#andway rai ilysm tysm

[andromacheflints]

humbly requesting u talk abt ur ocs <3

rainbow i love you. anyway aranj and myrem I've been dying to talk about aranj and myrem but I kinda struggle to because they are kinda tied up in worldbuilding?? so get ready to hear that

so i have this pre-modern alternate world setting that i use mostly as a sandbox, and in this world there is a valley and in this valley there are some people who are called lichu (name not set in stone. like their language is called lichuek and -ek means "in the manner of" but its been a while since i worked on lichuek and i think i might want to add a suffix to mean "people" and ANYWAY) sometimes these people are organised in kingdoms and states of their own and sometimes they are part of other states.

anyway there were these two girls who were childhood friends, murem and aranj, who were sort of rich but then murem's family fell off and, being very charming and very clever, she ended up scamming people. and then ended up being run off the country for scamming people. and aranj was like "well I can't let you leave alone" and went with her. so and so they go to Nejbekar (a thriving city-state which features A Lot in the stories i write for this world) to continue being scams. and myrem was like Okay we're in the big city now we gotta refine our act, we'll say im land-owning nobility that has been Exiled from our Land (there's prooooooobably some unrest thats actually happening in their country at that point but i haven't really ironed that one out) and that you are my servant*

*now the thing about servants and lichuek culture is that there is this literary archetype of the Vassal/Servant/Steward sort of, who is a bit like the knight errant in the sense that they did not really Exist but have cultural value as a literary figure and is associated with The Noble Past. and like the vassal is supposed to be loyal to their lord yadda yadda and Most Importantly to take care of their lord's grave after they die (because in middle lichuek literature the lord usually dies young doing something heroic and brilliant) [ask me how this is reflected in their creation myth<3] (and also lord is not exactly a "lord" in the feudal european sense. its more like someone who can command loyalty and Deserves Loyalty) (yes this means lichuek culture has built-in support for all kinds of grifters. dont worry about it)

but the thing is, right, that for myrem the whole thing is an act. she expects them to go home at night and switch it off.

but aranj. who has very little ambition of her own. who has Already spent her whole life following myrem (who really Is brilliant and charismatic while aranj is..jjust some guy honestly). who Already expects that Myrem will die young doing something brilliant and heroic. who misses her home and find some connection to it by embodying this role (and also in the promise that someday she'll return to bury myrem)…she's living for that shit!

(and thats another thing - murem would be just fine living in nejbekar for the rest of her life but aranj Pines for Home and has Very Complicated feelings on murem being the reason they had to leave) (even though she did not have to leave) (but she had to)

meanwhile myrem is straight-up in love with aranj but aranj does not reciprocate (partly cause she's Found A Model for what their relationship should be like and thinks that a relationship with her would be debasing to Myrem. partly because she Just Does Not See Myrem Like That). She'll worship her but not kiss her and its driving myrem insane because she could order her. technically. and murem wants aranj to love her but she thinks she would only do it out of obedience, which not the thing she wants!!!

and its this thing right where aranj wants to serve myrem so much that it comes on the other end as being an inconvenience

and i just. yeah. they love each other very deeply but on very different terms and i love them for that