keep on running

Independent roleplay blog for Sonic the Hedgehog, game continuity.

[oocdreamer-blog]

I’m waiting for paint to dry so I thought I’d type up this little rp rant whilst I wait.

There is one thing I notice a lot on my dash in this fandom that I absolutely hate when it comes to rping, and that’s characters compensating for another mun being away from a blog that is is paired this theirs. I don’t think people in this fandom understand how incredibly guilting that is to the muns of their paired blog for not being around on that character. Don’t use the excuse that mun=/=muse here. If that was the case, you’d accept your partner not being on the blog paired with your own and work around it without having to address it as ‘such a character ran off suddenly’ ic.

When it comes to other fandoms I have rped in on the tumblr community(T&B, Portal and LoZ), they’ve all addressed this issue in a better and much nicer way. They just have had their muse not acknowledge the other not being there. And you know what? It actually works so much better that way. Your character won’t be around the character they’re paired with 24/7. They will have time to themselves, they will have time with other characters. And if you get messages asking where the character your muse is paired with is? Ignore them. You don’t have to answer all of your asks.

I just don’t think a lot of people here understand that roleplaying is not obligation, it’s a hobby. You have not signed a soul binding contract when you decided to start roleplaying, and you will need breaks from it to concentrate on real life. On your job, or your school/college work, or maybe even family issues and other things you need to attend to that’s away from the computer. If you have a partner that has had to take a break from their muse which is paired with your own, perhaps you should be considerate and decide not to make your muse whine about how their muse disappeared out of nowhere. Your partner will want to come back to have fun, right? To pick up from where they left off and not have to come up with annoying excuses for why they suddenly vanished.

Now I can understand if it’s arranged for your characters to do this, but if it’s not, can we please stop? You are taking an OOC issue out IC by doing this. You’re guilting your friends for not doing something they consider a hobby because they have other things that are more important that need to be done away from the computer. It’s probably not gonna be pleasant for them to come back to, and heck, you might even put them off roleplaying with you. It’s possible to do other things but whine when your partner is away. Why not decide it’s your muse who wanted to head out for a little while? Have them interact with other muses? I don’t see how it is so difficult not to consider the mun and their feelings, especially if you’ve already leaped ahead to consider your muses feelings and thoughts about the disappearance of another muse.

[joymun-blog]

Yeah. I have to agree with this, honestly. It bothers me a lot. 

BUT - I will stress this yet again (as I always do), communication is key here. There have been cases where someone just…stops playing a muse for some unknown reason and doesn’t tell their partner that they’re doing it? They just kind of abandoned it and that’s not really fair, either.

Said person has no obligation to tell their partner WHY they left, but telling them their going on a hiatus or something is nice. And if said person decides to delete the blog for whatever reason, telling their partner that their doing this is good so their partner isn’t left hanging.

POINT IS: there has to be consideration given by ANYONE INVOLVED.  It is so not fair to leave someone hanging and it’s so not fair to guilt somone into RPing. It’s just not.

COMMUNICATION.

[oocdreamer-blog]

YES.

I was speaking from a point where someone is aware of why their partner has taken a break from their muse of put their blog on hiatus really. It just really ticks me off when I see this.

But if they don’t then yeah, they should be considerate too and you know, tell their partner they’re going on a break. BASICALLY COMMUNICATION.

[totallylighthearted]

I hesitated in reblogging this here, but I've started to see there's a serious need for it.

I'm on hiatus, guys. I'm not on hiatus for fun, either. I'm on hiatus because of serious OOC issues. Things that have been stressing me out and making it upsetting to go on here.

And you're only accentuating these issues by making this an almost constant plot on perpetuallyserious.

I felt like a jerk for mentally agreeing with this, but it's gotten out of hand. And it's not the first time I've had this dumped on me, either. In the other cases, it was more understandable; I was leisurely taking time off of the blogs, because I simply didn't have the muse for them or I wanted to focus on others. But for this one, I'm in a low tolerance mode for it. Why? Because I'm taking a break for my mental health. This isn't something I'm doing just because I don't feel like it.

I guess it's my fault for not officially announcing it? But even then, I already discussed this privately with people and it's still becoming an issue. You can get mad at me for the previous times, fine. But for this one, this is the one time in which I legitimately do not deserve this.

This was actually a big stressor for me when I came back to another blog of mine I was inactive on for a while. Other RPers bombarded me for my character being gone and looking for IC excuses which I simply didn't have, and though I took it in stride that time because it was simple laziness I wasn't on that blog, I don't think I can with this one. I have to come up with cop-outs and that's not fun for me at all.

I thought it would be possible to say that my character might've just been flashing here and there, and Shadow could've seen him every once in a while? Or that Shadow saw him on his vacation. The latter I even suggested as much, but apparently that wasn't taken into account...

I'm willing to work this out but I wish it was all discussed with me and it was understood that I am taking a hiatus not for fun and not to ditch my partner but because of things I simply cannot and will not talk about publicly or privately, things that legitimately take down my enjoyment and make it hard for me to be here.

[totallylighthearted]

"Hey, no, knock that off."

[totallylighthearted]

agiftedglider replied to your post: There’s an overwhelming urge to protect them,...

"Someone looks pensive."

"... Pennnn-- whuh?"

[did-someone-say-emeralds]

Ya gotta be kidding. Ask anyone around here in Blue Ridge and they’ll tell ya that I’m a helluva musician!

That guitar was falling apart anyway. Piece a’ shit had it coming.

[totallylighthearted]

"Hah. I'd like to hear that.

"It looked fine t'me -- 'fore ya broke it."

[totallylighthearted]

There’s an overwhelming urge to protect them, stronger than any urge you’ve ever felt before. A desire to see them, no matter what mood they’re in. To be the person they hold onto when life gets too hard, and to be the person you know you can run to if the same happens to you.

"..."

[archive-foxthatcanfly]

A little smile showed up on Tails face. It’d been a while for Tails as well, and the idea of flying now seemed like a really great one. He had already started making his way to the garage, gesturing the other to follow him.

Heck yeah, let’s go! 

[totallylighthearted]

Indeed, Sonic did begin to follow his two-tailed companion over to the garage, though instead of speeding in there as he probably normally would've, he walked at a leisurely and quiet pace, a smile starting to light his own face. The rush of wind through his fur without him having to cause it sounded like it would be refreshing.

As soon as he saw the Tornado, he did as he would typically -- hopped right onto the wing, then plopped down on his rear on it. No need for seat belts. Sonic always preferred to have that added risk, so he could feel the plane's movements better.

"You ready, Tails?"

[fastest-thing-deactivated201806]

[perpetuallyserious]

Shadow went as rigid as rock.

"…" He stared with wide eyes in near breathless silence, overcome by the unexpected nature of Sonic’s action, how…how warm and foreign, yet…nice his cheek felt cupped against his gloved palm and the strange palpitation in his chest at the fact Sonic looked…comfortable like this. 

This wasn’t an idle gesture. This wasn’t meant to be taken lightly. This…This was the blue hedgehog’s equivalent to the hug he’d received from him just yesterday. This meant something, this conveyed a message and Shadow read it loud and clear. 

Slowly, but surely, his hand loosened enough to properly rest against him as he stepped just close enough to not have his arm stretched out. He swallowed and spoke in a quiet, hushed voice, as if his normal tone would break this step forward sooner than need be. “Good."

[totallylighthearted]

Sonic didn't know what about this was more satisfying -- the feeling itself, or seeing Shadow so surprised by it. He always managed to surprise him, didn't he? Maybe the more he did that, the more he could capture his attention. Shadow had remarked before that he found him interesting, if only because of him not being just an ordinary hedgehog. Being naturally gravitated toward center stage, Sonic wanted to get more comments like that. While he wasn't big on fame, he was big on being noticed.

His eyes had opened a smidgen, his lips twitching as if tempted into a smile. There was still that anxiety looming at the back of his head, but at least Shadow knew that he himself had nothing to do with it. It was nice having his hand there, probably more than it should have been; after all, he'd never been touched like that before.

"You okay?" he asked, his voice equally soft.

[did-someone-say-emeralds]

…I may or may not have. What’s it to ya?

[totallylighthearted]

"... Well, fer one, I had no idea ya even played a guitar.

"Second, y'just wasted it."

[did-someone-say-emeralds]

WHOAHITHERE.

You saw nothing.

[totallylighthearted]

"... Sure I didn't.

"Y'just threw a guitar, didn'tcha."

[archive-foxthatcanfly]

Sonic didn’t seem up for anything too active, like a late night jog or anything of the sort. Tails tried to think of something the two could do together, that won’t require too much thinking or moving or doing. Something that could just let their mind clear up a bit. Something like…

How long’s it been since you’ve ridden in the Tornado?

It’s pretty dark outside, but all of the buildings in the city should still have their lights on; the view is amazing from the sky. How does that sound?

[totallylighthearted]

"It's actually been a while. That sounds like a nice idea."

Being able to see city lights from above -- Sonic had that experience many times, but never had he the chance to actually enjoy it. Something was chasing him: the government, Eggman, Chaos... Just like any time he'd seen Earth from space. It was a shame, too; taking to the skies was fun, and Sonic himself could even pilot the Tornado if he wanted to. He just hadn't felt like doing it.

"We gonna do that, then?"

[did-someone-say-emeralds]

Alright, guitar string. Go ahead and break. Not like I needed you anyways.

To which Knuckles proceeds to throw his guitar at the wall.

[totallylighthearted]

"What's up, Knux?"

[perpetuallyserious]

Shadow wasn’t sure how else to better comfort him. The attempts were, sometimes, hit or miss for him. He had comforted others before, Silver and Ray being the first people to come to mind, but Sonic tended to bring a slight amount of difficulty to it. While he wasn’t nearly as closed-off as he was, it’d been made clear that talking about what upset him wasn’t easy for him.

The Ultimate Lifeform hesitated before finally taking a few steps toward him, a hand held in the air as though he wanted to touch his shoulder but, recalling the flinch, wasn’t sure if he should complete the action. “You don’t have to feel guilty…"

[totallylighthearted]

Indeed, Sonic was pretty difficult to comfort if only because he was used to managing for himself. To let on that he was upset to someone else just didn't sit right with him. It wasn't that he didn't go by his feelings in that regard so much as he didn't want to trouble others, when he lived to help them. So when he opened his eyes and glanced at the black hedgehog in front of him, he wasn't making any commentary about how guilty he felt, or about how the situation affected him. He understood the reassurance, let it sink in, but he didn't want to address it. He just wanted to keep telling himself that much.

He eyed Shadow's hand hanging in the air, not failing to notice that he was hesitating in touching his shoulder. Did Shadow think he was uncomfortable with him because of what happened last time? Indeed, he'd been upset, but it wasn't exactly fair to close himself off to someone he was already telling to open himself up... So, he decided there was one sure-fire way that he could show he appreciated Shadow's support. Instead of urging Shadow to touch his shoulder, he instead moved his face and brushed his own cheek against the hand hanging there, as if that had been Shadow's intentions instead. His eyes shut comfortably at it, and his ears flattened -- not something that he would let just anyone do. He hoped this made up for how difficult this was for the ultimate life form.

"I know."

[archive-foxthatcanfly]

The environment changed. The hedgehog’s returned embrace was enough to let Tails push aside his memories of the incident. Sonic seemed to be okay, so why shouldn’t he be? Everything started falling back into place, and there seemed to be no reason to be confused or upset anymore. Tails broke the embrace, and managed give the other a smile.

How about we go do somethin’ and try to forget what happened? Or did you want to call it a night…?

[totallylighthearted]

The blue hedgehog wasn't going to go back to being the bouncy, hyperactive hero he normally was just yet, even if he was, as Tails thought, 'okay'. If anything, Sonic was still tired; he'd run himself down last night, and now he was placed in a sort of mellow mood, wanting strangely for things to be quiet from here on out. Of course, tomorrow he would probably be back to harassing Shadow and trying to irritate Knuckles on purpose, but for tonight, he just wanted to relax.

"I'm up for anything you wanna do, buddy. Just name it."

[totallylighthearted]

Have you actually considered being in a relationship?

"What, ya mean a romantic one? Well, I guess. I dunno. I never had that much interest in it…

"I don’t think I’d be a good boyfriend, anyway. I mean, I’m kinda flighty an’ like to do my own thing. Plus, I hate marriage. Like, that’s a thing that would never happen. An’ I’m not particularly romantic… Like, I’m good fer jokes, good fer makin’ ya laugh, but when it comes to, like, romantic compliments an’ stuff, I dunno. It’s weird."

[totallylighthearted]

You okay, Sonic?

"… Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.

"Thanks for checkin’ up, Amy."

[perpetuallyserious]

"It wasn’t," he replied, finding it difficult to stay where he was and resist the urge to offer him some sort of comforting touch from the look on his face. His guilt must have been eating him raw. “I can promise you that."

[totallylighthearted]

Sonic sucked in a breath hard, enough so that Shadow could easily hear him doing so. The blue hedgehog wasn't normally really emotional, but having his best friend that he'd done so much with over the years look at him like he was the spawn of the devil took its toll, and he needed reassurance that he wasn't that. Anyone could insult him ten times over, but to see Tails looking at him like that was the one thing that could knock his pride down completely.

He shut his eyes tight as he ran his fingers over his face, probably melodramatic in comparison to anything Shadow would do given the same amount of stress, but Sonic was never one to tone down his behavior, and this was no exception. In reality, he was struggling not to lose his cool.

"Nnngh..."