#wbb Neirin

[sammyboiocs]

Febe and Kaerr a couple decades into the future of the story, when everything has settled down a fair bit. they're catching up while Febe's visiting between her many adventures :] She's got plenty of stories!

[sammyboiocs]

Faruaill sends some basic hot chocolate supplies to Kaerr after hearing they'd fallen ill recently. They're mostly better but the treat doesn't hurt!

Neirin knows he can't really have much dairy, but he makes do with a bit of substituting. He isn't sure it's really to his taste, but Kaerr is delighted and he's ecstatic to share in this treat with them <3

[sammyboiocs]

a little suggestive ig but mostly just silly <3 They're in love your honour!

[sammyboiocs]

Kaerr gets really sick about 9 months into their marriage. 6 months of actually getting along with Neirin, and 3 months of having more properly gotten together.

Neirin does his best to take care of Kaerr during this time, its nothing deadly. They are set to recovery just fine, so the doctor has said.

Still this illness hits Kaerr hard. They're rarely lucid and hardly awake. They don't know Neirin is here at all normally, calling for the comforts of a cousin and father who Neirin has not trusted a single nice word about given what little he knows of them.

So its comes as a surprise when Kaerr eventually calls for their mother. A person Neirin hasn't heard anything, even her existence before now. Someone he won't know anything more of for another 6 months.

[sammyboiocs]

They get their happy ending,,, some day

thinking about these two as parents as making myself emotional. the kids names are Neha and Akadaes (Dae) and i love them they're such sweethearts. hope to draw more of this family eventually i torture Neirin and Kaerr enough in the present haha

[sammyboiocs]

Little doodle of Kaerr discovering rain! Similar to the flower post, Kaerr hasn't seen rain before getting married and moving! The Winter Court deals in snowstorms and its never warm enough for rain. They've heard about it but recognized it as something associated with the Spring Court and so when they experience it for the first time its a bit of a shock for them lol :]

[sammyboiocs]

cutesy art of Kaerr discovering the flowers that grow in the Wetlands during spring! The Winter Court doesn't have a lot of vegetation, being covered in snow and ice. They have some trees and ferns n the such but are very lacking in colourful flowers. So seeing these beauties for the first time is really big for them! I also had a lot of fun with my brushes drawing this :]

[sammyboiocs]

The Coreilmar siblings!! Back before anyone was kidnapped or separated :] Just a freshly hatched Neirin being witnessed by his siblings for the first time!! They're very excited to have a baby brother :]

[sammyboiocs]

Crywank lyrics and these 3 disaster siblings? Yeah, yeah.

I think there's a special kind of unease that settles when Mairenn and Taran realize how far they've pushed Neirin in the two years since reconnecting with him. How vastly they've unintentionally beaten him down to a shell of who he was with their expectations and how despondent he's gotten to them.

They'll figure out how to get better, to be better. Its a long road for them all but one worth pursuing.

[sammyboiocs]

Kaerr's position within the faith of their home is quite high. They are used as a conduit between their god and the faith for their blessing to bestow power on others during rituals. This is a massive drain on them and often leaves them rather weak and tired. They are happy to do it despite this! Neirin is far less happy with the arrangement.

[sammyboiocs]

Okay this one needs a bit more explanation. The next four posts (including this one) are connected. They are exploring the different relationships that Kaerr has with the important people in their life, from good to bad. This is combined with an exploration of Neirin's powers as the godling of bonds. Neirin can see or feel visual ties between people that represent the relationship they have.

So, the next few pieces are with the intention of looking at Kaerr's relationships through the lens of Neirin's divinity.

Information about this piece under the cut vvv

This first piece is the worst of these relationships, though its not the one which Kaerr will admit to or understand as being as abusive as it is. Kaerr is a symbol of the faith heralded by the Winter God, which is common in he Winter Court. They, as their mother was, have been raised in service to the faith and its functionality, being a very honoured and adored figure within the faith, through the teaching of their mentor, a similarly high member of the clergy. They go unnamed as of right now, and are hardly the only one to use Kaerr in such a way. But they have been a mentor figure for Kaerr and have been shaping them their entire life to be within the faiths image. Controlling Kaerr and using their status and blessings to their own gain. Kaerr listens to them without question, and it has made a shell of the person that Kaerr could be, that they are learning to be actively with more trusted people.

Kaerr doesn't understand how badly they've been treated. How they are still being treated. They see their few very kind relationships as exceptions and not the norm. They fault neither (much) but they tend to accept what comes to them either way...

[sammyboiocs]

This comics a bit rough, but this moment in their story is rather important in the long run.

putting in elaboration on this scene, its meaning and importance under the cut:

cw that previous abuse for these characters is implied throughout.

Faruaill had been against Kaerr's marriage to begin with, but was powerless to stop it till far too late. he has held an unchecked assumption for much of his life that anyone with power of Kaerr will abuse it. This was not an assumption made without reason, given the abuse they both suffered in their own households, but also the abuse Kaerr suffered from involvement in the faith. All abuse Faruaill feels eyes wide open to, but which Kaerr continues to deny for what it is.

The assumption that Kaerr's husband would hurt that was not an assumption he took lightly. But one that Faruaill believed vividly. It isn't until reuniting a year after Kaerr had been shipped off to Coreilmar that they have this moment. One where Kaerr confides in Faruaill about an argument they'd had with Neirin. One which Kaerr is upset about but can't understand why.

They explain to Faruaill that they feel guilty for the arguement, even though Neirin and they talked through the issue and came to an understanding about it. For all purposes, the issue is solved.

Faruaill is never going to be a reliable man for advise, with his own biases, and hardly hears what it all was. He assumes that kaerr has hurt enough and that they should not let neirin hold any guilt over their heart. he implies boldly that Kaerr's conversation was not as calm as Kaerr knows it to be. He assumes violence.

Its startling, not just for Faruaill, but for Kaerr, to realise that not only was Neirin not violent during the argument, but that he has in fact never been violent with Kaerr. He has rarely raised his voice, at kaerr at least.

This is not a reflection of any meaningful read of character that either has of Neirin mind you. This is a reflection of the people Faruaill and Kaerr have grown up around, to not only assume violence but to welcome it bitterly in some capacity. Faruaill is stunned nearly to disbelief that Neirin might be the only other person alive he's known to be generous with Kaerr. Kaerr themself realizes that they aren't just guilty for having upset Neirin, they've been waiting for the other shoe to drop. One they know isn't coming suddenly.

Its a big moment that doesn't have a big fallout. Its a quiet realization and an acceptance that they have to stomach. Its a hopeful one, but its heavy all the same.

This moment marks a change in how Faruaill views the marriage and Neirin at all. It also marks Kaerr realizations in exactly how different Neirin is to the rules of life they have always known. Seeing his words as not just odd exceptions but suddenly accepting them as a way of life. One they aren't used to, but one they begin to actively realize is true to Neirin and which he won't faulter on.

[sammyboiocs]

The sweethearts having a sleep <3 An excuse to draw them in their more comfortable sleepwear and an example of me remembering to draw Kaerr's birthmark on their wrist, alongside some of their scarring :]

[sammyboiocs]

While set decades into the future of where I usually draw these guys, I was speculating on them having kids! The names are not for certain, but drawing Kaerr and Neirin as parents was too sweet to pass up :]

I gotta pick at these "future" designs more considering Neirin looks exactly the same, I at least had the forethought to lengthen and slightly restyle Kaerr's hair :]

[sammyboiocs]

Based on that one Pearl/Rose scene from Steven Universe with Kaerr and Neirin :] It felt very them to me haha. It also makes me think of an au based off this little fantasy Kaerr has! Simpler colouring style but I had fun with the expressions :]

[sammyboiocs]

New oc project called Wedding Bell Blues, with no relation to the song lol.

This started as a worldbuilding project but it has developed plot and characters which I'm sure I will elaborate on later. If you want answers sooner feel free to send an ask! ;]

For now I leave some descriptions of these characters under the cut.

Lord Kaerrfuar (Kaerr) is nobility of the Winter Court. Child of the princess and the duke she wed, Kaerr has grown under the guidance of the faith of the Winter god and serves their Court with all they have. This includes dedicating themself entirely to the marriage arranged by their aunt and uncle to one of the heirs of Coreilmar. They are around 90-100 years old, which makes them functionally a young adult (20-25ish) in regards to how my elven aging system works.

Prince Neirin of Coreilmar is the youngest of his siblings at around 60 years old, which makes him a young adult (near 24) for a merling. He is the godling of bonds, and holds tight to the relationships he has with those around him. Kidnapped and displaced as a child he grew up in a small nation called the Wetlands, and has only been reunited with his family in Coreilmar in the last few years which has proven difficult in many ways. The newest of his struggles comes in the form of an arranged marriage which he has taken on to spare his siblings, and which may prove to be his final straw in a tall pile of issues.

King Faruaill is the very recently coronated king of the Winter Court, and cousin to Kaerr. He is about 100-120 which places him as an adult by elven maturity standards (functionally 26-30 ish leaning towards the younger end). He succeeded the throne after his parents went tragically missing only a few months before his dear cousin's marriage was to happen. He keeps in contact with Kaerr to support them throughout this and despite their mischief they do try to be genuine.

Prince Taran of Coreilmar is the middle child of the siblings, though he and his sister hatching days apart has them regarded as twins more than anything else. He is 68ish which is about 27 or so developmentally. He is the godling of Storms (and eventually justice). His deal is a bit complicated, but he is stuck in a need for familiarity and is stubborn in it despite the need for change around him and within himself. Princess Mairenn of Coreilmar is the eldest of her siblings, though she is only so by a few days. She is the same age as Taran. As the godling of the Ocean she commands the tides and takes advantage of her reach to keep tabs on the goings on of the nature around her. Even still she longs for beyond their borders and indulges in travel when given the chance. She cares deeply for her brother, though she finds herself babying one and often scolding the other, trying to keep her family playing along with one another's wants, mostly the wants of the Empress, to avoid strife in the cold palace.

That's all for now!! :] more info to come surely but hopefully this is a good dip into this world :]