Post by Morgan Reiniger on Feb 16, 2016 1:54:53 GMT -5
-Opening-
Password 1: Guts's Jawline
Password 2: #Rekt
Type: Struggler
Affiliation: None
Rank: Mercenary Rank 1
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-Basic Information-
Name: Morgan Reiniger
Age: 20
Birthday (Month/Day): January 15th
Blood Type: O-Negative
RP Sample (Optional): See work done by Gracie
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-Appearance-
Height/Weight: 5' 10"/129 lbs
Physical Description: Morgan has a much sleeker, lithe build than many women her own age. Her waist and chest don't boast much in the way of feminine features, nature instead favoring her with long, slender legs and arms, gifting her with a longer stride and a longer draw for her bow on the battlefield. Even her fingers are long and thin, and provide the young lady with much dexterity in household tasks as well, such as sewing, cleaning, and cutting in the kitchen. Matching up with the slight curves of her hips, Morgan also possesses narrow shoulders further accentuated by the pulled-back hairstyle she prefers to wear.A rich navy-blue in color and with a bright sheen, Morgan's hair when worn down reaches only a small ways past her shoulder line, barely reaching to the bottom of her shoulder blades, with her bangs cut short that the front of her face and longer at the sides to frame her face.
Hating how it gets in her way, Morgan can almost always be seen with her hair pulled up into a ponytail, leaving only the shorter bangs on the front and sides of her face down, though on occasions where formality is necessary, she will begrudgingly wear it down. The dark blue hair also helps to bring out the striking bright blue of the girls eyes. They can either appear warm and inviting like a bright sky on a hot summer day, or as harsh and cold as ice, the tone of which being entirely determined by whether or not Morgan's cherry blossom pink lips are curved into a smile or a scowl. With large eyes, a small, petite nose, and pronounced cheek bones paired with her sharp jaw, she has a face that is very expressive which can be a pain to Morgan when she doesn't want her true feelings to be known.
Morgan's dress of choice is a part of a series of uniforms specially designed by her father for their family. She wears a high neck black blouse with long sleeves set with a white vest-like design of cloth layered over top with it. The blouse is pleated towards the bottom hem and reaches down to the beginnings of Morgan's thighs before revealing the black cloth of her full length leggings beneath. The blue coat she wears over top nearly constantly is the mark of the Reiniger Quincy's and is crafted from high quality Melton fabric.
Embroidered with golden thread and accentuated with cross ribbons that symbolize her clan, the jacket features only a single clasp near the top of her chest to pin in place and features long coattails that end in a golden trim and are decorated by a pattern of dangling colored crystals. The inside of the coat is lined with a sleek black fabric that matches the thigh high black and gold trimmed boots that Morgan wears in addition. To finish off the regal look, Morgan also wears a golden headdress, a memento of her Japanese-born mother, to pin her hair in place. This headdress is also decorated in colored crystals that dangle from its branches, very similar to those of her coat.
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-Personality-
Dislikes:
1. Messes and Clutter- If Morgan walks into a room and sees a mess, you might just catch that small twitch to her eye when she first sees it, which for the most part is a dead give away to her disgust, even if her manners will keep her from commenting on it. Morgan is borderline obsessive when it comes to keeping everything clean and in order, so be careful of inviting her into a messy home, unless you want her to clean everything up when your back is turned, of course.
2. Boredom- Stagnation isn't an option for Morgan. She has a lot to prove and a lot of work to do, so if there is time for her to be bored, she's not pushing herself hard enough. Mostly, she just gets upset at herself over this, but others complaining of how bored they are and how they wish they could find something to do annoys her endlessly as well.
3. Wearing her Hair Down- With everything she has on her plate, the last thing Morgan wants to do during her busy day is stop in the middle of her chores or training to fix her hair or have to brush it back out of her face. Those 3 seconds she spent doing that could have been spent on something far more productive! She'd much rather just pull it up into a ponytail and be done with it.
4. Her Father- Morgan's relationship with her father, even now that he is dead, is very... complex. Yes, she loves all of her family, father included, as she waited on him hand and foot in the months leading up to his death, but he has also been the cause of much pain in her life. Morgan feels shame for her osen because her father was disappointed, but at the same time was punished for feeling ashamed when she was a quincy. He was teaching her to show only her pride, and to hold her head high no matter what. Morgan wishes to make her father proud of her, yet at the same time she despises him for the way he has treated her and for the decisions he has made, such as killing his own son and Morgan's brother, Marx, for joining the Vandenreich.
5. Flirting- Not that she is against romance or anything, or doesn't want to find love, but Morgan hates it when some guy she just met or who isn't very close to her tries to flirt with her. She likes to keep relationships professional and formal, and romantic implications offered with no real promise of commitment will only ever be met with either irritated indignation or cold, instant rejection. If someone wants to be involved with her in such a way, they need to show some investment in getting to know her as a friend first.
6. Traffic- After living in the quiet of the country-side for so many years, Morgan isn't used to the sounds of motors running 24/7, and they can grate on her nerves after a while, especially if she is trying to focus or just enjoying a moment of silence. She also has a much harder time falling to sleep in urban environments because of this, and the smell of the exhaust does nothing to improve the young quincy's opinion.
7. Being Called a 'Housewife'- It was shortly after her father cut her off from training after Morgan's osen was first discovered that she began to pick up her feminine hobbies; since she couldn't make herself useful by assisting and training with her father and brother, Morgan instead busied herself by helping out with her mother's work taking care of the family, trying to find a place so she didn't feel completely worthless. Regardless, her father viewed her inability to effectively dispatch hollows as a stain on the family and Morgan as a disappointment. Later, 'housewife' became a badge of insult he would often throw her way in the guise of a bitter compliment, even though Morgan perfectly understood what he meant. The chores have stuck with Morgan even now that she is a grown woman, even enjoying many of them, but she still hates when people make a comment on how she seems like or would make a good wife; even if meant as a compliment, it brings back memories of insult and shame, and Morgan wants nothing more than to be her own person.
8. Crying- Never wanting to show a sign of weakness, Morgan doesn't mind it if someone else wants to cry, but she won't tolerate letting herself cry, not even in privacy. If she does begin to cry, Morgan will often punish or insult herself for it, especially if she allows herself to be seen by another person. This can often lead to a vicious cycle, as her anger and frustration at herself often only makes things worse.
9. Winter- Morgan loves to be out in nature, but only when everything is alive and beautiful. Fall has its benefits, but winter makes for a desolate, unwelcoming landscape in Morgans mind. Winter is always a hard month to get through, as the dwindling daylight and lack of activities easily depress the girl, and she has to struggle with sitting quietly in her own thoughts throughout the long nights.
Likes:
1. Keeping Busy- Whether its working with her hands or keeping her mind distracted and focused, Morgan is always busy and always trying to improve herself or make herself useful to those around her. While mostly skilled at chores around the estate, she is also always willing to branch out to new things and try to improve in different fields as well, always expanding her horizons.
2. Nature- From Spring to Fall, the great outdoors are the one place where Morgan can feel at peace, or at least, as at peace as she will allow herself. She tries to go out of the house everyday and gather herbs or other ingredients just to enjoy the scenery and the fresh air. If she is feeling particularly stressed or upset, you would most likely find her out in a heavily wooded area, preferably near a stream, as the atmosphere does wonders to let Morgan recompose herself.
3. Cooking- Morgan is far from being a master chef, but she is still a good cook, and can at least use a knife as skillfully as a master chef can. A chore she used to help her mother with when she was cut off from being trained alongside her brother, Morgan thoroughly enjoys spending time in the kitchen, although the passion doesn't extend to baking at all, as she finds sitting around waiting for something to finish in the oven is boring and a waste of time. If Morgan feels she has a debt to repay someone, she will often try to settle it in the kitchen.
4. Peaches- Morgans favorite food, she thoroughly loves anything with peaches as an ingredient: turnovers, jams, cobblers, parfaits. If it has a peach in it, it will always put a smile on Morgans face and bring back warm memories of her brother form back when they were younger and would play under and eat peaches from the imported trees at their old estate in Germany. Even now, Morgans favorite way to eat peaches is fresh from the branch, even if its messier than she likes to admit.
5. Family- Regardless of whether or not they're blood relatives or simply very close friends, Morgan deeply loves and cares for anyone she considers part of her family. While not the best at showing affection or acknowledging it in return, the bonds Morgan forms are real and she is always willing to do whatever she can for family, even if she doesn't always agree with their ideals and motives. While insulting Morgan herself to try to earn some kind of reaction from her often proves fruitless, targeting the people she cares about in such a way will result in quick and brutal retaliation.
6. Focus Training- When her father had discontinued Morgan's training as a result of her osen manifesting, she had kept up with the focus exercises that she had been taught. Morgan was never keen on feeling left behind anyways, and as her brother continued his training and became stronger, she felt she had to do her best to keep up, especially so to try and make up for her blighted curse. Focus exercises, such as meditation, breath control, or pattern memorization, are simple to do, easy to hide, and do wonders for helping Morgan to soothe herself when the weight she puts on herself becomes too much to bear.
7. Floriography- The symbolism associated with flowers and their various arrangements has always fascinated Morgan. She picked up on the hobby at a young age when she first started helping her mother in the garden, and it has stuck with her ever since. Despite it being her one hobby that isn't immediately useful to improving herself, Morgan is surprisingly passionate about it and does what she can to incorporate into practical applications. She believes that you can tell a lot about a person based on the types of flowers they like, and often times reads into messages that she feels exist with certain patterns of floral arrangement. Floriography is so important to this quincy that it even manifests into her bow release.
8. Hiking- When she wants to take some time to herself and get away from everything for a while, its gonna take more than just some walk through the neighborhood park on a lazy afternoon to satisfy Morgan. She'd much rather be trekking through the deep forest or climbing up a remote mountain path, someplace where she can truly be alone to her thoughts and have the day to herself.
Flaws:
1. Puts up Walls- Morgan is a very private person and doesn't like to let anyone very close to her, both physically and emotionally. She does all she can to keep her secrets and isn't willing to share them with just anyone, and knows that once she lets someone in, there's no going back. It takes an extraordinary amount of determination and effort to tear down the walls that Morgan builds up around herself, and most people will simply give up.
2. Wears a Mask- Not a literal mask, but the Morgan that people meet at first glance with her polite smile and strong eyes is not the real Morgan. Going along with her habits of pushing people away from her, she puts up a facade whenever around other people and pretends to be something she's not to try to impress and also to be accepted, without ever really putting her neck on the line for having her feelings hurt.
3. Self-loathing- And speaking of hurt feelings, Morgan is her own bully. Because of her osen, she often feels that she is a lesser quincy, and therefore a lesser person. And no matter how many skills she perfects or how useful she makes herself to others, she can't ever seem to shake the feeling of not being truly whole, and she hates herself for it.
4. Pride- Most quincies do tend to be prideful and it can often prove to be a hubris, but its the struggle to live up to her own pride and the pride of her family that is truly harmful to Morgan. She will run herself ragged trying to live up to the expectations, and on the battlefield against hollows, she always has to work twice as hard as most quincies to be able to even do any damage at all thanks to her osen, and then has to push herself even harder than that so that she can try to keep it secret and keep that same pride from shattering, creating a vicious cycle.
5. Workaholic- Since Morgan can't be as much as a help as she wants during a fight, she often tries to make up for it by literally taking care of any and all house or yard work that she can find for herself to do. Cooking, Dishes, Laundry, Gardening, Reorganizing Silverware-- no matter what it is or how unnecessary the task seems, Morgan will find it and handle the task as if it was the most important of her duties, all day long, every single day. And if she runs out of things around the estate to take care of, she will go out and find work elsewhere-- so long as it fits her station, of course.
Habits:
1.Constant Cleaning- Being a bit of a perfectionist in the areas of her life she can control, Morgan has developed a slight OCD for keeping everything clean, organized, and presentable at all times. She doesn't like to leave anything unfinished and will clean up after herself immediately. She also has a habit of straightening up after other people as well, causing a great deal of annoyance on her part and theirs if they don't wish it.
2. Overly Formal Speech/Mannerisms- After a life of being drilled by her father to do so, Morgan treats everyone she comes across with the same level of dignity and respect expected of most nobles, regardless of setting or time. Her body is often kept straight and stiff, and she gives a polite bow in greeting for all introductions. People that she often has contact with in her daily life are regarded with honorifics such as "sir", "ma'am", or "master", to name a few.
3. Holding her Head High- Ever since she was a young child, Morgan was she was always taught to hold her head high, no matter what she was being accused of or what insults were being hurled her way, as bowing her head under such conditions would have been a sign of weakness and admittance of guilt. As such, Morgan never turns her head away from even the most difficult of conversations, choking down her own feelings and watching no matter how badly the pain or shame makes her want to hide.
4. Staring- Whether its measuring someone up or just admiring scenery, once Morgan turns her piercing gaze onto something or someone, it tends to linger there, analyzing every detail she can find and trying to ascertain their thoughts or intentions. She's also prone to getting lost in her thoughts and staring blankly ahead when she thinks she's alone.
5. Biting her Tongue- The Morgan that is all manners and smiles on the outside does little to truly reflect her inner feelings; if she allows herself to speak freely, Morgan can have a harsh tongue and a sardonic wit and so often will literally bite down on her own tongue to keep from speaking out and saying something she knows she may regret. During battles or when around people whom she really truly doesn't care about will Morgan allow herself some slip ups and say whats really on her mind.
6. Repaying Debts- Always taught to be self-sufficient and to carry herself with honor, Morgan hates the feeling of being indebted to others every time someone stops to help her. She doesn't like the idea of them holding some form of leverage over her head, so Morgan is always quick to repay others for their assistance, even if it seems unnecessary.From doing their chores to trying to save their lives, she'll do what she must to make things even.
Fears:
1. Her Osen being Discovered- Morgan is very touchy about her disabilities as a quincy, always working hard to try and hide her weaknesses, but she would much rather everyone assume her to be 'capable and inexperienced' than to know the truth of her situation. If no one knows of her osen, then she feels that at least others may have some hope for her to live up to her family name one day, but if it comes to light publicly, she fears for how other quincy may react to her and treat her.
2. Letting Others Too Close- She doesn't like to let people get close enough to see the real Morgan, because she doesn't think the real her is anything to be proud about. Morgan keeps everyone at bay with her formality and constant workload because its what she knows and its what she's comfortable with. It may do her a world of good to have someone she could rely on, but she's afraid and will put up a fight the whole way through.
3. The Vandenreich- Given the actions that her father has taken against the Vandenreich, it Isn't much a stretch to assume that the Reiniger family have some "Holy Retribution" coming their way. With the recent death of Morgan's father, however, she is now the only surviving member of the family, with no extended blood relatives to speak of, leaving her as the sole target of revenge and an incredibly easy one at that, not to mention her overwhelming hatred for the organization after her brother's demise. She holds the Vandenreich responsible for Marx, for changing him and 'killing' the kind honorable man he used to be. Morgan would sooner kill herself than join the Vandenreich.
4. Hollows- It's not just because of the effects that all hollows have on quincies when they come into contact with them; Morgan's osen, the one she dearly wishes to hide, only becomes obvious when she is fighting against hollows specifically, as any arrow that would normally pierce their mask and kill them is deflected completely in Morgan's case. She struggles against hollows and Arrancar both, but only against a hollow is it clear that there is something wrong with Morgan herself,and not that her opponent is simply stronger.
Goals:
1. To Become Completely Self-Sufficient- Not wanting to be a burden on anyone, Morgan hopes to one day be able to take care of herself completely. It is her hope that by becoming stronger, she can overcome the hurdles her osen creates so that she won't need to have help to win a fight against hollows or Arrancar,and so that she can one day return to her family's estate and live, as her father always said, as a Reiniger should: Standing Tall, Proud and Strong. Looking after those who can't take care of themselves, and not being taken care of instead, as is Morgan's current situation.
2. Prove Herself to her Fellow Quincy- Quincy are a hollows worst nightmare, all of them except for Morgan that is. She always seems to be one step behind no matter how hard she trains or how much she accomplishes in other areas of her life, and depending on the individual, this can lead to insults and ridicule on Morgan's behalf. She is always striving to prove to others that she is just as capable and strong as they are, no matter what she has to do to prove it.
3. Finding Someone who Understands- Morgan doesn't even know that she's wishing for it, or that she even needs it, but having at least one trustworthy person in her life whom understands her situation and genuinely wants to help would mean everything to her. Unloading her frustrations on them would give her a much healthier way to vent rather than just insulting her own weakness and shortcomings.
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Overall Personality: As has been previously stated, there are two sides to Morgan that make up who she is, and although one is more reflective of her true thoughts and feelings, both are crucial pieces that help to make up the mindset and personality of the young quincy. After all, a Morgan that is unreserved in her opinions or even so much as slouches isn't Morgan at all. Her formal side, as much as she uses it as a cover to keep others from getting too attached to her, is an important part of who she is.
It is this formal side, the one that carries with her a strong sense of dignity and competence that Morgan prefers to show to other people, as she was raised. Although acting so uptight all the time as if she is always working at a job rather than living her life alienates those around her, she was always taught to show no weakness and strive for self-sufficiency by her father and so does just that; it's been drilled into her soul. Not that Morgan really seems to mind if no one feels particularly attached to or even fond of her; in fact, she prefers it that way.
Beneath the surface of the always attentive and compliant Reiniger facade, Morgans true thoughts and feelings lurk, and as one might expect from a young adolescent girl with an inferiority complex brought on by her osen and her father, there are some very complex, if not all dark, sentiments floating around. Every time she messes up, every time she lets one little flaw slip, Morgan's hatred for her own weakness and inadequacy grows and her confidence shrinks. She is always striving to improve and to do what she believes would make her family and friends proud, but it is a constant uphill battle. Luckily for her, Morgan can be quite stubborn and strong-willed, and although she insults and berates herself it does little to effect that constant drive to be more.
When it comes to relationships with others, whether its just friendship or something more, Morgan is actually completely inexperienced. Her childhood was an isolated one, more akin to growing up in a military barracks rather than as a normal family would. She and her brother, Marx, had no access to the world outside the family estate; they even grew up without any television or cell phones, and their 'toys' were often tools. But that was just the way things were: their father was raising soldiers worthy of the family name, not soft children with no conviction.
Be that as it may, even though Morgan doesn't like or know how to let people feel close to her doesn't mean she can't feel close to them. She can and does grow attached to others, caring for them as though they were close friends even if the sentiment isn't returned. Often this makes Morgan appear subservient, as she is willing to go to great lengths for such people for seemingly no reason at all.
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-Powers-
Fighting Style: When Morgan's father cut her off from being trained alongside Marx, she lost the opportunity to receive traditional quincy training, never effectively learning to use her bow at all until very recently, but instead pursued other avenues of becoming stronger in the hopes that she would not fall behind. By her mother's insistence, Morgan had taken up the naginata, as well as maintained her easy-to-hide focus training as she slowly but surely developed a unique fighting style that is entirely her own: based on maintaining high adaptability and fluid, trance-like motions to confuse her opponents and keep them guessing.
When a fight begins, Morgan's first move is not to strike her opponent, but to analyze them, gathering any bit of key information she can about them so that she may adapt her tactics to tilt the tide of battle in her favor. More often than not, she will strike up a defensive stance with her Formation Naginata; not only is it the weapon she has had the most practice with, and ergo the most comfortable using, but starting with her naginata can often help to hide her status as a quincy from enemies that are unaware and lack the sensory skills to tell. Morgan's goal during this starting phase is to learn as much about her opponent as she can, not to reveal her own hand, after all.
Once the enemy goes on the offensive against her, Morgan relies on her natural agility and quick reflexes to keep her safe from attacks, regardless of whether her enemies try to strike her from near or far, carefully watching them and studying their moves all the while and building up an idea of what tactics to use that will give her the best chance of success. At the same time, she is also only relying on dodging, keeping the enemy as in the dark about her own capabilities as possible. She only counters with quick feints and strikes if an opponent is close-ranged, and only when they provide easy openings to do so. Once Morgan feels she has learned enough about the enemy to beat them, or if they begin to overwhelm her defenses and evasions, the quincy will then make a choice about whether to stick with her naginata or switching to her bow.
If she feels that close-ranged fighting is the way to go and that her speed is enough to keep her safe, Morgan will stick with her naginata and begin to move in unpredictable patterns as she moves to maintain the proper range for her weapon. She greatly relies on her speed for close range combat to overwhelm the enemy with lightning quick blows, fluidly switching from brutal offense to defensive counters and fake-outs to keep them on their toes. Some of her favorite places to attack in this way are the joints and limbs; while rarely a killing blow, she can disable opponents easily in this manner, making them all the easier to dispatch, and arms and legs become easy targets for a fast counterattack when a slower strike is being made towards her.
If Morgan decides long-range fighting is the way to go against an enemy, trying to escape a close range onslaught, or simply just changing up tactics to confuse her foes, she will switch to using her quincy bow. With greater distance between her enemies, Morgan has more time to react to their moves, but they also get more time to avoid hers as well, so tricky tactics are even more important here. Many of Morgan's arrows in her release are decidedly deceiving, as a good many of them are MORE dangerous when they actually miss their target. Enemies often have a hard time predicting her shots, as she erratically goes back and forth from purposely trying to hit them and blatantly missing on purpose, and from firing single shots to multiple arrows at once.
To add to the confusion even more, Morgan stays on the move as much as she can, utilizing step techs to try and appear where she's always least expected, whether it's right in front of a foe, behind them, right next to them, down the street, or even above or below; she gauges the patterns in an opponent's reactions and expectations to try to constantly defy them. The entire time she is doing so, Morgan is utilizing that hypnotic, dance-like style she has developed herself, utilizing every skill and strength she has to claim victory. This way of fighting only becomes harder to deal with when she utilizes her first bow property, as she can then switch fluidly between both close and far ranged combat seamlessly with no need to change weapons at all.
Morgan's way of fighting, as unique as it is, is shaped and caused by her unique circumstances: unlike normal quincies, Morgan cannot kill hollows with a perfectly placed arrow to the mask, and as she becomes stronger, becomes less capable of hurting them at all. While her tactics can come across as dirt and unfair, they weren't born out of an uncontrollable desire to win; they were born out of a need to survive. Against hollows and arrancar, Morgan has had to adapt to even just try to survive the encounters. She favors her naginata as the first weapon she draws because if she tried to utilize the bow, it would become clear something strange was going on when she avoided aiming for the mask. She relies on her speed to evade attacks because being struck by a hollow or arrancar, at any range, would be detrimental to her. Specifically, when fighting against creatures or people that her osen extends to, Morgan cares less about winning then she does just buying time, either to allow people to escape or waiting for back up to arrive.
Bow Release Overall Theme The theme of Morgan's powers revolve around her love of flowers and nature, but the true nature of her powers are tied deeply to interpretations of her soul and the relationships she has with the people around her. The importance of symbolism for her flowers runs deep throughout her properties, and although to a stranger she may appear to be a quincy that just shoots flowers, those who are closer to and have a better understanding of Morgan can read into the deeper meanings behind her abilities, and may even draw connections to her life or even to themselves.
Bow Release Properties
Class 6- "Naginata"
Form Property
Morgan has been training herself with a naginata for a long time ever since she was cut off from her standard quincy training, and is now more comfortable using a glaive than she is an actual bow. When activated, this property weaves the reiatsu of her bow together in a stiff golden vine that straightens out into the long curved blade of a naginata on one end, and the bladed petals of a lotus on the other, which is where she fire's her arrows from. The naginata has a curved guard at the bottom of the blade that catches other weapons, and if used skillfully can be a useful tool for disarming an opponent.
When used with Morgan's class 3 property, the flower that blooms on the naginata takes the form of whichever flower type she currently has active, with the flower closing into a golden bud and reopening whenever they change. This form can also plant seeds from the class 3 property by striking someone with the bladed petals of the flower, as seeds are left behind in the cuts. As Morgan is spinning her naginata around, these seeds can also be dropped, rather than fired, from the flower as a way to stealthily plant them around the environment when used in naginata form.
Class 5- "8-Petal Lotus"
Arrow Property
The arrows that Morgan fires, while still made of reiatsu, take on an appearance similar to that of a lotus stem with an 8-petal flower on the back. When this arrow strikes anything, these 8 petals are released as additional arrows that fire in the opposite direction of the main arrow they were released from, creating a scatter shot effect, though the petals can be guided in their flight like any other quincy arrow as well.
While a Lotus by default, if Morgan's Class 3 property is active at the same time, the arrows will look like current flower she has active on her Class 3. This provides no additional effects, it is merely for flavor and consistency in her powers.
Class 4 Property - "Seeds"
Power Property
This property can be applied to Morgan's arrows, transforming them so that they fire as seeds. Flying at the speed of default arrows(or higher, depending on other active properties), these seeds are incredibly hard to see or track flying through the air, requiring at least 200 in senses or 200 in Energy Sensory to detect. Once landing on a surface or embedding into flesh, the seeds begin to grow immediately, hooking themselves in with reiatsu roots the moment they hit. These roots allow the flower to grow on any surface, even solid steel, and spread out in a foot-wide diameter with the seed at its center. If planted in flesh, attempting to rip out the seed will cause serious muscular damage throughout the root range, though leaving the plant alone can prove dangerous as well. Waiting until the post after they are planted to allow for growth time, a flower will bloom, and like the previous property, will fire its 8 petals as arrows when Morgan wills them to. This allows Morgan to turn her enemies into ticking time bombs, as a well placed seed will hurt them either by forcing them to rip out the roots or by blasting them with point blank arrows once it is grown, though this only applies if Morgan is able to plant the seed on them. She can also spread them throughout her environment to essentially create a mine field of exploding flowers, allowing her to fire large volleys of petal arrows from several locations once she has enough planted and bloomed.
The flower planted by this Property is a Lotus unless Morgan's Class 3 property is active, in which case it can be one of 4 flowers added by that power. This does not effect the amount of arrows fired; it will always be 8.
Class 3 Property- "Floriography"
Power Property
Requires the Class 5 or Class 4 property to be active. This property unlocks 4 additional flowers for Morgan to use besides just her Lotus, with each of these 4 flowers having an optional effect that Morgan can use instead of firing 8 arrows from the flower as is usual for her previous two properties. If the class 5 property is the active base property, this effect activates immediately when the arrow strikes anything, much like the arrows fired immediately. Morgan has to decide before she even fires the arrow whether she wants it to fire the 8 arrows like normal or use the effect, however. If the Class 4 property is active, it plants a seed of the flower type that Morgan is currently using, and after the normal growth time, Morgan can then decide to fire arrows from the flower or to use its Class 3 effect. Only one flower type can be fired in a single post, and any arrow fired using this property will have triple the usual reiatsu cost.
The flowers that Morgan unlocks with this property are linked to the people who are important in her life, the flower representing how Morgan views that person and the effect associated with it representing how she feels towards or about them. As Morgan lives her life, people come and go and so these flowers are meant to be ever changing as her character develops, switching out old flowers for new ones as others help her overcome personal matters and become important to her. The current flowers and their effects are as follows:
1. Pink Lotus[Default]
Morgan's flower. This flower is not exclusive to this property, nor does it even unlock its effect at this property, but it's still a very important flower to mention as it is the representation of Morgan herself. This flower is unique compared to the others in that it never changes or can ever be replaced, and that Morgan had no say whatsoever in this flower being determined for her; it is an honest representation of her soul, untainted by her thoughts and feelings for herself.
A pink lotus is symbolic of purity in the face of adversity, achieving goals in spite of arduous trials as the bud grows from the mud and murky water to break the surface and bloom into its full potential. Morgan has plenty of trials ahead of her, and whether or not she'll be able to keep her head above water to accomplish her goals will be entirely on her. The state of a lotus flower is also representative of one's true heart, with a bud representing a closed, hesitant heart, afraid to let people close or to open up to spirituality, with the slow opening of the petals showing how they slowly start to open their hearts to others and open their eyes to the world. A fully bloomed lotus is someone who has fully accepted who they are, and everyone else around them. They have achieved true peace and acceptance, and by doing so, achieve the power to fulfill their goals in life. Now, Morgan's is only a bud, just beginning to bloom, and as she interacts more and more, growing closer with others near her, she will become closer to achieving that state of self acceptance, though the path will be hard, and without guarantee she will live to see the end.
As Morgan has not yet reached her full potential at this property, neither has the lotus flower, and so it receives no additional effect at this level.
2. Purple Violet
Shione's Flower. As a symbol, violets have several interpretations and qualities that Morgan felt her mother had in spades: Modesty, Kindness, Devotion, and Purity of Heart. Purple violets in particular carry an additional meaning of gratitude towards mothers, so its no stretch that this flower has come to represent Morgan's own mother in her heart and in her release.
Like a violet, Shione had always been gentle and soothing, a delicate air of beauty around her. When everything seemed too difficult to overcome, too much to bear, Shione was always there to give her daughter the gentle push she needed to keep going, pushing, fighting. Morgan's mother was a comfort and always made her feel revitalized, and its that soothing rejuvenation that carries over into this flowers effect.
While it can't heal wounds or fully numb the pain from injuries, when Morgan activates the effect of this flower, the soft petals will dimly glow like moonlight and begin to dissolve into a fine mist that clings to whoever the flower struck( or the closest person within 3 feet if it missed), filling their lungs with a faint floral smell. This mist will restore stamina to those who breathe it in, giving them the gentle jolt of energy they need to keep pushing themselves to their limits, just as her mother had always done for Morgan.
3. Gold Sunflower
Lambert's Flower. Sunflowers, much like the sun itself, are a symbol for power and Morgan's father was a powerful quincy indeed. More than that, however, sunflowers are also symbolic of ideals, stoicism, dedication, generosity, and even, in some circumstances, protection. Morgan's relationship with her father has been strained for years, but it didn't always used to be that way. Though he was always a hard man, never letting much emotion show, he was also a good one, always willing to lend help or strength to those who needed or deserved it, and maintaining his own moral code despite any difficulties or adversity that may come.
For as demanding of a father as he was, he was just as generous and hardworking of a man himself that put in just as much work if not more than what he asked of others. The respect Morgan had for him was vast, even if tinged with a bitter flavor as she slowly learned she could never live up to his expectations, and yet she still tried to do so. But every time, when she would see her father step up further and further, it would leave Morgan dazed, disoriented, and right back to where she started; she was never going to catch up.
When this flower's effect activates, the sunflower burns up into a rumbling ball of intense light and heat that lasts for only a second, but can leave you dazed and seeing spots for up to 30 seconds afterward, and with superficial burns if the flower detonates on or within 3 feet of you. Those who experience this flowers effects first hand will have a little taste themselves of how dazed and left behind Morgan felt in the presence of her own father.
4. Blue Chrysanthemum
Marx's Flower. In most cultures, Chrysanthemum's are a symbol of happiness and comfort, but in a larger part of Middle Europe including Morgan's previous home, they are a funeral flower and symbolize loved ones lost to us or taken away unfairly. This double meaning suits Marx rather perfectly, as he was always a dependable and cheerful brother despite their lifestyle, and having to take on the brunt of their father's training alone, but was eventually driven away and came back a completely different man from the Vandenreich.
Despite being fraternal twins, Marx had always acted like a kind older brother to Morgan, looking out for her wellbeing and happiness. As siblings, they were close, not really having anyone else their age around to confide or sympathize with, but as they grew older, Marx started to become more and more distant until he finally left. Morgan worried that she was unable to be there for him when he needed her; her osen forcing him to take on all the stress and responsibility of training that their father would have given them both otherwise, and began to feel guilty that she had caused him to leave. This guilt was further compacted when Marx returned, completely changed by the Vandenreich, and the sorrow of his death soon afterward only weighed even more heavily on Morgan's heart.
Just as the loss of her brother burdens Morgan's conscious and heart with a heavy weight of guilt and sorrow, so too does this flower's effect place a similar burden on any who are struck by its arrow or seeds. When activated, the bright blue petals of the flower shrivel and close inwards, turning into a heavy ball of cold, unfeeling metal as it boroughs itself into flesh or whichever surface it happens to be planted in, adding 100 lb.s to the effected area, weighing down limbs and adding greater effort to push forward. If planted on surfaces, the weight added by the flowers can also serve to destabilize structures, given that a realistic amount are planted to take down whatever they are planted on.
5. Night Tulip
Asmoskon's Flower. Night Tulips are not the most well known or popular flowers, but their presence is meant to invoke a sense of power and determination, as well as being a symbol of the unknown. With the entirety of Morgan's family now dead, she would have found herself poorly equipped to live on her own, not to mention her chance of survival in the face of hollows or arrancars being completely non-existent, if not for Asmoskon's agreement to take her in to live with the rest of the Masurao family.
Though Asmoskon and the rest of his family are nearly completely unknown to Morgan, as well as what her future living with them will entail, she already feels a great sense of gratitude and respect for the young clan head for being so willing to take her in despite the complete lack of benefit that she could offer, and that same great respect and gratefulness has in turn become a sense of debt to be repaid, and Morgan is the type of person that is honor bound to repay her debts, especially ones as important and meaningful as giving her a chance at a future.
As such, those that experience the effects of this flower are also bound, not by duty and gratitude, but in a more literal sense by anchoring them with vines of chains. When this effect activates, the petals of the night tulip fuse into 4 darkly shaped tendrils that slowly shift into chains. These chains whip around a 10 foot radius, seeking out the nearest source of reiatsu, tying it up and binding it in its links, and pulling them to the center of the radius to be held until the beginning of Morgan's next post. If the flower activates directly on a person, the chains will just wrap them up and try to restrict their movement to the best of their ability, rather than rooting them to a single spot.
Class 2 Property- "Photosynthesis"
Heart Property
Plants thrive in the sunlight and so does Morgan. When this property is active, sparse leafage will begin to sprout in a few select places on Morgan's body, namely peeking out from the gloves and sleeves around both her wrists, sporadically in her hair, and directly over her heart. When exposed to the sun, these leaves suck up its radiance and create a golden halo around Morgan, converting the solar energy to suit Morgan's purpose's much as if she were a flower herself.
When Morgan is in direct sunlight, this property boosts the speed of her arrows by 3x, and for indirect sunlight (ie. Dawn, Dusk, A Cloudy Day, Indoor Environment with natural lighting) the speed boost is 2x. For every post that Morgan ends still standing in the sunlight, a small 3-petaled lotus will bloom on her body around the already present leaves. These small lotus flowers can't be fired directly from like any of the flowers that she plants or fires from her bow, but when plucked, each flower gives Morgan 3 free arrows to be used whenever she pleases.
Class 1 Property- "Full Bloom"
Soul Property
Morgan's lotus, the representative of her soul, has finally fully bloomed. It hasn't been easy to reach this point of strength in her life and with it comes the realization of what she has truly been fighting for all along, an understanding of herself and her desires, and acceptance for who she is. The true strength of her soul has consolidated itself into this property and so the true effect of her lotus has finally been unlocked as well.
Throughout her life, Morgan has always struggled to find her place, and her purpose. Her osen has made things hard and certain goals and milestones impossible to reach. She's not the smartest, the strongest, or even the fastest; there's little that makes her stand out as truly exceptional, save for one feature that truly defines her, and that is just how tough she can truly be. Know matter how badly she is beaten, Morgan pushes on, especially when others are counting on her; she may not be able to protect herself, but that doesn't mean that she can't help protect the people important to her, like her father had her believe for so long.
When this property is active, a constant glowing aura surrounds Morgan in foot-wide radius. Faint, ghostly images of pink petals circling her body fade in and out of existence within this aura, thickening the air with reiatsu and the scent of wild flowers. This radiating aura helps to protect Morgan from incoming damage, as any damage that would have been inflicted on her body is reduced by 75%. This does not effect offensive stat clashes, or save her from being knocked around like a ragdoll, it only limits how much suck things actually hurt her. Although this aura is small, it is stronger in effectiveness to make up for it, and it can still extend to cover Morgan's allies if she is holding them close to her.
Given that Morgan's lotus flower is an extension of her soul, this aura extends to that particular flower as if it were a class 3 effect, and as such follows the class 3 rules. When Morgan activates the lotus flower on someone, they will receive her same protective aura for themselves, though it will only last for 2 posts.
This damage reduction drops off in effectiveness for opponents with a significantly higher offensive stat than Morgan, dropping to 40% damage reduction for those with a stat that is 1.5x higher than her RS, and being ignored completely by those whose offensive stat is 2x higher than Morgan's RS.
Vollstandig Appearance: N/A
Additional Tools or Techniques:
Technique Name: Formation
Class: 7
Technique Type (Kido, Hollow/Arrancar Technique, Human World Dweller Technique, Other): Human World Dweller Technique
Usable By (Technique is available to which races?): Human World Dwellers
Technique Element: Reiatsu
Technique Description and Effects (Explain appearance, powers, and effect): Formation in general is a manifestation of the users reiatsu given a tangible form of a weapon. The weapon can be anything, but having a Formation technique for multiple weapons will take up multiple technique slots. The weapons created using Formation don't carry any innate special properties; they act just like normal weapons but are created from reiatsu. The appearance also varies, depending on the weapon being formed and the natural color of the users reiatsu. Whenever anyone learns how to use Formation, they must do so using a very specific weapon design, such as a katana, an axe, etc.
For Morgan, Formation creates a 8 foot long Naginata tipped with a 2 foot long blade. Where the blade meets the staff, there is a small guard meant to hook swords and other bladed weapons to prevent them from running down the length of the staff and striking Morgan's arms. The naginata is created from mostly white reiatsu with a tinge of a bright spring green color towards the center where the reiatsu is the thickest.
How to use technique (How is it activated?): The user simply focuses their reiatsu into the palms of their hands, concentrating and visualizing the weapon associated with thier unique Formation. The reiatsu then solidifies into that shape and the user may use the weapon as they see fit.
Formation costs 50 reiatsu to form the weapon and it will last for 3 posts before needing to be paid for again. The purpose of this technique is to provide fighters with access to a weapon regardless of circumstances that is low in cost, making it ideal for emergencies.
Technique Drawbacks (Limitations, repercussions for use, etc) These weapons carry with them no special effects or properties: they are just like normal weapons, they just happen to be made of reiatsu. Also, just because someone knows how to create a weapon using Formation does not mean they will be any good with it or even able to wield it effectively unless they have the corresponding skills to back it up. Knowing Formation for multiple weapons also takes up multiple technique slots, so loading up on creating a bunch of weapons this way will just be wasting your time.
Incantation and Effect: N/a
Made By: Morgan Reiniger
Reserved? (Yes/No) (Can others use your technique, or just your character?): No
Technique Name: Osen
Class: Varies
Technique Type (Kido, Hollow/Arrancar Technique, Human World Dweller Technique, Other): Other
Usable By (Technique is available to which races?): Quincy
Technique Element: Curse
Technique Description and Effects (Explain appearance, powers, and effect): Morgan's osen, as far as anyone can tell, has been with her since birth; it is a distinct flaw in her soul that cannot be changed, like a missed stitch in fabric. The osen puts her a a distinct disadvantage against Hollows and Arrancar, making her an embarrassment of a quincy. Her ability to kill hollows with a well-placed shot to the center of the mask is completely negated, as all arrows that hit a hollow's mask are reflected and ignored completely.
The osen also has the added effect of negating a percentage of Morgan's attack stat in any attack she makes towards hollows or arrancar, with the percentage increasing as Morgan grows stronger. The more she tries to compensate for her flaw, the more it shows. The table showing the percentage of negation per class goes as follows:
Class 8- 10%
Class 7- 20%
Class 6- 30%
Class 5- 40%
Class 4- 50%
Class 3- 60%
Class 2- 70%
Class 1- 80%
Class 0- 100%
It's a 10% increment with each class, save for class 0. Should Morgan last long enough to ever attain such a level, her osen becomes so powerful that it completely negates her ability to hurt hollows and Arrancar at all. The effects of the osen can also extend to vizards as well, but only while they are utilizing their hollow powers.
How to use technique (How is it activated?): Always Active
Technique Drawbacks (Limitations, repercussions for use, etc) There is nothing beneficial about Morgan's osen. It is the source of all of her struggles in life, including her self-doubt and despise. With her whole family now dead and with no real friends to speak of, Morgan's identity as a quincy is all she has left and the hope that she can one day overcome her osen if she becomes strong enough and become a warrior even her father could be proud of. As Morgan's strength grows, so does her osen's, however, and its only a matter of time before her hope dies and her last reason for moving forward dies with it.
Made By: Morgan Reiniger
Reserved? (Yes/No) (Can others use your technique, or just your character?): Yes
Birthplace: Germany
Current Residence: Karakura
Memorable Figures:
Shione Reiniger
Morgan's Mother. A constant source of comfort in her daughter's life, she was firm yet fair, as opposed to her husband who pushed his children to strive for greater strength constantly. Powerful in her own right, after having children she stepped back from the battlefield to focus on raising and taking care of her family. When Morgan's quincy training was abandoned after her osen manifested, Shione was the one that started to teach her how to make herself useful around the house, and also encouraged her to take up the naginata when Lambert wasn't looking. Although Morgan openly blames the Vandenreich for her mother's death, she also blames herself deep down for not doing anything to save her.
Lambert Reiniger
Morgan's Father. A headstrong, idealistic solider through and through that is as tough and demanding of himself as he is to others, especially to his children, if they are to be the future of the family. Not a very emotional or expressive individual, but his strong ideals of quincy being protectors of people who can't take care of themselves rather than bloodthirsty hollow hunters and his unbelievable strength allowed him to count many influential individuals among his allies, shinigami included. He had a strong distaste for the Vandenreich that eventually turned into a complete hatred after the death of his wife and son, hunting and impeding them almost exclusively after that point. He seemed to stop caring about Morgan entirely once her osen manifested, feeling extreme disappointment that she would never become a proper quincy, let alone a Reiniger, as she wouldn't be able to fully defend herself, let alone others.
Marx Reiniger
Morgan's Brother. Although born as fraternal twins, Marx took on a role and persona as an older sibling once Morgan was cut off from her training, leaving him to take on the full brunt of their fathers regimen alone. Although neither of them truly acted like young children, Marx always seemed to be the more mature of the two, as well as the strongest, quickly outgrowing his sister both physically and mentally. Despite this, the two maintained a close friendly relationship until Marx ran away at the age of 14, supposedly unable to deal with the stress of all the expectations Lambert put on him, though no one knows the true reason. 2 years later, he returned as part of the Vandenreich, completely changed, and died at the hands of his father. Like with Shione, Morgan credits the Vandenreich with killing the man her brother used to be, but deep down knows that its her fault he was driven to them in the first place because of her osen. Without it, she could have kept training at his side and supported him better, and then he wouldn't have needed to run to the Vandenreich at all.
Asmoskon Masurao
An associate and friend to her late father, Asmoskon has agreed to take Morgan in to live with his own family, as Lambert has no faith that Morgan can take care of herself. There is a sense of debt to be repaid in Morgan's eyes, but she also looks up to the man; despite being nearly the same age as her, he is already a very powerful individual as well as a moderately successful head to his family despite such youth. Morgan suspects that the reason why her father got along with him so well, despite their mutual hatred for the Vandenreich, is because Asmoskon is everything he wished his own children had been. The notion creates a drive in Morgan to learn all she can from the Masurao, wishing to achieve similar feats.
History:
Childhood doesn't last long when you're a pure-blooded quincy. You have to learn the truth about shinigami and hollows at a young age, and just how unforgiving life and death can truly be; quincy children are prime targets to be picked off before they become too much of a threat. And so, they have to grow up strong, fast, and Marx and Morgan Reiniger were no exception to this. Born as twins to a stoic soldier sworn to serving society by his ideals and his Japanese born wife, the two started training much earlier than most, and on a much more rigid schedule and scale. Secluded from most of society and living in a minimalist style, never having anything unless it was useful or necessary, the twins grew up more like soldiers than as children.
For years, the two shared a tight routine of training, work, and learning from home. Rarely did they interact with people outside of their family or their father's associates, let alone those that came even close to them in range. From time to time, they would briefly meet with children from other quincy lines, but for the most part, the Reiniger twins were stuck with, and close to, each other. Though their childhood was short and busy, even unfair in the eyes of some, they weren't without happiness and comfort. This was just what life had planned for them; they had a responsibility to live up to, as their father had often explained. They were born with a gift that few other people in the world possessed, and so they had the duty of using that gift to everyone's benefit; to fight for and protect everyone, so all could live and thrive as they saw fit.
It was a noble idea that the Reiniger's had turned to their purpose for generations, and both Marx and Morgan were striving to achieve that same goal. But, sometimes, Life has different idea's in mind. Not everyone is born equal. The twins knew that. Some people were meant to be protectors, to carry the burdens of others so they could be happy, and others, the protected. It seemed so simple at first, so black and white, but not even all protectors are made equal as well, as Morgan was forced to learn the hard way, shortly after her and her brothers 8th birthday. Fresh snow fell nearly every night, yet the twins still spent a vast majority of their days training outside with their father. Already they had near mastered materializing their basic quincy bows, and were beginning to work towards the next stage of developing their individual powers one evening when a rising cloud of smoke in the distance cut the lesson short.
Lambert's face grew stony and hard as he stared out into the distance, motioning for his children to return to the estate as he quickly disappeared through the horizon, rushing to save the local town from what was surely a hollow attack judging by the distant howl's of a rampaging wild beast. A young Morgan's bright blue eyes followed the retreating form of her father to the tree line, before turning to answer the shouts of her brother. His once smiling face and cheery expression clouded with concern, grasping his sisters wrist in one hand and dragging her, pointing in the distance in the opposite direction to a line of trees collapsing inwards towards another local hamlet. Another hollow, too far away for their father to possibly reach both before innocent people were hurt.
Looking back now, they should have ran to their mother for help, but time was of the essence and children so young seldom make sound decisions. Marx taking the lead, the siblings ran headlong towards the monster, bows at the ready and armed with the knowledge their parents had passed down to them as they charged into those woods, the instinct and the desire to protect that had been drilled into their hearts driving the charge. No amount of training can prepare you for real battle, however, especially not for two young children with innocent ideals of being heroes, and the fight ahead proved fleeting, but unknowable. Just that one scene has stuck crystal clear in Morgan's memories for all these years, replaying and haunting her to this day.
The image of her brother, carrying a lost child on his back and running them back to the relative safety of the parents screaming in the distance. The hollow, a hulking humanoid that tapered into the body of a ragged serpent, pulling itself forward on its battered forelimbs, the light of several arrows already fired jutting from the darkened flesh. It was fixated on the quincy boy, the light of hate seeping from its jagged mask as it roared and barreled after him, gaining on him. Marx was too slow, weighed down by the child he refused to let die even to save himself. Morgan can remember her legs moving on their own, running as fast as they could carry her, running so fast that they hurt, until she stood between that charging beast and her brother, bow at the ready.
Her heart was pounding, the fear threatening to rise up, but her hand was steady and so was her mind as she took aim at the serpentine face. Even as it charged her down, she stayed rooted and calm as she let the arrow fly into the mask, but as it struck, her panic began to set in. Morgan had set up perfectly, aimed perfectly, fired perfectly, but the arrow that should have stopped the hollow dead as it struck the center of its mask bounced off with a dull clatter, and faded away into nothing. She was frozen, terrified, as even her brother who had turned around to call for her had lost his voice in the shock. The hollow itself seemed stunned to still be alive, but it recovered quickly and turned that starved, hate-filled stare onto Morgan instead.
Before it could even take more than three strides closer to her however, a blinding light and scalding heat filled Morgan's vision as she covered her eyes and stumbled back from the nova. She recognized that energy, and the cracked voice of Marx shouting out to their father only confirmed it. Lambert was on her before Morgan could even finish rubbing the brightness away from her eyes, grasping her tightly by the arm and setting her to her shaking feet. Within moments, Marx was by her side as well, holding his sister stable as he couldn't dare bring himself to meet the look on his father's face. Bringing herself back from her daze, Morgan was the first to meet his daze, and a different kind of fear began to course through her heart.
Several emotions burned through her father's normally calm eyes. Anger was the most obvious, but there was also worry and relief, but the most biting of all was... Disappointment. Lambert's eyes searched his daughters carefully as the words poured harshly from his mouth, "Where did you're arrow strike? Where did you aim, Morgan?" Again, she began to tremble. "The center of the mask" was the answer that ran through her head, but it just didn't add up. If that were true, the hollow should have been dead by her hand, not her fathers. "I... I..!", Morgan struggled to find her voice and the words to answer her father, but Marx quickly snapped in for her. "She didn't mess up!" As the steely gaze of his father turned to meet his own, Marx flinched but continued.
"She didn't mess up", he repeated, more calmly this time, "Morgan did everything right. She hit it right in between the eyes. It just...didn't die..." Her brother's words trailed off as understanding flashed through Lambert's expression, though it seemed to only cause his eyes to grow colder. And that look still haunts Morgan's memories to this day. Their father ordered them back to the estate and was silent for the rest of the journey back, as Morgan stared down at the ground, replaying the scene over and over in her mind, Marx tugging her along whenever she fell behind. She had to have done something wrong. She had to have, because if she didn't...
It meant that the something wrong was her.
And that was the last day Morgan was ever taken along to train with her brother and father ever again. When Morgan awoke the next morning, she was ordered to stay behind, to stay and help her mother maintain the estate and the home. The young quincy was crushed to say the least, to watch them go everyday and be left behind herself. She still wanted to grow stronger, to know how to fight, to be able to protect others, but how could she do that if she couldn't even fight to protect herself? For so long, she didn't know what to do with herself. She didn't want to be a burden, she wanted to be useful. It was her mother that reached out to her to comfort her daughter during this time.
Shione tried to dull the sting of Lambert's disappointment, and had taken to having Morgan help her around the estate with cooking, cleaning, and, Morgan's favorite, tending to the garden. Having some responsibilities helped, and yet, Morgan still couldn't fully shake that feeling of uselessness, especially as she watched her brother progress faster and farther, leaving her further and further behind. Although they were twins, Marx was quickly becoming more like an older brother in everywhere. Without his sister there to bear the weight of their father's expectations beside him, he had to grow up even quicker than before.
In the first few years, he remained mostly unchanged; faster, taller, stronger, and smarter than his sister, yes, but he was still the kind Marx that would try to lift up his sister's spirits when she as feeling down, or messed up. But as they approached their teenage years and his workload began to increase even more, he began to grow quieter, and smiled less and less. Morgan hardly saw him around, let alone had a chance to speak with him, and the twinge of guilt she felt every time she heard him get into another disagreement with their father burst into full on regret when Marx left at the age of 14 to join the Vandenreich.
While they weren't outright opposed against the Vandenreich, the Reiniger family was far from supporting them, either. There were just too many ideological differences about what the role of quincies in the world should be, and how to carry out that role. Marx, it seemed, agreed more with the Vandenreich than his family. He had expressed growing dissatisfaction and difference of opinion with his father more and more openly in the past year, but Morgan had doubts that differing views alone would have been enough to drive him to leave the way he did. There was anger there, and frustration, that she feared was caused by years of her brother having to carry a burden that was meant for two. It probably wasn't the whole answer, but Morgan suspected she at least part of the reason he felt compelled to leave, and it upset her.
Morgan embroiled herself into what work she could do even more, as if trying to make up for all her shortcomings. Her father disavowed her from training even now, and so she tried to make up for it in every other part of her life, stressfully becoming something of a perfectionist though she was never wholly satisfied. Everyone was just a bit more on edge, unsatisfied and discontented, until it all came to a head two years later. In the small hours of the morning before the dawn's light, Marx finally returned home, but the reunion with his family was anything but touching. He had snuck in, and Morgan would never even have none he was there if he hadn't woken her up and started pulling her down the hallway.
The night air of the early german spring was biting cold as Morgan found herself being hurriedly dragged down the dark hallway by her arm, roughly gripped and slightly stumbling as she strained to wake up and shake off her daze and confusion. "Marx... Marx! Stop", she kept her voice low, quiet and gentle. Morgan only wanted to him to stop and explain for just a moment. She hadn't seen her brother in only a few years, but to look at him now, she wouldn't have recognized if it wasn't for his rough mess of blonde hair and the half-hearted smile he tossed her way when she first saw him. There was no hint of a smile on his face now, and the coldness and distance in his eyes made Morgan question again if it was really him. He even had new scars she didn't recognize along the profile of his jaw. What had the Vandenreich done to him?
Tightening his grip at the slightest noise, Marx only jerked at his sister's words. Clearly, he was in no mood to talk at the moment, and it only just started to dawn on Morgan just what kind of situation she was in. "Marx. Please", she spoke more firmly and began to pull back on his arm now. "Talk to me. What are you doing?" She struggled to get him to even slow, but with a heaving sigh her brother finally turned to face her. His metallic blue-grey eyes focused on her as Morgan opened her mouth to speak again, but faster than she could process his eyes had flicked up to somewhere behind her, further down the hallway, and an unbearable ringing filled Morgan's ears at what sounded like a gun shot went off beside her head.
Morgan's hands clasped to her the sides reflexively, clutching at her pained ears as loud, unbearable ringing dominated her hearing and her vision started to swirl, stumbling as Marx shoved her behind him and she fell to the ground. AS she looked down at the end of that long hallway, however, her heart iced over in horror. Morgan couldn't tear her eyes away from her mother's, that same look of pained terror etched on Shione's face as a dark red spot bloomed across her chest from her heart and a shining quincy arrow stuck in the wall behind her. Morgan couldn't even tell if or when she had started screaming, the shock, pounding of her heart, and blood and ringing in her ears blocking out all sensory input save for the visual. In what had felt like forever but only amounted to mere moments, she saw another figure round the corner, the familiar silhouette of her father, before Morgan found herself blinded as well as deafened.
When her senses finally cleared, she found both her mother and her brother collapsed to the floor, and it felt like the world had stopped. Everything had happened faster than she could process what was going on. Marx had attacked first, and was killed for his actions, but was it out of some knee-jerk reaction to being discovered? Or were these horrible actions more meditated than that? Had he known it was his mother at the end of that hallway before he shot? Morgan didn't know. She didn't want to know. And as she cried and clutched to her brothers body, trying to staunch the flow of blood with her hands, it become clear she was never going to find out as the life had already left his eyes.
In a single night, a single moment, Morgan had lost over half her family, and through out it all she had felt completely and utterly helpless, useless to do anything to prevent it from happening or doing anything to save either of them. The only family she had left in the world was her father, and to look down at his solemn form now, slowly leaning over the body of his wife... Neither of them was ever going to be the same. Both remaining Reiniger's became quieter, more withdrawn from the world and each other, but whereas Morgan's anger was turned inwards toward herself, Lambert's came boiling out. A deep hatred for the Vandenreich began that day for him, and he began to fight against them however he could. Both father and daughter agreed that the organization held some form of fault for what had happened, for causing Marx to become what he had, but for Morgan that blame became a fear. She wanted nothing to do with the Vandenreich ever again, so that notihng like this could ever happen to her again.
In the wake of all that happened, Lambert decided it was the best course of action for his daughter's safety to leave Germany behind and move to Shione's ancestral home in the Japanese highlands, merely 2 hours from Karakura Town. Morgan had no other living relatives on either side of her family beyond her father, so the home of her grandparents was in great disrepair upon their arrival. She was grateful for the distraction of bringing the estate back into order, however. Her father was almost never home over the next few, long years, too busy associating himself with those with mutual interest of working against the Vandenreich, whether they be other quincy or shinigami, it didn't matter anymore. And, it seemed, neither did Morgan, as she was left, for the most part, completely alone with only her work to keep her mind off the painful, still fresh memories of her lost loved ones.
With her father no longer around to stop her or disapprove, Morgan tried to take up training again, hoping that returning to her true roots would help to ease the surge of emotions, only to find that she could no longer call upon even her basic bow anymore. She faltered at this discovery, but determined to make the best of things and improve to honor her mothers memory, continued practicing with the naginata instead. It was always her mother's specialty, and in the past, when Lambert wasn't around to disapprove, Shione would teach her daughter the stances and basic techniques of the weapon to soothe the sadness of being separated from training. Using the naginata now, it only helped Morgan to feel even closer to her mother than before, and helped to ease some of the pain in her heart.
The loss didn't stop there, however. In only a few short years, Lambert had taken ill, and was quickly deteriorating. Morgan was stunned to learn of the sickness, but he was not. Apparently, it was something he had been dealing with for years, before Marx had even left to join the Vandenreich, incurable and a slow killer that was finally showing its toll. He had known he had been dying for at least the past year; his drive to stop the Vandenreich and to protect his daughter being the only things that kept him going, but soon he wasn't even going to be able to do that. As Morgan cared for her ailing father, dropping everything to take care of her last family member despite the strained relationship between them, he started looking to make arrangements for someone to look after her in his place.
Unable to kill hollows and raised in seclusion from most modern society as she was, there was no way Morgan was capable of looking out for herself; the Vandenreich of the hollows would have her killed within a week. That was when Asmoskon Masurao stepped in. He was a relatively new associate of her father's, being one of the ones he had made in recent years that were as apposed to the Vandenreich as he was, but Lambert trusted him enough to keep his daughter safe when he was gone, and the young clan head had agreed to it with very little convincing. Morgan was nervous and uncomfortable with the subject whenever it was brought up; she didn't want to think about her father dying, too. But with the arrangements made, it wasn't more than 2 weeks later that he finally passed, not from the illness, but from his own hands. Not the type to let sickness kill him off slowly and meekly, Lambert ended his own life, and Morgan was alone. The last to ever carry the Reiniger name, and she swore to herself that she would do right by it before she ever gave it up or let her time come to pass as well. She owed her family that much.
And now here she was, silently packing her things into a suitcase as she prepared to leave her second home behind. The walls were bare, and windows and doors re-boarded. Whether she would ever come back to live here, Morgan didn't know. She promised herself she had to earn it first. She didn't have much in the way of physical belongings, so everything she owned fit in a single suitcase that she wheeled behind her, checking over the empty rooms one last time. Her sky-blue eyes reflected over it all with a final goodbye; she hadn't spent much time here but she was going to miss it all the same. Checking to make sure her appearance was proper and her emotions weren't showing on her face, Morgan covered the entrance way mirror with a sheet and bent down to pick up her final belonging: a portrait of her family, taken when she and Marx were still small.
Her eyes traced over the smiling faces in the picture; Even her stone-faced father had something of a grin. Her mother had practically threatened him to smile, Morgan remembered. A small sad one formed over Morgans lips even now as she took a breath, brushing away a speck of dust that had settled on her brothers face. "May you all be at peace... I will make you proud" Her promise was barely above a breath, but the words had to be spoken, for herself, if for no one else. Wiping lightly at her eye, Morgan shook her head and then opened the door to leave, shutting and locking it heavily behind her before gliding down the winding path to the driver waiting for her by the road.
"Are you prepared to go, Miss Reiniger?", the man offered a hand to take her bag as he spoke, and Morgan gave a grateful bow of her head as she passed it on to him. "Of course. Thank you", she spoke politely and stiffly as she had been drilled to a million times before, "It wouldn't do to keep the Master Masurao waiting, after all the kindness he has shown my family. I'm grateful, truly." Satisfied with her response, the driver smiled and helped the young quincy with her bag and opened the door with a gesture for her to climb inside. The way she carried herself with such elegance and kept her head forward, you wouldn't have known it was actually her first time actually ever sitting in a car.
Giving a small smile in thanks, Morgan folded her hands in her lap and stared quietly down the mountain road to Karakura for the rest of the long drive to see the place and meet the family that would become her new home. Her eyes seemed to almost glaze over, the blue orbs reflecting the sunlight brilliantly like crystals as she began to flit over the memories of her past. Thinking of her mother, her brother, her father, and her weakness. In the silence of her mind, her promise echoed again: "I will make you proud..."
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