Yanyu Lakepetal

Yanyu Lakepetal, referred to as Yan-Yan on occasion. Yanyu is, at heart, an adventurous pandaren from Pandaria. Despite her adventurous nature she has had to silence her wanderlust in order to defend her homeland.
== Appearance ==
Yanyu is fairly average for her kind, standing at just above six feet (6'2"). She, like many, is on the stocky side, weighing in at 225 lbs. The pandaren is covered in black fur from head to toe, with the exception of the white spots that is signature to her race. Her appearance is topped off by her dark, emerald, colored eyes.
====Clothing:====
As far as clothing goes, Yanyu is normally adorned in free-flowing, silk, shirts and pants. Having a stern distaste for mail and plate armor, she is likely to wear a mix of thick cloth and leather armor before dawning a full suit.
==Personality==
Much like her kind as a whole, Yanyu is very 'in the moment' with everything she does! Able to see the good in just about anyone, or at least try too. Whether the occasion be a simple feast, a party, a night in a tavern, it doesn't matter, Yanyu will live it up while it lasts. On a good day she'll be the first to jump to the idea of an adventure.
Ironically enough though, her second favorite activity to do is to sprawl out on the ground and nap. The reason for this is simply because napping is so rejuvenating to her, it allows her mind to wander into a nice dream, it allows her body to rest, and most of all it's the best reward after a long day of work, or play.
==Combat==
When fighting her moves are fluid and quick, each, little, flinch having a purpose in her dance. Every strike having the intention to disarm, or even kill, her opponent. Despite her potential lethality she is no where near the most skilled, having slacked on her training a few times due to daydreaming, leaving her attacks to occasionally be far more ferocious than they should be. 
Even though she is capable of being a worthy adversary, or even a potential war machine, she'd try her best to see the peaceful solution first, to avoid conflict, to not harm. She doesn't enjoy harming anything, or anyone, and would only draw her blades in hopes that she'll keep the bloodshed to a minimum.
==Background==
===Early Life===
"Have you ever rode a mushan? Ah! So much fun! Well, as long as you don't fall off..."
Yanyu was always one for adventure, even at a very, very, young age. When not doing her chores, or helping around her parents restaurant, she could be seen racing through the rolling hills, climbing tress, swimming through any lake or river she'd come by! Granted as she grew older she had to put her wanderlust by side in order to further help around the restaurant, going from managing tables to wheeling carts full of food to other villages to trade. Even still, if she made it to her destination ahead of time she'd explore a little still, around every corner was a new adventure in her eyes- even if it simply led to a cold drink.
===Training===
"Wake up, eat, train, spar, go to sleep, repeat...boring..."
Yanyu's parents realized that her wanderlust was starting to cloud her mind of actual responsibilities. Not wanting her wanderlust to potentially ruin whatever future she had, they insisted on her joining the military, or at the very least undergo a form of training in order to better defend herself. Reluctantly, she agreed to the training and spent a large majority of her adolescence doing nothing but training, sparring, and learning. Despite her growing skills with a blade, and her hands, the inevitable gripped her, she had to get out.
===Declined Wanderlust===
"There has to be something out there, right?....Right?"
After spending years training, coming to the age of twenty, she pleaded to her mentor to leave the sanctuary, to see the world! There had to be something out there, something beyond Pandaria! Something beyond the mists! Her mentor declined her of her desire to explore, telling her that she should stay close to her home and defend it from any possible threats, such as the mantid or the ever-prank-loving hozen. Yanyu argued that they were only minor annoyances and that she should be 
allowed to enjoy her life, but she was only met with with a shake from her mentor's head, he made his decision. Her hopes of seeing the world, outside of the mist, were broken at this point and reluctantly continued her training. Slacking off frequently in protest against her mentor.
===The Mists Vanish?===
"I knew! I KNEW I- Oh..."
She knew it, alright. Alas her first experience with the outside world were war-torn forces of both the Alliance and Horde. Orcs and Humans killing each other, even the Night Elves, that she heard of in stories during her youth, sought nothing but to harm the 'Horde'. Was this the world she wanted to see? A world of hatred? War? Pain? No, there had to be more...
Her slightly broken image of the world was interrupted with the sudden rise of the mogu, and the threat to her home-land. Her desire for adventure was easily placed upon the back burner, the desire no longer as strong as it once was, and was quick to pick up her swords to defend her homeland against that which threatened it.
===Visitors===
During the borderline invasion of both Alliance and Horde Yanyu continued to stay true to her teachings, doing what she can in order to uphold the peace and keep her friends, and family, safe. 
During one of her patrols she comes across two individuals fighting viciously, a Human and a Troll, with the intent to kill one another, or at least so it seemed...
Naturally, Yanyu sought to end the violence as swiftly, and with as little blood-shed, as possible. Being that she was no monk, and had little 'elegance' in her dance, she ended up using brute strength to force the two combatants to cease their violence.
Once both were tired, too tired to fight on, Yanyu forced them to 'play nice' as she put it and brought them two her village, without weaponry of course. There she had brought them into her family's restaurant and had a meal, and drink, prepared for both of them. Then again, they had no real choice, at any moment she could end them with how exhausted they were.
The Human, by the name of Daenn Grayfield, was a paladin who served in the Lordaeron army for sometime. He had, in truth, accepted the pandaren strong desire for -peace- despite his distaste for the particular Troll that had attacked him.
The Troll, whom did not give his name, reluctantly accepted the 'kind' notions of Yanyu. He ate his meal and did little to talk with the 'scum' (Daenn) and the 'talking bear' . Though he did bite his tongue, he was going to be treated for his wounds in exchange for his good behavior and, eventually, escorted -out- of the village and back to his troop.
Daenn was given the same treatment, but decided to entertain Yanyu with tales of Azeroth, sparking her old desire for adventure. He told her of the Horde and the Alliance, and why they fought one another. He even went on to tell her of the Lich King, and the Dark Portal.
Eventually the Troll was escorted out of the village and sent away, though Daenn remained around for sometime in order to take in the tranquility of Pandaria, even went to learn a bit more about the pandaren during his time in the village.
===The Wall===
After a night of relaxing, and an all around uneventful day of speaking with the Paladin she had befriended, Yanyu was woke the next day to see that nothing was really out of place, yet something felt wrong. She lived far from the wall, yet as the sun rose she couldn't help but to look at it. She shook her head, removing whatever strange sense of doubt she had in her stomach.... maybe she was just hungry.
What she had not known about was the increasing brutality between the Horde and the Alliance across Pandaria. How the Horde and the Alliance clashed in a skirmish that not only caused great damage, but caused a sha to emerge. The results of this all caused the mantid to stir far before their usual time.
Yanyu knew it wasn't because she was hungry, it was mid-day and she still felt like something was off. It was then that a Pandaren of the Shado-Pan arrived at her village and informed them of what has happened. Distraught by this information Yanyu lost trust in Alliance, and in turn grew weary of Deann's presence.
A thunderous crack filled the air, within moments a portion of the wall fell and Mantid swarm forth! The young pandaren instantly went to taking action on keeping her family safe, gathering her weapons and joining a troop of other civilians to fight back against the mantid threat. Along the way she decided to put one of her childhood past-times to good use and rode on the back of a Moshan, using the beast to trample any mantid that got in her way. Despite her best efforts though she had to flee her from the war zone, falling back and joining a caravan of refugees heading to Kun-Lai. She had lost track of Daenn during the brawl, as well as the rest of her family. The young pandaren sighed as she watched her home shrink in the distance.
===Stubborn as an OxCategory:Warrior===
Not one to simply lay down and admit defeat, the moment the caravan stopped in a refuge camp in Kun-Lai Yanyu immediately took up arms and began training far more than she had in the past. The sudden spark pleased her Mentor, whom barely survived the attack, and began to train her further. With the help of her Mentor, and whomever decided to take time to humor the young pandaren, even one of the Shado-Pan took a moment to give her basic, defensive, knowledge- though no tricks that were exclusive to the order.
Once she was confident enough Yanyu took to a blacksmith and, in exchange for helping around the smithy and providing food, and coin, the blacksmith forged armor and weapons for her. The armor was comprised of both thick leather and mail links where they were needed most. Her weapons of choice were two blades, her mentor having taught her how to handle such weapons due to how she originally fought when they first sparred. Armed and ready to defend her home Yanyu set forth back home in order to fend back the mantid swarm.
===To War===
Once back in the Valley of the Four Winds Yanyu spent day-in and day-out doing whatever she could to fend off the mantid swarm. Help repairing homes when the swarm wasn't active, and fighting them back when they were. Her rag-tag training wasn't perfect, she did get wounded countless times, but every single time she'd wait till she was able to fight once more and go back into the fray.
Upon hearing there was combat elsewhere, a siege upon the Horde Capital Orgrimmar, Yanyu did nothing about it. Her attention was on her home, she didn't care for what happened between the Horde and the Alliance. Her ally though, Daenn, went to the forefront of the battlefield and upon his return to Pandaria he informed her of what had happened within the walls of the capital.
===Post War===
Once the war between the Alliance and Horde calmed down, and the mantid died down to little more than an annoyance Yanyu took this opportunity to fully explore her homeland as best as she could, helping those who needed it. After some time of doing this, though, Yanyu began to grow into a dull state of mind, often asking herself "Well, what now?"
On a stop in Zouchin Village she spoke with two Monks, Xin Silverpaw and Zailin. Both Monks offered advice as well as helped Yanyu down another path, whether they knew it or not. While Xin offered more spiritual advice and often asked Yanyu a simple question: "Why?" This question began to motivate the young pandaren as she started to ask that question herself quite often, "Why am I afraid of heights?", "Why am I quick to anger?"
On the flip side, Zailin brought up both the Golden Lotus and the Shado-Pan to Yanyu, after the warrior had spoken of her training, as well as her experience in combat against the mantid. Though both of those options seemed quite a challenge for Yanyu, especially since both orders normally trained their recruits at a much younger age. Though despite both of those options, Zailin also offered Yanyu a bit of advice: To take a pilgrimage to the peak of Neverest much as she had, and her students, and (of course) their last emperor, Shaohao.
Once she departed from Zouchin she made to do exactly as Zailin had suggested and took to Neverest. Once at the peak she meditated for a solid day, only ever moving when it was for an utmost important reason! After her long meditation she trekked down the mountain, back to Zouchin in order to feast happily and recollect on her meditation.
Category:Pandaren
Category:Back story