A deeply traumatized scholar who can never truly go home, who has to keep addressing existence and the life around her as an ever-evolving paradigm, clawing her way to find answers to every new and evolving problem

"We must remember the value of unshakable, irrational hope. The choice to act as if we lived in a better world can create a place for that better world to exist."

"Trauma is an unrelenting beast. It never quite leaves our side. But that doesn't mean we owe it a damn thing."

"Recovery is a spiral, not a circle. You may return to the same patterns, but you will break free."

Fana's determination is born of the same spite-fueled, ironclad build as Percy's, even if the root of said determination is far different for the two of them

Too. Many. Names!

Fana has a rifle in her closet from her gleaner days (self-defense; her marksmanship was refined in Shaaloani) and its name is Bad News

"Your secret is safe with my indifference."

"Life needs things to live."

"I’m sorry, I’m a genius! I’m sorry! Sorry! God, I’m clever!"

A flame that heals and harms, in equal measure

"Rise. Closer, closer to the blaze. // My wings shall never melt. They're already aflame."

"The nature of Solar Light is to grow. It is an ember that must be stoked. Kindle it with your enemies, Guardian, and wielders of the flame will welcome you."

A highly educated mage that runs around with an ill-tempered hunter, dealing with the various pieces of fallout from the mistakes men have made before and during the present day. Sypha or Fana? The wise answer is both. It's both

"Confident people are competent and careful. Nervous people make mistakes. I'd rather they were nervous than happy in their work."

"I will incinerate you before your fangs touch that man's throat."

Won out over Jean Grey because of the more positive relationship with the Phoenix Force; and a lot of Fana is exploring her connection to Phoenix the Primal in a positive way, not in a "woe is me, Primal aether in my oatmeal" way as I find that sort of thing modestly trite to personally write out

Usually held as an outsider to most teams and communities she is beside, but- a benevolent one. A helpful one

A lot of bite and snark when the situation truly gets chaotic

Combination of hand-to-hand with preexisting abilities; the balance of mundane skills like basic self-defense and lockpicking with a connection to things eldritch and Other

Rachel's psychometry and Fana's aetherlocation share a degree of similarity in the data both can read from things, though Fana is locked to what her aetherlocation is locked to and limited by time (how recent, how strong, etc) along with the data itself being cryptic and hard to unpack without further context that is honestly way easier to gain via conversation

Artist Credit

A woman so determined to be "normal" in spite of every bit of evidence, every bit of oddity in her life, with her fingernails firmly entrenched into the hinges of her life with the refusal to unhinge (purposefully in denial that this very act qualifies her as unhinged). Someone who will excuse every odd decision around her as the logical choice, because to say that she's related to or surrounded by strangeness is to question her own normality. She doesn't move in with a romantic mythic gentleman, she moves in with the messy arrogant mercenary who'd rather take on yet another job instead of confronting any of his backstory. They'll be so afraid of forming a romantic connection that everyone around them will not only see the seeds of it before they do, but will actively trick them into said connection for peace of mind

"Why should I be annoyed? Someone only filled the castle with rotten aspic, and deafened everyone in Porthaven, and scared Calcifer to a cinder, and broke a few hundred hearts. Why should that annoy me?"

Sophie listened and felt sad. Interesting things did seem to happen, but always to somebody else.

She had a silly impulse to add, But she was alive an hour ago! And she stopped herself, because death is like that: people are alive until they die.

Artist Credit

A rabid love for reading, coupled with a kind, amicable personality

Often left with paperwork for her free company of reckless idiots

Designated Driver Researcher

Polyglot

Stories both involve huge injury moments and the catharsis of getting stronger via lots, lots, and lots of training (both off-screen and on)

Nearby dragons and dragon-themed jerks love her, the secret is that she gives the right kind of a damn instead of crying

Academic-Magic Base, along with applications for that to extend to librarian-theming with their magic and capabilities, going so far as to be based on the very books they read like most breathe air

Paired with a dragon-themed jerk who is so stubbornly set on seeing her as way more powerful and competent than she sees herself as. Easily interpreted as being a bullying victim by said jerk until she snaps and goes for his jugular, making it clear that this is mutual bullying

A long, complicated backstory of being hunted, of navigating dark corners with skills lovingly taught by parents, of learning things even in spite of every person in any given institution preferring you to Not Learn Any of That Please

“It's the questions we can't answer that teach us the most. They teach us how to think. If you give a man an answer, all he gains is a little fact. But give him a question and he'll look for his own answers.”

"It had flaws, but what does that matter when it comes to matters of the heart? We love what we love. Reason does not enter into it. In many ways, unwise love is the truest love. Anyone can love a thing because. That's as easy as putting a penny in your pocket. But to love something despite. To know the flaws and love them too. That is rare and pure and perfect."

A story unpacking discovering your nonbinary energy while dealing with AFAB expectations AND supernatural horseshit

Sass and snark out the wazoo

a Carefree attitude in the face of the strange, built up after multiple repeated encounters

I mean. Yeah. Obviously. Yeah. Have you heard Fana speak? Yeah. We can blame this grandpa for so much nonsense with Fana

But a lot of her being a Sharlayan character who is extraordinarily exhausted and fed-up with Bibliotec nationalism and isolationism in the face of so much crisis? Yeah we can blame this old man for a good chunk of that philosophy, both directly in her lived life and indirectly in me writing her

"To ignore the plight of those one might conceivably save is not wisdom, it is indolence."

"Apathy is death."

I think, besides Louisoix, Kreia is the biggest "ghost" on Fana's existence? In that- it's not that Kreia herself is a direct inspiration or that Fana is a miniature Kreia. It's in the effect and teaching Kreia has on others that affects Fana's character

It's the examination of kindness as an axis of power, how pity can be a way to keep others below you, how mercy can be a chain.

And it's not like Fana is a manipulator in that understanding, not like Kreia is, but it's the firm understanding that kindness can be unwanted and to keep it at an "appropriate" level where it doesn't become a burden on someone else. Where they feel indebted, targeted by others, or otherwise unable to continue on because of that kindness.

"If you are to truly understand, then you will need the contrast, not the adherence to a single idea."

There's only so many times I can get away with "so this was a normal lil guy once" but like. Dear Reader. X-Men: Marvels Snapshots (2020) #1, okay? X-Men: Marvels Snapshots (2020) #1. I will not overstate how much that comicbook issue in specific is in Fana's creative DNA

"My whole life--at least as much as I can remember--has felt like something that was happening to me. Freefall. Being stuck on a runaway train. All I could do was wait for the crash. No more."

"A long time ago, I heard someone say that in this line of work, there's a point where you have to rely on your instincts. Do what's right, and trust the rest will follow." // "Mm. Yes, I'm familiar with that sound bite. Does it, generally in your experience? Follow?" // "Not always. But we keep trying."

"I used to think that if I could do what you did, it would unlock the world. I'd learn to make sense of things. I would make sense. Mostly, what I've learned is how wrong I was. And that it's worth it anyway."

"Because you're normal. ... I said because you're normal. You're ungrateful. We fight, risk our lives for you. Evil mutants, robots, crazy aliens. I gave him up. I gave him up because you can't say thank you. Because I have to stomach your questions and prove that I'm a person! I lie because the truth is we're nothing like you. Thank God, because it's the only reason you people are still alive."

A caretaker of lost and forgotten things. Gentle with the abandoned, the buried, and the repressed- but still keeping a blunt nature in the midst of that gentleness

"If we all had the same thoughts and the same opinions, then we would never get anywhere, would we?"

"I'm trusting you because you trusted all of us, okay? And I need you to not freak out so, whatever you're gonna see right now just be cool. Don't freak out, it's fine."

At one point, we were normal people, weren't we? And then, through our own certain kinds of hell and flames, we had to become that much more

Generally polite, well-meaning, will genuinely attempt feats of engineering and design that many will consider impossible if it helps even one, singular person

This entire scene really captures what Fana's like when she's both pissed beyond measure and dealing with self-absorbed idiots.

A blunt woman with knowledge on tap and a sense of justice that she finds inconvenient for living a normal, peaceful life. Maomao or Fana? Both? Both.

Plagued by a man considered attractive by many, whose smug personality and unconventional tact place him in endlessly complicated situations (sometimes willingly, sometimes not). Jinshi or Arkas? Both? Both.