Lately the creative process and producing an actual finished piece has been a bit like walking a very large, very neurotic dog. I have to pull until I'm sore to get it to go anywhere at all and any forward momentum is met with so much resistance and drag that it's hardly worth it. Or I end up being pulled along at unnatural speeds in a direction that defies set pattern and logic whilst being slammed into every obstacle along the way. Neither are very productive and neither are very enjoyable.

Which, in a show of particularly obtuse use of commentary segway, brings me to this: A co-op picture with my husband. He did the design, drawing and ink on the figure on the right. I did the rest.

This was just for fun and not intended for critique or as a show or exercise of what ability I happen to retain.

*** Character/Story information you are in no way obliged to read. ***

Long ago, before Pazour rose as a new civilization, and before the world was broken, the Imperial Circle (that's Matt, Maxwell, Jed and Jessie) was composed of the world's greatest superheroes. Their youngest member was Darren. He was fast. Very fast. The fastest thing on the planet ... except for light, but that's one of those natural laws.

Darren's father was the famous Dr. Tanabe. He was the inventor and maker of mobile suits and all that amazing technology we tend to associate with sci-fi Japan.

Darren's childhood was spent training to be a superhero and trying his best to be an adult. He was an over-achiever in *almost* everything. Drawing, singing, cooking and having the patience to read for extended periods of time. As he got older, driving was also added to the list. He studied until his brain hurt and ran even more.

When he was 17, he was finally able to make his father proud when he was admitted to the Imperial Circle. Finally.

His time with them was cut short when in 2012 the world was broken into many pieces. Darren died when a building fell on his head. It was, to say the least, unexpected.

In the short time he knew his teammates, he made a big impression on them. To some, he was like a son, to others like a sibling. And for his part, he was very attached to them as well. They had been the friends and loving family he'd always wished he'd had.

And so he haunted them for as long as it took. Recently he was given a mechanid body. It was made just for him and is capable of everything that had once defined him.

His place in the circle has been taken by one more suited. Someone faster than he'd ever been. But now he has this, so it's okay. Darren is adaptable. Now he has new challenges and new places to explore. Nothing could make him happier.

He remains close to his old friends but now has a way to go out and make more in the Mechanid Kingdoms.

Character and story (C) *NuisanceBearEull
Art (C) ~Eullogy-Enterprises & *NuisanceBearEull