Here's another page, but there's more comic to be drawn before the last post and this one. Like the previous post, I plan on revisiting these comics to clean them up and have more of a better flow on not just the art medium but also the story (hopefully my adhd will let me).
For context, Rocky's team consoles him about his new evolved form. Talking to him and letting him know that this form of his doesn't mean he's like his father. That he can make it his own. Reminding him why he has such an amazing team in the first place.
Robin's affection for Sami stems far back. When they were just young children they met by chance. Sami was playing at a friends party in the park when suddenly a boy approached with a fist full of flowers!
"You're pretty. Mama said pretty girls like flowers."
That was all there was to it. The boy wandered off after that, and Samantha wore the daisy's in her hair for the rest of that day. She felt special. A boy called her pretty! Things like that happened, but they were usually older, kind grannies. The ones who pinched her cheeks and gave her sweets. Never a boy her age.
Then, she met Robin again. She doesn't know what to make of the boy across the hall from her. The caretaker says he lost his family in a freak accident and has stayed in the orphanage ever since. He was reclusive. Shut-in and afraid to speak to anyone. He was just like her.
She doesn't remember why she does it. The next time the children are shuffled through the tunnels to go to their primary schools outside of town she picks a few wild flowers. Tapping the boy on the shoulder, he turned to meet her eyes. She was pretty.
"A boy once told me that pretty girls like flowers... but doesn't everybody? Here!"
He tucked them in his breast pocket and nodded his thanks. Although she doesn't realize it, Samantha has made a new friend.
Robin clings to her. Everywhere she goes, he is soon to follow. Nightmares she experiences are met with Robin sitting at her bedside, hugging her and chasing the bad dreams away. Reassuring her that nothing that happened was her fault. They would cuddle under the sheets until morning, when he had to stealthily sneak back to his room before the nannies would arrive.
She shared snacks, music, games, and silence together. Life was good with Robin by her side. No more nightmares, no more guilt. She could forget about everything... At least until they both turned 18.
It started with Robin first. Plucked from his bedroom in the middle of the night. When Sami cried from a night terror, she was met by a nanny. Not Robin. Not her Robin.
"Where is Robin... where? What did you do to him?!"
"Robin is a man now. There are dangers about letting him stay here."
The passing months were agonizing. Samantha wished they had closer birthdays.
When the nannies came for her next, plucking her up from her room in the middle of the night, she found herself walking a system of tunnels she did not recognize. These walls didn't look like those on the way to school. Met with a crude case of stairs, Samantha marched upward and out of a hole in the ground. The nannies behind her shut the latch and suddenly it disappeared. Had she... lived underground that whole time?
Shoved into a tiny blank room, Samantha curled up in bed. When morning came, she stepped out to look at her new home. This is where the kids went after they turn 18? Why?
A familiar face flashed by her, shoving her against the wall as he marched supplies to the kitchen. The man from the snow. The one who took her to the Sanctuary. The one that brought her to her Robin. It's Bailey.
"Come see me in my office afterwards, brat."
She waited in her seat, hands clasping her knees. "I know why you're here," He says, running a hand through his dark hair.
No.
No he does not.
"You want your-"
"Where is Robin?" she asks abruptly.
"What?" says the caretaker. "I don't have time to answer your stupid questions. You can figure that out for yourself. I'm sure the waif is around here somewhere..." he trails off, an irritated flare in his nostrils tells Samantha that he's not pleased with being cut off. It would be her only warning not to do it again.
"In the mean time, you owe me for taking care of your useless ass. By next week I want £100. Surely a girl like you can manage—“
“Okay!” Comes the innocent response. “Should I just do… door to door donations? I used to do that at church with Robby!”
God.
This town is going to eat her alive.
"Right. I don't care how you make the money. Now go. Don't bother me anymore."
It frustrates Samantha. Just a bit. He invited her in the first place... Really, she said anything she could to get away from the man. Something about him... unsettles her. What it may be she does not question. Because once she returns to her new room, she finds what she's been looking for. It's Robin. He's been waiting here for her.
"Today's your birthday... right? That's a relief... We get to spend Sunday together, just like old times!"
Got a BIG comic dump post on the aftermath of Rocky Evolving and waking up in the infirmary. I apologize for how everywhere the art and story progress is. I want to go over all these panels someday and add more stuff to it to help with smoother progress.
