Suggesting this to her will cause her to blush furiously and deny any possibility.
Despite shuffling through her teenage years and her attempts to adhere more closely to the traditional concepts of refinement and grace, Hisako still enjoys some simpler pleasures of youth in such a way that belies her generally quiet exterior. She enjoys singing to herself, sweet foods, board games, snow sculptures and simple stories of princes and the heroines that save them. These serve as a welcome shelter from the pressures and expectations of her daily life, though she is also aware that one day she may no longer have the freedom to enjoy them as much as she currently does.
History: The Terayama family is ancient but by no means remarkable. Generation upon generation have served as priests and priestesses of a Shinto shrine to be found at the foot of a stubby mountain several hours from the hidden village of Kumogakure. These men and women lived and died quiet lives of prayer, contemplation and dedication through the good will and support of visitors. But none asked of them any more than this and the family has lived in relative obscurity for many decades.
The birth of Hisako was a quiet revolution. Difficulties conceiving had led her parents to fear that theirs would be the last names in the annals of the Terayama family, but Hisako's arrival was joyously celebrated and she was doted on by both Father and Mother in her first years. Educated in the ways of Shinto and their shrine as soon as she was capable of understanding, the young girl grew quiet and contemplative if a little distant compared to others her age. The shrine would be hers when her parents passed and she took this responsibility rather seriously, learning all she could about being a young woman worthy of both respect and trust for spiritual guidance even if it did not all come entirely naturally to her.
All was set for Hisako's life until the events of the past year. Visitors to the Terayama shrine spoke of vicious attacks upon the country's peoples and of harsh conflict amongst the ruling classes. Hisako and her parents lived too far away and too quietly to be involved in this violence, but the tales told by travelers planted a seed of discontent within the young girl's heart. In her idyllic life, was she too far removed from the everyday to offer her support and teachings to the average man and woman? How could such a young girl ever be considered capable of serving those compared to whom she was so different in experience? The doubt gnawed at the back of her mind for months as she struggled with these unfamiliar feelings.
As the world calmed, so too did Hisako's frustrations. Instead, peace-time found her resolute and determined to experience what the world could offer her, away from the comfortable restraints of her family home. With their blessing and love, Hisako left her parents, promising to return having gained the knowledge she sought - knowledge of pain, of anger, of strife and loss. Of all the strange and mysterious places in all of Kaminari no Kuni, there was one where she knew that she would be taught such things without embellishment or obstruction.
[[That was long! ^_^' Hopefully not too painful to read though. I think I also need a name change if the above is accepted, yes?]]
Age: 13
Gender: Female
General Description: It would be easy - perhaps too easy - to describe Hisako as 'delicate'. A willowy young thing, she stands just a fraction taller than five feet five, though she gently insists that she is unlikely to grow considerably taller than her mother. Her build is light, with skinny limbs, pianist's fingers and an awkward gait reminiscent of a wobbly young fawn learning to walk, which is a particular rite of passage for teenagers the world over struggling with too-long legs and silly floppy arms. Hisako tries rather hard to act and move with grace, however, and improves slightly every day despite it feeling like an uphill struggle. She tends to wear clean pastille colors in unflattering but comforting, safe styles and her hair is slowly being tamed into some semblance of a style despite its naturally bushy, haphazard ways.
The young girl's features are slightly soft - round face, button nose, wide brown eyes and quiet smile - but she has elements of her mother in her look to hint that in a few years she could be considered rather pretty in a modest sort of way. Suggesting this to her will cause her to blush furiously and deny any possibility.
Despite shuffling through her teenage years and her attempts to adhere more closely to the traditional concepts of refinement and grace, Hisako still enjoys some simpler pleasures of youth in such a way that belies her generally quiet exterior. She enjoys singing to herself, sweet foods, board games, snow sculptures and simple stories of princes and the heroines that save them. These serve as a welcome shelter from the pressures and expectations of her daily life, though she is also aware that one day she may no longer have the freedom to enjoy them as much as she currently does.
History: The Terayama family is ancient but by no means remarkable. Generation upon generation have served as priests and priestesses of a Shinto shrine to be found at the foot of a stubby mountain several hours from the hidden village of Kumogakure. These men and women lived and died quiet lives of prayer, contemplation and dedication through the good will and support of visitors. But none asked of them any more than this and the family has lived in relative obscurity for many decades.
The birth of Hisako was a quiet revolution. Difficulties conceiving had led her parents to fear that theirs would be the last names in the annals of the Terayama family, but Hisako's arrival was joyously celebrated and she was doted on by both Father and Mother in her first years. Educated in the ways of Shinto and their shrine as soon as she was capable of understanding, the young girl grew quiet and contemplative if a little distant compared to others her age. The shrine would be hers when her parents passed and she took this responsibility rather seriously, learning all she could about being a young woman worthy of both respect and trust for spiritual guidance even if it did not all come entirely naturally to her.
All was set for Hisako's life until the events of the past year. Visitors to the Terayama shrine spoke of vicious attacks upon the country's peoples and of harsh conflict amongst the ruling classes. Hisako and her parents lived too far away and too quietly to be involved in this violence, but the tales told by travelers planted a seed of discontent within the young girl's heart. In her idyllic life, was she too far removed from the everyday to offer her support and teachings to the average man and woman? How could such a young girl ever be considered capable of serving those compared to whom she was so different in experience? The doubt gnawed at the back of her mind for months as she struggled with these unfamiliar feelings.
As the world calmed, so too did Hisako's frustrations. Instead, peace-time found her resolute and determined to experience what the world could offer her, away from the comfortable restraints of her family home. With their blessing and love, Hisako left her parents, promising to return having gained the knowledge she sought - knowledge of pain, of anger, of strife and loss. Of all the strange and mysterious places in all of Kaminari no Kuni, there was one where she knew that she would be taught such things without embellishment or obstruction.
Kumogakure.
[[That was long! ^_^' Hopefully not too painful to read though. I think I also need a name change if the above is accepted, yes?]]
