Skratti Bowens

Skratti Bowens
Gender	Female
Race	Miqo'te
Clan	Keeper of the Moon
Citizenship	Unaffiliated
Place of Birth	Unknown
Age	17 1/2
Sexuality	Pansexual
Height	Short
Guardian	Menphina, the Lover

"My business is information, and your information is my business."

Skratti is less an adventurer and more a child playing at being one. The youngest of four siblings, her parents split away from their tribe to form their own, smaller family, who often wandered the continent in nomadic fashion.

Having been working as a rather ineffective adventurer for over almost eight years, Skratti's true profession is one adopted from her mother -- that of dealing in information. She tends to collect information of all sorts and hold it close to the chest until it's worth parting ways with it. Or perhaps she's just not very good at working within the shadows, either. Who knows?

★Information here may seem limited. This is intentional. Skratti does not share details about her life or history with people freely. Certain information is ambiguous because it is not publicly discussed. Anything listed here is strictly OOC knowledge unless Skratti has discussed it with your character.

Appearance

Skratti is a short, pale, thin, red haired Miqo'te female who often comes off as rather tomboyish. Her small stature often leaves her sitting quietly, and this in turn often leaves her subconciously shrinking back to try and seem as little as possible.

While a part of this outward appearance is definitely true, instead of learning to change herself Skratti instead learned how to to use it to her advantage. An almost constantly ignored individual is often the type to overhear things and whispers not meant for the public, after all.

Behavior and Personality

Skratti often speaks with very deliberately chosen words and phrases, punctuated by pauses or "umm's" and "uh's" due to her odd natural speech. Growing up, her family had a multitude of strange phrases -- odd sounding things, often multiple words running together, and some phrases that, to them, mean the opposite of what other people may think they mean, or phrases that sound entirely like nonsense. She spends a great deal of time studying the 'proper' way to speak, helped along by a notebook filled with 'proper' words and phrases.

Mostly quiet, she isn't so shy as to avoid a conversation, and is quick -- eager, even, to form companionships. Beneath the surface, however, lies something distant. Not quite maliciousness, there's an often dormant coldness that can sometimes bubble up, influencing her actions or decisions. Less 'evil', and more 'pragmatic apathy'.

Skratti considers herself a rather adept liar, though she personally doesn't care to lie. When it comes to things she'd rather not reveal she tends to simply bend the truth by being overly vague rather than lie outright.

Combat

Skratti tends toward the more supportive side of skills, focusing more specifically on the magical aspects of combat. She would much rather let others do the hitting and make sure they don't hurt themselves too badly, rather than do the hitting herself.

Points of Interest

Likes: People Crowds Books Fishing Fish Compliments Eavesdropping Learning

Dislikes: Being outsmarted Letting her friends down Being weak

Skills: Expert Fisher and Survivalist Exceedingly well read Decent actor and conversationalist Situational awareness, focused on analyzation and prediction

Fears: Being alone Poor reactions to decisions in her past

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Relationships

Family

Skratti speaks very highly of her family, and will often tell stories about them in conversation, though she's quite careful to never be specific about their location or what they're currently up to. If pressed for details, Skratti will usually reveal she has three older brothers, plus her mother and father.

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Player Character Relationships

Lyuri Felnica : Skratti finds Lyuri rather perplexing. From the little amount of time she's had around the woman she's been able to deduce almost nothing about her, or even confirm or deny any of the rumors she's heard.

Chokho Viqqoh : Skratti has only had a few brief encounters with Cho, and isn't sure whether or not to try and be friends, or to run away as fast as possible.

Positive Standing

Ennara Calian : As one of the first people Skratti spent any amount of time with she is rather fond of Ennara.

Loronus Deatro : Skratti adores Loro. He gave her a tour of the Free Company's base the day she joined, and keeps an eye out for her.

Jilyan Sakura : Jilyan is one of Skratti's business partners, as well as her friend. Though Skratti still acts like a tomboy, it's all thanks to Jilyan that she doesn't look like one all the time anymore.

Orpheus Arkouda : Skratti met Orpheus completely by chance, as she ducked into a bar to escape a sudden spat of rain. She thinks he's rather handsome, and has been toying with the idea of trying to employ him as a bodyguard.

J'nangho Jhimei : J'nangho managed to capture Skratti's interest with a song, and then cemented that interest by telling her fortune. Skratti finds her interesting, since it sounds like her line of work is the flip side of what J'nangho does for a living.

Argust Clow : Skratti finds Argust fascinating. He doesn't seem to talk much, and hates crowds, which makes him seem like a puzzle to be solved.

Negative Standing

(Under Construction)

Rumors

Common Rumors

• "That tiny girl? She's always in the Quicksand, reading by herself."
• "I saw her poking at one of those ornamental displays in Ul'dah. Maybe she likes the flowers in it?"

Moderate Rumors

• "She seems to know a lot of shady people. With a mother like her's, though, I can understand why."

Rare Rumors

• "Just keep away from her, y'understand? She's got a way of finding out things you'd rather not get found out."

Player Character Rumors

• Feel free to add if you know of her!

• "Someone's got a seeecret ~♪" - Chokho Viqqoh
• "You should take some time to talk with her. She's a very interesting girl." - Roswyn Valhuri

History

Early History

Skratti grew up the youngest of four children, and as the only female child was given a certain amount of leeway by her family. Her two older brothers were both Miners, while the youngest brother was a Botanist. Skratti spent a large chunk of time learning to fish from her father, which is where she developed her affinity for the activity.

Eventually, around the age of ten, Skratti decided she wanted to become an adventurer. With how much her family roamed around she had already developed a taste for travel, but she didn't think it fair to only travel and not help people wherever they stopped. Directly opposing that was her mother, a mysterious figure for as long as Skratti could remember. If the mining or the botany didn't bring in enough Gil to meet their basic needs, her mother was always there, whispering a word or two to the right person to bring them in a fresh source of money.

For two years Skratti (with ample assistance from her father) trained in secret to become an adventurer. Her father tolerated the desire, assuming Skratti would eventually grow out of it -- and he couldn't help but dote on his only daughter. As they trained he explained, in bits and pieces, what it was her mother actually *did*; she was a dealer of information.

In their travels her mother would often come across interesting pieces of information, and often sell that information to interested parties if the price was right. Her mother also used this considerable network to keep her family under control, a fact that rubbed Skratti the wrong way.

One day, at the age of twelve, Skratti decided she wanted out and snuck off on her own. Glorious adventuring awaited for her, and she couldn't help but be optimistic. If the adventuring didn't go well, she reasoned, she still knew how to live off the land.

A few weeks later came the Calamity. Despite having 'wandered off', Skratti hadn't actually strayed too far from where her family was supposed to be, and through the chaos she rushed back to find them, but came up mostly unsuccessful.

There was a moment, though. A brief moment, where she was absolutely sure she saw her mother about to be consumed by flame. Enough of a moment that she was absolutely sure she could have saved her, but instead her young mind was struck by a thought. Her mother's profession was the reason she wasn't even allowed to be an adventurer in the first place, and it also seemed to be a constant source of money. With her mother out of the way, Skratti could take over and do whatever she wanted -- adventuring included.

And then her mother was no longer there, just the flames, and a passerby scooped her up and carried her away from the scene, to safety.

Present Day

Skratti has been mostly on her own since the Calamity, doing her best at adventuring, but mostly exploring and fishing to stay fed. She occasionally dips her toe into the seedier side of the world -- that's where the best clients are for the kind of goods she happens to deal in, when the mood strikes her.

Annotations

I used a modified version of the template page of Roswyn Valhuri after asking for permission first.