#I used Janet as a ref because that is correct

[chlorinatedseacow]

Just drew this and idk if I'll like it tomorrow, but I like it today.

[jeawrites]

RD AU Draft: 1

(Considering this a draft because its unedited and I haven’t added everything in yet- but feel free to read it! The finished part will most likely be uploaded on ao3 but I’ll be sure to post a link to it on here--) Anthony could remember his years of playing derby clear as day. He could remember the fun he had, the friends he made, and the genuine experience of being part of a team that helped him become who he was now. He wanted nothing more than to help others find that experience, especially his friends now.

But, Tyler was difficult to convince.

“I’m telling you Tyler, it’s a great idea! Think about it- you’ll get to hit people and roller skate! It’s, like, two of your favorite things!” he encouraged while grabbing a pair of skates from the shelf. “Plus- then you have a reason to own a pair of your own skates,” he added as he examined the pair and then put them in front of the tall male on the other side of the counter.

Tyler rolled his eyes a bit and grabbed the pair, putting down two dollars on the counter and shrugging. “I don’t think It’s as good as it sounds,” he responded, “Plus ain’t it a girl’s sport?” Anthony shook his head. “Hell no! Its an anybody sport! I played it,” he stated proudly. “Even more reason to believe its a girls sport-” he laughed as he got a gentle smack to the arm. “Come on, please? Just come watch a bout, just one. I promise you’ll change your mind.”

The silence from the other told Anthony he was considering it, which made him happy. He got even happier when he heard the sigh. “Fine. One bout, but if I don’t like it we’re never discussing this again. Deal?”

“Deal!”

“But… There is one more thing,” he mumbled. He sent him a look, more of a glare than anything, and sighed again. “What?” he asked. “I need you to help me convince Evan to go too.” A groan left Tyler and he turned his head to glance around, spotting the mentioned man at the concessions counter. “No,” he looked to Anthony, plead in his voice. “Look, I love Evan, he’s probably one of my closest friends, after you, but he is the worst person to convince into doing things,” he complained. “Oh come on, Tyler. I already talked to him about joining- I just need you to help me convince him into actually watching a bout.”

“No.”

“Please?”

“No-”

“I’ll give you a free snack coupon!”

Tyler begrudgingly followed Anthony over to where Evan was sitting. His arms crossed and the Canadian look up right in time to see them. “Ah! Bout time you made it, Ty, I was starting to get worried,” he laughed softly. “Worried about what? Some idiot kidnapped me?” he joked back, and Evan rolled his eyes. “No, that you somehow made a new friend to hangout with,” he fired and Anthony snickered as Tyler fought back a smile to try and look offended. Then, he sat down across from Evan at the table and Anthony sat by Tyler. “Who you got on the counter?” Evan asked, not looking back and instead focusing on tying his skates. “Janet,” Anthony answered back, “She’s pretty mad about it.”

Evan chuckled and nodded a small bit before sitting up straight and grabbing his drink. “So, what’d you need, Anthony? You don’t usually leave your work just to talk, at least when its so busy,” he pointed out. “I want you to go to a bout with me and Tyler,” he stated, not wasting time. Evan blinked. “A bout?” he asked. “A derby game,” Anthony corrected, after realizing that the other wouldn’t know what a bout was. “Oh,” he mumbled, messing with the straw in his cup before he nodded some. “Is this about you wanting me to join that team your making?” he followed up. Anthony nodded firmly. “Yeah! I already got Tyler to say maybe!”

Evan glanced from Tyler to Anthony, his brows furrowing as he took a sip from his drink and signaled for him to keep talking. “Come on, Evan, think about it,” Anthony edged, “You get to hit people and go fast in a circle- its kinda like hockey!” The Canadian then huffed after he swallowed. “I’m not telling you again- it's nothing like hockey,” he pointed out and then glanced off. “But… I guess I can go to one game with you two and check it out,” he decided, nodding to confirm it. “Only on one condition, though” he quickly added. Anthony nodded, already celebrating getting Evan to agree; “Yes, anything!” Evan chuckled and looked at Tyler. “Ty’s gotta wear an outfit I choose for him at the game.”

Tyler’s face paled and he glared, already knowing the outfit he was talking about. “No.”

Anthony blinked, confusion washing over his face as he glanced to Tyler, and then Evan. “What?” he asked.

“Ty’s gotta wear an outfit I want him to wear at the game,” he repeated, not breaking eyecontact with Tyler, his grin widening. “No- Anthony, come on! Don’t let him do that- we can get someone else!” he pleaded. Anthony looked between the two again before his gaze just focused on Tyler. “Come on Tyler,” he mumbled, nudging him gently. “Why don’t you just do what he wants?” Tyler glared at him. “No! Cause I know what he wants and he is not getting it!”

--

Tyler couldn’t believe he was letting Evan choose what he wore. He stared at Evan as he rummaged through his closet excitedly, looking for one specific box Tyler knew he had and hated it. “Why do you even keep it?” he asked. “It’s stupid,” he added in a grumble. Evan paused, taking a moment to look back at him with a grin. “It was a gift to you, and if you aren’t going to keep it, I am.”

He turned and Tyler fell silent, though his thoughts were basically loud enough for Evan to hear.

Finally, Evan grinned and pulled out a large box. It had taken some moving of things and random objects, but here it was. He moved to the bed and placed it down happily, letting Tyler reluctantly open it and groan at the sight. “Well? Hurry up and change! Anthony will be here any minute,” Evan chuckled and moved to leave the room.

Looking at the clothes in the box, Tyler sighed and got started. He took a hat off the top and placed it onto the bed. The hat was stupid, it had supidly large, blue cat ears on it that made Tyler cringe. Then, he pulled out a shirt. It was hot pink and had a paw print design on it. There was also a pair of hot pink pants with a similar design to match.

Then, to top it all off was a jacket with a realistic print of a cat's body.

He was going to look fucking rediculoud.

He hated his life too much sometimes.

Regardless, he changed into the clothes and walked out of the room, fighting back his embarrassment. Though, it all returned when he got to the living room and Evan saw him nearly immediately.

“Oh my god-” the Canadian snickered and then laughed, bringing a hand to cover his mouth. “You look so-so,” he couldn’t get the words out. Tyler rolled his eyes and flipped him off. “Whatever, fuck you.”

--

Anthony had, had a similar reaction to Evan’s, but he got over it quickly in place of his own excitement.

The entire trip to the skate park was about how much they were going to enjoy the bout, how much fun they were going to have. Even after they had gotten inside and seated it was still just him blabbering on.

“They’re so-so cool! I promise you’ll both enjoy this and-”

Tyler put his hand on Anthony’s mouth. “Okay, we get it. Calm down, dude,” he mumbled. After getting a nod, he removed his hand. Then, he jumped in his seat after hearing a voice. “Tyler?” he turned his head, fear raising in hm. More people he knew meant more people not letting him live down the fact he wore this outfit, meaning more jokes, meaning- wait.

“Luke?” he asked, snickering.

The man infront of him grinned and crossed his arms. “The one and only,” he chuckled. “What’re you doin’ here? I didn’t know you liked derby,” he asked, curious. Tyler shrugged. “I don’t know if I do. My friend dragged me out here to watch. What are you doing here and-” he giggled, “With bunny ears?” Luke blinked and then chuckled. “These?” he gestured up, “Aren’t mine. I stole them from Ryan. He came with me this time, I usually regular the bouts.”

“No way is Ryan here,” he spoke, genuinely surprised. “Oh, yeah. It's his first time to one of these too,” he explained, “I wanted to get him introduced to a new sport.” Tyler nodded, and glanced over to his friends, who were both sort of looking at him in confusion. “Oh, right. Luke,” he looked at him again, smiling some, “This is Evan and Anthony, my friends. You and Ryan should come sit with us.” Luke smiled at the other two, getting polite smiles in turn. “Sounds great!” he agreed. “I’ll go find, Ry and tell him we’re over here,” he added and turned to walk away.

Anthony grew more excited for the bout.

--

“Keep going!” Tyler shouted, watching as the girl quickly moved her way out of the group and onto the turn. The crowd cheered excitedly as well. “Yeah! You kick their asses, AnnihilateHer!” he shouted, gripping the edge of his seat. He was having a better time then he thought he would.

Evan watched the girl quickly move her way around one that tried to stop her, his eyes wide in amazement and his smile wide. “Good job!” he shouted, hoping his encouragement would reach her as she sped a corner.

Tyler watched her with careful eyes and then he glared at the ref who called her, managing to hear it was a backblock- like the eighth one called to night (not on just her). “She wasn’t anywhere near her back! Open your fucking eyes!” he yelled at the ref and he kicked the wall in front of him. That was about the seventh time he’s done that.

Anthony laughed gently. He was glad his friends were enjoying themselves. “I told you both you’d like it,” he teased as the jam ended. Tyler looked at him, his eyes wide and his grin crazily wide. “Dude this is sick! It’s so fucking cool- I can’t believe they’d allow a sport like this,” he laughed. “It’s wild,” he chuckled. “You’re wild,” Evan snickered, “You’ve kicked that wall several times, and I think you’re voice is loud enough the refs hear you the last few times. Control yourself,” he teased and got a punch to the arm in turn. “Shut up and let me have this,” he stated, but there wasn’t any spite or sarcasm, he was still smiling and having a good time. This was fun!

He looked to Ryan and Luke, who were in a similar state, though Luke was calmer due to having seen this all live so many times.

“And she just slammed into her-” Ryan exclaimed, hands flailing as he tried to explain. “Yeah, I know, Ry. I saw it,” Luke laughed softly and he looked at him with wide eyes full of awe. “They didn’t flinch, Luke! That’s amazing! This is really cool-” he looked to the track as a new pack formed. “Can you imagine if I did that?”

Anthony’s head turned to Ryan quickly at that. “You can,” he answered him. Ryan paused and looked back, curiosity in his eyes. “What?” he asked. “You can totally do that. In fact, I’m making a men’s team- if you want to play,” he offered and Ryan stared before grinning wide. “Maybe, I’ll think about it.”

“I’ll do it,” Luke followed, gaining eyes. “I’ll totally play for your team. You should too, Ry,” he looked at him, smiling. “It’ll be fun!”

Tyler looked at Ryan, nodding. “I was the first to join, can confirm it's very fun-” “You didn’t want to join,” Anthony cut in and Tyler looked at him with a glare. “I was the first you asked which makes me first to join,” he stuck his tongue out at him, and Anthony stuck his out in turn before they both chuckled. “I was second to join then!” Evan declared, snickering.

Luke looked at Ryan as he spoke. “I was third. You wanna be fourth Ry? You wanna do what those awesome girls are doin?” he asked, encouraging him to join. Ryan bit his lip lightly, thinking it over before he nodded. “Yeah… Yeah! I do! I wanna do that shit too! Consider me on the team! Whenever it's actually made anyways,” he grinned.

Anthony couldn’t believe his team was actually beginning to form.

[circular-time]

Okay so what I WAS posting about before I fell down the Shada rabbit hole and Tumblr ate my post is far less interesting but after having Tumblr mobile eat my post I’m feeling crabby so anyway.

I can’t apologize for my inktober drawings this year, because apologizing for art is... not useful, but. I am not happy with them.  And I feel the need to vent/explain?

(Inktober #11 under cut because embarrassed)

Firstly: neck problems since July have made it hard for me to draw for long, and also my pain levels have been higher which makes me in a near-permanent state of cranky/tired which is not conducive to art. BUT I had problems even before that. 

I started art class because of those very problems: Not being able to get what’s in my head onto paper and being lousy at portraits. BUT learning to draw cups and fruit and still lifes goes only so far. It’s helping, but I now take bloody forever and use eraser a lot more than pencil. Also, I switched to beginning painting almost a year ago (thank goodness; long brushes and larger strokes are easier on my neck than fine details), and right now I’m learning painting technique more than accuracy. 

Whereas portraits require accuracy because our brains are wired to notice tiny little differences in human features. “Close enough” works just fine for drawing dogs but not humans.

My second problem is common to many artists nowadays: the “undo” key means we do a lot of trial-and-error lines rather than getting them right on the first try. Inktober was originally a challenge to set aside the undo key.

My third problem is that during my first Inktober I was feeling terribly embarrassed by my early clumsy portrait attempts and stumbled upon a cheat: sketch on paper in pencil, scan the sketch, overlay scan on ref photo, find mistakes, correct sketch! And then ink, once the sketch looks good. 

It is so very tempting when I’m struggling with a sketch to reach for that danged scanner and check the bit I’m having trouble with to see if it needs to move up, down, etc, tilt more, or whatever. After all, I can’t ask one of the actors to autograph a horrible portrait of themselves!

But I’ll never learn if I keep doing that. So this Inktober, I’ve been keeping that itchy finger from reaching for the scanner, and just doing it, and my drawings look like crap. Having to finish in 15-30 minutes because of bad neck is also not helping, but it’s mostly just a matter of practice.

I’ve thought about not posting any more this year, but the challenge helps force me to draw every day. And I’ve thought about just keeping them to myself and not posting, but some aren’t bad, and as for others? 

I really need to wean myself off this perfectionist streak that causes me to edit everything from posts to fanfic to drawings again and again and AGAIN. That’s from being raised by a family that gave me a hard time if I ever had less than an A in anything, and it’s getting worse as I get older. I have got to learn to say, “Here is a thing I did; it is not perfect, but that’s okay.”

So anyway. Here are two not-very-successful drawings of Peter I did last night, left with a quick pencil sketch first and right freehand pen, after being unhappy with screwing up his mouth on that portrait of him and Mark and Janet, and oh gods I can’t wait to be able to look back and laugh at these and see how far I’ve come.

 I’m going to call them Inktober #11 so that I’m caught up.