Worked on this the last couple of stream sessions, posted works in progress to Patreon and realised that I've been completely forgetting to post public wips (which is completely unsurprising as while I do post occasional works in progress they are occasional so it was actually pretty easy for me to forget with all the other stuff going on).  I also wanted to show @jedau the kind of stuff that takes me forrrreeeeeeeeevvvaaaaaaarrrrrrrr XD

This was supposed to be a sketch of Megan (to the tune of Black Fingernails, Red Wine by Eskimo Joe which is what spawned the original concept, I have several failed sketches in my sketchbook).  Then it kinda grew.  Out of control.  Like most of the things I do.

Unlike the silence of the pod, which was broken only by the pods own humming, Dakarai's head was full of tumultuous, confused thoughts.

They'd looked.  They'd kept looking.  They hadn't given up.

The last few days...or was it weeks? He wasn't sure.  Either way, it had been a seriously unpleasant blur.

He'd hurt Zara.  He glanced sideways at her, perched nervously on the comfortably worn seat beside him.  That had been the start of the downward spiral.  They'd been training, he couldn't understand the technique Juan was showing them.  Zara picked up everything so easily.  Frustration was normal, but then it had been intolerable.  He hadn't meant to hit her that hard.  Then Juan had confronted him about his stim usage.  Dakarai bristled slightly.  Juan wasn't his father, he didn't have any right to tell him what to do.

But he didn't give up.

The plan for streaming on Thursday was do a quick sketch, then carry on with the rig test anim.  That didn't happen.  What happened instead was this.

I don't do anything more complex than textures for backgrounds, the bed is just one ridiculously oversized prop masquerading as a background.  I don't hink that's going to be a normal thing either.  I am not really looking forward to shading those tattoos XD

With  luck I'll have this finished later today but more likely tomorrow or so.

"Doesn't that make your teeth rot?"

"It's worse when you're with 'em!" Andrew snickered.

Zara passed Andrew another box of decorations from the bowels of the shed, surreptitiously observing Dakarai and Megan being cute at each other on the other side of the garden.  The bright orangey yellows of the Christmas bush caught her eye.  Around this time of year, especially among the people that celebrated Christmas, there seemed to be a tradition of kissing under mistletoe.  The whys were lost in the annals of time (unless one cared to look of course).  Andrew's ears perked up as Zara's trademark cheeky grin suddenly crossed her face.

"What are you thinking?" he asked with a smile, accurately sensing that he was about to be dragged into something.

"See the Christmas bush?"

Andrew grinned as he caught her train of thought.