IJDGAF

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“Wait a minute…it’s you!!!!”

“What?  Oh…that.  Yeah…that’s me.  Ta-da.”

“Alright…put your hands up and don’t make any sudden moves.  I don’t want to, but I’ll blast you if I have to!”

“Well…that escalated quickly!"


“Maybe you should’ve been more careful where you choose to take a smoke break!”

“Man please.  These posters of me are all over the place…I don’t even pay attention to them anymore!  They could’ve chosen a better picture of me though…I wasn’t having a good hair day in that pic!

Tell you what…before you do something that I promise you will regret, let me have a little chat with you.  You see that bounty on my head…why do you think it’s so high?  You seriously didn’t think that you could just roll up on me while I’m taking a smoke break and expect for me to go with you to the Entity HQ to be turned in, now did you?”

“Hey…don’t give me any shit!  Just cooperate and I won’t hurt you!  This gun is powerful enough to drop a heavy duty cyborg!  I don't wanna have to turn that pretty face of yours into mush!”

“Heh...you act like this is the first time someone has ever pulled a gun on me.  Plus, I wouldn’t be any use to you dead, genius...that’s if that gun could actually kill me or even hurt me for that matter.  Hate to break it to you, buddy boy…but even if you shot me right between the eyes, I probably wouldn’t feel a thing and the wound would heal instantly anyways.  And at that point, shit would’ve gotten really real for you.    

Think about it…do you really wanna f**k with someone who is badass enough to straight up loiter directly next to their own wanted poster with such a large bounty on her head?  You obviously didn’t think this one through...maybe you should've been more careful on who you decide to pick a fight with!”

“Hey…I’ll do it!  Don’t bluff with me…I’m serious!  You don’t intimidate me...I don't give a shit who you are!”

“Do you mind me asking why?  Just what possessed you in the spur of the moment to attempt to take me down and turn me in to the Entity?”

“If you must know, I’ve got a family to take care of and that million bucks is sounding really good right now!”

“Okay, okay...I get it; you’re sick and tired and fed up of the bullshit.  You don’t look like the shady bounty hunter type trying to earn a quick buck, so I trust that you actually really need the money for you and your family.  I know that this is a brutal war that you’re involved in between Caliber and The Entity and you’re probably caught in the middle of doing what’s right for the greater good and what’s right for your family.  And that’s exactly why I’m here along with all of the other Paragons from Daedalus. 

I’m not your enemy, homie, and the Matriarch isn't your ally.  Knowing how she gets down, she’d probably play you for the okie-doke if you were capable of turning me in to her.  And before you know it, you’d be her next thrall…or worse depending on how you look at it, her next victim on her operating table to be turned into one of her cyborg drones.  Trust me on that one…I’ve been there, done that, and have the t-shirt to prove it.  That’s exactly why she wants me alive, so that she can get me back under her control.”


“But what does that have to do with me?  I’ve got kids to feed!  I’ve got a wife to care for!  I really don’t give a shit about what happens to you!  And quite frankly, Caliber is taking their sweet ass time and doesn’t really seem to be making any major headway towards taking the Entity down.”

“Trust me...It ain’t worth it, man.  We’re doing our best to fight alongside the rest of your Caliber fam to help tip the scales in our favor.  You’d be selling your own people out if you continue to think selfishly like this.  We're talking about a multi-national worldwide superpower here, not some rag-tag HOA neighborhood watch committee.  You have to be patient.”

“F**k that!!!!  My kids need food…my wife needs medicine!  What about us?!!?  I’m at my wit’s end here!”   

“Look….simmer down, homie.  Hear me out for a second.  You’ve gotta see the big picture; not if…but when we overthrow the Entity and get rid of the Matriarch, you’ll be free.  But it’s gonna take some time to get there.  Thanks to Adora-1, Techna, me, and all of the other Paragons as well as the Caliber freedom fighter network, we have been making some serious strides in the way of wearing down the Entity’s influence. 

Think about it for a minute; no more military state.  No more Marshall Law.  No more stifled resources.  No more extreme socio-economical class divisions.  No more living in constant fear.  No more evil bitch tyrant ruling most of the world!  Things will be like they used to be once again…perhaps even better!  Don’t fall for the Entity’s deceptive propaganda!

Now, you should consider yourself fortunate…because the old me would’ve already had my foot thigh deep up your ass for even having the audacity to step to me like this!  But I've turned over a new leaf and I don't operate as I use to in matters such as this.  As much as I love whoopin’ ass, I’m not gonna cripple you like I normally would…that is if you promise to do me one favor.  Take this same aggression, this same frustration that made you work up the nerve to run up on me and turn it toward the Entity.  Find you a local branch and fight for your people to be free.  Use that sweet firearm against your true enemy.

Or…if you’re still feeling froggy then leap.  I’m standing right here, buddy boy.  If you think I’m bluffing…call it; aim directly between my eyes and pull the trigger.  But trust me…it will not end well for you.  Pulling the trigger means that you are siding with the Entity, and I have no mercy for allies of the Entity.  Go ahead…I’ll count it down for you.  3…2…1…shoot!!!  Go 'head...do it!!!

“I….I….I can’t.”

“Smart man.  What’s your name, dude?”

“Cade.”

“And as you already know, I’m Sapphira.  Here…take this.  That’s about one-thousand credits right there.  Sorry if it’s a little damp; I don’t exactly have any pockets so I have to put it in my cleavage and ‘the girls’ get a little sweaty underneath this cyber-symbiote sometimes if you know what I mean!  I don’t know what your situation is, but I really admire you wanting to be a good father and husband to your family in the midst of all of this bullshit.  I hope this helps some.”

“Oh my God…thank you!  You don’t know how much this means to me and my family!  I’ll have more than enough with this!” 

“You’re welcome.  Cade…look at me; do what’s right.  This may help your family for a little while, but I want you to think about a future where getting food, medicine, and other resources without having to hand over your humanity and freedom to some psycho bitch to do so. Your family and your people need you.  Caliber needs you.  We at Daedalus need you.  The entire universe needs you.  Liberate the people, homie!”

“Liberate the people!  Thank you so much Sapphira!”

“You got it.  Now get the hell on and let me finish my cigarette in peace before I change my mind!

Hmm…this superheroine goody-two-shoes peaceful diplomacy stuff is just weird to me!”
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It's been a while folks....no, I'm not dead, but I've been SUPER BUSY!!!!  I have two jobs now, however, they are both very satisfying; one of them deals directly in implementing creative and artistic elements! (Who says ministry has to be boring?!!?)

But, I'm still plugging away as much as I can despite the fact that I don't have a lot of extra free time anymore.  This pic has been finished for some time now...since late Summer but I've been trying to think of a good little short story to accompany it and didn't really get the inspiration for something until a few days before this posting.

I'm still working some things out with Sapphira and the other gals, not to mention I still don't know what I ultimately want to do with my characters and their stories.  Sure, I want to get them out but I just don't know how exactly.  In the meantime, I'm just gonna do it how I use to do it several years ago...just put stuff out for the fun of it.

Artistically, I'm pleased how this one came out.  I really want to start implementing more dynamic poses, yet when I try new sketches and such of the dynamic variety, they look awful and I don't see them through.  I know this is very static, but I really liked the photo that this was referenced from; it was a local college's catalog and there was a wide-hipped gal on the front of the page with her arms crossed as such with long black hair...the first thing I said was "That's a Sapphira pose!"

As for the colors, I hope I did it justice with the fire and shadows and such.  Another area that I really want to get better in is with my digital coloring...I feel that my colors are often flat and very 1990's comic-booky.  That's cool b/c that's what I grew up with, but I see some of the more natural, dynamic coloring jobs from some of the great artists here on DA and I wish that my stuff looked more like that.  But, I guess not bad for my skill level.