JINORA

I’ve RP’d a child once before on a different site, and I’d like the opportunity to do so again. As for Jinora herself, she’s probably my favorite of Tenzin’s children because I was very much like her when I was her age (still am, really). I feel I can pull off her quiet bookishness pretty well, but also delve into the fun side of her that we haven’t seen all that often in the show.

Her father’s child, Jinora is much more serious than her siblings. Where Meelo and Ikki are often running all around Air Temple Island making all kinds of noise, Jinora much prefers reading quietly. The girl loves literature of all kinds, from historical accounts of her grandfather’s exploits to fantastic stories of princesses and dragons. She is seldom that seen without a book in hand, even reading during meals. She enjoys games of skill such as Pai Sho, and plays a game or two with Ikki when both are in the mood. Jinora is dedicated to her studies as an Airbender, and so is very skilled even at her young age.

However reserved Jinora might seem, she does care deeply for her family and friends. She will play silly games with her siblings, even if that’s not her absolute favorite thing in the world to do, just because it keeps them happy. She is quick to comfort her father when Avatar Korra frustrates him, though she does try keep that from being necessary by offering Korra advice on Airbending. Also, Jinora is just starting to take notice of boys, much to her father’s displeasure. She may have a rebellious streak growing in her, and refuses to promise Tenzin that she will not be as hot-headed as Korra when she reaches her teenage years.

Jinora is a first for Tenzi and Pema, in more ways than one. She is their first child, their first daughter, and the first Airbender they produced. She discovered her Airbending ability at a young age, and has been training with her father ever since, becoming quite skilled. Due to her age, she is seldom far from her parents’ watchful eyes, and spends most of her time lost in a book somewhere on Air Temple Island.

The arrival of Avatar Korra to Air Temple Island has made life more interesting for Jinora, and she often advises Korra on her Airbending, with no real success. The young Airbender is happy to demonstrate her skills to the young Avatar, and once showed the older girl how to navigate through the Airbending Gates. Jinora’s life is a happy balance between practicing Airbending, playing with her siblings, and reading whatever book catches her eye.

Jinora is most likely the most skilled of the Airbender children, though that may be due more to her age than anything else. She has shown command of both the glider and the air scooter, and will probably be good enough to earn her arrows in a few years’ time.

Her siblings’ shouts of joy cut through Jinora’s focus, making reading her book a much more difficult task than it usually was. Ikki and Meelo were chasing each other around the courtyard in front of the family’s living quarters, the two screaming each time one caught the other. Their elder sister sat on the nearby steps trying her best to immerse herself in a thick tome of historical fiction, with little success. She’d tried covering her ears to drown out the other children’s noise, but that had left her book unsecured in her lap. Without her hands to hold the book in place it was at the mercy of the gusts of wind Ikki and Meelo produced, which flipped its pages and once even sent it flying away from her, forcing the annoyed girl to get up and retrieve it. Jinora loved her siblings, but sometimes they got on her nerves.

Meelo shrieked as Ikki tackled him to the ground, once again interrupting her reading. Sighing, Jinora looked up, watching the two dash around and listening to their cries. Faintly she heard a whoosh of air and turned to look toward the source of the sound. It looked like Korra was about to try the Airbending Gates again. That meant that any second now…smack. Jinora winced in sympathy at the sound, shaking her head as it repeated once, twice, three times. Her dad had tried to teach Korra how to move like an Airbender, and she and her siblings had attempted to offer advice as well—though she wasn’t sure how helpful Meelo’s instruction to “Be the leaf” really was—but their words just weren’t reaching the Avatar, much to her frustration. Well, she’d get it eventually. Dad always said that Airbending was about patience. If Jinora could do it, so could Korra.

The sound from the gates faded, signaling the end of the Avatar’s suffering, and so the young girl went back to her book. Unfortunately, concentration didn’t come easily, and after reading the same sentence four times she gave up. “This is hopeless,” the girl complained to no one, though to be honest, she wasn’t that upset. She didn’t like this story all that much anyway. The “hero” spent too much time whining about his life, and for something that was supposed to be a love story, there wasn’t much romance at all. Picking up a bookmark she’d fashioned out of a blank piece of paper, she marked her place in the book and set it gently beside her on the step, then stood. Noticing her change of position, Ikki and Meelo called out to their sister to come play with them. Jinora stretched, then put her arms out and whirled in a circle, creating an Air Scooter beneath her legs, which she crossed to sit atop the ball of wind. Smiling at her siblings, she flew out to meet them. Her book could wait; right now, playtime was more important.