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Description
“Dvorovoi, Dvorovoi, whatever could you be doing in my wood?”
“Last I checked, Vila, it was *you* who brought me here.”
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Slavic folklore!AU with Alexei and Ekaterina. Unlike in canon where they meet as children, in this au their territories border each other’s (Dvorovoi, like Domovoi, are keepers, only of the yard/land and the livestock instead of the house; the Vily are essentially Slavic nymphs, usually, but not always, associated with the forests/woodlands). She’s the one who initiates, often sitting on the fence and conversing with him as he tends the land (and teasing, she’s still such a tease). He’s a touch stand-off-ish, but she’s not bothering his animals, so he doesn’t mind her company too terribly. They spend that spring, summer, and fall together; and by harvest’s end, they’ve established quite the friendship (and maybe have caught feelings. Maybe)
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This was fun. I say that a lot, but this was really fun. Playing with textures, trying new techniques and brushes, messing with the background and the lighting; I had a blast. It’s probably one of, if not my favorite, things I’ve ever made; and this is definitely not the last time you’ll be seeing this sort of style from me. It wasn’t too different from my usual work flow, and it just has such a charm to it, I love it, it makes me think of old storybooks
I’m also a huge folklore nut; it’s so much fun to work with. I tried to keep it as close to the traditional beliefs as possible, but I did definitely take liberties with Lyoshka/the Dvorovoi, choosing a bull/cattle/oxen motif instead of the way they’re typically described. Katya was way easier to work with, fae-like is something I’ve described her as before, and the Vila (despite not necessarily being very prominent in Russian folklore from what I’ve found) fit her perfectly. I hope that you can forgive me those tweaks to the lore. Also, I hope the embroidery on his shirt is semi-accurate; I did do research for what was used in the Voronezh Oblast, hopefully it’s sorta right

Description
“Dvorovoi, Dvorovoi, whatever could you be doing in my wood?”
“Last I checked, Vila, it was *you* who brought me here.”
- - - - -
Slavic folklore!AU with Alexei and Ekaterina. Unlike in canon where they meet as children, in this au their territories border each other’s (Dvorovoi, like Domovoi, are keepers, only of the yard/land and the livestock instead of the house; the Vily are essentially Slavic nymphs, usually, but not always, associated with the forests/woodlands). She’s the one who initiates, often sitting on the fence and conversing with him as he tends the land (and teasing, she’s still such a tease). He’s a touch stand-off-ish, but she’s not bothering his animals, so he doesn’t mind her company too terribly. They spend that spring, summer, and fall together; and by harvest’s end, they’ve established quite the friendship (and maybe have caught feelings. Maybe)
- - - - -
This was fun. I say that a lot, but this was really fun. Playing with textures, trying new techniques and brushes, messing with the background and the lighting; I had a blast. It’s probably one of, if not my favorite, things I’ve ever made; and this is definitely not the last time you’ll be seeing this sort of style from me. It wasn’t too different from my usual work flow, and it just has such a charm to it, I love it, it makes me think of old storybooks
I’m also a huge folklore nut; it’s so much fun to work with. I tried to keep it as close to the traditional beliefs as possible, but I did definitely take liberties with Lyoshka/the Dvorovoi, choosing a bull/cattle/oxen motif instead of the way they’re typically described. Katya was way easier to work with, fae-like is something I’ve described her as before, and the Vila (despite not necessarily being very prominent in Russian folklore from what I’ve found) fit her perfectly. I hope that you can forgive me those tweaks to the lore. Also, I hope the embroidery on his shirt is semi-accurate; I did do research for what was used in the Voronezh Oblast, hopefully it’s sorta right