#Because you can't do 06 without Silver and you have to have Blaze so that Silver isn't completely alone

[shayminlucario07]

Wait. WHY WOULD THEY MAKE *KNUCKLES* THE IBLIS TRIGGER

THIS IS LITERALLY THE VERSION OF SONIC WHERE IT MAKES THE *MOST* SENSE TO HAVE HUMAN CHARACTERS ALONGSIDE SONIC

THERE COULD NOT BE A BETTER CIRCUMSTANCE TO MAKE ELISE AND RETELL THE 06 STORY IT WOULD BE SO MUCH EASIER TO MAKE WORK

i’m sure you’ve been asked this before, so apologies in advance, but is entirely necessary to watch the knuckles show before watching the third movie? or is it more just something to pad the time between the two movies?

naw you dont need to watch it. the only real important thing they dropped was that knuckles is the iblis trigger. which you dont need to know for the third movie but you DO need to know for the memes

[jinxedshapeshifter]

I find it kinda funny that people act like Silver being a dork takes away how capable he is in a fight.

Silver's always been a dork, it just hasn't been as obvious as it is now because in the past he's been fighting for something while now he just exists and doesn't know what to do with himself. He's always been silly and/or awkward when he feels like he can let his guard down:

In Sonic 06, he comes off as socially awkward when he doesn't have a goal he's after.

In Sonic Rivals 2, once he gets to know Espio and realize Espio could help him, he gets awkward around Espio specifically (it's not super obvious because Espio and Silver are both socially awkward, but Silver very much comes off as awkward in Sonic Rivals 2).

In Sonic Colors DS, he's incredibly chill and is more focused on enjoying himself than anything. Here, he's shown to have a snarky side if the situation calls for it, saying "Well, that was a let down" if Sonic fails the mission he gives him.

In Sonic Forces, he's back to being serious, without much awkwardness because he's helping fight a war and doesn't have much screentime. He's not aggressive unless he has to be, and generally knows when to back down and retreat. He's still capable in a fight, and does a pretty good job fighting Infinite considering what he's up against.

In Team Sonic Racing, we see his snarky side, his awkward side, and his serious side. He's still down to trash talk people to hell during races (and he gets SO brutal with it too lmao), still comes off as incredibly awkward, and still has instances of being nervous about what's going on.

Silver being awkward (which is a trait he's always had) doesn't suddenly make him not a good fighter, and it doesn't mean he can't take things seriously when the situation calls for it. Hell, in the Sonic cookbook he claims he defaults to survivalist thoughts, and this is made incredibly clear in the games and comics when he or the people he cares about are in danger. When he or someone he cares about is in danger, even if it's not immediate, he defaults to that "anyone who gets in my way is asking for a fight" mentality that we saw in Sonic 06 and the Rivals duology.

There's nothing wrong with that. He's completely capable in a fight, he just prefers not to fight unless it's necessary for survival (which explains a lot more about his characterization in both 06 and the Rivals duology than I think people realize). He's not even naturally violent in 06, he has to be convinced by Blaze that to save his future he has to kill Sonic. By the end of the Rivals duology, he's in the same spot basically (but also Sonic Rivals and Sonic Rivals 2 has messy characterization anyway imo. Why are you fighting each other instead of just moving out of each others way). Once Silver can recognize someone's not a threat (as he did with Sonic at the end of 06 and Espio in Sonic Rivals 2) he's not violent or even aggressive.

Highlighting different parts of a character's personality isn't a bad thing and it's something the Sonic series does a lot. Different aspects of Sonic's personality are highlighted depending on the situation (he acts more serious in the last part of Sonic and the Black Knight and in Sonic Adventure 2's last story, for example). Vector is also this way; if he's on a job he'll focus on the job, but he will not stand for anything illegal or not getting paid what he's worth, and gets aggressive if it's revealed he WON'T be getting his money's worth.

Silver is not the only character whose personality seems to change depending on circumstances. That's just how personalities work. Different aspects of your personality are highlighted differently depending on current circumstances. It doesn't inherently mean you're changing yourself or anything, it simply means circumstances have brought out a specific aspect of your personality. I have a talkative side but it's mostly brought out when I'm tired, for example. Under most circumstances I don't talk much.

Stop treating Silver's development and circumstances changing the part of his personality like it's a bad thing pls, he's no less capable in a fight than he was in Sonic 06 (in fact I wouldn't be surprised if he's more capable)

[true-blue-sonic]

hello! hope you are having a good 2025 so far :) i have a couple of questions:

would you say espilver is currently the most "canon" ship for either of these characters? the idw staff seems to back the ship and they now have an increasing presence in the writing for sonic game canon (flynn and stanley being involved in frontiers, for example). ian flynn did have a whole 20-30 minute bumblekast episode on just espilver. i don't particularly care for idw either but the thought of idw's influence potentially giving us more espilver in canon is funny to me

do you have any mental/physical health condition hcs for espilver? i see silver in particular hced as autistic and asthmatic a lot on tumblr

Hello ^-^ I am, yes! Am gonna teach myself how to play piano again, so I can play Sonic songs :> As for your questions:

No, I wouldn't say so. I think SoJ teases Silvaze most of all: Silver's had far more appearances with her than with Espio, both big and small, and their Sonic Channel art has mirrored each other before. I've also seen a post before on Tumblr about how Silver and Blaze seem to have something to do with Tanabata, a Japanese festival. Wikipedia describes the story behind it as two lovers who were separated by the Milky Way, but who could meet "once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar." Tanabata is specifically celebrated by writing wishes on pieces of paper and hanging them on a bamboo tree, which is shown in a Sonic Channel drawing with Silver. Meanwhile, there's also a drawing of Blaze in a similar pose as him, making a flame the shape of Silver's quills with her pyrokinesis.

I believe that Tumblr post described that Silver and Blaze, who lost each other at the end of '06, are meant to be represented by Tanabata, but it's been years since I've seen it. Regardless though, to the best of my knowledge SoJ has not acknowledged the friendship between Silver and Espio from Rivals 2 a single time in comparison; they only talked once more in Forces and are otherwise not paired up or linked in the slightest (wah :(). SoJ has the final say about these matters, and to my knowledge, all ships between game characters are forbidden to make official (which probably is a good thing, haha). As for Ian, I believe he did an Espilver Bumblekast episode because somebody paid him to do that, but I could be wrong in that regard. And IDW has also had an extensive Silvaze ship tease in iirc issue 64 and afaik Silver and Blaze have been hanging out together ever since, so I wouldn't say the comic writers are really going one way or the other with what ship they like best🍀

And secondly, I can't say I have very explicit ones, I'm afraid. Unless you count the fact that I headcanon that Silver never really paid attention to how much he's eating and that's why he was a skinny li'l twig guy when coming to the past the first time, who became a bit more chonky and floofy due to encouragement to eat better from his friends. But in the Rivals games his model's torso is noticeably skinnier compared to the other hedgehogs to me; I just spun a little story around it, haha. Other than that, I myself don't think Silver is asthmatic, though: in '06 and the Rivals games both he can run around endlessly without tiring, also in flame-filled environments (plus, the only times I can remember him being out of breath was in '06 when fighting Shadow, who was too, and in Rivals 2 when his powers were depleted entirely. Other than that no instances come to my mind so quickly, though I could have forgotten one). I think now that he's got good friends in the past and seems to pop in every once in a while just to have fun with them (e.g. TSR, the Riders games), he's doing okay❤️ And as for Espio... physically I think he's just a healthy boi, haha! But both he and Silver mentally seem to have a tendency to put a lot of pressure on themselves; Espio to be a good ninja (e.g. seen in how he reacts when you get a low score in Heroes or him chastising himself for needing to train more when losing at something), and Silver to protect the world (as described in a Sonic Channel story iirc). But they can support each other there, and give the other encouragement and affection so they feel better about themselves <3 Those are what come to my mind first, at least!

[thespianinthebackcorner]

guys guys guguguguguys. Guys I think I just figured out sonic 06 lore

Ok ok so this has to do with the ending of 06 and the age old question of "where the fuck is Iblis in the current timeline". I think I've figured it out.

Okokok so start with the basics. In Sonic 06, Blaze seals Iblis inside herself and dies. Mephiles goes back in time and fuses with Iblis bedorehand to stop it from happening. After the Solaris bossfight, Sonic and Elise go back in time to kill Solaris. Because I don't think you can just... kill the god of time like that, everything freezes there, and an extant timeline is created a little further back so that things can keep moving.

Since Solaris' death was the trigger for that, it indicates that the main timeline probably can't exist without him in some form. (This might apply to the others, especially considering Movie!Knuckles' flames of disaster, but because Solaris lore is kept under tight lock and key, we might never know.) After that, we didn't know what happened to him- up until Shadow Generations, when it was revealed that Mephiles- one half of the god- was trapped in the White Space the whole time. So that raises the question- where's Iblis? Most people theorise that he's in Blaze's dimension, trapped either in a dormant state within Blaze herself or simply just kept there somewhere away from where he can reunite with Mephiles. That theory relies on the event of Blaze sealing Iblis inside herself during 06- but that makes the timeline messy. The extant timeline was created far back enough that 06 never happened, but somehow Iblis is still inside Blaze or connected to her family line somehow. For that to work, the extant timeline would've had to be created in that future, after Blaze sealed Iblis away. Which is for sure not what happened, given the evidence against it.

However, if Iblis isn't in the White Space and he isn't in Blaze's dimension, then either he's in another timeline entirely- Or he's somewhere in the current timeline sealed away, indicating that the extant timeline was created either during or just after the Solaris Project when everything went wrong. But because Shadow and Silver were there for the Project, and Sonic and Elise killed a whole Solaris, that doesn't make any sense.

So we have a set point that the extant timeline needs to be created at, and the current theories don't quite work. So how can we find a place for Iblis that does work?

Simple. Well, no, not really, but hear me out.

Remember how I said earlier that because Solaris' death was the trigger event for the extant timeline, it likely meant that the timeline couldn't exist without him? We're circling back to that. If both Mephiles and Iblis are in the extant timeline, trapped somewhere (while being outside of time we can still consider Mephiles in the running timeline in a sense) then that would mean Solaris has moved to that timeline and might not be able to exist in the frozen 06 timeline. Yes, he exists in the past present and future all at once, but if the timeline splits into two, who's to say he's still restricted to one? It's possible. To that end, my theory is:

When the timeline moved back and was split, so was Solaris- Mephiles moved into the extant timeline, but was sealed in the White Space surrounding it. If he gets out, he's in the extant timeline, yes, but otherwise he's still sealed away. Iblis, meanwhile, is kept in the frozen 06 timeline- he's there, as a part of Solaris, but everything's stopped, so he can't do anything. That timeline is permanently locked off from entering by anyone (likely other than a full-formed Solaris, or possibly Mephiles since he holds the temporal power).

But why would Iblis be in the frozen dimension, I hear you ask? Because Iblis is more dangerous, of course. Mephiles, as smart and witty and cunning as he is, still has restricted levels of power, and he's smart enough to know that trying to get Iblis back would fuck over the timeline even more than it already has (which also likely affects them too, so it's not worth the risk). Without Iblis there to re-form, he only has so much power, and in terms of changing the timeline, can only make as much change as anyone else can by directly influencing things himself. Essentially, without the possibility of healing and becoming whole once more (my keyboard keeps capitalising Whole send help), he's a lot less dangerous to the timeline and the world, especially since he doesn't have access to that primary motive anymore. Iblis, however, isn't as sentient. He has some intelligence, but not enough to stop him from being the rampaging Flames of Disaster we know from 06. So if you're choosing one to keep in the moving timeline and one to keep frozen, the answer is obvious- keep the half with common-sense logic, emotion, and the capability for a redemption arc in the moving timeline, and keep the near-mindless condensed unchecked power of the sun in the frozen timeline.

Sonic Generations implies (mostly via design, afaik) that the Time Eater is Mephiles' temporal power torn from him by Eggman (unintentionally so) and left to run rampant the same way Iblis was, indicating that both (a) Mephiles in Shadow Generations is purely and entirely the heart and mind of Solaris with just his smoky form and what self-defence powers he has to his name, removed entirely of temporal power, and (b) the Time Eater is essentially what would've happened in 06 if the split had let Mephiles keep the sun-power and what was torn away was the temporal power instead. So it's interesting to see what could've been there, and what happens when Solaris is torn into two a second time (meaning technically it could've been torn into at least three separate entities and the Duke of Soleanna got lucky, actually).

Honestly I don't remember where I was going with that paragraph- I think it was just an extra note. Either way- Iblis is sealed away in the frozen timeline, which is why we've seen nothing about him since 06, because it's the safest way to keep him contained and away from Mephiles.

[tazienimp]

I wanted to talk about Mephy and Doom again , their flaws specifically, the detrimental ones. The ones that keep kicking them in the teeth but it's ingrained so deeply into who they are that they can't help it.

Doom's detrimental flaws first.

He's too trusting. He's too prone to giving second chances. He's desperate for a connection, desperate to love. We see it with Black Death, his twin brother, and Mephy specifically. He loves his sons, he'd do anything for them. But the two people who have hurt them the most, he forgave too easily. His brother deserves to rot in the deepest pits of hell for what he did to Eclipse, he knows that. But that's also his twin brother, his baby brother, and he felt if he could just talk to him, just reach him, he could reach the 'real him' and not have to say goodbye. Well, when Death started targeting his mate, just like he targeted Eclipse, Doom knew he had to say goodbye, and consider Death dead to him, and nearly fucking killed him a second time.

When Mephy's actions resulted in the entire Shadow Virus happening, and then he abandoned Doom and their newborn daughter like a coward, Doom wanted to cut him off, he wanted him to suffer just as much as Doom had, because Doom had put so fucking much into their relationship, he had sacrificed so much to make it work, he had fucking worshipped him. And Mephy treated him like nothing he had done mattered. But, seeing Mephy standing on his porch, sobbing, thin as a twig, matted and filthy and shivering, even after all he did, Doom caved and let him back in with open arms and a river's worth of tears.

Doom is, sentimental. He loves too much. His heart is too big for him to handle. We even saw it in Shadow 05. He gave Shadow chance after chance after chance to join him, and at the end you can bet he went easy on him cause he couldn't bare to defeat his own son who had already suffered so much at his own hand, even if it was inadvertently. In SXSG we also see it. That end boss fight, didn't happen. Doom can distort the minds of those he has a connection with, he can't distort reality itself. When Shadow dropped into the big eye, he was forced to take a nap. That end boss fight was all in Shadow's head to give Doom enough wiggle room to escape and leave without being detected, faking his own death just like he did in 05. It was a wrapped up loose end more than anything, and a secret attempt to bond with his son that failed miserably and he only ended up hurting himself when Gerald and Maria lashed out at him, so he had to commit to the whole 'I'm evil, grrrrrr' bit he had going on.

Doom is so wildly forgiving when you look deep enough into his actions, it's concerning. It's kind of sad, really. Yeah he can be really angry and possessive, and absolutely he can get violently heartbroken like he was in 05 regarding Shadow, Gerald, and Maria, but he can't stay mad if the people who hurt him, or bring him down a peg, are people he cares about. It's just not in him.

With Mephy... oh god where do i start.

So... Mephy's is self sabotage, i think. Yeah he lies, yeah he pushes people away, yeah he gets violent, but his biggest flaw is, self sabotage. Trusting people scares him. Being honest scares him. Fixing his mistakes scares him. Being surrounded by silence scares him. Fucking being out in the sun scares him so bad he'd rather get mugged in the fucking rain. His problem, is self sabotage. When he feels uncomfortable he lets whatever happen to him happen, because the alternative terrifies him.

When his husband's gone too long, he destroys the apartment to chase him away. In 06, rather than asking for help or explaining himself, he kept digging himself a bigger and bigger hole with clear plot holes in his lies, if anything it's shocking Silver and Blaze didn't see through it sooner. He was going half-cocked about his entire fucking scheme because he wasn't even confident it would work, he just lied to himself and told himself it would. Instead of being smart, he took the first fucking opportunity to mess with Shadow and Omega, one on one, knowing he was at a disadvantage by himself, and he was fucking lucky he had those chaos emeralds for the big fight, but he took gatling gun rounds to the chest and face when he could've puddled then and there, and I'm not even sure he knew he would survive those bullets.

He has a pattern of self sabotage and fate just keeps throwing him bones he doesn't earn but, ultimately deserves, which is the real punishment here, at least to him. Doing anything else, trying anything else, is terrifying to him. Or maybe even too freeing, hell, he believes he deserves what his actions bring him. And to his credit, he recieves any punishment he gets with his dignity on his sleeve. Unless he thinks it'll get him sealed away again.

For the Shadow Virus, instead of telling his husband how afraid he was to be in Shadow's presence, instead of talking with his daughter and explaining how uncomfortable he felt and how worried he was for her, instead of explaining what happened to make him hate Shadow so much, like a sane person, he went and gave G.U.N his husband's DNA and put a hit on Shadow. And later when he felt differently? He did nothing to warn anyone or stop anything from happening. And when the Shadow Virus started, he punished himself by refusing Doom's concern and affection, opting to freeze on the edge of the bed in the middle of the night because it always runs a little too cold in their apartment cause they have no reason to have a heater in their room, and he insisted he didn't need one. And then he left, because he was both afraid of being locked away again, and he felt he deserved isolation, but realized he couldn't handle it out there on his own so he came crawling back, and fate smiled on him again and fuck he wished it hadn't, he wished Doom had told him to leave, or had him sealed in the scepter again, or outright killed him, but Doom did none of those things. He scooped Mephy up, cried in his chest, and pleaded at the top of his lungs for Mephy to never leave him again, to never make him worry again, and Mephy doesn't understand why. Why would Doom say these things, why would he welcome him back, why doesn't he just put everyone out of their misery and get rid of him? Moving forward, whether he notices it or not, he does get better. Not by much, not unless the Neutral timeline splits into Faithless, but he does start getting better. He still self sabotages but it's less frequent, and he doesn't fight as much.

So yeah, Doom's is he has too big a heart even if he disguises it well, and Mephy's a self sabotaging lil prick who doesn't even try to make his lies seem believable. Their relationship should not work, it should be falling apart every two seconds, but it doesn't, it only grows stronger, like they are the missing pieces of each others' souls. Like the red string of fate is pulling them together, again and again, like waves crashing into each other during a storm only for the sea to calm once the clouds part again.

Anyways, yeah, i thought about that shit earlier, and i was like, damn i gotta get this into writing XDDDD hope you enjoyed more of my MephDoom ramblings, oh and sorry about the really dark pieces earlier, it's just not a part of my au i share very often and i only bring it up once in a blue moon like the boogeyman, so you'll probably not hear about it again for a while now that it's out of my system XDDDDD

[true-blue-sonic]

Also, Knuckles outright calls Silver rude in Rivals 1:

Silver: He certainly knows how to run, I'll give him that... Hey, you there! Did you see that guy carrying something strange? Knuckles: Actually... He has this weird camera that changes things into cards... Wait a minute... Who are you? Silver: What'd you say!? How did he get a hold of it? Knuckles: You...! What are you mumbling about? Silver: Got no time to explain it to someone like you... See ya! Knuckles: "Someone like me?" Hey, I'm Knuckles! Haven't you heard of me? How rude! Asking questions without having the gall to introduce himself! Silver: Like I said before, I don't have time to deal with you right now. See ya! Knuckles: You little... Get back here!

And in Rivals 2, Silver tells Knuckles to shut up in Knuckles' storyline, to Rouge's displeasure:

Eggman Nega: Well, well. Looks like you acquired my Emerald Detector. Now, what else do you require? Knuckles: We still can't find the Master Emerald and I think you know where it is. Eggman Nega: Maybe I do and maybe I don't. Knuckles: Stop these games, Eggman! Silver: Shut up, Knuckles. I need to talk to him so just get out of here! Rouge: Hey, watch your mouth, kid! Don't take that tone with us! Eggman Nega: Silence! All of you! I'll give you all a REAL reason to be upset!

I stopped reading IDW after issue 64, in part because I was incredibly done by Silver's portrayal in the comics. On the one hand, there's just a problem of bad writing: things like the girls not picking up on Duo's "I couldn't save Silver and now he's dead :(" two seconds later "I was going to get help!!!!! D:", or the writers seemingly completely forgetting Whisper has a recorder in her mask that thus goes entirely unmentioned, which got kinda handwaved in a later issue. But an IC Silver would not have folded to Lanolin like he did: I would say Silver only cares for the authority of people who've proven to be on the same page as him, like Blaze or Espio. What has Lanolin done to prove that? She picks Duo's side immediately, and Silver just rolls with it without arguing with her about it and goes off to sulk instead of being proactive (I guess maybe as a callback to '06? Except in '06 Silver's entire worldview got rattled for a bit there by Amy, which issue 63 really did not achieve to that level). Silver's a proactive guy! He doesn't sit around waiting for troubles to come, he actively goes and does his best to solve them. And it's also just dumb things like issue 64 showing him all clumsily tripping or his quills poking out of the bush all obviously, or him (aka Meteor Smash guy) being unable to catch Duo in a one-meter fall. I agree with the fact that it's frustrating to see; it feels like Silver just does not get taken seriously.

And on that topic, a lot of Silver in the comics seems to be written to be very... cutesy, I think is a good way to describe it. Very uwu baby cinnamon roll, I've used as terms before too. Must protecc him, he's got no social skills because everyone in his future is dead and he was always alone and he's never been rude to anyone ever. Except the problem with Silver as a character is that he's not meant to be cutesy, I would argue, and the previous sentence is rife with misconceptions. He's got a deep-ass voice in Japanese and uses rude language and rude gestures up the wazoo, he's 100% down to murder someone to solve his problems and save the world, in the Rivals games he's got an insult or just general obstinateness ready for basically everyone, in the fourth and fifth line of his intro in '06 he mentions other people in Crisis City and both Rivals games show what a jerk he can be... That's really not uwu baby cinnamon roll material, in my opinion. What could arguably be cutesy is his naivety, but then indeed what Siggie describes: him not realising that not everybody shares the knowledge he has and sees things in the way he does. Not whatever IDW is pulling with him. But as for a solution, I don't know; if the writers think Silver is inherently meant to be a cutesy socially awkward li'l guy, I presume that's what they'll keep writing him as. To that end, I hope the Sonic Channel medias and the video games will keep providing a more in-character Silver!

What’s your thoughts on idw silver, I personally think he is ok but I feel like the idw comic didn’t really do very well with his character.

I can't say I like him... at all.

American Sonic media already has a history of needless and quite frankly terrible changes, whether made out of ignorance, xenophobia towards Sonic Team/SoJ, some vague, made-up sense of marketability, or all three. So, I'm already wary of media like that. They always change fundamental aspects of Sonic's appeal and are supremely unenjoyable to me as a result.

To stay on track here - why do I dislike IDW Silver? The main reason is that I think he's portrayed as way too polite and nice to people. He has no backbone. It's as if he was just based off of popular fanon or Archie comics, rather than the source material. I don't blame anyone for thinking Silver is some timid, polite sweetheart if fanon and IDW/Archie is all they have consumed, but I'm doing my best to dispel that notion for the sake of conquering misinformation. As a casual fan, it is understandable to have misconceptions, but I'm going to be much more harsh to official media.

I need to hammer home the fact that Silver is rude and often talks down to people. Sonic '06, Silver's debut game, showcases this very well. In an '06 cutscene, he talks down to Sonic after attacking him when his guard was down. The casual stride over to a wheezing, incapacitated Sonic kills me. The disrespect is fucking crazy.

In the level Flame Core, he acts haughty and superior about his abilities, even letting out a light chuckle at how pathetic the enemies are. And, a detail that is easy to miss, he doesn't even apologize for trying to kill Sonic.

That's not even mentioning the Rivals games being a wonderful source of Rude Silver™, where there are too many snide remarks to count.

IDW Silver is a telltale case of Silver's nuance being stripped so that he only represents one trait of his- that trait being "naivety." Silver's naivety is mentioned twice by Blaze in Sonic '06 because this is relevant to the story. Naivety is Silver's fatal flaw that leads to him being easily manipulated by Mephiles. However, his naivety isn't due to some innocent, childlike outlook on the world. Silver takes everyone at face value and always assumes people are telling the truth to him due to a lack of social skills. This is why, when Silver mentions something outlandish or unbelievable to people, he is confused why they don't believe him. This is shown in both Rivals 2 and the Sonic x Silver wallpaper cover story.

IDW seems to completely miss this nuance and conflates "naivety" with childlikeness and innocence. When you realize this, decisions put towards Silver's characterization in IDW makes a lot of sense - his hyperactive excitement and adulation over Whisper is a good example, but how he doesn't talk back to Sonic calling him "flatware" in Issue 8 particularly bothers me.

Realistically, Sonic would immediately get thrown into a wall if he said this to Silver.

Portrayals like IDW Silver are just so utterly confusing. How in the world does Silver get misconstrued this way, into something entirely opposite of what he is, in both fanon and official media? To be completely honest, it makes me frustrated. I want things to change and I feel like I have to speak up. I ended up writing an essay about Why Silver is Rude. I'm sorry anon.

[shirubae]

Silvaze ‘06: Part 7 - Absolution

Previously: Silver and Blaze defeated Iblis once more.

With Iblis reduced to flames, Silver initiates his plan to sacrifice himself to seal it away. He does so wielding the white and cyan Chaos Emeralds - not only do they complement his own color scheme, but they represent desire and joy, respectively. If Silver obtains his wishes by finally ridding the future of Iblis, he should be filled with joy... or will he?

So here goes Silver's plan! Well, it's not his plan. It's the same ritual he watched the Duke of Soleanna perform. He's relying on someone else's idea again, but this time in a good way.

Eternal Sun. The flame of fate that lived within a royalty’s spirit! Fall into slumber with my soul! Iblis, the Flames of Disaster!

But Silver's body won’t accept Iblis, lacking a flaming soul or a royal spirit.

Blaze, on the other hand, has both. "You're My Companion" kicks in as she takes the Chaos Emeralds to finish the ritual, instantly absorbing Iblis. However, she has yet to fully assimilate the cursed flames. She demands that Silver use Chaos Control to stop time and then seal her into another dimension, isolating herself and Iblis.

But Silver can’t. He can't bring himself to save the world, a marked change from his former manhunt. Ironically, he can no longer justify erasing one life to save the future. Why? Because it’s Blaze. He has just re-learned to appreciate her, and refuses to give that up. Amy’s example rocked him to his core; faced with a choice between the world and Blaze, he is choosing Blaze.

Blaze calls Silver out on his hypocrisy. In Japanese she recalls telling him salvation requires sacrifice, while in English she recalls they agreed to save the world no matter the cost. Despite her encouragement, Silver still can't doom his companion. He loves her too much. She’s his friend, right?

This finalizes the quandary of Sonic 06: is it better to live in ignorance with those you love, or to focus on your duties to make a better world? 06 has made it clear that the two sides are not always compatible, and sometimes a choice must be made. In this case, the game argues that a hero must be able to put aside their personal treasures for the greater good (a very Japanese message, imo).

And while Silver may have chosen Blaze, she seems to have chosen the world.

Silver's Victory... and Failure

Silver asks “You’re my friend... right?” Even after they’ve gone through so much together, Silver is unsure of how Blaze feels. He cares about her, but doesn’t know if she reciprocates. And some fault could be placed on Blaze for this! She is so guarded in her emotions that Silver has little evidence to go off of.

Even now, Blaze avoids Silver’s question and doesn’t confirm that they’re friends. Why won’t she just say yes? Well, she could be dancing around her true feelings for him. But she also calls him naive (青い) again. She has a few reasons: for him believing that the world can still be saved without sacrifice just because she's his friend, for being unable to send her away in the first place, and because he still thinks they’re only friends. She chooses to let him figure it out for himself.

But she also admits that she’s always liked his naivete. Her use of the word has been scolding, but also appreciative. It may sound like he’s only caused her grief, but Blaze has benefited from the relationship too.

Silver's naivete has challenged Blaze. It has shown her unique angles on issues that she thought simple, it has inspired her to maintain sympathy for others, and it has gotten her to speak out where she may have otherwise stayed silent. Not to mention she’s watched Silver grow so much, and she is captivated by his progress. She has always held him in high regard. She's accompanied Silver not merely to keep him in line, but because she loves him.

In fact, this scene is the only one where Blaze outright smiles (and I don't think Silver ever smiles lol). Blaze has been suppressing her warmest feelings for Silver, and only feels comfortable sharing them in this most dire moment. It makes clear that Blaze is choosing the world because of Silver, not instead of him. This is what he wanted, this is his mission, and she's determined to help see it through.

But because of Silver's inability to act, there must be consequences. As Blaze completely assimilates Iblis, she briefly goes Burning Blaze. Then her body melts away, wishing Silver good luck. The clouds open above the hedgehog and the Chaos Emeralds, revealing a bright blue afternoon. All he is left with are two "good luck charms" and an (青い) sky. He rubs his eyes, weeping over these cruel mementos of his failure.

Silver’s mission to save the future is finally accomplished, but not by him. Not only did Blaze have to finish it for him, but he couldn’t even bring himself to do the one thing she requested. Despite all his growth, at the very end, Silver failed to overcome his immaturity, his impulsiveness, his love, and it cost him dearly. At least Blaze liked that about him.

Note: I’m not even gonna try to explain Blaze’s fate. There’s plenty of theories out there. I’m more concerned with the narrative implication: Blaze is gone from Silver’s life, and that’s all that matters.

Dreams of an Absolution

Episode Silver’s credits song is Bentley Jones' "Dreams of an Absolution". It's about uncertainty in the future, and wishing for things to improve. Since this game it has been adopted as Silver's general character theme, but its power truly lies in its original context, right after Blaze's sacrifice.

Jones wrote the song with a breakup in mind:

“Originally, I wrote "Dreams" about a bad ex-boyfriend who wanted to get back with me, and I couldn't shake off the past, and I was in this weird grey area that I didn't know if I wanted to move forward together anymore.” - Bentley Jones

The lyrics address a separated couple who might get back together, but one of them just can’t forget what has happened. It would be presumptuous to ascribe too much of this artist’s very personal meaning to Silver and Blaze’s relationship, but it does carry the same theme of being unable to move on. They're opposites: Jones can't move past his emotions to get back together, while Silver can't move past his emotions to split up.

Two cutscene themes for Silver are derived from “Dreams of an Absolution”: “You’re My Companion” and “Is It Right?” (listen for the “and every night” notes). They play whenever Silver hesitates: either failing to kill Sonic or failing to sacrifice Blaze. This further strengthens the theme of paralyzing emotions. The song is basically “Ahhh I’m so emotional and I don’t know what to do!”

Additionally, "absolution" means a formal release from guilt, obligation, or punishment. It means freedom. This could reference Blaze absolving Silver of his mission, freeing him. But "absolution” also reflects Silver's overwhelming shame for letting Blaze down, dreaming of sweet release from his survivor's guilt. The autotune on Jones' voice is distortion as Silver calls across dimensions for forgiveness. The chorus sings that he will “save your life” or “make it right”, but only in his dreams.

These wistful regrets play into Silver’s urge to right past mistakes. However, he has already chosen to work forward rather than dwell in the past. He must live in this bright, stable future, haunted by his failure to Blaze.

Or does he...?

Next up: Tidbits from Last Story and a final wrap-up.

[Back to the masterpost]

[zmeu-ra]

Fool’s Errand: A Reflection on the Silvaze Ship

A while ago I wrote a big Silvaze fic. Looking back, it had a lot of out-of-character moments. I wasn’t satisfied, so I started researching all Silvaze’s game interactions to get it right. What did they have?

I was surprised by how little I found. It resulted in this personal reflection on why I like this couple at all. Why do I insist on shipping these two? What makes them special? Compared to couples like Sonamy, there’s not nearly as much canon evidence; the state of 06 makes it weird. Did it ever even happen?

So here’s a short 2nd-person reflection about Silvaze:

You ship Silver the Hedgehog and Blaze the Cat. They are companions, their powers complement each other, their colors unite. They look nice, they sound nice. Seeing them together makes you happy.

You don't prefer one over the other, because you see yourself in both. She is quiet, touch-averse, and takes herself too seriously. He is airheaded, passionate, and can't control his emotions. They’re both so impatient with themselves. You want to date her because she can help you see practically, and you want to date him because he can help you see lovingly.

It’s not that you’re attracted to animals. They’re safe, they’re cute, they’re comfortable. You’ve known this cartoon world since childhood, it’s familiar to you. You feel like you can be vulnerable through them. Without conundrums like sex in the way, it leaves you with these soft people. Characters who love each other so deeply. They’re perfect.

You feel like they complete you. You want to see them completed too.

You want what they have. 

But you’ve fooled yourself. You don't want what they have, because they hardly have anything.

They've never said “I love you”, they've never held hands, they've never kissed. Their relationship is enacted with awkward 3D models and motion capture. They were "separated" by a canon-frustrating apocalypse in a video game from 2006. Now these two don't even remember each other. To them, that disaster never happened, they never happened.

Lately the two are reunited in group shots, in spin-off games and comics, fated to be stationed side-by-side by designers and developers. They seem to be friends.

You know their history. You know they fought to save a future together, one laying down their own life because the other could not. You know he craves her stability, and you know she adores his naivety.

But they don't know it.

They’re basically different people, and yet you can't let go of that catastrophe of a game they starred in. The awful game that they were forced to let go of years ago. At least, everyone says the game is awful; you understand why, but you don't care. It's important to you.

You still wish you could see your couple that close again. 

But that's never going to happen.

The last time they were partners, it earned a 46% on Metacritic and years of ridicule. It wasn’t their fault, they were just in the wrong game at the wrong time. The two waded through burning wreckage on a side quest full of plot holes. They were strangled by a narrative that didn't make sense. Their friend kissed a human! Disgusting. Who would ever want that? Love should stay between cartoon animals.

And the scriptures may even forbid it. You’ve seen a screenshot from an obscure Japanese bio, dug up from a defunct Flash application, that supposedly says she sees him as a brother. You’re supposed to care, but you can't read Japanese. You have four brothers, and you never treat them the way she treated him. It doesn't shake your faith.

So you have two options: stay in the past and admire the romantic wasteland from 2006, or grasp at straws with a future that won’t dare to try. The first option is why you came to adore them, but the second is the only one with room for progress. Neither is particularly appealing. Could there be another option?

Maybe, if you try hard enough, you yourself can make them work. You must overcome that dark future of their past, the one no one wants to touch, to bring them into the new era, the one no one wants to touch. It won't be easy, but you're the one for the job.

Fortunately, you're not alone. There are others in the cause. That one artist you like always draws them together, as if they still have a chance. Like-minded individuals post their own interpretations of the couple in fanfiction, even if it’s not the same interpretation as yours. Amid the chaos, it doesn’t matter. What is “real” doesn’t matter.

Officially her height is 95 cm (3' 1'').

Officially her age is 14 years.

Officially she's a cat.

But you don't care.

Officially his height is 100 cm (3' 3'').

Officially his age is 14 years.

Officially he's a hedgehog.

Officially, they aren't even that close.

But you don't care.

You put the playlist back on.

[julian-pepper]

I hate when people say "Every Sonic game is canon", because of course what they mean by that is that they're somehow all canon to one timeline.

I hate it so much because that is provably not possible, and it doesn't even take that much effort.

For example, what game does Sonic meet Knuckles for the first time in? If you guessed Sonic 3, congratulations that's exactly right!... and exactly WRONG, because Sonic and Knuckles don't know each other yet at the start of Sonic Triple Trouble.

And if you think you can explain it away like "oh they hadn't made up yet and there were no circumstances to make Knuckles distrust Robotnik" you haven't played Sonic Triple Trouble. Knuckles gets imprisoned by Dr. Robotnik near the end, and Sonic and Knuckles both shake hands after Sonic frees him.

This means only one of the two games can be canon to a one timeline model because they say the same basic events of Sonic's first meeting with Knuckles happen two separate times, and the only way to explain that away is they have amnesia when it's plot convenient.

But ok, some people don't think the Game Gear games are canon, and while that already disproves the "Every Sonic game is canon" mindset, I'm going to keep going to rub it in.

Speaking of plot convenient amnesia, where is Blaze from? She can't 1) Be from the future 2) Not know who Sonic is 3) Have Silver as her only friend and 1) Be from an alternate dimension 2) Have met Sonic before 3) Have Marine as friend at the same time. I know Colors DS tried to resolve this, but that brings up ANOTHER problem I'll get to in a minute, so we can't use it for justification here.

And don't forget, it's not just Blaze and Silver in this mess, Eggman NEGA is also caught up in this, even moreso than the other two, and thusly dragging the Sonic Rivals games into question too.

So either the Sonic Rush games are canon, or Sonic 06 and the Sonic Rivals games are canon, and Sonic Generations HD says 06 (and by extension the Rivals games) is canon, but Generations 3DS says Rush (and by extension Rush Adventure) is canon, and the two versions of Generations conflicting is a perfect segue back to:

Games that share plots verbatim. Sonic 1 happens, ok, which Sonic 1? There's two of them (16-bit and 8-bit), and they share the same plot while being different enough to be considered unique games. How about Sonic Unleashed, is the Wii version canon, or is it the HD version? They can't both be canon. And Sonic Colors, this is why we couldn't use Colors DS as justification for the Blaze conundrum earlier, because it might not even be canon because of the Wii version, and we have no way of knowing whether Colors DS is canon or not.

And that's it. That's my complete teardown of this flawed mindset that every Sonic game can be nice and happy in one timeline together. They can't. All this without tearing into the Mischaracterization-City that is the meta era, which would be enough on its own for some people, but I wanted to prove it beyond any doubts anyone might have.

Now sure, some real smart Sonic lore master could come up with a way to explain away every inconsistency here (in fact, I can already think of resolutions to those few examples I gave), but in doing so, they would completely shatter any immersion in the game's stories you could have, and ruin genuinely cool parts by having to bend over backwards to make some other contradictory parts also work.

The best model for the Sonic canon is that there are multiple universes/timelines, that contain small, thematically and lore consistent pockets of games. This system has it's own issues too of course, but they are way more minor and far easier to fix without cheapening anything or contradicting what's shown onscreen.

[true-blue-sonic]

💛, 💚, 📖 (can be a game or a spinoff media) :>

We're going with Sonic XD

💛: What is a popular ship you just can't get behind, and why?

Hmm... I'm not at all opposed to reading Sonadow fics because I like the dynamic often shown between them (aka FLUFF I adore myself some fluff :>), but I do think that canon Sonic and canon Shadow could never pull that off together. And if they were in-character, I wouldn't want to read a fic about it: I feel like most of it would be racing and trying to one-up the other when there's no adventure going on as opposed to more romantic stuff, and that doesn't interest me much. It's the same problem I have with Sonjet, actually, but I don't know if that is a popular ship or not, haha.

💚: What does everyone else get wrong about your favorite character?

I think the main core of what people get wrong about Silver is that there is zero indications Rivals!Silver grew up in an apocalypse, and '06 Silver did grow up in an apocalypse yet was remarkably well-adjusted through it all. Silver doesn't have any social skills because he was all alone in his future? Disproven with literally the fourth sentence spoken in his intro in '06. He doesn't tolerate being made fun of (Rivals 2), only got deceived in '06 and has shown to be remarkably shrewd and suspicious in later games (e.g. Rivals 1, Generations), and is honest to a fault but also won't let people not believing him stop him from fulfilling his goals (Rivals 2 again, Sonic Channel story). Silver is weak and feeble and cannot run two meters without immediately collapsing from lung ailments? He can run for literally hours in '06 and the Rivals games with zero indication of problems, and his only "ailment" is that he is just slow on foot, which gets solved just like that through him being able to fly. And so on and so forth, haha. Silver is more friendly when together with companions or when not on a mission... but he's brave beyond belief and also still highly opinionated and not afraid to speak his mind or tackle the root of problems head-on (e.g. Forces, TSR). In short, he's not a poow uwu blorbo who needs to be handheld by others because he can't do anything by himself or because he's feeble. He does better with a companion (Blaze in '06, Espio in Rivals 2), but he can handle himself just fine without it.

📖: If you had to remove one book from the series, which would you choose?

Does IDW count as a book? That one for sure XD The Tales Of books absolutely suck when it comes to characterisation, but nobody knows of them, haha. But I find it such a shame! I remember truly enjoying IDW and looking forward to new issues, and the faults I see now were much easier to ignore or to chalk it up to a slightly differing characterisation. (E.g. I like myself a plot wherein Silver needs help from other people and he in turn helps someone like Whisper find security in the world! But the incident of him getting his ass handed to him by an Egg Pawn then became him being clumsy, incompetent, infantile, poor at using his powers, unable to stand his ground, getting immediately overrun by someone with zero seniority over him... and so on and so forth.) But those faults in combination with the fact I think the characters have become increasingly more poorly-written as time went on, plus the storylines mostly focusing on original comic characters I no longer care for or never cared for to begin with, just make the comic entirely unenjoyable for me now. I don't read the new issues anyway, but I wouldn't be mournful if the IDW comic got cancelled.

[true-blue-sonic]

When people criticize the "optimist but also a realist line" I think they're confusing optimism for idealism(which is the opposite of realism) Silver always tries to see the best in people and his situation but he's still very pragmatic.

I proposed this ask to the number 1 hater of "optimist but also a realist" in the world, and their inquiry was whether Silver is pragmatic to begin with. So I went and looked up that term, coming to the conclusion it means something along the line of "the quality of dealing with a problem in a sensible way that suits the conditions that really exist, rather than following fixed theories, ideas, or rules" or "a practical, matter-of-fact way of approaching or assessing situations or of solving problems". So... practical, going for the most logical solution, following your mind instead of your feelings.

As for whether Silver is pragmatic... hm, I would actually say yes and no! We see in especially '06 that, when presented with a solution that sounds logical and clear-cut, he'll take it with no hesitation. Furthermore, when his argument with Amy leads him to having doubts about whether he's doing the right thing and what "the right thing" is in the first place, Blaze's encouragement that nothing will change if they don't take this chance makes him try the exact same course of action once more. Thus, he's still following the "logical" and "clear" situation despite his feelings on the matter. But all that goes right out the window at the end of the game, with Blaze's sacrifice. Silver is distraught! He all but begs her not to do it: he says he can't do that to Blaze, he doesn't know what to do without her, he even questions their friendship, and yet he can't make himself stop her. All these are incredibly emotional things! And even if the most logical action there is to make Blaze go through it to save the world, which she herself points out is their end goal... Silver can't do it. It is Blaze who activates the Emeralds and seals herself away in the end.

Of course, '06 is the extreme example, but I can think of a few others where Silver is more pragmatic. In Forces, he's the one suggesting sending their Rookie right into Eggman-occupied territory as a distraction, despite the fact the Rookie is about the least experienced person there. He's also the one pointing out that they can't take out Eggman's Mystic Jungle base if he's got a factory active for supplies. Also, don't forget him just not caring for what Knuckles named Operation Big Wave in favour of the strategy being good, haha. And at the start of Forces, he is indeed the one trying to move everyone away from their feelings of despair and (then-believed to be misplaced) hope of Sonic's survival, focusing instead on rallying the people and turning the tides. But I would say also here he's got moments of more emotion-fuelled responses and ideas, like shooting down Infinite's comment about there "being no hope" through simply stating he is lying (which I figure means Silver himself does still have hope and other such positive emotions). And, as pointed out by my friend: the whole reason Silver takes a pragmatic approach in the first place is because of his desires for justice and happiness for everybody, which can indeed make him more emotion-fuelled and snappy, like in the Rivals games. The pragmatic approach is plowing through everybody and getting back Eggman Nega and that is what he is doing, but how it takes form in practice is definitely shaped as well by emotions like irritation and impatience (which actively works against him at times, I would even say). So overall, I can agree with the idea that Silver is somewhat of a pragmatic person, but that pragmatism does not take away his emotions and his desires. And multiple bios and such state he wears his heart on his sleeve and keeps up a positive mindset despite his past.

I feel as if I'm getting a bit off-track from your ask, apologies. But overall, I can see where you are coming from. Pragmatism and realism are noted to be synonyms, and Silver is indeed not a character who lets his optimistic mindset take over everything he does. In a way, I would say this is yet another of the dualities that makes up Silver's character! His emotions and optimism lead to him desiring justice and happiness and a world that is safe, and the way to get there for him is through an approach that he deems logical and "the best way". But the best way is shaped by his black-and-white thinking and tunnel vision, meaning he is likely to pick fights with people simply because he perceives them as opposition, and meaning it will take a long time for him to change his mind even when his views are challenged or proven wrong. So I guess he can indeed be an optimist (wanting happiness for others, possessing a positive mindset wherein he endlessly believes in himself and his friends and rarely gives up hope) but also a realist (knowing the world isn't only sunshine and rainbows, not afraid to take action to protect what he cares about, doing what he himself deems the most logical).

Though, to be quite honest... I think that a criticism many people have about the line is that it simply sounds silly, haha. Just not something you'd expect a person to point out so randomly in a conversation about your friend you all think got murdered six months ago. But you might certainly be correct in that it doesn't seem to be as big a contradiction as people perceive it as. Perhaps with a better word choice, that would have been clearer? In Japanese he apparently says "I wish I could believe that, but the reality is... Sonic is gone. And Tails... he's still missing." You could argue that him saying he wishes he could believe that is indicative of his more optimistic hopeful mindset, but immediately after he points out that the reality is that Sonic is gone: thus, there is no place for empty wishes that can't come true anyway. I do feel like that carries a clearer tone than "I'm an optimist, but also a realist".

[true-blue-sonic]

X, W, K, and F for Pirate AU.

X: A character you enjoy making suffer.

Silver is often my go-to, but that's because I write him the most out of everybody, haha. On the one hand, I don't want to make him suffer for suffering's sake: Silver is powerful and strong both physically and mentally, and I don't want to show him as feeble or a pushover. In my writing, I keep a sharp eye on that he doesn't get hurt because he's a weakass or uncharacteristically stupid or anything of the sort (with which I mean Silver can 100% be shortsighted and he acts without thinking at times, but he's not an idiot. The fact his PK is entirely OP is something I really try to work into my writing too.). For example, in Run To You there's a scene wherein Silver gets injured quite badly while trying to get an Emerald with Sonic, but he's actively protecting someone else's life in an emergency and that is why he gets hurt. So I try to balance the "suffering" with showing that Silver's a strong person, but who gets injured because he's selfless and brave.

And on the other hand, there are many things about Silver that seem concerning, to say the least. We don't know if he's got friends or family in the future, for example, because he's never mentioned anything about it. Plus, his backstory from '06 shows he's been through a lot: apparently he's been fighting Iblis for half his life, according to a Sonic Channel story iirc. Plus, the future is good but not fully safe, since Nega is causing/used to cause world-ending trouble there. So things like that is where I try to get the "suffering" for Silver from. Basically, in my writing he suffers because he is incredibly stubborn and takes on too much, the latter of which is one of his personality characteristics.

W: Do you like more general prompts, or more specific ones?

Both have their pros and cons for me! General prompts allow for more room to fill them in, which can be easier with creating, but it's also possible that they're so broad that I can't come up with anything. Specific prompts in that regard give more guidance there, but then it's possible that it's too restrictive and I'm not feeling it. I think it depends most on the prompt in question what I can do with it, haha! Some of them strike me with inspiration like lightning, and that is always a great feeling🍀

K: What's the angstiest idea you've ever come up with?

I once wrote a fic wherein Espio had died in an Eggman attack, and the Silver from that timeline went back to the morning of the day it happened to implore the Silver from that moment to protect Espio. It's a really sad fic; I recently read it again and I had to cry about it, and I know for sure I did too when I was writing it. I remember very well that I did not want to make it too angsty and leave a Silver in a timeline without Espio, so I deliberately wrote that the timelines "merged" golden-ending-of-Majora's-Mask-style so that that did not have to happen. That's probably the angstiest idea I've ever had!

F: Share a snippet from one of your favourite dialogue scenes you've written and explain why you're proud of it.

Let's see if I can find anything fun ^-^

It was a bit of a search, but I like this one: Silver got Espio a blanket from his bunk because he saw Espio was cold (and sad and lonely and pitiful etc etc, according to Silver, haha). But the Captain found out Silver left Espio unattended for that (though Blaze kept watch in his place), and promptly comes in in his Robotnik kinda way, but Espio stands up for Silver. The blanket and this basically mark the beginning of their friendship! <3

☆☆☆☆☆

But before the protest could slip past his lips he froze at footsteps stomping closer, both Silver and Blaze whirling around at the loud “YOU!” that bounced around the walls in an ear-splitting cacophony. “Swabbie!” Captain Robotnik’s voice added in a roar, the man himself rounding the corner- and grabbing Silver, the hedgehog crying out as Espio jumped to his feet. “You dare leave the captive unattended?! Unforgivable! Death to the traitor!!”

“Wait- Captain!” Blaze cried out, Espio rushing closer to the bars by pure instinct alone. The man had Silver in a death grip, hand wrapped around the other’s neck and the hedgehog’s irises pinpricks of terror-! “He was not unattended at all!”

“SILENCE!” the Captain roared, Blaze crying out as one of the robots with the Captain lashed out at her. “I give you one task, and you-!”

“You’re wrong!” Espio yelled, and the whole room fell into a ghostly quiet. “You’re wrong,” the chameleon repeated in a lower hiss, glaring at the captain from between the bars. “Your swabbie did not leave for a single moment since you threw me in here. He spent the whole night keeping an eye on me.”

“And why should I believe the words of a captive?” Robotnik jeered, a yelp from Silver following as the hedgehog was unceremoniously dropped onto the ground.

Unwaveringly Espio met his gaze. “Were you here to see for yourself? Or your robots?”

“...No. But!” Finger twirling through his moustache Robotnik glared down. “I know that blanket, boy. And I also know who possesses it after that rat gave it to him.”

“It was handed to me by your Quartermaster,” Espio retorted, not daring to shoot a look towards Blaze to urge her to go along with the story. “Your swabbie told her it was cold and drafty in here, so she retrieved it at his behest.”

“And what was my Quartermaster doing here, hmm?”

“Writing your letter for ransom.”

If Robotnik’s narrowed eyes were any indication he did not believe a single word of it, but Espio refused to flick his gaze over to either of the two anthros. “Y-yeah,” Silver shakily added, the hedgehog scrambling to his feet. “Of course Blaze is allowed to get stuff from my bunk, Sir.”

“And it would be a shame if we had to tell his Clan he died from a lung infection or the like during the time he is kept here,” Blaze added, voice quiet and eyes firmly on the ground. “It... did not seem like an unreasonable request, in my opinion.”

“Hm.”

But Robotnik took a slow step back, scrutinising Blaze and Silver next as both crew members stared at the floor. “I see, then. Do forgive my intrusion,” the man spoke eventually, stepping away and gesturing for his robots to follow, and Espio could only stare dumbfoundedly as the group stepped back into the hallway and their footsteps slowly echoed out.