Kaimana - XERES LIVE!

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Basic Information

Full Name

Kaimana Taringa

Nickname

"Little Gold"

Race (Grade)

Human (F)

Class

None

Height

2'11"

Birthday

Heatwave 21, 1305

Age

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Birthsign

The Phoenixborn Ifrit

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Bloodline Ability

🔮Unknown

This Bloodline ability has not yet been unveiled to you.

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Physical Description

Kaimana

Appearance

At two years old, Kaimana has left the wobbling baby stage behind for the sturdy, solid build of a toddler who runs everywhere he goes. His mother's dark hair has grown in thick and curly, falling in loose ringlets to his shoulders, and nobody in the household has yet been willing to cut it. He has warm brown skin, full round cheeks, and deep brown eyes that still catch gold in direct sunlight, which keeps his nickname firmly in place. Most days he wears a plain brown linen tunic fastened with a small greenstone toggle, under a child-sized fringed flax cloak woven in the same brown, cream, and black patterns his older siblings wear.

Unique Characteristics

Kaimana carries a small woven flax basket almost everywhere he goes and fills it with whatever he has decided is treasure that day: shells from the tide line, smooth stones, a crab claw, a flower from the Rā Palm Commons. He greets nearly everyone he passes with a wave and a wide grin, and his favorite game is holding the basket out so someone can admire what's inside, then pulling it back before they can touch anything. He still loves the water as much as he did as a baby, and now that he can get there on his own two feet, the household has learned to keep a much closer eye on him near the shore.

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Personality

Positive Traits

Waves and grins at nearly everyone he passes
Proudly shows off every treasure he finds
Fearless and delighted in shallow water
Adores his older siblings and copies everything they do
Bounces back fast from scraped knees and tumbles

Challenging Traits

Has discovered the word "mine" and uses it constantly
Heads straight for the water the moment eyes turn away
Melts down loudly when tired, hungry, or told no
Refuses to leave the beach without a fight
Climbs anything that looks even slightly climbable

"Hiii!" [waving with his whole arm at a complete stranger]

"Look! Look! My shell. Mine."

"Shh! Awhina sleeping. My baby."

Likes

Filling his little basket with shells and stones
Splashing in the shallows along Ākau Nui
Tagging along behind his big brothers and sisters
Waving at the traders on the Market Coast
Checking on baby Awhina, whether she needs it or not

Dislikes

Anyone reaching into his basket without asking
Being carried home from the beach
Naps, on principle
Having the sand combed out of his curls
Being told Awhina is too little to play yet

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Background & History

Born the Week of Gold

Kaimana arrived shortly after the first World Games ever held in Xeres, born to Karthos and Aroha in the same stretch of Heatwave in which his mother stood on a podium in Goodberry with a gold medal in Women's Swimming around her neck. Aroha had already decided, before he was born, that he would be her last for a while; the years since Vaitafe's fall had been full enough of loss and rebuilding that she wanted time to simply be present for the children she already had rather than adding indefinitely to their number. Kaimana became the exception she was glad to make, and not long after his birth she resumed taking Hexium, content that her family was, for now, complete.

No Longer the Baby

For his first year and a half, Kaimana was the youngest of five children raised under Karthos and Aroha's roof in Rokoura: Moss, adopted out of Brackenwall and already something of a local legend; Moana, the eldest of Aroha's own children; Kaitoa, born on a boat in the middle of crisis; and Anahera, born into a rare season of relative peace. That changed on Rainsong 11, 1307, when his sister Awhina was born and Kaimana became a big brother. He has taken to the job with all the seriousness a two-year-old can manage: he brings her shells she cannot hold, pats her head a little too hard, and shushes anyone who talks near her while she sleeps, usually louder than they were talking in the first place.

Growing Up in Rokoura

Home is the Chief's Whare, but Kaimana's days are the ordinary days of any Rokouran child. He follows the tide out onto the Taiwork Flats with whoever will take him, spends long afternoons playing in the shade of the Rā Palm Commons, and ends up in the shallows along Ākau Nui as often as anyone lets him. The stall keepers on the Tātahi Market Coast know him by sight and wave back, and more than one of them has slipped a shell or a smooth piece of sea glass into his basket. He is learning the rhythm of the tide the same way every child in Rokoura does: by living inside it.

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Goals

Toddler Development

At two, Kaimana's goals are the ordinary ones of any toddler: running faster, climbing higher, and talking more every week. His vocabulary is growing quickly, mostly names and nouns shouted at full volume, and he is starting to string short sentences together. He wants to feed himself, dress himself, and do everything else himself too, whether or not he can yet, and he is testing exactly how far the word "no" can be stretched before it breaks.

Learning to Be a Big Brother

Awhina's arrival has given Kaimana his first real responsibility, or at least his first real sense of one. He is learning to use gentle hands, to share his parents' laps, and to wait his turn when the baby needs something first. Some days he manages it beautifully; other days he wants to be carried like the baby again. Both are completely normal, and the household gives him plenty of room for either.

Keeping Up with the Big Kids

More than anything, Kaimana wants to do whatever his older siblings are doing. He trails after Kaitoa into the shallows, tries to race Moana and loses every time, and watches Moss with open admiration. His mother has begun teaching him to float and paddle in calm water, which he treats as the most important work in the world. For now, his biggest ambition is simply to be big enough to go where they go.

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Current Status & Relationships

Residence

Rokoura

Role

Child

Parents

Family

ATTENTION!

Kaimana is an ordinary two-year-old with no combat ability. He is quick, curious, and drawn to the water, so anyone watching him near the shore should keep him within arm's reach.