#dahlie

after john everett millais' 1895 work of the same name, with a little dash of marianne stokes' 1908 "death and the maiden"

a scene thats been rattling around for a month or so while i worked on other things. i want to someday write this scene as well, but it has been hard to find the internal voice of a freshly-turned wanpyr. was most excited to draw a mad azalee during her last days… though intimidated too

a wanpyr, a necromancer whose future has been dashed from a single mistake, an aunt trying to make the best of everything, and a sister looking for a way out

initial idea for this was a lafossa piece, but grauheim fit better. technically begonie shouldnt be here… nikolaus was bedbound for weeks, and she fled during this time. but i wanted the chance to give her a design. eventually ill design willimar and alive nikolaus too… maybe… someday

a persistent image that kept popping in and out of my mind, but it didnt turn out at all how i envisioned, so i dont have that much to say about it. i guess i could talk a little bit about these two though

orchidee is very cautious and cagey around dahlie. theres very much a "this is too good to be true" attitude from her, that this person would just want to house and feed her and give her her personal space and want nothing in return, just because theyre family. orchidee is convinced for a long time that dahlie will eventually turn on her or heep an unreasonable demand upon her. because this happened with vatatsa! vatatsa lured her in and made her feel comfortable and cared for until she struck with what she actually wanted. and dahlie kinda looks like vatatsa, too. luckily dahlie is accustomed to this kind of chilly demeanor from hortensie, and she DOES have some idea of what orchidee has dealt with in lafossa, so she treats her very gently. here, shes thrilled to have someone new to tell the old stories to

this took so long because yume nikki online put out the new version of collective unconscious and it was all i did after work for like a week

so! here are the occupants of schloss hennenberg when cybdee arrive in grauheim. dahlie is the matriarch, having taken over when her sister azalee died. whereas lafossan unicorns are leashed by the ducal house, other territories will have unicorns, particularly necromancers, as a more independent noble class. house hennenberg is one of these, and dahlie has managed grauheim and united its bordering allies following the stampede. she is not a necromancer herself, and various events following the stampede have influenced how grauheim handles both the art of necromancy and the treatment of wanpyrs

hortensie is the only living daughter of azalee and grimel trempen, though she certainly looks more like dahlie. keep in mind though that azalee is leucistic, so its possible this coloration comes from dahlies father and hortensies grandfather, lorenz rottmundin (i love that name. i love saying the full name. it was wasted on a faceless background character tbh). in the first years after the stampede, azalee secluded her family within the schloss. edelweiss was already living in disgrace in lafossa. willimar went to defend the western border and was slain in a short, chaotic land squabble during the height of deerwood drama. when nikolaus died at home of a sudden illness, azalee - who was always very demanding and already disappointed that edelweiss was a failure - forced hortensie to raise him to prove that she could. in a horrible, traumatic affair for everyone involved, hortensie failed and brought her brother back as a wanpyr. following this, begonie fled home and was reported killed at a southern border. the fallout breaks azalee, and she is never the same. hortensies long betrothal to another noble is cancelled, and she has stayed with her aunt and brother here ever since

she is very much an orchidee sort of character. i think meeting her is one of the first times orchidee wants to relate to and know someone better and have them completely stonewall her. hortensies first words to her are that "we can never seem to get it right," referring to their shared annerimento as well as alluding to edelweiss'. not that orchidee understands what she said. she doesnt speak the language at the time

nikolaus is whats called a melancholic wanpyr. more or less catatonic for several years after his rising, dahlie and hortensie have poured an immense amount of effort into his "rehabilitation," so to speak. nevertheless, he never quite regained the demeanor he had in life. he is awkward, sometimes inappropriate at times, and often embarrasses dahlie and hortensie when cybdee are new to grauheim - though dahlie does a better job at hiding it. azalees unwillingness to return him to death results in their broadened understanding of wanpyrs, who are so often killed before they have a chance to thrive. dahlie is committed to making people less afraid of them, so she is pretty stoked when seelie shows up. i think nikolaus gave seelie the dagger you saw in their outfit list. the two cant really communicate very well, not speaking the same language and all, but seelie is sort of content to let nikolaus just… talk at them

nikolaus' horn was not always that color. i figured a wanpyr unicorn should have a black horn, but realized i already made ottones horn red as a wanpyr…. so… yeah. the gems in his staffs eyes changed color when he was raised from death