Kohara, Zâbel [SHINIGAMI]
Jan 17, 2017 14:57:05 GMT -5
Sabitsura Moriya, Shigure, and 3 more like this
Post by Zâbel Kohara on Jan 17, 2017 14:57:05 GMT -5
Kohara, Zâbel
Fourth Division Research Officer
Fourth Division Research Officer
AT A GLANCE
Age / Apparent Age: 482 / 27
Gender: Female
Height & Weight: 5’ 3” & 131 lbs.
Hair & Eye Color: Charcoal-grey hair and eyes
Positive Traits: Meticulous, Confident, Compassionate, Inquisitive, Passionate
Negative Traits: Inattentive, Obsessive, Dismissive, Blunt, Lazy
Loyalties: Kohara Kenji, Kohara Moriya, The Gotei, The Fourth Division - in that order
Snapshots:
Origin:
- Family converts to Catholicism for economic stability (1533)
- Born Aditi Baptista in Pornem Goem, Goa (January 10, 1534)
- Becomes Brahmavadini through Upanayana rite of passage in secrecy (1541)
- Studies the Vedic Texts (1541 - 1561)
- Marriage and Family Years (1547 - 1561)
- Inquisition began in Goa (1560)
- Death: Burned as an apostate (1561)
- Awakens in Rukongai: District 61 - Kusajishi (1561)
- Belongs to Tōzoku’s gang (1563 - 1593)
- Arrested by Kohara Kenji, adopted, joins Seireitei, enters the Academy (1593)
Rise to Power:
- Academy years (1593- 1600)
- Join the Fourth Division: Research Department (1600)
- Moriya (Kahomono) Kohara joins the clan as the elder brother, biological son of Kenji (1691)
- Receives training in the sword from Ryu with Moriya just to please her brother (1700)
- Unlocks Shikai (1713)
Call to Action:
- Seiko arrested for theft and given 20 year sentence (1875 - 1895)
- Ryu and Kenji are declared dead after a mission (1889)
- Becomes obsessed with inventing a device to predict location of Kenji’s soul resurrection, wanders the Rukongai doing minor relief work as she searches (1889 - 2014)
- Zâbel becomes heir to Kohara holdings when Moriya disappears (1890)
- Begins tagging Plus souls for tracking during Konsō (1891)
- Obsession's attack on Seireitei (2016)
ON THE SURFACE
Portraiture:
Zâbel’s face is oval in shape with charcoal grey eyes beneath a fringe of thick lashes. Her gaze actively scans the area before honing in on the matter at hand. While in conversation, she uses enough eye contact to avoid being rude. Frequently she becomes lost in thought with her gaze fixed to a point in space. Small motions of her eyes tracking back and forth give her the appearance of scanning a nonexistent text or visual memory. This vacant expression is readily replaced, however, when her sense of humor is awakened or she has a keen interest in the topic at hand. Then her eyes light up, narrowing as her cheeks rise, with a broad grin that transforms her face from plain to beautiful. Sometimes her gaze is quite intrusive or a bit intimidating if she is devoting her entire focus to a conversation, leaving one feeling exposed. Her mouth is unremarkable with lips set in neutral repose. Minute expressions will curl the edges of her mouth that hint toward amusement and while deep in thought she is prone to lightly nipping her lower lip between her teeth. Framing the features of her face are the charcoal locks of hair she leaves unbound to hang down upon her collar bones. Zâbel likes to keep the rest of her long hair drawn to the back of her crown in a tight pony tail, covered by a kerchief, for the sake of safety and hygiene.
Physique:
Standing at five foot, three inches in height, Zâbel’s overall physique is petite without appearing gaunt or angular. In no way can she be called athletic and yet she retains a nominal level of fitness with little to no effort. Although she has a somewhat frail appearance, there is strength in her limbs acquired through years of labor at her chosen profession. Her dexterous hands are deceptively delicate and yet provide the strength necessary to apply torque while using hand tools. It is evident she has been meticulous in the care of her hands which are quite devoid of the callouses and abrasions common among most mechanics. Unconcerned with the art of window dressing her appearance, she opts to keep her nails trimmed short. Her legs are well toned due to the physical nature of her work and her relative inability to remain stationary for too long.
Movement:
Zâbel walks with a lazy grace in every step she takes, believing that to rush is to miss opportunity along the way. Keeping her back erect, the line of her spine takes on a natural arch that sweeps from the angular lines of her shoulder blades all the way down to the pronounced sway in the small of her back. She is prone to gesturing with her hands when speaking and fluttering her fingers in the air while deep in thought, as though leafing through files in a cabinet or writing invisible script in the air. When filled with the exuberance of inspiration, she will rush about her work space gathering materials and nearly bowling over anyone who dares to obstruct her path.
Clothing and Equipment:
Although she owns a considerable wardrobe, due to the generosity of her father more so than her love of clothes, she prefers to keep her attire utilitarian. A gray blouse worn without sleeves is kept tucked into the charcoal hakama beneath her utility belt. Comprised of supple leather, this girdle conceals the obi of her hakama. Fitting snug over her lower abdomen and hips, it also sports long flaps hanging down to the front, back , and one upon each side. Along the girdle are compartments in which she keeps a variety of useful tools. A chain is affixed to the left side of the girdle to the sheath of her Zanpakutō. She only wears the traditional Shihakushō of the Shinigami when called upon to attend meetings that require formal attire. Fortunately, for the the woman who prefers a more casual mode of dress, those occasions do not occur with any regularity. Regardless of occasion her feet are always clad in white tabi and zori.
Voice:
Zâbel’s vocal tones rise and fall when she speaks while staying within a soprano range. Her voice is quite expressive of numerous emotions and attitudes leaving no doubt in what she wishes to convey. She is in the habit of talking to herself and the posing of questions to consider. This comes across as more of a mumble than actual dialogue that is meant to be heard by others. She has no difficulty projecting her voice which might come as quite the surprise to those who consider her to be of a meek and mild persona. Another vocalization she employs is humming to herself while in thought. When discussing the non-sensitive aspects of her work with laymen she will have vocal hesitations as though finding the right words without employing the specialized terminology of her trade is a chore.
Spiritual Description:
Zabel’s Reiatsu is reminiscent of walking through deep hollows where the heat wafting up from the earth is trapped beneath a canopy of trees. There is a definite sense of moist heat that clings to her form bathed in an aura of rich browns. When actively employing her Reiryoku the sensations change, as though air currents are moving to bring in fresh scents and cooling sensations. The aura expands about her form into wispy tendrils while the color lightens to shades of orange.
BEHIND THE EYES
Personality:
Life doesn't always give you what you want, and half the time not even what you need, but with a little invention and persistence a person can get by. This is a tenet to which Zâbel adheres. She has learned that to have patience is to achieve her goals, while losing one’s temper prospers them not at all. She is not one who is prone to feeling sorry for herself but takes an active approach to life. There truly is nothing she can't accomplish by the turning of her hands to a task and working day and night to fruition.
As yet she has not experienced the despair associated with failure. This is not to say that there are goals she has yet to achieve, the opposite is quite true. Faith in herself sustains her focus and drive. There are numerous activities that hold no interest for her, such as social gatherings, the praise of others, or seeking positions of power. Her sense of identity does not come through the eyes of others but through self assessment. She is more than content with her achievements and who she is as a person. To adorn herself in the expensive trappings of wealth or the accolades of her associates is just not something that appeals to her nature.
Her compassionate nature gives her the desire to improve the lives of those she left behind in the Rukongai. It was only due to her clever inventions and the dumb luck of being noticed by Tōzoku that her life hadn’t become one of slavery. Even though she knows that the little she does for those in need is better than nothing at all, the gulf between making a difference and effecting no real change is huge and frustrating to overcome.
In the workplace she is doggedly pragmatic and a stickler for procedure. No one can accuse her of slacking. Zâbel does her fair share of standard Shinigami patrols performing Konsō on Plus souls and purifying Hollows, but it leaves her feeling they are just treating the symptoms rather than the disease. Her energies would be better spent in researching the deeper meanings and inner workings of the life cycle. It is more in the interests of discovery she performs these patrols hoping to one day to establish a more efficient solution to the imbalance of souls.
Rarely will she socialize with her co-workers. This is not to say she is unmannerly, but unless addressed and forced to reply due to social convention she sees little point in wasting time to say good morning and inquire after one's health. Obviously if they showed up for work they are not dying. The worst part of the day is going to the cafeteria and being forced to pay attention to the lackluster conversations. For the most part she brings her own lunch and eats in her lab.
Her personal life is much more engaging, as though she has consciously divided the intellectual and emotional aspects of her life in a very concise and organized manner. While not an active seeker of pleasures, she is no stoic and delights in good food, strong drink, beautiful surroundings, and congenial company. In no way does she indulge to excess in any of these joys. Her favorite days were spent round the dinner table listening to her father speak of his exploits or recount some humorous tale from a night out on the town, or just to lie on the grass and look up at the sky and listen to her brother share his dreams.
Deprived of her family these pleasures fail to matter and she delves into an obsessive drive to reclaim what she has lost to the exclusion of all else. Her position in the fourth ceases to matter as do her metaphysical investigations save for those that deal with calculating the instance and location of a soul's particular reincarnation. It is into this she pours all her passions. Without the emotional security she derives from family everything else ceases to exist.
While some of her personality traits might seem to be in conflict with one another, such as her ability to pay attention to detail and yet her tendency to lose focus in conversation, such things are really situational and tie into how much she cares about the task at hand, the conversation she may find dull, or the cause that may or may not speak to her heart. Above all, she is a woman of many sides and not all of them are exhibited at the same time or in equal measure for every given instance.
Traits:
Meticulous:
Zâbel can wait an eternity to achieve her goals and won’t rush through life seeking the next big adventure. She is content to let the world whirl around her, waiting for the latest storm to blow itself out and normalcy to return. If a project doesn’t come together as planned she will just keep whittling away the flaws until functionality is achieved. She pays careful attention to the tasks she performs and when drawing up schematics is mindful that each line has purpose, each formula balances, and no materials are wasted. Her work space has every item placed with precision and a specific purpose to the visual memories and spacial awareness in which she lives. With an obsessive drive she will investigate a curiosity, formulate a hypothesis, then test each one until her answers have been provided to her complete and utter satisfaction.
Confident:
The woman has a definite picture of who she is and what she can accomplish. Doubt is not something from which she suffers. She knows that whatever the problem is, given time, she will find a suitable solution. This is seen in her certainly that she can effect change in the Rukongai, though as yet she has not reached out to others or tried to start a volunteer organization to deal with the issue. Additionally she has no desire for advancement in her career so does not promote herself in ways to achieve a seated position in the division. It is not through lack of confidence that she would excel in such a position, it just doesn’t matter or factor into her dreams for the future.
Compassionate:
Zâbel is not without a heart, even though she looks at things from a logical point of view. The suffering of others bothers her and she does make attempts to find solutions and offer aid where she can in an almost motherly fashion. Resorting to violence is something she really doesn’t like. While she has no problem killing Hollows, it is the torment and loss of human life that wounds her heart. Rather than bring peace to the Rukongai through the use of force, like her father, she feels a more humanitarian approach is in order. Unable to completely throw off her former life in the Rukongai, Zâbel often slips away to tend to those in the outer districts providing medical treatment as her skills permit and giving out words of encouragement. Her desire to ease suffering in others is coupled with great frustration in not being able to do enough. Sadly, it is a bigger issue than just one person can manage.
Inquisitive:
While not everything in the world will hold her attention, those things that cause questions to rise in her mind will. Her curiosity does not just extend to scientific inquiry, but also to the people she observes. The motivations of others has always been a source of intrigue. Her probing questions are typically not well received by those who view this more as an interrogation than congenial conversation.
Passionate:
Although not a social butterfly by any stretch of the imagination, those few friendships she has formed now have her unquestioning loyalty. The continuation of these attachments isn’t necessitated by moral agreement but rather due to a sense of love for those individuals who have touched her in some way. As a result, Zâbel will often overlook their flaws or make excuses for disappointments and betrayals received by their hand. Certainly her intellectual pursuits awaken her fervor, but her heart and soul are also very much alive for the members of her family. This is seen in her stubborn refusal to cease searching for her father’s moment of reincarnation as well as her interactions with her brother before he went missing. Only for Moriya and his love of training did she even bother picking up the sword training with their grandfather Ryu. Before his death she did develop a passion for Hakuda training with her father but since this then she hasn’t worked out once.
Inattentive:
Will often lose track of a conversation she finds boring and entertains herself by doing a mental inventory of her work shop or calculating a more efficient formula for Reiryoku to Reiatsu ratios while dreaming of the perfect closed system in which no energy is lost.
Obsessive:
When the woman gets a notion in her head she rarely will give up on seeing it to fruition unless something more enticing takes its place. While this does her good service in her work, it has a way of getting out of control. The most notable example is her refusal to accept their father’s death to the point that her brother had to move on and worry about himself.
Dismissive:
First impressions mean a lot to Zabel and if they do not go well she hardly ever reevaluates. Sometimes she is spot on with her initial evaluation but at other times she can be dead wrong. Regardless, she sees little point in dedicating time to those who rub her wrong and is quite happy to be left to her own devices without further interaction.
Blunt:
In no way can the woman be described as diplomatic. If she sees a more efficient means of completing a task she will not hesitate to point out the flaws of the current methodology as though they are obvious facts rather than couching her words to sway or cajole. When she feels something is a moral outrage, her words are quite biting and delivered without remorse. Zabel’s inquisitive nature prompts her to pose questions of people that others may avoid due to the social norms by which a society lives. This is not meant to be insensitive but does show a general lack of forethought before she speaks. To her a desire to understand supersedes such conventions.
Lazy:
There are times when she just can’t be bothered to do anything and sinks into periods of inactivity. Her projects will lie unattended, her work station in a shambles with tools lying around, or just not showing up for work. These episodes stem from a lack of being grounded or just even periods of depression where her energy fails. Life has a way of slowing you down if you do not take time to recharge. There are some things in the world that just cannot be helped. Her father is dead. Well, when she locates his resurrected soul she will be able to resolve that. The Rukongai is a mess, and she will just have to do what she can and hope for the best. Her brother is gone, and after their last meeting she is likely to never see him again. These things bring her no joy, but she accepts them as much as she can. Sometimes she is successful, and then she is productive. Sometimes she just can't manage to bother.
Relieving Karmic Debt: Doula is a construct of Zabel’s who serves as her personal lab assistant. Its primary function is to predict the resurrection site of deceased souls. The Shinigami wishes to perfect its ability in order to find the resurrected identity of her father, Kenji Kohara, whom she believes is dead. Should she succeed, she intends on aiding his new identity in any way possible.
Relief Work: Within the Rukongai she uses her skill in small ways to ease the suffering there but wishes to establish a more permanent clinic/shelter for those souls who are at risk to be preyed upon by the lawless forces that rules the streets. The formation of a volunteer relief group is the next obvious step.
GUARDIAN ANGEL
Zanpakutō Spirit Name: Houwang
Kaigo (解号, Release Call): “Rebirth, Houwang”
Zanpakutō Spirit's Physical Description:
Zabel’s Zanpakutō Spirit assumes the form of one of the mythological Vanara beings, or the Monkey Race. His entire body is covered in hues of russet and blonde fur save for the blue skinned areas of his face, hands, and feet. Covering his head is a large mane of hair pushed back from his forehead by a small gold circlet while the rest is left free to hang midway down his back. Red streaks of hair run through his mane and patches of his full beard beneath his bottom lip and to either side where his sideburns merge into his beard at the jowls. Although he sports a glorious beard, his upper lip is devoid of a mustache. Sprouting from the top of his head are two long locks of red hair marked by black bands that checker their length. They are better described as antenna than anything else by his ability to manipulate them at will.
While prone to changing the manner of his dress to include armor, for the most part he appears bare chested clad in blue trousers. About his loins he is girded with a tiger’s skin held in place by a gold colored obi. His shins are covered in leg wrappings, with bracers of red marked by gold embroidery depictions of clouds upon either wrist. His prehensile tail is a source of great vanity and quite unrestrained by any attire. He wields a long hardwood bo capped at the ends by gold engraved banding; a red tassel adorns one end. He can manipulate the bo to change size, multiply, or take on other weapon forms according to his design.
Zanpakutō Spirit's Personality:
Houwang’s teachings often escape the understanding of Zâbel due to his use of humor and obscure references that fly over the woman’s head. Possessed of an overly vain and egotistical manner, his peculiar brand of intellect leaves her wondering if he is being serious or just pulling her leg. All in all it is obvious he is quite pleased with himself during their encounters going so far as to pat her on the head or flick her nose while she stands there blinking and wondering what the hell just happened. Imbued with a naughty and impish nature, Zâbel is often left with the impression that he views her concerns as being of little to no import in the grander scheme of things. Though he is rarely cruel, for he can be quite rough and without sympathy with his Shinigami, he does have his own agenda that he keeps close to his rarely worn vest. Zâbel just wishes he would speak plain and be more serious now and then.
Inner World: "Islands in the Clouds"
The entrance is bounded by the veil of a large waterfall behind which lies a stone cavern. An exit at the end of the cavern leads into a high altitude mountain range, the peaks of which take on the appearance of islands floating in the clouds. Beneath these clouds lie hollows in which many secrets remain hidden, while upon the isolated peaks one can look out over the expanse and feel the warmth of the sun bathing all. The dual terrains contrast and compliment each other even as much as do the personalities of Houwang and Zâbel. While in the clouds there is the sensation of great freedom and a rising above the concerns that can weigh one down, there within the hidden ravines lies a warmth and heaviness in which one must tread with care and focus upon the things in the world. Not all is placid, however, within this terrain. Upon the peaks of stone the winds can become quite fierce while beneath the cloud-cover tremors that occur in the bedrock hint at the potential for cataclysmic upheaval.
Power:
Zâbel can acquire information on another’s Zanpakutō spirit and released state when her Zanpakutō contacts either her opponent’s body or Zanpakutō. For other races without Zanpakutō spirits, the information gleaned concerns their unique spiritual ability.
Sealed Zanpakutō:
Zâbel’s Zanpakutō is a Chokutō straight blade measuring 28 ⅜ inches comprised of folded black steel. The tsuka is outfitted in the more modern tachi style with a hardwood handle wrapped in ray fish skin, grey silk, and charcoal cord bindings measuring 11 ½ inches in length. Combined with the blade, the overall length of her weapon is a total of forty inches. The tsuba is rectangular in shape composed of grey steel and embossed with an endless knot motif symbolic of the woven link between cause and effect in the Karmic cycle. A black lacquered wooden saya in which the blade is sheathed completes the ensemble. She wears it at her left hip with the sword sheathed blade up.
Shikai (始解, Initial Release):
Zâbel's Shikai is a Bhuj, or knife axe. It has a broad single-edged blade that measures 5 cm in width and 19.7 cm in length. Upon either side are silver-gilt panels overlaid by clouds pierced by mountain peaks. The blade is double-edged from its tip and running over the back of the blade for a length of 9.8 cm. The forte, where the blade is fixed to the haft, is a gilt-copper monkey's head set with garnet stones for eyes two emeralds upon its head. The face of the monkey is decorated with clouds while the curled tail is wrapped in metal bands.
This is mounted to a tubular haft making the total length of the weapon 65.2 cm. This too is silver-gilt and continues with the cloud motif along its surface. In the pommel is a foliate finial which unscrews to reveal a slender dagger with a silver grip. The scabbard is of wood-lined gilt-copper, covered with silver-gilt clouds against a punched background. It fits snugly in perfect alignment with the monkey head forte.
LEGACY CREATED
Origin, Mortal Life:
Aditi’s country of origins was Goa, which lies on the western coast of India, and was under Portuguese control throughout the entirety of her life. Her family’s small farm was confiscated but they were retained as servants for the new owners after agreeing to receive baptism. Adopting the new surname of Baptista, the family lived on the land and practiced their traditions in secrecy. It was into these circumstances that Aditi was born, on January 10th, 1534. Her mother schooled the young girl in the proper attitudes for a Hindu woman preparing her for her future marriage. These teachings contained the belief that she must seek her happiness in her future husband and children. She was honor bound not to shame her family and behave in a manner that was modest, patient, truthful, looking only to her father and then later her husband for protection, and ever obedient to their will.
Throughout her life she participated in the mandatory gatherings at church to listen to sermons and refutations of the Hindu faith. Terror reigned as neighbors were imprisoned, sentenced to forced labor, torture, and even execution for the crime of apostasy. In an attempt to keep their beliefs alive, her parents initiated the Upanayana rite of passage when Aditi was eight years old becoming Brahmavadini. She trained in the Vedas, learning Sanscrit to read the ancient texts containing the literature of her people and to compose hymns of praise.
At the age of fourteen, her father arranged for her to have an Arsha marriage, the groom paying a cow and a bull to receive his bride, and she left never seeing them again. Oddly enough, these years gave her a measure of freedom which had been lacking in her younger years for her husband was also keeping their traditions alive in secrecy. As mistress of her own home she was free to set her house in order, and embark on raising her children with their father. She kept up with her Vedic studies and expressing her faith through music in private.
It was like living in two separate worlds, the one of her heritage full of the beauty and peace within her home life, and that one of horror and oppression outside her doors. Despite her commitment to her faith the injustice in the world began to erode her soul giving birth to a rebellious heart. There were small instances that could be masked and hidden behind cultural barriers going unnoticed by the foreign oppressors; the Shodasha Samskaras, sixteen rites of Passage. These included everything from the sacraments associated with their wedding, naming ceremonies of her four children, all the milestones throughout childhood, through their education, graduation, daily sacrifices, and to her own eventual death. At least that was the plan.
The danger only intensified every year but to abandon her beliefs was to turn her back on everything she was. She might have to walk into town, it was illegal to ride in a palanquin, hide all evidence of her idols and forego the public display in her garments which would indicate she was Brahmavadini, but these were just visible displays of the world and did not detract from her beliefs and chosen path to enlightenment. However the Inquisition had arrived in Goa and her omission in kissing an image of the blessed virgin when entering the church got her arrested.
For two months she endured imprisonment. Subsisting on rice water and fish, with the only source of light being that which could filter through a small slit in her cell. The silence was deafening, but preferable to the screams that echoed through the prison whenever someone was hauled away for torture. She too had been dragged out of her cell and taken away to the underground grotto to endure physical torture in an effort to get her to testify against other apostates.
The first session was by far the worst. Her body had not yet felt the pull of the ropes with which they hoisted her into the air only to repeatedly drop her forcing the weight of her own body to tear and rip at the joints of her shoulders. Despite the screams that ripped from her throat, no mercy came. This would also prove to be her last session for in little over an hour life had left her weakened body releasing her at last. Since she did not recant for her sins, her dead body was burned with a collection of other apostates during a mandatory public display without the blessed sacrament of her faith.
There was no transition phase, no wandering around the world wondering what had happened only to realize that she was dead before moving on. There was only an end to everything and Aditi was no more.
Origin, Rukongai Life:
Upon awakening in Rukongai, without memory of her former existence, she started her life as a beggar. Life in the outer districts, far removed from the watchful patrols of the Shinigami, had become a matter of survival of the fittest where the strong preyed upon the weak. It was into this society the young woman was thrust. Forced to make her way in the world alone, she began at the bottom and slowly carved out her own peculiar niche among the warring gangs who vied for supremacy. She started out begging, taking up key locations within the village while seated upon the ground, her bowl set before her and calling out to those who wandered the streets. More often than not it was a fruitless task with little to no reward.
Unable to remain inactive, her hands found busy work weaving together flowers and herbs she gathered in the woods and fields to sell as charms to bring good harvests or stave off misfortune. Out here in the lawless reaches of Rukongai, the farms had ceased to supply their produce to those behind the walls of Seireitei but were under the control of gang leaders. Field hands were all but slaves in name owing more to the street lords who controlled the land than they ever earned through their labors. This was not the sort of existence she wanted for herself and she dreamed daily of bettering herself in some way. If she could provide a service that was missing, then surely she would be spared having to sell herself into slavery.
As she moved about her beggar's route, her pack secured to her back contained 'found items' she scavenged from the streets, the fields, and forests of the district. She learned she was quite adept at carving and re-purposed all manner of things in her crafting. Particularly fond of creating poppets for the street children, she improved these creations with internal workings to give them animation. The nameless woman had a gift for creating puzzle boxes with interlocking pieces of wood and stone which could be fitted together to create specific forms if one knew the key.
Her persistence had earned her a place in the market to sell her wares and eventually she drew the attention of an up and coming gang leader, Tōzoku. The man had a nominal following but was eager to rise in power, as often was required for survival in their world. He was more than just a strong arm with a following and an unquenchable greed for power, he was gifted in exploiting the people around him due to his ability to see their strengths and weaknesses.
Tōzoku began calling her Zâbel, telling her this was because of her creativity and the quality of her 'found art'. It was as good a name as any and she did not object to taking it for her own. Offering her protection and a means of income, he easily convinced her to join his gang. She set up her workshop in a barn under the control of the gang, and began supplying them with weapons, lock boxes, traps, and alarm systems for the base. Her contribution did more than she realized to aid Tōzoku and his gang’s rise to power; the advantages of improved weaponry were unmistakable. They not only extend their territory further throughout the village but managed to gain control of a large plot of the farming lands beyond.
While her unique position in the gang protected her from the depredations of unsolicited liaisons, for none would risk Tōzoku’s rage by harming his pet inventor, there was only so far she could push her status. Tōzoku was unswayed by her arguments against continuing to exploit the people of the village for slave labor and she had to cease or risk losing her position of security. Making excuses for his methods, she buried herself in her work and continued to feed her mind with newer and more intricately designed inventions. Not all of her gadgets were centered on the business of war and defense but she turned her mind to agricultural pursuits as well.
Rather than ask for permission, for it was better to apologize later than risk being told no at the outset, she implemented irrigation systems, conveyors, and machinery for cultivation. Surprisingly enough Tōzoku did not rage against her wasting time on these projects but readily saw how they would serve to increase his overall profits. So in this round about way she had improved the lives of the field workers and took this as a minor win even though she had not achieved their freedom.
It was during this time that she began to grow an unquenchable hunger, the implications of what this meant were not unknown to her. She had seen what happened to such people in the past. Somehow the Shinigami become aware of those folk and drug them away behind those white stone walls to never be heard from again. From time to time there were people in the village who disappeared by other means, erased as if they had never been at all. Urban legends on the fate of these people varied from murder, abduction, turning into wicked Oni, and even rebirth into a new and better life. While none of these explanations seem to satisfy her curiosity, she had to wonder if there might be some truth to the aspect of rebirth. Who was she before she awoke that day in the fields, with all memory of her childhood and growing up erased from her mind?
That there were no fixed answers to these troubling concerns of her inquisitive mind was frustrating so she began collecting stories from the villagers concerning their earliest memories. It was a project she kept secret just like she did about her growing need for food. Instinctively she knew there were some things which much remain hidden so as not to put her livelihood at risk. Stories came to her of times past when the black-robed wearing Death Gods would walk through their streets reaping lives with little to no provocation, as if to just reduce their numbers. She should have been more concerned with how the rise in power of the gang would put them all at risk. Her failure to connect the dots could not be undone.
The raid came on the barn swiftly and without warning save those of her homemade alarms going off. The intruder broke through those like they were children’s clockwork toys. Despite all their strength and the defense works she had put into their base of operations, the Shinigami made it clear beyond a doubt the differences between their two races. The gang was arrested, those that were not killed during the little raid, and she was hauled off to what she expected would be her execution. Nothing could have been further from the truth.
The Shinigami, Kenji Kohara, saw her burgeoning spiritual power and adopted her into his own family. And so her removal from the Wandering Soul City did not end in her imprisonment or execution as she had feared but rather marked her entrance into the society of the Court of Pure Souls. It was an inexplicable event in her life. No longer was she forced to use her skills to curry favor and secure a livelihood, but rather she could focus on growth and the acquisition of knowledge. Entering the Academy, she threw herself into her studies like one who crosses the desert and at last may drink from the cool waters of an unlooked for oasis.
Rise to Power:
Her time living within the Kohara Family was short for, after her acceptance into the Shin'ō Academy, she moved into the dormitories. It was a completely different standard of living than what she was used to in the Rukongai or even that of her adopted family. For starters, there were just too many people everywhere and yet there never seemed to be lack of room amid the multi-building complex and grounds in which to steal away. Certainly wearing a uniform was beyond weird, and she despised the color red. Zabel easily dismissed these annoyances as being insignificant in the face of all that she was learning.
The need to practice in Zanjutsu was not something that overly interested her. Going through the motions, she picked up a mechanical efficiency just enough to meet her careful evaluation of what was required. She had given enough attention to acquire a pass and then dismissed it from her mind. Having received her Asauchi, she kept it with her at all times as instructed, went through the Jinzen exercises, and basically used the meditative time to think about the applications of Kaidō and studying the processes of anything rather than communicating with her Zanpakutō spirit. As for the processes of Bakudō they just seemed to come with such ease. These two schools of Kidō piqued her inquisitive nature more than the arts of Hakuda, Hohō, or even Zanjutsu. True to form she learned just enough to say she had the bare bones skills in those schools.
The field work of performing Konsō on Pluses or Sublimation of Hollows began to bother her as an exercise in futility. It was not that she held no compassion for the soul burial of lost and wandering souls or denied the need for purification of Hollows. That either was necessary work was so obvious that she wasted no thought on that. It was quite the opposite. These souls, however, once back in the Rukongai were not going to some idyllic repose but rather just another iteration of the same pain and suffering that was in every incarnation of existence. There had to be some higher evolutionary purpose than to rinse and repeat into infinity.
More of her energies were put into the gathering of data and research that, by the point she began considering what division to join, she saw no other logical option than the fourth. Her father was less than impressed by her choice of assignments but she would follow her own path. Even though officially graduated, here is where her real studies began. During her years there she duplicated her time in the Academy by sampling the various departments, gaining a familiarity with their aspects, before settling into her chosen profession.
Quite content to remain an unseated officer she eventually chose the Research Department while exhibiting an amazing ability to keep her head low and stay off the radar. So while the years rolled through successive captains one after the other, the woman followed her intellectual curiosity to expand her understanding of the reincarnation cycle.
Zâbel preferred to keep her professional and private lives separate. It worked better for her not to provoke yet another explanation from her father why the fourth was full of nothing but math nerds. That did not mean that she devoted no time or effort to her family. Here is where all her heart lay, her emotional life blossomed, and her devotion toward others grew. Although a positive force in her life, family was also the place where her clinical observations tended to break down and her true feelings ruled. Zâbel was prone to viewing the members of her family with a blind eye and often made excuses for their actions, most notably that of her father. There was much that was admirable in the man, so that was not an arduous chore; still he was hardly flawless in the pursuit of what she felt were frivolous pursuits. Enter the unknown elder brother.
It was in 1691 that she was introduce to Kenji's biological son, Moriya Kahomono. Like herself he grew up in the less policed areas of Rukongai giving the two a basis for relating to one another. That he was possessing of an analytical mind was simply icing on the cake. The siblings were inseparable. A strong bond formed between the two, and through her devotion to him she agreed to join him in sword training with their grandfather Ryu. Her skills in Zanjutsu begin to improve, despite her earlier aversion to wasting her time and energy. She even began to put more of her meditative energies during Jinzen toward actual communication with her Zanpakutō spirit than to problem solving.
One day while taking up a lotus position, her Asauchi placed ceremoniously across her lap, she found herself hearing the sound of falling water. It was more alluring than anything she had ever heard and upon opening her eyes, she found herself seated before a huge waterfall whose origin disappeared far over head into a barrier of cloud cover. As she turned her head to look away from the falls and over the scenic view behind her, she was struck forcibly in the side of the head. The force of the blow knocked her to the ground, her hands planted in moss covered cold stone. As her hand went to her face, she rolled over and looked at the falls just in time to see an orange come hurtling out of the water to strike her in the forehead.
Although it hurt like hell, she was more concerned with explaining the incident. Naturally she rose to her feet to explore the curtain of water. She could not see beyond the falls and, in a leap of faith, she vaulted into the pouring water to land within an open cavern beyond. Following wet foot prints into the recesses of the cavern brought her face to face with her Zanpakutō spirit. He was a blue faced monkey holding an orange in his hand. With a smack in the face, she took her third hit and the vision ended.
Her successive attempts in communication with her Zanpakutō, now that she had first hand evidence of its existence, put more focus into reaching the strange monkey being but with little success. It seemed her spirit had a case of the ass over her years of neglect and didn’t feel like speaking. The random bruises she sported showed he had no problem in stoning her with oranges. Eventually her persistence paid off and she learned his name, Houwang, and begins forming a relationship until she learned the awakening Kaigo to achieve Shikai.
Call to Action:
For a long period of time her life took on a stable routine divided between family and work. This without a doubt was the most stable and joyful phase of her entire existence. Continuing to train with her brother, she forged a close bond with her grandfather as well. But the devotion she felt toward her father superseded all. Without his entrance into her life she would not be the woman she was today, of that she had no doubt. Happiness had entered her home, for them all. Even her father had settled down into a relationship. This woman Seiko was a source of joy for Zâbel, more like sisters than a true mother-daughter relationship, and she was happy for the couple in finding one another.
Her own relationship with her Zanpakutō spirit was improving and she put herself on a strict schedule for training. This did create subtle difficulties for the Shinigami and Houwang, for he was of a much more spontaneous nature than his mistress. Still, it was a marked improvement over the years she had spent being disinterested in him at all. Oddly enough, the training with her father in Hakua seemed to please the Monkey man and in turn but him into a more communicative frame of mind.
She was quite adept at staying out of the political scene and the notice of those in power; that life interested her not at all. Captains of the fourth came and went, the seated ranks swelled and the hierarchy changed all without her care or concern. Life though would not remain static forever.
It all started with the arrest of Seiko and her subsequent 20 year sentence to imprisonment. That her father was the one who actually made the arrest was beyond her ability to reconcile. She knew he was a man who prided himself on following the letter of the law. To her family loyalty was more important than an arbitrary set of rules that could not possibly hope to encompass every facet of existence. But perhaps Houwang was a bad influence on her for the Monkey man seemed to flaunt the notion of absolute authority. Her eventual willingness to accept her father's action only further strained her tenuous relationship with the Zanpakutō and his constant attempts to distract her from her intellectual pursuits increased.
One night news came which would totally tumble her world; both her grandfather Ryu and her father Kenji had been killed on a mission. The details all checked out, she had fixated upon those needing proof in lieu of their bodies to bury. While she and Moriya grieved together, a refusal to let go and accept the loss grew within her. She determined that she would devise a means of calculating and predicting the exact moment of Kenji’s resurrecting spirit, seek him out in the Rukongai, and adopt him back into the family. Her sense of Karmic debt would allow for no other course of action. She may not have been able to protect all those who suffered in the Rukongai but she could at least spare a torturous existence to her father.
All her energies went into the creation of an automaton rigged with sensors and imbued with Kidō. The first thing she had to do was isolate the unifying soul that carried through from incarnation to incarnation during the cycle of reincarnation. Extensive interviews with people who recalled portions of their past lives filled her days. Taking depositions, building data sets, and experimenting with variations of tracking Bakudō became her obsession. Additionally she began to tag Plus souls with her Shikai during Konsō so that she could calculate: how long it took to resurrect, where these reborn souls were occurring, and look for trends among the data.
Moriya and she eventually had a falling out over her refusal to give up on this dead end research and to focus on healing instead. This was unacceptable and the two drifted apart to the point she could not even recall the day he had left or if he had even said goodbye. Eventually she had a working prototype and while her days were taken up by routine duties, her nights were devoted to scouring the Rukongai for the rebirth of her father’s soul.
The construct, whom she called Doula, kept giving conflicting readings that did not make much sense indicating that Kenji was not dead. The notion that she had been lied to was not something she could conceive. Kenji had put so much trust in the law and her loyalty to Seireitei didn’t allow for that not to go both ways. The only explanation that was logical was that a flaw must be in her design even though diagnostic readings indicated otherwise. Eventually she had to face facts that the predicting of such things was not possible, at least not for her.
This acknowledgement of the impossible coincided with Obsessions’ attack on Seitreitei. She had no time for depression over her failure and she spent her time fighting out in the far reaches of Rukongai. For the first time ever her Zanpakuto spirit was truly joyous being unleashed time and time again to face numerous Hollow. Once the incursion was repelled she spent her energies healing the wounded and wondering how such an attack could have happened. Perhaps if she had not been wasting years on such a fruitless and selfish endeavor and put her thoughts toward safeguarding against the true threat, then maybe so many souls would not have perished. Despite the efforts of the defenders there had been casualties and the promise of reincarnation into some other existence came as little consolation. Returning to the fourth she sought to put her resources and talents to better use.
? when you mentioned one of your goals was to find your adoptive father. I gave you the benefit of the doubt and read the history and I still go 
