© Freyja Ereshkigal Studio.
STORY.
A limited series written in 2024, manus cruentae, bloody hands in latin, questions the following - who do we become when become adamant in escaping grief. manus cruentae follows a young woman who through this story grieves her ex-beloved and fiancee who she refers to as "Prince Charming the Rowing Prince," and the "October Libra man," as she refuses to name him, feel him, or acknowledge him, after his departure. This character had been introduced in a Vox Sheherazadica issue, His Royal Highness the Swordless Prince. As a writer, this was my first memory of not only constructing a masculine character, but one that took inspiration from fantasies and stories I wrote as a child, turned into bloodshed as I arrived into adulthood. This piece carries a special place in my heart, because I learned to curate a world of emotions, place characters in it, understand complexities of gender and social construct, without intruding upon the private life of others to write my characters, an ethical code that is of the utmost importance to me as a private person myself. Constructing and grieving this character is analagous to my own childhood fantasies of love, masculinity, and a perfect prince inspired by Tangled's Eugene on a boat.