#gonna just copy over my og tags bc I can’t be bothered to come up with new ones

[cuteniaarts]

First posted piece of 2024 featuring Ghazan’s older sister Haya, take 2!!

#a.k.a the og version was bothering me so I completely redrew her eyes and added more shadows to make her facial features more pronounced #gonna just copy over my og tags bc I can’t be bothered to come up with new ones #my art #artists on tumblr #the legend of korra #original character #seeds of the red lotus #sotrl haya #god... like on one hand yes. she's an awful person. she abused her brother's kids for 16 years #left lasting mental and emotional scars on them to the point that even years after they last see her they're still recovering #even after all the bruises have healed her voice is still in their heads. fear of her still dictates so many of their actions #someone like her doesn't deserve any amount of sympathy. nor after everything she's done #but on the other... the person who did all that is haya in her 30s and 40s. here she's just 14 #she just had her whole world shattered in a matter of weeks. she's left with nothing and no one but an empty house and her 5yo brother #she has no one to turn to. no shoulder to cry on. apart from losing her parents she had to quit school and stop hanging out with her friend #sh ehad to abandon any hobbies she might have had. I imagine she was quite like suiren and midori used to be. curious and intelligent #and very keen on trying new things. she had to leave all that behind to work day and night while earning only barely enough to scrape by on #just enough for them to survive. to keep the house. to be clothed and fed. there was no room for treats or luxuries of any kind #how many dresses did she cut up to use as material for ghazan's clothes? how many nights did she go hungry just so he could eat? #and she can't even cry about it. not while he's around anyway because she's supposed to be strong for him. #I imagine she often cried after putting ghazan to bed. just out of sheer helplessness. from how exhausted she was #she cried herself to sleep every night and pulled herself back together every morning #tied her hair back with her mother's kerchief and went straight to work anywhere that would hire her. working until she could barely stand #all for him. I'm not excusing her actions in any way but I understand why she was overcome with resentment after he left her #running away without as much as a goodbye. after everything she had done for him. spitting in her face would have hurt less #so when he resurfaced over a decade later to dump his bastard children on her it didn't take long for all that resentment to find an outlet #and the rest is history... fuck. thinking about her teenage and ya self always makes me cry. she was so much like suiren it's heartbreaking #well. the only reason suiren is like this now is bc of her. but yk what they say. the history book on the shelf is always repeating itself #anyway. I'm really glad I took the time to redraw this. I'm so much happier with it now. she actually looks like a young girl now #this really hits different considering that I straight up killed her in my latest au... granted she was in her 40s there. but still