#thats just personal tho! i get why people are excited about software that can sound more realistic

[animemusicbrackets]

for the bracket, are songs using Synthesizer V vocals allowed? i know you said that utau was alright, but i just wanted to make sure before i put my submission in

yes synthesizer v is fine to submit

[heroquills-a]

@crimsonxblur​ continued from  — 🌀 

      As it turned out, Elliott the statistician wasn’t all that bad for company after all. He was an odd little man, for sure, and way too bubbly for a government worker. He had no family, but made friends easily. He was transferred from station every few months, or so he said. It was his way of seeing as much of the world as he could, he said. He had many stories. Not the most original or entertaining ones, but his own innocent interest for them breathed them into life in a way very few seasoned story-tellers could manage.

     Shadow had warmed up to him when he’d unexpectedly spoken up in his favor and helped him be granted his prolonged Christmas vacation. It became apparent in the next few times the hybrid caught a glimpse of him that the guy just didn’t hold grudges or take offense to, well, anything. He was nice for the sake of being nice. So Shadow let him talk his ear out when they shared break time, because Elliott didn’t expect him to talk back, and he grew accustomed to the background noise.

     The statistician was reciting another instance of a time he’d caught the person training him making a mistake with their own private software - one among many others - when Shadow’s attention was completely hogged by the texts he received right then, effectively zoning out of his fellow agent’s story for an instant.

     What an oddly spontaneous offer. Granted, his last encounter with his rival might have left him hoping they could find some time and excuses to meet up before long, ideally without other people involved, this seemed… strangely specific. And it was pretty late, right ? Shadow had lost all sense of timekeeping with his irregular schedule over the past weeks, but he was pretty sure this could be classified as a very late-night text. Nonetheless…

     “Do you think I could get Thursday off ?” he asked Elliott, interrupting his story. True to himself, the man wasn’t bothered. In fact, he smiled knowingly.

     “You want Thursday off ?” He sounded surprised, in an amused sort of way. Shadow just shrugged.

     “Yeah, why ?”

     “You didn’t strike me as that… kind of person.” Shadow squinted at him with a mix of hostility and confusion, immediately prompting the other to just answer the question. “I don’t know. I expect a lot of people will have asked for the night off. That might work in your favor, though. If they’re running on minimum staff, they might just want you on standby, at most.”

     Shadow nodded slowly, mulling over those words, and shortly settled on an answer.

     [text]: can you come here ?      [text]: thursday i mean

     If he was to be on standby for the day, it meant he could expect to have most of it free, though the safest course of action also involved staying close enough to the station. It seemed like a good plan, it that much could work out. He waited for the little confirmation that his message was delivered, then looked back up at Elliott who still had that knowing smile plastered on his face. “Why would people ask for the day off on Thursday ?” Shadow asked offhandedly, sinking back into his seat, ready to revert to listening with half an ear.

     Except, his companion laughed. “It’s Valentine’s Day.”

     “…Oh.”

     Right. He never took part in that, so it’d slipped his mind entirely. And he must not have been very good at hiding the sudden realization of what he’d probably, accidentally implied with the invitation he’d just sent, because Elliott laughed again. “Didn’t you know ?”

     “I…” Chaos, it felt like his ears were on fire. “It didn’t… occur to me.”

     “Did someone just trick you into a romantic dinner or what ?”

     Shadow wanted to hiss at him. “No. No, it’s fine, I just, need to-” He stood up and suddenly made his way out of the lounge, his mind running a little too fast for him to stay still. This guy trying to pry into his mishap certainly didn’t help, either. “…think of something.”

“Hookay...”

Okay okay okay.

Sonic pauses for the fifth time in the middle of pacing about the den, turning to face his phone which sat idly on one of the couch cushions.

Okay. He can do this. He’d already made up his mind- totally not because of a certain pink hedgehog’s insistent reminder- and he was just gonna be very casual about it. Shadow probably won’t even know what’s going on that day anyway, so it wouldn’t matter. They could just hang out, maybe watch a movie or something, or grab a bite- it would be totally harmless! Right?

Well, the speedster reaches for his phone and lets his thumbs fly away at the screen before he can chicken out again. Once he’s done, he tosses the device back onto the cushions and nyooms right into the kitchen. For some reason, just being in the same room as that thing after the texts are sent is enough to drive his nerves up the wall. As if they weren’t already going a little crazy just from the thought of proposing such an outing on a very specific date, anyway.

Sonic busies himself with throwing together a quick impromptu dinner for himself- fast bake fish sticks and chips. He didn’t think he could handle anything heavy right now if he wanted to.

He doesn’t bother returning to check his phone until after he’s finished eating. Maybe even taking his time (by Sonic’s standards) in a result of procrastination. Honestly, Sonic couldn’t figure out why he felt so nervous. Maybe it was just the idea that he was totally proposing a hang-out of some sort under the guise of it being casual and platonic when he knew fully well that Valentines Day was dominated by the romance scene and couldn’t know for sure if the person he intended to spend that day with would be aware of that factor too. 

Either way, there was no going back now. That fact was anchored in once he finally returns to the living room to see that name waiting for him on the phone’s lock screen. Inhaling and exhaling a few times, the blue blur checks the messages, immediately hit with a bunch of feelings so quickly he couldn’t quite discern what was most prominent. The implication that Shadow was interested in hanging out by itself set off a cloud of butterflies in the speedster’s stomach- prompting him to hide the tiny victorious smile that crept onto his face with the back of his hand.

Hanging out in White Acropolis was even better, too. It meant he wouldn’t be here that day and in turn wouldn’t be getting any gruff for not doing anything on Valentines Day from the others- especially from Amy. It was a win-win.

But with that notion came the sudden realization- he was really gonna do this then. For the first time, Sonic was actually gonna initiate plans on Valentines Day on his own accord, fully intending to spend it with someone he was very aware by now he had romantic feelings for. And had those feelings reciprocated back too, nonetheless.

It was the nerve-wracking understatement of the year, yet somehow he couldn’t deny the spark of excitement he felt. However obnoxious he found that specific holiday to be, it’d be his excuse to go out with Shadow again. That alone had the speedster nearly bouncing on his toes while he mulled over what to say back.

Man am I in deep...

[text]: Ssure! THats cool with me :) [text]: I’m not sure what all there is to do up there but yeah i was thinking we could do something fun haha [text]: Like a movie or something [text]: Maybe not an outd oor one this time tho? idk lol 😜  [text]: We could rent one maybe [text]: But yeah haha just throwing ideas out there if you think of anything lemme know