HEADCANON
IMA DO THE HEADCANON MEME DERP DERP because Rai has a vague background and his canon in general leaves a lot of things open to interpretation. holy crap i can't type tonight i'll fix all of this later or something.
1. Family things! The only thing Canon mentions about Rai's family and background is that he has eight brothers and sisters and he implies that he has a lot of aunts and uncles, too. It also mentions briefly that he's familiar with the rougher part of his hometown, Rio de Janeiro. So, I'm thinking that, given his family is so huge, they're not exactly in the best situation financially. Not that they're super poor either (since they were able to send Rai gifts to China on Chinese New Year) but not rich enough to live in like. a cozy suburb of some kind.
2. Delving further into family things, as far as siblings go, Rai is probably one of the younger middle kids. One of the reasons he probably got so many gifts is because a majority of his siblings are much older than him and are able to go out and buy stuff. Also, I think that if Rai were somehow the oldest, he would probably have a harder time leaving his family as opposed to how well he seemed to be with moving all the way to China to train at a temple.
Another thing I want to touch on is how he seems to know his way around the run down part of town. While he wasn't the worst off financially, I think that because Rai was sort of a middle kid in the sea of a big family, he felt overlooked and maybe even ignored. Not that it was anyone's fault, but its hard to give all the attention where its needed when there's so many. I've no doubt his house was like a constant madhouse of people coming and going, be they family or otherwise.
Since Rai couldn't get the attention at home, he probably rebelled and took to the streets. Became one of those tough, street punks that picked fights and raised hell for fun. He probably didn't ever do anything too bad but he wasn't a saint either. But hey, as long as the family never found out, he didn't mind. He was more than just a number out on the streets anyways.
3. Rai probably didn't pay a whole lot of attention to school and probably skipped when he could. He got a majority of his education on the streets and from family. He was someone that definitely couldn't be bothered with authority talking down to him so he constantly butted heads with teachers.
4. He learned how to play chess from one of his older siblings when he was pretty young. He was good at it! But uh, never ever told anyone ever.
5. This was probably the same sibling that gave him Ninja Fred (His teddy bear that he sleeps with every night 8|) as a baby and Rai never ever let it go.
6. Yes, he sleeps with a teddy bear. No, he can't get to sleep without it unless under extreme exhaustion. Rai hasn't been sleeping well in Death City and it will probably soon start to show.
7. When it comes to his more shady side, Rai knows its there. He knows he's not on the same moral pedestal as the other monks and he's okay with that. In fact he knows its an advantage over others because one, bad guys don't expect it, and two, it means he's willing to do things that might need to be done, that the other monks wouldn't cross into. He wants to keep it that way. He cares a lot for the others, and he'd cross any line to make sure they didn't have to. (A good example of this is when he offered to drink the evil!soup to get the others free.) It's kind of his way of being protective.
8. He will probably never stop feeling bad for the time he switched to the Heylin side. Sure, everything turned out okay in the end and the others accepted him back, but the fact still remains that he nearly single-handedly sent the world into ten thousand years of darkness. This included setting Wuya free, nearly getting his friends killed, and betraying everyone and everything for material gain.
All because of his wounded pride.
He still feels like he hasn't made up for this yet, despite his battle won over his insecurities. This is one he'll probably never rid himself of, and he's not sure he ever wants to. It's his own personal reminder that he really fucked up.
9. This is why being leader is such a big goddamn deal to him. He wanted it, of course, and really hoped for it, but that didn't mean he was expecting to get it. Not completely anyways. Despite his obvious merit in battle, he still feels like maybe he's not quite there yet.
Which is why he's going to try and work his ass off to make sure he does a good job. Now, more than ever, he doesn't want to let the others down.
10. Rai remembers his alternate history from the last episode. It's basically like have two lives crammed into one head. One timeline followed the actual known events of the series, and the second followed this, with the exception of Chase not becoming evil and the change of events that was the result of ths. At the end of the series, the two timelines collapsed and merged into one another to become the 'right' timeline. Aka the one where Chase is still evil.
In this alternate timeline, Chase, having not become the evil bastard we all know and love, was something of a mentor figure to the monks, especially after Master Fung was lost to the Yin Yang world. Rai probably really looked up to the guy! Probably butted heads with him a few times BUT LOOKED UP TO HIM. And he remembers things from this. Not everything mind you, but important parts.
Having these random not!memories surface makes him feel really conflicted about Chase. It's one of the main reasons he's being such an asshole too him in Death City. He doesn't want to deal with these conflicting thoughts so he just lashes out at him. Provoking him would make it easier for him to punch him in the face.
Not to mention a part of him is kind of bitter that things had to turn out the way they did. That to essentially save everything Chase still had to be evil. They should have been able to figure out another way. He should have drank the soup.
But there's nothing he can do about it. Only, you know. Troll Chase and hope maybe it gets easier. 8|
1. Family things! The only thing Canon mentions about Rai's family and background is that he has eight brothers and sisters and he implies that he has a lot of aunts and uncles, too. It also mentions briefly that he's familiar with the rougher part of his hometown, Rio de Janeiro. So, I'm thinking that, given his family is so huge, they're not exactly in the best situation financially. Not that they're super poor either (since they were able to send Rai gifts to China on Chinese New Year) but not rich enough to live in like. a cozy suburb of some kind.
2. Delving further into family things, as far as siblings go, Rai is probably one of the younger middle kids. One of the reasons he probably got so many gifts is because a majority of his siblings are much older than him and are able to go out and buy stuff. Also, I think that if Rai were somehow the oldest, he would probably have a harder time leaving his family as opposed to how well he seemed to be with moving all the way to China to train at a temple.
Another thing I want to touch on is how he seems to know his way around the run down part of town. While he wasn't the worst off financially, I think that because Rai was sort of a middle kid in the sea of a big family, he felt overlooked and maybe even ignored. Not that it was anyone's fault, but its hard to give all the attention where its needed when there's so many. I've no doubt his house was like a constant madhouse of people coming and going, be they family or otherwise.
Since Rai couldn't get the attention at home, he probably rebelled and took to the streets. Became one of those tough, street punks that picked fights and raised hell for fun. He probably didn't ever do anything too bad but he wasn't a saint either. But hey, as long as the family never found out, he didn't mind. He was more than just a number out on the streets anyways.
3. Rai probably didn't pay a whole lot of attention to school and probably skipped when he could. He got a majority of his education on the streets and from family. He was someone that definitely couldn't be bothered with authority talking down to him so he constantly butted heads with teachers.
4. He learned how to play chess from one of his older siblings when he was pretty young. He was good at it! But uh, never ever told anyone ever.
5. This was probably the same sibling that gave him Ninja Fred (His teddy bear that he sleeps with every night 8|) as a baby and Rai never ever let it go.
6. Yes, he sleeps with a teddy bear. No, he can't get to sleep without it unless under extreme exhaustion. Rai hasn't been sleeping well in Death City and it will probably soon start to show.
7. When it comes to his more shady side, Rai knows its there. He knows he's not on the same moral pedestal as the other monks and he's okay with that. In fact he knows its an advantage over others because one, bad guys don't expect it, and two, it means he's willing to do things that might need to be done, that the other monks wouldn't cross into. He wants to keep it that way. He cares a lot for the others, and he'd cross any line to make sure they didn't have to. (A good example of this is when he offered to drink the evil!soup to get the others free.) It's kind of his way of being protective.
8. He will probably never stop feeling bad for the time he switched to the Heylin side. Sure, everything turned out okay in the end and the others accepted him back, but the fact still remains that he nearly single-handedly sent the world into ten thousand years of darkness. This included setting Wuya free, nearly getting his friends killed, and betraying everyone and everything for material gain.
All because of his wounded pride.
He still feels like he hasn't made up for this yet, despite his battle won over his insecurities. This is one he'll probably never rid himself of, and he's not sure he ever wants to. It's his own personal reminder that he really fucked up.
9. This is why being leader is such a big goddamn deal to him. He wanted it, of course, and really hoped for it, but that didn't mean he was expecting to get it. Not completely anyways. Despite his obvious merit in battle, he still feels like maybe he's not quite there yet.
Which is why he's going to try and work his ass off to make sure he does a good job. Now, more than ever, he doesn't want to let the others down.
10. Rai remembers his alternate history from the last episode. It's basically like have two lives crammed into one head. One timeline followed the actual known events of the series, and the second followed this, with the exception of Chase not becoming evil and the change of events that was the result of ths. At the end of the series, the two timelines collapsed and merged into one another to become the 'right' timeline. Aka the one where Chase is still evil.
In this alternate timeline, Chase, having not become the evil bastard we all know and love, was something of a mentor figure to the monks, especially after Master Fung was lost to the Yin Yang world. Rai probably really looked up to the guy! Probably butted heads with him a few times BUT LOOKED UP TO HIM. And he remembers things from this. Not everything mind you, but important parts.
Having these random not!memories surface makes him feel really conflicted about Chase. It's one of the main reasons he's being such an asshole too him in Death City. He doesn't want to deal with these conflicting thoughts so he just lashes out at him. Provoking him would make it easier for him to punch him in the face.
Not to mention a part of him is kind of bitter that things had to turn out the way they did. That to essentially save everything Chase still had to be evil. They should have been able to figure out another way. He should have drank the soup.
But there's nothing he can do about it. Only, you know. Troll Chase and hope maybe it gets easier. 8|