Mara

Physically 18, in reality is over 170 years old (young immortal). More than often acts her physical age rather than her literal one.

Female

Full name is Mirabelle Louisa St. Croix, but she has since dropped her middle and last names entirely and has modified her first name. She refuses to answer to her old names, and gets very upset when anyone tries to address her by them.

Main Protagonist

On the short side, but very athletic. Big thighs, well-toned/muscular arms, broader shoulders, rock-hard abs.

Much of her free time is spent training in martial arts that require a lot of upper-body and core strength, so her body type is a reflection of that.

• The streak in her hair is bright purple and very recognizable.


• Her arms and torso are covered in small nicks and scratches from the more serious fights she's been in.

Light Olive

Dark brownish-black with a purple streak in her bangs (not technically protocol, but she thinks it's pretty~)

Long (almost to her waist) with side-swept bangs, wavy, usually worn in twin tails with slouchy beanie.

Dark brown

Caucasian

140 lbs (mostly in muscle)

5'2'

Note: I personally consider flaws to be character traits that have negative sides or can be taken to extremes, since I personally find that more realistic.

• Loyal, but very possessive. Is often blinded by loyalty, and would follow her loved ones to the end of the earth, even if she knew what they were doing was wrong- she would kill and die for her special people.


• Determined, but very stubborn (if Mara wants something, she will get it, no matter what the cost).


• Brave, but reckless


• Good at improvising, but not so good at thinking things through


• A little selfish, and more than a little immature


• IMPULSIVE


• Bluntly honest, straightforward to the point of being tactless.

-Fighting: Over the years, she's become very well-versed in several martial arts, including:
* Kickboxing
* Muay Thai
* Bojutsu
* Knife Fighting
* Judo
* Krav Maga
* Parkour (not technically a martial art, but seeing as the majority of her assignment locations are urban, it's been very useful.)

• Motorcycle mechanics


• Making people laugh/ cheering them up

• Listening to music


• Learning to play guitar


• Riding her motorcycle


• Sparring/ Working out


• Dancing (and teaching Kevin to dance- he says he hates it, but she knows him too well). Most of her favorite dances come from the 1920s and 50s.


• Hanging out with Kevin and Niccolo

Really, Mara Likes anything she can do with her hands. Sitting still for too long drives her INSANE

ESFP-A

(Most of her personality ties into the "Flaws" category, since many of her character traits are often taken to (sometimes) negative extremes.)

• Generally very cheerful... just don't get on her bad side.


• Completely devoted to those who have earned her love and trust.


• TOTAL revolutionary. Mara has lived through countless social and political reforms, and has embraced pretty much all of them. She's been thrilled to see how much the world has improved evolved since her day. And due to the nature of her assignment in the Violent Deaths Department, she's had ample opportunity to be in the thick of most every reform in America since the days of the Civil War.

Note: Mara has ADHD. Obviously, they never knew about that back in the Civil War Era, but she was diagnosed with the disorder around the early 90's.

• Talks very quickly/loudly when excited


• No matter how she tries to hide it, her voice has always had a bit of a Southern lilt to it.


• Often mixes up modern expressions with centuries-old ones.


• VERY fidgety


• Slouches when she sits


• Easily distracted



• Tends to throw herself into certain obsessions for a time, then promptly losing interest and dropping them entirely (there is, however a handful of exceptions)




• Becomes very rigid and irritable whenever someone mentions her Southern upbringing, or even just the South in general (it doesn't even matter the context, she just doesn't like bringing it up).

• Her loyalty to her loved ones- she will go above and beyond in order to make them happy/ keep them safe.


• Her own desires (which vary based on her mood- one minute she's completely obsessed with joining a band, the next, she'll have completely forgotten that in favor of learning Italian). But whatever her current obsession is, she'll put her heart and soul into it, at least till she loses interest.


• Her goal of reaching Heaven in order to reunite with her sister.

-Butterfly knife
-Crescent Scythe
-Any kind of long pole (Bō staffs, pipes, etc.)

Grim Reaper, working in the Violent Deaths department.

Many of the souls she's assigned to reap aren't exactly the nicest people or in the most stable state of mind, and often they're not too keen on the idea of some strange girl leading them off to the afterlife, so a big part of working in this department requires a proficiency in martial arts.

Luckily, beating people up seems to be Mara's forte. She doesn't always enjoy it, but she understands more than most that some people will take a bit more "convincing" to be led to their eternal fate, and that sometimes, you don't have time to be nice about it. Besides, when more than half of people you're dealing with are murderers and criminals, it doesn't give her too much grief to punch a few of them in the nose.

However, the other half of people she's usually assigned to are the victims of violent crimes, and that's where her talent for cheering people up comes in. She doesn't like seeing people be sad, and will do her best to make their last moments on Earth a happy time before they face eternal judgement.

She can't ever decide, but is currently very fond of purple.

Pineapple ice cream and hot pockets. She used to really like chicken nuggets, but after the events of the first book, she can't eat them without getting depressed.

Her scythe

In terms of traditional education, minimal. She can read and write and do basic math, but not much else in terms of academics (she has very little interest in book learning- would much rather be out doing things).

Is primarily self-taught in the realms of music and mechanics.

Trained to work as a Violent Deaths Reaper for the equivalent of about seven years in Purgatory (and seven months on Earth- time works differently there). She's been taught to use all manner of weapons, but trained primarily with polearms and similar weapon types.

Born: October 23rd, 1843
Died: June 5th, 1862

Born into a respectable Southern family in Alabama, Mirabelle was one of two daughters (six children total) born to Samuel and Florence St. Croix (pronounced "croy"). Their oldest daughter, Ruth (nicknamed Ruthie), had recently died in childbirth at the age of 20- her husband being a man she had been forced to marry for the welfare of her family's bank account. Mirabelle, then only 14, was traumatized; she had loved Ruthie more than anyone in the world. Mirabelle blamed her parents for Ruthie's death, and their relationship was never the same.

At the time of her 18th birthday, most young men were off to fight in the Civil War with no indication that they were coming back. Fearing that their already spirited daughter would grow up to be an old maid, Mr. and Mrs. St. Croix arranged for Mirabelle to be married off to a wealthy plantation owner nearly three times her age, the man offering a sum of $75 (now equivalent to $1,872) for Mirabelle's hand. Mirabelle had no choice in this matter.

On the day of her wedding, something inside of Mirabelle seemed to snap. Instead of saying "I do", she openly renounced her entire family, cracked a nearby vase of wedding flowers over her fiancé's head, and took off running towards the honeymoon carriage. Her intention was to unhitch one of the horses and ride somewhere they couldn't find her, but she spooked the animal and ended up getting kicked in the head; Mirabelle was dead before she hit the ground.

She woke up moments later, coming face to face with a man carrying a harvesting scythe. He comforted her and told her that his name was Niccolo, that she had died, and that he was taking her to a place called Purgatory. When they got there, Mirabelle's life was reviewed- she wasn't quite good enough to get into Heaven, but she certainly wasn't bad enough to be sent to Hell. She was in the gray.

However, instead of being sent to Limbo (where the majority of the "gray" souls went), Mirabelle was offered a proposition: If she agreed to serving a few immortal centuries as a Grim Reaper (one whose job it is to collect souls and lead them to the afterlife), she could utilize those centuries to learn how to become a good enough person to earn her way into Heaven. Needless to say, she agreed, and was assigned a senior partner and mentor to train and guide her through the learning process- none other than the person who had led her there in the first place, a certain Niccolo Machiavelli.

Mirabelle, having renounced her family, dropped her last and middle names entirely and insisted on being called Mara rather than Mirabelle. She has spent the last 150 or so years working as a Reaper in the Violent Deaths department, guiding souls who were killed in more unpleasant ways (and who were not in the most stable frame of mind) to the afterlife. And while Mara has been known to get distracted every now and then, her goal remains the same: to earn her way into Heaven to finally see her sister again.

October 23rd, 1843