Hakase

Mysterious and absent minded, the girl known as Hakase is an enigma many have tried to solve, but few have come close to cracking.

## Early Life and Adventuring

Little is known about Hakase's early life, but what has been put together through small moments of clarity, is that she was once a girl named Ariah. Ariah seemed to have been a scholar, much like the Hakase of today, but much more sane and focused.

## Discovery

Thunder rolled through the night as torrential rain fell through the forest. The small woodland home of Belias and his husband Raphael was warm and cozy in the midst of the raging storm. A bolt of lighting crashed into the earth not far from the house, shaking it to its foundation and all the sound in the world seemed to disappear for a few seconds. But when it returned they heard a noise in addition to the pelting raindrops.

The sound of a woman sobbing.

Quickly the pair burst through the door of their cottage searching for the source of the cries, and under a still smoldering tree, they found a blond haired nekomimi, naked and drenched, desperately clutching onto a partially molten piece of clockwork no larger than a pocket watch. With horror, the two men bundled the woman up and invited her into their house, taking her out of the cold and rain. She seemed despondent and barely responded to their words.

The next morning the couple would make a horrifying discovery. The girl could not speak, or rather, did not know how to. The men, living far from the nearest town, and fearful the nekomimi would not make the trip, decided to attempt to nurse the amnesiac back to health. Though they recognized it may take time. Over the next 5 years Belias and Raphael cared for and nurtured the strange girl, teaching her how to read and write, and how to talk. All things she took to voraciously. They initially called the girl 'Jenny' but once she learned to speak, they took to calling her 'Hakase' meaning 'Teacher' due to her sharp whit and seemingly unnatural knowledge of the mechanical.

Hakase built many strange mechanical devices while living with Belias and Raphael, from small wind up toys, to a functioning musket. But there was one device that she would always return to. The melted pocket watch. She had no idea what it was but felt it was somehow important. And would often spend all the money she made selling her inventions in town on even just one more cog from the local blacksmith.

Eventually it was finished. The last new cog clicked into place. She wound up the device and with a soft 'click' the world seemed to slow down around her. Memories flooded back, this was her masterwork. A time dial. A mechanical device that could subtlety influence the tides of time through the use of magitech and clockwork. But it was far from finished, and her memories were far from returning in full. She had only received a small taste of what was to come.

So hungering for more knowledge and with the desire to uncover her past, the woman known as 'Hakase' set out, forgetting to say goodbye to her caretakers of five years.

## Appearance

Hakase is a small Nekomimi with blonde hair, yellow eyes, and fair skin. She usually dresses herself in an odd assortment of cloth wraps and whirring bits of clockwork. She is often unkempt and covered in grease, oil, or other such substances as she works on her machines.

## Personality

Hyperactive, Hakase can be a draining influence on those around her. However her mind is clearly shattered and she struggles remembering the most basic of things. From names, to places. Hence she keeps a comprehensive log of everything she deems important. For reference in the future.

## Goals and Revelations

As time has gone on, it has been revealed that Ariah was once an inventor who sought knowledge, the greatest resource of all. All for the purpose of building a machine utopia where none would work or need anything. She sought the perfect way to the future she seeks through time and divination magic, but her spells opened the door to things beyond our universe, and she was devoured by a vast alien intelligence. In the wake of the destruction left by The King of Worms, Hakase appeared; an alternate version of Ariah from another timeline. The King of Worms seeks to devour every version of Ariah across the cosmos. And now it is free in our world. Plotting and scheming to eliminate Hakase and move on to another version of reality.

## Base of Operation

Hakase lives in a giant scrap yard of her own creation on the outskirts of Catania. Here her army of constructs dig through piles of trash and melt down whats useable into ingots and wires to be used in her inventions. Meanwhile, Hakase lives in a small shack of scrap barely noticing the passage of time as she tinkers with parts and inventions.

Alternatively she can be found in a Airship called The Inventor's Insight.