[COOLDOGOOO]

mark!! 👀 you did a gorgeous job w them six!! <33

[PleaserOfCrowds]

username + id: PleaserOfCrowds 756851
maru name: Fel
prompt: Giving them a magical compass for them to look into for guidance hopefully connect them to their various lives, as they’ve been fractured into many beings and is therefore incomplete. With it, it would direct them to the nearest shard of themself so they can work on being whole again and regain their memories bit by bit.

[xLilith]

username + id: xLilith 691880
maru name: Cordelia
prompt: I'd give them a Heart of the Sea as they look like they've been searching for buried treasure for so long <3

[Loelya]

username + id:

Loelya #767140

maru name:

Selene (Μήνη)

prompt:

I offer Selene a guided tour: how to live again.



It's fairly clear from the chill fog drifting from her fur and the lost, wandering look in her eyes that Selene has recently returned from the realm of spirits. Her paws are uncertain on the ground and she can't seem to decide if she's coming or going.

I assure her I'll take care of her, to start with. We can figure things out as we go.

She struggles to settle back into the world of the living, so I take her along for the little things (the big things) that make life worth living. She's not quite sure at first, but she learns quickly. Or rather, she re-learns quickly. She says at first it hurts like a loss, even though she is here, and present. But then she admits that it's more like she's finally understanding how much she gave up, before.



She decides - or perhaps remembers - on day one that she likes hot food. Almost too hot to eat, really, but we're careful so she doesn't burn herself. We spend hours enthusing over the best ingredients to add to our pot of stew, rich with potatoes, carrots, and meat that falls apart in soft bites. It's seasoned with basil, rosemary, cayenne pepper, and celery seed. We mix in a gravy we made from stock and cream. It's food as only the living can savor.

"Why did you go?" I ask her, as we're filling bowls. "What were you looking for?" She doesn't answer. Not at first.



We fill her room with creature comforts. Pillows, blankets, soft warm lights, plushes, and plants. She learns - remembers - what sound sleep is like. She looks out of the window and remembers what it feels like to be sheltered from the cold. Spirit-cold is different from snow-cold, she'd say. But it still reaches down to your bones, and it won't leave, and you can't imagine what it would take to feel warm again.

"Someone went ahead of me," she finally admits. "Without saying goodbye. I couldn't let them go - not unless I could speak to them one last time."



"Was it worth it?" I ask her one day.

"I don't know," she says, and her voice trembles. "It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I was terrified, and lost, and... and it changed me. Maybe forever."

"If given the choice, do you think you'd go back and do it again?"

That seems to help her decide. Her nod is firm. But there's also a few tears.

"I'm glad to live again, though." Selene whispers.

I believe her. She smiles more every day that passes.
And I have to say, she keeps getting better and better at making stew.

[tiredddd]

username + id: tiredddd 930627
maru name: Respite
prompt:
I'd give them shelter, a garden tucked away where they can care for the lost and stuck. Those stuck neither here nor there. A place thats almost always rainy and covered in moss with a hut that always smells of flowers and food. Somewhere to call home, somewhere in between, somewhere hidden away from the watchful gods.

[kageyenova]

username + id:
kageyenova + 796956
maru name:
Ranha
prompt:
As this marumi blinks into life, before forming its first thought, I offer a one-sided coin. Placed gently into its small paw, the golden gleam catching the glint of its eye as it takes its first breath, registering its own existence in that same moment. Heads depicts a closed eye, the raised grooves of thin eyelashes pointing downward - Tails is smooth; empty. Just as this marumi had been only moments before.
I offer, second, a smile.

[smallspicy]

username + id: smallspicy + 606458
maru name: Búri
prompt: I give them a bell to ring, small lights seem to dance over its metallic surface and a dark blue ribbon is tied to its crown. It seems to sound different when standing one place or another, and even stops making sound all together if you spend too long in one spot - almost as if urging you somewhere... I want them to help me find out why.

[misted_shadow]

username + id:mister_shadow 1111846
maru name: Andromeda
prompt: if she sticks around she can have my soul

[Screemnigcheesepuff]

username + id: screemnigcheesepuff 684994
maru name: Leviathan
prompt: This maru has spent decades traversing the deepest parts of the ocean, seeking clues in lost ruins, in a hope to reunite with the scattered remnants of her people. I would offer ancient tomes about the lost mysteries of the sea, and legends of strange and powerful beasts the once called these ruins home. Maybe one day their mournful call, that is often misunderstood as dangerous, will be recognised as a cheerful when there is a responding call.

[iskadeki]

username + id: buddabup + 470772
maru name: Hyacinth
prompt: I offer a sacred festival in her honor.


On the eve of the Festival of Hyacinth, just after the last golden rays of the sun have dipped below the horizon, Marumis far and wide extinguish their hearthfires and begin a temporary oath of silence. They do this to symbolize the passing of their loved ones beyond the veil, leaving their homes darker, colder, and quieter.

Feast of Remembrance

The festival-goers attend a massive banquet with enough food to feed the whole town. Somber and silent, Marumis eat and reflect on the lives of those they’ve lost throughout the year. There are empty chairs scattered around the tables, for the dead to sit and enjoy this moment with the living. They feast on bone bread with honey, wine of the harvest for the old and special milk tea for the young. Other blue Marumi delicacies like butterfly soup, stuffed indigo milk cap mushrooms, grilled blue skink, sweet noodles dyed with blueberries (lovingly dubbed “sweet bloodles” by the youngins), and elderberry cobbler are enjoyed with silent reverence.

The Dance of Chains

After dinner, Marumis dance shackled together with chains and bells in the intricate Dance of Chains, where somehow the chains never tangle. This represents that even death cannot hold back the spirit of a Marumi. While they remain shackled in its embrace, the joys of their life will still echo through this world. This marks the end of the silence as Marumis sing and sway in celebration.


Contests!

Hyacinth, named for the story in Ancient Greek myth, is incredibly fond of her namesake’s flower. The aromatic blooms are often placed on Marumi graves. Every year, there is a Hyacinth Contest to see who can grow the largest and most fragrant blooms.

When a Marumi passes, it’s customary for the family to grow out their fur and hair. During the Festival of Hyacinth, Marumis will braid each other’s hair in intricate ways and adorn themselves with flowers, hair cuffs, and charms. This symbolizes that sorrow brings growth and interconnectedness. They’ll then cut these off and throw them on the pyre at the end of the festival.

Hyacinth loves a long, beautiful tale, even if it’s a tall one! Marumi elders will take turns telling odysseys about their passed loved ones. Doesn’t matter if it’s faithful to the truth or not, as ghost stories are rarely factual anyways. The Marumi with the best tale will be rewarded with Hyacinth’s blessing. She grants them a vision in their sleep that night of those gone before, allowing them to exchange words with the loved ones they miss. Every year, they tell the tale of Hyacinth’s Beginning…

Hyacinth was once a young mortal Marumi with a beautiful pale blue pelt unmarked like the fresh fallen snow. She learned from her grandmother, who learned from her grandmother, the ways of a death doula. Hyacinth took this work incredibly seriously, viewing it as a sacred task to facilitate a peaceful, and even joyful, transition past the veil to rest among the stars. She meditated often throughout the days and watched the stars gleam and grow every night, naming them for the Marumis that had gone.

When it was her grandmother’s time, Hyacinth was suddenly overtaken with grief and fear, unlike any death she had witnessed before. She ran. Past the outskirts of the village and into the forest, she ran until her breath could no longer keep up with her. There she stayed next to the river for an entire night, grieving and screaming at the stars. When she returned, her grandmother had finally passed, and Hyacinth had missed that most sacred moment, when her grandmother breathed her last and entered the veil. She cursed and wept and her pelt grew much darker as she retreated from the world.

She searched and searched for a time and place she could pass through the veil to see her grandmother once more. Hyacinth felt a burning desire to apologize for running from her grandmothers death, abandoning her in those last fragile moments. On the eve of winter’s beginning, just after the last rays of sun left the horizon, Hyacinth extinguished her hearthfire and placed the light in a lantern, using it to guide her through the darkness. She ran through the forest until she came to the familiar clearing, and washed her paws in the river. She trembled as she drew concentric circles with salt. Finally, she sat in the middle of the circles and began to chant until she threw down her lantern, lighting the salts ablaze.

She awoke in a marshy swamp, the mist and frog-song overwhelming her senses. She trekked through the Isle of the Lost. One by one, her ancestors approached and begged her to turn back. Hyacinth pressed on, ignoring them as they came. As they reached out to stop her, their souls became imprinted on her coat.

Hyacinth then climbed a staircase carved into the Mountain to the Stars. Every step felt like a hundred years, and she was exhausted by the time she reached the peak. As she reached the stars she spotted her grandmother, and began running, kicking up stardust that littered her pelt.

Her grandmother was bound in the chains of death, fixed in her place among the celestial sky. She glowed brightly but could not speak, as she was lost in a tranquil stupor. Hyacinth wrapped the chains around her body and tail and pulled as hard as she could. With a loud snap! the chains broke and her grandmother blinked in confusion.

Suddenly, they weren’t alone as the maru of Death appeared before them. Hyacinth begged for just a few minutes with her grandmother, so that this journey wouldn’t be for nothing. She had passed the point of no return, Death could not spare her that fate, but he was grateful for her service of shepherding souls into his embrace. Death took pity on Hyacinth and allowed her one last goodbye. Tearfully Hyacinth and her grandmother hugged and said their goodbyes. Her grandmother gently wiped away her tears and forgave Hyacinth for running. Then it was time to meet Death.

Hyacinth breathed deeply, and Death once again took pity. He transformed Hyacinth into a specter in his cohort, that she may live in his service forever. From that day on she became the Maru of the veil, remembrance, fire, and sorrow.

At the end of the festival, every Marumi gathers around a massive pyre. Copper chloride is scattered over the wood to create massive swirling blue flames that seem to reach the stars. Marumis will dip torches into the blue bonfire and carry the flames to light their hearths once again to symbolize the return of their dead, renewed in the heart of Hyacinth; their memories preserved by the living fire.