for inugami

[evasively]

Player Information

Name/Alias: CAPS
Player Journal: disemboweled
Contact: PM
Timezone: GMT+8
HMD: Here.
In-Game/Processing: N/A

Character Information

Name/Alias: Fai D. Fluorite
Fandom: Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle
Canonpoint: LeCourt Arc, right before they arrive in Tokyo
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown, but implied to be hundreds of years old. Looks to be in his twenties.

Physical Description: Here.

History: Fai's wiki page is here. I already had my own version of his background written, so I'm going to post this too.

"Everyone in the country of Valeria awaited the birth of the second prince's son. Even the first prince looked forward. So why, then, did it have to be twins?"

From the moment he took his first breath, Yuui committed a sin. Entering the world at the same time as his brother Fai, he had brought onto his country a terrible curse. In Valeria, twins are a terrible omen. Even as children they held a great amount of magical power that, if combined, far surpassed almost every person in the country. This power seemed to have an ill effect on the land. It was believed to cause misfortune; and in Yuui and Fai's case, it did. Shortly after their birth, their father fell to a sudden illness and their guilt-stricken mother took her own life. Droughts started to plague the land, and the water became diseased. It didn't matter if those occurances were mere coincidences or truly related to their birth; the people of the country believed it, and that was enough. It was clear to the King that allowing Fai and Yuui to live would lead to the destruction of Valeria, but he also knew that killing them would cause even greater misfortune. Thus, he brought the two children together and gave them an ultimantinum: Give up one of their lives voluntarily, or be locked away in a tower for as long as Valeria continued to exist. Naturally, Fai and Yuui -- sharing a unrivaled bond -- chose the latter.

So, they were locked up in a different part of Valeria where magic could not work and time did not flow. The King believed that confining them to a place where they could only be miserable would contain their influence on the country and save it from the 'curse'. Fai was locked at the very top of the tower, and Yuui was locked at the very bottom. On top of that, that tower was also used as a dumping ground for those who committed sins, as they were not deserving of a grave to rest in. That was how Yuui lived for many years; without food, without water and without a single living soul to share company. All he had was the brother imprisoned above him, and he spent every waking moment pilling corpses to claw his way up the stone walls.

When you're alone for so long in a place death won't even let you escape, there are things you start to notice. For Yuui, it was the number of corpses that were thrown down every day to join him. He noticed that they were increasing, and the bulk of them did not look like the type who stole or murdered. They were children and the elderly. What kind of sins could they have committed? It was clear that something was happening in Valeria. People were dying, and Yuui grew concerned. He had already made his resolve to reach his brother Fai and leave the country with him, but in his kindness he also wanted to help them. He knew of his own great magical power, and he thought that together -- they could do something. It was clear that despite how his own family and all the people in the country treated him, Yuui did not feel any contempt for them. All he wanted at that time was to be allowed to live in peace with his brother.

The reason behind the build-up of corpses soon became clear. The King had gone mad and started to kill innocent people. Unsurprisingly, this incident was also blamed on the existence of Fai and Yuui. As time went by, he killed and killed until the only people left were Fai, Yuui and himself. Then, he dragged himself to the tower he had imprisoned them in and threw himself in among the corpses. With his sword, he did one last thing. He plunged it into his own neck right before a horrified Yuui's eyes, all the while reminding him that the reason for Valeria's downfall was the birth of he and his twin. By committing suicide, he was punishing Fai and Yuui to live on -- the only living people left in that entire country. This caused Yuui to have a breakdown. He screamed and screamed, then plopped lifeless onto the snow. Any resolve to reach his brother and find a way to escape was now gone from him.

Fai, who could hear everything that was happening below him, made a wish. He wished that he had taken his own life before any of this had started so that Yuui could be free. He wished to save Yuui, then die himself. This wish was soon answered by Fei Wong Reed, who appeared to him through a portal from another dimension. He offered to save one of them, but in return the other had to die. Without hesitation, Fai chose to save Yuui, and was thrown from the top of the tower where he fell to his death. Fei Wong had also asked Yuui the exact same question, then tampered with his memory to make him believe that he had chosen to save his own life and kill his brother in the process. This made Yuui feel responsible for his brother's death. Stricken by guilt, he agreed to become a pawn of Fei Wong Reed in exchange for the chance to resurrect his brother one day.

Here, Fei Wong Reed explained Yuui's role in his plan. There would come a time where he would have to go on a journey with a "desert princess" and a "clone" (that time being the starting of the series) and he was to protect them as they collected the feathers of that princesses' memory. Another would join them as well -- a man that, like Yuui, Fei Wong had attempted to recruit into his plan but could not due to the interference of Yuuko, the Witch of Dimensions. That man, whom Yuui would later know as Kurogane, would be acting as the Witch's agent, and Yuui was to kill him if he ever became a hindrance. Yuui was reluctant to kill at first, but Fei Wong reminded him that he had already "killed" his own brother, so a stranger would be no problem. Fei Wong also bestowed onto Yuui two curses that would later act as safehouses to ensure the demise of Real!Syaoran and Kurogane in the event that Yuui could not willingly kill them himself.

Immediately after Fei Wong Reed had spoken to him, the tower began to collapse, and King Ashura of Celes country arrives from another dimension to retrieve him. It is unclear if Fei Wong had tasked Ashura with going to save him or if he came to know about it on his own, but Ashura seems to know everything about Yuui's past and the wish he was determined to fulfill. Extending a gentle hand, he asks for Yuui's name, and he responds with 'Fai'. This is his first lie before many to come. In introducing himself with his dead brother's name, he had already taken the first step to return Fai the life he had "stolen" from him and erase his own self from the world.

Ashura brought Yuui to Celes, where he could give his brother a proper grave. In this grave, Yuui placed some of the long, unkempt hair that was never cut while he was alone in the tower so that a part of him could stay by Fai's side. Ashura also puts in a precious stone with protective qualities -- Fluorite. He bestows onto Yuui this as a last name, branding him "Fai Fluorite". He then allows "Fai" to live with him in the castle, caring for him and teaching him to use his great magical power. It isn't long before Fai manages to earn the title 'D', only given to the greatest magician in the country of Celes; thus, he becomes known as 'Fai D. Fluorite'.

While protecting a village in the Western Valley from an avalanche one day, Fai senses a great magical power buried within the snow. He discovers two feathers encased within a slab of ice. He removes them and, remembering earlier instructions from Fei Wong Reed, decides to take one with him for the journey he would later go on, and leave one with his dead brother. He changed the form of that second feather into that of a young girl resembling his mother, naming her Chii. Chii was to stay by Real Fai's side when "Fai" could not accompany him.

As he stayed in Celes, Ashura had done many things for him. He tutored Fai in magic, comforted him when he lamented about his past and encouraged him to smile because it would bring happiness to others. Ashura played the father figure he never had, and showed him kindness he had never experienced in Valeria. Thus, Fai was extremely determined to fulfill any wish that Ashura demanded of him. And Ashura did have a wish that Fai could fulfill, but he would not reveal it to him at that time. All he asked was that Fai promised to remove anyone who threatened the country of Celes. This was a simple enough promise, and Fai -- unknowing of the true implications -- obliged.

Ashura placed a magic seal on his back in the form of a Pheonix tattoo that he explained would prevent Fai's powers from growing any further. The true reason for placing that seal, however, was to suppress Fai's powers so that his own would eventually surpass them. Ashura knew of the first curse that Fei Wong Reed had put on Fai -- that he would be forced to kill anyone whose magical power was greater than his own. Thus, Ashura wanted to be the one that that curse would be used on. He knew that in his own future, he would eventually become a savage beast that would rip apart every person in his country, and he wanted Fai to be the one to stop him. That was his true reason for saving Fai in the first place. As he did not want young Fai to feel burdened by this knowledge, he erased what he had told him from his memory.

True enough, many years later, innocent civilians of Celes begin to turn up as bloodied corpses, ripped apart by a monster. Fai, now a grown man, was deeply troubled by the increasing death toll. The people of Celes were very kind to him, and because he cared so much for them he swore to destroy this monster at all costs. It is at this time that Ashura thought it appropriate to finally reveal that he was the one killing his people the whole time. The more people he killed, the stronger his magic grew and the greater his urge to kill became. He did not know the reason, but he had always known that he would turn into a murderer. He finally confessed that he had been waiting for the moment his magic surpassed Fai's, so that the curse would kick in and Ashura's life would be ended before he could go on killing. Fai, however, became distraught upon hearing this revelation. Hurt that Ashura had only taken him in to act as his very own self-destruct button, and also unable to kill the first person that had ever shown him kindness, he hastily cast a spell on Ashura that would put him in a deep sleep for a limited time. Then, he tasked Chii with informing him of Ashura's awakening and fled to Yuuko's shop, marking the start of the journey he was destined for.

Personality:

Fai D. Fluorite is an alcoholic, a liar, and a fake.

At first meeting, the tall and langly man may appear a little whimsical. Truthfully, his gestures and mannerisms are quite strange. He stands in a lazy posture, back arched so slightly, and he may look like a lazy person with the way he sometimes hangs off the things around him. That is, of course, then he starts to flail, or clap with an unnecessary enthusiasm, or pull everyone into a hug just for the kicks. With him, there is always something to talk about, and that makes him very easy to get along with. Putting himself out as a playful person, he always teases his fellow travelers. His biggest target, in particular, is Kurogane, whom he makes the butt of almost all his jokes in effort to get a flustered reaction. There is also that smile. One thing most would immediately associate with him is the smile -- sometimes gentle, sometimes teasing, and sometimes enigmatic -- that he plasters on his face constantly. There is a considerable lack of seriousness to him, and this continues when his life was in danger as well. Very rarely does he get serious or scared while fighting. Rather, his fighting style is one that can appear almost insulting to the one he was fighting. Rather than standing his ground or charging forward, Fai sidesteps all the blows with light, graceful feet and punctuate his movements with a quick, carefree grin.

To the ones who bothered to dig deeper, however, there is much more beneath what Fai chooses to show. In actual fact, the jokes, teasing and carefree attitude all serve the purpose of keeping his friends from prying into his life. He enjoys their company, but Fai prefers to keep all his relationships at the surface. Throughout most of the earlier chapters, he chooses to remain emotionally distant. Any attempts to glean information about his past from him will be met with a cheerful attempt to change the subject, or a well-timed joke that would turn the mood of the conversation in his favor. It wasn't always like this, but the smile that he is so known for is a tool to him. It's a convenient mask he can lie from, and also a barrier that can hide all his pain and guilt from the eyes of the ones around him. Over time, he's gotten pretty darn good at keeping it up, but there are moments where a little manages to slip through the cracks. During these moments, he becomes uncharacteristically solemn. The perceptive ones would be able to detect a hint of loneliness within him; most definitely from closing other people out for so long. However, even as he lets some of his true feelings out for those short moments, Fai is still very careful in omitting details. He spends most of the first half of the series as a highly secretive character.

Fai has two reasons for choosing to keep his fellow travelers at an arm's length. Firstly, he had agreed to be Fei Wong Reed's pawn many years ago, and he distinctly remembered the instructions that Fei Wong had given him. He was to aid in Syaoran and Sakura's journey for as long as it adhered to his plan, and also kill Kurogane whom Fei Wong Reed felt would eventually become a hindrance. From the very beginning, he was working as a double agent, and getting close to the people he was supposed to be working against would only make things harder.

Secondly, Fai has a preconceived idea that he brings misfortune onto everything and everyone he comes in contact with. It's not an idea without backing, either. In the country he truly comes from, he was born of an unnatural and unfortunate circumstance. Fai was born a twin, and the combined magical power of twins had a very ill effect on his world, bringing misfortune to his family and country. This effect is contained to Valeria alone, but Fai believes it will always apply to him. The fact that King Ashura, who took him to the world of Celes, suffered a fate that mirrored that of the late Emperor of Valeria - the fact that Ashura had gone crazy as well - only served to prove to Fai that he was a curse on others. He goes through most of the series believing this fact. Even if he has no direct hand in causing the tragedies surrounding him - such as when Clone!Syaoran lost his heart and started to behave in a cold and brutal manner - Fai will always assume that his presence is the reason for all the misfortune. Even Yuuko had to remind him that the tragic turn of events were happening and their own; they had nothing to do with the fact that he was there. As Fai is a kind person, he does not wish to 'make anyone sadder than they already are'. He believes that by actively keeping a distance from others, the people around him will not get hurt for his sake.

Throughout most of the series, Fai dances on the border between life and death. The way he fights reflects this. Though he does take steps to protect himself when under attack, he never quite gives it his all. This quality of him is first seen early on in the series, when the gang visited the country of Koryo. In a fight against a witch who manipulated orbs of acid, Kurogane and Fai arrived at a point where simple physical prowess was looking to be insufficient to keep them alive. Even staring at the face of probable death, however, Fai refused to use his magic. It should be noted that the fact that Fai's curse (the curse that forces him to kill anyone with stronger magical power than himself) didn't activate in the presence of the witch indicated that he was, in fact, far stronger than she was. Still, he refused to use his power. We see this aspect of him again in the country of Outo, where Fai broke his leg in a fight against a Kishin. Throughout the fight, he relied only on darts, once again refusing to use his magical powers. We see later on - when Fai does make use of his magic - that he was more than capable of protecting himself in those situations all this time. It was just that he chose not to; that he chose death at the hands of another over having to use his magic and open himself up to the possibility of being tracked down by Ashura. His life simply meant that little to him.

Kurogane takes notice of his careless regard for his own life early on and reprimands him for it, stating that he dislikes people who don't cherish their own lives. From the very start, Kurogane was onto something. Truthfully, Fai did want to die -- to finally have closure on the life he felt he didn't deserve -- but he could not because of his true wish. Fai wanted more than anything to resurrect his dead twin brother -- Fai. No, they don't happen to have the same name. The Fai we see for most of the series is actually called 'Yuui', and he took his brother's name a long time ago to erase his old self from existence. For the longest time, Yuui blamed himself for his brother's death. In his memory, it was his choice that led to his brother plummeting to his death from the highest floor of that tower. It was him who had chosen to save himself over the brother he loved so much. (We later learn, however, that Fei Wong Reed had implanted that memory into him so that he would become guilty and vulnerable.) In Yuui's eyes, he was the ultimate sinner, and that was why - in all his guilt - he dedicates the rest of his life to the fulfillment of this wish. Yuui takes on Fai's name and advances to the position of the highest mage in Celes, building a life for the real Fai to return to when resurrected. He agrees to be a pawn of the cruel Fei Wong Reed all for the chance of one day bringing Fai back. For a very long time, Yuui was living for Fai's sake - he wanted, more than anything, to return the life and the name he believed he had "stolen" from his brother.

Or, at least, that was how it was supposed to go. He was supposed to be dedicated only to his goal, to keep everyone at a distance both for his own sake and theirs. Things started to get hazy when the the journey finally began; when he finally met Syaoran, Sakura and Kurogane and started to grow attached to them. Throughout the series, there's a very notable change in Yuui -- or "Fai", as he goes now. At the very beginning, he - in his regular cheerful and polite way - made himself clear about how involved he would get with the others, stating that he would help out only when there was no real threat to his life. Despite this, he's displayed a large amount of care for his companions, doting on them in a gentle, tender way (he's even earned the nickname 'Mommy'), and risking his life for them several times. Not only does he appear to care, but his attachment to his friends has led him to go against his own personal convictions. At the beginning, Fai is adamant about his refusal to use his magic - he wouldn't use it even to save his own life. Yet, throughout the series, he finds himself using it more and more; first in LeCourt, where he helped the others escape with the use of a barrier spell, and then in Tokyo, where he attempted to save Clone-Syaoran from becoming a heartless doll.

At his core, Fai is a kind person. Even as the child that his country locked up and left for dead, he never scorned them for their actions. He even wanted to help them when he found out that the people were in trouble. It was his kindness that prevented him from killing King Ashura, whom he loved dearly. He even resorted to the drastic act of running across dimensions to further delay the inevitable that he would eventually be forced to end Ashura's life.

Fai is also a very knowledgeable and perceptive person. As he is quite a good liar himself, it is very easy for him to see through the cracks of another's lie. He is very sensitive to inconsistencies and oddities in the environment, and quick to investigate if he finds something amiss. He is also good at analyzing deep into the personalities and motivations of his fellow peers. If they have changed, or there's something burdening them, he will notice. (He is very oblivious to changes in himself, however.) Fai is adaptable. In most of the worlds he travels to, he is able to adapt to the lifestyle easily. The most obvious example of this is the race in Piffle, where Fai was able to manipulate a flying jet with considerable ease despite having never seen a vehicle in his life. Furthermore, he possesses a wealth of knowledge on magic and a very strong intuition for the presence of magic in the area. He can sense the presence of other mages, dreamseers and also traps that have been laid out for them.

Abilities:

High-Level Magical Power:

The extent of how strong Fai's magic truly is is still unknown, but less than five characters in the series can surpass it. He has been shown using his magic to cast destructive spells, put up magical barriers, jump dimensions, manipulate sound and matter, stop avalanches, warm up frozen lakes, put others into a deep coma, repair broken magical seals and store objects into a sort of 'hammerspace'. CLAMP has left the extent of Fai's abilities largely vague, so it's difficult to discern what spells he's capable of and how strong he truly is. What we do know, however, is that he excels at destructive magic and is unable to learn healing magic. He will also go to great lengths not to use his magic, even at the expense of his own life.

Other Skills:
- Cooking. As a result of his experience with mixing magical potions, Fai is quite a good cook and baker.
- Drawing. Since magic sometimes requires him to draw symbols, Fai has some experience with drawing cutesy little pictures. He can't do anything like fine art, however.
- Fighting. Because he has lived for a very long time and got himself into many scuffles along the way, Fai is quite a veteran in the battlefield. His fighting style can be described as 'flighty' and 'evasive'. Rather than hitting his opponents directly, Fai prefers to sidestep through their attacks, wearing his opponents out with his constant dodging. He also has some experience with using throwing darts and bows and arrows as weapons.
Samples

Dialogue:

[ Here is a very obnoxious bulletin board post with hearts and flowers doodled all over it. ]

Isn't a very special day coming up soon? Valentine's Day, I believe it was called! I didn't have anything like this back in my home world, but I've heard about it once or twice. It's a day where people give chocolates to the ones that they fancy ♥! Wah! How sweet.

For those of you with a somebody that you want to surprise, the baking club will be holding a chocolate-making workshop this afternoon! You design the chocolates you want to make, and we'll cook them together! Just head on down to Clubroom 2-B after classes. Let's work hard to make that special person happy, alright?

Exposition/Introspection: This sample takes place in canon, when the Tsubasa crew visited the world of Shura. Fai and Kurogane arrived half a year earlier than Mokona and the kids, and found themselves stranded together in the warring country of Yama. Without Mokona around to act as their translator, they're unable to understand each other. In this arc, Fai pretends to be mute so as to not arouse suspicion. I did make use of Kurogane in my sample. I hope this is fine. If it isn't, I can write a new one.

Fai shifts, fidgeting slightly under the darkened gaze of the other man. Between the occasional sharp pangs in his chest as his wounds stretched and compressed to the rhythm of his breathing, and the presence of Kurogane in the room, he was in an uncomfortable situation once again. They were the two strongest soldiers in this country, but even they were not exempt from that common by-product of fighting in a war. It was just a moment. Just one moment of weakness, just one moment where his brain lost focus and his blind spots went neglected; that was all it took for an enemy soldier to slash right across his chest in a ribbon of silver. Memories of what happened next come to him in muddied clusters of sights and sounds, but he does remember the other man. There is a distinct image of Kurogane crouching, sword drawn and proud in the air, against a backdrop of stunned and bloodied enemy cavalry. He had blown them away, no doubt. Kurogane was strong like that. Haha, why does he keep saving him like this?

Biting down the wincing, Fai snaps into a thin-lipped smile, waving with his full arm outstretched. He would speak, but he cannot. There is a barrier of language between him and the world that is currently housing them. They have been like this for several months, and while this would frustrate most, Fai found he did not mind at all. It was easy. No longer did he have to choose his words or raise his voice a pitch higher than what it truly was. All he had to do to take care of his appearance was to keep his smile up. (And, quite frankly, he's had a whole lifetime to practice that.) Furthermore, there was an immediate distance between him and the people around him. Distance is what he's always tried to cultivate, and it came so easily to a 'mute' man. It was relaxing; leaving the talking to another. People left him to his own devices, and he told himself it was for the better.

There was one who would never leave him be, however. In response to Fai's cheerful gesticulating, Kurogane simply narrows his eyes, arms crossed and aura heavy. He opens his mouth to speak -- the quality of his voice much more gravelly than Fai remembers -- and focuses his gaze on the smaller man. Fai does not have to understand a single word to know what he's getting at. They've had this conversation.

'You're calling me out for not using magic again, aren't you?' There's a laugh, and he flaps his hand, urging Kurogane to soften, 'If I'm the type of person you hate, why are you bothering me? I can't even understand you.'

Kurogane should know the reason behind Fai's apprehension for using magic. Every spell he casts leaves a trace in the world he casts it in,; a breadcrumb that he knows his King will find and follow too easily. There's a fate waiting for him back in Celes. A long time ago, he made a careless promise, and now he cannot fathom being forced to keep it without cracking his psyche entirely. Against all that, death simply looked like the more favorable option. This was just something Kurogane will have to deal with.

Wobbling so slightly, Fai staggers to his feet, taking a moment to gain footing. Then, he excuses himself, grinning and thumbing wildly at an empty something that he needed to go do. As he turns around, he can still feel the weight of that man's gaze eating into him. How does Kurogane see through him so easily?

Comments

PERSONALITY

[evasively]

- general description: cheerful, energetic, appears fun-loving, loves to tease kurogane, rarely serious
- behaves like an idiot, but is actually very perceptive and intelligent
- good-natured. kind-hearted
- but it's all a mask that he uses to shield himself. changes the topic when things get too personal.
- very secretive about his past. in the beginning, the two things we know about fai is that he's (1) running away from something and (2) refuses to use his magic for some reason (he tried to lie that his magic had been taken from him but that didn't work)
- actually keeps people at a distance. or tries to. doesn't want people to be concerned about him.
- why? because he's a double-agent - knows he'll have to kill kurogane if it evver comes to thatt. and because he believes he's cursed. can't let go of the past - the belief that he's cursed is ingrained into him.
- puts little value on his own life. wants to die, but can't. 'won't die' on his own, yet resigns himself to death when someone else tries to kill him. refuses to give his all if it's to save his own life.
- he needs to stay alive to fulfill his true wish - to revive fai and return to him the life and name he 'stolen' from him. yuui believes that he haad stole fai's right to live, and that's why he's making it his goal to revive him.
- but he can't fight his kind nature - that part is genuine. doting. worries about the kids. cares deeply about the people around him. usually non-violent, preferring to evade than attack. doesn't appear vengeful at the people who caused him so much suffering.
- development: it's undeniable that with his nature he would form a bond with his companions. this eroded at the distance he attempted to put between himself and the others. at first, fai attempts to stay formal and distant, stating that he'll only help out since there's nothing else to do. he later reveals that he also intended to call kurogane by his real name at first, but he had too much fun teasing him that it ended up being a constant thing - he hadn't even realised that he had 'crossed the line'. fai didn't realise that a bond was forming. true enough, at their first meeting, fai's demeanor was much more subdued than the wild and whimsical, energetic guy we see throughout the series - though a lot of that was a mask, he was having honest fun too, and that only deepened his attachment to his companions.
- this bond becomes so strong that he ends up going against his principles to save his friends. fai used magic even though he had earlier sworn to never use it again. fai wouldnt even use it to save his own life, but he used it to save the lives of his friends. he was even willing to risk the one thing he was so afraid of - ashura waking up and locating him. throughout the series, kurogane repeatedly calls fai out on his actions, pointing out how much they contradicted themselves. fai tries to keep a distance from people, but his actions reveal how much he truly cherishes them. he doesn't value his life, and yet he doesn't have the conviction to end it himself. the way kurogane phrases his words, the way he chastises fai as one of the types of people he 'hates most', leads fai to believe that kurogane disdains him, but it's actually quite the opposite - he does it to encourage fai to look at the present. to sort himself out. the accept the bonds he's created as they are and also let go of the past. it's just a pity that fai finds that very difficult to do.

truthfully, he's just a lonely person who wants someone to stay by his side. but he keep a distance from others because he believes that misfortune befalls everyone close to him.