#drev

Sunny and Adam calming down protestors and fans on patrol at LFIL protest, off of @starr-fall-knight-rise 's latest episode.

Been inspired by the last piece to draw a little something more , perhaps to calm myself as it feels like some time soon the protagnists will face tragedy of greek proportion( in which case, let's hope it's comedy.)

I forgot how fun and challenging it is to try and draw Sunny, not really used to draw something that isn't exactly humanoid.

Inspired by @starr-fall-knight-rise and his amazing world. This is a rewrite of his recent ‘chapter’ in his Humans are Weird series and I have been getting major Sunny and Adam vibes so this rewrite has more shipper undertones than the original had. 

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She did it on the fly. How else she supposed to convince Noctus. He was onto their charade. She remembered the repeated cliché that had appeared in many of the movies she had watched with Adam over the time she had been on board.

“That’s because he’s with me.” She wrapped on of her lower arms around Adam’s shoulders and slid him closer and back a half pace so that he could be easily shoved out of the way if things went south. She needed to continue her excuse. Noctus already suspected that Adam had been working in military so she needed to role with it. “He used to work for the GA until they banned interspecies relationships, he gave up everything to come be with me. Had to become a miner in order to live.”

She leaned down and hoped he would forgive her for so blatantly invading his personal space. She rubbed her beak into the top of his head gently, trying not to react to the tickling sensation his hair caused.

Adam froze, she could see the thoughts running a thousand a second before he nodded and ducked his head a bit. “I wasn’t prepared for how hard the life would be. She’s all I have left.”

Her heart clenched at those words. While part of the act, those words had truth to them that she didn’t like. She knew she was close with her Captain. The level of mutual respect, comradery, friendship, and trust between them was something she had never experienced before and had come to assume he hadn’t either. She had sat with him through everything. Stood guard at doors when he couldn’t make it back to his quarters and needed to let it all out. Stood by him at the riot. Been his rock and foundation. And he had been right there for her too. Through her losses and trials. Everything that happened with her mother and then helping her learn how to lead the other Drev. There were so many thoughts running through her head right now and it wasn’t the time for them but she couldn’t stop them.

Sunny barely spared the white armored Drev servant a thought because Noctus was asking Adam questions and she needed to stay aware of the situation.

“…what do you want?” She only caught the end of the question but Adam was on top of his response, falling back into their prepared story.

“A second chance sir…. I…. I thought perhaps I could boost my income at the black nines tables, but….” Adam trailed off waiting for the response. She gave a small squeeze around his shoulders and felt his shaky breath. He knew what he was doing but the nerves were still there.

“But you lost it all and are now looking for a loan.” Sunny wanted to snarl at the tone and look Noctus sent there way. Adam ducked his head and Sunny visibly tightened her hug and wrapped a second arm around his shoulders. She could feel him shaking but knew it was from a mixing current of nerves, anger, and anticipation.

“Follow me then.” Noctus stood and his jewelry rattled as he moved. He waddled towards and door and the two shared a quick look that could only be described and relief and no idea what to do now. Adam gave an almost imperceptible shrug and slid to the side letting her arms fall but snagged the grip of one of her hands and started to follow the waddling creature.

“Stay here for a moment, I don’t like letting my guests know where I keep my assets.” Noctus scurried across the room and Sunny tensed. Something wasn’t right. She was about to mention as much when bright blinding lights shone in her face, she ducked her head to shield her eyes but was still being blinded by the bright light. The lights continued to get brighter and then other colors added in. A crowd roared and Noctus shouted.

“WELCOME ONE WELCOME ALL TO THE NOCTUS NIGHT OF MAYHEM.” The tesraki stood as a silhouette in the light that continued to try and blind them. “Do you really think I’m that STUPID.”

Sunny felt Adam drop her hand and they both shuffled back to back. She felt reassured by his presence at her side and knew they could make it out of here together. The crowd roared again and Sunny felt the cheers ring through her skull.

“That I wouldn’t guess who you are COMMANDER VIR, and his loyal lieutenant SUNNY COSMADAUGHTER. The two of you have been tracking my business practices for MONTHS. I was beginning to wonder if there was any way I was going to get rid of you, perhaps finally the GA had caught up, but, here you are on the perfect night to disappear. Such poor timing.”

Sunny growled low in her chest and could tell that Adam was staring the tesraki down. She hear as he tore off his costume props and prepared for a fight.

“You caught us then Noctus, what now?” Sunny tensed, knowing what would come next.

“Oh now, you FIGHT!”

***

They fought like demons. Bracing off each other, trusting, leaping, all moves they had practiced and used in real combat before. They flowed and fought, little nods alluding to big moves and when Adam flicked his fingers in the code for the running flip she felt joy in her that only came with a battles blood lust.

Sunny scrambled up off the floor as Adam flew through the air and kicked the Egnar in the face. It’s orange blood sprayed from it’s wounds but it wasn’t down yet. She roared and charged the beast, slamming her armored shoulder into the creature and then yanking one of its arms out of its socket. The Egnar scream but Sunny just rolled and wrapped her legs around its next and squeezed hard enough to cut off air if not potentially break the things neck. It went limp.

“Well… that was not what I expected. No matter, I have more where that came from.” Noctus had a gleam to his eyes but it was quickly snuffed out.

“I don’t think so.” Adam limped from the shadows as the crowd went silent. His prosthetic leg was showing now, the one made from her armor. The one that had unified them through so many things. Blood was dripping from a cut on his forehead.

“Oh you don’t think so? And why is that.” Noctus seemed to boast but he watched as Adam came to stand next to her. She had stood up after the Egnar went limp and now stood ready to face any more challenges that got in their way.

Sunny watched Adam’s face as he delivered the charges. He was overjoyed and running on adrenaline, the excitement and maze of human emotion was flooding his eye as he spoke. “Noctus, by order of the Galactic assembly, you are hereby under arrest on the charges of racketeering, slave trafficking, exploitation, money laundering, extortion, blackmail, and tax evasion.”

Noctus laughed and Sunny could only watch as a smirk crossed her Captain’s face, “Oh really huh, and who is going to arrest me, you?”

Adam smiled in his condescending manner she had grown to enjoy seeing leveled against their enemies. It meant that the fight was over, that they had won. Her captain said with pride in his voice, “No, they are.”

Noctus tried to fight his arrest but it was futile. They had done it.

***

Outside, in the now empty club, Adam leaned against Sunny’s shoulder as they sat waiting for the other officers. Lights still flickered in red and blue and they waited, wounds wrapped, though not as well as they could have been if Krill was there.

“You made quick work of that troll thing in there, nice job.” Adam playfully nudged Sunny’s armor plated shoulder. He had been impressed. They had worked together but Sunny had been a true maniac and brunt force of their fight. Going hand to hand with that thing.

“Not so bad yourself, for a puny human.” She commented wryly turning her head to fix one golden eye on him.

He laughed at the obvious teasing, “Yeah, not so bad for a puny human.” He paused and something crossed his mind that stood out from all the crazy things that had happened to them tonight. “Think he bought it?”

“Bought what?” She looked at him with a hint of confusion before she seemed to understand. “You don’t mean the story that he totally wasn’t intended to buy? Probably not.”

“No, not that. I mean that story you made up on the fly…. pretty quick witted for a big lug.” He teased but internally he was feeling off. Her story had caught him off guard but it had worked at least enough to get them where they were now. But the niggling question of why she made up that story stuck with him.

Sunny waved one of her hands, “Nah, probably not. I mean, could you imagine?” She pauses for a second and her facial features shifted a bit into a look he had trouble reading. “Ha, he’d have to be a real idiot to believe that.”

Ok everyone, this was a super big pain to try to get into four pages. I apologize in advance for any inaccuracies that you see here, but there is a lot that I cannot fit in to make it more accurate.

WARNING! For anyone who doesn’t want to see images of PTSD, violence or some self harm, you probably don’t want to read this. 

This is a very important chapter for you to understand some things I have planned for upcoming posts. As always critiques, questions comments, prompts, ideas and messages are always welcome.

Krill peered around the doorframe into the captain’s quarters, he definitely planned on speaking with him about Sunny, this was the third time in two days she had slammed her head into a doorframe because she wasn’t looking: mostly because she was listening to music. To keep the integrity of her skull, he thought it might be best to limit her music time, for her health or course.

When he came around the corner, he found Captain Vir kneeling on the floor with Waffles, scratching her behind the ears with one hand and fitting her into a vest with the other. Krill was only just beginning to understand the human script but he thought he read.

Service Dog DO NOT TOUCH.

“Captain, what is that?” He wondered, completely forgetting his earlier question.

Captain Vir looked up from where he knelt rubbing the dog’s ears, “Oh, It’s her service vest.” When Krill didn’t seem to understand, the man continued, “Sometimes human’s train dogs to help people with stuff like a disability, medical condition or mental illness. The vest allows her to go into places other dogs can’t.”

“Oh…. Is that because of your leg than?”

The captain shook his head, “No, I used to have pretty severe PTSD after coming home from the war. I don’t so much now, but sometimes I have my days.”

Krill shifted a little nervously, “May I ask….” He trailed off not sure how to phrase the question.

Vir grinned at him, “Krill, you know you can ask me anything right, but I get what you’re trying to say… the war ending was actually worse for me than the war itself.”

***

Lieutenant Vir lay on his bunk in the dim lighting listening to the sound of the ship’s distant engines. His missing leg throbbed.  Even with it gone, it was still destined to haunt him. Door opened a crack, he listened with apathy as the Captain spoke to one of the other officers