Lumi Kivi

### Aliases

Birdie (Zeph)Fish (Talia)Chris (their then legal name, assigned to them by Her Majesty)Bud (by their friends)Chrissy (Her Majesty)

### Affiliation

The Etheridge Collective Ice Warriors Community (External world) (formerly)The Kingdom of Etheridge (Formerly)

### Occupation

Earth:Student (2011 - 2017; general education. 2023 - present; community college)Cashier (2023 - present)

Etheridge: Adviser (2011 - 2020)Peacekeeper/Ambassador (2021 - present)Etheridge Collective Host (2021 - present)

## Biographical information

### Date of birth

Unknown date, July 2010 (Hatched in Arcturus) July 21st, 2011 (First interaction with external world)Age: 25

## Physical description

### Eye color

Orange

Lumi Kivi is a peacekeeper and an expert at hand-to-hand combat in the Etheridge Collective. They are an Etheridgeon Penguin with a decade of hand-to-hand combat experience, paired together with an old partner named Zephyra Tsurugi during their first year serving the Kingdom of Etheridge.

## History

### Early Life

Lumi Kivi was born in Arcturus, Etheridge to no relatives, having hatched from an egg in an igloo-like structure during the night; Arcturus is the northernmost city in the continent with a climate that tends to stay around 20 degrees Fahrenheit, and sees the most snow year round. While they had no blood relatives to speak of, they were in the care of a few friends whom would go on to be lifelong family.

This penguin grew up enjoying the more rural, peaceful side of life (as opposed to Zeph's upbringing), and has such adopted morals that revolve around "southern hospitality," whether that meant inviting visitors inside their home for some pie, or rescuing a child that washed up on the shore and being able to mesh with a fellow avian long enough to get the child the help she needed.

In adolescence, they were coerced into helping usurp the old king and the royal family, as failure to do so would've spelled the utter destruction of Arcturus and all their friends.

### Life in Kendra's Cabinet

Lumi spent the most of their adolescence being part of a Cabinet, as their membership meant the difference between the existence and nonexistence of their hometown, Arcturus, and the friends they made from it. As such, they stuck around and did what they needed to do, and kept interactions with other Cabinet members to a minimum. Although Lumi was a diehard party animal and extroverted personality back home, their time with Kendra and other detached personalities had shunted them into a more reserved, closed off way of being.

Due to the nature of Lumi's introduction to the external world where Kendra called home, coupled with her biases, Queen Kendra decreed that Lumi's name be changed to Chris, and be portrayed as a boy when interacting with internet communities. This complex led to Lumi being confused about their identity, from the pronouns they had to accept to the name they had to get used to. Given how that Lumi came around during 2011, the concept of being agender was not yet a thing to internal society, as the lack of awareness at the time contributed to its own degree of archaic stigma.

They functioned in Kendra's stead during middle school and high school in the alternate world, but they were eclipsed by Zeph, who had more priority in terms of interacting with the world - which meant they both took on a sour reputation, even though Lumi tried to make nice with other classmates when they were around. They tried smoothing things over when Zeph made situations coarse, to varying results. What's more, because of the identity and memory barriers among the Cabinet, Lumi had the impression that they and Zeph were the same person, and thus, it was difficult, if not impossible, to pin the drastic emotional fluctuations on somebody else.

Despite their loyal service, they were imprisoned after a few years due to Her Majesty's decree that no member should be in service for a certain amount of years and go free, thus taking away Zeph's partner and replacing them with someone else while they spent years in the dungeon before breaking free on their own.

### Escape/Fighting for Etheridge

Lumi joined the Etheridgeon Rebels years after breaking free from the castle dungeon on their own without being caught, and never having been found by Kendra outside of catching them on opposing front lines. The penguin went into hiding and trained their fellow penguins and friends in Arcturus to fight, as well as begged their mayor to set up measures of protection. While their friends believed them, the townsfolk and the mayor thought that they were overreacting or worrying too much.

During the summer of 2019, an attack was made on Arcturus at the decree of Queen Kendra in retaliation for Lumi's escape (and her sadistic pleasure), which sprung the northern city into action following hundreds of deaths - Lumi almost being included in those statistics. During the autumn season of 2019, following the prison break that freed the Tsurugi Triplets, they reunited with Zeph alongside meeting the triplets for the first time, suddenly making them and Zeph realize that the other was indeed a real person, which "explained a lot of things," they recall mentioning in unison.

### Lumi's Purported Death

During the 2019 winter season, Lumi staged an attack on Naxera with the help of the strengthened forces in Arcturus as revenge for the attack she staged on their hometown a few months earlier. The arctic avian fought toe to toe with Kendra herself after getting past her Cabinet with ease, being backed up by Zeph who served as a flank to protect them from being followed and killed. While Lumi's battle with Kendra severely incapacitated her for months after the fact, the battle came to an end when the royal dining area collapsed. Until Lumi turned up again, Zeph's fruitless searching through the rubble, combined with Kendra's gloating, led her and the Rebels to believe that Lumi was killed in the line of duty.

Following this, a funeral was held in Arcturus and a statue was erected in the main square in their honor. Lumi's death acted as a turning point of the war.

### Lumi Reappears; Becomes an Etheridge Collective Leader

A while fter the war was won, Lumi reappeared before the fledgling Etheridge Collective in late 2021, confirming that their scuffle with Kendra the first time was non lethal. The penguin cleared up that they had a hunch that going into hiding the way they did, therefore making it look like they died despite being able to crawl out of the rubble, would change the tone of the battle from feeling like fighting a nuisance to fighting a real threat that wouldn't hesitate to kill even the most loyal of souls.

This, of course, got their case ridden by Zeph for weeks. Despite this, the two of them have reestablished their old partnership. Lumi currently serves as one of ten leaders on the Etheridge Collective, serving as an ambassador and peacekeeper.

## Personality

Clingy, fun loving, and albeit childish, Lumi loves to have fun and has a carefree personality, even if it was hampered by interacting with the Earthly world even with Zephyra. Being a penguin, they love colder climates and dread hotter temperatures in contrast to Zephyra whom doesn't mind the springtime heat. Lumi's personality can be described as large, wanting to be entertaining when they can, much to Zephyra's annoyance (although she's appreciated it most times). Lumi is resilient and has come out of the darkest of times a brighter bird despite the depths they've traveled - facing a period of time where they had faced abuse at the hands of Queen Kendra and the Cabinet, as well as being undermined in social situations in the alternate world, and being shunted into a lonelier existence.

Lumi prioritizes physical contact, such as hugs, often giving them to their partner, their friends, and at once to various teachers in the Earth realm when they both attended school together in Her Majesty's stead, much to the embarrassment of their avian partner. While they still prioritize physical contact, it's only limited to members of their group.

Lumi is not a direct foil to Zeph, and such is capable of replicating her signature glare when a boundary is crossed, but has a diplomatic disposition to conflict, often being the first and sometimes the only one to rein her in. Although they're able to become furious in the face of injustice and fear, they tend to internalize their anger and are not prone to sharing their deepest negative emotions except for only when around her. Sometimes, Lumi is the only one who can hold their own against her rage in a verbal and/or physical confrontation; nobody knows if this is because Lumi is stronger, or if Zeph holds back.

## Relationships

### Zeph Tsurugi

*"We've been at this ever since middle school, but it hasn't been until recent that we've actually got to know each other - dumb identity barriers. I'm still shocked that Zeph's her own bird, and not just a version of me who's mad at the world."*

Going way back to sixth grade, these two strangers turned rivals, turned peas in a pod, turned potential love interests had quite an adventure ever since 2011. Although there were identity barriers keeping Lumi from truly understanding that Zeph was her own person, and not a version of them in any capacity, Lumi had what was an unexplained connection to her helped by the two of them meeting before the formation of Kendra's Cabinet when they saved a child Kendra after she washed ashore. Throughout their adolescence, Lumi was distressed by how easy it was for "them" to fight against authority when normally they'd be agreeable, or how easy it was for them to easily go from loving humanity to hating it with all of "their" being, never knowing until recent times that it was Zeph's defensive passive influence.

Not knowing it at the time when Lumi was berating themself for their behavior, they were really directing that frustration towards Zeph, often wishing that she was a separate person so that whatever they'd say would get through to her better. Even though they chalked it up to teenage psychology, there had been instances where Lumi has caught themself talking to another voice when interacting with the alternate world, but did the same thing as Zeph did; chalk it up to it being their consciences saying the opposite things to each other (Lumi's would encourage them to fight back, while Zeph's would encourage her to give people a chance - both passively influencing the other in this manner unintentionally).

In 2019, The Etheridgeon Rebels were gaining their footing was when Lumi realized the implications of Kodachi's findings - that the world runs even when the owner isn't watching it, and found out once and for all that Zeph was her own separate person the whole time, explaining *everything* that happened in adolescence between the wild mood swings and the rapid shifts in thought. Since then, the two of them have worked closely together in their private life and on the battlefield, and have won key battles together and thus progressing the Etheridgeon Rebels' fight against Queen Kendra.

In modern times, the two of them are a close duo who demonstrate a close love for one another, and have balanced each other out more than they ever have in their several years working together.

### Ledger Quill

*"I don't blame him for any of that chaos when the old queen was trying to replace me or take down the whole world. In fact, I think he would've found lasting success had she not used his accomplishments as a condition for keeping him alive."*

Lumi and Ledger have a cordial relationship which could have gone farther had the two of them been allowed to interact during their time in the Cabinet. Even though the two of them have the freedom now to speak to each other, Ledger sequesters himself away from the collective except for major events, until he goes back to his study. When the two of them do interact, they're respectful towards each other - that is to say that Lumi tries to get him to participate in more things with the others, while Ledger politely declines. One wouldn't blame Lumi for seeing him as stuck up or too good for the others, but they know that his reclusive nature is the result of the prior Cabinet environment. Showing him that it truly is safe to come out more often will take some more time, and Lumi sees that as a challenge.

## Abilities and Combat

* **Enhanced Unarmed Combat -** Lumi can deflect physical blows and evade them, as well as counterattack in a physical fight with their flippers and feet. Limited in that they cannot deflect against weaponry or artillery without a shield.
* **Gargoyle Physiology** - Lumi was cursed during a battle to become a stone statue forever to be kept out of the way of the Cabinet; however, Makibishi dumped a substantial amount of mana into reviving them. Because of the nature of the curse even after it was broken, Lumi had to become something that could turn into stone and revert at will, and thus, a Gargoyle. Lumi can sport wings, claws, and sharp teeth along with their penguin form at will. They can fly up to about 45mph and slash through wood with their claws, but not through wooden beams.
* **Penguin Physiology** - From their appearance down to their abilities, Lumi Kivi is a penguin through and through with enough blubber to deliver nigh fatal body slams to their assailants and becomes a torpedo the moment they hit the water, traveling at a top speed of 22 MPH (roughly 36 KMH).

## Interests

* Keeping the peace in their group
* Swimming
* Studying current events, albeit not to the same extent as Talia
* Dabbling in science and its current events
* Gaming
* Watching Zephyra train and even sparring with her time to time
* Pop music, although not to the same extent as Makibishi
* Country music

## Trivia

* Although Lumi was born during the same year as Zephyra, they're younger than her by seven years since Etheridgeon Macaws tend to age faster than other avians.
* Lumi is one of two members of the Etheridge Collective who doesn't have any magical abilities nor any magically enhanced weaponry; the other being Zeph.
* Lumi first saw their naturally high swim speed in action at a young age when saving one of their best friends from drowning in an icy lake.
* Lumi's voice has a subtle United States southeastern accent, which is hard to pick up unless you listen closely or until they use dialect from said Earthly region.
* Their outfit, because they're a penguin, only consisted as a hat and a pair of shoes. They have worn the same exact hat and shoes for twelve years (From 2011 until 2023)
* They're skilled at the violin, and because instruments are expensive in Etheridge, they had to throw one together as best as they can. It surprisingly plays well; its unique sound comes from the amateur craftsmanship. It would sound better if they could hold it properly, as noted by Zeph.
* Lumi, like the others in the collective, wears a Team Scarf - their insignia is of a frostflower in a crystal clear heart made of ice.
	+ The heart represents their loving personality.
	+ The frostflower represents their resilience.