my top bit of advice going into the new year: compliment people. especially strangers. literally everyone you interact with if you can. when you buy coffee in the morning compliment the barista's tattoos. when you're chatting with a coworker tell them that by the way you like their outfit. always find something they've chosen to do on purpose. nail polish, jewellery, tattoos, hair colour/style, statement accessory, outfit, etc are all good bets. things people hope will be noticed. things that aren't too personal so it doesn't make them uncomfortable (eg probably not their physical features). i've gotten into the habit of scanning everyone i talk to for something about them that i think is cool so i can tell them. it's a great habit because it makes me notice people and realise just how many neat little details there are in people's presentation of themselves that might pass me by if i wasn't paying attention. and it brings out so much joy. you'd be surprised how much it disarms people to receive an unexpected compliment from someone they don't know. it is the most sincere smile you will see all day long. it feels nice to make people happy but it also means you win the social interaction. establish dominance by complimenting a stranger's earrings and disappearing into the fog

unlike shadow, i don’t think sonic ever thought of nine and his other shatterverse friends as “not real” or fake versions of the friends he knows in his own dimension. his goal also doesn’t appear to be unmaking those versions to restore the ones he knows. instead, it seems as though he’s either unaware or purposely ignorant of the (probable) fact that his home and the shatterverses can’t coexist once the shards are returned to ghost hill.

he also repeatedly alludes to the idea that other shatter spaces are worse than his original, despite the fact that these are the lived experiences of his friends in those dimensions. specifically, we see this backfire with nine. nine’s life is no less “real” and meaningful than tails’ is, and it’s ignorant of sonic to say that it’s worse just bc it’s different (and, namely, that he (sonic) wasn’t in it). sure, it wasn’t kind to nine and sure he’s a lot colder than he would have been with a sonic by his side, but nine didnt have that opportunity. and what sonic doesn’t seem to realize is that that doesn’t make nine’s dimension a fluke or a mistake. it makes it its own existence, unique to everyone in it. it’s not lesser for not having had him in it. it is hard, it is imperfect, but so is sonic’s own dimension. every universe is not without its trials and tribulations, and just because it’s not familiar to sonic doesn’t mean it’s not still a valid existence. and that’s what nine is most hurt by, imo. nine is who he is regardless and sonic seems to both acknowledge and belittle that at times throughout the two seasons.

and sonic isn’t stupid, and he isn’t hurtful on purpose, but he is overly optimistic. nine is right, sonic doesn’t think ahead and he does seem to believe everything will work itself out when the prism is made whole again— and he’s probably right! i mean. it’s a sonic show. things do tend to end up fine. but nine doesn’t know that, and he’s rightfully afraid (and insulted) that sonic is so cavalier about his entire existence.

nine’s “i AM real!” monologue should inspire some thoughtful consideration. and honestly, it’s the same consideration that shadow tried to inspire in sonic at the beginning of the season. though shadow’s narrative to sonic was to care less about the shatterverses and to focus on their “real” home, which sonic also (rightfully this time, imo) blew off, but the core of his and nine’s messages are the same: they don’t think both the shatterverse and sonic’s home can exist at the same time. they’re telling sonic that he’s going to have to choose— new home or old, and shadow and nine are positioned on opposite ends of that argument. which i find really interesting.

ofc sonic is the master of identifying as-unforeseen and often-infuriating third options, so we’ll see where in the middle he lands in all of this lmfao