fortruechaos

[fortruechaos]

@artificial-being said: Nervous glances, a pulse of resentment and fear as humans and mobians of all sizes scurried out of side doors and hallways, making their escape through towering, elegant entrances ways. Some hopped over black guidance rope, designated to bar people from approaching protected artefacts. Security guards too were reluctant to stay and confront the intruder in the grand museum. Metal Sonic stood in front of a display, its eyes glowing back in the glass as it stared at the delicate, jade figurine of a hawk. A representation of some ancient deity unknown to this modern world. This wasn't it. This wasn't what it was looking for. And its spear-like fingers clenched as though it felt something akin to anger or discontent.

It doesn't take too long for Shadow to arrive. News of Metal Sonic travels fast especially in his spheres, mostly because it always takes GUN a few painful minutes to remember that Metal Sonic exists and it's not Sonic himself tearing up a city or causing significant civilian distress.

Times like these always give Shadow a feeling of deja vu back to when he crept out of his slumber like a furious god ready to take fire and brimstone penance on the world. It feels like yesterday. It feels like another fifty years ago. He races past crouching mobians and Chaos Controls like a ping-pong ball through the halls up through and into the exhibit, appearing finally behind Metal Sonic's looming stature, its metallic joints clacking against each other as it clenches its fingers.

Shadow uses a harsh hockey stop to stop moving, red eyes unmoving from the back of the robotic doppelganger. "So, you have an interest in Babylonian lore now?" It was, of course, a rhetorical statement and not a question Shadow actually expects to have an answer to; Metal, somehow, remains one of the Doctor's least talkative creations despite its attitude. His own fists clench, the leather squeaking quietly beneath the determined weight of Shadow's grip. Then he demands, "Leave, Metal. Or, as usual, I will make you." It might even be kind of fun.

[fortruechaos]

fuck this post and happy birthday sonic

[fortruechaos]

@herogardn said: " you can drop the sarcasm. " from project <3 as a treat

Hmph. Buzzkill. Shadow likes getting to the point but he also likes to think he's come a bit far in his understanding (acceptance?) of the Shadow Androids. It's almost lucky for the Android that he didn't immediately jump to fighting Project the second he saw it on his radar, Shadow no longer hard-wired for such immediate distaste as to move so fast and cloud his judgment. Which really means that this is a long way of saying that Shadow finds it annoying that his not-quite-duplicate is quick to dismiss his lack of aggression as something so frivolous and Sonic-like as sarcasm.

But then again who does he ultimately have to blame for that dismissal? Really just himself; or whatever template of himself has been used for this lesser (because it's just a fact) version of him. Shadow turns his palm around, green Chaotic light dancing there like mini auroras, implication of the other option there for Project to see. But if it does come down to fighting, let it be known Shadow tried for another way. "I'm not used to this. You." And of course the scenario that has birthed Project himself. Shadow's lip curls in minor distaste. "All of you."

[fortruechaos]

@whrrlwind said : ❛ you don’t seem surprised to see me. ❜ u didn't ask for him but u get him anyway bc i missed them too <3

A leaf falls from where Shadow's rubbing it between his thumb and forefinger like a lucky coin, drifting idly to the jungle floor. This place reminds him, a little, of White Jungle. Which is maybe why he's not too surprised when Sonic passes him by, a notably out-of-place breeze he's always wont to identify. Shadow isn't often surprised by Sonic, not anymore, it feels almost like a waste of energy to let himself be surprised by him when Sonic is and has always been unpredictable. So when that out-of-place breeze loops back to stop besides him, tan arms going up behind his head cheekily, Sonic just observes, "You don't seem surprised to see me."

Shadow raises his red eyes from the fallen leaf to Sonic and shrugs, as unimpressed as ever. "Why would I be surprised to see you here, of all places." A pause. "Although it has been a while."

[fortruechaos]

cant wait to own everyone in racing as the babylon rogues again AS ALL THINGS SHOULD BE

& more importantly i haven't opened this blog in a min so if you did a reply or something for me in the last few weeks please dont hesitate to ping or reply or dm me or something cuz ive noticed thats kind of when tumblr notifs start getting squirrelly and i miss things or things get eaten

[fortruechaos]

Yu-nae has left their laptop open, one of the folders they have in window is labelled 'my songs.' Within the folder is a list of MP3s with various labels, but the most recent one is a song called 'His World'

Opening the MP3 would lead to the laptop playing a very badly acappella version, in Yu-nae's voice, no less, of the song.

Shadow isn't often one to snoop on people's personal belongings if he doesn't have to for a job but the My Songs folder attracts his immediate attention and makes him cast a few glances up and down the room to make sure Yu-nae isn't about to bust in and get all embarrassed on him...and then Chaos Controls up to the laptop to investigate.

Oh. Oh no. Shadow pauses it almost immediately. A white hot feeling of second hand embarrassment shoots up his spine faster than any Chaos can, leaving his ears burning. A moment passes though, and he gets curious again, and taps the space bar to let it play again.

It's not good!!!

He only makes it up through the middle of the first verse before he has to stop it again before he feels himself start curdling like a slug on a salt line or something and quickly closes the mp3 window entirely, reverting the screen to the array of windows and tabs that were already open on the laptop before his meddling; something he's good at, being a spy and all. And then with his snooping covered up he Chaos Controls away to an innocuous seeming area on the other side of the room: a window for him to cross his arms and stand in front of.

Now that he can pretend he'd been staring out of the window the whole time Yu-nae had been gone, Shadow confronts the facts. Yu-nae sings. Yu-nae puts their songs in folders on their computer. Yu-nae has a very bad cover of that His World song. However--the more Shadow lets himself think back on the music, the more he realizes that it feels intentionally busted. The arrangement itself seems clipped to make sense and is still recognizable as His World. The microphone's glitching and cutting would have been obvious in the editing process. A joke...a joke. Relief like a dawn-filled morning. Shadow starts smiling to himself over what seems like nothing as he gazes at nothing outside. Thank Gaia. A joke... The second-hand embarrassment had been almost too much for even him, the Ultimate Lifeform.

[fortruechaos]

ARROW...falls to my knees

[fortruechaos]

The way Mephiles words it Shadow knows something is wrong and that it's bizarre that he can't remember such a salient moment in his life. The Ultimate isn't even surprised anymore, it turns into immediate disgust with himself. Frustration. Such an important thing, and I forgot. He breathes in and tastes recycled air and gunpowder. But that's it. Again, the memory leaves a second time. Shadow shakes his head and resettles on the topic of the bat. Rouge. "How dare she pretend to--help me." To be friendly with me.

He only makes it a little farther walking down the shrouded hallway before he stops in his tracks again to stare at his palm. Suddenly Shadow realizes that he's frightened of himself and his past and what any of it means; that it swims in darkness, like a fish skirting underneath the surface. A frightening looming thing he can't name. And yet his hand doesn't tremble. "I don't understand." A zap of Chaos runs against his fingers like trying to pull the memory out of redacted files and the haze of his amnesia. "I don't know why I can't remember anything!" Suddenly he slams his fist into the nearby wall, a shockwave of green racing through the brittle brick and dislodging a few pieces from the crumbling wall--and then he takes off, skating furiously, a red and black arc behind him, with only the Chaos Emerald in mind and without consideration for leaving Mephiles behind, delirious with energy and too angry to stand around waiting anymore, too quiet in personality to scream with anger. Mephiles will catch up anyway.

There’s a glance over the demon’s shoulder at Shadow’s questioning—Mephiles clearly has an answer, but it’s one he’s holding out on. There are many truths he won’t speak on. Confrontation could be a the tipping point of his ploy. If he wants Shadow to have a clear head for their absolution, his ‘friends’ can’t have any involvement. They need to be isolated.

In the same beat, if she maintains the degree of care she did in their former timeline, then she could prove useful. Indirectly if at all. And as tempting as it would be to kill her where she stands, he knows it would trigger an uproar and draw attention to themselves. Besides, where is the satisfaction in killing her once all is said and done?

“ She works underneath GUN, “ the hedgehog corrects plainly, but doesn’t elaborate on what that means for them. Why would he, when the dam could burst from the cracks? There’s an inkling of curiousity at Shadow’s reaction, however, and Mephiles faces forward again. The silence dwells, and then Mephiles offers a tidbit of information,

“ … They hurt you. “

[fortruechaos]

Well that was an awful lot of--information. Shadow's eyes didn't widen exactly but his mouth did fall open just slightly. Enough to communicate the utter shock he was obviously feeling, only closing to give Stone an ire-filled look when the man made his 'joke.' It was strange though. Shadow glanced at his fancy latte and back at Stone. He had no sympathy for an Ivo Robotnik dead or alive or the fate that befell them; he didn't know Stone enough to feel even a smidge of pity. Shadow at least had the decency to keep his mouth shut and just...listen.

"Gerald Robotnik was alive?!"

None of that mattered in the wake of this specific revelation. It was like the floor slipped out from under him. Shadow shoved the rolling chair he had been sitting in aside, the thing clattering noisily on the ground. He gritted his teeth furiously. "No. Impossible. He was..." a breath. He reminded himself that this was another world, a world where Ivo Robotnik willingly hired henchmen who for some god forsaken reason seemed to adore him. "Gerald Robotnik was executed almost fifty years ago here." He turned away so he could glare at the little coffee Stone made him. "That's..."

Shadow didn't know what he would do if he could see the Professor again. He didn't realize he actually found comfort in the Professor's being gone until this moment. His feelings regarding his creator were a complicated thing all tangled-up--there was love there but also hatred and Shadow resented Gerald for what he had done to his mind and his sacred feelings. To use Maria like that so willingly. "He was a broken man," is what Shadow settled on instead, words and expression deathly grim.

Almost as an apology for his outburst, the hedgehog half-turned to look at Stone again. "I did something similar a while ago. If your Shadow is anything like me, he'll be back." Gaze flicked away. "I don't know about Robotnik. But I won't wish for his return."

“He's dead.” Even saying it out loud doesn't make it feel like reality. The Doctor had been assumed deceased before, lost to another planet, only to return just when the rest of the world had completely written him off. Even at his lowest, Stone knew he was being delusional to assume that this instance would play out the same.

He could deny his humanity all he wanted, but not even Ivo Robotnik could come back from a planet-sized explosion.

It was another example of empty hope on Stone’s part, allowing himself to believe that the hedgehog before him was the same that he had briefly known. Continuing to cling to the empty hope; if Shadow had survived, surely there was a possibility, a probability even, that the Doctor had as well. He had fallen far in his devotion to the Doctor, far from the emotionless, duty-bound agent he had trained himself to become.

The corner of his lips twitched up in a half-hearted smile. “I don't suppose the Robotnik from your world is in the market for a henchman?” He shakes his head even as he says it. No other Robotnik could ever compare to his, and it would be unfair to both himself and the Doctor of another dimension to pretend otherwise.

“Shadow - that is, the Shadow of my world was… misled by Gerald Robotnik. They were going to destroy the planet, but in the end, Shadow and Ivo both sacrificed themselves to save it. I don’t know if I would say they got along… But they had the same mindset in the end.”

[fortruechaos]

ok that didnt happen obviously but today. i got some things on my sonic multi posted though so yay

gonna try to get some drafts queued today hii

[fortruechaos]

Camelot? Like from the books? What a strange place indeed. Shadow frowned and turned around to take in more of his surroundings. It wasn't directed Bedivere's way, but the other hedgehog seemed even more morose than Shadow, so...it was possible it could be misconstrued that way. "Yeah, you can say that." A wanderer.

"I..." it was always a little hard to explain that he had a Zone-warping ring that let him travel across universes for the sake of learning about them and documenting them. While many other Sonics were usually well-adjusted to the idea of multiverse exploration and didn't require further explanation, this world felt so removed from what Shadow had come to expect from his travels that he wasn't sure if it would go over the same way. "I'm...from...far away." A terrible cover and he knew it, practically wincing after he said it. Ah, whatever! If this Sonic was half as clever as his Sonic, he'd figure it out in no time flat anyways. So Shadow immediately backpedaled on his initial thought and owned up to it. "I'm from a different universe."

“ Clearly. ” That might be more obvious, especially with how the black hedgehog talked. What was the things on his wrists anyway? Like golden bracelets or something for the nobles. Though even he hasn't seen any noble wearing something like that. They even match the ones around his ankles; so weird and surely out of place. Shackles perhaps? No, definitely not.

“ Camelot. That's where you are. You must be a traveller then, or a wanderer? ” A spark of interest glimmered in his emerald gaze. “ This is simply one of the villages... Which is under our protection. So whats your business here? ” Bedivere asked, wanting to know. If this stranger was a wanderer/traveller then maybe Bedivere can hear some stories. Part of him would love to travel the world, run in meadows and so on, visiting people in other lands. Ah, if only.

[fortruechaos]

gonna try to get some drafts queued today hii

[fortruechaos]

but you can't save your sorrow,

you've paid in trade.

[fortruechaos]

Shadow shrugged. He agreed with that. But you still had to stop bad people. Maybe that was why he struggled. There were many people who thought they were doing the right thing who simply weren't. As a perfect being, Shadow often concerned himself with such things, believing his way to be the right way, and others not so much. "Would you say that to GUN?" The words left his lips as dry as they could, worded in a way that could either go rhetorical or have Arrow answer, if he wanted. Then he sighed and stretched, crossing over to look out at the same view the other hedgehog had been. He was beginning to itch for a race--talking about his perspective with other Sonics sort of made his skin crawl. It felt so foreign. "We've never raced before, have we? I mean you and me."

{➹} – TO HIS CREDIT the accented hedgehog didn't dismiss Shadow's thought right off the bat. In fact, he seemed to ponder it a moment, a light hum leaving him, before he shrugged a shoulder. "I can't argue with that one, I s'ppose. Not the bit about differing shades anyway. I don't agree that one action always hurts another, seems awfully pessimistic t' think of things that way."

He could have given a dozen and more examples of how he had experiences just that. That notion of 'paying it forward' in a sense. Rarely did he see it going the other way.

It was interesting to hear Shadow's take on it all, and the hero did find himself feeling...almost appreciative for the conversation. He had a feeling it wasn't going to be a common event. "At the end of the day 's intentions that matter. Not everyone is perfect at being good, and sometimes bad people are just misread."

[fortruechaos]

Shadow exploded, incredulous: "You're really going to listen to him--?!" He didn't shout or make any indication of disobeying Rouge's command, but he was obviously surprised and annoyed and thoroughly caught off-guard, eyes widening at his teammate. It wasn't that he believed Rouge was actually going to tag-team with Scourge's suggestion, he was just surprised the bat wasn't joining him in his attempt to put the green hedgehog down-and-out-of-commission forever. Or send him back to whatever world let him have this disgusting, gnarled mess of Chaos energy that always felt like it was bound to give Shadow the flu.

Either way, the effect of Rouge's demand was immediate. Shadow gritted his teeth in an open-bared aggressive scowl at Scourge, hands turning to fists at his side as he stood up straight and squared his shoulders, effectively backing off as much as he could in the current situation. Drawing energy from the M.E. or whatever Scourge said he did was definitely cause for concern, and as soon as Shadow didn't have his heart set on pummeling Scourge half to death, he was suddenly able to see Rouge's angle, eyes sliding over to the bat to shoot the glance she had shot him a few minutes prior back at her before they drifted back to the hedgehog in the jacket.

@spirestar

Well, hey! Now that there was a hot babe involved--especially one as tricky as Rouge the Bat, if there were any commonalities between this one and the one he used to know--Scourge had one thing on the brain. Or, two. He still wanted the Chaos Emerald. But he had to triage the shit, right? Simple steps to follow according to Scourge: 1. See hot babe, 2. Get hot babe to help get emerald, 3. Clobber Shadow the Hedgehog with hot babe in tow.

"No joke, toots--" He shot a finger gun at her and played with his glasses again while Shadow fired the Chaos Spears at him. Maybe being slightly incorporeal wasn't so bad! Sometimes. Ish. "I'm a real rare jewel myself. Got some juice from the Master Emerald, even--Wouldn't wanna help a guy out here, huh? I'm gonna be king o' this joint soon and I'd make sure you're reallll taken care of if you dooo--" He grinned, not quite moving into Rouge's reach but a bit out of the way of Shadow's initial warpath. Unluckily for them both, Scourge was used to betrayal; Not like that very small amount of vigilance would help him if he let talking to a lady distract him, though. And wait, yeah, it was kind of silly he hadn't mentioned his name yet. He'd almost forgotten they wouldn't remember him. "I'm not called Scourge for nothin'! It's gonna be a bad day for everyone's who's not on my team."

@npcharacters

[fortruechaos]

hi guys sorry i've still mostly been on my heartinhands multimuse and vergil's blog songsofreason but i added another blurb to my rules for content i'd rather not see which is basically that i would rather not engage with extensive talking about diet culture, exercising for 'body goals' (i.e. 'trying to lose a few pounds' or 'fixing' some part of your body), food shaming and shame around food ('cheat' meals or 'good' or 'bad' meals), body dysmorphia especially as it pertains to exercise helping 'fix' it etc.

basically if it sounds like something a fitness influencer would say to help you "meet your body goals", i don't really want to hear it

it's too many differing extremely generalized tags to keep up with as i can handle mentioning it in a thread or one of those things at a time, but not all at once and in extensive conversation. tagging body dysmorphia, for example, is a bit difficult cuz it can be such a large encapsulating symptom that doesn't bother me in other discussions, but talking about trying to 'fix' it through exercise bothers me immensely.

i'm fine with one mention of a character having a 'cheat' meal because (unfortunately) some muses are just like that, or if a character is talking or joking about trying to eat more protein to build muscle, but if it's the entire discussion of a thread or ask, it bothers me. i hope this makes sense why i just added it to my rules because it's a sort of difficult thing to tag for when there's lots of situations where these topics can be mentioned where it doesn't impact me at all (but if anyone knows more specific tags i can make to account for this without making it too generalized/all-encompassing please let me know!!)

anyway added (a much shorter variant of) that to my rules and it's ok if people need/want to sb or hb as always. i will try to queue some more stuff up here to post while im writing more on my other blogs but we will see >:)

[fortruechaos]

If he could have known what Yu-nae thought he would have been concerned and even horrified too--but that was already so much of Shadow's feelings regarding the horrors Yu-nae had been suscepted to, and the thought of Robotnik having to live longer than the average human lifespan was downright horrifying. But Shadow didn't think about it or make the connection and so Yu-nae's slight shift went missing while he fiddled with the side-view mirrors a little bit, too busy thinking about how they needed a new coat of wax soon.

Shadow smirked but couldn't exactly reply to Yu-nae's joke. He'd forgotten everyone but Maria the first time after all. It wasn't something he could promise and he knew he probably should just say that he did, but words meant things to him that they didn't mean to other people. He'd already made a promise that defined his life. He didn't want to make one for the sake of conversation. "So that's why you decided to bring this up when it's going to be too loud to talk about it, huh?" The hedgehog quipped, popping a rather ostentatious wheelie on the Dark Rider once Yu-nae was on the bike just to piss off the people glaring at him for having a loud motorcycle even more. "Embarrassed?" After Yu-nae answered, Shadow took off.

‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒ There was something disturbing in what he said. Perhaps not for Shadow, who seemed to have accepted his powers and who he was, but for Yu-nae themself. The nanomachines Eggman had worked so tirelessly on were meant to replicate Shadow's abilities, and for more or less, they worked: Chaos Control, Chaos spear, immunity to disease and infection, enhanced reflexes, agility, and strength.

But there were some differentiating factors in the nanomachine features as well: a metallic skin-shield that responded to and prevented physical trauma, the lack of speed, the adaptability in the water, the ability to use Chaos Drives as a temporary power up. They also needed to eat and drink far more than Shadow did, and slept heavily.

So that begged the question: would Robotnik and Yu-nae inherit Shadow's agelessness? Would Yu-nae, if they were lucky enough to get out of all this, have to deal with seeing the people they knew and grow close to die of old age? Would they remain the same as they are now in ten years? Fifty? The realisation of this very real possiblity slowly dawned on them.

They snapped out of their harrowing thoughts when the motorcycle roared to life, returning them to reality.

"Aheh hah, well, I hope you don't forget me if that happens." They joked back with a mask.

"There is... *one* romance series that I thought was a silly, but decent read." Said Yu-nae, one leg stepping over the seat of the back of the motorcycle to straddle it behind Shadow, putting on their own, rather pointless helmet that was still slightly too big for them. "It's called the Serpent & Dove. Didn't see it at the store though."