this one took a while! been wanting to see how good i could do with a bunch of effort, since i've mainly been drawing flat color sketches lately. i'm happy with the result!
figured i'd use this draw to check up on Mako again, she's been hard at work for a few weeks already. after surviving off of beer nuts and other simple snacks she could purchase at the brothel she works at, Mako finally braves the unknown and goes to buy herself a proper meal!

hoping to draw a couple more of these, showing some development for the poor lil' rodent now that she's escaped her father. got a small 'story' for this one too, although it's more like a short bit of context for her. wanted to try it so here ya go:

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Finally, after circling around the market district 4 times, Mako had finally built up the courage to walk up to a food stand. Bright light shone from it’s interior space, slightly clouded from all the steam the cookers were producing. She pushed herself up to one of the bar stools, sitting down while nervously fiddling with her fingers. She hadn’t done anything like this before. She wasn’t entirely sure how to approach the situation, simply sitting there while looking at the overly bright tv screens that beamed the available menu options down to her. This place sold noodles, some dishes were served with rice, but their specialization was clearly ramen. The smell was incredible, and a painful reminder of how hungry Mako was. She closed her eyes, her snout softly wiggling as the smell of warm food delighted her mind.
“what do you want”

An almost annoyed tone broke her fantasy. When she looked up she saw a bird looking down at her. Despite her tone she didn’t seem angry or annoyed, just tired. Perhaps it was late for her, everyone had a different circadian schedule on this floating mess it’s leader -Warden- deemed to call a ‘space station’. Some of her ‘clients’ had told her that these places normally have artificial days and nights, some way of keeping order. But none of that applied here, everything was a mess. People just ended up sleeping whenever they felt like it. Leading to unreliable opening hours for shops and traders. The place Mako worked in was open all day, every day though.. but you weren’t likely to be disturbed if you were sleeping. There was always another girl available after all.

“I haven’t got all day girl, either pick something to eat or get lost”
A far more annoyed tone reminded her that she was in fact, still sitting quietly in front of the bird. She’d just been staring into the void this entire time. The avian wasn’t looking as friendly anymore.
“s-sorry! I’ll have the uhm” her eyes glanced over the menu, quickly picking something. “spicy pork ramen sounds good, I’ll have that.” She nodded, the annoyed look fading when she realized the girl was probably just a bit shy. “12 credits” she said holding up her phone towards the rat.

Mako quickly started grasping at her pockets, pulling out a plastic card around as big as the palm of her hand. A fairly dated method of payment, but one that thankfully worked with newer methods. Holding it up to the phone resulted in a soft beep, after which the avian looked at the screen to confirm it had worked. She looked back at Mako for a few words. “gonna take two minutes…” turning her eyes back to the screen as she pushed through the door that led to the back of the shop.

The rodent looked around meekly, she felt awkward, out of place. Everyone she’d seen was taller than her. She felt watched, and pulled her hoodie up over the back of her head, pushing her ears through the holes to keep it in place. Her greatest fear was to be recognized, not only off of the people who might’ve fucked her in prior nights, but also off of the people that worked for her father. The last thing she wanted was to be dragged back to him.. she shivered at the thought, pulling the hoodie down just a bit more.

She really needed to find a different place to work, selling her body was definitely at the bottom of her list when it came to occupations, but it’s the only thing she knew. She wondered what other jobs might fit her, and how she might go about finding those jobs… she’d lived isolated for so long, she had no idea on how the world outside her home worked. Perhaps she could…

“here you go..” a soft voice interrupted her thoughts yet again, pushing a cardboard box towards the rodent. Two sticks stuck out at the top. “oh, thanks!” she responded, a bit happier than she’d expected herself to speak. The smell coming from the inside was delightful, steam rose up from the package, implying it was far too hot to eat yet. The bird didn’t look back at her, eyes glued to the screen of her phone as she went to lean against the counter at the back of the shop. The rat tried to pull out some of the pasta with the sticks, but as soon as it made contact with her tongue she pulled back, dropping the noodles back in their box. Too hot… waaaay to hot.. she’d just have to wait a bit longer. Thoughts rose up again, a hand idly twirling her hair as she cautiously looked around.

Perhaps it was best to leave the thinking for another day, she’d had a rough one behind her already. This was the first warm meal in a long time, time to just enjoy it..

well..

when it cools down of course...

not right now..