Dearlest is a little "story" about two men, their youths and the way that they've grown around each other like two trees with an intertwined system of roots. At the core of it, it is undeniably a sappy love story, but it is also a bit of an exploration of these two characters that I have kept in my mind for a few years now.

There is a lot of insight on the people surrounding these two men too, like how you might view the people around you, but I do also plan on writing separate pieces on a couple of the other characters too once I feel like I have gotten this story to a point of completion.

I appreciate critisism on this, especially since a lot of the characters represent real groups of people.

Personal significance

Dearlest is my headworld/main group of original characters that I like to think about... I've been "developing" it since April of 2022, though said development has for most of that time just been constant thinking and occasional decision making about the characters and their lives.

Only recently have I put more effort into the story and lore, but I'm not actually bothered by myself having taken so long. The whole reason this thing even came into existence was for me to have something comforting and safe to return to, even if everything else around me was making me was bad.

Anyways, I have thought about making the story digestable and enjoyable for other people, but I'm just sooooo damn lazy so every project I start falls through lmao... So for now you have got to do with just art and maybe little bits and pieces of writing that I create about my fav characters of the story.

Setting

Most of the happenings are set in regular ol' England in the 2010s: mainly both in and around London, as well as a town called Fieldstead. Any real life settings are used fictitiously...

Scott and Martin and a few other friends of theirs grew up in Havering, London. The two went to school together there, until around the end of high school, when Martin ran away from home to live on his own.

Sometime later they got a pretty shitty house in Fieldstead, a (fictitious) town near the eastern coast of England.

??? idk random scrap, butt, ignore

Concepts & motifs of Dearlest

Throughout the years I've inserted a lot of myself into this story, along with things that generally just intrique me to no end. A few of the ideas that I can think of off the top of my head are transition and loss of religion, both of which are quite personal to me.

Though, despite this, I do often like being very playful with the story. I've noticed often that if I only try making very serious things it often reflects on myself as inappropriate seriousness and tragedy. Thus I have some random shit that gets a chuckle out of me, as well as just very intentionally "cringe" stuff or nods to fandom culture and stuff... Perhaps a cliché trope here and there.

Also, I suppose that, undeniably, at the core of the story it is still just a cutesy romance about two guys smooching... Oh well, it's what keeps me sane.

Animal symbology

All the characters in the story rock some (all be it optional) parts of a specific animal. Martin has the horns and tail of a goat, Scott the wings of a swan, Fish the tail of a scorpion (why she fish?) and so on. Originally these were just random design traits I gave the characters for reasons that I no-longer remember. It's possible that I just thought the designs were too bland, so I threw some cool wings and shit on top lol... Who doesn't love a good ol' kemonomimi.

I've later come up with some proper reasoning behind each character's traits. I've also given some characters secondary animals, like Martin's is a hare, which specifically relates back to his younger self, still depressed and scurrying away from his problems like a scared forest critter. This also sort of relates back to his cleft lip, which some might say makes a person look a bit bunny-ish.

Scott

Basics

Name	Scott
Age	29
Gender	male*
Pronouns	he/they

Personal

Nickname	Scotty
Identity	bi intersex
D.O.B	May 8 1995
Occupation	???

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Martin

Basics

Name	Martin
Age	29
Gender	male
Pronouns	he/him

Personal

Nickname	Marty
Past names	Ronny Hilde
Identity	gay trans
D.O.B	Sep 22 1995
Occupation	librarian

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Estelle

Basics

Name	Estelle
Age	32
Gender	female
Pronouns	she/her

Personal

Nickname	Essy (rare)
Identity	lesbian trans
D.O.B	Aug 15 1992
Occupation	researcher

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Fish

Basics

Name	Ilona
Age	30
Gender	female
Pronouns	she/he

Personal

Nickname	Fish
Identity	queer trans
D.O.B	Dec 01 1993
Occupation	cock fighter /j

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