The Unfortunate Past

[bitterflower]

Long ago in the cold north there was a small town as superstitious as it was struggling. In that town was a scholar who sold medicines and remedies for frost bite. As suspicious as the townsfolk were of his help it was needed, so they let it pass. After all the man's wife was dead and he had a daughter to care for and a dowry to build. Perhaps the townspeople should have listened to their instincts. After all the man practiced black magic in the dead of night, and sometimes people would go missing with eye witness accounts of unholy creatures that dragged them away.

One moonless night, as a someone was desperate for treatment, they came across the man's place and found lights coming from the barn. They heard chanting, and strange shadows cast. That person left without treatment, and the next day the townsfolk were calling for the man's hanging.

However the man was not keen on dying. He had much more work to do, and knowledge to discover. And so he was firm that any black magic that may have been committed on his property was most assuredly his daughter. It makes sense, after all, that his daughter is a witch. Since not long after her birth her mother died, and only as his daughter came close to her eighteenth birthday did these strange occurrences begin. The council ate it up. As the man was willing to give up his daughter it seemed like the best course to placate the people without any struggle as well.

So the man prepared his daughter, his dear Marina with eyes like her mother: bluish-green like the see. And a face like his own; bitter like the cold that gripped them for most months of the year. He prepared her for her execution which would be watched by the whole town. And himself of course. Why wouldn't he? Considering his preparation of his daughter for her death entailed cursing her body and soul so deeply that it would wipe out the entire town for daring to accuse him.

And so, while Marina's body burned at the stake, the whole town was shrouded in deadly miasma that the smoke made the moment the flames kissed her flesh. Marina's only comfort was that at least her screams were not alone.



Due to the nature of Marina's death her soul is in an unusual spot. It is unable to be claimed by gods or demons. Instead she haunts the many planes of earth until latching onto a soul who resonates with hers: Aoba Amami. Four times she has been able to convince the young woman to reset the flow of time with her help. Each time they both grow stronger - folding power, destinies, and fate over on itself. Marina, or Marigold as she introduces herself to Aoba when they finally meet at the turning point, hopes that at some point they'll be strong enough to reverse what has happened to her. It just might take a couple hundred tries, though...

Because she has latched so thoroughly onto Aoba's soul, Marigold has lost some sense of herself. When she manifests she looks more like a clone or offshoot of Aoba because of this. Sometimes when she manifests it's with the features of a demon due to the black magic that killed her.

Extra:
Marina: "Of the sea," or "bitter"
Marigold: Symbolizes jealousy, grief, despair, and mourning