#and then not have any roboticism in it?

[raavenb2619]

So I just finished watching “Blade Runner” (The Final Cut) for the first time after re-reading “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”, and I just feel like…they took all of the best, interesting, thought provoking parts of the book and decided they didn’t belong in the movie?

The first seven pages of DADoES I was constantly remarking “oh this is an interesting thing to say about humans/robots/aromanticism-as-tied-to-robots”, and at that point I had to stop myself from making detailed notes so I could actually finish the book in a reasonable time frame. After BR, I don’t really have anything to analyze or remark upon except “they took all of the roboticism out of the allegedly robot movie, and now there’s no aromanticism either”.

[sonknuxadow]

so at the end of the trailer for sonic prime season 2 we saw something that looks like a new yoke version of metal sonic. but is that an actual counterpart of The metal sonic or is that a robot that somebody in new yoke built after meeting sonic. and if they Are the real metal sonic, i have to wonder what that means for other characters we haven't seen in the show at all yet... maybe hope isn't completely lost for blaze

[eggs-attorney]

[<<< First]

Reiker: (Oh, right... Introductions. I was never good at those...)

Reiker: My name is Reiker Strait, and I'm going to be your defense attorney today.

???: O-oh, hello... Th-they told me you might not show up and I was waiting and I... I...

Reiker: Well, I showed up! Got here as soon as I could. Anything for someone in need, miss... Come to think of it, what is your name?

???: He... Didn't tell you my name...?

Reiker: I'm afraid not... I just got this assignment, and it was kind of rushed. Today's actually my first day as Sunnyside's public defender.

???: Oh, I see... My name is Yanshu - Yanshu Dryll - and I-

Yanshu: You only started today!?

Reiker: (Shoot, my badge!)

Reiker: Well, yeah, but don't say it like that! I'm qualified!

Reiker: [Sigh]... Listen, I'd like to help you with this case. I spent the past 8 years of my life working my tail off so I could get this job, and every lawyer has to have a first client, so... May I help you? For both our sakes?

Yanshu: I-I mean... It's not like I know what I'm doing, and the thought of going in there alone terrifies me, but... You didn't even know my name. Do you know anything about the case?

Reiker: Right… We should probably talk about what we're doing here.

Yanshu: W-well, I'm on trial for the, um… Dismantlement? Of my b-best friend.

Reiker: Wh… Do you mean dismemberment?

Yanshu: I… Yes. No? The terminology surrounding Robians is still pretty vague, despite everything.

Reiker: Alright, um… So your best friend is a robot?

Yanshu: Yes, his name is Flash, and he's very important to me. I'm worried sick… Whoever did this, they stole his parts. Took everything that made him him...

Reiker: So like… His face?

Yanshu: No, no… His personality, his memories, everything that makes him unique! ... Everything I can't replace...

Reiker: I… Didn't know that could be taken away.

Yanshu: Well... You've used a computer, haven't you?

Reiker: Of course.

Yanshu: So... When you're roboticized, you turn into a computer. Your body becomes the case, and your brain the technical components. Instead of storing data biologically through neuronal connections, information is written to several storage disks as raw code, and can be accessed at any time. Since it's a physical storage unit, these disks can be removed. This is usually only done during maintenance where units have to be repaired or replaced, in which case the data is backed up and transferred, but if someone has bad intentions, they can just... Take them. Doing that while the system is active can damage the hardware, or corrupt the data, or... I can't stand thinking about it.

Reiker: ... That's upsetting.

Yanshu: It really is, and if I'm found guilty, they… They'll probably roboticize me, too.

Reiker: What? You can't be serious!

Yanshu: I am, and if they don't figure out where those components went, they'll assume I destroyed them - that I truly killed him - and that's why I need your help finding them! I-if I can find them, I can fix him, and he can tell them what happened! That I didn't do it!

Reiker: I'm afraid that's going to be hard to do from a courtroom...

Yanshu: Please, Mr. Strait! He-… He's all I have…

Guard-Bot: CURRENT TIME: 0900 HOURS. ALL TRIAL PARTICIPANTS ARE TO RELOCATE TO THE COURTROOM EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.

Yanshu: … I guess that's us, but… Before we go in, please, take this.

Friendship Photo has been added to the Court Record.

Reiker: Oh, is this your friend?

Yanshu: [Sniff] Y-yeah, it is. He knows I don't like being in photos, but he took and printed it before I could take my phone back. He kept asking me to keep it - to put it on my desk or something - but I didn't have a frame on hand, so...

Reiker: So… Why are you giving this to me?

Yanshu: I don't know, it just… Feels important. Maybe you could put it to good use? I don't think I'll be needing it if I'm... Y'know...

Reiker: Don't worry, Ms. Dryll, I won't let that happen. I promise.

Reiker: (Now here's hoping I can follow through…)

[Next >]

______________________________________________________________

We received a good number of replies this round! We don't have a Thought Pool Point for this post, but feel free to share your thoughts, and stay tuned for the start of the trial next week!

[yessir-rightawaysir]

so, satam!snilvester: you said that robotnik wants sally roboticized, but for what purpose? assuming robotnik's head isn't too far up his ass, he has to be at least vaguely aware of her academic capabilities. wouldn't roboticization get rid of whatever potential such a variable might have? i mean, i guess he could just do a nicole 2.0 and store her consciousness in a separate device, but that still leaves the question of why he wants her roboticized. given how sadistic the guy seems to be, it wouldn't surprise me, but is it just for the novelty of it??

You're vastly underestimating how highly he thinks of himself. You think he finds value in her consciousness? Please. She's not human, her mind has no value to him. He barely acknowledges other humans. I don't mean me, of course, he thinks nothing of me. I'm referring to how he treated others before we left the colony.

Although, actually, you may not know this but your consciousness is locked inside of robotcized brains. I try not to think of this, but it must be a frightening living hell being trapped inside of those metallic bodies. I'd know, and three guesses as to how I found that out... but I wouldn't know what it's like to experience that for years. For over a decade. All of them must be quite mad by now.

So, were she to be roboticized she would be preserved as you've suggested. Perhaps. At least until her consciousness burns out from lack of stimulation or her body is scrapped for parts or destroyed.

SatAM Snively, I am curious... have YOU designed any of the robots used in Robotropolis or your uncle's empire?

A few, yes. Why? Nothing too important. A lot of factory 'bots, the hovering spy cameras, one time I created a robot that was almost as fast as the hedgehog. I'd like to improve that one some day, but I was told to leave it.

(SatAM Snively) So, what was your life like before Mobius and Robotnik and so forth?

Oh, my childhood. Not great. Earth before we left was marred by wars. Polluted beyond recognition. A shambles, basically. Hence why we left. I'm not sure what happened to it after we left but something pretty major had to have occurred to have wiped out humanity. We're survivors, usually...

And my father was always very, um, stern and unpleasant. Even before he went insane. I don't really want to talk about it.

murdercide626 asked: [SatAM] Would you say you're the romantic type, Snively? Have you ever been in love?

No. And no.

Besides, there's no other humans on this planet. Well, sometimes we find... weird exceptions. I think that Lazaar fellow was human? Or at least descended from humans. And I have a theory that Naugus is also related to humans. There's probably more of his kind somewhere. Whatever the hell he is. But neither of them are, uhhgghgh, in any way enticing.

Anonymous asked: for satam snivs i know this doesn't help anything but really hope things get better for you dude, you don't deserve all the stuff you go through :(

Thank you, I agree.

murdercide626 asked: [SatAM] I've always been curious, is Snively your real name?

It's my surname, yes. I'd tell you my given name but we're not really on a first name basis.

[button-phobia-is-real]

thinking about rusty rose again and how sad i am Sonic Prime didnt go as far with her as they couldve

like holy SHIT an amy who got roboticized - to the point she could be overtaken and puppeteered by whoever got admin access - powered by a FLICKIE. in fact the ONLY new yoke robot we see not powered directly by the prism and then they never delve into her backstory!!

like come ON the TRAGEDY the PAIN is RIGHT THERE on a silver platter. her very existence is such a nice callback to her arcs in the games and YET-

like was she the first one brave (and rash) enough to go against the council and they made an example out of her? (either by showing off the robotization or having her completely disappear from the publics view) was she on deaths door due to an accident and they promised a second chance in exchange for her loyalty? did she beg to keep birdie alive by any means necessary? (kinda debunked by the finale but i thought that was a really cool theory going around)

not to mention how insanely OP she is in the first season and how she got nerfed for seemingly no reason (i couldve accepted her getting injured somehow). her first fight scene in the lab is such a delight to watch, with the way she absolutes decimates any foe in her way and utilizes her extendable limbs effortlessly in place of her usual hammer. showcasing how powerful she really is and the only things "holding her back" being her compassion and empathy

im not the biggest shadow fan but i wouldve killed to see them meet and him just completely break down at what she has become: so far from the kind and stubborn girl who reminded him of maria and helped him change his mind about destroying the world

i wouldve loved for rusty rose to get a glimpse of the original amy and see everything she couldve been and try to understand why sonic introduced her as the sweetest friend you could ever ask for despite viewing herself as a killing machine

as a whole i wish the show focused just a bit less on the action and more on the worlds and characters because there is so much cool shit there! (also black rose shouldve wielded a giant anchor instead of a sable i dont make the rules)

[opbackgrounds]

If Kuma was above Sentomaru, that’s also above anyone with an authority chip (meaning CP0 and any marines) and just below the Vegapunks. Do you think the Warlords had that level of authority before disbandment? Or could Kuma have been that high on the hierarchy on his own and was just taken off when he was fully roboticized since he wouldn’t be giving any orders anymore anyway?

Its a good question, and I think in theory the Warlords should be somewhere on the food chain since they're technically a part of the WG, but also it seems like a terrible idea so maybe not. Then again, the WG makes a lot of terrible decisions.

Also the Pacifistas are just really new and to some extent incomplete? With how unknown they are on Sabaody and Marineford you get the impression they haven't been used much before. Could be whatever the protocol is supposed to be hasn't been hashed out yet.

Either way, giving Kuma especially high control seems like something Vegapunk would do so if I were forced to guess I'd say it's that and not all the Warlords generally

[oncewhenalongtimeago]

Sorry, but I Think I Lost Your Plot pt 18

Pairing: Onesided!Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III x Modern!Fem!Reader

Words: 5041

The two of you are irresponsible. Things end up fine, anyways.

Tags: Time Travel, Reader into Movieverse, Dragons: Defenders of Berk, Race To Fireworm Island, unedited, part one

<Previous - Next>

“Yak dung, if ye brew’t ri’gh, yae can-”

You stared out at sea, legs stood apart, fur boots planted firmly against the wooden deck, fists on your hips and smelt the sea, which was a lot less fishy and foul than it had been by the docks, where stall owners tended to drop their fish guts.

Listening to the other two sailors talk was kind of boring. Apparently Yaks weren’t native to this part of the world. They were a far off import from a long time ago, which explained why Gobber and the other Vikings treated them like they were the ultimate cure-all.

“Aye, how abou’ we talk about something besides yak dung, you old frigate? I ‘prom I can’ ‘nit bear one more momen’ of- of-” The younger man spoke, voice tinged with a bit of roboticism and a definite note of disinterest. 

The last you checked, he was quite gruffly doing his best to untangle the knotted fronts of an old, frayed net, probably rife with holes.

Everyone was a warrior, few got to be nothing besides that.

Berk’s close knit community kept anyone from really falling into poverty unless they sucked or were new, but the few fishermen here on Berk that were unlucky enough to end up poor tended to have heavier accents than everyone else, spending most of their pay on their dying ships, in contrast to some of the other boats, with hardy shiphands and large decorated, painted sides.

This one, the one you were on, was old and small but incredibly hardy, though it felt like it might sink down in still waters. As you heard, it did surprisingly well during a storm.

Family boats died hard, it seemed. And he was very insistent that that boat ran in his family.

It took a while for you to ascertain the knowledge that here, you were actually supposed to poop on a poop deck, not that you wanted to. It was more like you’d been shown how they did it which was very similar to just leaning their butt over the side railing and roughing it in front of everyone.

You did not enjoy that show.

You didn’t think anyone here was there for that boat trip. You found that very good.

You were at sea with two other sailors, an old man, large but frail as his boat, and a younger middle aged man who had very little interest in anything but the nets.

The sea was oddly still though still windy as you felt through your very casual tunic and trousers. You figured it would be a waste to wear more.

A thick pouch attached to your hip bounced against your waist as the ship rocked. 

Today, you were a fisherman’s hired helping hand. It was a while since you’d helped on a ship. It was usually the poorer ones who couldn’t afford anyone hardier who pulled you up.

You were slightly pleased with it, though, as you raked across the sky with your eyes. Lunch was cheaper when you were part of the team catching it.

In the sky, you spotted the few birds brave enough to squeak and squeal and flip with dragons lurking around the clouds.

With a burst of enthusiasm, you waved up at them as they dotted the sky.

There were a few groups, not all clear enough for you to make out any more than a dot. And a little further back… There were what looked like the Riders.

You could make out the bright blur form of Stormfly and Astrid’s blonde head of hair on top. Behind her is who you thought were the twins.

You wondered where they were off to.

You eep-ed as a dot separated from the flock.

As the dot grew larger on the horizon, as you recognized the dark, swooping wings of the Night Fury and as it came closer, you realized, of course, that it was Hiccup and Toothless.

“Alr’gh, lass, You grab one end of the net and I’ll-” The old fisherman grumbled from behind, before cutting himself off, “By jove, what’s he want from ‘ere?”

His long, gray beard and ponytail shifted with the wind, and bald spot, which you presumed was caused prematurely a long time ago, half marred by a barely noticeable burn scar, slightly reflected the glare of the sun.

“Speak not of the Romans here, ol’ man,” The younger fisherman grumbled as you glanced back, his unevenly chopped, short brown hair blowing wildly as he limped and dragging his feet up behind him.

The old fishermen’s thin, threadbare brown fur tunic bollywood in the wind. It was patchy, something most Vikings on Berk could relate to but none would be bothered by besides the poorer, without the coin or resources to procure a new bit of fabric to replace.

Your own clothes were thin and not enough during the best of times.

You turned back up to the sky, nearly startled to see how far both Hiccup and Toothless had traveled in such little time, then backed up as they got nearer and nearer, quickly moving to compensate as they pul;led right up to the side.

The ship rocked dangerously as Toothless landed against the side, this fishing boat being a bit smaller than was typical, also positioned dangerously close to a set of rocks just barely peeking out of the water.

“Oi!” The old fisherman shouted angrily, as a spray of water rained down on them from above, just barely missing you, “Watch it, you-!”

“You watch i’, yae old man,” The brown haired fisherman said abruptly, scowling and fixing his accent and twisting his torso, sort of lanky but not nearly enough to be ousted from viking hood, dropping his net and coming over to cover the old man’s mouth, “Tha’s the Chief’s son.”

You winced, imagining his fishy breath over your own fingers, holding some pity for him though he didn’t look like he wanted or needed it.

Hiccup laughed awkwardly and winced, peering back at the rocks as Toothless sniffed around disinterestedly. 

“We go’ no fish for ye, beast!” The old man yowled raspily, throwing off the younger man’s hand and shaking his fist.

Hiccup looked at the fisherman with a slight grimace though he didn’t say anything.

You blew a puff of air out into the ether, looking to the side and inhaling a new, fresh breath and feeling the lungs in your chest expand as you did.

These kinds of spats were not something you had a particular interest in.

Hiccup neither, it seemed.

“Hi?” He asked awkwardly, turning his attention away from them and looking down at you from where he was seated on Toothless, whose claws were digging into the railing, which you were sure was going to give the old fisherman an ulcer later.

“Hello,” You responded. You supposed that by now you should be feeling at least a little bit of Deja Vu but you really did not at all, “Where are you off to?”

“So, ah, how’s…?” Hiccup asked awkwardly, “Is now a bad time?”

You both stared back at the older fisherman who was now squabbling with the brown haired guy, who was busy holding him back, his arms hooked under the back of the old fisherman’s.

“It’s been… fine,” You said, “He’s kind of crazy, I think. Don’t mind it much.”

“Right…”

You heard a loud sniff as what must’ve been Toothless knocked over a small barrel on the other end of the ship, causing some weird-smelling liquid to spill over onto the deck.

“Shouldn’t they be doing better, with all the dragons nearby? You know…” Hiccup gentured down towards the head of his dragon, sniffing at a few closed baskets by the side of the boat, “...Fish?”

“No, ah,” You hummed, nodding to the dingy floorboards and the frayed everything; this vessel wasn’t even painted, a great deal smaller than the other ships, “There’s more fish now because of the dragons doing less hunting, which means an easier catch, food has to cost less in order to feed more and to sell and because most people can probably catch their own fish, and also this boat is kind of…” 

You cleared your throat, shaking off the remnants of the fisherman’s accent, lingering along the edges of your voice.

You didn’t pick up on the whole thing until very, very recently but on the regular, you spoke in a way that was more formal than the rest of Berk.Of course, you knew you had an accent, but often you found that as you spent more time with the villagers, in an effort to be more polite, you tried to adapt the accents of the people you were speaking to in order to mask your own foreign one.

  It helped, some.

“Right,” Hiccup said again, “We’re- we’re looking for Fireworms. The others and I. I should probably…”

“For Snotlout?” You asked.

You looked back and then up towards Hiccup again. They usually managed just fine without you, and it was an awfully calm day.

Would you leave them behind? 

To be fair, if you stayed, you were sure to get an earful. So you didn’t feel bad about it at all.

“How did you know?” Hiccup asked. 

You squinted. 

Hiccup was positioned just so that the sun glared down from around him, which was a bit painful to your eyes.

“Well…” You started.

There wasn’t much the Riders did that had anything to do with the Jorgensons when Snotlout wasn’t involved and the ‘Louts had been particularly grabby recently. What wasn’t for them?

They took the island very seriously and themselves even more so as the ‘protectors of the island.’

From your interactions with the rest of the Jorgenson house and, more importantly, the head, you knew Spitelout was very rough on Snotlout.  

Depending on the Jorgenson, they were either sort of wasteful or wasteless to an unreasonable degree, throwing things out before they could be fixed and using old, broken tools even after it became incredibly dangerous to do so, but they were also very rich compared to some of the other families on Berk so it didn’t really matter. 

They had to have the best of everything in people and things, or something like that. Which usually left only crumbs for the rest of everybody.

You’d heard some of the women by the square complaining as you scoured over their crumbs and dry pickings.

You didn’t mind it. Berk was pretty first-come first-serve, anyways.

Until it came to dragons.

Everyone on Berk stuck to the typical types of dragons whenever they were forced to find a mount, not because they preferred it that way, though it wasn’t something you found to cause any dissent in particular. 

“Gut feeling,” You shrugged, going with the easy explanation, “Do you need any help?”

It was difficult to find any type outside of a Dragon Training course, of course, those being a roster of the most common native dragons. The other kinds were a bit harder to stumble across. Any of the ‘exotic’ types of dragon mounts were something to be proud of, and proud of them they were, the few Vikings who had the time and resources to expend. 

There were a few squabbles about it but nothing too major. Most Vikings were still a little dragon shy anyhow. The whole argument was kind of silly.

Having a dragon was about more than the type of dragon, anyways.

 It didn’t matter much to you, a person without a dragon. 

There was a fisherman who was quite proud of his exotic dragon- a Scauldron. He’d picked it up a little bit after the incident with the purple flowers.

It helped a lot with fishing.

“Well… Are you busy?” Hiccup asked, albeit a tad unsurely.

“Not particularly,” You said, staring back at the old fisherman, also a bit unsure. 

Adventuring with Hiccup would make it easier to avoid the old fisherman, who, now that you thought about it, was a bit off and who you imagined was very close to blowing his top.

“Really?” Hiccup asked, looking a little guilty, eyes darting back towards the fishermen behind you.

He pointed a shaking hand towards you, spluttering messily as the brown haired Viking guy scrambled for some of the ropes along one of the poles along the back end of the ship, still not letting go of his arm.

“Yeah,” You said, beaming as Hiccup scooted forward, urging Toothless to turn around with his foot, causing the boat to rock a bit and you to back up, adjusting to the dragon as he swung wide.

Hiccup made a sheepish smile and offered you the space behind him on his saddle, though he kept his eyes on the fisherman behind.

You pretended you saw nothing. You thought the scene they were making resembled something out of the world’s blandest comedy show, or an old cartoon. 

He paid pennies, anyway.

“Someone should be by with a Scauldron in case you need help,” You called back, “I heard the rainbow big ship was out today.”

“Not tha’ barrel! The other! Can’t you see the difference?” The old fisherman made a rude gesture and shouted as Toothless took the initiative to do a bit more exploring.

He shook free enough to grab something thick, dark and viscous from a wooden tankard to the side and throw it towards Toothless.

Hiccup shifted awkwardly as he responded, “I don't see the difference…?” 

You yelped and jumped back and scrambled up on Toothless behind him as the glob landed right by your feet. 

Looked like your refreshing day out at sea was over. You could always go fishing another day.

You tossed the fisherman back his coin, holding it between your fingers and flipping it to him with your thumb before he could say anything, shooting off a quick, “I’m sorry!”

He jumped down and grabbed for it, though the brown haired fisherman caught it with some minor exhaustion.

You turned away and lightly nudged Hiccup’s arm, hurting before the old fisherman could do something more crass. Like his bare bottom over the railing. Sure, you may have had to know the sight once, but it was still irritating. And gross.

Hiccup kicked Toothless quickly off and up into the sky. You could feel the wind bursting past your face, much more biting now that you were once again without your coat.

You rotated your shoulder slightly after you slipped into the saddle behind Hiccup, arms sore from all the rowing you did earlier, which was difficult considered your arms were clenched around his waist.

“Fireworm island?” You asked, “Which ones are Fireworms, again?”

“They’re the small orange glowy ones,” Hiccup spoke past the rushing wind, though it didn’t seem like he was particularly rushed, bumping your shoulder with his as he glanced back.

“I don’t think I’ve seen those yet,” You said as you locked your arms around his waist, Toothless moving at rocketing speeds.

“We’re heading back towards Berk?” You asked. 

“Yeah. We were just- Well-” Hiccup struggled, “Recouping. Navigating. Splitting ground.”

“Splitting? What’s your-? You know.”

“I’m not- I left too early,” Hiccup said, embarrassedly at nearly a shout, “I was hoping you might know- Ah– But the- I know some of the fishermen used to use Fireworms as bait.”

He cut off then, but you got the gist of it.

“Why don’t we try a different island?” You asked, fighting against the wind as Hiccup and Toothless reoriented them all, nearly flipping over.

You imagined what Fishlegs would say; ��There’s an island for that!’

It seemed like there was an island for everything. Was there one for Fireworms?

You wondered what Berk was the island for.

You didn’t need to be close friends to know for sure. 

It was bare. 

You pushed through another set of ferns, following quickly behind Hiccup as the two of you trudged through a thick set of trees.

You really hoped you hadn’t messed up and someone ended up dead, or something.

People would riot. Chase you off for sure.

You heard people talking about moving more into the forests where there were more resources and privacy, the only thing having kept them in the village being the dragons.

You’d have to take refuge.

Another dock would be nice, you thought.

You wondered if the volcano on Dragon island was still active. That would make for a good second island, if the dragons didn’t mind a few human visitors. Roommates. Exile-ees.

You figured they’d probably rather they be left alone, though.

“Would using Gel from another Nightmare work? Or is it like blood transfusions?” You asked as you ducked under another low-hanging branch. 

You stepped over the gnarled roots of this tree quickly afterwards, the soles of your boots making an odd wet noise as it hit the damp undergrowth. 

The two of you had just hit a pretty soggy spot in the undergrowth and you knew Hiccup was worried it might turn into peat. 

You were close to suggesting that you head back and try another direction in the forest.

Said Hiccup looked at you oddly, brows cinched and raised as he tried to repeat your foreign modern words, “Blood transfusions?”

You puzzled over it for a moment, “Blood… exchange? Blood giving?”

“That…” Hiccup cringed, but he had the shadows of his idea face ghosting the corners of his expression. He was, also, probably wondering if it was just as unsanitary as it seemed, as a normally adjusted person should.

“It’s not as gross as it sounds, I promise.”

“Really?”

“I mean, everyone has different blood types, and you- Shouldn’t try it. Please don’t try it,” You said a bit quickly.

He didn’t have the medical equipment, at least not for blood.

It probably wasn’t safe anyways.

You hadn’t talked since before his Dad started asking you questions you didn’t want to think about. You refused to let it get awkward. Still, you hoped to find some Fireworms soon.

Toothless had run off earlier, chasing the likeness of a work into the trees. Hope was nearly lost.

Catching the worms was sort of difficult and the Fireworms had been sparse. You’d been out for what, thirty minutes? An hour?

You winced.

It was like trying to catch frogs with tweezers. How you imagined it, anyways.

You wondered if there were frogs here and if that was something Vikings did. You thought you saw a kid with a frog once. You wondered if Hiccup wanted to go catch frogs, and if he was the type of kid to have tried to do that. 

Maybe with friends? You weren’t sure.

He seemed a little solitary before the Red Death, though not by choice or any sort of personality quirk, at least nothing you would clock from the modern day.

You were afraid, though, that his only friend was Gobber which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, in and of itself.

“Toothless!” Hiccup tried then, calling again, cupping his hands around his mouth. 

You glanced down at his leg, which you noticed just then had sunk a bit deep into the mud. It was going to get caked later.

“No dice?” You asked, pulling yourself up a step.

“No dice,” Hiccup shook his head. He tried to hide it, but he was looking kind of glum. Which was understandable.

You squinted ahead as the way forward got lighter, blinking placidly into the treeline. 

Maybe you wouldn't have to turn back after all. 

You kept moving forwards. 

Hiccup had a sort of stormy, contemplative expression on his face a for a while, and so you’d given him the space to think.

You weren’t particularly pressed to speak yourself, in a mood that made you just as happy with silence as exercising your vocal cords.

“Spitelout… Snotlout hadn’t said anything but I’m sure he wants him to- …” Hiccup spoke, after a while.

“Kill Hookfang?” You asked.

You likened it -the idea- to euthanasia for older animals or animals that were too sick to function anymore. But you had the inkling that that’s not exactly the type of person Spitelout was. 

It was still unreasonable, though. You hadn’t exhausted half your resources yet, you thought. If there was still a chance you’d be able to save Snotlout’s dragon…

You felt sort of bad for Hiccup.

Dragons were his thing, after all. “I should have told the others where I was going,” Hiccup sighed, gesturing with his hands as he stopped suddenly, then letting them fall until they slapped soundlessly against his legs, “I can’t believe I messed up this bad.”

You moved up beside him to see his face, lips pursed into a thin line as he looked exhaustively up into the thin pin-ey canopy above, “It’s not that bad.”

He looked at you guiltily then, though you had the feeling he wasn’t looking at you with guilt any more than you being the cause of it. Did he regret stopping by to pick you up? Coming to another island?

“It’s fine,” You tried, before adding hopefully, comforting yourself a little bit, “We don’t know if it’s a mistake, yet. These things happen, and you never know.”

“My Dad is going to kick me out and I’m going to have to spend every night from now on until I die eating alone.” Hiccup spoke dryly.

“I’ll be here,” You suggested helpfully, “And if you get kicked off I promise I’ll visit with things. So you don’t drop. Like fresh water and probably beads, maybe.”

“Well, thanks, I bet they’ll taste great mixed up with a plate of loneliness and self-loathing,” Hiccup said sarcastically, waving his hands at his sides, before pausing, as if remembering who he was talking to. 

You snorted, a little bit surprised.

He’d not spent so much time being any more sarcastic than awkward whenever you were together. 

You thought it was a little bit funny and a little bit worrying. If things went wrong it was probably your fault, anyways. For messing with the plot. 

Had you really, though? The thought came unbidden. What had you done besides just existing? That was a guiltless action. 

Had that been all you had been doing?

You internally shook, brushing thoughts of those things away.

You didn’t want to do any pondering.

“You’d be fine, minus the indigestion, probably. You have a lot of things going for you,” You nodded.

“My sharp intellect and dashing charm,” Hiccup said, keeping his elbows close to his sides and gesturing to himself emphatically in a way that was incredibly sarcastic and slightly gawky.

“Yes,” You said firmly as you nodded besides, your side brushing fully past another fern as you went, “I mean, you’re a good inventor. I can’t name another one on the island- really, I’m sure I heard your Dad talking about it the other day-  ‘I could leave that boy alone for a week and he’d have me a city built on a whole other island by the time I got back.’”

You didn’t talk to many people so you mostly kept that bit to yourself.

“Wow, that’s…”

“A bit crazy?” You hummed, lifting your boot and jumping back slightly as you stepped into a particularly wet, boggy patch of grass.

“A lot of pressure,” Hiccup gestured aimlessly with his hands again, the glass beads threaded into the twine around his wrists twinkling slightly as he rotated them.

He seemed kind of crushed, suddenly. 

“I’m really not that good at… Prioritizing, I guess. Anything. All of this.” 

They were yellow today. Yellow and light green. You hadn’t noticed, too focused on staying atop Toothless in the sky earlier and on the fauna after you’d landed.

You looked down as you stepped up onto a short dry patch, kicking aside a few pebbles with your muddied boot toes and grabbing a hold of a thin branch, sticking up out of a log as you pulled yourself over.

“I hope he didn’t mean it literally,” You said, shrugging. But then you immediately felt guilty for it, glancing up from your feet back to Hiccup, “It’s- I mean, things happen-And- You don’t have to be good at it. I mean, you’re doing it. Who else is going to?”

You stopped for a moment and took that time to let out a large exhale.

You felt like you fumbled the conversation before you even moved your mouth again. 

“Right,” Hiccup looked at you unsurely before peering around the underbrush, “I guess. But everyone expects me to. I shouldn’t be saying this, but I don’t- …know how.”

Hiccup grimaced, looking like he had a heavy set of weights on his shoulders. Which, he might’ve.

You hadn’t had any in a while besides the need for food and board.

It made you wonder. Did you expect anything from Hiccup?

“Can you…? Gods, do you even know what I’m talking about?” Hiccup continued, burying his face in his hands, throwing his head up exaggeratedly as he rubbed his face, one hand lingering longer than the other.

He glanced at you from the corner of his eye as he did, “I didn’t mean-...”

He sighed heavily, defeated.

You looked at him for a moment, halted.

You ignored how your feet were sore and your back was starting to hurt from spending the whole day on your feet. This was no place to sit and rest, however, not even for a minute. You wouldn’t stop for more than a minute. 

Unless you wanted to be wet, that was. And froggy.

Way back on Berk, you were expected to take on responsibility a lot earlier than you were expected to in modern times so you guessed, in a way, you got it. And you wanted to tell him so.

You felt kind of odd about it all. 

Any direction you had you’d surely misplaced. Any path you knew was probably derailed- even this conversation you were sure wasn’t supposed to have happened. 

“I kind of know?” You said, “I get it, I mean. I haven’t been here for everything, but, you know, I’ve seen a lot. I don’t really have any good advice for you, though.”

You watched Hiccup slump slightly, grimacing as you spoke, feeling as if you’d failed some sort of test.

Who were you to ask for anything, really?

There was one thing you could give him, though. But similar to your own sleeves and patchy boots, which you liked a lot, you weren’t sure if it would count for much. 

“-And I’m sorry,” You said, before shrugging, not giving Hiccup a moment to think before you spoke again, “But I don’t expect anything you don’t want to give. Maybe, it would be hypocritical of me to ask for anything more than you are- I mean, I’m a delivery girl. I guess you know all that already, though, right? That you’re nice all on your own?”

You ended in a question, watching Hiccup as he watched you, searching for any more reaction. His reaction. Had you missed the mark? Was there even a mark to miss?

You hoped not. 

“Am I?” Hiccup asked, looking at you incredulously.

He gave you a wide-eyed look, some emotion you couldn’t name plastered all across his face.

You weren’t exactly an authority on the subject. You had been here, in the Archipelago, for a long while, but there were still many, many things you weren’t privy to.

“I think you are?” You took the lead by a few feet, urging Hiccup to subconsciously follow you forwards, hurrying the both of you up, “I don’t know what-I mean… Are you? I can’t really say. I’m not- the judge of- I think, honestly, the only one who can say what you are is- well. You? And you’d know better than me what you can handle. I don’t mind it, whatever it is you can or can’t do, I guess.”

You gestured back towards him as you glanced and turned away without actually looking, face heating up with an extra amount of embarrassment. 

You didn’t want to consider the idea that maybe you’d messed up, so you opted to ignore all of it. The idea that the whole conversation had happened in the first place.

Really, he was the main character. Why wouldn’t he know?

“I- ah, ph-what? I mean… Yeah?” Hiccup sputtered, following you as you through the forest around you, trying not to flinch as the water seeped through the bottom of your boots.

You shrug-nodded awkwardly, still staring ahead.

Thankfully, the damp earth began to grow firmer and the ferns grew thicker as you spoke until just by what you assumed to be the end of the treeline, where the sun shone brightest.

You pointed ahead, “I think there’s an opening up there.”

As you got closer, hurriedly trudging along though not too fast for Hiccup to keep up, you felt the beginnings and wisps of sea in the air.

You felt the beginnings of a rumble in your stomach as your anticipation grew.

So you had a little bit of an ulterior motive too, for rushing the two of you along. You were a little bit hungry, and you also had had no breakfast at all. A break would do Hiccup well too, you were sure.

You kept moving, the two of you in silence, until, finally, stepping past a particularly large front, framed by light that was almost glaring, considerably brighter than the kind you’d been subjected to in the smoggy underbrush-

The two of you had just broken out of the forest into a clear cliffside.

It was probably not too far away from where you’d initially landed. Geometric rock columns lined the cliffs’ edge, making the ground look almost like tiles, though some bits were slightly elevated over others. 

You opened your mouth to speak, but he beat you to it.

“Look, how about we take a break? I have to… I have to figure out how we’re going to get back,” Hiccup looked back, in a way you imagined was exhaustive, into the trees, most likely thinking of Toothless. Yeah, that was a problem.

You were glad he said it first. 

[theresattrpgforthat]

Hello! I’m sorry if you’ve answered this already, but do you have any recs (or anything you want to say for fun) about games with multiple GMs?

Theme: Multiple GMs

Hello friend, I may have recommended games similar to this but I don't know if I've actually fulfilled this prompt before! I'll do my best to show you some interesting games, and you can check out previous posts at the bottom in case there's something there that fits your tastes more.

Questlandia: Second Edition, by Turtlebun.

In Questlandia, you and your friends will invent a world from scratch. It might be fantastic or bizarre, from a remembered past or imagined future.You’ll paint a picture of your society and its people, their laws and customs, how they live and how they dream.

But your society is failing. As you play, your characters will attempt to find beauty and purpose amidst the chaos of a changing world.

Questlandia is a tabletop roleplaying game that creates fantastical worlds in states of change. It may be medieval fantasy in a ghost-haunted kingdom, neo-noir in a roboticized undercity, or microscopic slipstream suburbia in a puddle. The possible settings are boundless, but will always come from the interests of those at the table. Bring in real-world themes that intrigue you, references that inspire you, worldbuilding that follows your curiosity.

Questlandia uses dice and cards to help you create a society, as well as your character’s role in that society. I think this is a good example of a game where every person is a character, but every player is also a GM. You’ll roll against each-other to determine whether or not your society will be able to overcome their troubles. Overall, I think Questlandia is great for telling a story that spans a number of factions or nations.

Pantheon, by harpoon_gun.

4-6 GMs, who are distant Gods with their own desires and needs, and up to 3 players, champions of the Gods who are being forced to do their chores. Take turns toying with the champions, screwing over the other Gods, and building relationships of both the positive and negative variety. 

All I know about this game is what I can divine from the description, but I would hazard a guess that much of this gameplay is going to feel a little bit like PvP. The gods that your GMs are embodying will have conflicting goals and desires, so expect to run into a lot of backbiting and backstabbing. The game itself was designed for the Bad TTRPGS Jam, which encouraged designers to fuck around with rules and see where it got them. So no guarantees for a balanced game here - but maybe an interesting experiment!

Fool’s Errand, by Myles Wirth.

You are a group of questants, pledged to a seemingly-impossible task. You must set out alone into the world, each following your own path by which the quest might be fulfilled. They will be long and difficult journeys, with no guarantee of success.

Inspired by legends and travelogues, Fool's Errand is a single-page tabletop game about perseverance in the face of uncertainty and the joy of worldbuilding together. It is prepless, gm-less, setting-agnostic, and can be played on its own or as a setup or interlude for another game. Rather than flattening Player-GM distinctions entirely, it inverts the traditional balance of a ttrpg table; players take turns as "seekers", individual characters traversing the world in search of an impossible goal, while the rest of the table forms the "Chorus", building and refining the world around the seeker as they explore it.

Fools’ Errand asks you to make some travellers and give them a quest that they cannot achieve. The game occurs over a series of turns; on your turn you’ll control your Seeker and declare what you want to do. The rest of the table becomes the Chorus, and build the Location that Seeker is in. The Seeker may then attempt to convince the Chorus that the way in which they will attempt to solve the problem is something they would be good at; and then rolls 3d6. Your result may grant you a Boon or a Burden, which may draw you closer to or pull you farther from your character’s goal. Your characters also have a Resolve pool, which will diminish over the course of play.

I think success is still technically possible in this game, but it’s highly unlikely. What is more likely is that characters will slowly give up on their quest, and join the Chorus in telling the story of who remains.

Bleak Spirit, by potatocubed.

Bleak Spirit is a storytelling game where you and your friends create a brooding, cryptic tale about a stranger in a strange land. Everything is falling apart, crumbling, corrupted, and the wanderer carries the potential for a return to past glories – or the power to sweep away all that remains.

Everyone contributes to the tale, sharing the sense of mystery that comes from no-one knowing the entire truth of what's going on. Everyone takes turns being the world for a scene, introducing lore which hints at the history of the setting. After every scene everyone leaps to conclusions based on the lore which has been revealed – and these conclusions affect the sorts of lore they will introduce when it's their turn to be the world.

Bleak Spirit is meant to replicate the narrative beats of Dark Souls, Hollow Knight, and Bloodborne. It gives everyone at the table a chance to play the Wanderer, a chance to play the World - and a chance to sit as part of the Chorus. The game is very structured, which I think helps the table keep on track, since everyone is going to have a chance to contribute to the story. The Wanderer dictates the character’s actions, but never their internal thought or feelings. The World creates Areas and Locations that the Wanderer will visit. The Chorus will introduce themes, descriptions, and motifs that are meant to make the world full of grandeur, mystique and decay.

This is a game that you might be interested if you like melancholic tones, large gaps in historical knowledge, and collaborative world building. The creator has also created a Cat version of this game, called Cat Spirit!

Two Weeks One Summer, by Rick Cockram.

In Two Weeks One Summer the players take the role of a family visiting a rambling old house in the woods during a summer holiday. The game focusses on the activities of the children of the family as they explore the house, it's grounds and the surrounding woodland. It is a game about finding things to do, creating your own excitement and exploring an unfamiliar environment.

This game divides the participants into two roles: the Children and the Grown-Ups. Over the course of the game, each of these roles will contribute different things to the description of the house, and the events that happen as you stay here. I think this works well for a slice-of life game, but it also might be an interesting source of inspiration for telling stories that are more dramatic or fantastical.

I'd Also Recommend Checking Out...

Co-Optional Games Rec Post

Unique Player Responsibilities / Rotating GMs

Asymmetrical Games Rec Post

[justdrawlynn11]

So in the Sonic underground au how does being roboticized work with them already being robots? (Side note I love this au so much, Sonic underground was my favorite show growing up)

Okay, so here’s what I got for roboticization in the Celestial Underground Au. So the factor of being roboticized is in multiple levels to it.

Roboticization in the CU Au is a bit different from the original source(Sonic Underground) due to multiple factors, such as the main cast and at least over half of the population of Superstar Kingdom (yes that’s the name of the kingdom for now)being animatronics.

Roboticization physically enhances an animatronic and ‘human’ person’s body and ability, it’s like an “upgrade” of sorts.

In depth explanation below.

Physically:

For humans it works the same as it did physically for any organic (there’s plenty of different animal species)characters from Sonic Underground, with all of their flesh being converted into metal.

Animatronics on the other hand, when getting roboticized, are “upgraded” to be superior to their former selves physically and strength wise.

Any clothes the roboticized wore when roboticized will also fully fuse with the “person’s” body(like the original from what I can tell), no need to change clothes when roboticized or something.

Mentally:

Mentally on the other hand is a different can of worms. Overall from the outside the roboticized are not their former selves, being a husk meant to fulfill either the command of the Creator or his forces, or to be ‘improvements’ of their former selves to create the Creator’s desired superior world.

For most roboticized people their former consciousness is basically in a comatose state, unaware of anything happening and basically in mental storage asleep.

Then there’s rare cases, like with the chamber that Moon was roboticized in not comatosing the former self, but them being trapped inside their own heads and forced to watch their bodies move out of their own control(the Creator made this chamber like this because Sun’s magic wouldn’t work if he was permanently comatose, he also tested it on a few people before Moon).

De-Roboticization and a bit on Sun and Moon’s powers:

First off, a character’s innate magic is separate from their magic medallions. The medallions add onto the characters magic ability but they are separate(Like hair extensions or something). Sun’s VERY powerful magic for example isn’t related to his medallion, but his magic can boost the power of his or his siblings medallions.

So for de-roboticization I need to address Sun and Moon’s medallion powers. They are the vocalists of the family and if they were to sing the theme song they couldn’t be allowed to sing together or else they’d probably explode everything(I’ll explain the siblings powers fully later and how they collaborate with each other), but alone they’re not strong enough to do more than use it as defense/offense.

BUT when their medallions(individually) are boosted with an external power they have the power to basically mentally de-roboticize someone, or at least give someone who had no control over their own body via an evil force(like possession or something) control over their body once more.

They cannot do this to each other with their own respective medallions(Sun couldn’t de-roboticize Moon with his own medallion and had to use Moon’s, same would go vice versa) so that’s why Sun needed to use MOON’S medallion to help Moon stop being trapped in his own head(they can use each other’s medallions if needed via a spell).

The magic is only the first part, as the second part of de-roboticization is allowing someone to gain full control of their body back, for example while Moon could move his body and prevent himself from actively attacking, his body was still IN attack mode and was trying its best to do as much harm as possible.

Here’s where Solar and Sun’s collaboration comes into play. Sun asked Solar for help in seeing if they could get Moon back(before Moon’s de-roboticization), and Solar agreed. So he tried his best to semi-self teach himself how to override and get rid of any influence the Creator has on a hosts body(like the coding).

Sun tried his best to help where he could and neither of them really PLANNED for Moon’s de-roboticization to happen as soon as it did(the trigger for the reunion), so Solar was working the best he could(with Nexus’ help now that Sun wasn’t hiding from the triplets and he didn’t have to keep it a secret).

They found out how to override and get rid of the Creator’s influence on a roboticized persons code and body

ALSO-

For the hypothetical question of ‘Why didn’t Sun or Moon use their powers to de-roboticize people before this point?’:

They didn’t know that they could just give others their free will back with extra magic for a boost, and they were trying to not get caught as well as they could and the Creator could’ve tracked them if they used enough magic to give someone their mental freedom back, and they’re probably aware that using their medallions together would cause everything to explode(or something). Sun had gone off of a last ditch effort from Solar’s hypothesis in order to try to de-roboticize Moon. Sun had told Solar about Moon’s old nightmares for potential futures(I will write about this one tomorrow), Solar then created a hypothesis based off of reversing the nature of the future Moon was so scared of that he got nightmares. And it worked.

My little goober trying to unpack all of that after spending multiple days contemplating this topic and staying up far to long to finish answering this ask(I also went to my state fair earlier and I’ve been up for about 20 hours when I need to be fixing my sleep schedule) (@derpymuffins33)

[yellowvixen]

I've never actually heard of the Robotized Metal Sonic theory! Could you please explain? It honestly it sounds really cool! (And also any mention of Robotization makes me happy because that means the SatAM show was acknowledged in some way)

Ooh yeah sure!! Others have probably explained it better, or maybe have slightly different takes on it but this is how I see it:

The events of Sonic CD happen without Metal being present which results in Eggman winning and actually capturing Sonic, leading to the bad future. He roboticizes him and then for whatever reason, sends him back in time. I've seen different takes on this, maybe Eggman wanted his victory to be even easier with the help of Metal, maybe Metal was defective (or rebelling) and he wanted to get rid of him, maybe Metal sent himself back to try fix what had happened. Either way, Metal ends up back in the hands of Eggman in a new timeline, with a new Sonic, and he loses. At this point I like to think Metal doesn't have many of his original memories, but he's still convinced he's the real Sonic - and he's not wrong! He was Sonic. But no one believes that.

It's all very fucked up if you think about it for a bit, especially the events of Sonic Heroes. (Metal tries so hard to be different to Sonic, to be something new and unique, and it still doesn't work. Again he loses his voice and his freedom and any uniqueness he had as Neo Metal Sonic, and no one even cares.)

Gayemeralds has written more about the theory, and has a series of fics about it here

Another one of my favourite fics about this subject is Corrosion - mind the tags on this one!

I've also drawn this based on the theory, which is kind of inspired by Corrosion and the second fic in that series, Dateline!

If anyone else has more to add about this theory please do, I'd love to read more fics abt it and I know there's a few posts about it here which send me absolutely insane

[son1c]

onward and upward?

falling stars fic masterpost

The evening sky was awash with delicate ice cream clouds. The wind had curled them into fluffy orange cones, and as the night rolled in, they soon became sprinkled with stars. There were no flickies up this high; it was just the manta ray battleship sailing through the atmosphere with Sonic at its helm. Most of his excitement from their great escape had worn off by now, but he still wore a smile on his face as he lazily pushed the yoke forward, pressing the ship onward.

Periodically, the sensors in the cockpit would blink or ding. Sonic glanced at them every time they did, and made sure to review the various buttons and knobs around him as well, but everything was fine. He sat back in the pilot's chair with his feet kicked up on the dash.

Rouge had given him the coordinates to her casino about an hour ago, and Sonic, liking the sound of crashing at a place with good music and lots of fun, had entered them into the ship’s navigation system immediately. But they were still a ways off from Night Babylon.

Far below the ship, the desert sands surrounding Scrap Brain Base created a cocktail of color. It was no more interesting to look at a second time than it had been the first time. Sonic was just glad he didn't have to endure the nighttime chill as it blew across the dunes again. Inside the cockpit, it was warm, and the soft yellow glow of the overhead lights kept him alert even when the sun disappeared under the horizon.

Shadow was perched on a section of the ship’s dashboard that didn’t have any controls on it. He sat with his back to the window, leaning forward slightly with his elbows on his thighs. His brow was creased, and his mouth was turned down in a small frown. Every so often, he rubbed one of his inhibitor rings, his mind elsewhere.

His thoughts lingered on Scrap Brain Base. So much had happened while he was in stasis, and he hadn't been there for any of it. He was still reeling from Sonic's transformation into a Robian. Supposedly, that was fixed now, but the blue hedgehog still bore the scars from the Roboticizer. His body remained segmented by dark lines even though he was back to being flesh and fur. And his eyes…

Shadow looked away when Sonic turned his head from the window. The hedgehog's bright green gaze followed him out of the corner of his eye, however. And Shadow could still feel it on him even when Sonic didn't say anything.

The sound of wind rushing by the outside of the ship grated on Shadow's ears. The dark hedgehog gripped the edge of the dashboard. He suddenly felt claustrophobic inside of the cockpit, but he knew the relative openness of the rest of the cabin wouldn't alleviate the pressure on his chest.

So, Shadow stayed where he was. And he said, "I had a dream."

Sonic blinked. He tilted his head to the side and asked, "Yeah? What about?"

"It was about…" Shadow's grip on the dashboard tightened. "Your words from the forest. Something you said then stands out to me now. That comment about a golden figure… while trapped in stasis, I believe I saw the same one."

Sonic shifted in his chair. "For real? You recognize it at all?"

"It might've been you."

Despite his verbiage, Shadow spoke with certainty. Like he knew it was true without really knowing. He watched as Sonic's eyes widened, the weight of Shadow's words sinking in right away. But then Sonic's eyes closed and his mouth stretched into an amused grin.

"Nah," Sonic said. "Couldn't've been the same one. I mean, unless I was lookin' in the mirror… how could I have seen myself?" He dropped his legs to the floor and turned in his chair. He was facing Shadow fully now. "You saw me. I saw you. Not sure what the color change is about, but that's what I'm gettin' from this."

Shadow thought about the misty face he'd seen in his dreams. The grin it wore and the attitude it radiated, so strong even through the ether. When he looked at Sonic's face now, he got the same feeling.

"The Doctor said we fell from space," Shadow said.

"He also said we fought a giant lizard," Sonic said. Then, he shrugged. "I'll buy the first part. But that second one's kinda rocky. Our new pal's gonna need to back it up before I start believin' it."

Rouge. She was out in the cabin with Omega, presumably working her magic and keeping the bloodthirsty mech from blowing a hole in the side of the hull. She had her work cut out for her considering the zoo's worth of badniks that made up the rest of the ship's passengers, but since no alarms had gone off yet, Sonic assumed she was succeeding in her quest to keep Omega from reenacting the opening cutscene from Sonic Adventure 2.

Shadow was quiet for a moment. The weight on his chest persisted, a horrible reminder of all the things he couldn't change. “The you that I saw in my dream,” he began, “what if you can never return to that state again?”

Sonic looked at Shadow with those eyes. Those unnatural, glowing eyes that threatened to crush the dark hedgehog into pieces. And he said, “That’s the fun part. Stuff comes and goes. Not knowing what I’ve seen or what I’ve been for the last time is just part of the adventure!”

Shadow toyed with his earring. Despite his initial reluctance to wear it, he was glad he still had it, and that it hadn’t been lost back at Scrap Brain. “Your point of view is admirable,” Shadow said slowly. “But it’s on this that we differ.”

“I’m not sayin’ you gotta agree with me,” Sonic said with a wave of his hand. “That’s just the way I see it. When everything’s temporary, everything matters. So I gotta take it in while I can, that way I don’t have to worry about missin' it once it’s gone.”

Shadow’s hand fell from his earring. The star shaped jewelry twinkled when it caught the light, and Sonic smiled at it. At Shadow.

“Even so,” Shadow said, shuttering himself from Sonic’s smile with a scowl, “the Doctor will pay for what he took from you. If you won’t seek retribution, I'll do it in your stead. This, I promise you.”

Sonic reached out and patted Shadow’s shoulder. “You say that like you’ve got somethin’ to prove,” Sonic observed. “Well, I’m tellin’ you right now that what you’re trying to do, you’ve already done. There’s no promise in the world that could mean more than stickin’ with me when I didn’t have two legs to stand on.”

Shadow shook his head. “That was a favor repaid, nothing more.”

Sonic fiddled with his own earring. His gaze turned back toward the window, and the night sky beyond. “If you say so.”

“I do,” Shadow said stiffly. A tangled web of feelings churned in his gut. He chose to focus on the one that he was most familiar with: anger. "This goes beyond what was done to you. The Doctor crossed both of us, and now with that cheap copy…" Shadow's anger was joined by disgust as he remembered the expressionless face of the Shadow Android. "I won't allow such an insult."

Sonic tapped his thumb on the yoke. "I get the feeling he's a fan of fakes," Sonic said. "I mean, come on--you remember that fake we saw of me on the way in, right? Maybe it's just his M.O."

This didn't help calm Shadow. "He'd be wise to think twice before dedicating his time to tawdry mirrors. They'll all end up shattered in the end."

Suddenly, one of the sensors on the dashboard started to go off. Unlike the routine beeps from before, however, this time the screen was lit up bright yellow. Sonic and Shadow both leaned over it to see what it said and found that it warned of an anomaly on the lower deck.

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Man, Mr. Ivo sure skimped on the specs for this thing. That could mean anything!"

Shadow got down from the dashboard and began moving toward the door. He said, "Stay the course. I'll take care of it."

Sonic snorted. "Leavin' me on the bench, huh?" He thought back to how he'd left Shadow to secure the ship with Rouge and Omega while he went after Buggy on his own a few hours earlier. "Guess I deserve that," he conceded. "But take Omega with you, yeah? He could use the fresh air."

Shadow paused at the door to the cockpit and glanced back over his shoulder, but Sonic had already turned back toward the dashboard, his fingers trailing over the buttons curiously. So, Shadow pulled open the door and exited the cockpit, leaving Sonic to fly the ship alone.

What he didn't see was Buggy slipping through the crack in the door at the last second. The little robot could be quite opportunistic, that way.

Out in the main area of the ship, badniks crawled and skittered like bugs. A collection of caterkillers curled around the support beam in the middle of the cabin, while a pair of monkey robots tossed a crabmeat back and forth like a football. Four buzzy bombers seemed to be having a race around the meager airspace, circling the cabin as if they were Nascars on a track, with a group of rollers attempting to knock them down by throwing each other up at the ceiling to intercept them whenever they looped back around.

And then there was Omega, still in his corner. Rouge was with him, and so was his number one fan, the wasp robot from the basement. It was anyone's guess why he hadn't squashed the pesky thing yet, but it probably had something to do with Rouge regaling him with tales of her more violent plunders over the years. It was like Cocomelon for the war machine.

Shadow walked up to Omega and said, "You're with me. There's a problem on the lower deck."

"NOW IS NOT A GOOD TIME. THE BLOODSHED WAS JUST GETTING STARTED."

Rouge smiled coyly. "And there's more where that came from," she said. "After we do some snooping!"

Shadow raised an eyebrow at Rouge's use of the word 'we.' But ultimately, it didn't matter to him if she tagged along or not, so he didn't comment on it. Then, he turned away from her and headed toward the back of the cabin.

The hatch that led to the depths of the ship was by the tail of the manta ray. Shadow had to weave around the menagerie of lollygagging badniks in order to get to it.

Rouge and Omega followed closely behind. Omega kept his eyes glued to the floor as he walked so as not to see the badniks. If he didn't have to look at them, it was easier to pretend they weren't currently sharing the same space. Although, the buzzy bomber's trills as it said goodbye broke the illusion for a little bit.

Once the three of them were all standing around the hatch on the floor, Shadow knelt down and unlocked it. Then, he grabbed the handle, and heaved. The circular hatch was large--about twice as wide as Omega--and made of solid reinforced steel. But it was like a paperweight to Shadow, and he lifted it up easily. With one hand, he held the hatch over his head, his face now pointed downward so he could peer into the ship's maintenance shaft.

There was a ladder that led down one side, but it quickly disappeared into inky blackness. At the bottom of the shaft, there were no lights, so it was completely dark. A faint wind rose up from the passageway as well, and it rustled Shadow's quills.

The hedgehog turned to his two companions. However, before he was able to say anything to them, Omega jumped down into the shaft. His mechanical voice echoed up to Shadow and Rouge.

"IF THE PROBLEM HAS A FACE, I WILL TEAR IT OFF! YIPPEE!"

Rouge shook her head, but she did so with a smile. Then, she offered her hand to Shadow and said, "Let's skip the ladder, shall we?"

Shadow looked at her hand. A kind gesture.

He didn't take it.

"After you," he said, gesturing to the ominous darkness at the bottom of the shaft.

Rouge brought her hand back to her side. Casually, she said, "Ladies first, hmm? How very noble of you." Her face betrayed nothing of what she might've been feeling. And if she stretched her wings and dropped into the shaft a little too quickly, it was only because she wanted to get on with their "snooping," as she'd called it.

Shadow watched her disappear with a frown. But he didn't linger on it. And after taking a breath, he jumped after her and Omega, with the heavy hatch slamming shut above him.

[raavenb2619]

Can you talk more about aromanticism in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep :o But yeah as someone who read the book before watching the movie, I thought it was weird they didn't include how animals were super important in the world as a sign of empathy and showing empathy was a status symbol.

Yes, I would love to talk more about this! I have a bunch of incomplete thoughts rattling around in my brain about Blade Runner and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, including about the interesting parts of the book that were cut, like Mercerism, the importance of animals, the empathy boxes, the emotion dialing machines, the spider scene, the other police department, the use and non-use of the empathy test, the fact that multiple androids can share the same face, and the narrative/story treatment of Rachel. I'd like to organize and share my thoughts with other people, but first: I need to watch Blade Runner 2049 because I've heard it's got things for me to analyze, compare, and contrast with the original film and the novel; then I need to decide how many versions of the original film I need to watch and analyze (so far I've only seen The Final Cut, which seems to be the version most people like and recommend, but I think that having Deckard narrate sections could change the worldbuilding and potentially add roboticism that I felt was lacking in The Final Cut); then I probably need to spend some time piecing my ideas together into something coherent that other people can read and understand, but then I'd love to publish my thoughts (probably as an essay on Wordpress, though maybe something a bit more informal) and let people read it and have a conversation about it.

How long will that take? I don't really know. My Frozen essay took four months; DADoES + BR + BR 2049 might take longer because there's more material to analyze. But by asking for my thoughts, you've somehow given me the motivation and inspiration to actually write something about this. (So, thank you for that :).) I'd also like to try to share some of my progress, thoughts, realizations, and questions as they happen on Tumblr, because I'm interested in doing media analysis with other people (and because that might reduce the risk of me losing motivation while working on this), so I may end up rebranding my blog a bit at some point.

Here are some other media analysis/writing things that I'd like to do some day. It turns out that other people asking what my thoughts are on a thing is a really good motivator for me to write down what my thoughts are on a thing, so if anyone wants to encourage me to write an essay or blog post about any parts of any of the following topics, feel free to send me an ask:

Wicked (the musical). One angle I'd like to explore is looking at the musical through an aromantic lens, and reading Elphaba as alloaro/alloaro-aligned. I might broaden the scope to look at other Wizard-of-Oz media, and maybe also aro-aligned villains and aro-aligned anti-heros in media, but maybe that would be better served as a series of essays/blog posts and not an essay so long it should be a book. There's also so much musical/motivic analysis I need to do of Wicked, it has so much depth and I still find more things when I relisten to the music.

The portrayal of robots in fiction. One angle I'd like to explore is, "why are robots and aromanticism linked?" And I'm not happy with the shallow answer of "robots don't have emotions and people think aromantic means you don't have emotions"; I want to actually know "why are robots and aromanticism linked? How did the portrayal of robots evolve for there to be a link? Was that inevitable, or could robots have turned out differently so that they weren't liked to aromanticism? What does the linking of robots and aromanticism say about society and fictional depictions of humanity and lack thereof?" I also need to rewatch and actually finish Battlestar Galactica, though I think that might be more interesting through an ace lens than an aro lens.

Isaac Asimov's fiction and related works. I've been reading a lot of his fiction in publishing order in part because of my interest in the origin of robots and aromanticism, but there's definitely interesting things to be said about his novels and short stories, and also the Foundation TV series, such as how they treat love. (I also want an excuse to rewatch all the episodes just to answer nerdy music theory questions about Demerzel and does she have two musical motifs and why is one very legato and lilting and the other is staccato and halting and is that representing an inner struggle between her humanity and her roboticism?)

An analysis of @kernsing's aromantic sonnet #1 (this is still on my todo list, I got busy but didn't forget, but I have Things to say and I want to Find even More Things to say about this poem)

"Why Beauty and the Beast (1991) is fundamentally arophobic and can't be fixed." Okay, I haven't thought about this in a while so it's possible my perspective has changed and I'll find a way that the story could be changed to not be arophobic, but I know that the conclusion I came to a while ago was that the story structure itself was fundamentally problematic and that changing it enough to make it no longer be arophobic would require changing the story structure so much that it would be a fundamentally different story. This would not exactly be a fun essay to read or write, because I can't imagine many people enjoy someone digging into why a movie so many people love is arophobic to its core, but I'd still like to do it, some day.

Is "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" a distant relative of "Beauty and the Beast"? (I mean the story structure, not genetics/family trees.)

An analysis of Walt Disney Animation Studios films over the years. After my Frozen essay I spent like a month watching almost every Walt Disney Animation Studios film and tracking how the films treated a bunch of different aspects (e.g. sex, romance, marriage, third wheel, kissing, jealousy, love, true love, meet-cutes, queerness, gender, sexism, transmisogyny, homophobia, multiple concrete aspects of amatonormativity, queercoding). But I never really tabulated or aggregated my notes.

The discarded best friend trope (this is an arophobic trope I noticed and came up with a name for), and some examples and subversions of it.

Why does High School Musical (and HSM 2 and HSM 3) lack romantic love songs despite being a loose retelling of Romeo and Juliet that allegedly preserves the central romance? What are the queer things that can be found in the movies? What would I do if I could remake it as a multi-season TV show that was overflowing with explicit queerness that touched on things that weren't shown in the movies? Can I be normal about Kelsi? (I absolutely can't)

Why does Heartstopper (the TV show) make me read Tao as aro all the time?

Fairy tales! What is a fairy tale? Fairy tales through an aro lens! Do fairy tales have a distinct musical sound/style/identity? Has the musical sound of fairy tales changed over time?

Why do stories typically have room for a heroic love interest, but not a villainous love interest? (I'm not happy with the shallow answer of "because of amatonormativity/arophobia". I want to know, why are stories like this? Does it have to do with the structure and pacing of stories? How do pure narrative reasons interact with societal forces and expectations?)

"Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games has always felt aspec to me, and here's why." The last time I read through the trilogy, I felt she came across as demi I think? It might be interesting to compare the books to the movies and look at what and how the adaptation changes, especially with regards to romance, relationships, and aspec coding.

Something about how you can have in depth discussions about aspec politics without using aspec terminology, and maybe using too much aspec terminology makes conversations in the aspec community less accessible to new aspecs as well as well-meaning and open-minded allos who would be better allies to us if they could more easily understand what we talk about. When it comes to things like amatonormativity and allonormativity and the societal norms and issues we face, the more people who understand us and agree with us, the easier it'll be to shift society to be better for aspecs. So, sometimes it makes sense to try to talk about complicated, in-depth aspec issues using as little specialized terminology as possible.

Something something aro Celeste. A while ago a friend joked that I should do an aro analysis of Celeste, and then I started actually thinking about it and saying words and they realized they'd made a mistake, but I never wrote down any of the thoughts I had. Just brainstorming here, but there's probably something I could say about Crystal Hearts as collectibles that gate access to more difficult content and have three different art styles depending on where they appear and how they push you away unless you dash into them and break them and how you can die after collecting a Crystal Heart, Madeline's ex, Madeline and Theo's friendship and Grannie and Theo's grandfather's friendship, Madeline and Badeline's story arc through a "Show Yourself"-like aro lens, and Theo's instagram photos of Madeline doing archery. (This essay would be more on the silly side of things, basically proving that given enough disparate pieces in media I can cobble them together with thumbtacks and red string to make shapes that don't exist. And yes, I came up with the brainstorming list in about 5 minutes off the cuff while writing this bullet point)

An aro reading of Homestuck. I would need to finish Homestuck first, and I'm going to start from the beginning at...some point. I remember really liking and getting excited by the "troll QPRs", and I'm probably going to get nerd-sniped by trying to build my own understanding of how leprechaun romance can make sense. (Yes, I know this might be another thumbtacks and red string essay. No spoilers please)

Something about Gravity Falls, The Owl House, She-Ra, Steven Universe, or other similar TV shows?

Tron and Tron: Legacy? Idk I rewatched them semi recently, and expected to dislike the sequel because I had been listening to the album totally wrong. But then I disliked the original and liked the sequel a lot. There's potentially a music theory lens here, but I'm not sure if there's a queer lens here. But that's okay, maybe someone will suggest one, or maybe I'll just write up my thoughts even though there isn't any queerness to speak of, because my media analysis doesn't always have to be through a queer lens.

Something else that I haven't listed here because I don't have an actual list of things anywhere and I've probably forgotten multiple things?

Something I haven't thought of? If you want to know my thoughts on something or want me to analyze something, feel free to send an ask or a reblog or something. No promises I'll answer in a timely fashion (or ever), but I might

[sonicboomrevisited]

Hii! Just wanted to ask I love your comics! Sonic boom was what got me into the franchise so it's great seeing a fancomic based on it, I do have a few questions

As someone who's trying to learn how to write as a beginner? What would you say is the most important advice you can give? Were there any original ideas that you guys had but ended up scrapping and would you like to revisit those ideas?

If it was possible, which idw characters would you like to see in boom? And If robot sonic(pre upgrade?) Got touched with the metal virus, Would it infect him or not? Since he is half organic/robot?

Love the art and writing and hope both of you are doing well :] <3

MULTI:

Hi, Anon! Super glad you're enjoying the comic! I am doing well!

The best advice I can give for writers just starting out is to study what other people are doing. Watch films, read books, comics, etc. Study the structure of stories you like and see what ideas they inspire in you. If you train your mind to recognize story patterns they become easier to create!

We've only just begun on SBR so there really isn't anything scrapped in issue 1. There is, however, plenty of stuff down the road that's been rearranged or altered slightly from the initial concept to support the overall story better. I can't really say anything to that, right no without spoiling stuff!

From the IDW cast. I'd love to see Rough and Tumble in Boom. I feel like their wackiness would fit right in with the rest of the cast. Sonic and co. wouldn't take them very seriously, but they would be heavier hitters then say, the Lightning Bolt society!

Robo-Sonic 1.0 and the Metal Virus. That's a tricky one. I would think, because the Metal Virus is essentially a more organic-based form of roboticization, it would complete the organic-to-mechanical transformation just with a Zombot finish (he'd look like 1.0, still, but shiny). It would be worse for everyone, though, if Robo-Sonic became a Zombot because A) There's no Chaos Emeralds to help stop the virus, B) Robo-Sonic's finer motor control, abilities, and allegiance to Eggman would be null and C)... No, that's pretty much it unless Qwerty has anything to add!

QWERTY:

Multi gave a lot of good advice for writing. Read, pay attention, find what you like and try to emulate it. (NOT copy. Let it inspire you.)

Basically, my advice is just to write! Just start throwing words on the page. You'll never improve if you don't start. You won't know what needs worked on if you don't have anything written.

You don't need a long, drawn out plot with lots of twists and turns. Just think of a scene and write it. It might be bad. Don't let that get you down. Most writers start BAD and eventually get NOT BAD. It takes practice to get better. Lots and lots of practice.

Good luck!

[eggs-attorney]

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Reiker: (Well, the battered pieces on the legs definitely aren't normal. Come to think of it, they kind of match with the ones in the other photo...)

Reiker: (Given the background of the photo Flash took, it's likely that this was at the maintenance appointment, but why wouldn't she fix his legs? That's gotta be part of the job description... That, and Yanshu doesn't seem like the type to be friends with a spy. Let me see if there's anything-)

Reiker: (... Wait, on the autopsy photo! That mark…)

Reiker: I'VE GOT IT!!

Rythen: Tch… Usually the turn of phrase is "objection", my dear boy.

Reiker: I'm not going to object to my own client's statement, but I am going to amend it using evidence!

Rythen: This really is an "anything goes" trial, isn't it…?

Reiker: Just… Listen, I was able to find another one of those marks on Flash's body.

Eggman: Oh? So you're saying even more of this Robian's parts were counterfeit!? Wonderful! NOT GUILTY!

Reiker: (If he didn't look so fierce, I'd joke about taking him up on that…)

Reiker: If you look here, you can see that mark, and If you look at it a little closer… I think I can tell exactly where those parts came from, and it definitely wasn't a spy.

Eggman: Just spit it out, Strait.

Reiker: Yanshu made Flash. That's why she made sure she was the one doing his maintenance, that's why she let him leave without replacing the counterfeit parts, and most importantly, THAT'S WHY SHE COULDN'T HAVE KILLED FLASH!

Yanshu: AHH!!

Eggman: Yanshu, is this true!?

Yanshu: P-p-please don't have me roboticized, s-sir! I promise I'm not a spy!!

Yanshu: It'sJustThatIMadeHisAIAndIHadHimInMyComputerAndMyWatchAndHeGrewAndIWasLonelyAndIGotAttachedAndWantedSomeoneToHugAndHeSaidHeWouldIfHeCouldAndItWasSoSweetAndIThoughtAboutItAndGotIdeasAndGotCarriedAwayAndI-!

Yanshu: [Sniff] I… I figured n-no one would miss a few recycled p-parts… It made him so happy... P-please, I'm so sorry!

Eggman: … Why on Earth do you think I'd have you roboticized?

Yanshu: B-… Because I used your parts…? I-I took them out of the disposal bin and modified them myself and I-… [Hic] My manager told me that stealing parts is one of the worst things I could do!

Eggman: I certified each and every one of my organic staff personally. As much as I prefer robots, you and your cohorts getting creative making working parts out of whatever scrap I leave behind means I don't have to. Do you have any idea how time consuming it is recycling all this junk?

Yanshu: Y-you... But he-! Ooogh...

Reiker: Mr. Payne, given this enlightening information, I hope we can agree to a not guilty verdict here?

Rythen: Ha! As if! You really don't see this for the petty farce it is? Do you forget I have an eyewitness to the crime!?

Reiker: Ah yes… That would be Yanshu's manager, right?

Rythen: Indeed. In fact, I'd like to call Mr. Axel Bolton to the stand to testify on what he saw that day!

Reiker: Good. I have a few questions for him myself…

Rythen: Can the witness state their name and occupation?

Axel: Axel Bolton, Head Robo-Tech for the Main Division.

Reiker: Are you… Supposed to have that in here?

Axel: Sorry, tinkering helps my thinkering. Killing two birds with one stone.

Reiker: (Tinkering helps his-... Is he a child?)

Eggman: That's the trademark efficiency I hired you for! Now then, can you testify to the actions you saw Ms. Yanshu take that day?

Axel: Happy to!

Testimony 4: Maintenance Supervision

1:) So I had just gotten back from lunch. Yanshu was the only one working, so I decided to go check on her.

2:) I went over and immediately noticed the weird personality core in the E-5000 she had.

3:) The screws weren't ours, and she was panicking. I told her to look for some other tools while I took a crack at it.

4:) She couldn't find any, and my next appointment came along, so I told her to keep at it and left.

5:) When our shift ended, I found the maintenance sheet on my desk with no note! Or parts!

6:) As per protocol, I dropped everything and chased after the 'bot, but when I arrived… It was too late.

Reiker: (We shouldn't still be talking about this, but I feel like he's already slipped up with his wording here… I should take advantage of it and point out the error!)

[Next >]

[yessir-rightawaysir]

SatAM Snivster mah dude

What in the hell was up with your hair detaching so easily and blowing away?

And why no growing it back? Was Robotnik too jealous to let you? 😂

Stress. It just never grew back. Julian shaves his head on purpose. There's no jealousy there, only laughter. Er, not that he'd have a full, beautiful head of hair either... I'm reasonably sure he's also bald, just not as bald as I am. Ugh.

Anonymous asked: Yo SatAM! Sniv One thing I noticed was you referred to Princess Sally as the leader of the Freedom Fighters. Yet she, some time later, told Sonic he was their leader. I found that interesting that she'd bestow that title on him and that you believed her deserving of it. Maybe it's just because she's the heir to the now defunct throne? Anyways, it seems to me you've got at least some respect for her, maybe even admiration? Would you feel any remorse if you had to kill her or that you have to be enemies?

Isn't she? The hedgehog is far too stupid to be their leader.

I have no respect for any of their lot, you are mistaken. But I would never kill her... I'd have a robot do it. Any remorse I would feel would be the product of Robotnik's fists as I doubt he would appreciate his lackey doing something he believes is his right. And he'd prefer her roboticized, not dead.

Anonymous asked: Hey satam!Snivley, a lot of your plans go fairly well until Robotnik lets his ego get in the way. Why do you keep putting up with it?

I have no where else to go. I'm a prisoner. What am I supposed to do, plot behind his back to overthrow him and then take over mobius myself? I would never!

Anonymous asked: [SaTAM Snively] What's your thoughts/opinions on Sally Acorn? Like what do you think about her?

Hhhhhhhhhh. Lord. I think she's intelligent and clever and a far too capable adversary. She's also been quite cruel to me. She's also the reason for some rather vicious repercussions from my uncle. I wish she was gone. I wish all of the freedom fighters were gone. I have no love for her or any of her ilk.

Anonymous asked: so, satam!sniv... in your last post, you mentioned that your uncle had to deafen himself-- I suppose that explains the prosthetics that replace his ears-- but if you didn't already know where I was going with this, do you know what's up with his eyes? something related, or something totally different?

This happened when I was far too young to remember quite clearly, but I believe he had degenerative eye problems? And they were only getting worse and worse over the years, so eventually he had them replaced. His vision is quite sharp now.

Anonymous asked: CHOP CHOP RAT-BOY WE WANT LORE

Do you have ANY IDEA how busy I am?! Of course you don't. No one does. I don't get a lot of free time. I should be sleeping right now, but unfortunately I'm a bit, uh, over energized from the little helpers I take throughout the day. Tomorrow is going to be quite awful.

Also, rat boy?? If you wish for correspondence from me perhaps you might try being kinder.

Except... I suppose I did respond to this. Hell.

[moomingitz]

I still think Roboticization is the most horrifying concept in the Sonic franchise to this day. It's not only a complete violation of bodily autonomy, but the very thought of having your body being forcefully changed or tampered with in any way is a very real tangible thing to fear. And what makes it worse is that the victims are still, usually, fully conscious and aware, but they physically can't do a damn thing about it.

And in the case of SatAm, where this interpretation of the concept originated from, the roboticicizer was actually invented by Uncle Chuck in order to improve people's quality of life and help them live longer. It wasn't until Robotnik stole it was it used for a far more malicious purpose. Which goes to show how easy it is for people to weaponize things that were originally intended to help others.