lil Daeodon and Twohir sketch. I tried out a new more beefcake design for Daeodon and tbh? I'm not sure how I feel about it.
on the fundamentals of character design front, there's a decent argument for both this design and his old fatter one. but on the character portfolio diversity front I think I should go with this one. I have a lot of big masculine Tough Guys who are fat kicking around but not a lot of the more traditional beef cake variety of that guy.
anyways the slightly hornier version of this sketch is below the cut.
(left image is Tahir and Faun! Daeodon, right is an old Twohir design and what Daeodon actually looks like)
Like the story with them is kinda Eh.
Daeodon is a storm god and is worshiped by Tahir's people as like The Big One, a Odin/Zeus/Jupiter level bitch. He's responsible for their jungle paradise existing and being at all habitable bc he brings the rains and keeps it warm(this jungle paradise is located in the antarctic dry valleys (this is because that was the funniest place I could think of for a jungle paradise to exist))
So important guy, type of guy you Really don't want to piss off.
So some (Redacteds) pissed him off. An artifact of great value was stolen from him and he, being a dragon and a god, decided the appropriate way to respond to this was to take away the rains and let the ice start seeping in until the artifact was returned or he was given something of equal value. I'd like to note, Daeodon didn't actually give a shit about the artifact itself, just that it was taken from him.
The artifact was not returned, and the priests of his temple made the hard decision to instead sacrifice someone to him in the hopes that he would bring back the rains then.
And that sacrifice ended up being Tahir. The villages most beautiful and virtuous temple attendant.
this is kinda where things are fuzzy. I think Daeodon and Tahir already knew each other and had already been intimate Before Tahir was offered as a sacrifice.
Festivals are pretty common and Daeodon never saw much issue in partaking in the festivities devoted to him. But he always attended them in his faun form for the sake of discretion and like ease of access. and like Tahir is a shrine attendant, he was obviously at every last one of these and Daeodon isn't really one to deny himself a simple pleasure like a night with the most desirable person in the whole village. And maybe after a while it was less about the sex and more about getting to spend time with the beautiful and devoted ray of absolute sunshine who prayed to him everyday. (note: nobody knows Daeodon attends his festivals in disguise, as far as Tahir knows he's just a guy from another village who likes the way they celebrate around here,)
Anyways, Tahir doesn't get chosen as the sacrifice, he volunteers. Bc like, this is Tahir in a nutshell. He is love. and his love for his home and community made making the decision to sacrifice himself completely trivial. If it saved everyone else his death wouldn't matter.
The priesthood believes Daeodon to be more beast than man (an incorrect assumption he fully encourages because it keeps people from bothering him too much) and they hope, that maybe, just maybe, offering Tahir as a bride instead of as a meal will make Daeodon go easy on him, or maybe not even kill him if they're lucky bc people like Tahir and everyone is genuinely very upset that he will be lost to them and the priesthood is trying their best to make good out of a very bad situation.
Anyways, Tahir is married to Daeodon with the grand guilded statue of this actual god taking his place during the ceremony. It's beautiful in a bitter sweet way.
Tahir is sent off into the jungle on his lonesome, all too aware of everything that might want to snack on a lone faun (his new husband included). and eventually he comes to a clearing he knows Must be Daeodon's den because despite living here his whole life, this path and this place was never discoverable by him until today.
He freezes there, his resolve finally starting to crack. The plants around him are wilting and the verdant jungle is brown and frost bitten without the dragons blessing. His people will starve or die of thirst or the cold will take them all if he doesn't do this. But he's scared. He loves and loves and loves and he thought that love would carry him all the way to the end of his story in that den. but now not even his love can motivate him to take a single step further.
His eyes well up with tears and he trys to stop them but as the first one streaks down his cheek thunder claps and it begins to pour around him. but he remains dry, and arms so familiar wrap around him from behind, and that voice like a roiling storm is in his ear, cooing and comforting him through his panic.
He struggles away from the man he's seen at so many festivals. and the man trys to assuage the torrent of emotions flooding him.
But it's no use. Tahir has no interest in letting him within arms reach.
And there's something comical about Tahir warning this strange man hes spent so much time with but knows nothing about that his husband is near and so the man better leave now.
It's the panic and stress getting to Tahir, Daeodon knows that, and he knows it would be a simple matter to prove who he is to Tahir. But he doesn't. Not yet, their marriage isn't set yet, and won't be until Tahir and him share a glass of the wine Tahir was given to bring to him. It's an old ritual, very... traditional for their culture, and not one that's always observed nowadays. but Daeodon won't risk their marriage having an asterisk attached to it.
Because he knows Tahir might be too scared of his true form to seal their marriage. And so long as their marriage isn't sealed, Tahir can leave, and Daeodon won't risk that. He can't. He wants Tahir, and he will have what he wants. That's how this works.
But Tahir is making things difficult. Of course he is. This man is saying he's the dragon god Tahir is wed too. but that can't be true, and Tahir isn't about to risk his people's lives on this being a convoluted scheme. He doesn't even know how the man Not being Daeodon would make sense, the fact it started raining when he showed up is a Pretty big give away. but panic is one hell of a drug ya know?
they have the whole "I'm a monster" "i don't care" conversation until Daeodon finally relents and shows his true self.
and he almost thinks it's a mistake, because Tahir is so obviously even more scared now, but Tahir, with shaking hands opens the bottle and offers the first drink to Daeodon, etc etc it gets fuzzy hear and idk the exact details of this wedding ritual.
they're married now and it's an on going Thing that Tahir will deny any sexual/physically affectionate advances Daeodon makes while faun shaped because "that's not what his husband looks like". mildly frustrating in a very touching way.
And then it gets Very fuzzy again. Stuff happens here, they end up absolutely head over heels for eachother and Tahir winds up becoming a minor god (of love, marriage, and community) and things are really really happy.
The storm god has found his sunshine. and the whole jungle is better and brighter for it.
And then Tahir is killed by (same redacted as before)
In his final moments he makes Daeodon Promise to not take away the people's rain again. and Daeodon holds true to his promise as his husband dies in his arms.
It begins to pour and it never ceases. They took away his sunshine, so now he will take away theirs.
years pass. the rains never stop. Attempts to sate Daeodon's ire result in a lot of dead sacrifices and lightning strikes.
Finally a last ditch effort is cooked up by the priesthood. They will just reincarnate Tahir. easy? no. but there's isn't exactly another option they can see.
Twohir (actually just called Tahir but I call him twohir to make things easier) is born and raised to be Tahir. A love god known for his virtuos nature. something something nature vs nurture backfired and now Twohir is a deeply jaded and angry person who only looks like Tahir on the surface because instead of allowing all that love that made Tahir Tahir to flourish on its own Twohir was forced to act as though it was always there. He couldn't say no when someone asked for his help, because that's not what Tahir would do, he couldn't slack on his prayers or chores or self care because how dare he not match up perfectly to the mythological version of his predecessor. How dare he not be perfect for the beast he will be sacrificed too how dare he not be glad his lifes soul purpose is for him to fill a dead man's place in a dragons bed. how dare he not be Greatful for it
Tahir became a love god by choice, Twohir was forced into it.
Eventually twohir snapped. And took the stupid fucking artifact (an ornate sword) that started this all to that stupid fucking clearing where his stupid fucking absentee god of a husband supposedly lived, and he challenged him to a fight.
Twohir didn't care if he won. He knew he wouldn't. He just wanted to be dead and to lash out at the source of all his fucking agonies.
He was Done. and this way at least he could maybe, Just Maybe, make Daeodon cease the fucking storm.
He barely nicked Daeodon before he was getting launched at mach fuck back and against the den's entrance.
And fuck that hurt. Fuck he hit that wall shoulder first and this sword arm wasn't moving anymore. and he was so fucking Frustrated that he couldn't even die right that he didn't notice it had stopped raining in the clearing around them.
Because from Daeodon's perspective, for just the briefest moment, it wasn't a cruel approximation of his lover in the mud in front of him.
It was his husband, crying and badly hurt. and it didn't matter how much he resented the attempt to replace Tahir, he couldn't kill Twohir. He couldn't hurt him further or send him away when he needed healing from an injury Daeodon caused him.
Twohir spat some insult and that broke the spell, but Daeodon still couldn't hurt him.
and things get fuzzy again.
Daeodon and Twohir become close. Twohir becomes his own person distinct from Tahir, and they?
I don't know. I think they try to bring Tahir back. and get revenge on those who killed him. or maybe they try, but eventually Daeodon has to accept there will be no sun rise to end his night of despair anytime soon, so he might as well clear the skys enough to see the moon and stars
anyways that was my ramble about them, i have some other notes but this is the tldr
The sniffling whimpers were the worst part of this mess. Quiet, choked off noises so clearly meant to never be heard by anyone besides the monster wearing his beloved's face.
Daeodon wanted to be angry at the beastly creature. He wanted to call forth all the rage he had felt the first time he'd laid eyes on that faun and funnel it all into mauling him.
But he couldn't. Every time he dared to glance the man's way some stupid part of his heart would momentarily stall his movements and snuff his flames.
The eyes that looked at him with all the fear of a man facing down a dragon could hold were the same shade of honey brown and held all the same light and life his husband's had all of those years ago.
The voice he cried with was the same, the way he held himself through the pain of their first and only clash. The rounded tear stained cheeks and full lips pulled into a pained grimace were his beloved's too.
Daeodon knew his beloved lays dead deeper within these caverns. His body cold but whole and untouched by rot after all these years as only god's would be.
But that man could have fooled him were it not for the anger that burned through him as he wielded the intent to kill Daeodon with the same mighty sword that had killed his love those years ago.
The man now sat in Daeodon's bedroom. His wounds bandaged and his broken arm set.
In the pouring rain outside he'd screamed for Daeodon to just kill him. He'd fought his wounds being see too until all the fight he had just evaporated and the tears began to flow until they two evaporated into those solemn whimpers.
Daeodon paced the chamber beyond his bedroom, his wings ached with the need to fly away from this mess, his mighty claws with the need to end it with violence. Static itched through his mane and lightning struck outside the den. He needed to do Something, but what that something was remained a mystery to him as every thought that tried to piece itself together instead tied itself up in knots.
He turned to begin pacing back the way he came, but saw that monster beside the doorway.
His heart thudded with that same painful hope the man's mockery of a visage always seemed to fill him with before his mind could catch up.
"Go back. I'm not ready to deal with you yet," Daeodon snarled,
"Too bad," the man snarled back, his hooves clacking against the stone floors as he approached, "I want to go to the village on the other side of the forest. So either take me or let me leave on my own,"
"No, Go back,"
"Fuck you, just tell me how to get out of here, so I can be on my way,"
"No, There's monsters-"
"Shut up, I know there's monsters, I know the forest is a fucking death trap because of the storm you're causing. I don't care. I'm not staying here and I'm not going home,"
"You ungrateful brat, I could kill you-"
"But you won't. You've already proven you're not good for it. So, let me go either find a monster who actually will or get to the village where- I don't know. I'll figure something out once I'm there,"
"Is your death wish truly that strong?" Daeodon expected him to step down. To finally obey and return to where Daeodon didn't have to look at him.
"Yes," The firery resoluteness of that single word felt antithetical to the meaning it carried.
Daeodon tried to find something clever to say in response, but instead all he could ask was "Why?"
"Why would you care?"
"I don't. I'm just curious. You come to fight a dragon wearing the face of his long gone love, hoping to die. I want to know why,"
The man shifted, his arms held tightly crossed against his chest as he seemed to argue internally with himself,
"Because, There's no better option for me. Happy now?"
"No, Stop being cagey and explain yourself,"
"I don't have to-"
"I'll take you all the way to the village if you do," Daeodon cut him off. It was a win win in his eyes, the man would gone, and he'd have his answers.
The man stopped his protest, his eyes calculating as he carefully picked his next words, "Give me something worth selling and I'll tell you why I look like him too,"
"Deal," Daeodon nodded towards the lounge he'd kept since the days of his lover living with him, "Take a seat and get talking,"
The man did, settling down as he picked his words, "You've made it rain constantly for all of these decades because of what happened to Tahir, right?"
"They took away my sunlight, so I took theirs, yes," Daeodon confirmed.
"Yeah, the priests tried to resurrect him but it didn't work. So, they decided to reincarnate him," he gestured to himself with a sour look, "That's me. I think they failed though because besides looking like him I don't think I'm anything like him. So, sorry, your sunlight isn't coming back anytime soon,"
"Fools," Daeodon growled, "How dare they besmirch my beloved's memory like this,"
"Yeah, yeah, shut up and let me finish. They raised me to be his replacement, and made sure I spent my entire life knowing I'd be wed and sacrificed to the same beast that's murdered all but one of his brides... I got fed up with it all. Always being compared to the actual god of love and beauty gets old real fucking quick, and if I failed to be him, either you killed me like you have all the others or leave me to the rest of the beasts. And if I wasn't a fuck up and you accepted me then that would just mean I'd be even more Stuck in his shadow. Filling his place in your bed and forced to pretend I'm him every waking moment lest you drown everyone again.
"I Didn't care to wait for our wedding to find out what you'd do, so I just, took the sword and ran when they weren't looking. If you killed me I'd be free, if I killed you I'd be a hero who stopped the rains, but I knew I had no chance against you. It was just the quickest route to the same end, " he shrugged, as though everything he had just said was normal.
"And now that I haven't killed you, you're going to try to start a new life in the other village?"
"What else is there for me to do?"
Daeodon tried to find a rebuttal, not because he particularly cared but more that he was starting to resent the newly calm air between them. Eventually, he had to admit his defeat, "We'll leave in the morning. The jungle is too dangerous to risk going at night even if I am beside you,"
"You could stop the storm. You would be prayed to again, and maybe your name wouldn't be a curse then,"
"I could. But I won't. I don't tolerate things being taken from."
"He was just a thing to you?"
"He was Everything to me,"
"And So? He's gone now, he's been gone longer than I've been alive. Making it storm like this isn't going to bring him back,"
"It's not about bringing him back, its about taking something equal to what has been taken from me. My sunlight was stolen, so now I have stolen yours. Once I have mine back, you too will have yours. It's not complicated."
