#dorurio

A new year; a new start to trying to be a better artist. Happy 2017 guys, enjoy a finished-ish sketch, and a pre-sketch of some DoruRio.

For the first time since the Barians had decided to remain in Heartland City, the weather was nice. It was warm enough to sit outside in the park without fear of rain, at least, and that was good enough for Rio, who dragged an unsuspecting Durbe to the park. Not that he minded, really; the sun felt nice. Though, he did have to apply a lot of sunscreen. He wasn't sure how easily he tanned or burnt. No chances would be taken. Rio and Durbe sat under a tree in the shade, leaning against the bark. They didn't really talk. They didn't feel the need to, really. There was no need to fill the gaps with awkward conversation. They were content just people-watching together for the moment. Rio glanced over at Durbe, and an idea popped into her head. She rose from the floor and ignored Durbe when she asked what she was doing. With a smile, she approached some daisies and began to gently pick them from the ground. She occasionally looked back at Durbe, before looking back at her flowers she had collected. Once she felt like she had enough, she went back to Durbe and sat next to him once more. "Merag—" "Shh, I'm doing something," she said, putting a finger on his lips. Quietly, he watched her work. She weaved the flowers together, humming to herself as she did. Durbe didn't take his eyes off her hands, entranced, fascinated and, ultimately, curious. He didn't notice her constantly looking back at his head, before going back to her work. Rio created a sort of ring with the flowers. She smiled down at her work and held it up in her hands before turning to Durbe. When she moved closer with the flowers in her hand, Durbe scooted back. When she tried again, he moved back again. Rio pouted. "Don't move!" She tried for a third time, and Durbe tried not to move, despite the fact that this was making him very, very uncomfortable. He closed his eyes and he felt something on his head. After a few seconds of nothing, he cautiously opened his eyes. Rio was giving him an odd look, and she was no longer holding the flowers. Hesitantly, Durbe reached up to the top of his head and, as expected, the ring of flowers was on it. "It's a flower crown," Rio told him. A crown? Made out of flowers? Surely it would have been more suitable for Rio to wear a crown, and not him. But if he tried to take it off, she frowned at him. So instead, he got up in search of his own flowers. He must make a crown for the Barian Queen, even though she was no longer a queen on Earth. It didn't matter to him. Those were only minor details. Durbe found a bed of flowers, where beautiful yellow flowers grew. Perfect. He picked the flowers, not sure how many he would need, and picked quite a few. With the flowers in his hand, he went back to Rio and sat down, before staring down at them. He had no idea how to do this. He tried copying Rio's actions from before, but it wasn't going well. In fact, it was looking like a shoddy mess, but he was going to keep trying anyway. A queen needed a crown. Durbe could feel her gaze piercing through the skin of his hands. He could do this. Sort of. By the time he was done, he was just holding a mess of flowers and ripped stems, and it was embarrassing. Durbe could not present her with this. He would just have to try again, and get it right. Before Durbe could get up to gather more flowers, Rio leaned forward a little bit, bowing her head. Maybe this was his cue. Pushing his luck, he placed the crown on her head. Once it was on, she leaned back again. "Thank you, Durbe." She pressed a tiny kiss on his cheek in gratitude. And for the hundredth time, Durbe was rendered speechless. He would never get women. 

Durbe stopped by often at the Kamishiro home. Sometimes he was there to visit Ryouga - that was becoming less and less common - but usually he was there to visit Rio. Though they would go into her room, it was innocent. They were just friends. The only 'doing' they did was homework. That wasn't to say that Ryouga didn't check to make sure they kept it PG, but he kept that part to himself. The winter holidays were fast approaching, which meant a ton of homework. This also meant Durbe was hanging out more with Rio to do said ton of homework. For the most part, it was uneventful; they did homework, they hung out a little bit, and then eventually Durbe went home. But one time was different. Desperate to go home before another snowstorm hit, Durbe dashed out of the Kamishiro home once the homework was completed, accidentally leaving a few things behind. One of them was hanging on the back of Rio's chair in her room; his scarf. Rio didn't really feel like making a trip to return it to him. It wasn't like he didn't have four other scarves that looked exactly the same. She would just have to return it to him the next day at school. The next day, before school, Rio looked over at the scarf that was still sitting on the back of her chair. It was a little cold outside. Not too cold, but it was certainly scarf-wearing weather. Well, it wouldn't have mattered if she wore it just this once, right? Of course not. They were friends. She gently wrapped the soft fabric around her neck, almost burying her face in it. It felt really nice, and it smelt really nice. The scarf smelt like a pleasant mix of coffee and new books to her, but that was probably because it belonged to Durbe. He was such a nerd, but he was a likeable one at least. When Rio left her room to go to school with her brother, she ignored the looks that Ryouga gave to her scarf. They both knew damn well that belonged to Durbe, but perhaps he was trying not to overreact for once. Or he has already assumed Durbe and Rio were dating, and he was silently planning to kill him after school. Whatever. She was just wearing his scarf. It wasn't like she was making out with him after school every day, anyway. She shared her first class with Durbe, meaning she would be sitting with him. Even though Rio knew he saw her wearing the scarf, he said nothing. Not once during the whole hour of the class did Durbe even mention the scarf. In his defence, it was early in the morning, and he probably barely knew what his name was, let alone realise that she was wearing his scarf. After the lesson, Durbe and Rio walked part of the way together to their next lesson. Right before they were supposed to part ways, she stopped to unwrap the scarf from her neck and hand it to him. "You left this at my house yesterday. I thought you'd want it back, so here," she said, offering the green scarf to him. For a moment he said nothing, staring at the scarf. "You can keep it. It's...it's cold outside, you'll need it," Durbe said before scuttling off to the direction he needed to go. Rio swore he walked a little faster than usual. Oh well. She placed it back on her neck, feeling the nice fabric against her skin. It wasn't like she wanted to give it back, anyway.

It was just a typical slow Saturday afternoon, and Ryouga had no plans. Really, it had been so long since he had spent an afternoon with Rio, but she had been hiding in her room for an hour or so. Whatever. Not like Ryouga cared that much, anyway. Instead, he idly flicked through the channels on the television. Of course, nothing was on. Not yet, anyway. He groaned and flicked to some rerun of a duel tournament he had already seen. It was better than nothing. A knock of the door pulled him out of his bored trance. Ryouga hopped to his feet and went to the door. It was Durbe. He was holding something behind him, and his cheeks darkened a little when he saw Ryouga. "What are you doing? I thought you had plans today," Ryouga asked. Though Durbe never really elaborated on his place, Ryouga sort of assumed it would be something like studying. So really, it would have been something boring. Durbe cleared his throat, trying to buy himself some time before replying. "I do. I—" "Ryouga!" Rio called from the top of the stairs. "Is that Durbe?" "Yeah. So what?" Ryouga shouted back. She didn't reply. Instead, she thundered downstairs, holding a pair of shoes that she didn't have the time to put on. Once she reached the bottom, she slipped them onto her feet and approached the door, where an irritated Ryouga and a deer-caught-in-headlights-looking Durbe were standing. She shoved her older twin away, because this was none of his business. Once Ryouga was at a safe distance - she had shoved him in the living room, but like hell was he going to pass up the opportunity of snooping - Durbe decided it was time to commence the wooing of his best friend's sister. He pulled flowers from behind his back, and Ryouga's face shifted from one of irritation to horror. "This is your plan?" Ryouga asked. Rio turned to him, with a hand on her hip. "And flowers? Where did you think that was a good idea? It's so cliché." "Oh yeah, Mister Romantic? Durbe would've asked your girlfriend, but hands don't talk," Rio replied, before turning back around and accepting the flowers and placing a kiss on his cheek. Rio went to put the flowers in a vase and, on the way, flicked Ryouga in the nose. Her brother was an idiot! But this left Ryouga and Durbe alone. There was silence. Neither of them really looked at each other. Durbe shuffled his feet. He should have told Ryouga, but there was certainly no easy way of saying 'hey best friend, I'm dating your twin sister!'. That sounded sort of...off to Durbe. Rio came back, breaking the silence. She wished her brother a good day, before grabbing Durbe's hand and leaving the house, leaving Ryouga with no opening for commentary. It was none of his business. Ryouga went back to the television. He was alone again. Not that he cared. They could have gone on their dumb date or whatever. But if Durbe ever hurt Rio, Ryouga was certain he would kick his nerdy ass.

*throws at the fandom and runs*

A variety of suggestions for DoruRio. Because we had so many, we're doing a straight up poll this time -- please click the link and cast your vote for whichever name you like best! The poll will run until 11:59PM EST on Wednesday, November 27th.

The other ships for this week are unaffected. Let us know what you think about Alit/IV, Alit/Prince, and Mizael/Yuma before Saturday!