#So Inari's punishment for him was a sort of wake up call

[soulsxng]

Most of the scars on Darrow's body are relatively well-healed-- with nearly all of the ones that came before he ascended to godhood having vanished completely over time. If not just being extremely faded. The most noticeable ones all came from special circumstances, however, which is why they've lasted as long as they have. I'm gonna talk a little bit about each one!

1. The scar on his left ear.

It takes off the tip of his left ear in a sort of irregular tearing pattern. The edges that make up this scar are blackened, and feel a bit hard to the touch...as though charred by some sort of flame. If you look closely. you can see that the skin beneath his fur closest to this scar is actually a bit greyish and discolored-- with what look like smattering of black "freckles" around it.

It was given to him by Sachiel-- one of the seraphim/archangel siblings, and carrier of a disease known as tzowld. An affliction that began with Heaven's original God, and was known for being highly infectious among angels, but also possible to pass to other species as well. It causes the affected person's mind and soul to slowly degrade over time. Often making them extremely violent, destructive, impulsive, and irritable, until the tzowld spreads through them completely, and their soul finally gives way and collapses in on itself-- resulting in the death of that being.

During a period of time that the tzowld was far more common, Sachiel had found out that it was his powers that was spreading the tzowld in the first place, and with this...on top of quite a few other things that he'd been dealing with, at the time, he had something of a mental breakdown.

Because he was living in Ativere at the time, this caused a high number of Ativere's population to contract tzowld. And in a panic, he tried to flee.

Aro, who has been close to Sachiel for some time, tried to stop him from leaving, and Sachi lashed out before he even realized it. For the most part, the attack missed...and because at that point, Sachiel was nearly out of energy, Aro was lucky enough not to contract it, as well.

But his ear has still never been able to be healed in any way. Sometimes it prickles and stings, or gets really itchy, but otherwise it doesn't bother him, much. Aro thinks of it as a sort of reminder of the time he felt like he failed Sachi.

2. The scar under his left eye.

This scar was given to him by Gaea's Inari...the original goods, essentially.

I know in Aro's bio, it says that he was a nogitsune for a long time. When he was really young...and honestly even now, that just means that he can be a bit mischievous at times. Something of a prankster, but never really meaning any ill will toward anyone.

However, during the time from which he had his fourth tail, to shortly before getting his ninth as a kitsune, that changed. He became far more malevolent, and caused a lot of major trouble-- eventually to the point where he was causing problems for Inari themself...and then later on, for other gods as well.

It was only once Inari found out that Darrow had stolen something from them, that they finally drew the line. He got the scar when they demanded their wish-giving jewel back, and he initially not only played dumb, but showed them further disrespect in his words to them.

In return, they lashed at him with their whip-- the tip of which, caught him under his eye. There used to be more scars from the flames the whip carries, but those faded over time.

He returned the wish-giving jewel, and was immediately cast out of not only his home, but the mortal realm as a whole. That's what led to him meeting Clio, and settling in Alfheim for a century or two.

This scar, despite only being about an inch long, still burns to this day. He's gotten used to it, but if it's touched without warning, it'll be enough to get a small wince out of him. It feels hot to the touch, as well.

3. The scar on the right side of his back/hip.

By far his worst scar-- raised and angry looking, and easy to tell that the wound it came from was a near mortal one. It was given to him by Irazor, the man who once stole Darrow's God Seal, and used it to force Aro to do his bidding. All the while conditioning and training him to become little more than a feral beast, by any means he could.

When Aro nearly managed to escape him after 8 or so months, but was caught after being betrayed by someone he had thought he could trust. When he was returned to Irazor, the man commanded him to kneel before him...and unable to resist, he obeyed.

As Irazor circled him, talking about what he should do as a punishment, and just...generally getting himself more and more worked up, he pulled Aro's sword from its sheathe. The vicious slash that came after is what caused the wound, and resulting scar.

This is by far his worst, as-- after receiving the wound, Aro purposefully wouldn't leave it alone to let it heal. Over the weeks after he got it, he allowed it to become infected, he stopped taking care of himself entirely, to the point where he was delirious...all in a gamble to force Irazor to call for a healer. The closest of which, he knew was Clio, who would save him.

The gamble paid off, but with how bad it got, even Clio wasn't able to heal it in a way that wouldn't leave a scar.

It's usually pretty painful for him, and causes a lot of aching, and periodical stiffness in his right shoulder, back, and hip, even to this day. This is the only scar that he's especially self-conscious about.