Xavier

> *"Ignoring me is their own mistake to make, dont let it be yours.'**" - Xavier***
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**Xavier** is a CETUS originating Preternatural who has escaped ARCDA and was acting as a Freelancer in charge of a band of human mercenaries, who were hired by Hasekura.

He is the first preternatural shown within the Compass Series and the first to display Camouflage skin ability.

## Appearance

Xavier is described as having tanned skin with freckles, mottled bronze eyes and dark brown hair.

#### Synth Features

Xavier's freckles are part of his colour changing abilities with his camouflage skin. When active, he can change the patterns across his skin and the colours from marbled white to inky blue with ranges of yellow, orange, brown, and red in between.

His eyes are also part of his synthetic features as they have a diamond shaped pupil which can narrow to a 'beaded line' much like a gecko.

## Personality

*"CETUS Preternaturals are dangerous. They had no empathy, no cooperation with anyone, and no understanding of risk or consequence,"* is what Griffin tells San about CETUS Preternaturals, however it appears that Xavier is an absolute outlier to this generalisation.

Xavier is good humoured and curious. He is repeatedly shown as being empathetic to critters and taking a lot of care with others, repeatedly stating that he doesn't want to harm or fight them. He has enough cooperation skills to run a mercenary outfit, and greatly understands risk and consequence. He may contest this care to IO but he repeatedly shows that he cares a lot and very deeply, and even goes as far as to offer calling someone to take Griffin to a hospital so she can escape ARCDA.

This doesn't make him soft, as he quite quickly kills one of his own men for not doing as he orders, and stands his ground against both the ranch bossman and Griffin when he doesn't want to do as they tell him.

## History

#### Pre-Sirocco

There is no cohesive timeline yet of what happened to lead Xavier to leave ARCDA beyond fragments and snippets of his memories.

At some point in his past, he saw the effects of Nitro being used on Avios and it makes him very uncomfortable.

#### Sirocco

During Sirocco, Xavier is introduced first at a distance with Griffin gaining intelligence on the ranch operation. Though he is in charge of the mercenaries and ultimately is the one who has brought the critters to the ranch, he is not the boss. From what Griffin sees, he is always the first on scene to any incident.

#### Gregale

In Gregale, Xavier is first introduced as still being held captive on the ranch, awaiting a trial by ARCDA. He jokes with Griffin about asking for her to take responsibility for him so that he isnt sent to Hrimfald or Delta. She says she'll see what she can do but makes no promises.

## Abilities

* Camouflage Skin

Xavier exhibits a very extreme form of Camouflage Skin. It has the ability to match to surroundings such as darkening to blend within shadows as well as being able to shift hue and pattern with his emotions. Xavier can also change his skin colour very quickly.

From what has been shown, his emotions are telegraphed through specific colours with "Black and yellow stripes, marked with red and white" as being angry and Marbled White as being scared. It's not yet been revealed the range of colours is.

* Muser Abilities

Xavier shows off a good range of muser abilities such as perception augmentation and some minor control and physical manipulation being able to stop Griffin's legs from moving temporarily. However it is also shown that this ability makes him very susceptible to the emotions and pain of others, being affected almost immediately when Griffin is injured.

* Healing Abilities

Xavier appears to have good healing abilities, recovering very quickly from all the injuries that Griffin gives him. In Gregale, Westwind believes that Xavier is an Axolomeh, which is a rare trait of hyper-regeneration.

## Relationships

* Griffin

There is no hostility between Griffin and Xavier, and despite them being on opposite sides they assist each other. During their second encounter Xavier jokes with Griffin and even though he has the advantage of more men and heavier weapons, he does not intend to hurt Griffin.

* IO

With IO, Xavier is suprised and delighted by her presence, using it as a teaching moment for his mercenaries by comparing her to a Raptor. IO refers to him intially to herself as Snake-Eyes. She feels sorry for him and takes note of how he treats both people and critters.

* Freelancers

In Sirocco Xavier some how accumulated a band of thirteen mercenaries who all work for him. It's not known if they're human or not but they listen to him for the most part. In Gregale, when Xavier encounters freelancers at the Gala he says a code phrase that stops another freelancer from attacking them.

## Quotes

* "So what's the plan?"
* "Cute."
* "Bailing on ARCDA to work as a Freelancer with Hasekura, stealing critters, kidnapping a project synth."

## Trivia

* In the first draft Xavier was called Khamai and was a Cyber. After this draft he was dropped and scrapped before being picked up and remade a few years later.
* It's not known yet if his name is pronounced Ha-VEE-air or Zay-V-er
* His prior name was *Darling*.
* Xavier's colour changing ability mimics the colours displayed by octopi, cuttlefish, and chameleons.

## References

1. ↑ ***Sirocco**: Chapter 18*

 Storm Series
 Synths
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