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Name: Taika Pekkanen

Nickname: None

Age: 16

Birthday: March 18

Sign: Pisces

Gemstone: Amethyst

Blood Type: A+

Fav. Food: Spaghetti with meat sauce.

Hated Food: Grilled chicken. She can’t stand the texture or flavor of it.

School: Meadowview High School

Hobbies:
Gaming || Taika loves single-player RPGs and video games in general. She spends hours on the damn things, which doesn’t help her grades or her social life. She really enjoys how you can be just about anyone, and how you, as an individual or a small party, are strong enough to save the world. That, and she adores a good narrative (though when it comes to games, her definition of "good" can be a bit stretchable.) She isn't a fan of MMOs because she is usually in games for the story, and MMOs, to her, are more about raiding and getting the shiniest items and whatnot. Also, she probably can't afford them and her parents certainly aren't going to put out for that. Possibly the only thing that eclipses her nerdlove of video games, and a favorite of hers for the same reasons. Tabletop games are like RPGs played with other people, at least in Taika's mind. Taika has a collection of sourcebooks for games from first edition D&D to Vampire: The Requiem to Call of Cthulhu to Paranoia and is horribly superstitious about her dice. She prefers to play rather than GM, because she likes really getting into the story.

Writing & Reading || Takia is a writer. Her room, specifically the sheer number of half-used notebooks scattered all over it, will attest to that. She’s alright, mostly because of the amount of reading she does and the amount of practice she’s had. Just like she loves being the hero of a story in a video game or tabletop RPG, she loves weaving a story herself, creating a world and saving it through her pen rather than her mouse or her dice.Along with that, she absolutely loves a good book. She can get utterly lost in one and not come up for hours. Her interests range from Jane Austen to H.P. Lovecraft to Ann Rule, and if you offer her a book that has an at all tempting plot, she’s likely to try it just to see how it goes. It's a good way for her to relax and kick back when she doesn't feel like swinging swords at ogres/coeruls/really dumb bandits/whatever.

The Occult || Recently, Taika has taken an interest in all things occult. It's more of a "secret" hobby, since she's all but certain her parents wouldn't approve, but she's picked up a set of tarot cards and a number of books on the subject, and while she's not entirely sure she believes in all this stuff, she's definitely curious about it. It stemmed from reading The Serpent and the Rainbow, and an understanding that it was likely a highly inaccurate portrayal of voodoo. Once she started learning, she got more and more into it. She mostly researches it, but she does occasionally do tarot readings for her friends. As a rule, she tends to be rather skeptical, but she has been becoming less so recently.

Virtues:

Protective || Taika is very protective of her friends and family, and she would do most anything to keep them safe. They are the most important things to her, and she will always put the safety and happiness of a friend or family member before her own. Since she can be something of a prickly, blunt person, she doesn't have very many close friends, and so she treasures the ones she has with all her heart.

Determined || If she starts something, Taika is going to finish it. She is very focused and dedicated, and refuses to let anything get in her way. This is the only reason she still has good grades despite her RPG obsession. She drives her way through school and homework the same way she does anything else.

Caring || If you come to her with a problem, Taika will always offer a sympathetic ear and a warm hug. She truly, deeply cares about her friends and family, and she is not afraid to be the shoulder to cry on if they need it. Since their happiness always comes before hers, she doesn't mind shouldering the burden of their problems if it gets that weight off them. However, her willingness to do this heavily depends on how close to the person she is. Taika is much more the cuddly caring teddy bear to people she is close to, who have proven themselves worthy of her trust by poking their way through the spines to find the metaphorical adorable hedgehog underneath.

Flaws:

Obstinate || Taika is like a dog with a bone-she cannot let things go. Even if it would be better to cut her losses and get out, she will try to take something through to the end, because she hates giving up or leaving things unfinished, ever. This means that sometimes she will end up in way, way over her head, though she is not too prideful to ask for help if she really needs it.

Short-Sighted || Taika doesn't always think about the consequences of her actions or words. She will jump into things feet first without taking time to plan beforehand, or to consider any possible aftereffects of what she's done. She will also be very nasty and sarcastic without considering what affect that might have on the other person or her relationship with them, especially if she thinks you're acting like an idiot. Friends and family get a bit less of her verbal nastiness, as she's willing to put up with a lot more from people she's close to, but acquaintances or strangers will get the full sharp edge of her tongue. This tends to really hurt her chances of befriending people, and only those who can take her criticism get to see the softer side of her. While she does feel bad if she hurts her friends' feelings this way, she doesn't necessarily care about a strangers'.

Walls Around Her Heart || Before she lets people in, Taika's first thought is to push people away. She tends to assume that they aren't going to be worth the emotional investment she makes in all of her close friends, which is part of the reason she is so cuttingly sarcastic at first. She prefers not to let people in and invest in them emotionally until they've proven they're worth it.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Eyes: Round, bright blue

Hair: Medium blonde, nearly waist-length in the back, light waves, usually pulled into a crown braid

Face: Heart-shaped face, with slightly large eyes, a small nose, and naturally pouty lips; pale skin

Clothes: Polyvore outfit idea

Family

• Ilari Pekkanen, father - 47 years old, a mechanic. Deeply religious and fairly insular, a Finnish immigrant who speaks enough English to do his job and not much more. He can be very gruff and demanding, and has become moreso since Amalia left.
  
• Lilja Pekkanen, mother - 45 years old, a homemaker. As deeply religious as her husband, and fairly suspicious of most of American culture. She is also an immigrant, but speaks more English than her husband as a result of watching daytime television.
  
• Amalia Pekkanen, older sister - 23 years old, one of twins. An aspiring actress who left Destiny City to chase her film industry dreams. She stays in contact with her brother and sister, but rarely speaks to their parents because of their disapproval of her career choice.
  
• Niko Pekkanen, older brother - 23 years old, one of twins. Extremely level-headed and intelligent, and Takia's idol. She looks up to him with blind adoration. Works as a mechanic with his father, while also attending DCU as an engineering student.
  
• Adele Pekkanen, younger sister - 10 years old. Precocious and a little bit spoiled, she is the center of familial attention - including Taika's. Taika absolutely adores her baby sister, and she is at the top of the list of people Taika would do very stupid things to protect.

Miscellaneous Info

• Lilja's labor with the twins was unusually difficult, and she was told afterwards that she should not have another child. However, when she became pregnant with Taika, she was determined to keep her. The second time, her labor was actually relatively easy, and so her parents became certain that some sort of "magic" must be involved, and they chose the name Taika for their little miracle baby. (Given that things went alright with her, the family was much less concerned six years later when Adele came into the world.)

Expanded on her traits a little, fiddled around with her physical description. A little shaky on her Eternal attack...advice?

Hi!

I hope I'm not terrible rude with asking but as native finn I'm a little confused about something. She has highly religious parents who are originally from Finland. Yet, they have given their daughter a rare (it is very rare name in Finland) name that means magic in finnish (taika = magic in finnish). Could you explain why?

[ You can always say she brought "magic" into their lives when she was born XD! Like when people call their kids Sunshine and Poop-machine ninja ]

Hi!

I read that you wanted some crits on her senshi attacks, so I thought I'd give you a heads up! All the pain in her curses seems like it's awfully close to the senshi of pain. Curses can come in a great variety, so you could try looking at different effects. Maybe a confusion hex, or a hex to be more vulnerable to damage or something?

I think your sphere is great, and pretty flexible, so I'm sure you'll find something!

I'm sorry for the lateness of my reply. I have been a bit tired lately.

I understand your reasons for giving her name Taika and honestly, I like that name too. heart Her family members' names are relately common Finnish names, yes. No worries with that.

Maybe I'm more concerned about her parents' being highly religious? I mean, a parent doesn't necessary have to be religious to be strict, right? When I read about Taika's hobbies, I get impression that her parents don't like her having those hobbies. Am I right? To be honest, I kinda understand them. A good example is her gaming hobby. She plays video games for hours and that doesn't do good for her grades or social life. That alone is enough reason to dislike that hobby. Plus, some role players wear unusual or maybe even scary looking outfits (I have met some of these) that might give her parents' ideas of some of her friends (if she has brought them) might be wrong kind of company to her.

I have no idea did that made sense at all. But it's late here so there's my excuse. Ask me if you got confused and I'll try to explain. heart

Hey Tish!
Are you sure we can't skip this? :c /jk jk

I tweaked her "Caring" virtue and "Short-Sighted" flaws a little; how much she cares about your problems directly correlates with how much she cares about you really XDa

As for why she's so walled off, part of it does go back to her older sister, who she idolized as much as her brother, running out on the family; it also has to do with her pouring emotional investment into friendships when she was young and then having people dump her because of her tendency to be critical - which she tries really hard to blunt, but can't always.

Taika does have a close group for tabletop gaming! These are people who know her and roll their eyes when she does act nasty, but they're also the people least likely to get it because friendssss.

As for her attacks - I modified the wording to make it clear how much it hurts, sort of, and that there's no real damage/it's all phantom pain that only lasts as long as the attack! I'm really attached to the idea of her attacks hurting people because I sort of want her to have a power set she's very reluctant to use - there's a lot going on in my head for this girl :c