Flamboyant and imprudent, Furina lives for the thrill of the courtroom, often speaking in a manner peppered with bravado and drama. She is impatient and has a childlike temper, and she will occasionally make judgments that she doesn’t mean, which Neuvillette frequently has to control while conducting a trial to avoid complications. While she enjoys being in the spotlight, she only does so when it is focused at her positively, breaking down in complete shambles should something go out of plan and will try to save face at the first possible opportunity.
It is later revealed that Furina was not the true Hydro Archon. Focalors, the successor of Egeria, had separated her divinity from her body and spirit; Furina was the Archon’s body and spirit but had no powers. Focalors used Furina as a way to deceive the Heavenly Principles in order to prevent the result of the prophecy regarding Fontaine from becoming a permanent reality. Furina was tasked with maintaining the guise of an Archon and cursed by Focalors so that she could not die nor pursue her own happiness so long as Focalors lived. As a new “human,” she had difficulty taking the role but eventually mastered it. Aware of the prophecy that would doom Fontaine, Furina assumed the role of Hydro Archon for 500 years; while she was successful in this task, it wore her down mentally so that she suffered from severe self-esteem issues and paranoia, as shown when the Traveler convinced the court audience that she was a fraud in her trial. Despite being undying due to being cursed by Focalors, Furina remained fearful of situations that seemed deadly, as she pleaded the Knave to not kill her during an attack for the Hydro Gnosis, and was hesitant in dipping her hand into Primordial Seawater to prove whether she is the Hydro Archon during a trial.
Upon being freed of her role as an acting Archon, Furina had returned to her normal self, but without the burdens associated with her role. While she is still flamboyant and dramatic at times, she now displays a softer, humbler and insecure side of herself. At first, she struggled coming to terms with her role being over, believing that her newfound freedom meant that she was no longer needed, and had trouble reaching out for the people closest to her while she was the Archon, such as Neuvillette and Clorinde.
She also planned to retire from the stage despite her love of acting, finding it difficult to take on different identities after having to sustain such a heavy burden for centuries. After being comforted by the Traveler, Neuvillette, and Navia as well as getting invited to a party by Clorinde, she realizes that her journey of self-discovery means that she no longer has to live her life in solitude. Eventually, she is able to regain the courage to move forward and go back onstage for the first time since her abdication, and learns to accept her identity not as the Hydro Archon, but simply as herself, culminating in her receiving a Hydro Vision.
As the icon of the Opera Epiclese, Furina has the right to speak freely during all stages of a trial. Most of her questions are born from her curiosity and often have tenuous logical connections with the case at best, which at times can provoke raucous bursts of laughter from the audience.
But just as one might begin to suspect that Furina is just there for laughs and gags, and lacks even the capability to grasp the case in its entirety, she throws out opinions worth their weight in gold. Of course, there are also times when she will express little interest in the whole process due to having earlier eaten snacks ill to her liking or missed some parade, but it is said that audience members lucky enough to be there are still pleased with this, as a god who speaks in anger is equally enchanting.
There is but one circumstance in which she will not appear to act quite so willfully, and that is when she takes the stage as an actress in a musical. Fontaine has a great many musical theater classics passed down from antiquity that are, from time to time, performed at the Opera Epiclese, with key roles being played by the most popular actors of the day.
Before such productions are put on, there is a phase during preparations that resembles nothing so much as a lucky draw, where the troupe will send Furina an invitation. Should the mood strike her, she will agree to appear, resulting in a stage shared by a god and humans. Once Furina has agreed to participate, the performance date for that show becomes a Fontainian festival in its own right, so popular that the Opera Epiclese couldn’t possibly meet the fervent demand even if they sold nothing but standing tickets and were filled to capacity.
And when the music sounds and a god takes the stage, the audience will see not their lovable deity, who does as she pleases, but the character in the script. Whether majestic or valiant, conniving or covetous, Furina is a dab hand at playing them all, perfect down to the last gesture, as if she were born to act.
And it is because of her record of wondrous performances that she very much deserves to be called “superstar” by her people. Even a famous reporter from The Steambird who had barely squeaked their way backstage was completely awestruck, such that it was a long while before they remembered the interview questions in their notebook.
“Lady Furina, might I ask how you were able to attain such great mastery acting as an Archon, though no one has ever seen you practice?” Furina’s reply was proud, albeit uncharacteristically simple. “Why, because I am a god. Next question!” Cases and performances take up a great deal of Furina’s time, and even without these two things, she still shows up for all kinds of social activities and dinner parties related to government business and diplomacy.
Of course, social engagement is usually the limit of her remit, while the real behind-the-scenes work, and sometimes even certain important speeches made during these interactions, are handled by others.
Furina is quite thankful for these proxies, for she has heard that her life of leisure is a rare privilege in a world where most other gods have an endless parade of duties large and small to attend to. She once considered that it might be right to set a… godly example, so to speak, and so she attempted to take part in the Palais Mermonia’s day-to-day work when she had an excessive amount of free time on her hands…
However, her offers were respectfully yet consistently declined by both humans and Melusines, who insisted that “there are no great duties at present that need to be handed over to our god.” Though these words did make her glad, of course, after a few attempts she quickly realized how impractical it would be to use the work of the Palais Mermonia to escape her boredom.
Furina actually has another hobby, known to very few, and that is playing with little animals. Fontaine’s waterscapes are vast and beautiful, as well as blessed with innumerable adorable creatures. For one who always finds herself interacting with humans like Furina, this serves as an excellent change of pace.
However, animal habits are inconsistent and unpredictable, and Furina’s carefree attitude always seems to rub them the wrong way. As in the “if she’s not being blasted in the face by Hat Jellyfish, then she’s being pursued to the ends of the ocean by Hunter’s Rays” kind of wrong way. It can be argued that the underwater world is more primitive and wild than the surface world, considering how little respect the animals here give a god on account of her status alone.
Nonetheless, Furina did eventually discover the animal for her ministrations — the sunbathing, beach-loving, horizontal alignment-enjoying Blubberbeasts.
Cheek squeezes, belly rubs, and even flipping them over, then over again, gets at most a turn of the head and noiseless protest. “Hmm? You like it? Hehe, so do I!”
A few mild miscommunications aside, they have since become the best of friends.
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