This picture came about as the end result of an incredible chain of good will and awesomeness.  dingbat and  jill0r decided to run a quick auction, they were auctioning off a quick (same day/night) collaborative sketch while Jill0r was visiting Dingbat.

I joined in the bidding for the sketch, and it escalated to a bidding war between myself and  fibre . Ultimately Fibre won the sketch, and I was happy to see that Dingbat and Jill0r were going to receive a good amount of money for this project.

 dingbat and  jill0r did something very nice for  fibre ; in addition to the sketch which is awesome, and is here: http://www.furaffinity.net/full/5150246/ , they offered to give him some extras as thanks for the amount of money he paid for the sketch.

And then  fibre did something awesome in return - he asked  dingbat if as one of the extras, she would be willing to do a sketch for ME, maybe as a reflection of all the mutual good will that was going around. So Dingbat sent me a note telling me what Fibre had asked for, and asked if I would like a sketch.

Would I like a sketch? From Dingbat? I couldn't type YES any harder on my keyboard. When she asked me what I would like to see sketched, I thought about it. I had recently gotten back from spending a week in San Jose for Further Confusion, and I was still suffering from some brief but significant bouts of post-con depression.

I love Further Confusion. Not only because it's a great con, but because for the last few years I've had the fortune of spending it with some really, really great people. This year was no different, and when I got home and everything was quiet, I began to miss them.

 teric and I carpooled to the con together, we lived in the suite together, we worked together (both on headless lounge staff) and we played together. I've always really enjoyed our friendship, partly because Teric is a great guy and everybody enjoys his friendship. :D So when Dingbat asked me about the sketch, this is what came to mind. I wanted to remember us as we were at FC this year.

 dingbat did not disappoint, as you can see. I don't know how she does it, but it's like she can read my mind. She was one of the first to draw Kantaro, way back in 2003, and she did it in a picture that is so precious to me that I hung it next to my bed, so it's always near me when I sleep. It was so perfect that I'm still not sure to this day that I've been able to accurately convey to her how dead-on perfect it was.

She did a badge for me that was equally perfect, and it was so good that I had people stopping me in hallways to ask about it. One of the guys on the hotel kitchen staff even stopped me to ask about it. And now there's this sketch of me and Teric, and it's...

Well, it's perfect. I was talking with Teric a bit ago, and he said "I'm just sitting here staring at it... seeing the two of us together!" And he's right. That is the two of us together. It's not "close", or "similar". It is us. I can see it too, because when we were at FC, that is how I saw us, and I think it's how Teric saw us too.

Now Teric and I are both really happy, and all of this came about through the selflessness and good will of a few talented and generous people.

 fibre,  dingbat,  jill0r - Thank you. This sketch is amazing, and the way it came into being even more so. I'll be paying this forward as soon as I get an opportunity to do it.

Sketch © Dingbat 2011