#Hope it won't be mid

[cursedcatchild]

Choice Wisely! 🤣🤣

[thatnununguy]

Oh hey another reboot... It will be good right??? Right???? RIGHT???

[queen-scribbles]

Massive sigh of relief as my last teal pen held on just long enough to finish the Ardrali fic😅

[solalunar-eclipse]

Sonic Boom - S3E14

Chapter title: Schrödinger's Hedgehog, Part 3

Summary: Shadow is found, and many things are explained. (Alternatively: the author tries desperately to build something approximating a deep and rich world out of the scraps provided by the original TV show and games.)

AO3 Link

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[Once again, this episode begins without any cold open, jumping directly into the introductory sequence.]

[And yet again, Shadow is not present in the part with the rest of the heroes, but their team shot is still structured as if he were there, making the absence very noticeable.]

[Instead, he appears in his old villain intro, with just his stripes and eyes visible. This time, his eyes are closed tightly as if in pain, and they seem almost to shake for a second before vanishing.]

[Then, the rest of the sequence continues, complete with the episode title at the end.]

When the team entered the room at the end of the hall, they were met by the light of several holographic screens washing over their faces. They were bright, to be sure, but not so glaring that they couldn’t see the figure slumped in a chair in the corner. There was no mistaking who it was—those curved spines and that profile couldn’t have belonged to anyone else. At last, they had found Shadow.

Sonic was the first to take a step forward, the sound echoing through the chamber…

…and exactly one second later, he had a blazing yellow Ancient sword inches away from his face.

The hero yelped, scrambling backwards to his team. “Whoa, Shadow, what was that?” he cried.

Shadow switched his weapon off and glared at the five teens facing him. “Leave. Now.”

Knuckles frowned. The fur under Shadow’s eyes was matted and damp. “Were you crying?” he asked, not unkindly.

It still set the hedgehog off, though. “No!” he barked. “Why would I do something as stupid as that, anyway?”

Amy shrugged. “Yeah, you’re right. Why would you?” she said carefully.

Shadow scoffed, rolling his eyes. “I don’t know! Maybe because I was enough of an idiot to think that I could trust—”

He cut himself off, his eyes widening.

“Reverse psychology.” Amy said, smiling weakly. 

“How dare you.” Shadow hissed.

“But you can trust us, Shadow!” Sonic insisted, taking a tentative step forward.

“Did you not see what she literally just did?!” He gestured in Amy’s direction furiously.

“We’re trying to help you!” she shot back. “We can’t do that if you won’t tell us anything, though!”

Shadow rolled his eyes. “I don’t need your help.”

“You look like you could use a hug.” Knuckles muttered to himself as the others kept arguing. Then, he walked up to the distracted hedgehog and managed to do just that.

For a moment, Shadow thrashed and struggled, but then he froze as his body registered that this was the first real hug he’d had in years. He let out an almost inaudible whine, leaning against the echidna slightly.

That was enough for the rest of the team to rush over for a group hug (even Sonic), and Shadow silently resigned himself to being held for a while, ignoring the way tears still burned at the back of his eyes and threatened to trickle down his face. 

Once they’d finished, all five of them sat down right where they were and gave their friend a moment to compose himself. He swallowed thickly, wiping at the corners of his eyes with his gloves and refusing to look at anyone in particular. 

“Hugs don’t magically fix everything, you do realize.” Shadow muttered. “For all I know, you could be trying to emotionally manipulate me.”

Amy frowned up at him. “Since when have we ever done that, in all the time you’ve known us?”

“...you haven’t.”

“So why would we now?”

Shadow sighed. “Because I find it awfully hard to believe that you somehow don’t view me as a mere object at your disposal, despite the fact that you have now learned I am an inorganic lifeform?”

“Huh?” Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, and Sticks said in unison.

Tails was the only one who understood. “No? Why would we treat you any less like a person because you’re a robot?”

“Ohhhh.” Sticks said. “Honestly, I don’t actually care that much what you are. So long as you’re not in league with the government, we’re good.”

“I’m not.”

“Great.”

Sonic stared at him. “Wait, why would you think that we’d…act like you didn’t deserve to be treated the same as always or whatever now?”

Shadow shrugged. “The last people I tried to…befriend did.”

Amy winced. “That’s terrible! Do you remember their names?” She summoned her hammer and held it up threateningly.

“They’re…it’s complicated.” he said, looking down again.

The other five all leaned forward eagerly, sensing a story behind his statement.

“What?” Shadow blinked, confused. “Wait, are you all just expecting me to launch into a story about my tortured past? When our trust is still on shaky ground, no less?”

“Uh, yeah?” Sonic said, in a well, duh voice. “And besides, this is our chance to prove we don’t think any differently about you, right? If we don’t start acting differently after hearing your tragic backstory, are we really ever gonna do that?”

Knuckles bounced eagerly. “Ooh, tell us, tell us! I love stories!”

Shadow tried to roll his eyes, but it came out looking more like a pained expression than anything. “This one isn’t very happy.”

Amy smiled encouragingly at him. “It’s yours, though, so we still want to hear it!”

“And you’ll believe me?” the android insisted. “No matter how strange it gets?”

“I promise.” Tails said solemnly, and the others echoed him in an equally dutiful manner.

Shadow’s expression softened marginally. “I guess I’ve never really gotten to tell anyone this before...”

A little over a thousand years ago…

“Wait, a thousand?” Sonic interrupted. “You don’t look that old!”

Shadow rolled his eyes. “I haven’t even started yet. Are you going to let me explain, or not?”

Sonic made a ‘lips zipped’ motion quickly, sitting back and watching eagerly.

Shadow sighed (but without any real malice) and continued.

A little over a thousand years ago, the war between the Ancients and Lyric began. All in all, it would last about six years, beginning when Lyric officially split from the rest of the Council and ending, as you all know, when Sonic and Tails traveled back in time to stop him.

The moment the war began, the Ancients knew that they could not defeat Lyric with people alone. After all, he had built an entire army out of nothing but steel and circuits. As much as some disliked the idea, they began to build war machines, such as the mech Sonic owns now.

[Shadow sees Sonic about to say something else, and gives him a look that keeps him quiet.]

They called this ‘Project Mimic’.

These machines were intended to provide the Ancients with the knowledge and ability necessary to stop Lyric’s robots once and for all, but without the ethical dilemmas that his creations posed. After all, if the machines were just objects, like any other weapon, then their use could be easily governed. The Ancients’ society had all sorts of rules already in place that could be applied to this scenario.

There were many reasons why the Ancients chose this path, but the most important one for this story is that they did not believe in conscription. The people who were staunch pacifists would not be forced to fight, in part because it was simply considered cruel and in part since the governing bodies feared that they would desert at the first hint of a crisis. This applied to the robots, too. No robot was forced to fight who did not want to, and no robot was built and used solely for the purpose of fighting, since no person in their society was born and trained for that purpose.

But before long, they found that Lyric had not been bound by the same restraint as them, and had chosen to create machines that would think and fight, instead of just one or the other. The greatest problem—beyond everything else—was that he had not given them any moral training, which was perhaps the most shocking part of it all for the Ancients. Their tenets lay not primarily in technology, but in morality, and so Lyric’s total lack of commitment to ideals such as respect and ethics horrified them.

Because of this, the Ancients knew that they, too, had to create a thinking and fighting machine, if they wanted to be able to resist Lyric on his own ground. Otherwise, they would have been left behind technologically and found their society utterly obliterated in the process. Some wanted to compromise their moral code as Lyric had and create cold, unfeeling weapons of destruction—letting the ends justify the means. In the end, however, it was decided that this would make them no better than him. And so, the machine made to stop Lyric would have three major rules governing it.

First, it would serve solely as a device to be studied, not to go out on the battlefield, for it was still considered unethical to create and use a being for the sole purpose of harming others.

Second, it would not be made of lines of code, like Lyric’s creations, but of the same intelligence matrix that all of their thinking robots contained. This would mean that Lyric could not dissect it or rewire it to suit his needs without utterly destroying the programming contained inside, thus ruining any advantage he might have gained in the process.

Third, it would be given a body that could pass for organic, so that the Ancients could continue to advance their technology and achievements even as the war raged on.

The job was given to a young, exceptionally clever engineer named Luna. There was lots of infighting over who should receive it, with many nominating their own apprentices, but it was eventually decided in her favor because she was completely unattached to the Council and therefore unbiased.

Luna set to work immediately. The Council did not know this, but they could not have picked a better person for the job. She had heard rumors of their plans long before they had been announced publicly, and was more than excited at the prospect of true artificial life. She lived alone and liked the idea of having a companion, but she had never desired the kind of partnership that would ordinarily lead to such a thing.

As a result, within a few months, she had created the final product—something the Council had labeled as Project Shadow, because her creation would be similar to a person in every way except its composition.

However, she ended up using that to name the android, something the Council had not expected.

As a matter of fact, she built the android in a way that angered the most warlike in the government, for she was determined for it to lead a normal life. Luna designed it so that it could grow up, in a sense, building it a new body every year as it ‘aged’. It would still grow more quickly than normal, at a rate of three mental years to one real year—a compromise she was forced to make when the Council discovered her plans.

And then, exactly one year after the war began, she turned on my computer for the very first time.

As I grew older, at first I was unaware of any major difference between myself and her. I did not need to eat and she did, she slept and I recharged, but these were trivial matters. We were both people, after all, and she assured me that there were a great variety of people in the world.

It was only when I was six (two years in real time) that I discovered the drastic divide between us. The people in the city all knew what I was, for the Council had released basic information on me in the interest of clarity. This was why Luna had sheltered me at first, because she feared the reaction of the general population.

The first time we traveled out into the city, Luna was nervous for me, but she permitted me to go over to some children who were playing the Ancient version of…well, the closest analogue today would be soccer. However, the moment I approached their group, several parents rushed over and pulled their own away in fear, while other children formed a united front and informed me in no uncertain terms that I was ‘fake’, and thus not welcome to be near them, let alone play with them.

I never tried to spend time with people my age again.

When I turned eleven (three and two-thirds years in normal time), some members of the Council spoke to me privately. I later discovered that they were the most violent of all, and should not have been trusted. Unfortunately, I was young and naive, and they used this to their advantage.

[Shadow pauses for a moment here, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes. The room is utterly silent—no cricket chirps here.]

As it was, they managed to convince me to help in the war effort before I was even a teenager, and gave me grueling training for eight months in the art of fighting and destruction. Effectively, they transformed me into what the others had feared most—a being made and used for battle.

I did this in secret, without Luna knowing, for she was a pacifist and I feared she might disapprove. However, the elders had told me that she could die in this war, and that filled me with enough fear to fight in spite of her views. At the mental age of thirteen, they sent me out to the battle. The tide of the war turned soon afterwards, though I do not flatter myself enough to think that it was entirely my doing. There were many advances being made around that time, and I was only one of them.

I found that I was unvalued in the Ancients’ army, others still judging me for the circumstances of my unorthodox creation. However, I was hopeful that I could simply do my part to end the war quickly and then live a quiet and peaceful life with Luna, who had grown into an older sister figure for me.

But it was not me who ended the war—it was you.

I did not care at the time, for all that I could think of was returning to my old life. I hoped my sister would take me back, begging her to do so in spite of my decisions, and she agreed in a heartbeat.

We lived together for almost a month after that, during which she assured me repeatedly that she understood why I had made my choices and that she did not blame me in the slightest. I still felt guilty for going against her wishes, however.

And yet, this life was not to be. Now that I had been trained in the ways of war…and proven susceptible to manipulation where Luna was involved…the Council feared me more than ever before. Those who had supported my violence in the first place were terrified of their own creation, and those who had not could not even look at me without seeing me as something corrupt. Unsalvageable.

I will never forget Luna’s face when they came to take me away.

They locked me in a cavern deep beneath the earth against my will, and turned my systems off for a thousand years, so that I would be there when Lyric returned—but long after they would have needed to assume any responsibility for me. As I’m sure you can guess, this was why I became so enraged when I discovered that he of all people had attempted to manipulate me through his own technology. In any other scenario, I would not have fought him again, knowing that it was what they would have wanted. But to think that the being I was made by my sister to stop tried to use me for his own gain…it was just too much.

And so, once that was all said and done, I might have lived the rest of my life both fearing and craving company. I might have never been able to trust or make new friends, until you all barged into my life and essentially insisted upon my friendship.

I…found that I did not mind it nearly as much as I would have expected.

Shadow let out a long sigh, his shoulders slumping. “So now you know.” he said quietly.

When he looked up, Amy Rose was crying.

“What? What is it?” he asked, bewildered.

Suddenly, she leapt to her feet and clenched her fists, clearly eager to take action but unsure of what action to take. “I’m so, so sorry those people couldn’t see that you were…you were just a kid! You were a person, not some weapon they could use to their own advantage. That’s just—it’s disgusting! I swear, we’d never treat you like that. Ever!”

Shadow felt himself (very, very cautiously) begin to truly relax, just the slightest bit. “Thank you.” he whispered, his own voice trembling.

“Is it okay if I still think it’s cool that you’re a robot, though?” Tails asked nervously. “I—I mean, I don’t want to offend you, so I won’t talk about it if you don’t want me to. Obviously, I’m not gonna treat you like a thing, I just…the technology…”

Shadow stared at the frightened fox for a moment before sighing. “I suppose so.” he said. Then, he smirked slightly—and dialed his color opacity down to twenty-five percent again.

Tails shrieked with excitement and then slapped both hands over his mouth. “So cool…” he breathed, his voice muffled by his hands.

Shadow turned his opacity back up again, looking rather smug.

Sticks frowned. “How’d they make you look like a living creature?” they wondered.

Shadow thought to himself. “Luna told me once that most of my body is made of silicone, with a skeleton that’s built from steel and carbon fiber. The power crystal is unique and I’ve only ever found one spare. As for my fur…I’m not sure. Obviously it’s a form of synthesized keratin, but I don’t know how it was made.”

Sonic’s face had gone blank during this speech, but now he shrugged, zipping over to sit closer. “All I know is, it’s just unfair how soft you can get your fur. This guy could star in a shampoo commercial.”

Shadow facepalmed as everyone else burst out laughing.

“Hey!” he barked. “It’s not even—I wouldn’t ever—shut up, all of you!”

Sticks was the first one to notice. “Why isn’t your face red?”

Shadow smirked. “I can’t blush. It would overheat my sensory wiring too much, so I have a constant flow of coolant there.”

Sonic glared at him. “Unfair!”

The android snickered. “It’s one of the few perks of being an artificial lifeform.”

“Like Mighton and Bolts, right?” Knuckles said.

“Please. Please, please, please never compare me to those two ever again. Never.”

“Uh…why?” the echidna asked, confused.

“They were police officers, before. Someone had too much of a liking for accents, and…you saw what happened. They always got on my nerves.” Shadow huffed irritably.

Everyone else promptly burst into laughter at his flat declaration.

“I never got along with most robots anyway.” he added, after a moment. “I was designed too organic for them, and I was too mechanical for most ‘real’ people.”

Everyone looked sad again at that. “Well, why can’t anyone just be okay with the fact that you’re both?” Knuckles asked.

“What are you even talking about?” Shadow gave him a bewildered look. “I am very clearly an inorganic facsimile of a proper person, did you not see me just a few seconds ago?”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t have to mean you’re ‘just’ a robot. You’re a thinking person too. And I’m a person, and Sticks is a person, and Tails is a person, and—”

“I get it.” Shadow interrupted.

“So?” Knuckles asked, as though his point should be obvious. “We’re all people. Why does what you’re made of have to control what you are? If people are gonna judge you for having the best of everything, then maybe they don’t deserve to be talking to you, anyway. Besides, they’re probably just jealous.”

The android stiffened slightly. “I…suppose that makes sense. It may take a while for me to believe it, though.”

Sonic jumped to his feet, excited to finally be able to help. “Hey, don’t sweat it! Until you do, I’ll remind you, okay?”

“We’ll tell you that as many times as it takes!” Amy insisted.

“Every day if we have to. And that’s a threat.” Sticks pointed both of their fingers at their eyes and then at him.

Slowly, a small but genuine smile grew on Shadow’s face. “...thank you. All of you.” he said softly, unable to properly look at any of them.

“Now, how about we go home and watch some awful movies, huh? I mean, today was pretty exhausting.” Sonic said quickly. (He was acting somewhat awkwardly in large part because he’d just about tapped out his ‘being emotionally sensitive’ capabilities for the day. Not that he would admit he even had those to anyone.)

“That sounds great!” Tails said cheerfully. “I have the pirated version of the Tomatopotamus OVA, we still have to watch that!”

“Is that the one with the rude jokes? Count me in!” Sonic cheered, while Knuckles and Sticks let out a shout of agreement.

Amy sighed. “Fine, but just this once, okay?” She rubbed her forehead, clearly done with trying to be the only good influence in the group for the day.

Shadow tapped her lightly on the shoulder. He didn’t say anything, but he did shoot her another small, but genuine smile, at which she beamed in return and only barely restrained herself from giving him a big hug out of nowhere. 

Instead, she asked, “You up for another hug, Shadow?”, and watched as he nearly teleported away from sheer self-consciousness on the spot. Instead, he stepped slightly closer, and opened his arms just a fraction…which was more than enough for her to pull him into a hug. 

And then, he put his arms around her, and hugged her back.

[fade to black]

[Amy speaks, sounding confused and irate. “What do you mean, this is a four-part story? That was a perfectly good ending right there! Why’d you have to ruin it like this?!]

[roll credits]

[ruby-red-inky-blue]

tagged by @spacepandar a literal year ago, but felt like it now, thank you Sasha!

Put your ‘On Repeat’ playlist on shuffle and list the first ten songs:

Jolene - Dolly Parton

Just The Other Side Of Nowhere - Johnny Cash

Still Breathing - Green Day

Shake It Out - Florence + The Machine

Langeweile - Pankow

Tommi - AnnenMayKantereit

I am Stretched on your Grave - Kate Rusby

Irish Eyes - Rose Betts

Silver Springs (Live in Burbank, 1997) - Fleetwood Mac

In The Air Tonight - Phil Collins

tagging @moonprincess92 because i got fun music recs from her in the past, and @spacepandar if you feel like doing this again! everyone else please consider yourselves tagged if you feel like doing this, as you can see i could do with some more recent music to listen to lol

[acatwithstockings]

Currently editing a few pics from a con my partner, a few friends and I went to last weekend an if anyone ever wondered what erasing an angel from existence looks like ... Well this is it .. i deleted an angel. Yes it hurt but what can I do when we forgot to take couple pics ? I still left the more important angel in pffff

Also I was the only Crowley at a con with three Aziraphales 🤣 and yes our cos are unfinished hence no solo shoots , we hope we can rectify that when we wear them out .

[saucerfulofsins]

Are you okay with minors interacting with your blog? Asking because I don't want to violate your boundaries by accident.

Hi! Thank you so much for your message 😊

Before I answer, I want to talk about some stuff.

I was 14 when I first entered the magical realms of fandom. This must have been around 2005 or 2006, I don't remember exactly when. It wasn't on a site dedicated to fic, but a forum that was entirely dedicated to talking about Paul McCartney. The thing is, this meant there were people of all ages on that forum. The median age was probably around 40 and while cis women probably made up the largest number of users, a fair amount of users were cis het men. Regardless, no one was ever creepy or weird or gross to me; the most they did was be a little bit annoyed by me and some other teens occasionally spamming discussion topics with emojis (which was definitely in part because my English wasn't that good at the time and using it cost a lot of extra energy).

The forum allowed some gen-rated het fic, which gave me the information I needed to discover m/m fic on LiveJournal (yeah, John Lennon/Paul McCartney). I was 15 by then. Fandom wasn't as mainstream at the time (and less so in non-English speaking countries), it definitely wasn't on any Massively Popular Websites or Out In The Open. The fourth wall was very much still in place, and the group of people who were writing stories on LJ was fairly small (especially compared to some of the big big fandoms nowadays).

Guess what, though? I talked to many people, and the majority of them were adults. Some of them had children older than me! There was never any discussion around whether that was improper or not, because everyone was treated equally. Of course age factored in to some extent in personal conversations... but in fandom takes? Why should it?

For me, I was always grateful there were people older than me, with more life experience than me. Their fics were awesome, although I didn't read everything. Why I didn't? Because I was 15 and entirely aware that not everything was for me. I didn't enjoy reading anal sex... so I didn't. I usually shied away from NC-17 (/Explicit), not so much because the rating implies 17+ but because I just... didn't want to read it. I knew people my age and younger who did read those stories because they wanted to and were okay with it. I don't think I've seen anyone ever throw a fit over reading something that upset them, and blame the author for posting it in a space minors could see. At most, people lied about their age so they could get access to some stories (because LJ would block explicit stories for minors... I think. Don't quote me on the details, things are a little fuzzy).

So no. I don't mind minors interacting with my blog, because I once was a minor directly interacting with many of the adults in the fandom I was in. Being taken seriously by them was actually really important in how I came to see myself as a fandom member and as a fic author. I especially don't mind a minor who asks me about my comfort interacting with my content, which is less about me and more of a sign I am willing to bet you're equally or more aware of your own boundaries and willing to assume responsibility... which reminds me of myself when I was a minor.

I don't mind minors interacting with my blog, because I think perspectives from people with a different age than you are very important (I have flatmates that are 25 years older than me!). Simultaneously, I know teens who want to read smut will find their way there. Who am I to stop them? All I can advocate for is to stick to your own boundaries, and take care of yourself, and to read stories and interact with blogs (however you shape that interaction) as long as you feel your boundaries are respected.

To close: I know the internet now isn't the internet it was 15 years ago, and I know that was a vastly different internet from the web in the early 90s. So again: no, I don't mind minors following me for the above reasons, and I don't need to be asked. I also don't mind adults curating their online presence by including a DNI in their profile.

Sorry, that was a bit of a rant. I just carry a great fondness in my heart for the many "fandom aunties" who took me under their wing, way back when, and I'm sad that the format of Tumblr discourages the same types of interaction that shaped my experience and view of fannish culture.

[mchiti]

when they say tumblr is for any age I agree and when they say tumblr has an older median age I can understand why. but bruh sometimes older users on here really forget they can't speak to people 20 years younger than them a certain way.

[meganechan05]

Honestly, why is my gut instinct telling me KingOhger actually has the most perfect setup for a Rita Corruption Arc...?

I don't want ittttttt 😭😭😭😭😭

I love corruption arcs, but I don't want it for my little purple baby who just wants to chill and watch "Me and Moffun"!

[im-tempted]

idk what happened but literally all of my dash is you😔

ig you're in your prime /silly

I need you to understand

I am SO mentaly ill about this game i don't even care anymore

I am having an AWFUL time I just spent a while RPing telling a woman her husband died WHAT??? I did that FOR. FUN????

I can't stop I spend all my time playing disco elysium thinking about playing disco elysium or looking at art of disco elysium while thinking about playing it

I think i need medical attention I have one point in fascism HOW DID I GET THAT??? I was accidentally racially insensitive to kim (I am IN. LOVE. with kim) like twelve minutes into the game cuz I clicked something wrong and I'm worried he's mad at me forever

Kim... kim... remember when we hung out on the balcony togeather why can't we do that again I miss you and your cringe little pens and notebook kim... kim I love you

Anyway excited to play again tomorrow planning on unlocking bisexuality after that? No plans I think I'm supposed to solve a murder? Don't care much for that though

[mashmouths]

it's supposed to be 85° tomorrow are you fucking kidding me

[dbphantom]

Hey What The Fuck

[icehot13]

i have a new fear and it’s ‘is that leafblower sound coming from the roof above me and i’m about to have dirt absolutely fucking rained down on me while i’m outside’ if this seems like an oddly obscure fear to have, it’s not

[bluewindfall]

3 good things

Finally worked up the guts to submit my poster abstract T^ T. I really hope it'll be accepted!!

This one guy I never really talked to before in my class sends really cute emails. Lots of exclamation marks haha

New rotation starts tomorrow!

[gglitchshit]

poison (the new hazbin hotel song) is so generic i'm sorry 😭addict still best song

[yeleltaan]

//As is usually the case around this time of the year, I’m terribly busy with studies and it’s been hard for me to do things on the blog in the little spare time I have, I can’t focus very well.

It will pass soon, and hopefully after that I can resume the work of giving this blog a little more life. The itch to write is still there and I can’t wait to be free to scratch it.