The Literal Sun in Our Lives

Sumner (Sunny) from an Instagram stream yesterday. Sunny likes to draw and document animals, bugs and plants and do research on them. He’s out in nature all the time, and he finds that gentle animals always gravitate towards him (he is Snow White basically. Or Cinderella. Deadass)

Anyway he spends all his time outside and focuses on nature because he is not exactly welcome in his family. His father, the King of their country that remains unnamed (lmao I’ll hopefully find a name) has a queen who is his official chosen wife and the one that rules besides him, but he also has many other wives that he married for the sake of allyship or political gain.

Sumner’s mother is one of those wives and is from a completely different culture. A culture that views marriage and child-rearing completely differently. Once he was born, his mother returned to her country and left him with his father, and fact of the matter is that you have no mobility in the royal court without the guidance of your mother. Your mother is the one that helps you blossom in society, helps you gain allies and is your guardian until you’re prepared to stand on your own. Without a mother or at least a female guardian figure, Sumner immediately was at a disadvantage since the beginning.

So because of that, he learned not to care at all about succession. He learned to accept that his (many) siblings viewed him scornfully, and had to find a way to be happy on his own. That’s why he’s so engrossed with nature and all that. But just because he found a way to manage in his own doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to love and be loved, both from his siblings and parents and people in general. Just because he’s used to being treated as an afterthought doesn’t mean it hurts any less when he is. He’s human and I’m deadass gonna cry just typing this shit out damn. Anyway, yes. There we go. A little more about Sunny 4 y’all.