#but if i didn't limit this post to Just the world-hopping aspect it would've been huge

[south-sea]

i don't talk a lot about the whole world-hopping aspect of second chance au because i figure it's one of those details that are a little eyeroll-worthy in that it's just so self-indulgent/out there, but let's do it today anyway

(this one got a bit longer than average so under the cut it goes)

literally one of the first things that happens after metal's repaired is that he's given this ability. his new company is real big on giving people, coming from situations like his, freedom.

the way the ability's normally supposed to work is that early on, it drains a moderate amount of energy and takes a while to "recharge", but is supposed to gradually get easier the more you use it. so for months he just tricks other people with the same ability to take him places instead. sure, he can do it himself, but why expend the effort when there are people offering to hop him themselves? he's not going to say no. just look at him, he's just a little guy, this shouldn't be his responsibility. (let it be said metal can be a manipulative little bastard, but sometimes he doesn't even need to be.) he pretty much only ever uses the ability himself to get home.

his caretaker eventually catches onto this, and later upgrades it to work a bit more like chaos control, so it's less of an energy drain/doesn't have such a significant cooldown period. it's definitely cheating, and is only possible because he's a machine, but both he and his caretaker are not ones to play by the rules and intentionally handicap themselves. if there's a way to make something more efficient, they will do it.

and yet, despite this total and absolute freedom, metal still doesn't really like to go places alone. early on he did, and at one point this led to stripping one world of its copper to bring to another world that buys it at an extremely inflated rate, because someone made the mistake of teaching him about the basic gist of money/capitalism, but not economy. this led to two outcomes: he has more currency than one little robot hedgehog could ever need (and has nothing to use it on), and the realization this is all so pointless.

he might now occasionally take commissions to seek out and gather information on specific worlds for other people, and that's good enough incentive to go somewhere alone, but he doesn't explore just to explore. he'd much rather tag along with someone else.

i think some part of it too is that he just likes having the option available. it's his idea of rapport-building and getting to know someone. you can learn a lot about a person based on what their favorite place is to visit, as far as he's concerned. one of the first things he practically demands of new people who he has even a little appreciation for is "show me to places you like". they'll (usually) take him to a variety of worlds, he adds them to his database, and then just... doesn't really do anything with the worlds after that.

he cannot see the artistic value in things, so "pretty scenery" doesn't mean anything to him. he approaches things in a purely scientific way. really the only thing he does when arriving at a new place is: make a profile for it, record atmospheric data, log other unique aspects of it, link the world to whoever introduced him to it to add to that person's profile too, and then move on.

and then there's shadow.

shadow, who is unable to return to his timeline's earth, all related timelines, and feels like going to a completely unaffiliated-timeline's earth would be wrong, is "limited" to the rest of the multiverse in every other direction. he takes full advantage of it.

during his down-time/between testing, wandering around different worlds and whatnot is definitely his main source of entertainment. when he gets recommendations from others, he explores the places on his own time, and more for the sights/experiences. some part of him is a little guilty/haunted by the fact he's unable to see earth like he's "supposed" to, so in a way, visiting other places is almost like supplementing what he could've/should've/would've been spending his time on if he hadn't kicked the bucket the first time.

very, very early on, before he had gotten his bearings and realized he could lowkey donate himself to science for a cure, he had been introduced to photography. for a while (and still, sometimes), that's what he did. he'd take photos of places and scenery--anything he thought maria would like, and one hobby turned into another.

the thing about shadow is he thinks he doesn't have any hobbies, but the reality is he finds and rotates through them at a fair pace. world-hopping is at the core of it, and fuels all the other ones: exploration, photography/scrapbooking, trying new foods, and generally just experiencing all the new things he possibly can, to name a few.

(on a less serious note, it's also a fun excuse to throw the boys into existing-media worlds just for fun, like shadow ending up in the Sky world and getting himself a cloak or two, or the current season's ultimate gift that's basically a light-dimming projector. so add "collecting various interesting objects" to his hobby list.

you could hand shadow a piece of driftwood and he'd still proudly keep it--display it somewhere in his home, even--because here is a thing that has history. everything is new to him. he wouldn't just see "a piece of wood", he would research it and find out it's something that's been altered by its time in water, and that makes it special.

so shadow's world-hopping hobby is somehow at its core very similar to metal's habit of compiling libraries worth of data on every person he meets or place he visits. they both just want to Learn in their own ways, but while shadow's content to do so on his own, metal would prefer to travel with him/someone else, so it is not central to his own enjoyment. his enjoyment comes from the people he's with, not the places they're in.)