skaiapentertainment

[1995-9]

[princedevitt]

[thegildedcentury]

[yunaisky]

His duck is missing :[

[arutai]

Alice Vink

[darktripz]

[gacougnol]

John Vink

Phnom Penh

Cambodia 2023

[dabiconcordia]

“They have been my friends. That in itself is a tremendous thing." ― E. B. White

[onomajopoeia]

This is what getting vaccinated does to you

[bluetorchsky]

Happy (Belated) Birthday to Andy, the beloved Postman!

I had finished this yesterday for his birthday, but I like adding stories to my art, so here it is now with the story! (under the read more!)

Andy Vinke and Squeaks the Duck belong to @yunaisky

"Here you go, kid. Your...pet, safe and sound."

Squeaks honked angrily, ruffling their feathers as the gruff Toppat passed them to Andy, who carefully cradled them in their arms while juggling the clipboard he held.

"Thank you, sir. I apologize again, I swear she was at home with my cat." Andy said, a blush of embarrassment on his cheeks. He coughed in his hand before handing the clipboard to the taller Toppat. "Please sign here and I'll be out of your hair in just a bit."

The Toppat snatched the clipboard from his gloved hand and signed it, mumbling under his breath. As he did, a female Toppat came out of the shop and spotted the postman.

"Oh, you are the postman, hm?" She asked him in a thick Danish accent. She motioned for him to come closer. "Wait here, there is something for you."

Andy raised an eyebrow as the clipboard was shoved back into his hands, making poor Squeaks honk repeatedly in annoyance at the sudden action. The postman did his best to soothe his feathery friend when he was presented with two objects from the female Toppats.

"Ta-da! A couple of packages for the postman himself!" She helped Andy rearrange the items he had, letting Squeaks stand on his shoulder, while she pressed the two boxes into his hands.

Andy looked down at the packages, carefully gauging their weight and making mental guesses on what could be inside them. "For me?" He said softly, bringing one of the boxes up to shake it a little. "I wasn't expecting anything from the Toppats...well, there is one I can think of but–"

The female Toppat giggled and patted his other shoulder. "No, it's not from your little flower man. You should learn to do your work and read the name on there, silly!"

The grey-haired postman blinked in confusion until he heard a jingle playing over the intercom in the underground black market. Looking at the time, he gasped and tipped his hat to the Toppat. "S–Sorry, I have to go! But I'll check it out soon!" He shouted as he turned and ran to the train station, hoping the last train would still be there when he got there.

---------------

He sighed and sat down in an empty spot in the train car. "That was close." He murmured to himself as he set Squeaks on the plush seat next to him. He took his mailbag off and placed it on his other side, before looking at the two packages he received from the female Toppat earlier. Now that he wasn't running to catch train to leave the underground market, lest he be stuck there for the night surrounded by criminals, he had a chance to breathe and inspect the boxes.

Both were cardboard boxes, almost as long as his mailbag and big like Squeaks in size. They were securely taped but had no return address. All it had was his name and the names of who the packages were from. Well, they weren't really names, but they were actually initials that Andy recognized from the sea of signatures and names he kept filed away in his brain.

"From Mr. Accordion and Mr. Violin?" He questioned out loud to himself. "What could they have gotten for me?"

Squeaks took the opportunity to honk at her master, nudging his left hand towards the box he held. He chuckled and smoothed down her feathers, making her quack softly and bury her head into her wings to rest. "Alright, I'll at least open one of them."

Andy pulled out his cutter tool from his bag. Double checking his gun was still in the bag (with the safety on), he turned his attention back to one of the boxes. He carefully sliced through the packing tape, being mindful of the jostling of the train car. The train made its way out of the underground tunnel and back out into the outside world, passing through green fields on one side and the deep dark ocean on the other.

After a minute, Andy carefully pulled apart the flaps of the box and peered inside, gasping at what he saw. Inside was a penguin plush, dressed up in a version of Andy's postman uniform, covered in a plastic wrap and additional white foam pieces to keep it secure. He carefully pulled the plushie out of the box, tore off the plastic wrap and set back into the box before closing it tightly and setting it aside. He stared at the plushie, admiring every detail of it, until he noticed a birthday card stuck to its back with a white bow.

He pulled the bow off, kept it in his pocket, and opened the card with his left hand while he held the penguin plush close to him with his right. Inside the card was a message that read:

"Happy Birthday Andy! We hope you're not working too hard. We wanted to thank you again for delivering our packages to us in the past, as well as the new ones you delivered to the space station recently. The twins are enjoying their new toys, and we have you to thank for that. Fredrick did slip that your birthday was soon, so we wanted to give you something for all the hard work that you've done, and to show our appreciation for everything you do. We're sure he has something for you already, but we'll let him be the one to deliver that to you.

We hope you enjoy the plush and the sugar cookies we made for you. Have a great time, Andy, and please take care and stay safe!

From, The ArcCoil Family (Accordion, Violin, Aurelia, Florence)"

Andy reread the card again and smiled at the squiggly doodles that were no doubt drawn by the twins. He leaned back in his seat with a soft sigh. "I almost forgot about my birthday." He said softly as he flipped the card over to look at the front that had a yellow decorated cake on the front. "I got caught up in both my jobs again, I didn't notice. Guess that's why the boss gave me an extra slice of cake at the cafe today."

Looking up at the time that flashed on a screen above him, Andy pocketed the card into his mailbag and pulled Squeaks and the other package, which had the duck-shaped sugar cookies inside, closer to him. He would worry about Fredrick later, but now the day's work was catching up to him and it would be another forty minutes until his station arrived. With a yawn, he looked down at the penguin plush and brushed his thumb against the soft polyester. "Thank you." He whispered to the plush and closed his eyes to rest until the train conductor would announce his destination.

---------------

(For some context, in my AU there is an underground black market owned and operated by the Toppats called The Ivory Market. Big Boss Joe of the City Division keeps an eye on it (and where one of his offices are set up), and lets other criminals into the market area but only those who are approved by the clan and Reginald. People like Andy are allowed in since he has to deliver mail that can't be delivered by the Transportation Division. He is protected inside the City Division, but he still has to leave at a certain time and watch his back just in case a non-toppat criminal tries to get him.)

[butchbarneygumble]

been too long since I've drawn Finch (the simpsona) so I did. ft gratuitous Dutch

[grapecaseschoices]

Thank you Jay ( @ulenehlervu) for the beautiful art of my @infamous-if MC Hiyam!

[princedevitt]

[mugzymiik]

what if blinking was called winking and winking was called vinking. because

[yunaisky]

Our mailman is here

Wait... THERE ARE TWO MAILMAN HERE!?!?

[arutai]

Alice Vink