Valis doesn't talk about his past much, and even with basic internet sleuthing, there's not much to find out beyond some pretty basic things plus what he
is willing to talk about. He was born in Korea but his birth family gave him up for adoption. At least, that's the way
he tells it. He was adopted by Christian missionaries from Texas and taken back there as a baby, so he's Korean in DNA only, frankly. He was always a sickly kid and it turned out he has Hypothyroidism. To anyone else, this just means that every morning like clockwork, he takes a tiny pill. He is
very aggressive about it because he currently
enjoys being alive and that pill helps him
continue to be alive. As well, he has a deep sensitivity to cold. He chills frightfully easy and always looks pale and pink-cheeked as if he's constantly cold. That's because
he is. "Thanks Obam...I mean Hypothyroidism! *grumble*" You'll see him
dripping in knitted things like cardigans, sweaters, and scarves or cowls, and to be honest, his personal style of dress, beyond keeping him
warm, pretty much looks
exactly like the Japanese street fashion, "Mori Kei", but with a bit more whimsy to it here and there. His color palette that he seems to enjoy are cool greys, dusty blues to medium-dark blues, and white. That compliments his most unusual features.
You see, Valis appears nearly albino. If you ask him, he gets annoy-... he says he's not. He's a firm believer in not armchair diagnosing anyone with anything though human curiosity and speculation is natural. He won't talk about it but it's not hard to learn that he didn't always look this way. He had a very severe thyroid reaction that put him in a coma in hospital for years. During that time, his body reacted very negatively, and he began to turn pale and all of his hair went white. Even his eyecolor seemed effected, going from typical Asian brown to a pale lavender-blue. Hormones can do crazy things to a person! None of this is information Valis will willingly talk about but the internet is forever and he's on the internet in some nooks and crannies as his medical case was briefly of some note in the medical community.
As well, he was originally raised in a (no longer) small town in Texas that had virtually
no Asians, even ones as disconnected from their culture as Valis is, so he received quite some racially motivated bullying. He got it for
being Korean. He got it for not being Korean
enough. He's uninterested and uninvested in "being Korean" because it's never served him any good purpose and he has no way to just suddenly
be it, so he's figured... just be a
person. The
rest will sort
itself out. Once Hallyu hit, the big cultural "Korean Wave" that brought the rise of Korean Pop idols or "KPop" idols, he just found it
annoying for people to approach him about his heritage. He seems
very perturbed by the name his missionary parents gave him and has done what he could to scrub all references to it but people really wanting to know can do research and find it. (OOC: page Valis to discuss learning his original name) Anyone who
calls him by that name will simply be ignored and avoided, plainly, just
cut off entirely. His parents were very abusive and that name calls up feelings he
never wants to feel ever again.Text.
