soon you'll realise that it was never meant to be fair

disembowled

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.

High-Level Magical Power:

The extent of how strong Fai's magic truly is is still unknown, but it's apparent that 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 (to a small degree), put others into a deep coma, repair broken magical seals and store objects into a sort of 'hammerspace'. He also has the ability to sense magical beings, or large sources of magic. 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. I realise that he's kind of overpowered, so I'd be fine with him being nerfed!

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.

[ The enchanted jewellery starts to glow, and an image is cast into the eyes of all who wear it. It appears to be broadcasting from some oddball who has chosen to go by the name 'BigKitty'. Before the image can fully sharpen itself, it's evident from the audio - the shuffling, the growling and the patter of little feet - that there's a small commotion going on in the background.

When the image is finally clear, a tall and lanky young man comes into view. Behind him are two Wyrmlings, who are snarling and nipping at each other. It's apparent that the stress of being in a confined space is forcing them to take it out on each other. ]

What will I do with you all? Siblings shouldn't be fighting! [ They're taking it out on their rescuer too. Fai makes an attempt at separating the duo, picking up the smaller wrymling by its sides. The young dragon retaliates by gnawing at his hand.

Though the smile on his face persists, it's now a little strained from appears to be pain. Still, he tolerates it, allowing the baby to nibble at him until its managed to calm down. Despite the obvious discomfort, Fai still manages to sound cheerful when he finally makes his broadcast. ]

Hello there! I've managed to save two of these little ones, but now we're in a bit of a situation. We're trapped here, you see! There was a cave in earlier and our only exit is now blocked.

Is there anyone out there who can offer some help? [ The wyrmling in his arms struggles frantically, biting down once more. ] Ah! [ Unable to hold it in any longer, Fai lets out a cry in pain, letting go of the dragon in his hands. A trickle of blood rolls down the side of his wrist. He doesn't appear concerned by it. ]

And if -- anyone knows how to calm them down, that would be really useful as well!