Nobody was around. The house was empty. There wasn't anything recording or streaming. They'd just finished the final touches on a story, and their best friends had already gone to sleep after chatting and playing games with them the whole evening.

Maven took a deep breath, glancing from side to side as if there might've been someone or something they forgot about hiding to watch and embarrass them. The room continued to be empty and quiet, devoid of prying eyes. They put their phone on the nearby table, tapped a playlist they'd made exactly for moments like these...

And then they danced, their face stretching more and more into a triumphant, giddy smile as they moved their body to the happy, upbeat music.

Some time ago, I watched Damienfox play a game called "Hanaby the Witch". The style and animation was incredibly heartwarming and adorable, and I carried the idea to get somebody to animate me doing the level clear dance she does. It's rare for me to have an unnervous, unembarrassed smile...and it's even rarer for me to dance. But I've got wonderful friends and am accepting more and more about myself, so...I want to celebrate these increasingly frequent moments!

And SpottedSqueak knocked it out of the park. Not his usual style, and not his usual type of animation, but he wanted to do this for my birthday and I believed in his talent and creativity. And he absolutely nailed it. I cannot overestimate how many times I've watched it with the absolute biggest smile on my face. FA doesn't support video, but I highly recommend checking out his tweet with the full music and scenery! https://twitter.com/SpottedSqueak/status/1375577439049420802

And of course I had to make it my avatar on FA. Why on earth wouldn't I? <3

Art, animation (c) SpottedSqueak
Maven Treecat (c) Myself