Dribbles and Drabbles

writing blog ~ adult in 30s ~ she/her ~ main: @skimmingthesurfaces ~ AO3: skimmingthesurface

[skimmingmilk]

skim’s sonic fic archive

Because I’ve got quite a few “tumblr only” snippets and because not every fic in the Picket Fence timeline is part of the series on AO3, I’m going to link all my Sonic fics in this post in chronological order as best as I can! This isn’t necessarily the preferred reading order, but thought this might be helpful for people who are interested in where each fic falls in relation to each other. Especially since there are so many now! I’ll try and update this as the fics themselves update over time (Updated as of December 2nd, 2025).

The Picket Fence Timeline: Chart a Course to Second Chances - Christmas Island - Cocoa Island - West Side Island

AoStH and Sonic 2 (& 3) inspired (around ages 11/12 and 4/5) apple of my eye (not in it) What’s Worth a Little Give and Take The Weight of Responsibility Percentage Change in a Name - first part, second part takes place after “Where Water Wears Away the Stone” - originally both “This is You” WIPs Something Borrowed, Something Kept even big brothers have bad dreams ice skating (now part of “A Blue Christmas Would be Better”) no medicine like the hope of tomorrow Where Water Wears Away the Stone Sonic Says... Shelter from the Storm The Patches Don’t Quite Fit Together - First Meeting A Family that Fits Outside the Mold An Anchor Point with a Safety Factor of Two Sleepytime Tea The Patches Don’t Quite Fit Together - Falling The Cost of Chaos Can’t be Paid in Gold Severe Conditions Lead to Extreme Reactions Better than Alone

Arc 1 A Birth Certificate is Just a Receipt Finders Keepers isn’t Legally Binding Sometimes the Picket Fence isn’t Perfect - Bonus Scene #1 - Bonus Scene #2 - Bonus Scene #3 (on AO3 as a one shot called “It’s Good to be Home”) - Extra Bonus Scene (”i’ll stay until you fall asleep”) - Super Extra Bonus Scene (“For eleven years, Sonic didn’t have a family.”)  end Arc 1

Adventure-era and beyond The Patches Don’t Quite Fit Together - Movie Night Sharing is Caring But We Never Learned How A Blue Christmas Would be Better Can’t Cloud Rose-Colored Glass Put Your Friends on Shuffle That’s Science for You Count on Me Like a Countdown (7, 6, 5...) made with love (even if it’s in a slow cooker) No Space for Sentimentality in a Synthetic Soul - WIP The Patches Don’t Quite Fit Together - Doubt Not by a Long Shot (I’m Gonna Show You) - Ch. 1 Jamming Out Call for Comfort i spy with my little lie When the World Breaks, Hold on Tight - Sonic Unleashed fic WIP (7/12 chapters) - WIP scene (Eggmanland) mint tea and a god’s dreams Allergies are in the Air, but not a Breath to Breathe The Patches Don’t Quite Fit Together - Pranks Not by a Long Shot (I’m Gonna Show You) - Ch. 2 can’t put time on hold (my arms are full) sing the body (miles) electric

Arc 2 (in progress) An Unstoppable Force Between Static Stars - Forces rewrite (current ch: 3, next update: spring 2026) Tails and Shadow sparring (WIP) Sonic Frontiers WIP sonic and tails need therapy - post-Frontiers fic - WIP Sonic Back in Time Shenanigans WIP #1 Sonic Back in Time Shenanigans WIP #2: Back for the Luggage

Post-post Frontiers “you didn’t deserve any of this” ”it’s really me. i’m here, i’m real.” The Patches Don’t Quite Fit Together - Growing Up No Cracks in a Closed Loop + Sonic’s Side Fried Liver with a Side of Emotional Indigestion Pizza and a Pretty Solid Pep Talk Not by a Long Shot (I’m Gonna Show You) - Ch. 3

Sonic Prime fics (not AU): Hurt

Sonic Prime AU (Sharp Edges): Keep a Sharp Eye Caught in the Crosshairs

Sonic Platonic Fairy Tale Week: Day 1: Rapunzel (Shadow & Rouge (& Omega & Sonic & Tails)) Day 3: Little Mermaid (Sonic & Tails)

Sonic Underground AU: Relative Dissonance (Sonic the Hedgehog Big Bang 2024)

Sonic Movie fics: Risking Rejection (For a Chance at Acceptance)

Tails to the Future: WIP #1 - Another Drop in the Sea WIP #2 - Two Birds on a Wire 

my magnum opus: whenever you need somebody

[rad-roche]

writing is a fantastic hobby but the kicker is it's a lot harder to show your friends as it's progressing. with a sketch i can show someone and they'll be like oh that's an apple. you can't do that with words until you get a lot of them down. so i'll just be like damn fuckin. uhh. check this out

that's right. and that's just one of the several words i know

[jamiesfootball]

Huge shout out to all the people who read fics. Who actually take the time out of their busy days to open a fic and read it

Before I started writing in earnest, I did not understand how much writing was going to eat into my fic reading time. We joke about having too many tabs open, but I have a different problem: the amount of tabs I have open on new fics is way smaller than it used to be. My ao3 wrapped would be a sad affair. Unless I’ve subscribed to an author or come across something on my dash, I basically don’t see it

Which has really driven home for me how much fandom cannot just be creators. You have to have people who want to read fic and meta discussions and joke posts. You have to have people who want to look at art and gifs. It has to be mutual.

Community thrives on flow. You have to have that movement of people sharing things with each other for a community to exist

Thank you fic readers. You keep things flowing

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

[toast-the-unknowing]

the bad news: I now hate my current wip and strongly believe there isn't a single joke in it that lands

the good news: I know my process enough to recognize this as the slump that I hit in everything I write when it's like three-quarters-ish done

the bad news: the only way out is through

the good news: I do know the way out!

the bad news: yeah but it's through

[toast-the-unknowing]

making a cross stitch that says "I am funny and he would fucking say that" to hang directly above my monitor

[toast-the-unknowing]

"hey toast you stayed up past midnight because you were working on the fic and not because you were procrastinating by making a hideous pattern for a joke cross stitch" have you never met a writer before

[toast-the-unknowing]

gonna tell my kids this was live laugh love

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

reblog to throw tomatoes at people who harass/shame others over fiction.

also reblog to give fanfic writers the love and courage to write whatever they want—however they want—forever.

[skimmingmilk]

WIP Wednesday - "Untitled Prom Fic"

A/N: Quick premise for context: Set before episode 7, Caine is too busy working on a real "showstopper of an adventure" so can't be bothered to come up with one for the day and resorts to using the suggestion box. The idea he pulls out is "what if we all went to a high school prom?" And the abstragedy ensues~ Also the title will change, this is just my placeholder lol

Ribbons all a-flutter, Gangle shyly crept over to them, still hugging her sketchbook to her chest.

"Zooble," she started, an invisible tightness seizing her empty chest as she glanced up at them. "Do you—um… I mean, would you—? W-want to…? Uh. W-what colors are you thinking of dressing up in?" she asked, smile wibbling across her mask, her true question cowering in the back of her throat.

"Huh?" They startled a bit, like they were suddenly tugged out of their own head. "Oh, none. I'm not going."

Gangle's eyes widened, mouth parting in a surprised little "O." "You're… not?"

Zooble shrugged, arms folded across their chest. "Yeah. Doesn't matter that it's a more 'normal' adventure. The last place I'd ever want to be, aside from this circus, is a high school prom."

"Oh…" Chink. Gangle quickly glanced down at her feet, already feeling a crack chipping away at the inside of her comedy mask. Don't guilt them into it. Don't use your emotions to manipulate them. It's fine. Of course they wouldn't want to go with you.

Except that wasn't true. She hadn't even asked them yet, had she? They didn't know that's what she wanted. Not if she didn't say. Zooble knew her better than most, but that didn't make them a mindreader. If she actually asked them to go to prom with her, then surely they would at least consider it…

But if they didn't want to go, then why would she put them in a position where they had to either sacrifice her happiness or their own comfort? Where they had to weigh her wants against their own?

"I… I get that." Gangle's smile came easily with the comedy mask still in place, eyes crinkling with a happiness she tried really hard to feel. Their happiness matters, too, it's not all about you. "Yeah, you shouldn't go if you don't want to. It's just another silly adventure, after all." She fiddled with the spiral coil of her sketchbook, ribbon getting caught on the metal a couple times. "But… if you change your mind at all… it'd be really nice to see you there. I'll save a dance for you! You know, just in case."

Zooble blinked. Then they looked at her. Really looked at her. Their bland, half-lidded gaze suddenly widened as something slotted into place for them. Gangle recognized it immediately. Maybe not a mindreader, but they didn't really have to be when she made it so painfully obvious, did they? They'd figured her out in seconds, even with the mask.

Bristling, she hugged her sketchbook closer and scampered around them towards the racks of clothes. "Anyway! I've gotta meet up with Ragatha and Pomni to look for dresses! I'll see you later! Bye!" she blurted out before they could say anything.

"Gangle, wait—!" Zooble reached out to stop her, but she'd already flitted away, her ribbons disappearing amidst the skirts of ruffles and tulle. Their hand dropped to their side, expression still wide-eyed and stupefied. "Shit. She just asked me to prom."

[sashasparrow]

not doomed by the narrative but saved by the narrative. yeah i know you'd rather die than keep suffering but the story doesn't actually care what you want. you have to keep going, even when it hurts. even being erased from existence won't stop you from being salvaged from the wreckage of un-being. get up. keep pushing. keep bleeding. keep living.

[lazy8blog]

Give me a fanfiction trope and I’ll grade it:

A: Love it. Spend my time combing AO3 for it.

B: Like it. Not one of my bigger cravings, but it can scratch a certain itch if I’m in the right mood.

C: Neutral. A good author might be able to sell it, but a bad one will kill it deader than dead.

D: Not my favorite. I avoid it if I can, but it won’t necessarily put me off reading something.

F: Hate it. Will immediately make me nope out of a fic.

[thewritingrealm]

If you're reading this...

go write three sentences on your current writing project.

[ezzydean]

# my favourite part about this post # is that nowhere does it say to reblog this # but we’re all reblogging it # because if we have to suffer # so do other writers

[thefoundationproject]

Boop

[broodpuff]

hey, i needed to hear this so maybe you do too

you’re still a writer even if you’re the only person who has read your work, even if you’ve never finished a single piece of work.

if you write, you’re a writer. you don’t have to be some extraordinary, highly praised literary genius to claim a title you’ve earned simply by putting the words on page.

And especially if you write fanfiction, don’t let anyone denounce your work simply because it’s not your own original media. You’ve built and bent and grown upon that world and in that you made it your own. Every word.

you’re a writer, don’t feel like less just because you haven’t done more.

[imrowanartist]

Because of AI I have even more respect for people consciously deciding to pick up a pencil and learning to draw or write from scratch. It’s already hard to compete with that stuff as someone who has been drawing and writing for years, but it must be even harder if you’re just starting out right now.

But please, don’t let it deter you. Write that fic. Draw that art. Do it badly! And know there are people who will love everything you make, because you made it and that makes it already better than all that creepily perfect looking slop that AI churns out.

[writingdose]

me: I should write

also me: let me play the scene in my head and fantasize about writing it instead

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

[luna-azzurra]

Yearning & Pining Starters!!

✮ "I keep almost telling you. Every single day."

✮ "I watch you laugh with other people and wonder if you'd laugh like that with me."

✮ "I wrote you a hundred messages I never sent."

✮ I memorized the way you say my name without meaning to."

✮ "I keep finding excuses to be in the same room as you."

✮ "I don't know how to be near you and pretend I feel nothing."

✮ "You touched my hand for two seconds and I thought about it for two weeks."

✮ "I keep practicing what I'd say to you. It never sounds right."

✮ "I saw something today and my first thought was you. It's always you."

✮ "I'm terrified you'll never know and equally terrified that you will."

✮ "Every time you leave I count down until I see you again."

✮ "I think I've been in love with you for so long I forgot what before felt like."

✮ "You smiled at me today and I completely lost my train of thought."

✮ "I just want one moment where I don't have to pretend I don't care about you."

✮ "I hope someday you look back and realize I was there. That I chose you every time."

[skimmingmilk]

"I don't think I've had a single good dream while I've been here," Pomni replied, eyes still comically small and voice strained. "Neither have I." Zooble raised their hand in solidarity. "Now there's a shock. And here I thought that you were totally out here enjoying something like one of those steamy, Sims 2-style cutscenes with Gangle running on repeat in that funky head of yours, Zoobie," Jax butted in, mouth pulled taut in a satisfied, little smirk. "Oh, but wait. That wouldn't be a good dream, would it? Nevermind, you're so right." Zooble's eyes narrowed. "I don't even know what you're talking about. I've never played the Sims." A collective hush fell over the circus as Ragatha, Pomni, and Gangle all looked at them in shock. The stunned silence lasted for a solid several seconds as Zooble warily glanced at each of them. "What?"

What the fuck am I even writing xD

But seriously you can't tell me real estate agent, horse girl Ragatha wasn't out here playing the Sims in her teens and 20s. You know Sims 3 Pets was her favorite to play and she was the queen of build/buy mode. I'll die on this hill xD

[skimmingmilk]

It feels evil and illegal to ask this, especially with the worry of coming across as rude or pestering which is absolutely not my intention, but is there any guess as to when the next chapter of your unleashed fic might come out? 👀 This comes from a place of curiosity, not impatience, I promise! I just thought about it because me and my partner have spent the last 3 nights reading it together and as we get closer to chapter 7 I started to ponder! :)) No worries though, just peaking in! ❤️

Aww, that's so sweet! ❤️ I'm so happy you and your partner are reading it together, I love that :') I'm curious where you're at right now! I think the progression between Chun-nan and Holoska is still my favorite part, personally.

And it's not coming across as pestering at all, don't worry! I appreciate that it's from a place of curiosity. Especially since it's been taking so long, I wouldn't blame anyone for feeling a bit impatient ^^;; But you are my long-time mutual, you are always allowed to ask!

I'm hoping to have the next chapter out this summer, with August being the most realistic month, even if I'd like it to be sooner. This is the hope and the plan, though I can't promise anything right now. After all, the last thing I expected was to start writing about a show I spent the past two years with legitimately zero interest in up until the last two months of its run, so life can just take wild turns sometimes xD But Unleashed fic is my most priority Sonic fic, so if anything Sonic is coming down the pipeline soon, it'll be Unleashed fic ❤️

Just a fair warning to those who are subscribed to my AO3 or keep an eye on this blog though: my next posted fic will be another Abstragedy one, because I'm sad no one wanted to read the last one xD The lack of interest is having an opposite effect on me apparently. It only makes me want to write them more... >:3

No, but in all seriousness, it's pretty much just because it's a prom adventure fic and I feel like this is a good time of year for something like that. A little late for the actual prom season, but still close enough!

But again, I am going to see several Sonic projects through to their end, so it will happen! It's just about balancing that while also working on my original novel and my new obsession with pretty much everything Gangle and Zooble ^^;;

Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you and your partner enjoy reading the rest of Unleashed fic! ❤️