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Upload of Older Artwork. Original submission text from it's original upload over at Deviantart:

'So many days we've spent together
Trying to get ahead with our dreams
Now we have come to the goal forgotten
Hurting within left us torn

The road is open
We find out way through ties where broken
So the means to the end
Was the peace that was meant
To be ours since it all began

We fight to win

I won't give up, we'll fight to win
To move along from where we'd been
I'll sing this song for you again
I'm looking up around the bend
We're so much stronger than before
Our fraying edges on the mend

Life as we know would be so different
Had our paths continued the same
Seizing the day with all that's offered
The good and the bad,
The clear and the haze.

The road is open.
We find out way through ties where broken.
So the means to the end
Was the peace that was meant
To be ours since it all began.

We fight to win

I won't give up, we'll fight to win
To move along from where we'd been
I'll sing this song for you again
I'm looking up around the bend
We're so much stronger than before
Our fraying edges on the mend'

~Epica linky linky linky

This pic is actually over 2 years old, but I figure what better time to post it than DJ's birthday, especially since he has never seen it finished.

I originally met my big brother DJ through the Road Rovers fandom in the 90's, back when we were still teenagers and I was still in high school. He commissioned some artwork from me back in 1997 and I agreed to hand deliver it to him, and we arranged to meet by the iconic Delta King riverboats of the Sacramento River. I was so anxious about my parents finding out ( you know, this was Web 1.0 and parents everywhere were overly paranoid that every chatroom person was a predator ) that I wasn't paying much attention and managed to lock my keys in my Buick. I panicked like crazy, knowing I would have to call my parents and let them know what happened. DJ saved the day, calling a locksmith and paying out of his own pocket to have the locksmith come pop my car open. From that day forward, I was forever 'Spitz' and he was 'Deej'.

When I moved to Los Angeles in 1999, he drove out every week to help me run errands and take me to lunch. He painted dozens of animation cels for my first student film late into the morning hours to help me complete my projects on time. When my then fiance and I moved into our first home, DJ and his wife would bring over their dogs to play with ours.

Now we are both in our 30's, and 1997 seems so far away. Both our lives turned out so differently than we imagined; than we hoped, and we're both starting all over again in our own ways. The people who were part of our group of friends have all come and gone, but we're both still here. When all the rest gave up, even though somedays if feels like we're barely standing, we're still moving forward- still fighting.

Like our characters Chava and DJ here, both field agent partners; the light is never gone from their eyes, and the smirks never from their faces.

Happy Birthday, Deej