Yep I'm trying to stream again.  I'm currently looking at Thursdays again (because that's when the inlaws come down to hang with the grandkids and then somehow my house gets cleaned in the meantime, yes I have awesome relatives), Tuesday nights and one of the two weekend days (which one will depend on what is going on at the time), won't be announcing them til I can make sure the schedule works reliably though.  If you're keen as mustard you can still drop in if you like though.

This has been the better part of a week in the making.  Almost full days because I stupidly thought that I would get it done next session.  I now have headache-caused-by-terrible-posture and my neck is violently out again.  Pro-tip: do not spend hours a day hunched over a tablet.  And while I'm not completely happy with it I'm happy enough to post it.  And obviously I need a hell of a lot more practice with dark scenes.

There is a story behind this one, but not one that I normally try to write to accompany pieces.

...is so he doesn't have to listen to my inane rambling XD

So he's over at the table minding his own business, listening to whatever it is he's listening to while opening boosters and sorting and sleeving Magic cards (sometimes audiobooks, sometimes podcasts, sometimes footy games, sometimes music), and I'm working on detailing this thing:

when I idly wonder out loud: "I wonder if Asian dragons ever have spinal problems."

"Sorry you talking to me dear?" He hits the pause button.  I hate repeating myself but I'm as used to this as he's used to my semi-random inanity.

Wings are more or less done.

I say "more or less" because I was spending a very long time obsessing about the edges of the wing membranes, and then figured I should just make sure they're thick enough to retopo around and not obsess about that kind of thing too much.  So I did that for the two inner membranes (I obsessed over the two outer ones before making this realisation) and made sure the wing fingers were more or less symmetrical on either side and easily visible to retopo over.

I miss you like nobody else.

The memorial forest was quiet.  It usually was, especially at this time of day.  Walking on autopilot with her head down, Zara unerringly wended her way to the tree she wanted.  The markers were all identical; elegant stone slabs extending a metre and a half out of the ground in their neat little rows.  The trees were a bit more individual, growing wild and free.  The marker simply said "In loving memory".  Zara absently touched the screen on the top of the marker.  It brought up a timeline of all the people that had been buried under that tree.

The most recent one was her mother.

Where you come from and where you wanna go this time?

Zara and Zul'jinn hanging out in a courtyard either at Zara's aprtment complex or more likely Juan's place.

There isn't so much rhyme or reason to this, it just kind of happened while I was listening to the chorus of Red Hot Chilli Peppers: Tell Me Baby.  As a young adult most of Zara's gymnastics skills simply augment her fighting style but every now and again she likes to randomly show off.  I think she's going into a straddle press handstand on the wall.

One of these days I will do nice rather than sketchy close ups of the tattoos.

It was a long way down.

He didn't have to use his wings.

There was no point.  There was nothing in him.  He was nothing.  It didn't matter.  He didn't matter.

Za'haran shifted closer to the edge, automatically curling his feet against the wall n preparation for a takeoff.

Dive or just pin drop?

It didn't matter.  The result would be the same.  A terrible mess, just like his life.  He didn't matter.

Through the numbness, pain.  Gnawing, grating, demanding.  He bit his lip, tried to ignore it.  It wouldn't be ignored.  He fought down the reflex to raise his wings in preparation for flight, kept them firmly pinned to the ground so they could aid the push off.  If he had been taking off, it would have seriously messed it up, possibly even dangerously so.  What did it matter? He didn't want to live anyway.  What was the point?

This MerMay thing (whatever it is XD) gave a good enough excuse to draw examples of the Selkies and Nereids as they appear in the AER-verse (examples because they vary massively in appearance depending on...a lot of things).  I attempted a more "stereotypical" mermaid here which meant it's either an early Nereid or a reef/shallow water Nereid.  The ones that live in shallow water are more likely to resemble Base humans.  The ones that live out in the deep sea only bear hints that they evolved from humans. 

The Selkies usually have the cetacean/seal traits such as horizontal tails and breathe air.  Nereids have more fish/aquatic animal tendencies such as gills (which uses the existing nose structures with modifications for the shallow water ones and gill slits in the deeper water ones) and vertical tails and an abundance of fins (though this one only has a fin on the head).

Apparently there's a thing called MerMay going on where people are trying to draw merfolk this month.  Seemed as good an excuse as any to draw a Selkie as they are in the AER-verse. 

Even through the mat, the floor hurt.  Her ankles hurt.  Her muscles ached.  Hot tears sprang behind her eyes.  Rei sat up, her face growing hotter as the tears prickled.  She rubbed her arm across her eyes, trying to ease the stinging with counter-pressure and clearing out the ones that had escaped.

"You right kiddo?" Zara's playful tone floated over from somewhere near the doorway.  Rei sniffed again and looked up.  Zara finished crossing the floor in her usual fashion and bobbed down on the ground.  She touched her sunnies but the light was too bright for her and she left them where they were.  "What's wrong?" Zara shifted to sit cross-legged, looking quite prepared to wait forever for an answer if she needed to.

Rei sniffled again, once more rubbing her hands across her eyes.  "I can't do it," she mumbled.

"Can't do what?"

"Stag leap."