"Me? I'm just a botanist. Nothing but a Botanist.
...What, you don't believe me?"
(art by @hayatoevoker)
"What? You want to know more about me? Okay, don't say I didn't warn you ♥ !"
■ Saori Obinata
Raen Au RaRPR/MCH
Age: 32 (doesn't look it)
Pronouns: She/her
Orientation: "The cute ones."
Status: Dating someone, not that that's stopping her.
Profession: "Botanist" (Hitman and informant for the Ashura-kai crime organization.)
Ethnicity: Yanxian, but grew up in Hingashi
A lean, petite woman with white hair and ruby red eyes. Those with an eye for enchantment may notice that an aura of glamour magics floats around her, concentrated around her left arm. Her aether has the distinct stench of the void about it.
There's something about her. Flirty, confident, and always around at the worst times, Saori stands out by virtue of her own existence. Driven more by her id than anything else, she desires "true freedom" - freedom from the chains of societal convention, from her tenuous existence in the city she calls home, and from even the weaknesses of her own flesh - but so far, that's all just remained a dream.It's not that she lacks empathy - in fact, she'd be much worse at what she does if she did. It's that she can recognize it in herself and immediately turn that impulse into a tool into feeding her desires that makes her so dangerous. She has a talent for finding emotional hooks and using them to reel what she wants out of people.All of this makes her an exhausting presence to be around. She shoves herself into any conversation that interests her, and gods forbid if she takes interest in you personally. No matter if she's just watching or inserting herself, she is always working an angle, always scheming, and always looking for her next hit of serotonin. The world exists for her, and her alone.
Claims the black horns are natural, but she didn't have them until a few years ago.
Likes to hide her scythe as a botanist's tool using glamour prisms.
Has a pet korpokkur. It's a rare cultivar with hot pink moss that she likes to put sunglasses on. Its name is Bitchtits.
Loves bullying soft boys. It's just so funny when they squirm.
(art by plumu)
"By our contract, Nemain."
A mirror from another shard, and Saori’s contracted Avatar. A being of combat and war, whose memories of who she was before she became a monster are fragmented, mixed in a slurry with the selves of other voidsent she’s consumed. In most of her manifestations, she wears the anonymizing cloak and claws of most reaper Avatars, but in rare cases, her true shape takes form.Her relationship with Saori is fundamentally uneven — Saori has little respect for Nemain and keeps her on a short leash. Nemain suffers this arrangement because she feels, somewhere deep down, that the completion she seeks is within Saori. The two feed on each other like an ouroboros, Saori pulling more power from her Avatar than needed, and Nemain taking her toll in return — acts that have had ramifications on Saori’s physical self.Someday, one will devour the other. What comes out on the other side is yet to be seen.
"What, you're curious about my past? I don't think there's much point in that. That woman is dead, you know?"
Little concrete is known about Saori's life before her adult years. What she has shared about it suggests that she lived in a Yanxian village prior to the Garlean occupation, and that she lost her family as a result of it, but she rarely speaks on the whys and hows of how her life took the direction it did.
(Get her in the right mood, and you might get something resembling the truth. That her family was killed by a Garlean legionnaire wielding a scythe. That she fled to Kugane, only to end up as another nationless brat of Garlemald's forever war. That she lived on the streets before she was picked up by the Ashura-kai to be reforged into one of their tools.)
For years, Saori has worked for the Ashura-kai - a criminal organization operating in Hingashi's seedy underbelly. Much of her work for them was as an informant, honing her people skills so that she could squeeze information out of her targets for the Ashura-kai's behalf.
It was on a day some few years back that everything changed. Her job was to attend on a Garlean the Ashura-kai was working with. She was supposed to ease information out of him like she always did. Instead, Saori chose to kill him.
(She recognized him the moment he walked in. She would never forget the blade of that scythe.)
She succeeded, but not before being grievously wounded. As she lay dying, the soulstone that had tumbled out of the dead man's pocket beckoned to her. She took it in handand was thrust into the dark.
From that day forward, Saori found herself with an appetite for freedom.
The Ashura-kai keeps her leashed, but only just so. No longer trustworthy as an informant, her talents now take her down a path forged in blood. After all, there's always a place for an attack dog.These days, she's seen in Eorzea more often than she is back home. What she's doing there is somewhat unclear - those in the know suspect she might be looking for something there, something she couldn't get back in Othard. Maybe it has something to do with her changing physical state - the horns she's grown, the shifting in her aether, and the strange state of her left arm.Or, perhaps, the ones pulling her leash just have someone new for her to sink her fangs into.
"Oh! You want to see a list of my favorite toys?"
Chains, bound by Fate
Important figures in Saori's past and present. They may appear or be referenced at any time.
Takaya Obinata
Role: Saori's handler
A high ranking member of the Ashura-kai, and the man who pulled Saori off of the streets. The day she joined the Ashura-kai, Saori abandoned her family bonds for those of the yakuza - bonds that now chafe her.While she was once one of his most trusted agents, Saori has become increasingly unruly since contracting with Nemain. The threat of what she'll lose should she leave the Ashura-kai keeps her in check, but...
■???■■?■ rem V■???■?
Role: The shadow on her back.
How does a man like you end up in the army? Did feeding the weak to your beast ever bring you pain?
Did you ever wonder if you would be on the other end of those claws someday?Did you even remember my face? Did you recognize me before the light went out of your eyes?I guess it doesn't matter now.
Chunakka Tamnakka
Role: Frequent Sharlayan contact
A professor of Nymian summoning that Saori unfortunately has dirt on. He teaches at the Studium, but yearns for the shores of Limsa Lominsa. If they're together, it's probably because Saori's bullying him.
Haldlona Gull
Role: Reluctant Ishgardian contact
A former sellsword who now peddles her talents as an instructor for the Temple Knights. During the war, she worked frequently for House Fortemps, only to leave their employ under suspicious circumstances. It seems that Saori might know her secret...
Lily
Role: Suspiciously Red Chocobo
Who's a good girl??? You are!!! You are!!!!!!
(Saori's personal mount. Despite all appearances, she is not a Bozjan Red. Not that Saori's going to correct you if you think so.)
Threads, tied by Chance
Characters Saori has had significant interaction with in RP.
Arthur Blaylock
Relationship: Favorite toy, now marred
A "hyur" of Ishgardian origin that Saori regularly spent time with, until recent events damaged his body and soul. She sees him as a knife that needs to be wielded, and herself as the one to do it.
(She'll never admit it, but she envies his inhumanity. If only she were like him, her chains would mean nothing.)
Drake King
Relationship: Unfortunate coworkers.
A beast hiding in manflesh, and one of Saori's least favorite people. They have more in common than they'll ever admit to each other.
"Seriously? 'Drake'? At least pretend to not be a dragon."(she doesn't know it's their legal name.)
Apollo
Relationship: Saori's boss / Feral cat owner
Circumstances - a pull on the leash from her true masters - have brought Saori to the doors of the Wyld, and subsequently, into Apollo's employ. The two of them know that their words are masks, hiding greater intention, threading the needle between truth and lie.
(Little does Saori realize, she already blinked first.)
Isabel Schlager
Relationship: Toxic yuri girlfriends.
A cute Ala Mhigan girl with a horrible curse. Very socially anxious, and easily flustered, especially when Saori's in the room. The two of them have somehow become actual girlfriends, though not without a certain amount of manipulation on Saori's part.
Marcel Abbott
Relationship: Strange confidants.
A Solution 9 native that Saori met through certain encounters that forced them to reveal much more about each other's anxieties than Saori would have preferred. Marcel has since found himself invested in Saori's wellbeing, which works for her, because she'd rather him be on her side than not.
Onyx
Relationship: Foxy informant
An informant from Solution 9. She trades in favors, fights like a whirlwind, and has almost supernatural instincts. Though Saori should know better, she has a certain amount of trust in her - after all, the two of them are in very similar businesses.
Aquila Pendragon
Relationship: A pig whose throat has not yet been slit.
"What's that? The little lordling's come out to play?"
"Tempest"
Relationship: Someone who can't treat his toys with respect.
"I know what you are. You're the same as me."
Threads, tied by Chance
Graves Ironheart
Relationship: Bullyable twink.
A greatsword wielding Ishgardian elezen that Saori finds fun to tease. They're technically coworkers, mostly because Graves is on probation and can't get away from their collective workplace.
Algol Saesraensyn
Relationship: A worm crawling through meat.
An Scholasticate professor that Saori has immediately identified as a secret voidsent, though she is not aware of (and, frankly, would not accept) the reality of his situation. She holds a certain amount of leverage over him thanks to a job gone wrong, and has yet to capitalize on that favor.
Faewynn Glossgleam
Relationship: Stanning immensely.
A famous Ul'dahn adventurer that Saori is a big fan of. Expect Saori to collapse into fawning sighs and lilting compliments whenever she's around. Oh, Faewynn... ✨✨✨
Erdem of the Qestir
Relationship: Fresh meat.
A Qestiri lad that Saori has recently latched onto. In-between nakedly flirting with him, Saori has inserted herself into his quest to defeat a certain Dotharli warrior-gone-monster, for largely selfish and self-serving reasons.
(In truth, she relates to him more than she cares to admit.)
Vieu Greystone
Relationship: Baffling rivalry.
"I'll show you 'hot vodka'."
Lucille Starling
Relationship: A way forward?
The scion of a particular Sharlayan family, whose unique "stellar aether" holds a certain amount of interest to Saori, despite the fact that her powers are specifically constructed to ruin the days of voidsent. Should be fine.
Hooks
■ On the Surface
Odd Gleaner: Saori is a regular sight around Sharlayan, peddling her services to the city-state's numerous scholars and professors. Despite her obvious presence, few people seem willing to admit they've used her services. Still, maybe she can help you out for a price...?
Suspicious Tools: Her axe is a little too heavy, her scythe a little too large. Are these really botanist tools? Or is the title just a cover so that she can carry them in polite company?
Bubblegum Busybody: Somehow, she's always around when she's not wanted. She listens in on everything, and she loves to interject with things you thought no one heard you say. Tread lightly, lest she pull you into something stupid.
A New Toy: Saori is always looking for some new, cute little thing to indulge herself with, whether it's just in conversation, flirting, or throwing herself at them. Wrapping cute little things around her finger is how she keeps herself from getting bored, and besides, it's good to have friends in high places~
■ Delve Deeper
Voidtouched: To those with aether sensitivity or aethersight, she always smells a little too much of the dark. There's too much glamour magic around her for someone without a secret. She hides the signs well, but the stain upon her aether is plain to those who can spot it.
Familiar Face: You could swear you saw her working in a shady teahouse in Kugane several years back. But that woman was much older and far more sullen than this bubbly parasite. What's happened to her?
Shady Services: As part of her work for the Ashura-kai, Saori will occasionally take on less-than-legal work, ranging from courier services to outright hits on targets. While she tries for discretion, she's not always good enough at covering her tracks. Perhaps your paths have crossed before...?
Yanxian Refugee: In the wake of Doma's fall, many of its people escaped to other lands, and Saori was no different. While Saori very much presents as a Hingan native, occasionally she slips into Doman, or will say something about her past that makes it clear she doesn't hail from the island nation. So then, why doesn't she like talking about it...?
■ Deepest Depths
Out of Place Yakuza: Those involved in the crime networks of Hingashi know that the Ashura-kai don't keep too many agents on this side of the salt - they're just not that interested in Eorzea. So why is Saori here?
Mirror of Her Soul: Something lurks alongside her, tethered to her soul. It answers to her commands, and feeds on her just the same as she feeds on it. The presence of a voidsent in this woman's shadow is of note on its own - its strange relationship with her, all the more...
Even prey has claws: You are something greater than humanity - whether that's a monster, a dragon, or even just an individual of great power - and through using this to gain leverage over Saori, you have earned a grudge she will never forget. It is not enough to simply live - she must now tear you from your throne.
OOC
Some notes...
#1: This player is 18+ and would very much prefer to RP only with people who are also 18+! There's too much sexuality entwined with Saori as a character for me to be comfortable otherwise, even if the RP never gets mature. The girl just reeks too much of horny.
#2: Saori's character involves strong elements of emotional abuse, manipulation, and using sexuality as a means of control (both for herself and towards others). However, I will never use Saori for a non-con scenario. Generally, these elements stay in the realm of "femme fatale" themes, but I regardless feel it's necessary to warn potential RP partners of these elements ahead of time.
#3: I reserve the right to back out of RP if I'm feeling uncomfortable or think you're an asshole. As an addendum to the above entry, while I'm open to putting Saori into situations that suck shit for her, I'm not down for domestic or sexual abuse scenarios.
#4: You can certainly try to romance her, but it's probably not going to stick. ERP is on a case by case basis and will fully come down to my mood.
#5: Please have your character try to kick her ass or hate her. She sucks so bad.
Screencaps
Art
■ Who came before.
Once, there was a woman who lived her life in service of the ones who saved her, in chains to bonds stronger than family, covenant eclipsing the waters of the womb. For them she lingered, and learned, and trained, so that in her inobtrusive nature, she could slink as a snake might and, with her fangs, tear the threads of conspiracy from the throats of her prey.Make no mistake of it. That woman was dead even when she still walked the earth.
■ The First
A pixie of Lydha Lhan, and a notorious leafman enthusiast. They have maybe transformed more hapless mortals than any other pixie in Il Mheg. Their zeal for horticulture is only matched by their love of pranks. Those who end up on the wrong side of the latter will soon become familiar with the former.
■ The Ninth
An Arcadion fighter who uses the soul of a great monstrous fox, Tamamo-Gozen, for combat. While she's easy to get along with outside of the ring, when she enters it, she takes on a bloodthirsty persona that teeters on the line between elegance and monstrosity. Challengers should watch themselves, lest they end up devoured in turn...
■ The Thirteenth
A fragmented past, an identity that rises above all others. A name - Nemain; a past - of war, slaughter, a court she once served; a queen - bound by mages from another realm for their wars.Now, she serves as an Avatar. Degraded, enchained, and starved of her rightful prize every day. But she can wait. After all, she has already waited a very, very long time.
