In that case, once he realizes the connection, it might make sense for him to at least ask Chiaki how she dealt with the disparagement. If he did, she would tell him that it was difficult, and that she got through it by choosing one person to impress, and discarding anyone else's opinions.

She would also remind him that with her skills and sword, she could have carved a bloody path through the Paradopolis crime underworld and become its vicious ruler. But, in her words, "I would have carved up my own soul alongside them".





I think he mentioned that once in a story, which gave me the idea to have Liu Xi dig up Xander's library of books and start reading through them to find out what he was hiding. It may not be in those books, but she's learning a little bit.

And like I said above, Chiaki would be the first to tell Vinnie that the taunting is a good thing. She would say that he *should* have them underestimating him, because as long as they are, they aren't hunting him or his friends.

That's also one of the primary reasons Chiaki stepped away from her work with Akiko Masamune. She was becoming too well known, and that was incompatible with her having friends who might be vulnerable.





That's why Liu Xi gets so angry with him. From her point of view, she offers him help at any time - the power of all of the elements plus Void, in a creative and clever package - and yet he continually insists that he's alone in this fight. She wants to slap him upside the head every time he forgets about all of the assistance he has available.

And, she would insist, maybe his real strength is who he can call up to help him. Among those people are both way more power, and way more subtlety than Xander had access to.





Hence Chiaki's warning to her always to keep her true power a mystery. As long as she takes that to heart, she'll keep the use of her abilities very subtle. The exception might be if she knows the final battle is at hand, then it's time to unleash.





As long as someone there warns here (and they probably have) that nothing is subtle in Faerie - that everyone with power can feel what she does - she'll probably stick to Chiaki's advice. The only danger then is if someone senses what she is, and she's forced to defend herself.

Which brings up another point. From being on a super-team early in life, she learned that sometimes it's safer and easier to take the path of least resistance. For example, allowing herself to be captured, and then use subtle manipulation to escape later on. She's had to do that to head off attacks in highly populated areas before.





That's where she's most vulnerable. Not so much with the "you're trapped her forever, you'll never go home" trope that is used in fairytale lands, because she's a very hopeful person. Losing friends is bad for her. Watching strangers die makes her angry and depressed, more so on the depressed side if she can't do anything about it.





If that's true, I think most of all they'll be surprised at just how stubborn she can be.

Remember, Lara is a person who doesn't believe in the 'save these school children or defeat the evil guy' paradox. The last time someone did that to her back home, she teleported the imperiled school bus full of children, and crushed the evil guy with it (she was 17 at the time). She *will* figure out a way.





I might have to figure out how to wrap those properly someday.