Ever since I had the realization that I can just make an inmedias res of the idea that randomly attacks me without bothering myself with the boring context stuff around I've gotten quite the boost to write!!
This idea specifically popped into my head and was almost fully fleshed out while I was vacuuming the house last Sunday, enjoy
And woe, there's a prequel to this now, in case you want just a bit more context
[2,350 words]
---
"I don't need you to defend me y'know."
With shaking hands, Nine had anger bubbling inside of him every time his gloves got caught on the flimsy fabric of the bandage.
"By that you're implying I should've just let them rip into you like that?"
"It's none of your business." The fox grumbled and exercised every inch of self-control he had to not just rip the bandage away and Sonic's whole arm with it.
It was stupid, it was so so stupid, and Nine felt beyond guilty, but more than that he was angry.
Angry at Sonic for being an idiot, but what's new really.
"Hmm, pretty sure it was, I do not let bullying happen when I see it."
"That wasn't bullying-"
"We won't argue the definition of that word right now."
The hedgehog gave him a cheeky grin and rested his chin on the palm of his hand. The elbow of the hand was in turn propped up on his leg that bounced seventy-five kilometers an hour, which caused his whole body to shake, which, made Nine irritated even more because he couldn't get the bandage wrapped just right.
But he was done telling the other to stop moving, it was obvious he couldn't sit still for more than ten seconds. Not to mention that just getting him to sit down and get his infection prone, bleeding wound treated was incredibly difficult to begin with.
Besides that, how did Sonic have it in him to smile at him after having his fur stained with his own blood.
...After the taste of its iron was still fresh in Nine's mouth.
"Ok then let me rephrase; I don't want you to defend me." Nine could do that himself no problem. He could make anyone trying to hurt him run the other way if he really wanted to. He would've done just that had Sonic not been an idiot and gotten in the way.
"Then let me rephrase as well; I won't let anyone bully you when I can do something about it."
"I didn't ask for your help." Nine hissed and pulled the bandage just a bit too tight out of spite. Sonic didn't seem to notice.
"You never do."
"Because I don't need it."
"Uh-huh." Sonic hummed, unimpressed, his head slumping deeper in his palm.
The hedgehog fell silent after that. Nine dared just the quickest peek at his face and saw a solemn expression. Whatever, his reaction didn't matter, the wound was taken care of after he carefully used a medical pin to hold together the loose end of the bandage, he was done here.
He was about to put all the used supplies back in the medical kit, call it a day and disappear from everyone's radar until things have died down.
Sonic had different plans it seemed, as he just used his injured hand to grab onto Nine's and stopped him in his tracks.
"We're friends. Right Nine?"
Nine didn't answer, didn't lift his gaze from the bag of medical pins he was holding, didn't let go of the lingering backdrop of guilt lacing his throat.
"Friends rely on each other. Trust each other and help one another."
And he didn't like the tone of voice Sonic was using. It was too soft, almost sickly sweet, and too forgiving. But even with its many charms, it would not work on Nine, he knew what the hedgehog was getting at.
"I can rely on myself pretty well." He replied sternly and once again spared just a quick look at the other, making sure there was an appropriate amount of apathy in it. Then his eyes fell onto the bandaged arm, still holding his own, and lingered.
"And friends don't hurt each other to the point they draw blood, do they."
Nine knew very little about this whole friendship thing still, but this one was pretty obvious, he didn't need to ask.
"No, but they can make the necessary sacrifices for each other when it counts."
At that, all the bubbling frustration reached a boiling point, and Nine might've given into it just a bit too much.
He ripped his hand away, the pang of regret and guilt went buried under the much preferred anger as he gripped the bag of medical pins tighter, looking for something over the bed they were sitting on, he just needed something to exemplify his point.
There, lying about, he grabbed the surgical scissors and tossed them into the open metal box, causing a loud clatter and almost flipping the whole thing over.
"A necessary sacrifice as in having me almost kill you!?"
The action did its job to finally get the hedgehog in a more alarmed state, as he should be.
"Woa woa, it's gonna take way more than just one bite and stab to put me six feet under buddy! I thought that was pretty well established by now!" Sonic waved both his hands in front of him in a panicked surrender.
Nine then wordlessly glared at him. He knew Sonic was tough, he knew. But he also caught on the habit of the hedgehog downplaying his injuries and grievances towards others, and Nine couldn't stand that.
"Something tells me that the bite hurts you more than it hurts me."
"It, It doesn't hurt me." Nine took a second to harden his features further, but couldn't look Sonic in the face at all "Just pisses me off."
Another tense bead of silence during which Sonic only looked like someone spilled a hot coffee mug over him.
Nine sighed in resignation. He should shut up, talking just made everything worse today it seemed.
He finally dragged the medical box to himself, throwing all of the supplies into it in a somewhat organized way so it could be closed properly with a doubled click.
He continued staring at the two old-fashioned clips holding the lid and the bottom of the box together, all while the anger inside of him melted and froze over in a pool of guilt that only kept increasing in its volume as seconds ticked by.
"You want me to be angry at you, don't you."
Bingo.
Despite just deciding hes done talking, the "You should be" was said way louder than Nine intended.
"There's nothing for me to be angry about though."
He gripped the corners of the aid kit as he finally met the hedgehog face to face.
"There is- the, I BIT YOU!" He stammered over his words, dumbfounded, as if Sonic just couldn't get the most obvious thing in the world. "How is that something to NOT be mad about?!"
Sonic simply averted his gaze, gently rubbing his injury. "I mean, I can't stay angry at anyone for long, even if I wanted to."
Nine wilted, shoulders dropping in defeat and head tilting in genuine confusion. "How can you just... how can you just let things go like that?"
"Living in the moment and not letting past grievences slow me down." Sonic flashed him a toothy grin with fingerguns to acompany it. "Besides, It was what I bargained for wasn't it?"
"You knew I was gonna bite and you just went with it?!"
"Don't worry about it, I'm used to having fox teeth in my arms." Seems that the most reliable strategy Sonic had was to just keep chuckling and treat everything as if it wasn't a big deal to make an attempt at deescalating Nine's reaction.
An incredibly poor attempt, because each word that left his mouth only confused and irritated the fox further.
Exept this time what stumped Nine for good was the implication of his last answer, it took a second to click.
"Oh." And then it fully sank in. "Seriously?"
"Yep, a little biter he was. And a scratcher too." Sonic went to his muzzle, parting his peachy fur to reveal a barely visible set of scars in the warm lamplight.
Nine sat there in silence, still holding the first aid kit in his lap as if Sonic were to snatch it from him any second. He just needed something to keep him grounded and stop his hands from shaking, thats all.
Then his eyes fell on the bandage around the hedgehog's arm once again, dragging his whole expression down along.
"I'm sorry." Nine practically whispered. He should've apologized a long time ago, he really should've, but amidst his adrenaline-fueled panic and then the frustration, it didn't even cross his mind.
"Didn't quite catch that."
Now Nine didn't know if the other was deliberately playing dumb, because it didn't sound like he was daring or teasing him to humiliate himself out loud, there was way too much sincerity in that question. Whatever, it didn't matter. The least he could do was to bite the bullet he deserved anyway.
"I said, I'm sorry. For this whole thing." It still felt weird saying those words out loud. Embarrassing even. It was hard getting them out.
"For...that." he added with a shaky voice, pointing at Sonic's arm.
Yet Sonic only smiled. He always just smiled.
"Haha, seriously, don't sweat it! Aside from being used to it, It doesn't even hurt anymore, I heal pretty fast." The sincerity with which the hedgehog basically glowed made the corners of Nine's eyes sting.
He did not deserve to be treated so kindly.
"As I said, we're friends." Sonic scooted as close to him as possible while one of his legs still dangled over the edge of the bed.
He kept trying to change the subject, it was obvious, but Nine just couldn't let it go so easily.
"What does it change about the fact that you were bleeding because of me."
"C'mon bud I'm sure you know you've done worse than that."
...That hurt like a rusted nail through his throat.
But, well, it was true.
Nine felt his ears pin to his skull but made no effort to fight the instinct of shrinking on himself.
"Point is! A lot of things changed actually! You no longer have to rely just on yourself for everything."
Sonic was so, so desperate to brush this whole thing under a rug it was actually hilarious. But hey, it was good to know what he really thought of it. Of him. It's what he asked for after all...
While he was too busy blinking rapidly to try and keep his tears at bay, Sonic was attempting to pry his hands from the box. And despite Nine gripping it so hard it left barely noticeable dents in its soft metal, he succeeded.
Nine wasn't sure what the hedgehog wanted to do next and he expected anything but for him to hold his shaking hands in his. Well, more accurately, let Nine hold onto his fingers while Sonic ran his thumbs across his knuckles in a soothing back and forth motion.
"You know that if you actually succeeded at attacking Knux it would just snowball into more problems, right?"
Tch, even if violence wasn't always the answer, it sure as hell was when someone called him a freak.
"That, plus I just couldn't let him hurt you again."
The gentleness in Sonic's voice and hands burned through Nine's chest. It completely blurred his vision and made it hard to breathe properly.
"I just. I don't want to be a burden."
And even if he only saw undefined blobs of blue and beige through his peripheral vision before he just opted to shut his eyes for good, he definitely heard the way Sonic's whole demeanor completely sunk.
"You two are so painfully alike, y'know..." He let out a sad chuckle while giving Nine's hands a soft squeeze.
And then he went to prepare and say something to counter, but Nine shot first;
"You've done more than enough for me I- the least I c-can do is not bother you with my problems."
And he hated the way his voice threatened to completely break with sobs. He didn't deserve to be the one crying, there was nothing for him to even cry about.
"Pretty sure we live in the same house now- or universe, so you can't find a loophole you smart-ass." Sonic chuckled and blew a quick shot of air at the fox to get him to open his eyes again. "So, your problems are also my problems."
Aside from Nine's eyes now being further irritated and teary, he didn't even realize that he was subconsciously pulling away until Sonic dragged him back. And then the other leaned in as close as his vision allowed him to easily focus on the fox before him.
"Whether you like it or not."
The smile he gave afterwards had a layer of threatening positivity to it, the choice of being all alone was completely out of the window after this conversation it seemed.
Nine wasn't sure whether he was comforted by that or not.
"I'm not, I'm not used to that. Y'know, people helping me, or, or caring about me.." He cringed at himself for saying that out loud. A part of him really wanted to run away and hide, to never be found, while the other craved nothing more than to just sit here, and let Sonic hold onto him without a care in the world.
"Heh, I can tell. How good that we got plethora of time to change that." And the hedgehog shot him the softer version of his iconic grin as he clasped Nine's hands between his.
"You're really gonna waste your time on me with that?" If anything, Nine would concider it hopeless, just being around people irritated him to no end. How on Chaos' green planet was he supoused to get used to them poking their noses in his buiseness and trust them to not use his weaknesses against him.
"Hm, you betcha! That's what friends are for."
It just began sinking into place for Nine when suddenly Sonic's forehead gently hit his.
"And no time spent with you is a waste bud."
All of the tears being held at bay no longer had any restraint placed on them.
75 notes
·
View notes
Ranting about Nucani
There is something I want to express and this fandom should know.
Nu: Carnival is a Harem game but unlike most games in the genre the relationships with MC are all canon within the same story, there are no "Routes", no "Alternate Universe/Timelines", it's all 1 Main Story where you get to gradually meet all the Characters who'll be your companions, in this game named Clan members, and all of them one way or another end up falling for Eiden (MC), which makes polyam relationship canon with Eiden as the center:
Like very few games have polyam representation, let alone a positive one, like yes the polycule it's very Eiden central but even then all the Clan Members interact with one another, as we see mainly in the time limited Events but also in the Main Story, and have friendly and amicable interactions, they rely on one another sometimes even without Eiden being involved.
But also, Aster and Morvay have a relationship established too since way before the events of the prologue of the game, Kuya and Quincy have hinted some sort of situationship (idk I don't care about Quincy and my knowledge about Kuya is limited to what happens in the story and events cause I have no limited SSRs nor have I read any of his Intimacy Rooms).
[Also if any of you knows of any other relationship that have been hinted at that i'm missing feel free to share, i specifically ask of you to refer to only canon, i know in fanon anything and everything is possible and sometimes we may be missperceiving some interactions between characters so i ask of you to take those rose tinted glasses off and see unfiltered canon, it's hard for me too ngl so dw]
All this started with some posts I saw about ppl feeling bad for Yakumo and/or Edmond to be "forced into a polyam relationship" when they are the "most romantic members" and "deserve a monogamous relationship", their words not mine, as if mono > poly , but also do you really think they're against it!?
One thing is being Clan Members against their will (which is all Huey's fault btw), having to work together to regulate the Altars' Essence (or their own) and then another one completely is involving themselves in a personal and intimate way with Eiden, which the latter they all did in their own terms and out of free will.
Also i wanna share one of the best and my fav scenes with Karu, which i know not everyone was able to experience it cause it's hidden in the Intimacy Rooms of a Limited SSR, but it expresses exactly why the polycule is consensual.
Context: Eiden has been worrying about forcing the Clan Members to be with him because he is the New Grand Sorcerer, against their will just because of Huey's magic that ties them together and the responsibility of Regulating the Altars and basically maintaining stability in the Klein Continent.
His worries began (at least that i noticed) in "Eerie Escapade" (Halloween Event), that was also the first time Garu got hurt while protecting Eiden and the first time Karu got mad at him and fronted to yell at Eiden (which is my another fav scene of Karu omg i love him so much i gotta go back and take screenshots of that but that's for another post), the second one being in "Army x Blood x Oath" (which are the screenshots i'll show u)
Because this are the Intimacy Rooms of Garu/Karu's Limited SSR this scene focuses on Eiden feeling guilty because Garu got hurt in the past (Halloween Event) and this time he lost his memory (temporarily, due to this event's story) and Eiden blaming himself for it all and wondering if they would be better off without him, but the same can and is applied to the rest of the Clan Members, seeing how Eiden met and approached Rei while respecting his privacy and independency even tho he's also a Clan Member and the newest introduced in the story, means that the Limited Events are also canon and part of the story because Eiden seems to be growing and learning from previous Events and showing that development in future Events and the Main Story.
Karu also mentions that Garu (prior to losing his memories) was also worrying about the same thing Eiden was, like 'what if Master (Eiden) stays with us just because of the contract with Huey? :c' and he calls them both idiots because they don't communicate and fronts to fix it! (Mighty Karu to the rescue)
And talking about "Eerie Escapade" that is also the event where Yakumo's possessiveness towards Eiden shows, i'll admit i haven't seen the last room but i feel like those people i mentioned before are using it as fuel to their idea, because if Yakumo is jealous of other Clan Members interacting with Eiden and "Wants him all to himself" that must mean he wants a monogamous relationship, right?
WRONG!
That just means Yakumo is a complex person that feels different emotions specially when it comes to the most important person in his life (Eiden) other than his grandparents!
And Yakumo feels guilty for having those feelings, not because of them being in a polycule and he not wanting to be in it, but because he has trauma and sees his desires and wants as selfishness and he would never allow himself to be selfish cause he doesn't want to hurt people, he's a people's pleaser! He lives with constant fear of hurting others like the Great Serpent did when it killed many (but apparently there may be more that meets the eye, because the current event hinted that the Great Serpent actually liked humans and took care of children ???)
And Yakumo dealing with those feelings along with his yokai powers as a descendant of The Great Serpent have been the main topic of his last 3 Limited SSRs, which is great because that means CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT~
Now unfortunately i cannot talk about Edmond's Intimacy Rooms as i'm missing ALL OF HIS SSRs (why do you hate me Edmond if ily) but from what i've seen he's also pretty happy being with Eiden, heck even HIS MOM is happy his son is with Eiden!
That's right, she's the first and only parent of the Clan Members that knows and approves of their relationship, if it weren't because most of them are orphan we could get many more... i wonder if Yakumo's grandparents are aware hmmm ... and we all know Olivine's parents are gonna HATE it xD and maybe Garu's wolf pack will approve of Eiden by the end of this event.
179 notes
·
View notes
so this is the unintentional part two of that summary post i made with geoff talking about the end of achievement hunter. for this post, i'm going to try my best to sum up what michael, trevor, and joe (but not alfredo because he was sick at the time 😔) have said about what will happen in the future on the penultimate episode of off topic, #403. there won't be a transcript this time as i am busy with schoolwork and stuff, so i'll try to make this summary as filled with as much accurate information as i can to make up for it :)
so basically,
trevor starts off by saying they'll be doing the last of various series to wrap everything up. he also notes that some of these finales will be "more nostalgic"
one of the series finales that's up right now is vs episode #150: joe vs BK. the game they played is cooking mama!
after the series finale of off topic (#404 lol), the final AH video ever will be a let's play in the remastered version of burnout paradise, and the cast will consist of geoff, jack, trevor, and michael. this is a callback to the first ever AH video they did back in 2008, and it's already been filmed! trevor says it was more emotional then he thought it would be :')
michael explains that the video will essentially be a ~70-minute podcast. in it, they'll talk more about the end of achievement hunter, where the cast members have went/what they've all moved on to, and new projects that they'll working on. he also says that he thinks that people will call this video "cathartic" while comparing the vibe to their old gta v series, sunday driving
not as important, but michael said that he was mindlessly driving and turning in burnout paradise in the same way that he'd run and jump in minecraft because he "fucking hated" playing minecraft lmfao
as said before, they decided to close AH and start something new with dogbark instead of continuing like they used to. michael acknowledges that in the last few years, most of the crew had already left rt in some way or moved on to other stuff within the company, leaving just michael, trevor, alfredo, and joe as the most consistent on-screen talent by the end. *bonus bit that wasn't mentioned until later, but alongside these 4, jarren from the post team will be their channel manager for dogbark :)
as this group makes videos for dogbark, michael says that their stuff will be both "tonally different" and "very fluid" as they're still figuring it out as they go, noting that they were balancing it and AH/let's play content at the same time
michael also talks about how he's been doing what he's wanted to do at AH for a long time, but there were some things he still couldn't do within the constraints the AH crew had put on themselves
while there will be some gameplay stuff on the dogbark channel, as mentioned in this episode and the channel trailer, they will primarily focus on live action content. trevor makes a point by saying that the style/theme in the trailer will "not be pervasive throughout the entire brand", and michael adds on to that by saying the trailer "is at 100, but every video won't be at 100"
michael and trevor make a point by saying that there will be more variety, as in "a dozen little formats", not necessarily like the shows/series they made at AH, with joe saying that they're not trying to "tie themselves down" to strict uploads and such, like they were when they were previously fitting into a mold at AH
trevor says that he has seen achievement hunter, and rooster teeth as a whole, having a unique challenge ahead of them. he refers to making content that appeals to an audience who had been following them since the early days while trying to also find new faces, both out there in the audience and internally at the company, in order for AH to stay around
he also points out how difficult it is to do that with a long-standing brand that has had different eras of content, since there would be an audience with differing expectations for them. with that, it became hard for the AH crew to balance said expectations with the authenticity they tried to show in the content they created. the crew has changed as people alongside their audience, and the stress that came with it was challenging
michael stresses that the group not only chose to make a new channel completely, they also had to fight for it for a while, and wanted to slow down on AH content before properly closing/archiving the channel to create dogbark. beyond the struggles of creating something new from scratch, they now have the challenge of preparing the audience for the jump from AH to dogbark while thinking about all the pros and cons before going forward
this week (the week of september 18th) and next week (the week of september 25th) are the last weeks of new AH content. after that, there will be a 1 or 2-day break before dogbark properly starts making new content on october 2nd. trevor feels like people will get a better idea of what dogbark is after a month or two of them uploading content
finally (subject to change, of course), they want to aim for full uploads every monday and friday, with patreon-like exclusive videos with rt first every wednesday and saturday. one of the confirmed things to expect is a first-exclusive podcast. the first week dogbark officially starts, all that content will be public as a sample of what to expect, and every week after that will follow that schedule
152 notes
·
View notes
Super interested in how you plan to write Leopardfoot! I feel like both fanon and canon tend to make her into a sweet mom(tm) who’s super sad that Tigerstar is evil, very similar to how Goldenflower is usually treated. What’s her thoughts on Pinestar and him leaving? How did she influence Tigerstar? What are her political beliefs?
Society has progressed past the need for sad moms who stare tearily at their evil sons and boohoo about all the murder. It's MOTHER AGENCY TIME
BB!Leopardfoot was FEROCIOUS. Her father was the indominable Adderfang, and he taught her about the importance of honor and glory. When Tigerpaw was given to Thistleclaw as an apprentice, she was proud of it. It felt perfect to her-- that her father's apprentice was now her son's mentor.
For his brief rule, she supported Sunstar completely. It helped that he came after the disastrous and embarassing exit of Pinestar, which ruined the legacy that she wanted him to give her son. Pinestar was a damn coward and a codebreaker... and she assured Tigerkit that he was more HER son than his.
She even gives him a life, for Legacy, in defiance of StarClan
She was friends with Bluemoon for a time, but after ascending to StarClan, she learned about the Forget-me-nots.
This changed her opinion of her. Leopardfoot supports Thistle Law, STRONGLY so.
She supported THISTLECLAW when he tried to forcefully void the Queen’s Rights. If Bluemoon hadn't broken the code, then what did she have to hide?
She backed off when Thrushpelt leapt to her defense though, "She didn't reveal it because she doesn't love me are you happy now??"
Leopardfoot: *awkwardly turns away feeling like an asshole now, tea SPILLED, her friend's dirty laundry EXPOSED, thought she was crusading for the law but she just dug up drama*
Towards the end of Pinestar’s reign, he was getting exhausted. He wanted peace. Leopardfoot wanted kittens around that time, and figured that there was no better cat than the son of Oakstar, architect of the infamous Crusade Era.
If Pinestar had no children, a glorious bloodline would have died out. She wanted it for her kits. Pinestar agreed on the condition that he would be their Mi, which she happily accepted.
So when Pinestar left, she jumped into the nursery to take over and had to explain to her kits where their Mi went.
She drove it home to them that he abandoned everything, because his weakness took over. They would never be like him, she promised.
Mistkit died very young. Nightpaw made it to apprenticeship before she also succumbed. Tigerclaw remembers very well how hard it was to lose his sisters.
Leopardfoot herself was taken shortly before TPB, in Spottedleaf's Plague. Her death causes Tigerclaw to have a bit of a moment.
After the trial in Bluestar's Flowers, Leopardfoot leaves StarClan along with a bunch of other Thistle Law supporters, including Thistleclaw himself. She joins the BOTTE at the end of OotS, fighting to the end with her son.
She misses him a lot, and remains in the Dark Forest to the current arc. She chose her path; and has the dignity to walk it.
She does miss StarClan sometimes though, and will tell you stories about it if you ask.
In terms of demon friends, she's somewhere in the clique between the harsher and softer spirits.
She dislikes Morningstar, Cloudberry, and Ryewhisker on the softer end, and has come to resent Thistleclaw and Finchflight on the other, but likes Darkstripe, Leopardstar, and Silverhawk.
Gets along with a range of "mid" level demons.
In particular I imagine she hangs out with Darkstripe a lot. Taste test buddy, he asks her to try his experimental recipes because she's honest but not mean. One of the few Thistle Law supporting cats he hangs out with after the double-death of Tigerstar.
He calls her Lefty. Her official nickname is "Left" but he calls her Lefty.
(Clanmew: her name is Saorpwyyar. Others call her Saopr. He calls her Sapyy.)
Her mom and dad Swiftbreeze and Adderfang are here too, following Thistleclaw like she did, but she's been minimizing her contact with her dad. She feels like she is owed an apology somehow but also doesn't have the emotional intelligence to know that it's what she wants.
She just knows that she feels really bitter talking to him, and that's unpleasant.
She used to be VITRIOLIC with Pinestar, who is also here, even going after him physically when he chose to join in with the Dark Forest trainees. But now... honestly so much shit has happened, she just doesn't like seeing him. She wishes he wasn't here.
I write her being very dignified. She doesn't like to admit publically she was ever wrong and speaks with confidence, quietly backing off and not wanting to speak about her mistakes. She loves her children and her family, but explores the world in a very "self-centric" way, trusting her feelings and personal judgement over anything logical.
A reactionary sort of person, if that makes sense.
Her Land Mar has to develop over time because she is an ex-StarClan migrant (damned souls get theirs instantly after judgement), but it's called the Fence Cliff. It's a picket fence that blocks off a sheer drop, making a sharp turn down the cliff face and acting as a walkway. Follow the fence down the slope, and you can access the Dark Forest's town biome.
123 notes
·
View notes