Odette the Stringer

Odette the Stringer Ishikihara is a prolific stringer for the Nyueden Broadcasting Group. She's Japanese-French. An orphan, too. Not that it's something to be ashamed of. She's certainly very defensive about it, though. Odette the Stringer has pink and black split color messy long hair with yellow eyes. A cute face helps a lot with predisposing people to like her. She likes being cute! In fact, she does her best to strike a balance of cute AND dangerous. Unfortunately, the "dangerous" part doesn't seem to deter anyone. People find her adorable, but it's patronizing and infantilizing, the way the public and the mob treat Odette the Stringer. Like she's in need of supervision, like she's incapable of taking care of herself. Being picked up or moved to places is rare, but it does happen for Odette the Stringer. During her time off the clock, it's easier for Odette the Stringer to let them move her or assist her around, and she doesn't mind it too much. During important jobs? Out comes the taser, weapons free. You'd think they'd get the message after the first few zaps. The amount of people Odette the Stringer has tazed borders on comical, the amount of people flipped or thrown approaching absurdity. Her outfit, a grey techwear jacket and shirt with black short shorts and spats, is usually disheveled and only neat on the rarest of occasions. She wears white knee socks and sneakers. Reckless, neurotic, yet ever cheerful, Odette the Stringer does her best to make ends meet! She's kinda twitchy at times, but pretty optimistic. Despite her attempts to buck the trend, she fits in too well with the NBG stringer stereotype, being adorable wrecks of people that they are. Nyueden pays highly for each successful scoop that they choose her images for, but that money runs out really quickly when you're in deep debt to the local mob. The kind of debt that makes them wait at the hospital, waiting for the chance to cancel a victim's death payment and forcibly apply the best healthcare from their coffers so that they continue to work for them. This specific act has many names, and it's a known quantity among the authorities of New Eden. but they'll never crack down on it for unknown reasons. She's "died" so many times, but they won't let her go. They'll never let Odette the Stringer go. Each "death" means more debt, after all. Her death payment policy, a Platinum package set up when she was younger, was placed in limbo when she went into debt, only able to be re-enabled by her mob handler. The Platinum package guaranteed Odette the Stringer a comfortable death, complete with assurances and comfort from the attending nurse, and she's still miffed about being denied that feeling of affection. Not enough to dampen her mood, though. After all, being sad doesn't pay the bills. They won't even let Odette the Stringer age past a certain number. She can be way below that number, she can be that number, but if she's aged above it, they'll revert her to a randomly chosen age within that acceptable, arbitrary spectrum come the next hospital visit. Despite the odds being set against her, Odette the Stringer stays determined and happy. Knowing that the mob will orchestrate her "accidents" if she gets too close to paying off the debt doesn't change a thing. As long as she treats it like a game she likes, Odette the Stringer can ignore that feeling gnawing at the back of her mind. That painful truth that she's long since lost any expectations of escaping the debt, that some part of her likes the debt, the thrill and unpredictability, and that she doesn't want to leave this life behind and go back to deathseeking again. She doesn't want to acknowledge it, because it's not true. It can't be true. Every time she tries to, she has to talk herself down from even entertaining the idea. Odette the Stringer lives out of and sleeps in her van. It sounds worse than it is, really. It's cramped and cluttered with supplies, there's two cots in the back, and extending the features while parked creates a little tent for herself. She's often spent time relaxing with the features all extended, eating cup noodles, ramen, and whatever quick foods she can get her hands on. It's Odette the Stringer's favorite home... and a huge money sink, too. Don't insult the van. Ishikihara paid for every last bit and piece on this van, and she'll defend its honor to the end! When angered, Odette the Stringer tends to go on longwinded tirades, slipping into her native languages of French and Japanese and interspersing those words throughout her rants. Primarily Japanese words. During ordinary situations, she prefers to speak in a mix of English and Japanese. For self defense, Odette the Stringer always carries a handheld taser on herself, with cartridges on standby for reloads. She's trained in aikido as well, though the public doubts its usefulness. The van contains a crate full of flashbangs as well, allowing her to take as many as she needs for jobs. A stringer's work is chaotic. Often times, the scoop comes out of nowhere in dramatic fashion. Car chases, shootouts, and destruction is all in a day's work. Odette the Stringer specializes in finding those dramatic, eye catching shots and framings, the ones Nyueden shells out the big money for. Big money for the usual stringer, that is, but factor in the cost of fuel, the cost of living, and the money funneled to her debt... Odette the Stringer isn't going to be going on a shopping spree anytime soon.