Legacy LD5

Hey everyone. RipRoarRex returns.

The next piece in the Snapshots series has arrived. I had said on the first picture that I didn't intend for the pictures/stories in this series to be canonical. That is still the intention in the long run, as I want the flexibility of not being tied down to chronology.

However, I see Snapshots as a great way for me to reveal a lot more about the background of my characters. As such, I decided to use this opportunity for the time being to explore a bit more about the history of Rexar and Mike in a more chronological way.

This scene depicts part of Rex and Mike's history that I have imagined for a long time. Mike is ultimately a straight guy who, through a very good friendship with Rexar, discovers feelings he has never had before. But before he can express them, into the frame steps Carl, a more confident, impressive wolf guy whom Mike loses out to. Of course, everyone already knows how things end up, but I wanted to take a moment to show a time when Mike didn't know he would ever get his chance.

As you can probably imagine, the work behind this picture was about 10% linework, 20% colouring and 70% shading. I wanted to capture a particular lighting and mood for this piece to make the scene - and the emotions attached to it - more real and tangible. I'm not completely happy with the result because it lacks the level of realism I was going for, but until I start using more photographic reference for lighting, I don't suppose it would.

Carl is a key figure in the timeline between Rexar and Mike, but I kept his identity vague here. I didn't want people to consider him a 'new character' of mine as he is more of a symbolic role than a physical character. Hopefully the storyline tells you enough.

I know this is a bit of a tame image as far as my usually fetish-heavy gallery is concerned, but even though I'd never originally intended on doing this image (or the others that will closely follow it), I felt it was important in serving the deeper purpose of the Snapshots series. There will be more sexually-charged content later in this series, but it is meant to be about more than just that.

Besides, there will always be other completely unrelated sexy stuff from me in the meantime.




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MIKE:

I don't even know why I was listening.

Carl was here again. He had come over plenty of times before. It shouldn't have been bothering me by now, but I couldn't help it. Deep down I knew nothing had changed. But I still felt like I had been pushed out.

I knew it was wrong to eavesdrop. This was their time. As far as they knew, I'd gone to bed ages ago. But I guess I just needed to know if I was right about Rex. I needed to know if he was really like I had imagined. And the longer I sat there, the more I realised he was.

I could hear him there, whispering in Carl's ear. Most of the words were mere blurs, lost in the bubble of their intimacy. But every one sounded so soft. His voice was so calming, so soothing. Every now and then, I heard the quiet brush of his tender caress, a soft purr, a gentle kiss. Closing my eyes for an instant, I could almost feel him.

It wouldn't have bothered me so much if I liked Carl. But I didn't.

I didn't know what Rex saw in him. I thought he was arrogant. I thought he was self-centred. And he always made me feel like I was in the way. Rex had tried so hard to be fair to both of us, to let me carry on staying with him while I looked for a new place. But whenever Carl came over, it was like I needed to be locked away, like I was some unwanted intruder in their relationship.

I knew it was awkward. I probably should have found somewhere by now and gotten out of their hair. Rex probably wanted his privacy anyway - no doubt it would have made their relationship easier for him without having to work around me all the time.

But then I would think to myself: why should I be made to feel in the way? Why should my friendship with Rex be overruled by this guy? Sometimes, I felt like going up to Carl and saying "don't treat me like this. You've only known Rex for three months. I've known him for two years and he's been kind enough to let me stay here. How dare you. How dare you make me feel like I don't belong here."

I knew I'd never say it though. I didn't want to argue with him. That wouldn't be fair to Rex either. The balance was delicate enough without me upsetting the status quo.

No. Sitting there, resting my head against the wall, I knew the truth. It wasn't Carl I was annoyed at. It was myself.

Why hadn't I said anything? Why hadn't I just told Rex how I felt after I moved in? If only I'd just been a bit braver, if only I'd just had the courage to seize the moment. It could've been me out there, feeling that warmth, that tenderness, that protection. Not sitting in here in the dark listening to them, wondering what might have been.

I don't know. It probably wouldn't have happened anyway. As far as Rex was concerned, I was a straight guy who he could call his friend. He'd probably never thought about me in that way for an instant. Besides, even if he did know how I felt, I probably wasn't in his league. Carl was an athlete, a proper, muscular, good-looking wolf. I was just a shy, goofy little spaniel. I wasn't the sort of person a guy like Rex would go out with.

I could still hear them, cuddling each other. There had been other nights like this. I'd be lying there in bed, seeing the glow of the light under my door, knowing they were sitting out there late into the night. Then I'd hear them moving into Rex's room and the slit under the door would go black. I don't know if they ever took things further - right now, I didn't want to know.

That was it. I'd hurt myself too long sitting there thinking about it. Very slowly, I pushed my door closed, trying hard not to make a sound. I didn't want them to know I was still up, listening in on them like that.

The warm glow of the sitting room thinned away and the darkness swarmed in, broken only by the cold blue light of the moon through the open curtains. Creeping over to the bed and sliding quietly under the cover, I turned away from the slit of light still slipping under my door. I wasn't going to watch it go out this time.

There was no use feeling sorry for myself. There was nothing I could do, nothing I could say. The reality was simple.

I guess I had missed my chance.


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RRRex

And there's a nice dip into the 'meaningful' pile....very nice!

Lol - you make it sound token, Dino! I'm hoping this series will come across as something a bit more profound than that as it goes on. Thanks anyway!

But that's what I said! How did you get "token" from "meaningful"?

No use crying over spilt milk or in this case: Lost oppertunities.
I like Mike's deep train-o-thoughts in the description, brings some more realism into this piece. ;3
Beautiful work as always. ^_^

Lol - nah, it was "pile" that did it. Y'know. "Ho-hum, stick it in the meaningful pile".



Heh! No, it's fine. I'm just mucking about with ya.



Thanks Billy!

(Train-o-thoughts... sounds like a macro's breakfast cereal or something... "A delicious combination of crunchy trains and chewy thoughts - well, chewy things that have thoughts, anyway...")