Hikari Inamoto

Hikari Inamoto
"I don't know what I can do. I never feel like I know. But I do know I want to help, somehow."
Gender	Female
Race	Hyur
Clan	Highlander
Citizenship	Limsa Lominsa
Age	24
Occupation	Beastmaster, Novice Void Hunter
Height/Weight	6'2" / 175 ponze
Birthdate	1st Sun of the Fifth Astral Moon
Patron Deity	Kami (Of The Twelve, relates most to Azeyma)

Basic Info

Likes ■ Animals and nature ■ Anything yellow ■ Old books ■ Helping others ■ Morbols?

Dislikes ■ Winter ■ Being center of attention ■ Seeing something else in pain ■ Magitek ■ Alcohol

Other ■ - Fluent in Doman ■ - Has a strong aether signature, though it may sometimes come off as damaged ■ - Good alligned ■ - Scratch over right eye, Ceruleum burn on right arm

Appearance & Personality

Tall, gangly, and angular, Hikari is a woman of androgynous looks. While she has Doman traits, her unusual height and her surprising strength suggest a mixed heritage. She has olive skin, mid-length black hair, and red eyes that are dark enough to appear brown at a distance. Her face is long and has somewhat blocky features, but her eyes are very gentle and expressive. Her neutral expression gives her an appearance of being mildly disoriented or surprised at everything.

The way Hikari dresses makes it painfully obvious that she has been used to livimg a life of thrift and vagrancy. Her clothes are usually threadbare and made of cheap fabrics, to the point where she considers cotton garments to be 'luxury' items. She often will go barefoot from having worn down whatever shoes she had previously owned to the soles, or else she will wear sandals or other opened toed shoes that breathe easily. Hikari is no stranger to the outdoors and travels often, usually by foot. If Hikari owns anything, whether it be clothing, a weapon, or a tool, she will use it until it falls irreparably apart before conceding and getting a new one.

As she has worked and become more sociable, Hikari dresses and eats better than she used to, though the majority of the clothing and armor she wears are either secondhand or things that were gifted to her. She seldom spends gil on herself.

Having to speak to others makes her feel anxious, and she will frequently mumble or mash words together too quickly when she does speak. Speaking over Linkpearl in particular seems very difficult for her, unless the topic of discussion is something that relates to her interests. While her appearance and demeanor might suggest that Hikari is uneducated, on the contrary, she seems to have an extensive wealth of knowledge about the flora and fauna of Eorzea. Given the opportunity, she would go on about an entire ecosystem of any given region of Eorzea and describe in great detail the taxonomy of every species within that ecosystem and how they support one another. She has kept many 'unique' 'pets', claiming to have even raised a Morbol, a Spriggan, and a Coblyn at one point.

In spite of her apparent social fears, dangerous situations of any variety hardly seem to frighten her at all. In fact, it seems like she has very little concern for her own personal safety and only expresses dread when others may stand to be endangered. Hikari is a highly compassionate and empathetic individual, and she never seems to become angry from the misdeeds of others. In fact, it's often the case that she will look for reason or justification in another's behavior. She truly believes that others are fundamentally good, and mostly do wicked things out of ignorance or entrapment. She is easily moved and sometimes cries from happiness when others do her a kind deed.

Because she takes others at face value and is very eager to gain the approval of them, it is painfully easy for Hikari to be manipulated. She trusts the intentions of others freely and will go out of her way to do kind things for them, even at her own expense. It will often be the case that Hikari will get herself into a dangerous situation and let herself get hurt so that someone else can escape or retaliate, and in combat, she is far more prone to incapacitating an enemy than maiming or killing, even if doing so creates inconvenience and eats time. In this way, she is a rather courageous individual, but it has often led to her receiving unnecessary injury.

Known History

The details of Hikari's background aren't well defined, because she has no immediate family, nor does she openly talk about herself that often.

The best that can be gathered seems to be that she was born in Doma, moved to La Noscea for some reason as a child, and grew to end up living a life of vagrancy in mainland Eorzea after that. Sometime in between, she must have received some kind of formal education.

She does not seem to have any living family.

In much more recent history, she returned to Yanxia for the final battle to liberate Doma Castle from Garlemond's control. Her experience on the battlefield did not go over well for her. She left for Eorzea shortly after the battle had been settled and Doma liberated, and secluded herself in the swampy marsh of the South Shroud for a time before joining House DeBayle as their squire. After the death of her friend Guillemont De'bayle, Hikari has left the service of the House to instead pursue an education in hunting voidsent.

Miscellaneous

• In spite of her lifestyle, Hikari seems to be in unusually good health. She does not seem to tire easily and her wounds appear to recover more quickly than an average person's would. She seems to have a slowed reaction to certain injuries and illnesses, a trait which can make her unreliable for describing symptoms. It was a consistent problem for her in her childhood.

• Hikari almost always has these items on her person:

-A cobalt bladed lantern shield. On closer inspection, the shield looks like it has been badly damaged and cobbled back together multiple times. Parts of it have been salvaged from an older issue Maelstrom grade shield of the same make.

-A bastard sword of Ishgardian make, well-used, but also well-tempered and cared for. As with her shield, she has refused the chance to exchange it for a sword that may serve her better.

-A zweihander of Ishgardian make, with many indicators of wear and tear. A crisscrossed pattern of red enamel decorates the ricasso.

-A bottle of morbol bile, sealed tight and treated with an alchemical agent to keep the horrible odor from seeping out. Consequentially, the surface of the bottle is rather slippery...

• Her two front teeth are false, a point of self-consciousness on her end. They are noticeably off-color from the rest of her teeth and look like they were made just a little bit too big for her. While she frequently has any number of minor scratches and bruises on her body, the most prominent ones are the faded claw scar over her right eye and some nasty scar tissue from a ceruleum burn over her right arm.

Relationships

♥ Romantic Interest    ♥ Platonic Love     ● Good Standing   ● Uncertain Standing   ● Neutral Standing   ● Poor Standing

House DeBayle An Ishgardian house of lesser-than noble standing, Hikari has found herself rooted in a secure place within this family's affections due to her friendship with their middle brother, Guillemont. Her role has moved from being a friend of the family to serving as one of their Squires, and the sense of belonging that her place in the House offers her is invaluable to Hikari. ♥ Guillemont De'bayle : Initially concerned that this knight's kindness towards her was only motivated by pity, Hikari maintained some distance from Guillemont at first and was a little frightened by the idea of his friendship. However, she grew to care deeply for him as more time passed, and came to consider him the closest friend she had (outside of her childhood friends, the Saejimas). While she felt a sense of likeness with Guillemont and held him in high regard, her journey of attempting to salvage him from a voidal possession revealed different facets of the man than she saw of him in his life. In the wake of his death, Hikari still feels very fondly for her friend, and desires to grow strong enough to save others from the fate she could not save him from. ♥ Denz De'bayle : Something of a big brother figure in her eyes, Hikari finds Denz to be the most approachable in his blood related family. His relentless teasing of her can sometimes feel like a little much, but she trusts in his wisdom when she needs to hear a down-to-earth voice, and she values what guidance he offers her. As a trainer and as a commanding officer, Hikari trusts in him so readily that she would follow Denz' any command without question. ● Armont De'bayle : While Hikari respects and likes Armont, he has a certain authoritative intensity to him that feels overbearing to her. She's a little worried that disagreeing with him about certain things may make him see her as a heretic...and finds herself always wanting to impress him. Or at least satisfy his expectations of her. Armont speaks to Hikari with unexpected praise and warmth, yet he is still strictly formal and demanding of her respect. ● Astrelle De'bayle : Although the both of them have had very rocky first impressions, and Hikari was fearful that her best friend's twin hated her, Hikari's concern for Astrelle's coping and her complete willingness to forgive Astrelle for behaving coldly towards her seem to have warmed the Elezen over...to some degree. They are, if nothing else, on much more cordial terms than they were initially, and Astrelle has accepted Hikari's (well meaning, if somewhat misguided) dedication to her family. ♥ Lendroit Gatineaux : In spite of what was (in her mind) a very blundered first impression, Hikari is surprised by the easygoing kindness that 'Lenny' has regarded her with. The two of them share a similar ambition to become someone stronger, perhaps even heroic, and she's glad to have found herself in the company of a fast friend. Recognizing that he tries to hide his true feelings, Hikari tries to offer herself to him a safe ear to lend his troubles to. The two have little experience with formal training and discipline, so Hikari has designated herself as a partner to him in training and in the field. However, in her efforts to be a comfort to him, Hikari mistakenly led Lenny to believe that she was interested in their friendship becoming something more, and it has been a cause of pain between the two of them. ● Alleria Surlaint ● Gwannes Oskwell ● Lucius Guiscareaux ● Gaelle Favagenieur ● Jancis Milburga ● Lawrence Wallace ● Nathaniel of Salem ♥Akito Saejima : A childhood friend driven by wild passion and a sense of burning ambition. Hikari greatly admires these traits in Akito (even so far as idolizing his nature when they were children), but finds herself at odds with his brash and impulsive behavior, often trying to correct him or apologize to others for him. His experiences in his martial training and being wounded while serving on the Doman Liberation Front seem to have changed him to be softer and more humble than he used to be. While the change has been somewhat distressing for Hikari to see, it has allowed the two of them to become closer and speak more frankly with one another...and even to touch upon what their feeling for one another are. Akito offers Hikari a sense of balance, and he has given her insight on what behaviors of hers make her vulnerable to others. She feels dedicated to him and wishes to help him find a sense of purpose; something to live for and fight for beyond the blind pursuit of strength. ♥ Gotou Saejima : Coolheaded and sensible, Hikari looks at Gotou and trusts him like a responsible big brother, and was probably the closest she had to one. The only thing that really seems to rattle Gotou is his rivalry with his younger brother, Akito. ♥ Ritsuko Saejima : While Hikari admired Ritsuko when she was a child and wanted to emulate her, Ritsuko has all of Akito's impulsiveness and almost none of his focus. Hikari finds herself worrying after her friend often, trying to encourage her to be a little more responsible...which can be a difficult subject to breech.

Rumors

Some of these rumors are untrue or are greatly exaggerated. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC!

◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard)

■ "Just another filthy refugee taking up gutter space. Be careful with that one. I've seen her talking to herself." -- Emerald Avenue merchant

■ "I offered her some food and she started crying. It was awkward..." -- Ul'dahn tourist

■ "Ray? The children adore her. Somehow she tamed a wild marmot and brought it for them to play with one time. She loves those kids like her own. Always talking about how to make Ul'dah safer for them...Foolish, but a woman can dream, right?" -- Elderly Mhigan

◢ Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)

■ "My friend and I got lost in the city. This Hellsguard started harassing us for 'favors', when all of a sudden, a hyur wearing red armor intervened. His helmet looked like it had bunny ears. He got beaten up pretty badly, but he was enough of a distraction to let us escape. He seemed pretty pathetic, but I still want to thank him..." -- Seeker woman

■ "I was on patrol for a rogue morbol when I saw this woman...hugging it...I could have sworn she was dead meat, but she kept me from attacking it and convinced me to help her lead it back to Rootslake. She was out of her mind. But it worked? I have no clue how she tolerated the smell. Or why she WANTED to help a Morbol." -- Young Wood Wailer

◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)

■ "There used to be a single father who lived in that little villa over there. Malestrom officer. Had a daughter, very bright, very shy. Found out after they moved that he was really some Garlean agent. I wonder sometimes what happened to that little girl..." - La Noscean landlord

■ "I seem to recall a trio of scamps who were always up to no good. Two brothers and a little girl. They stole my day's catch as it was drying in the sun one time, and tried to sell it in the street. She cried and shook so much when she confessed, I didn't have the heart to punish her as severely as the boys." - Old Doman Fisherman

◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from the character's of other players)

■ "Uyraies is a wonderful woman with a heart full of emotion. While her clothing may not be fine, nor is her face always clean, she is a perfect example of a diamond in the rough." -Carina Roussos

■ "After all these years we have found her again..... I feel as if so much has remained unchanged since our time as children, but I know that I could not possibly be any farther away from the truth. She has become so determined to improve and better herself.. and that is good! But I do hope that she has been taking care of herself as she does so." - Gotou Saejima

■ "Don't be fooled by her plain dress, Rai is something more than she presents herself to the world as. I get a sense that there is a power in that woman that is deep and enduring. I rather like her." -Levant Lesoleil

■ "Lady Uyraies is uh... She is a dear friend of mine. She has a noble, honorable soul. More so than uh... Than any knight I know. I think that she can't uh... She doesn't see the darkness in people so much, because uh... Because her own light shines too brightly. It's uh... I truly feel fortunate to have met her. And I will not tolerate any disrespect towards her." - Guillemont De'bayle

■ "She is as good-hearted as she is strong-hearted. One in the same for Lady Hikari. You must needs listen, though. It starts quiet, but her words are true and sure despite the stammering. I am better for it, for her coming back and gifting us with her name." - Jancis Milburga

Gallery

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  Art by player.

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  "Red Rabbit".

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  Hobbies include: extreme gardening.

Footnotes

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