Post by Kang Xiu on Jan 17, 2010 10:58:18 GMT -5
Name: Kang Xiu
Age: 22
Sex: Male
Nationality: Chinese
Speech: Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, English
Blood: Half-blood
Father:
Liwei Xiu, 45, Elemental Master of Wind, deceased
Mother:
Jia Xiu, 42
Siblings:
Bao-Zhai Xiu, sister, 19
Mingxia Xiu, sister, 18
Mingli Xiu, brother, 18
Shi Xiu, brother, 15
Lili Xiu, sister, 11
Other Family:
Master Zhenton Xiu, great great uncle (paternal)
Shirong Xiu, grandfather (paternal), Elemental Master of Wind, deceased
Geming Xiu, uncle (paternal), 40, estranged
Extensive other cousins, aunts, uncles etc.
Family Interactions:
Between his five siblings and the rest of his extended family, there are certainly a lot of interactions to discuss. Kang used to get on very well with his mother, a muggle who generally has the task of holding their family together and looking after her multiple children. However, that relationship has waned considerably since he ran away from the monastery and now when they do speak, it is rarely for a pleasant conversation. He had less of a strong relationship with his father before his death, due to the huge amounts of pressure and expectation forced onto him. Kang never felt as though he could ever stand up next to his father due to just how successful he had been. Liwei had brought both honour and money to his family in his fight for the lightfighters.
Bao-Zhai is very much like her mother in that she brings together everyone. If any of her younger siblings – or even Kang, sometimes – needs comforting, they will go to her to talk. Mingli and Mingxia can always be found together, with Mingxia being the more dominant twin. She very much enjoys the physical aspect of training – the sparring, the martial arts, the long runs. Mingli, on the other hand, prefers his books and language-learning, but both are equally accomplished in their favoured area. Kang had never been particularly close to either, since they always had each other and didn’t need anyone else.
Shi is the creative member of the family. He is forever writing poetry and drawing, but when provoked (as Kang has managed to do on several occasions) he has a very fierce temper. Lili is the baby of the family, however much she insists she isn’t. She is stubborn but with a beautiful face that can charm most members of their large family. Before he left the monastery, Kang was very close to her – unfortunately, she took it personally and now goes out of her way to avoid him. Geming is the uncle who was almost a father to Kang, but due to his betrayal Kang now has very mixed feelings concerning him.
All members of the Xiu family - with one exception - have strong links with the lightfighters, meaning they have all gone through significant training. This has brought them together, but also highlighted their differences and produced some jealousy between certain members of the family.
Height: 5’6
Weight: 54kg
Hair: Black, some faded blue streaks
Eyes: Brown
Skin Colour: White
Clothing style: Very westernised, can be smart when needed
Accessories: Silver hoop in his ear
Other: Several tattoos on his body; pierced ear.
Paragraph Format: Kang, when looked at from a distance and when dressed as he prefers, looks nothing like his actual age of twenty two. With his distinctively casual clothes and the tattoos littering his body, not to mention the blue streaks of dyed hair that are now fading, his small stature only adds to the appearance of an older teenager who hasn't quite finished growing yet. He's Chinese, with the dark hair and eyes that naturally accompany that, and his body is well-toned from training but rather too thin to be entirely healthy (something like this). Kang's tattoos include a dragon on his left ankle; an eagle on his right arm; a coloured sun/yin-yang design on the back of his neck; and a pair of wings on his back. He also has his right ear pierced with a small silver hoop nearly always worn.
When he's actually trying to make a good impression, he can actually rub up quite nicely, taking out the piercing and magically hiding his tattoos. Of course, this doesn't last long and he never removes them for more than a few days at a time. His clothes are mostly like those worn by muggles in Europe or North America rather than the traditional robes of either the monks or wizarding community. Even his smart clothes are suits; he simply does not like how robes look on him and how they swamp him so you can hardly see his body or any skin beneath the large amounts of material.
Personality: Kang is a man who, despite his age, loves to tease. He grew up in a large family with five siblings; it was hardly unexpected. It doesn't matter who's about, whether they are a teacher, a student, even one of the Masters of the Order, he can find some way to poke fun at them. He doesn't like authority at all; he will go against it at any opportunity, although this has faded a lot in the last year. When he wants to be he can be diplomatic, but usually he doesn't want to be. His attitude generally depends on what sort of mood he's in at the time.
He can be very rebellious when he wants to be, shirking his duties without any notice and leaving others to pick up the slack. Doing jobs he actually enjoys though, such as healing, he takes his work very seriously and normally does not like anyone else interfering. He has an extremely good memory and is very meticulous about his supplies. For example, he doesn't label the potions in his storeroom at the monastery so that no one else will know what they are, and cannot get themselves replacements without going past him first.
He is extremely vain and prideful and will take quite a long time in the mornings getting ready before heading out. Even when working with the magical creatures he always wore overalls and carried his wand and a mirror so that after he was done and had magically cleaned himself up, he could appear as if he had just stepped outside that morning. This vanity has led to somewhat of an eating disorder, in that he eats small portions with the idea of looking attractive as a result. Due to his medical knowledge he always makes sure he gets enough nutrients, but huge amounts of food have not entered him in quite some time.
Following his uncle's betrayal and the Mage's torture, he has become slightly paranoid. Every morning he drinks a protective potion that help reduce the effects of regular curses, for instance stunning spells. He will recover much more quickly and as a result reduce any risk of being captured again. He also hates sleeping alone at night; he finds that when he does, he always gets nightmares, and yet when there is someone else sleeping beside him the dreams rarely come.
History: Kang was born on the fourth of February to Liwei and Jia as their first son. Despite at this point having no siblings, he was certainly not born into a small family. There were uncles and aunts, cousins, grandparents and great-grandparents galore, not to mention all the in-laws who sometimes came to visit. The majority of the Xiu family all lived in the one small village in China that was about a half hour walk from the monastery that was headquarters for all lightfighters.
A mere year after he was born, Kang's grandfather died and the role of Elemental Master of Wind was passed onto Liwei. Because of this, Liwei began to travel a whole lot more in his duties as a lightfighter and thus was often away from home and his family. So as he grew up, although Liwei was always the real father who'd return from his latest mission met with ecstatic excitement, Kang became very close to his uncle, Geming. Geming had been eighteen when his nephew was born, and was the youngest brother of Liwei. He was frequently found looking after the little boy; teaching him things or just playing.
Over the years Kang's multiple siblings were born, producing the large family he knows today. While being the oldest child might not have been the best at times, it did mean he was the most knowledgeable and most well-trained. However there was also the pressure of his 'heritage', so to speak. The position of Elemental Master of Wind had been in the family for generations, so it was automatically expected that it would pass on to Kang. He was trained for this, given advice by all sorts of important people - mostly lightfighters who were training at the monastery.
He was aged nine when he was partnered up with a younger girl who had been training at the monastery for some time, but had only just been recognised as the Shadow Warrior of Wind; D'rorah Philosophy. Although at first he was rather annoyed at being partnered with someone so much younger and inexperienced than him, he understood his duty to the monastery and knew that when the time came, he would be the one working alongside her. Her dedication to the work at hand, not to mention the fact that she soon had improved enough to actually start beating him in fights, made it easier still.
As the years passed and he continued to train with her, he actually began to like her somewhat, despite her stern and emotionless exterior. He almost began treating her as though she was another of his younger siblings, teasing her at every opportunity, although whenever someone mentioned that he was acting like a brother to her he firmly denied it. He began to grow a little more rebellious as he grew up, not wanting his whole life to be about fighting this one cause, but never really thought seriously about leaving it. He simply had a more rebellious nature and tended to enjoy defying authority just to see what their reaction would be. He began accompanying teams on missions when he was thirteen, although was never quite trusted enough to be put in charge, and a firm leader was always put in place on the missions he went on.
When Kang was seventeen, and his siblings were fifteen, fourteen, fourteen, ten and six respectively, news came to the village that Liwei was dead. He had been killed in a fight with wraiths somewhere in the rainforests of Malaysia, with only two from the team of ten returning alive. Although Kang grieved for his father, he had not in all honesty been that close to the man and had instead been preparing for this moment all his life; the moment when he would receive his father's powers, just as Liwei had received them from his own father several decades ago.
Except, the powers never came. All eyes were on him, and at first the masters at the monastery simply thought he was having trouble mastering the new abilities. But it soon became apparent that despite everyone's expectations, and for whatever reason, Kang had not been chosen as the next Elemental Master, and the powers had gone elsewhere. With feelings of disappointment and anger running through him, Kang's rebellious nature increased exponentially, getting worse with every bad encounter with those senior to him. He continued training with D'rorah, but his heart wasn't wholly in it anymore and he began to lose not because she was more skilful with weapons, as had previously been the case, but because he was distracted and didn't put in effort. The wins he had been managing before disappeared almost completely.
He became closer to his uncle Geming again, unconvinced that this was what he wanted to do. The cause might be a worthy one, but did he really want to give up his life for it? If he had become an Elemental Master then he would not have had a choice, but perhaps this was a chance to do something new... Increasingly, he spent his time away from the monastery, missing lessons and even training sessions with D'rorah to visit the nearest city, Yinchuan, and take part in the activities that normal males of his age were enjoying, whether muggle or wizard; he didn't really have any preference in magical blood or not regarding his company. Sometime the muggles were better – they didn't question him as much on where he was from and where he had been taught magic.
About ten months of growing rebelliousness later and his teachers had all but given up on him. He barely turned up to classes anymore and when he did, all he did was disrupt them. The only reason he still went to training was to keep his fitness up, but normally he did that on his own now rather than with D'rorah. His mother was frantic, not knowing what to do with him and how to control him. Even Master Xiu could not find a way to make him calm down a little. In December, Kang had finally had enough, and he left the monastery with his bags, not planning to return. He settled down in Yinchuan and one of the friends he had made who lived there managed to get him a job at a muggle healer's workplace. He quickly became skilled at helping to diagnose patients even before they had been in to see Doctor Hsüeh just by engaging in casual conversation with them before they went in to him, much to the surprise of his employer. He began studying wizarding healing methods, still taking in all the muggle knowledge he could gain at his work.
Soon after, he got another part-time job in the evenings that was actually related to his wizarding background; working at a wizarding zoo that contained all sorts of magical creatures. It was used both as entertainment and as more of a museum-type attraction with school coming in and tours being taken. At first Kang simply worked cleaning, but after several months of hard work and some excellent memorisation, he managed to progress to a spot as a temporary tour guide while one of the regular staff was off sick. After doing a very good job during the man's absence, he was hired on a more permanent basis, but also during the day. Navigating the different hours of his two jobs proved difficult, but he managed it by working weekend hours and staying late to tidy up after. His old habits were not entirely gone though, and he did tend to get into trouble for back chatting his superiors or just ignoring what they told him. Turning up to work with hangovers didn't do him any favours either. Fortunately, he was knowledgeable and generally likeable enough for him to not lose either of his jobs over it. He also went through a long string of girls in this time, but never really got into any long term relationships.
During this time away from the monastery, he had kept in touch with a couple of people – his uncle Geming, who had come to visit him on occasion and give him money if he needed it, and D'rorah. He had not actually seen her since leaving the monastery but kept in contact by owl. Through this, he learned of her parents' deaths shortly after he had turned twenty. The Double Seventh Festival was approaching, and thinking that it would be nice to see her again, and that it might cheer her up, he invited her to join him in Yinchuan for the festival in August.
He met D'rorah at the arranged place, checking that no one else had come with her and noting how much she had grown up in the last two and a half years, before heading off to enjoy the festivities. As the Chinese equivalent of Valentine's Day, not to mention influenced by the alcohol he had drunk both prior to the festival and while out with D'rorah, he had his own ideas about how to celebrate it with her. As it began getting dark he led her away from the activities into an area of the city with much less people about, much to her bewilderment. Due to all his time training with her and the broken promise of becoming her Elemental Master, he felt like he had some sort of claim to her. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to feel the same way and for all his efforts he ended up with a broken wrist and D'rorah running away, back to the monastery.
His wrist was healed easily enough, but not his pride, nor his friendship with D'rorah. He did get a reply from the apologising letter he sent, but not one that was in any way pleasant. Master Xiu had learnt of his escapades, and while he could not find him he could certainly send a howler expressing his extreme displeasure. Following that encounter with his old life, he began a descent again. After several weeks of mismatched appearances at the muggle healer's, he was sacked. Concentrating on his job at the magical zoo didn't quite work either as his standard of work decreased.
Eventually, his uncle Geming turned up to get him into shape. He suggested following a different line of work, one he sometimes did on the side, that wasn't quite as legal. Working on the black market for Geming's mysterious business contact was a little different to what he was used to, but the monetary rewards were certainly high. He had to pay some sort of commission to the contact, but even so he ended up with more money than before. Nevertheless, he still did not quit his work at the zoo. With this extra money coming in that allowed him to get a nicer apartment with more amenities, his work ethic improved again.
Early the following year, his uncle began taking him on more dangerous smuggling missions. These were a little different to what he had done before; his uncle paid him direct for his assistance, and the items they were smuggling he had seen the use of before on missions with the monastery – weapons, Peruvian darkness powder, invisibility items. Still, he was instructed not to ask too many questions, and since the money was still good he, for once, did as he was told... for a while. When the items started getting rarer and in larger quantities, however, he did begin wondering aloud what such things were being used for. He knew it wasn't for the monastery because they had legal ties that helped them gain such items. His uncle tried to hush him again, but to no avail.
One question too many, and one night he wasn't allowed to go home. Stupefied, he woke up in the one place he'd hoped he would never have to see again; the Shadow Realm. His uncle had been helping him, by protecting him from Dark Phoenix while he did her work, but now he had attracted too much attention. Dark Phoenix was delighted to have one of the Xiu family prisoner and made that very clear by setting various servants and shadow creatures on him. His shouts that he no longer worked at the monastery fell on deaf ears. He had lived there for most of his life, which meant he had information on who the Elemental Masters and Shadow Warriors were. Not willing to betray D'rorah, and with no idea who the current chosen lightfighters were anyway, he endured the torture as best he could.
He wasn't entirely sure how long he had been in the Shadow Realm when his uncle appeared one night. Although at first very unwilling to trust him, since it was fairly obvious by now that he had betrayed his family, he really didn't have many other people coming to his rescue. Unbound and his broken legs healed, he was instructed on how to get away and did just that. He still isn't sure exactly why his uncle did such a thing, because Dark Phoenix would have been able to work out who set him free very easily. Perhaps he really did care about his nephew... maybe. Kang wasted no time worrying about that and followed his uncle's instructions on how to get to the portal. It led to the apparition point just outside the Monastery and, in need of healing and with nowhere else to go, Kang finally made his way back there.
He recovered quite slowly but paid the utmost attention to what was going on as he was being healed. He didn't much like having to face all his old teachers, especially Master Xiu, but was rather glad that D'rorah had now moved on to Hogwarts so he didn't have to deal with his previous actions. Master Xiu, astute as he was, had noticed how much Kang was paying attention to the healing methods being used on him and how his knowledge around that area had grown considerably. He suggested that Kang learn from the healer working at the monastery, and, rather grudgingly, Kang accepted. After so many days of missing work, he knew he must already be fired from his job at the zoo, and he had missed his rent as well so he no longer had his apartment.
He quickly found that it wasn't as bad as he had suspected it might be, living and working at the monastery again. Vain as he was, he began looking for a spell to try and remove the scars on him from the shadow creatures. Finding that one didn't exist he began working on one himself. His relations with his family were rather muddled, especially with news of Geming's betrayal that he brought, but the healing work he was learning and studying was certainly interesting and kept his attention. Not having to follow normal lessons any more helped especially, as did one young scribe around the same age as him named Huan Sung, who took it upon himself to make Kang feel as at home as possible. After one drunken night in Yinchuan they both ended up in Huan's bed and much to both of their surprise, a relationship somehow emerged out of their friendship. That night was the first of many that he slept through without waking up with visions of the Shadow Realm in his head. At first, Kang wasn't quite sure what to make of it all. The relationship seemed to actually be working as no other relationship had done before and he found himself quite happy with Huan.
Unfortunately, Huan had somewhat of a problem with drugs, or rather, one drug in particular; Bliss, made out of the magical Kinxan Root. His dealer in Yinchuan was not a very forgiving man, and one day when Huan had not brought enough money, he took it upon himself to teach the younger man a lesson. Kang was horrified when Huan turned up in his room all bloodied up, and after healing him made him promise that he wouldn't go to the dealer again; instead he would use the Kinxan Root from the medical stores to make his own Bliss. Although Huan did offer some of the drug to Kang as well, he normally did not accept it. He was happy enough with Huan anyway not to want to disappear into a drug-induced haze on a regular basis.
The healer teaching Kang was not quite so forgiving, though. When he discovered that Kinxan Root kept going missing from the stores he put a tracing spell on it, which told him easily enough where it was going. He went to Master Xiu with this information, and that was not the only bad report about Huan; two of the teachers had complained on more than one occasion that he had supplied students with alcohol which was banned on the monastery grounds. Master Xiu was not too fond of Huan anyway. He was of the opinion that Kang should be able to settle in without being taken back to Yinchuan on a regular basis to pursue his previous activities while he had been living there. He thought that Huan was a bad influence on Kang, and with this new knowledge it occurred to him that this must be why Huan was taking such an interest in his great-great-nephew; to get to the Kinxan Root to make his drug without paying. Huan was expelled and banished from the monastery, sent away without the chance to say goodbye to Kang.
Kang was very upset when he realised what had happened and tried to appeal to Master Xiu to at least tell him where Huan had gone. But he was adamant; Kang had been using him to get drugs, and was a bad influence anyway. Not knowing where Huan had gone, Kang had little choice but to stay at the monastery. Master Xiu promoted him to a full-time Healer, starting him off with a large cataloguing job that was supposed to keep him busy and keep his mind off things. Shortly after this, Kang's eating disorder began. Without Huan to keep him company at night, the nightmares had began coming back on a regular basis. He reasoned that the more attractive he looked, the more likely he was to end up in someone else's bed, and be freed from the nightmares that plagued him. It didn't work as well as it had when he was with Huan, but well enough that he continued his efforts.
When news of the bad relations between the young lightfighters at Hogwarts came to the monastery, it was decided that someone would have to go there to help unify them; someone knowledgeable in the war and who could help train them. Deciding that this would be a good opportunity to get Kang away from the monastery and doing something useful, especially considering how he already knew D'rorah very well, he was chosen by Master Xiu to go to Hogwarts and take up the position of the school healer. Dark Phoenix's spies would know that he was a member of the Order of the Light, but in a position such as school nurse it would be easy enough to talk to the lightfighters without them becoming suspects. He is rather wary about going there since he has not spoken to D'rorah since the incident at the festival last year. Similarly, he knows that her Elemental Master is at Hogwarts and is not too keen on meeting the person who took what he considers his powers by birthright. Hearing that the Care of Magical Creatures position is open he is considering taking that as well, but has decided to wait until he is settled in and has assessed his work load before applying for that job as well.
A D M I N E D I T
Age: 22
Sex: Male
Nationality: Chinese
Speech: Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, English
Blood: Half-blood
Father:
Liwei Xiu, 45, Elemental Master of Wind, deceased
Mother:
Jia Xiu, 42
Siblings:
Bao-Zhai Xiu, sister, 19
Mingxia Xiu, sister, 18
Mingli Xiu, brother, 18
Shi Xiu, brother, 15
Lili Xiu, sister, 11
Other Family:
Master Zhenton Xiu, great great uncle (paternal)
Shirong Xiu, grandfather (paternal), Elemental Master of Wind, deceased
Geming Xiu, uncle (paternal), 40, estranged
Extensive other cousins, aunts, uncles etc.
Family Interactions:
Between his five siblings and the rest of his extended family, there are certainly a lot of interactions to discuss. Kang used to get on very well with his mother, a muggle who generally has the task of holding their family together and looking after her multiple children. However, that relationship has waned considerably since he ran away from the monastery and now when they do speak, it is rarely for a pleasant conversation. He had less of a strong relationship with his father before his death, due to the huge amounts of pressure and expectation forced onto him. Kang never felt as though he could ever stand up next to his father due to just how successful he had been. Liwei had brought both honour and money to his family in his fight for the lightfighters.
Bao-Zhai is very much like her mother in that she brings together everyone. If any of her younger siblings – or even Kang, sometimes – needs comforting, they will go to her to talk. Mingli and Mingxia can always be found together, with Mingxia being the more dominant twin. She very much enjoys the physical aspect of training – the sparring, the martial arts, the long runs. Mingli, on the other hand, prefers his books and language-learning, but both are equally accomplished in their favoured area. Kang had never been particularly close to either, since they always had each other and didn’t need anyone else.
Shi is the creative member of the family. He is forever writing poetry and drawing, but when provoked (as Kang has managed to do on several occasions) he has a very fierce temper. Lili is the baby of the family, however much she insists she isn’t. She is stubborn but with a beautiful face that can charm most members of their large family. Before he left the monastery, Kang was very close to her – unfortunately, she took it personally and now goes out of her way to avoid him. Geming is the uncle who was almost a father to Kang, but due to his betrayal Kang now has very mixed feelings concerning him.
All members of the Xiu family - with one exception - have strong links with the lightfighters, meaning they have all gone through significant training. This has brought them together, but also highlighted their differences and produced some jealousy between certain members of the family.
Height: 5’6
Weight: 54kg
Hair: Black, some faded blue streaks
Eyes: Brown
Skin Colour: White
Clothing style: Very westernised, can be smart when needed
Accessories: Silver hoop in his ear
Other: Several tattoos on his body; pierced ear.
Paragraph Format: Kang, when looked at from a distance and when dressed as he prefers, looks nothing like his actual age of twenty two. With his distinctively casual clothes and the tattoos littering his body, not to mention the blue streaks of dyed hair that are now fading, his small stature only adds to the appearance of an older teenager who hasn't quite finished growing yet. He's Chinese, with the dark hair and eyes that naturally accompany that, and his body is well-toned from training but rather too thin to be entirely healthy (something like this). Kang's tattoos include a dragon on his left ankle; an eagle on his right arm; a coloured sun/yin-yang design on the back of his neck; and a pair of wings on his back. He also has his right ear pierced with a small silver hoop nearly always worn.
When he's actually trying to make a good impression, he can actually rub up quite nicely, taking out the piercing and magically hiding his tattoos. Of course, this doesn't last long and he never removes them for more than a few days at a time. His clothes are mostly like those worn by muggles in Europe or North America rather than the traditional robes of either the monks or wizarding community. Even his smart clothes are suits; he simply does not like how robes look on him and how they swamp him so you can hardly see his body or any skin beneath the large amounts of material.
Personality: Kang is a man who, despite his age, loves to tease. He grew up in a large family with five siblings; it was hardly unexpected. It doesn't matter who's about, whether they are a teacher, a student, even one of the Masters of the Order, he can find some way to poke fun at them. He doesn't like authority at all; he will go against it at any opportunity, although this has faded a lot in the last year. When he wants to be he can be diplomatic, but usually he doesn't want to be. His attitude generally depends on what sort of mood he's in at the time.
He can be very rebellious when he wants to be, shirking his duties without any notice and leaving others to pick up the slack. Doing jobs he actually enjoys though, such as healing, he takes his work very seriously and normally does not like anyone else interfering. He has an extremely good memory and is very meticulous about his supplies. For example, he doesn't label the potions in his storeroom at the monastery so that no one else will know what they are, and cannot get themselves replacements without going past him first.
He is extremely vain and prideful and will take quite a long time in the mornings getting ready before heading out. Even when working with the magical creatures he always wore overalls and carried his wand and a mirror so that after he was done and had magically cleaned himself up, he could appear as if he had just stepped outside that morning. This vanity has led to somewhat of an eating disorder, in that he eats small portions with the idea of looking attractive as a result. Due to his medical knowledge he always makes sure he gets enough nutrients, but huge amounts of food have not entered him in quite some time.
Following his uncle's betrayal and the Mage's torture, he has become slightly paranoid. Every morning he drinks a protective potion that help reduce the effects of regular curses, for instance stunning spells. He will recover much more quickly and as a result reduce any risk of being captured again. He also hates sleeping alone at night; he finds that when he does, he always gets nightmares, and yet when there is someone else sleeping beside him the dreams rarely come.
History: Kang was born on the fourth of February to Liwei and Jia as their first son. Despite at this point having no siblings, he was certainly not born into a small family. There were uncles and aunts, cousins, grandparents and great-grandparents galore, not to mention all the in-laws who sometimes came to visit. The majority of the Xiu family all lived in the one small village in China that was about a half hour walk from the monastery that was headquarters for all lightfighters.
A mere year after he was born, Kang's grandfather died and the role of Elemental Master of Wind was passed onto Liwei. Because of this, Liwei began to travel a whole lot more in his duties as a lightfighter and thus was often away from home and his family. So as he grew up, although Liwei was always the real father who'd return from his latest mission met with ecstatic excitement, Kang became very close to his uncle, Geming. Geming had been eighteen when his nephew was born, and was the youngest brother of Liwei. He was frequently found looking after the little boy; teaching him things or just playing.
Over the years Kang's multiple siblings were born, producing the large family he knows today. While being the oldest child might not have been the best at times, it did mean he was the most knowledgeable and most well-trained. However there was also the pressure of his 'heritage', so to speak. The position of Elemental Master of Wind had been in the family for generations, so it was automatically expected that it would pass on to Kang. He was trained for this, given advice by all sorts of important people - mostly lightfighters who were training at the monastery.
He was aged nine when he was partnered up with a younger girl who had been training at the monastery for some time, but had only just been recognised as the Shadow Warrior of Wind; D'rorah Philosophy. Although at first he was rather annoyed at being partnered with someone so much younger and inexperienced than him, he understood his duty to the monastery and knew that when the time came, he would be the one working alongside her. Her dedication to the work at hand, not to mention the fact that she soon had improved enough to actually start beating him in fights, made it easier still.
As the years passed and he continued to train with her, he actually began to like her somewhat, despite her stern and emotionless exterior. He almost began treating her as though she was another of his younger siblings, teasing her at every opportunity, although whenever someone mentioned that he was acting like a brother to her he firmly denied it. He began to grow a little more rebellious as he grew up, not wanting his whole life to be about fighting this one cause, but never really thought seriously about leaving it. He simply had a more rebellious nature and tended to enjoy defying authority just to see what their reaction would be. He began accompanying teams on missions when he was thirteen, although was never quite trusted enough to be put in charge, and a firm leader was always put in place on the missions he went on.
When Kang was seventeen, and his siblings were fifteen, fourteen, fourteen, ten and six respectively, news came to the village that Liwei was dead. He had been killed in a fight with wraiths somewhere in the rainforests of Malaysia, with only two from the team of ten returning alive. Although Kang grieved for his father, he had not in all honesty been that close to the man and had instead been preparing for this moment all his life; the moment when he would receive his father's powers, just as Liwei had received them from his own father several decades ago.
Except, the powers never came. All eyes were on him, and at first the masters at the monastery simply thought he was having trouble mastering the new abilities. But it soon became apparent that despite everyone's expectations, and for whatever reason, Kang had not been chosen as the next Elemental Master, and the powers had gone elsewhere. With feelings of disappointment and anger running through him, Kang's rebellious nature increased exponentially, getting worse with every bad encounter with those senior to him. He continued training with D'rorah, but his heart wasn't wholly in it anymore and he began to lose not because she was more skilful with weapons, as had previously been the case, but because he was distracted and didn't put in effort. The wins he had been managing before disappeared almost completely.
He became closer to his uncle Geming again, unconvinced that this was what he wanted to do. The cause might be a worthy one, but did he really want to give up his life for it? If he had become an Elemental Master then he would not have had a choice, but perhaps this was a chance to do something new... Increasingly, he spent his time away from the monastery, missing lessons and even training sessions with D'rorah to visit the nearest city, Yinchuan, and take part in the activities that normal males of his age were enjoying, whether muggle or wizard; he didn't really have any preference in magical blood or not regarding his company. Sometime the muggles were better – they didn't question him as much on where he was from and where he had been taught magic.
About ten months of growing rebelliousness later and his teachers had all but given up on him. He barely turned up to classes anymore and when he did, all he did was disrupt them. The only reason he still went to training was to keep his fitness up, but normally he did that on his own now rather than with D'rorah. His mother was frantic, not knowing what to do with him and how to control him. Even Master Xiu could not find a way to make him calm down a little. In December, Kang had finally had enough, and he left the monastery with his bags, not planning to return. He settled down in Yinchuan and one of the friends he had made who lived there managed to get him a job at a muggle healer's workplace. He quickly became skilled at helping to diagnose patients even before they had been in to see Doctor Hsüeh just by engaging in casual conversation with them before they went in to him, much to the surprise of his employer. He began studying wizarding healing methods, still taking in all the muggle knowledge he could gain at his work.
Soon after, he got another part-time job in the evenings that was actually related to his wizarding background; working at a wizarding zoo that contained all sorts of magical creatures. It was used both as entertainment and as more of a museum-type attraction with school coming in and tours being taken. At first Kang simply worked cleaning, but after several months of hard work and some excellent memorisation, he managed to progress to a spot as a temporary tour guide while one of the regular staff was off sick. After doing a very good job during the man's absence, he was hired on a more permanent basis, but also during the day. Navigating the different hours of his two jobs proved difficult, but he managed it by working weekend hours and staying late to tidy up after. His old habits were not entirely gone though, and he did tend to get into trouble for back chatting his superiors or just ignoring what they told him. Turning up to work with hangovers didn't do him any favours either. Fortunately, he was knowledgeable and generally likeable enough for him to not lose either of his jobs over it. He also went through a long string of girls in this time, but never really got into any long term relationships.
During this time away from the monastery, he had kept in touch with a couple of people – his uncle Geming, who had come to visit him on occasion and give him money if he needed it, and D'rorah. He had not actually seen her since leaving the monastery but kept in contact by owl. Through this, he learned of her parents' deaths shortly after he had turned twenty. The Double Seventh Festival was approaching, and thinking that it would be nice to see her again, and that it might cheer her up, he invited her to join him in Yinchuan for the festival in August.
He met D'rorah at the arranged place, checking that no one else had come with her and noting how much she had grown up in the last two and a half years, before heading off to enjoy the festivities. As the Chinese equivalent of Valentine's Day, not to mention influenced by the alcohol he had drunk both prior to the festival and while out with D'rorah, he had his own ideas about how to celebrate it with her. As it began getting dark he led her away from the activities into an area of the city with much less people about, much to her bewilderment. Due to all his time training with her and the broken promise of becoming her Elemental Master, he felt like he had some sort of claim to her. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to feel the same way and for all his efforts he ended up with a broken wrist and D'rorah running away, back to the monastery.
His wrist was healed easily enough, but not his pride, nor his friendship with D'rorah. He did get a reply from the apologising letter he sent, but not one that was in any way pleasant. Master Xiu had learnt of his escapades, and while he could not find him he could certainly send a howler expressing his extreme displeasure. Following that encounter with his old life, he began a descent again. After several weeks of mismatched appearances at the muggle healer's, he was sacked. Concentrating on his job at the magical zoo didn't quite work either as his standard of work decreased.
Eventually, his uncle Geming turned up to get him into shape. He suggested following a different line of work, one he sometimes did on the side, that wasn't quite as legal. Working on the black market for Geming's mysterious business contact was a little different to what he was used to, but the monetary rewards were certainly high. He had to pay some sort of commission to the contact, but even so he ended up with more money than before. Nevertheless, he still did not quit his work at the zoo. With this extra money coming in that allowed him to get a nicer apartment with more amenities, his work ethic improved again.
Early the following year, his uncle began taking him on more dangerous smuggling missions. These were a little different to what he had done before; his uncle paid him direct for his assistance, and the items they were smuggling he had seen the use of before on missions with the monastery – weapons, Peruvian darkness powder, invisibility items. Still, he was instructed not to ask too many questions, and since the money was still good he, for once, did as he was told... for a while. When the items started getting rarer and in larger quantities, however, he did begin wondering aloud what such things were being used for. He knew it wasn't for the monastery because they had legal ties that helped them gain such items. His uncle tried to hush him again, but to no avail.
One question too many, and one night he wasn't allowed to go home. Stupefied, he woke up in the one place he'd hoped he would never have to see again; the Shadow Realm. His uncle had been helping him, by protecting him from Dark Phoenix while he did her work, but now he had attracted too much attention. Dark Phoenix was delighted to have one of the Xiu family prisoner and made that very clear by setting various servants and shadow creatures on him. His shouts that he no longer worked at the monastery fell on deaf ears. He had lived there for most of his life, which meant he had information on who the Elemental Masters and Shadow Warriors were. Not willing to betray D'rorah, and with no idea who the current chosen lightfighters were anyway, he endured the torture as best he could.
He wasn't entirely sure how long he had been in the Shadow Realm when his uncle appeared one night. Although at first very unwilling to trust him, since it was fairly obvious by now that he had betrayed his family, he really didn't have many other people coming to his rescue. Unbound and his broken legs healed, he was instructed on how to get away and did just that. He still isn't sure exactly why his uncle did such a thing, because Dark Phoenix would have been able to work out who set him free very easily. Perhaps he really did care about his nephew... maybe. Kang wasted no time worrying about that and followed his uncle's instructions on how to get to the portal. It led to the apparition point just outside the Monastery and, in need of healing and with nowhere else to go, Kang finally made his way back there.
He recovered quite slowly but paid the utmost attention to what was going on as he was being healed. He didn't much like having to face all his old teachers, especially Master Xiu, but was rather glad that D'rorah had now moved on to Hogwarts so he didn't have to deal with his previous actions. Master Xiu, astute as he was, had noticed how much Kang was paying attention to the healing methods being used on him and how his knowledge around that area had grown considerably. He suggested that Kang learn from the healer working at the monastery, and, rather grudgingly, Kang accepted. After so many days of missing work, he knew he must already be fired from his job at the zoo, and he had missed his rent as well so he no longer had his apartment.
He quickly found that it wasn't as bad as he had suspected it might be, living and working at the monastery again. Vain as he was, he began looking for a spell to try and remove the scars on him from the shadow creatures. Finding that one didn't exist he began working on one himself. His relations with his family were rather muddled, especially with news of Geming's betrayal that he brought, but the healing work he was learning and studying was certainly interesting and kept his attention. Not having to follow normal lessons any more helped especially, as did one young scribe around the same age as him named Huan Sung, who took it upon himself to make Kang feel as at home as possible. After one drunken night in Yinchuan they both ended up in Huan's bed and much to both of their surprise, a relationship somehow emerged out of their friendship. That night was the first of many that he slept through without waking up with visions of the Shadow Realm in his head. At first, Kang wasn't quite sure what to make of it all. The relationship seemed to actually be working as no other relationship had done before and he found himself quite happy with Huan.
Unfortunately, Huan had somewhat of a problem with drugs, or rather, one drug in particular; Bliss, made out of the magical Kinxan Root. His dealer in Yinchuan was not a very forgiving man, and one day when Huan had not brought enough money, he took it upon himself to teach the younger man a lesson. Kang was horrified when Huan turned up in his room all bloodied up, and after healing him made him promise that he wouldn't go to the dealer again; instead he would use the Kinxan Root from the medical stores to make his own Bliss. Although Huan did offer some of the drug to Kang as well, he normally did not accept it. He was happy enough with Huan anyway not to want to disappear into a drug-induced haze on a regular basis.
The healer teaching Kang was not quite so forgiving, though. When he discovered that Kinxan Root kept going missing from the stores he put a tracing spell on it, which told him easily enough where it was going. He went to Master Xiu with this information, and that was not the only bad report about Huan; two of the teachers had complained on more than one occasion that he had supplied students with alcohol which was banned on the monastery grounds. Master Xiu was not too fond of Huan anyway. He was of the opinion that Kang should be able to settle in without being taken back to Yinchuan on a regular basis to pursue his previous activities while he had been living there. He thought that Huan was a bad influence on Kang, and with this new knowledge it occurred to him that this must be why Huan was taking such an interest in his great-great-nephew; to get to the Kinxan Root to make his drug without paying. Huan was expelled and banished from the monastery, sent away without the chance to say goodbye to Kang.
Kang was very upset when he realised what had happened and tried to appeal to Master Xiu to at least tell him where Huan had gone. But he was adamant; Kang had been using him to get drugs, and was a bad influence anyway. Not knowing where Huan had gone, Kang had little choice but to stay at the monastery. Master Xiu promoted him to a full-time Healer, starting him off with a large cataloguing job that was supposed to keep him busy and keep his mind off things. Shortly after this, Kang's eating disorder began. Without Huan to keep him company at night, the nightmares had began coming back on a regular basis. He reasoned that the more attractive he looked, the more likely he was to end up in someone else's bed, and be freed from the nightmares that plagued him. It didn't work as well as it had when he was with Huan, but well enough that he continued his efforts.
When news of the bad relations between the young lightfighters at Hogwarts came to the monastery, it was decided that someone would have to go there to help unify them; someone knowledgeable in the war and who could help train them. Deciding that this would be a good opportunity to get Kang away from the monastery and doing something useful, especially considering how he already knew D'rorah very well, he was chosen by Master Xiu to go to Hogwarts and take up the position of the school healer. Dark Phoenix's spies would know that he was a member of the Order of the Light, but in a position such as school nurse it would be easy enough to talk to the lightfighters without them becoming suspects. He is rather wary about going there since he has not spoken to D'rorah since the incident at the festival last year. Similarly, he knows that her Elemental Master is at Hogwarts and is not too keen on meeting the person who took what he considers his powers by birthright. Hearing that the Care of Magical Creatures position is open he is considering taking that as well, but has decided to wait until he is settled in and has assessed his work load before applying for that job as well.
A D M I N E D I T
