erinaceous
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It had been too long since Dan visited his aunt and uncle. They just lived so far away that it could be a hassle to get there. It was a shame though. He wondered if his cousin, Rick, even remembered him. The kid hadn’t even hit double digits in age yet, so probably not.
He found Rick in the basement, right where his parents said he’d be. The boy was huddled over a desk with a scattered mess of colored pencils lying around and a sheet of paper in front of him. So Rick was into art, huh? Dan was not much of an artist himself, but he could appreciate the talent when it emerged.
Dan waited a little while before speaking. He did not want to interrupt the young artist’s flow. He may not be an artist himself, but Dan could still understand not wanting to be interrupted while in the middle of something.
“Hey there.” He said once a good moment had come.
Rick turned and immediately shied away. Which likely meant that he did not remember Dan. It was disappointing, but not unexpected.
“I guess you don’t remember me, huh?”
Rick shook his head.
“Yeah, that’s not a surprise. I think the last time I saw you, you were barely in school. My name is Dan, and I’m your big cousin.”
Rick’s brow furrowed in deep thought. Dan could imagine what was going through the kid’s head.
“If it helps, I’m your aunt Jenny and uncle Roy’s son. That means we’re what’s called first cousins.”
“Why first? Aren’t cousins just cousins?”
“Kind of. There’s a lot of different kinds of cousins, actually. But the kids of brothers and sisters are first cousins. It gets tricky after that though.”
“Oh.”
Rick clearly did not understand. That was fine. Dan barely understood himself. Best not to complicate things too much right now.
“So, you like to draw? That’s cool. I can’t draw very good, so it’s good to know there’s at least one artist in the family.”
“Yeah, I like it.”
“Can I see?”
Rick nodded, so Dan went over and looked. Dan stiffened for a brief moment. The drawing was not very good, which was to be expected of someone who was only eight. But it was competent enough that he could tell what it was meant to be. And it could lead to so many places. Horrible, terrible ones if not handled carefully.
“That’s a cool picture. What, uh, what is it?”
“It’s a character I made up. I found a really cool game with neat characters that I like, so made one up that could play with them.”
It was as he feared. Hopefully Rick would not fall to the dark side of that particular fandom.
“Oh really?”
“Yup. It’s called Sonic Rumble Party, and it has a bunch of characters like this one. And...and I found out that there’s a lot more games with them in it, but I haven’t played them yet, but mom and dad say I can when I’m older.”
“Yeah, Sonic’s pretty cool. He’s been around longer than I have, and has a lot of games. The series might even be as old as your mom and dad.”
Rick’s eyes went wide. The boy likely could not even comprehend that idea.
“But listen, it’s cool if you want to make a character from the Sonic universe, okay? Just don’t look up anyone else’s, okay?”
“Why not?”
“Because some people aren’t cool and creative like I bet you are. They might want their characters to do some weird stuff. So just, you know, be careful with it, okay?”
“Okay?” Rick looked more confused than anything. Dan would have to guide his younger cousin. Make sure the boy did not stumble upon the hellhole that was the Sonic the Hedgehog original character community.
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