a/n: Lin takes on the task of helping her favorite Harrier learn to draw a skell for a certain skell-obsessed Outfitter.

All the good stuff belongs to Monolith Soft (with a shout out to the localizers 8-4 and the mighty Sawano himself). I wish I could send them all chocolate. They certainly have all my respect and love.

Speedy the Skell, in all its glory, was introduced in Dances with Saltat. Shameless plug is shameless.

December 1, 2056

Doug had timed it nicely. He'd waited until the lunch rush was over. He knew Elma had a briefing in BLADE tower, because he'd checked the schedule. As soon as he saw Cross in the Administrative Hangar, getting one of their frequent skell upgrades (because Arts .GPgain XV was NOT good enough), Doug lit out for the barracks. Full on run, no shame at all, because he was going to ask a favor of a 13 year old and he might as well get used to being humiliated from the start.

She greeted him cheerfully as she cleaned the kitchen. Tatsu chimed in a greeting as well. Doug tried not to flinch. You got the combo package with these two, and he hadn't really hoped it would be easier.

He sighed deeply and leaned against the kitchen island.

"What's up, Doug? You look kind of down," asked Lin.

"You're a perceptive kid sometimes, you know that?"

"Yup. So, can I be of any help?"

"Yes." He scratched his ear, then rushed into his request. "I need someone to help me learn to draw."

"Really? You want to learn to draw? That's so cool! I just finished a semester of fine arts, well, almost. I just need to pull together the final portfolio. You should ask Coco. She's my teacher. I bet she'd love to help."

"I'm asking you."

"But I'm just a kid! "

"Lin, you haven't seen how bad I am at it." He shuffled his feet and slouched even more pathetically.

"But … but …" Lin looked at him. "What's it for?"

"Huh? I just want to learn."

"Because ….?" Lin asked with a slight grin.

He should have known he couldn't fool her. "I want to make a Christmas card or something. That I can send to people."

Lin looked somewhat disappointed. "Oh. Well, if you want, maybe we can work together."

"I don't want you to draw it FOR me, Lin."

"I didn't mean anything of the sort. But we could practice together. I'll work on my portfolio and I can give you tips."

Doug considered this. "Thanks. But, I'm warning you, kiddo, I'm going to need a lot of tips. How much do you still need to do on this portfolio of yours?" he asked with suspicion.

Lin waved her hands impatiently. "I know exactly what I need to finish. It's just a matter of pulling it together."

Tatsu finally chimed in. "Linly finished exactly nothing. Tatsu supposed to be main model and she never ever ask him yet."

Lin huffed. "It's not my fault that Coco insisted that I use a live model instead of skells. If she hadn't surprised me with the assignment, I would have chosen a better subject."

"Cross stinky subject. They never stay put for more than 5 seconds."

"I would have chosen somebody else."

"You could use Phog. He's usually staring into space down by the Residential Section," offered Doug.

"I said I'd do Tatsu and I'm going to do it."

"Coco said no switching when Linly asked. Linly shouldn't waste all her work."

"How much work do you have?" repeated Doug.

Lin made a face. "Nothing. I just haven't wanted to start. But I can get it done in time, no problem," she assured Doug.

"Maybe we shouldn't try this. I don't want to distract you."

"No, really, the more I think about it, the better it sounds. You keep me focused and I'll help you as much as I can. I guess it doesn't matter if I'm not a teacher or anything. The real learning comes from drawing stuff over and over and over and over…"

"Linly can draw Tatsu right now!" With a bound, Tatsu landed on the kitchen island and struck a languorous pose. "Heropon always ready to help friends."

"Looks like you're getting ready for a nap," said Doug with a slight smile. "Okay. I have about 20 minutes before I need to get back to the hangar. Let's see how much damage we can do." His smile grew a little larger. Team Tatsu might half his age, but he never was sorry for their support. (At least in NLA. Certain places in Noctilum and Primordia? Not so much.)

Xcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxc

December 21, 2056:

Lesser men would have looked at the display and launched the device across the room. Not Doug. In Doug's opinion, he needed to walk to the East Gate and pitch that sucker into Oblivia. He was plenty strong. He wondered if he could hit the Oblivia Gap. He wondered if he could hit the Great Ring from there. He closed his eyes and imagined his comm device, sailing across the sands and through the ancient artifact, arcing down to the beach to a direct hit on the sky whale tyrant, whereupon Silvestre would ether blast it to smithereens. He scratched his neck. He'd need to put a good amount of spin on that sucker to get it to curve right so hard, but he'd do his level best to manage it.

Doug sighed and opened his eyes. He gaze met an inquiring look from Lin. "Are you doing okay?" she asked him.

"No. Take a look." He shoved his comm device over at her. If that didn't prove how strong he was, nothing would.

Lin examined his handiwork. They'd met two or three times a week all through December, working cheerfully at sketching. It had been pretty cool. Snacks had helped, and Tatsu's cheerful nonsense. But Doug was getting nowhere in his efforts to make drawings that looked much better than stick figures.

"Er, that's really nice. You made Tatsu look really … fluffy. And the cat beside him? Lotta movement in this piece." She trailed off uncertainly, looking over at the sleeping duo.

"I was drawing a metal thermos. With a shadow."

"Uh. But you're really improving. Using the pen more, uh, boldly."

"Lin, I'm the adult. I'm supposed to be the one lying to you about how your art is awesome."

"Hey!"

"It's no lie, though. Your portfolio really is fantastic." 60 poses of Tatsu, from every angle, line art to saturated shadings, hyper realistic, abstract, small, full, extreme close-ups, she'd hit every possibility. Lin really had stepped up to the assignment and given it her all. Doug had been giving it his all too. He sighed again. "Well, I'm not going to waste your time anymore. Christmas Card is a scratch."

"You shouldn't give up, Doug."

"Nah, I should. The purpose of this was to make something nice for, er, people. Is that nice?" He pointed at the device.

"It's interesting."

"Ouch. You're still lying. Nope, I know when I'm beat."

"I thought Harriers never quit."

"We don't. We DO go home and get bigger weapons. Completely different layouts if we have to. Drawing is a fail, so I'm going back to something I know will work."

"What? You mean you're just going to buy cards for everyone."

"Nope. I'm crafting a superweapon. Cupcakes."

Lin shot to her feet. "All right! Let me get my apron."

Xcxcxcxcxcxcxc

January 3, 2057

Lin didn't usually drop by the Harrier's camp, down in the Administrative Hangar. No point going farther than the skells. Ever. Except when she needed to find someone. Doug wondered what she had planned as she made a beeline for him. No sign of Cross, so it probably wasn't a mission. Did she want him to babysit Tatsu? He hoped not.

"Doug, Doug, I got something for you," she called out. When she reached him, she handed over a flat, rectangular package, wrapped in shiny foil, slightly larger than a comm device.

"You already gave me a present," Doug said. A tie. With grexes on it. When was he ever going to wear the stupid thing? He loved it.

"This is a little something extra. I used my New Year's money on it."

"You shouldn't have, kiddo."

"Well, it's something that's been bugging me. Open it," she urged.

Doug didn't understand but he did as she instructed. Inside the wrapping paper, he found a book. He didn't recognize the cover. There was a dramatically posed skell on it but no title. When he opened it, he saw that the pages were blank, and the whole thing was loosely bound.

Lin was looking at him excitedly. "It's an artist's sketchbook," she explained. "See? All these pages, just right for drawing on. With a real pencil! I didn't like you giving up on drawing, so I kept thinking about it. I figured, you're old, so maybe an older media would work better."

"Er, thanks?"

She smiled brilliantly. "I've already signed up for a second semester of drawing. I know I should do performing arts, but, well, since no one's clear about why I'm still doing requirements for an Earth university, I've decided that for this I can do as I please."

"We'll get there, Lin. Schools and universities and other kids."

"Yeah, sure, but until that happens, I'm going to get away with as much as I can." She grinned at him. "So, Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'm doing landscapes first. Which do you think? Cauldros or Sylvalum?"

"Dorian Caravan. Nice and safe."

"Boo, don't be such a meanie."

Doug eyed her suspiciously. "You need an escort, don't you?"

"Maaaaybe. Okay, yes. Otherwise, I'm stuck drawing the Industrial Section for the next 5 months. Please?"

"Safe locations only, and I'm all yours."

"Great. See you Tuesday."

Doug watched her skip away. He smiled. His team would probably thank Lin for the gift, because they were getting pretty tired of the blobby little sketches that kept appearing on their paperwork. Hey, paperwork was boring, and he'd found himself doing more than filling in weapons results and appendage counts.

Xcxcxcxcxcxcx

January 28, 2057

Lesser men would have … oh never mind all that, Doug thought. Where was a match when you needed one? Or a firegun?

Lin never looked up from her tablet. She was making yet another beautiful sketch of the Roost. (Safe? Of course. It was super safe if you stayed low and far away from indigen with any aggro. He still wasn't sure how she convinced him of this.) Lin was even managing to capture some of the flair that dripped off the giant deer-like cervus in the area.

Doug looked down at his sketchbook. A smeary set of lines, too bumpy where they should be subtle, too vague where they needed clarity. If he drew the exact opposite of his sketches, he might be better off. Page after page of them. Too bright yellow for Oblivia. Sickly olive green for lower Noctilum. He couldn't even get the colors right. He'd started the project with the hope that he might reach a new goal. Instead, he'd filled Lin's gift with failure. His stomach hurt thinking about it.

"You can't give up," said Lin. He wasn't sure how long she'd been watching him.

"Huh. I'm thinking I may. Time's running out and I don't think I'm getting there."

"What do you mean? I've got a whole semester to go. You've got plenty of time."

"Not for you. For me. I was kind of hoping to …"

"Oh, I get it. You want to draw something for a present. Whose birthday? Cross?"

"Theirs is in December. I got them a coupon for fuel."

"Wow. Heartfelt, Doug."

"They've lost their mind about taking down the big chicken." Doug waved upward where Telethia swept across the sky. "They're going to burn everything I got them and then some."

"So who's it for?"

"Not for anyone. But I was hoping to draw something besides landscapes. Like these are landscapes." He snorted and flipped the sketchbook closed.

Lin tidied away her tablet neatly and hopped to her feet. "So what do you want to do next? I need to spend another couple weeks on field trips, which you promised to chaperone by the way, but then I'm up for anything. Except Nopon." They headed back to their skells.

Doug mumbled something.

"What? Didn't catch that."

"Skells. I was thinking it would be nice to be able to draw a skell."

"Doug! You are my favorite person as of one second ago. Skell yes! Coco made me promise to stop drawing them in every picture. She was so not fair about it. It wasn't every picture!"

"Every every picture," muttered Tatsu from up high. He must have heard the no-Nopon remark. He'd come along on their outings, and spent the entire time asleep in the skell. Doug had to admire his dedication to napping.

"Shut ... oh, never mind, maybe it was every picture. But if I tell her it's a project, she'll say okay. Hey, I got an idea! Let's ask Alexa to help. Maybe she can get us some prototypes to work on. I'd love to see what's new from Sakuraba these days."

"Not Alexa!" started Doug too loudly. He scratched his head and said more calmly, "Let's leave her out of it."

"Why not? She'd love to help spread the gospel of skells. Don't you want her to … wait a second, you're drawing it for her! You are!"

"No."

"You are, you are, you so totally are!" Lin was practically skipping up and down. "Don't worry Doug. You've got loads of time. Her birthday's not until April or May or … wait a second. Doug! You wanted to draw her something for Valentine's Day! Ahhhhhhhhh!"

"No, Lin, it's not like that…"

"Ahhhh! Doug! You're so sweet!"

"Lin," Doug said firmly. "You've got the wrong idea."

"You're drawing a Valentine's skell for Alexa! Ahhhhhhhh!"

"Stop it. You're making the cervus nervous."

Lin calmed herself with effort. "That's so cute!" she whispered fiercely.

"Too bad Doug's drawings look like poop," offered Tatsu. When Lin shot him a hard glance, he flapped his earwings defensively. "Friends not lie to friends."

Lin crossed her arms and frowned. "Doesn't mean you should act like what's-his-face, Tora."

"Tatsu most humbly sorry and not say mean things to Dougie ever. Even true ones." The words spilled out of Tatsu's mouth, proof of his effort to distance himself from his arch-nemesis.

Doug sighed as he loaded his skell with the bits and pieces Lin declared were necessary for her field work. Picnic blanket and picnic basket, okay sure, but badminton rackets? Again, he wasn't sure how she'd convinced him they were a good idea. "Look, Alexa's done a lot of nice stuff for me, this past year. Personal stuff, just as a good friend. I thought I'd do something nice, something speical for her. It's not romantic or anything."

"Sure it isn't," Lin said smugly. Then she laughed. "I don't care what it takes, Doug, but by February 14th, you will have a honey of a drawing."

xcxcxccxcxcxcxcxc

February 13, 2057, very late

At this point, Doug wished he was a lesser man. This last sketch of a Verus Cain was an abomination. A lesser man would ….

No, wrong. Doug didn't wish he was a lesser man. He never would. He was Harrier to the bone. He never gave up. Nothing that the Ganglion had thrown at him, nothing that Mira had done or … or anyone else. He'd lost his planet, everything, more than everything, and he was still standing, guns ready when necessary, going forward.

This sketch was nothing against all that. N-o-t-h-i-n-g. But it wasn't going to work, he had to admit this to himself. He sighed.

Not that the time had been wasted. He'd actually enjoyed it, spending time with Lin around Mira with no need to fight. It was a view of a future they were all working towards. He'd enjoyed the feeling of sketching, even if the product was dumpster material. It had even helped him at work. Something about looking at landscapes and skells had given him a different insight. New ideas about attack positions and sequences.

Still, even his best attempt was pure dreck. Someday, maybe, he'd get there, but not this year. Not this decade. It was just, he didn't want to wait that long. He really wanted to do this thing for Alexa.

It hadn't helped that Lin had gotten more and more gooey eyed about the romantic nature of a possible Valentine's Day gift for Alexa. 'Lexa was not his girlfriend, never gonna happen, she'd be the first to tell Lin that, and he'd be the second. Probably. Right, anyway, try explaining that to a 13-year-old who wanted everything to fit neatly and nicely. This past week, Lin could hardly give a comment on his sketches without making "squee" noises and generally looking like she was going to die from keeping a Huge Dramatic Secret.

Tatsu was almost as worse, giving Doug man-to-man advice about wifeypons and … Doug shuddered. He wasn't sure, but he thought that at a certain point, Tatsu had given him "the talk." There had been a lot of blushing and stammering and half-finished sentences, so he couldn't be certain. Heaven save him. Nopon may consider themselves adult at 13, but that did not always reflect well on their society.

After that last interaction, Doug had stopped showing either of them what he'd been working on. He'd continued being their chaperone and hauling their gear, but he hadn't offered to share what he'd put on paper.

Doug closed the sketchbook gently, stood up and stretched. He looked around his quiet apartment. 20 hours to go until Alexa was coming over for pizza (his contribution) and a skellploitation video (hers). Well, Harriers got the job done, even if they had to use completely overpowered weaponry. He flicked on the light in his kitchenette.

xcxcxcxcxcxcxcxc

February 14th, 2057

"Doug! Hey, how are … oh. You've been baking." Alexa sounded weirdly disappointed.

"Hey, Alexa. Yeah, how could you tell?" He grinned sheepishly. He thought he'd cleaned up the kitchenette pretty well.

"Smells like chocolate." Alexa was frowning, slightly. Doug looked at the pink box in her hands curiously. She noticed, and almost shoved it behind her back. Then she plastered a bright smile on her face. "It smells really good too."

"Thanks. I hope it tastes good too. Er, what's in the box?"

Alexa's smile slipped. She drew the box back forward and set it on his counter. "Open it. It's for you. I made it myself."

Doug lifted the flaps of what he realized was a cake box. Oh, she'd made him a cake. He kicked himself. Should have chosen differently. Flowers? But those seemed stupid too. Then he stopped berating himself and gazed at her present.

It was a cake. Chocolate probably, or at least something dark. Kind of lopsided and short. But what really drew his attention was the frosting job she'd done. There, in all its glory, was Speedy the Skell, the prototype they'd test flown months ago. It had been developed into the Ares 90 model, but more importantly it was the ride that had really started their friendship. How a person could turn fondant and coloring into something that lifelike was a wonder. Sugar Speedy looked like it could lift right off of the cake.

"Alexa, this is …" Doug noticed the two tiny saltat dancing at Speedy's feet, one with a tiny Outfitter's logo, the other with a small blue unicorn badge. He swallowed hard, and smiled for all he was worth. "This is amazing."

"Take a picture. It'll last longer," Alexa replied without much cheer.

"Straight up, I'm taking a picture. I'm taking twenty. It's going to be a shame to cut into this." He already had his device out and was snapping away.

"Not really," said Alexa in a small voice.

Doug looked up. "What's wrong?"

"The cake. I wanted to make you something nice, but instead you get this. There was only so much Lin could help me."

"What are you talking about? This thing is a piece of art. I'm starting to wish I liked anything half as much as you love skells."

"Yeah, well, you'll be talking out the other side of your mouth when you taste it. Barfing actually."

"Huh?"

"I'm not great at baking, okay? As in, I am to baking as Dadaan is to level 30 skells. Death incarnate."

Doug leaned against the counter and looked at Alexa. "Then why'd you …"

"Because you like yourself a nice snack, okay? Even better if it's chocolate. Which this isn't."

"Oh. It looked so dark, I assumed it…"

"I ran out of indigen viscera. It's vanilla."

"Oh."

Alexa shoved the box aside. Doug fielded it carefully, checking to see that Speedy hadn't been marred. "Well, that's out of the way. Happy Valentine's day and stuff, Doug. Let's have pizza and watch skells get blown up."

Doug looked at his unhappy partner. Then a slow smile spread across his face. "Sure. But first, I need you to check something out." He turned and drew something from a cupboard. Another cake, resting flawlessly on a silver platter. Even the slight motion of air across it filled the apartment with a wave of chocolate and caramel and the hint of something spicy and exotic. Perfectly symmetrical, proudly stacked, and frosted with excruciating care.

"Great. Another cake. Well, at least we won't have to poison ourselves tonight."

"No, Alexa. I need you to look at it." He tilted the platter a fraction so she'd get a better view.

She looked blankly for a moment. Her eyes slowly crinkled and her mouth quirked oddly. "What in Sylvalum is that?! It looks like an unnatural act between Prof. B and a Zaruboggan."

"Great minds think alike. It was supposed to be Speedy." Doug was trying hard not to laugh.

"Dougie! What is wrong with you? That is horrible! Horrible! My eyes will never be the same!" Alexa was starting to hoot.

Doug set the platter down quickly. He gave in as well. "I did my very best for you," he gasped between laughs.

"Not good enough. So not! What is seen can never be unseen!" cackled Alexa. They stood there together, laughing so hard they were both clutching the side of the kitchen bar. After a few minutes, and a lot of deep calming breaths, she continued. "There's only one thing we can do. Destroy the evidence. Trash can for mine, forks for yours."

"Let me take a few more pictures, and then I'll get some plates."

"Don't, Dougie! You'll break your comm device."

"Of yours, 'Lexa. You think I want proof of my attempt?"

"Maybe I should take one, for blackmail," considered Alexa playfully.

"We'd need to get special equipment."

"Maybe we could use it for enemy interrogation."

"Geneva Conventions still apply. I'm declaring that so." Doug nodded firmly. He got out plates and forks.

Xcxcxcxcxcxcx

February 15th, 2057

Lin stomped up to Doug. "You. I have a bone to pick with you."

Doug looked up from his post-mission paperwork gratefully. "What's up, short stuff?"

"Your personal feed. I saw the pictures."

"Great, right?"

"Doug, you are so vain! You should have put up pictures of Alexa's gift, not your sketch for her."

"Huh?"

"I counted. 29 pictures of your drawings of Speedy. You were using pastels, right? I'll admit that it is leagues better than your pencil drawings, but you should have put up Alexa's cake! She worked so hard on it. Uh…" Lin halted.

"It's okay. She told me you were helping her."

"She did the one she gave you all on her own," Lin assured him earnestly. "She threw me out of the barracks. Didn't even let me peek." Lin sighed. "Well, I suppose it balances out. Alexa's feed is nothing but shots of her cake. Mostly crumbs. Looked really good. I'll admit I was a little worried, but she did it, right? It tasted good?" she asked him.

"It was perfect. Wait until your birthday. You'll be surprised." Doug smiled at Lin and hoped he could keep his and Alexa's secret until then. If they combined their talents, they'd be unstoppable.

"What's up with those saltats in your drawing, anyway?" Lin asked.

"Long story. I'll tell you another time."

a/n: Didn't you read the first a/n Lin?! Dances with Saltat! (Watch out for Ch. 3, it goes dark.) (Shameless plug remains shameless.)

This was supposed to be pure Doug and Alexa fluff. It ended up being 90% Doug and Lin sweetness. Oh sweet mother of marmalade, I LOVE THIS GAME.

Almost no editing on this monster. It's been riding in my head for two weeks, which is why I got null all done the past few days. Didn't lose the car, though.

I gotta go do laundry.
Happy Valentine's Day.