I found your red star fic and binged the entire thing over the course of, like, a week and loved every second of it. I read on with abject horror as Shera and Messar quickly became my favorite characters, despite knowing exactly how their tail would have to end. Their death was utterly heartbreaking by the way. You made me cry at work, so thanks for that.
Do you have any lore or character bits about the twins you want to share and, dare I ask, will they show up again later in the fic?
Haha, sorry I made you cry at work! If it’s any consolation, I cried a teeny bit writing their deaths. :’)
I do have a bit of twin lore stashed away! Here it is:
Shera and Mesar are nicknames. Their full names, only really used by their parents when they were in trouble, were Sheratan and Mesarthim.
They, like Hamal, loved to sing. The family could harmonize pretty well when they were together. Both of them wanted to make sure Hamal learned the songs that were passed down to them from their parents, as it was an important aspect of their culture in the old days.
Both of the twins gave up on the idea of romance early on in life, since they knew they would be always on the run and needed to prioritize Hamal. That being said, both of them were gay. Shera was exclusively attracted to other women and Mesar to other men. Neither ever got to act on this, however.
Shera prayed to The One Who Waits every single night, hoping her devotion would help Hamal when the time came.
Mesar liked to dance. Shera did not. Mesar didn’t let this stop him from forcing her into it every so often lol.
As one might imagine, some days were rougher than others. Shera often took refuge in meditation, whereas Mesar preferred walks through the wilderness. Knowing their fates wasn’t always easy, but they both did their best to cope with it without worrying Hamal.
Both had chores they preferred doing. Shera enjoyed foraging whereas Mesar liked to mend clothes. They divided up work based on who liked doing what, and this prevented a lot of fighting.
There were, however, still siblings and very much children themselves at points. When they did fight, the usual go-to strategy would be to sit on opposite sides of the camp and ignore each other while they cooled off. This also ended up working pretty well as it gave both of them a chance to think about the others’ perspective before finding a solution together.
Shera instinctively knew the exact moment Mesar died. She “felt” it, in a sense, and decided then to make sure her final stand mattered to some degree.
As for if we’ll see them again…the wedding is scheduled for the Blood Moon in hopes they’ll visit. Perhaps we’ll see them again! ;)
They’ll also eventually pop up in the Cowboy AU I’n writing. In that universe they’re both doing well, living their best lives!
Thanks so much for loving these two. I didn’t expect to get so attached to them when I first started this fanfic series, and I’m glad others like them as much as I do! <3