Patuq

Personality
Patuq generally tends to come off as a very callous man, caring little for anyone or anything. Patuq also tends not to be the most talkative unless he is engaged. Although he generally engaged in several fights when he was younger anytime he was harshly criticized, Patuq will generally avoid conflict unless he deems it worthwhile to intervene, or if he is paid to do so. As such, Patuq very rarely is in a good mood, unless he discusses a topic he is interested in, such as cooking, battle strategies, or philosophy. Patuq has little patience for “justice” and “morality” tooters, often pointing out flaws in their arguments.

History
Patuq grew up in the Northern Water Tribe as an only child. Patuq often got into fights with some of the children his age and older, caring not for their harsh insults towards him and his family (often rumors about his mom supposedly having an affair and his father being a “wuss”). Patuq’s mother and father argued on a very regular basis (usually about suspicions of Patuq’s mom’s loyalty to the family), paying little if any attention to Patuq’s poor behavior. Occasionally, his father or mother backhanded him if he did anything too severe, but it was rare, even though Patuq’s behavior would often improve for a short while after it. However, while he rarely if ever talked with his mom, Patuq did have a decent connection with his father, even though their time together was rare due to the stress and long schedule of his father’s work (which Patuq never knew). After getting into one fight at 15 in which he broke another student’s arm and injured several others, Patuq was sent to serve in the military by his parents to discipline him (an idea pitched by the administration of the school he was attending).

Working in the Water Nation military turned out to be the best thing for Patuq. A couple punishments in his first weeks and Patuq finally straightened up and learned how pointless his random fights were in the long run. After serving for four proud years in the military (initially as a cook since he was not quite old enough for normal duty and then mostly on border duty and guarding negotiators, meaning he was rarely home), Patuq returned home one day on leave to learn his mother had left his father. His father told Patuq that she left, sick of his “constant complaints and accusations of her disloyalty.” Anger took hold of Patuq as he stormed off to find his mother (his father begged him to stay home but Patuq ignored him). As fate would have it, Patuq found his mother with another man, a high-ranking official at that. Patuq began assaulting the man and nearly killed him until Patuq’s father ran and stopped him. However, finally having no reason to avoid the truth, Patuq’s father dismally wept at his wife’s betrayal, her showing no sympathy to either of them.

Patuq was promptly arrested and thrown in jail for the attack. Thanks to a few of his friends and superiors in the military (and a deal with the official to not say anything about the affair, which Patuq begrudgingly agreed to), Patuq was released and given an honorable discharge for service. However, to be certain no one would know of his affair, the official hired hit men to kill Patuq and his father that night. Patuq was able to defend himself, but his father was not as lucky, getting killed in the ambush. Furious again, Patuq faked his death and tailed the official the next night and killed him. However, knowing he had little place else to go having committed murder, Patuq snuck out on a small boat he prepared early that day and fled the Northern Water Tribe.

Fate worked out in Patuq’s favor, as he matched to reach the Earth Republic. There, Patuq stayed in a small village near the border of the United Republic and the Earth Republic, where he worked as a bartender and occasional chef (which he eventually came to own) for the town for about 6 years. However, due to past events, several of the townsfolk were not too keen of his generally pessimistic personality. That is, until he met an earth kingdom woman named Kaori around age 22, an out of work teacher who he would eventually marry. Kaori became the one who could cheer up Patuq, with the two becoming some of the most well-liked in town. Patuq began to appreciate the art of philosophy thanks to his wife, himself spending more time to research it. The two eventually had a baby girl named Kaori. All seemed right with the world.

Then, Patuq lost his ownership of the bar when it both went under financially after it caught fire once and never fully recovered. Patuq and Kaori could not find jobs that paid enough to support Kayo. Having no good job experience aside from cooking (which he knew he could never earn enough of a living at), Patuq decided to sign up for the United Forces, even though it meant not seeing his family often. Patuq enjoyed his return to the military and was quickly appreciated by his comrades, but he missed only getting weeks at a time to visit his family. Patuq’s quick rise through the ranks meant while his benefits financially rose, he had less and less time to see Kaori or Kayo. Although Kaori was quite sympathetic and appreciative at first for Patuq’s sacrifice, she quickly became very anxious about when he would return. One day, around age 30, Patuq returned home after an exhausting deployment, surprisingly his wife and daughter by returning home 2 days early, ecstatic to see his wife and hear about her new teaching job and his daughter’s recent successes from letter Kayo sent her. Patuq’s happiness quickly changed to anger when he caught Kaori with another man, who happened also to be a member of the United Forces that he knew (thankfully, Kayo was not home). Recollecting how torn apart his family had been, Patuq turned from rage to depression as Kaori tried and tried to explain how sorry she was and could not help feeling so alone without him there. Patuq packed his things, left a note for Kayo saying the military sent him to a very far away country and did not know when he would return, and left.

Patuq left the military shortly afterwards, no longer believing in the honorability of the field. He decided instead to work as a bodyguard or even hit man for various people throughout the Earth Republic and United Republic, taking on all kinds of jobs regardless of the morality of it. Patuq sent a good sum of his earnings back to Kaori, as he wanted to still support Kayo despite never seeing her (that, and some of his riskier jobs gave him more money than he knew what to do with). However, Patuq’s name began spreading a little around the Earth Kingdom when he was about 35, so he decided he needed to move to a new location. He toyed with the idea of moving to the Fire Nation or even the Southern Wastes, but when he ran into an old employer from one of his protection jobs, the employer told Patuq about the various amount of job opportunities that he could find in Republic City, especially in terms of the "underground" work he was used to doing. His old employer also told Patuq about the possibility of pro-bending in case he ever wanted to come clean, although the idea did not interested Patuq too much. Patuq decided to travel to Republic City, being cautious of Earth Kingdom patrol along the way, in hopes of moving there and planning to use his former skills as a bartender/chef as a cover for his actual job intentions.