Forum:Amma

Character Name: Amma

Bender Type: Earthbender

Age: 18

Appearance:

Personality: Amma prefers to be seen and not heard. Often pretending she is a creature not fit for social interaction due to her past, she prefers to stick to herself, and when in crowds she tries to blend in as much as possible. Unfortunately this is hard for her due to her striking looks, so she tends to cover herself up as much as possible. Amma is certainly a strong and silent type, but she is inwardly very fragile and prone to breaking. When she was younger her interactions with people outside of her family were next to none, and so even when she does talk to people she comes across as socially awkward. Despite her traumatic past, Amma is aware of the difference between good and bad, though it doesn’t affect her much as she generally stays out of the political side of human life. She has an affinity for playing musical instruments as well as singing, and her mother always used to joke that one day Amma would become a more famous singer than she. She is unable to handle fame and recognition, and if she is recognised she is prone to panic attacks.

History: Song was born in Zaofu to an earthbender father and a non-bending (water tribe heritage) mother. She was raised in a good home and when, at the age of eleven, she discovered she could sing beautifully, she relocated to Ba Sing Se with her mother where they hoped she could gain fame. After many years of hard work, Song broke out onto the radio with a smash hit and a very successful career followed. At the age of 24 she married a handsome firebender and they settled down in a large home in Ba Sing Se. After a year they decided to have a child. Following a rather painful six months for Song, Amma was born.

The couple were elated, and Song momentarily gave up her career to raise her child. Amma was raised in a loving household for many years; her parents doted on her and made sure all her needs were catered for thanks (in part) to Song's wealth from her singing career. Though at first the parents were confused by Amma's odd appearance; her shock of bright red hair and coffee-coloured skin, they soon accepted her, though they often kept her at home in fear other's would judge her too harshly.

Due to this sheltered upbringing, Amma was entirely unprepared for school in Ba Sing Se. When she started school at age eight, the children taunted her for her odd looks and made fun of her on a daily basis. She grew reclusive, and although she was a high achiever in class even her teacher ignored her for her mixed heritage. At the age of eight Amma's mother returned to her singing career to be greeted with a warm welcome from the community. Now with her mother busy and unable to pay her much attention, Amma clung to her father for love.

From the ages of 9 to 11 Amma's life was miserable, with her mother away for long periods of time and her peers at school constantly bullying her, both emotionally and physically. Her father also grew distant to Amma, pining constantly for his wife's return. One day when Amma was eleven she was being pushed around in the school yard by a few bullies when they pushed her against a rough clay wall. Amma was crying, her hands covering her face, and all she wanted was for the bullies to leave. In her frustration she shoved her hands out in front of her, and such was the power of her emotion she managed to tap into her bending power and mould the earthen wall behind her into a spherical shield.

Despite the fact that some of the other children were earthbenders and could have easily moved away the rock, they were about as stunned as she was and left her alone for a long time, now wary of her. That afternoon Amma ran home, tripping over her own feet in her excitement. Once she reached her house she burst through the front door, luckily finding her mother and father sitting at the dining table holding hands. Amma told them the news in a rush, and Song decided that her powers must have descended from her father, Amma's grandfather. Her parents immediately found her a bending tutor who taught her the basics and how to hone her skills. She was also trained to be light on her feet, something her tutor believed was helpful in balancing the heavy-handed style of earthbending.

Amma's life had improved considerably by the time she was 15. Sure, there were still a few bullies at school and she still kept to herself most of the time, but at least now she could defend herself and she had learnt to appreciate her own company. Song's career, on the other hand, was failing, the public having grown tired of her. On a whim one night, Song came home to her daughter and asked her to sing. Never before had Amma sung, and her voice was unsure and wobbled on most notes but Song saw potential in her daughter and pulled her out of bending training to start her vocal training.

At this point, Amma became even more of a recluse, not having a love for singing and being taken away from the bending she so much enjoyed. She found her only solace when she was allowed to play instruments, namely the erhu. She loved the haunting sound of the bow crossing the strings, but her mother still pressed for Amma to continue singing. Once Amma had finished school (thank goodness; she was more than ready to leave her horrid peers behind) at age seventeen, her mother took her to her manager and signed her up for five songs to be released. Though she still despised singing, Amma had grown into her voice and was an extremely good singer, almost surpassing her mother in talent. The manager loved her and turned out five songs for her in a flash. Her face was plastered on posters all over Ba Sing Se and people would come to her parent's house to try and get a look at her. To the youth of Ba Sing Se, she became somewhat of a teen idol.

Unable to handle the fame that her songs brought her, Amma stayed indoors and chose not to socialise with others. She was signed the following year to release five more songs, and again she stayed inside her parents' house and hid from the public. Three months before her nineteenth birthday, Amma crept out of her house at dusk and roamed the streets of Ba Sing Se dressed in black in the hopes that the dark colour would make her unrecognisable. As she crept through the darkness she saw the posters with her face on them and cringed, tearing them down as she saw them. As she tore down one of the posters she noticed an older poster beneath it. The poster depicted an idyllic city, desperate for new residents. Amma immediately knew this was her ticket out of her personal hell.

For a whole month she put herself in the public spotlight, going out at day and meeting fans, and performing around Ba Sing Se at night to make more money. Her mother and father were so proud of her, never suspecting that there was an ulterior motive to all Amma's actions - she was performing to earn money to fund her new life. At the end of the month, Amma started a tour around the Earth Kingdom, making sure that the tour ended near a port.

The end of the tour couldn't have come quickly enough for Amma. She was having a hard time handling all the constant attention, sometimes spending days on end between gigs hiding in her room. The final tour day rolled along and went without a hitch. At the end of the performance, her mother and father came up to her, tears of pride spilling from their eyes. They expressed to Amma their adoring love at how far their daughter had come, and at how far she could go. Amma thanked them both and then returned to her dressing room. That evening she packed all her clothes and snuck down to the port where a ship sailing to Republic City was set to depart the next day. Amma crept aboard and went into her booked room, where she spent the entire trip.

As the whistle blew signifying that the ship had reached it's final destination, Amma checked her suitcase and made sure that the black clothes she had donned covered up her trademark hair before walking through the ship and out into the bright sunlight of Republic City.