#eepo

If anyone has any scenario suggestions for the next ones, let me know in a comment or ask! 💬

Still thinking about the Zoey gif.

Still thinking about lee mood Eepo.

In all the time I've had these two cuties, I somehow never took advantage of Eepo's switchiness by drawing Skitters tickling him. This is long overdue 😋

They're always either covered by his sleep mask or closed for some other expression. Closest thing to is a drawing where he was a plush and had bead eyes, but I wouldn't count that officially.

Okay so my motivation is all over the place lately and I'm tired of holding onto this lore, so I'm just gonna drop it here, now, and unceremoniously with a loose ramble I wrote late last night 😅

Skitters and Eepo were both created by a research facility lab assistant named Gene. After months of boredom in his job while constantly feeling touch-starved and severely lacking tickles, he sketched a silly idea for a small tickle robot one day during a break. He found himself sketching the little guy a bunch, constantly daydreaming what it'd be like if he were real. As his obsession with the idea grew, he made his way over to the robotics lab and started studying up on how he could bring it to life. It took a few weeks of rough learning, difficulty building the body with a mix of scraps and stupidly expensive components, and some occasional coding help (which is tricky when you don't want anyone knowing the true nature of your project), but eventually Skitters was powered on for the first time.

Eepo came a little later on, when Gene started to crave a softer and more snuggly tickly friend to soothe his weary soul after especially exhausting days. For this he took a peek over at the genetics labs, and luckily they had recently been perfecting a method of cloning animals and imbuing them with additional desired traits. He went back to sketching, considering potential animal companions that would be good for comfy tickles. In the meantime he found himself back to a few weeks of hardcore study sessions on DNA and the lab's cloning unit. Eventually he decided his perfect companion would be an owl, due to the feathers of course as well as their nocturnal nature, which would be perfect for nights when he would get home late. This time he had to sneak into the lab late at night when nobody was around so he could use their equipment without their knowing. He mixed the proper chemicals and owl DNA, though he had slightly too heavy of a hand with the melatonin (which he included in the first place as he figured it would increase the frequency of cuddly naps), leading to the perpetually sleepy but still intensely loveable, Eepo.

Gene's touch and tickle-based cravings are now officially taken care of and he's happier than ever, but of course that doesn't mean he isn't still on the lookout for new opportunities. Skitters and Eepo truly opened his eyes to how useful his job could really be. Maybe all he officially does there is clean and prep labs, but now his eyes and ears are always open, looking into how the research around him could be used for a new tickly friend or method, jotting down notes and sketching ideas in his secret sketchbook. Who knows what his next creation may be? 👀

Haven't drawn my boys in AGES, this has been seriously overdue 🥹