#basically AU of Shadow as an unaging immortal who's nonetheless been trying to pass as a 'normal guy'

[ganymedesclock]

Okay hold absolutely everything- I wanna hear about your au Shadow and Vanilla crackship, I'm very intrigued.

[deep breath]

Okay so. Several factors afoot here.

Vanilla is basically a local community leader. She runs a bakery/family restaurant and both employs and manages charity work for a lot of people. In the 'less fashionable' oldtown district of Starlight City, just about everybody knows Vanilla. She is Connected.

This also means she is busy, which, as a single mother with a rambunctious adopted child, does mean she makes SOME arrangements for Cream, who cannot play soccer in abandoned lots all the time, and there's only so many times you can get a kid a tetanus booster before the consensus comes in that Someone should keep an eye on the kid.

Incidentally, Vanilla living close to century-old prefab housing means some of her neighbors are Interesting. One of them is Shadow, who was able to buy out not just the particular unit for sale but enough of the prefab structure that he basically owns his own 'townhouse' and has turned the basement into his personal machine shop.

Nobody really know what Shadow's deal is. Most of the people Vanilla talks to do not know when exactly he blew into town. He is, most concede, Older Than He Looks because he's got the physique of a spry 20something but offhandedly references being there for events that are at least thirty to forty years ago. It's also a general consensus that he's almost definitely here illegally and tends to disappear any time someone particularly official is too close for his comfort. He Does Not Get Out Much, sleeps irregularly, and makes psychiatrists home in like bloodhounds on the scent within ten paces of most of his habits.

Needless to say, not what most people would consider ideal babysitter material. But Cream managed to kick a ball through one of his windows on a dare, and the bewildered enigma thus summoned awake at 3pm cleaned up the broken glass and patched the ball, nominally so she'd leave him alone, and told her to play somewhere else without particular anger.

Vanilla does not really believe Shadow thinks of her as a friend, but she believes very strongly in being Neighborly, and, every now and then paying him to watch Cream is an easy arrangement and also a pretense to make sure he doesn't spend too much time alone in the dark with his thoughts as seems to be his prerogative.

Cream thinks Mr. Shadow is terribly sad, and not always polite, but sometimes people struggle to be polite when they're feeling bad, and he seems to be feeling bad almost all the time.

Shadow thinks the kid is alright, and her mom is somewhere between a little too nosy for his comfort and one of the rare listening ears he almost opens up to before he reminds himself not to do anything that means he'll have to leave town even faster than normal.

He's already been here too long.

[thecottageinthedark]

#Sonic Worlds AU#basically AU of Shadow as an unaging immortal who's nonetheless been trying to pass as a 'normal guy'#Vanilla does not scare easily and she has been basically trying to stop this guy from self-destructing in private#with the also side header of Vanilla's had an interesting life herself and takes a studious interest in mr. Mysterious Vibes Dangerous Past#also for a guy who doesn't take care of himself he's rather muscular

Okay hold absolutely everything- I wanna hear about your au Shadow and Vanilla crackship, I'm very intrigued.

[deep breath]

Okay so. Several factors afoot here.

Vanilla is basically a local community leader. She runs a bakery/family restaurant and both employs and manages charity work for a lot of people. In the 'less fashionable' oldtown district of Starlight City, just about everybody knows Vanilla. She is Connected.

This also means she is busy, which, as a single mother with a rambunctious adopted child, does mean she makes SOME arrangements for Cream, who cannot play soccer in abandoned lots all the time, and there's only so many times you can get a kid a tetanus booster before the consensus comes in that Someone should keep an eye on the kid.

Incidentally, Vanilla living close to century-old prefab housing means some of her neighbors are Interesting. One of them is Shadow, who was able to buy out not just the particular unit for sale but enough of the prefab structure that he basically owns his own 'townhouse' and has turned the basement into his personal machine shop.

Nobody really know what Shadow's deal is. Most of the people Vanilla talks to do not know when exactly he blew into town. He is, most concede, Older Than He Looks because he's got the physique of a spry 20something but offhandedly references being there for events that are at least thirty to forty years ago. It's also a general consensus that he's almost definitely here illegally and tends to disappear any time someone particularly official is too close for his comfort. He Does Not Get Out Much, sleeps irregularly, and makes psychiatrists home in like bloodhounds on the scent within ten paces of most of his habits.

Needless to say, not what most people would consider ideal babysitter material. But Cream managed to kick a ball through one of his windows on a dare, and the bewildered enigma thus summoned awake at 3pm cleaned up the broken glass and patched the ball, nominally so she'd leave him alone, and told her to play somewhere else without particular anger.

Vanilla does not really believe Shadow thinks of her as a friend, but she believes very strongly in being Neighborly, and, every now and then paying him to watch Cream is an easy arrangement and also a pretense to make sure he doesn't spend too much time alone in the dark with his thoughts as seems to be his prerogative.

Cream thinks Mr. Shadow is terribly sad, and not always polite, but sometimes people struggle to be polite when they're feeling bad, and he seems to be feeling bad almost all the time.

Shadow thinks the kid is alright, and her mom is somewhere between a little too nosy for his comfort and one of the rare listening ears he almost opens up to before he reminds himself not to do anything that means he'll have to leave town even faster than normal.

He's already been here too long.