The Beloved Mockingbird

History

---

Born on July 11, 1466, Drige Merlo was the firstborn child of Arvis and Leanne Merlo. 2 years later, their little sister Nino was born and 5 years after that their brother Krais arrived as well. Arvis worked as a carpenter and took Drige as an apprentice, but met his untimely end after succumbing consumption. Leanne also caught the illness soon after but stayed alive for much longer. With both of their parents unavailable to do work, the kids had to start making money on their own. Drige found their carpentry abilities weren't sufficient to sustain their family, even with the help of their siblings, so they turned to other means of income. They quickly discovered that thievery was a crime that paid very well. They never told a soul of their nightly activities, so they continued to work within the shadows doing whatever it takes to bring another meal to the table.

Soon enough, word had spread of a thief in the area who caused enough trouble that knights started to get involved. They soon discovered the village where their thief lived in and started interrogating the residents at dusk. Everyone denied it, not knowing of Drige's crimes. The thief wasn't even in the village while this happened as they were still on the way back from a successful heist. The knights believed that they were being lied to and began to slaughter everyone in the village. Surely they are all accomplices and we'll get the thief eventually, they reasoned. By the time Drige came back, they could see smoke rising in the direction of their home. As they approached closer, they could see the sky turn orange, unsure if it's from the sunset or the flames of homes burnt to ash. The knights have long since left and bodies littered the ground. They ran into the flames, hoping to find a survivor, hoping to find their family, but no one lived through it. Drige fell to their knees and allowed the flames to swallow them. It's the only repentence they could give, afterall.

Yet, that moment never came. When they came to, the flames, the smoke, the ash, the town were gone and they came face to face with a strange creature in the midsts of a field. She introduces herself as Durahns and grants Drige another chance to save their family and all that they love. It's a deal that Drige doesn't even wait to listen to the conditions before desperately agreeing to it. Drige finds themself back on the road home before anything happened. They rush back and managed to make it in time to see the knights still interrogating the villagers. They give themself up as the thief to save their home. With that, one of the knights stabs them with a lance on the spot as an act of retribution, leaving them to bleed out on the ground. As they begin to black out, they wake up again infront of Durahns who reprimands them for their rash decision and tells them to try again.

And so they try again, and again, and again. Every single time, Drige continues to fail to save even one person. Several times, they end up bruised and bleeding yet again. This loop lasts for what feels like months before they give up. Their determination to save their family slowly drained away as the realisation settles in of how futile their efforts were. Drige turns to Durahns and simply asks her to take them somewhere far away, some place better than this hell, and so she does.

Drige wakes to unfamiliar territory and landscapes. Concrete pillars reach the sky and asphalt roads line the pathways. Nothing here is even remotely recognisable, but they hope a better life can be found.

Personality

---

Despite everything, they are a kind soul and a blind optimist. Drige does their best to see the good in people which sometimes goes to far and causes them to vastly misjudge someone's character. Situations tend to worsen due to the lack of knowledge of this new environment they found themselves in. Although, they aren't entirely naive. They are familiar of the necesity of sin and wouldn't hesitate for most crimes if they have a good reason for it. However, murder is one boundary they refuse to cross.

Their abilities with melee combat is lacking, but they are quite experienced with a bow. Their injuries from the resets never fully healed, especially one wound from a spear on their right shoulder, so a true bow would be too difficult to use. Durahns has granted Drige with their own bow that can be summoned at will and requires much less energy to use. Although they have little experience in combat, they will get practice in time and can rely on their allies until then. When it comes to allies, Drige is fiercely loyal almost to the point of self-sacrifice. They have a constant anxiety of something bad happening to those they care about again.

An avid lover of sweets, Drige has the metabolism of the gods and is unaffected by the massive amount of sugar they can consume. They always keep a bag of candy somewhere on their person. The especially loves to drink maple syrup which is a concerning sight to most people.

Appearance

---

Drige has shoulder length black hair and yellow eyes. Underneath their left eye, there are two black marks. They wears a dark grey scarf around their neck at all times. They also wears a white, long sleeved shirt underneat a long, black trench coat. On their lower half are a pair of jeans and some basic black and white sneakers. On the right side of their chest, there is a large scar from being stabbed with a spear. Most of these clothes were stolen when they came to Kuryo.

Trivia

---

• No one knows their agab, not even me!
• The name "Merlo" means black bird while the name Drige has no meaning
• Their wings are a power granted by Durahns that can appear and disappear at will
• They main Pit in Smash Bros
• Character Change Log
  1. Theme song changed from Ten Thousand Tons of Anonymous Letters (万吨匿名信) bc I wanted lyrics