Bleach OC Profile: Jo Mori

"There's no such thing as a good day to die. We've got shit to do."
— Jo Mori

Jo is a strong-willed, independent, and optimistic individual. She is stubborn to a fault and highly competitive, though her normal disposition is mellow and good-humored, usually seen smiling and waving to everyone she passes. Jo hates drama and doesn't let many things bother her, and is rarely seen actually angry. Though not particularly charismatic or good with words, she is an extrovert with a warm personality that naturally draws people to her despite her appearance. She's not a complicated person- she never lies, and is almost tactlessly honest and open. Jo is highly empathetic, affectionate and caring, and will always be there for anyone who needs her. She's very confident in herself and her abilities, and that, plus her friendly optimism and calm nature, make her extremely easy to get along with. She rarely complains or speaks ill of people, and usually shuts gossipy or judgemental conversations she witnesses. Jo is a natural leader thanks to her resilience, her natural pull and her unshakeable ability to step up and face any challenge, and people tend to follow her and her sheer force of personality. She prefers to let actions speak over words, and never judges others, letting them make their own impression on her.

Jo's competitive nature makes her an incredibly hard worker, and she puts her all into everything she does. She's always looking to improve herself and follows her mother's mantra of "If you always strive to better yourself, you never have to pine for lost glory days. You'll be you're best self every day." Though she isn't aware of it, Jo has a deeply buried need to prove her strength and be the best, and an even more deeply buried need to be needed by others. She is highly protective of not only loved ones, but anyone she meets, and is often teased for being a mother hen. She tends to put other's needs before her own, and in fact tends to brush off her own needs, even as far as ignoring injury and her own personal comfort to help another. In fact, Jo is extremely generous- the first to offer her jacket in the cold, the first to offer to lend money, and first to grab the bill. She doesn't think twice about doing things for others and not expecting anything in return, but this is easily taken advantage of. Jo also tends to be forgiving to a fault, and often allows people back in that no one in their right mind would forgive. She lets people use her often, and never seems to learn her lesson when she realizes she's being taken advantage of. But, she's not one to cause drama or let it impact her life. She wants to bring peace and balance into the world, and she's resolved to let nothing stop her, even in personal issues.

Jo is extremely observant, and is an excellent reader of both body language and voice. It's very difficult to deceive her or lie outright to her face. Though she has always been naturally observant, she's been forced to hone this ability after a severe injury left her with brain damage that caused prosopagnosia and other memory problems- leaving her with trouble remembering faces, directions, issues with word association, and conversation details she doesn't actively force herself to remember. With her extreme aversion to showing weakness, Jo's been able to make up for her handicap through her skilled eye and developing a keen ability to bullshit her way through a conversation, hiding her poor memory. She isn't booksmart or great with large-scale tactics, but has a solid base of common sense, good people skills and instincts that make up for what could be considered her sub-par intelligence. She's not stupid, but she's no scholar. Because of her stubborn independent streak, as a child Jo never wanted to ask for help with anything, which developed into her not even knowing how to ask for help when she wants to, or what questions to ask when she needs answers. Dating Eliot has helped temper that, but she still struggles with allowing anyone to see any chinks in her armor.

In a fight, Jo remains calm and collected, able to hide any hesitations or doubts under her forceful confidence, and to any outside observer appears completely fearless. She's focused, and her observational skills, quick reflexes and instincts honed over years of fighting make her a formidable opponent. Though confident, she rarely underestimates her opponents, and goes into each battle expecting a tough fight. She loves the rush and challenge of a fight, and often puts herself at small disadvantages just to test her skills. Jo will never back down from a challenge- many people say she lacks any semblance of "flight" instincts. She never makes the first move in a one-on-one match, preferring to gauge her enemies by their opener. She has found that, when challenged by a weak opponent, her presence alone can often make them back off. A bad habit she still has is doing anything for the win, especially when the safety of others is on the line, and will often take hits just for an opening. Jo can be extremely reckless with her own safety, and rarely thinks, choosing to rely solely on instincts. Luckily for her, she has good ones, but they can occasionally just get her in more trouble and more injured than necessary. Once an opponent is down, no matter how heated the battle, Jo will back off, and only kills when she feels it's necessary. She has no qualms about being the judge and executioner of people she knows will only cause more harm if allowed to live.

Her take-charge attitude and overprotectiveness can be seen as overbearing at times, and she has a hard time backing off to let others take care of themselves and has difficulty delegating tasks to others, which can make it appear as if she doesn't trust them. She can be clueless to this fact, and gets a little hurt when people call her out on it. She loves teaching and sharing her knowledge, because she knows it will help protect her students down the line. However, her protectiveness causes her to be rash, and her tendency to go with her instincts alone can get her into very tough situations. And, despite her empathy and her reputation as a good listener, Jo has a blind spot when it comes to apathy- she just doesn't understand why people act cold hearted when they aren't, people who don't work hard, and people who don't take care of themselves (though the hypocrisy of that is lost on her). Nothing irritates her more than people who act like, or actually just don't, give a shit about others, and being the confrontational person she is, can get too in-your-face about it. All in all, Jo is an open book, a resilient, strong-willed optimist with a good heart who just wants to help people in the best way she knows how- by fighting to protect them.

Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant: As a human, Jo had an interest in martial arts from a young age, and started her training boxing with her mother. She later joined a local martial arts studio when she was nine, taking any class they had to offer. Throughout the years her training became focused on two styles, Northern Shaolin and Jeet Kune Do, which she was fortunate to have access to in the big city she grew up in and continued training well into her adult life. She didn't stop at simple training, and placed in, and won, many tournaments before college. Jo's training, plus various other sports she was involved in, granted her a hardened body and a dangerous athleticism that remained after her death. At the academy, Jo took instantly to Hakuda, and was top in her class, second only to her friend Layla Vital. Jo's fighting style is fast and aggressive, and her strength makes her strikes very hard to effectively block. She is a very direct attacker, no frills, distractions, or gimmicks- just raw power, precise movements, and deadly reflexes that allow her to snatch projectiles out of the air or blades in mid-swing. Her training with practitioners of many different styles have honed her fundamental skills, and honed her ability to read her opponent's movements.

• Iron shirt: A technique Jo has perfected over the years that greatly increases her durability. By concentrating her energy on a point on her body that is about to be struck and hardening the muscles just before impact, she can take even the hardest blow as if it were a normal punch. This technique has also served to prevent the affects of pressure-point attacks as well, by using her body's reiatsu on top of her natural energy to counteract the strikes.

• One-inch punch: Jo can perform a punch at very close range (less than six inches from the target) without needing to cock back first, and can send her opponent flying back. This is generally used to get space between herself and her opponent.

• Shirahadori (Blade Catch): Jo is able to catch blades from the air by clasping her hands or fingers around the flats of the blade. Recently, because of her missing arm and several blades slipping between her fingers and slicing her palm, she has taken to striking the flat of her opponent's blade with her palm and re-directing it as opposed to actually catching it.

Jo, in her years of experience, has developed her own distinct style of swordplay thanks to her focus in not only learning pieces of any style she can, but how to flow through them seamlessly. This has forged a fluid, instinctual and unpredictable style that Jo has difficulty teaching to others. Fuu has named Jo's techniques Pain No Michi (松の道, Way of the Pine), in reference to Jo's origins and a subtle joke about her size. The style is a combination of her heavy training in Fuu's preferred traditional style, as well as forms and footwork learned from her allies and foes alike. Most noticeable are Korean Geom Do and, now that she only has one arm, she has focused on more heavily integrating fencing, jian, and dao use.

• Pain no Michi - Komorebi (支店松木漏れ日, Way of the Pine, (referencing how light filters through the trees)): A quick-draw technique- the user keeps their hand on the hilt of their blade, draws their opponent close, then draws their blade with enough force to injure, aiming to either: draw halfway, aiming to strike the opponent with the butt of the sword, or drawing fully and slashing diagonally- both strikes fast enough for the user to hit their opponent and re-sheathe their blade in the blink of an eye. Inspired by Iaido katas learned under Fuu's instruction.

• Pain no Michi - Shiten (支店松の道, Way of the Pine, Branches): A technique in which the user locks their opponent's blade and can direct their movements through it. This is achieved by catching their opponent's tsuba or crossguard with the tip or side of their blade, or sliding their own blade down an opponent's until they are locked together by their hilts. It requires strength and agility to achieve, but once the blades are locked the user can manipulate their opponent's movements through their grip on the blade.

• Pain no Michi - Kaze ni Shiten (風に支店松の道, Way of the Pine, Branches in the Wind): An elaboration of the former technique, used when the user cannot overpower their opponent. With the blades locked together and the opponent's focus on that, the user can instead headbutt their opponent, or kick them in a soft spot in order to cause pain and distract them for a stronger attack. Jo's favorite is to headbutt her opponent.

• Pain no Michi - Hari (針松の道, Way of the Pine, Needles): A technique with which the user flicks their blade quickly, performing several fast, precise strikes to disorient and wound their opponent. The first flick is directed at the opponent's weapon, with a twisting motion to knock the blade away unexpectedly. The proceeding flicks are directed at the opponent's soft spots- under the ribs, at the femoral arteries, and at the brachial arteries. WIth enough speed, the user can even attempt to hit the neck while the opponent is still recovering their blade. The attack is meant to inflict numerous small, open wounds.Alternatively, with a skilled user, the first strike is directed at the opponent's weapon hand, wounding it to force them to drop their weapon, or be distracted enough to allow the rest of the Hari to land.

• Pain no Michi - Rūtsu (ルーツ松の道, Way of the Pine - Roots): A feinting technique in which the user feints low, causing the opponent to prepare to a low attack, then quickly shifting their weight for a strong cut elsewhere on the opponent's body, strong enough to deeply wound an opponent. This technique allows a user to perform a powerful strike without telegraphing their intentions.
  

Shikai Special Ability: Trickster's ability involves the manifestation and manipulation of firey plasma, using reiatsu as a fuel source for reactions similar to what happens in the core of the sun. Jo's flames are gold and white in color. Because of her contract, Jo also gains some ability to manipulate firey energy made by others, and gains near total immunity to fire, fire based kido, and fire manifested by other zanpakuto. When hit with another's flames, Jo's skin will simply ignite, but not damage her.

• Etu Te'i (フレア (Furea) Flare): Jo gathers and compacts energy from her blades into a mass of heat energy surrounding her body. Wreathed in a cloak of superheated fire, Jo can either launch the energy out as a wave attack, incinerating anything in its short-lived path, or she can launch herself from where she's standing, rocketing towards her opponent like a miniature comet. The first use of the technique can cause severe burns but is much shorter range. The second not only causes heat damage, but upon impact the energy expels from Jo violently, causing concussive damage as well. Both versions of the attack can only travel in a straight line.

• Hakan (焼却処分する (Shōkyaku Jobunsuru) Incinerate): Upon command, Jo causes a large solar flare-like explosion to burst from her blades, and now, since her contract, her body. She does this by simultaneously increasing the blade's temperature to their highest point and condensing them under the highest pressure she can manage, causing them to violently combust. Not only aren the flames dangerous, the concussive force is enough to shatter barriers and bones on weaker opponents. This attack is close-range only: it is only really dangerous if the opponent is within a foot of Jo, though she can also throw her blades and use the technique at some distance. Weaker opponents can still be flattened within a few feet.

• Senge Skah (バーン遅く, (Bān Osoku) Slow Burn): As an ambient ability, Jo has the ability to alter the heat of her blade's flames by using her own reiatsu and environmental reishi as a fuel source, from just room temperature to well over 10,000F, though its highest temperatures are only sustainable for a few moments. The brightness of the flames increases with heat, starting at their normal gold-orange to pure white. One the blades make it to 700F, the air around them starts to lose oxygen and heat up to an almost unbearable temperature directly around the blades. She can change the temperature back and forth freely, although each change is gradual. The transition from room temperature to its hottest temperature takes up to five minutes at its fastest.<dl>Kaji Skah (バーンバースト, (Bānbāsuto) Burst Burn): Focusing on this technique, Jo can rapidly increases her blade's temperature to maximum, which, with no change in air pressure, sucks the oxygen out of the area around her for about a minute and creates a large concussive burst from her blades. She can also sling crescents of heat energy from the blades that can cut and burn, though they lose energy quickly and are only dangerous within ten feet.Jo has gained a technique since her contract due to her Zanpakuto becoming part of her physical body; however using it repeatedly has an adverse affect on her physical form: 
  Iga Te'i (フレアステップ, (Fureasuteppu) Flare Step): Jo's new technique is only available in Shikai: Jo can call her blades back to her hand. The misplaced blade will burst into flames and re-form in her hand. This technique has no side effects. Conversely, she can also 'call' her body to the blade, not unlike regular flash step- Jo dissolves and reappears in a wreath of fire, only able to transport herself to the misplaced blade. Unlike flash step, this technique is mildly disorienting to use, blurring Jo's vision for precious seconds and causing minor dizziness, worsening each use of the technique.</dl><dl>Contract Side Effects:</dl><dl>
  • Jo's already high body temperature increases from 106-107F to around 150F in Shikai due to the release of higher energy. She sometimes burns the ground where she stands.
  • The longer Jo stays in shikai, the more her body is slowly consumed by her Zanpakuto's energy, which effectively changes her body's reishi into heat that combusts in the air. It starts at her ankles, wrists, and around the plate in her chest, and moves in from there. To keep herself from  being totally consumed, she consciously has to keep her own reiatsu at a level above the Zanpakuto's.
  • If Jo allows too much of Trickster's reiatsu too overcome her, her appearance will change even further: her blades will disappear and her forearms, chest and lower legs will dissolve into the same material as her Shikai's blades- even able to withstand attacks similar to the weapons. She becomes physically stronger but less rational. This form causes external and internal damage to Jo if left too long, and she can only stand to be in it for a minute minute before she starts slowly degrade from the inside out, destroying her body.
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• Etu Te'i (フレア (Furea) Flare): Becomes bigger and faster, and Jo gains the ability to control her trajectory to an extent. Her stopping and recovery time remains slow.

• Hakan (焼却処分する (Shōkyaku Jobunsuru) Incinerate): Jo slams the hammer into the ground, and concentrated bursts of flames that look like solar flares shoot out of the ground anywhere in a 100m distance from Jo, with the concussive force from each blast strong enough to injure people at distance from the actual flames. She can also use this to make a wall of fire at a higher energy cost.

Human life: Jo was born in San Francisco, California, to two retired Coast Guard parents. Her mother, Nina, was a helicopter pilot, now a hairstylist, and her father, John, was a cutter captain, now a contractor. Jo became a sister to her brother, Nate, when she was four, and her sister Aurelia was born when she was seven. Jo had a very active upbringing, playing every sport she could, along with doing martial arts and learning to play the bass guitar (her father insisted she had to learn an artistic pursuit as well as sports). Jo was always close to her siblings, and was overprotective of them throughout their lives. Their family was very close-knit, and Morelli family gatherings were always a huge event. The whole family was lively and competitive, and her parent's high expectations, as well as a desire to be a role model to her siblings, drove Jo to push herself in every pursuit. Though she didn't have good grades, she drove herself to college, earning a scholarship in swimming, in order to get a degree and follow her parent's footsteps into the Coast Guard as an officer.

Jo went to Florida for college, where she worked towards a kinesiology degree, swam, joined a few martial arts clubs, and got a job for extra cash as a bouncer. In her second year, Jo was involved in an incident that ended with her shot, and she lost her swimming scholarship because of it. Luckily, she recovered quickly, and was able to graduate with her degree with money her parents saved. Her grades weren't good enough to be an officer, however, and she went to Coast Guard boot camp after graduation, with hopes of becoming a rescue swimmer. She graduated with little problem, and moved on to SAR school, then was able to serve for a year. However, her life was cut short when, at age 25, on a day off she pushed a woman out of the way of an oncoming bus at an intersection and was hit herself. She held on for two days, but died from internal bleeding. Her actions in the year leading up to her death attracted the attention of a certain Aspect as well, who, unbeknownst to Jo, attached to Jo's soul.

Early soul life: Jo's Soul Burial was performed by Scott Kings, who, as per protocol, guided her to Soul Society and prepped her for life in the Rukon. However, he immediately recognized her potential Spiritual Power, and asked her if she'd like to try to get into the Academy. Open for an opportunity to continue her life's dream of being in the military, Jo accepted. However, she fails the entrance exam, and Scott advises her to find someone in the Rukon that could help her study. Instead of finding a mentor, however, Jo finds Layla Vital living in District four, a former Academy student that was horribly injured in her fourth year. The two hit it off right away, and Layla agrees to train Jo for the Academy, feeling she couldn't return herself with a broken Zanpakuto. Jo trains with Layla for a year, during which they date for a brief period of time until Jo realizes Layla was not one for commitment. They also meet a fellow Shinigami candidate Matt Alder, and Matt and Jo convince Layla to try for the Academy again. The three take the exam, pass, and enter the academy together.

Academy years: Jo and her two friends join the Academy in the years leading up to the Espada War, and they find the Academy demanding, competitive, and a little desperate to pump out good Shinigami. Jo and the others become rather infamous their first year, not only as three very promising students in different areas, but as troublemakers. Jo excelled in Zanjutsu and Hakuda, and in her second year discovered the name of her Zanpakuto, being the second in her class to know her Zanpakuto's name and true sealed form (the first being Layla). Because of Trickster's dual blade form and her skill at Zanjutsu, she catches the attention of the Zanjutsu instructor Hattori Fuu, who takes Jo and Layla under her private tutelage, joining the likes of Clio Erganes, Scott Kings, Tenzin Tsetsen, Oda Seiichi. Under Fuu's teachings, Jo was honed into a powerful warrior, and her morals and drive were sharpened- she gained a life goal in making Fuu proud. In fact, had it not been for Jo's total lack of ability in Kido and Hoho, she could have graduated a few years early.

Because she and Layla were 'young' to Soul Society, Fuu became something of a mother figure to them, though that only served to make Fuu drive them harder. In one training session in her fifth year, Fuu broke a few of Jo's ribs and sent her to the school's medic. This is where Jo met Eliot, then a 20th Seat from the Kido Corps doing a cross-division training for the Fourth Division. Jo almost immediately fell in love, though she was only able to see Eliot in passing. In Jo's sixth year, her graduation mission goes awry and she almost loses her hand. Eliot is the one to patch her up again, and then asks Jo out on a date. This leads to them officially dating by the time Jo graduates.

Division 7/Espada War: Upon graduation, Jo joins Division 7 and is promised a seat after her mandatory two years of enlistment by the captain, upon recommendation from Fuu. After a year, Jo is immediately deployed to Hueco Mundo in the Normal Operations department, and quickly proves herself an asset in battle. Several years into the war, Jo earns ranks up to 5th Seat, as her leadership and drive in the war inspires subordinates and peers alike. She gains 5th Seat after a mission alongside the lieutenant Yolotli Tenoch, in which the two manage to take down an entire Arrancar platoon and free a POW camp in the meantime. The two become close on the mission, and several years later when the captain is killed, Yolotli becomes captain and promotes Jo to lieutenant, against her advisor's wishes and over seemingly more qualified candidates like the 3rd seat Scott Kings. This causes some dissent in the ranks, and Jo finds she has to work even harder to earn the respect of her fellow senior officers. By the end of the war two years later, and several injuries gained in taking attacks for others and putting herself on point in any mission, Jo earns their respect (and a few reprimands from Eliot on her medical visits). Jo also becomes good friends with the 4th's 3rd seat, Grant Rostov, thanks to her frequent visits to his medical tent.

Post Espada War: After the war, Jo took over the Military Police department of the 7th, and she and Yolotli lead the division back to peacetime. Jo and Eliot's relationship strengthened as well, and the two began to talk about marriage, spurned on by Jo's close shaves in the war. Jo also received her first major assignment a few years after the war, a secret investigation of reports of a group of rogue Shinigami. She was allowed to pick her own inter-division team, and chose her close friends Layla Vital, Matt Alder, and two friends she made during the war for their abilities, Chris Perri and Ryoji Van. They carry on their investigation for a year, while Jo's normal life continued- including normal missions in the World of the Living, and gaining a guest instructor position at the Academy. During her time instructing, Jo ran into someone she never thought she'd see again: her sister Rae.

The two's reunion was rocky, as Rae accuses Jo of leaving the family when they needed her, and is furious with Jo for leaving her and never giving Rae a sign she was okay. While Jo tried patching their relationship, her investigation began to hit new leads, and she uncovered a member of the rouges. At the end of the year of investigation, Jo and her team tail the member- right into an ambush. The five investigators, and a young Shinigami Oda Shinichi, are caught in a trap that nearly kills them, and would have if Jo and Layla's captains hadn't been close enough to respond. However, Jo and the others were so close to death, it took intervention from the 12th Division captain to save them.

Jo and the new Visored were patched up as well as they could be, then injected with the Hollowfication virus by the 12th's captain. At this point, the 12th felt they would have died without it, and the risk was worth the study, something the Captain Commander grudgingly agreed with. The infected Jo and her team were locked in a space/time chamber with properties similar to the Dangai- one day outside was a month inside- and were left to die, hollowfy, or survive.

Jo, during her hollowfication, met her inner Hollow in her inner world, a being that named herself Muse. Muse, though as powerful as Jo, was the opposite of her in every way, and as such couldn't match Jo's determination. During the battle, she found she was unable to utilize Jo's Zanpakuto properly, and was easily defeated. Upon beating Muse, Jo woke up to find Van and Layla waiting for her, and Matt, Shinichi and Chris still struggling with their Hollows. They all succeeded, however, and the six became the third group of Visored manufactured by Soul Society. The 12th left them in the chamber for four months (ten years inside). With nothing better to do, Jo trained hard, and was able to manifest her Bankai by the time the 12th saw fit to release them.

(To Eliot Rios) "I am absolutely ass over ankles in lesbians with you."

(To Ma'ii) "I don't know what the hell you did, how you did it, and I'll probably never understand it. But thank you... I can never thank you enough. I wasn't even close to done living yet. I owe you everything I am"

(About Hattori Fuu) "Hattori's training, to this day, is the toughest, scariest shit I've ever gone through. But I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I owe my life to that woman hundreds of times over! All of her students do. She might be mean, she might be cold, but she's lived through it all and despite everything you fuckers have said about her, is still completely dedicated to this military. So you bet your ass I think she'll be the best Captain Commander the Gotei's ever seen."

(To the Primera) "You'll never win. You think compassion is a weakness, well, what's this war worth to you? Some new real estate? Pathetic. You're a piece of crap, desperate to survive any way you can. You don't even care about your comrades! You know what this war is worth to us? Everything we love, everything they love. We aren't fighting to survive here; we're fighting to protect. You think compassion is a weakness... But it's the reason we'll crush you."

(To her students) "I know you're all hurting and sore, but think of it this way: It's just one more ass-kicking closer to not getting your ass kicked!"

(To her students) "Look, you're going to fail, that's just how it is. You get cut up, you fall down, you fuck up. Sometimes life will punch you right in the face and kick you into the dirt. But what makes the difference is what you do about it. You gonna lay there and feel sorry for yourself, or are you gonna get up and take another swing? If you fall down nine times, you have to get up ten."

(To Ryoji Van) "I look like a man? Please, I look awesome, and your lame ass comments aren't going to stop me from having bigger biceps than you."

"I'm not fearless, but the way I stay ahead of my enemies and even my peers in a fight is pretty simple... You just have to train like you've never won a battle, and battle like you've never lost."

"All I can say is... strap in for maximum amusement."

• Her themes are How the Gods Kill by Danzig and Renegades by the X Ambassadors.
• As of now, Jo's creator has no access to proper translations for Jo's Zanpakuto techniques. For now they are named in Jo's (fictional) native language, Thali, from my other story Ghosttowns.
• Her body type is based on Brooke Ence. 
• Jo is claustrophobic and afraid of needles.
• Jo will never hit someone outside of sparring, combat, or defending herself, even in a playful manner. It makes her uncomfortable for reasons she isn't aware of, though she knows it started around the time she began dating Eliot.
• She loves surfing and any and all beach activities. She also owns a motorcycle, and takes it out on her visits to the Human World.
• Jo used to play the bass guitar, quite well, though she is no longer able to since losing her arm.