dive2themellow

[dive2themellow]

Sonic felt a wash of relief at Henrietta's agreement to help, listening raptly--or as raptly as Sonic could, foot eternally tapping. But his eyes didn't stray from Jaeger at all, not even for a second. It was obvious the human had his whole attention. "Gotcha," the hedgehog affirmed when she laid down her conditions; apart from his whole let others do as they please attitude, Sonic wasn't going to beg on GUN's behalf, not in a million years. As far as he was concerned, they could deal with whatever they had coming to them. Of course, Sonic was also not aware this would impact Rouge--or people like Rouge. "Like I said, we'll take anythin' you're willing to give...so...thanks."

He did have a million questions for Henrietta. How could he not? Given permission to ask, Sonic's mind was a blur moving about as fast as his feet, metaphorical wind whipping heavily in his face. He didn't know where to begin. Sonic frowned tightly. "Yeah, I do...I won't lie, every part of me wants to ask about what he was like before everything, push for stories about Ivo-before-Eggman, how you guys met, if there's a baby-Ivo running around, and all that. But also then I think...does it really matter? I don't believe in letting people's pasts dictate their futures, and right now all I know for sure about Eggman and what he's doing is that I gotta stop him." His expression was serious, guided, resolute. "I guess when it comes down to it, the only thing I really gotta know is: are you alright? With how things turned out, I mean."

His expression lightened like morning light filtering across a grassy plain. "...And I figure the other stories--they'll come up, if and when you ever wanna talk about them. But I don't need em to do my thing."

【🦾】 — THE former wife of Robotnik simply sat and listened, one leg crossed over the other, as she occasionally sipped from her teacup. Her expression as Sonic regaled her with what all had happened almost didn't change at all, save for the occasional wrinkled nose, or eye twitch, or frown deepening, then lightening to a more neutral frown. She frowned a lot.

———-> WHEN he was done, she simply let out a quiet huff through her nostrils.

———-> ❝PROJECT Nano vas intended to artificially replicate Shadow's abilities, und zhat's exactly vhat he managed to do. Zhe only reason vhy GUN was unsuccessful und zheir nanites are not as effective ist because Ivo intentionally sabotaged zhem vhen he found out about his grandfather und zhe ARK incident.❞

———-> ❝ZHIS friend of yours, zhis... Yoo-nay? I could take a look at him if he vants, he shounds innocent in all of zhis. I make no promises of being able to remove zhe nanomachines, but neurosurgery is a side specialty of meine. I could shee about disabling the mind control chip.❞ She paused for a moment, then looked up at Sonic again, looking a lot more... terse than usual.

———-> ❝BUT as for vhatever Ivo plans on doing to GUN's soldiers who have zhe nanomachines within zhem? I'm not going to help you zhere. Zhey all deserve vhatever ist coming to zhem.❞

———-> HENRIETTA waited for a moment, and then added. ❝Now zhen... do you haff any questions for me? Certainly you must, considering... you know.❞

[dive2themellow]

Sonic sat down when Henrietta did, leaning forward to grab his glass of water and take a drink. "Well," sip, "This might be kind of a long store, so bear with me, okay? I hate the whole monologue-about-my-plan thing as much as anyone, but there's kind of no way around it." And he told Henrietta about Yu-nae, how Shadow had helped them, how Rouge was trying to get them to join Team Dark so GUN wouldn't have a crosshairs on their back forever, the nanomachines, the fact that they were inside GUN's personnel, even Ypsilon just in case. He tried to include everything so Henrietta could make the most nuanced decision, but of course he was just one hedgehog, and he knew he didn't know everything, that Shadow and Rouge would probably be more equipped than him to answer that question. But Sonic also knew that they wouldn't be inclined to take no for an answer and the Blue Blur resented it when anyone tried to force anyone else to adopt their worldview.

"...So that's that," he concluded, having finished his glass of water by the time he finished recounting the whole story. "It sucks--," Sonic's gaze searched and rested upon the peace prize, offering up a melancholic smile. He could only imagine Henrietta's pain at seeing her technology squandered in such a way. "--what is happening with your tech. I'm sorry."

【🦾】 — HER frown deepened when he asked for water. Damn, she was never going to get rid of all this coffee and apple cider the locals kept dropping off as thank you presents. She doubted he wanted any jars of preserves either.

———-> INSIDE of the cottage would have been cozy and unremarkable, a typical Alpine interior, would it not have been for the vast array of diplomas and service medals along the walls. One such framed piece was a peace prize for "revolutionizing humanity in the field of medical cybernetic enhancements," with a picture of a few smiling patients in hospital gowns, both human and Mobian, with new prosthetic limbs.

———-> SHE returned from the kitchen with a glass of tap water and a mug of tea, setting both on the low end coffee table, and finally sitting down in a well worn leather arm chair.

———-> SHE laced her finger together as Sonic talked, the glow from the cybernetic eye highlighting the veins around the burn mark around the socket. The other eye, a deep brown, twitched irritably as the Hedgehog explained the problem.

———-> ❝...SCHEIßE.❞ She muttered, before asking, ❝Making shem a pain in vhat vay?❞

[dive2themellow]

THE woman EVER

[dive2themellow]

Sonic waved again when Henrietta opened the door, grin on his face only growing wider. "Yeah, I tend to do that sooner or later. Free as the wind and all." He followed her into the cottage, eyes already scanning in the interior, curious to know just what kind of person Henrietta Jaeger-ex-Robotnik was. "Could I just have some water, actually? 'Preciate it." Sonic wasn't stupid, he knew that the lady was on guard and obviously didn't want him around. But he had an obligation to try and see this through. The fact that she hadn't kicked him out yet meant she was at least open to hearing what he had to say.

Sonic leaned back on a heel, arms going up behind his spiky head, while he waited for his culturally obligatory glass of water. He figured Henrietta wouldn't be a person who liked to waste time, gauging off of the cold tone of her voice, so he decided to jump to it.

"Well, as much as I'd like to say I'm just droppin' by to say hi, you can probably figure out that I'm here for more important things. To cut a long story short, Eggman--," while Robotnik's moniker had spread far and wide beyond a silly nickname at this point it honestly felt kind of weird to refer to him with this name in front of a woman that had been married to the guy but whatever, "--is making those nanomachines you guys developed at GUN a real pain. If you have any info, intel, words of wisdom, or better yet if you want to help us out, we will take it all. I'm pretty good at the beating up badniks stuff, and I can fix up my plane when I need it, and my buddy Tails is a tech wiz, but as you can imagine the bioengineering stuff is waaaay out of our wheelhouse. I can give you more info if you need or want it, but I don't wanna make any misconceptions, so--that's why I'm here."

【 🦾 】 —THE silence that followed was heavy, almost so that you could practically hear the gears turning in the head behind the door. A hedgehog with a hard to discern accent. After a while, the hesitant sound of multiple clicks of locks could be heard, and the door creaked open.

———-> BEHIND the door, standing over and staring down at the Hedgehog was a fierce, but exhausted feminine face. The trials of time was apparent on her aged face, laugh lines and a wrinkled, tense brow that would put the human at a robust fifty.

———-> THE trials of war was also apparent on her features; scars from blades and bullets alike dotted her body, sporting a black tank top and cargo shorts with a pair of slippers for the viewer to see them in all their glory. Perhaps the most prominent and interesting of these scars was her missing eye, replaced with a cybernetic that looked all too familiar with the Hedgehog, should Eggman’s sunglasses ever be removed. A thick burn scar aligned across the eye, and Trailed down to a missing arm, replaced with a metallic cybernetic.

———-> SHE stared at him in tense, almost haunted silence. She didn't seem too happy to see him; maybe not him as a person, but what he represented: Ivo fucked up bad enough for her to get involved.

———-> ❝I knew you'd show up eventually.❞ She said, sounding defeated already. Frankly, she was surprised he didn't show up sooner. She opened the door further, stepping back to allow himself in.

———-> ❝WAS möchten sie trinken? Kaffe? Tee? Apfelschorle?❞ While an invitation and offer for a drink would seem kind to most guests, her tone of voice was cold and distant. This was a cultural obligation, rather than genuine hospitality.

[dive2themellow]

sheena asked me a pretty good question last night: "what accent would you say your sonic has?" and i'd never thought about it before so this is what i've come up with.

i think sonic's accent and dialect is kind of all over the place because he could run all around the world from such a young age! so he's picked up different ways and words to refer to things. i haven't figured out the specifics yet but i think it would make sense he gets "jumper" over "sweater" but then turns around and throws a strangely new york sounding "runnin'/walkin'/jumpin'" or something like that immediately afterwards. picks up "eto" and "ano" instead of "ummm" and "uhhh"... again idk yet but i think it makes a lot of sense for his speech and accent to just be a huge hodgepodge of random stuff he's picked up thanks to being a world traveler as soon as he could walk

[dive2themellow]

Music to his ears! Sonic grinned at the sound of one very irritable woman; this was about what he was expecting. He didn't know a lot of Österschwiezian to reply in kind, but he could pick up a few words here and there and got the gist of the woman's command on the other side of the door. "Not a kid," the hedgehog said helpfully, eyes scanning the door above his height until his gaze rested on the tiny, almost imperceptible camera resting in the peephole, raising a gloved hand to wave back and forth in view of the camera, "just a hedgehog. Sorry, my Österschwiezian's no good, but can we talk? You're Henrietta Jaeger, right?"

【 🦾 】 — THE cottage was on the very outskirts of the small village in the mountains of Österschwiez. An old country that bordered to the northeast of Spagonia. Springtime was here, and the meadows flowers were in full bloom of pink, yellow, and white. The scene was as quaint and pretty as a fairy tale painting.

———-> THERE was not an answer at the door at first, when Sonic knocked on it, but instead the sound of a small camera shuttering from the peephole above, just narrowly missing Sonic's height to where the camera couldn't see, could be heard. Then, the voice of a rather irate woman came from the other side.

———-> ❝DUMME Kinder, mein Haus ist gefährlich. Verschwindet!❞

[dive2themellow]

Hah! Sonic laughed out loud at Rouge's remark, his eyes rolling in a very exaggerated manner, cheeks dusting lightly pink despite it all at the nature of her joke. The double take said more than her attempt to save face though; Sonic was incredibly observant and more emotionally astute than most people gave him credit for -- he just didn't like to interfere. The heart was so precious. And Rouge, clearly, did not want him to interfere. At least more than he already had. "Alright, alright, message received." He reached up to loop a pinky in his ear, all nonchalance and cool-true-blue-groove.

"I just figured I'd offer. Seems like you got a lot on your plate managing Shadow and Yu-nae and whatever's going on there. Yaknow, you could go to Angel Island--get in a fight with Knuckles again to blow off some steam." Sorry Knux, but Rouge seemed to need that more right now than the guardian needed his solitude.

"Look, if there's anything you need to get off your chest, I'm not much help, but I also don't judge." (dive2themellow - sonic for rouge?)

【💎】— ROUGE was not used to being emotionally open or forward with anyone, not even, at times, with those closest to her. It was something Topaz had called her out on more than one occasion. Shadow, thankfully, never had, but that was only because it would have been hypocritical of him to do so.

———-> WHEN Sonic spoke up, however, she almost barely heard him, and she had to do a double take to pay attention. Was her mood really that obvious? Time to save face.

———-> ❝THANK Gaia, my chest is heavy enough as it is.❞

@dive2themellow

[dive2themellow]

@npcharacters starter for Henrietta!

There was nothing in this world Sonic the Hedgehog loved more than running.

Especially after being couch-bound for so long. Lucky! The hedgehog thought as he soared over hills of a land he didn't visit often. I am so lucky! The healing process for his leg, shattered though it was, hadn't taken too long--and yet for someone like Sonic it had been true agony.

Now that he was healed the world seems sweeter than ever. He was so grateful to have the chance to meet Jaeger; a cross-world tour was the exact kind of thing he needed right now to reset and refresh his system, all the Chaos thrumming in his ears like a too-antsy heartbeat set to explode.

Sonic let out a gleeful whoop as he descended the last bit of hill to the address he knew Henrietta resided at, stopping shortly and with ease, knuckles coming up to primly knock on the door to her house four times exactly.

[dive2themellow]

"You got it," Sonic chirped, a bit more himself than he had been just previously. "Yeah, I want to meet this Henrietta character too. I'm sure she's got some crazy stories." Green eyes drifted up to the ceiling for a moment again, pondering. "What do you think Eggman was like 'fore he decided he had a passion for pollution?" It was rhetorical, an excuse for a joke--well ok yes Sonic was quite curious, but he didn't need Tails to answer right away. They were going to find out once his leg healed up anyway.

An ear flicked at the mention of the hedgehog lingering just outside. Sonic's heart felt for Shadow again; poor guy could never catch a break. "Yeah, you should go take care of that alien business with Shadow before he leaves you behind. Heh, guy's just as impatient as I am. Hope he isn't too mad with you." They both knew Shadow wouldn't try to be mean to Tails, but he had a penchant for lashing out when he was stressed, which was pretty much all of the time, so...Sonic just hoped it wouldn't be too much.

"Have fun! Jump on some springs for me!" And when Tails left, Sonic sank back into the chair, a surprisingly glum expression on his face. "'Cause I'll be right here...!" he muttered under his breath, rolled his eyes, closed them, smiled at his self-pity, and shifted back to normal.

‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒ "Well... first thing's first: we need to figure out how to take care of this whole scheme he's got going currently. From what Yu-nae's told me what he's up to, it's only a matter of time before Eggman finds a way to control the nanomachines inside the GUN personnel." Tails explained. "But, if we can find a way to find and remove all traces of that code from GUN's network, then there won't be anything for Eggman to use to control anyone."

"I can do that on my own with Rouge or Shadow if needed... lot less conspicuous that way." Rouge would probably be a much better bet, but she probably had her hands full with their new human friend. "And, as soon as your leg heals, I want you to go find this Henrietta Jaegar-- she's our most likely solution to solving all of this..." Maybe even for good, if that was something on the table.

He realised that, perhaps all this talk with Sonic might get Shadow impatient, especially with what task he wanted done, so the fox wrapped it up for now.

"I'll be back, okie Sonic?"

[dive2themellow]

Sonic nodded idly while Tails spoke, a faint smile adorning his features at his brother's passion. He always admired how Tails always spoke his mind, even if it was hard or even if he found it embarrassing: pride was no matter for the fox in his quest to constantly better himself, and Sonic always thought he was way-past-cool for it. And in the way Tails could say things Sonic either wasn't aware of or didn't know how: in short, he would never be a saint for this world he loved so much. Like Tails said, killing Eggman wouldn't fix the world. It would only make people treat Sonic like the heroes he wanted nothing to do with--more than they already did, anyway, and he had no interest in getting memorial statues made of him or whatever.

(Ok, the one in Casinopolis had been cool 'cuz like, Sonic now represented gambling, and it was funny, and who didn't like to see statues of themself--but he'd been kind of glad when Knuckles beat it to pieces to get that ME shard.)

Tails had been right about Perfect Chaos though; Sonic had dipped pretty quick after the god and Tikal said their goodbyes, not wanting to deal with the fallout, and next thing he knew Tails had gotten a Chaos Emerald for his efforts in the restoration of the city. Frankly, Sonic had never thought his disappearance was bad. He'd come back and learned about this and thought it was a great opportunity for his friend to come into his own, the perfect capstone to Tails defeating Eggman's Egg Walker all on his lonesome without any assistance. Wasn't that good?

No one ever needed Sonic in the way they thought they did--which was something Sonic was eternally grateful for. The planet carried on with or without him. It was beautiful.

"So what're you thinking then?" The Blue Blur was casual in his question: merely seeking to pick Tails's mind more with no promise of commitment. If it didn't align with what he wanted out of life: which was to run fast and see the world's many offerings, he wouldn't do it. But of course he wanted to hear Tails's ideas and valued them immensely.

‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒ "I would never kill another person, *ever*." Tails didn't want to jump to the conclusion that that's where Sonic thought Tails's line of thinking was going, but if he had, he would be insulted.

Tails had never killed any living creature before, he couldn't say he was guiltless of death, after all, he still ate meat, and he still destroyed badniks of questionable sentience. But he never killed directly, especially a *person*.

"And I would never be that single-minded to think that all the world's problems would be solved with simply killing Eggman," he added. Tails was no History buff, but he knew enough about the leaders of empires and their sudden assassination or disappearance, and the collapse of their empires in question, caused an avalanche of related disasters that wound up being even worse than when the empire had still been around.

No, he completely sympathised with Yu-nae and their situation, and he could see why they were so urging towards that idea, but on top of his own morals, Tails knew, or at least, had a strong theory, that killing Eggman would just make copycats pop up, maybe even someone worse than him would take over the remnants. The better solution would be to try and find a way to neutralise him, alive, but no longer a threat to the world. The odds of that happening were very little.

"But you weren't there after you defeated Perfect Chaos, and I was. And... and I can't help but think that maybe just beating the abomination of the week isn't the *only* thing we can be doing to stop Eggman and help people."

[dive2themellow]

@unfortunatedarling said: "Well Sonic, I guess Eggman really got a leg up on you this time. Heh heh. I guess the shoe is on the other foot. I can't say you didn't get much of a foot in the door here." They're cracking up but trying to stay composed. "I guess you never had a leg to stand on when it came to... *wheeze*" They're on their hands and knees as they start laughing like a windex spray bottle low on liquid.

Sonic's not usually a complicated emotion kind of guy; and yet Yu-nae's teasing certainly elicited that sort of complication from within his heart. On one hand: it was funny. Objectively. And he could understand Yu-nae's feelings, the vindication they were probably feeling over Sonic being incapacitated in a way they once had been. And of course there was the anger too, at being made fun of, the one thing Sonic placed his pride in being his speed. A fact everyone on the planet knew, the thing he was of course known for.

Sonic never overstepped when he could help it; at least made a conscious effort not to. Yu-nae could feel how they felt. He could feel how he felt. Complicated or otherwise. Sonic could only guess that he was annoyed because simply he didn't like how mean-spirited they were being. Yu-nae wasn't wrong to find it funny or get some enjoyment out of it, but this was beyond that in shades resembling years spent kidnapped. Of course though that was, in some part, Sonic's fault. He didn't regret but it was hard not to see the continuing hurts in the years that had passed. He looked blankly over the human and for one of the few times in his life was not really sure how to respond to their heckling. "At least I'll be on my feet by the end of next week," he finally said with a surprising amount of brightness--and perhaps it was a bit of a jab back, even though Sonic didn't really try to be mean when he could help it--but it was a reminder that he healed remarkably quickly and no one else (except Shadow, or maybe Knuckles--credit due where credit was due) would be able to recover from a leg as shattered as his had been within a week or two, and that Yu-nae didn't.

[dive2themellow]

Sonic was quiet while Tails spoke, a soft but serious smile on his features while the fox tried to piece together his thoughts. That word--irresponsible. It was one many people applied to Sonic with callous disdain, that lofty eye roll and shrug and scoff. Sonic didn't necessarily like the word, sure, but he could at least understand why people attributed it to him. Perhaps that was all that was necessary to Sonic: to understand. So he could accept and move on, wind in his quills and in his step.

"I do," he said immediately. "And I believe in doing the right thing, but also--I dunno, Tails, I don't think it's as...cut and dry as people say. We always do things that hurt other people, no matter how 'good' we think we are. Ya know I don't believe in anything but following my own heart. And...I know it might--it has--hurt people. But I don't believe in being a hero or fixing the world or even something as 'small' as killing Eggman. I just believe in my own two feet." Sonic shrugged, green eyes almost reflecting that attributed callousness, like it was the easiest thing in the world for him to say. "But--that's me. That's my speed. That doesn't have to be yours, Tails. I can only say what works for me and what I want...but I've run enough laps around the world 'n talked to enough people to know it's not what everyone wants." His smile flicked warmly, reaching to pat his brother's hand gently. "I dunno what Yu-nae said to you, and it's not my business--but I think if you want to make a change, that's cool."

Admittedly if Sonic brought some of his own selfishness into it he didn't want to see Tails bogged down by the soldier complex someone like Shadow and Knuckles and even Blaze wore; so many of their friends shepherding themselves into duty...but for his friends' part they all had chosen it in one way or another, or at least knew they'd be unable to live with themselves if they lived any other way, and thus Sonic could only respect their paths as their own. But this was Tails, the fox Sonic had practically raised, and he didn't want to see him succumb to the same linear way of thinking. But--this was Tails, the one who admired heroes, and who made the mistake of thinking Sonic could be one sometimes, and the hedgehog also knew that Tails was still trying to be someone 'like Sonic' in his own, genius-tech-brained way, and if that meant being a hero, then Sonic could only be honored and flattered.

‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒ Tails watched Shadow take his leave to await him outside. When his brother spoke, he didn't respond right away; rather thinking it over before saying it.

"Sonic..." Tails began, "Do you think we're... irresponsible?"

He'd been talking and getting along well with Yu-nae during their stay at his workshop, but there were, on occasion, tense moments where the human would voice their opinions on the subject of Eggman whenever the conversation shifted that way. They had never asked why he or Sonic had never just outright killed him, thankfully, but they had spoken of the sword and other instruments they had forged with the Saturnium with the express intent to use them on Eggman to 'keep the world safe for good.' Tails would always shut the conversation down by saying that Yu-nae could count him out on taking anyone's life, even Eggman's. The fox was adamant in his moral code since he was a boy.

He knew that the human had been through so much, so much that they technically weren't human anymore, but this new information on the robotomy really hammered it home to him. His new friend was a victim of circumstances that, while not his direct fault, had still been in his control to prevent. Yu-nae had made a very roundabout point to him, as they forged the sword, that since Sonic and Tails clearly didn't want that responsibility, then they would mantle it on their behalf.

"Do you think that inaction can be just as atrocious as the evil that's being committed?"

[dive2themellow]

there's a bunch of clips I've recorded of Sonic and Caliburn's in-game banter so here's some of my favourites!

[dive2themellow]

Robotomy. Sonic grimace-scowled. Being locked up for those six months sucked big-time but it wasn't like he could actually hold what happened to him against Eggman--the guy did what he felt he had to, and Sonic never faulted anyone for that. 'Unstoppable force meeting moving object' or whatever the guy said on the beach, Sonic didn't remember it anymore. Immovable object? Whatever. But Sonic hated being out of the loop. And that others were implicated in that loop as well. Sonic turned to look at Tails, noting the sound of his voice, hollow and stressed, a faint look of concern drifting into his face when he saw the fox's own twisted up expression. He was about to reach and tap Tails's arm to shoot him an inquiring sort of 'everything cool?' look when Shadow spoke up. "Bury it?" and Sonic could only turn to look at Shadow again, confused by the other's confusion.

"Isn't it like...your gene donor?" Sonic asked faintly.

"Well, yes, but..." Shadow suddenly fell silent, his expression thinning. It didn't take a genius to be able to see that he hadn't thought--really thought--about giving it a burial or if he wanted to do that and what it actually meant to 'dispose' of it. It was clear Shadow was approaching it from a pretty distant, scientific angle, and if it weren't so depressing it was kind of funny to imagine him blowing the chrysalis to bits with a Chaos Spear just 'cuz that's what would be the most efficient.

Sonic decided to save the awkwardness. Shadow would think about it on his own terms and let Tails help in the way he actually wanted the help, so at least Sonic could steer the convo back to what mattered right now. "So--I got a leg to heal and you got that stuff and we all got an evil AI to dispatch, so- I'll go talk to Jaegar-Robotnik once I can run again. I'd rather go to Österschweizian than do a funeral for a couple thousand year old mollusk." Ok that might have been a bit too far, Sonic realized when Shadow glared daggers at him, but he was only trying to help. Sonic's intention seemed to suddenly cut through Shadow's skull when his expression suddenly softened a bit, ruby eyes closing, exhaling softly.

"Apparently Rouge wants Yu-nae to join Team Dark, so if you're trying to involve Eggman's ex-wife, it might be better to wait until that gets settled. As things stand right now, flying someone so high profile and involved in the development of the nanomachines in might put Yu-nae under GUN's crosshairs. Sonic, I'll leave that conversation to you." Shadow opened his eyes, looking at once resigned and determined all at once. "I'll wait for you outside, Tails. Don't rush whatever you two were doing on my account. I said what I needed to say." He turned and walked back out the door. Sonic watched him go. Clearly he had some thinking regarding the corpse to do. The door shut behind him.

"Poor guy," Sonic said aloud, mostly to himself, turning to look back at Tails. "You okay, buddy? Or do I need to 'poor guy' you too?" But Tails wouldn't miss the touch of genuine concern in Sonic's voice.

‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒ Like two ping-pong balls, Tails' eyes followed from Sonic to Shadow to Sonic again as they spoke to each other, back and forth. The information of Ypsilon-Nu was news to him, but at the same time, the fox wasn't too surprised by the revelation.

"I had heard rumours about things like that happening within the Eggman Empire territories-- they call it a robotomy, usually reserved for any minor politicians or high-ranking military officials. I didn't think they were real though."

Tails had known Eggman since he was a small child; he knew he could be cruel a times, but to the fox, he always felt like there were some lines that Robotnik's brand of evil wouldn't cross... turned out he was wrong.... And it made Yu-nae's adamancy to have him killed make all the more sense. The very thought of someone doing something invasive to his brain made the genius's skin crawl.

He snapped out of it when Shadow addressed Tails about the alien. That was something that, while still very depressing, was something distracting enough from his moral debate that was starting to form within.

"Oh... yeah, we can do that," he answered. "I... I assume you want to bury it?" He was unsure what the alien, if it had even been sapient, would have been referred to as, if there had been such a concept.

He thought about asking Shadow further on how he felt on the matter... but Shadow was having a rough time already with all that was happening-- he didn't need to dig futher into that existential crisis already.

[dive2themellow]

Rotor's always complaining about Sonic never checking his phone, so Sally's not really sure how much he buys the phone excuse, but...she's not complaining. The chipmunk lets it slide. She smiles, albeit a bit self-consciously, and scratches her cheek. "We're all okay, honestly nothing's really happening...a few things to keep an eye on here and there, Badniks to beat up, an Empire line to hold back...but uh--yeah, nothing really out of the ordinary." Man. She has no idea how to do this anymore. Going off of how Sonic's acting, he doesn't either. That at least is a comfort.

The smile fades while Sally tries to think of what to do next. Wringing her hands in front of her for a moment, Sally tries to recall her simple hospitality lessons (funny, if it wasn't Sonic he'd probably have offered the moment someone else came through the door, but that had been forgotten the moment he saw who it was). "Do you want a drink or anything? Bunnie made sweet tea the other day." Remember to smile, Sal! It's just Sonic! It's not like he's a bomb or something...it's just Sonic. A second smile surfaces, eyes brightening, trying to remember to be normal. "What about on your end?"

Streeetch. It's weird to be back. Not in a bad way, not really. Just--off somehow? Not a feeling Sonic likes. It's why he's been so glad for his freedom, more flighty and far away than usual (which is saying something, heh). Maybe every ship and building feels a little like a prison cell. Not the kinda thing he'd usually let bog him down. Silly! And it wouldn't surprise him if his friends felt like it was, too. Another thing he isn't usually very preoccupied with. Hard not to think of it when he hears Sally's voice, though; The thought springs up from nowhere and turns his waltz into a standing-still-awkwardly-thing. He's gonna get a flag for ooc-ness at this rate!

"Oh, hey Sal!" Immediately, one of his feet picks up its usual tapping--an object in motion stays in motion and he can't stay anything else for long--and he grins. It's something he's not great at faking with her, he doesn't worry for a second that Sally might think he would. Sonic trusts his friends: to help save the world, to protect themselves, to get out when they're down for the count. Sally feeling weird, given all that's happened, isn't strange at all... but that doesn't mean Sonic realizes any of it. "Long time no see!" But the fact he's surprised to see him isn't shocking at all. It has been a while since they were here together. Before the war, probably. "Just comin' by ta see how everyone's doin. Got a weird message befooooore--" He lost his phone. "Uh, I got here. Thought I should check in." He didn't think too hard about it. Just followed his feet. It's really good to see Sal.

[dive2themellow]

Fiona's eyebrows raised. Guess she could be in the business for relationship drama after all. Not that anyone was ever paying to know who Shadow was or wasn't interested in; he cast the same look at everyone and everything, so it wasn't something paparazzi cared about in the way they might be interested in knowing what Sonic was up to. "Yeah?" She asked, putting her chin in a hand and grinning. "Bummer. Bet he's missed every sign." Maybe she felt a bit bad for Yu-nae as far as that was concerned. Not that it mattered.

"Thanks," the fox chirped in response to their next quip, clearly pleased that this drink seemed to be having some sort of effect on them--at least for a bit with how quickly they were going through it. "This is Club Rouge, y'know. The VIP Lounge. Everyone spies on everyone. Don't act too surprised." She wouldn't say what she was trying to get from them, but at least that too was honesty. Fiona reached across to Yu-nae and took a drink of the fancy cocktail, putting it back on the table, then shrugged like she'd done nothing wrong. "No one's paying me to do anything." Yet.

"So how's Shadow feel about you stealing his limelight as Team Dark frontman?" Fiona knew Shadow (or her Shadow back home anyway) enough to know he didn't care about being in the spotlight, but she also knew that he had a huge ego and didn't like being upstaged. Anyway it seemed like interrogating Yu-nae about the hedgehog seemed like the best 'in' for her to weasel that info out of them, so that was what Fiona would do.

‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒ "Oh, you know." They were already half-way done with their bourbon cocktail. This made... how many drinks, so far? They had lost count, along with losing count to how many trips to the bathroom they've made. They were pretty sure they at least hadn't had any water. Maybe they should fix that?

"Cus I think Shadow's cute," they realised they answered the wrong question; what question would they even think she asked to get that answer? Wait, what was the question?

They looked down at one sheet of the document, for a moment, acting like Fiona wasn't there, then, without looking up.

"Hey, you're kinda nosie, you know that?" They asked. "Is somebody paying you to spy on me? 'Cus you're not doing a very good job."

[dive2themellow]

@spirestar i just wanted a thread with sally and sonic so hi

Since the end of the war, Sonic hasn't had much time to visit the Sky Patrol. Freedom Fighter or otherwise he's always want to follow his heart, and since being placed back into her own body, Sally hasn't really wanted to infringe on that freedom much. Plus, everything with them is in a sort of weird place. Which is why when Sonic shows up, it reminds the chipmunk of just how different everything has been, and how much she actually missed him whenever he was gone. Were they even still together? Because the last time they'd talked about it for real for real Sally had been kidnapped and turned into a robot and Sonic had been captured and held for six months. Did those feelings from before everything still count? Sally has been afraid to ask.

"...Hi," he says, unable to suppress the surprise in his voice when Sonic waltzes through the entrance. She's glad Antoine is gone. "Um. I can't lie, I'm a little surprised to see you--it feels like it's been a while since we just...hung out on the Sky Patrol. Do you need something?"