#(I always feel awkward writing the other DR characters because I always worry I'm writing someone else's muse wrong)

[more-than-a-princess]

There were two problems, Hajime had figured out early on, when one was in possession of every talent: one, that person would always be in need somewhere. Repairing the pods, rebuilding cabins, fixing and completing tasks no one else could. And two, that person would forever be in possession of reading, of understanding, people far better than they understood themselves. It was a fine line, he realized, between bringing such things to their attention versus allowing them, with all of their human limitations, to discover it for themselves.

At nearly two in the morning, Special Agent Yaguchi was teetering on not being afforded the latter opportunity. Sleep, while he could operate on less than most, was still a necessity: and with a day of assisting Kazuichi in opening up Nekomaru's pod, replacing a roof with Akane, and helping Gundham haul various sacks of hay and grain, and other miscellaneous items for the farm that had arrived on the most recent ship, he was quite ready for his four to six hours of rest.

One that, as he tugged on a pair of clean trousers and a fresh shirt, Special Agent Yaguchi wasn't about to let him have. States of emergency were logical situations, ones that matters of the heart felt rather distant from. And his attempt at conversation with Gundham Tanaka earlier that day, a series of noncommittal huffs and hums with the occasional darkly whimsical reply that was neither here nor there, was enough for him to understand neither Gundham nor Sonia wanted to discuss what had happened. They asked for help when needed but otherwise both of them wanted to be left alone. It had been at Kazuichi's request that he initially look in on them both, but the aforementioned physical labor with Gundham and a tray left outside of Sonia's cabin had been the extent of Hajime's free time. He was talented, but he was only one man: one man who selfishly desired sleep and, to his annoyance, saw right through the member of the Future Foundation who glowered at him.

She was so easy to read, she was...boring, a descriptor he'd come to understand as insulting. Even if the Izuru Kamukura part of him felt it deserved to be mentioned as a fact of life, Hajime bit his tongue: he lived with one green and one red eye, and his eternal torment would be that they would be in constant conflict with each other. "Well, it is a relief that someone from the Future Foundation understands the pressures my friends and I are under," He replied. He hadn't said a word to her during her spiel: instead, he'd gently closed the door in her face, giving her the best unamused expression he could muster in his tired state before opening it again in the midst of buttoning his top two buttons. Now with a shirt, trousers, and shoes, he was in a slightly better state than pajamas to venture out towards the hospital. "If you understand that much and how we are all barely keeping this island running as-is, then your point to check in on Sonia seems to be a moot one. But to be fully transparent with you, Yaguchi, Sonia asked to be left alone and, work aside, we aren't all in the best states to give her the comfort and support she's looking for. Gundham either, for that matter. Thank you, though, for stepping in and bringing her to the hospital."

A thanks she likely wouldn't appreciate, he thought: from the way she spoke, to her tone, to the clenched and rigid stance. All of it, of Special Agent Yaguchi, pointed towards a fondness, an affection even, for Sonia Nevermind. How that had developed, Hajime couldn't be sure, and he wasn't entirely certain if Yaguchi realized it herself. But her concern came from a place far more personal than the part of the Future Foundation that believed in Makoto Naegi's ideals, and the former Remnants of Despair who now faced the near-impossible task of rebuilding both the world and their own lives.

"You know," He spoke up just as the lights of the hospital came into view across the bridge to the third island. "You weren't sent here for any specific Future Foundation assignment, if only because you devote yourself to random tasks and chores here and aren't asked to mentor any of us. You can create and fight for the future you want, in the Future Foundation or not. You've got the luxury of not being part of the Remnants of Despair, and thus you can go anywhere and do anything. Instead of being envious or wanting of any of us, why not just build the life you want? And if that's helping Sonia in some way unless she tells you otherwise, so be it: you're clearly concerned for her, Yaguchi. You can make that into a life's ambition."

For all of his talents, he didn't feel like it was his place to mention the likes of 'love.' If only because he'd lost his, right around the time Sonia had lost her best friend. The first few days out of the simulation had been harrowing for everyone involved, but it had been the two of them who had felt the loss of Chiaki Nanami the most. Something he tried not to think about as he entered the hospital lobby and found Kyoko Kirigiri sitting in one of the waiting area chairs.

"You took longer than I'd have expected," She murmured, clearly also exhausted. Being in command in Makoto's absence was taking its toll: she wasn't quite as full of hope and optimism as he was, though she did her best to keep any sharp-tongued retorts at bay. Frankly, Byakuya Togami did enough of that for everyone on the island and then some. "Mikan-san passed by nearly twenty minutes ago: by the wail from Sonia-san's room, I'd imagine she just removed the glass and is stitching the wound."

"Then there shouldn't be any remaining infection," Hajime sighed. The small bit of relief he'd be granted that night. "I'm sure Mikan has taken care of it. Still, she can't be moved back to her cabin like this. Not in the state it's in, according to Yaguchi: and we don't have the time to clean for her."

Upon hearing his praise, Mikan had nearly dropped the metal tin of soiled supplies. But the glass vials, needle, and thread rattled loud enough for both Kyoko and Hajime to look her way. "She's resting now!" She piped up, "But Sonia-san will still need an IV and she shouldn't be on her feet for awhile. It-It'll be worse in the next few days: she will experience withdrawal symptoms, from the alcohol and the drugs. It will likely be painful for her."

"And Togami-san has planned to meet with her tomorrow as-is, as part of their weekly mentorship sessions," Kyoko sighed, bringing one gloved hand up to pinch the space between her eyes in frustration. Her colleague rarely raised his voice to anyone, but the Queen of Novoselic brought out the best in him. Or the worst: it had been decided that he was the only one she couldn't persuade to see every situation her way. And while that was an asset, his bedside manner was all but non-existent while his expectations and standards of royalty, even disgraced royalty, was higher than most of the other Remnants.

"If I'm not going to be sleeping tonight, should I build a boxing ring for them?" Hajime retorted, his lips tugging to a slight smirk. The expression was enough for Mikan to flush pink as she looked over her shoulder at him, paying more attention to Hajime than the IV bag she was reaching for. "It might lessen the damage."

"Not to either of their prides, I don't think," Kyoko replied, stifling her own amusement. Because, for most of them, anyone putting Byakuya Togami in his place amongst mortals was entertaining enough. "But they probably shouldn't be left on their own for too long."

Neither should Sonia as an individual it seemed, as another high-pitched groan came from her room. "We can talk in her room," Mikan interjected, finally having set up the bag to take to Sonia. "A-as long as we use quiet tones. She needs a calm and healing environment, and while I provided anaesthetic to her foot it's not advisable to give her any other pain relievers right now. She needs fluids, and electrolytes, and rest and food when she's able."

"I'm sorry," Shinobu murmured again, almost inaudibly quiet, as Sonia's soft whimpers and sniffling were hard to ignore. They weren't words she was used to speaking - even now, the more formal, more detached I regret and I appreciate often substituted for the more conventional I'm sorry and thank you. In this way, though? With Sonia clinging to her, crying, distressed and in pain both physical and emotional, I regret sounded almost comical in its cruel clinical nature. If there was anything she wanted to say to Sonia, it was simply to express how deeply sorry she was about how everything had turned out.

In her arms, Sonia shuddered and hiccuped. They'd spent enough nights at Anzu's side, softly rubbing her back and holding her hair to know what followed, and Shinobu adjusted their their hands to push her hair out of her face, so she wouldn't get sick upon herself again. That the foul mixture of bile and alcohol smeared across Shinobu's own white button-up seemed, at the moment, unimportant. "We're nearly there, Miss Nevermind. It'll only be a little longer." Try as she might to resist any friendly affection, the soft, soothing touch of her palm against Sonia's upper back and shoulders happened too quickly to be quashed.

Perhaps it was easier to apologize to her due to the fact, each day for the past few years, some part of her had wished that she had listened to Anzu, that she'd gone to Sonia's dorm room to take back every awful thing she'd said, and to tell Sonia the truth. They weren't so arrogant or self-aggrandizing as to assume that anything would have changed, long-term, if they had, but if there were any chance, they wished they'd taken it. For Sonia's sake, yes, and for her own.

In the hospital, Shinobu followed Miss Tsumiki's instructions, laying her down upon the bed in the unoccupied room as gentle as she could. "I hadn't seen Miss Nevermind in some time. I imagined she was busy with something, but given that we often ran into each other going about our daily business, that many days without seeing her caused me to become concerned." What she'd imagined Sonia to be busy with, of course, was Tanaka, but Shinobu kept that thought to herself. It wasn't important. "I decided to drop by her cabin after my scheduled duties, just to check up on her, and found her in a dangerously-inebriated state. Shortly after, she stumbled and stepped upon broken glass."

Of course, that was all clear enough, but Shinobu still felt some need to explain it, as though she might not be so feared if she could appear, even in the faintest way, an empathetic person. "Future Foundation members carry a first aid kid, and I'm trained in basic combat medicine, but I lacked confidence in treating her, and I imagined she would better recover in your care, Miss Tsumiki. Hence, bringing her here." Indeed, although it was imparted a certain stress and anxiousness to see Sonia in such a state, there was relief, too, at knowing she was at the hospital with the person best suited to looking after her.

The offered towel was taken, but unused. Shinobu imagined it would do little to clean the sick from their clothing, and intended instead to simply remove their shirt entirely. At the same time, she faintly recalled Miss Tsumiki having a degree of personal sexual trauma, and she would hate to upset her, especially when Sonia needed attending to, so it would have to wait until she departed. "I don't hate you, Miss Tsumiki. I understand that you are looking out for Miss Nevermind's wishes, and I would aim neither to compromise them, nor to interfere with your ability to attend to her effectively." Dark eyes, deep red, flicked over towards Sonia again. "I'll leave her in your capable hands, Miss Tsumiki, and send for Miss Kirigiri and Hinata-san. When I return, I'll wait in the lobby, so as not to cause trouble for Miss Nevermind or yourself."

There was nothing else she could do - a weak, frustratingly impotent feeling - and so she departed. Once outside, she stripped off her fouled shirt, the cooler air of the island at night not entirely unpleasant upon skin only covered by her sports bra. A small change in clothing was in order, though Shinobu didn't bother with a fresh blazer and tie, or even a button-up, dressing themselves only in a light, breathable shirt that would be comfortable if they felt the need to stay at the hospital into the morning hours. From there, the trip to see Miss Kirigiri was brief.

All things considered, Shinobu had no issue with Miss Kirigiri. She liked her, as far as she liked anyone. Miss Kirigiri seemed to embody the pragmatic ethos of Togami, but with a degree of Naegi's softer, more human-focused perspective. Quickly, she apologized for the late intrusion, and explained the situation to Miss Kirigiri as impassively as possible. When it came to Hinata, though, Shinobu couldn't avoid letting her emotions get in the way.

"Hinata-san." The way everyone spoke about him, he seemed almost too good to be true. In a way, they were envious of him, of his position with the remnants, and in another, they were grateful that he seemed willing to meet them on their own terms, not as a faceless member of Future Foundation but rather as a human being. And yet, the idea that he had somehow known about this, or at least recognized Sonia's absence and seen no reason to handle it, brought out the sharp expression upon her face and the cold anger in her voice.

"Miss Nevermind is in the hospital, in a rather poor state. Miss Tsumiki has requested that you come with haste." That was all that was necessary to say, and to turn around and return to the hospital would be to have fulfilled her responsibilities. "And, if I may offer a personal opinion, Hinata-san, I'm disappointed. I'm well-aware that the demands placed upon you and your friends by my organization are unrealistic and unfair, and I regret that there is little I can do about them aside from assist where I can. In a position where it would be better for all of you to rest, you've been put to work, and demanded to demonstrate self-sufficiency, and I'm sure that leaves little time for social calls."

Her eyes were narrowed, her body language closed off with arms across her chest and a general rigidity in her stance. "But still, I find that a poor excuse for allowing Miss Nevermind to slip through the cracks when she was in distress." How anyone could think of Sonia, an essentially good person even in light of what she'd done, and gamble with her health, they had no idea. "Had I not stopped by, I worry things would have become more dire, and I'm sure no one on this side of the island wishes to see that. I certainly do not." And, herself aside, no one in Future Foundation would step in to help. If nothing else, the remnants needed to look after each other, as few others would.

[meggannn]

i'm interested in hearing your thoughts on garrus being shoe-horned into the best friend role if you want to talk about it!

I may not be able to talk about it as much as some people who are super Garrus-critical, but yes I can try!

this really becomes a problem in ME3 more than the other games. basically my understanding of Garrus’s writing in ME3 is that they were well aware that of the fact that he was a fan-favorite, and didn’t want to threaten that, so they made it his crux. they took most of the fandom’s feelings for Garrus and decided to reflect that in Shepard’s relationship with Garrus, but by doing this, they basically ended up pretending a relationship had been there throughout ME1-2 that existed in some player’s heads. of course, Mass Effect is an RPG (well, sort of) so in theory... your best friend could be whoever you want to be, so with that in mind, it’s a little strange for a dev team to go “your best friend is this one character and we will write all of his scenes around that assumption.” unless they really want to play up the fanservice, I guess.

when he’s introduced in ME1, people joke about how they would never not recruit him, but it is a possibility—you could run through the entire game having only met Garrus in the Citadel Tower and never spoken to him again—in which case by meeting him again in ME2, it is a little strange to see that guy you barely remember from the Citadel in the last game show up, but not entirely unwelcome, because at least you, like, recognize him. it’s a little odd how you banter like old friends by making fun of his scars, but what is straight-up bizarre is how in the next game, ME3, Garrus talks about how he was there with you fighting Reapers from the beginning. of course, not a lot of people would specifically go out of their way to avoid recruiting Garrus in ME1, and very few people probably naturally avoided him standing by the elevator in ME1 (which is the only way to not recruit him if you don’t find him in Dr. Michele’s clinic), so the odds of someone not recruiting him in ME1 are low unless they intended to, but it’s still possible.

come ME2, I think they chose to forget that. a few lines have changed in 2 if you don’t recruit him in 1, but not many. remember in ME1, Garrus was an optional squaddie, who had an optional side quest, and his relationship with Shepard there was very much superior/subordinate, or as some people interpret it, more mentor-like. the most personal they get is when they talk about their jobs, the difficulties they face making moral choices, a bit about their families, and Spectrehood. it’s a nice introduction to Garrus’s character but the lines are drawn pretty clear between their roles; by the end of ME1, given the canon dialogue, the closest I’m personally willing to believe of their relationship from helping him deal with Saleon is “subordinate I am fond of,” or post-Saren after Garrus leaves the Normandy, “ally I can call on later.”

and then Shepard dies and is gone for two years. by ME2, when you meet up with him again, I actually find this jump from “subordinate” to “ally/friend” works for my Shepard, but it might not for people who never really engaged with Garrus or even liked him on the SR-1, or those who weren’t thrilled with the idea of him... basically running off to kill as many people as he could on Omega after Shepard got themselves spaced. if you don’t romance him in ME2, he has so little content in ME2: his recruitment mission, post-recruitment convo, loyalty convo trigger, loyalty quest, and post-loyalty convo. if you romance him, you get several more scenes, but compared to other romanceable companions like Miranda or Jack—whose attitudes toward you change the more you talk to them—or even Samara, who you can just chat with while looking out at the stars, Garrus’s platonic relationship with Shepard seems to stall after the Sidonis quest: you gain his loyalty for the suicide mission and then you’re assumed to be all cool. realistically, they could’ve given us a lot of reasons why Garrus might not want to talk—he’s probably still reeling from getting his face blown off and confronting his betrayer again, or if you don’t let him kill Sidonis, maybe he could’ve gotten pissed at Shepard and confronted them—but that’s me trying to justify a lack of content. truthfully there’s very little non-romanceable Garrus content in ME2 to build up that “best friends” angle they want to sell in ME3.

in ME3, you DO get more content that shows how naturally “at ease” he feels working with Shepard: his recruitment mission, longer conversation trees when he joins, more banter from squaddies—including Garrus—on missions, him inviting you to go bottle-shooting, a scene with him after every main mission where he asks you how you’re doing, if you miss Ash/Kaidan, mutual struggles over the burden of leadership, worrying over his family, etc. by this point though, if you didn’t romance him, he’s treating you like his best friend even though he basically ignored you all of ME2. again, you could rationalize that time as his social awkwardness on a Cerberus ship, or him dealing with trauma, but in my friend’s words, it’s really more of bioware telling-but-not-showing that they really wanted you to like this guy but waiting until the last game to give him consistent scenes with the player that reflected that closeness.

on paper, Garrus makes a lot of sense to be close to Shepard, because assuming you recruit him in ME1, he’s been fighting Reapers with Shepard in every game, but also... so has Joker or Chakwas or Tali, for the same reason; so does Ash or Kaidan, for being the only Alliance teammate who was there at the beginning and end (assuming they didn’t both die); so does Liara, for being there every game and only abstaining in ME2 because she was still dealing with the fallout of saving your life (there’s lots of criticism of her being “forced” on the player too and while I agree with some of it, that’s a topic for another time lol). Bioware does introduce Garrus early in each game—I don’t know if this was intentional, because they knew he was so popular so they wanted to give him to the player early—but then he has so little to say in ME2, the game about building relationships, that introducing him early just means he stands around for half game talking about calibrations. a lot of fandom, especially shakarian fans, end up filling the gaps of ME2 with their own headcanons, myself included, to make the relationship development feel a little smoother, but the trouble there is when we start treating it like it was always canon for everybody.

I know it seems weird to complain that such a popular character should’ve had even more content—there are lots of other characters just as or more deserving who got really screwed over (coughs Ashley)—but in my ideal world, they all would’ve had more content lmfao.

[arocharacteradvice]

I'm demiromantic and recently wrote a sci-fi novel with an aro main character. I partially based his experiences off of my own, but I'm worried that it's not clear enough that he's aromantic. He's gay aromantic and has had a number of romantic/sexual relationships, but values his platonic bond with his best friend more. He realizes he's aromanitc during the book as he's in a romantic/sexual relationship, but there's a mismatch between his and his partner's (who's allo) feelings. (1/2)

(2/2) He's social and physically affectionate, so he thinks of romantic relationships as friendships with sex where you're allowed to be more affectionate. It's the difference between his and his partners feelings that makes him realize that isn't how it is for everyone. It hurts their relationship. His partner and others accuses him of being cold and he faces arophobia, but later he gets an apology and people around him validate him as loving and aro. Are there pitfalls I should be aware of?

Oh, this is another one of the two-part ask about the aromantic main character in my sci-fi novel from the demiromantic writer! I was hoping to make this a series and have him end up with the partner I mentioned in the last ask at the end, but with the understanding that he's aromantic and while he does care about his partner its not in a romantic way. They go into it openly knowing their feelings are mismatched. Do you think it's okay or still amatonormative to have him end in a monogamous qpr?

Hi!

So, first off, I really love that the character eventually gets an apology from his friends. I’m sure lots of us on the aro spectrum will find that very satisfying to read, myself included!

I also think your story has potential to be a really interesting portrayal of an aro piecing together how he’s different to others, as if I’ve understood properly it’s not a lack of feeling but a difference that makes him notice his aromanticism, and that’s another thing I’d love to read because we’re in desperate need of coming out stories and media that examines how aros question seeing as we’re realising a lack rather than a differing attraction. As you’re someone on the arospec who does experience attraction, I imagine pulling from your own experiences will be very useful in this case, though you can of course always ask aromantics to compare and contrast experiences if you need to.

As for making it clear your character is aromantic: I’ve written a post about this topic here, but the tl;dr is that you can just use the word. Explaining what this means for the character in the text is always good, but don’t feel like there’s anything stopping you from hitting your readers over the head with the specifics of what your character is and isn’t. 

It’s difficult to think of specific pitfalls with what you’ve described. That doesn’t mean your writing has no awkward phrasing or dodgy implications, because I haven’t read it, but it seems like you’re covering bases by doing things like actively presenting arophobic characters as wrong and needing to grow. If you’re asexual, I would recommend following a few allosexual aros and maybe asking for further specific advice about writing a gay aro’s experience of a romantic/sexual experience, but that’s about it.

Whether or not it’s amatonormative to have an aro end up in a monogamous qpr is really about the specifics (again) of that situation. It’s far from inherently arophobic, as it’s the reality for lots of aros, but I agree that it’s something to be handled with care.

 The biggest things that stick out for me are that a) the aro character is intended to end up with a previous partner who was arophobic to them in the past, and b) that you describe the two as having mismatched feelings. The first thing here means that you’re going to have to put a lot of work into showing how the alloromantic partner has grown and made it up to the aro, because otherwise as a reader I would struggle to feel convinced that the relationship would be healthy for the aro, and would likely have my romance repulsion triggered.

This isn’t to say it *is* unhealthy to write a relationship like this, just that I’m on high alert for situations that might trigger an aro character’s repulsion, especially as they are the character I’m likely to identify with, and I imagine that’s the same for a lot of romance repulsed people. If you decide you do want to write this relationship, I think you just need to sit down and go over the eventual relationship dynamic you’ve written like it’s a contract, and look for ‘loopholes’ that might lead to a reader not being convinced the aro is safe. And then fix them. 

The second thing just concerns me because you can take ‘mismatched’ to mean they have different or unequal feelings towards their relationship. I think you may just have meant they have different base feelings about each other (romantic/platonic), and if so that’s fine and obviously fairly standard, but if not you may need to tweak a few things to make sure both characters are going into this relationship with the same intentions and ideas about what they want it to be.

Really, what I think you need to do is consider *why* you want the characters to end up together, because reasoning and intent are I think very important aspects of what makes something amatonormative. Does the idea of either character ending the series single make you feel sad or guilty? Do you feel that their relationship is just how your story would be expected to end? Do you not actually know why you want to write it? If yes to any of these, it might be amatonormative. Hopefully you figure out what’s best for you and your story.

Best wishes,

- Mod Kaladin

[bonewaryreblogs]

So, this whole story is loosely broken up into four "arcs" that I haven't completely decided how I want to tackle. Each one has areas I can use as "filler", usually to allow the cast to get used to a new normal before the next big plot point happens.

I'm thinking I might do this anthology style, so I can write whatever comes to mind without worrying if I've properly set it up, just adding context before or after to put it somewhere on the timeline.

Origins

Before Silver Arrives

Things from the show that I don’t want to rewrite but may reference as having happened.

Silver lives with the Twilight Clan for a bit (this may be hours, days, or maybe weeks depending on how much I feel like fleshing out his “old friends”).

Silver leaves the Twilight Clan, still banished but with Mephiles’ blessing (and some cool new accessories Meph was gonna give Silver on his next birthday).

Silver Hidden

Following his instincts, Silver gets to Bygone Isle and immediately recognizes Sonic from his visions. He hides and observes, not interacting with anyone if he can help it.

He’s heard horror stories since he was young about how people outside the Clan act; sometimes it’s true (everyone lives separately) but not always (he's heard that “everyone only looks out for themselves” but sometimes he sees them help each other without needing a reward), which confuses him at first.

Silver Discovered

Silver is found out and proceeds to be very socially awkward. He accidentally accuses Sonic of starting the impending disaster his visions foretell and friends are not made.

Silver continues to watch Sonic and Co but doesn’t bother hiding as much anymore.

-

Main Story

The Rise of Lyric

Team Sonic gives Silver a chance and decides he’s alright while saving the world. A lot happens.

Tikal’s arrival kicks off this story-line; she’s been alone (except for Chip) for a long time and basically takes the place of Sticks (I never liked Sticks :P).

Team Sonic becomes Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Tikal and Silver. Some other main player are Lyric himself, Dr. Eggman and Rouge, Blaze, Sally Acorn, Shadow, and more!

Sonic and Blaze recognize each other but neither addresses this until Blaze mentions that his mother misses him as she’s leaving to return to Soleanna.

Silver Joins the Main Cast

Silver tries to integrate into normal life now that his “purpose” had been fulfilled. Many “filler” adventures are had from the show happen and Silver proves himself a good friend, rather than just a strong ally in a fight.

Many side characters are (re)introduced, like Sonic’s Uncle Shadow and fellow former Twilight Clansman Espio, who now works with the Chaotix Detective Agency.

Silver Moves in with Amy

Amy basically adopts Silver as her little brother. I personally really like when they are depicted with a sibling-like dynamic so I’m just leaning into that. Because I can.

Silver starts delving into his history a bit more and Amy convinces him to go to a therapist, if only so he knows better what’s different between the Outside World and the Twilight Clan he grew up in.

-

Soleanna

Sonic’s abandoned history finally catches up to him.

Blaze ‘forgets’ to inform Sonic’s mom that she saw Sonic while saving the world. Once she finds out, Mom goes to Bygone Isle to retrieve him. Turns out Sonic was born into an influential family in Soleanna (not royalty but definitely in the Royal Court) but had run away from the stifling lifestyle so he could live freely.

“Temporary Girlfriend” happens (Sonic asks Amy to pretend to be his girlfriend so Mom doesn’t realize he’s basically a beach bum) but Mom is not impressed.

Soleanna

Mom takes Sonic back to Soleanna to marry Blaze, since they’d been betrothed since childhood.

Blaze is just as unhappy about this arrangement as Sonic; she feels that she’s perfectly capable of ruling on her own, without some ‘man’ by her side. She thinks of Sonic as a friend, and an ally if things get rough, but nothing romantic.

Things are eventually “called off” tho many in the court assert that it was simply suspended for a later date, when they’ve both “matured” and accept their roles.

Recovery

Everyone goes back home and pretends that never happened.

The group visits Soleanna a few times, mostly during festivals and such, to get Blaze out of the castle and so Sonic can reconnect with his twin younger siblings, Manic and Sonia.

Mom may or may not still be trying to get Sonic to come back home and fulfill his family obligations. They avoid her anyways.

-

Soleanna 2

Wedding Boogaloo

Sometime later, Sonic disappears and his friends are starting to grow concerned but reason that Sonic has disappeared before and tends to like his privacy so he’s probably fine. Then they receive wedding invitations and realize that he is being forced to marry Blaze anyway; sending them invitations was a cry for help, since they were barred from contact otherwise.

Knot This Time

They all try reeeaaally hard to get around the rules, to no avail.

Politics happen and Blaze is unable to dodge a second bullet; she has to marry or abdicate the throne. The next in line is a greedy mofo who would doom the country and Blaze couldn’t live with herself if she let that happen.

Silver Rings

Blaze eventually circumvents the problem by proposing to Silver instead, as Blaze thinks they could complement each other well. Silver is extremely uncomfortable with this and has to think about it, venting to Amy about his feelings and eventually comes to the conclusion that he’s ok with it. Mostly.

She doesn’t have to marry the one her parents chose for her, she doesn’t even have to marry someone of the opposite gender, she just has to have someone to take care of more “domestic matters”.

Silver Boom

Feeling in a Sonic mood, let's see how long it lasts :p

So I've had my main hedgehogs done for a while, finally finished Tails, and I'm halfway done with Knuckles and don't feel motivated enough to finish him -.- but this is more or less what he'll look like

I have an older version of the 'hogs and a lot of info on Reddit

Anyways

Silver the Hedgehog is my favorite Sonic character and the initial idea for this was to add Silver to the Sonic Boom franchise, rewriting the mess that was Rise of Lyric. Then I could add him into the show's timeline and fix some things that bugged me there. Like Sticks' whole existence.

But we'll get to that!

I realized at some point that I can basically do whatever I want with this universe, so I decided to utilize elements of most of the Sonic games/media I was familiar with, researching what I was less familiar with, and throwing it all together to create a mostly coherent story. I'll try to use (or at least touch on) as much as I can but forgive me if I leave out your favorite thing. If I do, please tell me about it! I can always be persuaded to add more and this universe is hardly set in stone :p

Basic History of Mobius

While the planet mobius was mostly formed like any other, its molten core contained magic mixed with magma. From the tumult, some of the magic magma crystalized and found its way to the surface, forming eight crystals directly linked to the eight quadrants of the spherical molten magic core. Lesser crystals filled with magic power grew in caves near the magic magma but their powers were finite while the connected eight, eventually called Chaos Crystals, were seemingly limitless as they drew from the core directly.

The Ancients, as they would come to be known, used the “clean” energy of the Chaos Crystals to fuel their hi-tech society but removing the Crystals from their proper places and using their energy with such reckless abandon unbalanced the planet’s magic and the society crumbled under its own weight. Many of the Chaos Crystals were taken and jealously guarded by what would become a magic fueled ruling class, generally influenced by the crystals’ instinctual will to return to their rightful places in the world.

Such was the fate of the Sun Stone of Soleanna, Spagonia; The Radiant Opal in the Kingdom of Acorn, Northammer; the Sky Garnet of the Babylonian Gardens, Shamar, until its cataclysmic demise and subsequent withdrawal into a desert storm; the Verdant Emerald of Angel Island, guarded by the near extinct Knuckles Clan of echidnas; and, in a way, the Twilight Amethyst of the Moonlit Mountains, Holoska, whose protectors are “recruited” from across the globe for their powerful potential. Of the remaining Chaos Crystals, the Shock Zircon powers a prison holding a mage and mechanist from the Ancient War; the Tidal Sapphire is protected by a powerful water elemental in the depths of the sea; and the Flame Ruby is sealed and resealed within a host, the latest of which is the heir to Soleanna’s throne. Having two Chaos Crystals in such close proximity to each other, and Angel Island traveling overhead, unbalanced the magic enough for Lyric to escape his prison and begin to plan his takeover.

~

In more recent history, humans arrived in the Space Colony Arc about 150 years ago, enough time for the first generation (Gerald Robotnik) to have died off, the second generation (Professor Pickle) to be old and retired, the third generation (Ivo Robotnik/"Eggman") to have been at least raised on the planet if not born there, and the fourth generation (Chris Thorndyke) to be in school, having known nothing else.

Mobius was in a medieval type of era when they arrived and relied heavily on a magic-wielding ruling class with various magic artifacts. The humans, only about a thousand strong when they arrived, bribed their way to peace by selling their tech and knowledge, allowing the average citizen to be able to stand toe-to-toe with magic-wielders. This lead to rapid advances and an odd mix of extremely advanced technology right next to medieval magic, as well as a combined magi-tech emerging in prominence, as they begin to understand the mechanisms behind their magic.

The Arc is in approximate geosynchronous orbit over Spagonia and is considered the capital “city” for humans, though they’ve been allowed to make several colonies on the planet itself. Eggman is essentially kicked out of the human civilization for being too reckless and unpredictable to fit into the box most humans set up for themselves. He’s mostly harmless, unable to take over a single island due to Sonic and friends stopping him.

~

Our story begins as Silver wakes up from another nightmare, the same one he always has; the blue hedgehog, surrounded by flame and rubble, turning to look at Silver with a cocky smile. The details would change, of course, but the hedgehog and the dread was always the same. Silver goes about his day (possibly several days, depending) before Mephiles contacts Silver to come see him. Mephiles is the personification of the Twilight Amethyst and leader of the Twilight Clan; he knows of Silver’s constant nightmares and wants to hear about this latest one. Eventually the discussion turns to Silver’s increasing desire to leave, find the blue Hedgehog, and prevent the destruction he always sees in his dreams. Mephiles eventually relents; Silver is banished from the Clan, as is their custom with anyone who leaves, but he does so with Mephiles’ blessing.

Led by instinct, Silver finds himself at Bygone Isle and immediately recognizes Sonic from his dreams. Having heard horror stories about outsiders all his life, Silver decides to hide and observe for now; it’s against his nature to hurt the innocent but he isn’t sure Sonic is innocent of the impending doom. Some stories were confirmed to be true, like everyone living separately, but some seemed to be false, like nobody helping each other. Of course, it doesn’t take long for Silver to be found out; he was well trained but still young and inexperienced. In a panic, Silver spouts off about the inevitable doom of the planet and Sonic’s connection to it, leading to misunderstandings and general caution between them. Silver still watches but doesn’t bother hiding as much.

Thus begins the main storyline of Rise of Lyric. Race around the globe with Sonic and friends to see who can get to the Chaos Crystals first; can our heroes keep them long enough to keep the world from falling apart?

[angst-in-space]

hi! do you mind briefly describing your writing process? i've been trying to get into it lately, but i've never written before and i'm curious about how you do it :D

hello anon! first of all, congrats on starting your writing journey - that's very exciting and i wish you the best!

obviously everyone's writing process is different, so what works for me may not work for every writer in the world. but below is an explanation of what my own process is (sorry it’s so long lol):

when i first get an idea, i start a document that has two sections: a brainstorming section and an outlining section.

the brainstorming section is the more "messy" section where i spill out ideas as they come to me with no particular order/structure (the general concept, the characters' roles in the story, random scenes i want to include, etc.)

then i start outlining. outlines vary widely from writer to writer; i know some writers who have very detailed scene-by-scene outlines, some who have very loose outlines, and some who don’t outline at all. personally, i tend to do a bulleted list of events in the story from start to finish. this can of course be flexible and subject to change when i actually begin writing––but before i start, i like to have a fairly detailed plan of everything that happens in the story.

while i’m not saying you have to do this, i’ll say that in my own experience it helps tremendously in the long-run. i find that if i have a full outline before i start writing, i have a much better sense of direction and purpose which prevents me from hitting a wall. it’s like having a little GPS with me, taking me from point to point - but as i actually make my way through, i might find some better/alternate routes along the way. ;)

once i have a full outline, i start writing. i always write things chronologically (from start to finish); i know a lot of authors prefer to write scenes out of order, so do whatever works for you! personally i’ve always written things in order just because i feel like it helps me kind of “live out” the story alongside the characters, gauge how the pacing feels along the way, etc.

i think writing that rough draft is probably the most challenging part and it’s a little tricky to advise how to go about doing it since everyone’s brains works differently. i think it’s important to remember through this process that your rough draft is not final, and that you can always go back and change things if it’s not working.

i also think it helps to set goals for yourself. these could be word goals (like “i’m gonna write 100 words a day”) or time goals (“i’m gonna write for 30 mins every day”). i have a lot of issues with concentration/motivation, so having little goals like that can be useful for me. note that, of course, if you can’t always meet your goals it’s okay––life happens, some days you’ll feel more motivated than others, and any progress at all is still progress! and progress can also include brainstorming, editing, etc.

if you’re like me and have trouble focusing, there’s a few helpful tools out there you might check out. i’m a big fan of write or die, a site where you can choose a time/word goal and try to reach the word goal before time runs out. despite its intense name, it has “reward”, “consequence”, and “stimulus” modes; i’m a bigger fan of the reward and stimulus modes which reward you with positive sounds/images as you write (whereas consequence mode makes annoying noises at you if you stop writing for too long lol). i also use cold turkey writer pretty religiously; it’s an app where you set a word or time goal and it blocks out everything else on your computer until you reach that goal.

once i have a complete rough draft, i generally will give myself at least a couple days to step back from it before i start editing. i find it’s helpful to have that brief mental break and to come back to the piece with fresh eyes.

i start with minor edits first (i.e. looking for typos and other small mistakes, taking out unnecessary words, etc.). As I do this, I flag any parts that feel awkward or not fleshed out enough; I don’t delve too deep into fixing those yet, just make a note to myself like “the end of this scene feels abrupt,” or “this dialogue doesn’t seem quite right and i don’t know why” and so forth (i use google docs so i just use the comments feature for this; i know microsoft word has something similar).

once i’ve done most of the minor edits, i go back and work on the bigger problems i.e. flow issues, reworking sentences/dialogue, etc. if i’m not sure how to fix something after trying it a couple ways, i just leave it and make a note to my betas that i need some advice on that part.

i hand off the fic/chapter to my betas once i’ve done at least one round of edits. i know some writers don’t use betas so it depends on what works for you, but typically i don’t post something without having at least 1-2 people look it over first. i usually leave a few notes for my betas letting them know if there are specific scenes i want some advice on, things i’m not sure about or worried about, etc.

once the piece has been beta’d, i do another round of edits where i make any final changes––mostly minor things, but there’s usually a couple of bigger things i want to fix (i.e. if there are scenes/sections my betas flagged because they thought it could be fleshed out some more).

then…..*drumroll*......i post the fic! (and then lather, rinse, repeat because i have like 5 wips at all times oops).

anyway this got incredibly long and i hope it’s not too overwhelming, but tl;dr my process is: brainstorm, outline, write the first draft, edits round #1, send to betas, edits round #2, post. i hope this helps and if you have any other questions i’m happy to help!