art sideblog

mini lore drop ^_^

his name is Akakios, and he is what i like to describe as the worst possible chosen one and he's not the main character of his story. the point is to give him all these tropes that would make him be a stereotypical MC (chosen by fate, dead parents, a mission to save the world, supernaturally gifted, etc.) but then having him fulfill none of the expectations. if anything, i would call him the love interest (even if i really wouldn't think of the story in romance terms) ah in fact he's also a bit of a terrible love interest........

the setting where his story takes place should be pretty obvious, but i do want to mention something about the weapon choice: the shape is loosely inspired by a takoba, but it is not a sword, it is more a dagger. since it is set in a fantasy world and not ours, in this desert metal is not easily available, and it can only be obtained through trade, making it pretty expensive. that is why a person owning a sword would be a sign of wealth. but since he grew up with a nomadic group, even if his economic status isn't that high, he was able to obtain a dagger due to the frequent contact with merchant caravans; but of course, he would still never be able to have an actual sword. (those kinds of weapons are reserved for the really rich merchants or nobility/governors.) aside from the dagger, he would have a very good handling of spears since they are the most common weapon in the desert. however i'm really no good at drawing weapons so i didn't try to feature one orz

i have a really soft spot for him because he's just fun to write for. my perfect doll to play with and make him suffer and just generally make his life awful. my poor little meow meow who treats everyone with nothing but nastiness. a chosen one that couldn't be more of a mistake on Destiny's part: has no altruistic aspirations, no strong sense of morality and a complete disinterest in saving the world. and he's not necessarily a terrible person, it's just that he really lives by the principle of "and eye for an eye", and since most of his life he has been treated awfully by other people, he feels no obligation for fulfill his fate.

but then if there's someone that treats him good and does so selflessly, that is someone he will be loyal towards forever (cough Geminis cough). so even if he seems cold and unfeeling, he can be pretty intense when he has someone he has decided to devote himself to. but this side is something he obviously doesn't show often. the amount of people he cares about can probably be counted on one hand and half of them are dead (both parents: dead. his sister: missing. the old lady from the nomadic group that took him in: dead. Geminis: only one not dead or missing, but they were separated for a couple of years.) but even his way of caring about them is a bit....... peculiar. he's not too keen on the outward displays of affection, so even if he cares a lot about Geminis, sometimes it looks like he is being mean...........

thankfully, Geminis is a bit of a masochist. but mostly just a doormat <- which is precisely Akakios's problem with him, and he keeps desperately trying to fix this, and that is when it looks like he is bullying Geminis....... even though he's not.

and with his personality, maybe you could think "oh so he would be pretty forward about his feelings" but nope. he will push Geminis in almost every other topic, except this one. Geminis is the kind of person who needs someone to push him towards admitting his feelings, but Akakios is the kind of person who thinks feelings should never be forced. Which is why it will only be at a critical basically life or death moment that Akakios will take that first step and then everything falls into place like dominoes.

i've actually had this OC for a couple of years, and i had been wanting to redesign him for a while, but every design just seemed wrong. it was like i could picture it so clearly in my mind but every time i sat down to try and draw it ended up looking so bad.

he's the kinda guy who needs to have a design that is just right because if not i end up redrawing and redrawing and redesigning every couple of months.

and it's difficult because it has to be something that isn't too elaborate but at the same time it cannot be too simple. maybe it was so difficult because he's one of the characters i've dedicated some of the most time and dedication towards................. (he is currently one of my favourite ocs even if i feel a little bit guilty admitting this)