Original Twitter Upload Date: April 27, 2022. The script below was originally posted to DA on April 28, 2022, and has been revised from its original version to add story context and fix keyboard errors present in the original version.
[August 13, 2016 on the strict timeline of ZP-51498. The Albaneigh County Sephardic Temple is hosting the bat mitzvah celebration of Nicole Wyler, which, lucky for her, fell right on her 13th birthday. As Nicole dances with her boyfriend, the perameline Murray Rose, to “Lady” by the Little River Band, Holt Klug, Murray’s sciurine friend and baseball teammate, fixes himself some strawberry lemonade from the refreshments table about thirty feet away]
Dolly: “Um, ‘scuse me, don’t you think you’ve had enough?”
Holt: “Uh, what?”
Dolly: “I mean, well, don’t you think you’ve had enough of the lemonade? I’ve seen you have like ten full glasses already.”
Holt: “Well, I’ve seen you have sixteen glasses of it, toots. I’ve been counting!”
[Dolly opens her mouth, but can’t think of anything to say]
Gregory: “He’s got you there, Dolly.”
Dolly: “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. But can you blame me? Strawberry’s just so deli –” [to Holt] “W-w-wait a minute, ‘toots’? Did you just call me ‘toots’?”
Holt: [blushes] “Uh… maybe? Uh… Dolly, you’re so hooooot!”
[Dolly blushes. Gregory is dumbfounded by Holt’s behavior. Roz and Maddie are standing nearby; the latter recognizes Holt]
Maddie: [walks up and speaks to Holt] “Hey, I know you. You’re Holt Klug, aren’t you?”
Holt: “Yeah?”
Maddie: “Holt as in brother of Hoyt of the Clark Salmons football team?”
Holt: “He’s gonna be on the Iwerks Rushin’ Quartzes next month, but yes.” [pauses, then glares] “Wait a minute, you’re that girl who cheated on him, aren’t you?!”
Maddie: “That’s how he took it, but I’m polyamorous.”
Holt: “Poly… amo –“
Maddie: “Meaning I like having multiple boyfriends at once. Look, kid. I know how your kind thinks. You’re at that age where every doe and sow, every female you see is hot to you. But my sister Dolly here’s a grown lady, with a fiancée. Way too old for you. You stay in your area of the sea and stop being a shark in Dolly’s.”
Dolly and Gregory: “Thanks, Maddie.”
Maddie: “How old are you, anyway, kid? Thirteen?”
Holt: “Uh-huh. Turned thirteen ten days ago.”
Maddie: “Yeah, you should only be looking for girls your own age. The rule is half your age plus seven. For you, that’s thirteen. Or fourteen, depending on how you round.” [looks over at Nicole and Murray; she grabs Holt’s head and turns it so he’s also looking at the young couple] “Why not my sister Nicole?”
Gregory: [mildly but visibly disturbed] “Huh?”
Dolly: “Maddie, what are you doing?!”
Maddie: “Hey, you never know. Nicole might be poly, too.” [to Holt] “You should go talk to her.”
Holt: “But my friend Murray’s already taken her!”
Maddie: “If I know my sister well, and I do, then I expect that she’s willing to open her heart to another boy. As well as the one she’s already got. Nicole’s not the kind who replaces anything, she’s the kind that accumulates everything.”
Holt: “If you say so. I mean, she does look pretty.”
Maddie: “I do say so!” [pushes Holt onto the dance floor; Holt covers up his lemonade] “Now get out there, Quasimodo!”
Holt: “Quasimodo?”
Maddie: “Because you look like Quasimodo, the Disney version. The one that gets the happy ending!”
Holt: [beat] “Not the nicest thing to call me, but I’ll take it!”
[“Lady” fades out, and “Never Tear Us Apart” by INXS begins playing]
Holt: “Ooh, INXS! Now that is music!” [unintelligibly hums the music as he walks up to Nicole and Murray] 🎵 And they could never, tear us apa — 🎵 [quickly lifts glass… sending the lemonade splashing into Nicole’s eyes] “OH SHIT!”
Nicole: “OWWWWW!!!” [falls to the floor, covering her eyes] “My eyes, they sting!”
Holt: [puts glass in his jacket] “Oh, no! Nicole! I burned your eyes!” [kneels to Nicole’s level] “I’m so sorry!”
Murray: “Um… I’ll go… get a washcloth?” [walks off]
Holt: “Are you okay?”
Nicole: “Uh, yeah, I’m fine, J-Cans pitcher. Whatever your name is.” [twirls whiskers back into place] “What’s your name again?”
Holt: “It’s Holt. Holt Klug. I’m a friend of Murray’s. Can I help you back up?”
Nicole: “Sure.”
[Nicole takes Holt’s hand, and he lifts her back up. As they stand up, they stare into each other’s eyes]
Holt: “Um… did… did anybody ever tell you how beautiful you look?”
Nicole: “Did anybody ever tell you how handsome you look?”
[the two blush and smile at each other as they realize they’ve fallen in love. A panicked look then comes to Nicole’s face]
Nicole: <Crap, I’m poly!> “Um… you better go.”
Holt: “What?”
Nicole: “I said you better go.” [nervously pushes him away] “Bye, Holt, I love you! I mean like you! I mean it was nice talking to you!”
Holt: [confused] “Um… it was nice talking to you too?” [walks away as Nicole nervously waves goodbye]
Nicole: “Whew. Dodged a bullet. Now where’s Aussie baby?”
Murray: “Right here.” [hands washcloth to Nicole]
Nicole: “Ah. Thanks, Holt.” [rubs her eyes with the cloth] “You’re real life saver, you know that?”
Murray: “…Holt?”
Nicole: “Wait, did I — oh. Haha. I mean Murray! Thanks Murray you’re a life saver!”
Murray: “Nicole? Are you okay?”
Nicole: “Yes, yes I’m perfectly fine now! I was always fine! Let’s get back to dancing, Aussie baby!” [tosses cloth on the floor and grabs Murray by the hands. Though visibly confused, the latter smiles and gets back to dancing with Nicole, as “I’ll Never Find Another You” by the Seekers begins]
The main reason I made Nicole (and Roz and Maddie) polyamorous, was as a response to fandoms arguing who to ship with a certain character. The Amphibia fandom is the biggest inspiration behind the idea; I’ve seen Sashanne supporters, Marcanne supporters, and Sasharcy supporters, as well as lesser numbers of Sprivy and Spraddie supporters. For the latter, probably because the show itself settled on Ivy as a girlfriend for Sprig, even giving the couple a segment in season 3 called “Sprivy”.
Anyways, the Amphibia fanbase’s weird obsession with shipping, was what led to the idea to have Roz, Maddie, and Nicole (most prominently the latter), be into having multiple relationships at once. In Nicole’s case, her boyfriends are Murray Rose, the perameline/bandicoot shortstop of the Kahl Junior Canaries that Nicole has had a crush on since she was ten, and Holt Klug, the sciurine/squirrel pitcher of the Junior Canaries, who is Murray’s friend and Nicole has had a crush on since meeting him at her bat mitzvah celebration, as depicted above.
Now to the artwork!
Since drawing Mabrouk to Wendy!, I’ve had this idea that the star-shaped earrings are hand-me-downs, originally worn by the Wylers’ mother, Judy, for her bat mitzvah celebration in the 1980s, and later passed down to Dolly, Roz, Nicole, and eventually Wendy for theirs (Maddie’s ears are not pierced). So as a bit of continuity, I decided to have Nicole wear the earrings here. I also have her wearing a Karner blue butterfly brooch (the Karner blue is a large topic of concern for conservationists in New York’s Capital Region), and her hair is decorated with peanut leaves, as peanuts are stereotypical baseball park food, and Nicole, as I’ve stated before, is a baseball player.
Also, on a side note, the similarities between Nicole’s outfit here and the Tetrad as a 1960s-style girl group, kind of makes me want to draw Nicole and Wendy together performing as 1960s-style singers. I think that’d be cute.
I managed to draw all the scenery in this artwork without resorting to fresh pasta textures, with the exception of the wooden floor in panel IV, which wasn’t even made for this artwork specifically anyway. For the most part, all it took this time was studying the background of the aforementioned “Mabrouk to Wendy!”, to figure out how to draw something that looks similar. Speaking of panel IV, I also drew a crude Dolly and the top of Wendy’s head, to make the scene feel less empty. Panel V, on the other hand, has pixels rendered, stretched, and blurred, to give the effect of partygoers.
Finally, there’s panel VI. The panel containing a new technique, that I only discovered while drawing this artwork. I found out that the pens in ASP, can actually be set to be horizontally or vertically symmetrical in their place on the canvas, which makes things a lot easier, considering I’ve previously used a combination of the rectangular marquee and copy/paste tools to achieve symmetry, and I didn’t get to see what the symmetry would look like until after. I used this new and more efficient method of symmetry to create a romantic-looking background fitting for Nicole and Holt, decorated with infinity symbols (as a reference to both being on the spectrum), baseballs (as a reference to both loving baseball; the detail didn’t make it into this artwork), abstract representations of their initials (also obscured here), and of course a giant heart in the center. I think it turned out beautiful; I’ll show the whole background off in my blooper thread.
Overall, this comic turned out cute. It’s a cute comic of a cute couple’s meet cute. Heheh.
Anyways, that’ll be all for this artwork. Until next time, take care, stay safe, get vaccinated, reject crypto, and have a good one.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/StormyAdlerPoG
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DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/phoenixofgrunvale
YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCEtCO…
Discord: Contact me by my tag (Stormy Adler, P.o.G.#1752) for an invite to my server.
Grunvale/OTOG is owned by me. You’re free to draw fanart of it, as long as you credit me as the creator of Grunvale.
“Never Tear Us Apart” was written by Andrew Farriss and Michael Hutchence for the album Kick, owned by Warner Music Group through Atlantic Records.
All six panels of this artwork were made at a resolution of 5076×2160 (aspect ratio 2.35:1). Panels I, II, IV, and V have been scaled down to 1080p for narrative and resolution purposes.
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