App for Aefenglom

[needsteaplz]

Player Information
Name:  Miki
Age:  31
Contact: kansaiphones or Jackofantics#5433 on Discord or JackofAntics@gmail.com
Other Characters: None

Character Information
Name: Saori Nakagawa
Canon: Original
Canon Point: Early Motherhood
Age:  53
History:
World History

Saori's parents moved from Niigata prefecture to Kyoto because her father's new position as a literature professor while her mother was still pregnant with her. Three years later, Akira was born. All was good until when Saori was 7, when their mother got sick. Her health began to deteriorate until she finally passed away. Neighbors and the kids' paternal grandma pitched in to help watch the two growing children as their father was constantly busy with work while grieving for the sudden loss of his wife.

One year later, 8 year old Saori waited at the train station afterschool with her grandma for her father's usual train only to realize he wasn't on board. A police investigation revealed no one saw her father after lunch but trail went cold shortly after. When her grandma's age made it difficult to raise them to her best of her skills, Saori quickly learned how to take care of the home and her little brother. During her high school years, she had to seek permission to work in part-time jobs while at school for the extra income.

It was this time when her grandmother thought showing her around Kyoto’s Gion district might convince her to become a geiko, an apprentice geisha, for a better life. After participating in a traditional tea ceremony, she ended up falling in love with tea instead. During her whatever spare time she did have, she looked for new books on mythology and the supernatural or buying different kinds of tea.

Her curiosity about the supernatural started when she was little. Her father worked until his disappearance on translating several folklore from classical Japanese language to the modern version. While Akira would be scared out of his wits by some of the stories, Saori would always ask for more. In a rare moment of quiet, she could always be found curled up with one of the books from her father's library. Her love for folklore is later reflected in her college work. Saori eventually graduated high school and attended a college in Osaka. She even studied abroad in America for a year. Under her host family, she learned even more cooking and even had her first boyfriend, an ex-pat German psychology student. He did propose to her before they had to part, but she turned him down as she felt obligated to return and care for her family first. She graduated college with a degree in English. However it wasn't without a hitch.

A week before her graduation, Akira discovered about the rejected proposal and he was angry with her. He wanted her to live her own life for once and to stop holding back for his sake. Upset from the news, Akira stormed out of the apartment but never came back. Four days later, Saori had to identify his body and to go through her third funeral. When her pet cat snuck into Akira's room days later, she came across a necklace with a green-blue stone with a note attached to it. That necklace was supposed to be her graduation gift.

Saori worked in a publishing company after graduation, specializing in translation work for three years, but found the work to be not as satisfying over time. She got her projects done on time, but there other things that bothered her. It was mostly the social pressure she felt from her higher ups as she was already 25 but still single. She already saw countless co-workers come and go as soon as they found a suitable husband to marry. It was then Grandmother suggested she maybe do something she liked: cooking and started up a food blog23.

When she was 27, she visited the Fushimi-Inari temple in Kyoto. As she climbed up the stairs to the famous Shinto temple, she heard the sounds of little bells chiming. Thinking it was nothing, she continued. Then the chimes got louder and louder as she went up until she finally looked behind. That was the last anyone living ever heard from Saori. She’s captured by a Nopperabou, a faceless humanoid creature who has taken her deep in the neighboring mountain side.

Deep in the mountians, Saori's attempts to appease the Nopperabou fell on deaf ears. The supernatural creature explained that mononoke grow from the weaker ayakashi when they feed on a human's strongest emotion. Because an average human doesn’t have the powers to see the supernatural, they are unaware that their actions may have been influenced by an Ayakashi in the hopes to fatten their future meals. In exchange for the power boost however, many Ayakashi lose their identity and reduced to rabid beasts in search of a next meal. However there is a way to overcome this. If they consume a soul of someone,who despite many hardships occurring in their life, are still pure, not only does their power increase but their lifespan increases as well without losing their identity. Saori's blood went cold at what it was implying.

A man Saori doesn't recognize arrives to take it down but it’s too late. The Nopperabou ripped her soul from her body, pinned down Saori’s soul and ate her physical body in front of the two. The man finished the creature but the damage was done.

The man, Kenichi, then decides to take her to see Inari, his father, about her options since she died prematurely according how much time was left in her lifespan. And while she is able to be reincarnated, she wouldn’t be able to do very soon. The next chance she’s able to be reborn won’t be for another decade or so. A soul without a body must reside in the supernatural realm for extra protection against Mononoke.

Inari decides that Saori can stay under Kenichi's care. After touring around Kuukan and staying with Kenichi, she realizes his purpose. He’s the leader of Inari's elite corps dedicated to protecting both the living and souls in Kuukan from being eaten by ayakashi who want to be mononoke. In the past century, the influx of souls returning from their time in the living realm has decreased due to the rogue supernatural creatures consuming said souls. The problem with that is two fold for another reason. Souls that were consumed by them are  permanently gone as they are absorbed by the consumer and new souls are extremely hard to produce and only arrive in small batches every fifty years or so. With mononoke consuming souls at a rate faster than production, this throws the balance between the living realm and Kuukan off. This became a great concern to many of the gods. Inari was the one who spearheaded the creation of the corps and other gods have given their support to it.

Saori came to a decision to help Kenichi so more people won't suffer the same fate as her. He objected but eventually gave in. She survived training with Pluto, the corps second-strongest, and it would take her 10 years until Pluto was decided she was ready to join the corps. During her training, Saori learned when souls are not attached to a living body they can tap into their innate powers. They can vary from purification to manipulation of elements. In her case, she can manipulate smoke to take on forms with her will. While she can use different types of smoke, her strongest affinity is for smoke from burning incense. Plus its purifying abilities make it a better anti-ayakashi/mononoke weapon as demonstrated when she went into a blind rage against the Nue who ate her father's soul decades ago.  A large blood splatter against a cliff side was the only thing left of its body.

Inari would later reveal to Saori that his ‘name’ is technically a title. He also confessed he wanted both his son and her to inherit the legacy but could sense a certain type of tension between the two which was why he has held passing it over to them. While the legacy of a god's name could be contained to one individual, sharing it with someone was possible with many benefits. After a particular attack against a spider demon that almost poised the two, Kenichi proposed to Saori, admitting she was the only one he would ever share the legacy of the famous Shinto god. He later doubled down at the wedding, asking her to be soulmates, which meant both of their souls would entwined with each other no matter how many times the other reincarnates. While they have their duties as gods to fulfill prayers of the various sorts, they often go out to deal with the constant mononoke problem.

For the longest time, she always wanted to have children of her own while her husband was lukewarm to the idea. Six years into their marriage, Saori saved a child from a mononoke attack and the girl clung onto her until they were home. Kenichi tried to convince both of them that adoption wasn’t an option but he opened their home to her. While they did spread word of the missing girl, there weren’t much leads to follow up on. A few months later, the girl’s parents eventually did show up on their doorstep. After a tearful goodbye, Kenichi decided they should have kids after all which was when Saori dropped the news that she was pregnant. She gave birth to fraternal twins, Toushiaki and Yae, who are now 5 years old. Now she and Kenichi juggle between being parents, gods, and defenders of the realm.

Personality:
Saori’s an older sister/motherly type of character. She’s quite independent because she had to help take care of her little brother, grandmother, and herself for a good portion of her life. Akira was a handful as a child, so she had to be more mature than other kids her age. When their grandmother was getting too old to run the household herself, Saori took on the responsibility. That also meant getting permission to work a part time job while in high school and college, which left barely enough time to for herself.

As she took on the guardian role, she essentially became an anchor not only to her family and friends, but to her husband. Kenichi and his corps were in a period of feeling burned out from the rise of rogue mononoke attacking both in Kuukan and the living world before she arrived. Her presence helped to lift their morale. Even though Tenjou didn’t want to admit it, he took the fact he couldn’t save Saori very personally. She always reassures him it was never his fault.

If a person needed someone to talk to or needed something, Saori would be there to help in anyway possible. She always waits for them to finish and never says her opinion out loud unless they do want to hear it. In many cases she tries to get all sides of the story. She’s considered by her peers as a very reliable and diligent hard worker.

However, she does tend not to be open about herself to others immediately in return. She mostly keeps it to herself unless she has someone who she completely trusts and has managed to stay by her side for a very long time. Building those long term relationships is even harder. After losing her family and regrettably saying no to her first marriage proposal, it’s hard for her to imagine herself having those types of relationships. This would explain why it would take Kenichi years to get close enough to her to propose to her. When she realizes his feelings towards her, she accepts them but Kenichi was tied down to his doubts about the idea of marriage. While Inari and Saori came to an agreement that she would marry him, she would wait until he came around and become more honest with himself. Before her death, she never sought out even one night stands.

Her tendency to fall on the "you never asked" policy of explaining herself is one of her bad habits. This is seen when Saori never mentions her godly status. Her biggest reason for that is, she doesn't want people to judge her because of it. She understands that some people will think less of her and some people have a bias against deities. Saori wants to be judged for who she is as a person.

As she spent more time in Kuukan, along with her best friend Ami’s influence, those walls she kept herself in began to break down. Ami would be the one next to Kenichiwho would show Saori around Kuukan plus was a major help in her self-discovery moments. Because she burdened herself with her family’s needs over her own, she had little time devoted to herself. She didn’t have a committed relationship and didn’t explore much of her sexuality until her study abroad experience in the States. Ami the water dragon helped her see what her own limits were and taught her it was okay to indulge in herself from time to time. Thanks to her, Saori managed to lighten up even more.

Some, including her own husband, have argued her kindness makes her unfit to be part of the corps. Her kindness does not make her a doormat. She does get angry and stands up for herself if her close friends and family get hurt, she’s being pestered while at work, or someone insults her skills without providing any sort of constructive criticism. Violence fueled by blood lust is a something unlike her. Fighting however is natural to her line of work, but Saori always tends to be the one who checks on the victims first before anything else. After experiencing the multiple deaths in the family and her own, she knows the value of life very well.

The relationship between Kenichi and Saori can be described as a test of patience and trust. Neither side sought the other actively, it just happened. They wavered between strictly work partners and friends with benefits. Her initial enthusiasm to join the corps willingly reminded him how he was when the corps was founded: optimistic, energized and ready to dive into anything. At the time they met, he was a knight in sour armor. While he continued doing his work as a protector of souls from Mononoke, his cynicism reared its head now and then. When his father allowed Saori to stay in their residence and join in the corps, he would often avoid her if possible in the beginning. It was not out of spite, but he was afraid of failing her again. If she died in her current state, it would be a permanent death.

During their work, she often interacted with many individuals and he was amazed with how resilient emotionally and physically she was. She manages to give hope to others, including himself. Saori and Kenichi did realize they had feelings for each other early on, but neither pushed for going beyond just dating each other despite all of their friends trying to get them together. Fear and hesitation was what kept them from getting married sooner. For Keniichi, being a son of a significant god and next in line was a lot of pressure. He had doubts he could carry the legacy and if Saori would ever want someone like him as a husband. Saori, on the other hand, was more than ready, but she knew Kenichi wasn't and so she didn't pressure him into marriage. They both developed a deep respect for each other and their near death experience wakes them up and he manages to propose to her.

Another thing to note is she never actively pursued becoming a god. Many of her opponents accuse her of it, but it’s far from the truth. It happened to come along with marrying Kenichi. She would only use her powers if it was part of her godly duty, like blessings. Plus she counts her own soul power to be separate, so she uses it

Abilities & Skills:
Super-strength and speed: Standard power for gods. Necessary in a fight with the supernatural.
Enhanced senses: The five senses are much stronger than an average human's.
Self-healing: A base power for gods, they can heal wounds rapidly over time, but cannot regenerate lost body parts.
Typhokinetic Constructs: Saori's unique soul power. With this power to create temporary tools, objects, weapons, and armor from smoke that mimics the item's abilities and properties.
Luck manipulation: Can either boost the luck of her teammates or lower her opponents' for a short period of time.
Rice and tea generating: Inari is heavily linked to tea and rice so Saori can create them from thin air. The tea is processed, but it's only tea leaves and the rice needs to be milled and cooked.
Fertility: Agriculture is another aspect of Inari and so she had the power influence the fertility of the land.
Communication with foxes: Foxes are heavily tied to Inari and are depicted as messengers to them. Saori is able to communicate with any fox, be it an actual fox spirit or the actual animal, with ease.
Cooking: Saori learned to cook at a very young age and her time with the gods further increased her experience. Her spiciest curry has been rumored to have the potential to double as a weapon due to its spice levels.
Shapeshifting: Another common god ability, but something Saori has not mastered yet.
Knowledge of folklore and mythology: She has above base knowledge of international folklore and mythology but is incredibly well-versed in Japan's.

Inventory/Companions:
Indigo haori jacket with the Inari crest embroidered in white on the back.
Her wedding and engagement ring set: Two silver rings. The engagement ring is shaped like a fox mid-run with a stalk of rice in it's mouth. Small diamonds represent the grains of rice in the stalk. The wedding band fits above the former.
Silver necklace with a green-blue stone.
A pair of handwraps: Originally blessed for effective monster beat ups, this effect will be nullified upon arrival.
Leather holster containing three metal flasks full of smoke, a magnesium fire starter and a fold-able hunting knife.

Choice: Chimera - Red Fox, Saltwater Crocodile
Reason: Saori has multiple traits like a chimera that reflects who she is. Fox maybe a given due to the animal's association with her god  title, but she does rely on her wit and resourcefulness to navigate Kuukan, especially with dealing with other gods and children. Crocodiles may be known for their ferocity, but they are good mothers to their hatchlings. While Saori has always been known for her motherly front, many underestimate her strength be it mentally or physically.

Sample: Threads from the TDM