#even though i wrote for him before

[aquanutart]

[sergle]

Worth mentioning that I'm partially switching doctors bc when I was running all over the place trying to get my surgery shit set up in time, and I went to the bloodwork lab for the second time, I vented just a little bit to the woman who's been working there a long time. being like. I've had to do this and that and my doctor said this and that he can't find this... and she was like Hmm. You have Dr. (name of my doctor), don't you?

[sysig]

Party (group) party (celebratory)! (Patreon)

[thedrotter]

Re:Kinder Fun Facts of the day☺️!!! Have you ever wondered who talks the most from the main cast in Re:Kinder?? Well, I did😊. Today I'll be answering this question with some graphs and as a bonus telling you what words each character uses the most! I will warn you, this will be a bit long and I don't know how to be less verbose so, yeah!!!

First, I've made some basic rules as to what I counted regarding how much the characters speak. Not all lines really count as speaking, after all.

Any of the incoherent screaming lines don't count. There's a lot of screaming since the characters die a lot (as expected for a horror RPG game), but I don't really count that as speaking unless they're saying proper words. In that same vein, I didn't really count any of the panting or sniffing and such that are conveyed through words. Again, I don't really see that as a character actively speaking their thoughts!

If I cannot tell who a line belongs to, I will not give it to anyone. This happens for certain lines, so I felt this rule was important.

I won't be counting repetitions of the same line if it's on a variation of the same scene. This may sound a bit strange, but when a character dies, the game goes on to the same next scene it would regardless (unless the scene that follows it is an ending), with variations and new lines here and there to account for the dead character, but a lot will be reused and placed in the exact same beats it normally would have been in originally. So, this rule is here for that. Oh, and also the scenes with bits of Yuuichi's backstory that appear in Shunsuke's head won't be counted twice, because some appear twice line by line.

Of course, the "..." lines won't count. I am so sorry Aya!!!!😞

Now that the ground rules have been set, there's just one thing I want to mention. Though I will count all the total lines for Takumi and Yuuichi like any other character, I just want to mention that first I will have two separate counts for them! Takumi | Takumiel and Yuuichi | Yuuichi's Heart respectively.

Takumiel is separate because I was curious about how much Takumi spoke as an archangel compared to when he was alive. Yuuichi's Heart is because he speaks so much he feels notable enough to be given his own division, even if he and Yuuichi at the end of the day are one person

(I count the silly mind telepathy where Shunsuke is being directly spoken to [and being told things normal Yuu would avoid saying at that point] and the comical theater as Yuuichi's Heart. I clarify in case one assumes he only starts being counted the moment he's directly labelled as Yuuichi's Heart. Any line that can't be distinguished between Yuuichi's Heart and Yuuichi will be given to Yuuichi by default.)

With nothing else to be clarified let's get to the numbers!!!😊😊

First, the line counts with Takumiel and Yuuichi's Heart counted individually!! Here are the rankings:

Shunsuke (With a lead of 535 lines over second place!!)

Yuuichi

Rei

Yuuichi's Heart

Hiroto

Ryou

Sayaka

Aya

Takumi

Takumiel

You may be thinking— woah, does Shunsuke really speak that much?! You could say that, for a good chunk of those lines are from how he describes interactable points around the map and his inner thoughts, so they aren't all exactly said out loud. The benefit of being the protagonist, I suppose ww

Funny enough, Yuuichi's Heart has almost as many lines as Yuuichi does for not having that much time in the game, being on the higher end between the characters that don't get the benefit of being a protagonist (lol)!

Admittedly I had expected for Rei and Hiroto to have a more similar amount of lines given their nearly equal amount of presence, but for what it is Rei surpassed Hiroto by 51 lines! I also had expected for Takumiel to speak a little bit more than Takumi but turns out the opposite is true.

While the lack of lines of Takumi and Takumiel are to be expected due to their short time on the game, what stands out is Aya not even reaching triple digits between her other peers who are in there for most of the game. This is because a good chunk of Aya's lines in game are silence!^^" And thus weren't counted. If ellipses were a word, she surely would have reached triple digits, but unfortunately they're not.

Now the line count with combined sums of Takumi | Takumiel and Yuuichi | Yuuichi's Heart!!!

In here, the ranking isn't affected, with Yuuichi remaining second place and Takumi being last place. But the disparity of everyone's numbers compared to Takumi's feels a bit more clear to see when Takumiel isn't individually counted.

With Yuuichi's line counts combined, Shunsuke remains 318 lines ahead of him, but it also means Yuuichi has a 59% the amount of Shunsuke's lines; and impressive feat for someone who doesn't get the benefit of being the point of view for everything you press... Although he does also have an upper hand over everyone by essentially being the plot of this game ww

But maybe line counts do not suffice to tell how much a character speaks. Yes, Shunsuke has a bunch of lines from everything he interacts with, but is it really reliable to say he speaks all that much in all those lines? A good chunk of those could easily have 3 words each! So with this in mind, let's do a word count.

Even in a word count, Shunsuke has the lead, having a lead of 2,247 words over second place. But we'll see about that when we combine Yuuichi's numbers. Anyway, here's the ranking!

Shunsuke

Yuuichi's Heart

Yuuichi

Rei

Hiroto

Ryou

Sayaka

Aya

Takumi

Takumiel

This time, Yuuichi's Heart is the one at second place!!! It's pretty funny that he speaks more than his physical counterpart ww. I genuinely didnt think he'd out yap himself that way when I chose to count for him individually 😭!!! He has a lead of 63 words over himself, but a lead nonetheless.

In here, Rei and Hiroto are more even than in the line counts, with the difference seeming more minimal when put into words. But it also showcases that despite Rei having more lines than Yuuichi's Heart in the line count, those only get to have a bit over half of the amount of words he talks (To be fair he does get to infodump a lot in his section of the game).

And here's the combined word count!!! Suddenly Shunsuke's lead is only by a mere 55 words! So Yuuichi speaks about as much as he does with 318 less lines.

I must admit that I genuinely did not expect it to be that close. When I chose to count the lines for when you interact with things for Shunsuke, I thought he was granted to speak an absurd amount more than anyone else. But turns out that Yuuichi speaks about the same amount out loud when most of Shunsuke's are his own thoughts ww. But it does make sense! He is still the plot of this game.

So, after all those charts, here's the average/middle point of lines and words for characters to have, because why not, it's fun.

Average Line Count (YH and Takumiel counted individually): 197 lines

Average Line Count (When combined): 247 lines

Average Word Count (YH and Takumiel counted individually): 1,333 words

Average Word Count (When combined): 1,666 words

So there it is. That's how much the characters in Re:Kinder speak!

But wait!!! I am not done. I will share with you an additional fun fact... Did you ever want to know what word each of these characters said the most?! This one will be quicker, I do promise.

When it came to counting these words I did not count stop words, that being common words that are used all the time by everyone in English. "I, you, me, the, to, a, my, your, yes, no"... Words like that! Otherwise everyone would have one of those as their most said word and it'd be rather boring to look at. With that said, here are the words these characters say the most!

Shunsuke: Yuuichi - said 40 times! (this genuinely confused me so much im sorry he uses interjections so much I had expected it to be something like "huh" or "um" but no i dont know how this passed by me as i was rounding up all the lines he says or proofreading or writing all of those lines WHAT?!?! its been two days and it still takes me out)

Ryou: Shunsuke - Said 14 times

Sayaka: Murderer - Said 7 times (All in one sentence!)

Takumi | Takumiel (counted in one for how little he speaks.): Takumiel - Said 3 times (That name is so important, he said it thrice.)

Aya: Sorry - Said 5 times

Rei: Hell, gonna, look, Yuuchi - said 8 times (Most of the repeated words she says are stop words for she doesn't tend to speak about the same things repeatedly.)

Hiroto: Shunsuke - Said 17 times

Yuuichi (separate from YH): Problem - Said 17 times

Yuuichi's Heart: Mama - Said 24 times

Yuuichi (Overall): Mama - Said 31 times

So that is finally it. That is the fun fact of today.😊😊 Use this to woe your friends at parties!!!

I am aware Mami speaks about enough to be counted in, but this is pretty time consuming to do and I'm not sure anyone is invested on her enough to count her in. But if there's enough curiosity regarding that, I'll try counting her in. But for now this suffices.☺️ Thanks for reading!

[definitelynotshouting]

Can I ask, since you mentioned agreeing 'even if under duress' - how did the Watchers convince Player Grian to join them in hunger au?

So take this with the specific grain of salt that ive never watched Evo directly (but have friends who have ((thank you wren)), so i know tidbits via osmosis from them), but my thought has always been that the riddles the Watchers gave the Evo Players were all tests used to measure cleverness and intelligence-- the whole point of them attempting to copy the mind of a Player into a Watcher larva in the first place was to try and avoid the insanely high infant mortality rate their typical juveniles go through, bc they dont understand their own limits enough to even know they have them yet. So they needed a Player they knew they could instruct and who would listen to them, and, well. Grian, for all he was rebellious and outright defiant of the Watchers, still solved their puzzles and only had to be punished once before he stopped trying to mess with them

What ive always pictured is after the dragon fight the two main elders of the Watcher colony finally revealed themselves to Grian properly-- i have this crystal clear image of the two of them hovering above and next to the central end island, looming over Grian, and like, these guys are big. HUGE. A good 5x bigger than the ender dragon itself, at LEAST. It would be hard not to feel insanely intimidated by that, honestly, especially when there are two of them side by side, blocking your entire view of the End from that direction.

Anyway picture that with the context of these two giant floating winged worms youve never seen before, who have demonstrated their powerful ability to manipulate code in a way you cant.... telling you that they have chosen you to become one of them. Thats an immense amount of pressure, both from flattery and fear, especially considering theyve punished you before for defying them. I like to think even then, Grian balked a bit, and while i dont have exact dialogue beats here, i know the Watchers continued putting that pressure on him (likely while leveraging his friendships too-- like ive always said, if Grian hadnt been chosen, BigB wouldve been, and i can absolutely see the Watchers offering to take him in Grian's stead) until he finally caved and accepted their "offer" of joining them.

Unfortunately, he didnt find out exactly what that entailed until it was far too late.

[hellaverse-critical-confessions]

(from this video)

[anghraine]

I honestly feel a lot better about having posted anything at AO3, even things I won't finish, and there's something that warms my heart about posting fic for The Borgias in 2024.

I was actually deciding between two different WIPs to represent that "phase" between my undergrad years and grad school. The other one was the prologue to a Legend of Korra/Star Wars fusion in which Noatak/Amon is Korra's father and this is revealed in S1 (I think it was going to be Tarrlok who figures it out first, lol) and it actually affects the plot and it isn't just the LOK canon plot with minor adjustments—the fusion with SW was meant to be more than vague I-am-your-father inspiration. In any case, I only ever wrote the prologue about the Noatak/Senna quasi-romance that led to Korra's existence and never even got to the sheer comedy of Korra as Tarrlok's niece :(

But the Juan and Lucrezia as dysfunctional twins one-shot is closer to being a whole fic (in a side-story way) and I did like being able to add one more to my Borgias oeuvre—and getting at least some part of that AU on AO3 after all the time I spent on it!

[owoshrike]

Stronger

Or the fic where Silver manages to ask Shadow for some training

The silver hedgehog groaned as he tumbled to the ground roughly, the wind being knocked out of him temporarily. He laid there for a moment and only moved to spread his arms out on the ground, his chest rising and falling as he greedily took in air.

“Get up.”

Silver could’ve cursed at the voice that grunted at him but he was too tired to do so. Plus, he knew he had asked for this.

“Aww, come on, Shads! You didn’t even give him a chance!”

The time traveler took a deep breath in before pushing himself up, crossing his legs and placing his hands against them. Sweat beaded down his face as he stared down at the ground, his heart pounding hard against his chest. He looked up between his lashes at Shadow, the dark hedgehog turned to argue with the only spectator of their sparring lesson.

‘If I can even call it that,’ Silver’s mind unhelpfully supplied.

“He whined until I agreed to train him so I’m not planning on going easy on him,” Shadow growled, turning back to look down at the silver hedgehog. His eyes narrowed for a moment before he walked over, holding out his hand to Silver. “Come on, get up.”

Silver rolled his eyes with a huff but grabbed the outstretched hand, allowing the other hedgehog to pull him up. There was a gust of wind and Sonic was immediately by Silver’s side, holding out a bottle of water for him to take if he wanted to. His quills bristled in embarrassment, but he accepted the water with a nod of thanks, taking a quick swallow before handing it back. Golden eyes darted up to see Shadow back on his side of the room, the dark hedgehog standing with his arms crossed as he watched the two of them with a blank expression. “Can you at least tell me what I did wrong?” he grunted out in annoyance.

If Shadow was even phased by his attitude, he didn’t let it show. “If you can’t figure it out yourself, then we’re already wasting time,” the other said plainly.

The time traveler’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to retort but Sonic moved in front of him with his hands raised in a placating manner. “Hey, hey! Don’t blow your gasket on Shadow just yet, bud,” he said with a small laugh. “He’s the last person you would expect to be a teacher so this is new territory for him! That’s why I’m here as a second pair of eyes.”

Silver’s cheeks flushed slightly and he looked back at Shadow, glaring before turning his attention back to Sonic. “Okay. Then can you tell me what I did wrong?” he asked snappily.

Emerald eyes looked at him with surprise in their eyes as the blue hedgehog placed his hands on his hips, his foot tapping as he got his thoughts together. His ear twitched and he hummed, and Silver couldn’t help but track the subtle movements with rapt attention. He held his breath with anticipation as Sonic began to tap his chin, biting his lip with the hedgehog tilting his head back. Then, just as Sonic snapped his fingers and opened his mouth, Shadow cut him off.

“It’s obvious that you lack confidence in your skills.”

Silver blinked, ignoring the disappointed mutter of “you stole my moment” that Sonic let out and turned his full attention back to Shadow. The dark hedgehog walked over to them, picking up a spare water bottle that was on the floor. “It’s that simple. You lack confidence when you go to strike,” he said, flipping the water bottle in his hand and catching it once more. His red-maroon eyes narrowed suddenly. “Catch.”

Quickly, he tossed the water bottle at Silver and the hedgehog simply raised his hand, the bottle stopping midair just before it reached his head. He stared through the liquid inside as Shadow continued to walk towards them, moving his other hand underneath the bottle before releasing the psychokinetic hold on it. It landed in his hand with a muted sound and his fingers curled around the bottle. Silver’s brows furrowed together in confusion and he gasped. “W-wait, you wanted me to catch it without my powers didn’t you? Shit, I didn’t think-”

“No. I told you to catch it and you did.” Shadow reached out a hand and tapped the bottle Silver was holding. “You didn’t even think about it because you were confident that you could stop the bottle before it hit you. What confidence you have in your psychic abilities is what you lack in your physical combat,” he said, using that same hand to gesture towards Silver’s body. “That punch you attempted to throw was so open that I wouldn’t even have to use Chaos Control to counter it.”

An annoying memory from the back of Silver’s mind immediately sprang forward along with a throbbing pain in the back of Silver’s head. He immediately swallowed down the irritation that followed it to focus on Shadow’s words. Once more, he looked at the bottle and watched the condensation roll off of it. The dark hedgehog was right; Silver didn’t even think of catching the bottle before it got close to him. He immediately registered the projectile and simply…caught it.

“But….” Silver growled and the bottle floated in his hand. “You can’t compare this to you throwing a punch or a kick at me! It’s completely different circumstances!”

Shadow’s eyes narrowed in irritation, sparking a vibrant red before dimming back down. “It shouldn’t matter if I tell you to catch the bottle or not. Or even if I tell you to block a punch or not. If you’re not confident that you can do it, then what’s the point of this training?”

Silver opened his mouth but words failed to come forth and, instead, a heavy sigh escaped him. He caught Sonic crossing his arms out of the corner of his eye, the hedgehog moving to stand in front of him. There was a small smile on his face as he regarded Silver and, again, the time traveler couldn’t help the feeling of embarrassment swirling in his stomach. When Silver approached Shadow with the question of helping him with hand-to-hand combat, he was expecting a flat-out refusal.

Which he did receive.

He had a whole spiel ready to (hopefully) convince the dark hedgehog to help him out but then Sonic happened upon them and did it for him. While he was thankful for that, there was a part of him that got upset when Sonic insisted on being there as well. He already had to swallow some pride to ask Shadow of all people to train him. If Blaze was currently present, he would’ve most likely gone to her even if the very thought made his cheeks warm. While she relied on her flames, the woman was an incredible fighter as well. They had spent a significant amount of time together where Silver believed she would’ve been an ideal teacher for him and it was the same case for Sonic as well. Silver didn’t doubt the blue hedgehog’s skills with melee combat at all, but he only reached out to Shadow because of how…lowkey the other was. Silver was afraid that Sonic would end up making a game out of the whole matter versus acting like a proper instructor due to how his personality was.

There was also a gleam in his eyes at the idea of combat that…unnerved Silver to a degree, though he wouldn’t admit it aloud. He had faced Sonic before and had the upperhand against the hedgehog on more than one occasion but a melee spar between the two would be a new challenge for Silver. He also assumed that Sonic would try to play the “nice guy” while training him which Silver wanted to avoid completely. Sonic was a good friend but he wanted a firm teacher hence he decided to pursue Shadow.

Silver wasn’t quick to call Shadow a friend, but he was in that gray area between that and “solely ally”. Shadow was blunt and to the point that Silver figured developed from his time working with G.U.N. He knew that the dark hedgehog wouldn’t ask any questions and simply charge at Silver with everything he had, which is what the silver hedgehog wanted in the end. With Shadow, he would know what he was getting into with the session and Silver believed that that was the best way to go about this.

No strings attached. Just a simple and efficient training session.

“I do agree with Shadow on that, Silver,” Sonic said, his voice cutting through Silver’s thoughts. “You’re an awesome fighter for sure but you rely too much on this-” The blue hedgehog waved his hands and tapped his head as a show. “That isn’t necessarily a bad thing but don’t get too stuck in your head about it. It’s never easy learning a new skill but you gotta envision yourself mastering it! Even if you fail a bunch of times- and you definitely will, no offense- you shouldn’t let that discourage you. Just try it from a different angle!”

Silver blinked and his ears laid down against his quills as he took a breath. His eyes snapped over to see Shadow staring at the wall, the dark hedgehog’s eyes narrowed in what Silver could only guess was frustration. At him or Sonic, he wasn’t sure. The time traveler sighed and nodded, clenching his fists together before lowering the water bottle into Sonic’s hand. The hero was right. Silver managed to master his own powers on his own under the pressing weight of an apocalypse happening around him so this should be easy. It was different then, given that he had no choice but to learn quickly or die. Even then, it wasn’t like he could get into fist fights with any of the monsters Iblis had spawned and he became so well versed with his psychokinesis that he got complacent with it.

The idea of asking for help with melee combat brewed in the back of his mind for some time. During one of the times he had traveled back to the past- thankfully for a visit rather than a new apocalyptic world-ending event- Silver accompanied Team Sonic and Team Dark on one of their usual rounds of stopping Dr. Eggman. During the battle, the mad doctor deployed some Shadow Androids against them when the wave of Eggpawns he threw at them fell. Silver was pretty sure this was the first time he ever saw Shadow switch to fighting more hands-on rather than relying on his Chaos abilities. It was an incredible display of strength that Silver couldn’t help but marvel at. He had watched with captivated awe and a small stir of jealousy as well.

Another time, he got the chance to see Sonic go head-to-head with Metal Sonic and his attention was captured all the same in the display. The way the two matched blow for blow at matching speeds that were almost too much for Silver to keep up with. Shadow he could understand being able to punch metal, but Sonic? For all Silver could tell, Sonic was just…a hedgehog. A speedy force of nature that fights robot armies and has taken down gods before, sure, but a hedgehog nonetheless. It only made the envious pit in his stomach grow but it also gave way to a newfound want.

Silver would not sell himself short in terms of his own strength, but this was a different show of it. He knew upon their first meeting that there were areas that he could excel at better than Shadow or Sonic but there was still that drive and want to be strong like they were. When they had taken down Solaris together- a memory that he holds dearly since no one else could-, he felt that he was finally on their level. That he could look at them as fellow comrades in strength while ignoring the thoughts that said otherwise. Seeing their combat skills served as a harsh reminder that he still had some ways to go.

“Alright. I want to try again, Shadow,” he said, narrowing his eyes when the dark hedgehog’s ears flicked towards him.

There was a pause before the other turned to look at him, nodding as he waved his hand for Sonic to go back to spectating. “Fine, then. But we’re going to try a…different approach and hopefully it’ll work for you.” Shadow hummed and briefly pressed his hand under his chin, glancing down to the ground before his eyes snapped up. “Instead of sparring this time, I want you to attack me and I’ll do nothing but defend. I didn’t think to get an idea of what you are lacking before we rushed into starting.”

Silver scratched the back of his head and looked off to the side. He was so eager to get into training that he also didn’t think about that, nor did he ask Shadow to go through the basics of it all. He was so used to rushing things for the sake of an emergency that he forgot that, for once, he had time.

The “but for how long?” was whispered traitorously in his mind.

“So…you want me to just rush at you?” he asked, raising one eyeridge high as he watched Shadow settle into a fighting stance. Silver mimicked the action.

“Sounds like you’re going easy on him, Shads!” Sonic teased from the sidelines, only giggling when Shadow growled at him to shut up. Silver bitterly thought the same and his cheeks puffed as he pouted.

“Imagine that you were given this chance to start the fight on your terms without anyone getting the drop on you,” Shadow instructed. “You have the chance to keep the situation under your control.”

Silver blinked and he breathed out slowly, closing his eyes with the action. His fists clenched tightly and his feet braced against the ground. After a beat, golden eyes snapped open and he ran forward with his left fist cocked back. Shadow simply took a half step back and moved his right arm forward, blocking the hit that Silver attempted. Not letting the disappointment of the failed hit weigh him down, Silver quickly tried to follow up with another rushed strike. His teeth grit together as his frustration built with each blocked hit, the hedgehog snapping his gaze up to see Shadow’s neutral but calculating expression. The dark hedgehog didn’t offer any commentary aside from a simple grunt or a simple “try again”. His feet only carried him backwards but not because Silver was forcing him to.

Despite what he had just said, Shadow had only given the illusion of control to Silver.

The silver hedgehog growled and put more force behind a punch aimed for Shadow’s face, the dark hedgehog’s eyes narrowing as he brought his arms up together to block it. Silver felt a sliver of pride since his punch broke the block, smirking as he spun around on his heel to strike a kick to Shadow’s exposed head. Red eyes followed the movement before the hedgehog ducked under the kick, Silver’s momentum still carrying himself with the spin of it and almost losing his balance.

Sonic let out an impressive whistle from the sidelines, laughing lightly. “Ooo, that was nice, Silver! You were close!” he cheered and Silver almost turned his head to flash the other a grin but kept his eyes trained forward.

His heart was pounding against his chest as he brought his fists back up, watching Shadow get back into his stance before the other nodded for him to resume. Silver’s mind raced with what to do next but ultimately decided on another round of punches, keeping them aimed near the dark hedgehog’s upper body. He tried to kick from the side but Shadow brought his knee up and met the hit before pushing himself forward to force Silver back.

“Good. You’re getting more confident now,” Shadow said and his lips turned up slightly into what looked like a smile. “Now, we’re going to switch roles and I want you to defend against all of my attacks the best you can.”

“Okay…alright,” Silver said in between breaths, adjusting his stand when he saw Shadow do the same. When the dark hedgehog rolled his neck, the time traveler couldn’t help how his eyes widened a fraction. “Just don’t turn me into your damn punching bag like before.”

“Then you better know how to deflect. Try to copy what I was doing previously.”

With that said, the dark hedgehog rushed at him though not as fast as he did at the start of their session. His punches weren’t slowed down tremendously but just enough that he didn’t immediately overwhelm Silver. But even with that, Shadow didn’t hold back as much with the force of his hits. Silver grunted as Shadow’s right hook caught him in the side, forcing himself to not fully recoil from the hit as he leaned back from the next punch. Unlike how he had Shadow, Shadow had him quickly stepping backwards with each hit from both the force and the need to dodge.

He saw Shadow move his weight onto his left leg and leaning back. The hedgehog then swung his other leg in a wide kick. Silver brought his arm up to the side of his head, grunting as he took the hit. Shadow did not let up in his attack, switching on the fly between his right and left legs. Although he continued to block the hits, Silver could feel the muscles in his arms growing sore and struggling to stay up.

‘If I don’t do something, he’s going to make an opening!’ he thought frantically, sweat beading down his cheek.

His eyes glanced down to Shadow’s left leg as it rose up, taking the chance to bring his right arm down. Silver pivoted on his left to move back, dodging back as the kick swung towards him. The palms of his glove glowed as he brought his right hand around to meet it, the cyan glow appearing just before Shadow’s foot met with the palm of his hand. The time traveler took in the slight surprise on Shadow’s face and took his chance, redirecting the other’s foot back to the ground. He could feel the phantom grip of Shadow’s leg under his power, but it wasn’t as strong as it normally would have been if he were fully using his power.

Instead, it acted as a small barrier just before the point of contact and allowed Silver a chance of control. Once Shadow’s foot touched the ground, Silver curled his fingers into a fist and struck Shadow in the side as the hedgehog moves to jump back. It was a brief touch but a victory nonetheless that made Silver’s heart pound in triumph.

Shadow regarded him for a second, staying silent as he glanced down at Silver’s hand. It made the silver hedgehog a bit self-conscious, and Silver began to pull at the cuff of his glove. “It was a force of habit,” he said with a sigh, brows scrunching together in frustration. He then growled and gripped at his head quills. “Damnit. I was getting the hang of it- even though I was mostly just blocking- but I was doing fine without using my powers! Really thought I had it there-“

“Silver.”

The other words that were about to tumble out of his mouth immediately stopped once Shadow addressed him, the silver hedgehog turning his eyes up to look at the other. He was…well, Shadow wasn’t smiling but the corner of his mouth was turned up slightly to where he almost didn’t have the neutral expression that Silver is always used to. His eyes sparked with challenge, the dark maroon of his eyes shifting to the rubies that he sees when the other is in battle.

“That is what you needed. You were too focused on suppressing one skill to learn another,” he said as he held out his hand. Immediately, Chaos Energy began to spark at his fingertips and it formed into the familiar shape of his Chaos Spear. The construct rested in his palm but it still crackled as if ready for use if he so much as thought about it. He flipped his hand over and the spear dispersed into an abstract form, circling around his hand like a bolt of lightning before Shadow clenched his fist. It immediately shattered in a show of sparks. “I don’t shut off my Chaos Energy when I go into close combat. It’s a constant part of me even when I decide not to use it. You shouldn’t have to shut off another facet of yourself just to master another. Instead, you need to find a way to have them strengthen one another.”

Silver blinked and looked down at his hands, thinking back to how earlier Shadow and Sonic said that he needed to have more confidence in his abilities. He thought they had meant the one; the hand-to-hand ability but the two hedgehogs meant all of his skills in tandem. He wasn’t as strong as Shadow nor as fast as Sonic, but again…he had something they didn’t.

Something that he mastered that they couldn’t.

The power beneath his skin swelled almost in response to his revelation. As if it was saying “about time you realized it” and the voice almost sounded like Blaze. It rose just close enough to the surface that a gentle pressure settled in the back of Silver’s mind, a newfound determination rising along with it. He clenched his fists together tightly and nodded, a grin splitting on his muzzle.

“Oooo, someone’s all fired up now,” Sonic whistled, nodding over at Silver with a gleam in his eye. “If you’re not too tired after sparring with Shadow, I’d love to take you on too, Silver!”

For once, Silver wasn’t embarrassed at the idea of training with Sonic. He looked forward to it. The time-traveler laughed lightly and nodded his head. “I’ll accept that challenge!” he said before turning his attention back to Shadow. He crouched a bit and brought his hands up though his palms were open. “Alright, Shadow. I’m ready and don’t hold back either!”

Shadow blinked and shook his head, a small humorous huff leaving his lips as he got into his own battle stance. “If you’re so sure, Silver. This means you better meet my hits and strike harder than you did before,” he said, narrowing his eyes. His eyes practically glowed. “I’ll still take it slow for your sake but I won’t hold back my strength as much.”

Both hedgehogs maintained eye contact as they stared the other down, the room falling settling into a heavy silence. Silver’s heart pounded against his chest and he curled his fists tight, feeling the buzzing of energy just underneath his skin. In the next beat, Shadow shifted first, his body moving forward quickly. He feinted to the right before twisting back, raising his fist and throwing a punch. Silver reached his hand out and it ignited with a bright cyan. Once more, he felt the phantom pressure of Shadow’s fist striking his palm before he pushed it aside, spinning around the hedgehog to try to drive his elbow into his side. The dark hedgehog easily dodged the move, going to feint to the left before driving his fist forward into Silver’s stomach.

The time-traveler felt the breath escape him as he slid back, the glow of his power covering his body to slow him to a stop before he dismissed it. He gritted his teeth and watched as Shadow ran at him, opting to remain in control of the fight. Silver blocked each strike as quickly as he could, bringing his arms up in front of him when Shadow leaned back to swing his left leg around in a wide kick. With the next kick thrown at him, Silver leaned his body to the right and rolled on the ground. He braced his hand on the ground and swung his leg under the other, catching Shadow in the back of the leg. He fell but planted both his hands on the ground, pushing his body to flip backwards and create more space between the two of them.

Silver quickly shot back up to his feet and ran forward while the other was pushing up, clenching his fist and swinging it into Shadow’s chest. His eyes widened for a second as the hit landed, a grin spreading out on his face when he heard the other hedgehog grunt.

“Gotcha!” he couldn’t help but exclaim in a burst of pride though it was short-lived.

Shadow’s hand quickly grasped around Silver’s wrist tightly and he turned to press his back against Silver’s chest. The time-traveler tried to pull his wrist back as he realized what the other was about to do but to no avail, his body getting pulled over as Shadow flipped him into the ground.

He could hear the dramatic wince Sonic let out as his back slammed into the ground, his eyes going wide as the hard floor stung against his back. From his current angle, Shadow’s expression looked like the other was offering him a smile but the hedgehog knew the truth. With a small curse, he spread his arms out wide on the floor, his chest heaving up and down.

Shadow huffed and walked around so Silver could see him at the proper angle and…huh. He actually was smiling, albeit a small hardly noticeable expression.

“You didn’t do terrible there,” the hybrid said as he crossed his arms. The darker hedgehog hardly looked winded unlike Silver and the sight made his ears pin back in annoyance. Shadow must’ve noticed because his smile dropped and he rolled his eyes. “You’re not going to be an expert right away and we probably should stop for the day. You’re exhausted and it’ll only cause you to get sloppier if we continued.”

A counter rested on the silver hedgehog’s tongue but he ultimately resigned. He finally found a method to his fighting and wanted to continue on, but the other had a point. Before the turning point of their sparring lesson, it all was one-sided. Repeatedly, he found himself in this very position at the start but now…well, he was currently in that same position but it felt different this time. Before, he had no method or strategy, and just went in with an idea of how he wanted to fight. But now?

Shadow beat him but Silver could learn from it rather than stewing in his frustration.

When a glove entered his field of vision, he was snapped out of his thoughts. Sonic leaned over him with a smile on his face, waving his hand again until Silver grasped it. The blue hedgehog pulled him to his feet and pat him on the back with a small laugh.

“Next time you too spar with each other, I’m definitely tagging in!” he said, his eyes lowering slightly as he glanced over at Shadow. “And I bet I could be a better teacher than you too, Faker!”

The darker hedgehog scoffed and turned his head. “You being patient enough to teach? That would be a sight to see. Besides, why would he want to learn from someone with inferior combat skills?” he said with a sneer, his lips turned up bitterly at the corners. “You have many skills but I haven’t seen anything impressive with your hand-to-hand. If anything, you may need lessons as well.”

From there, the two launched into the familiar round of bickering, attempting to one-up the other with recalled stories and challenges. Silver blinked and shook his head with a small smile before deciding to put a pin in it all.

“I think maybe Shadow is the best teacher for me, Sonic,” he said, rolling his eyes when the blue hedgehog looked at him with a betrayed expression. Quickly, he shook his head and patted the other’s shoulder. “Not that you wouldn’t do great. But…Shadow just…um. Is more…disciplined than you?”

Both hedgehogs blinked and looked at him with a surprised look before Sonic snickered and Shadow turned his head with some words muttered under his breath. The hero threw his arms behind his head and sighed loudly, his grin lowering into a gentle smile as he glanced at Shadow with one eye open. “Yeah, he is, isn’t he?” he remarked, his smile only growing when Shadow began to head towards the door. “You two did great training and I don’t think Shadow’s sparred with anyone else who wasn’t me.”

“Eh? Really?” Silver asked and he turned to watch Shadow’s retreating figure. It actually made sense when he thought about it more. The two have gone toe-to-toe on numerous occasions so aside from enemies, Sonic would be the only person who could keep up with Shadow.

But if that’s the case-

“You sure I wasn’t just a light practice for him? This session didn’t go as a I planned if I’m being honest.”

Sonic rubbed his nose as he began to walk away, turning to watch Silver as he moved backwards. He shook his head playfully and crossed his arms. “Have more confidence in yourself, Silver! The minute you said you wanted to continue, you proved to him that you have what it takes. Just gotta hone your skills more in the way you can,” he said with a wink. “Don’t limit yourself, bud. You’re stronger than you think in more ways than one.”

Silver blinked and he looked down at his hands, the power running beneath his skin thrumming with excitement. The time-traveler clenched his fists and smiled, his body glowing as he lifted in the air.

Stronger in more ways than one.

That was a good way of looking at it.

[nubimera]

However I just want to say that it isn't talked about enough that "I Know Those Eyes/This Man Is Dead" from the musical The Count of Monte Cristo is the perfect song for Jason

[yingren]

“You look like shit, man.”

HURT / COMFORT : STARTERS / accepting.

“ that’s bold coming from you. ” might be bold, but it’s not entirely untrue. there are certainly days when ren isn’t at his best - days like this, when everything he’s been avoiding finally catches up to drag him down. the weight on his shoulders is heavy: the persistent lack of sleep, the looming threat of an inevitable headache, the ever-present shadow of the mara festering within him. though he’s been doing better recently, or so he likes to believe, there are still challenges to this slower, unfamiliar rhythm that he continues to wrestle with even now.

irony clings to him every time he’s near the archivist, carving that filthy hollow within him even deeper, a grave he’s unwittingly shaped over the countless years spent in pursuit. the hunter locks eyes with his prey, fleetingly wonders what flesh might taste like between wolfish canines, then shakes the thought loose as if banishing an unwelcome whisper, continuing as though nothing ever happened. over & over again, ren adjusts to this cursed truce he has sworn to uphold. if there is one unyielding truth about him, it is this: ren will honor his word, no matter the recipient or the reason, unflinching even when the stakes run impossibly high. dan heng is safe. not out of affection, but sheer obligation.

predator lies quiet, restrained in the aftermath of past conflicts, sparing its prey. for now.

any other man might wrestle with regret or lingering thoughts about his past choices, especially when faced with someone tied to a shared history as bitter and fractured as theirs. but not ren. the memories that surface are not a wistful montage of lost camaraderie or futile attempts to mend what was broken. instead, they are a relentless bloodbath, a carnage where every body is his own and every spear piercing him is one of his own making - wielded by the reincarnation of the very man to whom it was once dedicated. a grotesque, abhorrent cycle of disgrace and ruin.

ren harbors no grand delusions about his own standing. this isn't about knocking him down a peg, the hunter does not sit atop some imagined throne of superiority, though it might occasionally seem that way. when the mara takes hold, and it strikes hardest when dan heng is the spark, the dynamic shifts. a flicker of irritation crosses his crimson eyes as ren exhales slowly, the weight of the moment palpable. the scales have tipped dramatically since that fateful day, since his relentless pursuit ground to a halt, since dan heng seized the upper hand in every conceivable way. ren is a cursed man, perpetually adding to his own affliction.

“ what do you want ? you come to bother me as if it is a new hobby of yours. unbelievable. surely you are more creative than that. ”

[toastedsmoreo]

I gotta be less terminally online bc every time I think about jjk’s ending I get annoyed

[orcelito]

I'm tired of dreaming about my dad. I know it's part of processing, but I am just so tired.

[jichanxo]

senseific ask time yet again: is there a non-placeholder title for it already? and is the fic turning out completely different from what you’ve had in mind at first (the length of it doesn’t count)?

1. a title? nope. I tend to title my fics towards the end of writing (or sometimes only when I’m writing up my ao3 listing lol so the literal last possible second) it’s going to be an interesting time for sure when I eventually have to think about titles… and chapter titles too… both daunting and fun. senseific is like my baby at this point it’s gonna feel so odd. I think I remember you mentioning you like to title things earlier and that surprised me! now that you mention it though it might be good to start thinking it over...

2. I’m not sure, since my initial ideas on senseific were pretty vague. I suppose I was anticipating it being more lighthearted, but in the end I think it’s going to be a bit more serious? I’d always imagined yagami and kitakata fighting quite a bit and it not necessarily being a big deal, but things didn’t really end up that way. their disagreements are more loaded than I anticipated...

[tanjir0se]

I don’t mean any offense by this but what do you mean you write in character when you aren’t familiar with the characters at all? How do you know you’re doing anything right? And why do you write for things you don’t know about? No hate I am just curious what you mean or if I misunderstand.

Hi !

So to clarify, I don’t write for characters I’m not at least somewhat familiar with. At most I’ll write (in a fandom I’m already familiar with, like Demon Slayer) something including a character I’m also already at least familiar with but may not know the full backstory of (like Genya and Sanemi).

Using the example of Genya and Sanemi, I’ve seen them both in canon interacting with other characters, we’ve been told a bit about their backstory, their hopes and wants and motivations, and I understand how the show and plot typically works. So even if I don’t know everything about them I consider myself familiar enough to usually be able to write the characters in a way that feels authentic to them no matter what plot happens. Even if the events of canon end up playing out differently, the characters still FEEL in-character (within the little alternate universe plot I’ve created in my own story)

I think I’m doing it right based on feedback I’ve gotten from people who are more familiar than I am (have read the manga, in this example) who say that I did a good job of staying in character. This is one of the more common comments I get on my fics, actually! (My mother is very proud /j)

I write about things I don’t know about because I think it’s fun to speculate on what might happen via writing as an exercise in analyzing/studying the media and the characters itself. Like “wow what is going to happen with X and Y character?? What if it’s this? I’m going to write it!”

That being said I don’t ever write for fandoms I’m unfamiliar with because at that point I’d just write some original fiction and use my own characters lol. And typically if I’m writing a character I am extremely unfamiliar with, they appear as a side character and not main.

To sum up:

1. I am familiar with the characters

2. I know I’m doing it right because I’m familiar enough with the source material and also my commenters seem to think I’m doing it right

3. I don’t lol

_(:3 」∠)_

[ettawritesnstudies]

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