Some snippets of Semyon's childhood, right before the monastery, because I really wanted to draw baby Semyon, Dmytro (ponytail dad) and Semyon's actual dad (dude who's not having a good day)
I haven't talked about this in length before, but Semyon, contrary to the other boys in the monastery, comes from the 'north', which in their universe is separated from the 'kingdom' by the sea. Northerners worship the sea (compared to the people from the kingdom who's main Goddess is the tree goddess) and are a nation of warriors who the kingdom sees as barbarians. Without too much surprise, with only the sea to separate them, and the kingdom disliking the northerners coming too close, the two enters a war. Semyon's dad was the leader of the northerners, and Dmytro saved Semyon from being discovered as being the son of the enemy by taking him away to the monastery.
Anyway, then it's mostly hijinks of them travelling to the monastery while not speaking the same tongue (Semyon barely spoke the kingdom's tongue, but at least more than Dmytro speaks the northern language).
Once at the monastery it doesn't go 100% smoothly, and we all know Semyon remains a gremlin forever.
I will also need to draw the 'before the monastery' of the other boys, so look forward to this… At some point.
Unrelated, but have an AU where Semyon is a selkie and Artsiom is a knight, for aesthetic™
