wait omg why am i.... obsessed with ur ocs just from a small little blurb. i live for evil characters are evil together - are you pulling inspiration from the hades/persephone myths with the whole "returning to him" thing? is there somewhere i can read more????????? i'm literally hooked
You are so fucking sweet?! Im gonna cry? Ive been playing with these barbies for like 12 years and I'm always blown away when anyone expresses interest in them? (Though tbf Shivali is a New Addition, very shiny only a few months old :))
Honestly didnt even think about the Hades/Persephone parallels but you know what im gonna lean into it!
These two characters: Cyrus and Shivali are the villains of the novel, responsible for the inciting incident and the curse that is the core of the plot :)
The main character is Dean | Katrina, a trans woman who transitions over the course of the novel (i use both names interchanagbly depending on timeline because she uses both at different points in the novel but mostly refer to her as Katrina since thats the part of the book im currently working on pls dont flame me I am trans and using names based on my own experiences with names and Tristan (exiled prince and Cyrus's half brother) and Aya (Tristans bodyguard) are our cursed lovers. They end up in a poly trio because they Deserve To Be Happy. And the final main character is Tomyris (Tristans younger sister, Cyrus' half sister) who is a Disabled Icon and @hellohoebags favorite (yes I just tagged you cause I know you love her).
Anyway back to Cyrus and Shivali they are Self Recogntion Through The Other (in love and horny about it) and both are brutally ruthless and ambitious. They are loyal to eachother second because their first loyalties are to themselves but make no mistake they are Partners In Crime (literally AND romantically), they are in Cahoots (nefarious) and I love them So Much :) honestly I created Shivali because I didnt want Cyrus to fall into the "incapable of love villian" stereotype and giving him a partner in crime, someone he shared mutal respect and affection with, gave them both so much dimension :)
The whole "returning to me" comment is because of the setting. Most of the story takes place in the recently conquered north of the Empire I created and its viewed as very "uncivilized" while the south is the center of "culture". One of the inspirations was Romes conquest of Gaul and Britannia- though I think you'll appreciate that most of the culture and certainty the environment is inspired by my archeology fieldwork in Arizona. So the south is desert then as you go north you get a temperate band, the mountains and then the colder plateau area. Shivali and Cyrus and his family (though Tristan and Tomyris are biracial- their mom was from one of the more southern northern cultures) are from the south and Shivali and Cyrus are real dicks about it but basically Shivali hates the north, hates the cold, hates being away from the movers and shakers of the Empire but she puts up with it because Cyrus is the Emperors nephew and has been appointed Governor of the northern territories so he has a lot of influence and also she genuinely likes him. Hence her comment about how if Cyrus was any other man she'd have killed him before moving north. The context for this snippet is her returning to the north after Politicking in the south and that is an act of love for them :)
If you want I'm more than happy to share my draft with you- you and @hellohoebags can start a book club lol pls let me talk to you about this and also I'd kill for you for asking