#strangely specific headcannon

[my-chemicaly-imbalanced-romance]

I’ve got some strangely specific TMA headcannons, I’m gonna try to post one a day so today’s is:

Jon is gender-fluid and his favorite thing in the world is when someone refers to them as ‘she’ cus they only saw his long hair from the back and immediately assumed Jon was a woman. Also he uses he/they pronouns.

[luludeluluramblings]

my contribution with my strange sense of humor. Harley Quinn: Reader, you may recognize this member of the Batfamily.

Harley Quinn: Está interesado en ti, pero de una manera muy obsesiva.

¡Vigilante! ¡De pueblo! Lector: Con esa descripción podría ser cualquiera

I love this, but I would probably reverse it because I really enjoy an oblivious Reader.

Vigilante!Smalltown!Reader on Gotham's rooftops playing lookout with binoculars: Incoming Birdy.

Harley over the comms: Which one.

Vigilante!Smalltown!Reader: The one that’s kinda obsessed with me.

Dr. Harley Quinzel with a PHD in psychology and had already diagnosed every Bat in Gotham as obsessed with Reader: Ya need to more specific than that, raindrop.

It was Stephanie

A/N: I headcannon that Stephanie has the most visibly noticeable obsessive tendencies. I really need to write up her obsession for the original Smalltown!Reader, but there's gonna be a lot of similarities between each AU.

Thank you for sending me this, it really helps me get the brain juices flowing.

[legandairy-horror]

Does anyone else feel a strange sort of dread waiting for new deltarune chapters?

It sounds crazy right? I admit it's a weird feeling for sure, and I'm not even 100% sure if dread is the right way to describe it. But as more info is revealed and the next chapter inevitably gets closer and closer to releasing I can't help but feel a strange sort of, melancholy? Longing? The only way I can describe it is "when you know the goodbye is coming". The strange somber feeling when you know you’re going to have to leave stuff behind, but aren't quite ready for it yet.

warning: words. Homestuck

In 3 months Chapter 1 will be 6 years old, and in 2 months Chapter 2 will be 3 years old. Deltarune is ostensibly in Early Access but this release schedule puts new chapters closer in time scale to whole sequals if anything, which they most assuredly are not trying to be. This has created a strange situation in the fanbase that I don't think I've ever truly seen anywhere else. One where, In the time between chapters It feels like everyone has had their own chance to decide what Deltarune is to them. To create their own version of this story, to write their own themes that they want to see explored, to imagine their own events and plot twists they want to see play out.

@lynxgriffin Paper Trail Comic Being an Alternate Story following off of chapter 1

@lilybug-02 The Chara Timeline Being one of many interpretations on the popular Asriel & Chara roommates headcannon.

@huecycles Andromeda Chapters being their interpretation on the full game

The innumerable Deltarune Theorists and analysts like HalfBreadChaos, Andrew Cunningham, Stuffed Alpaca, etc. etc.

@vyletbunni Deltatraveler being a whole ass fangame based around a chapter 2 meme that it has long since outlived

And that's kinda the thing isn't it? Once more deltarune comes out, a ton of these projects will just become outdated, it's an inevitability. So what will happen to them? will they become forgotten? maybe, maybe not, it's impossible to tell. but either way it feels kinda sad to think about yknow? that one day all the time and effort spent and all the memories made might one day just cease to exist.

There's a lot more I could say on this topic if given the chance but to keep this tumblr post from morphing into a 2 hour long video essay in text form let me leave off with this.

In the age of the internet and social media there will always be a fan of something. Nothing truly dies quite like it used to anymore, regardless of whatever influencers want you to believe. But that doesn't mean things stop changing, that there wasn't a past that has since been left behind. I'm a Homestuck fan. more specifically I'm a Late Homestuck fan, one who came in after the comic had already ended and it's peak in popularity was long behind it. The fandom's still around all these years later. But it'd be foolish to admit that, 8 years after the comics controversial end, the inescapable trend of new fans replacing old fans has left the fandom wholly disconnected from the monolith that it once was. the only remnants of which lie in decades old discourse and fanfiction. Like old relics of a long forgotten city, waiting to be excavated under a fine layer of dirt.

Before I close out here I just want to make it clear: I'm not saying that we should be trying to return to some nebulous "glorious past" that never really existed. I'm not trying to deride Toby Fox for not working in the sweatshop hard enough to produce more content™, or whatever you wanna try and spin-doctor this post into. It's just a thought that creeps into my head every now that I wanted to share, see if anyone feels the same, yknow?

Besides it's not all doom and gloom. For those of you OG Homestucks who read till the end. You remember Heinoustuck? Guidestuck? Nightfall? Fucking Ke$haStuck? yeah those are still going by the way! after years of inactivity they've now started back up again. some under new authors and some by the same author but still!

You could say a lot about that but to me at least, it makes me feels hopeful in a way. That, even if not everything will survive. we'll at least have some mementos to remember what came before.

[kuniihoonii]

Overstimulating sub!aventurine // HC

Minors DNI // 18+

Warnings: overstimulation (obviously), nipple play, praising, handjob, aven goes into subspace <3. Not proof read.

A/N: It's been a hot minute since I wrote anything, specifically smut related so I decided go do a headcannon to kind of ease myself into writing again 😋. If you have any ideas for headcannons you'd like to see, feel free to send me an ask !

I feel like he's already pretty sensitive... like.. everywhere. So when I say overstimulate him, I don't only mean his pretty cock. Overstim his cute nips too~ suck on them or roll your thumb of them, it'll drive him insane <3. If you're giving him a handjob while also playing with one of his nips.. oh god 😵‍💫. He'd let out such loud moans if you do that <3. He'd already be quite loud, he just can't help it~ he's also going to try and pretend what you're doing doesn't effect him but that won't last long.

Now... when he cums the first time and you keep going, he'll whimper out "wait I just ahh came." He'd get so whiny <33. He'd try to grab your hand but he'll stop himself because he wants to be good for you. If you wanna be mean, keep playing with his nips too. If you wanna be a little nicer then just focus on his cock <3. Either way he'll be a moaning, broken mess <3.

Praise him while doing this !!! He'll completely melt. Tell him how good he's doing for you, how good he's taking you. Call him a good boy <3. Your angel <3. Mixing the overstimulation with praise will break him further <3.

That makes me think... Aventurine going into subspace 😵‍💫. He'll start begging and not even knowing what he's begging for. All he knows is the pleasurable pain he's feeling along with the praise you're giving him. Cup his cheek with your free hand and kiss him <3. Let's say you already made him cum twice. Tell him "just one more, yeah? You can do that for me, angel, can't you?" He'll whine but he'll nod "mkay." Call him a good boy for going so long <3.

Keep kissing him <3. Kiss his cheeks, lips, jawline and his pretty neck <3. He'll be grabbing onto you, wanting to keep you close <33. God and his fucked out face when he cums for the last time 😵‍💫. His eyebrows furrowed, eyes rolling, that cute blush on his face and his hair disheveled. He'd hold you tighter and let out such a pretty whine <333.

Once you're done with him. Clean him up and let him know how good he's done and how proud you are of how long he lasted <3. It'll feel strange to him, being taken care of so well. He loves it though, he loves being loved and he hopes you never stop loving him. Actually... tell him "I love you" after that, he'll be so happy <3. He's probably gonna pass out after all that. Almost resting his whole body on yours and his face in your neck as he dozes off.

[ranhaitanisgf]

Hi!! Could u do headcannons for chifuyu, kazutora and baji with a gf who has a older brother in their gang? (Toman and valhalla)

you'll be friends, right!?

synopsis: how will they act when your older brother is in their gang?

☆ a/n ˎˊ˗ first req of the new season new year new me :3 srsly tho its sooo nice to b taking new reqs after finishing up my old ones ! thank you so so much for requesting anon, and i hope everyone enjoys !! xoxo

☆ characters ˎˊ˗ chifuyu matsuno, baji keisuke, kazutora hanemiya x gn!reader

☆ wc ˎˊ˗ 2.5k+

masterlist

chifuyu matsuno: 

❥ the fact that your brother is in toman is something that you’re surprisingly able to hide from him for a good while; chifuyu is kind of easy to lie to, (one of his only faults). well, it wasn’t that you exactly lied to him per say, you just…didn’t mention it. that’s not a crime, right? 

❥ okay, maybe it’s a bit of an exaggeration. chifuyu is strangely perceptive and maybe has noticed that you’re keeping something from him, but it was easy to hide the fact for so long because he trusts you. he trusts that you wouldn’t keep anything important from him that concerns safety and he trusts your judgment. he doesn’t want to be the kind of boyfriend that is controlling and needs to know everything about your life, so he makes sure to tell you that you can come to him with anything and leaves it at that. 

❥ you actually find your brother to suddenly be a useful source of information for once! at first he didn’t want to tell you anything about toman, but with your incessant nagging you finally broke him, earning useful information about things that were going on. it wasn’t really like you understood any of it, but you wanted to have an idea of what was going on with chifuyu, (because he definitely wouldn’t be telling you anything about it). 

❥ your brother isn’t sure why he shouldn’t talk to chifuyu at all, but he only avoids him so that he doesn’t hear any more nagging from you, (it’s easy for him to avoid him anyways since they aren’t in the same division). 

❥ there are times when you accidentally let it slip that you know more about toman that you’re supposed to, which makes chifuyu feel a bit skeptical, but he usually writes it off as you overhearing him chatting with his friends about it. 

❥ when chifuyu finally finds out that your older brother is in toman, you aren’t even there. it happens after a meeting when he overhears your brother with his friends complaining about you, talking about how you had eaten all the snacks in the house and had left the empty bags in the cupboards just to piss him off. 

❥ normally, chifuyu would have ignored it and assumed it was someone with your same name, but it caught his attention because you had told him about that specific thing. you’d laughed to him about how funny it would be to see your brother so pissed off, promising him that you would record it and show him, (he had to admit, it was pretty funny). and now that he’s looking at the guy…the dude looks exactly like your brother. 

“oi…c��mere a second…”  “ah shit…” 

❥ now that chifuyu has figured it out, your brother wasn’t really in any sort of mood to try and make some sort of half-baked explanation. he just admitted that he was your brother straight-up, saying that you had told him to avoid chifuyu while at toman meetings. 

❥ imagine your surprise when you opened up your window for your brother to sneak back home and saw chifuyu right behind him. 

“oh wow, chifuyu! haha, what’re you doin’-?” “(y/n), i know.” “well!” 

❥ he isn’t mad at you; he just doesn’t understand why you hid it from him. in his eyes, it doesn’t really seem like a huge deal and he doesn’t think that he’s done anything to make you think that he would be mad, so he’s really more confused than anything. 

❥ when you explain to him that you just wanted to be able to know when he’s going through a hard time in toman, he feels like you’ve literally taken his heart hostage. of course, his love for you before was absolutely endless, but the fact that you went through that much trouble because you wanted to know what was going on with him…it did something to him, (he ended up staying the night that day because he didn’t want you to leave his arms). 

❥ after that, it’s surprisingly chill. your brother and chifuyu are friendly now, and it also eases your worries more. despite the fact that they both consistently assure you that nothing will happen to them, you feel better knowing that they can look out for each other and have each other’s backs, (more like chifuyu can have your brother’s back, since you’re sure your brother is useless). 

❥ it also means that you get to see chifuyu more! he’ll sometimes come home with your brother after a toman meeting, coming in to see you and have some quality time with you that the two of you didn’t get to have during the day, (it was hard to consider the time you see him in school as quality time). 

❥ he sometimes ends up falling asleep in your room, so it’s a mad rush when one of you wakes up in the morning and realizes what happened, (neither of you regret it though). 

❥ you don’t tell him this, but sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night and realize that the both of you have fallen asleep. you just don’t have the heart to wake him up when he’s sleeping so peacefully, so you decide that the two of you will just deal with it in the morning, (what? you’re not doing that because you like to hear his morning voice! what a wild accusation!). 

baji keisuke:

❥ literally already knows. 

❥ it’s a bit of stretch for him to know every single member in toman, (he might be able to do it if he really put his brain to work) but your brother is in first division, so it’s kind of hard for him not to know. he takes pride in having a good relationship with all the members of his division, so it wasn’t hard for him to put two and two together when he saw the resemblance and the same last names. 

“(y/n), your brother is in toman.” “well, yes. you have a good eye, kei.”  “haha, sarcasm, very funny. why didn’t you say anythin’?”  “i dunno, i didn’t really see any point.” 

❥ he gives up on trying to see your point, instead deciding to just agree with you. 

❥ of course, baji would go to a lot of lengths to protect the guys in his division, but he makes sure to keep an extra eye on your brother. it isn’t because he doesn’t trust your brother to handle himself, but more so because he knows that if anything did happen to him, you would be devastated, (as much as you say you don’t give a shit about your brother, keisuke knows you care). 

❥ baji would do damn near anything to keep you safe and happy, so he makes sure to tell chifuyu and ryusei to also keep an eye on your brother. he keeps it on the down low though, not wanting your brother to know that he was paying more attention to him. 

❥ because baji knew your brother before he knew he was your brother, they are pretty chill with each other, hanging out with the rest of first division after meetings sometimes. 

❥ this also means that whenever baji is over to your place, you and your brother are lowkey (highkey) fighting over who gets to hang out with him. 

“well he’s my friend; i’ve known him for longer!!” “okay, well he’s my boyfriend!! that automatically trumps friend, so he’s mine!”  “uh, do i get a say in this-?” “no!”

❥ it’s quite entertaining.

❥ in all seriousness though, you didn’t know how nice it would be for baji to be so chill with your brother and the rest of your family until it actually happened. you’re not sure why, but it gives you a sense of comfort and happiness seeing him interacting with them all, especially when he gets along so well with your brother, (it’s not because you give a shit about your brother, okay?!). 

❥ adding on to this, ryoko has basically accepted you as her second child, accepting you into the family immediately and treating you as if you were her own blood. you would say that she treats you like she treats keisuke, but given the fact that she physically tries to fight him makes you retract that statement. 

❥ she also will regularly invite you and your brother over for dinner, saying that she needs to get to know her future family, (it makes baji let out a giant sigh and makes you blush a bit, but neither of you say anything refuting it). 

❥ both your brother and baji have made an agreement to never tell you about anything that goes on in toman. you’ve tried to go against it and ask them to explain more to you, but neither of them will ever share more than very basic information about anything that’s going on, (even when you constantly pester them about it). it pisses you off that they claim it’s for your safety; how would knowing simple stuff about what’s going on put you in danger? 

❥ they will never budge. 

❥ the three of you regularly play mario kart with each other; of course, you always come out on top, which makes the both of them accuse you of cheating, (how would you have even done that?!). sometimes baji will invite chifuyu as well, which you think makes it even more fun. 

❥ despite the fact that you always bag on the both of them for doing dumb stuff and being in a gang, you suppose that you get why they do it. it isn’t because they want to make trouble and be violent with other dudes, but it’s for something more, and you can appreciate that, (it’s practically the only reason you stopped pushing to know everything that was going on with them). 

❥ baji and your brother are the official (y/n) protection squad, mean mugging anybody who looks at you sideways at school. you’ve been wondering why they have been following you around everyone, but you immediately shooed them away when your friends told you what they’d been doing. 

“you guys can’t just be doing that to everyone who looks at me!! have some faith in people, will you?!”  “no.”  “absolutely not.”

❥ it’s okay, they’re just doing it because they love you. 

kazutora hanemiya: 

❥ when kazutora and your brother first met, you swore that you could see the hostility swimming in both of their eyes, the both of them becoming extremely stiff and staring at you. 

“this is the guy you’re dating?! you can’t be serious!!” “(y/n), this is your brother? jeez, i feel bad for you being related to him…” 

❥ neither of them had been willing to give up why there was such bad blood between the two of them, so you had to threaten kazutora with not talking to him for a whole month before he confessed. 

“i kinda…beat him up… “what?!”

❥ you weren’t sure who to be more angry at, so you decided to wait to hear the full story and then decide. 

❥ it took a lot of threats and pushing, but you finally got it out of kazutora. apparently, your brother had been sent on some kind of side work mission of picking up some money from another gang when he’d been ambushed, essentially getting robbed for all the money and leaving him with nothing. 

“how much was it?”  “...10 million yen…” “WHAT?!” 

❥ you decided to drop the matter, finding kazutora completely innocent; hell, he was a better person than you. if you had 10 million yen and the person who was supposed to pick it up let it get stolen…you definitely would have killed him, (not seriously, but still, 10 million?! how does some random gang even get that much money?! how is that possible?!)

❥ now that you were aware of the bad blood between kazutora and your brother, you found it rather funny to watch their interactions whenever you had kazutora over, the awkwardness between them unmatchable. neither of them wanted to incur your wrath, but they also both had their pride to uphold, so they just flatly would greet each other and would shuffle around each other, (you were always shaking from holding your laughter in). 

❥ in all seriousness though, you don’t like the fact that they are both in a gang. even though neither of them would tell you anything, you had somewhat of an idea of things that were going on due to a friend of yours whose boyfriend was in toman. of course, you know next to nothing of the gang dynamics in tokyo, but you weren’t entirely sure that the gang they were in was…good…wouldn’t toman be better? 

❥ they immediately rejected your idea when you pitched it to them. 

❥ you have no way to know this, but kazutora very very subtly will keep an eye on your brother, although it’s completely for your sake. he isn’t really sure if you care too much about him, but even kazutora knows that losing a family member is devastating, so he will do whatever he can to keep you from having that burden placed on you. 

❥ your brother consistently grills you whenever you go out with kazutora, acting all high and mighty as if he’s ever actually done anything useful for you. he gets real quiet though when kazutora actually shows up, suddenly becoming quiet and shuffling to his room. 

❥ there’s a part of you that wants to have them make up so that it isn’t so damn awkward, but you’re not sure how to go around that, (you also think it would be funny if this keeps going on). they both have the kind of personality that wouldn’t let them apologize nor forget about the incident, so it was a bit of a stalemate. 

​​❥ you think the only time you’ve ever seen them actually team up to work together was when you started complaining about having some girls in your class teasing and making fun of you for your style. it seriously wasn’t anything crazy, and certainly wasn’t anything like bullying, but they seemed to take it very seriously. 

“hey…are you haruta?” “huh? yeah, who’re you?” “stop bothering (y/n).” “what???” 

❥ they stopped teasing you after that, but it came at the cost of some of your reputation; there is now a rumor that you have two delinquents at your beck and call who do your dirty business for you. great. 

❥ when you confronted the two of them, they pretended like they had no idea what you were talking about. 

“you two punks did this, huh!?”   “sounds like you’re makin’ things up. i didn’t do anything like that.” “dunno anything ‘bout that, on my momma.”  “we have the same mom you dumb fucking idiot.” 

❥ maybe there is hope for a friendship between them after all.

[pressureplus]

The Complete Masterlist

———————————————————————————

Romantic = 🌷

Sexual = 🌹

Platonic = 🌻

Multi/Non Specific = 💐

———————————————————————————

Sebastian Solace

Oneshots

———————

Birthday Wishes (💐)

Reflection , Doppelgänger (💐)

Hiraeth (🌷)

Smaller Hands (🌷)

All For Show (🌹)

Safety (🌷)

Layers of Fondness (🌷)

Aphotic (🌷)

Sebastian’s Sea Angel (🌹)

Sensitive, Sensitive (🌷)

Hair and Care 101 (💐)

Your Name (🌷)

What You Deserve (🌹)

Friends in Strange Places (💐)

Headcannons

———————————

Cuddling (🌷)

You Get Injured (💐)

As A Bestfriend (🌻)

Kissing (🌷)

Dating (🌷)

Yandere (🌷)

As A Dad , As A Dad + Feral Child (💐)

General NSFW (🌹)

Nicknames (💐)

Human Sebastian NSFW (🌹)

Long Hair Sebastian (💐)

You’re Scared of Touch + An Experiment (💐)

Grieving You (🌷)

Drunk (💐)

Father Figure (🌻)

You’re TransMasc (💐)

Ovipositor and How It Works (💐)

Married Sebastian and You’re very similar (🌷)

Panic Attack Comfort (💐)

Other/Unsorted

————————————

Profile Picture

Madoka Sebastian

Banner

Baby Sebastian , Baby Sebastian (no background)

Vampire Prince Sebastian

Open Ocean Fanart 1 , Fanart 2 , Fanart 3

[starlitiris]

Hi, I wanted to say I adore your writing!! You don't have to do this request if you don't want to, but I'd love to hear your headcannons for how the troupe (or specifically Uvo, Pakunoda, and Shalnark) react to an s/o that likes to give them love bites♡ (Not sexually, just affectionate biting!)

I sincerely apologize for being months late to this holy shit, I had a lot of shit going on right after i got this ask and i was just tired and OUGH but here it is

I hope my goofy ass writing makes up for the wait </3 and I hope I didn’t make them too out of character 😭 been a minute since I wrote for hxh

And ty for enjoying my writing i’m very glad that you do!!!

If anyone wants me to do this for other hxh characters, phantom troupe or otherwise, LMK!!! I’d love to give that a shot >:)

Love Bites! (Phantom Troupe Headcanons)

Shalnark

- I can imagine you and Shal are cuddling on the couch in the home you share

- He has an arm around you, holding you close while he scrolls through whatever on his phone

- You don’t know what he’s looking at. Nor do you care. You want attention.

- You gently grab the hand that’s on you and CHOMP

- Well. It’s not really a CHOMP. It’s just a little nibble.

- “Huh?-“ He looks at you.

- He looks befuddled.

- But then he smiles!

- Intrigued and amused, he asks: “What are you doing?”

- “You’re not paying attention to me, so I’m making you,” you tell him with a devious little smirk

- “Oh, really?” The amusement in his expression morphs into something much more mischievous.

- “Uh huh,” you say before biting his fingers again, a little harder this time

- “Hey!” He shouts through a giggle

- He grabs one of your hands and bites YOU. Not any harder than you bit him, though. He wouldn’t wanna hurt his beloved <3

- You squeal and try to pull your hand away, but he doesn’t let you.

- He keeps nipping at you while you giggle and screech at him to stop

- Eventually he tackles onto your back on the couch

- He squishes your sides attacks your shoulder, neck and ear with playful nibbles

- “SHAL!” You laugh. “S-STOP IT!!”

- “What? I’m giving you attention now, isn’t this what you wanted?” He retorts before resuming his attack

- I’m sorry, Reader. You lost this battle.

Pakunoda

- Arghh your girlfriend/fiancée/wife is so pretty

- You adore her so much. Sooo so much that you cannot put it into words

- You can put it into actions, though!

- With the utmost love and care, you lift her hand to your face, kiss the back of her hand, and very very gently nibble on her dainty wrist.

- She makes a small noise indicating she was caught off guard, and she looks at you with a look of befuddlement

- “What on earth are you doing?” She asks

- You remove her wrist from your teeth and look up at her with a sweet lil smile. “Biting you.”

- “Why?” She raises an eyebrow at you.

- “Because I love you.”

- She stares

- And blinks

- Then smiles, emitting a chuckle

- “You are strange,” she tells you.

- “Does this bother you?” You ask, not wanting her to be uncomfortable.

- “Not at all, my love.”

- You grin and gently nibble at her wrist again.

- Strange as you may be, she finds you adorable.

- This will become a common occurrence.

Uvogin

- You and Uvo are having a picnic date!! Cute!!

- Right now you’re listening to him ramble on about a recent job he had

- He retells his favorite moments from the adventure enthusiastically

- You love watching him get enthusiastic and passionate about things. Even if it is, uh… theft and murder sometimes. But you find it charming!

- “-Anyway, you should’ve been there. It was the most fun I had on a job in a while!” He finishes his story and takes a big ol’ bite from his sandwich.

- An idea strikes you. Muhaha

- “Hey Uvo, gimme your hand,” you tell him, reaching out your own two hands to hold his massive one

- “Huh? Why?”

- “Just gimme. Give.”

- He gives you a questioning look before complying and giving his hand to you.

- You grab it, pull it closer to you and chomp one of his fingies

- You don’t bother with being gentle. The man has iron skin, you could probably bite him as hard as possible and it would barely tickle

- Uvogin snorts. “What the hell are you doing?”

- You let go. “What’s it look like?”

- “Why are you biting me?” He grins, finding your goofy ass to be very cute and charming as always.

- “Cause I wanna!” You bite him again.

- “Fuckin’ weirdo.” He lets you gnaw away at his hand and continues eating his sandwich.

- He snickers when you literally say “grr” as you’re biting him.

- He loves you. He loves you and all your quirks.

Sorry if this was too short but i hope you enjoyed nonetheless 🕺

[snailpaste]

Can i get some McSugarDaddy Crocodile headcannons but reader actually has feelings for croco? ive been thinking about this a little too much lately

Sugar Daddy!Crocodile x GN!Reader

CONTENT: Crocodile x GN! Reader, SFW, kind of mutual pining

AN: This isn't what i wanted but if I didn’t post it now I think it’d just go to the great fic graveyard in my drive (30 and counting) sorry for the wait ;-;

You’d caught crocodile’s eye at one of the many Gala’s he hosted (after all, charity was always a brilliant way for him to further his influence, to make connections and gain power), where he’d struck up conversation with you after asking to share a drink. It had gone well, and by the time the event had drawn to an end he’d given you his den den number and offered to pay for your taxi home.

Crocodile wasn’t one to chase after people, much more content to work on furthering himself or his many business enterprises. He simply didn’t need to – there were enough many men and women willing to fling themselves at him should he ever be in need of company – which is why he found it so strange that, not but two days after meeting you at a Gala, here he was, den-den pulled closer towards him on his desk than usual, eyes flickering to it every so often as he worked through the growing heap of paperwork.

rest under cut ->

If anyone were to ask why, not they would ever question him, he’d simply tell them he was waiting on an important business call, rather than hoping for a stranger, who’s laugh he unfortunately hadn’t been able to stop thinking about, to call.

Your arrangement started as “purely transactional,” in the words of Crocodile.

He didn’t expect sexual favours (at least, to begin with) but simply wanted your company at events, a presence beside him to help gnaw away at the tedious meetings and public appearances he endured in the name of business. You’d wake up with a voice message on your den den, telling you to be ready at 7, with details scarce aside from to check your mailbox, inside which was a new outfit fitting for whatever event he saw fit to bring you to. Over time as he learned more about you, they became more and more tailored to your tastes.

He kept things distant at the start. His touches were modest, an arm around your waist or shoulder, a hand guiding you at the small of your back, but nothing more. You found yourself begging to crave his touch, leaning into the warmth of his palm or wrapping your own around his arm.

His conversations, while interesting, never betrayed any of his true emotions, and he opted to leave you with cash rather than buying anything else for you specifically. Gradually, you began to hope might actually start to open up to you. What did he look like unguarded? How did he look when he was at peace 

As the weeks passed, you found yourself growing accustomed to his presence, the initial intimidation and curiosity replaced by a quiet comfort. Crocodile listens to whatever you have to say intently, eyes never leaving your face, always asking the right questions and relishing in the way you blush when he leans closer to you, blowing cigar smoke out the window and brushing your hair out of your face.

While Crocodile isn’t out of touch with his feelings, he does prefer to ignore them. He immediately noticed how you changed towards him, leaning your head into his hand when he cupped your cheek and laughing a little bit more openly, and sneaking looks when you thought he didn’t notice – he’d be lying if he said it didn’t make his heart feel just a little warmer.

Your dates, as you unknowingly began to phrase them much to his amusement, became far more frequent, with him using anything as an excuse to be around you for longer. Crocodile, it seemed, had an uncanny ability to understand your desires. He took you to places and events you’d been wanting to go to without you asking, such as art galleries, cosy bookstores and grand libraries, or bookings at theatres or cinemas.

Crocodile encourages you to pursue any and all of your interests- there’s nothing he admires more than when you go off on a tangent about something you’re passionate about, or your dedication. With him, money isn’t an issue, he’ll happily pay whatever fees you might need to achieve.

Your relationship progressed from you being a pretty thing draped off of his arm, another way for him to flaunt his wealth and power, to something more personal. He surprised you with a visit to something you’d mentioned excitedly to him weeks ago, booked the wing of a restaurant you fancied for just the two of you, and invited you with him to the opening evening of an exclusive art exhibition of his favourite movement.

It was only when he caught himself thinking about you with a smile while smoking his evening cigar, that crocodile decided to address how he felt– whatever it was.

After a long night that left you nodding off and leaning against him, crocodile opted to take you back to his house. He’d carried you up to a guest room with his jacket wrapped around your shoulders, placing you down in the bed and mumbling a soft good-night into your hair. It was then that, in your half-asleep stupor, you accidentally confessed your feelings, clinging sleepily to his shoulders and mumbling for him to stay with you. He didn’t make a big deal of it, but he felt his heart skip a beat, and allowed you to cuddle against his chest until you fell asleep.

The following morning he told you plainly and simply, wanting to cut the tension that ran thick as you drank him out of the corner of your eye (and how could you not, with normally slicked back hair in loose waves, ringed hands sliding you a coffee across the island, his bare chest peeking through his dark brocade dressing gown) that he was interested in you, interested in a relationship more than this.

After this, he begins to open up- lets you run your hands through his hair from behind, and stay at his house as often as you’d like. His laughs become lighter and more genuine, and you find he has a dimple in his left cheek whenever he smiles just so.

He still buys you gifts and treats you, but now they’re far more intimate, and more tailored to your tastes than ever. He takes you with him on his business trips around the globe, letting you soak in the sun or encouraging you to explore the attractions while he attends to business.

He surprises you with gifts delivered directly to your house, a box of your favourite treats, each delicately wrapped in coloured paper, a potted plant he collected from your shared trip to alabasta, or something he saw you looking at or considering buying with his own note attached. Another time, he appeared at your doorstep with an assortment of flowers, (he’s very into “classic courting”) each flower was one he picked carefully to reflect a message to you.

His love languages are quality time and acts of service, but he craves physical touch and, as you find, becomes quite clingy when he’s tired. He loves sharing baths with you, holding you to his chest and relaxing in the warm bubbles, and on his one day of rest per week, lazing around in bed with you during the early morning hours.

The time he realised he was well and truly in love with you was when you were sitting in his lap, his arm looped around your waist and hand smoothing over your cheek, as you had reached up to trace your fingertips over his raised scar. He’d felt his heart jump into his throat at the feeling, realising he’d never allow anyone else to touch him there, and when you smiled at the light dusting to his cheeks, he realised he was well and truly fucked.

[hype-blue-fixation]

SFW Alastor Tickle/Fluster Spot Headcannons

Ignore the photos I put them in here while I was sleep deprived and can't convince myself to get rid of them

I was also really proud of the bonus spots at the end ehehehe :>

Rough Tickle Spots

He loves getting a good, genuine laugh and being tickled breathless. It lets him blow off steam and laugh as hard as he can RIGHT in his ler's face. It's a power move, really.

Ribs - He has 13 pairs, like a deer. And every one of them will get him laughing. The harder you dig and faster you vibrate, the better. Tenderize him.

Crook of Neck - Dig in with your fingertips. He will scrunch up and howl with laughter. The more surface area, the less ticklish it is, so make sure you use the very tips!

Belly - The entire belly is a death spot, but the closer you get to his button, the worse it gets. Dig right in and vibrate for best results.

Knees/Behind Knees - Pinch and squeeze playfully. If done correctly, you will earn yourself a whole army of kicks and giggles.

Not Ticklish Spots

If you go for these places, he will look at you like you're the whole circus.

Thighs/Calves - He's a deer. A prey animal. His one line of defense (running away) must be somewhat protected.

Hips - He will still laugh in a moment of tickle fever, but the tickle itself is very dull.

Butt - Why are you trying to tickle that anyways?

Light Tickle Spots

Light tickles are by far his favorite for relaxing and bonding with others. If played just right, they can send him into lovey-dovey euphoria. Every place is vulnerable, but especially:

Neck - He always covers his neck. The lightest touch (even his own hair brushing against it) can be unbearably ticklish.

Ears/Tail - The softer the touch, the more he shivers and melts. Loves the feeling of them being gently rubbed, twirled, or fiddled with. Crooning or feeling breath on his ears will turn him into warm butter.

Arms/Hands - This is super relaxing for him and reminds him of little sensory games his mama played with him as a boy. It puts him into a lovie, sentimental headspace.

Underarms/Hooves - Since these places are very sensitive and highly guarded, soft touch drives him into euphoric insanity. If done correctly, it can be extremely pleasurable and get overwhelming very quickly.

Belly - Especially with nibbles and licks, he gets flustered beyond belief. His belly button is an absolutely horrendous melt spot that will have him losing all connection to reality the more tender you treat it.

Bonus spots!

Unconventional, but effective!

Tentacles - His tentacles are an extension of himself. When they feel pain, so does he. And if you gently scratch or touch them, he can feel it too. Since they are detached, he can't feel it in any specific place...it's sort of a strange full body experience. It can be very overwhelming, too.

VooDoo Doll - He keeps a Voodoo doll of himself and Rosie has one too. Using a feather or a brush is most effective. Enjoy watching him go into hysteria and grab at intangible forces. He's nothing but a tickle doll in your hand...literally.

Voice/ASMR - Being a Radio Demon, his main sensory is his hearing, and he has a VIVID imagination connected to what he hears. Sometimes just hearing someone's voice (cough cough Rosie) spouting teases, telling him exactly how they want to wreck him, and making tickly promises is enough to make him physically experience everything they're saying. Blindfolding him makes this even more intense.

[boozenboze]

*distant shouting*

Can we get some more flexible COD male reader?!

I don’t see why not :)

Task Force 141+Los Vaqueros x Flexible!Male reader

Headcannons!🙂

Price

Practically had a heartattack during the crab walk fiasco

Likes to test your flexibility during training

Almost passed out when he walked in your room and saw you bending your back so your feet met your head

Refuses to try any moves he sees you do

Says that he’s to old to be moving the way do

He’s afraid he’ll pull a muscle or break a bone

Likes to rest how far you can spread your legs

Gives him more room while fucking you senseless

Ghost

Just stares a lot

Trying to figure out

Low key wants to know if you can fit in a suitcase

Watched you wrap yourself around the enemy and somehow crush their ribs

Likes that your able to fit into small spaces during missions.He thinks it’s beneficial

Low key hopes you get stuck in a tight spot in which only your lower half is the only thing exposed to him

You can use your imagination for what you think he does

Soap

“Can ya wrap yourself around me like a backpack?”

Has some stupid ideas that he’d like to put into action

Likes having you wrapped around him in the most awkward positions

Uses you as a scare tactic while on missions specifically during interrogations

“Ya see the position he’s in now?That how yer going to be in while

*insert you with limbs going in different directions*

Missionary all day with your legs spread as far as they could go

Gaz

Cracks jokes about you being a rag doll

“Oh look at the doll at work”

Impressed by how fluidly you can move your limbs

Is a firm believer that you don’t have a spine

“I don’t think M/n has a spine,you’ve seen the way he moves!”

“Gaz if I didn’t have a spine I wouldn’t be standing here right now.”

Enjoys doing stretches with you

One specifically where he ends up on top of you

Alejandro

¿De qué otra manera puedes mover ese cuerpo guapo?

Is very impressed in your abilities he is!

It’s just scary sometimes

He ran into your room with a cross when he saw you doing some strange stretches

“Ahh Cariño I thought you were possessed”

Has made you chase Rudy across the the base more than once

Likes exploring different positions during sex especially with your known flexibility

Rodolfo

Lowkey scared of you

You saw how he reacted during the crabwalk fiasco

He’s gotten used to seeing you randomly doing backbends and crab walking around the place.

Very flustered when you pin him to the wall with your leg.

“Luciendo muy bien debajo de mí querido.~”You’d say seductively

*insert flustered Rudy noises*

[cosmosinfinity23]

Random Dead Boy Detectives headcannons:

Crystal used to be a huge nerd— she specifically was obsessed with the Percy Jackson series. When Heroes of Olympus came out, she related STRONGLY to Piper (girl with strange abilities that can make people do what she wants, and absentee parents)

(Given to me by @fanderily-blog) Charles uses his disguises to go concerts sometimes; he always ends up taking care of someone (making sure they’re not taken advantage of, that they get home safe, etc.) and in the infinite backpack he brings several bottles of water, sandwiches, and snacks for teens who aren’t used to drinking alcohol who pre-gamed before the concert. He doesn’t want all that attention so he doesn’t mention his little adventures to anyone else.

Charles made Edwin watch The Princess Bride, and Edwin won’t admit it, but he LOVED it

One day, the agency is messing around asking questions. One question they all answered was, “What’s an embarrassing secret you have?”. Crystal’s was that she had a crush on Big Bird as a child. Niko said she couldn’t think of any, till Edwin reminded her of the time where accidentally ate a bar of soap, since it looked like a chocolate bar.

[rumble-aint-a-rumble-without-me]

HI DILLOOOO!!!

So sososososo, as a plant mother of 6, can you do headcannons of the gang with a s/o who loves plants and has like a ton that they constantly take care of?

If not no worries Ik it’s a kind of strange request love u (platonically) 🫶

A/N: For sure bro! I am the proud owner of 9 little potted plants, they sit in my kitchen windowsills and I dote over them with all of the love in my heart. I'm a huge fan of succulents and cacti, and I hope you're a big fan of these headcanons!

DARRY CURTIS

Darry is amused by your love of plants, thinks it’s cute how excited you get whenever you talk about them or whenever you get a new one

He’s not against your love for them at all and will offer up the windowsills in the kitchen for you to house all of your plants if you need the space

I have a feeling his Mom had a bunch of plants? Like flowers in the flowerbed outside, small plants in the windows and vases on the table so having plants back in the house is something special to Dare

Not that it’s not special to the other Curtis boys, I just think Darry sort of resonates with that sort of thing more? I don’t know, it just works okay? Trust me?

But also trust me on this, you do not want him anywhere near your plants and I mean anywhere at all

He’s bad at remembering to water them and definitely doesn’t have any sort of a green thumb so do yourself a favor, and your plants too, and don’t let Darry take care of them at all

SODAPOP CURTIS

Sodapop Curtis kills every plant he touches so for the love of God, don’t entrust your lovely little plants babies to him, they will not survive

He doesn’t mean to kill them! He just never remembers to water them or waters them too much or leaves them in the sun too long or moves them out of the sun or-

Soda does like giving you plants and flowers though! He’ll do flowers more often than anything else, just cause they’re easier to come by, but expect a few small houseplants every now and then

Yes, the flowers do come from the flowerbeds in the neighborhood, and yes, the flowers are often times just various weeds and wildflowers that he thought were pretty and figured you’d like

He tries to remember the names of all the plants? But you and I both know that Sodapop is wayyyy dyslexic and wayyyy forgetful so sometimes the names come out wrong

But that’s okay because he’s trying and you can tell and he’s just so adorable when he messes it up because once you correct him, he’ll repeat the word a few times just so he can try to remember it 

PONYBOY CURTIS

This boy is surprisingly good at taking care of plants? And he’s very good about giving them the exact amount of sunlight and water that they needed and making sure that they’re growing the right way

Side headcanon that tacks onto Mrs. Curtis having plants, but Ponyboy was definitely the one who helped his mama water all the plants because he just would, ya know, it’s a Ponyboy activity

Pone likes to check out books from the library about plants, specifically flowers and their meanings, and sometimes the two of you will pour over them together, looking at all the pictures

He checks out even more books when you leave him in charge of watering your plants because heaven forbid anything go wrong with your babies-

Ponyboy likes to call the plants by their proper names, boy’s practically a plant identification app after he starts dating you, I swear to everything-

You show him a plant once and the next time you bring that plant up Pony will have at least three facts about it, the symbolism of the plant, and it’s directions for care 

DALLAS WINSTON

If you have plants and you care about them at all, do not leave them in the care of our Mr. Winston, you will not have plants anymore

No matter how hard he tries, he just can’t keep plants alive and it’s literally the funniest thing ever because he does all the same things you do and still kills them- he thinks the plants have something against him

But, there is one plant he has that has managed to survive, a hearty little succulent in his room at Buck’s that has somehow not died yet

Of course, that little plant came from you and Dally loves that thing a whole lot but he will not allow himself to water it, for fear of killing it off, so he makes Buck water it and gets really upset if Buck doesn’t water the little plant on time

No matter what you name your plants or what the plants actually are officially titled, Dally will call them by the most obnoxious names because he doesn’t want to be bothered to remember what they are

He knows all the names, don’t let him fool you on that, but he’d much rather call them names like floppy green leaf and spiky bush  

JOHNNY CADE

Johnnycake loves that you love plants, he thinks it’s sweet and cute how much you care for the little plants you’ve potted so carefully-

He’s very gentle if you leave him in charge of your babies, following any direction you leave him down to the exact letter, he will not mess anything up and everything must be done perfectly

Dallas likes to mess him up and bother him while Johnny’s watering your plants, saying things like “You weren’t supposed to do that one, ya know.” and “You sure you haven’t already watered that one, Johnnykid?”, and my personal favorite, “You think they’d notice if we swapped out a plant?”

Johnny very quickly stops involving Dally when you leave him charge of plant care

He likes learning about the plants too, he’s like a little sponge when it comes to the care information

Johnny’s really good about remembering which plants are which, even with the ones that look really similar and have similar names, he likes to ask you about them just to see you get all excited <3 

TWO-BIT MATHEWS

Two-Bit Mathews is a forgetful person and for that reason, I strongly advise against letting him take care of your plants, he will not remember them until they’re already wilting

That being said, he does think your plants are super cool and will constantly point out new plants to you and ask if you know what they are

It doesn’t matter if you know what they are or not, he trusts you completely when it comes to plants and you could flat-out lie to him about the plant and he would just nod like he understand exactly what you’re saying

Two-Bit really likes cacti I think, the spikier the better, and will always try to poke yours if you’ve got any, no matter how many times he ends up stabbing himself on the points

If you were to give him a plant, I think he’d actually cradle the pot like it was a real baby, super psyched on having his own plant and being just like you! (Give him one of those ones that are like nearly impossible to kill because if his plant dies, he will be very, very sad)

He keeps the plant you gave him in his room, perched precariously in his bedroom windowsill and makes it very clear that no one is to touch it because he’s afraid someone’s going to to kill it

STEVE RANDLE

THIS BOY. Loves to shower you with flowers and I mean all the flowers he can get his hands on, he gives ‘em to you whenever he sees you

Steve gives you small bouquets from the corner store, gives you the wildflowers growing on the edges of the lot, gives you the hearty little weeds that poke up between the sidewalk cracks

Do not let him take care of the plants. I will only say that once. Do not do it.

He can help you pot and move them if you need to move your plants, but he is way too heavy-handed when it comes to watering them and will drown your plants, it’s not at all, I swear-

You can tell when he messes with them too cause he’ll leave grease smudges on the pots and we all know, Steve doesn’t wash his hands nearly as much as he should, and to be honest, with his interest in cars, he’s constantly covered in oil and grease

It’s cool though, he’s way into cars, and you’re way into plants, it’s kinda cute when the two of you go on tangents about your interests and the other one just kinda looks at the first with hearts in their eyes 

TIM SHEPARD

There is one (1) plant, one singular plant, in the whole Shepard household and you are the only reason behind its presence-

It’s in the kitchen, tucked behind the sink and seated right under the window, probably the best spot for a plant to be and it stays there proudly, vibrant and leafy and green

Tim pretends like he’s indifferent about your love for plants, not really having an official opinion on the plants you cherish so dearly, but he’d be lying if he said that his heart didn’t pitter patter at least a little bit faster whenever he sees that plant in the kitchen

Tim likes the plants that are easy to take care of, that only require weekly or bi-weekly waterings and absolutely no pruning, he just wants to dump some water and move on

He doesn’t have a green thumb and he doesn’t have the patience to deal with the plants that require a lot of effort-

He’s bad at remembering the names too and will just wave his hand vaguely when he’s trying to talk about one until you describe the plant in a way that he recognizes

CURLY SHEPARD

I can see Curls really digging plants? And just gently cupping a plant in his hands, those scarred fingers wrapped around a pot with the tiniest sprout poking up through the dirt

Imagine for a moment, if you will, tucking a flower behind his ear- something bright and colorful against those inky black curls while he rolls his eyes fondly and bows his head to give you a kiss-

He likes planting things with you, messing around the dirt and planting your various flowers and other greeneries in pots and flowerbeds 

Curly will get bored with it though, very fast, especially if you’ve got to plant a lot or you’re working with boring plants, and he’ll try to get you to do something else instead

When you’re watering plants too, he’ll try and nudge your hand so you end up dumping more water than you needed to because he’s a mischievous little somebody who likes to mess with you

Expect a lot of flowers from him too! Little bunches of flowers from the sidewalk and from the yards he passes, clutched tightly in his hands and presented to you with the widest smile 

[2ugarystars]

╭──────༺✦༻──────╮

A short F/O and S/I Ask game!! (Webcore themed)

╬╬═════════════╬╬

💿┆What does your s/i look like? How do you draw or make them? (Either by drawing, writing, or by using picrews?)

📼┆Does your s/i or f/o have a strange hobbies or specific interest, maybe a niche collection?

🖥┆ If you were to describe your lore between your s/I and f/o in a poorly written or drawn style, what would it be?

📧┆is there a AU that is less popular that you'd want to make for your s/i and f/o one day? (Ex. Irl x sentient character on a screen /think of electric dreams/ , specific role swap , different fandom au)

💽 ┆Do you headcannon your f/o's looks? How do you imagine or draw them? Do they look similar to their og look?

💾┆ If your s/i and f/o were in a horror movie/game, what would it be and what would your roles be?

🕹┆ does your f/o have a favorite game from the 80s and 90s? Maybe something from the NES or PC-98?

🖱┆if your f/o is or was nonhuman, what are they like? Do they have animalistic features or powers?

💬┆If your s/i or f/o had a moodboard/stimboard, what would it look like? Do they have a specific aesthetic?

╰──────༺✦༻──────╯

[cenorii]

All theories about RE and etc

I decided to collect everything I wrote about RE in one place. This will be a convenient article in which I will put links to my previous theories and analyses, which I will formalize with a brief description. Now it will be easy for you to navigate. And those who have found my blog recently will be able to see what theories and revelations I have written before.

It will be updated!

💉1. Link. Theory detailing why Wesker couldn't have died in a volcano. And what would be his future path after this event, and how would he cross paths with Chris. It says that this is a theory of the possible RE9 plot, but now I believe that these are possible ideas for the future, not tied to a specific part. There's also a theory about Chris's BOW clones

💉2. Link. Theory of Wesker's leaked concept. I found a lot of oddities.

💉3. Link. Theory of why Wesker's eyes change color and what it depends on.

💉4. Link. I accidentally found a photo of a man who looked like an elderly Wesker when I was playing RE8. Theory of why it's Wesker and not anyone else.

💉5. Link. Video about this photo.

💉6. Link. Psychological analysis of Chris Redfield's personality.

💉7. Link. Psychological analysis of Albert Wesker's personality.

💉8. Link. A small addition to Wesker's analysis.

💉9. Link. Theory of why Wesker's virus is as contagious as HIV.

💉10. Link. I tried to determine which dates Chris, Jill, and Wesker's birthdays were on.

💉11. Link. I was bored and decided to identify every Wesker gun from all the games.

💉12. Link. Generalized theory about RE9. There I wrote the most important thing from the first link, and also added a theory about a photo of an old Wesker with long hair.

💉13. Link. I'm trying to analyze the butterfly effect in the history of RE, specifically from Wesker's side and people's attitudes towards him. How could a different attitude to personality affect the plot of all RE games?

💉14. Link. Detailed analysis of Chris's BOW from the ending of RE8.

💉15. Link. In 2021, Wesker's VA leaked information about some future game with his participation. I figured out this leak and put everything in its place.

💉16. Link. Once again, I find it strange how Capcom writes about Wesker's death. It's like they're trying to convince themselves of this, not the players. There is also a little bit about Jake here.

💉17. Link. Why Wesker is not a secret admirer of Rebecca.

💉18. Link. My thoughts on how I see the RE5 remake.

💉19. Link. There is an interesting date on the PG67A/W label.

💉20. Link. My headcannons about characters, part one.

💉21. Link. My headcannons about characters, part two.

💉22. Link. My headcannons about old Wesker.

💉23. Link. What is Chris's eye color?

💉24. Link. I saw the rumors about the RE9 and tried to be realistic.

💉25. Link. Piers and Jill are very important people to Chris. I told about it in more detail.

[chiropter36]

Three or More Foxes Form a 'Skulk'

Read on Ao3

AN: Oh my god it has been so long since I've actually finished a fic, I'm just going to post this before I overthink it too much.

So... watched Sonic Prime, wanted to give my boy Nine some interactions with Mangey and Sails, plus explore the immediate aftermath of where things were left with him and the other Shatterspace folks, and... here we are.

(There's a reference in here to a headcanon from @the-knucklesverse, specifically one regarding Gnarly. He doesn't feature much in this and it's not the focus, but I like the headcannon and felt it worked with something I wanted to have happen here, so I included it. I'm not involved with that blog, but check out their stuff for fun multiversal Knuckles shenanigans!)

---

Nine wasn’t sure exactly when he’d closed his eyes, but he really didn’t want to open them right now.

A small groan escaped his lips as he halfheartedly fought against whatever stupid self-loathing part of his brain kept trying to drag him back to full consciousness.

What had… happened? Disjointed images whirled through his head, and he weakly struggled to force them into a coherent order.

The Grim…

The Prism, gone…

Sonic… Sonic fading away, because of him...

The pink jungle hedgehog taking him on her bird mount, then her two counterparts leaving with Shadow on the Kraken…

They all got too far away to see…

A blinding flash of light from the distant Green Hill portal…

And then…

Nine didn’t remember passing out, but that was the only explanation he could think of. (Urgh, thinking, why did thinking hurt?) With no more imminent threat to deal with or time-sensitive problems to solve, everything he had been through over the past… had it even been a full day?...must have just hit all at once.

Another groan – this one almost more of a whimper – slid involuntarily out of his throat.

With consciousness returning came the awareness of just how exhausted he felt in every way imaginable. His head still ached from the strain he had put on himself using so much Prism energy so indiscriminately. (Idiot, you idiot, you should have known there would be consequences for that, but you just couldn’t stop, could you.) He doubted he could lift himself a centimeter off the ground right now with how sore his flesh-and-blood tails felt. His right cheek was still throbbing horribly from the sucker punch that damn echidna had got in, which had felt more like being smacked with a concrete block – judging by the taste of blood still in his mouth, Nine was pretty sure he could count himself lucky if just one of his remaining baby teeth had been knocked loose.

And then there was the awful ache in his chest that had nothing to do with any physical injury he’d sustained.

Not having to think or feel was such an enticing prospect right now…

At least, for some reason, one thing Nine wasn’t feeling was the hard floor of his base. Logically, that should have been what he’d collapsed on, but instead he felt almost like he was floating on air without moving his tails; his body gently swaying from side to side, trying to lull him back to sleep. It made no sense, but it felt so nice that he didn’t feel like questioning it.

Conversely, it seemed strangely as though gravity was pressing harder than usual against his body, but in an oddly pleasant, comforting way. Like a heavy blanket, sort of; warm and soft and–

Wait.

Gravity seemed to be breathing.

Nine forced his eyes open.

The first things he saw were the leaves of his two palm trees, their trunks stretching directly above him. So he was still in the Grim then; that made sense, but… wait, was he in the hammock? Had he climbed into it before blacking out…?

Before he could ponder that too much, his gaze turned down to where the soft, snuffling breathing sounds were coming from… and his brain froze in confused disbelief at the sight that greeted him.

One of the fakers. The one from the jungle world. Fur slightly more orange-ish with red-brown stripes and clearly having never once seen a brush; no cybernetic tails; gloves and shoes made of leaves and vines; but otherwise so nearly identical to himself in appearance that he could have been looking in a very distorted mirror.

And it was laying on his chest.

“What the- Hey! Get off me, you flea-ridden--”

The other fox let out a surprised yowl as Nine shoved him, leaping off and landing on all fours. The sudden movement sent the hammock swaying, and Nine overbalanced and tumbled off the other side. His tails instinctively extended out to catch him before he hit the ground; he set himself on his feet and immediately ducked into a defensive crouch, glaring at the offender and preparing for a counterattack–

“Oi, you’re awake!”

The sudden adrenaline rush throwing his self-defense instincts into overdrive cut off as abruptly as it had hit, replaced with a surge in the throbbing pain in his head. Nine put a hand to his head, groaning miserably as he waited for the hammer apparently inside of his skull to stop bashing his brain over and over.

A few moments and the pain faded to more-or-less the background level Nine had woken up to; able to think slightly more clearly, he turned to focus on the new speaker.

Ah, of course, the other one. Pirate-him. That ridiculous bandanna over one ear, cutlass hanging from his belt, the odd mechanism extending from his back that Nine supposed made a passable prosthetic tail, though nothing as sophisticated as his own of course. He stood next to where the feral one was still crouched and watching Nine warily, but in contrast was sporting an easy grin that instantly put Nine on guard. Meeting Nine’s eyes, he raised a hand in a hesitant wave.

“What did you…?” Nine stammered, his brain still struggling to catch up with the events of the past minute. “What… how did I…?”

“Oh, er, we put ye up in yer hammock there after ye conked out a bit ago.” The young pirate shrugged, smiling sheepishly. “I’ve taken me fair share of naps on a hard deck floor, an’ I figured ye’d prefer somethin’ a mite more comfy.”

“You…?” Nine did not know what he was supposed to do with that, so he pushed it aside in favor of addressing his other point of confusion.

“And why was that one sitting on me?”

The pirate fox shrugged again, patting his jungle-dwelling duplicate on the shoulder. “I guess he just thought ye could use some company after… everythin’.”

Nine frowned, glaring suspiciously at the two of them. Did they really expect him to buy that? More likely the rebels just had the idea to place one of their allies in position to hold him down in case he was faking sleep to lull them into a sense of security.

Wait, where were all the others?

Making sure to keep the other two foxes in his peripheral vision, he took a quick look around. They seemed to be mostly alone in the main room of his base, save for one other: the echidna pirate (“Dread”, he vaguely remembered Sonic referring to him as), who was leaning casually against the wall just inside the hole that had been blasted through the crystal pillars. He raised his eyebrows slightly in acknowledgment when Nine met his gaze, but otherwise seemed to be off in his own world, not paying him or the other two much mind.

Out past the echidna, on the other side of the hole at the start of the vast, featureless plain of the Grim, Nine could see a large gathering of all of Sonic’s friends and allies from across the Shatterspaces. Among the various rebels and pirates milling about, he picked out the other two echidnas, the three bats, the cyborg Rusty Rose and her two pink hedgehog counterparts...

Wait, if those three were back…!

Nine jerked his head back to the other hims, this time ignoring how the sudden movement aggravated his headache.

“Did… did he make it? Sonic…?”

The pirate and the wild child both pulled their ears back and exchanged a look.

“Well… can’t say for sure either way. Black Rose- that is, Cap’n Rose, she said that Thorn Rose’s Birdie got injured not ‘alfway there, so the Kraken picked ‘em up and took ‘em further. Then the ship got damaged too, so Shadow said he’d take ‘im the rest o’ the way. Rusty Rose says she saw Shadow make it to the portal; ‘twas too far for her t’ see for certain, ‘specially with how, well... faded Sonic was by then, and then there was that flash o’ light, and…” He shrugged helplessly. “She didn’t see either of ‘em after that.”

Nine swallowed, trying to hold back whatever emotion was trying to claw its way out his throat.

Pirate-him looked at him with... concern?... in his eyes, then put on a reassuring smile that somehow managed to look mostly genuine.

“If’n ye ask me, though, I’d say there be no doubtin’ he made it home. That hedgehog be tougher ‘n gristle an’ barnacle grit! No matter what any of our worlds – or any of us, truth be told – threw at ‘im, he always took it, got back up an’ kept runnin’ – heck, even when there weren’t any ground t’ run on!” He shared a grin with the jungle fox. “Not bad for a landlubber. Aye, an’ with that Shadow fella backin’ him, the Devil himself couldn’t stop ‘em! He made it home, we’re all sure of it.”

The jungle fox nodded emphatically.

Nine just stared as the other fox made this declaration. It was not escaping him the similarity between the pirate’s words and ones he himself had spoken to Mr. Dr. Eggman back at the Yolk, and he didn’t like it.

Grimacing through his headache, he tried to parse through his whirling too-many-thoughts and focus on the factual data that pirate-him had provided. Silly optimism that blatantly ignored the realities of the hedgehog’s deteriorating physical state aside, it sounded like there was a decent chance that Shadow had successfully gotten Sonic back to Green Hill before he faded completely. That… that was something, at least. He just wished there was a way to know for sure...

“Um, so…” the pirate broke the silence, shyly scratching the back of his head when Nine looked up at him again. “Don’t think we ever got rightly introduced. The name’s Sails, formerly of the Angel’s Voyage, from No-Place, and this here’s Mangey, from Boscage Maze. No ship, but we don’t hold that against ‘im.”

The jungle fox chittered happily and gave Nine a wave.

Nine stared at them blankly. “Okay,” he said with a dismissive shrug.

An awkward silence ensued, and both other foxes’ smiles dimmed slightly as Nine held their gaze, stubbornly refusing to engage them any further.

“And, erm, ye be called Nine, aye?” Sails finally broke the silence.

Nine rolled his eyes. He glanced over at the pirate echidna again, then back to the other foxes.

“Look,” he said with a tired sigh, “I get it. You three got put on watchdog duty – keep an eye on the traitor to make sure he doesn’t go all crazy again…” Not that he could really blame them for that. “But frankly I really just want to be alone right now. So if you could go tell your friends” – he gestured to the crowd outside – “to get off my world and go back to theirs already, I’d really appreciate it.”

“Wha- no, that ain’t–” Sails stammered. “Well, aye, some o’ the others thought that maybe… but that ain’t why…”

The pain in his head flared up again, and Nine couldn’t help the pathetic whine that came from him as he shut his eyes tight and gripped his head in both hands.

“Are ye okay?” Sails’ concerned voice cut through the pain. “Do ye need…?”

“I’m fine,” Nine growled out. He extended two of his tails threateningly in the direction the voice came from, just in case either doppelganger got any ideas about trying to approach him in his moment of weakness. “Just a headache. It’ll pass.”

And it did, or at least died down to a more tolerable level, though the process could have gone much faster in Nine’s apparently inconsequential opinion. When he could think clearly again he opened his eyes, only to see the same two uncomfortably-identical foxes still in the same spot where he’d left them, looking at him with twin looks of concern and… and sympathy, and still there even though they had no reason to be.

Nine scowled, trying to ignore the more confusing emotions in favor of one more familiar to him: annoyance. Why hadn’t these people left yet? They had promised Sonic they’d leave him alone, yet here they all were still invading his space, and the two he least wanted to interact with seemed inexplicably invested in doing so.

Sails cleared his throat awkwardly before speaking again, keeping his voice soft as if trying to be… considerate of Nine’s headache or something.

“No one told us to stay with ye. Th’ fight’s over, we know that. It’s just that… well…” He shrugged awkwardly. “You’re… and we’re…” He gestured somewhat helplessly between himself and Mangey as though that would articulate his thoughts better, smiling apologetically.

Nine didn’t smile back. “We’re what?” he asked coldly.

Sails wilted slightly at his tone.

“I mean, there’s differences, t’ be sure,” he continued hesitantly, “but... well, we all three of us got the tails” – he gave his own a demonstrative helicopter twirl – “an’ the brains, an’–”

“Could’ve fooled me,” Nine muttered, looking pointedly at Mangey, who had chosen that moment to sit on his haunches and scratch at his ear with a hind leg. “Not sure your little pet there knows how to use a toilet, let alone basic mechanics.” He allowed himself a small smirk. “Unless you mean he knows some hacking, but I think that’d be more the hairball variety than computer, you know?”

For the first time since they’d started talking, Sails’ expression turned angry. He scowled and took a protective step in front of the jungle fox, glaring at Nine.

“Mangey figured out your fancy-pants gizmos just as quick as me,” he snapped. “Fresh out o’ the jungle and an’ ne’er seen any contraption more complicated ‘n a vine bridge before, an’ he was pickin’ out the right bits from yer bots to build the bomb what took out a whole platoon of ‘em like he’d been at it all his life. An’ then ‘twere a two-man job pilotin’ that Catfish bot o’ yers, and I’m fair sure yer metal Birdies could tell ye how the both of us handled that… if’n they weren’t piles o’ scrap at the moment.”

Taken slightly aback by the vehemence in the pirate’s retort, Nine averted his eyes… and caught Mangey’s downturned gaze instead.

The upset frown and, well, puppy eyes the other fox was giving him made Nine instantly certain of two things: he had understood the insult, and was hurt by it.

A sickening guilt suddenly bloomed in his chest and began clogging his throat, suffocating him, as he stared at that pitiful face.

His face. The face Nine must have had in the early days, before he’d hardened himself, before he’d built his defenses; when the older foxes had thrown names before graduating to throwing punches, a variety of epithets but all telling him essentially the same thing: your existence is wrong, you are less than a person so it’s okay for us to hurt you. And him just curling up and waiting for it to stop and wishing he knew what he could do to be acceptable to them, but not wishing for someone to come to his defense (like Sails was right now for Mangey) (like Sonic had for Tails but not him) because even then that notion had been so outside the realm of possibility that it had never entered his mind…

He wrenched his eyes away from Mangey’s face. He felt like he was going to throw up. Is that what I’ve let myself become now?

To distract himself, he latched onto the last thing Sails had said. “How… how did you even manage to take over the Grim Big?” His voice trembled despite his efforts to sound composed and unaffected. “There should have been built-in safeguards against anyone but me taking control.”

Sails shrugged, scowl lightening only slightly. “Aye, that there were, but really ‘twere a simple matter o’ rewirin’ the computin’ base with an improvised Prism-energy redirector. All yer bots seemed to work on th’ same system, so while ye thought we were out o’ the action we took a closer look at th’ broken ones t’ figure ‘ow they worked, then scavenged enough scrap t’ put together a rudiment’ry adapter that could block out yer programmin’ long ‘nough for us to hack into th’ system an’ take control – an’ with no hairballs involved from either of us,” he finished with a smirk, crossing his arms defiantly.

It took a moment for Nine to realize his mouth was hanging open dumbly, and he quickly clamped it shut.

“Oh. Uh, yeah, I guess… that would do it. Um… that’s impressive. I guess. Of you. Both. I mean, I wouldn’t have expected…” He felt his face heating up, and cut off before he could embarrass himself more with his stammering. “That, well, that was smart. What I would’ve done in that position.”

He hesitantly made himself meet Mangey’s eyes again. The other fox met his gaze, and his upset expression turned into a small, almost bashful smile. Nine had to clamp down on a sudden urge to return it. The nausea in his throat faded slightly.

Another awkward silence filled the space, and Nine looked back at the rest of Sonic’s rescue party. He noted in particular the bat and echidna from New Yolk – Rebel and Knucks, he remembered vaguely – in the middle of what looked like an intense conversation. At something Rebel said, Knucks shot a look at Nine; his scarred face melted into a scowl as he met Nine’s eyes, before turning back to grumble something to his companion.

“But anyway, as I were sayin’…” Sails’ voice – less testy now – drew Nine’s attention back. “Ever since we first saw t’other in No-Place, I’ve… well, I’ve had ye on me mind. Wonderin’ what yer life be like, if it be anythin’ like me own…”

Truth be told, Nine had also been thinking about these foxes since their initial brief encounters, speeding through the Shatterspaces with Sonic on the way to Ghost Hill (where one other fox had also butted into his headspace). Putting together what their existence implied about his own; what had happened when the Prism had shattered; the reality of what the Shatterspaces were truly hitting him for the first time…

“...An’ then I met Mangey here in the egg-heads’ city, an’ we started gettin’ on, an’, well… Didn’t have much time ‘fore things got all…” He started awkwardly fiddling his thumbs, not meeting Nine’s eyes. “An’ then everyone was focused on goin’ after Sonic, an’ people’s blood was runnin’ a bit hot for a while there, but… now that things’ve calmed down a bit, I thought that maybe…”

He bit his lip nervously.

“Well, t’others all have three of ‘em.”

Mangey, who had been looking back and forth between Sails and Nine, now flicked his gaze over to the crowd gathered outside. Nine followed his eyes, and noted that he seemed focused specifically on the three Roses. The pink hedgehogs were huddled close together, the pirate’s hands on each of her duplicates’ shoulders. Presently, she was making some remark that had the bird-tamer laughing out loud and even brought a small smile to Rusty Rose’s normally impassive face.

Nine looked back at his own duplicates, the anger he had felt at their presence not moments earlier now fading in place of confusion and… something else, something he didn’t want to couldn’t give a name to, but seemed to be coming from the same place as the steady ache in his chest that he had woken up to and, unlike his headache, hadn’t been fading at all since.

When he managed to make himself respond to Sails, he couldn’t keep the incredulity out of his voice. “I literally tried to kill both of you just like an hour ago.” Another wave of guilt crashed over him, and he fought to keep his expression neutral.

Tried to kill them, yeah, and thought he had succeeded – even if the bomb had been their own, he had specifically targeted them with the robot assault that had forced them to use it at such close range – and had felt nothing but spiteful satisfaction at the notion of their deaths hurting Sonic.

Or at least, told himself that was all he felt. Anything else, any shock or sickening horror at the notion that he was responsible for ending the lives of two actual real living people, had been easily drowned out at the time with yet another channeling of Prism energy to send his brain into a manic power high.

After all, there was only one him.

(He’d yelled at Sonic that he was just as real as Tails, but he’d looked at these two and from the start seen only feeble, insulting copies of himself.)

“Aye, ���tis a fact,” Sails said with a careless shrug, seemingly oblivious to Nine’s inner turmoil, “but we’re no worse for wear now!” He shot Nine a devil-may-care grin, putting his hands on his hips and puffing out his fluffy chest. “Ain’t th’ first time I’ve cheated Davy Jones’ locker, an’ I’m fair sure it won’t be th’ last! S’no reason to be holdin’ a grudge.”

Nine had been fairly dismissive, back on Ghost Hill, in his first impression of “Tails”; the friend Sonic had shared so many happy adventures with may have shared his face, but his bearing was too sunny, his eyes too bright, his whole demeanor just too… obviously cared-for, to have anything in common with him outside the superficial. Granted, all Nine had seen was a faded reflection of Tails repeating just one moment over and over, but even just that had made it clear that having had Sonic in his life from early on had made all the difference.

Except... here was this other two-tailed fox, also his own person separate from Tails and with no blue hedgehog in his past, but clearly nowhere near as beaten-down and cynical as Nine.

“How are you so… perky?” he finally asked, shaking his head. “You didn’t have a Sonic to… to protect you on your world either, right?”

Sails blinked, looking surprised at the question.

“Well, no… but I had me crew.” A small, nostalgic smile came to his face as he spoke. “They found me when I was just a kit, all alone on an island, strugglin’ just to find food every day without it bein’ stolen by the birds... They took me in, gave me a place, a home. A name.” There was something more vulnerable in the fox’s voice at that last admission than Nine had heard from him to this point. “Adventure on the high seas, an’ a share o’ the salvage to build me contraptions. Wouldn’t be who I am today if it weren’t for them. Prob’ly wouldn’t be here today.”

He frowned, his ears drooping a bit as he looked at Nine. “Ye… ye never had a crew, aye?”

Nine swallowed a lump in his throat, not meeting the other fox’s eyes, and just shook his head.

“Well… maybe that can change now!” Sails exclaimed, his ears popping up again hopefully. He gestured over to the pink hedgehog trio still chatting happily outside. “Look at the Roses! Th’ worlds they all come from couldn’t be more different, an’ I heard ‘em callin’ each other ‘sisters’ earlier.” He put a companionable arm around Mangey’s shoulders. “Why, I’ve hardly known me mate Mangey here for more’n a day, but we’re already thick as thieves!”

Mangey yowled a happy affirmative, leaning against his double’s side affectionately.

“What d’ya say, Nine? The three of us… could we be friends?”

Mangey nodded in agreement, bright blue eyes wide and earnest… then to Nine’s shock, opened his mouth and echoed:

“Fuh-rends.”

His voice was rough and growly, clearly not used to forming words, but that he made the effort to use it at all implied a deep sincerity that Nine couldn’t convince himself was faked.

A snide remark informing them exactly what they could do with their “friendship” immediately jumped to the tip of Nine’s tongue… but when he opened his mouth, it didn’t come out. Maybe it was Sonic’s influence getting to him once again, maybe he was just still so exhausted that he didn’t have the energy to keep being hostile, but all that he could manage was a tired sigh, his shoulders slumping despondently.

He hadn’t been able to handle this kind of openness from Sonic when he had offered it so freely; how could this new scenario possibly come to any better end?

“I-I’m… I’m not really good at… friends.”

“Yeah, no kiddin’,” a harsh voice scoffed.

Nine’s neck smarted as he whipped his head to face the voice, an adrenaline spike instinctively snapping his tails into a threatening defensive configuration as his heart suddenly burst into frenzied hammering in his chest.

The speaker – Knucks – was already raising his fists in response, glaring at Nine from behind them. Nine tried to glare back, but between his ragged, agitated breathing and his limbs trembling from a combination of frayed nerves and exhaustion he doubted he managed to look very intimidating.

“Woah, hey, hey, it’s okay!” Sails exclaimed, waving his hands and moving forward as though to interject himself between the fox and echidna. “Nine, ye be fine, they just want t’ talk to ye!”

At the same time a hand was placed on Knucks’ shoulder, and Nine became aware of the other person who had entered the space without him noticing: the bat resistance fighter, Rebel. She gave the echidna a pointed look, and he scowled but lowered his fists, though clearly with great reluctance, and not taking his eyes off Nine.

“Sails is right,” she said, stepping forward to stand slightly in front of Knucks. Behind her, Nine could see that the rest of the crowd was now watching them, though they remained outside. Dread was still in the same place Nine had last seen him, looking completely unperturbed.

His cheek throbbed even worse as he continued staring down the echidna, and he was more aware than ever of the coppery taste on his tongue. For a second he was back on the top of his tower, cowering behind his forcefield as punch after punch tried to batter through to get at him, which had itself sent him back even further to a time where he had no forcefield to protect him, trying in vain to shield himself from blows and words that just wouldn’t stop–

He shook his head sharply, actually welcoming the throbbing pain as a distraction. Trying to reclaim some semblance of dignity, he forced his tails to relax and focused on getting his breathing under control. He looked up and met Rebel’s eyes, already resigning himself to whatever this group had decided his fate would be.

“And here it comes. Without Sonic around to make everyone play nice, all that talk about leaving each other alone goes out the window.” He tried to sound droll and unconcerned, but all the eyes on him were just reinforcing how utterly helpless he was now, and his false bravado faded almost as soon as he could summon it. Dropping his gaze down to the floor, he muttered gloomily, “Just do whatever you want to me. I don’t care anymore.”

“Nine, that ain’t what…” Sails began, his ears drooping sadly.

“We promised Sonic we would leave you be, and I for one intend to stick to that,” Rebel spoke up, her voice calm and level. “Unless you plan to break your side of the deal?”

Nine looked back up at the bat. She was looking down at him with her arms crossed but her expression didn’t appear actively hostile. He sighed and shook his head.

“Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t anymore.” He looked over at the still-empty platform that had once held the Paradox Prism. A harsh fact that he had been trying not to think about since he woke up shoved its way to the forefront of his mind. “The Prism is gone; without it, I can’t reshape the Grim. It’s a clean slate, but now that’s all it’ll ever be.” He sighed morosely. “Probably for the best. No one should be trusted with that kind of power. It messes with your head. Makes you think you’re invincible. You’ve got so much power you can do whatever you want, so you should do whatever you want. And if you cause any harm it doesn’t matter ‘cause you can just fix it later once you have just a little more power…”

Nine almost didn’t realize he had been muttering all that out loud until out of the corner of his eye he noted Dread’s ears suddenly perk up.

“That’s actually something we wanted to discuss with you,” Rebel said, pulling Nine’s wandering thoughts back to the present. “When we all made that agreement with Sonic, it was under the assumption that you would continue to have access to the stabilized Prism. Without it… will you even be able to survive here?”

“I…” He shrugged, trying to look unconcerned. “I have some food and water stored. Once I go through that… I’ll figure something else out.”

Except, there wasn’t really anything else to figure, was there? The Grim only reacted to Prism energy. Without the Prism itself to harvest from, he wouldn’t be able to alter it to create supplies and sustenance.

He found his eyes migrating from the empty platform to the palm trees, the empty hammock strung up between them – out of the Grim’s endless potential, the first things he had chosen to make.

What did it matter if he was doomed to waste away here once he ran out of supplies? Even if he could figure out a new way without the Prism to turn this place into a paradise, it would still be empty.

“Well. Several of us have been talking, and taking the changed situation into account, we would like to propose an alternative.”

“For the record, this is a very generous interpretation of the word ‘like’ for some of us,” Knucks added.

Rebel elbowed him sharply. Knucks rolled his eyes, but stepped back to give her the floor.

“It’s honestly hard to believe that the Chaos Council is finally defeated for good – or at least, they’ll be out of the picture for a long while. Thanks for your help with that, by the way; seeing them float away into the void was immensely satisfying.”

The bat’s lips briefly twitched up in a small smirk as though replaying the scene in her head.

“But now we have the responsibility to take charge of our own world and heal what they broke. Once we return, we plan to start working on dismantling however much of the city we can manage safely at this point, and restore the natural environment. And… much as I hate to admit it, the Chaos Council’s tech would probably be useful for a lot of that, if we can repurpose it. Plus it would be prudent to build some sort of defense in case they ever do return. And while I’m sure we’ll be able to work it out on our own… the work would go a lot faster with someone who already understands that tech.”

Nine hardened his expression and squared his shoulders in preparation for what he could already see was coming.

“We have Rusty Rose, of course, and she’s already agreed to help however she can, but she told us that her expertise is more focused on weapons and vehicle operation and her personal system maintenance. She still has a better background than the rest of us, so it’ll help, but…” here Rebel gave Nine a significant look, “we could also really use the help of someone with a broader understanding of the city’s tech and the creativity to adapt it for new purposes.”

Nine scoffed tiredly. “There it is. Thanks, but no thanks. I had enough of my help being used when I was captured by the Chaos Council.”

“We ain’t the Chaos Council!” Knucks barked angrily. “We’re tryin’ to make a better world for everyone, not just ourselves! Though I guess that ain’t a concept that’s really on your radar.” He crossed his arms heatedly and turned to Rebel. “You’re wastin’ your breath. I told ya. He ain’t gonna help.”

Rebel held up a hand to cut Knucks off, still keeping her calm demeanor.

“The rebellion is over,” she went on. “It’s not going to be easy moving past all the paranoia and mistrust that we needed to survive in that environment… but we need to try. Or else, what was the point? The whole goal was to create a better world, one where all that wouldn’t be necessary.”

She sighed, a bit of exhaustion showing in her eyes. “Maybe as part of that… we can accept having misjudged you a bit.”

Nine’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.

“We followed Sonic here to help him because we assumed that you weren’t intending to keep your word after he gave himself up,” she continued. “Now… I’m thinking we may have been wrong about that.”

“Not that ya gave us any reason to buy that you wouldn’t betray us again,” Knucks grumbled. Then his scowl softened ever so slightly. “But Sonic… well, even after everything, he never seemed to doubt that you were on the level. And, well, he sometimes had good instincts.”

‘Even after everything you've done, everything we've been through – together, against each other – you're still my friend, Nine.’

Nine’s breath hitched, and he had to bite his lip against the something he felt building in his chest.

“I never wanted to harm your worlds,” he said, voice thick and shaky despite his efforts. “I swear. I-I know that I did, and I don’t… I don’t have any excuse for that. But I was certain that I could fix all the damage I caused, and I intended to. Even when… even when I was still angry at Sonic. My only goal was always just to build my own world here, and for everyone else to leave it alone.”

He swallowed thickly, avoiding their gazes.

Rebel nodded. “And honestly, after everything that’s happened… I am inclined to believe you now.”

“Don’t get us wrong, I ain’t gonna hold back if ya do turn out to be pullin’ somethin’ on us, but…” The echidna shook his head and sighed. “Whatever. I’m tired of fightin’ for now. And I never thought I’d say that.”

Rebel tried to meet Nine’s eyes again, but he stared resolutely at the floor.

“Look,” she spoke up again. “We don’t know you very well. But we are from the same world, the same home, we all lost the same things thanks to the Chaos Council. And if we-”

“Well, you’re right about not knowing me at least,” Nine interrupted sharply. A tiny spark of anger had fizzled into existence at the bat’s words, and he latched onto it, nurturing it into a tiny candle flame and slowly fanning it larger and larger; and he knew, he knew he shouldn’t because anger was what had gotten him to where he was now, but anger at least overwhelmed the something festering underneath. “I hated the Chaos Council as much as anyone, but I didn’t lose anything thanks to them. Can’t lose what you never had in the first place.”

Neither Rebel or Knucks seemed to know how to respond to that. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Sails and Mangey both looking at him with concern. He chose to let that fuel the flame in his chest even more.

“I used the Paradox Prism to restore New Yolk alongside the other Shatterspaces. I fixed what I broke, and a lot of what the Chaos Council broke too. Consider that my contribution to the rebuilding effort. But there’s nothing you could offer me that would make me go back there. It’s your home, you take care of it. I’m not letting anyone use me for their own ends anymore.”

That actually seemed to get Rebel mad. She grit her teeth and took a deep breath before speaking in a clipped tone, “We are not trying to use you, and we’re not going to force you to come with us if you’re so insistent on staying here on your own–”

‘We’re all on our own.’

“–but Sonic made a sacrifice to save all of us, you included, and somehow I don’t think the spirit of the agreement he specifically insisted we make with you involved leaving you to starve and waste away here. If that’s what you really want, though, fine. We’ll head back home without you and–”

The flame exploded.

“That city, that world, never gave me anything but pain! Why do you think I did this to myself?!” He flared out his cybernetic tails; Knucks flinched and raised his fists defensively, but Nine ignored him. “Why do you think I lived underground, away from everyone?! No one in that world ever wanted me. They made that abundantly clear for as far back as I can remember. I may have been born on that world, but it was never home.”

And then just like that the flame had completely burned itself out, leaving Nine with nothing but a horrible cold emptiness just as vast and pointless as the Grim. Standing was suddenly too difficult; he stumbled back against one of his palm trees, and slid down to sit so he could hide his face behind his knees, his tails falling limp on the floor.

“I-I don’t h-have a home. I don’t have anything.” He hated himself for how his voice hitched and shook, but he just couldn’t muster any energy to fight it. “S-sonic’s gone, the Grim is empty. I have nothing. Just like before, only now it’s my own s-stupid fault.”

He pressed his forehead against his knees, trying desperately to resist the pressure he could feel building behind his eyes, although part of him wondered what the point was – it wasn’t like these people could possibly think any less of him.

No one spoke, which only made Nine’s stomach start twisting into knots waiting for some sort of fallout from his outburst. After a moment he chanced a brief glance at the bat and echidna, and was vaguely surprised to see neither looked angry or harsh like he had expected; Rebel was frowning uncertainly at him, a trace of sympathy in her turquoise eyes that just made Nine feel even more pitiful, while Knucks was awkwardly averting his gaze, fiddling with his glove spikes.

Over to the side, there was sudden movement as Mangey, eyes wide and glossy like he was close to tears himself, took a few steps toward Nine, only stopping as Sails’ mechanical arm-tail settled on his shoulder, the pirate giving him a small head-shake, even as he bit his lower lip like he was struggling not to come over himself and try to administer some comfort that Nine knew he wouldn’t deserve.

He looked back at his knees, but could still feel everyone’s eyes on him – Sails and Mangey, Rebel and Knucks, the entire crowd of rebels and pirates and jungle-dwellers.

He wished they would all stop staring at him, wished he could just disappear, wished someone would say something so he didn’t have to listen to his own pathetic ragged breathing…

He wished Sonic were here.

A gruff throat-clearing cut through the lull.

“If I may.”

Nine’s ears twitched in surprise at the sound of the echidna pirate speaking up up for the first time, his tone light but clearly conveying that he intended to speak regardless of any objections. He looked up to see Dread strolling casually to stand beside his resistance fighter counterpart.

“What do you want now?” Knucks grouched, his scowl reasserting itself.

Dread shot a patronizing smirk at the other echidna.

“As entertainin’ as all this jabber be, I find meself itchin’ to get back to No-Place at some point in, oh, the next decade. So in the interest of speedin’ this up…” His flippant tone changed to something more serious. “I may have some smidgen of understandin’ what th’ lad is goin’ through right now, is all.”

Oh do you? Nine wanted to spit out, but he didn’t trust himself to speak right now without losing the fight to hold back tears, so he just forced a glower that he was sure wasn’t fooling anyone.

Dread stepped forward so he was a bit in front of Rebel and Knucks but keeping a polite distance from Nine. Briefly, he glanced over at Sails, his expression unreadable; the fox frowned uncertainly, but gave his ex-captain a hesitant nod. Then the pirate turned to look down at Nine, and spoke.

“Ye’ve lost it. The one thing in the whole wretched universe ye thought mattered. That if ye just managed to get yer paws on it… ye’d finally be satisfied. Finally be happy.”

His words were blunt, but spoken with a depth of emotion that despite himself Nine was certain they were born of intense personal experience.

“An’ now that it’s slipped from yer grasp… ye feel there’s nothin’ more what matters. Nothin’ t’ strive for, nothin’ t’ do but mope yer days away dreamin’ of what ye could’ve had.”

Dread looked away from Nine for a moment, staring off at something only he could see, before breathing a wistful sigh and meeting Nine’s eyes again.

“I got no business tellin’ ye what course t’ set for yerself now. I still be figurin’ that out for meself. All I’ll say, lad, is that whatever ye choose… don’t define yerself by what ye lost. Find somethin’ what matters to ye, and make a new goal t’ strive for. Or ye’ll just find yerself forever chasin’ somethin’ – even if only in yer dreams – that was never goin’ t’ give ye what ye truly wanted, an’ makin’ the same bloody mistakes each time ye grasp for it.”

With that, the pirate backed off and returned to his previous spot, leaning against the crystal pillar wall as if he’d never moved.

Leaving Nine to sift through a confusing swirl of emotions that had replaced the emptiness but still gave him no relief.

Disdain and anger were the easiest for him to parse out at first, naturally.

What could that idiot pirate know? What Nine truly wanted? He wanted the Grim. He wanted to be left alone, in his own perfect world. He wanted… he wanted...

He felt the hard bark of the palm tree against his back.

‘So… what else did we do?’

“I used t’ have nothin’.”

Nine looked over at Sails, his vision a bit watery despite his efforts. He quickly wiped his eyes with the heel of his palm as the other fox spoke.

“Then I had the crew, but… I didn’t quite know how I fit in with ‘em, at first.” His voice was soft and hesitant, like he was forcing into words something he usually kept very private. “Weren’t certain I was truly a crewmate, or just a… a temp’rary cabin boy they’d be ready t’ abandon again if’n I became more trouble ‘n I was worth. Ev’ry mistake I made, in those days, I thought were gonna be th’ final straw for ‘em, an’ they’d leave me at some village or maroon me on an island or just tell me t’ fly off an’ ne’er come back, an’ I’d… I’d be back were I started, alone.”

He swallowed thickly, then continued. “Took some time, an’ getting’ t’ know ‘em, an’… lettin’ ‘em get t’ know me. Which were really th’ scariest part. Didn’t happen all at once… but now, all these years an’ adventures an’ troubles later, I know they be where I belong.”

He turned to scan the crowd outside, passing in turn from the bat, cat and hedgehog in pirate garb, who each smiled fondly at him (the giant cat in particular was unabashedly wiping at his clearly watering eyes); even Dread gave Sails a small nod of acknowledgment when the fox caught his eye.

Mangey pressed his face against Sails’ side, before catching Nine’s gaze with wide, imploring eyes. He started looking pointedly back and forth between Nine and his fellow jungle-dwellers in the crowd. Nine suddenly found himself wondering what the wild-child’s story was, what he was trying to convey with those big blue puppy eyes that he couldn’t with words.

Disdain and anger faded to the background noise in his head, the wall that he had actively cultivated them into over long merciless years crumbling apart, and Nine finally forced himself to examine the less-familiar, uncomfortable feelings that just one evening with an aggravating blue hedgehog had managed to bring out in him.

What would Sonic do…?

Tch. Sonic would recklessly jump into things without any thought. He’d take it upon himself to help everyone, and in the end make a huge mess of everything.

...And then, once he realized he had done that… he would try to make amends however he could.

And he would always put his trust in other people.

Even if past experience might have made that trust difficult to give.

What Nine truly wanted…

Sonic was gone, but maybe… maybe what he had offered to Nine was still something he could find for himself.

But if it was… it definitely wouldn’t be here in the Grim.

Slowly, Nine pushed himself to his feet, setting his tails back in their relaxed non-combat configuration. He stepped forward to stand in front of the resistance leaders, forcing himself to look up and meet Rebel’s eyes; and, taking a deep breath that only shuddered a little bit, he spoke.

“...Back in New Yolk, before all this, I had a lab in the underground. I’m sure the Council ransacked it when they tracked down the shard I took, so I can’t really live there anymore, but it was… my sanctuary. A safe haven. If I do this, if I agree to come with you and help restore that world… I get a place of my own. I’ll put it together myself, you don’t need to do anything, but I get a place, outside of the city, away from everyone. And it is off. Limits. Whether I’m there or not, no one else is, unless I give explicit permission.”

He swallowed, trying to ease the scratchiness in his throat. “Deal?”

Rebel shared a quick look with Knucks, who frowned but shrugged in answer to her unspoken question.

“That sounds reasonable. Deal.” She held out her hand. Nine stared at it silently for a moment before reaching out his own, and they shook.

“Don’t make me regret this,” Nine stated. He tried to make his voice sound stern, but was pretty sure he just came across as tired.

“Same,” Rebel responded in a similar tone.

Releasing Nine’s hand, she straightened up and turned to look out over the rest of the eclectic collection of beings.

“Now with that business over with, let’s start working on coordinating getting us all back to where we’re supposed to be. Black Rose, how’s the Kraken looking?”

The hedgehog pirate stepped forward from the crowd, grimacing. “She jus’ barely limped us back here on one engine an’ a prayer. An’ it’s been slow-goin’ tryin’ t’ patch her back up. Ain’t sure if she’s got enough left in ‘er to make it to one world, let alone three.”

“Um… I could… take a look at it?” Nine offered hesitantly. Everyone turned to stare at him, and he again had to clamp down on the instinct to bare his tails. “A-and we can probably salvage some parts from the Council’s mothership, enough to at least get it working long enough to get everyone to where they need to be.”

“Aye, and the Catfish bot still be flyin’,” Sails proclaimed. He moved to stand just behind Nine’s shoulder, Mangey still at his side; Nine flinched slightly but actually found their proximity not as distressing as before. “It ain’t exactly speedy, but if we can take the engines for the Kraken that could boost it enough t’ keep it goin’ the whole trip.”

Rebel nodded decisively. “Alright, sounds like we have a plan.” She raised her voice to speak authoritatively to the crowd. “Everyone, let’s get out there and help them gather the parts we’ll need. Rusty Rose, do you think you can help with that?”

“Affirmative,” came the monotone reply. The cyborg hedgehog gestured out to the debris-strewn plane. “Come, sisters.”

As the gaggle of beings began to disperse, Nine found his eyes drawn from the hedgehog trio still sticking together like glue, to the jungle echidna running up to walk beside Knucks, to the other two bats fluttering over to join Rebel as she took flight.

He looked to his side, to Sails and Mangey. The other foxes shot him identical soft smiles, and while Nine couldn’t quite muster up one of his own, he found that the something in his chest was somehow no longer as painful as before; that the presence of these two people who maybe understood more than he had given them credit for was… comforting.

But noticing that, he also realized what was nagging at him, and a heavy knot formed in the pit of his stomach.

“Wait!” he called out, running over to the hole in the wall where everyone was exiting, Sails and Mangey on his heels. “There’s, there’s one more thing…”

Everyone stopped in their tracks and turned to look at Nine again; ears pinned back against his head, he swallowed nervously and tried to stand tall.

“I-I should tell you, just… to make sure you’re all on the same page. Without the Prism or any stored energy, there’s no way to create the portals the Chaos Council used to travel between worlds. Once you return to your respective worlds… you won’t be able to leave.”

Everyone’s faces fell as they absorbed this information. The three Roses looked particularly devastated as they exchanged crestfallen looks between themselves (Nine wouldn’t have ever guessed the cyborg was capable of such expressiveness). The jungle echidna rubbed his arm and bit his lip, looking at Knucks with dismay; the other echidna placed a hand on his shoulder, his own face determinedly stoic. Mangey whimpered and sidled up next to Sails, who put a comforting arm around the other fox’s shoulders.

“I… suppose that’s the way it has to be,” Rebel said, glancing around at her fellow bats. “Those portals were what started the collapse on all the worlds; even if we still had the Prism it would be too dangerous to start it up again.”

There were reluctant nods from among the crowd.

“Well,” Thorn Rose pronounced, her face set, “then it has been an honor to know you, sisters.”

“Oi, we ain’t splittin’ up yet!” Black Rose exclaimed, managing a grin despite everything. She slapped Thorn on the shoulder. “Save the heartfelt goodbyes for th’ actual goodbye!”

The mood slightly dampened, the crowd nevertheless began splitting into groups to begin scavenging.

As Nine prepared to follow, he stumbled as his foot slipped on one of the myriad broken crystal shards scattered around the opening in his fortress wall. Frowning, he kicked the shard away, and prepared to take flight over to the Kraken to see what he could do about it…

...But the glimmering of the crystal as it skidded along the floor of the same substance, bopping against other shards before coming to a stop, caught his eye.

Something niggled at the back of his mind, the same feeling he got when he had his ideas for inventions; arresting his take-off, he knelt down to examine the shards more closely, ignoring the remaining traces of his headache as he wracked his brain trying to get a lead on what had drawn his attention.

Something to do with the physical crystalline structure of the Grim? He’d done an analysis when he’d first arrived, of course, but then he’d been thoroughly distracted by the applications of Prism energy and had subsequently pushed any data not pertaining to that to the back of his mind...

Wait. What if…?

He was belatedly aware of Sails and Mangey beside him. Mind racing as he ran equations and factored in variables, he grabbed two shards then straightened and turned to his fellow foxes.

Both wore confused frowns as they looked at him, but as Nine worked the problem out further and further in his head and started arriving at some very promising conclusions, he found himself somehow feeling lighter than he had since waking up.

For the first time, he looked into those two pairs of identical blue eyes and a small but genuine smile came to his face.

“Here.” He handed each a shard. “Take these. Bring them with you to your worlds, keep them intact.”

Mangey curiously turned his shard over in his hands a few times, sniffed at it a bit… then gave it a good lick.

Nine felt his right eye twitch, but he gritted his teeth and pushed down the urge to snap at him and snatch the shard back.

If he was really going to attempt this whole friends thing, he supposed, he should start getting in some practice at not judging the other fox’s scientific process.

“What’re ye thinkin’?” Sails asked, staring inquisitively at his own crystal.

Nine reached down and picked up a third crystal for himself, then looked past his two counterparts out to the pitch black sky above, and the shimmering, far-off Shatterspace gateways floating through it like planets. The light green radiance of the farthest gateway seemed to shine the brightest to Nine’s eyes – a faint beacon in the dark to guide him on this new path.

“I have a theory. Don’t tell anyone yet, it’s nothing definite. But maybe… the Grim can still be useful after all.”

---

~ Several months later ~

Even before Knucks had noted where the light show was coming from, he knew it had something to do with Nine.

Normally he would have taken some time to appreciate a stroll through the countryside outside the city boundaries. Just spend a few moments taking in the soft green of the grass regrowing over the rolling hills, kneel down to look at the tree saplings slowly but surely pushing their way up into a world that would welcome and nurture them now, feel the sun on his face shining down from a sky no longer dreary red with smog but a shade of blue that he had almost forgotten. He would revel in the sweetness of breathing air not heavy with pollutants and the smell of ozone and slag, and just the simple joy of being able to see the horizon unobstructed by a skyline of ugly, pointless buildings.

He may have had to get used to the city life during the days of rebellion, just out of necessity, but Knucks had been hatched and raised in the untamed wilderness, and with said wilderness finally making a comeback, he was never going to take it for granted.

But right now he was an echidna on a mission, and that mission involved a certain arrogant antisocial fox brat, and the searing flash of light that had all of a sudden burst into existence over his house not twenty minutes ago.

A beam of light had suddenly crackled into the sky off in the distance, but loud and large enough to draw the entire city’s attention, and probably most of the folks who had moved out to settle in the countryside as well. For an entire minute it had remained as a pillar reaching up into the heavens, swirling with an admittedly rather beautiful rainbow of colors, then had faded away as inexplicably as it had appeared.

There had been some panic as civilians wondered what it could have been, but Rebel had managed to mostly calm people down, especially when she put Knucks on the case to investigate. They had shared a significant look at that, because they were both aware of a fact that the general citizenry were not.

Namely, that there was only one person who lived around the area where the light had appeared to be coming from.

And so Knucks stomped his way past the sapling forest, leapt from a large rock to give himself some height to glide from, swiftly making his way toward where the hilly grasslands met the beach, and soon enough had arrived at the entrance to the fox’s house.

Well, it was really more of a bunker than anything. The fox had claimed one of Dr. Don’t’s hidden underground labs close to the former city’s outer boundary and repurposed it. That part of the city had been the first to be deconstructed – the work going faster through the use of reprogrammed Chaos Council bots – and as the city boundary retracted further and further, Nine had soon attained the private sanctum away from the city that he had been promised.

With nature slowly reclaiming the area – aided in no small part by the seeding and terraforming machines Nine had developed – the entrance (at least, the one Knucks and Rebel had been made privy to; they were both fairly certain the fox had multiple other entrances and exits he kept to himself) was difficult to spot unless you were right in front of it. Built under an unremarkable grassy hill and looking out over the shifting sand dunes, nothing about it really drew the eye...

Save for one prominent landmark that seemed oddly inconsistent with the fox’s clearly-stated desire for people to stay away.

Two palm trees, with a homey-looking hammock hung between them, planted just a little ways off from the entrance.

The fox hardly ever left the place – or at least, was not often seen doing so. The rare times he emerged, to gather food and materials or discuss plans and issues with Rebel and the rest of the reconstruction council, there was some… animosity from the general populace. Many of them had seen Nine’s giant image in the sky, taunting Sonic to save them all as the world turned sideways, and few had been present at the final confrontation in the Grim. Rebel had so far managed to spin their arrangement with Nine as the fox’s “community service” to anyone who started making noise about locking him up or… anything further. So far there hadn’t been much more than grumbling and distrustful glares, but the decidedly unfriendly atmosphere clearly didn’t give the fox much incentive to come out of his hole any more than necessary.

Knucks frowned thinking about that. He was far from Nine’s biggest fan, but some of the folks passing judgment on the fox were… well, ‘unreasonable’ was probably a polite way of putting it.

Especially the ones who obliquely implied that Nine’s past actions were somehow related to his… unique physical traits.

Finding himself wanting to punch a face in on behalf of the fox kid during that one particularly heated council meeting had definitely been a new and unexpected experience.

(Ugh, why couldn’t this fox just be a complete unrepentant bastard like the Chaos Council? Feeling sympathy for someone who had once callously abandoned him and his teammates to die, and later almost destroyed everything he held dear, was not something this echidna was built for.)

Though, it was a big city, and there were some who were willing to give the kid a chance. There had been one instance where a little rabbit girl and her mother had hesitantly come up to Nine and thanked him for all he was doing to help restore the world, and even given him some home-cooked food as a gift.

The look on the big bad aloof super-genius fox boy’s face as his big bad aloof super-genius brain apparently short-circuited and he stammered out an awkward “You’re...welcome?” had been priceless.

Hey, Knucks wasn’t supposed to fight the jerk anymore, he had to take what he could get.

But who knew, maybe that was about to change. Maybe the lights from Nine’s home had come from some superweapon he was building, and the situation could just be nice and straightforward and solvable through punching.

With that happy (if, admittedly, unlikely) thought, Knucks began banging loudly on the metal door.

“Hey, Nine! We all saw the fancy light show, what’re ya up to in there?! Open up!”

His yelling was interrupted by a life-size holographic image of the brat in question suddenly vwip-ing into existence in front of the entrance.

The flickering semi-transparent fox looked down at him – the hologram floated in the air so that its head was about a foot above Knucks’, which the echidna was certain had been done deliberately to spite him – and put on a lazy smile.

“Always a pleasure to have you stop by for a visit, Knucks.” He spoke in the bored, mildly patronizing tone that never failed to get Knucks’ hackles up. “As it seems you’ve forgotten some of the details of our arrangement – understandable, as they involve several multi-syllable words – I’ll remind you of the parts relevant to the current situation–”

“Just shut up and let me in, fox! You got some things to explain!”

“–and provide you with aid regarding the environmental restoration, and in exchange, my personal space shall be respected–”

“Okay, ignorin’ me, fine, whatever, you’re only delayin’ the inevitable, brat.”

“–without my permission. Now, with the understanding that issues requiring my technological expertise will not always conveniently come up when I am outside my home, I have invented a radical new piece of technology to facilitate communication in such an event. You may have noticed, next to the door, a simple-looking square-shaped panel, but it is in fact so much more. When only a mild amount of pressure is applied to it, you see, it causes a musical tone to sound within my dwelling, thus politely alerting me to any visitors without any unnecessary banging or shouting.”

“Alright, alright, I get it–”

“Or, to put all that in layman’s terms…”

The hologram suddenly leaned forward directly into Knucks’ face, glowering darkly down at him.

“Ring. The doorbell. First.”

It straightened and resumed its casual tone. “Now, shall we try this again?”

Another vwip, and the image vanished.

Knucks growled, taking several deep breaths as he debated the pros and cons of just punching down the fox’s door.

Glowering for the benefit of the hidden cameras he was certain were showing Nine his every move, he reached one fist to the blue panel, moving exaggeratedly slowly. With his entire fist, he pushed it inwards and held it for several seconds longer than necessary, then finally released it. A muffled musical tone sounded from behind the door.

Knucks quietly seethed as he counted the seconds, certain that the fox was taking his sweet time opening the door just to annoy him. Finally, the metal panel slid to the side, revealing Nine standing in front of him, hands clasped nonchalantly behind his back, all nine tails swishing casually behind him, and looking up at him with a lazy smirk that Knucks desperately hoped he would have an opportunity to wipe off by the end of this interaction.

“There, now was that so hard?”

“Can it, brat.” He stomped past the threshold into the bunker proper. “What was with the light show? I know it didn’t have nothin’ to do with the world repairs. You up to somethin’ out here? Some schemin’?”

Truthfully, as aggravated as he was right now, the accusation wasn’t quite as serious as it might have been months ago. Knucks was still far, far from ever calling the fox boy a friend, but “ally” had slowly but surely become slightly less begrudging. There had been no signs over the past months of the fox going back on his word, and with how much faster the restoration efforts had been going thanks to his help, Knucks had to admit that Rebel had made a good call. He wasn’t to the point of letting his guard down around Nine… but he could see maybe getting there someday.

(Plus... there had been the whole uncomfortable revelation that the kid was not, as Knucks had originally pegged him from his overall demeanor, just a rather short teenager, but in fact not yet even past single digits.

(He still hadn’t worked out how he felt about… certain actions he had taken during the Grim battle in light of this information.)

The fox boy in question just shrugged at Knucks’ accusation.

“Welp, I guess you got me. I’m actually enacting my evil plan to betray you all again and eventually crush every world under my heel.”

“Ha ha. Look, ya didn’t warn anyone about any experiments you were doin’, so ya can’t blame us for–”

“Relax, Knucklehead. It’s–”

“Don’t call me that!”

“It’s nothing dangerous.” The smirk on his face softened, into what Knucks would almost be tempted to call a genuine smile. “I just... invited a few friends over for a brainstorming session.”

“‘Friends?’” Since when do you have friends?, he barely managed to keep from blurting out. (And Rebel said he couldn’t be diplomatic.) “Who-”

“Ahoy! City Dread!”

Knucks looked around with a start. The voice had come from another hologram – one that he at first mistook for Nine again, and briefly wondered if the fox was experimenting with creating a horde of holographic duplicates, before spotting a few more… pirate-y details that made his eyes widen in recognition.

“Wait… that’s…”

Another holographic fox bounded into view on all fours and drew his attention with a wave, this one dressed in leafy attire and with a semi-feral look to him. Both were full-color and life-sized, only their transparency and the slight crackle in the pirate’s voice betraying what they were.

“Wait… are they actually…”

“Here?” Nine finished for him. “Well, not yet, but this is actual real-time audio-visual communication. We’re still in the early testing stages, but if this continues to hold, it looks like we’ve finally cracked it.”

There was an understated pride in his voice that Knucks didn’t think he’d ever heard from the fox before.

Shaking himself out of his shock, Knucks belatedly noticed two small beams of light extending from each fox’s form and leading to a mechanical contraption over in a corner. Knucks’ first thought was that it looked like some sort of high-tech chimney more than anything, with a portion of it extending up through the ceiling – probably connected to some hidden antenna or something that had been the source of the light pillar, he now suspected. A circular opening in the center contained a shimmering cylindrical crystal shard floating in some sort of force field. It was from this shard that the beams of light were projecting.

“The ‘light show’ you saw was a side effect of the energy necessary to boost the signal through the Shatterspace gateways,” Nine continued explaining. “We’ve been testing it on smaller scales, but this is the first time it was large enough to be noticeable. Hopefully we’ll be able to fix that in the future.”

“Sorry ‘bout that, by the way” Sails chirped. “We be sailin’ uncharted waters with this here tech, it ain’t always easy to predict what the effects’ll look like. I be on an island right now ‘cause th’ first time I tested this on my end th’ flashes ended up attractin’ a glowin’ sea leviathan from the depths what almost capsized us!” He gave a little self-deprecating chuckle. “Cap’n Rose an’ I both agreed that maybe I should do me experiments from a greater distance movin’ forward.”

“Wait, all of you’ve been workin’ on this?” Knucks asked incredulously. The three foxes nodded. “How’d you… I mean, if this whole thing is new, how’d ya even manage to work all this out between you three?”

“Not easily,” Nine admitted. “It took over a month to even establish reliable two-way auditory communication. But now that we’ve worked through those problems it should be easier to coordinate our efforts going forward.”

Knucks nodded, stepping around the other two foxes (he supposed he could have walked through them, but that just seemed kind of rude) to scrutinize more closely the contraption that was projecting their images. Nothing about any of this looked sinister, but Knucks had never been the type to take such things for granted.

“So, ya say you’ve been workin’ on this for a while?”

Nine nodded. “Whenever I’ve had free time, for the past couple months. And before you say anything,” he added, rolling his eyes, “this project is entirely irrelevant to the restoration efforts so I was under no obligation to disclose it.”

Knucks frowned. “I thought you said we wouldn’t be able to communicate between worlds without the Paradox Prism.”

If Nine heard the suspicion in his tone, he didn’t acknowledge it. “I thought we couldn’t. And we can’t, really, at least not with methods utilizing the Prism. But before we all left the Grim, I… had an idea for a potential alternative.”

He gestured at the crystal in the heart of his machine. “The Grim’s physical structure is… well, I won’t bore you with the details, but essentially it’s one giant crystal with a strong elemental plasticity. Even when parts of it are separated from the whole, they still share a morphic resonance with each other and the entirety of the Grim itself – even, as we’ve confirmed over the past months, when transported to completely separate worlds. And it turns out it’s not only Prism-energy they react to.”

Knucks raised his eyebrows as Nine paced around, gesticulating excitedly with both his hands and tails as he spoke. He didn’t think he’d ever seen the fox brat like this, so eagerly showing off how his tech worked – heck, he didn’t even sound like he was deliberately trying to patronize Knucks by “dumbing it down”, which Knucks honestly would have fully anticipated.

“With these physical pieces of the Grim sharing the same energy signature, we figured out a way of using the Grim itself as a sort of ‘signal tower’ to project communications through. The biggest hurdle was honestly figuring out what energy to project with, since most forms physically can’t penetrate the Shatterspace gateways without an open portal.”

He stopped pacing and stood beside the two other foxes, nodding slightly toward the jungle-dweller.

“Mangey here had the breakthrough that allowed us to get to this point. Thanks to your counterpart on his world, actually.”

Knucks started, the image of another red echidna popping into his head, smaller and malnourished and with wild eyes constantly darting around, but still very much like him in so many ways.

“Wait, you talked with Gnarly?”

He hadn’t had much time with the jungle echidna, but after his interactions with Dread it had been an immense relief to encounter a version of himself whose nature didn’t utterly offend him to his very core. During their time sheltering in the Yolk together Gnarly had awkwardly gravitated towards him, and they’d shared words; from what Knucks gleaned from Gnarly’s stammered stories, the kid (he didn’t actually know if Gnarly was younger than him, but he just gave off that vibe) had never known any other echidnas on his world, which had… hit uncomfortably close.

Knucks had quickly found himself feeling rather protective of the other echidna (especially with their “allies” in the Chaos Council making snide remarks about his “unsophisticated” origin and mocking his skittishness). Gnarly was a good kid; a little off, yeah, but with a good heart, and loyal to his friends and allies (unlike certain pirates Knucks could name).

Plus, just… talking with a fellow echidna.

He had largely resigned himself to the notion that it wouldn’t be possible for them to see each other again.

“Not directly,” Nine answered. “Mangey’s been our go-between.”

“I thought Mangey didn’t talk.”

Nine shrugged.

“There are ways to communicate aside from words. Mangey knows how things work, even if he can’t always articulate it.”

The wild-child fox ducked his head bashfully and waved a hand as if to say “aw, shucks.”

“Anyway, apparently with the Paradox Prism stable again, Gnarly’s been picking up on some previously unknown form of ambient energy that he’s sensitive to, and Mangey was able to devise a means of utilizing it with the Grim shards. It’s taken a while – this energy is, well, chaotic and hard to pin down to make it work for us – but combining it with these” – he gestured again to the floating crystal – “we’re able to utilize it to produce similar effects to the Shatterspace portals.”

Huh. Knucks wasn’t certain what that was about – if it was an echidna thing, it was nothing he’d ever felt. But thinking about Gnarly brought up another thing that was bothering him.

“And did ya consider that some of us might wanna know that you were workin’ on a way we could talk with our friends in the other worlds again?”

And apparently Knucks was just going to keep having novel experiences today, because Nine bowed his head and actually looked genuinely contrite.

“I… I wasn’t one hundred percent certain whether this would even pan out. I didn’t want to give people false hope until we had something definite to show.” He settled his face and looked up to meet Knucks’ eyes again. “There’s still things the three of us need to work on right now while we’ve got this communication going, but I’ll come out to the city later and explain everything to Rebel and Rusty.”

Knucks shrugged, uncomfortable with the kid being so… agreeable. “I mean, I’m gonna be tellin’ ‘em anyway, but, yeah, that’d be appreciated. They’ll want the details from you, at least.”

Nine nodded, then turned back to look at his machine, his expression turning pensive.

“But anyway, once we can fine-tune this process and make sure it won’t cause any degradation like the Prism-energy portals did – it shouldn’t, since it’s not actually using Prism-energy, but we still want to be safe – we think we can probably eventually crack actual physical transportation between our worlds.”

“That be one of our two long goals,” Sails said in aside to Knucks.

Knucks frowned. “And what’s the other?”

The three foxes all shared a meaningful look between themselves.

“Finding a way to communicate with Green Hill.”

Knucks’ eyes widened. For a second he was back on the Grim, a washed-out hedgehog leaning against his shoulder for support, his seemingly endless vitality drained through his sacrifice to save them all…

“Oh.”

“Aye, this only worked ‘cause we each got a shard of the Grim to be actin’ as a connective point between worlds,” Sails said. “We been battin’ around a few ideas, but… well, even if’n we get a signal through, someone on t’other side needs to be there to pick it up.”

Nine again got a pensive look on his face.

“Yeah, that’s the major issue. Best case scenario, though, it’s possible – maybe even likely – that our counterpart in Green Hill will have the tech to pick up our signal if we can manage to force it through their gateway. And if Sonic…” He broke off, grimacing, and took a deep breath before continuing. “If Sonic’s okay, and if he’s told his friends there about us, then… Tails might be actively investigating the Shatterspace himself, which would make it easier. I mean, if he’s anything like us…”

The other two nodded in agreement.

Knucks… felt very much on the wrong foot here. None of this was what he had expected when he’d set out to this place. He couldn’t make himself feel upset about it though. Frankly, he was finding himself imagining the future with the foxes’ new tech – the chance to see Gnarly again; heck, even the prospect of meeting up with Dread too, if only because he’d been itching for a good fight…

And, of course, finally getting confirmation whether or not Sonic had made it home.

“You really think you can pull all this off?” he asked quietly.

“Well…” Nine turned to look at his fellow foxes.

He smiled then, and it wasn’t the insufferable smirk that Knucks had become used to seeing on the fox’s face when he wasn’t scowling. It was something hesitant, but soft and genuine and… happy.

He turned back to Knucks, Sails and Mangey on either side, identical blue eyes shining and each matching his smile.

“With the power of our three brains together, there’s nothing we can’t do.”

[lace-coffin]

It's me again! I have another request, and I think you might like this one! But a few things first.

I love your profile picture! I very much wanna do that to a Yautja, and have reason to believe it is the most effective way to calm your mate when I'm privacy 👍

I'm glad you appreciate how in depth I go when making a request! I've dealt with other people who tell me I should shorten the detail, and it has made me very sad. Mostly because the reason I go so deep into depth is because autism demands it --

Anyways!

I was wondering if you could write some headcannons for Asa with a more feral pet? Like, when he's with them or their with his bugs/arachnids?

Baby, sweet one, gentlest thing alive, happy animal noises, copious amounts of purring (yes, his pet can purr how lucky did he get?)

But when confronted with a violent escaped toy? Teeth are bared, growling, snarling, split flying, clawing, kicking, scratching, going for areas that hurt not even Asa knows about

Yet when Asa tries to calm them down, all he need do is just

And bang! Pet is back to normal

Better description of what I have in mind!

Once again, and toy escaped, this time from the box. Asa. Is. FURIOUS

This is the second time this has happened! he fuming as he stalks the halls, when he suddenly hears loud screaming and cursing. Cold fear goes down his spine, his pet is out and about, and we're much to small to fend off his newest toy, why, he's bigger than Asa!

Listening intently as the pained wailing turns into gurgles, he bursts into the area where he "plays" with his new toys, and finds his pet standing above the toys dead body. Scratches litter his arms, his eyes have been clawed open and gored, and his throat? Ripped completely out.

We stand huffing over it, shoulders tense with adrenaline and hands blood stained until half up our forearm. We turn our head to the side, eyes shrunken our mouth and has doused in blood, the man's throat clutched between our teeth.

We blink, split out the throat, and fully turn to Asa. Suddenly, Asa's pet looks sheepish, ducking their head as they play with their hands and avoid eye contact. Timidly we say "i-...I caught him, Master"

having so many thoughtshhhhhhhhhh

Asa Emory x Feral! Gn! Reader

Asa Emory x gn!reader

trigger warning for graphic violence,description of gore/corpses and power dynamics

Requests are closed (for now!!)

First of all thank you for the request! I always super enjoy writing urs!

I would also love to hold a Yautja gentle like hamburger and pet their mandibles, save me big Yautja women.

I’m sorry people have been mean to u abt how u prefer to send requests : ( I’m also autistic so u being specific in what u want also rlly helps me out!

Your relationship with Asa was strange, well it was strange from an outsiders perspective, not that you really saw them much anyway, but that’s neither here nor there. It’s just your relationship was different from his other pets. Obviously you were the favourite, sleeping in a cute padded cage whilst the others slept in a fenced off area and essentially cannibalised each-other from starvation. Meanwhile you were fed 3 balanced meals a day plus snacks. If Asa was somewhere in the hotel it’s basically assured you’re there too, probably perched on his lap, gloved hand running under your chin as you rumble and purr happily.

Despite the amount of fight you put up at first you were truly a lap dog through and through, always at your masters heels even if he wasn’t doing anything of interest, as long as you could lay under the desk and wrap an arm around his ankle you were happy. Asa never really was one for physical affection but he’s grown to love it since ‘acquiring’ you, not that he really had a choice with the way you stuck to his side like a rodent on a glue trap, he’s wasn’t complaining however. With the way you clung to him anyone would think you’re the one who’s holding him captive.

This unfortunately wasn’t the case with other inhabitants. Your special place in his heart was only 80% of the reason you got special treatment, granted it would’ve happened anyway but it may have been hurried along by the fact that he didn’t trust you to cohabitate with the toys he kept. You know the reports you get back from doggy daycare? The ones that say “doesn’t play well with others”? Yeah. That was you.

On multiple occasions even before settling in he’d caught you surround by bodies or chunks of other people in your mouth. Clearly you didn’t take well to sharing whether it be food or Asa’s affection. If you were anyone else you would’ve been slaughtered already for conveniences sake but he’d seen the way you soften when he visited. He knew there was something more to it.

Cut to current day, Asa is stressed and pissed off. A new toy has escaped, he could have sworn the box was secured properly, even double checking it. To be fair the toy in question was built like a brick shit house, taller and stronger than himself. Hopefully the term “the bigger they are the harder they fall” will apply to them, for both your and Asa’s sake.

Thats another issue, you’re currently roaming the halls too. Your master doesn’t usually have to worry about you when you’re out and about in the hotel, the minute you slip from his side it’s like all placidity and calm he’s come to love dissipates, leaving you the feral beast he had first stolen from your home. If anything it’s comforting for him to know you can hold your own out there. He keeps a watchful eye on you but not even he can anticipate what’s going to happen sometimes. Despite his opinion of himself he was only mortal.

It was now a race against time to either locate you and get you back to safety whilst he re contains the rogue or find said escapee first and detain him before you can cross paths. Your sir knows you can usually handle trouble but this guy is huge..

Asa swears under his breath and hauls himself through the twisting corridors, dipping in and out of rooms in search of either of you. Beginning to panic more as you prove hard to find he calls out for you, hands cupped around his mouth. “Pet? It’s time to come back, this is serious, I need you back right now.” He tries not to let the anxiety bleed into his voice, not wanting to scare you, and smothers it with an authoritarian tone. He waits a few moments to listen for any response. Shit. Nothing.

He moves further into the hotel and onto the other side, cupping his hands again and trying once more “cricket? I’m not playing, I need you here now” nothing again. Just as he turns his heel to try another direction he hears a noise that turns his blood to ice. Disgusting wet gurgles and muffled curses boom from down the hall. Asa isn’t easy to startle considering the vile things he does everyday to real people but the idea of you being in pain and too late to save- it makes him want to vomit.

Pushing through the nausea he bolts down the hallway and slams the doors to his ‘playroom’ open. Usually this room is reserved for experimenting on subjects.

What he sees calms him and raises his heart rate at the same time.

There you are, his perfect docile pup, hunched over what is (was) his newest pet. Shoulders raised, hackles up. The body below you is almost unrecognisable, arms littered with angry raised scratches, most likely from you struggling. Eyes completely missing from the sockets, well one was still technically attached to the coord but that’s not important. Chunks of once warm and rosey cheek flesh have been gouged from the skull, the imprints around them suggest the flesh was bitten away from the bone. Lastly and maybe most notably the throat is missing a considerable amount of matter. The hole runs deep, severed veins now lazily trickling warm blood into a puddle after the initial bite drained most of it.

Eventually you notice another presence and bristle, turning your head slowly to meet Asa’s eyes. Your eyes are essentially bulging out of your head, pupils dilated and crazed, throat and forearms doused in slowly cooling crimson. A chunk of what Asa presumes to be the missing throat lodged in your firmly set jaw.

The second you realise who it is it’s like you gain some clarity, spitting the foul meat onto the floor and wiping your mouth on your sleeve. It doesn’t help, only smearing the liquid further. Turning completely to face your master you slump onto your knees, eyes down to the floor shy and respectful like you’ve been trained. “I-…I caught him master.” It comes out croakier than you’d like.

You keep your eyes trained to the floor as the larger man approaches, heavy boots thumping on the floor towards you. You brace for the telling off, you can see yourself ending back up with the other fodder pets, you’d really pushed it this time, killing another subject. However it never comes. two warm now ungloved hands cup your bloody cheeks, gently coercing you to look at him. To your surprise Asa looks…relieved almost?

A soft smile paints his face. “You did catch him, thank you pet.” You sit there dazed and confused as he presses a soft kiss to your forehead, ignoring the hair matted to it from the gore. “You did such a good job and I’m more than relived your unharmed, I don’t know what I’d-“ Asa cuts himself off, clearing his throat,not wanting to show vulnerability right now when you’re the one who needs attention. You don’t miss the way his voice wavers with worry. Embarrassed he quickly offers you a hand up, spinning on his heel and facing away. “Let’s get you cleaned up and rewarded shall we?” You don’t see the pink tint on his face.