...back...

And it only took me two and a half hours to clear my email backlog - which included 7 new Zone applications, Deceiver's Legacy 14, and a Denise Merino update! But before I get properly started, some thanks are in order.
To Carol, for the cake (I'm still blushing!), the gorgeous aromatherapy necklet, for transferring Cowboy Bebop so I have it all in the correct order, and most of all for the time and space to sit and draw. Nine pictures in total - more on those later...

To Adrian, for keeping Kai happily distracted so I could have a break - and for putting up with us causing chaos for a week!

To Sue, for a wonderful day chilling out with Crusade and talk of books, even though you were poorly, and of course for my present!

And to Anna for the cake. We've cut it now. And it's delicious. And it's lemon!! [grin] Radittsu, alas, didn't survive the journey (tch', millions of lightyears in a pod, but 100 miles in a terran bus was too much for him...) So I'm eating him. [smirk]

Onna, thanks for the card! I like the latest oekakis - and can't wait to read the fic (just hoping it's not the pairing Lutra and I have planned - if we can ever find the time - but from what you've said I don't think it is...) I'm sorry but I wasn't able to finish the threesome pic. Got halfway and couldn't get it looking right - don't think I have the skill to do it yet. I'll keep trying though... I did, however, manage to draw a Jeice and Radittsu scene I've wanted to try since last year: I'll add it to my next AC chapter. (Heh, had to have Kai lie on his stomach, chin in his hands and feet in the air to get the pose right!) I'm quite pleased with it... That Manga Couples book is phenomenal for reference. Many thanks for recommending it!

Valkyrie - I've drawn your request pic but I'm afraid I wimped out some... Couldn't get the pose right in a sideways view (they'd have to be contortionists to make it work, I think!) so have done the next best thing. I'll post it - and send you a copy - once it's coloured.

Had lots of fun drawing Dystopia portraits! I'm posting the original pencil sketches here - well, thumbnails of them anyway - as it may be a few days before I can colour them.

This is Devon.

Stephan, flamboyant Gallic charmer and (in Lutra's words) 'good grief what a queen...!' (He's Stephan rather than Etienne because his mother was Russian. Just in case anyone was wondering...)

... Cloudie... (Cloud, Nuage)

... and big, loving, protective Peter (aka Ox)…

I should be able to post the colour versions with my next chapter (in which we find out what Stephan actually does in the Agency!) Quite a bit of that is already written, so hopefully it won't take me long to finish.

Belated Happy Birthday to Ripley! Home schooling... Hm... We considered it for Kai, but decided against it. The school has far more resources than we could afford - and we believe all children need to learn how to deal with (communicate with) other kids from an early age, otherwise they won't be able to socialise when they're older, which will make life hellish difficult for them! Fair enough, Kai is egocentric and doesn't communicate very well, but the thought of what he'd be like if he wasn't interacting with his peers is enough to give me nightmares...

There's a DBZ marathon (8am to 9pm: 12 hrs 55 mins of it) showing on CNX today, all the eps I missed while TeleWest were making up their minds to provide the channel. Ken, bless him, got up at 7.30am today to set the video going so I can catch up with the story. GT starts on Monday: I think it's ep 40 I need to catch? The one with Zaabon? Heh, I'll probably have it playing in the background anyway.

Right - better get this uploaded and let Alestrel out to play. I should be able to get the tenshi-Lutra pic coloured before Lutra gets online...