#i want to play so much more ark still

[confused-alpaca]

dinosaur games make autism brain go brrr

[astrxealis]

man i wanted ffxv comrades for the longest time. fun fact but like. it's been less ever since i got into ffxiv but i've always been super into games w character customization (bcs ocs or self-insert stuff lol) !! so all mmos i've gotten into (most on mobile bcs i never really was a pc gamer </3 or played online games on ps until xiv) are bcs of the character customization actually. even ffxiv (but also esp bcs i love final fantasy). man i hope i can get ffxiv comrades sometime ??

[shadamyheadcanons]

For me, Shadow and Amy's dynamic is basically two different types of touch starved in a person

((If any of the gifs on this post aren’t loading for you on mobile--like they aren’t for me--you can download them or check the sources listed. As for desktop, they play just fine, but they won’t line up next to each other like they do on mobile. Tumblr is a comedy of errors.))

Yes! Absolutely. I’ve seen tons of fans say Shadow is prickly and would respond badly to hugs, but canon says otherwise. This is a bad reaction:

[Sonic 06]

Whenever I feel like being sad, I wonder if Bad-Future-06 Silver has ever been hugged.

This is a bad reaction:

[Sonic Unleashed, gif source.]

And I shouldn’t have to say this, but...yeah. These are very bad reactions:

[Sonic X]

[Sonic Generations]

Yikes. I feel bad for both of them.

But this?

[Sonic Adventure 2, gif source.]

This is Shadow’s only canonical hug in the games, and aside from jumping slightly from being snuck up on, he seems to like it just fine.

Just look at that smile! He’s happy. He finds it endearing.

It was a hug from a complete stranger meant for someone else, but he still drank it in--and, given that he’d effectively just lost Maria, he really did need it. It’s the combination of Amy’s gentleness AND her speech that changed his mind. After all, if someone as sweet as her sees something in the humans, maybe they’re not so bad.

My buddy who runs @shadowxamyweek recently reblogged a post about this hug, and their tags sum it up perfectly:

[ID: A screenshot of tags on a post. The tags read:

#official art #4kids #shadow the hedgehog #amy rose #YEAH 😭 #listen I read nothing that has happened with them in SA2 as shippy - and i ship them #THIS HUG? THR SPEECH ON THE ARK? #those are two lonely kids #those are two left behind kids #those are two kids so desperate for affection #for two vastly different reasons #Amy loves with her whole chest and will never stop doing so- no matter what happens #and Shadow does too- that is key to remember- Shadow loves... so fucking much... that it hurts #you are RIGHT op when you say this is probably the first time someone has been gentle with him in a long long time #he doesn't even run away #in the game- when Amy flees- he takes a step after her- a moment's hesitation- a 'wait' #this kid NEEDED a hug #and i firmly believe part of the reason Shadow listens to Amy in the end is BECAUSE she is the only person who showed him gentleness #softness and kindness and affection #if only for a moment #fjdodhdofjgor THIS is what i mean when i say 'be gentle- be kind' #it MATTERS #it FUCKING MATTERS

End ID]

Shadow doesn’t hate hugs inherently; it’s just that no one hugs him in the first place...

...aside from one person.

Amy’s easily the most affectionate character in the cast. It’s cute at first glance, but there’s a common thread to every instance that puts a damper on it.

She’s always, ALWAYS the initiator.

She puts more into each hug than anyone else does.

She’s always the last to pull away.

The most reciprocated Amy hug I know of in canon is this one:

[IDW Sonic issue #22]

Which is absolutely adorable...but Amy still initiated. Because it’s always her job. Even the characters who like affection don’t need it the way she does...with one exception.

And this tiny detail just killed me. The little, “wait, come back 😟”

It’s the only time I know of when someone has actually stepped after her like this. In a game where everyone left Amy behind, he wanted to follow her. Mister so-called-prickly didn’t want the hug to end.

Because he’s the only one who needs it as much as she does.

He wants to be held as much as she wants to hold someone else, and no one else is warm and sincere enough for it. Compare these instances:

[IDW issue #6]

Sonic thinks Shadow is wrong about something, so he grabs Shadow’s arm to stop him, and Shadow aggressively wrenches it away and leaves.

[Archie Sonic Universe #23]

But when Amy thinks Shadow is wrong about something and grabs his arm to stop him, he gently removes her hand and thinks about what she has to say.

Even when he doesn’t want to be touched, he makes the distinction between “don’t touch me” and “not right now, please.” These are from two different continuities, of course, but I think the point stands. Amy’s special. He’s gentler with her than he is with other people, and that’s consistent across all canons.

Side note: how often does Amy get to feel special like that? I actually really like that Sonic doesn’t place others in a hierarchy of importance, and I wouldn’t change that about him even if I could...

[IDW issue #2]

...but Amy does play favorites. I want her to feel like she’s someone else’s favorite, too. I want her to have someone who puts her first and likes her best. I think Shadow’s more than capable of that. I believe he craves clinginess like hers deep down, even if he hasn’t consciously figured that out yet.

I have an entire tag for these two being affectionate. My favorite is probably this one.

Of course, there may be those who say I’m reading too much into one (1) hug. And you know what? Maybe they’re right! We need a bigger sample size. Sega, make more characters hug Shadow, please. Let Rouge comfort him after he confides in her about something. Have Omega give him an awkward metal embrace because he read on the internet that organic beings like that kind of thing. Make Shadow himself pull Silver into a hug when he’s breaking down crying from the stress of always having to be a hero. Show Tails accidentally grab onto him out of fear when they’re trapped in a lightning storm, and when he gets embarrassed and pulls away, have Shadow hold him for the rest of the storm and admit he’s not fond of bright lights, either.

[Sonic Boom]

That scene where Shadow and Amy rescue Cream and Cheese from Cryptic Castle? That easily could’ve turned into a cute group hug.

[Shadow the Hedgehog (2005)]

And I have seen some absolutely adorable fanart where he holds Cream’s hand while he and Amy lead her through Cryptic Castle to make sure she doesn’t get lost 🥺

Have Knuckles give him an empathetic bro-pat on the shoulder when he finds out Shadow’s the last one of his race, too.

[Archie Sonic Universe #89]

Have Sonic try to hug him, and then when Shadow inevitably pushes him away and says he doesn’t do hugs, have Amy arrive and latch onto Shadow instead while he tries to stutter out an excuse as to why she’s allowed to and Sonic isn’t.

The most affection Shadow has in recent history is stuff like this...

[Sonic Prime season 2 episode 1]

...where Sonic tries to hug him and Shadow immediately pushes him away, knocks him over, and tries to punch him in the face. Kind of says it all. Amy stands out as the only one with a good track record here.

[IDW issue #36]

Especially when you have him look at her like this when someone else is on the receiving end of that affection.

So in the absence of further evidence, I have no choice but to interpret this in the most Shadamy way possible. Your move, Sega.

[jamdoughnutmagician]

Young Dumb Thrills

Eddie Munson x Female Reader

Summary:One things leads to another after Eddie confesses something to you on your Friday night movie nights. (Sorry I suck at summaries!)

Warnings:Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Smut, Confessions of Love, Making Out, Pet Names (perhaps an overuse of Eddie calling the reader “Sugar” but Eddie is a “Sugar” kind of guy and I will die on this hill), Grinding, Nipple Play, Oral (F receiving), VERY BRIEF Sub!Eddie (like mentioned in ONE sentence) Unprotected Sex, Cowgirl Position, Hand-jobs. Slight spoilers for 80s Star Wars movies (but nothing that nobody didn't know already

Word Count:2,706 

Author's Note:I think my horny brain took over when I wrote this tbh, so if there’s any mistakes which I hope there isn’t then that’ll be why. Also I wasn’t about to waste the opportunity to name this fic after a McFly song (it came up in my playlist whilst I was writing it and I just felt like it fit)

At the knock on his trailer door, Eddie rushed up from his seat to open the door. He opened it to greet the familiar face that he knew would be waiting for him behind it. It was a Friday night, and that meant only one thing. Friday night was movie night with his best friend. It was a tradition that they started years ago, and Eddie looked forward to spending his evenings eating trashy snack foods and laughing at the bad movies with his closest friend.

Eddie had known you from when you were both kids, and you had moved to Hawkins. You lived a few trailers down from him and being the only other kid his age in that trailer park, you two had become fast and firm friends.

The other reason why Eddie looked forward to your shared movie nights, was something of a secret, and one that he kept to himself, and had done for years. 

Eddie had a huge crush on you. You were always very sweet and kind to him. Made him laugh until he was crying, and were always there for him through those rough patches, where the loneliness would seep in whilst his uncle would work long night shifts at the plant.

Not to mention he also found you crazy attractive, with gorgeous eyes, and a warm smile it was very easy for him to fall in love with you. 

“Hey! Come on in!” Eddie welcomed you warmly into the trailer.

“So I swung by Family Video! I picked out ‘Raiders of The Lost Ark’, since I know you missed it when it was in the cinema and wanted to watch it!” you wiggled the video cassette in your hand excitedly, whilst your other hand hid behind your back “and then I figured, why not make tonight a double feature? So I also picked out ‘Temple of Doom’” you beamed as you showed him the other cassette in your other hand.

“Awesome! Tell you what, I’ll go make a start on the popcorn, and you go set up the video! I trust coca-cola is still your drink of choice, m’lady?” he throws over his shoulder as he makes his way to the small kitchen to put the popcorn in the microwave.

“It very much is still my drink of choice, my good sir” you reply with a chuckle

_____________________

It wasn't unusual for you two to get close to each other on movie nights, more often than not you would end up with your head resting on Eddie's shoulder. He liked to joke how you had probably never seen the ending of any movie you’ve watched with him. The best was when you had, unsurprisingly fallen asleep on him during your first watch of ‘Return of The Jedi’ and thus followed what Eddie had dubbed ‘The Great Luke and Leia Sibling Reveal of ‘83’ where the credits rolled on the vhs during your Star Wars marathon, he got to tell you all about how that scrawny kid that kissed the space princess in ‘Empire Strikes Back’ were actually brother and sister.

Still to this day, you didn’t believe him. Thinking this was some kind of long-running joke that he was keeping up.

With you sitting so comfortably next to him, Eddie’s body was tense, he was usually good at keeping his feelings for you under control, but there was something about the intoxicating smell of your shampoo invading his senses and just you being as cute as always that had the butterflies in his stomach fluttering like mad.

You could sense that Eddie had gone quiet, and didn’t seem like his usual joking self, making silly remarks on the film just to make you laugh. Pausing the film, you turned your eyes to him.

“Hey Ed, you okay?” you looked up at him, your eyes connecting with his big brown ones.

“Y-yeah, I-I’m alright..” he stumbles, not trusting his own voice to give him away.

“Are you sure? You seem awfully flush? Is it too warm in here? I can open a window for you if you like?” Damnit, Eddie thinks to himself, it wasn’t his voice that was giving him away, but rather the increasing heat of blush taking over his face.

“N-No it’s okay, sweetheart. I just…” Eddie trails off. Why was he just about to admit to his embarrassingly large crush on you? Perhaps he was more comfortable with you than even he realised? 

“You just what?” you pressed, setting your hand on top of his.

Huffing out a sigh, he couldn’t believe he was doing this. 

“I just..look…I’m going to tell you something, something real big, okay? But you have to promise me that you won’t laugh at me or anything okay?”

“You know you can tell me anything, right?”

“I like you, y/n” Eddie confesses.

“Yeah I like you too, Ed!” you beam back at him with a smile.

“No, I like like you, have done for a while too if i’m being completely honest” he insists.

“Yeah, me too!” your smile taking over your face.

“No, I mean I like you more than a friend..” he tells you. This was a big step for Eddie. Giving you his heart and trusting you enough to handle it with care and not break it.

“Eddie..” you started. “I like you too, perhaps more than I should as a friend. I've been wanting to say something for the longest time, I just never knew how to tell you” you confessed to him.

“Wait..wait..hold on. You’re telling me that you’ve got a crush on me? On me?” 

“Yeah I mean, how could I not? You’re just so adorable when you talk to me about your Hellfire campaigns, even though I know you know I don’t know anything about D&D. When you secretly learned ‘Material Girl’ on the guitar for my birthday that one year, even though it’s not “technically a guitar song” as you told me afterwards”

“Yeah, I remember Wayne would come home to me playing that song over and over to make sure I got it just right, I think he thought I was going crazy. Laughing at me saying how “he didn’t have me down as a Madonna fan.” Oh but it was worth it though, I mean the look on your face when I played it for you? It warmed my heart, Sugar”

“Sugar? Are we doing pet names already, Munson?” you gently teased.

“Well I..U-uh I guess it kind of slipped out" Eddie shyly admitted to you.

"Hey, I'm not mad at it, I actually kind of liked it, never been anyone's 'Sugar' before!'

'There's been something I wanna do for the longest time, and since I know now that we're on the same page, I just have to ask. Can I kiss you?" Eddie says, despite your confession of mutual admiration he's still unsure of himself. 

Swinging your legs over his body, you settle yourself down to sit on his lap. Making yourself comfortable, you place both your hands on either side of his face.

You feel his larger ring-adorned hands settle themselves on your hips.

“Eddie, I’ve been waiting for you to ask me that for ages” you say as you lean to tentatively place your lips against his.

He takes the hint to deepen this kiss, his warm plush lips parting to slip his tongue between your lips, in a desperate, long-awaited kiss.

However, now, with you sitting so prettily in his lap, kissing him like you needed it to survive, your hips are gently rolling themselves against his increasingly hardening length. 

  Reluctantly Eddie pulls away from you, your lips connected by a string of saliva.

“Sugar..Sugar, you gotta stop or this is all gonna be over a lot faster than you, and certainly I want it to be” he chuckles with a cheeky grin.

“How about we make things interesting then?” you say, feeling a sudden burst of confidence. Gripping your t-shirt at the bottom in twisted arms, you pull upwards to pull your shirt over your head, leaving you in your lace bra.

Eddie can hardly believe what’s unfolding before his eyes. The girl of his dreams, is sitting in his lap, scantily clad in her delicate lace bra and looking into his eyes with adoration. Sliding his hands upwards from where they were resting on your hips, his hands settled over your back, the clasp of your bra under his fingers. His brown eyes looking at you in a question.

“May I?” he questions, toying with your bra clasp.

“You may.” you nod.

That simple nod was all that Eddie needed to go ahead, popping the clasp of your bra with a quick flick of his guitarists fingers. He takes the straps off your shoulders and flings your bra to the corner of his room, she won’t be needing that, not if I can help it, he thinks to himself.

She’s beautiful, Eddie thinks. He already thought you were beautiful before, but now he’s looking at you, kiss-bitten lips and your naked chest heaving with anticipated breaths, and he thinks that you have never looked more stunning than you do in this moment.

He leans his head towards your breasts, letting his lips kiss over your tits, nipping a few hickeys here and there, before his mouth latches on to one of your nipples, sucking it into a hardened peak, and using his fingers to pluck and tease the other nipple.

The feel of Eddie’s soft lips leaving a trail of hot kisses over your breasts left you desperately whining and grinding into his lap even more, you needed more from him.

“Eddie…” you whined “Please...I need you..” 

“Well who am I to deny such a sweet request” he said as turned around with you in his arms, settling you down amongst the pillows on his bed. 

Caging you underneath his arms as he held himself up above you, his dark curls falling like curtains in front of his eyes.

“Wait..wait a minute” you say, slipping your hair tie off your wrist with a slight giggle, gathering his hair in a little bundle at the nape of his neck “There! That’s much better! Now I can see your handsome face!” you finish, pressing a quick kiss to the tip of his nose.

Now with his vision unimpaired by his long mane of hair, his lips begin their descent down your body, Laying kisses on every patch of skin he could find. Stopping at the waistband of your jeans, kissing just below your navel, before popping the button of your jeans and hooking his fingers into the waistband of your panties, dragging them both down the length of your legs.

“Well, now that’s out of the way..let me do something that I’ve only ever dreamed of doing.” he smirks.

“Dreamed of?” you question. “My my, Ed how many times have you fantasised about me before?” you press again.

“Oh Sugar, you have no idea how many times I’ve lied where you’re lying right now, with my hand wrapped around my dick, just thinking about how pretty you would look cumming all over my tongue” 

“Well then don’t let me be the one to stop you from following your dreams, Munson” you giggled.

Eddie leaned his head down until he was face to face with your pussy, his tongue sneaks it's way out to wet his lips before going in to lick a long swipe from the very bottom of your wet slit to the top, the tip of his tongue flicking over your clit with little kitten licks. He swirled his tongue around your pussy a few times, the lewd slurping sounds echoing off his bedroom walls. Eddie slips his middle and ring fingers into the tight wet heat of your pussy, curling them upwards to press against that spot deep inside you that has your eyes screwing shut in pleasure. His other hand is placed firmly on your soft stomach, pressing down with a gentle pressure, his clunky metal rings a welcomed chilling sensation against the heat of your skin. 

“Come on, Sugar…I can feel this pretty pussy clenching on my fingers..” Eddie mumbles against you, just as he seals his lips around your clit, sucking it into the warm heat of his mouth.

“That’s it baby…you’re so beautiful…fuck..”

Continuing with his ministrations, it wasn’t long before you were coming around his fingers, with a moaning gasp. He delivers soft little kitten licks to your clit, as you come down from the high of your orgasm.

“I don’t know why we waited so long before doing that” you chuckle, as you try to catch your breath.

“Neither do I, but certainly want to do that again”

“There’ll be plenty of opportunities for that another time, right now I just want to ride you”

He Throws off his Judas Priest t-shirt and tugs his sweatpants down and tosses to some corner of his room, eager to feel you on top of him.

You take this opportunity to appreciate him in his full, naked glory, his tattoos like intricate artworks on the gallery that is his body.

“Get yourself comfortable on that bed, Munson.” you say, your eyes sparkling with desire.

“Yes Ma’am, don’t need to tell me twice”

“Good boy.” 

The heat on his cheeks rose, blushing further down his chest. Oh. He liked being called your good boy. You’d have to remember that.

Settling your body over his, you lick your tongue over your palm, before reaching behind you to stroke his cock a few times. Rising up on your thighs you slip the leaking tip of his cock inside you, and begin to slowly lower yourself over him inch by inch until he’s settled deep inside you. 

Placing both your hands down over his torso to steady yourself, you start to roll your hips, quickly falling into a steady rhythm that had both of you moaning. The creaking sounds of his bed fall into the background as you enjoy each other's bodies. His hips thrusting up to meet your hips grinding into his.

His hands find their place, gripping your hips.

“Fuck..Sugar..You look so sexy like this..Making me feel..fuck..feel so good.” he groans out.

One of his hands slips from its place on your hips, fingers finding their way to clit to rub deliberate circles.

“Eddie…” you cried out, the knot in the pit of your stomach tightening with each of his thrusts up into you.  “Please..don’t stop..I’m so close..” you desperately whine.

It didn’t take much more than a few more rolls of your hips, and Eddie’s skilled fingers on your clit before you were coming around his dick with silent scream. Slowing down your movements as you ride through the aftershocks of your orgasm.

What you hadn’t accounted for was that in the heat of the moment, you had forgotten to use any protection, and Eddie was warning you that he was quickly approaching his end, a consequence of your walls constricting around him.

“You gotta get off me, Sweets..I don’t think we’re quite ready to be parents yet..” he huffs, the few strands that have come loose from his bun sticking to his sweaty forehead.

Leaning forward you let his cock slip from your entrance, and reach back behind yourself to work him through the end of his orgasm with your hands. Twisting your closed fist over his sensitive head. That’s all it took for Eddie to spill rope after rope of his release all over your hand. His cum splattering his lower stomach and dribbling down your fingers.

Whilst he recovers and catches his breath below you, you take the opportunity to clean up your fingers, swiping your tongue over your digits, tasting his cum from where he had spilled in your hand.

“Fuck...Sugar..You can’t just do that. You’ll get me going again.” he chuckles breathlessly.

“Don’t worry about that, we’ve still got to make up for lost time.” you say leaning forward on his chest to capture his lips in a passionate kiss. “..And I plan on making every second count.”

[tyrantisterror]

A couple months ago, one of the kids at the daycare brought in a D&D starter set and asked me to DM a game for him and some of the other kids in my class. Now, I had considered doing this in the past, but written it off for a variety of reasons, mainly asusming it'd be a couple days of chaos before the kids get sick of all the math involved and lose interest. But if a kid broaches an idea and others seem on board, I feel it's kind of my duty to at least try it.

So far my assumptions have been... mostly correct? Like, 70% of my predictions have come true, it is chaos, ten-years olds are the most murder-happy murder hobo PCs you could possibly imagine, and they've really been pushing my improv skills to their absolute limits with the choices they've made (and the constrictions I have on me as a daycare teacher). But they haven't gotten bored with the math, and they absolutely love playing the game still, which is nice. I like it when my students are passionate about something.

Anyway, I bring this up because seeing how children play with D&D canon has made me realize one critical fact:

D&D needs a Mons Game spinoff.

Kids love monsters. This is not my bias, it is something that has been categorically proven to me in my four years of working at a daycare. Every kid loves the idea of weird, impossible creatures, and they love the idea of befriending a whole horde of those creatures even more so. One of my kids in the daycare D&D campaign is making it his goal to find and tame every monster he can find in the kid-friendly monster manuals I bought for the class. He wants a Tarasque and a Bullete and an Owlbear and on and on and on, and keeps proposing tactics for capturing them based on his time playing Ark: Survival Evolved, a game where you can tame dinosaurs and mythic beasts while trying to survive a wild world full of danger and obstacles.

And it turns out that, while the mechanics of D&D don't support this, the philosophy of how its settings are structured according to those mechanics does. D&D is filled with hundreds of wild and imaginative monsters, all with distinct appearances, habits, adaptations, and environmental needs. The need to make the "dungeons" part of D&D interesting has required it to build really interesting monster ecosystems, and, much like mons games, the need to keep players buying new content has resulted in them building a vast library of creatures, because selling $50 books containing a slew of new monsters is a pretty guaranteed way to get money. D&D may not be a mons game, but it's accidentally made its setting perfectly suited to be one.

And what a money-maker that would be! Skew it more towards a child audience in tone, use simpler mechanics so kids can hop into it without spending, say, three solid weeks of afterschool daycare time crafting character sheets more or less one on one, and you'd have a game that would easily hook a younger audience while planting seeds of interest into the bigger game.

Of course, there are already indie TTRPG mons games, and I imagine some of them are actually good, but unfortunately they're not exactly easily obtainable on a daycare teacher's budget. And, you know, they wouldn't let you make a team of a bulette, an otyugh, a gray render, and an owlbear.

But then again, Wizards of the Coast continues to be absolute bastards, so maybe this idea is too good for them. Which makes it a good thing they're never going to read this blog post.

[sticks-stones-sonic-insanity]

I JUST FINISHED SONK ADVENTURE 2 IM NOT OKAY OMG

The scene with Shadow falling to earth was funny at first and it all happened so fast i was still trying to wrap my head around it. Ppl talk about that scene a lot which theyre so right for, but i need to talk about the scenes after because oh my god they broke me!?!??!

Sonic, coming back onto the ark, completely silent. Everyone asking if Shadow made it back and he just slowly shakes his head without a word.

The scene where Sonic gives Rouge Shadow's inhibitior ring hold so much more weight to me after actually playing the game: In the short time they knew each other, Shadow saved Rouge's life. Twice. This is the only possession she has to remember him by. Knuckles asks her what shes going to do now and she actually stops to reflect and remarks how shes thinking of changing jobs, something else on her mind now(What exactly shes referring to in this moment isnt stated but theres a fair few connections to draw there). After almost getting killed during a heist and never getting a chance to thank the guy who saved her from it, that's a pretty good and strangely mature call to make from a writing standpoint. This whole scene has a similar feeling like that, like the jokes and the extravagance thats typical of the cutscenes have really been toned down with intention.

This one genuinely shocked me, and im really surprised i havent come across anything about it yet because the scene between Eggman and Tails was actually super deep?? There are a lot of different Sonic medias as far as I im aware that have touched on the paralells between Eggman and Tails: their small similarities and how well they work together when they have to, but the scene here really stuck out to me. Eggman is talking about how much he admired his grandfather as a child, how much his work inspired him to learn and create and strive to be great like him, drifting off to question whether or not he really wanted to see them all fall. Tail's response is very chipper and optimistic, but i really like the idea of Eggman having almost this turning point here, having to face something so saddening as watching someone you love curse the world and everyone on it(including you). After arguably some of the most dangerous and threatening feats have been accomplished by Eggman in this game as the story's primary antagonist, is this moment a nod to him maybe stopping to think about what he's done? Im amazed by how much meaning can be taken from these few seconds of dialogue!!

Finally, the last two moments. Amy, despite having had her own short heart to heart with Shadow before the final battle and ultimately being the one to spurr Shadow on to fight alongside Sonic and the others, doesn't seem as upset by Shadows death as Sonic is. This is genuinely, in my limited knowledge of Sonic media, one of the only instances i have seen Sonic be thoroughly shaken up by something and brushed it off when someone asks him whats wrong. In most cases, he's just relatively unfazed from an emotional standpoint like that, so theres nothing to brush off in the first place. But here, the ever-yapping blue blur remains silent for a while, just staring at Earth in a similar paralell to how Shadow used to. It isn't until Amy comes by that he looks away. Its the really subtle details here that get me: Sonic doesn't look or respond to her right away. There's a prominent pause of silence before he turns to her and says its nothing, switching the topic immediately to rush her along. Sonic, typically impatient and eager to move to the next adventure, slows down and is the last to leave the deck, delivers the farewell line to end the game. Again, the contrast in how slowly and soft he speaks here in comparison to literally anything else he says in the game is insane. The pause between "Shadow" and "the Hedgehog" is still very funny to me and im not lost on how the delivery does end up being chopped up quite goofy like that, but if that isnt an absolutely insane way to end off the game with such a somber, emotional moment...

Sonadow or no sonadow, take it as you will, its undeniable how impactful this adventure in particular is to Sonic. How much Shadow meant to him by the end of the game. How much his sacrifice meant. I really see his discussion with Rouge as both a way to comfort her, and to comfort himself. To say out loud how heroic and brave he'd seen Shadow to be, regardless of the intention that came from his creation. Sonic is big on freedom and giving people the opportunity to live how they want to, and Shadow's sacrifice in that regard means even more to him. He had just come to understand what he had truly promised Maria he'd do, joined Sonic whole-heartedly to help save the planet, and never got to experience anything beyond that. Given Eggmans continuous antangonistic streak at that point (I'm not fully aware of the other villain's Sonic had faced up until that point), it's rare that Sonic actually gets to see someone who opposed him change for the better!! And not only was Shadow one of the first to do so, but he was a speedy teen hedgehog!!! Just like Sonic himself!!! Its like Shadow said, there was so much more to them that they never got to find out about each other!! The fact that Shadow gave up all of that possibility, all of his own personal freedom to help Sonic save the planet and the freedom of all the people on it? That hits. HARD.

Im not familiar with the full canon of how Sonic actually managed to get one of Shadow's inhibitior rings to give to Rouge, as he's actually not shown in any scene taking them off during the final battle(i actually dont even think their mechanics are properly explained which is more confusing but yk), but getting into more headcanony, sonadow adjacent space for a second? I like to think Shadow actually took two of his rings off/had two break off before he fell. Sonic gave one to Rouge, and secretly kept the other for himself. He obviously didn't want his friends to ask him more questions about how he was feeling, so he hid it in his quills before he greeted them back on the ark. Shadow ended up meaning a lot to Sonic, and it's really interesting to think about what was running through Sonic's mind when all was said and done.

Uhhh anyways good game very very infuriating at times but very good game i have a true taste for the appeal of Sonic games now and i want to play them all. If you actually made it this far, thank you for reading my silly sonk rant! If you have any information you know of to patch the spaces where I'm lacking or just want to discuss your own thoughts on the ending feel free!! Have a good day or night wherever you are :]

[leafs-lover]

Too Far Gone - Part Fifty Six

Warnings: Swearing, fluff, smut - fingering, cum play, dirty talk, maybe a slight voyeurism kink, interrupted sex, inadvertent orgasm deprivation, light degradation? I think that's it, let me know if I missed anything

Series Masterlist

Word Count: 6,000

Auston didn’t know when they went to bed. The curtains had been left open and the faint glow from the moon was filtering in, but he had to make good on that promise from the roof. And even then, he wasn’t done because they were both drenched in sweat, and there is something about warm beads of water cascading over his girlfriend’s chest that always ended with Auston on his knees.

Sure, it could be considered reckless to stay up that late given they have a three-year-old who has been known to barge in before the sun broke the horizon looking for breakfast. But what was Auston supposed to do, not celebrate the fact Tia finally admitted she loved him? They had talked about getting a puppy, having more kids, getting married, they planned their future, but hearing those words roll off her tongue cemented to him that it was real. As if those four years were nothing more than a long and hazy nightmare he finally awoke from.

When Auston did wake up around 9:20, he planned on quietly crawling out of bed, finding Taylour (he knew one of his friends was keeping him entertained for the time being) and wrangling his help to make her breakfast in bed. A simple gesture, one he had been deprived of for so long. It was his plan, and it was a great plan, then he saw the faint marks on her shoulders, the marks he left, and everything changed. All reason was long gone, and his primal instinct took over. If he could keep her there all day, he would.

“Aus.”

Her nails scratch along his broad shoulder and her body arches into him. Even though she is pulsing with oversensitivity, she doesn’t know if she’s had enough, if she ever will have enough.

“Babe –“ She gasps, sharply.

“What?” He grins, moustache tickling her ear.

“We gotta to get up.” He can tell she wants there to be weight behind the words, but her body is saying something completely different. “So much to do…”

“How am I supposed to get anything done when you’re naked in our bed?” Auston murmurs thickly against her jaw.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

The sheets are a mess. Pillows are on the floor. The stench of sex is heavy in the room.

“So...” His hands roam all over her body. He cups her breast, which somehow overflows in his big hands. “What’s on your list this morning?”

“Yoga.”

“Pretty sure we already did that.” Satisfaction curls on his lips.

“I want to finish up something I’ve been working on…” She trails off for a moment as he licks up her neck, tongue following the bite marks left the night before. “Have to check in with Becks…” Auston grins, the heat flaring behind her cheeks says that won’t happen anytime soon.

“What about fucking your boyfriend?” Auston’s fingers carve into the swollen flesh of her ass.

“I believe I did that already.” He moves his fingers around to her pussy lips and the inside of her thighs, and they are wet, absolutely drenched in their hot sticky mess. “That’s why we’re still in bed.”

“You should put it back on the list, maybe twice.” Auston’s mouth slowly begins to work its way down, first to her collarbone, then her breasts. As his warm tongue swirls around her sensitive nipple, her slick grazes over his member and a deep guttural groan erupts.

“Is that so?” She breathes out a laugh while tugging harshly on his curls.

“Yeah.” Two fingers once again find their way inside. Her body arks toward him and within a few seconds they begin to move. The disgusting slurp of her cunt fills the room as he thrusts them faster and faster. Her walls greedily grasp and hug his digits, never wanting to let him go. Her elbows give out and her body collapses into the bed, quickly and desperately clawing at the sheets.

Auston smirks and applies more pressure. His left hand grabs at her knee and tosses it over his shoulder, earning him a shriek from the deepest part of her diaphragm. Auston fucks his fingers back inside. Every stroke is precise, his knuckles crooked at the knuckle to create the perfect angle. “Can’t decide if I want to eat the cum out of you before I fill you back up.” Auston licks his bottom lip, his fingers massaging her g-spot. “Or if I should bury myself inside and make ya overflow…what do you think?”

“Fuck me.” Tia whispers to herself.

Auston chuckles, a little breathless. “I’m going to.” He circles his thumb around her clit, fingers rhythmically seeking her high. “You taste so good, can only dream of what we taste like together.”

Tia whimpers at the emptiness as Auston pulls his fingers out. He brings them up to her mouth, and without instruction Tia drops her jaw and wraps her lips around them. They both moan as she swirls her tongue around his digits, working to clean the mess. Quickly, he snaps his wrist and runs the saliva and cum coated fingers along her jaw. With a cocky brow raise, he shoves his tongue into her mouth.

“Better than I imagined.”

His hand moves to her hair, and she bites at her lower lip. He knows she washed her hair yesterday. He also knows she will scold him for this later. He just doesn’t care. He moves the head of his shaft down through her folds, allowing it to rest at the opening for just a second, then he buries himself deep inside her warmth.

He messily kisses her once again, taking the time to embrace the wetness that oozes out around his cock. He pulls his hips back, and right before he is about to drive back inside, her hands are on his shoulder trying to push him away.

“Stop.” Her eyes snap open, wide with fear. His brows contort with confusion, then he hears it. Little feet pattering down the hall, his playful giggle getting louder and louder with every step. They both knew they were pushing their luck going for round two, but like a moth to a flame, Auston couldn’t pull himself away.

“Taylour, come on bud, let’s go.” Fred’s voice calls, louder than normal trying to warn those on the other side.

The doorknob begins to jiggle. Tia’s breathing becomes frantic . The slow creak gets louder and louder, and Taylour’s voice enters the room. “I want to show them my trick.”

The more the door opens the more Tia’s face whitens. Auston scrambles off her and scours the floor for a shirt, pants, some piece of clothing to toss on before Taylour barrels in. But everything is everywhere, all he can find is the sheet which he tosses toward Tia.

“Mommy and Daddy are sleeping.” Fred tells him, pulling the door shut. “Why don’t we practice more, and you can show them when they wake up?”

“Because practice makes perfect,” Taylour agrees with a nod.

“Right.” Fred nods down the hall. “Let’s go.”

Auston waits a few seconds until Taylour’s feet are down the hall, then calls out, “Thanks Fred.”

“Yup,” Fred hollers through the door.

**

“I’m not sure about this.” Tia runs her finger along the strap, then smooths over her stomach.

Once they heard the footsteps fade down the hall and the stair boards creak, Auston and Tia were out of bed. Tia ran a comb through her hair while glaring at Auston for the ends that had fused together, then swiftly threw it up on the top of her head. Auston grabbed a bathing suit –because every day ends with them in the pool – and one of his t-shirts. The two of them went downstairs and Tia started making them smoothies, and Auston set out to get the avocado ready for their breakfast. After inhaling their food, Auston was outside, showing off his backflips – always a favourite with Taylour - and Tia was upstairs in her sewing room.

Once the workspace was mostly complete, she finished the couple orders that were outstanding, then set out designing a few new pieces to expand her line. She sketched out seven new pieces, three of them made it through the 3D rendering, then she began the process of cutting fabric, pinning it together and trying to bring her visions to life. One was easy, only needed a few minor tweaks but was now ready to go to the testing phase. The other two she has been stuck on. Nothing seemed to work, and Tia was about ready to scrap them both and start over, but before that she decided to reach out to the one person that might be able to help.

Celeste presses her glasses back up her nose and shuffles in her seat, as if trying to get a better view from Toronto.

“Yeah…” She hims through the speaker. “I see what you were talking about…I think the point near your underarm needs to go up a bit.” Tia turns toward the camera and lifts her arm, then points to the area she assumes Celeste is talking about. “Yeah,” she confirms. “It’s a little…” her face crinkles as she thinks over the next word.

“Aggressive?”

Celeste feigns a laugh. “That may not be the word I’d use…but yes.”

“The prototype looked so good.” Tia sighs. She thought the dress was going to be the easiest to bring to life. But when she tried the top on it sat low, dangerously low, to a point if Tia moved too much everything spilled out. Despite Auston’s objections, she added fabric to the bodice to bring the neckline up, only it came up too much. Next, she cut a bit out but then she didn’t like the neckline, it was too squared off and simple, so she tried to curve it but overcompensated as indents are being left in her skin.

“That’s why we test them out. I can’t tell you how many pieces I thought were good until I tried them on.” Celeste tries to reassure her with a faint laugh, but this part never gets easy. “It’s not that far off, dear.”

“Yeah.” Tia’s nose crinkles again, almost at her wits end with this one.

“What about the top you were working on.” Celeste steers the conversation away, hoping it has better results. “You decide on a sleeve?”

A few days ago, Tia sent Celeste a picture of a satin top with a simple square neck and subtle pleats in the bodice. The hem was unfinished and there were many pins, but what caught her attention was the two distinctly different sleeves styles. One was short and puffy, and the other was a simple and slender arm with a bell style sleeve. Tia said she was unsure of which one worked best. Celeste called it a copout, called her out to doubt herself and said she wasn’t going to help. It might have been tough, but Celeste knew she needed to make this decision on her own.

“Yay!” Celeste claps when she sees the long and flowy sleeve. This was always the right choice; she is glad Tia figured it out on her own.

“I love that one. Definitely the right pick”

“It’s playful but classic.” Tia smiles with her mentor’s reassurance.

“Completely elevates that top. Tia, I know I’ve said this before, but you have a bright future ahead of you, some people are years in the industry without the eye you have.”

“Thanks.” Tia softly laughs, a faint blush swarming her cheeks.

Now that the prototype is complete, it’s ready for Tia to make a few more and ship them back to the “testers” back in Toronto and get their feedback. Then there are the edits, photoshoots, uploading details to the website. Just when she thinks the finish line is near, she realizes just how far it is.

The two of them talked for a little while longer. Celeste told her about all the struggles she’d been facing as a store owner while in a global lockdown. Her store was forced closed, curbside pickup and online orders were slow, some days non-existent. It filled Tia with so many emotions but worry and regret were the ones she couldn’t shake. If someone who had been successful in the industry was struggling at the drop of a hat, what did it mean for her? Sales were slow, to be expected for a new line, but how long could they be slow before they stopped all together?

**

Tia put the finishing details on the shirt but left the dress on the mannequin. Normally putting it off wouldn’t be an option. It’d eat at her, knowing there was so much to do but  not knowing how to fix it. But today as she walked down the hall toward the stairs, she had zero hesitation walking away because something else had consumed her mind.

“Mommy! Mommy!” Taylour screeches when the patio doors open. “Mommy, help!” He giggles mid-air as Auston tosses him to the other end of the pool, a large splash erupts around him and a few seconds later his head pokes through the surface.

“I can’t help you.” Tia chuckles as she shuffled around the pool’s edge, her feet getting kissed by the exploding water.

“Why not?” Taylour flings his arm around and starts moving toward Auston.

“Because every time I help, your dad throws me in the water.”

“Not true.” Auston winks at her.

Tia shakes her head.

“Please mommy!” Taylour squeals as Auston grabs him by the waist and once again launches him in the air.

Tia flips her wrist and glances at the time on her watch - the very expensive watch Auston brought back from the California road trip because he “thought of her when he saw it.” “We actually have to go, Taylour.”

“Nooooo!” He emphatically shakes his head.

“Yup.” Auston moves toward the stairs. The water line slowly descends, more and more of his chest coming on display for Tia to gawk at. As he moves toward the steps, he grabs Taylour and tugs him. “You said you wanted In and Out for lunch, we have to go get it.”

“Why can’t I stay with Uncle Freddie, and you bring it here.” Taylour pouts. He stands on one of the pool steps, half in – half out of the water, hoping to convince Auston to let him stay.

“Because we’re your parents not Uncle Freddie. Uncle Freddie doesn’t have to spend his time watching you.”

“I want to stay with Fweddie.”

“Well, you’re not.” Auston bites sharply, letting his frustration poke through. “You’re coming with Mommy and I.”

“I don’t want to go with you and Mommy,” he huffs, angrily smacking his hands against the water.

“Taylour, you are coming. Get out of the pool and get dressed, now.” Auston demands, but Tia catches the inflection in his voice and the smirk curving his lips.

“But why?” He raises his voice, becoming more frustrated with Auston’s unusual stern nature. Tia knew it wasn’t going to be easy getting her son from the pool, it never was.

“Because I said so.” Auston barks. “Keep it up and you won’t get to swim for the rest of the week.”

Taylour releases a loud and dramatic groan, then once again smacks his hands against the water. He stomps past Auston, grumbling under his breath, and goes right to Tia who has a warm fluffy towel waiting for him. Having lost the battle with his father, Taylour sets his sights on Tia, hoping for a different response.

“I don’t want to go, Mommy.” Taylour whined softly while he nestled his head to the crook of her neck. She hears the broken exhale and knows tears are on the way – he doesn’t handle Auston’s frustrations well - she just doesn’t know if they are real or fake.

“I know.” Tia kneels and starts rubbing her hands over his back, drying him off while softly comforting him. She gently tilts his head, and swats at the tears clinging to the corner of his eyes. “You have to come with us, sweetie.”

“Why?” Taylour sniffles, barely choking back the lump in his throat.

“Because we have a surprise for you.” Auston cards his hand through Taylour’s drenched curls and grabs his own towel.

“A surprise?!” He immediately perks up, his eyes widen and dart up to Auston. “What is it?”

“Wouldn’t be a surprise if we told you, silly.” Tia playfully boops his nose.

As if the last thirty seconds never happened, Taylour immediately takes off toward the sliding door and gives it a firm tug to drag it open. He runs inside too excited to close the door behind him, then scurries across the hardwood.

“No running on the stairs!” Auston yells after him, but he is too late, Taylour is at the top of the stairs, slipping on the hardwood as he sprints past the railing that overlooks the living room.

“What did we get ourselves into?” Tia jokingly whines when Taylour lets out an “ooh” as he uses his palms to catch himself from falling.

Auston wraps his painted arm around Tia, over her shoulder. Tia brings her hand up and grabs his, then leans against his hard chest. Little drops of water land on her shoulder and in her hair. In an almost scarily still tone he whispers, “you’re going to miss this level of calm.” The worst part is, he is right.

**

Like most car rides, Taylour quickly became impatient. It wasn’t long after he finished his cheeseburger and shake before the “where are we going,” “how much longer” and “are we there yet” started. They knew the almost hour drive would be long, and planned for it, but no amount of movies, superhero action figures, colouring books would be enough, when all he wanted was to do was swim.

“Mommy, I’m bored.” He whines and dramatically throws his head back against the car seat. He tosses the tablet, and it lands on the floor, bouncing on impact.

Auston huffs out a dry laugh. Like Taylour, his patience is wearing thin. “Wouldn’t be if you watched the movie.”

“I don’t want to watch the movie anymore.” Taylour promptly informs him. His feet kick against the car seat and he dramatically sighs, again.

“We’re almost there, Tay.” Tia turns in her seat and silently laughs at his outfit choice. He insisted on getting ready himself and his shoes are on the wrong feet, his shirt must have come from the laundry given the ketchup stain on the chest, and his shorts are bright neon yellow. The fashion designer in her cringes but as a mom, she is thrilled that he is dressed, and understands that some battles aren’t worth it.

“How many minutes?”

“Less than five.” She picks up the tablet and pauses the movie, then puts it in her bag.

“That’s too long.” Taylour kicks his legs out in a frustrated fit.

“Of course, it is.” Auston mutters sarcastically, his knuckles whitening around the steering wheel.

Tia snaps her head to Auston, and she gives him a look, one he hasn’t seen often but immediately recognizes. “I promise, you’re going to love your surprise.”

They continue driving down the quiet rural road, slowly maneuvering turns. Whatever playlist Auston selected is quiet, so quiet the only sound is the air conditioning whirring through the vents and the rhythmic beeping of the blinker. Tia presses her head against the window and watches the dust kick out from under the tires.

“We’re here.” Auston announces once the vehicle is parked in front of a large farmhouse.

Taylour perks up and tries to sit up in his seat as much as possible. He takes in the surroundings, a blue house with a simple white fence, not distinguishing or exciting for an almost four-year old.

“What are we doing here?” He asks, not hiding the disgruntled look on his face.

“This is a boring surprise, Daddy.”

“You sure about that?” Taylour freed himself from the car seat, and when Auston opens the door, he is quick to leap out.

“Yeah.” He crinkles his nose and closes the car door behind him. “There is no slide or pool, nothing fun.”

Tia hears small overlapping barks and yips coming from inside the home, her heart flutters. She has been waiting for this day her entire life.

Gravel crunches under her feet as she strolled around the car. She crouches down and puts her hand on her knees, bringing herself to Taylour’s eye level. She adjusts his ball cap over his curls then smiles. “Would it still be a bad surprise if we told you there were puppies inside?”

His brown eyes glow. “I want to see the puppies!” He blurts out.

Auston crouches down and smiles, almost bigger than Taylour. “What if we told you; we’re going to bring one home?”

“MY OWN PUPPY!” Taylour screams while jumping in the air.

“A family puppy.” Auston corrects him.

“I’M GETTING A PUPPY!” He shrieks, unphased by what Auston told him.

Auston knew he would be excited when he found out. He assumed there would be jumping and screaming, thought there was the possibility of joyful tears. What he didn’t count on was Taylour being so excited he’d sprint past them toward the front door without another word.

Knock. Knock. Knock. Taylour pounds on the door as hard as he can. “I’m here for my puppy!” Knock. Knock. Knock.

Auston and Tia had barely made it two steps before the door creaks open, a middle-aged woman stands on the other side.

“Hello.” She smiles to Taylour, then to Auston and Tia.

Taylour bounces on his heels, even though they can’t see his face they know he is beaming from ear to ear. “Hi, my name’s Taylour. I’m here for my puppy.”

“Taylour, you can’t just – “

“It’s fine.” She laughs, Taylour isn’t the first child to react this way. She moves to the side to let him pass then waits for Tia and Auston to make their way up the porch.

“Sorry, he has wanted a puppy since before he could walk.”

The three of them hear Taylour squeal as an overlapping chorus of barks and whines echo down the hall.

“No apologies needed.” They all step inside and see Taylour standing on the outside of the fenced in area. He is leaning as far as he can without losing his balance, scratching the tops of the puppies’ heads, giggling the entire time. “I’m Sandra, and that,” she eyes over to the full-size Bernese Mountain dog who is across from Taylour keeping a watchful eye on her pups, “is Stella the mom.” Shortly after a white poodle rounds the corner and walks right up to Auston, nudging his hand for some pets. “This suck is Teddy.”

“Hiya Teddy.” Auston bends down and is instantly met with a lick to the cheek.

“Which one is mine?” Taylour’s head is on a swivel. This puppy. That puppy. That puppy. He can barely keep up. 

“We have to pick it.” Auston tells him.

“You can go in.” Sandra offers, motioning to the pen.

Auston and Tia step over the gate, then Auston hooks his arms under Taylour’s armpits to hoist him over. The three of them fall to the floor, immediately being swarmed by the puppies.

“Mommy!” Taylour giggles as one with a pink ribbon licks his cheek. “Mommy, I want this one.”

“Yeah?” She grins, gently scratching behind the ear.

“Any with a ribbon have a home already,” Sandra tells them. “They’ve all had their first round of shots and will be ready for the next one in about two weeks.”

“Daddy, look!” Taylour nods to his foot, where one is gnawing on his sock, attempting to pull it off.

“This one’s trouble huh?” Auston scoops up the black and white ball of fur, taking Taylour’s sock with him, then cradles it in his arms.

“He’s silly.” Taylour broadcasts, trying to yank the sock out of its mouth.

When the puppy keeps his jaw tightly clenched around Taylour’s sock, he sets the puppy on his lap to the ground and crawls over to Auston. He pets along its side with one hand, his other tugging on the sock, laughing the entire time. Finally, the puppy releases the sock only to start chewing at Auston’s wrist.

“I want this one.” Taylour gives it a kiss.

“Really? What about this one?” Tia eyes to the one curled in her lap, eyes getting heavy.

Taylour takes a second to glance between the two dogs, pondering Tia’s suggestion. She obviously knows just because a dog is calm now doesn’t mean it always will be, but something, most likely her motherly instinct is telling her not to pick the one already biting.

“Uhmmm.” He ponders. Taylour scoots closer to Tia to look at the puppy in her lap. “Ohh, this one is cute too, Mommy!”

“Mhm.”

Taylour’s eyes rapidly dart between the two dogs, and he appears deep in thought, but they both know he has zero selection criteria. A twinkle catches his eye, and his entire face somehow lights up even more.

“Can I have both puppies?”

“No.” Tia is very fast to answer.

“Puh-lease!” He turns to Auston. His move always is to try the other parent with hopes for a better outcome. “Please can I get two puppies, Daddy?”

Auston looks to Taylour, then to the puppy curled up in Tia’s arms sleeping, then to the one nibling at his wrist, and sighs. “I don’t think –“

“Please, Daddy! They can play together.” He eagerly cuts him off, desperately trying to bring home two dogs.

“Then who will you play with?” Tia can see the way Auston’s face is softening and knows she will have to be the one to shut this down.

“I’ll play with them, we’ll be best friends, all three of us!”

“I think we only need one dog for now.” Auston says dimly, but Tia knows if she wasn’t here to supervise, Auston would be bringing two dog’s home.

“No!” Taylour carefully climbs over the puppies and their toys to get to Auston and wraps his arms tightly around his neck. “We need two puppies, Daddy!”

Auston makes the mistake of looking at Taylour and sees the large pout and beady eyes, a cuteness barely rivalled by the puppy in his lap. Taylour falls to his knees and gets directly into Auston’s sightline. He puts his hands together as if he is praying, and desperately pleads with a croak in his voice. “Please can we get two, Daddy? Pleeeeease?”

Auston hates how his son knows exactly what to say and how to say it to make him forget all reason.

“Tay,” Auston sighs and prepares himself for the heartbreak, but he knows Taylour will get over it faster than Tia’s frustration if he gives in. “Just one.”

There is a groan that develops deep in his stomach as his shoulders drop. “No fair.”

“Look at how cute this little guy is though.”

Auston holds the wiggly puppy a little higher and hands it to Taylour. An excited yip comes from the puppy and a smile begins to creep its way back to Taylour’s face. “He is cute, Daddy.”

Auston reaches over and grabs a small stuffed pig and gives it to the puppy who wraps his mouth around it and starts whipping its head from side to side. “I want this one.” Taylour informs them without an ounce of hesitation.

Auston and Tia left Taylour with the puppies and found Sandra in the kitchen. They went over the paperwork and fine details. She gave them a bag with some food, a small blanket, along with a binder full of health information and veterinary records.

By the time they wandered back to the living room a few minutes later, Taylour had forgotten about his desire to bring home two. He was on his knees, heels digging into the back of his thighs, squeaking the pig in an attempt to engage the puppy.

“You two ready?” Tia walks to the edge of the puppy fencing, Auston’s hand on her back.

“Mhm.” Taylour enthusiastically nods. He stands up and Auston bends down to help him over then scoops up their puppy. “Thank you for my puppy!” Taylour addresses Sandra while making a beeline for the door.

Once Taylour was in the car, which was a task, he demanded the dog sit with him. Tia was a little uneasy about leaving them alone in the back, she had a feeling she should sit with them, just in case the puppy fell or wandered away and somehow found his way under a seat, but Auston assured her everything would be fine. He could tell she was anxious, so he reached over the console and laced his fingers with hers, then brought it to her lips and placed kisses on the back of her hand, knowing that would bring her to ease.

“What should we name him?” Auston asks as they sit at a red light, the steady sound of the blinker being drowned by the noise coming from the backseat.

“Rex.” Taylour proudly proclaims.

“Rex?” Auston probes with a laugh. The suggestion undoubtedly comes from the recent viewing of Toy Story. “I don’t know if that suits him.”

“Pickles!” He cheers from the back seat.”

“Pickles?” Tia shakes her head; she knew letting the almost-four-year-old name the dog would be a terrible idea. “What about Bernie?” She suggests in reference to its breed.

“No.” They simultaneously protest.

“How about Felix?” Auston pipes up. He doesn’t know why but the second he held him, that name felt right and it’s hard for him to imagine the dog as anything else.

“Yes!” Taylour promptly agrees. “I like that!”

Auston kept his hand linked with hers over the console as he drove the quiet Scottsdale streets. His eyes were mostly on the road, but he couldn’t help glancing in the rearview every chance he got, spending red lights turned around staring at Taylour and Felix.

The next few hours were somewhat of a blur. Taylour was eager to show Felix to Trevor and Fred. He had to FaceTime Mitch, Becks, Emily and Max,Sarah and Charlie, every person he knew. He never wanted to leave Felix, even tried getting him to come to the bathroom with him. He would lay on the floor beside him while he napped, pull him into his arms for pets, dangle a toy over his head, or run around in the yard, trying to get him to follow. Felix was a little overwhelmed at times, often quiet and reserved, unsure about the toys and people around him, but that didn’t stop Taylour. He was determined to be that pup’s best friend no matter what.

**

Auston found Tia in the kitchen checking her e-mail. Some Disney movie Taylour long ago lost interest in plays in the background, he uses the noise to sneak up in front of her. He presses himself into her and chuckles when she jumps.

Droplets of water fall from his hair and splatter on her shoulder, the towel that hangs loosely over his hips rubs against her thigh.

“He’s so happy.” Auston places a gentle kiss on her temple.

She peers out the glass doors to Taylour who is sitting on a lounger with Felix in his lap. She doesn’t know what he is saying, but he constantly laughs and places kisses to his head. Her heart is about to explode. She lets out a contentious sigh and rests her arms on his shoulders, aimlessly fiddling with the metal wrapped around his neck. “I’m so happy we did this.”

“Me too.” Auston tugs at her pony and tilts her head back, then places a kiss on her lips. “I love you, babe.”

“I love you, too.”

Tia is expecting another kiss on her lips, only Auston ducks down and starts sucking along her neck.

“Auston.” She tries to scold him, only to shriek when he grabs a handful of ass from under her damp bathing suit.

“I want to kiss my girlfriend without a little parrot announcing it.”

“I know.” Tia sighs, because he has been announcing it - six times so far. “But we should go to our boys.”

Our boys.

Auston loves the way that sounds and even though it’s only been a couple hours he can’t wait until their family grows even more.

“They’re fine, Fred and Trevor have it under control. “Besides, you have a boy here who needs you.” He rolls her hips over his slowly growing erection and carves his nails into her flesh.

“Auston.” She playfully swats at his chest, letting out a breathy laugh.

“I told you to add fucking me to your list of things to do today,” he growls.

His fingers trail over her skin, pricked with goosebumps, until they find the bows that are holding up the barely-there bikini bottoms. His fingers tangle in and he begins to tug, loosening the knot.

“It’s like 4 pm.” It’s a futile attempt. They both know it.

Having heard no reason to stop, Auston quickly hoists her onto the counter. The towel drops to the floor as he presses her knees apart. He gently teases his fingertips past the seam of her lips, sending a ripple of goosebumps up her spine.

She wants to give in.

She can’t help it.

She spent too much time without him, her heart (among other things) physically ached for him and his touch. She never wants to be without it again, never wants to crave his physical touch like she did.

Following the hitch in her breath, two fingers slide inside, and are greedily welcomed by her heat. She arches toward his electric touch and his mouth moves toward the sweet spot below her ear.

It barely takes two minutes before a slew of curse words roll off Tia’s tongue. The air between them gets sticky and Auston licks up her neck. She can see the bulge beneath his bathing suit, rapidly swelling as he continues to stroke her inner walls. Through the pleasureful haze Tia barely manages to get her fingers under the waist band.

“Such a good girl, aren’t you?” Auston purrs against her neck, teeth nipping at her warm skin. Pressure builds inside her – everywhere – as Auston pets her silky inner walls. “I’m gonna bend you over this counter.” Auston’s breath is hot and heavy against her skin, fanning over her in hypnotic waves. “Kitchen’s gonna be so dirty we’ll need a hazmat team.”

Tia shudders. Her cheeks colour pink.

She wraps a leg around his hip and pulls him close. His left hand immediately finds her thigh and runs up and down. Fingerprints are left on her hips; bright red scratch marks decorate his shoulders. He’s hungry and he won’t stop until he’s had his fill of her.

“That’s what you want, right?” All thoughts disappear from her mind when his thumb starts caressing her swollen clit. Every part of her is consumed by him, and she struggles to even breathe. “To use my cock to christen this place, huh?” Her breasts bounce following every thrust, threatening to spill out of the stringy bikini top any moment. Little butterflies dance in her belly. She is barely keeping it together and Auston can tell. “M’gonna fuck you so hard a black light will break in here.”

“Mngh.” Tia chokes out, as if her tongue is glued to the top of her mouth.

“Let my friends hear.” Auston encourages her. He spits in his hand then it disappears, slathering his cock in saliva. She shudders when his warm erection nudges against her throbbing clit. “Cum baby. Show them how good I make you feel.”

Auston kneads at her fraying nerve as his breath gets hotter and heavier against her skin. They are so absorbed by the coil tightening in her belly, her release building and building -

“AUSTON!” Ema howls, absolutely horrified.

Nothing would get Auston to stop. Nothing, except his mother would get him to stop.

Taglist: If you are in this list you have expressed interest in the series (either through likes/reblogs or by asking). If it’s crossed out your tag didn’t work. If you would like to be removed or added to the list send me an ask:

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[writeforfandoms]

Island 2

Find the series masterlist

More conversations are had, plans are made, and you all make a run for another drop. Of course, things don't always go smoothly.

Warnings: Swearing, intense emotions, reader has Issues, canon typical violence, shooting at dinosaurs, blood, death (dinosaurs only), playing fast and loose with Ark mechanics.

Word count: 2.5k

Eventual Kyle "Gaz" Garrick x f!reader

All four of them helped you carry in the meat and berries, and you showed them where you kept everything. It took longer to pluck the dodos, leaving the feathers in a large basket. Gaz took over that for you, and you stood in the middle of the house for a minute, hands on your hips. 

“Taming really isn’t a day two topic,” you said, shaking your head a little. “But. Oh well.” You breathed in deep, fingers tapping against your hip. “Obviously you lot have seen Bessie and Watermelon. Taming creatures is generally not hard, but it is a process. The herbivores are the easiest, you just find their favorite berries and feed ‘em until they like you.” You paused there and then sighed. “You kind of have to take all of this with a grain of salt, because none of this makes sense. I just knew when Bessie was tame, same way I just know that hyaenadon will be ready to come in tomorrow. I didn’t have to train Bessie, she just knows.” You shrugged. 

“So, what, you just feed things until they follow you home?” Gaz didn’t look up from the dodo he was plucking. 

“I mean, with herbivores, yeah. And a few carnivores, like the hyaenadons. But most carnivores are much more dangerous.” You shook your head. “I’m honestly amazed Tom was able to tame Ripper. Raptors are dangerous and they’re pack hunters.”

“So how did he tame it?” Price crossed his arms over his chest. 

“Nuh uh.” You pointed a threatening finger at him. “Nope. Week two. Survive that long and I’ll teach you.” 

His eyes gleamed and he tipped his head to look down at you. “Fine.” 

“Are we goin’ for the green drop?” Soap asked as he finished piling meat in the preserving bin. 

“Haven’t decided. The closer you get to the mountain, the more dangerous the creatures are.” You shrugged, turning away to check your berries. You needed to do something with some of them. More hard biscuits, probably. Especially considering how many Gaz had eaten. “Gaz, let me know when you’re done with those dodos.”

“Will do.” He sneezed as a feather tried to drift up his nose, making Soap laugh at him. You just rolled your eyes. Children. 

The rest of the day passed in more or less easy work. Gaz picked up how to get the most meat off the birds quickly, only grumbling when Soap interrupted him. Ghost had vanished outside again, which you decided was Not Your Problem. Price had studied the map for a bit and then started poking around. 

It was not the same kind of quiet that you’d grown accustomed to since Jasper got killed. But it was quiet, mostly. 

Gaz helped you with dinner, which was good, because you weren't used to cooking for five. 

Dinner was quiet too. This time, Soap grabbed the dishes before you could, leaving you inside with Gaz and Price. Gaz stepped outside as well. 

Lovely. 

"You haven't searched for a way out?" Price asked, leaning back in his chair, hands folded together over his stomach. 

"I never said that," you shot back, a little annoyed. "Of course I have. Everyone has. And nobody's done it. This place is a fucking death trap." 

He was quiet for a few moments, watching you. You looked away first. 

"Forgive me if I don't believe there's no way out," he drawled.

You waved a hand. "Believe what you want," you muttered. "You'll figure it out." 

He blew out a breath. "What else do we need to learn?"

You huffed, crossing your arms over your chest. "More about taming, later," you said. "Weapons you seem to know. We need to go through berries and edible plants, of course. Basic repairs. Basic building. Creature identification. Things to avoid at all costs." You shrugged. 

Price nodded, still relaxed in his chair, still watching you. "You haven't given up yet."

You tensed. "What?"

"You're still here. Still alive." His lips quirked in an almost-smile. "Much as you insist this place is a death trap, you haven't resigned yourself to it. Not fully. Else you wouldn't have survived this long." 

You stared at him for a few long moments, lips parted, eyes wide. Your heart beat hard and fast in your chest, the same feeling the last time you'd come across a raptor. 

You slammed out of the house before you knew what you were doing, walking fast away from that train wreck. He wasn't even entirely wrong - there was still that tiny glimmer of wondering, that tiny what if.

More than that, though, you were mad he had read you so easily. You weren't used to that. Maybe it was all the time you'd spent alone, or the lack of emotional intelligence from Jasper. 

Either way, you probably could have reacted better. 

“Love?” 

You startled a little at the nickname and half-turned to look at Gaz. The bastard had snuck up on you. “Hm?” 

“You alright?” He took a slow step closer, hands twitching at his side.

“Yes, of course.” You breathed in, swallowing hard. “You lot got the dishes done already? Gonna have to find more things for you to do before you get bored.” 

“Don’t worry about that,” Gaz murmured, taking another step closer. “We’re good at keeping ourselves busy.”

“Hm. Even so.” You turned away from him to fuss with one of Bessie’s saddle bags. “Nice having help, definitely makes the chores go faster. If that green drop is still there tomorrow maybe we’ll go find it. Green drops usually have better stuff in them.” 

“Yeah? Anything you want in particular?” He stepped around you so he could see your face again, leaning against the fence. 

“Wouldn’t mind getting a shotgun,” you admitted on a sigh. “And boots. I would kill for boots.” 

You both looked down at your current pair, which were in poor repair by now. And too big for you. 

“See what you mean,” Gaz murmured. “Well, we can check tomorrow, yeah?”

“Yeah.” You breathed out again. “Long as there aren’t raptors along the way.”

“There a lot of them around here?” 

“Not usually.” You shifted your weight, finally giving up on messing with the saddle bags to mirror Gaz’s posture. “Get a little further up into the mountains, though, and there are all kinds of things. Raptors, sabertoothed cats, carnotaurus. Even rexes, if we’re really unlucky.” 

“Sounds like everything wants to eat us.” But he was still relaxed, smiling a little.

“You joke, but you’re right.” You shook your head. “There are so many things on this island that want to eat you. So many.” You shivered as the memory of screams echoed in your mind. 

He frowned, hand settling on your shoulder. "It's alright, love," he murmured. "There are five of us, now. And you've got experience. We'll manage." 

You leaned into his hand, swallowing convulsively. It had been… a long time since you'd had human contact. A long time. "You're right." You breathed in deep, trying to wrangle your emotions back under control. "We'll be okay." 

He smiled at you, warm and confident. "I know you don't know us yet," he said, shifting closer to you, brown eyes holding yours. "But we keep each other safe, and we'll do the same for you." 

You shook your head a little, smiling even as you pulled back. "Don't worry about me," you demurred. "Focus on yourselves at first. I know what I'm doing." One deep breath in and you stepped back. "Come on, we should go set up for bed." 

He nodded, motioning for you to go first. You breathed in deep before you went inside, scooping up the basket of glow crystals. 

The evening was quiet. Gaz helped you set up, and ended up sitting near you for a little while. 

"Think you're gonna name the hyaenadon?" He asked, glancing at you. 

"Oh, probably." You smiled a little. "Dunno what yet." 

He nodded, relaxing next to you. "Think it'll be right around here?" 

"I hope so." You chuckled. "Or maybe it'll find us when we go to the green drop." 

He nodded and watched as Soap and Ghost came back in too, settling down for the night. 

"You should get some sleep," you murmured to him. He was close, you could touch him. You could. It wouldn't be weird. Your gaze settled on his hand, a nice, innocent spot. "Gonna be a long day." 

"Sleep well." Gaz hesitated another moment longer before he pushed up to his feet. You watched him go.

You should have touched his hand. 

Annoyed at yourself now, you retreated to your own bed for the night. You needed to take your own advice, especially if you were leading them off to the green drop. 

Huffing to yourself, you curled up on your side with your back to them. 

It took you a long time to sleep.

Gaz helped you with breakfast the next morning, standing a little closer than he needed to. But you didn't mind. 

And then Soap crowded in on your other side, and you eyed the both of them. This felt distinctly like pranks, or something. Mischief. 

But nobody got into trouble through breakfast. Thankfully. 

It didn't take long to get armored up again, and you grabbed another piece of meat for the hyaenadon. 

“We'll take Watermelon today,” you said, glancing around at them. “He'll be good help.” 

“How so?” Gaz asked, sidling closer to you. 

“These guys are good as watch towers. They're kinda paranoid, and they alert at any sign of danger.” You shrugged, walking over to the paddock. “Hey, Watermelon. Hi cutie boy.” You held out a hand, smiling as the parasaur plodded happily over to you. “Good boy,” you cooed. 

“Big dinosaur,” Soap muttered, shifting his weight. “Ye sure it'll help?”

“Saved my ass before,” you said with a shrug. “Okay, come on. Let's get going.” You whistled for Watermelon to follow. 

The walk up to the green drop was longer than you liked, and you were on alert the entire walk. So was Watermelon, ambling behind you all and looking around constantly. 

Watermelon bleated in alarm, and you halted, gun up, scanning for the threat. 

But the only thing to approach was the hyaenadon. 

“Okay,” you breathed. “Do not shoot my hyaenadon.” You glanced back at the men to make sure they were listening. Price nodded once, so you tucked your weapon away and approached the hyaenadon. Handing over the last piece of meat was easy, and the hyaenadon wagged as it ate. She licked her lips and then sat politely in front of you, jaws parted in a canine grin. 

“Good.” You patted her on the top of her head, ruffling her fur. “Okay, come with us.” You whistled and she trotted happily along with you as you rejoined the others. 

“Done?” Price asked, glancing down at the hyaenadon. 

“Yeah. She's all tamed now.” You breathed in deep. “Alright, let's get going again.” 

You took the lead again. A quick glance back showed Soap and Ghost both giving your newest tame a good berth. But Gaz looked curious. 

Eh. You'd deal with any questions later. 

You paused at the top of a rise, looking across the flat land towards the green drop. This was a potentially dangerous area. So far all looked quiet, and the pair of pachys roaming the flat area were a good sign. 

Hopefully all would stay quiet. 

“Alright. The drop is just up there.” You glanced back at them, a little surprised to see them all already watching you. “We’re going to approach slowly. If you see anything, speak up. I've seen raptors up here before.” 

They all nodded, and you took the lead to the drop. Watermelon looked around anxiously, but stayed quiet. Probably a good sign. 

You popped open the crate, peering inside. Some armor pieces that looked too big for you, ammunition, another assault rifle, two more canteens, and… a pair of boots. 

“Hell yes,” you hissed, picking up the boots immediately. They looked like they might be a little too big, but you had extra cloth you could shove into them. Good enough. 

Gaz helped you get everything into the saddle bags, grinning when he spotted your boots. “Finally, eh?” he murmured. 

“Finally,” you agreed with an easy grin. “Alright, let’s–”

Watermelon bleated, lifting his head and looking to one side. You turned, pistol in hand, scanning the tree line.

“Raptors,” you hissed, eyes narrowing, even as you stepped forward, all too aware of the men behind you. “Fuck I hate raptors.” 

“How many?” Price asked, closer than you expected. 

“At least three.” You tracked one pacing at the edge of the trees, dark green skin blending into its surroundings. “They’re fast, be careful.” 

The first one burst from the trees with a screech, two others flanking it. You aimed for the leader, jaw tight as you timed your shots. Blood bloomed against the dark green, bright and almost startling in the sunlight. 

The leader fell, jaws still open even in death. You huffed in satisfaction. 

One of the other two leapt over the leader’s body with a screech, claws extended towards you. 

And then fell just shy of you from a shot to the eye, bleeding sluggishly. 

Your breath escaped in an unsteady whoosh, hands trembling even as you reloaded your pistol. “Nice shot,” you managed, voice more or less even, gaze still fixed on the corpse. 

“You alright?” Gaz stepped up next to you, one hand hovering near your shoulder.

“Fine.” You forced your gaze to him, plastering on a smile, even if it felt wrong. “Not the first time raptors have ambushed a drop.” You did a quick visual inspection of him before looking at the others. “Everyone okay?”

“All fine,” Price said, glancing between you and Gaz. “No injuries.”

“Good.” One more deep breath and you shoved everything down. You didn’t have room to break, to panic, to cry. Not here. “Right, let’s head back, I don’t want to see if that noise attracted anything around us.” 

The walk back to base was quiet, with all of you on high alert. The hyaenadon trotted next to you, ears perked, listening to everything around you.

You were very, very grateful that nothing came for the group of you. You were even more relieved when you closed the gates behind everyone, once again safely in base. 

“Let’s get this lot unloaded,” you said, swallowing against sudden exhaustion. “And then figure out dinner.”

“You alright?” Gaz asked softly, standing next to you to unload the armor while you grabbed your new boots. “Your hands are shaking.”

“I’m fine,” you lied with a quick smile. “Nothing to worry about. Go on, head in with those, I’m going to get Watermelon settled.”

Gaz shot you one more worried look before he obeyed, falling into step next to Price. 

Your hands didn’t stop shaking, even as you took off Watermelon’s saddle and got him settled in the paddock with Bessie again. 

You stood outside for a few extra minutes, hidden from sight of the building, just breathing. You hadn’t lost anybody today. You hadn’t lost anybody today. 

You’d make sure you didn’t lose anybody tomorrow.

[mersei47]

mh fix it au doodles that I just got to draw it out (below is my ramblings about this au)

- so like jay got shot but hes not dead and got send back in time before everything go to shit or all is just a big fever dream (I cant decide which one is better)

- and jay is the only one know about this then he has to do something so history wont repeat itself

- oh theres skully too but they are not jay but a different entity that is there to help jay defeats the operator (think of it like when you played game then died first try the second try you got a helping hand or assist so you wont die again)

- skully lives with jay at his apartment while both of them try to find a way to end this (skully is a good roommate if you get to know them :D)

- everyone that got contacted with operator can see skully (means that everyone except mh crew (+ jessica, amy etc.) cant see skully)

- jay probably ten times more paranoid about everything and everyone now that he knows whats gonna happen

- last time jay and tim ever interact didnt end well (at least for jay) so he has mixed feeling towards tim. and tim knows jay been keeping smth from everyone but doesn't wanna pry it out, yet

- skully at first just there to help defeating the operator but when times go on they help jay mending his relationship with his friends too

- one time when the crew shooting movie near the wood area alex saw jay walked out of forest looked disoriented and frustrated with leaf all over his head. everyone at crew just had to come charged at jay asking him what happened but jay doesnt want to talk about it since he knew it would involved them and risk being killed

- there will be time when he learned that he cant work alone forever (because look where it led him in the past)

- and skull know this too so they try to reach out to everyone else (brian, tim) to help jay which is very hard because brian and tim freaked out at first because "dude theres a masked man stalking us wtf????" (similar to how skully try to reach out to jessica in comic)

- jay cant seem to stay close with alex for a very long time because he will have panic attack (I mean alex did kill him and he probably still shocked) and as much as alex wants to ask jay what happened jay cant think of straight answers

- (theory time) now that I think about a way to defeat operator the only things I can think of is 1. defeat it within the ark 2. burn the forest (too hardcore and didnt solved the root cause) 3. or operator is the result of everyone's undiagnosed mental illness they refuse to acknowledged it and get help (jay and alex is clear examples). Operator is still real but it targets peoples like them. If they got the help them should probably can uh fight it off (this starting to sounds like cthulhu stuff)

I tried my best to sound understandable orz

[sonicjustbecause]

What about the earliest Shadow?

Mods and Shadow has his Chao following him...

I imagine that most people got so interested in Shadow lately because he is back to be likeable, but also because of the incoming movie.

For the last decade Shadow has been the laughing stock from Sonic series. Crazy OoC-ness from fans were deliberate and not a mistake.

Yes, happy Shadow was a choice by its autor. Is a long story...

The most common image of last decade Shadow we had was... THIS...

Idiot...

I knew Shadow first from Adventure and Heroes. I didn't play heroes but I played a lot SA2B, especially the chao game and I always used Sonic and Shadow because they were the safest to have around chao. I rediscovered him later, in 2010, but he wasn't the likeable character I once knew so I completely lost interest in him (also I'm more a Sonic fan). I forgot who he was and all the things I knew were from meme. But also video from games showing 'how Shadow is an asshole' 'Shadow the edgelord' and IDW comics, the worst of all (not that Game Shadow was better, he was often underused and his few lines tasted as 'Go fuck yourself'. To make things worse he was dubbed by Kirk Thorton, not a really beautiful voice, to not say brutal things...).

Sega just took Shadow and removed all his good qualities, all what made him well rounded, keeping only the flaws (I've read the mandates, do you know what an Anti-Mary Sue is? Well...). They wanted him being unlikeable I guess. Is mainly from Prime and tMoStH that Shadow sparkled my interest again into exploring him as character, that made me think there is more, that he must also have good qualities, not only flaws.

The earliest Shadow (Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes) was hardly grumpy. He was sad, lonely, somewhat insecure, often lost in though, but also stubborn, certainly less cold than people might assume. As for grumpiness, if I compare him to Sonic in 2001, Sonic seemed slightly grumpier than Shadow at that time. Shadow himself seemed to be aware of that and to have fun picking on Sonic. Both of them are rather cold outside but both of them are shown to be able to feel strong emotion (Shadow having a panic attack and Sonic wiping his eyes during the credits, Shadow being controlled by is own emotions while Sonic refusing them) At least that was the impression he gave me. Since Shadow was meant to die, most of his personality traits aswell as his backstory were packed and shown during the whole game, like a character ark. He is pratically the protagonist in the dark storyline. By the end of the storyark he is able to open up to Sonic (during the final battle against the biolizard he openly told Sonic he was not feeling well. Also the hand clasping was a gesture of openess from Shadow) and to some degree toward Amy. Not so much toward Rouge who pratically is the one who hurt him the most. In heroes Shadow appears to be pleasant to have around, althoug aloof. He is not fond in humanity and that's one of his main traits, but he doesn't let his predjudice win over him. He still has this melancholic aura around him though, it doesn't matter how content or cheerful he may seem sometimes.

Sonic was dubbed by Ryan Drummond and Shadow by David Humphrey. David's voice was different from the other VA Shadow had. His voice was more high pitched, youthful, cute. Still soft spoken. Ryan's voice was legendary, and when he made Sonic talk soflty, he sounded almost like Shadow. The two VA had so similar voices that made Sonic and Shadow sound like legit twins, and back in 2001 I though they shared the same VA all the time. Well, Drummond also dubs Shadow for a short time.

So what went wrong?

The 00's era were the years of the prince of the saiyan, or better, the king of the edgelords:

This guy was also sad and lonely. But he was also more impulsive, rough, boorish and extremely grumpy. Maybe because he is a muscular human and not a cute velvety male calico kitten hedgehog he filled the dreams of young and older teenagers.

Some said Shadow is based on Vegeta (not only him but also him) the more the 00's approaches the 10's, the more Shadow became grumpier, arrogant and standoffish. Sadness and melancholy were replaced by selfishness and he became less and less fun and interesting. Shadow the edgelord.

Archie Shadow was maybe too expressive (and his sadness was very underlined) but with only SA2 and Sonic Heroes around this interpretation was more than understandable. They (Flynn, Penders I can imagine) referred from the material they had. Shadow opening up to Sonic is there in Adventure 2, is undeniable, so it was normal assuming he was more open.

He is left handed, yeah! (This is actually correct)

In Sonic Universe Shadow was more balanced, maybe closer to the one we saw in early '00s. Lonely, rejected, sometimes bullied (although he could defend himself with his sharp tongue) because he was different.

Then the IDW.

No. Seriously Shadow?

That is unavoidable if we are talking about characters that are created by a team and not by a single. We already see this with Disney. When the writers change the charcters change too, everybody notices different things about a character, based on it's own experience of life. The characters chanfe even when the single writer deals with them, because people change too. Any kind of mandates can only help this far, if they're too heavy they end to be counter productive.

This is my personal opinion, but I would have seen better Shadow befriending Amy and Sonic more than Rouge in early days. Rouge worried for him at times, but there were moments she purposefully hurted him (although later she cared sincerely for him). She would take time to regain his trust. With Sonic, following SA2 would have been open, even more than what we see in Prime. With Amy he would be in good terms though often drained by her own cheerfulness and extrovertion. Tails is rather reserved although not socially awkward so he would not have problem with him. With Knuckles things would become funny I guess, Shadow used to be calm and smart while Knuckles is more simple and is grumpy. I think he (Shadow) would still have issues and relapses with his PTSD though and the need to be left alone.

Well, now the movie will come out. They did a good job until now. I'm curious about what they will do with Shadow. I hope he will be likeable like in SA2.

[skyloftian-nutcase]

The idea of your Shadow Link needing hugs consumed my brain. So... here.

There was someone clinging to Naydra as she emerged from the Snowfield Chasm. Link didn't think many others could see the dragons, much less have the nerve to ride them. And Naydra's aura of frost never made that easy. And the frost-bitten-whoever-they-were was slipping. Link angled himself towards the falling form, calling first in a sharp whistle to try to get the tumbling form to steady themselves, then calling out to Tulin's Sage ability to push him into the other person.

“Hold on to me!” He called.They tried, but with the frozen air still whipping around them, the second Link deployed his paraglider, they slipped, and began falling once more. No no no no no he chanted, throwing himself into a dive once more. They weren't that far off the ground. He had a fairy, it wasn't the worst fall he'd had even in the last week, so he put himself between this dragon-rider and the ground and braced himself for impact.

It hurt, but no fairy fluttered out of his pouch so after giving himself and the other person a second to breathe, he started to move towards sitting up. The person in his arms was shivering violently, Link could feel them wincing in a way that said the cold was killing them like taking a plunge into the icy waters still would for him.

“I've never seen anyone else ride a dragon. Who--?”

They were dressed in some robe-thing that looked like a piece from the gloom set the bargainer statues gave. Gray-tinted skin, white hair... and red eyes pried open to look at him. It was that shade of a hero that the Demon King summoned. It reminded him uncomfortably of the Puppet the Yiga had been using to imitate Zelda. Link gasped despite himself.

“You're Raru's knight...” The Shade Hero murmured, trying to move away from Link and only falling to his knees instead.

“Zelda’s knight first.” He corrected. The Shade was thin, too thin, like a step away from being corpse-thin like the redeads. His forehead was bleeding sluggishly. The cold would kill him if whatever had been done to him didn't. He didn't have spare cold gear but he did still have a couple items from his trip up to the Stormwind Ark. “Here.” He pulled the simple mushroom, meat, and peppers skewer from his supplies. “Can you eat this? It'll stave off the cold for a few minutes. Long enough to get to a cave anyway...” The Shade looked at him skeptically but took the skewer and tentatively took a bite, then hurriedly scarfed the whole thing. He had even more questions now, concerning ones to think about. When was the last time the Shade ate? Did he need to? Something in the Shade's posture had his knight’s oath to protect screaming at him to act. He looked so...beaten down.

“Come on.” He gestured towards the exit from the snowfield. “There's a cave at the end of the promenade. You won't freeze there and I can start a fire and...” and maybe cook something else because you're clearly hurt and/or starving.

And so Link led the Demon King's Shade of the Hero down to the cave at the end of the Lanayru promenade. Once outside the wind and safe within the regulated temperature of the cave, he started a fire, then parked the Shade in front of it before setting up a portable cook pot and pulling every blanket and spare warm item he could find in his pouch to wrap his companion in. Hot chocolate. This kid (he looked very young huddled there by the fire) needed hot chocolate.

“So, am I going to get stabbed the second I turn around?” He asked, trying to sound casual. Yiga played sympathetic on occasion for as long as several minutes, and the shock and cold still seemed to have kept Shade stunned.

“N-no. I'm not... I don't want to fight you. Please. I don't want Him to bring me back again. Don't kill me.” That was a whole lot to unpack, but it didn't take a ton of wisdom to see Shade meant it. He was terrified.

“Whoa, easy, Buddy.” Link tried to soothe, finishing with the pot and dumping two bottles of milk and a whole bunch of chocolate into the bowl. “I'm not going to do anything...” He rambled while the hot chocolate warmed, rambled about Cotla’s grotto below Kakariko, about shield surfing down the mountain chasing a beam of light, about the Stable Trotters and the Dondons down in Faron, about the thousand random tasks he'd found time to do while gathering his courage to plunge into the Depths again. Eventually, it seemed to soothe Shade. He put a mug of the warm milky-chocolate in the boy's hands and sat beside him. Shade curled into his side so much like Zelda had right after defeating the Calamity, desperate for Hylian contact. He didn't like what he could conjecture about Shade's story, and the evidence in the thin form in his arms wasn't any more comforting. He began dreaming up more ways to murder that Demon King. Pushing him off the top of the Stormwind Ark and letting him splat into the tundra was no longer enough. He needed something more painful...

JFIEOWAJFOKSAJFIEOW WAAAAAAAH AJ

I want you to know that when I first saw this I was in bed trying to convince myself to get up and this was such a comfort and amazing thing to find and read. And tonight at work I found it again and got all excited and happy and it helped me settle a bit, tonight’s been an interesting ride lol

POOR LITTLE SHADOW he was so scared when Wild asked about if he was gonna attack T-T AAHHHHH I LOVE THIS AJ

Have I mentioned that I adore this BECAUSE I ADORE THIS <3 <3 <3 <3

AH I’m going to read and reread this <3 Thank you so much for sharing <3 <3 <3 <3

[writingforatwistedworld]

Can I request with Ace,Deuce and Kalim self aware au?The reader is having a hard time sleeping and is in a bad mood. While playing, they said "Imagine hugging him will definitely help a bit, seeing him appear makes me feel better."

Self-aware au

I do not take any responsibility for you reading this no matter which age group you are from!

WARNINGS: Yandere themes, kidnappin, violence, unhealty mindset, family problems, obsession

Ace Trappola/Deuce Spades/Kalim Al-Asim-Player is in a bad mood and imagines being with him

Ace never thought that he would ever have a chance with the Overseer

And then, would you look at that, you placed him into your homescreen

This was all fine and dandy

After all, he could now see every single reaction of yours towards something

And with every single one I mean every single one, also the not so pretty ones

One day you were showing clear signs of distress whilst having ark circles under your eyes

If it were only for that then he would be worried out of his mind

But Ace being separated wouldn't be able to do anything other than driving himself crazy so.... mhm

And then you dropped that on sentence, “Imagining hugging him definitely helps a bit, seeing him here on screen makes me feel so much better”

At this point he should be dorm leader if the criteria was how red someone's head could get

Whilst he should feel sad he is nothing but elated

You see him as a pillar to lean on!!! He is your emotional crutch!!!

But he does feel at least somewhat sad, but sadly not for the right reason

After all, how good of a reason is it if someone is not genuinely worried about you but their own reaction towards whatever is happening?

Don’t tell others the same!

He will literally make sure they won’t be able to face you again

Mhm that broken leg and nose is from him

Just rely on him, ok? After all, that is how it’s supposed to be!

Our good old Deuce who thinks that he isn’t worthy a single glance the Overseer throws at him because of his past

But he tries to better himself! He hasn’t beaten someone up in weeks!!!

And it seems to work! After all, you declared him your favorite and made him greet you every time you return

Although, it seems like things aren’t so good on your end

Deuce has seen your expression many times on the face of his mother so he knows that things are a bit rough for you right now

But maybe things will get better! After all, the he and his mother were able to stand through a lot as long as they worked together!

And maybe his positivity somehow got through the screen and now you are relying on him?

Because just a second after he realized this you suddenly said something

“Imagining hugging him definitely helps a bit, seeing him here on screen makes me feel so much better”

Do you want to send him to the hospital? Oh why I am asking?

You just almost gave him a heart attack!

Deuce will not tell anybody that you said that

He wouldn’t want to get it snatched away by some pesky little- whops! Almost forgot himself!

He tries more and more to be better for you, it seems like it works after all!

Don’t think too much about his expression and the dark circles under his eyes that appeared after a while

Deuce has started to study even more which led to… unhealthy patterns

But everything for you! Even if he has to sacrefice his health!

Sunny boy over here is everything but calm after seeing in what state your body is

There are such dark circles under your eyes! When was the last time you had a meal??!

Kalim was determined to make sure that he would make you laugh no matter what happened

But how could he do that when he couldn’t figure out what to do?

Kalim always admired you

The former sultan so many generations ago did not respect your wisdom which ended up in you turning towards the Sorcerer of Sands to show the arrogant ruler where his place was

The Sorcerer was already known to be a great scholar but you were still able to impress him, inspiring him to reach further than just the stars

There was no greater power than you and he was more than just jozfull to follow you

And then the day arrived, the day on which he saw you at your most voulnerable

Sitting there you stared at the screen, making the monarch fear for what you could possibly sayu

But that didn’t happen

“Imagining hugging him definitely helps a bit, seeing him here on screen makes me feel so much better”

Huh… did he just hear you right?

You wanted to hug him??!!

And this is where he stops being a cinnamon bun and just becomes (even more) staright up creepy

“Don’t you worry! I’ll make sure that you will be with me! And then you will never be able to leave! Just how we two want it to be!“

[selfox]

Cy's live-ish reactions are coming back.

FINALLY! I pulled myself together and got to the end of Ungrateful (to this reaction will be later).

These are chapters from Make a Wish till the start of Ungrateful of Random Tales Of Drakgo by @gothicthundra

I had reaction ready for a while, but I really needed to restart it so it would keep me in momentum so it'll have practically 2 reactions - Initial and second one. So that's why I need more time to edit the Ungrateful ark reaction ^^"

Make a wish

Initial first read

Shegooooo omg. Xd nice save. Its so precious how you decided to cook for him Xd dr d you lil, I'll give you a noogie, your hints xd you are precious Guys your tension is palpable. OMG DRAKKEN YOU SMOOTH FUCKER, SMOOTH CRIMINAL. Ma'am... You 2 have been an epitome of UST Tvgggh itty bitty Drakken grow big and strong ...... Not like buffkken tho xD tho buffkken still deserves love Oh Shego, sweetheart...

Second reread

Shego, more like how much one person wants to keep their name out of press. I would have been surprised if it was mentioned. Overall it's all sus indeed.

Well considering what happened not just because of Botox, but you sharing with him very personal information AND whole your cat and mouse game with feelings

I love this subtlety. I can't call it anything else. Especially when it's others POV. After second read you immediately get what Drakken been keeping inside.

I need to understand how Drakken is even making money. Like.... I get stealing money or things to sell, but... Do they do that in enough quantity? Plus you need some steady income with henchmen, lairs and ... Stuff??

✨Realization✨

Ma'am, you've done the goof.

YES HE HAS BEEN.

This man is so traumatized over her disappearing on vacations.

And, Drak, I hate to bring it to you. You are just in love with her OTL Man... I want to hug him, poor blue man.

Shego, you would be surprised how many factors come into play regarding baking. So it's completely understandable. Cus you don't have enough practice.

And here I want to hug Shego, she is... I want to say tsundere, but it's just simple denial of everything. And this cupcake… when you make something yourself it hits different. And she knows it deep inside.

Smart ass Drakken xD

Every time I have the same reaction and it's audibly say: "Ough, about that"

Like I've said before those 2 are precious in their banter... It's so on edge of flirt, but much more meaningful. And the turn of events how that laser became her hoverboard. This warmth. I know they don't do that, but I envision them leaning to one another as if talking conspirationally. Have really soft almost whispering voices.

So close and yet so far. Once again smooth

What still gets me and practically hammers down is how it isn't said what his wish is, and yet you still get what he wants.

Working the Nerves

Initial first read

🤣🤣🤣 Daaaw roumd boi 🤣🤣🤣🤣 omg Shego Yep, I will be laughing all chapter OMG DREW YOU DIDN'T F SHEGO Ouch f hair .... Ok this is some unfortunate incidents, I'm sus Ok, this one on you Bonding :3 Dr d you are an addict DRAKKEN YOU MAD LAD STRONG LAD

Sugar rush and hyperfocus can do some things to a lad. Tho a silver lining to your love handles, Dr D, that it is comfier to cuddle.

I adore that back and forth banter, and to hear how they are at it for 3 days and, honestly, they can do it even longer given chance.

I am still curious what it is now.

You know, during the rewatch of the show, I hadn't realize how fricken much, Shego sits either unusually or plainly on a table/desk. She is just a feline.

She is a very black green tinted cat to herself. Is it Friday 13 of some sort? Did she break some mirror recently? Walked under the ladder??

Ok yeah I completely forgot this part that explains how they have money through stocks.

Gods, I get that funk that Drakken has. Low on inspo and on occasion motivation is hell.

Overall sometimes I think there should exist a skit with name "Adventures of Dr. Drakken and his ADHD brain"

Domestic

Shego, my lass, you do affect him, don't worry Daaaw XD Painting her nails, daaaww.... Wait is that a mirror of her and Pandora? I think I'm reading too much into it Jddjjdjdj KIM

I am still chuckling and those two are still children. Both of them. Rection above still stands XD

On painting toenails, I'm having a flashback to Shego and Pandora's past.

KIM OMG

Bad girl gone good

🤔🤔🤔 hmm I wondered how she was internally… “Shego, I need you” Hehe, someone in love~ and she finally understood it

What hits me how un-Shego these thoughts are, how the tone feels softer in a way.

"Dr. Drakken" - yeahhhh so very formal it feels weird thinking it's coming from Shego, but considering it's Miss Go.

Its the scrambled eggs of thoughts that gets me here with Miss Go laying in the guest bed. How they are going all over.

Heart is still the same, isn't it? And that concern that she has for him.

I love reading this moment of realization that she wants Drakken. Plain and simple. And wanted for a while. Where we are? chapter 83. Time runs fast.

Roller coaster

🤣 "villain royalty, how Disney" Ma'am Maaam You can't kill attraction by behaving like Helga Pataki Ough rough OYL Oh gods my heart ;-; partners Bdhdhdhd “I'm in trouble”, ma'am, you just fell in love

What in the hell happened there? (srsly, I am trying to place it at shows timeline and I'm in confusion, cus it feels like I should know what happened in this lair, I know that later moment will be Capt'n Drakken, but still )

Yep, being tsundere. And I give a point to Drakken for being perceptive.

heh, just the heat~

Famous last words

Shego, you need therapy.

I'm chuckling in my face palm, those 2 are perfect for one another. Ma'am, you are just the same.

Couples counselling, my guys. Those 2 are so stuck in that idea that their feelings are unrequired. And how their miscommunication keeps happening. My guys, you assume too much guah!

I have, had had and will have such an urge to shake her (and him) to get some sense into their heads.

The Chinese Food Of Peace.

*guttural groan of anguish cus of these 2 dumbasses*

Glad she finally finally realized and relaxed about it my GOD. All it took is one talk with your best friend/love and see how everything settled down???

Don't get me wrong I love this a lot, the warmth of their convo, the smiles and ALL OF THAT. Just they are dummies. I love them, but they are dummies. Squared even.

Thus see you all in Ungrateful.

[greeen-bean]

Tuesday

"Nothing will ever love me like that. Doesn't matter. Jowan exists. There's something good in the world. There's a point to being alive."

"I laugh. It's kind of funny. We look like we're a couple, or something."

"[Coming out as trans] actually brought in a whole new load of listeners, ones that looked up to me specifically. Which was cool. Suddenly we weren't just a teenage boy band playing fun upbeat tunes. Suddenly we were something a little bit more important than that."

"He's always been a bit separate from Rowan and me. [...] It's always sorta been Rowan and Jimmy, plus Lister. We still love him of course. But that's just the way it is."

"All seems to be forgiven, but when Lister skips away to his own chair, I watch Rowan's smile fade away until nothing."

"I've never seen you so angry, my girl. You're not a naturally angry person. It was a bit of a shock for everyone."

"We're worried it might be too important."

"Don't worry. I know that. I'm fully aware I'm average. God, I'm so so aware I'm average. But I'm not going to think about any of that right now. I don't need to. This week isn't about my life. I don't have to think about it at all. This week is about the Ark."

"I like to imagine. I like to hope. I like to feel happy."

"There's a big window on one side of the bathroom. Big enough to climb out, probably. We're on the ground floor. We could just climb out and run. Get up and go."

"Older interviewers, like Dave, are always obsessed with how many adjectives they can put before our names."

"It's impossible to be unhappy knowing that Jimmy and Rowan are in love with each other."

" I think the truth is that everyone in the entire world is confused and nobody understands much of anything at all."

" Being a male fan of obscure old bands is, for some reason, more acceptable than being a female fan of a twenty first century boy band."

"'They make me feel like' That something good exists. That the world shouldn't just disintegrate, right now. That there's something worth me sticking around for. 'Wouldn't you otherwise?' I tried to think of another pair of people that make me believe in love but nothing comes to mind. I think about my parents snapping at each other. A school friend dumped after she finally had sex with her boyfriend. A couple sitting inside at a restaurant table. 'Probably not' I say"

"An old woman is sitting next to me. 'Whatever it is,' she says 'it's all God's plan, and He knows what He's doing.' 'Sorry,' I say smiling. 'Did I look sad?' 'You look like it's the end of the world my love'"

"Everyone just wants to be friends with Lister Bird."

"Rowan and bliss were a perfect couple at the beginning."

"I almost want to laugh. As if this guy knows anything about having fans like ours."

"You Ark clones think you're the fucking kings of the world, don't you? [...] Sometime soon something's going to knock you down from your pedestal"

"Sometimes I wish I was a normal teenager. I could go to a party and maybe kiss a boy and work out all that stuff like normal people do."

"But we're God's Jimmy. What's better than that?"

" You simply don't seem to care about your achievements or want to celebrate them. You don't value that part of yourself. You just...care about this boy band.' [...] 'Dad, why would I want to Celebrate myself when i'm so extremely average?'"

"'Because it's your life.' [...] 'I just want to go to a concert,' I say 'And then I'll feel better.' 'Were you not feeling better before my girl?' I don't think i've ever felt anything except The Ark."

"'I hate myself.' 'Why would you do that?' 'Whoever I am...it's bad.' 'Why would you say that?'"

"'I can't do it by myself.' 'You're going to have to one day, Jim-Bob, I'm eighty-four years old. We all have to do this by ourselves eventually.' 'I can't. When you're gone...I don't want to be here any more.'"

[sincerely-sofie]

im now imagining a situation where Ark is only pretending to have amnesia (partly out of fear because HE CURSED TWIG HOW IS SHE ALIVE) in hopes that Twig just Leaves Him Alone, but is so starved for any sort of affection that he stays

the kicker is that Ark accidentally lets slip that he doesn't, in fact, have amnesia. (for example, letting slip that he gave Twig that scar/curse) but they're both such bundles of anxiety that neither one is willing to admit it out of an odd mix of guilt/fear/genuine friendship and not wanting to ruin what they have going on despite how bad they are spiraling because of it

everyone is aware of their masquerade, but neither one of them is willing to admit to it and take off their masks, no matter how many cracks there are, because they have no idea what to do with themselves without it.

Oh my word. Maple-Cloak, your BRAIN. Genuinely kinda wish this was the premise I gave The Present is a Gift because there is SO MUCH POTENTIAL HERE.

The idea of dancing around the issue when they both know the other person knows they know the truth, but the reluctance to speak it into existence because then they’d have to deal with the reality of their situation. They’re playing an elaborate game of pretend and they both refuse to let real life into the equation. It’s so much easier to ignore the past than to admit that I hurt you because I had been hurt by someone who should have been my advocate or Your actions changed me irreparably and an explanation doesn’t make that pain go away. They both are so scared the bubble’s going to burst. They’re walking on eggshells that neither party intended and it just progresses until they both combust in an explosive outburst of sleep deprivation, unexpected authenticity, and a mutual desperation for companionship.

Ark also wouldn’t have Celebi advocating for him in this because she wouldn’t see a factory reset Legend when they meet, and would still perceive him as a threat to her and her friends. It would be Twig standing up for him on her own, and that would really drive home the fact that Twig really isn’t the thorn in his side that Ark has always seen her as— at least when he’s not opposite to her on a battlefield. All of a sudden her stubbornness and refusal to back down from something she sets her mind to is something admirable rather than infuriating.

Twig, meanwhile, would be way more okay with the situation once she knew Darkrai had remembered all along. The source of anxiety for her in this alternate storyline wouldn’t be when Darkrai remembers, it would be why he hasn’t done anything despite remembering. What changed??? Why wouldn’t he take advantage of her guard being down??? Why would he lie about being an amnesiac in the first place??? What is going on in this guy’s head??? Meanwhile Ark’s POV is just him screaming internally at all times.

They’re just that one shipping dynamic meme. I’m legit fighting off the urge to start an AU of my AU to write this out. Oh My Word.

(Original ship dynamic image under the cut— if anyone knows the source, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I’ve been searching for the original creator for ages and would love to credit them!!)

[tategaminu]

“They are both equally important to each other and their development but Rayla is the one who gets the insults…”

What’s even more annoying about this is not only does Rayla get ridiculed for something Callum also does, that particular set of fans will also straight up deny that Rayla is Callum’s priority. “Oh, he would’ve found a way to connect to the Ocean with or without her as motivation. There were other factors in him deciding to do dark magic again.”

No. It was about Rayla, and pretty much only Rayla.

THIS

What kind of bs is "there were other factors" like my guy!! are you watching the show with a blindfold on? sure, he probably wanted all of them to get out of the boat but Rayla was the trigger

A thing I have also seen in fandoms is people trying to invalidate male characters' feelings for a girl, for whatever reason I don't understand. I will always find incredibly beautiful a male character treating a female character as an equal, not as the fairer sex or stuff like that, as an equal who he loves, and we see this with Callum, he has never ever treated Rayla as lesser than him, she's his priority alongside Ezran and that's super beautiful. I will always have a soft spots for guys being the most lovable and protective people towards their girls you know? not because they are girls but because they know they deseve love, so seeing people totally invalidate that feels so wrong to me.

S5 and S2 parallel each other, in S2 we saw Callum connect to an arcanum because he did ark magic for Rayla, sure he also did it for himself to feel useful but it was mostly to save Rayla, season 5 shows it even more clear. We only see Rayla and Callum wanting to scape when they see the other in danger, the reason Finnegrin even wants to throw Rayla to the leviathan is because Callum punched him because he was hurting Rayla, and he was hurting Rayla because he tried to beat his ass for hurting Callum.

We can see Callum letting himself get beaten and still refusing to do dark magic and give the spell to kill Domina away, it's only when Finnegru says he will feed Rayla to the fishes we see Callum BREAK. He tells him the spell right away. He could have invented a different spell but he was too desesperate to save Rayla he told him the whole truth. He could have done dark magic any other moment but it's after this moment when he does, and then he goes straight up to save Rayla, then just as in season 2, he figures out the arcanum after doing dark magic for her, but this time also thanks to the poem A LOVE POEM who he recited before in ep 1 TO RAYLA. The proof is all there like seriously, he can figure out the arcanum because he loves her, it is as clear as day.

He tells her "I would do anything for you" which it's directly shown in this whole episode. Callum is terrified of doing dark magic, not only because it breaks his morals but because he's scared it could make Rayla dislike him and because it would be an step further for Aaravos to possess him, (tho I'm not sure if he fully knows dark magic is what allows Aaravos to possess him at all, maybe he suspects it) we can see how people like Claudia who do way too much dark magic lose a bit of themselves, Callum is probably afraid of that as well and yet he still does because Rayla is more important to him than whatever the consecuences might be.

There are people out there who believe he wouldn't risk the world for her and stuff but c'mon, this guy would risk the entire universe, he is extremely loyal and proctective, his love for the ones closest to him make him twist his morals because he treasures them more than anything (Rayla and Ez that's it). Rayla has been shown as his achilles heel and we will see even more this plays out. I can't believe there are people who can't see it, everyone has their own way to interpret media sure but somes things are just SO clear, like imagine looking at Zym and going "I don't think he is a dragon, he could be a rat", no.

In a summary, I want people to cut slack on those two, mostly Rayla. It would be cool to treat her like an actual good written character and not trying to invalidate her or her relationship with Callum. The show characterizes them and their relationship so well, they are such complex people and I can't believe we have to deal with those kind of comments.