#happy birthday to gerald

[pumpire]

[writingtraumaforever]

Promises: A SonicXShadow Generations Ending/Sonadowtober Day 21: Reincarnation

Summary/Explanation: Okay. So I just binge played SonicXShadow Generations, and I had to write something. It absolutely shattered me. And watching poor Shadow stand off on his own and not wave when Classic left through the portal just hit me different, okay?? So here’s something that takes place at the party after the final battles and before Classic leaves.

Or.

Shadow always keeps his promises and Classic gives the best hugs.~

SonicXShadow Generations Spoilers!

Oneshot:

If there’s one thing that everyone knows about Shadow it’s that he keeps his promises.

Even when he’s been through an absolute hell of a day..

Deep down he had known from the beginning that saving Maria and the doctor wasn’t a realistic possibility.. given how messing with the time stream can be finicky.

Still, he had allowed himself to hope.

Hope.. an ongoing enemy of his.

He had rationalized his hopes with small factors: how Silver is a time traveler and he hasn’t ruined the time stream, how destiny had obviously given him a second chance at saving them, how even if he did change the time stream, the world would be better with Maria than without..

But in the end, reality gave him a hard kick to the gut—as always— and left him breathless, lacking the emotional capacity to quite process the loss a second time.

At least he got to say goodbye this time, he’d tell himself. At least she wasn’t brutally murdered for his sake this time. At least he got to hold her hands and smile for her and promise to keep her wish for this world..

Promises promises..

That’s why he’s here. Promises.

Standing at Sonic’s silly birthday party after everything because of a promise he made to Rouge. A deal. A ride to the ARK for his presence at the party.

He’s here. But he’s not..

Standing alone off to the side, Shadow watches as everyone celebrates Sonic’s victory.. none knowing what he himself has endured. Not that that isn’t typical.. he’s not exactly an open hedgehog.

Standing with his fists tight and arms crossed over his chest, he turns his eyes away from the group and begins walking to a nearby ledge overlooking the area.. needing some peace.

He approaches the ledge beneath a tree and stares out at the terrain.. thinking of how much she would’ve loved to see it all. That bland white space is the closest she had gotten to seeing the planet again since being treated on the ARK.. and it wasn’t near enough. She deserved to see it all in color, in the present… she deserved so much more..

His eyes shut, brows furrowing a bit as his jaw tightens and his fingers flicker bits of red and black.. power he hasn’t quite gained full control of yet despite using it in battle. He’ll have to work on that..

Right now though? He just.. misses her.

He lets a silent tear fall down his cheek in his moment of privacy, his mouth pursed tight as he swallows at the lump in his throat—

“Ngh—!”

He flinches and grunts a bit as he feels a rather hard and poky pressure smash into his legs, eyes flashing open to look down and find the younger Faker standing there with wide, dark eyes staring back at him.

He must’ve ran into Shadow practicing his spindash..

He looks like a deer in headlights.

Shadow looks like one as well, to be fair. Briefly. Before he quickly lets his scowl return and lifts a fist to rub his tear away a bit aggressively to glares down at the little bother.

“Watch where you’re going,” he sneers, meaning for it to come off as intimidating.. but his voice betrays him and cracks into a pitiful and pathetic sound near the end. It’s enough to have him quickly snapping his gaze away again as his eyes feel pressure and heat behind them rising. He doesn’t want to see the sympathetic look on the younger Sonic’s face. He doesn’t want his pity. 

Still. The younger Sonic’s expression turns from one of slight intimidation to one of surprise.. and then melts into one of sympathy. His gloved fists open, mouth parting a bit as he ponders Shadow’s words and behavior..

Shadow stands in silence, eyes locked on the horizon ahead waiting for the small blue hedgehog to leave.. what he doesn’t expect is another smaller impact on his legs again and chunky little arms wrapping around them.

A hug.. that’s what Shadow thinks this is.

He blinks and looks down to see the younger Sonic’s face pressed against his hip, arms tight around his legs with his wide eyes now shut as he holds onto him..

No one ever hugs Shadow.

No one has ever tried.

The only person who has is gone now.. her second goodbye leaving him less broken than the first but still aching.

Shadow’s arms hover uncomfortably for a long moment, watery ruby eyes wide and staring down at the kid. The younger hedgehog doesn’t let up, just keeps hugging him. It occurs to Shadow that this… is a very Sonic thing to do. This kid doesn’t know Shadow. Not yet anyway. But he saw Shadow upset, and despite Shadow’s aggression.. he chose to comfort him. 

This shamelessly obnoxious persistence and disgustingly good nature seems to be something Sonic has always had..

It reminds him of her..

Shadow stands frozen for some time before eventually.. his heart melts just a bit. 

‘I don’t want you to be driven by darkness. I want you to be happy.’

His hand moves down to rest on the young Sonic’s head between his ears, the kid’s ears twitching a bit in response but he just hugs Shadow tighter. 

Shadow’s brows knit just slightly as he felt the tears in his eyes swell more at the idea of letting himself be vulnerable right now. After everything.

His mouth quivers, pursed shut as big, dark eyes finally look back up to him again and for just a moment.. Maria flashes before him instead. He sees her staring up at him. Begging him to ‘Stand in the light with peace in your heart’.

His lips part with a quiet gasp as he looks at the child with some form of closure growing in him.

The epiphany is broken with the sound of a stick cracking beneath the tree behind them. Shadow’s gaze immediately shifts to see Sonic standing there— the one he is use to— with his own emerald eyes wide at the scene before him.

The blue hedgehog stares, gives a long, awkward “uhhhh” and then stutters something along the lines of “I was just—you were— I was looking for—he— uh-“

Shadow’s hand snaps off from the younger Sonic’s head as the older Sonic clears his throat to try again.

“Sorry to interrupt— I was just checking on little me. Little Tails seems to think that the time stream is gonna open up a portal any time now to send them back and straighten out the timeline, so..”

He trailed off and the younger Sonic just nods and lets go of Shadow’s legs to take a step back from him. Shadow looks to the kid again to see him back up and observe him a moment before smiling with a wink and thumbs up.

Shadow, for all that’s left of him, tries his best to offer a smile in return. Even if it’s sad, it is grateful. And he returns the thumbs up. The younger Sonic seems pleased enough by this, beaming before turning back to his older self and dashing over to him to fist bump him the run around him back to the others.

Shadow watches.. then looks to Sonic who is still standing there looking unsure about what just happened.

Shadow’s frown returns, looking down and then turning back around to cross his arms again and look back to the horizon.

He knew it was too much to hope Sonic would simply walk away and leave it be. His ears flick back when he hears footsteps approaching, sighing heavy and preparing himself for whatever it is Sonic is about to say.

Sonic doesn’t speak for a moment. Just moves to stand by Shadow. Shadow can feel his gaze on him. He can sense how Sonic is a bit tense, a bit awkward, a bit unsure..

And when Sonic’s mouth opens and then closes again, Shadow doesn’t speak. Just waits for Sonic to decide what it is he wants to say.

Sonic eventually figures it out.

“You uh… you wanna tell me what that was about, or..?”

“No.”

“Right.”

Silence again.

Shadow takes a deep breath and sighs it out, the building pressure of tears in his eyes having now subsided and left him feeling… numb. But not in a pained way so much as just.. tired. But there’s also a hint of peace there.

“Well you know..,” Sonic speaks again, Shadow taking note of the slight hesitation before Sonic hand rests on his shoulder and squeezes it, “I’m here if you need to talk..”

Shadow cocks a brow, looking at Sonic’s hand on his shoulder before lifting his gaze to meet Sonic’s. He merely huffs in acknowledgement.

Sonic quickly moves his hand off Shadow and rubs the back of his neck with a shrug and chuckled, “Or just need to race! Don’t expect me to go easy on ya though just because you’re havin’ a bad day.”

Shadow’s eyes narrow at Sonic and Sonic just grins that cocky, annoying smile at him..

Shadow closes his eyes and smirks, a huff from his nose in amusement.

“I’ll keep that in consideration, Hedgehog.”

Sonic’s grin softens at that, nodding before moving to turn and leave.

“Sonic.”

Sonic freezes.

“Yeah?”

“…Happy birthday.”

Sonic’s eyes widen a bit in surprise before a silly little smile grows on his muzzle, a light rose tint to his cheeks, “Oh! Uh— thanks, Shads.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Sure.”

Shadow just smirks a bit and lifts a hand in acknowledgment before turning back away from Sonic again.

He listens as Sonic slowly takes a few steps backwards before turning completely and walking away back to the party. 

Alone again. But maybe not as alone as he previously thought.

Shadow stares at the horizon.

Promises. That’s why he’s here.

And it’s why he’ll stay.. 

[hjbirthdaywishes]

October 1, 2024

Happy 54 Birthday to Gerald Downey.

[nevermind-stop-forever]

My other sister caught some toads in our yard and named them Ruby and Gerald. My dad told her there were no toads in the house. So she said goodbye to Ruby and brought Gerald in the house.

"You said no toaDS in the house, I'm just bringing toaD"

[meegan420]

Happy B-Day Kyle South Park/South Paws 🐾

[mrdoctordoctor]

Colored in happy birthday to kahl

[busterkeatonsociety]

#SundaySales Celebrate many happy returns to the Keaton fan in your life by sending one of these! busterstuff.com/product/buster-keaton-birthday-cards/289

[dinosaurchurch]

My sweet potato turns 7 today.

Gerald is definitely my favourite rescue cat. He’s absolutely the sweetest and I love spoiling him.

[purpleflower19072]

Unstoppable

NOTE: This will contains slight Shadow Generations if you keep reading so be aware.

Unstoppable

If you knew that attending Sonic’s birthday party would led you to being stuck in a quiet, white video, you would have skipped like Shadow did. You weren’t all that close to Sonic anyway; he was an acquaintance you met through Rouge and Shadow. You only went to the party to be piolet because you knew Shadow wasn’t going no matter how much Rouge begged.

You walked around trying to find some sort of exit. In vain you knew but you had no desire to wait on Sonic to defeat whatever was causing this. You were miffed with Sonic for leaving you alone. The void was white with random enemies from the past even the Black Arms. Though, thankfully, they did not attack. The place had no smell and was not either hot or cold. Empty besides the random floating pieces of road.

“Y/N?” said the familiar soft voice of Shadow your boyfriend. 

“Shadow?” you turned around.

Shadow was gliding towards you. Your eyes widened as you saw that he did indeed grow wings. His wings were black with red highlights. The texture from your viewpoint seems to be brittle.

“What’s with the wings?” you asked

Shadow grabbed your hand.

“My new powers from Black Doom,” he started walking; leading you somewhere.

“Black Doom? So he is back?” 

“That’s right. Don’t worry, with these new powers I am unstoppable,” he gave you a confident smirk, “But, are you alright?”

“A little scared. Sonic released me earlier but ran off leaving me alone,”

“Idiot. He attacked me then also ran off,”

“He acts like the world revolves around him like he’s the main character in a video game,”

Shadow chuckles then his smirk turns into a soft smile that you only see in his gentler moments.

“I’ll take you to Rouge, but first there are two people I want you to meet,” he gestured with his free hand forward.

Ahead of you and Shadow stood an old man in a lab coat and a young girl in a blue dress. The girl waved at you and Shadow while the old man stared. It just hit you that this was Gerald and Maria Robotnik. Shadow was taking you to meet his father and sister. You were not dressed well because it was just Sonic’s birthday party. You didn’t plan on meeting Shadow’s family today nor did you have plans to be stuck in a void. You looked how happy Shadow was so you couldn’t disappoint.  

//Sorry for this being short; it was all I felt like writing. I will eventually write the reader meeting Gerald and Maria. I am almost done with Shadow Generations. I am on Act II of Radical Highway and it is kicking my ass. Anyway, listen to Unstoppable by Sooyoung. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtddIglLXn8

[glitcha-tr]

do you do sp art requests? :0 if so …can you draw gerald eating a GIANT bowl of mac and cheese. happy birthday

Here just for you, i hope you liked! This is my first ask/request also thank you! XD Happy birthday too If have more Ask/requests for SP or other things, I would like to do <3

[bullets4august]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GERALD WAY 🥳

[hjbirthdaywishes]

April 20, 2024

Happy 50 Birthday to Viv Leacock.

[piizunn]

We Will Always Remember (Where We Met), 2024

House paint on un-stretched canvas

On display at AceArtInc in Winnipeg, Manitoba from September 6th to October 18th, 2034 as part of a group exhibition titled ‘Room To Grow Tall’ curated by Sanaa Humayun and Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet of Making Space, a BIPOC focused peer mentorship for visual artists.

We Will Always Remember (Where We Met) 2024 is an installation in the form of a map leading from AceArt Inc. to the Forks National Historic Site. The piece utilizes modern materials like latex house paint with traditional canvas, exploring themes of contemporary Métis homes, our trappers tents, and the ways in which Métis access knowledge, and housing, community, and our traditional spaces.

The map invites the viewer to walk from the gallery to The Forks as they consider the past and present uses of this land, and the relationship between the Métis and this sacred confluence. The work is a continuation of a piece created in 2024 for The New Gallery in Mohkinstsis titled let’s meet at the confluence which took the form of a public billboard in the downtown area.

At the core of my practice are concepts defined in the works of Gerald Vizenor, Sara Ahmed, and Chantal Fiola whose writings discuss notions of survivance, queer phenomenology, traditional Métis teachings, and appreciation for the lands that hold us.

The following is an accompanying text I wrote the morning of the workshop programming I planned for this exhibition.

Saturday, September 7th, 2024

12:01 PM

I’m staying with my friends B. and C. in their beautiful apartment in Winnipeg. They’re such sweethearts and I’m so grateful I can crash with them. I took the morning to myself after karaoke last night. I was sleepy and a little dehydrated so I stayed back to make my plan for the day.

I felt the sound of drums, I opened a window but the sound was coming from inside the building somewhere. I found the place where the drums were the loudest and standing in the dining room with my hand over my heart and a rowdy kitten named Mabel at my feet, I listened to the drummer as their voice joined the beat and felt the vibrations through my feet like the roots of a tree.

I texted my dad happy birthday, I had leftover root beer and french fries for breakfast, I let Mabel walk on my notebook as I write, and I’ll let myself move slowly today.

[curetapwater]

So Shadow was formed from a cauldron, but what does his life look like before his adventure begins? 👀

Glad you asked! Infodump about the ultimate pretty pink prince's backstory under the cut:

Much like in canon, Gerald creates Shadow to help find a cure for Maria. Unlike canon, though, Gerald in Barbie AU is the sorcerer king of the Robotnik kingdom, and as such is able to fund his own research. GUN doesn't exist here.

Aside from his obvious personal stake in saving his beloved granddaughter, Maria is the crown princess, next in line for the throne. If Project Shadow succeeds, it won't just save the princess, it'll save the royal lineage!

Maria's illness is first discovered when she's only an infant (I'm thinking it also killed her parents, which is why she's raised by her grandfather and is his heiress). It takes five years for Project Shadow to finally come to fruition, when all of Gerald's work culminates in a sweet little hoglet with black fur and unique pink stripes being born from his cauldron.

Gerald looks upon the creature that he's created, and soberly realizes he has created a life. Therefore, this creation is his son. And any son of the king is therefore a prince. Hence, he was dubbed Prince Shadow the Hedgehog.

Shadow's birth turned the palace laboratory into a nursery. His early years were spent studying his vitals, marinating in potent magical baths, and being treated as well as you'd expect a young prince to be. When he outgrew his cauldron around the age of five, he was moved into his own bed chamber (beside Maria's, of course) that he still resides in to this day.

Maria and Shadow were as inseparable as you can imagine. They were raised together as siblings. Maria was raised as a future queen, and Shadow was raised as her protector, her savior. But to her, he was simply her beloved baby brother (he's only five years her junior).

Maria's influence greatly rubbed off on Shadow. He didn't smile nearly as much as her, nor giggle, but she imparted on him her belief in making their kingdom happy. She also shared basically all of her hobbies with him - horseback riding, gardening, astronomy - as well as her aesthetic tastes.

He also took on hobbies of his own! Being the Ultimate Lifeform, Shadow was naturally trained in ways that would hone his physical capabilities. Namely, ice skating and ballet.

Shadow took interest in Maria's gorgeous wardrobe early on, and she was more than happy to help him develop his own sense of style. It's began with him trying on her dresses from when she was little, and progressed into his own wardrobe coming to look more like what one would expect of a princess, than a prince. He hasn't worn trousers to a formal event since he was 8 years old. Who is to tell the Ultimate Lifeform how to dress?

Shadow had a strong sense of purpose from an early age. He was raised with the knowledge that he wasn't born naturally, but created for a specific purpose. His birth is hailed as a miracle of magical technology. A modern legend to his subjects, and a curiosity to his (mostly human) peers in the upper class. Gerald and Maria made him feel like an equal, but those outside of his immediate family often made him feel like an outsider in what was meant to be his own community. He particularly never liked the way Lord Ivo looked at him like he was more a lab rat than a cousin...

Everything changed on the night of his fifteenth birthday. As his birth was celebrated, as he was hailed as a living miracle who would save the kingdom, he felt overwhelmed and at a loss. He had all these expectations placed upon him, but feared he couldn't live up to them. Outside of knowing he was immortal and... different... he didn't think anything was especially "ultimate" about him. He felt no great power that supposedly ran through his veins... only fear that he'd fail.

He didn't voice it until Maria sequestered him away to stargaze away from it all. There, she listened to his woes and reminded him that even if you cant see the light, it is a shadow that shows you where to find it. She asked him that they promise something to each other: to give all the people in their kingdom a chance to be happy.

Not even an hour later, did their jealous sorcerer cousin enact his plan to steal Maria's place in line for the throne. Wielding a scepter running on stolen power, Ivo blasted Maria right before Shadow’s eyes. She disappeared in a burst of cyan.

Shadow was traumatized, and Gerald was devastated. Ivo was banished, but Gerald was set on never letting this happen again. With Shadow as his only remaining child, he'd do everything in his power to keep him from harm.

Shadow was technically in line for the throne now, but as the years progressed and Gerald discovered new ways to prolong life, he managed to unnaturally lengthen his own. Rather than being treated as a future king, Shadow was treated like a fragile treasure to be locked away.

Over the course of fifty years, Shadow grew into a young man (and stayed that way; yay immortality) but was never treated as one. He was forbidden from leaving palace grounds, hardly received visitors, and was given no indication that this would ever change. To go from being treated as the Ultimate Lifeform, to a breakable doll to be placed in a room, collecting dust... it was quite the blow to his confidence. The distance between Shadow and his father only grew as years stretched into decades.

Shadow busied himself by becoming quite the renaissance man. In addition to honing the skills he already possessed, he also took up painting, singing, and multiple musical instruments (his favorite being the piano), as well as becoming rather well-read. He also developed quite the rebellious streak, sneaking out so often that an alarm system was set up in the palace just to make catching him easier.

This is where we see Shadow when his story truly begins. Insecure, estranged from his father, and isolated in a gilded cage for fifty years. Surely, his extremely sheltered life won't bring him any problems when he's plunged into an adventure that puts his resolve to the test?

@sonic-au-collision

[norsienor]

happy 47th birthday gerald