Andreyich

Avatar: The White Jade Gambit

"Cowards!" he Jin roared, still running across the roofs. He paced his breath, for the duo he was chasing was certainly quite limber. Still, he would not give up. Evil was here, in great abundance. He couldn't just let a murderer like that get away freely just because he was working up a sweat. Those medals, they had to mean something. Another snarl came from Temujin as he redoubled his efforts. For but a moment he thought to help himself to use the earth in the tiles of the roofs to make himself go faster. But no, he could do it by foot. If he began to start choosing these sacrifices in other people's names, that would begin the exact same slippery slope that everyone in the Kingdom that wronged him went on. The same path that made perhaps once good souls into villains.

In anger over this injustice he channeled a second wind, until very abruptly his attention was taken away. Some kid yelled at him. Jin looked down at him, and tilted his head. The boy looked scrawny enough that he'd struggle to get a blanket off of himself in the morning. "Run away kid. This is dangerous, it should be safe over there." he pointed in the opposite direction of where he presumed Ena and her newfound companion were going. "Get out." he commanded, not really even considering what the boy said. Hopefully he had sense enough to save himself, unlike the strange young firebender with the girl.

The thought of the wellbeing of the weedy boy suddenly brought Jin back to his memory of the old man he had left to fend for himself. "Damn." he cursed under his breath. Not that much time had passed, and yet it was more than enough for Mr. Hanwei to get lost or even hurt again.

For a moment the veteran looked back at the rest of the village, pondering if he should go back.

No, he couldn't. He was one man, and Jin had to hope he would have listened and stayed put. The Laughing Lily was said to have killed a lot more than one person, and would kill again. "You cannot outrun me!" he bellowed, and gave chase once more.

A grin came over him as he spotted the two fugitives. He dropped down, again entering a boxer's stance with either arm upraised and covered in earth, a similar affair upon his legs to avoid getting embarrassed like the other Earth-Benders Ena had beaten.

"You, boy." the stranger was a Firebender, but in this moment Jin just couldn't see him as a violent sort. He couldn't just batter him down. Besides, it wasn't like there was a bounty on him. "My problem's not with you." Three stomps with a briefly bared foot, and Jin erected a small staircase for Zai to climb to escape. "Get out, run fast." he was about to turn to Ena, before another thought hit him. "There's an old man out by the first shop behind the wall I made. One of you, Fire Nation. Help him. He's got a green cloak, brown bandana, little gold pendant on his neck."

Finally, he could turn his attention to the Laughing Lily. "Now, drop the sword and put your hands on the ground and this can go smoothly. There's nowhere to run, and I'd rather not have to break you." But to demonstrate he was more than willing to do so, his rocky fists clenched and unclenched a few times.

Andy's hunt for kin-spirit dreggs

Avatar: The White Jade Gambit

Jin had expected the young man to suddenly start cowering, and run from the woman that was armed with a sword and described as a serial killer. What he did not expect in the slightest was to see them take flight, followed by the boy displaying the fact he was unambiguously a firebender. "What?" he managed after a moment. He went to give chase, but with the fire spreading from the crates Jin groaned. He couldn't just let them harm the property of whatever poor souls owned the buildings to either side of the alley. His lips turned to an O shape and he took a soft breath that almost whistled before crushing a few loose rocks underfoot to sand and using them to smother the flame moments after it was born.

The warrior stared in the direction of the fleeing fugitives, wondering what exactly the boy was. An accomplice of the vicious killer? Truth be told he didn't look the part in the slightest. No weapons about him, and he looked skinny. Moreso even than others tended to be relative to the rough hewn folk of the Earth Kingdom. Then again, if he was muscled like an ox, it would certainly be a lot harder to hide in plain sight.

Regardless of if he was a devious killer or just an idiot, the girl he was with was far worse than a mere murderer. On the plus side, the fact they were running from him meant they were scared of him rather than vice versa so he figured he stood a pretty good chance when he finally got to confront them. All of this thinking that happened in less than a second was interrupted as he realized that more former comrades appeared behind him. As Temujin listened to their question he scoffed. "No, just a few dozen dragons who accidentally lit those boxes on fire. Don't bother me if you're too incompetent to catch a dangerous criminal." With that he yet again erected himself a pillar to jump on the roof of the nearest building to try and get a view of where the fleeing duo had gone.

Squinting, it took a few moments to spot them but once more he gave chase. Hopping between buildings he roared at them. "Challenge me, coward!" Anyone who ran like them probably didn't have ego enough to be goaded into battle by a mere request for a duel, but who knew.

Avatar: The White Jade Gambit

There was a feeling of satisfaction, a job well done as the last bystanders disappeared from the scene. It was the same feeling as a victory at a battle. Yet nobody was hurt from his actions. Quite the opposite in fact. A grunt of annoyance came from him however as some soldiers removed part of the barrier. He hadn't put too much effort into it, but it was still annoying. Any loose rocks or wind blasts or whatever would all go past and damage property of people. But at least nobody would die. Well, with that done he jumped on the wall, now choosing to simply observe the fight, curious as to who would win. With no dog in the fight, it would be an entertaining experience.

It was then that his eyes fixed themselves on what he had been missing. The lily-blade. Pupils enlarged, his heart beat like a hurried drum. When compounded with the obvious skill the woman had with the blade, the soldier had only one conclusion to draw.

"The Laughing Lily."

Temujin threw off his cloak, looking down on the three medals gleaming on chest, pinned to the worn green uniform he wore. The Kingdom had betrayed him. But he couldn't betray its people. Maybe the authority issuing the medals were vile, but they still meant something. His promises to his homeland, his nation, they still meant something. He could not simply allow a murderer to frolick about like this.

Jin was no Dai Li agent to be able to somehow crawl along a smooth wall without even using earth bending. But with a few buffs of effort he followed Ena all the same. As she climbed up on a roof, he slammed a foot into the ground to push himself up at level with the roof of another building on a long pillar of dirt. She was looking for something and seemingly followed.

A victim, perhaps. As she jumped down so did he. She was incredibly fast, and he had to work to catch up. Jin used his bending to accelerate his travel, leaping from rock to rock that he pushed out of the ground as a sort of series of springs to keep him going faster than his legs could take him by themselves. He entered the market, looking about. Curses, she was nowhere to be seen!

No, the fluttering rug, that had to be it! Sprinting through it he stared at Ena, the supposed lily bandit. If the stories were true, he was at great risk. He took a deep breath, bunching his hands into fists at his waist. Then he slowly widened them into flat lengths as they rose to his clavicle, making a dense layer of earth as impromptu armour around his legs and waist. As remarked before he was no Dai Li agent to make delicate form fitting gloves of stone and the like. But he did make big crude boxing gloves of rock on either fist. “You, boy, get out of here. This one is a killer. The Laughing Lily.” Then his attention turned to Ena. Jin had survival instinct enough to feel himself in great danger, imagining Ena cackling as her blade ended his life. But there was a duty to stamp out the evil of this reviled bandit. “Drop the sword, hands forward, and this can go quietly. Your terrorizing of this land ends now.” He hoped the bandit would surrender, but knew will enough it would be a one in a million chance. He also very much hoped the kid there had the wits to run off rather than be taken hostage.

Suddenly, he winced, remembering the old man. Who was taking care of him now? A pang of guilt hit him, his hands lowering ever so slightly. But, he was just one man. Who knew how many lives she took? Again the fists came up, ready to hand out a beating.

Andy's hunt for kin-spirit dreggs

Avatar: The White Jade Gambit

Leaning against a wooden pillar of a shop much closer to the scene, Jin crossed his arms. His eyes darted side to side as it seemed the soldiers were not relenting at the seemingly futile effort of the air nomad to intimidate them. A grimace came across his face as the mention of an order of King Wei came about. Mere months ago, if he had heard that said he would have joined the ranks of the soldiers present to restore law and order. Now? It seemed a cruel joke. What fugitives would even be in this little fishery? Well, actually that was an incredibly stupid question now that he thought about it. He had spent enough time outside of the army or his sheltered early life to know that any sort of crime could be hidden away in such a little establishment. But, what constituted a crime seemed to be ever more creatively interpreted between the Dai Li and the damn thugs that had stripped him of all he had.

Unexpectedly, a woman entered the scene, standing as a bulwark between the wholly unintimidating Bido and the soldiers. From where she stood, the woman looked like she would be flattened into a pancake shape if she actually tried to fight them. So, Temujin decided there was only two possibilities. Either this woman was an idiot intoxicated with fairy tales that courage was enough to overcome any adversity, or she was a frighteningly skilled warrior that could make short work of these men. The former would be tragic, the latter would be fascinating to watch.

He rolled his eyes a little bit as she called upon law and the necessity of burden of proof. For now, he was inclined to think she was indeed a brave idiot. Did she really think these men cared in the slightest bit? Maybe, but enough to stop them from doing what they were ordered to do? Yeah right.

But he was surprised, impressed. Just as a rock was thrown at the strange lady, the moment after she had turned the offender into a heap of pain. Poor, dumb guy. He had probably made the same assessment as Jin had, but had not left room for the possibility that the reason she was so confident was because she actually could deal with such a threat. Or at least, part of it.

However, he couldn't be ignorant of the fact the violence had escalated. The air monk seemed to intervene with more of his kind's limp wristed efforts to prevent violence. Temujin appreciated it, but there was something more important to do; reducing the effects of that violence.

Thus Temujin ran to the edge of the scene, without intervening, and waved any gawkers away. "Go! Leave! Run! Do you want to be smushed by rocks? Get out of here!" he kept yelling, waving his arms. But, more than that he braced his fists and slammed a foot into the ground erecting a thin barrier of rock between the bystanders and the encroaching chaos. It would work twofold in protecting people from any projectiles that would inevitably leave the scene, but also it would remove the point of interest that attracted people to suffering like fruit attracted flies. His eyes darted to Mr. Hanwei who looked confused and terrified in his chair.

Andy's hunt for kin-spirit dreggs

Avatar: The White Jade Gambit

“No, please, Mr. Hanwei, this way.” Jin urged the old man to follow him, but it was like goading a wild canyon crawler without so much as a morsel of food to grab its attention.

“Oh, but is that not a chamomile flower? The tea we could make Tom-Ji.”

“It’s Temu-... yes, of course sir, but please we must keep on the road.” After a few pulls, he was able to finally get the man to follow him and away from the dandelion those crusted eyes had so readily mistaken for chamomile. “Please.”

“Oh alright you impatient little….” Mr. Hanwei then suddenly looked quizzically at Jin, his lip curling back and his sparse eyebrows furrowing. “Who are you again?” the man asked, those same crusty eyes looking into Jin’s own.

“I’m Te… I’m Tei, your grandson.” During the pause Jin’s eyebrow arose in contemplation as he tried to remember the names from the old man’s ramblings. “Now please granddad, we have to get to town. We’re travelling.”

“Of course boy, you don’t have to tell me. It was my idea.” Jin sighed with relief as the old man seemed to return to a perfect state where his delirium was not so great that it made him non functional, but great enough that he was not able to recognize stranger before him as being a stranger and was thus susceptible to whatever the earthbender told him to get moving.

As they walked with the young soldier’s hand — the young warrior’s hand holding onto that of the old man, Jin was able to spot a scar on the head of the man he was helping. It was mostly covered by hat and thinning white hair and easily mistaken as a birthmark or the likes, but it was a grievous wound. Perhaps that was the source of the fellow’s poor state of mind? He was old, but he still had most of his teeth and wasn’t all that wrinkly as other people so ancient their minds began to fray.

“We’re almost there granddad.” Temujin remarked with anxiety instantly leaving his face. The senior’s legs were shaking now, clearly exhausted even if his brain hadn’t yet caught up to this state of affairs. Jin could carry him there, but that would be quite difficult if every few moments the old timer once more imagined an entirely new scenario he was supposedly in.

As they began to enter the town proper, Mr. Hanwei got the confused look that once more told Jin that his thoughts had been shuffled, eliciting a sigh. What now?

“What is this, get off me, who are you?” he old man shook free of Temujin’s grasp, stumbling a little bit.

“It’s me, your grandson, Tei.”

“What are you talking about you idiot, my grandson Tei died when they attacked Yeonma.” Jin froze. Yeonma. Balls of stone and flame crossing each other in the sky, the strike on the colony was as vivid in his mind as if it was mere days ago. “Who are you?” the demanded was repeated, now with anger to it.

Jin sighed, closing his eyes with a deep breath before replying. “I’m a stranger, but a friend. You’re lost, and I’m helping you get to town. Please, I-”

He was cut off by a wave of the old man’s hand. “You’re one of them, aren’t you? Come to finish the job have you?” Well at least the scar suddenly made sense. “Well I won’t get on my knees and beg.” another wave of the hand, and Hanwei continued towards the village. Jin’s fists clenched and unclenched as he watched his brief companion head off towards the village, before he ran to catch up what little ground was between them.

Not quite getting into Hanwei’s vision in case he was still in that strange half-lucidity, Jin opened his coinpurse with a sigh and began counting. “One, two….” well, hopefully that was enough to get the man out. If it wasn’t then he would probably just get lost in town and die. He hoped there would be a kind soul or two to take care of him on the boat, but the cynic in Jin told him that this wasn’t likely. Worse yet, what would happen to him if and when he did at last reach the Fire nation? When Jin found him struggling in a muddy ditch by the roadside, he found on his chest a pendant that seemed to belong to some sort of family. Perhaps he still had some sort of kin in their homeland that would be able to take him in.

“Why did you have to come here?” he muttered sorrowfully, shaking his head. Hearing some new rambling, Jin rushed to catch up to Hanwei, pulling both of their cloaks tighter to hide his own green uniform, and the distinctive red of the old man in the chance there’d be people harsh enough to harass him over it in town.

Half-listening to Hanwei’s long story of how he had grown some beautiful pale roses in his daughter’s garden, Temujin was becoming distinctly aware that there was trouble in town. Soldiers, once comrades of his. Now just an ache in the depths of his heart.

Looking up at the commotion and making out a few of the words spoken, Jin realized that getting Hanwei out of town wouldn’t be as easy as he had hoped. “Sit down old man, wait here, don’t leave for anything unless its for me.” he walked off, hoping there was just enough sense in the geezer to stay put in the stool outside the shop he had stopped at.

For now the disgraced veteran simply crept a little closer as nonchalantly as he could. Somebody at least, wanted to give the soldiers trouble. He suspected it wouldn’t go all that well. Anxiety gripped him over what was going to happen. Was the old fellow just going to be stuck here? Jin couldn't abandon him, would he end up settling here just to take care of the man that would likely spurn his help every few moments? “Stubborn, mighty, great and strong, our nation brooks no wrongs.” he murmured the marching song under his breath, dark eyes darting side to side as he awaited an outcome of the proceedings. As he got closer, he realized it was a man of the Air Nomads.

Well, that was something. What was his game? What was one of the them doing here?

Avatar: The White Jade Gambit

Stumbled off the Path to Glory

Jin

_{"I returned from war to find myself a foreigner in my own home."}

_NAME

Temujin (affectionately, Jin) Jochi

_AGE

22

_BIRTHPLACE

Ba Sing Se

_ELEMENT

Earth.

_{APPEARANCE DETAILS}

Temujin is perhaps a few centimetres above average in height, mostly a product of exceptional diet and health that all high born people can claim the benefits of rather than any exceptional genetics. Jin's skin is the light brown of a river beach's sand with increasingly many minor scars from burns and cuts. His raven hair is left long, messy (sometimes bound up to not get in his eyes), and he has eyes that are dark brown, almost black like rich volcanic soil. He is clearly built to be a soldier, possessing an impressive musculature if on a somewhat average frame.

_PERSONALITY

Temujin is a person with very strong principles. He will not lie about who he is, what he plans to do, or really anything unless a very convincing case is made that the life of a good person depends on it. He epitomizes what nobility is meant to be, rather than what it is in the Earth Kingdom. As a joke he would often be told he belonged more in the Fire Nation, perhaps being adopted from a lost child of theirs. Though he has a certain haughty arrogance to himself that all people of privilege bear, he very deliberately makes a point of being charitable and kind to those less fortunate than he even now as he has little more than the clothes on his back, dropping silver pieces into the cups of beggars even as his stomach growls. All the while, he tries to do such good deeds as discretely and anonymously as possible, fearing that if he does it publicly he would be doing so insincerely, vaingloriously, for the spectacle of charity rather than its literal purpose.

Beyond that, Jin is a deeply hurt person. All of his values and beliefs that he assigned to the Earth Kingdom were brutally crushed as he was stripped of his rank and position and de facto exiled from anything but the recesses of the the nation's society. This fear of betrayal manifests almost as a paranoia, employers of the now mercenary treated with constant suspicion that they might not pay him out or will send him to his death with glee. This learned behaviour contradicts his natural predisposition to trust people and take them at their word, this conflict within leading to many a tearful night.

As a soldier he had always sung along with his troops when it came to marching songs, or stuck around with them to sing drunkenly at campfires. Now with great nostalgia those memories bring him yet more interest to that, and even now he oft hums tunes of the Earth Kingdom's army.

Though born a relatively powerful bender, and particularly well trained at it, he also takes a particular interest in martial arts. Thus Temujin in much of his spare time will practice swordplay, archery, javelin throwing and more. While not a legendary warrior, he has still come to appreciate the blade and be quite a duellist in his own right.

Meditation has come to be a rare solace to the warrior. He used to dismiss it as sentimental hooey for weaklings from the Air nomads or for some lily livered water benders. In public, he still does so. But when alone, it has come to at least clear his mind from his worst thoughts: the violent, the self indulgent, the self-destructive.

Usually, this meditation he masks as another favoured pass-time if caught in it: excercise. Since he was a teenager he was told he would have to maintain his physique, and he did not wish to become one of the rotund generals that rested on their laurels. He always believed he had to be a warrior-paragon, and this hasn't changed since.

Something that keeps him up at night, and often daydreaming, is a constant concern about the future. He is always afraid that it is too late for him to amount anything, that qualities he thought were good have lead him to abandon a chance at anything but being a vagabond. Is scraping by to be his entire life? Even as he joins the rebellion, this does not leave him. While he cares not for noble privilege that he once had, the thought that he can no longer influence the lives of so many people as he once had by worrying about his men brings terror and shame alike.

_BIOGRAPHY

Honour and duty above all, tell no lies, stand for your homeland, and many such platitudes well rehearsed in adolescence were taken dearly to heart in Temujin, even if the rest of the socio-economic elite of the Earth Kingdom tended to disregard such things the moment they were old enough to have a concern about personal finance. Perhaps ironically, even as a teenager he was seen as a black sheep of his family for his refusal to partake in all sorts of schemes and intrigue that the aristocracy of Ba Sing Se indulged in. He was a problem they knew not what to do with, but when he kicked up his first stone and sent it airborne there was a very obvious path for him.

At the age of eleven he was signed up for cadets of the Earth Kingdom's army, the future profession of a soldier increasingly prestigious as the culture of the nation shifted. Excelling in both theoretical and practical lessons of the military academy, young Temujin was able to graduate ahead of schedule with honours straight into an officer's position without his family even having to pay the bribes they were already setting aside money for.

Marching proudly in the Earth Kingom's army it was not very long before war came, and Temujin was called straight to the front. He swiftly made a name for himself there. While a highborn officer he ate meals with his troops, listened to their concerns, and marched and sang together with them rather than haughtily looking down on them from the back of a mount. Where other officers threw their troops to their deaths to complete an objective, the mere suggestion of such a practice sickened Jin.

But he did far more than merely respect his men. He always honoured his promises to treat surrendering foes well. He respected the property of civilians in conquered villages, and made sure to pay off any farmers and the like for food and other supplies requisitioned from them. The foemen that fell to his commands were always given proper burial.

Some would have claimed this was sympathy to the enemy, but this was far from the case. Temujin did his duty with brutality, ferocity, and efficiency. To go about this he quickly gained a reputation for inventive stratagems. From using tunneling engineers and Earthbenders to bypass the waters that defended an enemy stronghold, to using captured Waterbenders to heal both his troops and other prisoners he quickly earned the respect of more senior military staff.

Yet, as impressive as his career was with all the medals and promotions he got, it would come to an abrupt end when he quarrelled with a General Long after the destruction of a Fire Nation colony. The refugees leaving the burning ruins were accosted by the troops of Long, shaking them down for anything from jewellery to cutlery that could be sold and made Long wealthier. Temujin put an abrupt stop to this, believing that was the end of the matter. After all, looting the defenceless and defeated was a dishonourable thing to do, and as far as he was concerned he was in the right.

He was very, very wrong.

What he didn't know was that just as for anybody in his family, there were rumour-mongers compiling lists of everything he did that somebody in the Earth Kingdom might object to from the trivial to the most egregious. General Long in his rage obtained this, and published it to the Dai Li and anybody else wishing to defame and harm the Jochi family.

A dishonourable discharge came, and to avoid ruination his family disowned him. He was de facto exiled from any meaningful part of the Earth Kingdom's society. Thus he wandered briefly, a bitter, lonely, hateful sellsword scrounging up money the only way he knew how. He was so young, and yet he felt his entire life and future were stolen away from him as punishment for doing the right thing. He raged at himself, his people, his family, his friends, his oaths and duties and the entire world.

When the Avatar awoke, so too did some semblance of hope in Temujin. He cleaned himself up, shaved, sobered, and sharpened his blades. Perhaps he wouldn't be welcome by those that recognised his face. But his hopes were high that his practical knowledge of the workings of the Earth Kingdom's armed forces would be much appreciated in the coming struggle. But just as much as he sees opportunity, Temujin is deeply scared of the future. What if for who he was, and who he is, he will be betrayed again? What if he fails to find belonging, and is simply cast out? With rage and fear simmering in equal proportion within, Jin has a concern that if he fails now he will never get a chance at anything again.

_TRIVIA

Going for a more Manchu & Tungusic feel with the fella, i.e. his sword is a Mongol sabre.
listened to this while making him

Avatar: The White Jade Gambit

Man War Criminal to the max! I'm very interested in his mortal slider here. Why is poisoning a settlement and forcing prisoners of war to work for you more acceptable than looting and stealing? What implications do you think this has on his interactions with the rest of the group and dies he/will he acknowledge that he is in fact, a war criminal?

@Achronum

I'm trying to go by vaguely pre renaissance perceptions, where anyone not surrendered is fair game. He was ordered to take a city and thus any means were a-okay. To take an example from the Mongol that inspired me for this character, when they invaded the Khwarezmian EMpire any city that surrendered had its people treated well. Any that didn't had its people destroyed to the last. He wouldn't exactly have a conception of a warcrime in that sense. There would also be some emotional undercurrents I haven't written where a hard to take fortress would have inevitably had a large amount of his men dead, and thus momentary rage would have more savage measures less problematic for him, and bring some impulsive desire to avenge his comrades he came to cherish; at the same time, people who already surrendered, and were of no threat being harassed is just cruelty for its own sake, especially since hypothetically everyone robbed would probably die on whatever their long road was but not even having enemy combatants in their number. Thus general Huo would have been seen as a person that is just greedy and violent rather than trying to be a good soldier. And, regarding the getting the waterbender healers to work for him, I figured that one would have been somewhat of a mercy as under him they'd be treated better than in a prison camp, rather than true coercion. While also being able to heal people of both sides rather than their talents of helping people being squandered in some sort of forced manual labour. I was also hoping to write this out IC, but I was thinking that he might have seen one of the waterbender healers tending to one of his own wounded men in the midst of battle which would have been a spark that got him much more interested in decent treatment of the foe; seeing people of the Water Nation humanize his countrymen would have certainly made him think twice about the dehumanization of his foe's people.

I think it would definitely cause some hypothetical issues with people who might know of this, though my character would bank on nobody harming him for this because he would believe that his practical knowledge in helping overcome the Earth nation army would be too useful to throw away for an admittedly dark past. But, as long as it didn't lead to maiming or killing him, I think he would accept and understand any abuses he suffers for what he had done. If someone walked up and sucker punched him over it, he would probably stand and take it rather than fighting back. If it was a merely verbal confrontation, I guess it depends on how far the party progressed in trust. Early on he might try to deflect, bringing up some war crime he saw his foe do on his own countrymen. If confronted when he trusts people of the party more, I think he would probably concede that it was wrong, and that if he had been more worldly and had met the peoples of the other nations before rather than just listening to jingoistic stuff about them being invaders on earth nation soil he would never have done it, and hopes his current efforts stop it from ever happening again.

But this doesn't really make or break the character to me, I can get rid of the savagery/brutality if its too problematic & edgy for the rag tags. I figured it would be fun to butt heads over the past in somewhat of a zuko-esque way but I suppose having fought for the bad guys before should be enough for that