Shadamy Week - Day 2: Sick Day

“If you promise to stay alive just a little bit longer I promise that we are going to make this world a place worth living in by any means necessary. I ain’t giving up. I swear.” 

Spotted in Clackamas, Oregon

So... My house flooded. At least my basement, where my room is.

I'm not going to go into details, because Internet privacy and all that, but the fanfics I'm working on, I'll either publish faster, or much, much, slower. I'll do my best to keep you updated :(

god i am SO tired of mandarin speakers acting like their dialect of chinese represents all chinese.

"i speak chinese" no you dont, this is like saying you speak "west germanic"

"this is how to say [x] in chinese" THATS NOT HOW THAT WORKS

Only Iblis ones. Hence the lack of obnoxious purple Lazer Llizards.

Write Your Story

I just showed my 11-year-old son how many coffee shop AUs there are on AO3.

Why?

He sat down the other day to write a Minecraft story about three kids who go through a portal in their back yard and end up in the world of Minecraft where they have to battle all the big bosses (I didn’t even realize there WERE big bosses in Minecraft but that’s beside the point). He wrote three chapters with a little input from me – his first beta – and y'all?

He was fucking excited. To be writing a story.

Today he came home from school and seemed a little down, so I asked him about it only to find out that some little asshole at his school told him, “There is already a Minecraft story.”

Me: Okay? So what?

Lucifer: If there’s already a story, no one will read mine.

Immediately, I dragged him in and pulled up my AO3 account. My boys know I write fanfiction, so I showed him my account and how many subscribers I have. Then I showed him how many Teen Wolf stories there are. And then, because it seemed like the perfect analogy, I said, “What if I wrote a story where two characters meet in a coffee shop and fall in love? No werewolves, nothing at all to do with the actual Teen Wolf universe. Just Stiles and Derek meet in a coffeeshop and fall in love.”

He laughed.

I showed him Mornings Aren’t For Everyone. Showed him how many hits it had, how many kudos, how many lovely comments.

Then I said, “So do you think, if anyone else wrote a story about those exact same characters meeting in a coffee shop and falling in love… would anyone read it?”

He laughed and said, “No because you already did.”

So I clicked on the Sterek tag and refined to coffee shop AU. His mind was blown to see that they ALL had thousands of hits and kudos and comments. Then I clicked on JUST the coffee shop AU tag and showed him all the fics across all the fandoms written by countless different people.

I’m going to tell you all now what I told him because it applies to everyone.

Write your story. It doesn’t matter that someone else has written a story about that subject. They didn’t write YOUR story. Only you can do that.

And I want to read your story.

What's currently happening:

I'm home. I'm so freaking tired

I posted a oneshot of Sonic and Eggman (the boom versions) and how they met, currently making another

I wanted to reblog more stuff, but I don't want this blog to get all cluttered so a have another Tumblr for reblogs specifically:

I also posted chapter 4 of Psychic and Empathetic! Pls check it out! <3

I'll keep you updated if anything changes

While I know that the Sonic Boom cartoon show hype is probably super dead, the way Sonic and Eggman interact has me convinced Eggman did SOME parenting when Sonic was tiny, so here's my headcanon for that. Enjoy!

While Eggman could conquer the island he lived at, Bygone Island, the one he found nearby would be much easier, hypothetically anyway.

While Seaside Island was redundantly named, it was much more his style. The villages on it were smaller and meeker. They had no real way to fight back against his takeover! Which made it the perfect starting point for his upcoming break in his villainy career! If he took that island, surely that would've made his father proud!

Unfortunately, 'if' is the key word in that sentence.

The little blue hedgehog was no older than five years old, but despite his youth, he sucessfully stood between Eggman and complete control of the island.

And the little ragamuffin didn't even talk.

He never said a word, just showed up with his super speed and sharp quills and would put a stop to whatever genius plan he was making by breaking all his robots.

Eggman wished he knew the little nuisance's name, but seeing as he wasn't interested in talking, it left Eggman to hypothesize on appearance alone.

His back quills had ripped right through a shabby brown jacket that he wore, to the point where it wouldn't work as a jacket much longer. His gloves were constantly dirty, and no one on the forsaken island admitted who his parents were. It was like he suddenly existed one day! With no explanation!

The blue hedgehog was often running at ludicrous speeds. Speeds that, depending on the day, neared the sound barrier!

Eggman feared the day that the little blueberry would create a sonic boom.

The 'impending-sonic-boom' as he began to call the hedgehog was rather unpredictible. It all fell on a scale. Going extremely fast one day, sticking his tounge out at him and humming mocking songs, to going at what must've been like a meer jog to him, with no aknowledgement of Eggman at all the next day.

But one day, things were far more unpredictable than Eggman had bargined for.

He was racing the impending-sonic-boom in the Eggmobile. There was no hope of winning, just like there was no hope for his receeding hairline, but he needed a test. He couldn't create a robotic duplicate without anything to base it on! So it didn't matter that there was no hope of winning!

Eggman didn't need to be fancy with it, he just told the five year old koolaid stain that if he reached the end of the course before the rodent did, that he would offically own the island. And being five years old, he took it seriously.

There was no hope of winning. Not with the determination on the little guy's face.

So one can imagine the confusion that Eggman was met with when he won.

It didn't make any sense! He wasn't even- It was just the Eggmobile! It was nothing fancy! That sound-barrier-threatening-lifeform was much faster than that!

Eggman got off of his Eggmobile and stared at the folliage in front of him. Waiting to see blue quills poking out from the tall grass.

"Oh, Blueberry! I'm waaaaiting!"

It took another three seconds for the kid to show up. And when he did, he looked tired.

"Kid, you gotta be faster than that! You're not doing this on purpose are you? If this is just to spite me..."

The rodent shook his head. Eggman wouldn't have believed him if he didn't look so tired.

"Then what gives!? You can't just suddenly be slow! It's narratively inconsistent!"

The blue menace looked up at Eggman with an angry look.

"No... foo." Eggman flinched. He just spoke. He just... SPOKE.

"What? What did you say?"

"No foo...d! No food... No... fast!"

"Your speed depends on your diet?" Eggman tapped his chin, before grinning smugly. "What, did you miss your peanut butter sandwich for lunch?"

He was promptly glared at. "Okay! Geez!" Eggman tapped his gauntlet, and used it to scan the incoming-sonic-boom.

"Let's see, you're about five years old, according to your inteligence and fine motor skills... and you're one foot tall so you should weigh roughly..."

Eggman's stomach sank. He knew for a fact that the arriving-sonic-boom wasn't hitting that number. Not by a lot... Eggman could pick him up like he was a beach ball.

"When did you last eat..?"

Nothing. Nothing but staring.

"Yesterday? ...No? How about the day before? Th-the day before that? Five days ago? How about a week ago?!"

It wasn't until they hit a week and a half that the sonic-boom-in-progress pointed at Eggman. Signifying the correct timeframe

Eggman stared at the incoming-sonic-boom. For anyone, that would be damaging. For a five year old, that was almost a death sentence.

Eggman crouched down to the sonic-boom-creator and put a thumb under his chin. He squirmed violently and pushed Eggman's hand away as he stepped back.

But Eggman saw what he needed to see. There was almost no fat on his face. He was horribly underweight.

Eggman was a villain. Not a monster.

The hedgehog wiped his face, as if Eggman had gotten something on it by touching him.

"Hmm. Well, you're clearly malnourished. I can't declare victory under those circumstances! That would be cheating! Looks like you win this time, hedgehog! Now, come along! We have work to do."

The hedgehog looked up at him in–adorable–confusion. Eggman stood back up on his Eggmobile.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Hop on!"

The inevitable-sonic-boom inched towards it slowly. He gently tapped the base of the Eggmobile. When nothing happened, he looked back up to Eggman. Who groaned.

"Fine, I promise I won't hurt you, got it?"

The sonic-boom stared even more, before inevitably going for it and climbing onto the Eggmobile like a toddler.

It wasn't tipped in the slightest by the extra weight, which reminded Eggman why he was doing this at all.

His Eggmobile floated upwards and flew off. It quickly left Seaside island and then there was nothing but water below them.

He didn't expect the oncoming-sonic-boom to whimper at the sight of the ocean.

Eggman glanced down in time to see him curl up, hiding between his legs and the lower wall of the Eggmobile.

When the sonic-boom leaned against him for support, he winced and stepped back.

"Watch the quills, you blue nuisance!" He yelled.

It didn't stop the incoming-sonic-boom from grabbing him, but at least he was more careful.

Eggman had to remind himself, that the sonic-boom was a little malnourished kid, because he almost made too much food. Twice. The rodent's stomach would be small, too small for him to give the blue guy a full child-sized meal. Unless he wanted the sonic-boom throwing up on Eggman's floor.

Once Eggman had handed him a plate of food, his skittish attitude towards being on an island nowhere near his old one vanished completely. Eggman's place was a chunk of earth and lava broken off of the bygone island, yet it felt safer than the previous island, when it came to that Sonic-Boom of a hedgehog's wellbeing, at least.

The blue stain in his life stood on a chair, his tail wagging excitedly as he immediately started eating what was on his plate. Apple slices, a hot dog cut into little pieces, crackers, and even a juicebox. It might've still been too much.

Eggman watched as sonic-boom ate. Making sure that he was properly eating. It would be a waste if all his cooking didn't help out the blue rat at all.

When he was mostly done with his food, Eggman decided that enough was enough.

"Alright you menacing blue fiend," he said. "I'm going to watch television on my floating screen. Don't break anything."

He walked over to the TV, grabbed the remote, and sat down.

"Maybe I'll watch that new comedy show with the monkey-ape-thing, that should be interesting."

No more than a few minutes had passed before The Sonic-boom came into the room and jumped onto the couch.

"What do you want now? I already fed you!"

The Sonic-boom yawned and crawled onto his lap, before half-tucking into a ball and closing his eyes.

"Ohh, no you don't!" Eggman said, he picked Sonic-boom up by the back quills and pulled him off of his lap. He set him down on the couch next to him. He whined annoyingly. Before racing back on. Great. Looks like that speed is kicking in...

"No, off!"

He raced back on.

"No, off!"

He raced back on.

"No, OFF!"

He raced back on, again. Eggman grit his teeth. "NO, OFF, SONIC!"

Eggman was so caught up in the stupid game that he forgot the rest of the blue hedgehog's title. He didn't care much however, because he had raced back on and clung to him for all he was worth. Eggman sighed and decided that he didn't care enough. He wasn't willing to do this all day, after all.

The Sonic sighed happily, and purred for a moment before he fell asleep.

And if Eggman freaked out? Well, at least it stayed on the inside.

Shadamy week - Day 1 Festive

I'm generally satisfied with this one? So here you go I guess

Amy was beyond excited this time. She couldn't properly describe it. She just had a good feeling about it. A festival all about the prosperity and hope for the future. That new things would be discovered, and difficult problems could be fixed. Sometimes people from out of town called it New Years, and though that wasn't quite accurate, it was good enough for her.

She had a small jacket to shield herself from the cold night air. The games she would play, the things that she'd do, the people she would see, it was all so exciting!

She was most of the way there. She could see the glowing lights from behind a layer of lights. With a grin, she sped up along the path.

Only to hesitate, and stop in her tracks. Her own hesitation surprised her. It was like something was tugging on her heart, telling her not to leave it behind. Leave what behind?

She glanced around. Grass and trees surrounded her, the dirt pathway she was following beneath her feet, a grassy hill to her right. It all seemed so mundane. But it was obvious, something was here that she needed to adress.

The feeling usually came when someone needed help, or if Eggman was nearby. She saved many flickies this way.

Taking a deep breath, she relaxed and let her mind lead to whatever she needed to be.

She slowly left the path and wandered towards the green hill on her right. She felt like she was being pulled toward it. It felt natural. She needed to get to the top of the hill.

It was a tall hill, but no mountain by any means. It didn't take long to get to the top. The festival was much easier to see from the top. It was lit up like a theme park, or an outdoor arcade. She started glancing around. Looking for that something. It didn't take long to find.

Shadow was at the edge of the hill staring at the festival. His ears were pointed towards her. He definitely knew she was there, but hadn't said a thing. Was he hoping she would go away?

"Um," she started awkwardly. "Hi Shadow."

"... Hello, Rose." She waited a moment for him to continue, but he didn't. He didn't do anything to say he wanted her to stay, but he also didn't do anything to say she should leave, either.

She slowly stepped closer to him, until she was lined up next to him. On his left. He glanced at her very briefly, but ultamately decided to ignore her, and keep looking at the lights.

"So, you headed off to the festival too?" He shook his head, and she frowned. "Then why aren't you at home? What's the point of coming this close if you're not going to go in?"

When he didn't say anything she worried she might've annoyed him. The last thing he probably wanted to was to be interogated. He had never said much to her before, when they bumped into each other while saving the world. She wasn't sure why she thought it'd be different now.

But then, he took a deep breath. "Have you ever seen so much media for something that you feel you've lived through it?"

Amy gave him a puzzled look. What did that have to do with anything? "...I don't know what you mean."

Shadow thought for another second. "Say, a time period, for example."

Amy stopped to think about it. "Like how everything is about the 80s and 90s?" She asked.

"Yeah, something like that."

He didn't give her a chance to ask another question. "Once a year, at New Years, they would send up a time capsule." Amy cocked her head. 'Them'? Who was 'them'?

"Maria was excited for it every time. And I quickly figured out why. The capsule was full of movies, records, books, all from the last year. The record always had about fifty of the newest song hits. Maria loved Elvis' music. I was more sparatic with it. I enjoyed Dream Lover, Earth Angel, Pink Shoelaces... Whatever song I felt a connection to."

It was a simple story when she thought about it, but it was enthralling. Shadow never talked about his time on the ark. She listened closely as he continued.

"But, it was the movies that really connected us to the ground. Maria liked Alice in Wonderland for its color, I liked Rear Window for its intrigue. Plus... I could relate to a character forced to watch the world from a windowsill. Instead of seeing it personally."

That last sentence made her stomach sink. "Shadow..."

"Now the world has changed so much, I..." He frowned. "It's been years since I was exposed to all of it, but I still feel like... I'm trying to catch up."

Amy wanted to hug him then and there, but she didn't know if Shadow would appreciate the gesture.

"Is... Is the festival making it worse?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted. His ears drooped when he said that.

She immediately started brainstorming things that might help him out. But how could she help? She can't rewind time for him! Plus, she didn't think he actually wanted that. She didn't have any experience with old technology. The only person she knew who did was her grandmother. Who owned an old record player, and hundreds of different records for it.

Shadow did just say he liked records. She wondered if she could...

"Hey Shadow?" He quirked an ear in her direction. "When you say 'records' you do mean vinyl, right? Like, record player stuff?"

He scoffed. "Of course, what else do you think was there in the fifties?"

"Just checking." He hummed and stared back at the lights. There was a slight pain in his eyes that she didn't notice before. It took a minute or two to gain the courage to ask.

"So, you don't want to go to the festival," she said.

"No."

"Then..." She took a deep breath. "How about we go somewhere else? Somewhere fun?"

He stiffened in a way that startled her. His voice, quiet. "We?" His quills got pricklier, his eyes widened slightly, his jaw clenched. As soon as it started, it vanished. His quills smoothed themselves back out, his eyes regained the apathetic look from before. The only thing still emotional was his voice. Which was shaky. "Rose..."

Was it that bad? Maybe she shouldn't have asked! He looked so horrified.

"Nevermind," she said quickly. "I get it. We hardly know each other, I-"

"Where would we go?" He said, while staring at her expectantly. She stopped. He wanted to go somewhere with her? You're really giving me mixed messages, dude!

"Well, you talking about records reminded me that my grandmother has tons of old records. She's out on vacation with my grandfather but I'm sure she'd let us borrow it for a while."

Shadow turned and stared at the ground between his feet. Thinking. Then he looked at her. "I thought you were going to the festival."

"Eh," said Amy. "I've been previous years, I can miss it this once. It's not going anywhere. You're more important anyway." And it was true, all the excitement she had for the festival was now orientated toward Shadow.

Which made her confident that the tug from earlier was for Shadow. Maybe there was even more turmoil in his mind than she thought.

Her sentence had stunned him into silence again. The same fear that he hated her response filled her stomach. It didn't last long, though. Because looking at his body language, he seemed fidgety, and his cheeks were slightly pinker that she remembered them being. Was he... Flustered?

Could you be possible that he was flustered earlier too? That could explain his shaky voice...

After a moment, he looked her in the eyes and nodded. "Just tell me where to go."

She grinned and clapped her hands together! "YES! Okay, okay, um. It's this yellow house by Acorn Street, right where-WOAH!"

She wasn't expecting such a swift movement from him, but in half a second, he was carrying her bridal style, and zooming toward her grandmother's house. It was remarkably quick, though, maybe that was redundant. Once they were nearby, Shadow slowed down to let her give him more directions. It was weird. She'd done this before. Being held in the arms of a speedy hedgehog of a hero, but Shadow was nothing like Sonic. Sonic wouldn't have slowed down for directions, he would've just tried every street until he found a house that fit her description.

And Sonic didn't hold her like Shadow was right now. Sonic would never drop her. She knew that, but his hold was far from secure, and it was very stressful. Shadow was completely different. He held her like she might break if he let go. It irraticated all the fears of falling off from the sheer speed. It was a strange mix of tranquillity and exhilaration.

It made her realize something. Something she'd always known, in a passive, subconsious, way, but never quite thought about. Shadow was his own person. He wasn't a Sonic clone, or a mindless android, he had his own wonderful personality. And as Amy looked up at his focused expression, Amy Rose became determined to find out more.

}{}{}{

Shadow heard the crunching of footsteps long before they were anywhere near him. The sound immediately soured his mood. He growled under his breath. The last this he wanted on this cursed day was for someone to bother him and his alone time.

Maybe they won't bother to check this hill, he thought to himself.

He focused back on the lights. Reds, yellows, greens, and even blues were blurring out the stars in the sky. Making it feel barren and lifeless. A stark contrast to the calm days in the ark. When they filled every window.

Lights. Lights of every color. When he was back on the ark, a blue lightbulb was merely a concept. A pipe dream. Now there were entire computers (that doubled as televisions). And you could fit them in the palm of your hand.

The festival irked him. He wasn't sure why. Something about prosperity and the future. But the future seemed to always go by too fast for him to keep up. And what good has the future ever done for him? All it seemed to do was take, and take, and take. Where's the prosperity in that? Sometimes he wished he could just- get a good taste of the past again.

It was an overly negative way to look at it. He knew that. But knowing something is irrational doesn't stop you from thinking it.

The footsteps stopped and he froze. Listening carefully.

Please just leave me alone.

After a very tense thirty seconds, the stranger did the one thing he said not to do.

He did his best to analyze the footsteps. They were different than before. Probably because they were climbing the hill. He refused to look towards where they were climbing. Maybe they would mistake him as just another patch of darkness in the forest.

As the footsteps reached the flatter part of the hill, the footsteps became more recognizable. Thick, heavy steps. Slightly off center. His insides went cold. The only person with boots that combersome was Amy Rose.

This had never happened before. He'd never been alone with her. He prefered it that way. Less likely to spill all the painfully romantic things that he felt for her. Things she didn't need to hear. Not when she was still into Sonic. Well, she never said she was still in love with Sonic, but she didn't not say it either. And he didn't dare hope.

He made a promise to himself, that if he saw Amy Rose, he would refuse to say some sappy romantic garbage. Be normal for two seconds. Please.

Amy was already atop the hill, and he could feel her stare right into his back.

"Um, Hi Shadow."

Be normal. "Hello, Rose."

She stepped closer and he felt his heartbeat speed up slightly. Something was definitely wrong with him. He spared a glance toward her, but her curious eyes met his for a moment, and he looked away. Back to the lights. At least they didn't make his heart spontaneously sparatic.

"So, you headed off to the festival too?" That stupid festival was the last thing he wanted to do. But instead of voicing all his contempt with the place, he simply shook his head.

He could still feel her eyes on him. Maybe he could talk to her a bit more than he was doing.

"Then why aren't you at home? What's the point of coming this close if you're not going to go in?"

He didn't respond to that, though it was clever of her.

He took a deep breath, Don't screw this up, Shadow. Don't say anything weird.

"Have you ever seen so much media for something that you feel you've lived through it?" Though he tried to look casual, he was worried this whole thing would weird Amy out. He certainly didn't deserve for Amy Rose to care for him.

She made the cutest face when she thought about his question. "...I don't know what you mean."

"Say, a time period for example."

Amy donned the same face as before. "Like how everything is about the 80s and 90s?"

"Yeah, something like that."

He must be cursed. Amy was always good at getting him to talk. How could you resist her when she was looking at him with the most faithful look. Like she trusted him.

He was talking, again.

"Once a year, on New Years, they would send up a time capsule." He watched her face for any excuse to stop. But she was already watching, curiously. "Maria was excited for it every time. And I quickly figured out why. The capsule was full of movies, records, and books all from the last year."

At least he wasn't outing himself as a hopeless romantic.

"The record always had about 50 of the newest song hits. Maria loved Elvis' music. I was more sparatic with it. I enjoyed dream lover, Earth Angel, pink shoelaces, whatever song I felt a connection to."

Amy was still watching him as he told his story. He couldn't be that interesting, right?

Shadow nervously continued.

"But, it was the movies that really connected us to the ground. Maria liked Alice in Wonderland for its colors, I liked Rear Window for its intrigue. Plus... I could relate to a character forced to watch the world from a windowsill. Instead of seeing it personally."

This got a reaction from her. "Shadow..." He forced himself to ignore it.

"Now the world has changed so much, I... It's been years since I was first exposed to all of it, but I still feel like... I'm trying to catch up."

Amy looked about ready to cry on his behalf. That felt like overkill in this situation, but that was something he admired about her. She wasn't afraid to have strong emotions about things.

"Is... Is the festival making it worse?" She asked. She managed to find the one question he didn't have a good answer.

"I'm not sure."

He watched Amy's face change from empathetic, to contemplative. Her eyebrows furrowing as she was thinking about something. She looked up at him again, and he had to shove down a fluttery feeling that appeared the second he looked at her. He looked back to the lights again.

"Hey, Shadow?" He turned an ear towards her. "When you say 'records', you do mean, vinyl, right? Like, record player stuff?"

He scoffed beside himself. "Of course, what else do you think was in the 50's?"

"Just checking," She muttered. That confused him. Checking for what? He resigned to this. He promised he would be normal about Rose, and he tried to refortify that by looking at the lights again. But, once again, the advanced technology he was staring at was slightly jarrring.

"So, you don't want to go to the festival," she started.

"No."

"Then..." She took a moment to find her words. "How about we go somewhere else? Somewhere fun?"

That- that broke him. "We?" They? Together? Run off to do whatever? Like, a date? A date with Amy Rose! It sounded too good to be true! And it was. It must've been! Right? There was no way it was possible! Not with the likes of him, she must've meant it platonically. He shook the foolish thought out of his mind. His quills-that he didn't know were pricked in the first place-smoothed down. And he tried to regain his composure. "Rose..." His voice was still shaking. He looked at her expression and tensed up. She seemed... scared. Had he done something scary? Did he ruin everything without even trying?

"Nevermind," she blurted. "I get it." No! She's going to leave me here? Say something! Something Intelligent! "We hardly know each other, I-"

"Where would we go?" He asked. Not perfect, but not threatening, or creepy. He could work with this.

"Well," again, she made an adorable face when she started thinking. "You talking about records reminded me that my grandmother has tons of old records. She's out on vacation with my grandfather, but I'm sure she'd let us borrow it for a while."

It was like he was finally getting reprieve from everything. Amy Rose, a taste of the past, the good part of the past, it was... Perfect. But what did she think of the whole thing?

"I thought you were going to the festival." He muttered. She handily brushed it aside.

"Eh, I've been previous years, I can miss this once. It's not going anywhere. You're more important, anyway."

'You're more important.'

'You're more important.'

'You're more important.'

How long has he been loving her on the sidelines, assuming that she saw nothing but a worse version of Sonic? But here she is, proving that wrong. Maybe he had a chance with her after all.

He shoved that thought down with the rest. Not now. We can think about it later. He'd forgotten comepletely about what was bothering him before. She was a miracle-worker. He looked her in her emerald eyes. "Just tell me where to go."

"YES!" She clapped her hands together, like she was genuinely excited for this. And he was starting to think she was. "Okay, okay, um. it's this yellow house by Acorn Street," he knew that area. "Right where-WOAH!"

He picked her up immediately, and shot off towards the street she said. After a few seconds he realized what he just did. He didn't ask, or warn her. He wasn't even subtle about this whole thing!

He glanced at her briefly. She seemed... Fine? Content, at the very least.

Note to self, don't just pick her up. That is weird. We're trying to be normal.

One day, one day, he would be able to tell her his feelings. And maybe one day, she'd reciprocate.

A/N: I grew up in America, so I was always fascinated by the festivals that other cultures have about blessing the year with good harvests and stuff. In certain parts of China, they have this blacksmith firework thing where they just straight up throw molten metal around. it's pretty sick.

Gotten a little obsessed with Shadow surviving until Silver's timeline and adopting him so I made a future!Shadow design

He's still looking young with the power of immortality and a 21-step skincare routine and at this point he's just going through the motions until he realizes he made it to Silver's time and he might as well go find this child cuz he's bored

Day 5: Singing

I want to put a TW, but I think the warning would genuinely be more extreme than the oneshot itself. Uh, don't read this if you're under 8, I guess. Though if you're under 8 I'm not sure you should be on Tumblr.

(If anyone who reads it thinks I should, lemme know)

Don Quixote is pronounced "Key-ho-tey, btw. It's a surprise tool that will help us later.

Enjoy what is quite possibly the most fluffy, romantic thing I've ever written!

Amy Rose wasn't used to Shadow being so perky. But it was a lovely surprise.

He perked up when they moved in together. Well, after he got used to his new surroundings. It had been a few months and everyday she came home from resistance-clean up and find that no matter what she had accidently ruined or made messy the night before was spotless when she got back. He was a real sixties housewife.

Last night, she had made a real mess of the kitchen while "rage-baking" as Shadow called it. She was so frustrated that she'd officially resigned from the resistance months ago, but still had files to organize for her replacement. And she didn't want to take it out on the poor girl newly in charge. At least the crepes were good.

But when she walked into the kitchen, it wasn't the clean counters that surprised her. Nor the dishes he was cleaning.

Shadow was singing.

She blinked.

Shadow was singing.

It wasn't like anything she'd heard before. His voice was deep, but not too deep. Sweet, but not too sweet. There's was a light carefree feeling his voice as he sang. She didn't recognize the song.

"Dulcinea, Dulcinea, I see heaven when I see thee, Dulcinea." Dulcinea... She'd never heard a name like that before. "And thy name is like a prayer an angel whispers, Dulcinea, Dulcinea..."

She tried to be slow and quiet, as she stepped closer to him. Unfortunately, there's no sneaking up on the Ultimate Life Form. One of his ears perked up, and he turned to her.

"Hello, Rose," he said happily.

"I didn't know you could sing like that," she said.

"Lot of free time on the ark." He shrugged noncommittally. He turned back to grab another dish, but she stopped his hand before he could get there.

"Why haven't you sung like that before now?"

He didn't seem to have a good answer for that.

"... Never felt like it before."

"What's it from anyway? Hardly sounds like a pop song."

"Man of La Mancha. The musical hit Broadway while me and Maria were on the ark. It's one of my favorites."

"Oh! What's it about?"

Realizing that she wasn't gonna let him keep washing dishes, he faced her and smiled.

"It's about this guy, who calls himself Don Quixote the knight."

"Okay."

"And turns out his just some old nut-job."

"Um... Okay? Does he become a knight later in the story?"

"No, he's just insane. Knights weren't even a thing in his time period."

"You're making it really hard to like this story," she pouted.

"Don't worry, he finds this woman who he thinks is a princess."

"And she's not." Amy said dryly.

"Not in the slightest."

"Then who is-"

"She's a prostitute."

"SHADOW!" He smirked. "Wh- how is this your favorite musical!"

"Well. When he sees her, he asks her name. She says her name is Aldonza. He decides that royalty such as herself could never-"

"She's a prostitute," Amy said, deadpan. Shadow's good mood didn't falter.

"... Could never have the name of a peasant."

"He says, to her..." Shadow then took her chin gently in his palm. She met his Ruby Red eyes, so full of love. "No one as beautiful and kind as you should have a name like that. Your name should be a name befitting of royalty. Like, Dulcinea."

"And... He sings her that love song..." Shadow nodded. "It... Is a beautiful song..." She admitted. Though she wasn't sure if it was the lyrics or just his voice that made her find it so lovely.

Shadow smiles. "He calls her Dulcinea for the rest of the show."

"What does Dulcinea mean? Exactly?"

"Melodic. Sweet, elegant, idyllic... Whichever you prefer." He said all those words like he meant that they defined her.

"Huh..." Amy shook her head, and Shadow pulled away. "But she's just a prostitute."

"She's not just a prostitute. She's a person. She was desperate. She didn't enjoy her life. The place she lived wasn't good. And the work she did wasn't pretty."

"Then why not run away?"

"Running requires money."

"Oh." She looked up at him. "This story sounds sad!"

He shrugged. "A little bit."

"The guy's insane! The girl is miserable, how is this your favorite musical!"

Shadow didn't speak for a moment.

"Well, the man saw things that nobody else did."

"Because he was crazy."

"Sure, but the things he saw weren't bad. He didn't see the world as it was, but he saw it as it should've been. I think there's value in that. Being able to see good in things no one else can. He saw good in her. Even when she didn't see it in herself."

That's when it clicked. He saw good in her, even when she couldn't see it in herself. Amy saw good in Shadow. He didn't believe her. She really had to fight to convince him. It's hard to pinpoint exactly when he changed his mind. But it took years.

"Has this... Always been your favorite movie?"

"Always been up there, but I've recently found a new appreciation for the moral of it all."

"I think you're more like the knight."

"That I'm crazy?"

"No, doofus! That you're kind and romantic!"

"Am I?"

"Yes!" She leaned in for emphasis, grinning. "And you also go around, hearing what everyone calls a girl, only to call her something else because you think it's prettier."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Rose," he said with a smile.

"How does it end?"

"Why would I tell you that? It would ruin the ending."

"Well you told me everything else!"

"I definitely haven't told you everything else. You hardly know anything."

"Well I know enough!"

"Then why are you asking for the ending?"

"Well, I- ugh!"

"There's a movie version. Why don't we watch that tonight?" Amy stopped to think. She didn't have anywhere else she needed to be. She could just relax with him on the couch until she fell asleep.

"Have you seen it?" She asked.

"Parts of it."

She giggled. "You're on."

Watched that movie recently. I loved it. The person who suggested it to me loves it, and I get why cause it's really good, but also when I first watched it I was just WTFFFF the entire time.

Don Quixote loses a fight with a windmill.