#which is ABSURD

[teamosc4rr]

The backstory behind Shadow's eyeliner:

A short sonadow drabble ;)

_____________________

Shadow sighs. He really wasn't particularly keen on sharing stories from his past, but he supposes it's time to allow himself to share more of himself with others. This could be an alright start with that. "Fine. I guess I'll tell you." Sonic gives him a small smile at that. Shadow tries not to think about the reaction he feels in his stomach seeing it, and decides to tell the story.

_____________________

Before reading - I guess this is set in a little au that I'm still trying to figure out. (Because this was originally intended to be a scene in a longer fic I'm planning to write)

So for now, this is set in Shadow's room, after him and Sonic started to get to know eachother more after working out a tense rivalry.

(I apologise for any poor spelling here, English isn't my first language and I didn't put too much effort into this one)

(Also I think this can also be red as them being casual friends, too)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wait- Shads... is that blood?! Are you bleeding?" Sonic frantically asked, as he pointed towards Shadow's eyes, there was a red smear of... something, just above them.

"What? Oh. That's just my eyeliner. It probably smeared." Shadow shrugged, with annoyance in his voice. He hated whenever that happened.

Sonic's expression changed to a surprised one. "That's eyeliner?! Huh, I had always thought it was just like, the colour of your fur. But now that I do take a good look at it... it is a bit shiny... indeed kinda different from the red in your quills." Sonic tilted his head sideways, inspecting the red lines around his eyes.

"Hah. Well, I guess it's just not that noticeable." Shadow stated, tearing his eyes away from Sonic's blown open eyes and raised eyebrows. He tried to ignore the way he still felt his gaze on him.

"Why do you wear it, though?" Sonic tilted his head to the side.

Apparently, Shadow made a face at that question because Sonic immediately starts rapidly apologising. "No- I mean like... It's not like I think it doesn't suit you- In my honest opinion it even looks good on you- uhm..." Sonic swallowed. "And I don't mean that you're like- that it's stupid, or something. It's just-"

"It's fine, Sonic." Shadow cuts off his rapid rambling. Sonic shuts his mouth and looks attentively at him, as if waiting for Shadow to continue.

The black hedgehog sighs. He really wasn't particularly keen on sharing stories from his past, but he supposes it's time to allow himself to share more of himself with others. This could be an alright start with that. "Fine. I guess I'll tell you." Sonic gives him a small smile at that. Shadow tries not to think about the reaction he feels in his stomach seeing it, and decides to tell the story.

"Whenever Maria got ready for school, or special events, or anything, really. I would always accompany her in anything she did. Through almost all the steps of her routine, I would be by her side, just... watching. We didn't necessarily have to talk or anything, I would just be there, be present. It was comforting." Shadow brings his gaze up from where they previously rested on his shoes, to meet Sonic's eyes. He sees that Sonic has a unique expression on his face, like he's actually interested in what he's telling him.

Shadow then remembers he still needed to continue. "But anyways- that's besides the point." He brings his gaze elsewhere. "She would usually do her makeup at the bathroom sink. She usually didn't do much... she often just did something basic, for things such as school. But for parties or special events, she would use some extra products. I would always just watch attentively at whatever she was applying to her face. The first time I saw her do a more... complicated look, I was a bit confused when she started tracing her eyeline with some red pencil. It seemed she noticed my puzzled face and chuckled at it. She then asked me if I wanted to try some. And because I liked being included, I agreed to it... It felt funny feeling the rather cold liquid of the eyeliner seeping through my fur. After she was done, I looked in the mirror and inspected the finished product. It wasn't bad... I quite liked the look of it, actually."

Shadow looked around the room, not daring to make eye contact with Sonic, for some reason.

"As I was inspecting the newly drawn lines around my eyes, she giggled and said that it suited me. So, whenever she would do her eyeliner, she would also put it on me. After every time, I would look in the mirror and notice she improved her skills with it again, the lines being done more neatly each time. She eventually even taught me how to do it myself. I didn't wear it often back then, when she was still..." Shadow trailed off, not wanting to say the thing he hated most, the thing that brought him the most pain.

In his peripheral vision, he saw Sonic nod and turn his head a tad to the side in understanding. Shadow swallowed and looked up at him again. "And well, after I lost her, I found some red eyeliner in a drug store and took it with me. I still remembered how to apply it. When I first saw myself with that same eyeliner again, it brought me back to all the times I sat on that cold kitchen sink with her." He let out a soft chuckle to himself. "Well... I haven't stopped wearing it since, as you can tell."

"Hm. She's right, it does look neat on you. Even if it didn't look as profesional back then." Sonic quirked a smile.

"Right, thanks." Shadow replied dryly.

...

"Could I try it?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for reading, I really hope you enjoyed it ;)

You can find the beautiful art that heavily inspired me to write this here!

[mytardisisparked]

20 Writer Questions

Was tagged by @emilie786!

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

I currently have 46! I have a couple sittin' in the crockpot tho hehe.

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?

164,375

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Historically, I have written for Star Wars and Star Trek. Right now I am writing for The X-Files :)

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

My top 5 are all older fics of mine: "When Sunrise Comes Early," "From the Depths of My Two Brain Cells," "The Voyager Bunch," "Ex Equis Scientia," "I'll Always be Around, Wherever Life Takes You"

5. Do you respond to comments?

Absolutely.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hmmmmm hard to say because I tend to end even my angstiest fics on a hopeful note.... I guess maybe "Night Visions?" Or, I'm sure there's a one-shot back in Ye Olde Star Wars collections somewhere that was extra angsty, but I am not going back to read those right now because I have neither the time nor fortitude.

However, I will be publishing something during Merry Month of Cohen that is p angsty so keep an eye out for that he he :)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Again, hard to say because I end almost all of my fics on a happy/hopeful note. I feel like maybe "Blessed Be The Man?" I really liked the way that one ended.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really. I've had some... aggressive? comments before that bordered on rude, but they never seemed to be coming from a place of hate. Usually, it's just people who enjoyed the story but made the presumption of telling me an element they had wished was different in a way that was not very politely worded. I don't take a lot of offense to it. I'm not popular or controversial enough to get actual hate comments lol.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Nah bro. I get giggly and weird when writing a kiss scene; what the characters do beyond that is none of my business lol.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Not really? I tried writing a Star Trek Voyager/Star Wars crossover once but never finished it because it was not clicking. Other than that,,,,,,,, I guess @well-and-true and I keep having our Treksonas do holodeck programs based on The X-Files, which hasn't really been ficced (yet) but it's fun to imagine! Lots of shenanigans.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not in the manner that this question is asking, but I do consider the AI scrapping stuff to be theft and I'm not cool about it.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? 

Nope.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! With @emilie786.

I've also done a LOT of idea bouncing with @baylardo @jellybeansarecool @elephant-in-the-pride-parade @maliciousalice @well-and-true and, while it hasn't turned into official co-writing (yet :]), their ideas and conversations and artwork have all been *deeply* valuable acts of collaboration. It's not co-writing in the official AO3 sense, but their words of encouragement and ideas are inseparably woven into almost all of my works from the last couple years.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I am very much impacted by the ole Hyperfixations so my favorite ship will almost always be whatever I am currently obsessed with. I never stop loving ships though. They are always lurking in the back of my mind. And sometimes they cycle back to the front. (right now I am DEEP in the MSR pit hehehe)

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Ummmmmm I outlined an extremely ambitious fic based on the Threshold!AU that would be multichap to the extreme and I LOVE it a whole lot but I am not sure I will ever have the fortitude or attention span to actually write the whole thing. I want to so bad.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I like the way I write movement and nonverbal comm. I also like my dialogue, once I get a good understanding of the way a character talks (it can take a bit).

Aside from that, I like my comedy. I love love love writing comedy. I love the beat of it, I love the nitty-gritty of correctly timing it, I love that it can be dry or slapstick or subtle or witty, I love that it can be situational. I'm not a perfect comedy writer, but it's a shoe that fits me well and, IMO, I continue to fit better and better as I learn and practice.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

HOO BOY well,,,, lately I feel like I have been struggling with "show don't tell." IDK why. I also hate how often I start sentences with "He" or "She" and I wrestle with finding more interesting ways of beginning sentences. I mostly write short-form fics, but I am working on a multi-chap fic right now and I have discovered that longform plots can be difficult to wrangle. I just wanna skip the "plot" and get to the good stuff (the significant character scenes).

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

If I could I would.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Way back in Yonder Years of fanfiction.net, I wrote for Marvel. Specifically, Captain America and Agent Carter. You will never find them.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

And Still, The Sea is Salt. I wrote it 2 years ago and it is still, IMO, my best work. It's a little more.... niche? of a ship and fandom (Pike/Una, Star Trek SNW) but I liked the story I told and the way I told it. And the poem I incorporated into it.

I also really liked my very first Star Trek: Enterprise fic, "Parent-Teacher Association," because I felt like I nailed the characterization and (as prev mentioned) I LOVE writing comedy.

This was fun! Tagging: @singeart, @elephant-in-the-pride-parade @jellybeansarecool @gaitwae @more-better-words @jenksel and anyone else who wants to

[juliamccartney]

LMAO i'm trying cite some tumblr & reddit posts for my paper (as primary texts) and i'm struggling sooo much with the author names

[daydreamerdrew]

regarding the Hulk being reactionary and making bold statements based on how he feels in the moment even if they contradict what he’s said before or are untrue, my favorites are when his capacity to get tired comes up in a fight, like when someone says that he must be getting tired, and he gets pissy and yells that he can’t get tired, but then later he does and he fully acknowledges it and purposely searches for a place to sleep. and when he gets mad at the Defenders and quits the team and specifies when he does so that he thinks the team is a bad idea and has actually always thought so. it’s deeply endearing

[the-dirt-eater]

end of an era (just deleted all the games on my phone)

[strangeweaver]

as per my roommates request i have crucified chars zaku in our apartment hallway

[snufflesthecat]

People who said you’ll work the least at an office job are so real because I just started today and coworkers just talked about golf for like an hour. Sir we have deadlines

[drfunkbeat]

aitsf is fun bc it can be incredibly emotionally impactful while also being about the most absurd bullshit ever. like hitomi's monologue about grief after iris is killed made me cry. iris was killed by being sawed in half on livestream by a person wearing a giant polar bear costume. date says he wishes aiba had boobs bigger than her armspan. in the same scene, mizuki has a flashback to when she was 8 and being physically and verbally abused by her mother. the next time you talk to her she's inexplicably lifting a 100kg barbell with ease

[technically-human]

Part two of the reverse verse is here! The reverse boys meet the original boys. They're not really getting along as well as I had hoped...

Again, this was a commission for @i-am-as-normal-as-you-are and they asked for angst/funny vibes... I think it's mostly just angst though. Oh, well...

Part one

[radioforums]

[variousqueerthings]

i do think that specifically david tennant being very openly supportive of the trans community has had an interesting effect -- because usually im kinda like "it is nice to know that people whose work i enjoy don't want me dead" and that's kinda my level of (at this point) quite cynical engagement with what a celebrity or artist does or does not think about transness, because these days it feels like it's almost fashionable for well-known (or post-well-known) people to come out of the wordwork and say what they think about trans people, which can get very stressful in its own way (the amount of headlines that try to be misleading or just plain don't say and so you're just like "ok i guess this week i have to find out if [spins wheel] thinks i deserve rights")

but david tennant has a different feeling to it. and to be fair, there are plenty of people with skin in the game, who absolutely deserve to and ought to speak out on behalf of their children/partners/community/friends/family/etc. and im always happy to see these people speak, and dt is included in that list as well

but david tennant is veeery specific in this here country of terf island, in which the labour party will openly state that it will allow certain book writers to affect their policies on trans people, and that's partly because of the effect above in which "having opinions on trans rights seems to be a celebrity game that keeps you relevant, which includes ex prime minister tony blair making his opinion known (hint, it wasn't a good one)" but also because david tennant is known as a national icon to rival that of whatsherface

he was the main actor on doctor who, in the top three, if not very top of british broadcasting iconography that exists. he's one of this generation's most famous shakespearian actors, the other thing that this country-as-culture is most proud of. he's a mainstay in children's film and tv, a standout in modern british crime drama (broadchurch, des), and that's not mentioning things like jessica jones, good omens, and star wars

this guy has no social media, and some of the biggest cultural capital in the uk today -- labour i believe it was made a twitter joke about him ousting the current prime minister as the doctor ahead of this week's election, because that's an iconic scene from doctor who

which means that when he openly calls transphobes whingy and asks them to shut up, there's a bit of a ripple... i mean what are you gonna do, get angry with the doctor? from doctor who??? the man who played a definitive hamlet????? the man who's just done rave reviewed performances of macbeth???? scrooge mcduck????????? this man who occasionally guests on cbeebies???????????

said prime minister and his party and hosts of transphobes go absolutely crazy every time he makes an appearance wearing new trans ally apparel, as if a. he sees any of that and b. it's a dignified response to a man saying, in essence, "i would like my kid to be safe and happy"

david tennant constantly making these statements, again and again, is a powerful voice in the modern fight for trans rights in the UK, in some ways unfortunately, because you wish trans people could have been heard before it got to this state and that it wasn't about being famous, but to be fair, he's also making that point again and again

it kind of feels like the first time in a long time that there's been proper pushback against transphobia in this country from a perspective that the transphobes can't dismiss so easily -- they can try but like. again, one side is a bunch of raving nonsense-spouters on a joke website who mostly belong to a party that's about to get decidedly ousted from the political scene, the other is beloved national icon and star of stage and screen, mr david tennant

of course, it doesn't hurt that the three main actors of harry potter and everyone else who's majorly involved in doctor who, past and present, is also supportive of trans rights, which maybe there's a separate point to be made about the strangeness of a mainstream tv show becoming a cultural battleground for peoples opinions on equal rights, especially now with ncuti gatwa at the helm, because i think some of what ive seen in relation to dw is more extreme than any piece of cultural media ive been alive to witness bigoted reactions to (including star trek), and ncuti gatwa as a black queer man is taking a hell of a lot of flack that is racist and homophobic

but labour... if you're inviting random artists to give you opinions on trans rights, david tennant is right there, and you know he'd make sure to bring along trans rights activists and professionals to get the space in the room they ought to have had all along

[lady-tortilla-chip]

Also I’ve realized I’ve been in fandom for ten fucking years

Tbh I wanna know when fandom stopped being considered a freaks only event

[tainebot01]

I was working on this video when the Investigations Collection Announcement dropped, then proceeded to spiral for the next few days before finally finishing it.

[musicalmoritz]

No thoughts, head empty, just Mitsuba expressing one of the most basic human desires. No matter how many times people try to tell me that his feelings are manufactured or that he’s inherently evil, I will never buy it nor will it ever be true within a canon context. Cool concept for an au I guess but canon Mitsuba is extremely emotional and empathetic and is one of the more redeemable ones in a series full of morally gray characters. Him being sassy and struggling with dark thoughts does not make him a bad person idk what some fans are on about

[gideonisms]

I think we could all stand to unpack our feelings about societal standards of Intelligence and why it's important to us that someone else is less intelligent & capable

[smile-files]

i find it really funny that barton's the one driving when chelmey's always comparing him to a child. he puts his stupid toddler at the wheel because he's too busy sulking