Your Life and Mine

This is why I don't draw backgrounds. I spent all my energy on the water and sand, so by the time I got to the clouds, I was just like

But hey...look who it is! Lack and Rum have returned from their visit to the mighty kingdom of Neglectopia! These characters are from a story I've had floating around in my brain for a couple of years now. Recent events forced me to put the project on the back burner, but I haven't stopped mulling over (and hopefully refining) the concepts and characters. Right now I'm in the process of trying to negotiate the relationship between the two main protagonists, Lackadaisy (left) and Rum (right). I thought I'd had them pretty much figured out, but you know how OCs are...evolution is inevitable. I won't say anything about the plot and not just because I have jack shit in terms of direction, but I will give an updated run-down of the characters for anyone interested.

Because of Reasons™, Rum has a power similar to waterbending and is capable of tremendous acts of destruction. However, she is terminally ill with an autoimmune disease that sometimes afflicts people in the world of the story. After a chance meeting with Lack, who has healing powers, she is granted a reprieve from her death sentence. Lackadaisy can't cure her, but through daily healings, she will be able to keep Rum alive indefinitely. Rum struggles to ignore the fact that all her vast power means nothing in the face of a body that's falling apart with her inside it. She believes deep down that the universe has dealt her an unfair hand, and so she becomes very angry whenever she encounters injustice in the world, often lashing out against those responsible with savage force. The rest of the time, she is reluctant to use her fighting abilities, a fact which annoys Lack to no end. Rum is an existentially tormented character who frequently withdraws into herself to escape her physical pain; she spends a lot of time pondering the big questions without ever really arriving at any answers. Despite her suffering, or perhaps because of it, she is an equal fan of gallows humor and the quiet moments of wonder which can be found in everyday occurrences.

Lack is a former street child and current petty criminal who's in it for the lulz and doesn't care about the consequences. She's quick-witted, fun-loving, and roguishly charming, but also selfish and irresponsible. She has problems with gambling and impulse control, and she exhibits a lust for power that disconcerts her far less ambitious friend. Her healing power is wasted on her; instead of using her ability to selflessly help others, she extorts money out of people in desperate need of medical help (with the exception of homeless/destitute people, whom she heals for free - her motto is "if they can pay through the gills, they should"). Lack doesn't give a shit if her actions hurt others, but she never goes out of her way to be cruel...unlike Rum, who when outraged can turn into a borderline sadist. Lack admires and covets this destructive power, and she heals Rum in exchange for loyalty and "bodyguard services". This leads to a sort of co-dependence between the girls, with each relying on the other, yet neither one totally trusting the other. In the picture, I tried to show this interdependence using the ball and chain, which symbolizes Rum's inability to break free of her partner.

^_^ Anyway, I came up with the idea for these two while imagining what chronic illness would look like in a fantasy setting. Anyone who's ever suffered through persistent sickness knows what it feels like to rely on some external force for your health (for example, a prescription medicine). Dependency of this sort induces a persistent background anxiety that seeps through every crack in your mental barrier. As long as you have your meds, you're OK, but you know darn well what would happen if you were to ever lose access. Your whole existence feels like it's balanced precariously on the edge of a knife. I wanted to take this anxiety and personify it...so I asked myself, what if the "medicine" was another person, with all their accompanying foibles and complexities? How much more terrifying would it be to exist perpetually in the palm of someone else's hand? Would it be possible to become friends with that individual? Best friends? How would either party react to the threat of separation, even temporary? What would happen if one of them fell in love? There are so many cool possibilities to explore...I hope I get to write this someday!


☆ SUPPORT ME ON PATREON