dive2themellow

[dive2themellow]

@florerecordis said: ❛ what happened to this town? ❜ for venice >:]

Venice's arms cross tightly and hug to ground himself: no matter how many times he travels across worlds, visiting Soleanna is always a bit uncomfortable for him. It's essentially the birthing place of the world's end for him--and while they'd managed to travel back to what had once been Soleanna by the time they had been born in their future, the virus changed it unrecognizably. Seeing all the twisting architecture and the life teeming within the canals and streets puts a cold feeling in Venice's stomach. It's the time where he's made the most aware they're all practically dead men walking, ghosts laying claim to the land. "In my world, some scared religious zealots tried to call upon the god Solaris to help with the metal virus...but its fire reacted strangely with it, and suddenly it began infecting the entire planet. There's only metal--everywhere--in my future. The only saving grace was that it stopped infecting people after it started building."

"It happened here, in Soleanna, so I want to look--figure out why the infection changed so much...but finding information on Solaris is hard." In some timelines the information is abundant, in others it appears all mention of the god is practically nonexistent. It's a real pain.

[dive2themellow]

@unfortunatedarling said: "Wow, I hear just getting accepted into the University of Spagonia is tough." (For Ocarina, Team Dark verse)

Ocarina wrings her hands in front of her, suddenly sheepish. It's an achievement she's proud of, but when talking to someone in Team Dark of all things about the difficulties of university life, it definitely feels kind of mundane and silly to compare. "Y-yeah, I had to study really hard and I got the application essays triple-checked by my teachers and probably at least five different tutors or something..." Growing up in Spagonia helped at least, and indicating that she had been helping to work at the Gaia Temple for much of her life helped even more. "It's definitely something I'm proud of!"

Still smiling, the cat's expression becomes slightly more focused. She takes a little sip of her tiny espresso and sets it back down on the saucer at the cafe the two are sitting at. Ocarina is happy to help, but she still has some slight reservations. Her work is sacred to her. "Do you mind if I ask why a Team Dark member is so interested in checking out the old manuscripts on Gaian legends?"

[dive2themellow]

Knuckles lets out something of a heh-laugh at Tails's determination--getting the fox to give 110% is about as easy as getting Sonic to run. He'd come pretty far from the scared kid Knuckles once met back on Angel Island all those years ago. Something like pride swells in the echidna's chest as he takes a running leap and glides off in the direction of the cavern leading down into Hidden Palace, fists extended in front of his face.

Angel Island is quite expansive and has more than a few traps to keep it safe lying on its proximity--Knuckles of course knows every single one by heart. It's a little hard for him to remember to take it slow on Tails's account just to make sure he won't accidentally set off any of those booby traps in his attempt to keep up with the echidna. Knuckles is no Sonic when it comes to speed, but in territory where a single misstep can activate an arrow trap, it's imperative that Tails stay right on his heels and not take any shortcuts even though they're flying.

That said, it doesn't take them too long to arrive. Knuckles comes to a soft landing, feet gently alighting upon the ground, half-turning to make sure his friend--family--brother--or whatever Tails is at this point didn't get caught up in the underbrush or something. "Brings back memories, comin' here with you," Knuckles says when Tails lands besides him, and turns now to guide them down into the subterranean cavern. Steps turn to echo-steps as the earth swallows them, welcoming echidna and kit into her cold embrace, loam and rock eventually beginning to give way to carefully-inlaid marble and limestone. Knuckles always has a sort of reverence for Hidden Palace Zone.

Which is why its destruction is so appalling to the Guardian. There's plenty of broken stones; columns lay in disarray, debris decorating the path. The roof looks like it's beginning to sink in by effect of the changing landscape above, vines growing out through the loam and poking and prodding amongst the ruins in an attempt to reclaim and choke the life out of the ancient stones.

"My cavern!!!!" A baleful moan-yell at the torn-up state Hidden Palace comes to his lips as Knuckles all but falls to his knees theatrically, knuckles rising to pull at his scalp. He's always been one to wear his heart on his sleeve; growing up alone has made him inclined to simply express himself in the way he knows how: thoroughly and with much flame. It's good they came here first!

But once the initial shock has passed, Knuckles's love for his duty and his Island sets in: again, Knuckles is one to express himself fervently, but he is also quite serious by nature and never one to shirk away from difficult endeavors. So despite his initial outburst It doesn't take him long to get back onto his feet and cross to the nearest fallen column and pat it sorrowfully. "I can't believe it got this bad while I was gone." A terse frown. Purple eyes flick towards his friend. "Tails, the roof looks like it's in bad shape. We start there. Did T-Pup get any data or stats or something on how to fix that?" Then he glances at the ceiling and frowns more firmly at the growing tangle of roots that peek out at the top. "In the past I'd just tear out the root systems but...there's got to be a better way to do it."

     ...Knuckles really maintained all of this by himself?

     That had been the first thought when truly getting to know the echidna. At the onset, the crimson guardian and the cerulean speedster were nothing but adversaries. The hedgehog and fox a matching set of intruders, both of whom were assumed to be up to no good. All while the reign of Robotnik was ready to spread across the width and breadth of this grandstanding island.

     Wide sights gaze up from his laptop the moment the protector spoke his answer, they train and trail behind his movement down the altar's steps. A past remade, refurbished for a kinder future. They were friends— no, closer than friends. Family. Souls once strangers to another now bound to do everything and anything to assist each other.

     A younger Knuckles would've never allowed someone to tinker and tamper with the most sensitive and secluded place on this island— hidden was literally in the name of the locale! But now, he accepted help heartily, and healthily.

     The prospect brings about a brimming grin to the fox's face. For, truly? That's all the kit could ask for. To be trusted, for his ever-growing penchant for helping those around him to blossom fruitfully. They were headed to Hidden Palace Zone. "Right! Roger that!"

     Immediately, an excited child-like haste makes quick work of his workspace. Load up his laptop into his little blue backpack, set T-Pup to follow his lead until further notice, and prep all data gathered from the sacred territory for extended application. There were a lot of places to hit down there— it was more than much that needed mending. The expedition could be expedited with precise marks and mappings on which locations needed which types of restoration!

     Swift were the hands, though attention wanes quick in his own work. The pride and dedication of one echidna overpowers all. It hits a pause on all motion, all activity. Tails listens, an ear flicking as his proclamation is made. No shortcuts, he says. No cheap stuff, no work-arounds. They were here to do a job, and the job would be done well.

     Consider the fox debriefed. "Got it! Give me an assignment and I won't miss!"

     A right ball of determination, he was. Fist gripped by the chest, elbows pulled in with arms tucked to the sides. His face, his form— it would make the impossible possible were it required to do so. Vigor was the word for it, and his small packing session would be returned to with double the effort. Emboldened, all items were accounted for, T-Pup would be flying behind at a moment's notice, and Knuckles was born ready!

     The other need not wait long— when all things were packed, twin-tailed namesakes would kick to life with a flick. Wind whips up, orange-furred turbines swirling in a cyclone of pure propulsion. Legs push, tails spin... and flight is achieved in no time flat.

     By Knuckles' gliding side, Tails would fly skyward.      To the hidden depths they go~!

[dive2themellow]

me when i get to talk about megastructures (guy at whiteboard gif)

[dive2themellow]

DOSSIER :: VENICE.

NAME: Venice ALIASES: N/A, although sometimes he gets mistaken for Silver in his travels SPECIES: Hedgehog (he's not a mink sorry guys) AGE: Partner-headcanon dependent ; default is about 22 GENDER: Demiboy PRONOUNS: He/they SEXUALITY: Biromantic bisexual w/ preference for masc folks ALLIANCES: RUSH & saving the future & the Ultimate Lifeform--wherever he is

Venice is an AU version of Silver. I will use icons of Silver to portray him but he's meant to look like Silver's concept art (top R concept draft with the darker gloves) when he was supposed to be a mink. I think it would be fun if he had a little influence from the weird future hedgehog design (bottom L) they had going on here too. Other minor differences include that the sigils on his palms and in his glove cuffs are orange in color, as well as his powers having that same orange sheen instead of Silver's teal.

He originates from a timeline that splinters off from IDW's Metal Virus arc (with some minor changes, mainly being that Finitevus is responsible for the virus and not Eggman) where some Soleannians attempt to summon Solaris to cleanse the world of the virus, but when the god's flames interact with it, it responds strangely and makes the virus change shape entirely. No longer able to infect people, it instead infects nature and the environment, replicating endlessly until the world becomes nothing but cold metal megastructure. Venice travels back in time trying to find Shadow, the Ultimate Lifeform, hearing rumors of him being sealed away in the future, with the hopes that he will be able to reverse the virus.

Needless to say this is a very self-indulgent AU character ripped off of based off of BLAME! and this cool crossover fanart I saw.

Being an AU version of Silver, Venice shares many of Silver's traits--however I prefer Silver's portrayal in 06 to his portrayal pretty much anywhere else, so that's mostly what I'm taking inspiration from--just in a slightly more taciturn disposition. I think I'll have to write it more to see just how I meaningfully differ the two from one another.

RUSH is the name of his version of Blaze, who is a fork of NICOLE's original software (more on her under the cut). She'll probably feature as an NPC in writing him but maybe I will give her a dossier and make her an official muse too, depending on how invested I get in writing Venice.

Venice also carries around a rendition of Killy's Gravitional Beam Emitter. Not sure what I wanna do with that other than state it exists.

More elaborate and draft-y timeline (cuz I was just trying to write it down before I forgot or got bored etc.) under the cut!

the bulk of this AU places venice around the metal virus which i largely don't treat as 'canon' at a base level for my portrayals. although i'm happy to make it 'canon' for pretty much any and all events in sonic if something is important to someone else's character, i generally don't treat it as something that happened as a baseline for my muses in the 'prime' universe i loosely imagine all my other muses set in.

i think it'd be more interesting if finitevus is behind the metal virus as it seems like a natural point of continuation from what was obviously a recycled idea about a roboticization arc from archie... but doesn't really align well with eggman's characterization in the games imo. so in this AU of my gameverse-adjacent world, finitevus is trying to develop the metal virus as a way to set a blank enough slate to hopefully (re)-summon enerjak through the leftover chaos energy and have him essentially take care of the rest of the resetting for the sake of what finitevus sees as perfection. in my opinion eggman doesn't want zombies in his pursuit of controlling the world but finitevus definitely does want zombies because it makes them easier to wipe out, ykwim?

in the wake of the metal virus spreading some more soleannians turn to the god solaris and think to try and summon it with the hopes that solaris will cleanse the remaining world in fire (don't ask me how this works w solaris being retconned but it's an AU of the main timeline anyways so who cares) which aligns well with finitevus's plans, so he helps.

instead solaris's flames interact strangely with the virus and the virus metastasizes in an entirely different way: it no longer infects people but instead becomes set on replicating over and over again. by the time venice is born, the world is a vast megastructure of metal.

there aren't many people left. i think adapting jani-ca would be fun bcuz i like her idk how i would do that yet what with the messiness of echidna lore in archie because i have 0 interest in adopting a lot of it for obvious reasons even though i like a lot of the echidna characters individually. presumably finitevus would still exist in this future world of venice's and i think he'd be relatively happy with the outcome as he still tries to find a suitable remaining vessel for enerjak--or perhaps tries to make one from the virus-altered world itself.

blaze does not 'traditionally' exist in this future-world, having already been rewritten out of existing in the future and into the 'prime' verse as the sol dimension's princess and one of sonic's many alternates. venice's blaze is instead a fork of a future software version of NICOLE...why? cuz i think it'd be cute. her name is RUSH as a tongue in cheek reference to sonic rush. and should also probably be an acronym for something but idk what.......

in venice's future as he travels the megastructure looking for answers he comes across legends about a being known as the ultimate lifeform who once was capable of saving and curing many people. so naturally venice's entire life is based off this idea of trying to find the ultimate lifeform, whom he eventually learns more about, including that supposedly shadow was sealed away at some point, presumably by GUN or omega (although this could be left up to plotting in threads i don't mind being flexible on who seals him). the idea here is to create a fun juxtaposition: silver goes back in time in 06 to stop sonic from being the iblis trigger and destroying the world, venice goes back in time to find shadow to hopefully help him become the truly penultimate cure he wants to be.

after venice learns how to time travel and zone travel he goes back in time and travels zones to learn more about shadow and see if he can triangulate where exactly shadow is in his own zone after being sealed so he can wake him up and hopefully have the world go back to normal. this is where the bulk of venice's interactions can take place, with him existing in your character's zone as an observer, and doing his best to help.

[dive2themellow]

every time i do 1 sonic draft i am just so Overcome with Emotion

[dive2themellow]

@somewhereinchaos said: ❝ you… came back? ❞ // for sonic!

A delighted little laugh leaves the hedgehog's lips at the other's insistence to play the solitary wolf. Not that Sonic can't relate, he's something of an introvert masking his lonesome tendencies with cheer and a smile--but he doesn't insist upon it in the same way Shadow does. And with that said Sonic ultimately just finds Shadow amusing--the two may not exactly see eye to eye a lot of the time, but they're still friends, aren't they? "C'mon, Shadow. Going where the wind leads me doesn't mean I can only see a place exactly one time before it gets boring." A finger swipes beneath his nose; Sonic lets out a near-silent 'heh.' "You'd never appreciate anything at all if you lived like that." Perhaps that's why he returns to Green Hill so often, always finding something new to relish in the turn of verdant-emerald-forest-hues, the way they stretch like an ocean of their own when Sonic really hits his stride, feet pummeling against the ground so fast he might just glide like how Knuckles does.

His head knocks to the side to point to the Eggman facility Shadow seems preoccupied with. And this place was so beautiful before Eggman mucked it up... "I came back 'coz you said that data's important to you. So I wanna help you get it." A grin as Sonic kicks idly at a small rock, batting it back and forth idly between the soles of his two feet. Something to occupy the time, the before-run and after-run, seconds dragging into miles. "I'm not gonna cramp your speed if you really wanna do this alone. But hey... when's the last time you really went toe-to-toe with someone?" It's a direct challenge, green eyes sliding and shimmering with brimming Chaos excitement--Sonic can already see the path stretching out for him, gesturing for him to take his first step. "It'll be fun."

[dive2themellow]

@somewhereinchaos said: ❝ i don’t know how you can stand this kind of thing… ❞ // for knuckles!

"Stand what? The Air Necklace?" Knuckles tugs at the aforementioned piece of jewelry around his neck, a little confused by Shadow's disdain for it. Or maybe he just meant the water? Although Knuckles thought Sonic was the only thalassophobe. Shared hedgehog trait? Or maybe he was referring to the slow pace at which the two of them were having to continue their hunt for the Warp Topaz shards. Knuckles decides it's funnier to imagine that Shadow just hates the Air Necklace for no reason, so he adds on somewhat gruffly, "What, your alien DNA lets you breathe underwater now, too?" He elbows Shadow in the side. Gently. For Knuckles.

Knuckles has a remarkable attenuation with Chaos Energy; however, whatever the Warp Topaz had going on with its warping properties made it difficult for him to hone in on and track down. On top of that, he's still not really sure why Shadow insisted on piecing it back together or at least finding the pieces if he was just going to be annoying about the slow pace needed to be an effective treasure hunter the whole time. "I told you already. I can sense something down there at the bottom of the lake. If it's not a piece of the Warp Topaz, it's still got enough Chaos Energy to make it worth checking out. Hold my stuff." He shoves his knapsack into Shadow's hands and gets ready to dive.

[dive2themellow]

for @zonecode i tried sending this as an ask but tumblr wouldnt let me so i have to make it a starter. feel free to just hoard this whenever you feel like replying though!

Fiona grabs Silver's wristcuff. Her eyes lock onto the other hedgehog's. She's not going to let this go. "You remember the Genesis Wave?" It's the most serious she's sounded in a long time. She can't even sound smug or threatening or try to remember she's supposed to be good at blackmailing. "No one else remembers. I'm the only one. Are you from--are you the Silver from before? Or are you just... unlucky enough to remember that it happened?" Either way, poor bastard.

[dive2themellow]

one of my favorite retrospective rp moments from writing ocarina over the years was this one time some sonadow rpers on iscribble (rip) decided to introduce a dramatic little subplot to their rp where shadow started dating ocarina before sonadow would ultimately get back together and they were definitely older than me so i got really invested in this oc/canon ship and they had to pretend they cared about it like i did so i wouldnt be sad. but looking back on it its like really obvious that they werent actually interested and they were just too nice to tell me 'sorry'. why did they do that KJDSLKJDSLKJFDS

[dive2themellow]

tentative-ish ocarina redesign idea!!

design notes:

loosely based off a flame point siamese cat with teal and light blue as contrast colors. it doesn't show up as well on my computer monitor as my ipad monitor but the chest fluff and her inner ears are a slightly darker, deeper blue. i was going back and forth on making her muzzle that darker blue color too maybe i'll do that later.

does not wear gloves technically...i didn't want to use white lol. might go back in and edit the colors later. those are just lacey wristcuffs.

wears a strapless babydoll cut top which lets her chest fur poke out at the top

jean cuffs are designed to mimic the sock/shoe cuff thing sonic characters have going on

drawing these shoes is surprisingly hard but she wears a pair of pink rocking horse shoe-styled boots to lean into her ballet fairy influences.

keeps a tiny yellow-orangeish glowy ocarina in her jeans pocket that she practices mystic melody on.

occasionally wears half-frame wire spectacles (reading glasses!)

occasionally wears a backpack for college etc. no idea what i want this to look like yet

[dive2themellow]

while i dont think it would necessarily be helpful to come up with entire timelines of what i think makes sense for my ocs to be doing during the events of the major games especially cuz something that brings me great joy with making ocs or reviving side characters from archie into the context of gameverse is making them kind of detached from canon events to navigate world-building and the context of 'normalcy' in these kinds of worlds (making fiona a girlfail who works multiple jobs and lives in a shitty studio apartment is something that brings me great joy)...i think the events of unleashed usually circumvents this on account of being a global phenomenon

beryl being largely built around this idea of 'what if sonic had an SSX-style riders spin off in the 00s' stays in sa1's ice cap zone mostly trying to handle the straggling dark gaia creatures that try to take over the mountain...so that's easy

but ocarina who is a gaia temple guardian-in-training would be more involved. it's fun to think about her crossing paths with sonic for the first time during these events. i have been trying to imagine her as a 'focal point' for gaian energy to funnel through and while of course she would be focused primarily on the spagonian gaia temple cuz thats the one she works at i think it would be fun if she could be assisting in the background in some way over the course of the game a la seven sages in zelda or something. i'll have to chew on it more

[dive2themellow]

[dive2themellow]

god help me i WILL finish my oc redesigns tonight

[dive2themellow]

SOMETHING TERRIBLE HAS HAPPENED!!

Ocarina likes to think she's getting a handle on Mystic Melody. It's getting much easier for her to understand and get a handle on its powers after she studied the linguistic origins of it in that paper for her class. She had been excited to practice the Melody when she had time to stop by the Temple--but...well. Well. The ocarina she'd been blowing into tumbles out of her hands and onto the floor with a clatter. She's lucky it doesn't break.

A name comes unbidden: Mephiles. A sense of dread comes with it too. Ocarina isn't sure where it comes from or why she knows the name--she clasps her hands over her mouth and lets out a little 'eep!' and an 'oh no!' between the bars of her fingers. She didn't even know Mystic Melody was capable of this kind of thing! "I'm so sorry," she says to the being named Mephiles she accidentally summoned(?) into the heart of the Spagonian Gaia Temple. "I think I accidentally called you here. Um...do you know how to get back to where you were...going...?" Ocarina has studied a lot of deities but this is her first time talking directly to something distinctly non-corporeal.

@dive2themellow / sc!

Fools; impulsive mortals that don’t know what they’re dealing with, hanging on the whim of their friends peer pressuring them into an abrupt demise. Or at least, that’s how Mephiles feels when it’s happened seventeen times in the three days he travels this time period. Any other, he’d take glee in making them realize his presence is a little more impactful than chanting a name in the mirror three times (unsurprisingly, that also sets off his radar). He thrives on that fear. But not today, today he’s bored. There’s nothing happening, nothing interesting, and he has a feeling that’s about to continue when he manifests at… huh?

Isn’t this… a Gaia temple? He blinks in confusion, rising from the mist of shadows as he glances left and right. When he sees nothing, he turns around. And… HUH?

“ What? “ He takes a couple of steps back, less perturbed by the individual but here of all places? Why? Who IS this?

[dive2themellow]

"Moebius, huh...no wonder your Chaos is all screwy." Or Anarchy? That's what they called it over there, right? Knuckles frowns deeply and lets his shades conceal violet eyes once again. Then he sighs and relents. "Well, as long as you aren't here to try messing with the Master Emerald, we're cool. Knuckles. Guardian of Angel Island and Master Emerald Protector." He sticks out a hand for Sanctum to shake.

"Sorry about mixing you guys up. I'm sure I don't have to tell Anti-Shadow this but, for what it's worth, don't take Shadow's bad attitude too seriously. He wakes up on the wrong side of the bed...every single day." And suddenly Knuckles grins at Sanctum. He has no reason to distrust Sanctum after all, and if the guy's supposed to be Shadow-but-different, maybe they'll actually get along. Knuckles has a lot of respect for this Zone's Ultimate Lifeform but it's no secret they don't really see eye to eye on a lot of things regardless of that respect.

This potentiality of getting along is, of course, assuming Sanctum doesn't try some shit with the M.E.. After Sanctum shakes the echidna's hand (assuming he's inclined to do so) Knuckles withdraws his hand and shifts his hold on his large treasure hunting knapsack to move it to his other shoulder. "I was tracking some weird Chaos Energy surges too... and then you showed up. Maybe we're searching for the same thing?"

@dive2themellow asked: "Shad--?" The name becomes a question when the hedgehog turns around wearing an expression Knuckles knows for a fact that Shadow would indeed never wear. A gloved hand comes to push up his cowboy hat, then grab his sunglasses and lower it a bit. Ah. Like this, without his vision being tinted darker grey, he can see clearly that this hedgehog is in fact orange, not red. Another Shadow Android? "Shadow's gonna be so pissed off," Knuckles says aloud, mostly to himself. Then he gestures at Sanctum. "What's your story, guy? Cool armor." - from knux

ㅤ      A  slow  head  turn  with  an  annoyed  growl  follows  &  Sanctum  stares  at  the  echidna  standing  before  him.  Surely  the  heavy  armor  on  him  was  such  a  dead  giveaway  yet  he  keeps  getting  mistaken  for  his  old  namesake.  Both  hands  ball  into  fists  but  he  lets  out  an  exasperated  sigh.  He'll  let  it  slide  once  but  the  next  time  it  happens  .  .  .   Knuckles  better  be  prepared  for  an  icy  response.

ㅤ      ❛   ⸻ Yeah,  he  will  be  pissed  seeing  me.   ’  A  chuckle  like  he  remembers  it  yesterday  :   last  time  he  saw  his  alternate,  it  wasn't  friendly.  It  won't  be  friendly  anytime  soon  too.   ❛   Sanctum.  Moebian.  I  came  over  here  to  check  the  sudden  energy  surges  .  .  .   seems  like  something  is  off  here.  I  can't  tell  what  it  is  though.   ’  

[dive2themellow]

ok waitwait how about this. this is SOOOOO indulgent to my interests im about to go crazy: instead of going with anti-silver and it being an extension of moebiu's future...what about its like an AU silver where events of the metal virus arc go down a bit differently...in the wake of the metal virus sweeping the planet, some soleannans attempt to revive solaris, believing cleansing it in fire would save the planet or smth typical like that...but instead solaris interacts with the virus in a way no one expects it to. what happens is that the virus just metastasizes in a different way and thus the evolution is the virus no longer infects people but instead starts building over and over again in its replicating nature leading naturally to the evolution of megastructure-as-world

i still maintain shadow should not be able to be infected by the metal virus and it was stupid that he was. therefore also to contrast how in 06 silver seeks to pin the blame on sonic as the iblis trigger i think it would be fun if au-silver is looking for shadow in the future, who is sealed away (by gun and omega? by eggman? idk yet...but i want this to be an extension of the future mephiles shows shadow in 06) to try and free him and hopefully figure out how to revert the virus. when stuff hits a dead-end he goes back in time. and there u have it.

ok i was joking but now i'm genuinely cooking up some idea of an anti-silver playing off of venice the mink (as usual) set in some blame!-y cold megastructure future to mirror how solaris ravages the world with flame in 06...