#kazaneta

[kavrillia]

Kavrillia’s oceans are filled with enormous sea monsters called grekks.  As human children are fascinated by (and occasionally afraid of) dinosaurs, so are Kavrillian children enchanted by their own planet’s giant killer beasts.

In other words, a plush grekk is the perfect thing to terrorize your baby brother with...at least according to Princess Vazali.  Twitchy will have nightmares for weeks.

[kavrillia]

Kazaneta's plans

I love this meme format.

[kavrillia]

Kazaneta finds her brother hiding in a corner and getting drunk on wine during a formal event

[Original art from 2002, redone in a paint program 2024]

Accompanying excerpt below.

Kazaneta [...] elbowed her way through the crowd, around the hors d’ oeuvres table, to the punch bowl. There, as she had suspected, was her brother. Xeebec was slouched on a bench in an alcove where a marble column mostly hid him from sight, drinking what was far from his first glass of wine, judging by the glaze in his eyes.

“What?” he snapped when he saw Kazaneta.

“Aren’t you going to be sociable?” she asked with a frown.

“I am,” he airily. “I’m getting very well acquainted with this bottle of Chateau Jantraliani. It’s a 4198. A very good year...” He gently swirled the wine in his crystal glass before taking a sip.

“Twitchy--”

“Don’t call me that!”

“Fine. Xeebec. If you do anything to ruin this day [...], I swear--”

“Oh, don’t worry, my dear sister. I intend nothing of the sort.” He tipped back his glass to get the last drops. “[...] I have every intention of getting as relaxed as I possibly can--”

“Drunk, you mean.”

“I’m far too rich to get drunk. I am...relaxed.”

“If you get any more relaxed you’ll fall over.”

“I plan to get as relaxed as possible, sleep for as long as possible, and then head back to Binzat as quickly as possible,” he slurred. His hands shook but somehow he managed to refill his glass from a nearby bottle without spilling any.

“That’s not healthy,” Kazaneta said with a sigh.

“What does it matter? I’m no one important, after all. If anything happened to me, would the people even care? I’m not the emperor...”

Kazaneta raised her eyes in disgust. “Are you still upset about that?”

“Upset?” He squinted at her in disbelief and raised his voice. “Of course I’m upset! Do you expect me to forget that I was passed over like a nobody, robbed of my inheritance?”

She shushed him, fearing someone would overhear, but the noise of the celebration shielded them.

“I should have that crown, and everyone knows it! It was my destiny! You expect me to just get over that? Are you out of your mind?”

“No, but I’m beginning to wonder about you.”

He stared distantly into the shining crystal goblet. After several long seconds, he said, “Did you know at the Chateau Jantraliani they age the wine in barrels made of genuine Sylesian oak?”

"No. Nor do I care."

[Insert more dialogue here that was cut for spoilers.]

“Love is more important than power, Twitchy.”

He made an unimpressed, “whoop-dee-doo” gesture and took another drink. “I should start wearing a name tag,” he muttered.

“So are you going to behave?” she pressed, frowning down at him.

“Yes, yes, very well,” he said with an impatient shooing motion.

“Fine. Do try to make it back to your quarters before you pass out.”

“I should think a gentleman of my breeding would be capable of that simple task.”

[kavrillia]

I hadn't drawn a portrait of Kazaneta in a few years, so...here she is: the sister stuck between Vazali and Xeebec both chronologically and in many of their arguments.

[kavrillia]

Writer Q&A: Kazaneta

🤐 - What’s one secret they never want to tell anyone?

She doesn't hate Xeebec as much as Vazali does.

😵 - What could tempt them away from their goals?

Her goal is to live a quiet life out of the spotlight, but when her family needs her she jumps back into the royal drama.

😂 - What’s one thing that always makes them laugh?

Reminiscing with her sister about their childhood

😘 - Who was their first kiss with, and how did it happen?

Probably with her future husband after a few dates. She was pretty sheltered before that, but maybe she had a boyfriend at school.

😴 - What do their sleep habits look like?

It's never been relevant.

😡 - What’s their biggest pet peeve?

Paparazzi

😎 - When do they feel the most confident?

The few times she gets fed up and pulls out the "You know what? I'm a princess, damn it, and have the power and resources to get stuff done. You'll be sorry you made me use them" card.

🤑 - What’s the silliest thing they’ve ever overspent on?

She buys too many art supplies that she'll never use before the paint dries out.

🤩 - Who would make them star-struck?

Probably some artist she admires.

🤔 - If they could have one question answered, what would they ask?

"Are Vazali and Xeebec ever going to stop bickering?"

😩 - What’s one embarrassing memory they can’t forget?

When one of the elderly professors at her university mistook her for her sister and addressed her as the crown princess, and she had to politely explain that no, she's the emperor's other daughter.

😈 - What’s the evilest scheme they’ve ever come up with?

She was Vazali's accomplice in putting blue dye in Xeebec's shampoo when they were kids.

😱 - What was the most shocking moment in their life?

When she realized the lengths that Xeebec would go to in his scheming.

😍 - What does it take to win them over?

Don't be all weird about who's she's related to.

[kavrillia]

Delzeena, Zarolyn, Zenni and Kazaneta watch [spoiler]'s [spoiler]

Note that everyone who's old enough to understand what's happening is not happy, while little Zarolyn is just :D

------

For this pic, I did something a little different. I drew the line art by hand, then scanned it and did all the color in a paint program. Normally I use colored pencils, scan it, and then edit in a paint program until I'm happy(ish) with the result.

Did it save time? Hell yeah. Does it look as nice? Maybe. The textures aren't as rich, but I could probably work on improving my skill with the paint program and still save time compared to the pencil method. The problem is, I enjoy using the colored pencils. So I guess I continue to experiment.

[kavrillia]

Vazali confronts her mother about [spoiler redacted]

Grief over the sudden death of her husband sent Queen Vizada spiralizing into a mental breakdown. She was lost in her own world, spending hours just staring into space and only speaking in brief non sequiturs.

This broke her daughters' hearts, and it became even worse when Vazali desperately needed to know information that was locked inside Vizada's shattered mind.

Note the warvcallie chicks in the painting on the wall behind Vizada. Aww, floofy birbs.

[kavrillia]

Kazaneta, Vazali, and their nephews watching [spoiler redacted]

I had to crop the picture for spoiler reasons as this takes place late in the story, but I loved Vazali's outfit so much that I had to share anyway.