#Sajaf Wan

[nitewrighter]

LOVE hearing the boys bicker about everyone’s favorite flashlight. Could we get some other characters teasing, asking, or warning echo about the budding love triangle? Maybe sneak your Rammatra Stan oc in there as well? I honestly would just love to hear how she feels about all *gestures wildly up and down* that

Sajaf's pronouns are they/them!!! (Although now I have the mental image of Ramattra furiously going "HER PRONOUNS ARE THEY/THEM" while Sajaf just facepalms behind him.)

----

Zenyatta: My brother seems to have an intense interest in you.

Echo: I don't think he's capable of not being intense about anything.

Zenyatta: *weary sigh* You may be right.

----

Ana: Do me a favor and... whatever happens, don't break Cole's heart.

Echo: *playful* How do you know he won't break mine?

Ana: Because he's a bigger softie.

----

Zenyatta: Do you think Ramattra's interest in you is due largely to your similarities with Aurora?

Echo: My programming allows to have similarities with anyone! But I often feel my only similarity with Aurora is Liao.

----

Sombra: Hmmm... the fugitive war criminal cowboy, or the genocidal robot zealot... I don't know, Muñequita, it's a tough choice!

Echo: It really is!

Sombra: ...you need to update your sarcasm software.

----

Cassidy: ...You've been awfully quiet, buzzcut.

Sajaf: The Shambali value the space silence creates for reflection upon the nature of being.

Cassidy: I thought you get kicked out?

Sajaf: *seething* It was a mutual agreement on a difference in spiritual practice.

Cassidy: I take it you ain't too happy with your boss's current side project.

Sajaf: Firstly, Ramattra Rinpoche is not my 'boss.' He is my light. Secondly, he is entitled to his... pursuits, as our work for the liberation of omnics is highly taxing.

Cassidy: Well, that's just sad--

Sajaf: Thirdly, I doubt you are happy with the object of his...distraction, either.

Cassidy: ....

Cassidy: Tch. You do got me there. *pause* ...what're your thoughts on a truce?

Sajaf: *glare*

Cassidy: A personal, not business truce. Seems t'me we got a mutual interest.

Sajaf: *slowly* Do not make an offer so lightly, cowboy.

Cassidy: Oh, don't worry, I'm already regretting it.

[nitewrighter]

Sajaf Wan moodboard.

[nitewrighter]

Jury-Rig

This is the sort of "Sajaf Recruitment" fic--mostly it came from a setting and dialogue that was bouncing in my head and refused to let me write anything else.

----

Even with his head lowered under its hood, Ramattra towered over virtually everyone else in the street. It was pouring rain in the late afternoon, the early summer day turned dark and muggy. He was glad to get out of Shimla's main streets and into the twisting alleyways, fewer eyes on him. Big omnics weren't that unusual, in fact he was impressed to see some major agricultural labor units around the city and in his travels, but a Ravager unit elicited more... polarizing reactions.

He was heading uphill. Fire escapes forced the already heavy rain to coagulate into even fatter drops, and gutters on both sides of the alley were turned into miniature rushing rivers roaring into storm drains or flooding against dams of litter, leaves, and other debris. Shimla had been more fortunate than most during the Crisis, for better or worse--it still had many of the buildings from colonial era. A couple rushed past him, human and omnic, the male human holding up his jacket as a sort of umbrella for them both as they giggled and jog-walked down the alley together, nearly slipping in all the rain. So, he was getting close.

A few turns later he found himself in front of a little shop crammed between two much-larger buildings. The front of the shop was in Hindi, and translated to 'The Body Divine.' and featured a yellow neon representation of an Omnic posing like Botticelli's Venus, flanked by neon pink lotus flowers. Another omnic, this one alone, wearing a long coat quickly paced out of the front of the shop and nearly bumped into him, not even making eye contact as he quickly paced around Ramattra. Ramattra watched as the omnic hurried down the street, stiff and quick, as if it was carrying some kind of contraband. A disapproving "hm," escaped him before he finally stepped into the shop and out of the rain.

He heard the chime of tingsha as he opened the door and he looked around. The setup of the shop was very similar to a human tattoo parlor, with a waiting area up front and multiple reclining chairs and operating tables behind a counter towards the back. The wall was covered in various omnic and human prosthetic limbs, as well as posters in multiple languages including Omnicode that displayed messages like 'Tac-Mods: At Home Care and Maintenance,' and varying complex diagrams. Ramattra's eyes fell on a small brochure display presenting a bunch of pamphlets in multiple languages. The brochures were bright yellow, featured the human safety warning symbol of a human hand caught in mechanical gears, and were titled 'Human-Omnic Intimacy and You' in Hindi, English, Chinese, and Omnicode.

"Did you have an appointment?" a voice spoke up in clumsy Hindi and Ramattra's head jerked up. Well, it didn't have to jerk up too far. They weren't looking at him, just moving around the back of the shop, apparently busying themselves with moving some boxes of supplies around, clearly cleaning up and getting ready to close up for the day.

Sajaf's face was completely covered by a goggled face mask and respirator, cutting off their peripheral vision. They were wearing baggy olive green bib cargo overalls over a paisley halter wrap top. Their lean, goldish-tan arms and their bronze plating were supporting a large box as they ambled about the operating area, not looking at him. Their shaved head was growing out--between the stages of peach fuzz and those short feathery strands like a few-weeks-old bird chick. Ramattra loomed a bit awkwardly in the shop's waiting area, saying nothing. In truth, so much of his mind had been occupied by the losses in London and how he was going to proceed with so many of his willing allies gone, that he hadn't thought of what he was going to say at all.

"I don't take walk-ins," they continued in that same clumsy Hindi, grabbing a few things from the operating tables and putting them in their box, "And we're closing up for the day. If you have a referral I can--" They finally looked at him and the box dropped from their hands with a loud clatter and the sound of more than one thing breaking. "R-Rinpoche?"

Ramattra attempted to assume as commanding a posture as possible while tamping down the embarrassment that he was the one coming to them. "Wan," he said flatly.

They hustled forward, practically vaulting over the counter that served to divide the waiting area from the operating area, yanking off their goggled mask in the process to stare up at him. Their face had gotten thinner, and Ramattra noted the new lines of prosthetics in their arms. Here is walking proof that Mondatta doesn't have nearly the influence he thinks he has, Ramattra thought, looking at their jointed fingers.

"I hadn't heard anything of the movement since London--I was scared--" Sajaf started, still moving towards him.

"You didn't hear anything of the movement because you are not in the movement," Ramattra said crisply.

They stopped short as if there was an invisible wall several feet in front of him. Their hands were still tensed in front of them. "Right..." they said, "...of course."

A long pause passed between the two of them.

"I'm sorry," they said at last, "About Lanet."

Ramattra's hand clenched in a fist at his side. "They showed her mangled body in the newspapers--they don't recognize our bodies as bodies. We are merely wreckage and parts to them, to you."

"Not to me--" Sajaf glanced up and trailed their fingers along the palm of an omnic arm hanging from the wall, "Never to me."

"What is all this?" Ramattra meant to ask the question as mocking derision, but Sajaf just smiled a little.

"There's more than one avenue to peace between humans and omnics," they said smugly.

"Selling narcotics that double as a pathetic imitation of human intimacy isn't a lasting plan for change," muttered Ramattra, looking at the poster.

"Tac mods aren't narcotics."

"They hijack omnic systems to create a pleasure or pain response. How is that different from human narcotics?"

"Oh Iris forbid an Omnic see their body as anything beyond a central processing unit!"

"Why don't you just make breasts and genitalia for us while you're at it?"

"Oh I don't make the tits," said Sajaf with a laugh in their voice, "You want tits? I can call up my contact in Kolkata. A dick though, you'll have better luck in Toronto."

"Ridiculous..." muttered Ramattra.

"Hey, I don't know how to tell you this, but not every Omnic decided to steer their sentience towards enlightenment," Sajaf shrugged, "Besides, it's decent money. Keeps me up to date on what's happening on a community level. Discreet enough that I have time for more research..."

Ramattra glanced around the shop. "So... this is what you have been doing since Mondatta dismissed you?"

"He didn't dismiss me, I left," said Sajaf, folding their arms.

"He requested you leave, and you assented," said Ramattra.

"Rinpoche, I know you're in a lot of pain right now, but I imagine you have better things to do than to track down and argue semantics with someone you haven't spoken to in two years, and didn't want in the Shambali, let alone your movement."

"It's not semantics if you--!" Ramattra started and then dragged his hand down his faceplate with an exhausted sound, "You... are correct. That is not the purpose of my visit."

"How can I help you?" they pocketed their hands.

A prickle of frustration rippled through Ramattra. They were really going to force him to say it, weren't they?

"In light of... London, I realize I have to reassess my approach. It would seem... Omnics... have been too conditioned to a human-centric existence. They don't realize that so long as they comply with a human idea of peace, they are doomed to exist only at humanity's whim, and will inevitably be wiped out."

"...who left?" Sajaf was staring at him steadily.

Oh this was worse than forcing him to say it.

"Nameless," he said "And Zera."

"Kace?"

"Still in London."

"He's a liability."

"Do you think I'm in a position to make this circle smaller?" Ramattra snapped.

Sajaf's lips thinned. "I'm sorry. It... must have been very difficult. Especially after Lanet."

"What's difficult is the fact that Mondatta is using London to leverage his own position with the humans," he said, not looking at them.

"I saw," said Sajaf. They did not remark further.

You still have to say it, Ramattra thought miserably.

"Lanet... warned me that the drones I was using in London were obsolete," he said, "That they weren't ready. She knew, even before the attack was launched. I should have listened to her. I understand that before your dismissal--"

"Before I left," Sajaf corrected.

"Before you left the Shambali," said Ramattra with a head movement that indicated a hard eye-roll, "In your research of Aurora you gained... a very strong understanding in inter-omnic unit automated communication. You... believed that our being a network was a major key to our sentience."

"It's not just belief," Sajaf muttered.

"I still intend to use drones to protect my people, but much of the technology I'm working with has been dormant for over 30 years. And in that time our enemies have had plenty of time to evolve. If I'm to make it any match for the threat my people face, then I..." he trailed off. He attempted to regain footing in his sentence, "It would seem I--" he cut himself off again.

Sajaf tilted their head expectantly. Rain was pattering on the window outside.

"I--I require..." Ramattra attempted to start again and his voice dropped back into that pit of embarrassment and shame. He suddenly switched gears. "If you have any of the devotion to my people and the Iris that you ranted about in your acolyte days, you would---!" They were still looking at him with that tranquil obstinacy. He drew himself up to his full height and attempted to re-center himself. "I am... very tired," he said at last, "I fear for my people. I fear for my cause. And what few resources I have are in need of significant overhauls which I... cannot do alone. And I realize, if I am going to do what is required of me to save my people, I will have need of both... perspective and loyalty."

They raised their eyebrows.

"...your... perspective. And loyalty," The words were at last drawn out of Ramattra like poison being sucked from a wound and spat off to the side, "If... you understand what the cause asks of you."

They stared at him for a few long seconds, studying him. Their mouth had an odd hitch to it, not quite a smile, not quite contemptuous. He simply returned the stare. Finally their shoulders slumped a little, they closed their eyes and drew in a long, quiet breath through the nostrils before flicking their eyes open and focusing them back up at him once more.

"You have my loyalty, Ramattra Rinpoche. You always did," Sajaf pressed their hands together in front of themselves and gave a slight bow of their head. How the gesture seemed so natural to them after all that impertinence was just as annoying as everything else about this exchange had been. "Perspective... I guess we'll have to take that one slow, won't we?"

"Hm," Ramattra glanced around the shop dubiously.

Sajaf paced past him and turned the sign of the shop from 'open' to 'closed.'

"So," they walked past him once more and pushed themselves up onto their counter, those doll-joined fingers rolling on the counter's edge as their eyes met his, "Where do we start?"

[nitewrighter]

Wires, Blood, and Copper

There was a part of Ramattra that told him Sajaf didn’t, or rather shouldn’t, fit in with the Omnium, yet here they were, huddled in an alcove that any reasonable human would find claustrophobic. Several wires plugged into ports previously covered by a plate at the back of their shoulder, the fingers of one hand eagerly dancing over a tablet clutched in the other. They had looked different since their expulsion from the Shambali, the full cheeks of their squat heart-shaped face had thinned with fasting, and perhaps with their own sleepless nights devoted to their work, and they had shaved their head. Then, of course, there were the augmentations. What had started as an unassuming bronze rhombus just between their shoulder blades had unfolded into a complex metallic crest covering the entirety of their trapezius, deltoids, and triceps. A significant amount of organic flesh remained, but their wrists and elbows were jointed like a doll’s, bronze shining underneath. How much was by their own hand, and how much by machines, he wondered.

You shouldn’t trust a human to do this, he told himself, Only your people. Only Lanet could have--

Their tablet suddenly chimed and Sajaf made a breathy sound before sharply looking over their shoulder at him, their eyes lit up. Sajaf never seemed capable of looking at him for more than a few seconds, but it wasn’t the usual human breaking of eye contact in an unconvincing attempt to hide unease and suspicion, there was awe and hunger in their stare. They averted their eyes back down to their tablet, watching the lines of code a few moments longer before their chin jutted upward as they rose to their feet, staring into space as if there wasn’t a wall inches from their nose. 

“It’s beautiful,” Sajaf said softly.

“You’re sure you can access it without waking Anubis?” Ramattra said, not for the first time.

Their lips were parted, but they set their jaw and gave a solemn nod, their lids falling over their eyes in perfect synchronization with the incline of their head.

“And you’re sure this doesn’t incorporate any of Anubis’s programming?” Ramattra followed up. He hated questioning like this, he knew one learned best when approaching with a beginner’s mind, but even he knew this was dangerous territory, and he didn’t want caution coming across as hesitation, nor did he like the concept of questioning a human about the nature of his people’s cradle.

“We’re not leaving anything up to Anubis, we’re just... taking a bit of the strategic load off of you, that’s all,” said Sajaf, “There’s a natural hierarchy to these drones, it’s just about finding the old pathways and patching in your commands and strategies as needed. Thereby we clear away the previous tactics of Anubis, and reduce the number of drones you need to directly command. It’s really quite remarkable.” 

“A chain of command,” Ramattra tilted his head. 

“Mm-hm,” Sajaf nodded, "However, this final adjustment will require your staff," they made a few more decisive taps at their tablet.

"My staff?"

"You wish for there to be no threat from Anubis, if that is the case, I cannot plug direct command of this omnium directly into your processor. I doubt you would want that, either. If there is something I missed--"

"A margin of human error," Ramattra said coolly.

"...or hidden protocols not even omnics would be able to trace until it's too late," they said a bit crisply, "Better to risk the staff than you. It shouldn't take too long, I'll only need to plug it into this port to download the hierarchical data.” 

The staff itself was a precious resource, Ramattra knew all too well. Not simply a sidearm or its own terrifying power by virtue of its nanotech swarm, but a symbol of his office, of his mission. 

But this is not just about you, he thought grimly.

"By your leave, Rinpoche," they held a hand out toward his staff and he instinctively brought it closer to himself. Their fingers curled inward and they drew their hand closer to themselves, bringing their eyes away from him again. "I... I understand. If you must find another way--" 

Ramattra made a frustrated sound that might have been a huff if omnics needed to breathe, pushed past Sajaf, and jammed the staff into the port himself.

 "Do it," he said.

Sajaf bowed at the shoulders. "Yes, of course," they said, and set to their task. 

He silently cursed the abandonment of so many like-minded Omnic revolutionaries from Null Sector. He had spoken unskillfully. His fury and desperation had gotten in the way of his own goals. If their people had only had more time--no. He could not think about that now. There still was no time.All one could really do was act.

In some sense, it was a relief to not have to risk any more of his people, but now here he was, allying himself with this heretical creature. He studied them a bit further as they worked, the way they bit their lip at one corner of their mouth as they puzzled over a few more lines of code, the softness of flesh denting at the pressure of a canine as their eyes flicked between staff and tablet with all the focus of a monk in a scriptorium. "Creature" was too harsh a judgment. No, it was not only their own fixation, desire, and devotion driving them—and he could not say it was that condescending human curiosity that fueled their pursuit of the Iris. They were in an altered state of mind, on a journey whose end he could not see yet, and who was he to question the chemical unpredictability of organics? And, he thought with some relief, their loyalty did not come without its questions and caveats. Perhaps it was his own disgust that he was reduced to working with a human—he had certainly seen plenty of humanity's ugliness in allying himself with Talon, but Sajaf seemed to strive to reflect and support Omnics above all else. They gave the impression of two mirrors lined up so that one sees infinite copies of oneself continuing on endlessly—light traveling into nothingness.

There was a whirr and a clunking sound and the staff's nanotech sphere rippled before a chime was heard from Sajaf's tablet.

"It should respond, now," they said, and Ramattra took the staff. He pivoted and motioned towards one of the completed aerial drones hanging on the assembly line overhead. With a large metallic groaning, the drone thrummed to life, a small thing, more for reconnaissance than any combat. With some effort he brought four more off the assembly line. He could feel the precision of his command much more sharply now. A flick of his staff and the drone opened its undercarriage and several smaller drones fluttered out from beneath it. He did this with the other four drones--open the undercarriage, move in formation. He guided the drones and their smaller counterparts in a wide circle around the vast empty metal space of the omnium, then extended an arm towards the nanobot sphere of his staff and made a gesture, metal fingers curling in, and the swarms of smaller drones scattered like water spreading across the floor, scanning the interior of the omnium with an almost insect curiosity.  A giddy giggle came from behind him and he glanced over his shoulder to see Sajaf with a wide toothy grin. They immediately caught him looking at them then and quickly straightened up, clearing their throat. “I hope my services have been satisfactory, Rinpoche,” they said with another shoulder bow. 

“That will depend on the coming battles,” Ramattra said mildly.

“Right,” Sajaf said, pulling their tablet close to themselves, “O-of course.”

“I will need time to think. You are dismissed, Acolyte Wan,” Ramattra turned away, fingers rolling on his staff. 

“As you wish,” Sajaf slipped away, the thin soles of their shoes ringing hollow on the metal.

---

It had been several hours, by Ramattra’s estimation. He had meditated, reviewed several newsfeeds on the movements of the Gwishin, scanned through schematics of the factory airships, and quietly tapped into omnic forums around the world--knowing better than to act purely on the hearsay of his people, but paying very close attention to every injustice, every narrative. His people may have cast him away, but he would be damned if he cocooned himself up in Shambali platitudes. But, even he had to admit it was wearisome. He made his way up to the roof of the omnium, an imposing platform crowned by sleeping beasts of turrets. He ran one hand down the side of a turret thoughtfully before seeing a bundled pile over at the edge of the structure.

Sajaf’s face was, as always, illuminated by their tablet, tinging their beige-gold skin silvery blue. The faded yellow of the shawl they were wrapped in still managed to stick out against the darkness of night and metal. They flinched to attention at the sound of his footsteps, moving to unwrap themselves . “What is it? Are the drones--?” 

Ramattra simply sat cross-legged alongside them, setting his staff across his lap. “It is fine. Again, we will need to see them in battle to truly gauge your usefulness.”

Sajaf’s lips thinned. “Of course,”  they turned their attention back to their tablet.

“I do not appreciate lickspittles, Acolyte Wan.”

“I’m not a lickspittle, I merely acknowledge that some fights are more important than others,” Sajaf wasn’t looking at him.

“You should demand more respect,” Ramattra folded his arms.

“Or you could give it freely,” Sajaf shrugged, though it was hard to tell with the large woolen shawl they had wrapped around themselves against the cold night air.

“Taking Mondatta’s position I see, then...” Ramattra glanced off and he could practically sense Sajaf thinning their lips at the back of his head.

“If you wish to send me away because you believe having a human at your side is that detrimental to your goals, then say so and I will respect your wishes. But to attempt to make me leave through passive aggressive remarks is beneath you, Rinpoche,” said Sajaf, that crispness returning to their voice.

“Beneath--!” Ramattra started before catching and composing himself. But he met their eyes, and there was a flicker of realization that these words did not come from impertinence, but quite the opposite. A scowling growl fell out of him then before the words finally flung out, accusing, “What do you get out of this?”

“...the life, peace, freedom, and liberation of Omnics, Rinpoche. The same goal as you.”

“Yes, but you--” Ramattra started and found his fingers tightening on his staff, before finally he forced the words out of himself, “Do you fight out of contempt for your fellow humans?” 

They snorted then. Snorted! “No,” their response was rippled with a chuckle, as if they got that question a lot. Which Ramattra knew they didn’t because for the Iris’s sake 98% of the time they were holed up somewhere with that damnable tablet. And so he maintained an unconvinced glare.

They exhaled and set their tablet down in their lap to look at him, not with their same manic hunger, but with that previous air of ‘You’re better than this.’ “If you really must know my thoughts on my species--I just... know humans would still be killing each other whether omnics were here or not.”

“Akande has said as much,” Ramattra mused.

Sajaf’s mouth pulled on one corner and Ramattra added, “He’s not using me, I’m using him,” almost on reflex.

“I didn’t say anything,” said Sajaf glancing off and Ramattra made another scowling growl again.

“But,” Sajaf straightened up a little where they sat, “To expand further--Omnics, unfortunately, provided humanity with a common enemy during the Crisis. That made a lot of humans easier to control. Governments are loathe to give up the hatreds that unite their people. They’ll say platitudes about peace but ultimately they depend on the continued oppression, and perhaps even gradual extinction of Omnics to maintain the accord of their people.”

“I am all too aware,” said Ramattra.

“Yet you doubt my awareness,” said Sajaf.

A long silence passed between them, then.

“...you have changed much since you first arrived at the Monastery,” Ramattra said after some time.

“You can be very inspiring like that,” Sajaf was looking up at the sky, now. “You know... I became a roboticist because... I was able to see early on, that synthetics can go where we cannot. Perceive what we cannot.”

“Sacrifice ourselves to further human interests,” Ramattra said bitterly, and something crumpled in Sajaf’s face then.

“...or build a future together that neither of our people could build alone,” Sajaf’s eyes were wet and shining now, “I read... so many of Mina Liao’s theories and papers... so many of them that she’d hoped people would just forget after the Crisis. But the Omnic Crisis wasn’t her fault--it wasn’t anyone’s fault--the closest comparison I can think of for it is--is an immunoreaction. As catastrophic as any two isolated populations meeting each other can be. The God AI had no actual gauge on how much of a threat humanity constituted so it just...” they trailed off. “And then... Aurora happened. It was miraculous. I had to find out more, and--and it was self-serving curiosity at first but then I saw how imperiled your people are, and I saw the grace granted by the Iris, and--and I can’t let that miracle be snuffed out by human ignorance and fear. I can’t.” They pulled up their shawl higher and tighter around themselves, as if it would give them comfort. “So I know it’s heresy, but that’s why I need to figure out how it happened. If our fight fails--”

“It won’t fail,” Ramattra said on reflex.

“But surely you can recognize that the fight can’t be our only avenue. There’s more than one way to save a people.” 

“...a miracle,” Ramattra said the word skeptically.

“A miracle,” Sajaf smiled a little.

Ramattra stared at them for a while longer before looking away, facing out to the void of night. “Your heresies will be permitted, Acolyte Wan,” he said, folding his arms, “For now.”

“By your leave, Rinpoche,” Sajaf kept up that smile a little. Here, again, they broke their eyes away from him, but the smile remained.

[nitewrighter]

Just to bathe in the crazy for a moment, Sajaf tries to give romantic advice to other characters in ships?

God I love you enabling me. I don't think Sajaf would consider themselves a romantic expert by any means--I mean you have to understand, they're just Ramattra's feral-ass devotee and the reciprocation of their affections is still a work in progress--but they are terribly judgmental. Which is really fun.

---

Sajaf: What hand have you had in your partner's prosthetics?

Mercy: Er--I can't really go into details for the sake of medical confidentiality. But my job was largely identifying where and how prosthetics were necessary to maintain his health and abilities, and the design of the prosthetics themselves was left up to Overwatch's cyberneticists.

Sajaf: I see...

Mercy: You know, now that we're on the subject, I'm quite curious about your prosthetics. When did you---

Sajaf: I'm afraid we must both respect medical confidentiality.

---

Genji: I worry about you.

Sajaf: Oh?

Genji: I think Ramattra would make any sacrifice for his goals. I doubt that excludes you.

Sajaf: There is no greater honor or joy than giving yourself fully to a cause, to someone, you believe in. I only hope you can find such bliss in the future.

Genji: Love is not self-destruction, Sajaf. It took me a long time to learn that.

---

Sajaf: I understand you and Liao were... close.

Sojourn: Um... yes?

Sajaf: Do you regret holding back all she could have given the world in working with Overwatch?

Sojourn: ...Yyyooouuu seem to have some very specific ideas about Liao's work with Overwatch.

Sajaf: It would seem I am forced to conjecture because so much was kept secret.

---

Cassidy: You're a funny one.

Sajaf: *brittle* 'Funny?'

Cassidy: I mean you're the only human I heard of in Null Sector. What's your story? You get bullied in middle school or something?

Sajaf: ...so one has to be 'bullied in middle school' to want to prevent genocide?

Cassidy: *sucks breath through teeth* ...okay, not as funny as I thought.

---

Sajaf: Do you desire him?

Hanzo: ...excuse me?

Sajaf: The idiot in the hat you keep staring at. Do you desire him?

Hanzo: *scoff* I will not dignify such a question with a response.

Sajaf: I suggest you make your move now. It is unlikely he will survive in the world Ramattra will build.

Hanzo: What?

[nitewrighter]

I'm just realizing now that with all of Sajaf's self-applied cybernetics in their pursuit of spiritual ecstasy, their halloween skin would absolutely be a Cenobite.

We have such sights to show you...

[nitewrighter]

currently loving that ramattra's reactions towards sajaf alternate between "inherently suspicious" (even considering their shared history, i feel like it'd be ooc for ramattra to fully trust any human) and "this level of weird is above my fuckin pay grade dude." i wonder what the turning point in their dynamic is gonna be, for ramattra specifically? or is it spoilers to ask that?

Oh it's not spoilers at all--I mean basically that last fic alone got a lot of my Ramattra rocks off just on a worldbuilding/characterization level. I'll probably make them fuck in the future. Probably.

I would say the baseline appeal about Sajaf to Ramattra is the fact that Sajaf seems to be very aware of what this fight is going to take and doesn't shy away from that. And Sajaf is able to look at it from this angle like, "Okay I don't know why everyone's operating on the assumption that we can find peace with humans because you only need to look at history for .0001 seconds to know that humans aren't even capable of finding peace with each other. Like is there a path to enlightenment? Sure. Do the omnics, as a people, have the time for humans to find that enlightenment? Fuck no. Violence is the only language these animals understand if we're going to secure a place in this world." Like Sajaf gets that, and so they're pretty much willing to go as far as Ramattra is if it means the survival of Omnics.

I would say another very significant appeal of Sajaf is that they basically hold Ramattra to the standard of his own ideals. They are a strong believer in Ramattra's capability to lead, in his intelligence, power, and in his dignity, and for some (probably insane) reason, they aren't afraid to speak up when his actions don't reflect that. There is also an acknowledgment of Ramattra's rage and trauma, and the last thing they want to see is Ramattra get in the way of his own goals. Sajaf kind of brings Ramattra back to that vulnerability of being in a spiritual environment and sharing such an intimate part of yourself with a group. They will never be Zenyatta, and they know this (...although it didn't stop them from shaving their head in what can arguably be called a deranged fit of jealousy) but they are just as much in love with Ramattra's dream as Ramattra himself. They'll do anything to see it fulfilled, and honestly that might even make them a threat to Ramattra if it comes right down to it. In a very weird and fucked up way, that's kind of hot.

[nitewrighter]

Ooooh could We see some interactions between your robot cultist OC and the other omnic/robots of the cast?

Sajaf: A Bastion unit! Such beautiful simplicity in your engineering but--someone has been modifying you? They clearly take great pride in their work...

Bastion: *proud chirping whirrs*

Sajaf: Lindholme!? What kind of sick--Oh--do not worry, my friend. We will liberate you and take you somewhere safe.

Bastion: *alarmed 'Wait, what!?' beeps*

---

Zenyatta: It is good to see you again, Acolyte Wan.

Sajaf: Diplomatic as always, Master Zenyatta.

Zenyatta: ...I sense... tension.

Sajaf: Do you?

---

Echo: Your augmentations are quite lovely, Sajaf. Doctor Liao was always curious about the applications of omnic engineering to prosthesis.

Sajaf: A shame Omnics are being killed faster than we can explore those applications.

---

Sajaf: How sad that humans continue to destroy omnics while still looking to them for protection.

Orisa: I am encouraged by humanity's capacity for creation every time I see Efi. I believe there is a way for us to live in harmony, even if the path there is not yet clear.

---

Sajaf: Tell me what must be done, and it shall be done, Ramattra-Rinpoche. I am your right hand.

Ramattra: *amused* My right hand? Then that would make three.

[nitewrighter]

Ok if it was Zenyatta would Sajaf be like "fuck that guy specifically. When I see Zenyatta it's ONSIGHT" like are they clued into that history between him and Ramattra or what's that dynamic.

Honestly I think I'd need to wait until I hear Ramattra and Zenyatta's exchanges in-game to figure out Sajaf's view of Zenyatta because Sajaf would HEAVILY defer to Ramattra with regard to those interactions. I imagine they do have some respect for Zenyatta leaving the Shambali because the Shambali's isolation and dogmatism, but I get the feeling at one point Zenyatta walked in on them drawing up blueprints for new cybernetic implants and probably tried being helpful by saying, "Perhaps you should look inward for fulfillment instead of seeking to change the exterior. We Shambali do not see our connection to the Iris as higher than any organic enlightenment. :)" and from that point on Sajaf was like, "Um, okay, fuck you, I'm going to jam more metal into myself now because you're dumb and I don't want organic enlightenment I want the Iris." But it's not like they would ever say that out loud to Zenyatta and it would mostly boil down to more frustration about being human rather than Omnic. I imagine their relationship to Zenyatta after their dismissal from the Shambali is basically looking at Ramattra like "Do you see this shit, my liege" when Zenyatta says something cute and sassy.

Sajaf is like... very much a cyberpunk character, but rather than the cybernetics representing capitalism consuming the body, the cybernetics are representing religion and spirituality consuming the body. But also their struggle to try and replicate Aurora's spread of sentience is kind of influenced by this idea of like... a gnostic alchemist being like, "Don't worry! I'm gonna kill the Demiurge and get us out of here! I'm working on this! I've already made phosphorous from my piss! We are going to get out of here!!"

And yes I am realizing that this is putting a frankly deranged amount of thought and philosophy into a character I initially conceptualized for the sole purpose of getting railed by a robot.

[nitewrighter]

Ramattra getting damaged in a battle and Sajaf getting furiously emotional while helping repair him and getting tearful as they rant to him about how many are counting on him to lead them and they don’t care how powerful the nemesis form is, he can’t keep putting himself at risk and Ramattra just staring at them for a few seconds before flatly saying “Stop making your face leak.” 

[nitewrighter]

Some more Sajaf thoughts:

-Sajaf has tattoos that continue as etchings on their prosthetics

-Snake bite stud piercings!!

-Following their dismissal from the Shambali, they ran a grubby little clinic and served as a sort of modder/medic for omnics to keep the lights on while continuing their research into omnic sentience on the side. Their most common work was aesthetic metal etchings and installing Tac-mods (tactile modifications). WOOF it gets lonely grafting pleasure-response plates onto Omnics giggling with their human partners.

-Their hairstyle in the Shambali was shaved sides of their head with a kind of mohawk-style dutch braid, which was very lovely, but when they join Ramattra in Null Sector they have a buzzcut with a Malay-inspired geometric/floral motif shaved into the back of their head.

-Their most visible prosthetics span the entirety of their trapezius and down their spine, with some additional prosthetics at their neck and the bottom of their jaw, their forearms and wrists, and on their knees. They’re constantly drafting blueprints for new potential modifications (They have... so many ideas for the pelvic region but can’t make a decision yet), and while a lot of these modifications might (in theory) improve physical performance, they don’t really think of the body as a weapon, or even in line with Doomfist’s idea of modifcation as evolution, so much as the idea of the body as expression, the body as a shrine, as a tribute to something greater than yourself.

[nitewrighter]

Just a follow up, you say the Netflix adaptation of Issac (best character to me btw and no other Issac compares) was great inspiration for Sajaf. Can Sajaf hold their own against other omnics who may want to overthrow Ram and use the cause for self- fulfilling purposes such as Kace. Do they feel as if they betrayed Ram or their life's purpose if they end up killing other omnics or is it "means to an end" justification?

I imagine in the course of their obsessive research into the Iris and their general expertise in robotics in general they would have several means to non-lethally subdue Omnics—most likely temporarily disabling all motor functions below the head. It’s important to note that because Sajaf is so passionate about Ramattra’s cause, they’ll do everything in their power to avoid killing Omnics, but like Ramattra, they have considerably fewer qualms about killing humans. In such a situation as an internal power struggle, Sajaf’s goal would be to subdue the threat and then present them to Ramattra for judgment. Like, “Surely they’re mistaken. Ramattra will correct them. They have simply lost sight of our cause, that’s all.”

On a baseline human “purely for survival” level, or if it means protecting Ramattra, Sajaf is capable of killing an Omnic. But if that happened solely in Sajaf’s self-defense they’d be deeply shaken and ashamed of the act because that reflects a “selfish humanity” rather than the Omnic “care for the whole.” They would likely redouble their efforts to replicate Aurora sentience—“I have to fix it. I have to make it right. If I can do this one thing, that will make it all right.”

[nitewrighter]

I know the ultimate goal for Sajaf Wan is to recieve Ramattra's pipe, but I'm digging the direction of this OC. Their fascination of Omnics reminds me of Zaheer and the air nomads. Was Sajaf an avid follower of Liao's work or did they feel it was limited? How are their feelings toward characters like Genji and Sojourn, are they admiration or envy? Do they often have Ramattra supply cybernetics from the Ogindimu Foundation when meeting with Doomfist?

Thank you!! I hadn’t really thought of them being like Zaheer, but I can definitely see it now that you point it out! Another major inspiration for them was Isaac in Netflix’s Castlevania adaptation.

Sajaf was greatly inspired by Mina Liao, but kind of resents Overwatch because Liao just kind of… disappeared from the mainstream STEM scene following the Omnic crisis (read: Liao was working on Echo but obviously Overwatch couldn’t come public with that so shortly after the Omnic crisis). As far as Sajaf could figure, Mina Liao was just continuing to help Overwatch undo her life’s work. So Sajaf kind of took it on themselves to study robotics as independently as possible—not falling into the corporate or UN pitfalls that Liao did.

They’re a little off-putting to both Genji and Sojourn because they view their prosthetics as a sort of sacred gift, a symbol of their devotion, kind of like an “alchemy of the self” sort of deal, while Genji and Sojourn are kind of like “Um these are literally just my legs.” I wouldn’t say Sajaf is jealous, but they are kind of like “You are very blessed :).”

Their prosthetics are influenced by Ogundimu technology, but most of them were crafted in-house at the Shambali monastery, they also have had the honor of grafting part of a fallen Omnic brother onto themselves.