FINISHED Merin Chiori

Merin has extreme honesty. The kind of brute honesty that becomes too forward and down right offensive. She is said to be cold. Her languid ways can be mistaken as Merin not paying attention, which is never true. In fact, she finds it quite impossible to relax or miss any change in her surroundings. Her trust issues are high. It is hard to get her trust and you really have to earn it. If you give her any reason not to trust you, she won't and she will not give you a second chance. Her loss of trust can happen from any sort of wrong move. An attack attempt, rude behavior, stupidity, or lying. Surly there are hundreds more, but who wants to spend the time reading all of that? When Merin is in her traditional personality she will not initiate contact with others. She finds making connections hard, and relating to others even harder. Her face sits emotionless, if not holding a look that appears sad. However, no matter how sad this girl seems, never a tear does she shed. Her crimson eyes swell with pain and loneliness, however she finds in nearly impossible to attempt to fill the void with companionship.  She will shut down conversation and is unforgivably negative. Her attitude is usually very neutral no matter the strength of weakness of those around her, however, every once and a while a rude streak against those will lesser power comes about. It's usually the result of the subordinate trying to act out. She is NOT a fan of arrogance, but that does not make the actions she takes at times any better.  She is often taken lightly due to her small size and childlike appearance. This is often played into her advantage, and by no means an advantage of those who take her so lightly. It is untold if she is a happier person upon further meeting and getting to know her. No one has been able to do such a thing as of yet. Over all the small girl is a mystery.

Her almost emotionless side described in the previous paragraph is still the more favored of her personalities, as the second is down right evil. It has strong influence from the darkness locked away in her psyche. Once surfaced she is a completely different person. She wears a crooked grin and her eyes light up with fire. Her voice seems to sound coy and her speech wonders in circles, never getting at anything, but aiming to set a tone of uneasiness. Most of the incoherent chatter seems to relate to the game of Hide-and-Seek; the game that ended her life as a mortal. This persona is locked away most of the time. MOST of the time. It is a trigger reaction to certain stimulus. Some of these triggers are high stress, pain, emotional distress, and other form of anxiety. Past abuse has created these triggers and really connected her to the Inner Hollow that influenced this behavior. Even with the wickedness in this part of her, she retains a level headed calmness about her. Rash anger leads to mistakes and mistakes lead to death. This being inside of her is a safeguard really. It protects the girl from hear or seeing things she cannot handle or is not ready to know. Everything learned by this darker self is not retained by the normal Merin. That can also be a curse, however. Any useful information retained at the time this personality comes to light will be unknown to the true Merin. The true question is how to calm her down once she becomes this. Usually you have to let the insanity run through. After it has ran it's course, her body will collapse and she will go unconscious for a few hours.

On a happier comic relief perspective Merin has a few happy weaknesses. She LOVES food. A self proclaimed gourmand of sorts. You show her some delicious food, and you could just get her to open her clamped shut mouth, and maybe even get a smile out during the process. But, that being said you have to find something she LIVES to eat. She's known as quite the picky eater, but that makes the comic relief all the better. If you are looking to get this wee little lass on your team, put out some scrumptious food, and you just may win her heart, and sword.  

Neurotoxin : Tetraethylammonium (TEA for short).
Identified through its damaging effects to the nervous system and shown to have the capacity of inhibiting the function of motor nerves and thus the contraction of the musculature in a manner similar to that of curare. Additionally, through chronic TEA administration, muscular atrophy would be induced.
At the mechanistic level, TEA has long been known to block voltage-dependent K+ channels in nerve, and it is thought that this action is involved in the effects of TEA at sympathetic nerve terminals. With respect to activity at the neuromuscular junction, TEA has been found to be a competitive inhibitor at nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, although the details of its effect on these receptor proteins are complex. TEA also blocks Ca2+ - activated K+ channels, such as those found in skeletal muscle and pituitary cells.]
symptoms including: numbness at place of infection, incoordination, flaccid prostration (laying out on the ground, unable to move), respiratory and cardiac depression, ptosis (drooping of the eyelids), mydriasis (Pupil dilation), and erythema (Tender bumpy red skin.)

- 1st turn: Feel numbness in area of needle contact.
- 2nd turn: Increased area of numbness.
- 3rd turn: Slight discoordination of limbs.
- At 4 turns after contact with a needle you will get full effects. : infected area and surrounding numb, extreme discoordination, possibly stuck laying down, difficulty breathing, bumpy sensitive skin at place of needle infection, extreme difficulty seeing.

~ Does not affect Spirit Pressure in any way. ~

Full effects reduce after 2 turns
3 turns after full effects take place, only slight numbness and slight discoordination
4 turns after full effects all symptoms are clear

Oooone, twooooo, threeeee, foooour, fiiiiive, siiiiix, seeeveen, eiiiiight, niiine, ten. Ready or nooot, here I come. The words that would echo through th life of Merin, and ultimately change her forever. But, that is not the start of our story, today. Let's go back to the beginning...

Long ago when Japan was still a young sprouting nation, there was a quiet village at the base of a great mountain. This village like many at this time believed in the world of spirits and magic. They had great fear of this unknown world, and rituals to keep these spirits appeased. Even the greatest and richest of the families who lived there had to obey the laws of tribute. Yes, this was a time of human sacrifice.

As the children of the village began to hit the young age of 7, and as the crops began to die; the cherry blossoms fell, a special game was played in that town to determine who would be offered to the shrine. The Children of 7 years of age were gathered, and one was selected to be sacrificed. The selected child was not killed at the age of 7. They waited for the day the child of 7 grew and just hit adulthood. Then, that night they would be sacrificed at the shrine on top of the great mountain in a particular way they called the Rope Ceremony.

Our story revolves around one of these Children of 7. A small girl with a unique gift, that cursed her. It caused all the other children to avoid her, and all the adults to fear her. Grave mistakes are made out of fear, as it will in this story. The girl's name was Merin. With Merin's unique gift, more spirits wandered into the village, drawn to her for a reason they didn't understand. Something we now call Spirit Pressure. It was even said once that the other Children of 7 saw her pick up a butterfly that seemed to be dead, and once she held it, the butterfly came back to life. The Elders of the village began to worry. Now, all families with a child of 7 years of age had to participate. Oddly enough, every time it came to preform the ritual, there were always 7 children at the age of 7. Any one child could end up being the child with travesty, but the game can be... Altered for the wanted outcome to a degree. Everything was going wrong for Merin's life anyways... The Elders truly believed that it would be mercy to relieve this particular girl of life.

You see, this girl had a very unfortunate life set before her due to events she had no control over. Maybe that is why her aura was different (Having Spirit Pressure). Why spirits wished to be beside her. It all started only just after she was born. Her mother was the most beautiful woman within the village. Although poor, the beautiful woman found happiness. She married the man of her dreams and lived a happy simple life. A life of hard work, and waiting- she met relief. They had a child together.

Another man, with more power watched her from his high walls and elegant home. His heart was rotten and he wanted her. Married already, she denied all of his fancy gifts and offers to be his mistress. She had something much better than money, she had true love. As you can imagine no was not a word that the powerful and rich ruler had heard before. He decided that if she would not chose to be with him, he would find a way.

The husband of this beautiful maiden had to work weeks out in the rice patties. They were poor and needed the money that came in from his work during this time of year. He went out support his family, as a new baby had come into his life, and they needed the money all the more. The beautiful maiden took care of the baby and stayed at home. The man feared being away, as he was aware of the harassment his wife endured, but there or away he knew he had no power of what was being done. Being rich meant freedom in these times. Pay off Elders and neighbors, and there is nothing you can do. Paid brutes guarded the cruel Lord at all hours, and the poor farm hand was just one man. Early one morning, the husband went off to work, as every other. Only moments after the husband had set down the path to the fields, 3 large men broke into the home. They found the woman and her sleeping child. The woman tried to hold her baby dear, but the men snatched it from her arms. The baby cried out, but no one came to see what was wrong. No one came to help. The rich and evil man smiled at her with a cruel grin. The woman knew what she must do to have the child returned to her. Sobbing, she untied her obi, causing her old rags to slide off her torso.

Later that evening, the working husband ran home. He heard news that men had broken into his simple shack during the work day. He found his baby curled up in a heap of rags that were laying around the floor... The rags his wife wore as simple clothing. But where was his wife? before even approaching the child he ran through the house. In the sleeping room he found her, his wife lay naked on their mat, dead. She had taken her own life after the attackers left by way of poison. She had written a note explaining the wrong that was done to her. She also put in the note that she poisoned the baby. The man looked back at the child in the rags. The baby had lived; barely breathing, but simply asleep.

Suicide was highly frowned upon, and the man did not have the power to have the man responsible arrested. People claimed that she was a coquette, and seduced the rich man. He watched the monster of a  man flourish and live a happy life, as he suffered. The widower became an alcoholic, and lived out his days with his odd child as a reject from the community. It was seen as sin to live a life of temperance. Perhaps with all of this, it was a mercy killing.

Time passed and that baby grew up. The crops started to die. The village came together and they all agreed that it was time for the Children of 7 to come together and choose the Child for the Rope Ceremony to be selected. They don't just go around and play duck-duck-goose to pick the Child. No, don't be silly. That's a kid game. No, they play Hide-And-Seek.

The day had come for that secret game. The ever so special game of hide-And-Seek that was only for the Children of 7. Played once, every 7 years; played, by 7 children. The game started with all the kids coming around a circle. It was a special circle with 7 stones as the ring. Each Child stood on a stone. in the middle the mother of the last child of 7 held 7 pieces of straw. This was the only part the elders could not possibly cheat, and the only chance Merin had at survival. Each child would draw a straw. The kid with the short straw was the victor or sorts. That child would for sure be safe. He or she was "It". Well, as we all know Merin did not win the straw drawing. A boy had won and jumped up and down with excitement. It should go mentioned that the children of 7 did not know what would happen at the end of this game. All this boy knew is that he had won; the Elder's had said so.

The rest of the kids now had to hide. They could go anywhere in the village within the 10 seconds of counting. The last person to be found was considered unwanted, and was then selected to be the Child of 7.  Merin's little heart raced at the numbers were called into the air. Ooooone. She was off, running and giggling just like the other 5 contestants. She was over joyed as she was finally getting to play with the other children of the village. Twooo. She saw a girl hide behind one of the cherry blossom trees. Threeee. She was running so fast and far she could now only faintly hear the calls of the Seeker. With a big smile on her face, she hid in some brush, and waited... And waited... And she waited... It seemed like hours had passed. She got up to peak, only to see an Elder approaching her. As she walked back to where the game had all began, wiping the tears off of her cheeks. The feeling of rejection filled her. More whispers than usual followed her tracks. People stared that had avoided looking at her for years. It only increased the poor child's embarrassment.

A strange gold crown was placed on her head as blind folded Elders congratulated her. The staring crowd had a soft clap rise up. Merin was in shock and awe. They told her she was special. That she was going to help the whole village. For once poor Merin felt wanted. She was given fresh white robes, and wore her crown with pride. 2 of the female Elders walked with her to the edge of the village and blind-folded themselves. Merin was quite surprised to be at the foot of the great mountain. Villagers were forbidden from going up the stone path. Adults would tell children of how the place was haunted by evil spirits. The Elders were holding golden staffs, with cute little bells on top. Merin didn't understand until 1 of the Elders started up the path. Clang! The staff was smacked down onto the stone, and the Elder took another step onto the next stone. The walking staff was to guide the blinded Elder up the path to the top of the mountain.

As the girl walked between the 2 adults she looked around the vast forest. It was so silent. Like it really was as haunted as the stories would say. It made her very uneasy. The clang of the leading woman ended to a dull thud. They had reached the top, where a small shrine sat in a clearing, next to a beautiful water pool. The gentle hiss of a waterfall looming from the pool could be heard. It was the most beautiful and peaceful place Merin had ever seen. She was told this is where she would live from now on. A moment of pain filled her stomach. The rejection of those around her. She felt a bit better about it, seeing as food would be taken to her everyday, fresh clothes, maybe a hair cut if she would like. What ever she needed, everyday! This was anew thing. Her drunken father would forget to get her food, or just say no to food and buy the alcohol to fuel his denial of reality.

Day by day around sundown she would hear the clang of approaching Elders, bring her gifts and treats. She loved it! A fresh source of water to drink from and bathe in whenever she wished. She had all the food she wanted, and man was it delicious! Deer, rice, fish, ever once and a while she even had a bit of chocolate! It was a life she had only dreamed of. Time moved passed in this happy and peaceful life for the strange girl that the village seemed to just want to forget.

The years passed and Merin had just recently celebrated her 14th year with a special rice cake sent up the mountain to her. Who ever thought to have a child to adolescent child live out in the wild, alone and only give him or her white clothing? I suppose it's just another one of those things connected to purity and tradition. The inevitable happened. One day Merin awoke, feelings a little bit different. The bottom of her stomach felt tight and unsettled. Merin shrugged it off and went out to her pool of water to get ready for another day. As she stepped onto the grass, she could feel and odd trickle down her leg. It shocked her, and stopped her in her tracks. As she looked down, a large dark red stain covered from below her waist down her ruined robes. Blood. She cried and ran to wash it off. Oddly, she could not find the source. She washed and washed, but blood always came back. She sat with her feet in the water in a panic. She was never allowed to go down the mountain to the village, but she was scared. She was afraid that something was very wrong.

The Elder came to give her food, and Merin explained her plight. The food fell to the ground, and the old woman simply said to stay there. Merin was alarmed but listened to the command as the Elder rushed back down the mountain. Not long after all the Elders came back up the mountain with 5 adolescent kids. All the kids she had played that fateful game with, with the exception of the Seeker. They too, were only in white robes.

The Elders stood around the circular pool of water at the bottom of the small waterfall. Inside not even knee deep the 5 kids stood. Up to her waist in the middle was Merin. There were five robes tied to each limb and the last around her neck. Merin was very afraid, but trusted the people who had taken such good care of her for the past 7 years. She was shaking from standing in the cool water as the sun fell down the side of the mountain.

She laid back and floated on the water's surface. She swayed and bobbed with the current from the waterfall. It was like she felt closer and more intuned with the universe. She felt relaxed. Time seemed to stop and peace fell deeply into the girl's mind. Each kid took a rope. Merin was suddenly very alert as she felt a tug from every angle. They pulled. She could not move her arms or legs as her head dipped under the water and her throat shut from the tightening rope. She was shocked, and confused. Why was this happening? She couldn't breath! Why couldn't she breath? It didn't take long for the struggling to stop, and the body went limp.

The elders wrapped her body and tied up the cloth with the robe used to kill her. The other Children of 7 carried her back down the stone path in silence. She was buried under the cherry blossom tree closest to her childhood home. The other Children were honored after they finished burying the corpse. Oddly, one of the girls claimed that once the cloth fell off Merin's face... Merin's eyes opened and had crimson red eyes that watched as they buried her. None of the other Children dared look at the body as the quickly covered it, so they could not confirm nor deny. The villagers told her to forget it, and they went on to feast.

Her father finally gave up, with the news of her death. He did not attend the celebration. In fact, days later after he had been missing from work they found him hanging dead in the room his wife had killed herself. The Elders saw it as removing 2 problem members at once. They thought nothing of the elimination of an entire family over just 14 years.

Darkness was said to come to that village after the death of Merin and her father. Her spirit stayed in the mortal world until justice was done. Merin's soul refused to leave her body cold in the ground, and the corpse continued to age. The soil never received it's nourishment, and the sacrifice never truly given. The crop season was a failure and the village went into a famine. The spirits that helped her in life, helped deny the earth life with Merin's death. They were Children of 7 from the past, all left to wonder the mountain. They walked down to her body and stayed with her to wait. First the people blamed the Elder's for picking the cursed child, and slaughtered them. Their blood would not soak into the ground, and the sacrifice was not enough. Then they came for the rich man, now old and fat from his wealth. His sacrifice also was not enough. They killed all of his children and wives, and burned his house to the ground. The bloodshed became their living, and even though the crops came to life and the cherry blossoms bloomed, the village fell into damnation, and the people all perished. 3 years after her death, Merin was free from her human body with the destruction of the village.

In the dirty city of Rukongai the expectations for heaven were not exactly met. It was a redo of life, with poorer chances at success. Merin found herself in a group of luckless street kids. One was even a child of 7 in life like herself. It was difficult for her to get along with the other children. They always fought and spoke ill to each other. They fought over food even when claiming they weren't hungry. Something about people who ate would get special powers. It wasn't fair to Merin. She actually ached for food. She never brought it up to the others. It wasn't worth the trouble. They wouldn't believe her anyways and she still lacked the social skills to assert herself. Still, she yearned for more in this life.

At night she would sneak off and find a crust of bread to survive on, while looking at the great walls that lead to the inner city. Some kids told stories of 2 kids that made it inside to be Shinigami. She wasn't sure if she believed it, but she wanted to believe. She would practice her Kidō in the darkness until light, when she would sleep. Again and again she would try and wrap the magic lights around her body. Success or failure her gift gave her a bit of joy in these dark days.

In those hours of sleep, something else crept through her mind. A whisper. A strange deep whisper. Something that was not her voice. It was familiar as it was strange. It was like her and some strange man spoke in unison. Like they were apart of each other. She didn't know who he was, but he told her things. Secrets and stories of what her power could be.

Finally fed up with the other children she went ahead and entered into the academy. The few years there went smoothly and she progressed with ease. She took a particular fondness for Hakuda and shunpo. Truly the only part of her Kidō class she paid attention to was that for her Shunkō. She never showed her skill to teachers. It was her secret. She just didn't want all that attention the really good students received. She had enough anxiety alone from being around other people all day during class. Honestly she failed almost every group activity. The final group exam took 3 tries. Finally the set her as group leader, and she could give swift commands and move in and out swiftly completing the challenge. Her skills were swift and physical, putting her in the 2nd division.

Merin flourished in the 2nd division. She was given orders to follow out with a group, but they were stealth missions so she didn't have to endure trying to carry out a conversation. Into her 200's, and she still couldn't manage social situations, but that didn't matter now. With swift precision she carried up through the ranks, and earned the respect of the other member of her squad. In no time she found herself settled into the 3rd seat, and it was time to work on getting herself Shikai.

As Chiori made the travel to her Zanpakutō's world she was happily surprised to find a familiar place. It was the Spider Lily field that grew not far from the shrine she lived in during her life as a human. It was so long ago now, but she often dreamed of that place, and remembered it well.

A small girl with long dancing pig tails. I suppose the most identifiable of her features would be the butterfly wings on her back. They stared at each other for a while, and the Spirit's cheek began to glow red. Merin stayed as emotionally neutral as ever. As the two began to fight for Merin's right to use the Spirit's power, much respect was gained on either side. Merin was in awe of the great speeds of the Spirit. Speed was something Merin aimed for.

Merin returned to reality with a newly gained power. Now it was time to make sure it was not a threat to herself. She spent 15 years never changing her spot in the chain of command, because she never told anyone of her unlocked Shikai. She was being very careful to only unleash it in the safety of her room, while using the 2nd Division skill of Spirit Pressure suppression. Every day before going to sleep she would ever so slightly prick herself. In different places at different amount of these years, to build up a tolerance to her own poison. The last thing you need is to poison your own self. You never want to be on the other end of your own sword, and not know what to do.

Finally after full toleration was built, Chiori was sent out on a mission on her own. A pack of brutes living in Rukongai were collecting money from the surrounding establishments so they wouldn't go through and pillage. 5 against 1. Not great odds, but this in no way struck fear into Merin. She was very confident in her abilities. As usual, the stealth mission was in the evening. Merin Shunpoed to a roof of building near what was said to be the base for these inhumane men. The lights were a glow and laughter could be heard from the inside. Chiori knelt and waited in the shadows of night.

A few hours passed before a few members of the gang stumbled onto the streets in a drunken stupor. Merin summoned forth her Shikai and silently shot needles in the back of the men's necks. Within a few moments the men fell unconscious onto the ground. The needles dematerialized, back into her holster. It appeared by the drooping eyes and laying down that the men were simply passing out from a long night of alcohol consumption. As the rest of the group emerged they thought nothing of the sight. They laughed and seemed all the more delighted with their evening. There was nothing better to signify a good party like a bunch of passed out fools lying about. They felt a strange prick on their backs or necks, and went to itch. Something was stuck back there. As the others pulled out their needles they started to panic. It didn't take a lot of running and screaming before they too collapsed.

Other Division member came to pick up the paralyzed men and deliver them back to cells. The captain was impressed by the non lethal force used to capture the goons. The Division leader, however was slightly disappointed with the dishonesty regarding Merin being able to release her Shikai. She could have moved up in ranks years ago, but settled for 3rd place.

A few more decades passed and Merin was Vice Captain. She now had a lot of responsibility, and unfortunately she had to converse with the other members to give out orders and send out missions. The paper work and long hours were fine. The paper work actually was very relieving, as other left her alone as she worked away at it. Even the Captain handed off a bit of her own work down on the subordinate. It was kind of frowned upon, but forgiven as Merin was proficient at the work and it was always done on time. The Gotei was used to captains turning in forms late, but with Chiori as Vice Captain the 2nd Division always turned in their papers by the due date. Life was moving smoothly for the division, and Merin was happy.

During sleeping hours, everything was different. No one was around, and yet something was always there. Talking to Merin, telling her things... Strange things... About killing and how others were deceiving her, and hated her. How she was a failure for not yet getting to Bankai after all these years of reaching Shikai. Reminding her of that secret game. Counting... Always Counting... She didn't tell anyone for many reasons. She didn't want to be sent to a nut house, and she really didn't know how to ask for help. So, she suffered in silence as the years moved forward.

The news came that soon the Head of her division would be heading to the first division. An honor for her, but a burden to Chiori. She told Chiori she needed to learn something new and special if she was going to only be at Shikai and yet move up to captain, and that they would need to do some special training. Besides Hakuda Chiori didn't have many special gifts. I mean, she couldn't even handle talking to others. No distinct skill for Kidō. No way to really connect to her subordinates to earn respect. She was just a quiet desk jockey with a knack for swift killings. There needed to be something more. They began having secret one on one meeting to teach Merin a special skill the head had been working on mastering herself. She called it Shunkō.

After weeks of vigorous training, Merin was able to wrap Spiritual Pressure around her like a vortex, to move the blows of her enemies past or before the aimed location, causing them to trip up and a bit or surprise. She had yet to even learn the ways to manipulate the skill to cause direct damage, but time was up. News rang through that the Division Captain was gone. The others looked to Merin for guidance. It was evening by the time the absence was confirmed, and Chiori simply told everyone to head off to their rooms. That's when the voice became more.

Inside her mind she traveled to a world that was unfamiliar. There was a large tower behind this Being. Children wearing fox masks. This great tower must have been 20 stories high. A cylinder of dead children... Merin fell to her knees and her eyes began to water. The first feeling she had in many years to bring her to this state. Her mouth gaped open at this strange place. It was worse than any nightmare she had ever envisioned.

The Being was as tall as her. It had long black hair, like hers, but it was thick and frazzled. It wore an Oni mask. It had big ugly fangs, horns, red lines drawn. This thing had very distinct yellow glowing eyes, starting down at the crumbling Chiori.

Everyone has been caaaaauuught. It sang in a familiar voice. It was the voice Merin heard in her dreams at night for all these many years. The taunting voice that often told her to give in. It continued on to explain how weak Merin was, how the Division member needed a real leader among them. She could not help but agree.

Outside in reality, a Hollowfication process was occurring. This thing was taking her body and her mind, without her knowing it. A strange white material foamed from her mouth, crawling across her like a vicious fungus.

The creature wanted to strike a deal with her. He would protect her, and make her strong, at a price. The price was that whenever something was too hard for her, It would be able to come out and solve the problem... His way. Together, they held the Zanpakutō and the deal was struck. The fungus stopped, and cracked away. All but that on her face. It formed into a fox mask. It looked much like the ones upon the faces of the dead children.

Merin's eyes finally opened, with the yellow glow of the Creature. She didn't know what happened during those hours. She only awoke to be covered in blood, standing over the bodies of some average people in the Rukongai. She didn't know what to do. She began to panic! As she did... She start to here the counting. Oooone... Twooo... She had to relax, or it would happen again.