Basic Data
Name: Tsurara Moriko
Title: N/A
Nicknames: 'One'
Rank: Sennin
Bloodline: Yuki [Fuyushio Branch]
Status: Heir of Tsurara Clan
Personal Info
Gender: Fluid [Female usually; sometimes male]
Eye Colour: Indigo
Hair Colour: Pale blue
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 132 lbs
Age: 17
Birthday: July 31st
Blood Type: AB-
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual
Appearance: Short and slim with long, very pale blue hair and indigo eyes, Moriko has a presence much louder than her appearance. In her family she is already regarded as particularly pretty, with several of her clan proclaiming her likely to become a great beauty in time. At the same time, there is much lamenting at how she puts very little effort into her appearance, often losing or discarding hair ribbons due to a preference to keep her hair down and not bothering with any cleaning beyond proper hygeine.
Despite the fact her family is certainly well-off enough to keep her in an up-to-date wardrobe, Moriko will tend to wear out clothes until they have enough holes in them that her mother makes her discard them. She doesn't bother stitching or patching them, either, despite many efforts of both her mother and other clan women to try and teach her.
She does also maintain a small hidden cache of her favourite ties and ribbons--albeit for wearing around her wrists or neck rather than in her hair. Usually when out in public she can be seen wearing at least one or two of these. Frequently these will be in colours that clash with her hair and what she's wearing, purchased herself with pocket change. She has little care for how colours go together; she simply picks based on colours she likes and gives very little care otherwise to how she appears.
Personality: If described by her family, three words would come up repeatedly: 'clever,' 'lazy,' and 'unlucky.' 'Rude' might also feature, although truthfully Moriko is only rude to her clan's elders and otherwise only snips at people when she gets upset. Nonetheless, she owns the rest of it; Moriko will seek out the easiest solution to any problem she's confronted with and never put in full effort if it can be at all avoided. The results of this tend to vary based on how much she cares about the given task. If it's something she doesn't have much interest in such as chores the result will often be slapdash at best.
Perhaps another word that should be added to the list, albeit not a trait of hers her family notices, is 'stubborn.' When Moriko finds something she does want, she will dig in her heels until she gets it--by any means necessary. The reason this isn't often noticed is that she will often abandon a frontal approach in order to work at it from another angle that appears more promising, and will prefer to use conniving tactics to outright effort. Rarely does she ever outright drop anything she cares about, even if her mother and the rest of her family are often unaware of this.
Moriko also possesses a currently-hidden violent streak. Currently she checks it, not being able to offer much in the way of what she calls 'adequate' violence--though she has once or twice slipped and done things like giving her cousin a broken nose when he made fun of another, younger cousin of theirs and continuing to hit him until she was pulled off of him. This is exacerbated by the way that she thinks: if an action is worth taking, it's to be taken as far as you're capable of taking it. While Moriko will readily espouse and see shades of gray, her own actions are very much all or nothing. In defense of those she cares about it's almost always 'all,' and in defense of herself (verbally or otherwise) it's usually all but 'nothing.'
Shuttering this violent streak while she doesn't have the means to act on it as much as she would yet find acceptable (even though it's beyond what her family would prefer already) is in part what led to her engaging heavily in her studies, often in an attempt to find something that she would have to exhibit effort in to exceed at--as the physical realm had so far proved unsatisfying in that regard. Disappointing her, this has yet to manifest and everything from clan history to numbers to analyzing poetry comes to her in a snap.
The frustration mounts in her and only contributes to her temper. Moriko is practically chomping at the bit to embark on her path as a ninja, as it might be the only thing that could reasonably challenge her. This is despite the last trait that rings true--Moriko is a trouble magnet both due to her native curiosity and pride in her own skills and an added factor of no fault of her own. This results in things blowing up in her face on a nigh-constant basis, though somehow she never receives the brunt of any harm or punishment.
The final thing that makes her eager to start her training is the desire to not be seen as only some pretty thing to be married off to a distant cousin for her bloodline. She has been studying strategy and tactics as a head start and wants to put it to the test in practical terms, deliberately also using it as a way to maneuver away from her family's attempts to pretty her up and make her care about more 'acceptable' pastimes. While her treatment of her appearance and clothes might be still in part to a lack of care and childish whimsy, there may also be a healthy dose of spite at this point.
There is one weakness that often Moriko refuses to acknowledge within herself as one--her complete lack of understanding of or care for her own emotions. It makes her seem more abrasive than she intends sometimes, as she lacks the ability to regulate them--and contributes to her snapping when she does, not being able (or, truthfully, inclined) to catch any outbursts in time.
But it's not like emotions are important or that she wants to feel them directly. Her general thought on the subject, when she bothers at all, is 'who would?'
History: The Tsurara family is, like many of the families in Wind Country, an old one. Of some of the few of their bloodline in what should be an intemperate to inhospitable climate to them, they regard themselves as somewhat above and tougher than many of their distant Yuki cousins from elsewhere. This is despite the fact that their elders have always complained loudly of the heat, and prior to the last century oftentimes a Tsurara clan elder would 'retire' to more a favourable climate for their cool blood. It was Moriko's great-grandfather who started the tradition of remaining in Wind Country and simply dealing with the heat--after his example, most of the others were shamed into likewise living up to their talk.
The clan spent a good long while living in Soon's Haven, but as public opinion of shinobi in general started to dip and occasionally manifest in outright hostility, they made hasty arrangements and uprooted to Sunagakure itself in short order, fearing for the younger and more vulnerable members of the clan as they were quite open about their bloodline and affiliations. Much of the active clan are ninja, some of them electing to live in Sunagakure while the Diamond Maelstrom still existed and welcoming their kin as well as assisting in arrangements upon their move now that the storm was no longer an issue.
Moriko was born several years after this move when the clan was thoroughly settled in behind their new wall, adapting as best they could to the drier conditions. Being in direct line of descent for the main branch, much was made of her at first--and more after her father took her older twin brother and absconded with him to parts unknown, not wishing either himself or his son to have that burden. As he and her mother Yuri were unmarried, this did not disturb Yuri overmuch--particularly as she was still left with one child to raise into an adequate heir.
Calling Yuri's parenting 'raising' might have been overly generous, however, as she generally preferred to do her own work and did little other than the basic minimum and occasionally remonstrating Moriko for her lack of manners. Some of the blame for Moriko being a 'ragamuffin' falls on her as far as her relations are concerned, but as she is set to be the head of the clan once her aging parents pass, there is little of consequence they can do or say to her. This often extends to Moriko as well and is one reason she gets away with so much. (Not that any of them tried particularly hard; many of them had their own children to be concerned with, and little thought was ever spared for the emotional needs of a child who received little to no support or affection of that nature from her only parent.)
This meant that there was almost no means to prevent Moriko from doing what she felt like. As the Tsurara clan did not hold with servants of any kind, she became fairly self-sufficient as soon as her mother thought her capable of it physically and tends to prepare her own meals and keep her own space tidy. (Usually.) Any household chores would often fall to her as her mother was frequently out on either missions or clan business, meaning that often they simply wouldn't be done until she was bored. Fortunately she didn't often make much mess to clean up in the first place.
The one rule Moriko ever had to abide by was the one that bothered her the most--a clan member must show some talent of their icy bloodline before they will receive permission to enroll in the Academy. She would just as soon have started when she was the minimum age possible to be accepted. She also knew that forcing such things never did any good and that her bloodline power would come to her in time, but nevertheless became impatient waiting, and plotting, and planning.
Main Weapon: A bow sized for her hands with a light blue ribbon twined around it above and below the grip.
Other: Knows Runic Terran
Character Relationships
Hate:
Dislike: Tsurara Yuri [NPC; mother]
Acquaintance:
- Mugen Kei ('Four'), Mugen Ringo ('Two'), and Oba Jintou ('Bread') as fellow students and Dr. Kurohane Saitou ('Doctor') as instructor; as of Topic 02
- Raizo (Kazekage), Uziuke, Egawa Yuno (cool bird guy), Oroku Shenlong (weirdo), Goki (cool girl; competent); as of Topic 08
Good Friend:
Best Friend:
Crush:
Dating:
Love: Mikuni Tsukiya [NPC]
NPC Thread: Over here.
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