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Lidiash — Whom Leaves Hide
by-nc-nd
#deliah #face #girl #goingdown #original #originalcharacter #portrait #young #original_character #light_hair
Published: 2019-09-14 11:22:15 +0000 UTC; Views: 135935; Favourites: 1228; Downloads: 329
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Description
And you already know - May they have mercy on your soul - That Deliah is dead.
Autumn...Seems like perfect time to tell stories, so let me tell you one. It comes from GD - the mystery of this plot line is given away on the first pages of the book, so there are no major spoilers. It has no major effect for whole 1st arc, it helps paint a better picture of Baxtor and explain some things, that will eventually come out. [1] It will be a series of images, and let's call this one the second, because you've learnt already, that Deliah was Baxtor ex-girlfriend and that she was murdered from "May they have mercy on your soul ".
But who was Deliah and why this drawing is meta is below.
***
Deliah wasn't particularly well-off in life compared to people that surrounded her. Her father held a pointless title bringing good earning compared to average on Proxima, but low if we talk about Polis - the capital city. Her mother pampered her and her sisters through - she ultimately believed her daughters will find place in this city. Despite being pampered, girls were very smart and educated - parents spent a lot on school, extra classes and other things, that would help them grow intellectual as well. It was that wish of Deliah's parents to give their children best that brought her to school Baxtor was attending.
Deliah entered high school with title not only of one of the most beautiful girls, but also as one of the kindest and sincere. She had that allure of a strong person who didn't let circle of rich spoiled kids P1 school [2] was filled with. It didn't mean everyone liked her. She had own little vlogger career - occasionally talking about other students pointing out their inappropriate behavior and while she didn't name them directly, people in school could always find out who that was. It didn't led to bulling, bc surprise-surprise, people she mentioned, were, well, bullies and did wrong things. She also didn't trashtalk them - Deliah sat and explained on video why that thing is wrong and why, in her mind, person acted that way, trying to dog dipper into reasons some rich kid feels okay to mock less richer kid.
Her videos still were great to show she isn't empty-headed "rich girl" as some would think, if they only looked at her public [3] Scope page (Proxima's Instagram to be short) - she didn't stood out from other girls there - pretty girl showing their life, make-up, daily life, pets, friends and so forth. Remember, at the time, she was a teen, so it was normal clean teen profile.
So far, so good! Smart, beautiful and yes she speaks bad of some people, but that people are bad ones. However, this facade was hiding something. Her private profile screamed envy. She talked about how richer kids are given everything at their will yet chose to ask for materialistic things like brand clothes, expensive jewelry, tech and other luxury items, while she would use that money to help people, yet when she is pampered by her mother she asks for same things as these kids and when it's pointed out she cleverly states that in case of others it's "extra money" and in hers she feels obligated to maintain a certain level of appearance and amount of possessions to be accepted by other in that "rich kid circle". Makes sense.
Then you’d stumble upon a message which is repeated regularly:
Deliah is frustrated.
With her vlogger carrer not being fast enough.
With her parents giving other sister more than her.
With injustice of life she didn’t have an “easy start” like others at school.
It feels toxic, however…Understandable. After such rants she always humbled herself - saying about being thankful for what she has and how she understands she was comparing herself to literally top 1-3% of the population and that’s why everything seems so bad, while it isn’t. Deliah also constantly retaliated how she feels pressured to succeed in such atmosphere. Like she has a bigger goal – she wanted to be a self-made social media star who makes world better and who didn’t just sit on her parent’s wealth like other in her class do.
When Deliah already was dating Baxtor [4] she told him that she was concerned with competing with girls who only sell their beauty and sex appeal. Deliah feared being lost in that sea of vloggers, models, cosplayers even if she will “play the game by the rules” – and if so, she would be disgusted by herself bc she “sold her body for nothing”.
Baxtor told her she specifically shouldn’t “play the game by the rules” – it will be a stronger message if she achieves a lot without “selling body for views”. Deliah then got mad, saying Baxtor never will understand her - he doesn’t have to achieve anything and “sell his body” because he is a guy from a well-off family. Eventually, they broke up and more on "why" we will talk later.
What we need to know now is Deliah celebrated her 18th birthday and Baxtor was her ex by that point. But she would never celebrate her 19th birthday, her 20th, her 21st...
She disappeared in late summer. At first people assumed she left to have fun before entering university and didn’t let anyone know. Deliah was very independent, even moving out of parent's home at 16 - so hey, maybe she grew tired of social media pressure. She is 18 now, she is an adult, she is free to do what she wants.
Her mother later lied to news she "sensed" something happened to her daughter. In actuality, woman never did. No one in Deliah's family did. Even her closest friends assumed she is being "far up her own arse" for not contacting them and leaving without a word. Her fanbase didn't think that, through. These people weren't united by goal of finding her - some said her privacy should be respected, but most worried reached out to Deliah's family asking if she is all right. They lied she is fine and asked to spread info further. Did they want to be left alone? Were they hurt their daughter went silent?
Whatever. After months they finally decided to look for her even going to Proxima's tech-free zones in hopes girl is there, but no luck. Sad fact is, once Deliah packed her bags and left apartment of her then-bf after an argument - nothing can tell where she went and in few hours it didn't matter anyway. There was so little time between her meeting her murderer and her death - was there a chance for her to survive? Well, of course there was, but she would have to save herself - nobody knew she is in danger.
Deliah herself didn't know she was in danger.
And in autumn... Her body was discovered by urban explorers in sewage of Old Polis - town deserted by war and nuclear trail which is located not far from her hometown (New, just) Polis. News spread like wildfire. Everyone was talking about tragedy of such beautiful soul leaving so early because some sick person ended her life.
Photos of her body were never released to wide public. Imagine what 2 years of decomposition and being in water did. Not only that, but her body sometimes was pressured against rusty lattice because of rising water level from rain... But public was let known Deliah was suffocated quickly and murder wasn't violent - this facts gave birth to image of beautiful young woman pale from death laying peacefully surrounded by autumn leaves waiting to be found and speak truth about tragic end of her life.
One painter decided to lay this idea on a canvas:
Painting helped to prolong public interest in the story and Deliah was even deemed "the most beautiful murder victim in history of Proxima" by not very polite people...
And for that time, she may have reached her dream - she was the most popular girl about whom everyone talked about and she.
Her murder made her famous and freed her from pain of realization...The painted image overtook real person in most people's memories. They didn't know her, but heard she was a good person and painting and photos tell them she is beautiful and young. They don't need more.
But there was so much... So much that led to her death, but wasn't spoken by her family, friends, boyfriends, including Baxtor.
He knows why and how she died.
And he is not the only one.
***
Notes and references:
- [1] I'll do same for Andy, but his background is linked to whole other line.
- [2] P1 = "Polis 1"
- [3]Proxima's social media has own twists, one of which is "Public" and "Private" pages of people. Public is available for the world to see, and agreement for pictures to be used in various ways (for news or for further use by others with profit for original uploaded is one is made by person using it). Scope is actually bigger than Instagram, serving as an aggregator to any type of images person upload and managing duplicates, automatic recognition, linking originals, credits and so forth.
- [4] She doesn’t even knew is not even 1-3%, but like descendant of 0,00(…)1%.
- As much as this drawing is meta...I only tried to illustrate painting present in the book. I'm sure original "book painting" is times better and it was described as traditional painting, not digital. There is also great notice of how Baxtor is depressed when he sees the painting and that there is a legal battle between artist and Deliah's family.
Links: Support me and my stories on Patreon!
My BL comics featuring Andy and Bax on Tapas!
My BL comics featuring Andy and Bax on Webtoon!
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Comments: 74
Ah, that's pleasant to know!
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Thank you! It's something I hoped to achieve here.
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OMG... I can't let my eyes out of her, and the story is very touching. every word of you is very beautiful like I have seen her with my own eyes through your description.
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Ah, thank you very much!
I'm very nervous when writing long texts in English, so seeing it be praised is very flattering! I'm glad it conveyed her tragedy well.
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Woooooooooow!! It looks very, very AWESOMEEEE!!!! I LOVE it!!!! 
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Thank you very ,uch! Glad you enjoy the image!
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Thank you very much! 
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That is like reading Puškin, looking at L'Inconnue de la Seine and having Billy Talent going on background:
"In a crooked little town, they were lost and never found
Fallen leaves, fallen leaves, fallen leaves on the ground"...
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L'Inconnue de la Seine...The one I was inspired by when starting drawing this artwork. <3
Puskin, one of masters of Russian literature, and Billy Talent, music of which surprisingly I've discovered this year.
Sounds amazing.~ Thank you very much!
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Well, the leaves aren't doing a very good job of hiding her.
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They did it well in story's irl for 2 years. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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She looks beautiful and at peace~ What a tragic story, though~
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One would say she found one in death, sadly. She was very active and always in a rush to become something more.
Thank you.~
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Ae, thank you for taking time to check it!
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Gorgeous!! The amount of detail that comes to light with the perfect contrast and tones - awesome work!!!! The face is so smooth and very pretty and love the flow of the hair!!
WOW -- excellent work!!
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Thank you very much!
I guess one can say all time I've spent on it went for right cause.
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You are most welcome!! Time spent well!!
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Very beautiful I love the grays put in with the blues
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Thank you. 
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Thanks for sharing! I'll check it out for sure
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Sincere thank you from Russia.
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