Editing Reid Musser

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{{Character Infobox
|Name = Reid Musser
|Image =ReidMusser.jpg 
|Alias = <!-- titles and nicknames-->
|Age = 18
|Gender = Male
|Status =Deceased 
|Classification = [[Practitioner]]
|Affiliation =[[Musser Family]] 
|Family = [[Raquel Musser]] (cousin)
|Occupation = <!-- civilian job, if any -->
|Chapter = [[Cutting Class 6.9]]
|Family 2=[[Abraham Musser]] (father)|Family 3=Donovan Musser (brother)|Family 4=Billie Musser (Aunt)|imagecaption=by [https://twitter.com/ghostsketches ghostsketches]}}Reid Musser is the son of [[Abraham Musser]]. Like his father, he has multiple [[Implement|implements]] and two [[Familiar]]s, [[Blackhorne]] and [[Drowne]]. He has spent the last few years travelling the world.<ref name=":12">Reid Musser<br>
Reid takes after his father, a school founder, but does not necessarily follow in his footsteps. He has been traveling the world since he was fifteen, studying in its various forms. Reid keeps a collection of nine Implements and two Familiars, Blackhorne and Drowne, a trick that owes to close-held family secrets. He attends Advanced classes and helms one
special project in the workshops. - Bonus Material: [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/09/10/4-7-spoilers-student-guide/ Student Guide]</ref>
==Personality==
Reid Musser is extremely eager to live up to his family's name, even if that means completely disregarding all morality. 
==Relationships==
[[Drowne]] is unhappy with being his familiar, he disagreed with them being in Kennet and with their lack of a greater plan. He also argued with Reid about teaching [[Nova Aquila]] to read.<ref>“I don’t see a reason why we’re here, except pride and greed,” Drowne said.  He peered through perpetually wet hair, the skin of his face stretched tight across his features like hands were pulling on the sides, his expression either a macabre frown, corners pulled far back, or a macabre smile.<br><br>“Pride and greed are enough.”<br><br>“We keep making small decisions that hurt us,” Drowne said.  “I won’t claim to be a genius-”<br><br>Blackhorne barked out a laugh.<br><br>“-but I managed, once.  I feel like we’re not managing.  We’re- there’s a fundamental misunderstanding about all this.”<br><br>“There is,” Reid agreed.  “I’m sorry, Drowne, but the misunderstanding is yours.  ''We'' make the decisions.  You Others follow through.  That was the deal.”<br><br>“Yeah,” Drowne said.  “But things as big as… what’s the greater goal, except standing and power?  Your father talks about a movie he wishes to make, but he takes so few steps.”<br><br>Wye hissed through his teeth.<br><br>“Don’t denigrate my father,” Reid said.<br><br>“Things as small as Nova.  Teaching her to read would-”

<br />- [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/07/31/false-moves-12-z/ Excerpt] from [[False Moves 12.z]]</ref> He later attacked Reid and forced him to release everything he'd stolen before crippling him.

[[Blackhorne]] is another of his two familiars, he is mildly fond of Reid but not enough to help him when he needed it most.<ref>Blackhorne was there, idly amused.<br><br>The sensations were hard to make out.  Amusement, a casual fondness… rejection.<br><br>''I like you some, but not that much''.<br><br>He could imagine it in Blackhorne’s voice.<br><br>Blackhorne wouldn’t help.

<br />- [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/07/31/false-moves-12-z/ Excerpt] from [[False Moves 12.z]]</ref>

Reid considers [[Wye Belanger]] a friend and enjoys his company but only so much as it furthers his families interests.<ref>“Getting to where I stand with my father is the product of years of this, Raquel,” Reid told her.  “Never once having a friend ''merely'' for the sake of having a friend.  Always with a calculus for cultivating allies.”<br>“Truly!?” Wye asked.  “We’re not genuine buddies of the bosom?”<br>“Ha ha,” Reid replied.<br>“No, family allies first, but I do enjoy your company.”

<br />- [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/07/31/false-moves-12-z/ Excerpt] from [[False Moves 12.z]]</ref>

He has been working hard to earn his [[Abraham Musser|fathers]] respect and sees many of the challenges he's faced as tests his father has set out for him.<ref>but there are reasons my father would offer that as one of the options that go beyond just recognizing one obvious trap.  It’s intended as a ''test'', Wye.  I went, but not as an escape from the Mussers.  If you leave of your own will, you aren’t invited back.  I kept their standards, even when I was fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years old, when I was filled with hormones, tired, scared, hurt, in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar standards.- [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/07/31/false-moves-12-z/ Excerpt] from [[False Moves 12.z]]</ref>

He feels as if [[Raquel Musser]] has been letting the family down and that her choice of friends is unproductive. He fears that if she continues travelling down his path she'll end up as useless as her mother was.<ref>''You rate lower than the Others like Nova,'' Reid thought.  ''And you’re so close to being removed from the picture, becoming a Donovan at best, a Billie at worst.''

<br />- [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/07/31/false-moves-12-z/ Excerpt] from [[False Moves 12.z]]</ref> After entering the contest for the Carmine's throne he hoped she would be able to have something of her own outside the family.

His brother Donovan has been sidelined by the family due to failing to live up to expectations.<ref>It was never said out loud that I had to, but I’ve seen many family members fall by the wayside, some twice my age.  My older brother Donovan currently attends family business in Edinburgh.  When mentions are made of plans for the family, logistics, who should attend to what, he’s not a part of that planning, and his name rarely comes up.”<br><br>“I didn’t remember you had the older brother,” Raquel said.<br><br>“Case in point.  I have uncles who are the same.  Still ''of'' the family, but not ''the'' family, understand?”

<br />- [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/07/31/false-moves-12-z/ Excerpt] from [[False Moves 12.z]]</ref>

He spent time with Kaye Knighton and after receiving his uncle's permission slept with her.<ref>Five days and four nights with the Knighton family in Minneapolis.  Much of my time was spent working right alongside Kaye Knighton, glancing at each other, smiling, making more, uh, accidental brushes of arm, shoulder, and hand than would be likely to truly happen by accident in a whole year spent together.”<br><br>“Ah, young love,” Wye said.<br><br>“She crawled beneath my covers one night while her father was out.  After kissing her, despite being… I can’t even describe, nearly out of my mind with an entire adolescence of pent-up urges, I couldn’t even reliably relieve myself with my hand-”<br><br>“Ew,” Raquel said.<br><br>...<br><br>“I can’t even begin to tell you how much willpower it took to crawl out of that bed so soon after she’d climbed in.  I told her I needed protection, which I did, but I also needed a moment to think.  I got my phone and decided to text my uncle.  It was too late to ask my father directly.  I asked if Kaye Knighton was acceptable.”<br><br>“The Knightons are fairly well to do.  Kaye is pretty and competent.”<br><br>“Yes.  My uncle thought as much.  I got the one-word affirmative, put on music as a way of excusing what I’d been doing on my phone, and returned to Kaye.  Until late in the evening.”- [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/07/31/false-moves-12-z/ Excerpt] from [[False Moves 12.z]]</ref>

He was deeply touched by [[Lauren Snyder|Lauren Snyder's]] sacrifice and was angry that no one would know about her bravery, He felt as if the conversation he had with her was one of the few times he talked to a woman with his family being involved in some way.<ref>“I was talking to Lauren and I realized I don’t think I’ve ever had a conversation with a girl or a woman that was just me and her. If my family wasn’t there, or if they weren’t part of the reason I was talking to them, then they were still there in- strategy.”- [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/09/28/break-5/ Excerpt] from [[Break 5]]</ref>
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==Appearance/Description==
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==Abilities==

He knows the Musser family secret that allows him to have multiple Familiars, Implements, and Demesnes. He currently has two Familiars and nine Implements, these include<ref name=":12" />

*He has a belt with knives that he throws at people whilst in combat.<ref>Reid turned and hurled a knife from his belt.  One of his nine implements.  The knife arced through the air, curving as it flew around the corner.- [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/07/31/false-moves-12-z/ Excerpt] from [[False Moves 12.z]]</ref>
*He owns a tin hammer that allows him to shatter objects on his command.<ref>Reid snapped his fingers.  The tin hammer at his belt stirred, and windows on the upper floor of the building shattered.- [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/07/31/false-moves-12-z/ Excerpt] from [[False Moves 12.z]]</ref>
*He has a garotte wire wrapped around his arm that when knotted allows him to manipulate his claim over his other implements, he often uses it to return his knives after he throws them.<ref>He held his hand out, and the wire he had wrapped around his upper arm, just up his sleeve, absorbed his power.  It had many uses, depending on how he arranged and knotted it, but his primary method was to manipulate his claim over his implements.  Pulled by the wire, the knife on the road moved, bouncing and dragging across the road with increasing intensity, until it leaped the final ten feet to his hand, handle slapping into palm.  Left alone, his belt would draw on his Self to replace the knives, producing an effect like a bit of blood loss, but doing it this way spared him that small cost.- [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/07/31/false-moves-12-z/ Excerpt] from [[False Moves 12.z]]</ref>
*A corrupted cops badge.<ref name=":0" />
* A pillbox.<ref name=":0" />
* A syringe.<ref name=":0">He relinquished his things, one by one.  Blackhorne.  The corrupt cop’s badge.  The syringes.  The pillbox.- [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/07/31/false-moves-12-z/ Excerpt] from [[False Moves 12.z]]</ref>

All of these were lost to him when Drowne attacked him.

In preparation for the contest for the Carmine's throne his father took him to the [[abyss]] to toughen him up,<ref>I think- I think the fact I was crying before he said that, it’s why he took me to the Abyss.  To harden me up.”- [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/09/28/break-5/ Eexcrpt] from [[Break 5]]</ref> the resulting changes affected his cognition.<ref>“The Snyders.  Didn’t you hear?  Or did you think I might be married?  No.”<br><br>“No I- forgot that detail.  My head is full of noise, pain, anger.  Musser.  Reid Musser.”- [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/09/14/break-3/ Excerpt] from [[Break 3]]</ref>

He is able to summon past members of his family as a shade to fight for him.<ref>Other silhouettes began to rise.  John wasn’t unfamiliar with this sort of thing.  They were the province of some old families.<br><br>Mussers.  Mussers of past generations, crystallized echoes, or a bit of Animus, a bit of history forming its own patterns.  Some held whips, others held muskets.  They’d fought for a long time.  And of course, some were practitioners.  As they rose up out of the ground, some had to move away from the swelling fire at one side of the building.- [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/09/28/break-5/ Excerpt] from [[Break 5]]</ref>

==Chronology ==
He spent his youth travelling, visiting many countries, and doing tasks for the Musser family. He visited Japan to learn about familiar practices, studied astrology in Australia, meet a chosen champion in Rome, and inspected a rival cousin of Graubard in Venice and schooling in London. He has also spent time in Dark Summer and High Spring.<ref>“Japan, to study their familiar practices.  Australia to learn with an Astrologer.  I picked up Blackhorne while on a ship between there and Canada.  An errand to Rome to meet the chosen champion of a pagan deity and judge if they were of a caliber that Durocher might be interested in.  They weren’t.  Then, hm, Venice to meet a rival cousin of Graubard in dollmaking enterprises.  Some background decisions being made there, about whether the Blue Heron network would keep Graubard or favor the cousin instead.  Then London for a trial run at schooling, explored some, got Drowne.  Then the Faerie courts, High Spring for three days, that felt like ninety, Dark Summer for a week to run another errand, finding someone for a family friend- [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/07/31/false-moves-12-z/ Excerpt] from [[False Moves 12.z]]</ref>

Whilst in London he and his father brutally attacked a homeless girl in order to get her familiar, [[Drowne]].

He travelled to Paris to learn [[spellbinding]] only to discover the head of the family had been assassinated, his death meant the release of the people he'd enslaved. One of these freed slaves went on to kill Eve Allement, a potential fiancée of his. Upon discovering the man Reid shot him dead, he then proceeded to help manage the crises and remove the rival family.<ref>Paris.  I won’t forget Paris.  I’d gone to the Underside of the city to visit with a person who could teach me spellbinding, except I arrived mere hours after the head of the family had been beheaded.<br><br>...“Spellbinders bind the living and when the patriarch had died his slaves had been freed.  The spellbinders were so focused on the Others in their midst that they’d forgotten the humans.  One of the humans was able to get in position to corner and kill Eve Allemand, who would’ve been another of my potential marriage prospects.  She died a few minutes after the first and last time she spoke to me.  The freed human had smashed his hands against her face and head until she’d died.  His hands had been so broken and bloodied by delivering the beating that he’d been unable to operate the doorknob to let himself out of the room.  So he’d just sat on the floor and waited two hours for someone to find him there.  It was me who found him.  Me who shot him where he sat.”- [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/07/31/false-moves-12-z/ Excerpt] from [[False Moves 12.z]]</ref>

Afterwards he travelled to Soisson to live with a serial killer who had discovered how to make their [[demesne]] appear and disappear at will, he learnt her secrets and his father took her demesne for himself. He also rescued a pregnant woman that had been taken captured by her and helped deliver her baby.<ref> I traveled to a serial killer’s hovel in Soissons, because the shabby woman there had worked out some interesting things with practices and demesnes.  Talked my way into her company, spent two weeks barely able to sleep because she was so dangerous, even with my familiars guarding me.”<br><br>...<br><br>She was willing to hurt me while I slept, and slithered past the slightest gap in their watch over me.  Fatigue made it all harder.  She was able to sleep like a baby while the pregnant woman she was keeping captive in her demesne wailed and cried out for help.  I thought my heart was harder than it was, but it kept me up.”<br><br>...<br><br>“I did give her some assistance.  Some direct, some subtle.  I’d been trying for some time to harden my heart and exercise discipline and volition, but I couldn’t leave her completely alone, despite that.”<br><br>“Hmm.”<br><br>“Learned what I needed to learn about the demesne she maintained constant and free access to, slipping back to it at a moment’s notice to elude authorities, hm, delivered the baby, that was one bit of assistance I gave.  Took a life and helped bring life into the world, about one and a half weeks apart.  Then told my father what I’d learned about the demesne.  Matter of days later, I smoked outside while my father took it.  We sent the victim on her way with her baby, spellbound to forget we’d existed or where the hovel was.- [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/07/31/false-moves-12-z/ Excerpt] from [[False Moves 12.z]]</ref>

After learning that [[John Stiles|John]] killed [[Alexander Belanger|Alexander]], he travelled to [[Kennet]] with his father [[Abraham Musser]] to investigate. Whilst there he got into a fight with a group of [[Witch Hunter|Witch Hunters]] and during the fight the Kenneter's used [[Montague]] to stop him practising. This allowed [[Drowne]] to escape his control and turn on him, forcing him to give up all the familiars and implements he'd stolen. He then attacked him, hurting so badly he ended up being hospitalised. The loss resulted in him losing considerable standing with the family.

After a few days, he was well enough to leave the hospital and return to the cabin his father had rented.<ref>The loss of his son hasn’t slowed him down, and he’s devoted very little time to visiting the hospital, or to the cabin, now that his son has been moved.”-[https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/08/14/summer-break-13-4/ Excerpt] from [[Summer Break 13.4]]</ref>

[[Abraham Musser]] eventually decided to pick Reid to enter the contest for the Carmine's throne.<ref>“Preparing.  Reid’s getting a crash course in what Musser thinks will help him win.”<br><br>“He picked Reid?”<br><br>Wye nodded.- [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/08/31/summer-break-13-9/ Excerpt] from [[Summer Break 13.9]]</ref> During the contest he fought against [[John Stiles|John]], promising to hurry if he'd hear him out, asking John to send a message to his cousin. After dawdling John threatened to name him [[forsworn]] if he didn't start, John offers to urge [[Raquel Musser|Raquel]] to get away from her family and do something to remember [[Lauren Snyder]] then shoots him dead.<ref>- [[Break 5]]</ref>
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Mussers]]
[[Category:Carmine Competitors]]
[[Category:Practitioners]]