the ocean loves her children, you see.
There's an old story selkies tell their children. The ocean loves her children, you see: if you ask for her help, she will gift you the things you need, even if they are not what you want. So most seafolk- sirens, merkin, sea monsters, etc- were once like us: the soft and gentle selkie folk, who love the ocean and the world she gives them. But they were once in need of the ocean mother's help, and their hearts cried to her- and she answered them in kind, changing them beyond the magic their shapeshifting allowed. And so they survived.
You were lost from your family, in a strange sea, and had tried to help a struggling sailor. When they had turned on you, wanting your skin, you were shocked, scared, confused, angry, and you screamed your heartbreak so deeply that your throat went raw- and the ocean mother gave you new gifts, and you used them to tear the sailors apart.
selkies are meant to be soft, kind, the gentlest of the ocean's children. and in your moments of pain and betrayal, you had chosen to forsake those things. your rage and agony tore the water red and frothy, until there were no sailors left to rip apart.
you fell into despair, then. you tried to rip the scales from your back, tear the fins from your bones, but all for naught. then you slept. you did not want to wake. but the ocean heard the weak cries of your heart, and carried you to a new home.
you woke to another boat. more sailors. you were terrified. of them. of yourself. one spoke to you, fed you, tended your wounds. you were scared- scared of him. scared of how your heart longed to be healed by him.
later, you would love him. and, later still, you would feel whole again.
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October 7 2023
One day, Sonic got into an accident while trying to show off and do daredevil stunts in a new zone. Unfortunately, he barely made it and accidentally broke his leg.
While being forced to sit around and recover, he got bored very quickly, becoming a nuisance to Tails who was treating his injured foot. Tails knew he didn't really mean to be a dick head, but it was beginning to get on his nerves as the stir crazy hedgehog was practically bouncing off the walls trying to find something to do.
With a glimmer of hope, Tails' communicator buzzed with Knuckles' message about their scheduled DnD session today. The kit completely forgot about it because he was trying to wrangle Sonic into sitting still to not ruin the cast. Something sparked in Tails' brain and quickly made a group chat with Amy and Knuckles to see if they were all down to playing Dungeons and Dragons for a quick one shot.
Amy pointed out that she was watching a sick Cream & Cheese today while Vanilla was out on a trip that she didn't go into detail with, so she couldn't leave the house for several hours to play. Tails pointed out that they could all go over to her house to play, and she immediately got excited, listing off all the things she was going to set up before they come over.
Knuckles was a little apprehensive, because he wanted to continue the story they were already playing, and he didn't want to leave the Master Emerald unguarded. Amy swooped in and said that the Chaotix owed her a favor for helping them with a case, so she could simply use the favor to have them watch the Master Emerald. Still unsure, Knuckles agreed, but pointed that he would make several calls through the one shot to make sure everything was okay on the island.
With everything planned out, Tails went over to Sonic to let him know what he got planned for them today. At first, Sonic was against it, saying he's not as into the roleplaying and numbers game as his little brother. Which led to Tails rambling first about all of the times the hedgehog has told him about that time he went to Camelot and fighting a Genie in a lamp, but then pointed out that it was either this, or sitting on the bed still with nothing to do.
Sonic immediately agreed after that, but embarrassingly muttered that he didn't need to do all of this just because he was bored. Tails huffed, his twinned tails twitching in mild irritation, that this was more for him than Sonic because it'd finally get him to stop bugging him while he was trying to do something.
Tails helped him get on his crutches and over to the Tornado, and running back inside the fallen-plane-made-home (base) to grab a large box of fidget toys and his DnD notes & premade character sheets.
While in the air, Tails rambled about how he's wanted to play this one shot he made for a few months now, how to play the game because Sonic has never played before, and tried to warm him to the idea of playing DnD with them more maybe down the line even if his leg isn't broken. Sonic just sat in the back of the plane, idly listening to Tails' ramblings while mindlessly playing with a fidget toy and feeling the wind in his face. Though the wind didn't feel as great as when he's standing on the wing, feeling any wind against his quills at all is refreshing after being cooped up for a few days at home recovering.
Once they landed just outside of Sunset City, Sonic insisted on helping Tails carry everything. The fox just looked at the injured hedgehog unimpressed but eventually caved and let him hide the DnD notes in his quills. Due to Sonic being in crutches, they ended up taking the subway over to the heart of the city to get to the Rose Family's Apartment. The brothers made small talk while walking, talking about what projects they're working on or where they plan to explore to next.
The duo made it to the apartment and noticed that Knuckles was already there, and laughed at the fastest thing alive being late. The blue blur fired back that he was currently out of commission at the moment and the subway station was having some technical difficulties. Red and Blue continued to butt heads as Yellow and Pink continued to set up the session table (coffee table). Tails only butted into the light hearted bickering to ask Sonic to give him the DnD notes back.
As the fighting calmed down, Amy revealed the snacks and comedically large box of costumes she has for everyone to wear to help them get into character. Tails revealed the characters they could choose, with Knuckles choosing the Cleric, Sonic the Fighter, Amy the Wizard, and Tails being the DM.
They all got situated in their costumes, character sheets, couch placements, and pillow arrangements while snacks, dnd dice, and fidget toys littered all around them.
It went great, Sonic quickly understood the rules and how to play the game, Cream sometimes came over to watch the battles they faced, Knuckles and Sonic only sometimes butted heads, Amy had a lot of fun getting in character and casting spells that wowed the table, and Tails was relieved that Sonic was actually having fun.
Tails laughed while Sonic and Knuckles were quipping back and forth again while Amy was in the kitchen making something for them all to eat for dinner, a soft smile formed on his white muzzle as he realized Sonic was petting the tail he absentmindedly rested on his brother.
We should do this more often, he thought.
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