#cantolopejeevas

“We’ve been seeing each other for a while now,” Andy said. It was just a statement of fact, nothing that could be disputed, but it still made Daniyal nervous. He had a feeling of what was coming next, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to go through it. “And we haven’t even kissed yet. Is that not something you do in this realm?”

They had given him an easy out. ‘No, things are a little different than they are in Hyrule.’ But Daniyal’s stomach felt heavy with the thought of lying. He couldn’t do that to Andy of all people. Even if they didn’t have the intimidating air of a princess, how could he bring himself to lie to them?

Daniyal looked down at his hands in his lap, fidgeting desperately for something he could say that wouldn’t ruin everything. “It’s…complicated,” he started. “I don’t know if…If I can—“

A gentle hand rested on his shoulder, pulling Daniyal’s gaze up to meet Andy’s bright blue eyes. “It’s okay. If you’re not comfortable, we don’t have to do anything different.”

An ache filled Daniyal’s heart. Something about Andy’s expression was sad, the slightest hint of disappointment. But the look quickly faded into a soft smile, those same blue eyes sparkling with so much love and understanding. It only made Daniyal want to tell them the truth more.

“We can just sit here for a while longer,” they continued. “I do love spending time with you, and the sunset is always so beautiful, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Daniyal agreed, but he wasn’t looking at the skyline anymore. He watched Andy’s profile and the way their hair gently blew in the soft spring air. The park was mostly empty since it was beginning to get dark, but this was their favorite time to come, so Daniyal couldn’t help but oblige. Before he could lose his nerve, Daniyal spoke again, “But I think…I’d really like to try. Kissing, that is.”

Andy turned back to him, eyes wide. They searched him for any uncertainty, then laid their hand on top of his. “Of course. Let me know if you need to stop.”

Daniyal smiled, his heart swelling. Slowly, the two of them leaned toward each other. It was nerve-wracking, but eventually their lips met and for a moment, it was the most pleasant Daniyal had ever felt.

Then he shuddered. Andy’s entire past, present, and future flashed before his eyes. Daniyal pulled back just in time to avoid seeing their last moment. All of a sudden, making eye contact seemed like a monumental task.

“Are you alright?” Andy asked, grabbing Daniyal’s hands in their own. “What happened?”

“I…We need to talk.”

The grip they had on his hands only grew tighter, and their voice was earnest. “Of course, love. Whatever you’d like to do.”

————

“I don’t really think it would work the same, Daffodil,” Rory pointed out, running his thumb across the back of Daniyal’s hand. “I’m made of metal. It’s a bit…different, isn’t it?”

Daniyal bit his lip. He wasn’t sure either, but that didn’t stop him from being nervous about it. At least he’d gotten the truth out sooner than he thought he would. And Rory had been wonderful about it, too, thankfully. But still, there was the actual kissing part.

“You’ve got a past. And surely a future, too,” Andy piped up, entering the room. They’d agreed to make dinner for Daniyal and Rory’s date, if only to encourage the date to happen at all. They set the plates down in front of the two of them and stood back with their hands on their hips, waiting for the verdict on their food.

“Yes, that’s correct. I’m just not sure if an android is the same as a human in regards to magic.” Rory politely began to pick at his meal, if only to appease Andy, but Daniyal knew he didn’t need to actually eat it.

Daniyal couldn’t bring himself to even pick up his fork. The food looked lovely, but the churning in his stomach was a warning to not rock the boat too much. He looked down at his arm lying across the table, fingers intertwined with Rory’s. “I’m willing to give it a shot though,” he said suddenly. As an afterthought, he added, “I-If you are.”

Okay so like, let’s get this out of the way: Ezekiel’s original design? Boring. Bland. Ungly. Disgusting. But like....he’s supposed to be I guess? Like, he is all of those things in the show. So can I blame Fresh? No, I GUESS not. But I want to. So I will.

But lemme tell you, I had SUCH a fucking time with this design. Like it was almost painful working on this one. Ezekiel is just such a nothing character?? What the fuck am I supposed to do with him??? He’s so useless and they literally made him so he could be thrown away in the first episode and also come back as a garbage joke later on in the rest of the seasons. So like, woof, we really got ourselves a fuckin’ test here, lads.

So what did I do? I tried my best. I thought, “what do I know about Ezekiel, and how can I show that in a physical design?” So here’s what I came up with: Garbage farm boy. It’s said he was homeschooled and raised by “prairie people” which makes me think farm kid, you know? Maybe it means something different in Canada, I dunno. But this is what I thought of.

Especially with the kinda closed-minded ideals and all that trash. So I went with farm boy. I almost went stoner but no, no that’s too easy. I gave him some greasy hair to go with his shitty stubble. I wanted it to look like it was stuck out with grease and not any kind of product. Because god knows he doesn’t know how to clean himself.

I also tanned him a little. Because if he’s gonna live on a farm, he probably works on said farm. And when you work out in the sun for long hours, you get tan. That’s just how it works. I also went less desaturated with his palette because I mean, hey, if his skin is gonna be more saturated, why not give his hair some saturation too?

I wanted to keep the greens in his palette so I didn’t venture too far away. After all, green is often viewed as a natural color, but it can also be seen as a “gross” color (you know, vomit, snot, other bodily fluids that people don’t like to think about). So I thought hey, that works. So I went for a green overall and just went for black in the boots and shirt. A white shirt is too obvious and honestly? Why would you wear something that would get so dirty so quickly when you’re working in a dirty environment. Doesn’t make sense to me. So black, it works I think.

Okay so I actually changed a good few things about Bridgette. Her skin and hair color were actually a kinda big thing because I mean, she spends so much time outside. She’s always in the sun or in the ocean. I figured she’d be major tan and also have some kinda ocean/sun-bleached hair going on. I thought it would bring a more natural vibe to her whole design, especially since she’s such an outspoken nature/outdoorsy girl!

I also majorly changed her body type. I didn’t wanna make her super muscle-y, but I did kinda wanna tone her. I made her arms softer and a little bigger and tried to make her legs more toned too. But I also took off her giant tits and hips. I feel like Bridgette being a little more stocky and flat just kinda fits her? I also think it gives her a younger and more innocent look which I think fits her character a lot more.

Also, hey, I cut her hair. I usually don’t do such wild changes to the hair but I think it really suits her more. Plus I think it’ll look good next to Geoff since I’m thinking of working a ponytail onto him, but we’ll see how that goes! I just think cutting it real short would be something she would do because she doesn’t seem like she really gives a shit about how “pretty” she looks or whatever? It’s more about not having all that hair weight (especially when it’s wet, yikes!) and just getting to feel the ocean breeze through her curls! I still tried to frame her face with the little bits in the front but otherwise I just went straight for some loose, wavy curls. I think it gives her that sense of Cute I was going for too!

I wanted to cover her in bandages because we lowkey see her fuck up and get hurt A Lot in season one, so I think it makes sense. I mean, if you’re gonna get crazy hurt, you’re gonna start carrying around bandages. And then I just put her straight in her surfer outfit. I mean I just think she’d come to the island in that and not some hoodie and board shorts. Why wear board shorts if your beach ware is the fullbody suit anyway? Like come on, that’s not comfy. I think I could’ve given her a different outfit that wasn’t just this, but I just think this works for her. Plus she’s totally the type to wear water shoes and they just Go Together.

I pushed her skin from orange to pink because I always do. Nothing exciting there. Anyway, her face was Fine. I mean I kept most of it. I almost always get rid of the weird brown or orange lips Fresh likes to do because I just think the brown/orange looks Bad. But the rest of it was fine so you know.

I chopped some of her hair off and tried to give her a smaller bun because I don’t think Eva would prioritize having long hair? I mean it just doesn’t really make sense from what we know about her. She doesn’t super care about how she looks right? So why have long hair and tie it back when it would suit her better to have it short and tight. I did at least keep her hair line outside of just kinda fluffing it up a little and giving it some more definition.

I definitely changed her outfit because Yikes. I am curious how many people are aware that her socks have two different colored stripes on them. Because I didn’t. From far away they both look almost black! I assumed they were the same color but nah!! Which is just Quality Character Design there. Fresh must have a fuckin foot fetish or some shit because their shoes are always the most detailed part of the designs. Why. Why do that.

But foot fetish aside, being a giant blueberry doesn’t look very attractive either! Using three different shades of blue that are so close and all probably the same level of saturation isn’t not very cash money of them to do, so I quickly changed that. I thought something a little more form-fitting would be good. Especially since I didn’t make Eva just as busty and curvy as every other character Fresh likes to draw either. Not every girl has to be curvy!! Not necessary!! Cowards!! Anyway I gave her abs and showed them off and then just gave her some yoga pants. Weightlifters wear those sometimes so I did that!