#brembel

INTRODUCTORY LORE:

(tw: animal death)

brembel is a friendly shepherd who lives alone in a hilly northern region, living off of trade via wool/milk/meat. he personally is pescetarian. he treats every passing traveler with kindness and makes sure they all leave well-fed, well-rested, and loaded with any supplies they need for the road.

kekengi is an eerie white wolf with gangly proportions and a blank, avoidant stare. he chases down game in the woodlands and steals livestock, eating everything raw. when sighted (never purposefully), he is always covered in blood and dirt. nomadic.

one winter day while wandering around, kekengi spots brembel with his flock. brembel treats the sheep with so much tenderness that kekengi just stares. brembel spots him and is like GYA but eventually invites him to his home for a bath/meal/rest. he can tell kekengi needs help and says he can stay as long as he needs.

kekengi is treated kindly for a few days (it's awkward though bc he can barely speak and seems afraid of Everything), he barely sleeps at night bc he's nervous but doesn't run bc he's curious about brembel's kindness. brembel wakes up early to tend to his flock, he jokingly complains that caring for the sheep really tires him out.

kekengi thinks he will earn brembel's kindness if he eliminates his stressors, so one night, he kills all of his sheep. brembel wakes that morning to utter silence and finds kekengi covered in blood on his doorstep, with the sheepfold littered with corpses behind him.

brembel breaks down and berates kekengi. kekengi is paralyzed and confused. the two phrases he says the most are "i'm confused" and "are you angry" so when brembel slams the door in his face and weeps and rages inside, kekengi stands there yelling those phrases in fear. eventually a snowstorm rolls in, and brembel just can't leave kekengi out there, so he opens the door and lets him inside.

kekengi is deeply sorry and wants to make up for his actions. brembel is really heartbroken and angry bc he loved those sheep and they were his livelihood, but he can tell kekengi needs help and is also curious about him. he decides to help kekengi become self-sufficient and also help him repay brembel (bc he knows keken feels guilty) before they part ways.

so he tells kekengi that, to repay him, kekengi needs to help him gather and sell the dead sheep's skins for pulled wool, and to take care of the mess he'd made in the sheepfold and help with other work around the house. they'll be able to buy brembel some new sheep that way. and with that mercantile/social experience, keken can find his place into society.

little does brembel know, keken is fiercely loyal to anything/anyone that shows him kindness, and he becomes doubly intimidating when protecting something; for some reason, brembel no longer has to deal with the occasional thieves in the night and troublemakers in town. they turn and flee at the sight of the tall white wolf by his side.

over time, they grow attached to one another in their complicated way, understanding one another without words and needing each other's company. they become closer and more essential to each other than lovers. parts of each other, more ilke.

more things about them to come...

CHARACTER NOTES:

brembel -

he/him, 20; queer aspec

the middle son of a big, nomadic shepherd family. he didn't like moving around so much and decided to settle down on his own when he came of age. has lots of experience thanks to helping his family out; his sheep were part of his family's flock.

super generous bc his family always gave to the poor. he doesn't follow a god but religiously does good, which is what allows him to take kekengi in. kekengi really tests his "faith" bc those sheep were his sole connection to his family, but he's learned after a childhood of traveling and meeting so many different people that you don't know anybody's story, and he believes kekengi isn't evil.

though he can laugh and chat easily with anybody else, brembel doesn't feel talkative around kekengi. they communicate better through touch. brem usually helps keken bathe bc of his claws and general lack of bathing experience lol, and though he doesn't like getting hurt, keken's restrained gnawing is somehow therapeutic. he's kinda gnawing-curious.

(unbeknownst to brem, he's most comfortable not talking, like keken. he's just so used to talking that he assumes he always has to be a bit uncomfortable. he somehow never noticed despite deciding to live a solitary life among sheep)

kekengi -

he/him, 20; queer aspec

? he has lived on his own for as long as he can remember, but it's clear that some sort of childhood trauma contributed to his present nature. he is always looking around him (even in brembel's house) for attackers. a large part of him, most of him, craves the closeness and protection of a gentle caregiver. brembel suspects he was separated from his family as a child by some natural disaster.

keken has survived so long thanks to what he calls his "sharpness," but it makes life hard for him. he can't pick up utensils well and scratching an itch or biting his own lip causes him to bleed. brembel eventually finds a solution for this, which i will draw later!1!!

is afraid of society because society lashes out at what they are afraid of, and they are afraid of him. barely speaks but knows simple phrases, though his grammar is poor.

eye contact is extremely difficult for him, and he only speaks if he is very afraid/confused. his most comfortable state of being is having his eyes closed/half-closed, chewing on something. he also kneads like a cat, but he can't retract his claws so he usually tears into whatever he's kneading. he regrets any damage he does.

he likes to eat because eating has never betrayed him (he has an absurdly strong digestive system).

DESIGN NOTES:

i forget whether brem being an english shepherd dog came before them having medieval english names or vice versa but. he is canonically english i guess. lowk made me think about finding voice claims for all my ocs...i Have had ideas for many of em...

as u can see, one of brem's refs was jesus bible and one of keken's refs was shinya owari no seraph. iirc both reincarnated gay men who wielded demon sniper rifles and were japanese

these rough designs made me feel the most legit like a character designer FHFFJ i really had trouble with their palettes at first

i named em medieval english plant names (brembel = blackberry/bramble, kekengi = winter cherry). these two fruit reaally guided their aesthetics, i knew brem had to be green/black with some earthy color, and keken had to have pale/white with a Little bit of red, and i wanted him to have a dark navy cloak at the start. accidental american patriot thumbs down emoji he doesn't mean it