Today I put my past behind me

[spinningbuster98]

Such lovely temperature, at least I don’t have to use a stove to Cook like this!!

[true-blue-sonic]

Well if they plan to make it vague, chances they might utilize in future stories. Like who knows they might change their mind if they gave a concrete answer that could contradict in the future.

The thing is... they're already contradicting themselves with the random time travel portal explanation. For example, in IDW (which the writers state Sega has close oversight over), they have Silver indicate that Silver is willingly staying in issue 12:

Like, he's not saying anything of the sort about weird, vague forces of the cosmos(?) enabling him to stay or not. He's staying, and I can only take that to mean that he's staying here by his own volition. But then in Future Growth and onwards is when the "oh but I can't actually control my time travel ):" comes in, forming a direct contradiction with this previous statement. There's also an old Sonic Channel picture that says he uses Chaos Control, so that's getting contradicted too.

And aside from those, there's just... no games that indicate he's getting sent around like a ping-pong ball between eras due to unexplained forces opening portals. I would argue there's definitely contradictions between that idea and what we see in the games, even. Silver in TailsTube indicates that he doesn't know if he's getting sent back for fun or for world-threatening stakes, but then how was he able to take material with him to craft the Psychic Wave? (ZG: "This mysterious gear is made of an unknown metal. Perhaps it came from the future along with Silver…"; FR: "Little is known about the material used to craft this gear. Perhaps Silver brought it with him from the future."). Surely he wasn't just carrying a whole bunch of raw material with him for the off chance that he got invited to his first-ever Extreme Gear race this time the portal appeared, lol. That aside, if he is uncertain about whether he's here for fun or for world-threatening stakes, why is he so casual about just letting Sonic and Tails do their thing in Colours DS, immediately accepting that they don't need help without pushing further? If he says that he diligently jumps into the portals before the future can take a turn for the bad in TailsTube, how is the future ruined already when he comes back in the Forces prequel comics?

Silver's time travelling is confusing and the state of the future can be vague going just by the games, absolutely. Even my goats Rivals 1 and 2 have some uncertainty whether the future is bad to begin with or will be bad if no action is taken: in Rivals 2 Silver says both. But the explanation we're getting now did clear up something for me (the future exists in a fluctuating state and can go from good to bad depending on Silver's actions, answering the paradox question of whether the future turns bad before his very eyes or not. Sure, it can be argued in Colours DS Silver says that he lives in the Blue Skies future, but these aren't inherently contradicting statements to me)... but also makes everything so much more confusing due to how utterly undercooked it is. And I don't think an IC Silver is the kinda guy who'd just... let this happen. Who'd just accept he's getting flung around time in those portals without any apparent interest in finding out what causes it (since he was all "I dunno" about how he time travels in TailsTube). I see ample room for them here to clear things up, but I really just prefer the clean and straightforward answer of Chaos Control, at least until we get a clear explanation as to what is making this happen, to be honest XD

[icycream24]

I know time travel lore isn't that important to be cleared out when the focus isn't on the engineering and exploitation of time travel. (At least, I don't think Silver would be interested in diving that deep about time travel unless he sees the threat of not doing so.)

But at the same time, we have always been under the impression that Silver travels back in time at his own will (Sonic 06, Rivals, Team Sonic Racing). So the impression that he isn't initiating time travel due to his own reasons, but instead the world chooses to throw him into situations, just like how Blaze is being taken somewhere else by the Sol Emeralds without her understanding the reason, is off-putting to a lot of ppl, who for all these years have believed Silver can do that at his own will, bc that's what he would do for the sake of saving the world.

It would be better if it's just the portals appearing and Silver volunteered to check them out, rather than saying it as if he's being dragged into this. Getting accustomed to the time travel power enough to have portals garuntee to happen close to him, would make the whole thing seem less random.

But they need to explain that in a much better way without putting too much emphasis on the randomness of it. The leading reason has to be Silver himself, for it enhances the environmental story telling of Silver being sb full of hope for a better future and justice, to the point of having portals opening up for him bc he's done that so many times. Instead of, portals magically appearing as if the world is inflicting this responsibility onto him. See, he had went back in time to *hunt down* someone or something (or participate a competition LOL). Even if this time he's just here to chill, I feel like he'd be more confident on his initiatives instead of implying being stuck in limbo.

The difference between world inflicted and self inflicted motive is huge, even if they tend to overlap on many aspects. Personally I still prefer the good ol Chaos Control b4 Sonic Channel JP abandoned their old version website (I don't think newer fans know about this 😭).

[spinningbuster98]

My best guess is that by removing Silver's agency with time travel they also remove any issues that come with free-time travel

Since you know if Silver can time travel whenever he wants, with no restrictions.... then how is the series still possible? What's stopping him from completely undoing a game's events by simply correcting any and all mistakes? Why didn't he travel to the beginning of Forces and kill Infinite before he got the Phantom Ruby for example?

By making time travel something he has no control over you prevent him from being an easy deus ex machina or a dumbass who doesn't realize the extent of his own tools (which was the biggest issue with 06's time travel).

It doesn't excuse the utter laziness of the explanation given, but narratively speaking it prevents a billion questions from arising whenever Silver is on screen

[room-on-broom]

An ask game for writers to procrastinate working on you WIP(s)

I am also procrastinating actually writing. If you’ve multiple works in progress you can give a different answer every time!

🦈Tell us the name of your/ one of your WIP(s)

🍄Decriscribe your wip/one of your wips in the format of “___ + ___ =___”  

🌍What tags or warnings will your / one of your wip(s) need if you intend to share it?

🧭An alternative title to your/ one of your WIP(s)?

⚠️Which wip your most likely to finish or update next?

💾What is your document of your wip/ a wip called? (not the stories actual title but what you’ve saved it as)

🖍Post Any sentence from your wip

♻️A scrapped idea for your current WIP

🤔What’s a story you’d love to write but haven’t even started yet?

🤡How many Wips are you actively working on?

🛠Is there a scene or anything in the WIP you are struggling with right now?

❤️Not a question, just a second kudos to send.

Enjoy!

[beautifulandscary]

I wanna know what people assume about me because of my tumblr.

[telvi1]

Put an assumption in my ask. I’ll confirm or dispute it. I’m not gonna be mean or anything, I’m just very interested. You can go anon if you want.

[spinningbuster98]

Featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series:

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

26. What's something the character has done you can't get over? Be it something funny, bad, good, serious, whatever?

2)

I think my favorite canon thing is that, if my memory serves right, in the 2007 anime it's borderline implied, if not outright stated, that Dante will often do demon hunting jobs completely for free if the client is in dire need of help but doesn't have enough money to pay him. This kind of recontextualizes Dante's perpetual broke status from "he's lazy lol" to him just wanting to help people and sometimes just kinda getting taken advantage of for his kindness

Well mostly Berserk so that it can go from Dark Fantasy to Dark Comedy

Alternatively Sonic, because Eggman's remaining braincells that manage to survive Sonic's antics need to join their siblings somehow

I think that doing a whole-ass opera singing bit in DMC4 with Agnus might just take the cake

Because even by this series' standards, stopping with the guy you're about to kill to do a Shakespeare spoof all the while Agnus is both being serious and in on the bit while Dante's both being silly and lowkey dissing him , is a whole other level of cartoony

[spinningbuster98]

4, 15, 25 for Zero?

Where else would I put Zero?

That's easy!

Berserk :)

What? Lonely swordsman used to dark shit who's also a one-man army killing machine who's largely lost all hope for himself but always ends up giving it to others? The only reason him and Guts wouldn’t be drinking buddies is because Zero is a robot and likely can't drink

As for ships, well I don’t do lots of shipping, but....

Zero/Ciel I like but mostly just from Ciel's pov, not so much Zero

X/Zero on the other hand?

Listen: you don't say "My mind can't remember him but my body does" about a guy without lowkey wanting me to ship them alright? And that's just the tip of the iceberg

When I first saw Zero I thought he was just a cool edgelord. Now I think he's one of the most self-sacrificing heroes in gaming and a prime example of a character being saved from flimsy writing (cough cough X6 and a bit X4) by actually doing stuff with his implied personality traits and character flaws/limitations. Though he still suffers from Megaman's pervasive issue of having lots of stuff about him only really talked about in external materials, getting his own series actually helped him and I actually liked how it was its own unique story rather than just delving into his past like the X games often did, even if that thread was never quite finished. The Zero games ultimately deal with Zero as a person in his purest state precisely due to his amnesia and being unchained from his past

[epickiya722]

CHARACTER ASK GAME!!! 💫

Send a character + one or more of these question IN THE INBOX. Don't reply on the post!

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

10. Could you be best friends with this character?

11. Would you date this character?

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

19. How about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

23. Favorite picture of this character?

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

26. What's something the character has done you can't get over? Be it something funny, bad, good, serious, whatever?

27. What is a color or colors that you think of when you think of this character, be it their canon color(s) or not?

28. If you could have this character meet another in another media, who would you have them meet?

29. Could you live as this character, would you? If not, what would you change so that you could?

30. FREEBIE QUESTION!!

[spinningbuster98]

6) do you have any kind of consistent writing schedule or just hoping for the best?

18) what is your most and least favorite part of writing?

69) how do you write emotional scenes? do you ever feel what the characters feel?

78) how do you choose where to end a chapter?

99) was being a writer a dream of yours when you were little? or did it spring up when your older? or is it just a hobby? 

6) Writing schedule?? What's that?? You mean either writing 2000 words a day or none at all??? Then sure, I have a strong schedule!!

18) Favorite: dialogue

Least favorite: describing character expressions and micro gestures. I think it’s important to do because, technically people don't just communicate through words as little actions mean a lot.... but I struggle to find ways to incorporate them without sounding overly simplistic, repetitive and clipped.

69) I simply consider the characters' personalities, their strength and especially their weaknesses and then I see how well I can make them match. It's like putting two puzzle pieces together, yoy want one character's strength to be the other's weakness and viceversa. Sometimes I may relate to what a character might feel but it's not necessary

78) A chapter should be it's own micro story. It doesn't end the story in general, but in a multi chapter plot every chapter must fulfill its own objective, either in terms of events being handled or emotional beats. Even if there are still lingering plot threads or you end on a cliffhanger, so long as the "thesis" implicitly proposed at the start of the chapter is resolved then it can end

99) I don’t wanna be a writer, certainly nothing professional, as I'm too lazy for that. I've always had an inkling for the hobby since my teenage years but I simply never took the time to actually engage with it before

[chillingkoo]

ask game for fanfic writers

do you know how you want the story to end when you start, or are you just stumbling through the figurative wilderness hoping to find a road?

talk about a notable time a narrative or character has looked you dead in the eyes and said “fuck your plan, here’s what we’re actually doing.”

on a scale of 1-10 how much do you enjoy incorporating romance into the average story?

what is the plot bunny you’ve been carrying for the longest? optional bonus question: do you ever wonder why you haven’t written it yet and experience deep existential dread?

have you ever made a playlist about something you were writing as an elaborate means to procrastinate when you could have been actually writing and if yes drop a link, son

do you have any kind of consistent writing schedule or just hoping for the best?

tell us about the plot of the first fanfic you ever wrote

what’s your relationship with constructive criticism and feedback like? do you seek it out? how well do you take it?

in an ideal world where you’re already super successful and published, would you want to see a tv or movie adaptation of your work? why or why not?

at what point in the process do you come up with titles, and how easy or hard is that for you?

what’s something neat you’ve learned while doing research for something you were writing? also, how much do you worry about doing research in general?

do you ever have trouble focusing on writing? how do you get around that? 

talk about a writing experience that has pleasantly surprised you.

what’s your worst writing habit? 

where do you share your writing?

where is your favorite place to write?

what is your favorite line you’ve ever written?

what is your most and least favorite part of writing?

what are some books or authors that influenced your style the most?

what is your favorite trope to write?

pick a writer to co-write a book with and tell us what you’d write about.

describe your writing process from scratch to finish.

how do you deal with writers block?

on average, how much writing do you get done in a day?

what’s your revision or rewriting process like?

do you like to write one-shots or series, and why?

do you share rough drafts or do you wait until it’s all polished? 28. And who do you share them with?

handwritten notes or typed notes?

give us a spoiler for one of your stories.

most inspirational quote you’ve ever read or heard that’s still important to you.

tell us about one of your characters who’s an absolute joy to write

do characters influence your writing style?

do you start with the characters or the plot when writing?

how do you name characters and places?

tell us about a character who’s very different than you who you love a whole lot

do you base your characters of real people or not? If so, tell us about one.

when creating characters, what comes first: appearance, backstory, motivation, personality, something else?

how many stories do you work on at one time?

are you an avid reader?

best piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten.

what is the weirdest story idea you’ve ever had.

describe the aesthetic of a story in 5 words.

how did writing change you?

any writing advice you want to share?

name three of your favorite fanfic writers.

what time are you the most productive when it comes to writing?

what story are you most proud of?

do you reread your own stories?

do you want to be published some day?

do you plan or do you write whatever comes to your mind?

share the synopsis of a story you work on that you haven’t published yet

how many unfinished ideas/stories are you working on at the same time?

when writing, do you have an outline? and do you stick to it?

what’s a common writing tip that you almost always follow?

do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

five years from now, where do you see yourself as a writer?

what is the last thing that a fic made you google when you were reading it?

what is the last thing that a fic made you google when you were writing it?

where is the most dangerous place that you’ve read fic?

where is the most dangerous place that you’ve written fic?

what was the first commercial property (book/movie/tv show/etc) that you realized was actually professional fanfiction?

what’s the weirdest reason you’ve ever shipped something?

what’s the best insult you’ve read in a fic?

what is your favourite title for a fic you’ve read? 

what is your favourite title for a fic you’ve written? 

when have you felt the most confident in your writing? 

when have you felt the least confident?

how long will you spend on a story or scene before you give up?

how do you write emotional scenes? do you ever feel what the characters feel?

are you very critical of your own writing? how much do you find yourself editing (either during the writing or after the fact)?

how do you balance writing and life? do you ever feel overwhelmed by the amount of writing you have to do?

what do you do if a scene gets too serious?

how do you visualize scenes? do you see it like a movie in your head, or do the words just flow?

are you a planner, pantser, or planster?

do you know how your story ends before you start writing?

what is one essential thing to remember when writing a villain? 

how do you write kissing scenes?

how do you choose where to end a chapter?

are you an over-writer, under-writer, or just-right-er?

do you try to put themes, motifs, messages, morals, etc in your writing? if so, how do you go about it?

if you could go back in time and give your younger self a piece of writing advice specific to you, what would it be?

“proper” punctuation or all lowercase?

less is more or more is more?

said: overused or underused?

what would be on a moodboard for your current wip(s)?

which season best matches the mood of your wip(s)?

does your writing style change depending on the genre you write?

if you could have another author write your wip for you (bc we all dream of this occasionally), who would it be?

sarcastic narrators: entertaining or overdone?

do you notice your own voice in your writing style?

how has your writing style changed over the years?

first, second, or third person?

do you hear other people’s writing styles when they talk?

do you prefer dialogue or description?

do you describe a character’s appearance all right away or in pieces?

romantic/social sideplots: interesting or irritating?

abstract or detailed romance scenes?

what don’t you like about your writing style?

was being a writer a dream of yours when you were little? or did it spring up when your older? or is it just a hobby? 

open question to the writer.

a compiled list of asks for me to reference. they are not my own. just some of my favorite questions i’ve picked out from a couple different lists. feel free to reblog and use too!!

[spinningbuster98]

How about an interaction between Cream and Knuckles?

Any context you want :P I was imagining something like them teaming up in Advance 3, like that official art of Cream gliding on Knuckles.

Angel Island is a place that, for most of its recorded history, has been characterized by a singular, persistent quality

Stillness

For despite the legendary Island floating high above the clouds in a mythic fashion, it is also remarkably static by nature. Ancient ruins litter its surface, its underground tunnels and even the very sky above it: old remnants of civilizations long past, well kept throughout the ages as if frozen in time by the chilly winds that blew through the island at those altitudes, a crystallized monument to the past, forever separated by the world it had long left behind on the surface, far away from the constant feeling of momentum that made up every day life.

Of course the Island sports life of its own: small critters, enormous mushrooms... and yet very little actually happened on its surface, and on the occasion that something did happen it was usually the result of the outside world shattering the island's eternal calm by introducing its own, often unwanted unrest.

To the Island's sole remaining guardian this state of affairs was perfectly reasonsble. And not just reasonable: it was how the world itself generally worked for Knuckles.

He stood, as he usually did, at the top of the Master Emerald's Altar, a lone sentinel standing guard to the most powerful relic on the planet: arms crossed over his chest, back straight, staring seriously over the horizon, barely moving a muscle. In a certain sense, he looked almost like a statue, like one of the many ancient relics of this old piece of the world.

This is how many of Knuckles' days were typically spent: performing his duty as Guardian by watching over the giant, green stone, occasionally going around the Island to find food or to take his thoughts off of the mind numbing task that had befallen him since birth. Just like everything else on Angel Island, Knuckles' very existence was one dictated by predictability, consistency and a static nature to things. Usually, any type of divergence from this state of affairs was a result of the outside world coming to intrude upon his own.

And it just so happened that this was one such occasion.

Knuckles heard a sound, a rustling of leaves coming from somewhere to his right. He'd trained all of his senses over the years, his hearing included, and he knew every single animal type on the island, their territories.

So he immediately realized that whatever had made that sound was too big to be any of the animals that typically roam this specific side of the island

He dropped his arms to the sides and turned his head towards the source of the sound, a series of wild bushes.

"Alright, I don’t know who you are but I know you're over there! There's no point hiding from me, I got you dead to rights!"

He began to crack his namesakes, his visage growing into an aggressive scowl.

"Word of advice: get out of that bush, turn around and scuttle away. Or don't! I'm up for bashing someone's face in, anyway! So, what's it gonne be, huh!?"

The response that Knuckles received wasn't at all what he'd been expecting.

Two bunny ears popped out of the foliage, quickly followed by a floating yellow sphere.

"Oh! W-wait, Mr. Knuckles! We didn't mean to upset you!"

"H-huh!?"

Out of the bush came two familiar and completely unexpected faces

"Cream!? And Cheese!? Just what the heck are you two doing here!? Heck, how'd you get all the way up here in the first place!?"

The little rabbit girl clasped her hands cutely behind her back as she beamed a bright smile while looking him straight in the eye.

"Oh me and Cheese just flew!"

"Chao!"

Knuckles' eyes got as big as dinner plates

"F-flew!? All the way up here!?"

"Why, yes! I needed the exercise for my ears and I didn't want to bother Tails since I know he's always so busy..."

She massaged her long ears gently

"Although I guess I must've gotten ahead of myself just a tiny bit... my ears are a bit sore and Cheese is feeling tired. My bad! Teehee!"

Having gotten passed his initial shock, Knuckles' face turned inquisitive

"Sure, fine, but... why'd you come all the way up here anyway? It's a real long way from home, you know...does your mom know you're here?"

"Of course she does! In fact, I told her me and Cheese were going to give this to you!"

She produced a small plate wrapped in several layers of cooking tin fold.

Knuckles stared at it with a confused expression, tentatively taking the plate from her hands

"You came all the way up here for.... food delivery...? What, is this some sorta part time, girl scout job or something?"

"No job, Mr. Knuckles! Come on, unwrap it!"

He did as he was told, revealing a slice of strawberry cake underneath.

"A... slice of cake...? Why'd you...?"

"You see, yesterday me and mom baked this cake for some friends but nobody ate that last slice. So I thought that you might appreciate ut! Don't you, Mr. Knuckles?" She asked, her eyes seemingly sparkling with anticipation at his opinion, her little Chao friend mimicking her demeanor

"E-err... sure... that's really sweet of you, but... uhm..."

Knuckles looked to his left, then to his right, as if checking for the presence of anyone else around.

"Why me? I mean of all people, why go through all this trouble to get me some food? You could've given it to Sonic, or Tails or anyone else downstairs. It's not like I'm hurting for food around here..."

His eyes suddenly widened and he began to frantically wave his free hand in front of himself

"H-hey! Not that I don’t appreciate it or anything! You're a real sweet kid and all that! It's just... weird..."

Cream's expression visibly softened as she tilted her heaf slightly to the side

"It's not.... really about the cake, Mr. Knuckles... actually,I... just wanted to keep you some company..."

"C-company...? Me?"

Both Cream and Cheese nodded vigurously

"Mhmh! Yes, company! You're always spending so much time up here, all alone, doing us all a favor by guarding the Master Emerald... it's got to be very lonely... right...?"

Knuckles stared at her incredulously for about 5 seconds...

...and then he let out a rough laughter

"Ha ha ha! Lonely? Me? That's a good one!"

He confidently strutted towards her and patted her head with his free hand. He flashed her one of his trademark aggressive smirks.

"I don't get lonely, kid! I'm used to living like this and I wouldn’t have it any other way! Still, this was real nice of you, so thanks anyway, but you really oughta go back to your mom before she gets worried. Want a hand getting do--"

He stopped abruptly as he noticed Cream's expression: her eyes had turned remarkably sad as she stared right at his own. Even Cheese looked rather down.

"Uhh... what...? Did I... say something wrong...?"

"Mr. Knuckles...you're not a very good liar..."

"Wha-- h-hey, I'm not lying!! I don’t get lonely, honest! There's plenty to do around here, you know! Ruins to explore, animals to look after... and besides, even on the off chance that I get bored I can just take a trip down there and do something fun, maybe hunt some treasure or something! I've done it plenty of times before!"

His bravado receded just a bit as his tone softened slightly

"You don't have to worry about me, really..."

But the girl and the Chao's expressions did not change

"But... it's still just you on this island, Mr. Knuckles... when I leave home to play with Amy or Tails or even Mr. Sonic, I know I'll always have my mom waiting for me at home with a wonderful, yummy dinner waiting for me. Plus, Cheese is always with me to keep me company!"

"Chao!"

"But you... you don't have anyone to return to...isn't that... sad...? Mom always says that nobody can live alone forever, that we're all much happier living hand in hand with each other. I know your job is very important and all but... I wanted to help you feel a little less lonely..."

Knuckles once again found himself staring at the little rabbit, astounded. A small grimace formed on his features

"Sheesh... where'd you learn to be a psychic...?"

Cream smiled softly

"You know... I met Mr. Sonic the other day and I asked him about you!"

Knuckles crossed his arms and put on a slightly skeptical expression

"Oh yeah? And what did he say? Let's hear it."

She clasped her hands in front of her face

"He said that you're one of the most honest people he knows, Mr. Knuckles! That you're so honest, you can't really tell any lies convincingly because it would go against your nature!"

Knuckles was left with his mouth slightly agape as he slowly uncrossed his arms, his previous grimace melting away.

"He... Sonic said that...?"

"Yes! He said that this is the reason why you always believe everything they tell you! Your heart is so honest, you just assume the best in everyone! Because that's how you behave every day!"

And immediately, an aggressive, sarcastic looking smirk appeared on the Echidna's face as he slammed both fists together

"And there goes the other shoe...! I'll have to pay him back later for this one...!"

The young girl ignored his dry remarks, or perhaps she simply opted to leave them be as she continued to talk, her voice bright and full of cheer

"I think that's a good thing, Mr. Knuckles! If you can't tell a lie, that proves you're a really good person! I could tell just now, by the way you were trying really hard to sound tough, that you're really not used to lying, which tells me that you really do feel lonely and sad deep down to stay here all the time! A nice person like you shouldn't be all alone up here, so I want to keep you company and cheer you up, at least for a little! Cheese also wants to keep you some company! Right, Cheese?"

"Chao Chao!!"

Knuckles' mouth was wide open now as his gaze switched from the little girl, to the Chao, to the slice of cake in his hand and then back again.

"I... uhhh... I mean... look why don't... uhm..."

"Yes, Mr. Knuckles...?"

Finally he took a really deep breath, which he then let out with a slightly irritated air about him

"Fine, fine... maybe it... does get a little... lonely around here sometimes... but I'm used to it! Don't go thinking I need to be babysat or anything like that, got it...?"

He then looked to the side in an uncharacteristically bashful way.

"But... if you really wanna stick around, well... I guess you can.... keep me company for a few minutes..."

Cream and Cheese both let out delighted squeals of joy. Cream did little hops while Cheese circled her

"Yay! Thank you Mr. Knuckles!! We'll be protecting the Master Emerald together!!"

"Yeah, yeah sure, knock yourselves out..."

He finally took a bite out of the slice

"Hm... cake's good!"

And so time passed

5 minutes became 10

10 became 15

15 became 20

And just like that Knuckles became acutely aware of the passage of time, as he found that the eternal stillness of his world had been, like other times in the past, been shattered by the outside world

Cream and Cheese would not sit still. They certainly tried to, they didn't utter a single word either

But Cream kept humming cheerful tunes under her greath

Cheese kept trying to see his own reflection in the Emerald

Cream kept swinging her little legs off the altar's stone steps

Cheese would sometimes joyfully greet passing critters

It wasn't much... but it was enough to make Knuckles feel restless... though he wasn't quite sure if it was the sense of motion that was causing him to feel this way... or the way that said motion punctuated just how numbing and deafening his usual solitude was, that he would almost prefer that over being in the company of someone who clearly only had the best intentions for him

Suddenly, having finished his slice, he settled the plate down loudly, startling his two companions

"Ok that's it, I've had it."

"M-Mr. Knuckles...? Is something wrong? Did... did we upset you...?"

"You? Nah. I just realized that you're a pretty lousy liar too."

Cream put a hand to her chest, her expression confused

"M-me...? A liar...?"

"Yeah. You've been trying to act like standing around looking after a big rock all day isn't the most boring thing in the world! You're a kid! Kids play and have fun! They don't waste their time with boring grown up work! It's not right and you shouldn't put yourself through this just for my sake, you hear?" said Knuckles with a degree of frustration and sterness

Cream looked down at her lap, looking somewhat ashamed.

"But I... I just wanted to..."

"Hey! No tears! Not on this Island! I never said you did anything wrong! Just that you should learn to think about your own happiness and not just others', got it? And besides..."

His stern face slowly gave way to a gentle grin

" I told you that there are plenty of cool things on this island, right? If you wanna keep me company, then let's not stand around this island getting moss to grow on our feet! You wanna move around? Have some fun?"

He grinned widely

"How 'bout I take you to a Carnival?"

Both Cream and Cheese gasped

"There's a Carnival on this Island!?"

"Sure is! And I'd be glad to take you there, but only if you promise me one thing!"

"What is it...?"

He leaned in closer, wagging his gloved hand in front of her face

"Don't ever ignore your own happiness just to make others happy, especially if they're people who'd want nothing more than to see you happy first! Be honest with yourself like you are with others! That good?"

She smiled as wide as she could.

"Yes Mr. Knuckles... thank you!"

"Chao Chao!!"

"Good! So... the Carnival's over this way. Ready for a fun romp through the island?"

"Yay!!"

And as Cream and Cheese jumped up and began to run in the direction pointed by Knuckles, the Echidna found himself smiling openly

"Heh... kids..."

[spinningbuster98]

Prompt: Amy hanging around in Tails' shop, keeping him company while he works :)

(the two sorely need some 1:1 interactions)

Inside Tails' workshop, a rather familiar event was underway: the shop's owner was deep at work on his trusty airplane, his face covered by a metallic protective mask as he worked on soldering some of the inner parts of the machine. It was, in a sense, less a habit and more like a ritual for the young inventor, the red byplane almost like an extension of himself and worthy of just as much if not more care.

What was less familiar about this almost ritualistic scenario was the presence of another figure within the workshop, bringing with it a foreign color. Colors such as yellow, blue, red and grey were rather commonplace in the workshop: they were the colors of its owner, of the owner's best friend, of the byplane itself and of metal.

Pink was quite an alien color to be found in this microcosm of Tails' life.

"Wrench."

"Here you go!"

"Drill."

"Coming right up!"

"Cookie"

"Hehe! Won't you get crumbs all over the Tornado?"

Tails removed the face protector, turned his face away from his machine and ate the cookie in a single bite

"Not like this, I won't!"

After gulping it down he looked at his unusual guest for a second, somewhat struggling to formulate a question that had been nagging at him ever since she showed up at his doorstep with a plate of freshly baked cookies in hand.

"Say Amy...the cookies are great and all, but uhh... why are you here?"

Any cutely put both of her hands behind her back and swayed side to side, giving him a playfully teasing smile

"Aww, whar? Can't I just be nice to a friend on a sunny day?"

Tails, worried that he may have given her the wrong idea, frantically waved his hands in front of him.

"W-wait, no don't get me wrong! It's nice to see you come by! It's just... well... you don't usually do that... well, not unless a certain someone's around, anyway..."

Amy's ears shot up immediately

"Is he here!?"

"You missed him by 4 days, sorry to say..."

She bit the inside of her cheek, giving out a small grunt of irritation.

"Darn it... he's always two steps ahead...!"

She quickly regained her jolly composure

"But no, I'm not here for Sonic this time, I'm here for you, Tails! The other day, I saw you in town, towing all this junk around and I thought you must've been working on something important, like you always do, so I just thought I'd pop by and Lend you a hand! And some cookies, too!"

"Hehe! Yeah, I definitely appreciate it, but there's really no need! I just needed some spare parts for the engine, a couple of days ago I happened to fly through a thunderstorm and, well.... let's just say that it and the Tornado got into a bit of an argument. Still, this is pretty standard stuff, so don't worry about it"

"Oh I'm not worried, Tails! If there's anyone around who can fix up a stubborn piece of metal, that's you."

Suddenly, almost imperceptably, her gaze turned ever so slightly downwards, her smile softening a bit.

"You're a genius who can do just about anything that crosses your imagination, I just...wanted to help out a bit..."

Tails seemed to notice the subtle shift in his friend, his own expression growing a bit concerned

"Amy...? Is everything ok...?"

As if just now realizing the tone she'd been assuming, she jumped slightly and put up her cheerful face again.

"Oh! No, don't worry, silly! It's all peachy!"

Tails looked at her with an even more concerned expression, gently swinging his head left and right as he put his tools on a workbench

"That didn't look like it was all "peachy" Amy... come on... if something's wrong you can tell me! I'm all ears! I can help you out!"

Her expression turned a bit sour, her smile becoming slightly skewed

"Well... that's the thing isn't it...? You can help me...you can help anyone, actually...but I can barely do the same in return, can I...?"

"What...?"

She sat on the workbench and put both of her hands beneath her chin, resting her head as she gazed into empty space, that smile still on her lips.

"You and Sonic are really amazing... you can build anything you want, airplanes, spaceships, robots, anything that's needed to save the day... and Sonic..."

She gazed upwards, her smile turning wider, more sincere

"*Sigh... he's not just fast... he's the coolest, bravest, most selfless hedgehog in the whole, wide world...!"

And then she looked downwards.

"Then there's me... and I can just... swing my hammer around I guess..."

"Amy--"

"I've just been thinking lately, that's all... about how little I do around here. Every time there's adventuring to be had Sonic will save the day, you will build something awesome to help him, while I... smash a few robots here and there I guess... maybe get captured while I'm at it, too..."

"Amy, stop. This isn't like you!"

She giggled a bit as she turned to face him.

"Yeah, I guess we all get the blues every once in a while huh? But I'm sure it'll pass sooner or later!"

"Yeah, I'd rather go for sooner..."

He hopped on the workbench, sitting next to her

"Listen, I know that feeling, I used to get it all the time. Heck, I still do sometimes! Feeling useless, like you're nothing but a burden... I used to look up to Sonic so much I'd look at myself in the mirror and see nothing but some... loser kid who wouldn’t be able to defend himself without his best friend there to help him.... and before meeting Sonic it was even worse..."

He beamed at her, flashing a cute smile

"But you know how to chase those thoughts away? By reminding yourself of the things only you can do! The good that only you can bring to people! Sure Sonic is fast and he's a born hero, but I'm the one with a knack for machines! So I know that when the right time comes, I'll be able to make a difference!"

Amy gave him a small smile

"Well you've got your genius brain and that's great! But me? I've got my hammer... and I guess my cookies...?"

"Ha! Hey don't underestimate the cookies!"

She gave him a playful wink and stuck out her tongue

"Hey, I take pride in my baking skills, thank you very much!"

Then her expression turned softer again, though not as sour as before

"But anyway... I can't say being everyone's emotional support is all that gratifying... I mean I love to make people smile! But.... it would be nice to do more, you know...?"

Tails offered her a reassuring smile as he placed a hand on her shoulder

"And who says you don't? Sure, you can't rum super fast or build really advanced machines, you swing your hammer around and hope for the best... but you know what? Every swing of that hammer can make a difference!"

"Heh... a pretty small one I bet..."

"So what if it's small? It still matters! Sonic is great and all, but even he can't save everyone all the time and the same goes for me! But you? You're always looking out for others even when me and Sonic can't! Even if you can't beat Eggman on your own, you can still protect people from his robots and help others in smaller ways! Sure, It's not as glamorous as what Sonic does, but a good deed is a good deed!"

He wringed his hands in his lap, looking at them thoughtfully.

"I... don't like to see you down, Amy... to tell you the truth, you... kind of inspire me!"

She stared at him with wide eyes, her mouth slightly hanging open

"Whaaaaat!? M-me!? W-what for...?"

"Well... it's because you're always so cheerful and upbeat! You never let things get you down, no matter what and you're always looking at the bright side! Sure, you can be a little... ah... intense at times..."

She pouted at him

"Intense? How?"

"B-but your heart is always in the right place! You're like... like a living rainbow, always there ti give love and happiness to those around you! I... I'm not like that at all... I often find myself needing cheering up instead of doing the cheering...and I think... I think that's a sign of strength... to be the kind of person that you are, Amy... so I hate to see you talk about yourself like this..."

He awkwardly scratched the back of his head

"Now that I think about it... that's something you and Sonic both share! You're like boundless wells of positivity! And I think that's really cool!"

She stared at him for whar felt like half a minute.

Then, suddenly, she brought her hands to her cheeks

"Oh my Gosh, Tails.... that was the sweetest, kindest thing I've heard all month...!"

Without warning, or consideration for personal space, she lunged at him and pulled him into a crushing hug

"You're such a sweetie, Tails! Thank you! You've cheered me right back up again!!"

"Y-yeah... I can f-feel it... in my bones...!"

She eventually released him from her grip, but her newly restored cheer knew no rest.

"Say, I just got a great idea! How about you and me go somewhere fun! Just two friends having the time of their lives!"

"Well... I can't say I would object to that..."

Suddenly, Amy's head snapped up, her ears twitching in all directions quickly

"Wait! I... sense something in the air...it's...it's...!"

And at that moment, a familiar voice rang out from the other side of the front door, accompanied by a knock

"Yo Tails! You mind if I crash here for the night? I swear I won't be too long Buddy!"

Whatever small traces of sadness may have still lingered within Amy were utterly annihilated as she sprang from the workbench, her face one of pure glee.

"Finally! Weeks of searching and he comes right to me! You're my lucky charm, Tails!"

"Uhm... thanks...?"

"Anyway let's go out tomorrow! Maybe we'll do a picnic! I'll bring more cookies! Gasp! I know! Mint-cookies! I'll have to thank you properly somehow! See you tomorrow!"

And much like a pink hurricane, she stormed off, leaving Tails to rest his head on his right hand, a warm smile on his face as he watched her go

"Yep... boundless positivity...."

[ohwhatagloomyshow]

do you remember why you followed prev

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Voting ended onJul 23

[spinningbuster98]

What's your favorite part of writing a fic, now that you know how it feels? :P

Character dialogue for the most part, since that's where I can get the most creative and fun I feel.

Action scenes can also be enjoyable: in a purely written medium, you can't just go "and then they punched really hard" all the time, so you need to come up with unique choreography that is easy to picture in your mind but also diverse and creative enough that it's interesting to read, hence I think a more strategic approach to fights yields the best results for a fic

[danandphilcore]

send me "what's your favorite.." asks 💫

[spinningbuster98]

How has your week been? I hope you have a good day today!

Pretty decent, though mostly uneventful I suppose.

I'm preparing for two job entry tests for later this month. I doubt I will win but hey, might as well take a crack at them!

Thank you, and a good day to you as well! :)

[jeonjam-deactivated20180304]

GO ON ANON AND ASK ME ANYTHING YOU WANT

[spinningbuster98]

Chapter 3 | Spinningbuster98 | Ellipsus

Ellipsus makes it easy for anyone to write together.

as always thanks to @beevean for being a great supporter!