They're EVERYWHERE!

65536: 9

"-and... finally... add a... pow-de-red man-ti-core horn... to the coo-ling mix-too- mixture," 65536 wipes its forehead and puts the book down, "That wasn't so bad," it stands up and its vision blurs, "Wowza... maybe I did overdo it a bit but Sharp said he'd show me how to make noodle bubbles as long as the underground mouth burrowers are," it shudders at the memory of yet another horror living in the deep tunnels under the hive.

It hums to itself, unsure what to do next. Maybe it should go to bed early? Over the past two days, it's gotten used to Luna's rhythm of life and it knows it's bound to have enough time to sleep through the day once Luna comes back from the dreamscape. Still, it's almost morning, neither Luna nor Sharp have come to check on it since last evening, and 65536 has done everything it deemed necessary for tonight - some drawing, read a few pages from one of Luna's books at random, and even taken a bath completely on its own and totally without slipping and bumping its nose this time! Even though it still filled the bath only a quarter full.

"Oh right, the cleaning stick must be dry now!" it walks over to the bathroom where it left a strange, long, rubbery stick mounted on a short metal pole with a button that made it buzz and go back and forth a little. It was an amazing find in a large box inside one of Luna's numerous drawers filled with many things 65536 couldn't identify and only knew they all had a lingering aura of lust around them. Being the clever drone it is, it immediately stripped a fuzzy cover off of a bar of soap, pulled it over the rubber part, and started cleaning its leg holes with it.

It tickled.

Once it hides the cleaning stick into Luna's box of confusing stuff again, it stops and ponders its next move again. Princess Sunbutt hasn't shown up to visit in the past two days either but 65536 hasn't been using up much love at all and her previous visit topped the drone off completely which, in conjunction with Luna and Sharp, has kept it full so far.

It doesn't like one thing, though. Luna has been coming back battered and bruised, barely able to even talk to 65536 before collapsing on the bed and falling asleep. She sometimes kicked and screamed afterwards but always stopped when 65536 hopped into the bed as well and curled up under her wing.

65536 doesn't doubt it's going to happen again today and, with its tasks finished, it will be ready to administer its full range of cuddlery right from the start. Luna deserves a proper rest. Anyway, with nothing better to do and not wanting to miss Luna's return, it buzzes over to its cot in the corner, wraps its forelegs around Not-Blue, and simply waits. Drones are great at doing nothing when there's nothing left to do... which, admittedly, didn't happen often back in the hive. However, that just means that drones turned resting into a form of art.

Roughly an hour and a half later, the now familiar swirling black and blue portal appears in the air and Luna stumbles out of it, barely able to remain on all fours but with her eyes still darting around, scanning for threats.

"Luna!" 65536 darts towards her and catches her as she collapses forward. She's huge in comparison to a drone but still lighter than what drones carry on a regular basis, so 65536 easily at least keeps her in a sitting position. She sighs and wraps her wings around the changeling.

"You sure are a welcome sight, little one," she whispers, voice strained but relieved. Her horn flashes faintly in a way which 65536 knows means that Sharp Biscuit will be coming to check on her.

"I'm so happy you're back that my brain is making noises!" 65536 hugs her as far as it can reach, "Look! Do doo dododooo dum dum dudummm... dunno why."

"Finally, this is real," mumbles Luna, only wrapping her wings around the drone tighter.