#or her looking for sonic or asking somebody about sonic or something

[sonknuxadow]

writing wise theres a lot of things i like about sonic battle but the way theyre handling amy so far is kind of um. uhhh . i havent actually gotten to amys episode yet just interacted with her briefly in other characters' episodes so maybe things will get better eventually but um.

[virune]

Oh oh story prompt!

"After a rather long day, two very tired hedgehogs find out they've been sharing a secret resting place"? Hope that makes sense, just two hedgehogs being like "oi this is my isolated sleepy spot-" LMAO

Sonic was bone-tired.

Eggman had really pulled out all the stops today. Droves upon droves of badniks, all powered by a chaos emerald that the doctor had somehow managed to get his mitts on. Then, if that weren't bad enough, he'd even brought Metal Sonic along with him, if only to add insult to injury.

It was all over now, at least: with the help of his friends - Tails' smarts, Amy's perseverance, Knuckles' strength, and Rouge's cunning, the doctor's evil plot had been sufficiently brought to an end, one destroyed badnik at a time.

"Wasn't expecting you to join the party, Rouge," Sonic had told the bat, smiling at her as she dusted off her immaculate clothes.

"Well, let's just say I happened to be in the area." Rouge's replies always seemed to be intentionally cryptic, Sonic noticed. "And besides, any chance I have to knock that rotten doctor down a peg, I'll take. He's a nuisance for all of us."

"Hah! Can't argue with that." Sonic rubbed his arm, and then reached out a hand just as Rouge was about to fly off. "Wait! I - can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Big Blue." There was a twinkle in the bat's eye, one that Sonic only usually saw when Shadow was nearby. Speaking of which…

"How come Shadow wasn't with you? Is he… on a mission?"

"That's right." Rouge's eyes seemed to glitter even more, as though she could sense his disappointment. "Very important business. I'm sure you understand."

Sonic offered a smile. "Yeah."

"Why, were you hoping to see him?"

"What - I - no! I was just curious! You two are friends, aren't you?"

Rouge's hand found a place on her hip, pinning Sonic in place with a gaze that seemed to be able to find anything it ever searched for. She had always been so incredibly perceptive - especially when it came to Sonic's little… crush.

"Of course," she said, her voice smooth and nonchalant. It made his fur stand on end. "Don't sweat it, hon. I'm sure you'll get to see him soon."

Before Sonic could babble out a flustered reply, Rouge took off at last, disappearing into the darkening sky.

Wow, was it that late already? Despite his frazzled nerves, Sonic found himself feeling tired, mouth stretching open into a generous yawn. Well, since Eggman had been taken care of, surely it couldn't hurt to grab some shut-eye.

Luckily for him, he knew a nice little spot. Somewhere quiet and undisturbed. And it wasn't too far from here - at least, not at the speed he was capable of.

And so, with a final wave goodbye to his friends, Sonic vanished up the mountain in a cobalt blue streak.

---

Someone was in his spot.

Even from up on the bank, Sonic couldn't miss the orange glow coming from the cabin windows, nor the smoke billowing from the chimney. It was getting darker still, and somebody had stumbled upon this place and made it their own.

But who?

This old cabin had been left, seemingly abandoned, up on a mountain. Surely nobody could find it under normal means. Sonic himself only found the cabin because he'd decided to take a detour from his usual running path, winding up the mountain until he was pushing open the door to look inside.

It was a nice little cabin, too. Nobody came back to claim it so Sonic decided to… well, make it his own little place, so to speak. He didn't have any qualms sleeping outside, but sometimes curling up in front of a warm fire was nice too. So what if he wanted to indulge himself from time to time? He thought he'd earned that at least, saving the world as often as he did, and as he continued to do.

So to discover that someone else had snuck in while he'd been distracted made him a little annoyed.

He didn't want to just barge in the front door - after all, if they were capable of scaling the mountain, Sonic couldn't underestimate whoever was inside. Was it Eggman? Had he found the cabin somehow? Had he followed Sonic there and set up a trap?

Whatever the case, Sonic had to be ready for a fight.

He approached as quietly as he could; stealth was never his forte, but if he wanted the upper hand, then he needed to be delicate. After all, he'd hate for his beloved cabin to get destroyed in an altercation. Maybe he could take down the intruder swiftly, or find some way to lure them out before they fought. Keeping the cabin intact was his main priority.

Sonic went to peek through the window, but he grit his teeth with some irritation to find that the curtains had been pulled shut. Damn. What now? The front door lacked any windows or mail slot. How could he get inside without being noticed?

He saw it then. On the second floor. An open window.

Hah! Had the intruder completely forgotten to close it? Sonic took a couple steps back and gauged the distance - he could probably climb up. A running jump would be too noisy. So, giving himself a moment to stretch, he braced himself against the bricks and began to ascend.

His fingers hurt, digging deep in the crevices between each brick, but he pushed on. The window was inches away now. He pushed himself up, brushing the windowsill with his fingertips and hoisting his body up. Slowly, silently, Sonic climbed through and into the bathroom.

It was dark. But it was also empty. A good sign. That meant he hadn't been caught yet. He closed the bathroom window behind him before he tried the door handle, opening it as carefully as he could to avoid making any sound. It was so uncharacteristic of Sonic to move this slowly, but he tried his best, because his favourite sleeping spot was in jeopardy.

He tiptoed along the carpet at the top of the stairs and peeked down over the railing to see if he could spot anything. The glow was brighter from here and he realised it was coming from the hearth in the living room. Someone was using up all the firewood! Oh, the nerve. If they weren't dangerous, maybe Sonic could convince them to leave.

The first step creaked under his weight and Sonic froze, expecting alarm bells to sound off, expecting a trap to spring, expecting badniks to swarm him. Anything. Instead, nothing happened. The fire crackled. The peace continued on.

OK, well, he wasn't in trouble yet. He still had time to figure out who the intruder was. Taking a deep breath, Sonic made his way down the rest of the stairs. He was standing near the doorway now. The living room was just around the corner. He could see the shadows of a figure dancing on the opposite wall; whoever they were, they'd made themselves pretty comfortable on the sofa.

Sonic squinted his eyes. As he focused harder, he realised that the silhouette looked vaguely familiar. They weren't moving - were they asleep? - but he couldn't deny that the stranger seemed to have quills that turned upwards at the end in a way that was so distinct, so unnatural for a hedgehog to have.

He inhaled again, and he caught the unmistakable scent of lavender in his nose.

It couldn't be.

He turned the corner at last.

"You!"

Shadow jolted upright, the book he'd apparently been engrossed in falling from his lap and thudding against the floor. His red eyes met Sonic's, burning brightly against the glow of the fire.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Shadow asked.

"What am I - what are you?" Sonic cried, incredulous. "This is my cabin!"

Shadow removed the green woollen blanket from his legs to stand up. "Don't be ridiculous. I found this cabin months ago."

Sonic balked. That couldn't be right. He found the cabin. He'd been coming here regularly for weeks - months, even!

"I don't understand. This is my favourite sleeping spot. I didn't think anyone else knew about this place…"

Shadow retrieved his book from the floor, dog-earing the page he was on and sitting back down. "That makes two of us."

"So, spill. How often do you come here?"

"Couple times a month. When I have a moment."

"So do I." Sonic stepped closer. "Listen, I had to deal with Eggman today. Rouge was there. Where were you?"

"Elsewhere," was all Shadow answered.

Sonic clenched his fists. He was always happy to see Shadow, although he'd never admit it, but he wasn't happy about this new discovery.

"Alright, well. I'm pretty tired, and I wanted to rest here tonight…"

Shadow stared at him. "So?"

"So!" Sonic fumbled, gesturing vaguely to the door. "Leave! So I can relax."

Instead of leaving, Shadow tilted his head to the side. "Why don't we both just stay here? I'm willing to tolerate it, if it's all the same to you."

Sonic's mouth snapped shut. His face was warm, and not because of the fire. Absolutely not. There's no way he could relax with Shadow, of all people, around. Especially not in such a… comfortable, domestic setting. It was too much for him. He'd rather run a hundred laps through a blizzard than cope with his stupid feelings.

A hand patted the empty spot on the sofa, breaking Sonic from his thoughts.

"Sit. I want to finish this chapter."

Sonic frowned, willing his heart to stop racing. He eased himself onto the sofa next to Shadow, staring straight ahead. For some reason he was afraid to look. Shadow was much too close.

"Rouge recommended this book to me." Shadow's voice was soft and deep and it all but made Sonic nearly jump out of his pelt. "I'm about halfway through now. She expects to hear my thoughts on it."

"Oh?" Sonic dared to look, then, if only because Shadow's attention was directed down at the book in his hands. He scooted closer, just a fraction, to see what the writing was like. The scent of lavender was much stronger now. "Is it good?"

"I'm enjoying it," Shadow admitted. Sonic caught the ghost of a smile on Shadow's face and decided that he liked it, and would very much like to see Shadow smile more often.

"Good," was all Sonic could say, quite hopelessly, as he willed himself to relax into the sofa cushion. His eyes drifted closed for just a moment, exhaustion setting in as he basked in the soothing warmth.

"Let's agree that this cabin is off-limits for fighting," Shadow said. His eyes didn't leave the book, but Sonic wasn't so sure he was actually reading anymore. "It's too nice to ruin."

Sonic's mouth suddenly felt dry, but he worked hard to get his voice back. "Y-yeah," he stammered out, feeling like an idiot. "I don't think either of us will wanna give it up, right?"

Shadow hummed in agreement. "We'll just have to compromise. That means sharing."

"Sharing," Sonic confirmed. Despite himself, he found himself smiling at the idea.

Basked in the firelight, he snuggled just a bit closer to Shadow, whose body was as warm as the fire. He could probably get used to this, he reckoned.

Before he knew it, Sonic fell asleep to the scent of lavender and an arm around his waist.

[madelynhimegami]

Ringo Ando Guide

As a reminder, you're free to request which characters I do these of! I've started the next one, but after that I don't think I have more on the docket. So please feel free to suggest! And/or ask relevant questions.

Anyway,

Ringo Ando has an insatiable curiosity. Her quest for knowledge is never-ending and she always wants to learn more.

Academically, her greatest strengths and interests are in math and physics, but this does not necessarily limit her to those subjects.

By default, Ringo tries to maintain a chill demeanor.

She speaks pretty normally, but has a tendency to utilize precise diction, even when it's not needed.

And sometimes she'll just say something completely off-the-wall and keep going like it's no big deal.

Ringo has a relatively high surprise threshold, but when she does get surprised she goes 0 to 60 pretty much immediately.

When this happens, her filter gets knocked loose and she speaks without processing her words before they're already out.

The one surefire exception to that low-surprise threshold is ghosts. Just mentioning them upsets her. She's also not crazy about environments that look like they might end up involving ghosts.

Being in the presence of a ghost usially results in either a meltdown or a BSOD.

While Ringo says she dislikes them for being unscientific, that's a cover (because of course it is, the girl uses magic).

The truth is her grandmother terrified her with ghost stories at a young age. One story in particular was about the ghost of a young girl that cheerfully spoke in puns before murdering her victims.

Speaking of her grandmother, the apple she carries around in manzai is from her.

When something manages to catch Ringo's interest, she tends to laser focus on it so she can hypothesize and/or experiment with it.

A sufficiently interesting thing will make Ringo excited.

When excited, she'll start singing an improvised song based on her situation. These songs often include spelling out a keyword (with English letters).

She's also prone to laughter when excited. This laughter can range from "eager giggling" to "mad cackling."

The more excited she gets, the more likely she ends up getting carried away by whatever she's doing.

Like forgetting her surroundings, or taking others for granted.

Things that tend to excite her are * Mysteries, puzzles, problems, and the solving thereof * Experimenting * Experiencing scifi and fantasy tropes firsthand * Sonic the Hedgehog and Space Channel 5 (probably other Sega franchises too) * Magical girl tropes * Adventures * Discovering and experiencing things that broaden her horizons

If it's not clear by now, Ringo Ando is a huge nerd.

Her boundless enthusiasm for learning means she tends to have a stronger memory than others, where spacetime shenanigans are concerned.

Her memory isn't perfect, though. Case in point, Ringo is absolutely terrible at remembering names. So she usually refer to people by descriptive nicknames for the most part. The exceptions are her closest friends. And Satan.

In fact, she always addresses him as "Lord Satan," whereas most of the cast just sticks with "Satan." My guess is because she gets a thrill out of being able to unironically call somebody "Lord Satan."

Your regular reminder that Ringo does not dislike Ecolo and considers him a close friend, and she did so before Ecolo ever did. In her own words, Ringo says that Ecolo isn't a bad kid.

Being the daughter of greengrocers, Ringo is very health-conscious when it comes to food.

She also knows how to cook fairly well… but her experimental tendencies combined with health focus means that she'll end up making something weird (but technically healthy!) anyway.

Ringo will, apropos of nothing, narrate out loud, like she's addressing an audience that isn't there. This includes expository introductions of characters as a greeting ("If it isn't my childhood friend and lifelong neighbor, Maguro Sasaki!")

Sometimes she does just refer to people by their full name. Might be because of the narration, could just be something she does.

Ringo's vision, at 20/4, is literally superhuman and on par with birds of prey.

Experiments she's performed in her physics club include sending chocolate through spacetime (successful), making a philosopher's stone with fruits and vegetables as ingredients (unknown success/failure), and figuring out what Ecolo is made of ("heck if I know").

But other than all of that, Ringo is a perfectly ordinary teenager.

[taylortruther]

I kinda feel the same way about the album now that it's been a little over a month. I loved it at first listen but I don't have as many obvious standouts or favorites on this album either. I felt the opposite with Midnights and it needed to grow on me at first but now I have favorites on that album and love it. Somebody mentioned a similar feeling on Reddit and the answer was that I had probably played it too much. But I'm not even close to memorizing lyrics yet and nothing makes me wanna play it unless certain songs come on. Personally, I feel like maybe it's because I don't relate to it as much so I find it interesting that you said you do relate but you don't love the album either. However I still think it's probably in my top 5 albums.Can you explain why? I'm curious. I still do have some favorites, just not a lot and so to me it feels the most like Evermore, where I don't connect to a lot of songs but it's still cohesive I guess.

speaking my personal truth, there are few sonic standouts for me. i think imgonnagetyouback, the black dog, down bad, and guilty as sin? are good songs, but i have very little urge to listen to them over and over like i did with anti-hero, maroon, cowboy like me, ivy, cardigan, the 1, and so on. however, i think i look in people's windows, the prophecy, i hate it here, and the albatross are hidden gems that i'm glad the fandom appreciates.

i think a lot of the lyrics are clunky, and for whatever reason, it feels like there's very little variety in her delivery or rhythms. i get bored halfway through some of the longer stanzas or even longer lines because they sound so repetitive (the bridge of how did it end? or chorus of loml is a good example of this.) to me, it feels like she took some of her signatures - where she sings the same note over and over or uses a bunch of internal rhymes, for effect - and made a whole album in that pattern. as a result, it all blends together.

also, i like jack's production, but i am dying for more real instruments. i really am. not just in taylor's music but in my taste in general - i normally love a lot of synthy or techy sounds (i am clearly a music expert), that's been my music taste for my entire adult life, but i'm yearning for something different. also, agree or disagree, but i personally feel like i've heard these sounds from taylor's albums before, so in combination with the lyrical repetitiveness, i guess i'm just not enjoying the album as much as i would've liked.

plus, this is probably me growing out of my intense taylor interest tbh. i'm treating this album the way i treat albums of any other artist (i like them for a bit, then put them back on the shelf until i choose to revisit later.)

also before anyone asks: red and evermore are my favorite taylor albums. it's not the ~rawness~ that i dislike.

[sweetredbeans]

Just gonna randomly ramble some things here about the Sonic Movies okay cool. (PS. This is absolutely not meant to be mean if you didn't like the trailer: you are 100% allowed to dislike it. This is just me rambling my own thoughts ^v^)

I'm already immediately tired of people absolutely BLASTING the movies for choices that they don't like without actually thinking about why those choices might have been made.

Tom being a cop. Okay. What other Earth profession follows the stereotypical "hero" role (the role that Sonic fills in his games) any better? So, a profession where you are saving people from "bad guys" by beating them up. Because that is what Sonic does in Sonic 1. Follows Robotnik around and beats him up and rescues the people (flickies) he was being mean to. They clearly wanted to parallel that idea and yeah, Sonic doesn't like cops and that makes sense given who he is, but I can also look at the movie and go "Oh, they wanted that parallel for a reason and that's why they made that decision" not just because they want to engage in copaganda.

Why is Amy not here yet. Money. Plain and simple, guys. Amy doesn't sell as well as Shadow. Period. Sorry. And nobody knows if they'll get another movie after this. They might, yeah, but 3 movies in a franchise like this is already a lot, and 4 is REALLY a lot. Yes, it is being more common now for something to have 700 sequels, but it is VERY not guaranteed, and if they wanted to get more hype and make more money, then Shadow coming first makes WAY more sense. And trying to shoe-horn her into this movie would absolutely be a disservice to her personality and backstory, as well as Shadow's--they wouldn't be able to properly develop either of them in one 2.5 hour long movie.

Sonic is working for GUN so he must be pro-military. I reblogged a much better-worded post about this earlier, but I am HIGHLY inclined to believe that GUN is USING Sonic to get to Shadow by playing off something adjacent to "He's gonna destroy the world oh noooooo". Let's be real here: GUN would NEVER let Sonic go get Robotnik again, they blackbooked him HARD for a reason. So I am highly inclined to believe that while Sonic may START working for GUN because they ask for his help, they are not going to stay amicable for the whole movie (especially given the fact that we see soldiers around Maria's dead body and somebody is going to tell Sonic about that) But clearly they aren't going to give something like that away in the first 2 minute trailer guys.

Gerald is here. I don't have a great answer for this one aside from the fact that they needed someone to play Eggman's role from SA2, and Eggman himself isn't set up to do it. Theoretically, SOMEONE had to bust Shadow out of GUN prison, and having Gerald be a hologram or robot or something set up to take revenge on GUN later would make a lot of sense. It's also possible that he was also frozen or stasis-ified and got let out once GUN figured out Project Shadow still existed and then took his revenge idk we'll just have to see won't we?

This is just a random last point but...if you go back and watch the first trailers for either of the other Sonic movies, they are VERY different from what we actually saw and LOADS of stuff is either massively changed or majorly taken out of context so...that could be good or bad.

In conclusion: we'll just have to wait and see, but these are my thoughts and predictions woo!

[scourgethehedgehogshrine]

So you mentioned Scourge being self aware about the Genesis wave, and that you have your own au about that.

As someone who is also a huge fan of this concept, I politely ask that you tell me more about that.

AAAOKAYOKAY WAIT aAaAAA I LOEBV YIU So it starts off at the end of the prison breakout comic, the part where we were left on a cliffhanger but we were able to assume that Scourge had a BIG arc ahead of him if we were able to see what happened next, and once Scourge is done announcing how him and the destructix(+ Fiona) have a new set of plans, something happens. Everything and everyone freezes in place, not changing positions, not moving, not even blinking. Expect for Scourge.

At first Scourge is confused and assumes the gang are playing a trick on him and is like “Can y'all like STOP I'll kill you bro wtf r u doing” but then soon goes to realize that this happened to literally EVERYTHING. Everyone he knows isn't moving a bit, and he is SO confused. He slowly begins to actually like, understand what's happening?? But he doesn't at the same time.. Like, he has no idea why everyone is frozen but he knows they are, and he knows that time itself is probably frozen. So this dumbass is like okay whatever but then days go by and he's just alone, stuck with that haunting reminder that everyone is frozen and it can't be fixed, expect for him.

He’s forced to witness everyone ignore him, and he is unable to do SHIT. Constantly being alone.. Alone with himself.

As years go by, he starts to lose personality, going insane as the fabric of reality crumbles in on itself. Desperate to the point where he'd even want to see SONIC of all people,

Until something finally happens.

As he's miserably walking by himself, he notices something. A torn hole, seemingly in nothing. Like, he's strolling through the same forest he and the Destructix were in and he just notices that a random thing Is just floating. It starts to expand, growing like a virus as it consumes everything in its path. Scourge tries to avoid it, but due to how desperate he's gotten for a change, he gives in and goes into it.

Suddenly, he's in a black void with cyan mixed with it. Kinda like this:

And he's just FLABBERGASTED. He's walking around, stunned, and his appearance itself has changed(still haven't made a design yet, but I will soon), although he can't bring himself to muster up any care for that not only because of the fact that he's been isolated for a decade but because he notices something in front of him, a floating little box type thing that, when he looks into, has something .. SOMEBODY inside.

It's the sonic universe right now, mainly IDW, and in that box he comes across Surge. He looks at her, and suddenly everything hits like a train. He becomes self aware, finally realizing what happened and stares at his replacement, lifeless yet filled with rage. Meanwhile he's still alone, the others cannot see him and don't know that he's watching, but Scourge is there.

Observing in the black, cybernetic type void, cold and lonely, but also, deep down inside of him,

He's enraged.

[heronoegg]

could we know what the backstory behind mina getting autopsied was? i know you said her mother permitted it while under the influence, but why? and who is "some people"?

doesn't have enough backstory to back up what im saying but the long story short is somebody once had a AU where Mina was a real alien and she had an autopsy and i just thought the idea was neat cause she's a alien girl there was never really any thought behind me giving her autopsy scar but i have to make something up

I HOWEVER DO HAVE SOME BACKSTORY FOR HER MOM

I HC Mina was on accident, didn't mean to have another kid, cause they already had one which is Mina's big bro, so her parents accidently had another kid which is her.

Mina reminds me of Amy rose from Sonic in the sense that she says she wants to fall in love one day but can't really do it (its somewhere on her wiki that Mina said this in the novel i think. That she likes to match make her friends but falling in love herself is tough to do DONT QUOTE ME I MIGHT HAVE READ THIS SOMEWHERE ELSE), it reminds me so much of Amy, and i have headcanons for Amy that her parents aren't so in love the way she wants a relationship, like "wow, my parents are the opposite of in love when i grow up i want to be in a loving famliy"

so that carried over to Mina, my version of her mom for one reason or another she's for a lack of a better word is one of the those mom's who drink alot and is never truly sober. she is not the worlds most awful mom but she doesn't really take care of her kids and she ignores them a lot when they were little cause she didn't want to take care of them resulting in the kid's liking their dad more cause he was an awesome dad, Mina remembers her dad, she was a daddy's girl

KEYWORD: WAS

Mina's dad dies idk going to a location maybe work and gets in the middle of a hero fighting or something. leaving the kids with their mom, Mina's brother at the time is old enough to go to school and take care of both mom and Mina so hes the one doing everything. ima say he's like 16 when she's 5 he doesn't go to hero school he's just a cool dude

---warnings of me not having enough knowledge on a subject so i keep saying "i guess" or "i don't know" cause i don't know and this is just off the top of my head thoughts, if somebody could truly come up with a better reason im open to listen cause these are just not well put together thoughts ----

as for the Autopsy thing it sounds stupid but like ya know, gotta come up with a reason for stuff i guess im perfectly fine with having 0 explanation and just doing stuff but i'll give you my thoughts i had while trying to find a reason before i gave up.

Mina's mom is a alcoholic, she's gonna come home wasted, she's gonna come home barely able to process anything, in her drunken state she mistook Mina for a alien cause she's like a weirdo (no offense to people who do believe in aliens) who believes in aliens but it's not that far fetch when mutants can look like anything. and im under the assumption that she associates with weird people who also believe aliens are real, so she takes her daughter to them while she's drunk and tells them this is a real alien.

Mina is extremely confused

im unsure how the autopsy situation happens but it probably traumatizes Mina if they didn't knock her out with some strong meds, they cut her to look at her organs and was like "Yo man this is normal, nothing here is alien" my next thing is after they fix her up somebody probably uses a quirk to either make her forget this happen or something like this cause they don't want the police on them so it's like this never happened, but Mina has the scars but never ask questions about it

How this even happen and Mina lived, i don't know, how this even happened and her mom didn't go to jail? Maybe she did go to jail, cause theres this whole other idea i have where Mina gets put with her auntscause her brother for some reason or another can't keep her legally? idk and mom is probably in jail so she gets put with her aunts who dislike children like actually are bad people and mistreat her HOW SHES GOING TO UA LIKE THIS IDK but it's a blessing to her moving into the dorms

the bad part about this is Mina's mom's spiraling and she probably does have good memories with her mom it's just she has a really bad drinking problem and i feel like i can see Mina now, as a hero in training going to see her mom and asking her if she would like her to help her go clean and get her life back together, cause Mina doesn't hate her mom, she just dislikes her aunts cause they were created to be garbage that's why i didn't name them cause i dont care about them and im the one who made them exist lol

this is unfinished ideas, don't know why they are semi-morbid and strange it just b like that sometimes

[catwings-writes-things]

17. Quotes, songs, poems, etc. that I associate with them

31. If they had a tumblr what would it look like?

For Harriet!!

17. I have so many Harriet songs, help… in general, 80’s pop and rock tends to be her vibe, partially just because that’s when she was coming of age and that’s still the music she likes. Obviously “Jump” by Van Halen is a good one if you’re going for on the nose, as is “Learning to Fly” by Tom Petty (and, yes, “Free Fallin’—actually, the first stanza of that song is a pretty solid description of human Harriet 😭). “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen is an excellent Fairchild song in general, and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” by Whitney Houston is another good one from that era. “MMMBop” by Hansen takes us into the 90’s, and for the 21st century, “Tonight Tonight” by Hot Chelle Rae is weirdly her vibe even though none of the verses make any sense in that context, and “When Can I See You Again?” by Owl City (yes, from the Wreck-It Ralph movie soundtrack) is EXTREMELY lyrically as well as sonically spot-on. But if I had to pick one song to associate with Harriet, it might honestly be “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls. Because it perfectly sums up her approach to relationships, for one thing, but also because of this:

Read it all the way through. You’ll see.

31. Her url is “scusemewhileikissthesky,” for one thing.

Her bio, once she figures out how to edit it, looks something like this:

Harriet - she/her - 26 - alloaro - ADHD - cool big sis - random content - [plugging a bunch of other Fairchild tumblrs]

As for content, she reblogs just about anything that strikes her fancy, including just about anything her friends and family post. She also follows a bunch of aquarium official blogs and reblogs pictures of cute marine animals. In either case, her tags are enthusiastic and plentiful.

Thank you for the ask!!

[sharky-the-idiot]

So Maria is the granddaughter of Dr.Gerald robotnik, who is also the grandfather of eggman. Maria and eggman are cousins I believe, unless it's been changed as of like 2018+. Maria has N.I.D.S, an illness that causes the affected person to get weaker and weaker and need constant medical attention as it progresses, and so her and her grandfather are in space, due to the anti gravity helping the symptoms to not progress as fast. While up there, her grandfather, who was actually the opposite of eggman, a kind caring person who wanted to use science for good and help cure his granddaughter was put on a task to create the ultimate life form by the government. So he created shadow, Gerald gave Shadow a soul so that humanity would not abuse his power for monstrous acts. Little did Gerald know that in the end, he himself was still only human. the plan was called off while still being worked on, and he was taken away and executed by the govfor creating shadow and 'putting humanity in danger' despite building its best protector. They interrogated him, before asking "is that all?" And it cuts to black, them prolly shooting him off screen. He didn't get a trial either, so it was straight up murder. While all this was happening, it's seen in the cutscenes of both the games and anime, that Maria was standing above a control panel weakly, before it cuts to a scene of shadow in the tube thing, in shadows flashback it showing maria saying how she wanted revenge on humanity. this is seen altered a lot though And YKNOW WHAT REALLY FUCKS ME UP? The fact that Gerald altered shadows memory so he wouldn't feel as pained, only the true meaning and stuff coming out when Amy says something that triggers it. And because of eggman being related, imagine if that's the reason he's so fucked up now This actually would explain why Eggman has so many childish characteristics despite being a grown man - since people who have experienced severe trauma as children often carry on childlike traits well into their adulthood to cope with the fact that the innocence of their childhood was cut short. It makes the concept of his "Eggmanland" amusement park SO much more tragic when you think about how it's probably a manifestation of the final drops of a traumatized childs innocence seeping through the cracks of an angry, bitter and broken old man's rampage of revenge against a world that wronged him and his loved ones so brutally, suddenly and pointlessly that he lost his goddamn mind That might also be why he hates sonic so much, due to him striking a resemblance to shadow. Oh and btw Shadow's design is based on the Prophecy of Super Sonic. In otherwords, Shadow almost owes his existence to Sonic in every way. but also due to Gerald coming into contact with Black Doom during his experimental processes, who offered up his immortal alien DNA in order to create Shadow. That's why Shadow looks like Black Doom and its why he's immortal while being able to channel the power of the Chaos Emeralds. Black doom is also why they shut down the project AND HIS FUCKING LAST SPEACH FUCKS ME ALL THE WAY UP! YOU DONT EXPEVT LINES LIKE "You ungrateful humans who took everything away from me will feel my loss and despair…" FROM A GOD DAMN SONIC GAME WHERE SOMEBODY IS CHAINED UP AND ABOUT TO BE KILLED Oh and Shadow tried to retcon certain details; such as wanting to remember Gerald fondly. The same man that nearly destroyed the entire planet from beyond the grave due to being driven mad with grief. This entire story line (not including silvers, knuckles backstory, blaze's lore ect) is why I'm still so into sonic.

infodump on shadow the hedgehog lore ehe

I saw Maria and thought both "SPLATOON⁉️⁉️⁉️" AND "OMORI⁉️⁉️⁉️" at the same time I need help

anyways BUT YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO CUUUT ME OFFFF /ref

[crossover-it-all]

Summer Party!! (Fandom-cross it all Story)

In the Summer day, some of fandom are make fun in the beach in the summer party with the calm beach song and sound... in there, Afika (Author) are relaxed in beach chairs with the umbrella [yup that me, don't ask why]

Afika (Author): *takes deep breathes and sigh* what a peaaaccceeeefully day in the beach...

Oliver from Fundamental Paper Education (FPE) comes into the Afika (Author) to disturb and tease her, but Afika (Author) is doesn't want to interupt so Afika (Author) ignored him, until Oliver bring go away from there... and run into Afika (Author) to hit her with his bats, but got shooted by Afika (Author) with her gun and makes the bats throwed and hit the button of TNT Traps that Zip and Edward from Fundamental Paper Education (FPE) that they not ready to prepared...

Zip and Edward: *looks each others* uh oh...

BOOM!! The explosion coming out at behind of bushes. knowed what happens and see it, Cuphead and Mugman was laughing as they run from there and Sherrif Toadster from Garten of Banban try to stop the fires with throw the water into there... Meanwhile, Papyrus that going into the rest place... he see his spaghetti gone from the table and see Sam from KinitoPET hides his Spaghetti on his back...

Papyrus: SOMEBODY TOUCH TE MAH SPAGEHTTI!! *Slaps Sam and throw him into the wall of stone then hits him with his Blue Bones*

Bonnie (FNAF): *watching what just happening at other place* Why did everyone being aggressive at this Summer Party? I'm also have feels that Bendy wasn't here despite he was cannot swimming, Especially with the Blue Hedgehog right over there.

Sonic The Hedgehog: oh yeah?!

With angry face, sonic throws the bottle but Bonnie from FNAF and Bonnie's Bakery dodge it and it hit back of the Funtime Freddy as he look back with mad and prepare to shoot but...

Bon bon: uhh... i think... Freddy, this could be the lesson is forgiven and forgiving...

Funtime Freddy: ... *Throws Bon bon from his right hand and shoots them with frustation*

Bon Bon: *get throwed into the Burned Bushes* that little jerk...

Meanwhile, the Dark deception Monster's boy are sit in the beach chairs awhile they talks each others until...

Rockstar Foxy: *comes from his Pirate Ships* ...ur are the pirate!!

Rockstarts Foxy jumps from his pirate ships awhile "You Are The Pirates" song with high pitched began until the Rockstars Foxy accidentally jumped from trampoline and falls into the ocean, however his green parrot bird hits the black button and one of the cannon fire the bullet and...

Golden Boy (Super Wings): Haha!! This time, That Jetty boi won't going- *hitted by Cannon Bullet into the nearest building* ow...

Reaper Nurse (Dark Deception): aww you poor thing... *Summons her giant needle* HERE HAVE A PILLS!!

Meanwhile with Afika (Author), welp... she still relaxed on her own and Kinito from KinitoPET coming to meet Afika (Author)

Kinito: umm... Afika, don't you knowing something? ... *sigh* Afika, Listen... you must know that there alot of people are gone missing from every each of Fandom, you got it? ..... *facepalm* Afika, are you even cares about what happen to each of the people? I know you were need breaks but... could you just please to listening to me-

Afika (Author): i know, i know... but first, can anyone stop the music?

Flower (BFB): ... *throws the radio and the calm beach song stop*

Afika (Author): If you ever says what are you thinking to me, it seems like there still a way to find what happen while this my secondary Account of tumblr rarely posting anything than my first account of tumblr, and finding out who playing with our times...

Teddy (Terror At Oakheart): but that is the fact, However... i don't know it was just only me or just got feeling that we just walks in the same time while we in different place and sky...

Afika (Author): welp... if that was true, i will talking to myself about this problem...

°•●~THE END~●•°

(That all folks, sorry if the story was cringe and absurb, in the fact... all of this cringey and weird story, it will give some of little pieces of story about the truth of theirs problem and... lore? Hope you like it, cya!!)

[tenebraevesper]

Sonic Cyber Revolution, Entry 28: The Kitsune’s Deception

''When all alone in my chair, I just go about wishing. Wanna be strong, really wanna be trusted, ahh. When all alone in my bed, I just go about yearning. Wanna be cool, I also wanna be like him. But that's not something I can do so easily. This is not simply my way, my own style. Gotta get a hold of my life! I wanna fly high, so I can reach the highest of all the heavens! Somebody will be waiting for me so I've got to fly higher!''

– Believe In Myself by Sonic Adventure 2

xXxXxXx

Tails hummed as he finished working on his newest disk-like device, smiling in satisfaction as he got off his swivel chair and placed it on the ground, pressing the button on it, with a strange wave pulsing from it consistently. He placed his hands on his hips, ''Looks like the anti-gravity disk works just as intended.''

''Wait a moment before you make any judgement. Last time we tested it, it nearly blasted off the door,'' Warren replied, holding up a scewdriver and Touka's hoverboard. She had asked him a day ago to add an accelerator similar to the one Lucas had, since she too was the partner of a speedster and wanted for her hoverboard to be a little faster. Tails grabbed a wrench and threw it at the anti-gravity field, with the wrench hovering above the disk.

''I think it works just fine,'' Tails responded, picking up the disk and turning it off, ears twitching as he and Warren listened to the news, which they turned on as background noise.

''…reporting live from the Kita Inari Shrine.'' Midorikawa and Kero were on the screen, standing on a path towards an old shrine with a red torii gate structure in front of it and fox statues next to the altar. Tails stepped in front of the screen, watching the news report curiously. ''Currently, a video one of the visitors of the shrine had taken is circulating social media, showing a haunting image of some kind of strange creature or spirit wandering these grounds.''

''Huh? What's going on there?'' Warren joined Tails as they watched the video footage of a bunch of teenagers and ARNavs visiting the shrine during nighttime, only for the group to freak out when they saw dark creature or a spirit approaching them, wailing and crying, only to quickly run away. Once the footage ended, the screen turned back to Midorikawa and Kero, the latter shivering.

''Now, that's quite bone-chilling,'' Kero commented. Tails just frowned, with Warren noting his change of expression.

''What's the matter, Tails?'' he asked. The fox's tails flicked as he turned to Warren.

''I don't think that the shrine is actually haunted,'' Tails replied, crossing his arms on his chest. ''Someone is just playing a mean prank.''

''How would you know that?'' Warren asked. Tails fell silent for a moment, before turning to Warren.

''That's because I used to hang out there before I met you,'' he explained.

''Really?'' Warren was genuinely surprised. Admittedly, aside from what Tails told him about why he kept coming back to the workshop, he didn't really know much about the fox's past. Tails rubbed the back of his head, his tails flicking. It was clear that he was remembering something rather unpleasant.

''Yeah. Remember how I told you about those bully kitsune ARNavs I used to tag along with? They had been tasked to guard the Kita Inari Shrine and guide people who visit it. While they would usually behave nicely whenever in human presence, they're not above playing pranks on people with their strong illusion powers,'' Tails explained.

''I see,'' Warren muttered. ''So, you think it's just them playing pranks on innocent people?''

''Yeah, I do,'' Tails responded in a firm tone.

Warren was silent for a moment as he thought about it, then asked, ''Do you want to go and visit it?''

''Huh?'' Tails was caught off-guard by his question. ''Visit the shrine? Why?''

''You sound really upset by what had happened, so I had figured that you'd want to investigate what is going on. Maybe we could even call Lucas and Sonic to join us,'' Warren suggested. Tails hummed as he thought about Warren's suggestion.

''I'm not sure…'' Tails glanced at the screen. He wasn't too thrilled to revisit a place which gave him a lot of bad memories, but he was interested in investigating what had happened. After all, Sonic would do that. Sonic would tell him to not dwell in the past an encourage him to go on his own adventure, and Tails had to admit, he had to agree with him. He turned to Warren, grinning. ''Okay, but I want it to be just the two of us going on our own adventure.''

''If that's what you want, I'm all for it. I done with Touka's hoverboard anyways, so we can drop it off at her place and go to Kita,'' Warren replied.

''Then I'll prepare everything for the trip,'' Tails responded, his twin-tails spinning as he flew off to where his orange backpack was and started packing. While he wasn't too keen on the idea of confronting his bullies, he felt confident that things would be fine with Warren by his side.

xXx

''So, how much further are we from the Kita Inari Shrine?'' Warren asked, holding his hoverboard under his arm. After dropping off Touka's hoverboard at the Kageura residence, he and Tails went to Kita, arriving at the wooded area before the shrine and deciding to go there on foot. While Warren was several times in the northern part of Neos City, he never went to this area.

''I'd say we have around 5 more minutes,'' Tails responded, walking next to Warren and adjusting his backpack. The path they were on was surrounded by trees and going slightly uphill, and even though it was easy to talk on it, he felt a churning sensation in his stomach. He had to admit that, while he was determined to figure out what was going on, he was still nervous about this whole thing.

''You don't belong here, you freak!''

Tails winced at the memory, shaking his head as his mind was filled with dread. He hated being called a freak just because he was different from the other kitsune, and he did his best to gain their approval by using his intelligence and creating all kinds of devices, but it never worked. That was why he left his place to find a better home. Fortunately, he found one and he was quite happy with Warren, so why again did he agreed to visit this place?

''Tails?'' The twin-tailed fox looked up to see the look of concern on Warren's expression. ''Are you okay?''

''Yeah, I'm just not looking forwards to meeting the other kitsune again. Last time we saw each other, they broke one of my inventions and called me a freak just because I was different from them,'' Tails replied, his ears drooping and his tails flicked anxiously. ''Only because I had two tails and couldn't create any illusions like them…''

''Maybe you're not like them, but that doesn't matter. You're unique, you're my friend and you have people who care about you because of who you are,'' Warren responded. Tails smiled in response, cheering up a little, only for his ears to twitch when they finally arrived at the Kita Inari Shrine. Surprisingly, the area around the shrine was empty, which made Tails immediately suspicious. Warren, however, walked up to the shrine, admiring the fox statues. ''You did say that the kitsune are here to watch over the shrine, right?''

''Yeah…'' Tails murmured, only for the whole area to suddenly light up in blueish-green flames, the fire completely encircling them. Warren gasped, quickly backing away, but Tails walked up to it, his eyes narrowing.

''Tails, what are you doing?'' Warren asked worriedly as Tails put his hand into the fire, but didn't get burned by it.

''As I suspected… This is foxfire – an illusion created by a kitsune ARNav,'' Tails explained, pulling his gloved hand back and then looking up at the top of the shrine. A blue kitsune ARNav with a white tuft of fur on his chest and white gloves that had red markings on them, as well as red shoes that had paw-like toes, was standing on the top of it. ''So, this was your doing, Ao.''

The nine-tailed kitsune ARNav leap from the roof, doing a frontflip and landing in front of the two, with the foxfire illusion suddenly vanishing. ''I thought we chased out of this place.'' He smirked, arms folded across his chest as he observed Tails. ''I see you're still a two-tailed freak. Bet you can't even do any illusions either.''

Tails felt a sting in his chest as he heard his old bully telling him this. He wasn't here even for a minute and the latter immediately started to insult him. Tails took a step back, but then gathered the courage to talk back. ''I see you're still the same bully as you were before.''

''It's not my fault that you cannot handle the truth,'' Ao responded, then glanced at Warren. ''Is this your friend?''

''Yes. His name is Warren,'' Tails responded, glaring at Ao.

Ao then turned to Warren, saying, ''I have a piece of advice for you – don't be friends with weirdos.''

''I also have a piece of advice for you – stop being so rude,'' Warren responded in a deadpan tone.

Ao's eyes narrowed as he stared at Warren for a moment, then turned back to Tails. ''Why have you returned?''

''I heard on the news report that people are seeing monsters at this place, and I assumed that this might be your doing. You and the other kitsune are the only ones able to do something like this,'' Tails responded.

''Tch, so what? It was just a little prank,'' Ao responded in a mocking tone. ''What are you going to do about it, Freak? Snitch on us? It certainly wouldn't be anything groundbreaking.''

Tails glared at Ao for a tense moment, then lowered his head, turning on his heel and walking away. ''Let's go back.''

Warren gave Tails a confused look, wondering what had changed the fox's mind, and followed him down the path. Ao stared at the two as they vanished from his sight, only for his ear to twitch when he heard someone walking up behind him. It was a white kitsune ARNav with a grey tuft of fur on her chest, red-tipped ears and tails, barefoot and wearing a white kimono with red spider lily markings on it, with a red flower tsumami kanzashi adorning her head fur. She held herself in a quite regal and graceful manner.

''Now, now, Ao. That is not how we treat our guests,'' Shiro, the white kitsune ARNav, said. Ao huffed.

''I'm just doing what you had told me to do,'' he responded. ''You said it yourself that you wanted to present yourself only if there is one person there.''

''True…'' Shiro agreed. ''However, I do not believe that this young fox will trouble me. While he certainly has the potential to stand up to people, I do not believe he has the courage to follow through with it.''

''I suppose you want me to fetch them for you,'' Ao said in a snarky tone. Shiro shot him a glare.

''What are you waiting for then?'' she asked, with the blue kitsune groaning and going after Tails and Warren. Shiro observed him as he left, then licked her lips, her purple eyes glinting. A sense of hunger was creeping up again and she needed to satiate it.

xXx

''I feel like coming back to this place was a mistake,'' Tails grumbled as he and Warren walked down the path. ''I thought that Ao may have changed over time, but he's still the same bully he always used to be. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. I'm just glad he didn't call any of the other kitsune to support him. They can all be really vicious when they want to be.''

''I'm so sorry you had to go through all that,'' Warren said, feeling sympathy for Tails. ''I suppose that some people don't want to change because they couldn't be bothered with actually reflecting on their behavior.''

''I guess you're right,'' Tails sighed. ''Some people just don't realize how much words can hurt.''

Warren was silent for a moment, then put up a smile, ''You know, their words shouldn't matter. Only you know your own worth, and let me tell you something, you are way better than any of them.''

''Well, if you put it like that…'' Tails said bashfully, rubbing the back of his head, with Warren continuing to hype him up.

''Oh, com'n, you're a genius who can easily build a bunch of amazing gadgets. You are a brave hero who had the courage to stand up to opponents like Dr. Eggman and his army of Badniks. You are my closest friend, partner and confidant, someone who has pulled me up when I was at my lowest, when I believed that I couldn't live up to…'' Warren trailed off for a moment, shaking his head. ''Well, you know what I mean. I know that some people operate by the saying about how a stick standing out from the crowd will be struck but lightning, but in this case, you should be true to yourself.''

Tails grinned widely, and his twin-tails flicked, with him taking off and hovering next to Warren. ''You're right, I should be true to myself, and you know what else – I don't really stand out that much when I'm with my friends,'' he said proudly. ''Just look at Sonic – he has super speed and he lives his life just the way he wants. Or Knuckles! He's very good at combat and doesn't let anyone boss him around. Or Amy, who is very kind and very scary with her hammer. Or Silver, who has psychic powers and comes form the future and wants to protect it even if he's stuck in a time he's unfamiliar with. Or Shadow, who is really powerful and aloof and distant, but is a good friend once you get to know him better. All of them are so different, yet we're all good friends – a team!''

''Exactly, but you forgot one person,'' Warren told him, with Tails giving him a confused look.

''Who?''

''Yourself, of course! I don't believe that we would be able to achieve half of anything we've done without your help,'' Warren replied. Tails grinned pridefully, even chuckling.

''Thank you so much for the encouragement. I can't believe that it took me for so long to realize that. It feels like a switch had flipped,'' Tails replied.

''Considering how long you had been bullied, I'm not surprised. It takes a lot of time and support to heal, and some mental scars never fade,'' Warren responded.

''You're right. All I can do is keep on moving,'' Tails said, fist-pumping. Warren smirked, folding his arms across his chest.

''I bet you got that one from Sonic,'' he said. Tails just chuckled in response.

''Yeah, I sort of did. I really look up to him a lot,'' he replied, remembering fondly Sonic's amazed look when Tails had showed him his inventions.

''I think we're close to it…''

''What do you think we'll find?''

Tails and Warren suddenly stopped, hearing familiar voices and then spotting two figures coming up the path. To their surprise, it were Minami and Amy.

''Hey, guys!'' Tails greeted him, drawing their attention.

''Tails, Warren, hey! What are you doing here?'' Amy asked, looking happy to see them, with Tails landing in front of her.

''We could ask you two the same question,'' Warren replied.

''Oh, you know me – if there is some kind of mystery and/or conspiracy, I'll investigate it,'' Minami replied.

''As well as drag me along,'' Amy quipped, giving Minami a knowing look, who just smiled back sheepishly in response.

''In any case, we've heard about the rumors of there being monsters around the Kita Inari Shrine, so we decided to check it out,'' Minami explained. ''I guess you two were here for the same reason.''

''Yeah, and we can confirm that those monsters are an illusion created by the kitsune who are supposed to guard the shrine as a prank,'' Tails explained.

''Huh, I guess at least one part of the mystery was solved,'' Amy said, turning to Minami, who nodded in response.

''Wait, do you want to say that there's more to it?'' Warren asked.

''Well, it depends… Amy and I did some research and we learned that people who had suffered from an Irregular attack were found in this area,'' Minami explained.

''Really?'' Tails asked, surprised.

''They were found comatose with their BioEnergy drained. That's a textbook Irregular attack,'' Amy replied. ''They're lucky they had been found. It doesn't look like a lot of people pass through this area.''

''I see,'' Tails replied, frowning. He was a little worried that Ao and the other kitsune had something to do with the attacks, even though none of them were Irregulars. ''Maybe we should go back to the shrine and ask Ao and the others about that.''

''Good idea. Maybe they know something about the Irregular attacks,'' Warren agreed.

''Tails, are you familiar with this place?'' Amy asked.

''Yeah, I sort of used to live here, but left,'' Tails replied, flying up. ''Follow me!''

Warren, Minami and Amy immediately went after Tails. Unknown to either of them, there were observed by someone else; a certain blue hedgehog hiding in the bushes.

''I wonder what's going on,'' Sonic muttered under his breath as he observed them leaving. He was on one of his usual runs through the neighborhood when he saw Tails and Warren leaving the Kageura home (he still had to get used to the fact that he and Shadow were living in the same neighborhood), so he decided to just follow them around for a bit. He also overheard Tails' conversation with Ao, and was debating whether he should show himself when Amy and Minami appeared. ''I could go help them out, but maybe I should leave this one to Tails. He knows more than I do and I can easily keep an eye on them. This should be his adventure.''

Having made his decision, Sonic then fist-pumped and quickly rushed towards the shrine.

xXx

Arriving at the Kita Inari Shrine, Tails, Warren, Amy and Minami started looking around for Ao or any of the other kitsune. ''Ao? Aka? Momo? Haiiro? Kuro? Anyone here? We need to talk to you!'' Tails called out the names of the other kitsune, but no one responded. ''Hello? Guys?'' He was confused when no one responded. ''I don't get it. Usually, someone would appear by now…''

''Why are you back?'' Ao suddenly appeared on the top of the shrine, his nine tails flicking and swishing as he glared down at them, specificially at Tails.

''My friends want to talk to you and the rest of the kitsune,'' Tails explained as Ao leapt down in front of him, pointing at Amy and Minami.

''The name is Minami and this is Amy,'' Minami introduced them to Ao, who gave the two a scrutinizing look.

''So, you're the losers who are hanging out with the weirdo?'' Ao asked, pointing at Tails. Minami and Amy glared at the kitsune, with Amy stepping up angrily.

''What's up with the sudden name calling? Why are you being so rude?'' she asked. Ao just rolled his eyes, folding his arms across his chest.

''Let's get to the point. What do you want to know?'' he asked, clearly annoyed.

''We have heard that people have been found comatose and drained of their BioEnergy in this area. Have you seen any Irregulars here?'' Minami asked, direct as usual. Ao's eyes widened in shock, a reaction all four of them have noticed. Minami clicked her tongue. ''Aha, so you do know something!''

''Y-You're wrong,'' Ao grumbled, his bravado quickly fading. ''I-I don't know anything about any Irregulars…''

''You are so bad at being a kitsune, Ao.'' Everyone looked towards the shrine, with Shiro walking around it and revealing herself to everyone. ''A kitsune should be deceptive, cunning, always keeping their opponents in the dark in regards to their true nature. You have failed at being who you are supposed to be. Such a disgrace.''

''Who are you? I haven't seen you here before,'' Tails asked the white and red kitsune, feeling tense.

''Oh, where are my manners…'' Shiro suddenly snapped her fingers, with rings of blue fire appearing around Tails, Warren, Amy and Minami, restraining them. ''My name is Shiro the Kyuubi no Kitsune.'' She started to walk towards Tails, who shot her a glare. She started circling around him, in a dance-like fashion, as if she was performing a nihon-buyō, elegant, precise and ethereal. ''I have heard about you from the former Kita Inari Shrine guardians, young Miles Prower, but I never had the delight to meet you in person. All I know is that you have a genius intellect, but you lack the powers of a true kitsune, and that was one of the many reasons why you had abandoned this place.''

''You're right, but that still doesn't explain… Wait, former?'' Tails rose an eyebrow, staring at Shiro in confusion, who smiled in response. He then turned to Ao for an explanation, but the blue kitsune just looked away, unable to look him in the eyes.

''Indeed,'' Shiro rose her hand, hiding her smile with the sleeve of her kimono. ''No matter their number or their strength, they were no match for me. It is quite tragic to see such raw passion be extinguished, but it had to be done. They were in my way, and Ao was the only one to recognize that he was no match for my power, so he surrendered. Smart move.''

Tails' eyes widened and he stared at Ao in shock. ''S-So, everyone is…''

''Dead. Deleted.'' Shiro's purple eyes glowed as she was reminded of her victory. ''They were no match for my skills. However, I had decided to be merciful and spare Ao as he begged for his life. I had assumed that I might need a servant in the future, and Ao has been fulfilling his role as expected.''

''So, you're the Irregular that had been draining people of their BioEnergy!'' Minami accused her. Shiro just exhaled, as if irked by Minami's loudness, giving the teenager a bored look.

''You are correct in your assumption. Ao had been using his illusion powers to separate my victims by creating monsters from the depths of their nightmares, giving me the opportunity to feed on them one by one. Of course, I could not show myself when there were multiple people, as they might have been able to deduce that I am not a regular ARNav, so I stayed in the shadows,'' Shiro responded.

''Okay, so what has changed? Why have you shown yourself to us?'' Warren asked.

''Is it not obvious?'' Shiro smirked. ''I will not let any of you leave alive.''

Warren, Minami  and Amy exchanged looks of concern, while Tails was glaring daggers at Ao. ''How could you?! You put people in danger because you were too much of a coward to fight back!''

''I was trying to survive!'' Ao screamed back, his eyes wide as he was shaking viciously. ''Lady Shiro had annihilated everyone, a-and I had no choice- I had to do this! I couldn't-''

''All that time, I was thinking about what you had told me, Ao. You and the others called me a freak, destroyed my inventions, and eventually forced me to leave because you claimed that I didn't belong here,… and now I understand that I really don't belong with you, with any of you,'' Tails said, using his twin-tails to reach for his backpack and grab his boomerang, using it to cut through the blue flame-like restraint, much to Ao and Shiro's surprise. ''Because unlike you, I'm not a coward who runs away from battles!''

He threw his boomerang, which homed right into Warren, Amy and Minami, cutting through their restrains as well, freeing them. Tails, who was still glaring daggers at Ao, caught it without looking and pointed it at him and Shiro. ''I don't care if you managed to defeat the other kitsune, you will never beat me!''

''Tch, so you decided to fight back?'' Shiro's eyes narrowed, before turning to a stunned Ao. ''What are you waiting for? This is your moment to redeem yourself!''

''Ah, right…'' Ao nodded. Tails glanced towards Amy as she summoned her hammer.

''Amy, you and Minami go after Shiro, since you were after the Irregular in the first place,'' he said, turning his gaze towards Ao. ''I have unfinished business with Ao.''

''Got it!'' Amy nodded and charged right towards Shiro. Meanwhile, Tails turned to Ao, who summoned a wall of foxfire flames, sending them towards the twin-tailed fox.

''That won't work!'' Tails threw the boomerang at the flames, slashing through them and flew towards Ao while grabbing his laser gun from his backpack. ''I know all of your tricks, but you don't know any of mine!''

He fired at Ao, who rolled to the side, shocked to see a small crater in the dirt where the laser blast hit it. His pupils shrunk as he looked up, seeing a livid Tails hovering above him, catching the boomerang and pointing his laser gun at him. Ao's eyes glowed and suddenly, a monstrous black and red fox-like beast appeared, pouncing at Tails and opening its jaws, saliva dripping from its sharp teeth. Tails wasn't afraid of the beast, simply pointing his gun at the beast and blasting its head off, the illusion breaking apart. He then threw the boomerang again, hitting Ao in the head and knocking him over. Ao only had the time to recover from the pain in his head before being confronted with a laser gun to his face and a furious Tails.

''You are no match for me, so stay out of this fight,'' Tails told him angrily, with Ao just staring at him in shock. He never knew that his victim was even able to fight like this. He certainly never did when he and the other kitsune confronted him.

''Tails!'' The twin-tailed fox looked towards Amy, who was blocking a crescent blue flame with her hammer, Shiro standing further away from her, laughing under the fan she had summoned. She then turned towards Tails, chuckling as she rose her fan.

''Dance of the Foxflame!'' She waved her fan down, sending more of fiery crescents towards Tails, who quickly flew to the side, watching in shock as the crescent blades tore through the branches, leaving quite a damage.

''That is not regular foxfire,'' Tails muttered to himself, sweatdropping and gritting his teeth as he turned to Shiro. Amy was charging towards the kyubi no kitsune, holding up her hammer high and bringing it down towards Shiro. However, the nine-tailed fox vanished, revealing herself to be an illusion, with the real deal appearing right behind her. Before Amy could even react, Shiro sent more of the crescent blades towards Amy, tearing into her back and sending her flying face-first into a tree.

''Amy!''

Minami screamed, running up to her partner, who was lying down on the ground, motionless. Amy cried out in pain as Minami cradled her, while Shiro, looking quite satisfied, turned her attention towards Tails. ''I suppose this is a better match up. However, to make sure that nobody interferes…'' Shiro's purple eyes started to glow, a pair of demonic fox spirits, even more ferocious than the ones Ao had summoned, appeared. One turned towards Minami and Amy, while the other focused on Warren. ''While I have serious doubts in regards to your precious technology holding up against my illusions, I am still looking forward to seeing you in action.''

Tails turned to Warren, noting the desperate look on his expression. According to their earlier conversation, it was clear that Shiro had been empowered by the BioEnergy she had absorbed and that they would need Chaos Surge if they wanted to match her power. So, Tails flew towards Warren, much to Shiro's chagrin.

''Stay and face me!'' she shouted, sending another barrage of fiery crescent blades towards Tails, cutting off his path and forcing him to fly up. Tails threw his boomerang at her, with Shiro easily swatting it away with her fan. Tails pointed his laser gun at her, firing several times, but Shiro was much faster than anticipated, dodging every of his attacks.

Due to Tails being kept busy by Shiro, Warren knew that it was up to him to get to his partner, but his path was blocked by the fox demon that Shiro had summoned. Warren had to leap to the side to avoid the demon clawing at him, and as he looked up, his eyes widened in realization when the fox demon was about to bite off his head. He closed his eyes, aware than he couldn't dodge this one, only to suddenly hear a thunk and a whine, and when he looked up again, the fox demon was nowhere to be seen.

Unknown to Warren, Sonic had actually spin dashed into the fox demon, dragging it into the nearby bushes with a rather angry look on his expression as he faced it. ''I did tell myself to leave this to Tails, but that doesn't mean that I'm not going to defend my friends.''

Meanwhile, Minami managed to help Amy up, the latter still being shaky on her legs. ''Are you okay?''

''I-I just got caught off guard,'' Amy responded, her back aching. She grabbed her hammer, facing the fox demon in front of them. She and Minami exchanged glances, then nodded wordlessly.

''Chaos Surge!''

With Amy recovering from her injuries and Minami gaining an energy hammer in return, both faced the fox demon as it charged towards them, opening his jaws. Both sides clashed, but Minami and Amy managed to overpower the fox demon, sending it flying into a tree. However, it recovered moments later, turning towards them again.

As for Tails, he was weaving between the crescent blades, trying to figure out a plan in order to counter Shiro. He spotted Warren running towards him, then smirked as he reached for his backpack, grabbing the anti-gravity disk, turning it on and throwing it at Shiro. The kyubi no kitsune stared at it for a split second, only for her to be launched into the air screaming.

''Nice!'' Warren almost laughed when he saw Shiro flailing her arms as she was kept floating in the air. She looked all but graceful as she tried to break out of the anti-gravity field, only to fall hard on the ground once it vanished. Tails chuckled as he saw this, while Shiro tried to get up, furious.

''You- You will pay for this!'' she screamed, looking disheveled. In response, Tails and Warren just reached out for each other.

''Chaos Surge!''

Empowered by Warren's BioEnergy, Tails held up his hand, releasing a blue EMP field that covered all of his surroundings. To everyone's surprise, the fox demon beasts whimpered and suddenly disappeared, as if the EMP field had somehow affected them despite being illusions. Furious, Shiro waved with her fan and sent another barrage of fiery crescent blades, only for Tails to quickly fly around them and releasing another wave of EMP which cancelled them out. He smiled, looking amazed by what he had just done. ''Fascinating!''

Shiro trembled, realizing that she was at a disadvantage. She had no clue what was going on or how Tails was even countering her powers, and given how Warren, Amy and Minami approached her, as well as Ao being completely useless, she knew that the only thing that was left was for her to retreat.

''This is not the last time you've seen me!''

Shiro created a wave of blue flames, which turned into a vortex, and then disappeared. Tails and Amy de-powered, not too happy about Shiro just vanishing, but they were still glad that she was gone.

''I think we should call the Hunters to search around the area. I doubt they'll find her, but at least an official report will keep people alerted,'' Amy said, turning to Minami, who nodded in response.

''At least one mystery was solved,'' Minami said, agreeing with her.

Meanwhile, Tails approached Ao, who was shocked by what had just happened. ''H-How did you- I thought…''

''I may not have illusion powers, but that doesn't mean that I'm powerless,'' Tails replied. Ao still just stared at him. ''It all can be explained by science.''

''Oh, right…'' Ao muttered.

''So, what are you going to do now?'' Tails asked him. Ao was silent, not answering. Tails shook her head, his eyes narrowing. ''Why haven't you told anyone about Shiro? I'm sure the Irregular Hunters could've handled her.''

''Stop acting like you know better!'' Ao snarled at Tails. ''You are still just a little freak and I want nothing to do with you!''

Tails winced, stepping back as he saw Ao completely breaking down. He was approached by Amy, who placed her hand on his shoulder. ''Are you okay?''

''I am,'' Tails replied in a quiet tone. He wasn't sure how to feel about Ao's breakdown over what had happened, and he knew that he couldn't help the kitsune anymore. He had no idea what might happen to him when the Hunters learn what had had done, but despite this being someone who bullied him for a long time, he still felt pity for him. He and Amy walked away, joining Warren and Minami.

''You were awesome out there,'' Warren said. Tails smiled in response.

''Thanks! I can't wait to tell Sonic about this,'' he said excitedly, his eyes lighting up. His gaze then lowered for a moment. ''Although, I wonder where Shiro went. What if she hurts more people?''

''Then we'll find her and stop her!'' Minami said in a determined tone. ''I don't think she'll be returning to the Kita Inari Shrine so soon.''

''I hope you're right,'' Tails said, smiling back. Unknown to the group, Sonic was sitting on a branch in a tree high above them, gazing happily Tails.

''I'm really proud of you, little bro.''

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#Sonic Cyber Revolution (Masterlist)

[lightningblade1994-blog]

Sonic the Hedgehog/Shrek Mash-Up "Campfire Scene" [Collab entry by © Lightningblade1994] _For © KatarinaTheCat_

Sonic: Man, there's nothin' like a fire & a noble recovery mission to warm the cockles of your heart.

Knuckles:[despondent] Yeah... I like my cockles at room temperature, thank you very much.

Sonic: Yo, knux? What're we gonna do when we get our Master Emerald back?

Knuckles: OUR Master Emerald?

Sonic: Y'know, when we're through beatin' Eggman and all that?

Knuckles: We? What do you mean "We"? Sonic, There's no "We", There's no "Our", It's just me & my island. And the first thing I'm going to do is built a 10-ft wall around my shrine.

Sonic:[ears drooping] You cut me deep, Knux. You cut me REAL deep just now... Do you know what I think? I actually think this whole wall-thing is just your way of keeping someone out.

Knuckles: No, you think? [turns away from Sonic]

Sonic: Are you hiding something?

Knuckles: Neverwind, Sonic.

Sonic: So, if you not really doing this for cockles, then what are you doin' it for?

Knuckles: Simple; Tikal gets her wish, I get what I want.

Sonic: Which is...? Now, Come on. What do you want?

Knuckles:[a bit annoyed] I don't have time to set it into music...

Sonic: Ahh, It must be one of those "Guardian Duty" things, isn't it?

Knuckles: No, it's actually one of those "Drop-it-and-leave-it-at-that" things.

Sonic: Well, why don't you wanna talk about it?

Knuckles: Why do you WANT to talk about it?

Sonic: Why are you asking the question with a question?

Knuckles: Why are you asking me questions that I don't want to answer?

Sonic: Why are you blocking?

Knuckles: I'm NOT blocking.

Sonic: Then why do you have trouble expressing your wants?

Knuckles: I don't. I want you to "Shaddup". See? No problem.

Sonic: You're just misplacing your negative emotions lie you always do.

Knuckles:[acting stern] Believe me, they're properly place.

Sonic: You're just upset at whoever did this to you.

Knuckles: Nobody did ANYTHING to me.

Sonic: Who're you trying to keep out? Just answer me, Knuckles. Who?

Knuckles:[snapping] EVERYONE. OK?!

Sonic:[stops for a second; then perks up in interest] Ah, NOW we're getting somewhere!

Knuckles:[agitated] Oh, for Pete's sake! [Walks over to the edge of the cliff and sits down.]

Sonic: Breakthrough! Let's go with that, Let's explore some family origin! Were you abandoned as a child, Knux?

Knuckles: Alright, fine! I.... I want my Island back, and... somebody to share it with... OK?

Sonic: Yes, Knuckles. It's OK.

Knuckles: And Eggman said he give me my Island back in exchange for the Chaos Emeralds.

Sonic: You really think you can trust that rotten ok' Egghead?

Knuckles: Hmph. yeah, right. But now, I'm going to have WHAT he wants.

Sonic: *snickers* Oh man, has he ever underestimated you.

Knuckles: Yeah, he can join the club for all I care. Not that it matters.

Sonic: So, what exactly do you have against the outside world anyway?

Knuckles: Look, I don't have anything against the outside world, OK? It's the world that has something against me. People actually see me and they go: "Haw-haw-haw, let's all point and laugh at the gullible idiot echidna! Jus laugh and laugh!" "I'm Knuckles the gullible Echidna And I don't know anything about being a REAL guardian." I'd be better off knowing for sure that life would so much greater if everyone here would just appreciate me with just a little bit of respect! *sighs heavily* ...They judge me before they even get to know me. That's why I'm better off alone.

Sonic: Knux, I'm-- I'm really sorry.

Knuckles: Don't be. I'm glad I got it out of my system. I needed that. Y'know for once... My folks always told me that everybody reveres Echidnas.

Sonic: I see.

Knuckles: So, I... Guess I got a little overprotective.

Sonic: A little--?

Knuckles: ...That's why I have to do this. I want Tikal to know that I'm a much capable guardian, just like my ancestors were.

Sonic: You wanna make 'em proud?

Knuckles: Yeah.

Sonic: ...Y'know, what? When we first met... I didn't think you were a gullible idiot.

Knuckles: Yeah, I know...

Sonic: :)

[badnikbreaker]

fer and i watched some more sonic x tonight, including episode 14 — and this episode is one of the first major examples of why i’m such a sonic x truther, especially where sonic’s characterization is concerned — so i figured i should talk about it!

for those who aren’t familiar, ep 14 involves the president inviting sonic to a charity gala thing, but that’s not really important.  what is important is that sonic can’t go — he promised a little girl he met recently, helen, that he’d spend the day with her!  helen is disabled and uses a wheelchair, and frequently visits the beach to look at an island her parents promised to take her to see long ago, because there’s gorgeous white flowers there.  her parents haven’t been able to take her, though; both work long hours to afford her healthcare and equipment.  sonic, on a whim, offers to take her in their stead — and the day they agree on happens to match up with the president’s gala.  obviously helen’s the priority here!

up until this point in the series, sonic’s obviously a good person and he clearly cares about his friends, but he’s also flighty and often rude.  (  an example that comes to mind immediately is that when tails and chuck rebuild the plane into the x - tornado; tails adds additional seats at chris’s request, because chris wants to come.  sonic lets him join them but doesn’t pretend he’s happy about it — and also reminds chris not to get in the way.  )  he’s not a bad person at all, but he’s also not going to do anything he doesn’t want to do or pretend he’s not irked when he is, and his compassion has primarily taken the form of making sure to show up when his friends need him, not in actually making a lot of time for them when he’d rather do something else.  (  to chris’s credit, he clearly realizes it’s not personal, and a recurring theme is the rest of the cast making it clear that they know sonic’s flightiness isn’t to be taken as a sign of intentional meanness or lack of dependability when it counts.  )

but sonic runs into helen, a girl he barely knows (  and only as chris’s classmate  ), notices that it hurts her that she hasn’t gotten to visit, notices that she’s sad about own limited mobility — at least as it applies to her ability to see this island on her own; she doesn’t seem particularly bothered by her disability otherwise — and of COURSE making sure she gets to that island takes priority over everything!

it’s a particularly fun layer to sonic x’s take on sonic’s compassion; he never goes out of his way to save the world, but he’s also never turning away from people in need when they land in front of him.  this is a smaller example of that.  no, he’s probably not going to go to the beach if he doesn’t want to, even if his friends ask.  but he’s also never going to pass up a chance to ease somebody’s hurt.

so he gets a boat and life jackets and prepares for the two of them to make the trek — despite his dislike of being in bodies of water! — and also they’re being hunted by the US government ‘cause the president’s gay secretary REALLY wants sonic at this gala.  helen and sonic end up going on a pretty whirlwind adventure, and he checks in a few times towards the beginning — are you afraid?  and every time, she says no, i’m fine — i’m HAVING FUN!  she’s never had such an adventure!  so he stops asking, and leans into giving helen a truly bonkers adventure.  that involves sonic stealing a helicopter.  it’s great.

it’s also a very dangerous adventure that could have got helen really hurt!  but sonic has a lot of faith in himself to keep people safe when it matters and a lot of faith in the people around him to be strong enough to take it — helen says she’s having fun and that’s enough for him, he’s going to trust her!  he’s going to give her an adventure, he’s going to get her to the island, he’s going to make sure she gets to see the flowers she wants to, and he’s going to do whatever it takes to protect those flowers for her.

and, if it’ll help make her day even better, he’ll even meet the president.  or whatever.

it’s just a lot of things about sonic that i love and one of the reasons i think sonic x gets sonic so right.  he’s flighty and he doesn’t take danger seriously and sometimes he can be rude if you’re not used to how independent he is — but he’s so compassionate and loving and kind in his way.  he meets a random little girl and he’s not flighty or rude to her, he’s exactly what she needs — not just a way to see the island she’s been dreaming of, but somebody who can grant her the adventure that she’s always wanted and often struggled to achieve due to her disability.  he notices her distress but doesn’t push or prod, he lets her talk through her feelings and is a listening ear, but he doesn’t aim to comfort her about her problems or even really solve them.  ultimately he just — makes her so, so happy in a way that only sonic the hedgehog could.  

[scripted-downfall]

Robin anon here. I adore Ten and Donna's chaotic friendship. What do you think a meeting between Robin and Steve and Ten and Donna would look like?

Oh, that's an awesome thought experiment; thank you! I think that they'd get along really well. Ten and Robin would both be on the same side of the personality scale, given that they both have the same tendency to ramble, the same passion for languages and culture, similar wit (verging on casual rudeness at times... I love them both, but affectionate bluntness is definitely their mutual trait), etc. They'd probably mutually rant about anything they got started talking about, and the time would fly by without really being registered.

However, when you asked the question, the thing that impressed itself most upon me is that Donna would have a lot to say to Steve (in a wholesome way since I'm assuming this would be set sometime season three of ST or later, and his redemption arc, shall we say, has already been pretty heavily developed by then). I know in advance that I'm going to struggle to make this coherent, but here's my best attempt:

Donna is very much not set up to have it easy. She struggles in the show, from external expectations --- not having noticed the various signs of otherworldly activity happening around her, casually being put down by those around her (not Wilf, bless him, but everyone else), not being "conventionally successful" --- and from an internalization of those views --- calling herself "just a temp" and putting down her skills, "shouting at the world because no one's listening", etc. --- despite it being buried beneath her fiery personality. And yet she's an awesome companion --- she's my favorite, though I get that some people don't like her --- in pretty much every sense of the word. She has the practical know-how that the Doctor can sometimes get lost without (e.g. he's sitting there trying over and over again to sonic the wooden door in the Vashta Nerada ep, while she just kicks it down; searching the files in the Sontaaran two-parter; the typing skills that help her return the stolen planets). She's willing to stand up to him when he's wrong, and to agitate for change regardless (e.g. trying to save somebody, anybody from Pompeii, etc). And she's just caring, for everyone (e.g. helping the Ood, talking to and boosting Agatha Christie herself, befriending Miss Evangelista in the library, fighting against ridiculous odds in the "Turn Left" alternate reality, etc.)

And don't get me wrong: I love Robin, Dustin, and the others. But they do often tend on the... sharp... end of teasing. It certainly wouldn't be easy to be surrounded by child prodigies while having struggled in school, not gone to college, etc. I don't think people would disagree if I said that they often expect Steve to know stuff just because they know it --- I mean, Dustin even does that with the other party members, as shown through his "how do you not know this" tone in s1 when dealing with the compasses, on into s4 on a number of issues --- and shoot down his rather out-of-the-box (though not necessarily wrong) ideas whenever they come up (e.g. "maybe he's a clockmaker" "I think you cracked the case there, Steve"). And I know that a lot of this is intended affectionately, but even affectionate teasing can wear, and it's bound to take some degree of a toll.

So I think that Donna would look at Steve and see someone in a similar position. She'd see the way his smile sometimes strains whenever the others act like something he didn't understand was common knowledge, or the confused look in his eyes when they refer to something he doesn't get but he doesn't want to ask the question. And I think she'd have the objective view to see the ways in which he's more capable than they are (e.g. knowing the practical things, like Skull Rock's location, or protecting the party from the physical dangers) instead of just the ways in which they're more book-smart. And I think that he'd be able to help her in return, in much the same way. It's really easy to, if in Donna's/Steve's position, not notice when other people are being rude to them, but to notice it for other people; I think that they'd be able to provide an external opinion for each other on their treatment.

idk if this answers your question suitably --- it's just my first rambles, and isn't very plot-oriented... if you want elaboration or just a different answer, feel free to send another ask; I love the question, and I could probably go on long enough as to be excessive --- but I hope it was enjoyable nonetheless... Thank you for the ask :)

[fioras-resolve]

Hello, person reading this! I'm Angie Nyx, a video game developer and frequent good poster. If you're on my page, you're probably here because I talked about my projects, about games generally, or about Toki Pona. So lemme put essential info in this pinned post.

-Gamedev-

I am, among other things, a developer of turn-based RPG's, with the goal of uniting story and gameplay as a cohesive whole. So often in games we treat the two as separate things, because so often games basically are a movie or visual novel inter-cut with bits of interactivity. I don't just want to make a good game or tell a good story, I want to make a good interactive story.

My current project is Daybreak Hearts, a tactics game about the necessity and difficulty of forming connections. I'm making this game in SRPG Studio, which is the same engine the old Fire Emblem director uses to make Vestaria Saga. I've been using this engine for a good few years, and I'm very close to somebody who does plugins for it, so if you have any questions about it, just send an ask my way. And of course, if you want updates on Daybreak Hearts, feel free to ask, or check the tag.

If you want to check out the rest of my catalogue, I'm on itch.io as nyx. You should especially check out Fiora: Full Bloom, which is a turn-based RPG that uses the genre's mechanics to explore gender identity and mental health. I'm also proud of If You Had One Turn, which I made for a gamejam and later updated, and which is about winning RPG battles in only one turn. I've been at this for a while, and I'm getting better as I grow more confident and take things more seriously. Also check out this post, a series of manifestos about what I want as a game developer.

-Talking About Games-

Part of being a game developer and also autistic is that I think about games constantly all the time and do so with an analytical lens. The longer-form stuff tends to go to my essay blog, but I do post a lot of my stray thoughts on here. Just so know where my preferences lean, I like:

Tactics Games: This is my favorite genre, and I love talking about it. I love Into The Breach, Marvel's Midnight Suns, and Triangle Strategy, all of which are worth checking out. I also like modern XCOM, some of the Fire Emblem games, and I can even find something nice to say about Gears Tactics.

RPGs: I find a lot of comfort in a genre that is mostly centered around number-crunching. I'm really into Xeno, more Gears than Blade though. I have a complicated relationship with Final Fantasy, let's just say Motomu Toriyama is an underappreciated director. And on the western side, Deus Ex is pretty cool, and I have GOT to get back on Baldur's Gate 3. Also on the indie side, play Cataphract OI and Helen's Mysterious Castle.

Mystery Games: Ace Attorney changed my brain chemistry as a child and now I have Miles Edgeworth in my head. I also love Ghost Trick obviously, and I also really like the Zero Escape games (yes, even that one) and Her Story. If you wanted to get me a Steam gift, either Telling Lies or Return of the Obra Dinn would be perfect.

Platformers: Mario... good. I'm also into Celeste, Metroid, Sonic on its better days, and also A Hat In Time is pretty good. Platformers embody Video Games to me.

Puzzle Games: This is partially an extension of the mystery games thing but i also really love 14 Minesweeper Variants and other stuff by Artless Games. Also Baba Is You is good, of course.

I try to appreciate everything I can about a game, and use my perspective as a game designer to maybe give some new insights. If you're looking for some videos, I'd recommend New Frame Plus, Game Maker's Toolkit, and especially talks from GDC and GDoC. I have a playlist of my favorite talks here.

-Toki Pona-

I speak Toki Pona, and I like to think I'm pretty good at it. To prove it to people who care, here's a special message that i'm too afraid to say in English, so we tokiponists get to have it for ourselves. (content warning for pakala unpa)

toki! mi kisa Ansi. tenpo mute la, mi pilin e ni: mi jan wan, lon insa kulupu suli. ni li ken ike e pilin mi, tan ni: kulupu suli li wile e ijo mute tan jan, taso jan li wile pana ala. tenpo mute la, kulupu tonsi li toki e ni tawa mi: "lon tonsi li unpa. sina tonsi la, sina wile unpa." taso, mi tonsi. tenpo mute la, mi wile ala unpa. jan wan li pakala e mi kepeken unpa, la mi monsuta e ona. ni li ike, taso, mi ken pilin ike. pilin ike li ike ala. ni la, mi toki e ni tawa sina: o sina. o pali e wile sina. o pali ala e wile pi sina ala. sina sina. sina ken sina. o pana e pona tawa sina. sina jan wan, taso, sina jan suli.

(Also I'm catkin and plural so don't be surprised or angry if I post about either of those.)

[skaruresonic]

If a person who's basically Lanolin's creator is willing to give her this much near-villainous dialogue, I'd fully expect her to become a villain in the actual comic. I can definitely picture her trying to turn all of Restoration against him just because she personally doesn't understand (and doesn't want to understand) him at all. I know that's (most likely) not the path they have for her but still.

Also dunno how much you know of star wars but she really reminds me of that equally snooty commander lady in return of the jedi.

Yeah, people keep saying maybe Lanolin will turn out to be a villain but like, that's not going to absolve her of her nastiness right now, nor retroactively make her writing more entertaining.

It might contextualize her behavior, but it won't be such a dramatic improvement that it'll elevate the writing to a higher standard of quality. They keep receiving chances to give us A Reason(tm) to explain why she's Like This, and the fact that they miss every single one tells me they're more content with letting fans fill in the blanks themselves.

And... no. I'm not doing their job for them. They're the writers here. They need to quit being lazy and write something coherent for once.

I just need one line of explanation to put everything into context and scrub my hands of her forever, but we don't have that, and it's likely we'll never get it. All we have is "guys be patient with me I'm still learning the ropes uwu," only for her to turn around and continue being a bad leader and an overbearing, overstepping #girlboss. Which is compounded by the fact that nobody particularly wanted or needed her to step up in the first place. Lanolin has a lot more agency than the book lets on, and yet she continues to refrain from sensible decisions in favor of getting mad that people can't read her mind and do what she wants.

We've played this game multiple times before, characterizing the OCs so that they're actually coherent because the alternative is balking at how fucking abysmal the writing is, and it always proves to be a pointless exercise. Reality disappoints so much more than whatever you have in your head. I'm not going to write fanfic for the book if they can't be bothered to develop their characters properly.

Sorry for my terse tone, but the book's stagnant writing frustrates me. I got burned from following Starline too closely, hoping his story would have culminated in some sort of point other than "he didn't think his plan all the way through" (then why hype him up as more meticulous than Eggman for years? Jesus fucking Christ, don't waste my time like that), and look what happened. He got buried under rocks, eulogized with big oof, and everyone who was previously saying Starline was the shit was now laughing at his still-warm corpse because Flynn essentially told them to.

Nuh-uh. Fool me once.

In all likelihood, the book will try to pretend she's not a raging bitch. That she was justified in sneering at the heroes due to a deficiency on Sonic's part. They'll probably pull a "well, Sonic does need someone to rein him in."

And what will happen then is the crowd will murmur agreement, and take it to be a God's-given truth about the character, and spread it around as if it's fact. And then we'll have to slog through "um ackshually, Sonic probably should have somebody slap a leash on him, he's a careless force of nature and a danger to everyone around him" discourse for the next several months. I am not having 'nam flashbacks to three and a half years' worth of people parroting "Eggman never has a solid plan," why do you ask

Because the OCs can never be in the wrong. If there's a problem with OC/canon dynamics, clearly it's the game characters who need fixing. If only Sega would let us flanderize them to make our characters look better by comparison! Alas, mandates. 😔