Well, this took a little while to finish, and this seemingly last of the season heat wave wasn’t helping matters at all.

Yet, I managed to pull through and touch this up a little bit before posting.

I had been wanting to draw something with Rick and Azali together for a little while now.

It was heavily hinted in some earlier pictures of Azali that she and Rick were dating.

And while eventually I may draw something a little more raunchy with these two one day, today is not that day.

At the very least, I wanted to show these two interacting in a playful teasing manner just to show how these two play off of each other.

Plus, it was good size difference practice, as I really don’t draw that as often as I used to.

Both panels turned out pretty nicely, I like the consistency from panel to panel.

And it felt nice to draw a side profile for the first time in forever.

Overall, this turned out great, I love the color, the background, and just Rick and Azali being a cute couple together.

Every once in a while I’m allowed to do a self-indulgent guilty pleasure piece.

Rick’s Notes:

This girl, I swear…

I can’t say I saw my life going down this path.

But I’ll admit, it’s a nonstop ride with Azali, and she brings in some much-needed excitement that I think I was missing for a while now.

I think back to that day when I “died” and was more or less “resurrected” by Doctor Cerulius Starline.

Adjusting to my new body felt so weird for the longest time.

It felt like myself, but different in more ways than I could imagine.

And I was only 27 when this happened, barely an adult for 6 years, and my life changed so much.

I’m kinda shocked how well I took this when I think about it.

But being as strong as I was, it felt empowering, I was able to take jobs that were deemed as suicide missions and survive.

I was cleaning up my little end of the galaxy one scumbag at a time.

And then I was 34, and I had more or less been a bounty hunter full time for 7 years.

Since my body needs a minimum amount of sleep per week, I was able to keep going almost nonstop.

I was feeling more like a machine day by day, and I was starting to hate it.

All the work and no play was making me dull, and I even worked at my Pop’s bar just to give myself a break and recharge.

And that’s when I saw Azali for the first time.

She came to The Dusty Bowl, looking for anyone that could act as her informant.

Now, at the time, I didn’t know she was a Prime Hunter.

I knew she was a part of the Hyperian Military Force, her forehead tattoo gave that away; but to be looking for info in a bar?

I played along and gave her some info that I knew with some locals that had prices on their heads.

She thanked me and was on her way, not before turning around and winking at me.

I didn’t think much of that, the random barflies would do that to me on a daily basis, but that fact Azali kept coming back at least, like, twice a month made me take notice.

After a while, Azali had did some digging and found out who I was, and she told me that the man who fixed me up; was her Grandfather.

She told me straight up, “You and I should team up from time to time, Big Boy!”

“I know you are itching to head back out there”.

“Tag along with me, and we can take out some big bounties together!”

She is bold and knows what she wants.

It might be a less than flattering stereotype in the universe, saying that when a Hyperian lady locks her gaze on you, she won’t stop until she gets you.

But hell, I can’t say no to Little Blue’s tenacity like that.

And, I’d say the rest is history after that, we have been traveling together since then.

Azali always knows how to push my buttons, I feel like she gets a kick out of flirting with me in public like this.

Though I’ll admit I always do look forward to “winding down” with her, even if I try my damnedest to look professional on the job.