#dulceybespoke

[dulcetthorns]

My Little Dove

Introducing my pink-haired Little Dove character inspired by @bye-bye-sunbird ‘s Capitano scenarios  and @jessamine-rose ‘s AMAZING fic “Herbarium”.

Meet Illya Volkov, Capitano’s “sad little wife.”

Illya was originally born in the frozen Schneznayan tundra, but after the deaths of both her parents as a baby, was handed over to a monastery orphanage. Due to her incredibly weak countenance and frail body, she was sent to live in the warmer climate of the Monstadt monastery orphanage in hopes that the weather would improve her health, but to no avail. Illya grew up very isolated from others due to her health, and consequently became very introverted and unwilling to connect with her peers, choosing instead to spend her time among the plants of the orphanage garden.

Following the backstory of “Herbarium,” she was adopted only to suffer within her family until coming of age and supporting herself as an assistant librarian of Lisa’s library.

Cue events of “Herbarium” (Seriously, GO READ IT), and now she’s the lady of the Capitano estate.

Tons of extra info about her:

Illya is incredibly possessive, of both her things and what she perceives as “hers.” Because of her isolated upbringing, she found her friends among material items such as antiques and plants, rather than people. Due to this, she is incredibly sentimental of items and her plants, treating them almost as sentient beings. In contrast, she sees most people as irrelevant objects to her, simply existing outside her sphere of influence, and therefore pointless to consider.

Her possessiveness extends to her husband, Capitano. As resentful as she is of him for forcibly marrying her, she does see him as “her” property, and therefore worthy of her attention and time. This only extends to as far as he is useful to her; if he had nothing to offer and wasn’t immensely stronger than her, she wouldn’t have entertained his confinement for even a moment. Illya can be very affectionate to Capitano to get what she wants and, in a way, does love him. She personally believes that you can still love someone even if you want to kill them.

Illya is very frail, but does possess a dendro vision, and is not afraid to use it. Many a disrespectful fatui has been strangled to death by a variety of pretty, flowering plants as a result of her ire. Her appearance makes her seem harmless and bereft, but this hides a cruel streak that has only gotten worse since her kidnapping and matrimony to the militant harbinger. She often uses the bodies as fertilizer for her garden given to her by Capitano, where she grows a variety of plants from the seeds he brings her from his missions. She often presses the flowers and plants in books as presents to her husband as thanks.

Every single on of the harbingers, as infrequent as it is for her to see them, terrifies her. Even Childe, who is seemingly the nicest to her, triggers instinctual fear within her, so she’s incredibly wary of all of them. The fact that her vision provides no protection from them leaves her deeply unnerved. She’s as polite as possible when around them, but if you look closely, her ever present frown gets a little more severe whenever one of them are around.

One of her favorite activities is to take a book from her personal library (gifted to her by Capitano, of course) and go to her husband’s office to sit on his lap to read while he works. He is surprisingly warm and a good seat while she reads, and he is often in a better mood afterwards, so she takes full advantage. (Size kink go brrrrrrrrr)

Illya can embroider and sew, so Capitano has received a number of embroidered handkerchiefs as gifts from his wife. None of his soldiers dare to comment on the floral fabric when he’s around.

On occasion, usually when Capitano is away on a mission and she has naught but a maid or two who aren’t allowed to talk to her to keep her company, Illya will crack for a while. Giggling and soft singing will fill the halls during the day as she talks to her plants like children, while in the night, wails and screams will rattle the windows, chilling the maids down to their bones, unable to do anything. She always regains her composure when Capitano returns, and the maids keep their mouths shut.

[dulcetthorns]

We all had sonic sonas, right? Well, I still fuckin love that blue hedgehog, so here's my sister and I as our sonic-sonas! I'm a cape fox and she's a Honduran white bat!

[dulcetthorns]

"Little Dove...it's late. Why are you not in bed?"

"Is it improper for a wife to read next to her husband by candlelight? You've been at this paperwork for hours."

"Because I have an important duty. Nevertheless, must you read in my lap?"

"You don't seem to complain when your soldiers see."

[dulcetthorns]

So I finally got around to making a reference of my main self-insert persona!

Here’s Nemu! I use them for basically all my fandoms, but since MHA has a chokehold on me, here’s their basic MHA profile. Genreally I make them quirkless, but often I give them an immortality quirk or some body horror quirk because I’m all about that gore, baby!

They’re tiny, second only to Mineta and, like irl, they’re mistaken for younger on a daily basis. Personality is: Two-faced Gremlin. I may expand upon in the future.

Generally shipped with Bakugou, but can go with anyone or even be alone, as I’m aroace irl lol.

[dulcetthorns]

WIP of Capitano and his Little Dove, Illya. Probably gonna do my usual lining style instead of the painterly technique I've been using to draw her. I'll finish this someday!

Her favorite thing to do is to sit on his lap while he works and read. Not only does it make his subordinates extremely uncomfortable, but it also gets her extra perks around the mansion afterwards. Win-win if you ask her, and she gets a warm place to read!

[dulcetthorns]

did a super quick and messy mock up of an image that i had in my head of this super dramatic gothic romance-novella -esque scene of Illya coming back to her husband's mansion after a snowy walk. Not my greatest work but hey, I think I at least captured the mood!

(Im sorry, but every time I look at my little Capitano doodle I laugh my ass off. HE'S SO TINY.)