Description
Name: Kai Letrovan
Age: 17
Height: 6’1”
Weight: 202 lbs.
Job Class: Quarterstaff/Bo Monk
GF: Valefor
Kai is physically more mature than the average 17-year-old boy. A flat cut of hair blacker than midnight would probably curl out into a chaotic mess if the young man wasn’t so obsessed with the minutia of his own appearance. His dark skin makes him stand out from the rest of his teammates and fellow refugees, the hue of his own body matching that of a deep coffee with the slightest drop of cream, deep brown eyes almost matching his hair set in to their shallow sockets. His body is one that is toned from constant hours of exercise and exertion, his face cleanly shaven and tightly cared for at all times. His almost never-ending smile is broad one that flashes brightly-white teeth against the otherwise dark backdrop of his face for a stark but welcome contrast.
Personality
Kai has a very open attitude toward most people and doesn’t need much of an opening to make friends. Quick to flash a smile and sit down whether the seat was saved for another or not, the young man has a deep laugh and the incessant need to always have some sort of practical joke in the works. The easy-going manner of the recruit makes him a good teammate although not very effective as a leader, much more suited as a second or third in command at any given time and struggles when the actions of others are reliant solely on his decisions.
Having no problem expressing himself, Kai is often the type of person that will ask the questions that no one else wants to ask. This often causes him to come off as seeming a bit doltish at times in briefings or other instruction sessions, but those taking the time to watch will begin to understand that there is a quiet learner buried beneath the surface and each of his questions are always probing at something, sometimes far beyond the obvious subject matter.
Loyal and exuberant, Kai can sometimes get carried away with his emotions or actions and needs to have someone dial him back down a bit, either from getting too ramped up after a battle or cutting too far into another’s personal space. His greatest strength is his ability to lose himself in the moment, but his lack of concentration can be his greatest downfall as well.
Equipment
While many of his comrades fit themselves to the nines with heavy weapons and armor, Kai’s strength lies in the fact that his own weapon is his body. Having studied two forms of martial arts since childhood, Kai is hell to face in a straight one-on-one fight although too many interveners in a battle can frustrate his style. Surprisingly, his form of unarmed combat takes advantage of the agility and flexibility in his body atop steady footing, able to maneuver for a crushing blow with an open heel of the hand to the chest.
The second form of martial arts he has studied steps away from the “purist” views of unarmed combat and embraces the philosophy that man has created tools and therefore is foolish not to use them. As a result, Kai’s only true weapon of choice is a bo or quarterstaff, a reinforced long fighting stick that is almost as tall as the young man himself. As simple and rudimentary as the weapon may seem, the uniform weigh and shape of the bo/quarterstaff makes it a formidable opponent in any battle and allows for a greater range of flexibility in combination with traditional unarmed attacks.
History
When Kai was eight years old, he tagged along as usual with his brothers as they took to the downtown streets of Deling City at night. Making their way around the Shopping District, the boys could normally lift what they needed to have what they wanted and live outside the meager means that came from a dead-end-job-working mother and a deadbeat father. That particular night, however, an elderly man fought back against their attempts to take his money and the older boys ended up severely injuring the man before running away. The police picked up all three boys who were identified out of a lineup. The oldest of the three was already on his third offense and subject to the full adult penalties of Galbadian Law. The middle child was sent into the same juvenile facility that hasn’t done much his big brother. For the youngest, Kai, the court realized that the only chance the boy stood was to be taken out of that environment completely. They ordered him to be enrolled at Balamb Garden, far away from the influences that had already racked his family.
Free from the restraints of such an oppressive childhood, the boy thrived. For the first time in the young man’s life, school began to make sense as he was finally encouraged to trained physically and exert so much of the energy that had made it impossible for him to concentrate in school before. Although he was not an exceptional student by any means and often struggled to pass his written exams, he consistently scored above what had been expected of him as a reluctant recruit and proved himself to be a valuable classmate, teammate, and frontline fighter in training situations – thanks to long, frustrated hours by many a tutor including an extremely impatient upperclassman named Elia Barron.
Just about the time that he was beginning to focus on the problem of balancing bos, books, and brunettes, the war began. His class unit was on a vacation leave to Balamb when the Garden was hit, never giving the boy a chance to make it home. Instinctively, he drifted back to Deling City only to find that few things had changed. Even almost ten years older and more mature, Kai was falling back into the same ruts with the same brothers that were bouncing in and out of trouble with the law. It took one of them finally getting gunned down by the police to spur Kai into action, to leave and strike out on his own. There wasn’t much interest on anyone’s radar for a dropout from a bad family in a bad part of the world – at least not until he stumbled upon at least one familiar face and the one word that had offered him the hope denied by the rest of the world – SeeD.
Kai made his decision quickly. After all, it’s not hard to go back when there’s nothing left behind you.
