Mary Maslan

Mary is a curvy woman with an hourglass figure, but she isn't very tall, standing at an average height of five-foot-four-inches tall. She almost always has a smile on her freckled face and has a pair of clear blue eyes, along with long, wavy, golden-blonde hair. Her brows are darker and her face is oval-shaped. She enjoys getting to wear flowy dresses, skirts, and nice boots (all things that she wasn't allowed to wear before, and tends to pair with tights or stockings), but also tends to stick with long-sleeves.

## Personality

Mary is a sweet, kind, and social woman. She's unafraid to put herself out there, even with the risk of rejection, and always has a smile ready for anyone she comes across; she'd even be able to manage a smile for a convicted murderer. She doesn't have any trouble starting up conversations or keeping them going, and she's most certainly an extrovert. She's just a friendly person, and likes talking with and getting to know other people, and is someone who is able to sit down for hours on end just *talking*. She also tends to pick up on social ques quite easily, and knows when to back off on a certain topic and when she can keep pressing on another, making sure that the conversation is enjoyable for both sides. She carries herself with a confident and determined air about her, and doesn't often take the time to second-guess her decisions once she's made them. A lot of the time, too, she'll rely on her gut instinct when it comes to making choices, which can lead to situations that are... certainly not the best. Her impulsivity has led to some good things, though - the life she lives now, for example, wouldn't exist if it wasn't for that, though it could also be attributed to her trusting others a bit too quickly and a bit too easily. Despite how quick she is to trust, and the trouble that she has adjusting to the "outside world" (people *choosing* to believe in nothing, people *choosing* to lie and steal and cheat, people *choosing* to do whatever they want and not just having things decided for them are all things that she struggles to wrap her head around - especially the more negative parts of society, because if you actually get to *choose* what you do, why would you ever do that?), she's actually quite smart. Book-smart, at least, she's finding - she'd been good at the math and science she'd been taught as a little girl, and is now enjoying to get to delve into more of those fields now that she actually *gets* to. Especially science and all the fields therein - she finds it all absolutely *fascinating*. And why wouldn't it be? She's finding out the way the world *actually* works, not how someone just told her it was when she was little and she was stupid enough to believe them. Mary has a little bit of bitterness in her - directed mostly at the place she comes from, but some towards herself, too, for being so naive for most of her life. She doesn't let it slip out most of the time and prefers to keep it internal, but as with all emotions that get bottled up, it's bound to come out sometime. And besides, she prefers learning and finding a new place for herself, which she has King to help her with - who she views as her closest friend, and who she is extremely grateful to have him in her life now. Mostly, though, she tries to spend her time not sinking too deep into her own head, because if she does *that* then she's going to start missing her family and spiraling over the fact how everything she was raised to believe is actually wrong, and the real world is nothing like she expected it to be. She's good at math and science, and can also focus in on projects she's working on quicker than most.

## Dæmon

Ocean. Golden Retriever. Male.

Ocean is just as golden as his owner is, with long and soft-looking gold fur. He's got big paws, warm and dark eyes, a bit of white fur on his belly, and his tail is constantly wagging.

Ocean is a dutiful dæmon that always makes himself as dependable for Mary as he can be, taking it upon himself to act as a pillar of support - especially now, when they've left behind everything they've ever known for the Republic. He's just as kind as his human is, though he tends to show it in a different way than she is - doggy smiles being offered to most people they come across and a strong sense of loyalty and devotion to those close to him being the main ones. He does, however, tend to be a bit less trusting than Mary is, especially so since they've left home, and can sniff out other people's bullshit quite a bit easier than she can.

## History

Mary was born into a small community in Beringland - one that was far from normal. They lived together because they all believed the same thing and followed the same man, but didn't believe in a singular god, or even multiple gods and goddesses. They placed far more value on Mother Nature; her storms and her oceans, her forests and flowers, her shifting seasons and constant movement. They loved the light of sun, moon, stars, and aurora, but feared the darkness of shadows and nighttime. While midnight sun was meant to be a time of celebration for them, the polar night was meant to be one of constant vigilance, where people would keep on guard - even forgoing sleep, as their leader ordered - to watch for threats that were both worldly and not. They kept to themselves, because *they* lived in the light and the rest of the world flirted with darkness, but would often invite others to come visit them at the farm they ran, and maybe they would be interested in joining (invites like these were largely turned down, but they did get a few new members this way, such as Mary's father, whose name was changed from Mason Maslan to Currant Maslan, and his dæmon from Cerridwen to Aurora when he did)? Their leader was in charge of naming all the children and their dæmons, and he had a tendency to lean towards nature-based names; as such, she was named Marsh-Marigold, and her dæmon Ocean, but as she grew she was often referred to by just Mary. She was born and bred to be a docile housewife - as it was the only role for women in the group; by the time she left her older sister, Thimbleberry, was already married with a child on the way - and would only ever go into town and be around people not in her religious group when they needed to go shopping. It was on one of these outings, when she was much older and was allowed to go with a group of friends rather than just her family, that she met King Hodges - a man with an spot-necked otter dæmon and a cold exterior that she, at first, took as a sad one, and who she later learned was backpacking across Beringland. She invited him to join the group at one of their "services" (they didn't call them that, but it was essentially the same thing). He accepted, and thus began the slow process of her leaving the cult - not that she knew it at the time. Despite the fact that King never actually joined them, Mary and him grew closer - not in a romantic way, simply as friends - and started spending more time together. This was something that raised the suspicions of the rest of the group, as she was interacting with someone still in the darkness, and they started to distance themselves from her. She heard whispers of people accusing her of sleeping with him, which was a problem, as it had already been arranged that she'd marry the leader's nephew. It all came to ahead when she was called to see the leader himself and he accused her of adultery; accusations that she denied, but something that cast her out of the cult all the same. Her family was ordered to never speak with her again, as she'd fallen into darkness and was lost to them now, and she left with nothing more than the clothes on her back. With nowhere else to go, she went to King, who allowed her to stay with him and even travel with him as he continued his travels. She accepted, and started to adjust to life outside of the cult she grew up in, but King thought that it would be a good idea for her to get a fresh start and suggested that she come back to the Republic of Heaven with him. Not having any other ideas, she accepted, and now she lives with him in his apartment in Rook, still adjusting to how the rest of her life is going to be and figuring out where she should go from here.