#but whenever i see people talk about this sort of thing happening in the sonic fandom their examples are always fucking.

[sonknuxadow]

see i do think there have been actual instances of fandom people just deciding two characters are siblings with no real basis and acting like its canon and forcing that interpretation on others and getting mad at people who disagree . but a lot of the characters i see people list as examples of this happening with are just actually stated to or heavily implied to see eachother as siblings by the source material and at that point i think you just dont see adopted siblings as real siblings idk what else to tell you

[tigergirltail]

TIGER HRT CHAPTER 6 - MONTH 6 - THE CAGED BIRD

CONTENT WARNING - This chapter contains mentions of medical injections, bigotry, child abuse, self-harm, and attempted suicide. Reader beware.

FIRST - PREV - NEXT

I had my six-month check-up with Dr. Erian, an online appointment just like last time. No particular medical issues this time around, bloodwork checks out, genetic reconfiguration is stable. We can't do a thorough physical exam over the internet, but according to him, I am "the very picture of health, by the standards of your species". I'm a bit curious what standards those are, given that I have yet to hear about any other tiger therians. Hopefully there ARE standards, and he's not just giving me empty reassurance.

We also spent some time going over dietary concerns - am I getting enough meat, am I reducing my fruit and grain intake appropriately, that sort of thing. I assured him that I'm eating real meat with every meal, just like the booklet said to, I've been limiting fruits and vegetables, and I don't even have an appetite for anything grain-based. I'll probably miss what fresh bread used to be like, but I just can't bring myself to want it anymore. Apparently not every therian is following the diet they're supposed to, but the doctor didn't have any concerns about me, "assuming your answers are honest, Miss Alexis". What, does he think I'm about to lie to the one person who knows how species transition works?

At one point during the discussion I thought I heard him mutter something about a "foolish undine", but I must have misheard. Undines are water spirits or elementals or something - a fictional creature. Then again, so are dragons and lamias, but the first well-known humanity remover was a dragon-girl, and I've been hanging out and playing online games with a lamia. At this point you could tell me there's someone out there transitioning to Sonic the Hedgehog, and I might actually believe you.

I've hit the point of full fur coverage, so no more awkward bald patches! Unfortunately, this does mean I need to start taking my estrogen in a form other than skin patches, because there's nowhere left to stick them. After a lot of agonizing over the pros and cons of potential liver damage from pills versus facing down my needle phobia, I opted to ask my endocrinologist to train me on injectable estrogen. She made a somewhat tone-deaf joke about not being trained in veterinary medicine, but she was otherwise very patient and reassuring, so I let it slide.

I do want to state for the record that I am a big scary tiger who's not afraid of anything and I only cried a little bit the first time I injected myself.

My ears are definitely becoming much more sensitive - I keep hearing really annoying high-pitch noises when I'm around heavy machinery, and that happens a lot more often than you might think. My office at work is right next to an elevator, and whenever someone uses it, the motor lets out this gods-awful whine and I have to plug my ears until it stops moving again. My local grocery also has a few freezer units that give off a similar sound, constantly, and I've had to start wearing earplugs to go on food runs.

As for visual changes, I can see in the dark reasonably well, but I've also started getting headaches and discomfort when I squint or try too hard to focus on something. I guess I should probably just… try to not do that. I have spent a significant portion of my life staring at a screen, so my eyes probably aren't in the best shape overall.

Now that my physical changes are pretty much done, most people just assume I'm wearing a very intricate costume - at least, until they get close. No costume has mouth movements or facial expressions this realistic, and believe me, our top furry scientists and engineers have tried.

At one point there's a conversation on the humanity removal chat server about the political climates in our respective areas towards therians. Obviously, a lot of the right-wing talking-head shows have been shitting themselves inside-out about the idea of people giving up their humanity, especially the ones with a more religious bent. "How dare these freaks forsake God's holy image", "Humanity is a divine blessing and must be cherished", "We call on the one true God to smite these worshippers of the Beast", and so on like that. Excuse you, but I've never worshipped your discriminatory god and I'm not beholden to their 'holy image'. My goddess is one of beauty, love, and artistic expression, and the entire reason I'm changing myself in the first place is as an expression of self-love.

Most of us agree, though, that the absolute worst of the 24-hour news cycle doesn't have anything to do with how regular everyday people see us. In fact, we're rare enough still that a decent proportion of people don't believe we exist - they think that tabloids made us up to sell more copies. I don't know if that's better in terms of acceptance, but I'll take it over a torch-and-pitchfork mob running me out of town.

The conversation shifts to us sharing our locations, those of us who are comfortable doing so at least. We generally keep it vague, but most of us are at least alright with saying which country we live in. I narrow it down to a province for myself, mainly because my province alone is larger than some countries, but also because once we start to get noticed by the media and the world, there'll probably be no stopping our locations becoming known.

It's also going to get interesting if anyone starts asking how most of us are going to the same medical provider when he requires that consultations be done in person, or why the location he operates out of - Hyper City - doesn't appear on any map. Truthfully, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it myself.

The next day, I get a private message from the girl with the corvid avatar:

"Hey I saw your post when everybody was talking about where they are! I live there too!! We should totally meet up sometime ^v^"

…This is a dilemma. Obviously, I'm worried about the optics of a teenager meeting up with a 39-year-old she met on the internet, there's all kinds of ways that could be taken the wrong way, but dammit, I still don't know anyone like me in this part of the world, who knows if I'll ever find anyone else who's local? …I really want to try, but I should at least give her a warning, and a judgement-free out.

"Uhh I get wanting to meet up, but I'm more than 20 years older than you, would your parents be anywhere near cool with that??"

There's a long pause. I see her start and stop typing multiple times. I'm worried I've upset her. Eventually, she sends another message:

"I don't give a fuck what they think"

I'm taken aback by the harshness of the reply, and don't manage to type anything before another series of messages pops up:

"and they don't care what I do anyway so it's whatever" "if anyone asks I'll just say you're my weird aunt" "you have no idea how bad I want to meet someone who GETS IT" "humanity is a curse and I want to be free"

'I want to be free'. Something about that phrase hits somewhere deep, in a source of pain that never fully healed. Freedom from pain, freedom from self-hatred, freedom at any cost, even if it meant my life. I remember how that desire for freedom feels.

The only thing I can think to do next is ask if she's okay. Her response is to ask if I can go on a voice call. I'm not sure if she wants some confirmation that I'm a real person or if she just doesn't want the next part of the conversation preserved in the text log.

"Hey…", I begin cautiously as the voice call starts. "Can you hear me okay?"

There's a suppressed sniffle on the other end. "Yeah… I hear you."

For a moment I entertain the thought of going all 'when I was your age' and explaining that I was always cautioned against talking to strangers on the internet, but it's probably not the time for that. Read the room, Alexis.

She's not saying anything. I'm going to have to start this off, I think. Something harmless, something value-neutral…

"So from your icon, I'm guessing you want crow HRT? Raven HRT, maybe?"

"Crow HRT.", she states simply. "Crows are everywhere here, and I've always loved them, always been jealous of them. They get to go anywhere they want, do anything they want…" She lets out a groaning sigh. "Augh, this is stupid. You probably think I'm stupid for wanting this."

I can't hold back from giving a little bit of a laugh. "Hah! Young lady, one year ago I went to a doctor and told him to his face that I wanted him to turn me into a recessive-gene variant of an endangered species that doesn't even live on this continent, and then I threatened to bite him if he wouldn't do it. Fantasizing about being a crow is just about the normalest thing I can imagine compared to that."

"…You said you'd BITE him?"

I grin, though without a camera set up she can't see it. "Every one of us who seeks out humanity removal therapy is already a little bit inhuman, even if we don't fully know it yet. After all, why would we remove something if we felt emotionally attached to it?"

Another audible sniffle. "Holy fuck, you DO get it…"

"I sure hope I get it, it's not like I can un-grow the fur and the tail."

She gives a laugh, then there's a long pause. "…Does it hurt? Is it scary?"

"Sometimes. My fingers were REALLY sore while my claws were developing, and having your entire facial structure rearrange is no joke. As for scary, well, I sure get stared at a lot more, but I think I scare people a lot more than they scare me."

"Heh, maybe I want to be scary."

I frown a little. "I don't. I just want to be true to myself."

There's an awkward silence. After a while, I decide to bring up something I was curious about:

"So I remember you asking if there was a way to get species HRT without your parents noticing. I'm guessing they're not exactly supportive?"

She lets out an uncomfortable groan. "Mmmngh… They watch a lot of those news shows, you know, the ones that only run angry sensationalist bullcrap? Dad gets furious at the idea of anyone changing themselves, something about the 'holy sanctity of the human body' or whatever. He even thinks tattoos are blasphemy. Mom says it's the most horrific thing she can imagine, she nearly fainted when she caught me watching a stream of this one dragon girl talking about her changes."

"And here you are, wanting to be a bird… I'm sorry, that sounds really rough."

"It… It is." I can hear her voice faltering. "Hearing nothing but how terrible a waste it is, and how awful and horrific they are, and the whole time knowing that I'd give ANYTHING for it to happen to me, I just… I'm sorry, I just…"

"Hey, you don't need to apologize… I'm not going anywhere."

"I just… don't know how much longer I can take it!"

"…Take what?" I'm afraid to ask my next question, but… I just have to. "…What are they doing to you??"

Somewhere deep inside her, the dam just… breaks. She starts sobbing as she tells me about how her parents yell at her over every single mistake, how she gets shoved or hit just for being in the way, how she hurts herself just so the pain gives her something to feel and to focus on, and how she… How she once climbed up to the roof of her building and took a flying leap off. She had every intention to end her own life, but in the moment her feet left the ground and she felt the air under her arms, she experienced a rush of euphoria, for the first time she can remember.

…And a moment later, she broke a leg and several ribs when she hit the ground.

She explains that she spent over a month in hospital, a captive audience for her parents to yell at more, when they even bothered to show up at all. I'm too stunned to even react.

She's spent the years since then chasing that high, climbing trees and jumping off, finding rooftops and hilltops to go stand in the wind, looking up online videos of parachuting and wingsuiting and hang gliding, and when she first heard rumours about medical treatments that can alter one's very species, she started frantically researching. That's how she started finding other therians to reach out to, how she got involved in the group chat.

"Have you… had an appointment with Dr. Erian yet?" I have a feeling I already know the answer - something something, 'letter from a physician, two psychologists, live as your preferred species for at least a year'. The same horseshit I had to listen to.

"No… I tried to get one, but he won't see anyone under 18 without parental consent, and fat chance of ever getting that."

Huh. I hadn't expected that, it feels surprisingly principled for him. Though at the end of the day, it's probably just another liability thing - ol' Teddy Erian covering his own ass as usual.

"I just…" She's started crying again. "I just want to turn into a beautiful black bird and fly away from all this, forever… I just want to live my life on the wind, going wherever I want, never having to see a single human again…"

I can feel my own tears welling up, and that's the moment I make my decision. I'm going to meet up with this girl, and I'm going to find a way to help her. Maybe she doesn't need humanity removal, maybe she just needs to know someone who understands.

We decide on a place and time to meet up. There's a little cafe I like nearby, run by a trio of neurodivergent queer women. It's a public place, and about as safe for weirdos like us as you can get. Corvid-girl tells me she'll be the one with a feathered headband and a crow-skull necklace. I tell her I'll be the one with white fur and a tail. That manages to get a laugh out of her. I choose to take that as a victory.

There's something about the way she laughs that sounds a bit like a crow's call. I wonder whether that's intentional on her part…

A few days later, I'm sitting in the cafe enjoying a hot chocolate and a roast beef sandwich - extra meat, naturally. Dr. Erian said I have to start cutting chocolate out of my diet because cocoa is going to become toxic to me, but… chocolate! I did ask for a lighter mix though, so what I'm drinking is actually mostly just hot milk. Maybe there's a cocoa-free substitute out there I can look into…

I'm snapped out of my thoughts by a squeal of delight emanating from the front door. There's a teenage girl standing there, staring directly at me with a look of amazement on her face. Dark clothes, pale skin, black hair, headband with feathers in it, and hanging from her neck, an amulet in the shape of a bird skull. I smile and wave a paw at her. She practically bounces as she walks up to my table and takes a seat.

"Holy SHIT, you're… And you even have the… Your face looks just like… Can I touch your paw??"

I laugh and hold out my paw. "Haha, sure, just watch out for the claws, they don't stay all the way inside just yet."

"Oh, it's okay, I'm used to sharp things!"

I wince as I think back to our voice chat from the other day. I REALLY hope she doesn't mean what I think she means, but I can't help noticing she's wearing long sleeves, even though the weather has been getting warmer.

She turns my paw over and squeals. "OHMYGOD you even have the BEEEEANS!" I can't resist smiling as she starts poking and prodding at my pawpads. "You look SO!! AMAZING!!"

Corvid-girl starts frantically complimenting all my animalistic features - "Your stripes are so pretty!" "I love your tail!" "Ohh, your fangs, they're so COOL!!" - and I start uncontrollably blushing. I never would have thought species affirmation would feel this euphoric… Naturally, being a teenager, she takes this as an excuse to push even harder, and I start covering my face with my paws, thoroughly embarrassed.

"You look just like the tigers they have on stage for those shows in Vegas!"

"H-hey, that's actually not okay…"

"You know, I bet you'd look good up on a stage too! Everyone would love to see you!!"

Instinctually, I let out a growl, louder than I actually want to. It has the intended effect, in that she stops dead and stares at me, but so do a few other cafe patrons. Oh gods, here comes the embarrassment again… "H-hey, look, it's just…"

"Sorry." She's gone completely deadpan, and stiff as a board.

I close my eyes tightly. Gods, why did I DO that?? First the waitress at that seafood place, and now an actual CHILD. I REALLY need to start getting a handle on these predator instincts. When I open my eyes again, she's still standing there, and she looks like she's on the verge of a panic attack.

I need to calm her down, need to bring her back. "No… I'M sorry. I shouldn't have done that, I just… The animals they use for those stage shows get abused all the time, and it's kind of a sore spot for me."

"…Really?"

Okay, she's talking, she's distracted, maybe I can still salvage this. "Yeah… Every species has baggage, it's one of the shitty parts of being therian, and tigers, white tigers especially, they're treated like show pieces, or worse."

"…Well shit, I knew they're endangered, but… fuck."

"Yeah, it's a whole thing, I try not to -"

Our conversation is interrupted by one of the staff tapping corvid-girl on the shoulder and asking to talk privately. She reluctantly agrees to go to the back of the store and talk. At first I think maybe she's being chastised for being a disturbance, but the barista who pulled her away is giving me some very pointed looks. Worried looks, I might even say.

If I angle my ears just right, I can almost hear them through the noise of the rest of the cafe.

"…other patrons were concerned… …young lady so close to a dangerous creature…"

I wonder if the barista notices the indignant look that crosses my face when they describe me as a 'creature'.

Corvid-girl lets out that bird-like laugh of hers. Her voice is a lot more distinct and easier to pick out:

"It's just my aunt! She's not a 'creature', she just takes meds to look like that!"

The barista doesn't protest as corvid-girl returns to our table, but they're still giving me a very 'You'd better not try anything' kind of look.

Corvid-girl sits down, seemingly a little more grounded, a little more sobered. "…I guess I never thought to ask, why a white tiger?"

I lean forward, head in one paw, and give a bit of a shrug. "I relate a lot to them."

"To… being treated like a show piece, or whatever you said?"

"…Yeah. When I was little, they called me 'gifted' and put me in a separate school. I remember being excited about it, but it turns out it just meant getting more homework."

"…Ew."

I smile a little bit. "That's what I thought too! They wanted me to be some brilliant prodigy, a genius in the making, but the reality is I was just more observant and better at math than most people, that's all. I actually had to take an extra year of school because I was so bad at it."

"EWW!!"

"I KNOW, RIGHT?? But, then I went to college and graduated at the top of my class, so the joke's on them in the end."

"I wasn't even planning on staying around long enough for college…" She still has a bit of a depressed air about her, but she's not going into a panic. Maybe I'm better with kids than I thought.

"Yeah, I remember, you were going to turn into a beautiful crow and fly away forever." I try to give her a reassuring look. "But hey, the human world isn't ALL bad."

"Says the woman who's turning herself into a wild animal."

I snort quietly as I hold back a laugh. "Okay, fair, but wild animals don't get the internet, or nice little cafes where weirdos like us can just sit and talk."

"Hah, yeah… Weirdos like us." She gives a smile. An actual, genuine smile. Suddenly all the awkwardness is worth it, to see someone so deeply unhappy smile. "That reminds me, I saw on the server you're into witchcraft, can you… teach me?"

Somehow I feel like I should have expected this. The goth-looking crow girl is into witchcraft, big surprise. "I… guess? Maybe? I'm not like an expert or anything, I've just read a few books and cast a few spells is all."

"Ooh, what kind of spells??" And now she's back to her enthusiastic self.

"Just some protective charms on people who needed them, a few card readings with a tarot deck, nothing much really…"

"Does it really work??"

"I mean, the people I cast those charms on ended up safe in the end, but who knows if what I did made a difference? Some of the card readings were scary-accurate though, I think I might have a talent for divination."

She laughs. "Gonna have to get you to read my future sometime."

We end up spending the next hour or so making small talk, getting to know each other, talking about the ins and outs of humanity removal, complaining about Dr. Erian, until…

"Hey, I gotta go catch the bus back home, but… this was nice." She gives a bit of a smirk. "Cool to meet another weirdo."

Before she leaves, I ask her name - I still don't know it, I've been internally calling her 'corvid-girl' this entire time.

She gives me a disgusted grimace. "Ugh, it's 'Margaret'. I'm named for my great-grandmother, it's SUCH an old-lady name."

"Margaret, like Maggie, as in magpie?" I smile a little. "Those are corvids too, you know."

Her expression softens a little. "…Never thought of that. Still don't like it, though…"

"Well, is there a name you'd like better? I can start calling you that if you like."

She freezes. Somewhere in her eyes I can see her mind working to process what I've just said. "…Nobody ever asked me that before. I'll… think about it." She turns to leave.

"Wait, hold on a sec."

"WHAT!?" She outright glares at me, then seems to soften. "Sorry, it's… never mind."

That… was an EXTREMELY sudden mood shift. Trauma response, maybe? "I… was just going to ask if you wanted a sandwich or something to take home."

"…Didn't bring any money…"

I shake my head a little. "That doesn't answer my question. Would you like me to BUY you a sandwich or something?"

"…Egg salad if they got it I guess…"

I go up to the counter and buy her an egg salad sandwich to go. She looks like she's going to cry when I hand it to her. I… probably shouldn't make a big deal about that, but somewhere deep inside, my heart breaks a little. Does she never have anyone just… offer her food?

I'm beginning to understand why she wants to leave behind the curse of humanity. I chose this path, I wanted to be a tiger, I'm running towards something. Corvid-girl, though? She's running away from something.

I walk her outside, and she starts to walk away, but suddenly stops, and turns back to me. She walks resolutely up to me, then grabs me in a hug.

"Soft…" Her voice is muffled against both my shirt and the fur underneath. "You're very soft…"

Once I get over my surprise at the sudden gesture, I hesitantly put one arm around her shoulders and pat her on the back. She pulls away after a few short moments, and walks away down the sidewalk without another word.

I touch my shirt where her head was leaning, and notice a small wet spot.

---

Time to play "Spot the References!" Intentional references below:

"something about a 'foolish undine'" - welldrawnfish (Fish HRT)

"the first well-known humanity remover was a dragon-girl" - ayviedoesthings (Dragon HRT)

"I've been hanging out and playing online games with a lamia" - ariathelamia (Lamia HRT)

"someone out there transitioning to Sonic the Hedgehog" - sonic-spirit (Sonic HRT)

"watching a stream of this one dragon girl talking about her changes" - Rain, by Jocelyn Samara D. (Dragon HRT)

[houndfaker]

i touched on it briefly in a previous ask response but my intent with setting elise post-06 is that i think one of the most interesting aspects of what i find appealing in hamulise is elise having to understand that she is with someone she’s destined to lose again. (until i start getting sad and doing ‘they get to have a future together’ aus, which is inevitable but that’s besides my current point.)

i think 06 is another narrative that insists that just because the memory of something is lost, doesn’t mean it didn’t matter, that it didn’t have some tangible effect on the souls of the characters involved. i mean, we see this very openly with silver and blaze who are always drawn to each other afterward, even if their meetings are often small and passing.

so i want to show elise’s aftermath. her getting a second chance at something she wanted to pursue in the past, something she can’t even recall but her heart lurches at the painful familiarity. that bright, alive feeling she gets whenever she and kotone spend time together, and the fear that comes with it.

they’re very sweet but i imagine there’s an underlying borderline codependency between the two due to individual issues.

ive touched on heir similarities in the ‘repressing themselves and masking it with a smile’ department. ive been thinkung one of the first people kotone opens up to about her deeper inner thoughts in this scenario Is elise because elise’s previous experiences (even those she forgot) lead her to act instead of allowing things to just Happen. she knows when kotone isn’t being honest with her feelings because elise knows when She isn’t being honest with Her feelings.

and although it’s a difficult journey to the point of kotone openly expressing her fears and her exhaustion and her grim outlook on life, she does get there with elise demonstrating both patience and empathy but also insistence. the perception in kotone’s head of soleanna being (literally) worlds apart from port island also helps her to lean into this kinda sense that she can afford to expose her weaknesses there, on top of that is again how much of a comfort elise has been. and like i dont want to understate how I think they help each other recognize things about themselves mutually. who they are under the masks, and who they Desire to be.

elise wants to see kotone as much as she can before their time runs out like she so deeply fears it will. hell, what she really wants is for kotone to just Stay with her, come live in soleanna so they don’t have to be apart from each other (so she can be there when it happens, so she can at least try to stop it) but she’d never ask that of her, even if she finds it so easy to talk to kotone about the thoughts that most make her feel like she’s insane. she loves kotone, sometimes so much that it hurts, but she’d never want to put her in the position of making a choice that only exists if she selfishly imposes it on her. they both deal with so much as is. but she’s haunted by the lingering agony that was having to forget about Everything sonic did for her. she’s desperate not to go through it again. the choice isn’t her’s.

kotone loves elise, she feels light with her. she isn’t held to the same standards when she’s a stranger in soleanna. like i explained in the initial premise, it becomes something of an escape for her. one she fears being taken away which is why her intent to eventually tell sees about the warp ring is carried further and further away. she perceives that keeping these two worlds separate is the only way to sort of have her cake and eat it too; she doesn’t run the risk of exposing her friends to more otherworldly threats that are unique to the sonic world, and she gets to keep seeing elise. this sadly also means she has to rush around. keeping everyone she cares about happy means she can never slow down, even if she’s tired.

kotone can’t always stick around as much as elise wishes she could. being aware of that makes elise anxious. knowing elise knows makes kotone feel guilty that she can’t do better for her, but really what can she do? prioritizing one aspect of her life that’s important to her over the other is impossible this way. and she won’t be able to keep control over the situation forever.

i have a lot of small scenarios i plan to make doodles/comics about. stuff like elise visiting port island, sees meeting elise, kotone encountering eggman, a LOT of things touching on the mounting fear and uncertainty regarding the fall, the fall’s aftermath…i have so many thoughts and i can’t infodump them because i want it to be a surprise when i make it lol

[midnightshard06]

It's Bound by Fate ramble time again. Love that the au smackdown is making me focus real hard on this au lol.

First I have... some plans for other characters besides those that have been mentioned so far. I would love to go into detail about those plans but uuuuuuh spoilers? Cause it would be very hard to talk about it without revealing stuff about Sonic that will be revealed later in the fic lol. Just know that there's currently some plans for Shadow, Blaze, and Silver for sure. Still playing around with some others. I would also very much like to fit Amy in somewhere I just need to figure out where.

I want to so very much talk about Sonic and Knuckles' eventual relationship (for those of you that haven't checked out the fic on ao3 Sonknux is gonna happen eventually, but not for a while) buuuuut I sorta wanna let it play out? Ah the downside of still having the main fic ongoing. I must tread the line of what is safe for me to talk about.

Instead I shall talk about Sonic and Tails, since the two met before the start of the fic that is safe from spoilers. Woo! Warning this might get kinda long and slightly disjointed. I have many thoughts.

They are pretty damn close as you might expect. Tails really looks up to Sonic and still feels like he owes Sonic since the hedgehog helped him. Sonic has told Tails so many times that they're even since Tails saved Sonic's life first anyway. As the two hang out more Tails starts to really come out of his shell and Sonic is so happy to see his best friend living his best life.

Tails after a while of getting to know Sonic does become pretty worried about him. You know with all the never wanting to stay in one place, the being slightly on edge around people, and particularly his pretty much constant lack of sleep. Whenever Tails voices those concerns though Sonic easily brushes them off and Tails isn't quite confident enough to push it.

The two rub off on each other a lot. Tails has managed to make Sonic a bit more responsible and do less of jumping into unknown situations headfirst with no plan. Sonic has in turn helped Tails learn how to have fun and well perhaps been a bit of a bad influence. Even though Tails is smart he's still a kid, and the allure of Sonic dragging him off to do some cool thing that may or may not be dangerous is gonna be hard to ignore. The two have landed themselves in a bit of trouble over the years but it wasn't anything too serious. They both typically speak fondly of these experiences.

Tails has offered to pack up and travel with Sonic a lot but Sonic refuses it every time. He'd love to have some sort of traveling companion, something he'll get later in the form of Knuckles, but he doesn't want to risk dragging his best friend into any real danger. He mostly just wants to keep Tails safe from the people that don't take too kindly to his werehog form.

Sonic visits as often as he can, Tails' house/workshop is the closest thing he has to a home. He does wish a lot of the time he could stay in one place for longer because he really does love spending time with Tails. It's just after too long he just gets restless and sort of becomes hard to be around. He's never really known why that is but he chalks it up to something related to his speed.

Tails is endlessly fascinated by both Sonic's speed and his werehog form. With permission he's run some tests to see if he can figure out what's going on but those usually result in exploded equipment. Sonic apologizes profusely every time even if it isn't actually his fault. Tails of course never blames him for it either.

The two are also rather protective of each other, and they show it in different ways. For Sonic he has no issues stepping in if someone is mean to Tails or tries to hurt him. He's gotten into a few short fights on Tails' behalf. Tails himself finds it sort of nice that Sonic is willing to literally fight for him, but he tries to discourage it as much as possible. Tails is a bit more subtle about his protectiveness. His go to thing is to plot some revenge scheme for after the fact. These have certainly terrified some people enough that they've never tried to mess with Sonic again. Sonic is oblivious to the fact that Tails does this sometimes; he does think it's weird that stuff will sometimes happen to people that mess with him though.

Sonic really values their friendship and does privately consider Tails his little brother but he's never called the fox that out loud. He has no idea if Tails feels the same and Sonic isn't exactly the best person at picking up social ques. Tails 100% feels the same but he's still too timid to say anything in fear of Sonic reacting badly.

These two take every opportunity to cuddle or be close to each other. Both really got no physical affection growing up and are severely touch starved. Luckily the two are on the same page here and are happy to show physical affection to each other. Besides cuddling there's a lot of hugs and head pats. Tails especially likes to cuddle with Sonic in werehog form since his fur is thicker.

@au-sonic-smackdown I suppose these rambles could count for propaganda huh?

[razorblade180]

Interdimensional Moms pt3

Part 2 right here! <-

Team RWBY continue their interesting chat about their respective worlds. After the emotional roller coaster that was Weiss’s, a bit of light hearted stories would be welcomed.

Yang:Okay, does anyone have some real feel good things to talk about for their world? Just run of the mill pleasant life?

Ruby:Guess I’m going last....

Yang:Oh no!

Weiss:We’ll circle back to you then. Blake, I guess you’re up.

Blake:Wouldn’t you want calmer stuff at the end?

Yang:Blake, I would very much like to go at least ten minutes without wanting to cry.

Blake:Hmmmm I can guarantee you like...six I think.

Yang:I’ll take it! Blake Belladonna, tell me about a world where you and Jaune Arc are happily married. How did such stars align?

Blake:You make it sound crazy?

Weiss:Blake, there’s list of people I could see you with. Now I’m not saying Jaune couldn’t be one of them, but he’d have to fight his way up that list.

Blake:You...that’s kinda fair. It’s a bit hard to explain really. It happened back at Beacon initially, or our bonding did. Some days his team was busy and I didn’t tag along for the crazy antics you three wanted to do all the time, so we occasionally bumped into each by circumstances. He’d go to the library for a book, I’d do training and he was there, or sometimes he’d knock on our door and not realize I was the only one around.

Weiss:Was he trying to sing to me?

Blake:That plan did show up at our a few times, yes. One of those times I asked him out of nowhere to sing the song anyways because I just had to know if it was any good. Hehe, it wasn’t sonically pleasing at times, but you could tell it was genuine. Eventually though...he just sort of gave up on you. It was actually a little sad to see, even you thought so. It was strange. Jaune was definitely stumbling through his flirting and it came off as childish, yet the day he gave up, it was easy to see his heart was breaking a bit. Like all his insecurities ate even the faux confidence away.

Yang:Ma’am, it has barely been three minutes and I’m getting sad about thinking of Jaune being sad.

Weiss:Yeah don’t tell me I broke his heart!

Blake:Whoops, sorry. It’s important though. Jaune kinda kept to himself a little more after that. He still chatted pretty regularly but it was easy to tell he dived more in studies as a way to keep his head clear, which lead to us being on a project together. I was the only person in our friend group that wouldn’t actively try to make him open up about how he feeling. At first I thought it was a bit rude when he told me that, but I didn’t room to talk when it comes to socializing.

Yang:One more time for the people in the back.

Ruby:I’m the back.

Blake:*smirks* I was very against socializing about my feelings at Beacon.

Ruby:Yeah you were.

Weiss:I couldn’t even ask if you slept well without a lukewarm answer sometimes.

Blake:I’m better now. That’s all that matters. Romance and feeling love is a personal thing and talking about it is uncomfortable. I think we both recognized that in each other during our project. Trouble is, there’s only so many conversation starters and small talk subjects. Talking only about the project was dry and eventually all the facts a person could say about themselves ran out. Favorite food, color, hobbies, etc. We eventually had to dig a little deeper into those topics. To our surprise, we actually more in common than we thought when it came to how we felt about certain pieces of literature and music.

Ruby:Awwww, bonding over smut.

Blake:*red* It wasn’t all adult literature! Some were poems and stuff. Even when the project ended, we began being less formal around each other and hanging out. We went to the bookstores we mentioned and he even got us tickets to bands I liked. It...it was nice. I never really got to have just a normal teenage experience before without it being political. He always felt bad about being average compared to everyone but average was so foreign to me that I welcomed it. I liked having a normal time out. It was a thing we all took for granted. Especially when Beacon fell.

Yang:Yeah, that probably put a real bind on your relationship.

Blake:Actually....we technically never officially started to date.

Ruby:What? You courted each other all of Beacon.

Weiss:Ruby, who the heck says courted? I’m a Schnee and even I have never used the word courted.

Ruby:Hush, I read a lot of bed time stories to a five year old.

Blake:We were a bit shaky on labels. Me for obvious reasons. As for Jaune, it’s really true about what they say about guys when they get heart broken.

Yang: “Never again.”

Blake:Hehehe, it’s funny to look back at it but he’ll tell you it’s a bit cringy. He was so on gaurd. I could tell all the time when he was mentally telling himself to not be excited whenever we hung out or I complimented him.

Ruby:Hey it takes guts to shift feelings to a teammate of your first crush. That could blow up in your face.

Blake:Yeah...about that. *looks at Yang* you...were another reason why nothing was official. You uhhh, we actually had some jumbled up emotions.

Weiss:*sarcastic gasp* You and Yang, liking each other? Who could’ve seen that coming?

Yang:Was it mutual or...

Blake:Very mutual. Also...intimate at times.

Yang:*red* Oh....yeah. Yeah that tracks.

Blake:That jumbled mess was only more confusing after you got hurt trying to rescue me from Adam. Meeting up with-

Ruby:Question, so was Sun just not on your radar?

Blake:Sun? We’re just friends. He’s cute and I’m glad he was there for me when I needed help but things between us were always pretty calm. I think he noticed how confused I was with other people in my life and chose to not add to it.

Ruby:Bless him. Please continue.

Blake:Learning about Salem and reconnecting with you all was a lot. I’d really been out of the loop and my Yang and I were on....shaky ground.

Yang:That’s what happens when you leave someone who’s been left their entire life.

Blake:Sigh...yeah. It was a trying time, but not with JNPR. It’s funny, Oscar and I also hit it off quite well from the jump. I think we were both glad to have each other learn on the craziness at once. Even with readjusting, Jaune and I fell back into a groove naturally. Instead of doing average things we day dreamed of the things we did. Once again we become this little slice of simple life in this crazy adventure. Still didn’t date.

Weiss:What is this, a slow burn!?

Yang:Weiss, you literally didn’t date your Jaune until Atlas.

Weiss:There’s a difference. I didn’t make any heart eyes at him until around Atlas. I say I may have been a little quick. These two were “courting” for over a year at this point.

Ruby:Stop making fun of me!

Blake:Well anyways, I wouldn’t say much was too eventful in terms of romance with world destroying things happening. Salem, she was way too much to deal with. Every move age did was calculated and unrelenting. Keeping our head above water wasn’t easy. In fact, it was boarder line impossible. Yang and I barely beat Adam after all.

Yang:How’d you two feel about that?

Blake:Relieved. Huge weight off my mind, and yet...a piece of me still wishes things never got so dire. At least now I know that in another world, things aren’t.

Ruby:Sounds like your world was put through their paces? You survived though.

Blake:Not conventionally. I gotta say, hearing the ages and how you beat Salem so far makes me feel more than a little embarrassed. To be frank, we didn’t have this grand battle that involved the entire world making a final stand. We had Atlas, and then we had Haven. With their might and a plan to gain more time, we managed to seal Salem in a vault.

Yang:*chokes on water* Y- cough what!?

Ruby:You put her in a vault!?

Weiss:Thah sounds harder than a last stand honestly.

Blake:No matter what way we looked at things, we just weren’t ready for her, so we locked her away until we were. Two years on constant defense from her followers and grimm until Ruby had trained enough to use her silver eyes and we were all strong enough.

Ruby:Two years!? How old was I then?

Blake:Twenty I believe.

Weiss:Hey, you beat mine by a year.

Yang:Not mine, I think we either tied or just narrowly beat yours by like a year. Honestly it hard to keep track of birthdays and stuff.

Ruby:Wow. No offense to myself, but that’s a little disappointing. I guess being the same person really doesn’t mean we were all at the same level.

Blake:Hey, my Ruby put everything she had into saving the world. There wasn’t a second she wasn’t trying her best to defend it!

Ruby:My point exactly. If that was her at her absolute best then by all accounts, she doesn’t hold a candle to me; at least back then anyways. But I have no reason to believe she would be at my level now.

Yang:Okay little miss prideful, care to tell us when you saved the-

Ruby:Seventeen.

The reaper took a long swig of coffee while the others processed that information. It took a her a couple of seconds to realize she may be acting just a tad bit arrogant.

Ruby:Uhh, sorry. I think I was tooting my own horn a bit there.

Weiss:Seventeen....why so soon?

Yang:Why? Don’t you mean how?

Blake:That’s....almost unbelievable.

Ruby:Really? I don’t think so. I’ll dive into it when it’s my turn but for now all I really gotta say is people needed help, and I was going to answer those cries. I bet your Ruby had a similar urgency in her, but for some reason or another just had different limitations. I got hurt a lot as a kid. Maybe an injury did more damage in one universe than another? Who can say?

Blake:I...wouldn’t know. Odd, I know if my Ruby heard this, then she’d probably be more than a little upset. Saving lives is still what she’s all about. I know when she put everything she had into fighting Salem when the day came. All that training paid off. Her skills were polished and her silver eyes eradicated the grimm essence in Salem.

Ruby:Wait, she’s not dead?

Blake:No. Salem roams Remnant with Oz keeping an eye on her until one day she can finally grasp the lesson the gods wanted her to have.

Yang:That uhhh sounds risky.

Weiss:Yet oddly okay?

Blake:Funny, my Weiss said that too. Those two get checked on in secret. Can’t be too careful. With Salem beaten though, Remnant entered a state of...let’s call it average chaos. All in all, it’s way more peaceful but you know, people will be people. Downside about a secret war is you don’t get the unity of the masses. Atlas and Haven working together was still a great step in the right direction though.

Yang:Woah, I’m a little jealous. My world felt like a race against the clock. The pressure either broke you or made you harder than diamond, with most people crushing under it.

Weiss:Yeah. The tension and meet of extremes I had on the frontlines was beyond imagination. The unity was great, but to feel it on the battlefield against the odds was feeling with way too much adrenaline and stress. Can’t say I enjoyed it. I simply lived through it.

Blake:Well it isn’t like I had a walk in the park. But I guess in comparison, my experience was a tad more mellow. Still, people were lost and hurt. Oscar isn’t himself anymore, don’t have Penny, former classmates and a few enemies turned allies fell in battle. Family.... it took a bunch to get the plan of containing, then it took a lot more to do it. In a way though, the two years of training is time I can’t regret. It tested bonds, strengthening and reestablishing others.

Ruby:I take it since love couldn’t bloom on the battlefield, it bloomed in the training yards?

Blake:*red* You can say that. That’s when Jaune and I got serious. *frowning* But.....

Yang:We fell apart?

Blake:Yeah. I didn’t learn my lesson well enough the first time about the potential problems of dating a partner. Only difference this time was I felt like I was the one being cruel. We had gotten into arguments and apologized more than once. Your fear of being left and my own insecurities just kept butting heads. I’d cry, you’d cry, our friends would be concerned. Then the day came where you put it all on the line. You confessed genuinely how much you loved me and how you felt a bit jealous when it came to Jaune. I had never seen you look so vulnerable; letting your gaurd completely down. And though a piece of me loved you and wanted you in my life for ever....this sense of genuine comfort Jaune gave was something I want-needed for so long. So I did the one thing I didn’t want to do. I broke your heart. I hurt you again.

Yang:Sigh....*leans back in chair* Okay, let’s see how well I know myself. My eyes went red automatically, followed by tears. I lashed out at you angrily out of pain and embarrassment until I was probably blue in the face. But to take make things worse, somebody probably overheard. No matter who it was, I yelled at them too for trying to calm me down and then I eventually run off leaving everyone unhappy. A good old meltdown. Sound about right?

Blake:To the letter. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so distraught.

Yang:Of course not, I’ve never been in love before meeting you. I....did a similar thing with my Blake over the stupid Adam shit. *covers face* of all the things to be similar, it had to be my temper. Please tell me our team didn’t suffer too harshly?

Blake:The good thing about two years of training was it didn’t have to be together all the time. Team RWBY didn’t fall apart, but it didn’t feel comfortable either. Outside of missions, the four of us didn’t hang out as much. It was three at the most. Nobody pinned blame on me or Yang for it but it was obvious.

Ruby:I mean how can you blame someone for feeling sad or not in love with someone? Pointing fingers doesn’t do anything. However, I bet missions were rough.

Blake:Bumblebee was shelved. We did any other team up we could. When push came to shove, Yang and I did put feelings aside. Neither of us wanted our feelings to get anyone killed. That’s probably what kept us connected for awhile, especially with Salem. I don’t think we questioned each other when it came to watching one another’s back. Slowly, our relationship got a bit better. Until....we stopped speaking to each other altogether about a couple years later.

Yang:Wait, why!?

Blake:I got pregnant.

The three listeners’ faces scrunched up and they let in a sharp breath like they just got cut. No one had considered that bombshell.

Blake:Marriage was rough enough. Having Jaune’s kid and starting a family just...cut deep I guess. You didn’t make a scene or anything if that’s what you’re worried about. One day you told me “I just can’t do this” and exited my life. I wanted to keep you close to me, but you wanted to be closer. That was a thing I couldn’t do. Hehe, I can’t tell you how weird it is talking to you like this again.

Yang:So that’s it!? We just don’t see each other at all!?

Blake:Certain events and celebrations have us in the same room, but that’s all. Ruby is the only thing that regularly links us, but she’s busy living life too.

Ruby:Is it a good life?

Blake:The best. You’re the huntress you always wanted to be and a hero to many.

Ruby:*smiles* Really? That’s good. May she ride that high for as long as she can. Though I bet she wished she had a special someone to share that with.

Blake:Huh? Oh, you married Weiss.

Weiss:*red* What!?

Ruby:Aye, nice.

Weiss:Weren’t you upset about thinking of other people with Jaune besides you!?

Ruby:Yeah, but I won’t deny if I am going to be with someone that isn’t him, I’m very happy it’s the other special person in my life. I mean come on, the only reason we don’t get weird in your universe is because I married your brother and you already invited my sister.

Weiss:I mean...it’s mainly the brother portion. The second part...

Ruby:Weiss, that’s weird.

Yang:Eh...

Ruby:IT’S WEIRD! YOU CANNOT TELL ME OTHERWISE!

Yang:*sips coffee* Eh.

Blake:Anyways, Weiss, you’re running your company. The Schnee Dust Company was scrubbed top to bottom to remove as much corruption as possible. No department was overlooked. In times of money, there’s a notable decrease in how much the company used to make.

Weiss:Gee, I wonder if that’s because the other me is doing oh let me guess, paying all their workers and not cutting corners in safety?

Blake:The SDC people approval has gone up considerably, just so you know that too. Turns out people like it when the company they buy from have good morals.

Weiss:Am I happy though? I make time for my social life and hu- I mean wife?

Blake:Yea, you’re happy. In a way I think we’re all happy, but....

Yang:We’d be happier if we were all happy together? Yeah, that’s how it works. You’re only as happy as the most miserable person in a family or group; if you all care about each other that is. Ugh, I wanna punch the other me. I get how she feels but it’s fucking immature to just ignore years of teamwork and family. At the end of the day, team RWBY is a family! Can’t believe I’d runaway from it instead of figuring out...I don’t know! Something!

Blake:*small smile* Well if you feel that way then there’s no reason to believe she doesn’t. My Yang just struggles with it more I guess, but I hope she can come around one day. Not really for my sake, but for her own peace of mind. As well as Lucas’s.

Ruby:Lucas? Your son I take it?

Blake:Mmhmm. My strong and lazy young man. He got his father’s hair but my eyes and ears. I can’t think of a person who warms my heart quite like him. He acts uninterested in a lot of things, but his heart is so big.

Weiss:Ah, so he’s just you?

Blake:More or less hehe. Though I’d say I was passionate about things all my life. Lucas will sleep all day if he could and doesn’t like going out without a reason.

Weiss:Still sounds like you if I’m being honest. Teenager?

Blake:Seventeen, almost eighteen.

Yang:You said he’s need peace of mind too? I’m not...hostile towards him am I?

Blake:No, not by a long shot. On the occasions you two have meant, you were polite. It’s just he knows why you don’t visit or talk to me. That’s rough, knowing your parent’s closest friend stopped being apart of their life because you were born. I think sometimes he believes it’s actually his fault.

Yang:I really, really want to meet this other me and have a few words. She needs to know she isn’t trying hard enough. I’m proof.

Ruby:Yeah, but you’re only well off because the person that helped you get over Blake, was Jaune. Yeah she still can find love, but who that person will be would be uncharted territory for everyone.

Blake:Also I’m not entirely sure exactly if my Yang is even bi like you.

Yang:Sigh....

Weiss:Love.

Blake:Huh?

Weiss:As long as a person shows your Yang genuine love and a place in their heart where she’ll remain forever, Yang would fall for them. They just have to make it a point to make her feel like they’ll stay. Yangs are softies like that.

Yang:Wow, you an expert on me and all the versions of me now?

Weiss:No, you’re just a bleeding heart that’s super emotional. Let me guess, you fell for Jaune the moment you realized just how relaxed and vulnerable you could allow yourself to be around him.

Yang:*red*.......he holds me when I’m overwhelmed.

RWB:Awwww

Yang:Shut up! Blake, take the heat off me.

Blake:Not too much more. Lucas is a smart kid who generally stays out of trouble. Unfortunately, trouble finds him. Mainly because of his semblance.

Ruby:Don’t tell me...

Blake:No no, it’s not bad luck like your uncle, but Lucas can’t always control it so their similar in that regard. Premonitions, that’s his semblance.

Weiss:Like...the future? You child can see the future?!

Blake:Yeah. *sips drink* it’s terrible.

Ruby:What? That sounds so handy! Man, if I could someone fighting me before it happened, I’d be a monster on the battlefield.

Blake:Lucas isn’t a fighter. Well, he’s not aspiring to fight. He can fight, pretty dang well in fact.; but randomly seeing the future is not a gift. Imagine picking up a book and you suddenly know the ending, or watching a movie and you start seeing the middle of it right after you press play?

Yang:Ahhh, that’s why he’s lazy and unmotivated. His semblance is massive spoiler alert. Half the fun of new things is not knowing what will happen.

Ruby:Oof, you have a point. I’d be paranoid to no end.

Blake:To a point, he was. Ever since he was ten. Disasters happen at the drop of a hat. Lucas isn’t the kind of person to watch bad things unfold, so whenever it was possible or even if it was risky, he’d do whatever he could to prevent said disaster. But.....there’s only so much anyone person can do. There’s only so much information he sees. The constant strain and guilt that came from failing ate him up. The. There’s the incidents he’s seen that didn’t show him how it began or how it will end. *rubbing her hands* It’s bad...

Weiss:Hey, I...I’ve noticed your hands and frankly even your face are a bit....slim. Your skin isn’t as colorful as I’m used to either. Almost like it’s regaining color.

Blake:Hehehe.......I guess you were bound to notice of all people.

Weiss:Of course. I may not run a a company in my world but I keep tabs on my brother and have had my fair share of visits to a doctor. Why wouldn’t I notice.

Yang:So can we talk as if there are people who have no clue what’s going on?

Weiss:Blake has had one of two things happen to her. She’s either worked way too hard to the point she’s not taking care of her health, or she’s fallen very ill and her body is still recovering.

Blake:Yeah, it’s more of the second one, but probably because of the first one as well. Forwarding equality, I was overzealous with it. One day Lucas just started shaking and crying when he was twelve and I couldn’t understand why. Turns out he kept seeing me bedridden and unconscious without a reason. Day in and day out he simply cried and tried his best to get another premonition to learn more, but couldn’t. A week later I started feeling a little dizzy, and then blacked out after vomiting. At first I thought maybe I had the flu or something. Nope, a tumor.

Weiss:What?

Ruby:Blake!?

Yang:Oh shit, are you-

Blake:Perfectly fine! *smiles* I’m fine. Liver cancer, but it was caught early. No more tumor what so ever, but the meds and the entire process was really draining. Got sicker a couple of times. Not once did I feel like I was dying necessarily, more like...slipping? I felt myself getting drained. The whole time Lucas was so scared; blaming himself for not preventing this or knowing how to fix it. Though simply knowing he saw me like was a warning most people wish they got. I know I said seeing the future is terrible, but the scariest part through all of this was not knowing how it ended. Choosing medicine, doctors, surgery possibilities, it made me crack under pressure a little. I think he noticed that. I wasn’t sure if I picking an option that lead me dying or getting better. The stress alone may have killed me. Ever since then Lucas hasn’t been so outgoing.

Ruby:....

Weiss:....

Yang....It was already said, but there was no way this wasn’t going to get sad was there?

Blake:Take it from me, there’s joy in pain. So many people came to visit me when I was recovering. Even Yang dropped by for a bit. After I got out, I don’t think Lucas ever hugged me so hard. Jaune tried to stay calm through the whole ordeal but it was rough for him too. He was all but spent emotionally when I came home.

Weiss:I’m surprised Lucas didn’t become an older brother.

Blake:The last thing a recovering patient needs is a pregnancy, but as far as missing me goes...

Ruby:You can stop right there with that tangent.

Yang:We’ll talk about that in private. I wouldn’t mind that story.

Blake:*playfully rolls eyes* These days I try not to over do things. I’ve only officially been deemed completely cured for about a year. I can feel that I’m still not entirely up to strength. It’s fine though. It gives me an excuse for Lucas to dote on me a little. He’s a mama’s boy at heart. My biggest worries these days is peeling him out of this shell his semblance had put him in. At the very least I want him to smile like he used to and find away to live in moment when possible. His entire life is ahead of him. Hopefully he doesn’t see all of it.

Ruby:I guess too much of anything really is bad. Knowledge included. I hope things work out.

Yang:Me too. A happy life is something you definitely earned.

Blake:Thanks. That seriously means a lot, which is why I made sure to not end this on a sour note.

The happy faunus pulled out her scroll to scroll through pictures and her friends eyes lit up. The first one was a beach photo. This Jaune was different from what they were used to. He let his hair grow a little bit longer and the back went down his neck, but it was definitely still him. This jaune was pretty toned and went for a lean look than bulky like Weiss’s, but a tad slimmer. On his shoulders was an adorable toddler with wide amber eyes and big blonde cat ears. Both men were enjoying the sunset on the waves.

The next photo was more recent with Blake right in the middle of hopping into Lucas’s arms. Weiss noticed the girl still had on the hospital bracelet. She must’ve just gotten cleared. Lucas had grown like a weed. He was now roughly Jaune’s height. His hair was messy and looked like Jaune’s in his younger years. Also like his father, Lucas was jacked! His sleeveless purple shirt should off his biceps as they wrapped around Blake’s torso for a hug. His baggy purple shorts had black and gold trim through the seams and the shorts stopped right below his knees; but showed of his well defined calves. A smile of pure joy and what could’ve been a few tears were visible as he looked lovingly at his mother. It warmed all of the ladies hearts. Still, the girls also could tell under his eyes were a little dark. Lucas must’ve been very tired.

The final picture had to be the most recent. It was Blake and Lucas sparring. Both looked at each other with excitement and ease as their wooden blades clashed. Their clothes mirrored one another by being black and white kimonos. They even wore the traditional shoes and everything.

Weiss:Yeah, that’s your kid.

Blake:Damn right. Unfortunately that makes him a little too stubborn. But I guess that’s okay. Without a doubt, someone’s gonna break through that shell of his.

Yang:Oh? It sounds like you already know who?

Blake:Well....I have a hunch.

xxxxx

RING! RING! RING! Lucas’s scroll chirped, in the middle of the night. The boy let out a long, agitated groan of sleepiness as he rolled over in bed; reaching for his scroll on the nightstand to answer.

Lucas:Hello?

???:Did you know you are mathematically more likely to choke on a hotdog than get attacked by a shark?

Lucas:....Serenity, who gave you my number?

Serenity:Your parents, and it’s Serendipity!

Lucas:Too many syllables. Also a bit ironic given who you are. With the way you act though, my name for you is better.

Serenity:Ooooo so we’re moving on to pet names? How forward of you.

Lucas:Five seconds before I hang up. Three...two-

Serenity:You’re late! You promised to guide me around the beach at twelve. That’s now.

Lucas:.....P.M. Twelve P.M. Serenity. Why in the world would I mean midnight!?

Serenity:It’s romantic and personal. Nobody else is around. I thought you were trying to use that Belladonna magic on me by acting all cool and aloof in the moonlight.

Lucas:.....

Lucas:Please delete my number.

Serenity:Not on your life, my whiskered bodyguard!

Lucas:Don’t have whiskers-

Serenity:If you don’t wanna move that butt of yours to hang out with a pretty girl in a floppy hat and sundress with a bikini underneath, that’s your loss. I’m still going for a dip.

Lucas:Do not go in the water when nobody is around.

Serenity:Pfft, I’m a strong swimmer.

Lucas:Sharks.

Serenity:It’s more dangerous to eat a hotdog.

Lucas:Sharks feed at night.

Serenity:Are you trying to tell me the statistics aren’t as reliable just because it’s nighttime.

Lucas:That’s exactly what I’m saying.

Serenity:Then you better move your butt just in case. Either you get a snack or the sharks do. Either way, I get attention.

Lucas:Difference is one wants to eat you.

Serenity:My goodness Lucas, oh brazen of you.

Lucas:......

Lucas:Tell the sharks I said hi.

Serenity:Okay! Byyyyyyeeeee! *hangs up*

Lucas:(She’ll be fine.)

..........

Lucas:*putting on shoes* This is bullshit. Who thinks midnight!? *walking down stairs* Can’t have a peaceful day or night....

Jaune:*watching tv* Hey Lucas, going some-

Lucas:I’m giving out your phone number to a homeless man the first chance I get! *walks out door*

Jaune:.....(Whatever gets you outside more.)

It took about fifteen minutes of aggressive walking for Lucas to wrap around to the back of his house towards their section of the beach. Where Serenity walked around humming and collecting seashells without a care in the world.

Lucas:The next shell you grab will have a crab in it.

Serenity:Huh? Oh hey you’re finally-ahhhh! Ow ow ow ow ow ow!

Lucas:Should’ve listened.

Serenity:Have a better warning!!!! It won’t let go!

Lucas:Pull it off.

Serenity:That’s hurt!!! Lucas, help!

Lucas:Fine, if you delete my number.

Serenity:*sniffling* Stop being mean!!! This really hurts, it’s breaking the skin. Isn’t a young and pretty girl’s tears payment enough!? I thought you were getting paid to-

Lucas:Oh my goodness! Okay, just shush. I’m too sleepy for this.

Serenity:You’re mean when you’re sleepy. At least your waking up voice sounds handsome though.

Lucas:Please....stop. Stop everything. *removing crab* Happy?

Serenity:No, you’re not happy. Also my finger is bleeding.

Lucas:Yep, looks like you can’t go swimming now for real.

Serenity:Eh, I lied anyways. I’m not getting in that water. There are sharks in that watery grave.

Lucas:So. Why. Did. You. Wake. Me. Up?

Serenity:....*red* I...don’t really, have friends here. Besides you. Umm *points to pail and shovels* sandcastles?

Lucas:*inhales*......I’ll get the water.

Serenity:*smiles* Yes! I’ll delete your number later.

Lucas:*red* You....can keep it of you really want.

Serenity:....Kek, okay Mr. Tsundere

Lucas:You can remove the next crab alone.

Serenity:Don’t joke like that! That was a joke, right?

Lucas:Welp that pail isn’t gonna fill itself. *leaves*

Serenity:What!? Lucas!!! You were joking right!? Right!? *looking around the sand* you’re a lousy bodyguard!

Lucas:Good, fire me.

Serenity:I...you....ugh!

Lucas:Cheer up, I’m happy now after all. *smiles*

Serenity:*pouting* This is why I’m a dog person.

[path-of-my-childhood]

How Aaron Dessner and Taylor Swift Stripped Down Her Sound on ‘Folklore’

By: Jon Blistein for Rolling Stone Date: July 24th 2020

At the beginning of March, the National’s Aaron Dessner traveled back to the United States from Paris, where he’d been living with his family, to shack up at Sonic Ranch Studio in Tornillo, Texas to work on the next Big Red Machine album with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. Those plans - obviously - soon shifted, as the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic set in. Dessner and his family were able to relocate to their home in upstate New York as lockdown orders went into effect, and the musician soon settled into a groove of homeschooling his kids and able to focus fully on music in a way he hadn’t in a while, due to the National’s regularly rigorous touring schedule.

In the middle of what Dessner describes as one of the most productive moments of his career, Taylor Swift called. A longtime and avowed fan of the National, Swift asked if Dessner wanted to try collaborating on a few songs remotely. He said of course, and asked if she was looking for anything in particular. He noted that he had plenty of material at the ready, but acknowledged he’d been in a more experimental mood, due to the Big Red Machine sessions; not to mention, Dessner added, he’d never really ventured into the pop world Swift has dominated for well over a decade. She told him to send everything he had.

“I think she was interested in the emotions that she feels in some of the music that I’ve made,” Dessner tells Rolling Stone.” So I just sent her a folder of things I’d done recently and was excited about. Hours after, she sent back a fully written version of ‘Cardigan.’ It was like a lightning bolt struck the house.”

Over the next few months, Dessner and Swift crafted the bulk of Swift’s eighth studio album, Folklore. Dessner spoke with Rolling Stone about working with Swift, their instant chemistry, how the album developed under a thick cloud of secrecy and more.

When Taylor first reached out, did she have a specific vision in mind for the album? She was a bit cryptic. I didn’t know that we were actually working on a record for quite a while. It just seemed that she was seeking me out to collaborate. And then we were both feeling very inspired by it. Once there were six or seven songs that we had written over a couple of weeks, she said, “Hey can we talk?” Then she said, ‘This is what I’m imagining,’ and started to tell me about the concept of Folklore. Then she mentioned that she’d written some songs at an earlier stage with Jack [Antonoff], and they felt like they really fit together with what we were doing. It was a very inspiring, exhilarating collaborative process that was almost entirely remote. Very sort of warp speed, but also something about it felt like we were going toe-to-toe and in a good pocket.

After “Cardigan,” how did these songs develop and do you think she pushed you in any new directions as a songwriter? When you’re working with someone new, it takes a second to understand their instincts and range. It’s not really conscious. She wrote “Cardigan,” and then “Seven,” then “Peace.” They kind of set a road map, because “Cardigan” was this kind of experimental ballad, the closest thing to a pop song on the record, but it’s not really. It’s this emotional thing, but it has some strange sounds in it. “Seven” is this kind of nostalgic, emotional folk song. Even before she sang to it, I felt this nostalgia, wistful feeling in it, and I think that’s what she gravitated towards. And “Peace,” that just showed me the incredible versatility that she had. That song is just three harmonized bass lines and a pulse. I love to play bass like that - play one line then harmonize another, and another, which is a behavior I stole from Justin Vernon, because he’s done that on other things we’ve done together. And actually, that’s his pulse, he sent me that pulse and said, “Do something with this.” But when she wrote that song, which kind of reminds me of a Joni Mitchell song over a harmonized bassline and a pulse, that was kind of like, “Woah, anything can happen here.” That’s not easy to do. 

So, in the morning I would wake up and try to be productive. “Mad Woman” is one I wrote shortly after that, in terms of sound world, felt very related to “Cardigan” and “Seven.” I do have a way of playing piano where it’s very melodic and emotional, but then often it’s great if whoever’s singing doesn’t sing exactly what’s in the piano melody, but maybe it’s connected in some way. There was just some chemistry happening with her and how she was relating to those ideas.

“Epiphany” was something she had an idea for, and then I imagined these glacial, Icelandic sounds with distended chords and this almost classical feeling. That was another one where we wrote it and conceived it together. She just has a very instinctive and sharp musical mind, and she was able to compose so closely to what I was presenting. What I was doing was clicking for her. It was exhilarating for us, and it was surreal - we were shocked by it, to be honest [Laughs]. I think the warmth, humanity and raw energy of her vocals, and her writing on this record, from the very first voice memos - it was all there.

Do you think that chemistry might’ve had something to do with her being a National fan, and you being a fan of her music? We met Taylor at Saturday Night Live in 2014, or whenever that was that we played and Lena Dunham was hosting. We got to meet her, and that was our first brush with a bona fide pop star. But then she came to see us play in Brooklyn last summer and was there in a crazy rainstorm, like torrential downpour, and watched the whole show and stayed for a long time afterwards, talking to me and my brother. She was incredibly charming and humble. That’s the nice thing about her, and a lot of people I’ve met that have that kind of celebrity. It’s great when you can just tune it out and be normal people and chat, and that’s how that felt. So, we knew that she was a big fan, and we really got into the 1989 album. Our Icelandic collaborator, Ragnar Kjartansson, is a crazy Swiftie. So we’ve kind of lived vicariously through him. I’ve always been astonished by how masterful she is in her craft. I’ve always listened to her albums and put them in this rarefied category, like, “How did she do that? How does anybody do that? How do you make ‘Blank Space?’” There was an element that was intimidating at first, where it just took me a second to be like… Not because I think her music is better than what we’ve done, but it’s just a different world.

Were there particular songs, albums or artists the two of you discussed as reference points for this album? “Betty,” which is a song she wrote with William Bowery, she was interested in sort of early Bob Dylan, like Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, I think. “Epiphany,” early on, felt like some weird Kate Bush-meets-Peter Gabriel thing. I think we talked a little about those things, but not a lot. Actually, I think she really trusted me as far as my instincts to where the music would ultimately go, and also the mixing process.  We really wanted to keep her voice as human, and kind of the opposite of plastic, as possible. That was a bit of a battle. Because everything in pop music tends to be very carved out, a smiley face, and as pushed as possible so that it translates to the radio or wherever you hear it. That can also happen with a National song - like if you changed how these things are mixed, they wouldn’t feel like the same song. And she was really trusting and heard it herself. She would make those calls herself, also.

You mentioned William Bowery - who is he? He’s a songwriter, and actually because of social distancing, I’ve never met him. He actually wrote the original idea for “Exile,” and then Taylor took it and ran with it. I don’t actually know to be totally honest.

We’ve been trying to track him down, he doesn’t have much of an internet presence. Yeah, I don’t fully know him, other than he wrote “Betty” and “Exile” with her. But you know she’s a very collaborative person, so it was probably some songwriter.

So it’s not an alias for anyone? No, no, no. I mean, I don’t know - she didn’t tell me there was a “Cardigan” video until literally it came out, and I wrote the song with her [laughs]. So I don’t know. But I’m pretty sure he’s an actual songwriter. She enjoys little mysteries.

With the National, you and your brother write the music, Matt Berninger adds the lyrics, and then you fuse it - was it a similar process on Folklore? Taylor is very collaborative in that sense that, whenever she sent a voice memo, she would send all the lyrics and then ask me what I thought. And sometimes we would debate certain lines, although generally she’s obviously a strong writer. So she would ask me if I liked one line, and she would give me alternate lines and I would give her my opinion. And then when she was actually tracking vocals, I would sometimes suggest things or miss things, but she definitely has a lot of respect for the collaborative process and wants whoever she’s writing with to feel deeply included in that process. It was nice, and was a back and forth, for sure. And she would sometimes have ideas about the production if she didn’t like something, especially. She would, in a tactful way, bring that up. I appreciated that, too, since I wanted to try to turn over every leaf, take risks and sometimes get it wrong. That always takes a second, to get over and then you start again.

You mentioned earlier that once you had six, seven songs, she was able to describe a concept behind the album. I’m curious what that conversation was like. She would always explain what each song was about to me, even before she articulated the Folklore concept. And I could tell early on that they were these narrative songs, often told from a different… not in the first person. So there are different characters in the songs that appear in others. You may have a character in “Betty” that’s also related to one in “Cardigan,” for example. And I think that was, in her mind, very, very important. It doesn’t seem like, for this record at least, that she was inspired to write something until she really knew what it was about. And I think I’m used to a more - at least lately - impressionistic and experimental world of making stuff without really knowing what it is. But this was more direct, in that sense. That was really helpful, to know what it was about and it would guide some of the choices we were making.

Every time she would send something, she would narrate a little bit, like how it fit, or what it was about. And then when she told me about Folklore as a concept, it made so much sense. Like “The Last Great American Dynasty,” for example, this kind of narrative song that then becomes personal at the end - it flips and she enters the song. These are kind of these folkloric, almost mythical tales that are woven in of childhood, lost love, and different sentiments across the record. It was binding it all together and I think it’s personal, but also through the guise of other people, friends and loved ones.

You were working in secret - how did that affect the process? Was that a difficult burden? It was. I was humbled and honored and grateful for the opportunity and for the crazy sort of alchemy we were having. But it was hard not to be able to talk openly with my usual collaborators, even my brother at first. I didn’t know if I could really tell him, because we normally… Ultimately, he helped me quite a bit, he orchestrated songs. But we always help each other. But eventually, we figured out how to do it. Towards the end of the process, I said to Taylor, ‘I really feel that I need to try a few experiment and try to elevate a few moments on the record because we have time, and we’ve really done a ton of work here, and it all sounds great, but I think we can go even further.’ And then she said, ‘Well what does that mean?’ And I explained how that would work, and the way that we work. Our process is very community-oriented, and we have long-time collaborators that we have a good understanding with. So I was able to say, to my friends, ‘This is a song I’m working on, I can’t send it to you with the vocals, and I can’t tell you what it is, but I can explain what I’m imagining.’ And the same with my brother, he knows my music so well that that was very easy for him to just take things that we were working on, add to that, and do his kind of work. So it was all remote and everyone was in their corner and we were shipping things around. It was incredibly fast because of that, because you didn’t have eight people needing to come to the studio. You had eight people working simultaneously - one in France and one in L.A. and one in Brooklyn. This is how it went, and it was fun. We got there.

When were you able to tell everyone who contributed that this was the Taylor Swift record, what was their reaction? You can imagine. I think they realized it was something big because [of] the confidentiality, and they were like, ‘It could only be a few things.’ I couldn’t tell them until, basically, when she announced it. Just in the moments after she announced it, I basically told everyone. I was like, ‘By the way…’ And they were thrilled. Everyone’s thrilled. Nobody seemed mad, everyone was thrilled and honored. Even Justin Vernon had not heard anything else except “Exile,” even though the pulse of that song “Peace,” he gave that song to me. It was important to have it be a surprise, and you know how it can be with someone in her position, with all the speculation, and she’s always under a lot of pressure like that. So it was really important to the creative freedom she was feeling that this remained a secret, so she could just do what we were doing.

Being such longtime friends and collaborators with Justin, what was it like hearing “Exile” for the first time? His voice and Taylor’s together? He’s so versatile and has such a crazy range, and puts so much emotion… Every time he sings when I’m in his presence, my head just kind of hits the back of the wall. That’s the same on this song. William Bowery and Taylor wrote that song together, got it to a certain point, then I sort of interpreted it and developed a recording of it, and then Taylor tracked both the male and female parts. And then we sent it to Justin and he re-did obviously the male parts and changed a few things and also added his own: He wrote the “step right out” part of the bridge, and Taylor re-sang to that. You feel like, in a weird way, you’re watching two of the greatest songwriters and vocalists of our generation collaborating. I was facilitating it and making it happen, and playing all the music. But it was definitely a “Wow.” I was just a fan at that point, seeing it happen.

Are there any moments that really stick out to you as particularly pivotal in shaping the sound of this record? The initial response. When we first connected, and I sent a folder of music and Taylor wrote “Cardigan,” and she said, “This is abnormal. Why do you have all these songs that are so emotional and so moving to me? This feels fated.” And then she just dove into it and embraced this emotional current. And I hope that’s what people take out of it: The humanity in her writing and melodies. It’s a different side to her. She could have been every bit as successful just making these kinds of songs, but it’s so great that she’s also made everything that she’s ever made, and this is a really interesting shift, and an emotional one. It also opens other doors, because now it’s kind of like she can go wherever she wants, creatively. The pressure to make a certain kind of… bop - or whatever you want to call it - is not there really anymore. And I think that’s really liberating, and I hope her fans and the world are excited by that because I am. It’s really special.

[lilchibi-chan]

Siren Song

HAWKS X READER HC/FANFIC (inspired by sibitg on TikTok)

Your quirk is called siren song and you are able to enchant people with your voice, only when necessary, whether it’s to calm, lure or protect those who need it. You also posses a second quirk called ultrasonic where you are able to stun your enemies or shatter objects using sonic waves similar to black canary of the DC universe.

One night you decide to go out onto your balcony and enjoy the spring night. Sitting on your swing bench, you’re enjoying the slight breeze that’s drifting passed and the smell of cherry blossoms fills your nose. You look at the beautiful night sky, as it’s full of stars and there isn’t a cloud in the sky.

You are so comforted by everything around you, you decide to sing a dream is a wish your heart makes because Cinderella was one of your favorite movies as a child and it makes you think of home and your mom whenever you miss it and her.

Hawks happens to be on patrol tonight in your area. Your voice is echoing through the air lightly, but he can hear it clear as day. He flies towards your direction and just sits on the roof of your building listening to the soothing smoothness of your voice.

You finish your singing and he decides to fly down to get a closer look at who was singing.

“Please, don’t stop,” he says startling you a bit since you didn’t think anyone was listening, especially not Hawks

“Sorry I startled you,” he said with a small laugh but still apologetic,“I was on patrol tonight and I heard you singing. Your voice is so beautiful and I just had to come over and see who that voice belonged to.” He said complimenting you.

You couldn’t help but blush. Hawks was sort of a celebrity crush and never in a million years did you think he would know of your existence, let alone hear you sing AND compliment your voice.

“Oh...well, thank you,” you said still blushing,“it’s kinda my quirk.” You say matter of factly

“Well, I’d love to hear more of it,beautiful. What’s your name by the way?”

“Y/N”

“Well, Y/N I look forward to hearing you again,” He says and flies off

Over the next couple of weeks, Hawks comes by every night he’s on patrol just to hear you sing, but you have also gotten to know each other too when he’s had time to spare. You both talk about everything in the little time that you have with each other, from your favorite colors to what inspires you and even some embarrassing moments you both have had.

Like how one time you missed a step in school and fell down the rest of way. Luckily nobody saw, but it was still embarrassing. He told you about the time he wasn’t paying attention to where he was flying and hit a window. He was okay but his pride was definitely hurt. 

It was about to go on your third week hanging out with him and you were very much looking forward to it. Everything just felt right with him, even times when it was quiet, it was a comfortable silence. You’ve always had a crush on him, but it was just you crushing on a celebrity like a normal person. Now it was an actual crush. Like the kind you get on a boy you’ve known for a while or a boy in your class that you’re around everyday.

You were taken out of your thoughts when you heard knocking on your balcony door.

“Hawks?” you say confused since it was the middle of the day and he didn’t have patrol that night

You walked over to the door and invited him into your apartment.

“Hey Kid,” he said with a smile

“Not to be rude, but what are you doing here?” You ask with a small laugh

“What? I can’t come visit ya,” he asked smug

“No, you can it’s just that it’s the middle of the day and you don’t have patrol tonight, sooo I’m just curious.”

“Well, it’s cause I like you kid,” he says catching you off guard

“What?” You ask shocked

He walks over to where your standing and cups your chin with one of his hands

“I’m not really a fan of repeating myself, but for you I’ll make an exception,” he says standing over you,“I said that I like you kid and I’m not screwing around here. Things are different with you. They’re easy and not forced. I can be myself. I don’t have to be Hawks, the number 2 hero or the winged hero or pro hero Hawks. I can be real with you. In fact, I’m gonna tell you who I am kid. My name is Keigo and you can call me that from now on if you want.”

You stand there flattered and flustered all at the same time.

“Look kid, I came here to ask you to go out with me. How does tomorrow night sound?” He asks with a smoldering look

“Don’t you patrol tomorrow night?” You ask not wanting to get him in trouble

“Don’t worry your pretty head about it baby bird. I’ve got it covered, so what do ya say?”

“Okay,” you say biting your lip, slowly feeling a blush creep onto your face as this devastatingly handsome man stands before you

“I’ll come for you at 7 sharp. Dress nice.” He said

You nod in response and he turns to leave. You watch him fly off and then close the door. You squeal as soon as you get back inside because you can’t contain your excitement and even do a little dance.

If y’all want a part 2 lmk ☺️

[queenofwerewolves]

Future Hope - chapter 2 - Starting something new..

They were almost ready, all they needed was the one thing every revolution heroes needed: Badass outfits. For that, they counted on Griff to make some patterns to stick on their outfits or whatever weapons they carried, Kip suggested to make stickers to glue them around the city whenever a crime occured and they came to the rescue, to leave a message that something happened. Everyone loved that idea, and eitch one got to work in making their outfits, stickers and whatever else they needed to start the revolution for real...

With stickers and acessories settled, now they needed the main thing: The outfits. But.. No one knew how to sew or make clothing.

"Wait!" Maria shouted. "I know someone! Ya'll remember Maggy yeah?" She added with a tone of excitement.

"Ah, isnt she the one who draws the Metal Werehog and how you joke she refuses to tag you in them?" Togekiss answered with a tone of sass. Maria blushed and pouted her lips.

"Yeah yeah. Anyways she's visiting here for a local con, selling her drawings and prints, did you know she actually sews and knits clothes?" Maria added with a tad of admiration.

"Really? Well shit badass then" Blink added with a soft smile. "How do we get in contact with her?" She asked.

"She should be at the event center setting up her booth stand. If we leave now we'll have plenty of time to talk to her." Maria answered with a confident tone.

"What are we waiting then?" Kip added. "Let's go!"

Everyone nodded and made their way to the local event center.

At that same event center, Maggy was setting up her booth, putting her prints up on the sides and on top of her desk, showing the kind of work she does and displaying her various pieces she drew herself, whether it was her OCs, Silent Hill or Sonic theme, eitch was individually beautiful and unique. She also set up a small cashier and some paper and pens for possible requests on the fly, or a doodle with an autograph, you can never be too prepared.

She was organizing her papers when a small hand knocked on the wooden booth to call her attention, she looked up to see the entire Future Hope crew, with Maria in front and smiling confidently.

"Maria!" She exclaimed happily, going around the booth for a hug, who Maria happily accepted the hug.

"It's so good to see you!" She said with an excited tone, she pulled apart from the tone and looked at the remaining others, many she didnt recgonize. "And.. Who are these?" Maggy asked.

"Ah, Maggy these are some of my Tumblr friends, like you! Im sure you know Griff already" Maria said referring to Griff, who had a hand behind his hand and sheepishly smiling. "But you see.. We kinda need a moment to talk to you, if that's OK" Maria asked, practically whispering to Maggy.

Maggy nodded, and leaded them to another area of the convention center which was emptier, so they could have some privacy. Once they got there, Maria explained as basicly as she could about her and Future Hope, the wishing fountain, their new powers, their intentions.. Maggy listened quietly, but intriguied as anyone would be.

"Woahh.." Maggy said, finally hearing the end of the story. "You guys really are gonna be super heroes?" She asked with a spark of excitement. "And I get to help?"

Maria nodded with a smile. "We need you to make outfits for us, whenever you have the time of course. None of can sew but we have the designs here for you. That is, if you-"

"Yes!!!" . Suddenly being cut off, Maggy got up with smiled with pride, her eyes twinkling with excitement. "I'd be honoured to help! This'll be so cool!! I'll have those made for you as soon as I can!" She said taking the designs from Maria.

Maria smiled and pulled her in for a hug. "I knew I could count on you.." She said softly. "Of course" Maggy responded. "After all: Nós portuguesas têm que contar uma na outra né?"

"Haha! Falou e disse amiga!" Maria responded in portuguese, both laughing together while leaving the others clueless, but nonetheless happy for them.

"Well." Maggy said. "I should head back, the con will start soon". Maria nodded and looked at the others, who agreed it was time to go home and wait, with a final hug, they said their goodbyes and headed back to Maria's house.

They werent simply gonna stand around and wait for the costumes to be ready, until then, they decided to fix up the one thing every SuperHero group needed: An HQ. A place to reunite, plan, organize and discuss strategies whie also knowing about whatever recent crime could be going on.

But of course, they were only a couple of young and very, very broke adults. Griff's Youtube Channel was starting to blow up but nothing too extreme yet, but he will get there soon. Same for Maria and her animation channel, they were started to get discovered but they had a long way to go. But it'll happen.

In the meantime, Maria does have a big and very spacious basement, they decided they would settle there for now. Blink and Kip started brooming the floor, Muffin and Spooks were dusting the walls, Muffin used her wings to reach the roof and corners, and Spooks enjoyed the darkness of the basement to summon her Dark Hands to help the job go quicker. Rooko and Rooki decided to go to a hardware store and get some new materials and give the basement a better fixer upper, install some new lights, maybe install a window...

Spike and Togekiss were out looking for things to decorate the HQ, a table, a rug, some chairs, a new wallpaper perhaps.. Meanwhile Maria and Griff were online shopping for some cool props to decorate the HQ as well, using Maria's laptop, they scowered the internet.

"Oo!" Exclaimed Griff, pointing at the screen. "This life-size Master Chief would really spice up the place!" He said excitedly, Maria shook her head with a soft smile. "Griffy we're only looking for small decorations, not turning my basement into nerdvana" She answered.

"Oh.. Right.. Sorry.." He sort of mumbled out, Maria raised a brow in concern and set the laptop next to her, placing a hand on his arm. "Is something wrong..?" She softly asked..

".. It's just.." Griff started to answer. "You know how overly-excited I get. You know how hyped and impacient I get for these things.. Im just worried that... That.."

"Yes..?" Maria asked.

"... What if I blow it?" He asked, with a tone of sadness. "What if my powers arent as good as I thought? What if instead of helping everyone, I just make everything worse..?!" His voice tone got louder as he started to slightly panic. "Im a big, musculent WereRabbit, that HAS to be scary in a way isnt it? Im practically a Mons-"

"Dont you dare finish that word!!!" Maria shouted at him, gripping his shoulders hard, looking at him straight in the eye, her black eyes glimmering like a starry night without the moon.. Glimmering with worry.

"Listen to me very, carefully. No matter what you are, or what you do. You.. will never, be a Monster.." "Monsters arent the big unknown creatures we see in movies, they're out there, looking like us, gaining people's trust just so they can take advantage of them, taking or ruining innocent lives, people who have their heads so far up their asses they've become blind and see nothing but themselves. THOSE ARE MONSTERS!!!" She raised her voice, shaking a little bit. Griff only stared at her, shaking a bit as well, until suddenly Maria placed her head on his chest, pulling him in for a hug..

"You're not even close to being like them, and your physical appearance doesnt define your heart.. Please, never doubt yourself like that again.. Because you are better then this, and you know it.." She quietly spoke, waiting for a reply.. Which she didnt receive. Griff embrace the hug back, and that was all that needed to be said, without words whatsoever. Between those two, the message was clear:

Monsters are the ones who cause darkness around them, and not them, or their friends are even close to being them, they are the opposite. They will be the light, a new beginning, a new..

Future Hope..

[jjuzoir]

Match Maker | s. banri

request: “Hello! I personally really love your writing and your whole aesthetic is my dream lol 👉👈 Can I request a scenario where reader and Banri are best friends since childhood? You can turn it into best friends to lovers kind of thing if you feel like it. I’m personally a huge fan of best friends to lovers aus, they just,,, melt my heart 🥺 Thank you so much, please don’t feel like you have to rush it and take your time! 💞” from anon

a/n: i accidentally deleted your anon but i managed to save the request itself sooryy^^ i am so sorry it’s taken me so long omg 🥺 i love you sooo much anonie 💕✨ i love f2l so much too it’s so cute just seeing people who love each other being able to be with each other is !!! ahhh ✨💕 i really enjoyed working on it and i’m really happy with it hhhh thank you sm for requesting ilysm ahhh

word count: 2973

There were many perks to being friends with Banri, he was funny and nice when he wanted to be— he’d help you out with homework and never let you down; if there was one thing you could always count on Banri to be it was determined and loyal. But there were downsides to it too like the looks you’d get for hanging out with a guy with such a shitty reputation, the way he’d always get into fights, or seeing him waste his life away due to lack of interest. There were the multiple fights you had to endure, patching him after he got his ass beaten to a pulp the first few times.

But you wouldn’t trade him for the world. You had stuck with him through so many things, so many phases and bruises, beginnings and ends, you knew him like the back of your hand and you knew how hard it was for him to live such an “easy” life. He liked a challenge, something to work hard towards, something worth fighting for��� so he could relish in the satisfaction, but that something never came. When everything comes easy you can never really bask in satisfaction; the afterglow after a succeeding.

Maybe at first, you guessed, Banri did enjoy it but he soon grew tired; everything was easy, too easy. How could he enjoy a life with no challenges when what he liked the most was a challenge?

That’s why when he joined the Mankai company you were ecstatic, finally a non-destructive hobby after years of fights and punches. It was why you didn’t mind distancing yourself from him, to let Settsu enjoy himself and get to know theater— you guessed you just didn’t know how far was enough, leading you to grow farther away than either of you expected; than either of you needed.

Looking back, Banri was somewhat grateful; he knew had you stuck around he wouldn’t have been able to concentrate with the growing feelings he had blooming in his chest.

He realized his feelings for you weren’t the same when texting you wasn’t enough, when meeting you at school wasn’t enough; when he realized that he wanted more. He never took into account how often you two would be together, it felt so natural, there was never a second thought or a minute to imagine what would happen if your routine were to change. After school and during breaks, you’d always be together chatting away; to not have you there by his side as often was weird. It wasn’t as if he never saw you but whenever you left he felt a bitter feeling in his mouth, it left him feeling unsatisfied. What was once a friendship that lasted 24 hours a day soon shortened into a relationship that would last as long as school breaks would allow.

He hoped that once he quit the troupe— after making his point known to Juza, he’d be able to go back to his routine with you, perhaps confess or just let it go, he just wanted to ditch acting and see where you two would go. But he never really quit and so the distance between you two became bigger.

You never grew estranged, neither of you would’ve been able to live without the other by this point— 14 years of friendship, of familiarity and comfort, can’t go down the drain like that. To you Banri was the need for a future, for excitement and adventure, and to him, you were home, nostalgic and known. But going from hanging around each other everyday to almost once in a blue moon, it hit hard and it hit roughly.

By the third performance, you and him could barely meet in person— you had joined clubs while he practiced, your classes weren’t the same and your part time job started demanding more attention; so all you could do was text. He hated texting, you could never really express your tone and feelings properly, but your relationship— or what remained of it, now hung on a thin thread of texts. It was weird, heart breaking almost, to see the shell that remained of your friendship.

It was around that time Banri realized he needed to act on his feelings for you, it was when he realized he could lose you.

He didn’t know how to confront you about it— the boy you had been hanging out around, he’d seen you two, heard the rumors of a possible romance, but he never confronted you. Blue eyes could only watch in confusion as the situation unfolded itself; you two were 17, not kids anymore, it’d be weird for him to pop in one day and demand for you to explain yourself to him. Banri wasn’t delusional, he knew you didn’t owe him an explanation.

Izumi noticed the uncertainty and hesitation in him, how something or someone was bothering him. It was soon after that his discomfort was known to the rest of the company and they grew confused and concerned— some more worried than others. It was her who ended up confronting Banri, she had to convince the dyed blond to not threaten the young boy with behavior and discipline.

Even through his short answers and cold stare it didn’t take the brunette long to understand what was bothering him.

“So, you like your best friend?” Izumi’s pink eyes were tinted with understanding and pity as she looked at the young boy.

However, Banri was too prideful to answer, instead opting to roll his eyes in acknowledgment.

“Well, why don’t you say something about it?”

“[Name] doesn’t owe me an explanation,” he muttered, he had thought about it but really— he was also afraid; if you were dating that boy then it meant his feelings were one sided and he could ruin your trust, make you feel like you had a babysitter or a possessive friend, and accidentally reveal the feelings he had only recently begun to acknowledge.

“I guess you’re right, but you owe yourself closure,” Izumi states straight into his eyes, “Just try talking to them about it.”

“Hmph…”

He stared at your contact name for a while before pressing it that night, he spent at least 14 minutes typing and re-typing what he wanted to send, never before had he been so self conscious when talking to you.

As he laid buried within his covers, only the soft light of his phone shining, he realized how important you were to him; he couldn’t fuck up.

‘Hey, our next performance is next week wanna come??????’

Once he had settled for a text and was ready to press send he heard a deep, and extremely annoying, voice coming from beside him.

“Delete some question marks, it makes you look desperate.”

“Fuckin’- were you reading my texts?” Banri barked at the golden eyed boy, what was that creep doing getting into his conversation with you?

“Kinda hard not to when you’ve got your ringer on, this isn’t a coming of age movie turn that shit off, iss’ annoying.” Juza grumbled before shoving his head between his pillows and Banri swore the small wooden panel separating both of their beds was suddenly asking to be used as a murder weapon.

“Fuck off, Hyodo.”

‘Hey, our next performance is next week wanna come over??’

“You are gonna give them their tickets, right?”

“Of course I am, I ain’t some sort of asshole!” Settsu could swear every time Juza opened his mouth he lost 10 years of his lifespan.

“Ya’ sure about that?”

“Say it to my fuckin’ face, eh?”

‘Hey, I got some tickets for our next performance if you wanna come??’

“Is that better, dick head?” Banri shoved his phone at the purple haired boy causing him to swat his hand away.

“Yeah, whatever.”

“Whatever-? You know what, choke on my dick.”

“Come on, I’ve sucked candy bigger than your dick, Settsu, I ain’t chokin’ on a pickle.”

He was surprised that you answered so quickly a short and simple ”Oh my god!!! Yes!!” that had sent his heart into super sonic speed. He guessed that, if Izumi was right and he did like you, that it made sense- and if he had to be honest, really had to be, you could say he didn’t mind the way his heart fluttered around his chest.

‘Come over early and I’ll give them to you’

“And they say chivalry is dead.” Juza grumbled into his pillow, earning a smack from Banri.

A week later and you were standing in front of the Mankai dorm waiting for him, you had to admit that- although sudden, the invite did make you quite happy, even if you both didn’t talk as often you still cared deeply about him.

While you stood outside waiting, however, inside the dorm Banri was getting one final pep talk from Izumi before he asked you out- or tried to at least.

“I get it! Izumi, stop nagging already,” blue eyes rolled as the older woman went over the plan.

“I am not nagging, Settsu! I am simply making sure you don’t screw up!” She shrieked, she was this close to setting you up with Juza out of spite.

“Look, I’m fine,” he assured her, “I’ll just tell ‘em how I feel and if they say yes then good and if they say no then whatever- it’s not like we won’t talk if I’m rejected.” Right?

“Hey, Neo delinquent, you shouldn’t leave your date waiting,” Yuki grumbled as he nodded over to the door, “Poor thing’s been there for half an hour, let it in already.”

“Yuki! Don’t talk about [Name] like they’re a dog!” Izumi scolds the middle schooler.

“Whatever, just worried they’re gonna catch a cold.” He shrugs before leaving the room, if you ended up sick you’d only have those two to blame.

“Okay, now go- go!” Izumi pushed the tall boy before running off to hide behind the wall, just in case.

Banri takes note of his sweaty hands and scolds himself; keep it together. He shakes his head and opens the door to find you waiting for him.

In the second it took you to process the opened door, Banri felt himself fall in love with you. After not seeing each other in person since the start of the new semester, it dawned on him how much he yearned to be with you.

“Banri, I missed you!” You throw your arms around your friend, you were excited— it had been weeks since you’d last seen him and you missed him, even if you two didn’t talk as much there was never a day you didn’t think of him in some way.

“[Name],” he ruffled your hair, his eyes softening as he looked at you, “I missed you too.”

“I’m so excited,” you pulled away from him, looking him straight in the eyes, “I was so worried I wouldn’t get tickets, I really wanted to see you act again!”

“Tch, ain’t you a fan?” He teases you, making way for you to come inside the dorms and you gladly do. It had been months since you last came, but it still looked and felt the same; he felt and looked the same, he looked smarter though, more mature and put together.

“You’re talking as if I wouldn’t come see my best friend.” You smile up at him and he feels his heart clench in his chest at your words.

As he leads you to the living room he wonders if he should actually tell you— unlike most things in his life, you were always there, no matter what he was doing you’d always stuck around him. Ever since you were young, Banri can’t remember a time where you weren’t there and, honestly, he didn’t want to.

His silence catches your attention and you decide to speak up; “So, how have things been?”

“Ah, good, they’ve been good,” he coughs, he felt stupid getting nervous over this- he should just get it out as fast as possible, “and you?”

“Things ‘ve been well, kinda weird without you around.” You admit awkwardly as you sit down on the couch.

He nods, a smile gracing his lips as he thinks about how to lead the conversation where he needs it to be. He remembers Izumi’s words and advice, he deserved closure and, maybe it was selfish of him but, he wanted a relationship with you too. He really, really wanted a relationship with you.

“[Name]?” He speaks out, his voice wavering slightly and if he could he’d beat himself up for it. Hearing the uncertainty behind his words you almost shoot up from your seat in worry.

“Yeah?”

“I- I know it’s sudden and,” he takes a deep breath, “it’s gonna sound weird but I, uh- realized somethin’.”

You nod confused, you were listening to him and you wanted him to continue; that’s the moment he realized he’d need to fold whatever pride he had left and throw it in the air if he wanted to know the truth.

“It’s very weird and if it makes you uncomfortable it’s okay! It’s just, I've heard about you goin’ out with someone and I wanted to know if-?”

“Oh! You mean Rin, right? No, don’t worry, he’s dating someone; we’re just friends!” You laugh as you explain.

“Oh, good.” Even with his, albeit limited compared to other members, acting experience he couldn’t quite hide the relief that washed over his face and body at the revelation.

“Why do you wanna know? Worried you’re gonna lose me?” You tease but the words he uttered next made you do a double take his way.

“Yeah, actually- funny you’d say that.” He sighs before looking around the room, “I didn’t invite you just for the tickets, [Name], I-I wanted to tell you something… I like you.”

You feel the blood rushing to your ears and spread through your cheeks, you were sure you were practically heating up the room just from your blushing alone.

“You like me?” You ask him, you were extremely flattered and the thought that a guy like Banri liked you was nice. You liked him, you’ve liked him for a pretty long time but were too afraid to say anything so for him to, after so many years, tell you he liked you was straight out of a shojo manga.

“Yeah, it’s okay if you feel weird, I just wanted to say it, ya’ know?” He avoids your eyes and you quickly piece together the rest. He’d been acting weird, all shy and nervous, his texts were kinda dry, and even when you did meet in the hallway he had been acting off… was it all because he liked you?

“Banri, I- wow, me too,” you stutter, fidgeting with your fingers slightly at his confused face, “I kinda like you too.”

“Ya’ do?” It was his turn to jump from his seat at your words, his heart knocking against his chest as if it were about to explode from the override of emotions he was feeling at your words.

“Yeah, it’s embarrassing,” you laugh, “but I’ve liked you for some time now, I’m surprised you didn’t notice.”

His signature cocky smile is back on his face as soon as you say it and you wish you could take it back so he wouldn’t tease you, but would it really be Banri if he didn’t make fun of you even just a little bit.

“Shoulda’ known, no one can resist me.” He plopped himself next to you and you shove him slightly.

“Yeah, no one can resist you and your bowl cut.”

“You said it looked good!” He glares at you but you know he isn’t angry at all.

“Yeah when we were like 10?” You ruffle his hair, the soft strands gliding through your fingers and Banri is sure that if he had a tail it’d be wagging.

“Ya? Well why d’ya like me if I got a stupid bowl cut?” He grabs your hand and levels himself to look you in the eyes.

“Because you’re smart,” you lean closer and peck his lips, “and cute, even with that shitty hair.”

“You can’t insult me and compliment me like that! You're gonna give me whiplash, geez.” His eyes widen at your actions and he blushes a deep pink, and you do your best to memorize that look knowing it was rare.

“Ew, the NEO delinquent is flirting on our couch,” you both hear a whine from behind you two and you jump startled, “Now we’ve gotta clean it up.”

“We’d appreciate it if you kept the PDA minimal with the kids here, Settsu.” Sakyo glares at the young man, you could almost miss the soft smile as he watched his leader finally look like himself again.

“So, [Name], you two dating or what?” Izumi pokes her head out of her hiding spot, going straight to the point.

“Please, he probably didn’t even give ‘em the tickets.” Juza makes his way through the small crowd and into the kitchen area.

“Yes I did-“

“No you did not.” You correct him, causing the actor to blush even redder at your words.

“Told ya’.”

“Cut it off you guys!” The director scolded everyone in the room, too excited at the newly formed couple to care about much else, “Are you two dating?”

“I think we are.” You look at Banri who looked back at you, his scowling face softening until a smile broke out.

“We are.” He confirms, giving you a kiss on the cheeks with a smile and you feel light on your feet with excitement.

“I should start a match-making agency or something.” Izumi giggles at her comment, proud to finally have helped the young boy.

“With your dating life? Please.” Sakyo laughs at the younger woman.

[another-sonic-blog]

LockScreen

(ShadAmy)  One Shot

11k

Synopsis:  Shadow doesn't know he has a crush on Amy although it is very obvious to everyone else. One day, they take an adventure together that might change their fate.

.

Everyone seemed to know knew what was going on between them.  

Amy didn't show it as often, but Shadow?

He couldn't be more obvious.

After the war with Eggman ended, the Resistance had come to an end and the Restoration took place. Many things happened, some people left while others stayed. Mobians felt inspired seeing Sonic and the famous Team Dark go in heroic adventures and

they started to create groups to help protect the world from Eggman.

Team Dark came to the Restoration HQ once in a while just to get intel information or if they didn't have anything else to do, they would request a mission.

However Rouge was very perceptive and she was aware of the soft look the black hedgehog would give to the pink one.

Even he wouldn't realize it, but Rouge knew that Shadow wanted to go to the Resistance more and more often just so he could see her.

"Why don't you go by yourself this time?" Rouge asked the black hedgehog. Team Dark was currently at their shared apartment, planning what to do next. "I was planning on taking a small vacation on Angel Island."

"As if Knuckles would let you,"

"That's why he isn't going to know I am going."

Omega entered the living room and as soon as he did, Shadow directed his attention at him.

"Omega, let's go to the Restoration HQ and request a mission," Shadow said. He was standing next to the sofa, arms crossed and an angry look on his face.

"Request: Denied,",Omega said.

"Why?"

"I'll be doing maintenance to my system with Miles,"

Shadow sighed as he rubbed his forehead in frustration. Seeing his current annoyance, Rouge proceeded with her plan.

"We have been taking missions for two weeks straight! We come back from one and you want to another one right after!" said Rouge. "Don't you also think you need a break?"

"I don't need a break, I am the Ultimate Life Form-"

"Or is it because you want to see a certain pink hedgehog?"

Shadow perfectly knew what she was talking about. However, he didn't want to give her the satisfaction.

"I don't know what you are talking about, I am just doing my job-"

"This ain't job honey, we ain't getting paid," said Rouge. "Just admit that you like Amy."

"I didn't even know that was her name," Shadow responded.

"My detector says: Shadow is lying,"

Omega stepped in as he took a sit in front of Rouge. He, just like Rouge was very perceptive. However, everything he knew was due to the reserved facts he had in his memory system. Temperature, voice range, face and body reactions, if any of these things changed it meant something.

And of course, Omega knew that Shadow had something going on between the subject, Amy Rose.

Whenever they would go to the Restoration HQ to ask for a mission, Shadow would be doing the talking which is unusual since Rouge always does the talking.  

However, Shadow will stand in front of them as if to prove that he is the leader of the famous Team Dark. Whenever he was standing in front of Amy, he straightened his back to look taller although he was only five inches taller than the pink hedgehog. He pushed his chest forward trying to show off his nonexistent muscles. Whenever he would talk to her, he will deepen his voice trying to sound more attractive to her.

There was no question about it ... Shadow was trying to copulate with the pink hedgehog.

But of course, he didn't know that.

Shadow would never admit that he felt betrayed by his robot friend, he knew Omega was just as blunt as Rouge. "I am not lying."

"My detector says otherwise, body temperature, face gestures, among other things says that you are lying. If you would like I can print you out a report," said Omega.

"Don't even bother Omega," said Rouge as she crossed her legs. "Shadow wouldn't know what romance is even if it punched him the face."

Shadow didn't know if he should feel offended or not. After all, Rouge was right, he didn't what romance was nor even cared about it. It's not like he felt any of those primal emotions towards anyone.

"Correct. According to my previous reports, Shadow has feelings but he doesn't seem to realize he has them," Omega said.

"Are you with me or against me?" Shadow asked annoyed.

" ... I am with Rouge on this one."

Shadow raised his hand, signaling he had given up on the conversation. Still, a little tingling feeling on his heart bothered him. Was it the betrayal of his robot friend? Or the fact that they indeed were right? Maybe both?

"Glad to know I have a team that supports me."

And with that, the sarcastic black hedgehog left.

.

Alright, Shadow wasn't expecting this. The moment he entered the Restoration building he thought it would be as lively and ... annoying like always but it wasn't that way. It was empty and he began to wonder if his trip over here was even worth it at all.

He reached the Main Room of the Restoration and as the automatic doors open, he could see pink fur moving around the room.

Shadow entered and it seemed like Amy hasn't noticed his presence yet. She moved from side to side across the room and typing on her computer. Shadow watched her from the door, waiting to be noticed. He didn't know but he was enjoying the sight, her intrigued face, the way she moved her body and her mannerism was kinda like a spell.

"Ahh!" Amy screamed a little and her body jumped as she finally noticed the presence of the black one in the room. "Shadow? What are you doing here?"

It took Shadow a few milliseconds to get out of that spell to finally be able to formulate words. "Where is everyone?"

"The agents have been working really hard and I gave them a small vacation so they can go to their towns and visit their family," said Amy as she calmed herself. "But you haven't answered my question-"

"And you?" Shadow asked as he got closer to her.

"What?"

"Why are you still here?"

The question surprised Amy. This must have been the first time Shadow has asked something about her. "I can't leave the Restoration alone, maybe someone requests for help. That's why I stayed."

Amy waited for Shadow to continue asking questions but instead, he only looked at her as if he was waiting for her to give explanations.

"So, what about you?" Amy asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see if you had any mission request I could take," he responded.

"Well, we are empty for the week," Amy said. "I do have a mission but I don't know ... It seems dangerous and from what I see Team Dark is not with you. I don't want you to go alone."

"I am more than capable on my own," Shadow said. "Just give me the details."

Amy sighed in defeat, she went to her computer and Shadoe followed from behind. She began to type on the keyboard and Shadow was surprised at how skilled she was. He was good with technology as well, especially when it came down to the smartphone he was always carrying and of course only when it came to 50s technology which most of the time it was not very useful.

"In a city, a mystery gem was found-"

"A Chaos Emerald,' Shadow interrupted as Amy began to read the file.

"Not quite, let me finish," Amy said a bit annoyed. "A mystery gem was found although at the beginning it seemed harmless, interactions with the city folks have caused distortion in reality."

" ... The Phantom Ruby?" Shadow asked.

"Most likely," Amy responded as she closed the tab where the information was and looked over to Shadow who was unusually closer to her. She didn't blame him, after all, he was focused looking at the computer.

"The file contains coordinates of the exact location of the gem but I don't know, it seems a bit sketchy," Amy said as she opened another tab on the computer. "We don't know who provided this information, they didn't provide a name nor way to contact them."

"I'll still take the mission, just tell me the location and I'll be on my way-"

"I don't think so sir," Amy smiled teasingly. This was a clear payback for the last time he cut her off. "I won't let you go alone, I think it's either I go with you or I won't give you the location."

"I thought you said you couldn't leave the Restoration," said Shadow, he raised an eyebrow more intrigued than annoyed.

"This is a really important mission, so I am willing to be flexible with this place. Besides if anyone needs help I'll get notified with my wrist communicator." Amy showed Shadow what seemed to be a watch but instead, it had a small screen with small buttons and apps. Like a mini-computer sort to say.

Shadow didn't know what was stopping him. Maybe it was the small voice in head telling him that he didn't want to Amy in any type of danger. He still can keep ger at bay if he picked his words carefully.

"Whether you want it or not, you will slow me down," Shadow said. He moved away from Amy's computer and gave her some space. The last thing he wanted was to offend her and see that hammer of hers.

Amy smiled at him, such a smile that only showed when she knew she had the upper hand. "I wouldn't say so, my dear friend."

"I am not your friend," Shadow said.

Amy's smiled banished and instead she felt the heat rise to her cheeks.

"Of course ... we are not," Amy whispered. "Let me show you something."

Shadow could swear something punched him right in the heart. Was it guilt? No that couldn't be, he only stated facts after all. Amy and he only talked a few times. Mostly it was because of the missions and ... Well, that was basically it.

They walked through the Restoration halls as silence dominated them which was strange for Shadow. Whenever he was with Amy, there was always positivity and this calm atmosphere around. But it was different now, and even if it had been just a few minutes, he didn't like it.

"What I said earlier ..." Shadow said. "I didn't mean -"

"It's alright," Amy said as she walked in front of him, still not facing him. "It doesn't matter."

Shadow always thought that he might be getting sick or he had some type of heart disease. He knew that was impossible because of his immune system wouldn't let him. There was only one possible reason that his heart stopped for a second.

Amy's indifference.

She didn't care ... if they were friends or not?

They reached what seemed to be Tail's workshop. It was impressive all the technology and machines the little two-tail fox can create. His attention was drawn to the pink hedgehog again, who seemed, for a second, too excited to show him the thing she was pointing out.

Shadow knew exactly what it was. A motorcycle was covered with a huge blanket but still, the silhouette of it remind intact. He thought that whatever Amy wanted to show him, he will act surprised ... or act as if he was.

"Ta-da!" Amy said as she pulled out the blanket reveling a black motorcycle.

Alright, there was no need for Shadow to pretend that he was surprised because he actually was. It's been a long time since he had seen such a magnificent motorcycle. A shining black, the tires where clean and the metal that made out the entire engine was a beautiful silver.

It was as the bike was begging to be used for the first time.

"Well," Amy said. "Let's get going!"

.

There were many things that Shadow didn't know about Amy and what one them was that she knew how to ride a motorcycle.

His mind wandered off, maybe one day they could ride a motorcycle together.

"Like as in separate bikes of course! I wouldn't want her near my bike nor putting her arms around me!"

Shadow puts the thought away as he watched Amy riding the motorcycle. He ran next to her, and without noticing it he kept his eyes on her. The wind moved through her quills as she enjoyed the rush of adrenaline it came when riding. A soft smile plastered in her face and Shadow could swear she had little stars in her eyes. Her skin glowed under the moonlight and time had stopped for him the more he stared at her.

It didn't take long for Amy to feel eyes on her. She turned to her head to look at the black one who was looking at her with angry eyes.

"Why is he staring at me? Is he angry? annoyed?"

Amy tried to decipher him to fail. May be she should say something and ask him the reason of the disgusted look on his face.

"Shadow-"

There was no need as the next second Shadow was sent flying off the ground.

Amy pushed the break of the bike and immediately dropped it. She ran where Shadow had landed, his face still on the grass.

Shadow had always been careful. Always. He didn't know what was about Amy that distracted him. The only thing he knew was that he had stepped into a hole in the grass and at the speed he was going, it made him fly in the air.

When Shadow was finally able to pull his face out of the ground, his ruby' eyes met emerald ones. Her green eyes showed concern as she examined his body. She let out a gasp as her eyes landed on his right foot.

His body was in the right position, but his foot wasn't.

"I am alright, give me 5 minutes and my foot will recover," Shadow said as he straightened himself.

Amy looked at him in the eyes once again, "I think we should rest for the night."

.

"Are you sure you know where are we going?"

"Yes, we should get there in the morning,"

Shadow thought that would be the end of their conversation. He really wished it was. He knew a lot of things but the thing he didn't seem to comprehend was the certain annoyance he felt towards the pin hedgehog at the moment.

Maybe because she was the reason he got distracted. The reason for his evident confusion and the reason for his strange behavior.

He didn't like it. He just didn't like anything he didn't understand.

And he just didn't like Amy Rose for that solemn reason. He still didn't understand how in Mobius Rouge and Omega thought that he has some type of 'unware feelings' for the pink one.

And even so, Shadow watcher her every move. Under the tree, they were taking cover, Amy softly wrapped Shadow's right ankle and foot into a white cloth.

Before their small adventure started, Amy had brought with her pink backpack which had some food and first aid kit. Things that mortals like her would need. Something that Shadow would have never thought he would use.

But he did.

Not like he needed to, but Amy was too stubborn to let this pass. His ankle was alright, he was good to go and keep going but the pink hedgehog had something else in mind.

Another thing he didn't like. Why was she capable of making him do things he normally doesn't want to?

It was silent between them and only the wind and the night creatures could be heard. Shadow watched how Amy was ever so careful not to inflict any pain on him as if he ever felt anything in the first place. She finished wrapping his foot and once again Amy felt eyes on her.

She looked at him and their eyes met for a fraction of a second. Shadow instantly moved his head away as to pretend he wasn't looking at her. Amy backed out and she sat down next Shadow, sharing the tree under them.

Maybe it was time to go to sleep and-

"Hey, Amy, this is Sonic how are you doing?"

The silence was cut off by Amy's wrist communicator. The blue one's voice came like salvation to her. It was one of those days where he would call her, just to make sure she was doing ok. Their conversation didn't last for too long but even with that, Amy couldn't help but thank Chaos for the perfect timing.

"Hey Sonic, I am doing fine, how about you?"

Shadow didn't know it was. Sonic's annoying voice or Amy's sudden change of heart that made him the tips of quills frazzle with disgust.

"Great to hear that, I'll be passing by the Restoration HQ in a couple of days. I don't want you to be alone, so maybe we could spend some time together?"

Shadow kept looking at the pink one and of course, that look on her face showed again. Her green eyes shone and like a high school girl, she blushed and stutter a bit.

"Su-u-re! I'll be here waiting for you!" said Amy as she had her wrist communicator close to her mouth.

"Great, I'll see you in five days! Take care!"

Beep.

Amy giggle to herself and she touched her face with her hands to hide her embarrassment. Shadow let out a loud growl as he rolled his eyes in disgust.

"What are you angry about? Amy asked as he looked at his reaction. "Jealous that Team Dark doesn't call you?"

"Team Dark does not have time to get involved in such ... frivolous actions."

This time Amy rolled her eyes.

"Come on, you three live together. Rouge doesn't mind affection nor Omega," said Amy. "I am sure they would like to call you once in a while if only you weren't so ... serious."

"Are you saying that you know my team better than I do?" Shadow asked, without noticing his body got closer to her. They were seated on the grass and to their surprise, they were comfortable with the proximity.

"No, what I am saying is that Team Dark is softer than they realized," Amy gave him a teasing smirk. "And out of the three, you are the softest."

"I tried to destroy a planet, have you forgotten that?" Shadow asked.

"But you didn't," Amy said. "I knew from the moment I met you that you were good at heart."

"You met me?" Shadow asked. "We met ... at the ARK?"

"You don't remember?"

"I remember you hugging me at Prison Island because you confused me with the faker," Shadow said. "But I don't remember seeing you at the ARK."

Amy had never talked to Shadow about what happened in the ARK. She thought that no further explanation was needed. That there was no need to recall the past. The silence filled the air and at that moment Amy knew that Shadow indeed didn't remember at the ARK or the moment they shared.

"Well not really meet, more as I saw you from afar!" Amy said in a hurry. She didn't know why she wanted to hide it but it was probably for the best now.

"Are you sure-"

"Did you know that we were fated to meet?"

Her words came out naturally, trying to stop the black one from asking any more questions. Although the wording didn't come out as she wanted, she was telling no lie.

"Days before we met in Prison Island, I read my tarot cards and they told me that I was to meet a hedgehog that was going to change my fate," Amy said. "In the beginning, I thought it was Sonic so that's why I went there. But it turns out ... It was you who I met."

Shadow stayed quiet as to let her know to continue her story and she did. "Of course I met Sonic later but I don't know ... I still think it was you who I was fated to meet that day."

Amy looked back to Shadow and she blushed again as she realized the black one's stare on her.

"But you know, tarots can be wrong!" Amy said. "They said I was destined to be with Sonic but as you can see, I haven't gotten any luck."

There were days in which Shadow wished he didn't know about the love Amy had for Sonic.

Of course, he knew, everyone knew.

Seeing her like this really pulled his strings in all the sense of the word. Amy was aware of the fact that Sonic was never to reciprocate her love and she accepted that. Even with all the love she had, and the current sad look on her face ... she still went after the blue one.

"I don't understand ..." Shadow asked. "It seems like you are in pain, whenever you think of him ... so why love him?"

Shadow knew more than better than to care. He didn't know what was going on his head to even dare to ask her such things. He honestly could care less about her life or just her in general.

But here he was, willing to listen.

"Honestly, I don't even know," Amy said. "Sonic and I even have different goals in life."

"What do you mean?"

Amy sighed, she looked up to the starry night. She couldn't believe she was about to have a heart to heart conversation with Shadow nonetheless. But it wouldn't hurt to try ... right?

"To put it simply," Amy started. "I want to have a family in the long run. I want a partner that will slow down for me once in a while. I don't want my kids to have an absent father and Sonic values his freedom."

Amy looked back to Shadow to see if he was still listening and he was.

"I know it's a bit crazy to think that we ever going to get married but at least for me, I wouldn't date anyone unless I see a future with them," said Amy. "I love Sonic the way he is, I love the way he is as free as the wind and I even love the way he doesn't love me."

Amy made a pause and she was surprised to see that Shadow was still paying attention to her.

"I wouldn't change anything about him, and even when we have different goals in life ... I don't know why I still love him," Amy said. "I guess the heart wants what it wants."

"So, you don't want to change Sonic," Shadow said. "You want Sonic to change only if he wants to."

"Exactly, if Sonic wants to slow down for me that would be great ... If not, I won't make him."

It went silent again. They didn't realize, but at some point, they were laying on the grass. Their backs and bodies relaxed as they enjoyed the smell of flowers around them. Watching the stars together, Amy proceed to ask more questions.

"What about Shadow? Do you have any goals in life?"

The question caught him off guard. Of course, he thought about it before. He had come to two conclusions one that sounded more logical than the other.

"I am immortal," Shadow said. "I don't need goals."

"But you can still have them," Amy smiled at him.

Shadow stood quiet, Amy had shared something intimate about her. Maybe he could try. to so as well.

"Just keep saving the world, I guess," Shadow said.

"Really? Nothing more?" Amy asked. "I know you are more ambitious than that."

"No, that's it."

"So, let me get this straight," Amy turned her body to the side to get a better look at Shadow. Her right hand touched her cheek to provide support. Her body laid to the side and her legs touched each other.

  "You are going to create a better world for the people so they can be happy but ... What about you? You have many, many years ahead of you and you don't have any goals you want to accomplish? I don't know, maybe a family?"

"That's not a problem, the problem is attachment," Shadow said. "Why be attached to someone when one day ... they will die? I have experienced that before and I don't want to experience that again-"

It was Shadow's turn to look at Amy. However, he regretted it the moment their eyes met. She had that sad look again. Shadow didn't know what angered him the most. That she pitted him or the fact that she actually seemed concerned about him. A sincere look of hurt on his face for his behalf.

"But of course, I don't have time to think about such things. I don't need them nor want them," said Shadow as he tried to light up the mood again. "Besides, who on their right mind would want ... this?"

"This?" Amy asked.

"Me," Shadow said. "Who would want me?"

Amy really tried her best to not let any emotion show in her face. She knew that the last thing Shadow wanted to be was to be pitted. However, Amy couldn't help herself. Shadow referred to himself as 'it' and the thought alone hurt her. He didn't think of himself as a living creature but as of a subject that didn't deserve love.

"I would," Amy said bluntly.

Shadow's eyes widen in surprise and to not let anything interpretation Amy continued.

"I mean, I think if I had never fallen in love with Sonic then ..." Amy made a pause. " I think I would have fallen in love with you."

"We never talk," Shadow said. "What makes you think that you will fall in love with me?"

"I don't talk to Sonic much either but I still love him," Amy smiled. "I've seen the things you have done. You saved the world, you care for people and you appreciate your team even if you won't admit it."

Amy paid attention to Shadow's mannerisms. She had noticed before that Shadow acted differently towards her, in quiet a sense she couldn't decipher. He would walk slowly in front of her and he would look down on her as if he was trying to dominate her. Now, it was different, he was more relaxed than before.

His eyes looked relaxed and a new look was plastered on his face. He looked ... content.

"Your actions are enough to make a girl fall in love ... I don't doubt it," said Amy. "If I hadn't met Sonic, then maybe you will be the one I will be chasing after ... can you imagine that? Hahaha!"

It only took that last sentence to let Shadow's thoughts run wild. He imagined it too well, to an extent that it even scared him. But it was there, a clear and sunny day. He imaged himself walking through the streets of Seaside City. Suddenly he hears his name being screamed cheerfully by no other than the pink hedgehog. He rolled his eyes and pretended to be annoyed but a side of him wanted her. He let his guard down as he felt her hands wrap around his arm.

"Should we go on a date, Shadow?"

"Shadow?"

Her voice brought him back to reality and he shook off the thought as soon as it entered his mind. Of course, that could never happen. At least not on this lifetime. Not now, not ever.

Not like he cared anyways.

He didn't care about Amy, nor her words.

Nor how good it made him feel whenever she said them.

Again, that unknown feeling. Again ... he was angry.

"I will never imagine that," Shadow said. "Let me make this clear, Rose-"

"Amy, call me Amy."

"I'll call you whatever I want, now listen," Shadow said. "I don't want anything in life, especially if my life has anything to do with you."

Amy didn't know what she said for Shadow to change so suddenly. She thought that they were finally having progress in their 'non-existent' friendship. She was waiting for him to say it. To deliver the final blow.

"Right, I forgot," Amy said, "We are not even friends."

Thre was something that Shadow couldn't catch on. Was it guilt again? No, that couldn't be. He couldn't be bothered with such feelings, especially if that feeling of guilt had to deal with Amy.

But there was a part of him, in which Shadow just couldn't see Amy hurt. In every sense of the word. He hated how Sonic easily made her sad but he also hated the fact that he was doing it as well.

So why couldn't he stop? Why were his mind and body pushing her away even though there was a small part of him wanting to get closer to her?

"But it's ok!"

Amy's voice broke his trance and her cheerful self began to show.

"I don't care if you don't see me as a friend," Amy said. "I still think you are my friend and I will love you regardless of anything!"

Shadow always had something to say but this must be the first time he was utterly speechless.

Amy's face shone, maybe even glowed in the moonlight. Her eyes would put to shame any gems he has ever seen and her genuine smile made his heart stop. She was utterly beautiful and it took Shadow long enough to realize that. A part of him was attracted to her because of her physic. Maybe he could get closer to her as long as he doesn't develop any feelings. Which he was sure he wouldn't. He never would, no he wouldn't. Not now, not ever.

Shadow sighed as he looked at the stars once again. "I don't need your friendship nor love."

Amy smiled at him and once again his heart stopped and that happy unpleasant feeling raised within him.

"Well, it will always be here in case you ever need them."

.

It was a long day at work. After coming back from a mission to dave the world, Shadow was content to finally reach home. A place he wasn't familiar with but surely it felt right. There were a lot of pinks which really threw him off but he didn't for some strange reason. It was if someone else had lived here before and he just barged in like a guest. He didn't feel like one, this was his home and he was sure of it.

When he opened the door, he was glad to meet that distinctive smell of food, which although he didn't need to eat, he appreciates it. He heard mumbling, a sweet song that it was all too odd and familiar at the same time. His eyes adverted to what seemed to be the kitchen and although he could only see her back, he knew at that moment who it was.

"Welcome back, honey," Amy excitedly went to greet him as she placed her arms and hands around him. "Did you miss me?"

She kissed him a passion and with such feeling Shadow had never felt before. It was all too strange but he just couldn't shake off the feeling of how right it felt. He instinctively held her waist and follow what felt natural to him. Their kiss deepens and the moment Shadow let out a small moan, Amy knew it was the moment to stop.

"Wait, we can't do this here," said Amy. She looked upwards were the stairs were and then turned her attention back to Shadow. "Last time we woke up the children, remember?"

He didn't know how to feel, what was this feeling rising in his heart? Was it confusion? Probably? Was there a small tint of happiness? ... Maybe so.

Many feelings were going through him but there were a few he could recognize. Disappointment, envy, and anger. Anger was especially predominant because he knew this was all a lie. A taste of paradise he could never have, something so beautiful that he wasn't worth it of.

"Shadow .... are you ok?"

Strangely enough, it was she who felt comfortable with. He had to admit that there was always a part of him in which always wanted to see her more. He was curious about her, and a part of him was attracted to her beauty but anything more than that? No, he didn't love. He honestly couldn't care less about her. It was his primal instinct that wanted to be with her and it was becoming too strong.

It was only an attraction.

That's it.

.

Rouge and Omega had everything packed up and they were ready to leave their apartments for a well-deserved vacation. It was early morning and Rouge gave one last look at their apartment, just to make sure everything was turned off. She walked around the kitchen, where she found Shadow's favorite bag of coffee. It was opened and she closed it with a pin to make sure no insects would get inside. Her mind went to the black one and how their last conversation went.

"Glad to know I have a team that supports me."

Rouge sighed as she turned to face the red robot. He was in the living room and with a concerned face, Rouge approached him.

"Hey, Omega ... Do you think we were a bit harsh with Shadow yesterday?" Rouge asked. By now, she knew Shadow a bit too well. His comments don't usually bother her but she still needed the comfort of some sort.

"Proceed to explain," Omega was a robot of a few words, but he still could process many things. Although he was still trying to understand Mobians and affection, he was very willing to learn.

"Yesterday, when we were saying that Shadow has a thing for Amy," Rouge made a pause. "He was very angry and annoyed. I've teased him before like this but I had never gotten such reactions."

Omega was smart. His memory storage was almost infinite and the information varies. He had storage books, articles and movies even. The movies section could vary too, action, drama, romance. He remembered this particular movie he watched with Rouge and from that, a lot of deduction was made.

"According to my investigation," Omega began, "Shadow acted angrily because he can't seem to recognize his feelings. Amy Rose confuses him and everything Shadow can't understand makes him angry."

"So, what you are telling me," Rouge rubbed her forehead, trying to assimilate the facts. "Is that Shadow the Hedgehog got angry because he has a crush on Amy Rose? And he doesn't know he has a crush on her?"

"Affirmative,"

A few seconds of silence passed and then Rouge burst into laughter. She placed a hand on her chest as she tried to calm herself, her lungs already hurting from laughing so hard. She wiped her tears as she sat down on the sofa, facing Omega.

"How didn't I noticed before? I mean I was just teasing him before, but now that you mention it ..."

Rouge drafted into a memory. Almost too sweet for her to ever think that it was Shadow's doing.

There was one time in which Team Dark had stayed at the Resistance after a mission. While talking in the Main Room, Amy had expressed her sadness at how the war had destroyed the many flowers around the Resistance's building. In the room, it was only her, Omega and Shadow.

In the following days, Rouge received a call from Amy. Rouge was cooking and had Amy on speaker. They talked about many things but what caught her attention was when Amy told her about the flowers that had suddenly bloomed around the Resistance and that it was more beautiful than ever.

Rouge turned for a fraction of a moment and from the kitchen she saw Shadow in the living room, watching TV and from afar she could swear ... that Shadow had a small smile on his face.

"It's so obvious! How didn't I see it before?" Rouge talked to herself as the realization hit her. "I mean I know Shadow has been interested in girls before and even gotten intimate with a few of them but ... actually, liking someone? I had never seen this before."

Omega saw Rouge with amusement and simply said, "Should we call Shadow and tell him about our discoveries?"

"Yes, we should call him later on but right now I need to go bother a certain echidna and you need to go to Tails to get maintenance," Rouge stood up from the sofa and walked towards the door where her suitcase waited for her.

"I'll call you later Omega, please take care!"

She exited the apartment with shades on, a devilish smile plastered on her face. "I am so going to tease him!"

.

One moment Shadow was sleeping and the other he was riding a bike, well Amy was driving. Now there he was, his head laid on Amy's back and his hands were wrapped tightly around her waist. The sunlight woke him up and he wondered if it wasn't because of the sunlight, how long would have he kept sleeping?

"Well, you are a heavy sleeper," Amy said. "I tried to wake you up but didn't even flinch. I had to carry you."

"You carried me?"

Shadow made another mistake and that was looking at her. She was beautiful from afar but up closed?

She was astonishingly beautiful.

He could see her dark under circles, her messy hair and the small imperfections on her skin. Her moles on the back and even the small freckles in her face. He could smell her as well, flowers ... vanilla ... fruits ... it was sweet but soft and Shadow couldn't get enough of it.

"Of course I did!" Amy said she wasn't looking at Shadow but on the road. "I am a strong girl after all!"

She was strong indeed, and when it came down to force, Amy probably was as strong as him. Shadow noticed that his hands were still wrapped around her small waist. His hands ever so sightly touched her tights. Shadow passed down saliva as he tried to keep his mind away from such ... unnecessary thoughts.

"When were we getting there?" Shadow asked the thoughts went away.

Amy smiled and said, "We are here."

Startown was known for how quickly it grew after the war. With an initial population of 3,000 settlers and now 7,000. It was on its way to becoming a small city. Small houses, buildings, and shops were across the whole town. It was very lively, families walking down the streets, couples holding the hands and children paying around.

"Who shall we talk to now?" Shadow asked, knowing that at this point, Amy knew better about the situation than him.

"The town's Mayor." Amy said, "If there's anyone who may know of 'distortion of reality' in the town, it must be him."

They arrived at the town- hall where they were taking in immediately. The government officials were quick to recognize them and accepted their presence. They were now on the board office, waiting for the mayor to appear.

"So, once we get the Phantom Ruby-" Shadow said but Amy cut him off.

"If, it turns out to be the Phantom Ruby," Amy said.

Shadow let out a small growl, a bit annoyed. "If it is the Phantom Ruby, what are we going to do with it? Destroyed it?"

"Of course not! We should give it to Tails so we can study it. Maybe we can use for good," Amy whispered to Shadow as she noticed that the government officials were entering the room meeting.

"The Phantom Ruby should be destroyed it's dangerous."

"We can use it for good, it can't be that bad-"

Amy shut her mouth the moment the Major entered. It's not like she was intimidated by him, it was more out of respect than anything else.

"Thank you for coming today," the Mayor, an old-looking rat sat on his chair as he looked at the two hedgehogs. "Now, if you may inform us of the reason for your visit."

"We received an anonymous email saying that in your town there was 'distortion in reality', we believe-"

"Whoever said sent you that email must be mad." The Mayor raised his voice as he interrupted Amy. Shadow immediately sent him a death glare for being so disrespectful. The Mayor continued, "Nothing is going in my town. Now if you excuse me, I have a very busy schedule and-"

"She's not done yet," Shadow stood up from his seat. He already wasn't liking this guy and most of the time his senses never failed him.

Amy placed one of her hands on Shadow's arm to calm him down. "No, it's ok Shadow. We are done."

"Please, don't leave like this. Stay as much as you like, we even have a ball tonight so please, do stay," the Mayor turned to his assistant, who was next to him. "Please give our guests invitations and make sure they are ... taken care of."

.

At this point, Amy didn't know who was angrier. Her or Shadow. They were left with nothing, except the two invitations for the ball tonight.

Amy and Shadow walked in silence for a couple of streets and to light up Amy's disappointment, she opened up the ball invitation.

   You are invited to

   20XX Foundation Day Masquerade Ball

   Come celebrate with us Foundation Day

   with food, music and beautiful decorations.

Amy could be less impressed. This was a ball dedicated to the townspeople, and although she could careless, something caught Amy's interest.

10*N,30*E 15.23556,-30,67890

Coordinates.

It seemed like they were going to stay in town for a little longer.

Now Shadow and Amy found themselves in a hotel room. Shadow was waiting for Amy to explain her sudden change of heart. She literally dragged him to the nearest hotel without saying a word and he was starting to question her right sense of mind.

"Alright, spill it," Shadow said.

"Sorry, but I am sure you knew that they were following us," Amy said.

"Yes, but that still doesn't explain why you dragged me into a hotel room," Shadow was next to the window but he looked at the single bed. "What are we gonna do? Sleep?"

"The last thing we are going to do in this room is sleep,"

Amy regretted her words the moment they left her mouth. She didn't mean to say it in ... that sense but it seemed like Shadow did. Amy noticed his change, he looked away in embarrassment. His stance softened, and she could tell his mind was going wild.

"Because we are not going to be staying long!" Amy said she was embarrassed as well. "We are going to the ball, get the Phantom Ruby and leave."

Shadow was still looking at the bed, he knew he was attracted to her ... but he didn't know it was that much. His mind was getting the best of him and he shook his head as he tried to get rid of the thought.

"And how are we going to do that?" Shadow asked.

"The assistant of the Mayor gave me the coordinates through the invitations, they are hiding something and we need to find out what it is," Amy walked towards the bed as she sat down on it. "So, get ready we are going to a ball."

Shadow didn't know when was it when he stopped hearing. Was it when she sat down on the bed? Maybe so, but his mind just couldn't stop. Just the mere thought of it drove him while. Her soft moans as she is under him, his growls as he dominated her. Both of them combined in a sweet rhythm as they mess up the bed with their movements.

"Shadow?" Amy asked again, "Are you alright?"

Shadow shook his head as he let go of the thought. "Yes, what makes you think I am not?"

Amy thought that his actions were cute, she had never seen such side of Shadow before. She let out a giggle and said, "You are waving your tail."

.

They spent the rest of the day getting ready for the ball and creating a plan. Nonetheless, everything went pretty smoothly. Shadow went to get a suit while Amy went to get a dress. It worked as confusion for the people who were following. Which was exactly what they wanted, for them to think that they were just a couple going on the ball.

It was already 9 p.m. and Shadow was just waiting for Amy to get out of the restroom so they can go with their plan. Shadow laid on the bed as he rested for a while, he closed his eyes. Maybe he could sleep for a few minutes and-

BEEP BEEP

Of course, he can't get two peace minutes of sleep. He looked for his phone in the right pocket of his pants. He felt it vibrating and immediately took it out. He looked at the screen and sighed at who was calling him.

Rouge.

"What do you want?" Shadow asked as he answers his smartphone, he rolled his eyes even when he knew the white bat wasn't looking at him.

"I just wanted to check up on you," Rouge said from the other side of the line. "Did you take on another mission?"

"Yes, and right now I am really busy," Shadow said annoyed. "So, if you don't have anything else you say, I need to leave-"

"Since when do you like Amy Rose?"

Now, Rouge was entering dangerous territory in which Shadow didn't approve. A million thoughts were going through his head, especially denial.

"I don't and I will appreciate if you can drop that-"

"It's so obvious! I mean, I am not saying that you love or anything like that! It's probably just an attraction or even a small crush, but still!" Rouge let out a small giggle. "Who would have thought you like pink hedgehogs?"

Shadow was done. He didn't want to hear it anymore. He had come to terms that yes, he was attracted to her physically. But as much to develop feelings for her? No, absolutely not. A crush? Never.

And he was just tired that his teammates were pressuring him on having feelings he definitely didn't have.

"Listen to me Rouge," Shadow said with a growl, "I will never, never have such feelings for Amy-"

This was the second time Amy has left him speechless. She came out of the restroom wearing a long dress that accentuated all the curves in her body. Small heels made her just a little bit taller, the neckline showed just the right amount of cleavage letting the rest for the imagination. Instead of her classic small gloves, she was wearing long ones that passed her elbows, making her elegantly beautiful. Her hair was accommodated into a small bun and she let out small strings of quills making her look chic.

Shadow didn't give it a second thought. He ended the call with Rouge and discretely opened the camera app. He pretended to be using his phone but in reality, he took a picture of Amy without her noticing. In all honesty, he didn't know what part of him told to do so, but he was glad he did. He wanted to keep all of her beauty to himself and for now, his phone will be the only one to keep that secret.

"So, how do I look?" Amy said as she did a little turn. Her back showed and Shadow didn't think he could control his current blush.

"I've seen better," Shadow said as he stood up from the bed. "Let's get this over with."

.

The plan was simple. Go inside the ball, make sure they go by unnoticed. Input the coordinates in the GPS and follow them. Reach the room, Shadow will get in while Amy covers him by the door. Shadow retrieves whatever it's inside and they leave the ball without a hint that they were there.

Everyone was wearing a mask, which Shadow hated because he didn't know who to mentally punch in the face. He had his reasons, a lot of males were looking at Amy, looking up and down at her body. Shadow knew very well what they were thinking because he thinking the same thing as them.

But Shadow tried to restrain himself ... and they didn't.

Amy felt how Shadow placed a hand on her waist and moved her closer to his body as they entered the ballroom.

It was beautifully decorated, red curtains fell from the ceiling and a chandelier shone the entire room. Chatter filled the room and the music complemented the elegant atmosphere. Some Mobians danced while the others talked and others drink. A waitress offered Amy a drink and she accepted a glass of champagne. Shadow looked at her amused.

"I didn't know you drink," Shadow whispered on her ear and it sent Amy a small shiver down her spine.

"You have to pretend to enjoy the party, Shadow," Amy said. "There are still following us."

Amy was right, they needed to wait for a while to make sure the people who were following thought they were only there to party. They diverted to make their job a bit more difficult. Amy went to the buffet while Shadow went to the bar section to get a drink. He followed her with his eyes and his quills frazzle up a when he noticed male approaching Amy.

They were talking a little bit too close to Shadow's liking. What he disliked the most was the fact that Amy was enjoying the small talk. He had never seen Amy been so ... flirtatious. Was she like this when he was with Sonic? She giggled and even touched his arm.

And that male was just getting the best of him. He placed his hand around her waist as he pretended to take her to the dance floor. What really ticked him off was that the guy dared to touch one string of her loose quills and placed it back where it belonged.

This was it, Shadow was going to go and punch that guy on the face-

"Did you fight with your girlfriend handsome?"

Shadow's attention was now driven towards the female seated next to him. From what he could tell, the female was a blond hedgehog. She was wearing a short red dress, a diamond necklace that ended on her bosom. Long legs and high heels, a perfect combination. She was the epitome of sensual.

"I don't have a girlfriend," Shadow said as he took a sip of his whiskey.

"Then, why are you looking at that pink hedgehog so ... eagerly," The blond hedgehog asked.

"Not your business," Shadow replied.

The female hedgehog let out a small giggle, "How rude, I was going to help you get her back."

Shadow knew this female was interested in him to pass by time and maybe even release some sexual tension. But if Amy was having fun with the male wolf then he can have fun as well, couldn't he?

Shadow got closer to her and he let out a smirk. "What is your plan?"

The female placed her drink on the counter as she moved her body closer to the black hedgehog. She placed her hands on his bow tie and began to untie it. She was happy to find the white chest fur that was underneath the suit and she smirked at him seductively.

The female kissed his cheek and as she parted she said, "We can start with this."

.

Amy wasn't jealous. She was angry at the fact that Shadow was kissing to be the most beautiful girl in town without any worry about their mission. She tried her hardest to leave the handsome wolf boy that was accompanying her. He was insisting a lot on taking her dancing but Amy had to deny when she noticed Shadow was very ... occupied.

She reached the bar and awkwardly, she approached the kissing couple. Amy tapped on Shadow's shoulder and he rapidly moved away from the blond hedgehog.

"Can't you see that I am occupied?" Shadow said sarcastically, he was pleased to see that Amy seemed to be angry.

Amy wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her angry, instead, she played his game.

"I was occupied too," Amy said as she placed her index finger on her lips. "But you know I am professional too and I need to finish my job."

Shadow didn't know what to get angrier at. The fact that Amy was implying that she was making out with someone or the fact that he had lost in his own game.

"Seems like you will be busy babe," The blond hedgehog said as she moved away from Shadow. "I'll be leaving but if you want to meet again, give me a call."

The girl handed out Shadow a small paper that contained her phone number. He accepted it and placed it on his pants pocket, lastly, he smirked at her while she left, placing one last kiss on his cheek.

"Can we start with this already or are you going to look for someone else to make out with?" Amy asked annoyed.

"Says the one who was all over that wolf-boy earlier," Shadow said sarcastically. "Where did all the love you had for Sonic go?"

There were many things Amy let go of. Shadow's rudeness, his indifference, and sarcastic remarks. But one thing she couldn't let go was her being questioned of her love for Sonic. If there was one thing she was sure of in her life was how much she loved him. And she was not going to be questioned by the likes of Shadow.

"Let me make this clear," Amy said as she got closer to Shadow. "There are many things I can stand ... but I won't let you question my love for Sonic. I love him and I won't be doubted by someone who has never known what love is."

The assertiveness in her voice made Shadow's heart tumbled in fear in the possibility that it might break if she continues. She looked away, he would be lying if he says that he doesn't feel anything. But on the contrary, he felt many things at the moment. Mostly disappointment. This is what he gets for spending so much time with her. There was only one hedgehog in Amy's heart and that was Sonic.

Shadow let go of the thought. Good thing she made things clear.

"Let's start with the mission already," Shadow said as he stood up from his seat.

Seeing Shadow's look of disappointment made Amy's heartbreak into little pieces. She regretted being so assertive towards the black hedgehog and she made a mental note to apologize to him once this is over.

Once they made sure that the people who were following them didn't do so anymore, they followed the GPS and it took them to a room that was taken care of by two guards.

It was easy to take them out, Amy with her hammer and Shadow with his force, they hide their unconscious bodies in the other hall.

"It's your turn, go ahead," Amy said as Shadow entered the room and Amy stood by the door. Shadow nodded, this should be easy to him knowing that he was a top spy. When he entered the room, he was content to find that the thing they were looking for was there. Indeed, the Phantom Ruby was there in all of its glory and there was no doubt the Mayor was using it for Chaos knows what.

This was very easy for Shadow. The townspeople were amateurs and clearly, they didn't know how to guard a power gem.

The Phantom Ruby was inside in a circular glass container and underneath it were laser detectors. A very easy job for him, he used his rocket shoes and fly above the layers and he reached the container of the Phantom Ruby.

"Hurry Shadow, I think someone is coming!" Amy said from the door, loud enough for him to hear.

"Almost done," Shadow said as he picked up the glass container and with the other hand, he grabbed the Phantom Ruby. He instantly felt a power wave run through his body, very similar to a Chaos Emerald. "I got it!" Shadow said.

He flies back towards the door where Amy was placed himself behind her.

Amy noticed that two guards were coming their way and Amy began to panic. She took grabbed Shadow by his tie and took him out of the room. She pushed him against the wall and to Shadow's surprise ...

She kissed him.

Their lips didn't move but Amy kept her eyes close as Shadow had them open in surprise. They were really close, her chest against his and her arms wrapped around his neck. Shadow decided to close his eyes and he deepened the kiss. Now, it was Amy's turn to be surprised. He placed one hand in her waist and the other at the back of her head, making her be as close as she could to him. He was enjoying this too much and Shadow realized he was entering dangerous territory. One that he may not want to get back from.

"Hey!"

Amy pushed Shadow away in embarrassment as he directed her attention to the guards.

"You can be here, have your act in another place," the guard said as he walked towards them.

"Our apologies, we will be leaving."

Shadow grabbed Amy by the hand and he dragged her out of the area. They entered the ballroom again and Amy couldn't let go of that kiss.

But right now it wasn't the time. It wouldn't take long before the government officials discovered that the Phantom Ruby was missing.

Shadow kept holding Amy's hand and as fast as he could they exit the ball. They walked to the parking lot were Amy's bike was waiting for them. This time Shadow was going to take the initiative and be in charge of riding it.

Amy climbed on top of the motorcycle. She placed her arms around Shadow and he turned on the bike.

As fast as he could Shadow drove the bike across the town, Shadow never thought that he would be in such a situation. Amy kissed him and he kissed her back, his heart was racing and he didn't know if it was because other cars began to follow them or because of how tightly Amy was holding on to him.

Then gunshots were heard.

They were aiming at them and although Shadow didn't mind he was scared that one of them might reach Amy.

"Amy, I am going to place you in front of me," Shadow said.

"You what?"

Shadow kept driving as he extended his right hand and moved his body towards the same direction. He grabbed Amy by the waist and using his strength he moved Amy right in front of him. Now they were in a hugging position. They were facing each other and the closeness made Amy blush instantly.

This most be the second-worst decision Shadow has ever made. Amy's legs soft were on top of him. Amy's hand was holding onto his shoulder's and if their faces were just a few centimeters apart.

Amy had to admit that Shadow looked really look. He had a concentrated look on his face, his eyes were focused on the road and his arms were strong around her as he kept driving the motorcycle. Maybe that was the reason she was staring at him for so long.

Another gunshot was heard and Amy went back to reality. She just couldn't let Shadow get hurt. She took out her hammer and with her good reflexes, she diverted each bullet that was aimed at them.

"Can we agree on something?" Amy asked Shadow as she kept using her hammer to dodge the bullets.

"What is it?" Shadow asked as he made a turn, they were almost out fo the town.

"Let's never do a mission together ever again."

Shadow let out a small laugh without thinking too much about it he nodded. "Deal."

Shadow smiled devilishly as he thought of an idea. He made another turn, which caught Amy off guard. They were already out of the town but the cars were still following them.

"What are you doing?" Amy asked.

"I am taking a short-cut," Shadow responded.

"You what-"

Amy turned her head and noticed that Shadow was driving them towards a cliff. A very, very tall cliff.

"Shadow, stop!" Amy screamed. Was this hedgehog crazy? There was no way they were going to survive this. Well, maybe him.

Shadow looked at Amy who was hugging him tighter. "Do you trust me?"

"No!"

He rolled his eyes and he whispered to her ear. "Well, maybe after this, you will."

Shadow drove the motorcycle as fast as he could. He felt Amy hold on to him for her life and he was surprised to see how well their bodies fit together. Perfect for each other.

The road was no more and Shadow reached the end of the cliff, the motorcycle ended up flying in the sky and it began to fall down. Shadow hear with pleasure Amy scream in fear and with that, Shadow knew it was time to end the act.

"Chaos Control!"

.

"AAAHHHH!"

Amy opened her eyes slowly and stopped screaming as she realized that she was safe on land. "Did we die?"

"If that was the cause, I would be in hell," Shadow said. Amy was still in front of Shadow on top of the motorcycle.

Amy looked around her area, she knew her surroundings. She turned to her left and right in front of her was the Restoration building. "Did you ... did you use Chaos control?"

"Yes," Shadow replied.

"With the Phantom Ruby?" Amy raised her voice as she got angrier by the moment. "How did you even know that was going to work?"

Shadow was amused at the sudden anger and he even found it cute to an extent. "The Phantom Ruby has the same energy as a Chaos Emerald, so I just deducted it could work."

Amy crossed her arms around her and she let out a pout. "Would you mind telling me about your plans next time?"

"Would you mind telling me when you are going to kiss me next time?"

It was late but even under the moonlight Shadow could tell Amy was blushing a thousand shades of red. She looked to her side as she tried to escape him. Unfortunately for her Shadow was still holding on to the accelerator and brake with one hand and with the other he was holding the handgrip of the bike. She was trapped.

"I-I- panicked! I only did it so the guards didn't suspect od us!" Amy defended herself. The position she was in was very uncomfortable. She was still in front of him. Her legs on top of his and she had her hands around his waist to keep her balance.

"We could have taken them out, just like we did with the other guards," Shadow got closer to her face, only a few centimeters away from her lips.

They were really close to reliving that moment they shared a few hours ago. Shadow's eyes closed and although there was a part of Amy who wanted to return the action, she pushed him away

She looked nervously to the other side as she noticed that Shadow was parting away from her. "Do you have the Phantom Ruby?"

Amy tried to change the subject as quickly as she could. She didn't like the face on Shadow's look. Again, that disappointed expression but most of all ... he looked hurt.

"Yes, it's on my pants pocket," Shadow responded as he let go of the grips of the bike. Letting go of Amy and of his grasp if she wanted to. This was the thing he was most scared of. Getting attached.

If there was one thing he found out on during this small trip was that indeed, he was attached to Amy.

And maybe ... just maybe ... he could have the tiniest, almost nonexistent crush on her.

Amy's hand reached Shadow's pants pocket. He didn't move and with her hand, she looked for something round that assimilated the Phantom Ruby. She grabbed the first thing she felt, she pulled it out of his pocket and to her surprise it was Shadow's phone.

"Oh, sorry, here hold it-"

With the moment, Shadow's phone turned on, reveling the lock screen.

Amy's heart began to beat faster and everything made sense to her. She didn't know if Shadow was aware of his own feelings. But at this point, Amy knew what Shadow felt for her. His actions and this was more than proof enough.

She looked up to meet Shadow's red eyes. Which were as beautiful as ever, their bodies were close and they shared their warmth in this cold night.

It was more than obvious that there was something unknown blooming between them.

Shadow's phone lock screen showed Amy something that his heart desired. Although Shadow will never admit it out loud, his heart raced the moment Amy looked at him with those emeralds eyes of her. Maybe his phone's lock screen showed him something obvious or it reminded him of the reason why he was here.

The lock screen had a picture of her.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

A/N: Rebulls ... RED BULLS EVERYWHERE!

[bananaofswifts]

At the beginning of March, the National’s Aaron Dessner traveled back to the United States from Paris, where he’d been living with his family, to shack up at Sonic Ranch Studio in Tornillo, Texas to work on the next Big Red Machine album with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. Those plans — obviously — soon shifted, as the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic set in. Dessner and his family were able to relocate to their home in upstate New York as lockdown orders went into effect, and the musician soon settled into a groove of homeschooling his kids and focusing fully on music in a way he hadn’t in a while, due to the National’s regularly rigorous touring schedule. 

In the middle of what Dessner describes as one of the most productive moments of his career, Taylor Swift called. 

A longtime and avowed fan of the National, Swift asked if Dessner wanted to try collaborating on a few songs remotely. He said of course, and asked if she was looking for anything in particular. He noted that he had plenty of material at the ready, but acknowledged he’d been in a more experimental mood, due to the Big Red Machine sessions; not to mention, Dessner added, he’d never really ventured into the pop world Swift has dominated for well over a decade. She told him to send everything he had. 

“I think she was interested in the emotions that she feels in some of the music that I’ve made,” Dessner tells Rolling Stone.” So I just sent her a folder of things I’d done recently and was excited about. Hours after, she sent back a fully written version of ‘Cardigan.’ It was like a lightning bolt struck the house.” 

Over the next few months, Dessner and Swift crafted the bulk of Swift’s eighth studio album, Folklore, which was released today, July 24th, after being announced the day before. Folklore is yet another mesmerizing musical move from Swift — a shift in sound, style and palette towards a vaster indie sound (à la, of course, the National) that still feels distinctly Swift-ian, as if she’s been making music like this her whole career. Lyrically, too, the record finds Swift playing with character and myth in new ways that — befitting the album’s title — recall the great American folk tradition. 

Dessner wasn’t the album’s only collaborator; Swift wrote several songs with regular producer Jack Antonoff, as well as songwriter named William Bowery, who doesn’t seem to have much of an internet footprint. Vernon also contributed to two songs, singing on one of the album’s many stunners, “Exile,” while Dessner’s brother and National bandmate, Bryce Dessner, helped orchestrate it with a mix of musicians scattered around the globe (none of whom even knew what they were playing on when they recorded their parts).

Dessner spoke with Rolling Stone about working with Swift, their instant chemistry, how the album developed under a thick cloud of secrecy and more.

When Taylor first reached out, did she have a specific vision in mind for the album? 
She was a bit cryptic. I didn’t know that we were actually working on a record for quite a while. It just seemed that she was seeking me out to collaborate. And then we were both feeling very inspired by it. Once there were six or seven songs that we had written over a couple of weeks, she said, “Hey can we talk?” Then she said, ‘This is what I’m imagining,’ and started to tell me about the concept of Folklore. Then she mentioned that she’d written some songs at an earlier stage with Jack [Antonoff], and they felt like they really fit together with what we were doing. It was a very inspiring, exhilarating collaborative process that was almost entirely remote. Very sort of warp speed, but also something about it felt like we were going toe-to-toe and in a good pocket. 

After “Cardigan,” how did these songs develop and do you think she pushed you in any new directions as a songwriter? 
When you’re working with someone new, it takes a second to understand their instincts and range. It’s not really conscious. She wrote “Cardigan,” and then “Seven,” then “Peace.” They kind of set a road map, because “Cardigan” was this kind of experimental ballad, the closest thing to a pop song on the record, but it’s not really. It’s this emotional thing, but it has some strange sounds in it. “Seven” is this kind of nostalgic, emotional folk song. Even before she sang to it, I felt this nostalgia, wistful feeling in it, and I think that’s what she gravitated towards. And “Peace,” that just showed me the incredible versatility that she had. That song is just three harmonized bass lines and a pulse. I love to play bass like that — play one line then harmonize another, and another, which is a behavior I stole from Justin Vernon, because he’s done that on other things we’ve done together. And actually, that’s his pulse, he sent me that pulse and said, “Do something with this.” But when she wrote that song, which kind of reminds me of a Joni Mitchell song over a harmonized bassline and a pulse, that was kind of like, “Woah, anything can happen here.” That’s not easy to do.

So, in the morning I would wake up and try to be productive. “Mad Woman” is one I wrote shortly after that, in terms of sound world, felt very related to “Cardigan” and “Seven.” I do have a way of playing piano where it’s very melodic and emotional, but then often it’s great if whoever’s singing doesn’t sing exactly what’s in the piano melody, but maybe it’s connected in some way. There was just some chemistry happening with her and how she was relating to those ideas.

“Epiphany” was something she had an idea for, and then I imagined these glacial, Icelandic sounds with distended chords and this almost classical feeling. That was another one where we wrote it and conceived it together. She just has a very instinctive and sharp musical mind, and she was able to compose so closely to what I was presenting. What I was doing was clicking for her. It was exhilarating for us, and it was surreal — we were shocked by it, to be honest [Laughs]. I think the warmth, humanity and raw energy of her vocals, and her writing on this record, from the very first voice memos — it was all there. 

Do you think that chemistry might’ve had something to do with her being a National fan, and you being a fan of her music? 
We met Taylor at Saturday Night Live in 2014, or whenever that was that we played and Lena Dunham was hosting. We got to meet her, and that was our first brush with a bona fide pop star. But then she came to see us play in Brooklyn last summer and was there in a crazy rainstorm, like torrential downpour, and watched the whole show and stayed for a long time afterwards, talking to me and my brother. She was incredibly charming and humble. That’s the nice thing about her, and a lot of people I’ve met that have that kind of celebrity. It’s great when you can just tune it out and be normal people and chat, and that’s how that felt. So, we knew that she was a big fan, and we really got into the 1989 album. Our Icelandic collaborator, Ragnar Kjartansson, is a crazy Swiftie. So we’ve kind of lived vicariously through him. I’ve always been astonished by how masterful she is in her craft. I’ve always listened to her albums and put them in this rarefied category, like, “How did she do that? How does anybody do that? How do you make ‘Blank Space?’” There was an element that was intimidating at first, where it just took me a second to be like… Not because I think her music is better than what we’ve done, but it’s just a different world. 

Were there particular songs, albums or artists the two of you discussed as reference points for this album?
“Betty,” which is a song she wrote with William Bowery, she was interested in sort of early Bob Dylan, like Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, I think. “Epiphany,” early on, felt like some weird Kate Bush-meets-Peter Gabriel thing. I think we talked a little about those things, but not a lot. Actually, I think she really trusted me as far as my instincts to where the music would ultimately go, and also the mixing process.  We really wanted to keep her voice as human, and kind of the opposite of plastic, as possible. That was a bit of a battle. Because everything in pop music tends to be very carved out, a smiley face, and as pushed as possible so that it translates to the radio or wherever you hear it. That can also happen with a National song — like if you changed how these things are mixed, they wouldn’t feel like the same song. And she was really trusting and heard it herself. She would make those calls herself, also. 

You mentioned William Bowery — who is he?
He’s a songwriter, and actually because of social distancing, I’ve never met him. He actually wrote the original idea for “Exile,” and then Taylor took it and ran with it. I don’t actually know to be totally honest. 

We’ve been trying to track him down, he doesn’t have much of an internet presence.
Yeah, I don’t fully know him, other than he wrote “Betty” and “Exile” with her. But you know she’s a very collaborative person, so it was probably some songwriter. 

So it’s not an alias for anyone?
No, no, no. I mean, I don’t know — she didn’t tell me there was a “Cardigan” video until literally it came out, and I wrote the song with her [laughs]. So I don’t know. But I’m pretty sure he’s an actual songwriter. She enjoys little mysteries. 

“These are kind of these folkloric, almost mythical tales that are woven in of childhood, lost love, and different sentiments across the record.”

With the National, you and your brother write the music, Matt Berninger adds the lyrics, and then you fuse it — was it a similar process on Folklore?
Taylor is very collaborative in that sense that, whenever she sent a voice memo, she would send all the lyrics and then ask me what I thought. And sometimes we would debate certain lines, although generally she’s obviously a strong writer. So she would ask me if I liked one line, and she would give me alternate lines and I would give her my opinion. And then when she was actually tracking vocals, I would sometimes suggest things or miss things, but she definitely has a lot of respect for the collaborative process and wants whoever she’s writing with to feel deeply included in that process. It was nice, and was a back and forth, for sure. And she would sometimes have ideas about the production if she didn’t like something, especially. She would, in a tactful way, bring that up. I appreciated that, too, since I wanted to try to turn over every leaf, take risks and sometimes get it wrong. That always takes a second, to get over and then you start again. 

You mentioned earlier that once you had six, seven songs, she was able to describe a concept behind the album. I’m curious what that conversation was like. 
She would always explain what each song was about to me, even before she articulated the Folklore concept. And I could tell early on that they were these narrative songs, often told from a different… not in the first person. So there are different characters in the songs that appear in others. You may have a character in “Betty” that’s also related to one in “Cardigan,” for example. And I think that was, in her mind, very, very important. It doesn’t seem like, for this record at least, that she was inspired to write something until she really knew what it was about. And I think I’m used to a more — at least lately — impressionistic and experimental world of making stuff without really knowing what it is. But this was more direct, in that sense. That was really helpful, to know what it was about and it would guide some of the choices we were making. 

Every time she would send something, she would narrate a little bit, like how it fit, or what it was about. And then when she told me about Folklore as a concept, it made so much sense. Like “The Last Great American Dynasty,” for example, this kind of narrative song that then becomes personal at the end — it flips and she enters the song. These are kind of these folkloric, almost mythical tales that are woven in of childhood, lost love, and different sentiments across the record. It was binding it all together and I think it’s personal, but also through the guise of other people, friends and loved ones.

You were working in secret — how did that affect the process? Was that a difficult burden?
It was. I was humbled and honored and grateful for the opportunity and for the crazy sort of alchemy we were having. But it was hard not to be able to talk openly with my usual collaborators, even my brother at first. I didn’t know if I could really tell him, because we normally… Ultimately, he helped me quite a bit, he orchestrated songs. But we always help each other. But eventually, we figured out how to do it. Towards the end of the process, I said to Taylor, ‘I really feel that I need to try a few experiment and try to elevate a few moments on the record because we have time, and we’ve really done a ton of work here, and it all sounds great, but I think we can go even further.’ And then she said, ‘Well what does that mean?’ And I explained how that would work, and the way that we work. Our process is very community-oriented, and we have long-time collaborators that we have a good understanding with. So I was able to say, to my friends, ‘This is a song I’m working on, I can’t send it to you with the vocals, and I can’t tell you what it is, but I can explain what I’m imagining.’ And the same with my brother, he knows my music so well that that was very easy for him to just take things that we were working on, add to that, and do his kind of work. So it was all remote and everyone was in their corner and we were shipping things around. It was incredibly fast because of that, because you didn’t have eight people needing to come to the studio. You had eight people working simultaneously — one in France and one in L.A. and one in Brooklyn. This is how it went, and it was fun. We got there. 

When were you able to tell everyone who contributed that this was the Taylor Swift record, what was their reaction?
You can imagine. I think they realized it was something big because [of] the confidentiality, and they were like, ‘It could only be a few things.’ I couldn’t tell them until, basically, when she announced it. Just in the moments after she announced it, I basically told everyone. I was like, ‘By the way…’ And they were thrilled. Everyone’s thrilled. Nobody seemed mad, everyone was thrilled and honored. Even Justin Vernon had not heard anything else except “Exile,” even though the pulse of that song “Peace,” he gave that song to me. It was important to have it be a surprise, and you know how it can be with someone in her position, with all the speculation, and she’s always under a lot of pressure like that. So it was really important to the creative freedom she was feeling that this remained a secret, so she could just do what we were doing. 

Being such longtime friends and collaborators with Justin, what was it like hearing “Exile” for the first time? His voice and Taylor’s together? 
He’s so versatile and has such a crazy range, and puts so much emotion… Every time he sings when I’m in his presence, my head just kind of hits the back of the wall. That’s the same on this song. William Bowery and Taylor wrote that song together, got it to a certain point, then I sort of interpreted it and developed a recording of it, and then Taylor tracked both the male and female parts. And then we sent it to Justin and he re-did obviously the male parts and changed a few things and also added his own: He wrote the “step right out” part of the bridge, and Taylor re-sang to that. You feel like, in a weird way, you’re watching two of the greatest songwriters and vocalists of our generation collaborating. I was facilitating it and making it happen, and playing all the music. But it was definitely a “Wow.” I was just a fan at that point, seeing it happen. 

Are there any moments that really stick out to you as particularly pivotal in shaping the sound of this record? 
The initial response. When we first connected, and I sent a folder of music and Taylor wrote “Cardigan,” and she said, “This is abnormal. Why do you have all these songs that are so emotional and so moving to me? This feels fated.” And then she just dove into it and embraced this emotional current. And I hope that’s what people take out of it: The humanity in her writing and melodies. It’s a different side to her. She could have been every bit as successful just making these kinds of songs, but it’s so great that she’s also made everything that she’s ever made, and this is a really interesting shift, and an emotional one. It also opens other doors, because now it’s kind of like she can go wherever she wants, creatively. The pressure to make a certain kind of… bop — or whatever you want to call it — is not there really anymore. And I think that’s really liberating, and I hope her fans and the world are excited by that because I am. It’s really special. 

[imagine-jjba]

here's my ask! Jotaro (part 3 pls!) seeing the reader walking through the halls at school and realizing he's been in love with them~ kinda like those movie scenes where he feels as though time slows down while they walk past with friends, laughing about their own conversation~ ^^ and I was so excited for the sonic trailer when I was at the movies, but they played the old one and my mood went sour lololol

jotaro x s/o post SDC

ah, thank you so much for requesting me! i really like getting these plots, so if anyone has anymore for me to write, i’d love see and receive them. if anon is off, i can try to figure out how to turn it on with mobile, but i’m not really sure so far. sorry if this is too short for you! i didn’t really know what to write for this. at least, not too much.

also, the sonic movie is so good! definetly recommend to people who liked/still like sonic. i really liked it! if you have the time, definitely go watch it.

@peachpunkbitch

when all is said and done, the adventure is finally over. the crusader’s long trip to egypt is done. you’re honestly a bit terrified, exhausted, and mourning the deaths of the people you cared for. after all, they were all your friends. kakyoin, avdol, hell, even iggy. you were fairly close to all of them.

jotaro was always by your side after that. you could tell that he was paranoid about whatever was around you. of course, you thought it was just because of the adventure you went on, but it was more than that. he hadn’t realized it yet, but he wanted to be closer to you. emotionally and physically.

you spent most of your school time with him. the girls around you were jealous of your shared time together, how easily you could touch him. whenever you’re trying to reach for his hat, he’ll begrudgingly give it to you, if you’re desperate enough. that really gets the girls jealous. they don’t harrass you over it, however. they know that jotaro would be upset if that happened.

it was while you two were walking, however. the way your hips lightly sway side to side when you walked, the bright smile that curled at your lips. the way your eyes lit up when you talked about whatever you wanted to talk about, even with just him listening, it felt good enough to you. that was when he realized that he had started to fall in love with you.

things for him felt like they were now going in slow motion, not because of his newly gained time stop ability, but because of his ability to process his feelings. too many questions were not swirling in his mind. did he like you like that? did he want to peruse that love? did you like him back like that? why did he even like you in the first place? it was very confusing for him.

he stopped walking, and you happened to notice. when you turned around and gave him a questioning look, you didn’t notice that his face grew red. you did, however, see that he was mumbling “good grief” under his breath before tipping his hat down, walking with you. naively, you continued to talk about whatever you were talking about before.

after you two got to your next class, he had to take the entire class to really think about it. you happened to notice that he wasn’t really paying attention to the class, so you asked if he needed to borrow your notes. he just shook his head, even if he probably did need it, and you two moved onto lunch.

when lunch came around, you sat with him on the school roof. normally, girls would want to talk to him, but they seemed to notice something was off. you also had noticed these emotions, but not bringing it uo was probably for the best.

he didn’t want to sit too close to you, but you ended up scooting right next to him, continuing to talk to him. you were the one who did most of the talking for the both of you. after all, you’re pretty social. if you’re not very social, you’ll sit here in silence and eat together, just comfortable with the presence of jotaro there.

eventually, you start talking to him about your friends who had passed. you brought up memories about them one way or another. after all, you still hadn’t gotten over their deaths, but since you were alone, you might as well mention it. jotaro looked somewhat surprised that you would bring it up, but let you speak about them anyway. many fond memories came to mind. you probably would have cried. after all, that’s a human thing to do. jotaro would have noticed and told you to stop talking, but you couldn’t really help it. eventually, he’d just take off his hat and put it on your head. after all, he isn’t really good at the affection sort of thing. he’s not the best at comfort.

somehow, though, it makes you feel a bit better. when you stop crying and wipe your eyes, you feel the emotions for jotaro you’ve always felt for him. love, admiration, whatever you feel for him. you just feel better around him, even if he isn’t the most emotional. he’s one of your best friends.

when the day ends, you two go to jotaro’s house. arriving there, mrs. kujo (holly) greets his son as normal. you laugh at the affection that she brings to him, which embarrasses him. it’s very cute and funny to watch them interact. she then greets you with a very fond smile and tells you that she’ll bring snacks around. she’s always grateful for you joining her son and making sure that he was safe throughout the mission you went through.

when you two are alone together, you hang out like normal, but you can still tell that something’s on the boy’s mind. you ask him about it, but he just says it’s nothing. it’s not like he’s going to say anything about his realization, that’s much too embarrassing for him.

[betterpathoflyfe]

Who is May the Author? - 3/22/21

You may have noticed that whenever I write a blogpost, I sign with this pseudo name, “May the Author.” Those who know my personally know that “May” isn’t my real name, but I never really talked about the significance behind that name (I use it as a few of my social media handles too). I mentioned an aspect of it briefly (like...super brief lol) in the previous post, but I want to shed a bit more light!

Sooooooo....

For the longest time...when I was around like...10-13 years old?

I...was the biggest Sonic Hedgehog fan.

Like...#1 biggest fan. I really got into it with the shows and movies first (surprisingly), and then the video games and computer games. I loved watching the gameplays, especially for Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (wow...the nostalgia I just got LOL), as well as the fan-made videos on Youtube like Ask the Sonic Heroes & Sonic Shorts (if you only knew how many times I’m saying “oh my gosh” as I type this...like it’s nostalgic, a taaaaad bit embarrassing if you know me in real life, just....oh my gosh!!!)

But yeah! What really solidified my love for his character was actually through this sprite comic that I followed called, “Sonic and Pals,” by Trevor Fayas (his site crashed years ago sadly). Essentially, it was sort of like a college project for him at the time, and he utilized Sonic characters to portray things like “Romeo and Juliet,” “Caesar,” etc. Yet, he still maintained the characters’ personalities and had running jokes throughout it. It was really good, and was pretty popular at the time! 

His comic then allowed me to get into this world of sprite comics, with the website, https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/ getting me familiar with different styles, characters, etc. I soon learned about sprite sheets that include different characters, and then accessory, background, and other sheets that people compile to create their stories! I really started to become invested in these so I eventually decided I wanted to do my own comic (I can’t pinpoint the exact reason, but I guess I was just inspired?)! And what better characters to use than Sonic characters? 

Once those sprite sheets were compiled, however, I had no idea what the comic should be about. But after talking to my dad about it, I figured I’d have my “debut” comics talking about Jesus! Therefore, I made this website: https://christskidscorner.wordpress.com/ and tried my hand at a few comics. My goal was to incorporate lessons about God, but still maintain the characters’ personalities through it. Here’s an example of one (if the picture is blurry, here is the link to it and then click on the image: https://christskidscorner.wordpress.com/2011/10/01/comic-4/ ):

Now mind you...I was 12...so chill 😭

BUT, I really enjoyed doing these, and also incorporated other things on the site, including how one could become saved through Christ, prompts featuring “What Would Jesus Do,” and other Christian resources that people could check out (like Adventures in Odyssey)! It was really my way to begin getting familiar with sprites in general.

I always say, though, that my “breakout” comic was my comic called “Sonic and Chums” (as you see, I really loved Trevor’s comic haha). But I always say that that comic is really my baby! Here is the link: https://sonicandchums.wordpress.com/. With this comic, I really took a page out of Trevor’s comic from the very beginning, but by season 2, really began to create my own ideas! Each season sort of took it’s own story, but still kept it interesting, you know? On the site, near the right, you’ll see that I said that the funniest comic was Comic 19. I loved it because it really embodied the personalities of Sonic and Knuckles (to me, at least). This was it (https://sonicandchums.wordpress.com/2011/10/22/comic-19-dealing-with-villains-rouge-runs-into-eggman-again/ ) :

It may be hard to see on here, but in my early comics, I was still learning editing aspects as well! This one, for instance, wasn’t even cropped. But through practice, I got pretty familiar with it! I began using other characters in the comic and creating my own, as well! For example, I sort of created a new storyline with an alternative universe that is parallel to Sonic’s. That season was my favorite (and when I revisit the site, it definitely still is), as I really got to learn how to recolor characters and backgrounds (me and Paint became best friends throughout all of this), give sprites transparency, etc. I was able to mesh different games together and still make it work, you know? This, for instance, was my first real, mini fight scene that I was able to create (from the Alternative Universe comic https://sonicandchums.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/comic-74-121/):

I was invested in all of this to say the least, and allowed me to learn some cool editing skills at the same time!

THAT BEING SAID, one thing that I thought Trevor did that was really smart was the usage of a “sprite author,” which would kind of break that fourth wall between them and the audience. Essentially, it was him as a sprite. Therefore, I knew that I wanted to incorporate myself as the “sprite author,” as well. But I wanted to create a name for it, too, but still have related to me.

Now, Amy Rose was my favorite character only because I, too, am sort of a hopeless romantic myself. So I figured I’d do a play on her name and switch around the letters to May, which also happened to be my birth month as well. I also loved the name, “Mai,” because of Avatar the Last Airbender, so yeah! 

 May the Author was born (https://sonicandchums.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/comic-1-new-beginnings-a-stick-of-power-2/ ):

Even though it’s sometimes a little embarrassing to talk about it, I truly am proud of those comics because I know the work I really put into make each one, and it was a lot. My website in itself was hard work as well, as I created interactive links for each season, as well as Sonic related stuff like videos and games. It makes me a little sad, though, how some of the comic links and, because Adobe Flash expired, game links have become inactive over time. But, in it’s prime, it was really a great site! My friends and even teachers checked it out during that time, and I even got hits from different parts of the world. It was truly something I enjoyed doing when I was younger.

That is why I wanted to keep the handle. It’s sort of like a remembrance but also a credit aspect! I know that some of my peers today would not believe I created something like this, so I’ve just always kept the name to show like...yeah...I did lol.

So yeah! That, my friend, is the background story behind that name (it’s also my Twitter handle, so follow me on Twitter!).

“Work hard, that way no matter what happens you know you did your absolute best.” 

~ May the Author

[heartofether]

Episode 5 - Run Rabbit TRANSCRIPT

[You can listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts, or go to our “Listen” page if you’re on desktop.]

AUTOMATED VOICE

Please state your message.

[THEME MUSIC AND INTRODUCTION PLAYS.]

VAL

Three-Eyed Frog Presents: The Heart of Ether.

[THEME CONTINUES BEFORE COMING TO A STOP.]

[PHONE BEEP.]

[INT. IRENE’S OFFICE.]

IRENE

I’m not—okay, look, I’m not recording this for personal reasons this time. I know last night was…really rough, and I should probably talk through it more with myself before I do anything irrational.

It really was just an awful night, huh? Not only did I cry in the Sonic parking lot, but I got home immediately afterwards and found out that the yellow mold had started growing in my kitchen. [SHE SCOFFS.] Yeah, not my night.

That’s not important, though. What is important is that… 

[SHE TAKES A DEEP BREATH.]

IRENE

Last night, in the woods, I saw something that I couldn’t explain. Today, I am going to find it again and confront it—and this time, figure out what the hell it is instead of running away.

I guess this is sort of me taking you with me for the ride. It’s also for evidence purposes, though. [MUTTERS] For once, I have an actually valid reason to be recording myself. 

Here goes nothing. 

[PHONE BEEP.]

[RECORDING ENDS.]

[ANOTHER PHONE BEEP.]

[INT. THE STAFF KITCHEN AT IRENE’S WORK.]

[THERE ARE FOOTSTEPS ACROSS THE TILE FLOOR.]

IRENE

Aden.

[ADEN DROPS A SPOON IN HIS SURPRISE.]

ADEN

Jesus—oh, Irene! Thank goodness, you’re alright. You, you startled me. [sigh of relief] I never heard from you last night after your…adventure, so I thought you had—

IRENE

[CONFUSED] Wait, you seriously didn’t hear anything?

ADEN

...no? You never—

IRENE

Aden, I tried to contact you through the radio.

ADEN

…oh. [HE REALIZES.] Oh! That makes sense. I swear, my radio got all static-y while I was watching TV, but no words were coming through. I thought it was broken. 

IRENE

[SHE HUFFS A SIGH.] That…that’s fair, actually. Look, I’m fine now, okay? That’s what matters. 

ADEN

Oh, that’s good. [STUTTERING] I definitely wouldn’t—I would have gotten fired if I had let you get killed by wild bears. [HE CHUCKLES.] Actually, wait, why were you trying to contact me?

IRENE

[HESITANT] It wasn’t bears, I promise. It was…something worse, I guess?

ADEN

Worse than bears?

IRENE

You really hate bears, don’t know?

ADEN

[PASSIONATELY] Obviously! They’re horrifying killing machines! How could you not be terrified of them?

[HE HUFFS.] What did you see, though?

[A BEAT OF SILENCE.]

IRENE

Promise you won’t think I’m crazy.

ADEN

Oh, I already think you’re crazy. You talk into your phone for a person who will never listen.

IRENE

[DEFENSIVE] I do not—[STUTTERING] I mean—

[DEFEATED] How did you know?

ADEN

Carol told me.

IRENE

[MUTTERS] Oh, of course she did. [BACK TO A NORMAL TONE] Just please promise to hear me out?

[ADEN PONDERS FOR A MOMENT.]

ADEN

Alright, sure. Go ahead.

IRENE

I saw a big writhing monster rise up from the ground.

ADEN

[SUDDENLY OUTRAGED] Oh! Oh, okay! Sure! “Hey, let’s play a fun prank on Aden! He sure seems gullible and easy to scare. How about we make him believe that a big old beast in the forest—” 

[IRENE STUTTERS IN FRUSTRATION AS SHE ATTEMPTS TO CUT HIM OFF.]

IRENE

[OVERLAPPING HIS LAST FEW WORDS] Aden, I’m not messing with you. Cross my heart. I went to go check out the branches, and I turned around because I heard a scream, and when I turned back around, the branches and the dirt had gotten up into this huge living mass. I can’t make this shit up. I don’t even have a good reason to. 

ADEN

[SKEPTICAL] Okay…

IRENE

I even recorded it happening. I know it’s just audio, but it’s still proof. 

ADEN

Alright…

IRENE

[CONTINUING] And I promise I’ll play it for you if you just promise to come with me and help me find the creature.

[A PAUSE.]

ADEN

[SLOWLY] You…want me to…go monster hunting with you?

IRENE

[A BEAT.] Yeah.

[A PAUSE WHERE ADEN WAITS TO SEE IF IRENE IS JOKING.]

ADEN

Oh, you’re being serious about all this, um—Could I at least finish my coffee first?

IRENE

Take as long as you need. I’ll tell Carol we’re going out to do some field work, and then we can go back out to the branches. 

ADEN

You actually think we’re going to be able to find it? I mean, if it even is real and not just a figment of your imagination—

IRENE

[DEFENSIVE] Hey—

ADEN

—then how can we prove that it even comes out during the day? Or maybe it only comes out when there’s only one person?

IRENE

[CONSIDERING] You have a point, I guess.

I have to check, though. I need to figure out what it is. Because if there’s an actual eldritch beast or whatever hiding out in our woods, I have a feeling that’s going to be just as, if not more dangerous than your average forest fire.

ADEN

[HE SIGHS.] You really believe what you saw?

IRENE

Yeah.

[ADEN THINKS FOR A MOMENT.]

ADEN

Okay. Alright, I, I’ll go. Just give me a bit.

IRENE

[SHE HEAVES A SIGH OF RELIEF.] Thank you.

[PHONE BEEP.]

[RECORDING ENDS.]

[ANOTHER PHONE BEEP.]

[INT. THE FOREST.]

[THERE IS FAINT FOREST AMBIANCE AND BIRD SONG IN THE BACKGROUND. FOOTSTEPS AS ADEN AND IRENE WALK.]

ADEN

You’re seriously recording this?

IRENE

If we’re going to run into it again, we need evidence.

ADEN

[HE SCOFFS.] Then take a photo and upload it to Instagram or something! A recording without any video hardly counts for anything.

IRENE

[SLIGHTLY UNCOMFORTABLE AND EMBARRASED] I...I don’t have Instagram.

ADEN

Alright then, whatever you have. Twitter, Tumblr, whatever. It was mostly just a joke.

IRENE

I don’t have anything, actually.

ADEN

Oh. [HE CHUCKLES.] Didn’t really take you for the “off the grid” sort.

IRENE

I’m not. I just don’t have room on my phone for any social media apps. 

[A PAUSE IN THEIR FOOTSTEPS.]

ADEN

Don’t tell me your entire phone is just those audio recordings.

IRENE

[SHE WINCES.] And what would you say if that was the case?

ADEN

Irene!

IRENE

[SHE GROANS.] Come on. I can still text, call, and check my email. I just...can’t do much else.

ADEN

[DISTRAUGHT] Not even listen to music? That’s a terrible and sad life to lead, Irene.

IRENE

I use CD’s or vinyl whenever I want to listen to stuff. 

ADEN

[TEASING] Oh, so you have a retro aesthetic?

IRENE

I have no clue what my aesthetic is. Can we please just find the branches?

ADEN

Whatever you say.

[THEIR FOOTSTEPS COME TO A HALT.]

IRENE

This is it.

ADEN

…so, what now?

IRENE

We wait, I guess?

ADEN

[WONDERING WHY HE AGREED TO THIS] Ah. Okay. 

What exactly were you doing when you saw it the first time? 

IRENE

Nothing? I was just standing here. I turned around, and when I turned back, there it was.

ADEN

Well then, maybe we shouldn’t stare at it.

IRENE

Good idea. [A BEAT.] Okay, how about this: we go sit on those rocks over there, wait for a bit, and then see what happens?

ADEN

[ANXIOUSLY] Or, wait, I have a better idea! We could just go back to work and pretend this never, ever happened.

IRENE

We’re already here, Aden. We might as well try.

ADEN

[WORRIED, BUT DEFEATED] Fine.

[THEY BOTH WALK OVER TO THE ROCKS AND SIT DOWN.]

ADEN

Now we wait?

IRENE

Yup. 

ADEN

[SLOWLY] What should we talk about?

IRENE

Um…I guess just, anything? What do you want to talk about?

ADEN

Hm… [HE THINKS FOR A MOMENT.] What kind of music do you listen to?

IRENE

A mix. Um, I like Fall Out Boy?

ADEN

[SNORTS LAUGHING] Fall Out Boy? Seriously?

IRENE

What? Their older stuff is good.

ADEN

Ah, so you’re only a classic Fall Out Boy fan.

IRENE

[SLIGHTLY DEFENSIVE] I just haven’t listened to their newer stuff, that’s all. I’m not trying to be an elitist or anything.

ADEN

[HE CHUCKLES.] Sure, sure. What else? [A BEAT.] If you say MCR next, I swear, I’ll never look at you the same again.

IRENE

[SHE SNORTS.] I mean, I dunno. Cage is good. I used to listen to Glass Animals a lot, too, but it’s been a while.

ADEN

Those are respectable choices.

IRENE

What about you? [TEASING] I’m guessing you only listen to the most underground of indie.

ADEN

Mm, actually, not really. I mean, I’m sure you’ve heard of Mitski, Superorganism—

IRENE

[OVERLAPPING] Mitski?

[A PAUSE.]

ADEN

Your life is a joke, Irene.

[IRENE STARTS LAUGHING, BUT ADEN REMAINS DEAD SERIOUS.]

ADEN

I’m serious. Your life is a joke and I have no idea how you manage to live this way.

IRENE

[STILL LAUGHING] Fine! Fine. I’ll listen to Mitski.

ADEN

Oh no, I’m definitely forcing you to listen to her on the way back. That’s a promise. 

[IRENE’S LAUGHTER DIES OFF, AND THERE’S A MOMENT OF SILENCE.]

IRENE

What else?

ADEN

I dunno. 

Who do you record messages for?

IRENE

[SHE BECOMES MORE SERIOUS.] What?

ADEN

If you don’t mind answering, that is.

[A BEAT. IRENE SIGHS HEAVILY.]

IRENE

My ex-girlfriend. 

ADEN

Ah. I understand not being able to move on from a relationship, [WHISTLE] trust me. Is there some sort of heartbreaking break-up story, or—?

IRENE

[GRIM] She went missing.

[SILENCE.]

ADEN

Oh my god. I’m so sorry, I didn’t—

IRENE

It’s fine. The wound is four years old. It hardly hurts to pick at it now.

ADEN

[SINCERE] Do you want to talk about it?

IRENE

[STIFLED] I mean, it’s kind of complicated? I’ll spare you the details for now. It’s just…I don’t know.

I just thought I’d be over it by now. That’s what those recordings were meant to do: help me get over it. I just keep obsessing over it, though. 

[ALMOST MOURNFUL] I try to look for the good in my new life, but I realize that she’s in all the things I think are good. I can’t even date other people—and I’ve tried. It doesn’t take long for the relationships to unravel and fall apart. [SHE SCOFFS.] One girl said it was like I was cheating.

ADEN

[SYMPATHETIC] People handle loss differently, you know. It’s okay to not be over it just because time has passed. 

IRENE

[DISTANT] Right.

[THEN, MORE AWARE] I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be dumping this onto you. You’re my coworker, not my therapist. 

ADEN

Don’t worry about it. I’m always here if you need anything, work-related or not.

Have you tried therapy, though?

IRENE

I did, but it’s been a while. To be honest, at this point, I’m not sure if going back would—

[THERE’S A LOUD RUSTLING NEARBY.]

[EERIE MUSIC BEGINS GROWING IN THE BACKGROUND.]

ADEN

Did you hear—? [SUDDENLY PANICKED] Irene! Hey, stop!

[IRENE HAS ALREADY RISEN TO HER FEET.]

IRENE

Shh! [WHISPERS] I think that was the branches.

ADEN

[WHISPERS THROUGH CLENCHED TEETH] Irene, I think a big living mass of dirt would sound a lot louder than—

[ANOTHER LOUD RUSTLING.]

IRENE

I’m going to check it out. You stay here.

[SLOW AND CAREFUL FOOTSTEPS AS IRENE STEPS TOWARDS THE BRANCHES. THE RUSTLING CONTINUES.]

IRENE

[WARY] Hey…

Wait, is...is that—wo-oah!

[THE MUSIC CUTS OFF ABRUPTLY.]

[THERE IS A RUSTLING ACCOMPANIED BY THUMPING NOISES AS RABBITS RUN PAST IRENE, THEIR FAINT SQUEAKS AND WHIMPERS IN THE BACKGROUND. IRENE STUMBLES FOR A MOMENT BEFORE SHE IS HEARD FALLING OVER. A CRACKING NOISE IS HEARD AS HER PHONE SCREEN SHATTERS.]

[THE RABBIT NOISES FADE OFF.]

ADEN

[UNIMPRESSED] Rabbits. It was a family of rabbits hiding beneath the branches.

IRENE

[SHE GROANS IN PAIN.] Shut up.

[SHE SHIFTS TO A SITTING POSITION.]

IRENE

Oh, fuck.

ADEN

[WINCES] That screen is cracked pretty bad. 

Does it still work?

IRENE

[SHE SIGHS IN RELIEF.] Yeah, and it’s still recording, too.

ADEN

Whew, that was close. You, er, have all of your recordings backed up, right?

IRENE

No?

ADEN

[DUMFOUNDED] Seriously? You’re a young adult in the 21st century! How do you not know the basics of technology? Always back up your important files to a flash drive or something!

IRENE

Of course I know that. I just never thought to back up the recordings because…well, I guess I just never thought about what would happen if I lost all of them. I usually just focus on the act of making them.

ADEN

You probably should upload them somewhere else for safe keeping, though. In case your phone’s next fall is its last.

IRENE

You’re probably right.

ADEN

[NERVOUS] Can we please leave now? I don’t think your “eldritch monster” or whatever you called it is going to show up anytime soon.

IRENE

Yeah, let’s go.

[SHE GRUNTS AS SHE PUSHES HERSELF TO HER FEET.]

IRENE

Thank you. For uh, following me out into the woods and listening to me talk about my missing ex-girlfriend.

ADEN

Anytime! [HE PAUSES.] Actually, no, I never want to follow you into the woods to go monster hunting ever again. Er, no offense. Can you turn off the recording now?

IRENE

[SHE CHUCKLES.] Sure.

[PHONE BEEP.]

[RECORDING ENDS.]

AUTOMATED VOICE

Today’s quote is:  “Real poetry, is to lead a beautiful life. To live poetry is better than to write it.”

Matsuo Bashō, 1644-1694.

[OUTRO MUSIC AND CREDITS PLAY.]

[cartoonfangirl1218]

Motorcycle Race

Has a bit of Mick and Lisa friendship. Takes place between Rogue Air and Family of Rogues.  "Okay peoples let's get this party started!!!!!" Shawna shouted in the middle of the crowd in Saints & Sinners. 

Mark Axel, and Hartley burst in quickly behind her. Mark's small hurricanes blew the door hinges off and people ran screaming out. Mick, Leonard and Lisa dragged behind. 

"I can't believe we're robbing this place." Leonard muttered disgustedly as the crowds pushed and ran past them. 

"Aww c'mon on Lenny. It's Shawna's birthday let her rob S&S if she wants to. Besides look at all the wallets people are leaving around." Lisa grinned as another patron ran away screaming, not noticing Lisa's hand dipping into her pocket as she ran past her. "I already got 7!" 

Leonard shook his head with his usual "Why-in-hell-am-I-related-to-you-and-why-did-I-agree-to-this-stupidity" sigh.

Lisa rolled her eyes, he was the one who created the group who wanted to do said stupidity. He was the one that had wanted to get more villains to go against the Scarlet Speedster, and now they were stuck with them. 

It all had started when Shawna came to the warehouse with a bunch of shopping bags, announcing that no one should go to her room tonight because it was her birthday. Then Axel came up with the idea that they should celebrate. And with Rogues, what better way to celebrate than by filling their pockets with cash, jewelry and other stuff they got for free. Shawna insisted on Saints & Sinners because she wanted to crash at the bar so off they went. 

Lenny hadn't wanted to go, but Lisa had goaded him to it because what would it look like if the leader of the Rogues was so noticeably absent from a theft. 

"Like he is the only sane one, so that's why he's the leader" He drawled. He ended up going anyway because he didn't want anyone to end up in jail before going on their next heist. 

Lisa had to admit, she had been against the idea of having more in the Rogues besides the three of them. Sort of an exclusivity. But it had been generally okay. Mark and Axel were all over her when Lenny wasn't around and it was nice to be so pampered and admired. 

Despite his lovesick gazes, Axel was the jokester and she thought he was the best one to hang out with. who wouldn't love a buy who stole the cold gun, freezed the hallway and started sledding races. She didn't know quite what to think of Mark and Hartley they mostly stood to each other or by themselves. But as long as they didn't mess up her life with whatever inner angst they were holding up she didn't care. 

Shawna was fun to be around, it was nice to have another girl in villainy and they sometimes compared notes on Cisco and made fun of him and the other Rogues when they went clubbing. But she also had a sneaking suspicion that she had been using her powers to get into her room, and steal her make up which was not cool at all. She had stolen those Clinique bottles through her own hard work and she wasn't going to share. The place was finally clear, the owner of the bar stared at them through widened eyes. He looked like he was going to stand his ground but one glare from Mick sent him scurrying off. 

“Best day ever" Shawna sighed satisfied sipping her bottle of vodka she took from the bar. Axel and Hartley were jamming up the cash register and Mark seemed to be trying to take off the disco ball with his mind. 

"So how long do we get to crash before the police arrive?" Mick asked absent-mindedl, lighting a cigarette. 

"10, 8 minutes or so" Leonard said checking his watch.

"Cool we stay here until last second and then off out" Shawna grinned, as she spotted a sequined purse lying under one of the tables.

"Maybe you can but we can't." Mark said, looking at the locked front door.

“Oh yeah, it must suck that you have to leave early because you're not fast enough to outrun the cops" Shawna mock-pouted "Poor baby.”

"I can out-run the cops anytime I want.”Hartley shot back.

“No way, your stick legs can't outrun a snail" Axel jeered.

“Yes I can" Hartley shoved him. "No way" Shawna called out.

"Forget running, best way to go is by motorcycle" Mick said.

"And that title is held by me" Lisa added.

“Please" Mick snorted.

"Please what?" Lisa scowled.

"I'm the one that actually taught you how to drive fast. No way you can beat the master." Mick smirked. It was true. Len had been the one that taught her to drive car, how to drive a motorcycle, how to repair the, but Mick was the one that taught her how to drive fast ad dangerously. They used to drive around Central, breaking all kinds of speed limits. 

"Mick, stop talking drunk and be serious.” Lisa snorted.

“Guys, I have the perfect way to solve this" Shawna grinned.

"Beer" Mark said helpfully.” 

“Yes, that and we race on it." Shawna suggested. The Rogues stared at each other and ran out of S&S. They headed to the old dump yard at the edge of the skate park, and took some bicycles lying around while Leonard, Mick, and Lisa took their own motorcycles. "Okay first up,” Lisa announced "You four go race starting at the half pipe, to S&S and back again. Then Mick and I will go, winner race winners." Leonard just settled down at the park bench watching them intently.

“Do we get to use our powers?" Hartley asked eagerly.

"Of course" Lisa purred "What fun would it be if we didn't?"

The four got on their bikes, and glared at the lights of S&S and the police cars in the distance.

"Ready, set go!" Lisa called Axel started up the fight by setting off parachute bombs at Shawna who was up front, she disappeared just as the bombs hit the ground. 

Which made Mark and Hartley scramble off balance into some trees. Mark fought back as lightning blast out of the sky, making Axel zig-zag into the street.

 "SHIT!! Biker coming through" he yelled as car honked and barreled toward him. Shawna reappeared once more in front but was soon overpowered by Hartley when he aimed his sonic gloves at the ground. The whole race sorta crumbled after that. 

They got so distracted with fighting each other that jumped off their motorcycle and use their powers and combat skills in a four way fight. 

"Guess we can get started then," Mick commented. “Done" Lisa pulled on her helmet, and crouched on her golden motorcycle "See you at the finish line old man" Lisa crowed.

Mick grunted. Leonard placed their guns next to him and called out "Start!”

It had been fast and furious, without the added distraction of firing fireballs me gold at each other they swerved precisely and smoothly across the streets. Lisa sorely tempted to drive over by him and hit him against the curb, but one thing she re breed from racing him years ago that knocking out you're opponent also made sure you slowed down too. 

They made it to S&S and we're greeted by the police, and the owner. "Yes, they helped rob the place!" 

"Drive back, drive back, tactical retreat" Mick shouted at her, she didn't need to be told twice. 

She zig zagged as people always said to do if you don't want to get shot by the police. She certainly didn't want to today and in this outfit. The blood would stain the chiffon for sure. She heard the squeal of tires blowing out, and cursed to see her motorcycle tire with a bullet in it. Mick was a little ways ahead of her, already getting dragged off by the police officers. 

She shook her head, dejectedly and let them cuff her without a fight. Without a gun, against their many many holsters, it didn't seem worth it. 

As she got shoved in with Mick, he huffed on yet another cigarette dangling from his mouth. "Ya know your brother is gonna killed us." 

“He could kill Shawna... She was the one with the whole birthday robbery idea and then the motorcycle race." Lisa said, "This is not worth getting killed over. If anything he would kill you for screwing me.” 

She was thinking of Leonard's ever present threat, to murder anyone, especially partners having sexual relations with her. 

"He wouldn't kill me" Mick said, carelessly.

"Really?" Lisa added doubtfully, she knew Mick was like Leonard's closest and only friend but she didn't think their friendship extended that far. Hell, he said that Mick was the last person he wanted her having sex with. “I believe his exact words were, If you think one impure thought about her I will catastrate you, boil your nuts and burn you alive." Mick said thoughtfully as Lisa stared at him in horror, with more than just the threat in mind 

“Did you like me?" She would never admit but she had a crush on Mick for a few months when she was 14. Nothing big, and it was before she knew the extent of his craziness. All she knew was that he had a car with license, had wicked prison tattoos, and an intriguing deep guttural voice. It went away after awhile but never once did she think Mick would have looked at her the same way. 

"I just saw you in a one of your evening dresses, and happened to compliment your rack out loud. That was it." Mick said. “That explains it" Lisa smiled, "And you and I dating. Never. I don't go for balding, old men."

"I don't go for idiotic train wrecks" Mick retorted.

They settled to an easy silence before she broke it again, “So what do you think of the whole Rogues thing?" 

“Worst plan ever. A guy who can make thunderstorms whenever he cries, a disappearing act that thinks robbing S&S is big game, a dumbass engineer with parental issues, and a daddy's boy with bombs. Len couldn't pick up someone cool and useful like someone who could control minds, or an assassin." Mick snorted. 

“Let’s face it. The original three of us pulled off more cons than we did with the rest." Lisa agreed. 

"Well we're stuck with them for now. It'll be like our own reality TV mess." Mick snorted. 

"I bet I could get Shawna in a fight with Mark over the bathroom and then have Axel and Hartley making out in the closet in no time." Lisa smiled, mischevious thoughts running through her mind.

"Mark and Hartley in the closet? I bet Mark and Hartley. In Leonard's office" Mick corrected.

“You're on. I can't wait to see Lenny's face when that happens" Lisa grinned.

 "After we get out of this, we're going for another round though" Mick added.

 "You want to get beaten by me twice?" “I was way ahead of you before the cops came." Mick sneered.

"You have proof?" "I don't need proof, I'm better motorcyclist than you'll ever be. I was back then and I am now.” Mick snarled. "Things changed, Rory. I'm number one now." Lisa glared back at him. 

“Things haven't changed that much, Glider. You still need to learn how to zig zag without getting shot, don't you think for a second you're not the same kid that I had to drive to school and help with...with Brazilian waxing" Mick said, with a rare smile at the memory. 

Leonard had forced Mick to go to her wax appointment with her when he got stuck at a job with Lewis. It had been a hard ordeal for both of them, and Mick ended up with a broken wrist. "It was my first time, and you wouldn't let me hold your.." 

The truck stopped with a halt, and Shawna appeared in front of them. "You're anti-heroes of the day have arrived" she cheered, opening the door and pushing them out. They fell to the ground, "Would you mind, uncuffing us first" Lisa spit dirt out of her mouth.

“Oh of course!" "Here let me help!" Mark and Axel scrambled to uncuff her.

“A little help here" Mick hissed, jingling his cuffs, as Leonard rolled his eyes to help. “That's enough for tonight" Leonard used his stern, leader tone and gestured to the motorcycles waiting at the bench.  

"You head out, we have a score to settle" Lisa said, and winked at Mick. “Yeah Goldie wants to get her ass kicked.

"Don't get so cocky, Rory" Lisa smiled, revved her engine and the two roared off to the pipeline. 

[saintheartwing]

Invader Zim: The Pigshit Troll,  Part Two

"Well, son, I can tell something's truly bothering you." Professor Membrane remarked as he sat down next to Dib in his room, black-gloved hands folded in his lap, his eyes gazing down through his big, large white goggles…not that you could see them, that glass was thick! "I'd like us to be closer. Please, talk."

"Wow, that's new." Dib thought. His dad outright approaching him pretty much out of nowhere just to talk? "Uh…Dad, when you were young, did people call you names? Bully you? Like…a lot? I'm getting accused of being this horrible online bully that's just TRASHING people's stories on the school website."

"You? Oh, Dib, that sounds so silly! You're slightly whiny, my boy, not a troll."

"…thanks, I guess?" Dib muttered as his Dad ruffled his hair.

"Complaining isn't always a bad thing, Dib. When people were getting sick from the food they bought at their local groceries, it took going to Congress and complaining to the government that the food wasn't right to change things. If we don't point out when something doesn't work, then it won't ever get made better. And sometimes it works! Look at that delightful Sonic movie. I remember when I was young, seeing that trailer drop. My heart sank. My hopes were crushed. But then…then they listened to the outcry, made Sonic look far better, and it was as if I was a child again playing Genesis, hidden away in my closet!" He proclaimed. "Sometimes people listen, sometimes they make changes, and it makes things better. THAT'S the eternal hope of people who complain. That if they say just the right words to the right person at the right time…they'll convince them to be better than they are."

"I'd LIKE to think that." Dib sighed. "But sometimes…I think people just wanna get stuff off their chest."

"Well, that's a human response." His dad told him. "That's normal."

"And sometimes I think people just wanna scream at someone and be heard!"

"That's normal too." Professor Membrane added. "At any rate, I'm not going to tell you to simply get a thicker skin and "buck up". The studies show that doesn't work at all!" He remarked, shaking his head back and forth. "And I'm certainly not going to tell you to retreat into yourself either, or just never go online. No, you need to talk to people about it. Talking always helps, that's what the data shows." He told Dib with a firm, wise, nod. "You can always come to me about this sort of thing, son. I promise you."

"That does make me feel a little better." Dib admitted, his father ruffling his hair before he left the room, a soft warmth spreading through Dib's frame. That HAD been nice, being able to just chat with his Dad. Still…he needed a long term solution. Talking to his father about this sort of thing was pretty much just a band aid.

He needed a more permanent fix. Luckily he knew just who to turn to.

"I need your help."

Gaz couldn't believe what she was hearing. She stared at Dib, mouth agape, eyes wide.

"…YOU…need MY help." She remarked as she stopped playing the latest edition of "Super Smash Bros X Street Fighter", putting the controller down. "…I should call Ripley's Believe it or Not. Rarer than Bigfoot! Rarer than the Loch Ness Monster! Rarer than an actual alien! DIB MEMBRANE ASKING FOR MY HELP." She gave a big, fat, grin. "By the way, that reminds me, guess who was using the belt sander?"

"Wait, Bigfoot's back?!" Dib asked, gaping in surprise. "Is he still there?!" He wanted to know as Gaz led him to the garage door.

"It was never Bigfoot, Dib." She told him.

"Then who was it?"

"CHEWBACCA!" She proclaimed with a grin as, sure enough, a tall, crossbow-blaster-wearing furry alien stood there, black nose a bit ruffled as he finished putting the last touches on his new knife using the belt sander, and cheerily grinned at Gaz, waving at her.

"CHEWIE?!" Dib asked.

"What a Wookie." Gaz sighed. "He's been smuggling me parts for my room security ever since I found him. I can't believe you ever spooked him enough to chase him off, though. What on Earth did you use?"

"Well, evidently wookies are positively terrified of air horns." Dib confessed. "Sorry about that. Must have super sensitive ears, huh?"

"HUUUUHRRRRRUUNNHHH!" Chewie agreed, exiting the garage as Dib sighed and turned to Gaz.

"So can you help me track down that troll?" He wanted to know.

"I dunno…" Gaz rubbed her chin. "I mean, I don't like getting bad reviews left on my stories either, but it is KINDA funny to see you squirming and under so much scrutiny." She confessed. "And you can't just move away or anything. Even if you did, if more reviews popped up trashing people's work, they would just all assume it's still you. Other countries got internet, after all. Unless you were literally tied to a pole and couldn't TYPE, people would just assume you're still at it."

"You're all heart!" Dib grumbled.

"Hey, you wanted help, I'm giving you the truth. That's just how people feel, you can be a really condescending asshole." Gaz said. "You ain't no perfect little angel."

"As opposed to being a REGULAR asshole like you or Zim?" Dib said, his temper flaring up, Gaz looking astounded that Dib was actually talking back to her. "And I've never CLAIMED to be an angel, Gaz, I…I KNOW I can be kind of…pushy. Obsessive compulsive. And I know I can be…insensitive to what other people think and…okay yeah! Yeah, I can be a jerk!" He threw his hands in the air and sighed. "But I'm doing something literally no other kid has to do!" He paced around, shaking his head back and forth. "No OTHER kid has to put up with trying to stop an alien lunatic that's not just a megalomaniac and psychotic alien but somebody outright sadistic and evil and petty and manipulative and a total jerk! On a pretty much daily basis! And half the time he almost succeeds at what he does, and if I don't stop him, people DIE! That's…that is WAY too much to put on someone not old enough to shave!" Dib told Gaz.

"…yeah, I'll give you that one." Gaz sighed.

"But I'm the only one who gets shit on. Nobody at school criticizes you because you'll beat the crap out of them. You got those freaky powers and everything! Even the teachers are scared of you! Zim? Zim gets off because people see me trying to expose him and they think I'm bullying him unfairly! Even though every day he's always up to something horrible! Literally! Every day! I shouldn't have to deal with him, OR the stuff I get from you and my classmates and now all of this with people thinking I'm not just nutty for liking stuff they think is strange, but that I'm some rotten troll!"

"Maybe Zim is the troll." Gaz suggested.

Dib stopped in mid-spiel, and he gaped at her. "…that's…not baaaaad!" He murmured. "That IS the kinda thing he'd do! Framing me for something HE'S done! And when he wants to, he can be really fiendishly clever…" He paced back and forth. "But we need to check. Is there any way to check?" He murmured. "Could we trace his IP address?"

"We could if we hack into the school's computer system, and from there, we can access where the reviews got posted. But while you do that, I'm going to go call a…friend." She remarked, nonchalantly making her way off to her room as Dib raced for his, to begin his hard work. Gaz slid on into her chair in her room, typing into a little keyboard built into the armrest, and PING! A vid screen manifested before her, and a short, tubby Irken was on the other end.

Skoodge, Zim's…friend. Though given how he treated him, you'd think Skoodge was more of a servant. When they went to go get snacks and drinks, it was Skoodge who had to carry everything. When Zim wanted something moved, he got Skoodge to do it and never thanked him. And when it came to the food…

"You see, I can't stand eating anything day-old. So its only fair I make up for it in other ways!" Zim was insisting even now to Skoodge from the other end of the basement, leaving Skoodge with the day old donuts while Zim stuffed his face. Skoodge quietly sighed, shaking his head, and then turned to the screen on his computer station, seeing he had an incoming message, and turning it on.

"Ah, Gaz. How're you?" He asked. Gaz smiled back at him. Skoodge was very eager to please, easy to manipulate but, still…compared to most Irkens, he was a civil, nice sort. Conquering planets or the like was just a job to him, it wasn't personal, and he didn't seem to take any real delight in being a jerk the way Zim did, or Tak did. Besides, he also happened to find Gaz attractive. It was the purple hair. For some reason, Irkens looooved the color purple.

"Hey, Skoodge, I need a favor. Has Zim been bragging about being the troll at school leaving all those awful, sick reviews?" Gaz wanted to know.

"Oh, no. But he's loving seeing Dib go to pieces." Skoodge remarked. "It's really mean. He can't stop laughing uncontrollably whenever the topic gets brought up. He said he wishes he'd thought of it, it's so simple and evil a plan that it should have been his plan."

Gaz had to admit that she'd been pleasantly surprised to find Skoodge so agreeable. She'd gone gaming with him, playing online, and she'd grown to learn a lot about him, and also, in return, about Irkens, and it astounded her how much they really had in common with humans. After all, her leaders were also lazy, egotistic, smug jerks who liked hurting people for not being good enough, who forced you into bad jobs that paid barely anything, and thought they were a lot smarter and better than they really were!

And they also placed an emphasis on being tall too. Nobody really respected a short President Man!

Truly, two species joined at the hip without knowing it.

"Thanks, Skoodge. I appreciate it. You're really sure it isn't him, huh? Maybe…it's a long shot but…is GIR doing it? I mean, sometimes GIR gets up to weird things with Minimoose and the Computer."

"GIR has pretended to be a girl online, but he'd never be sadistic enough to leave those kind of messages." Skoodge remarked with a shake of his head.

This was true. The new MMO that came out, "Portal Defenders", a massive crossover game indeed, had come out about five months back and Skoodge had gotten super into it, and he'd been, along with Gaz, very surprised to find a very willing girl character who played as the one and only XJ9 from "My Life As A Teenage Robot" eager to help them. They'd gone on many a raid together and much to their delight, she'd proven invaluable…and also proven to be GIR.

Still, hey. It was a valid life choice. Fine by him.

"Hmm. So much for that. It's not you, is it?"

"No way!" Skoodge insisted. "I get my stories crapped on because I exclusively write fetish material. I'm VERY into macrophilia."

"Yeah, I always wanted to ask, how come you're so into big, huge stories with the rampages or the giants or the big aliens stomping around or eating people? It's kinda odd." Gaz admitted. "I mean, I'm into super metal stuff, I like weird things too, but I always wanted to ask…"

This was true. Skoodge also attended the school in disguise, the same grade as Gaz, and he actually had a lot of talent too. But he reaaaaally enjoyed writing stories with big monsters and aliens. Time after time, they'd be leveling cities or whole towns or some rando would end up becoming a big beast that gobbled up his coworkers or the like. Occasionally he even dived deeper and entire planets would be broken apart or devoured! It was well written, without a doubt, engaging, but it could get…kinda scary.

"Well…I'm short and fat and not the least bit threatening." Skoodge sighed. "Look at me. I'm a tubby loser." He murmured as he picked up his fat gut and shook it about. "But in these stories, I can be anything. I can be big, and powerful, wonderful and terrible all at once. Everyone loves me and fears me all at once. I kinda felt like that right after I conquered Blorch, and the Slaughtering Rat People…until the Tallest shot me outta the closet and another Invader took the credit for my work."

"Wish fulfillment, huh?" Gaz sighed. "Hey, y'know, I get it. I mean, it's why I keep watching "The Craft" or "Carrie" all the time, I'd love to do the kinda things those girls do in those films. Just let loose, y'know?"

"Yeah, sometimes you just gotta feed that wolf that's howling outside your door. Besides, the guidance counselor said it's a good way for me to deal with my more unpleasant urges by expressing them in a creative way." Skoodge added with a smile. "And it's worked! Putting all this on paper made me work through my thoughts and feelings and I began to realize how rotten my species are. We're just the literal worst. Did you know we executed the last artist we had on Irk because he refused to stop drawing propaganda?"

"That sounds dickish."

"It WAS! He said art should be about more than convincing people to blow stuff up. Then they blew him up. A bunch of pieces of him evidently got on Tallest Miyuki when she was in her Invader training, and that's why she decided to tone down the imperialistic tendencies of the Empire…for all the good it did us once Red and Purple came around." Skoodge sighed. "It's too bad, I missed working alongside the Vortians in the labs, those were good years." He confessed.

"Thanks for the help, Skoodge. Keep an eye on Zim for me, wouldja? Good to chat with you again. See you around!" Gaz told him, giving Skoodge a deliberate wink, then shutting the screen off as he sighed softly.

"Anything for you…" He murmured.

Dib meanwhile, had broken into the school system and was looking at various reviews left under people's stories. Hmm, this one was from Gaz-oh. OH! He hadn't seen this before. She was taking umbrage at how the character…an obvious stand-in for her, was portrayed. After all, she had a rough upbringing too, with Professor Membrane never around and yes, when Dib had been younger, he'd done a couple experiments on her. It had actually been what turned her hair purple, and he deeply regretted it, though she'd said she actually ended up LIKING her hair turning that way.

Dib cringed as he read the review. He got that she wanted to see herself as the hero, but…c'mon, Gaz. "I'M the one literally putting my life on the line just about every day, you're playing Game Slave and stuffing your face with pizza, I think I deserve a bit more understanding than you do." He muttered. She came off as so…entitled here!

Oh, and now a new review. "You should be nicer to Zim. He's got mental health issues."

"So do I, but I don't go around trying to destroy planets and enslave people." Dib muttered. "Zim isn't just insane. He's evil. Jesus. Why are there so many Stans for Zim? They all keep thinking he's being picked on when I'm the one who almost always gets it the worst…"

He cringed, stopping himself. "Stop it, Dib. No more pity parties. No more self-flagellating. You gotta focus." He murmured, examining the reviews, scrolling, scrolling. A lot of the troll reviews had been taken down by the teachers because they'd gotten sick of it too, but-wait. A new one. "ReVIEW MY STORiES! YOUR SToRiES ARE PIGSHIT!"

Ah ha. He had the IP address. His fingers swiftly moved across the keyboard, typing rapidly, his eyes widening as he saw where it came from.

It couldn't be. But…

The address was Membrane Labs.

His father's workplace.

What…the…fuuuuuuuck?