#shadow prose

[dogydayz]

When I first awoke, everything happened so fast. My mind was constantly spiraling, the world around me shifting and spinning, memories foggy and broken from time away from consciousness and outsider tampering. I assumed so much, remembered so wrong, pinpointing on an idea that, admittedly, I hardly understood then.

Destruction.

I raced against my mind, I raced against the clock, I raced against the shadow of myself.

Or... Was I the shadow of him?

Everything happened in a blur, yet I remember the feelings, my mindset, how unstable and hurried I was, how I felt as though I were still in the metal corridor running for my life, running for our lives, running til life went cold.

Faces and voices, they each solidified into my mind, and I wanted to cling to them so desperately. I found myself running in circles, running in place, lights and buildings passing by me, the world around me so vast and dreamlike.

I didn't feel alive, and yet... I felt more alive than I'd ever been.

My feet barely touched the ground as I went, as things happened, events unfolding before my eyes. Voices spoke to me, they called to me, they told me everything I wanted yet couldn't believe. I was broken yet build all at once, deconstructed then pieced back together again... But it all went so fast that I didn't understand much of it at the time.

Locked onto pink quills, green eyes, purple wings, a shining machine... They all had their effects on me, they all took pieces of me and unraveled me like a loosely knit scarf, becoming nothing more than old worn yarn.

Blazing streaks of blue, I chased after light itself, for those moments that I sped through the air and clashed with glowing spines, nothing else mattered. Nothing else existed but a feeling of being held down, grounded, yet lifted onto cloud nine all the same.

My mind loved to contradict itself, it made it hard for me to process it all later on. When everything felt so strange and dreamlike, I felt like I had to doubt its reality... But it was real, I know that now, ever since finding steadier ground for myself.

The final stretch, we were shooting stars in the sky, my mind falling back to blurred memories, now slightly less damaged, and slightly more lucid. A voice called out to me, believing in me, believing in us.

Fighting side-by-side against kin of my own, against a disaster greater than any yet seen, I felt just as golden as our bodies had become. For them all, for the ones who'd given me so much in such little time, I fought. For the love I was created in the name of, I gave it my all. For the world I'd promised to protect....

I plummeted out of the sky.

My memories of that time make recalling it feel like it was all a fever dream, yet I know how real it was.

Awoken again, with new connections alongside me, I chased the high of that night, I chased the high of living after going so long disallowed from it.

Friends.

That's who they are to me. And they were still at that time... But that exuberance wouldn't last. I could only make my life out to be a drama for so long before it would come crumbling down upon me.

Slowly, yet surely, cracks began to form.

And the invasion was the gunshot through my chest that broke the glass I was made of.

Memories challenged, my mind pried open, things confirmed that I'd avoided for so long, ideas brought to mind that still caused me paranoia, even after they were disproven. I lost sight of myself, despite believing so deeply that I'd found myself....

Or, perhaps... There never was a self to begin with.

Who was I prior, even? Just a cocky bastard who yearned for the enjoyment of living everyone else experienced? Who, try as he may, couldn't get those same feelings unless he was neck-and-neck against his own imposter?

My friends think there was a "me" before, but that one feels so distant in my mind that it's... Hard to truly know.

My skull was cracked open, my psyche poured onto a platter where all could view it and taste it for themselves... They didn't leave.

Part of me had hoped they'd leave.

Part of me wanted to hold them so close for staying by my side.

They were so persistant.

Yet so was I.

The feelings crept in and made themselves at home.

Just another adventure, it seemed, just another calamity to be faced.

I had my friends with me, I had myself together, for the time being. Things had felt... Fine, despite how the paranoia lingered within me, despite how my mind couldn't get away from the darkness of our world.

But my friends... They were there.

I was there.

We were there and we would fight together when the time came for it...

Until...

Something inside me shattered.

When I saw his body collapse, something inside of me simply fell to pieces.

Forced to continue on, I trudged, lost, falling into myself...

And you'd think that... Once he was back, things would've been fine...

But they weren't fine.

When they gathered the Emeralds, she imbued them with her own sealed power, and life was brought back to him...

I should have felt relieved... Well, I did, for a moment. It was when we had to fight that beast together that I realized how much I'd been wrecked by my own thoughts.

That stupid smile, that unending bravery, bright eyes and a hand held out to me...

I couldn't lose that again.

When all was said and done... When I collapsed from exhaustion and had to be carried home... I'd wake up....

Different.

They were all so kind to me. They all cared so much. They gave me exactly what I wanted and I loved it. I hated it.

I couldn't let it happen again, not again, not again, not like last time... If I had no one I could never fail them. If no one depends on me, then no one is because of me. If no one is around me, then no one is hurt on my behalf.

Alone...

I began to trail behind. I began to avoid the others. I began to remain silent. I began to snap at each and every one of them until they'd assume I wanted to be alone. I did, that's what I wanted. I didn't, I never wanted that.

I forced it upon myself, I had to defend myself, I had to defend them. It was my purpose, to be a sacrifice to the world for it to thrive. Sacrificing my own comfort, my own joy, my own existence...

It was worth it if it meant they'd be safer... If it meant I wouldn't have to be torn open again and again... If it meant that I wouldn't cause them any more trouble...

They tried to get to me, they tried to speak to me... They were all too gentle about it. They were all too caring about it. They were all to aware of my actions, they left me be out of consideration... But time and again, just as before, that bastard spindashed his way through concrete and rebar walls I'd build around myself. Everyday the barriers would be crumbled, dents left in metal, so chaos-damn persistent to make me listen.

And I did listen.

He didn't know it, I waved him away or struck him with a blow, but I was hearing what he had to say... Because I had no real choice.

It surprises me that, of all the ones I knew who'd been the ones to weasel their ways into my heart, he's been the most consistent of them. It's admirable, such tenacity... Though... I could tell as time went on that... He was growing truly worried. Perhaps he "missed" me, perhaps he just didn't want me turning on his buddies... Or perhaps he just... Was worried that nothing would ever change for me.

Maybe it was all of them.

I'm not quite sure.

All I know is that I'd gone years walled off from those I loved, and I assumed they'd just moved on by then. I was angry, I was lonely, I was desperate and yet so.. so scared.....

But when I finally got the courage to face them...

They were still there.

Waiting for me.

Holding out hope.

Ready to welcome me back just as if it were old times again.

And.. When I finally found the strength, I'd left my fortress behind to join them once more, to find myself in the sea of existence, to build myself from the pieces they'd kept safe until I'd find my way home to them once more.

#my writing #sth #sonic #shadow the hedgehog #shadow prose #i suppose? #yeah I'll call it that #when i do first person shit #I wanted to toy with the idea of connecting his past together #to explain his actions in more modern media and shit #but i pulled a 5th grade “write a letter as if you're living in the 20th century” #but instead of a letter it's prose about a gay hedgehog #I also just #really really love writing for Shadow's thoughts #he's so cool #I love toying with aspects like him going into borderline blissful daze states #when he's super happy #and he thinks about it later and wants that feeling back so badly he cries #but it's happy tears #because he remembers the good times #when he was so fucking cool and doing cool shit #and he looks at the stars and believes that Maria is watching him #and cries even more #and also im super fucking weak for describing my headcanons about how he views like #his battles with Sonic and shit like that #because it's SOOOO fun to write that sorta escapism stuff #like it's totally normal to yearn for the time when you were racing your rival #that you met earlier that day or something #and you were racing through space #to then become golden and glowing with him and save the world

[soracities]

Mihail Sebastian, Women (trans. Phillip Ó Ceallaigh) [transcript in ALT]

#q #lit #quotes #prose #mihail sebastian #women #dolor ante lucem #the shadow side of love #reading #romanian lit #m #x

[thepersonalquotes]

Women are beautiful in the light of the day, but are even more so in the shadows of the night.

Andrzej Majewski

#Andrzej Majewski #thepersonalquotes #Women #Beauty #Light #Night #day #evening #lighting #shadow #quotes #literature #lit #prose #life quotes

[vizthedatum]

Accept that you will disappoint people.

radically self-forgive yourself so that guilt and shame don't become a part of your wiring

so that you can show up and be accountable

#radical self-forgiveness #forgive #shadow work #healing #inner work #trauma #neurodivergence #queer #self love #harm #prose #love #relational love #self-compassion #accountability #growth #honesty #emotional healing #we all make mistakes #grow from your mistakes #ptsd #c-ptsd #masking #people-pleasing #codependency

[s-aint-elmo]

thinking about book cerise/raven again and the way it converted me completely in the span of like 300 pages. listen. listen. it's about cerise trusting raven with her biggest secret. it's about raven coming to cerise for help about her now uncertain destiny. it's about cerise letting raven in and becoming her friend despite her need for secrecy and solitude. it's about raven inspiring cerise to be proud of who she is, simply by showing her that they all have a choice. it's about cerise outing herself to save raven. it's about raven fighting smarter than all the hoods and wolfs combined to help cerise win the right to choose her fate. it's about cerise coming out of her shell and welcoming friendship and camaraderie because of raven's efforts. it's about raven being afraid and unsure in a dangerous place doing dangerous things, and wishing she were wrapped up in cerise's cloak instead, to ward all the bad things away. it's about

#ever after high #it's about literally being a wolf and a raven!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #cerise hood #raven queen #girl what is your shipname #that last bit is paraphrased but otherwise completely unaltered canon prose by the way. cerise is mentioned once (1) in the legend of #shadow high and it is in raven's inner monologue. to quote: ''raven imagines [the good hopeful feeling] is like cerise's warm hood and cloa #protecting her as she walks through a forest of fog.'' and ''not exactly the big bad wolf but all the same raven wishes for cerise's red #cloak.'' #taking shannon hale by the shoulders what did you mean by this #they banter and they laugh and they text in class and wink at each other and put their lives on the line for each other and hug each #other goodbye see you at school tomorrow. raven has seen cerise's baby pictures. do you understand why they make me crazy #mine

[bonefall]

.. opinions on wind runner? i feel like im one of the only ones that genuinely hates her sometimes

If you feel like the only one who genuinely hates her, I think you need to look around more. Wind Runner is a very widely disliked character, because she's often used within the story as a small antagonist who "threatens" the authority of Tall Shadow. Gray Wing dislikes her. Thunder is openly cat-racist to her. She spends several books trying to break through the moor cats' xenophobia to join a group that came to HER LAND.

Then, when Moth Flight is old enough to be a relevant character in Forest Divided, Wind Runner is turned into Yet Another mean mom the very moment Moth displays ADHD. She's contrasted to her mate Gorse Fur, who is a Soft And Good Dad, and ultimately MASSIVELY punished with the harrowing events of Moth Flight's Vision (even though, for most of that book, she's completely right.)

Ask yourself why they're especially harsh on WIND RUNNER for being mean to her child, in the arc with Tom the Fucking Wifebeater and his redemption death, plus Thunder being forced to stop being mad at his abuser Clear Sky, please.

To me, Wind Runner is an intense, ambitious woman who's demonized for it in a way that men just aren't. She's subject to several misogynistic trends within WC, plus a huge helping of xenophobia that goes absolutely unexamined. If DOTC cared at all about women, it would have treated her with the nuance she deserves.

Wind Runner is treated with nearly endless suspicion by Gray Wing through books 1 - 3, while he's bending over backwards to suck Clear Sky's toes.

Her wanting to join the group that came TO HER HOME and being a bit pushy about it earns a stronger reaction from Gray Wing than Clear Sky murdering people.

She's pressured into changing her name "to fit in," and it's still not enough. She wanted to join the group so bad she changed her name, at the request of the Mountain Cats, for a chance of being better accepted

This came after she'd already saved Jagged Peak's life when a burrow collapsed on him. She's plenty trustworthy.

She keeps doing shit to try and prove herself to this group of assholes. Remember Bumble being dragged back to her domestic abuser? Gray Wing interprets this as a power struggle, when WIND RUNNER WAS NOT EVEN PART OF THE GROUP AT THE TIME.

From Wind Runner's POV, she did something that the Moor cats wanted done. It was fucking evil. It was committing violence against another member of the out-group the cats see her as.

But who actually has the power here? Tall Shadow does.

Gray Wing said it himself that she could have come up with some excuse for Bumble to stay, and she didn't. In fact, any cat could have spoken up. No one did.

and still. STILL. Wind Runner gets nothing. Her reward is Gray Wing surmising that actually, her doing their sick dirtywork was a political move.

It's more consistent as a motivation with how Wind Runner wants to join their group. The thing she's been doing.

She only actually gets to join the group after Thunder starts publicly hurling slurs at her for suggesting they need to be ready for Clear Sky to attack them. "What do you know about peace? Last time I was here you were NOTHING BUT A ROGUE WITH A ROGUE'S NAME"

Gray Wing even starts purring when she gives birth, because her ambition goes away briefly and she "stops bossing everyone around." this is treated like a sweet thing. god forbid women retain their personalities when they have kids

She loses her first premature child to a seizure and Gray Wing starts proselytizing his religion to her. "Maybe it's a good thing your weakest child died because Jesus has them now" I want to beat him with a hammer

When her second child gets sick, Clear Sky has a bright idea that involves killing it. I refer to this as his "reverse leper colony" suggestion. He only develops a sense of humanity towards the sick when his brother's pregnant wife is in danger. Wind Runner and her kitten barely seem to clock as people to him.

It's only after her SECOND baby succumbs to a horrible, painful death that she decides the moor cats are assholes, and she goes to start her own group. It's LONG overdue. I was extremely excited to see it.

Now. Listen.

I've been treated just like Moth Flight before. I've practically heard the scolding in Book 6 Chapter 3 verbatim. I'm not downplaying anything about Wind Runner being harsh to her; being yelled at like that never fixed the problem.

What I'm saying is that this is the SAME arc that summons the hollowed-out ghost of Storm to coo that Clear Sky "never drove anyone away" with his abusive behavior and gives Tom the Wifebeater a heroic redemption death.

So why is the scolding from Wind Runner treated as unambiguously harsh? What's the difference between her and them?

Why is it that outside of this little bubble of the community, you can get buried in a flood of people crying about how "Clear Sky made Summisteaks Butt he thought it was the right thing :((( He feels bad about shoving Thunder's face in a weeping, pus-filled wound and trying to kill him :((((" but Wind Runner is mean about Moth Flight not catching a rabbit and she should be skinned alive

Why is WIND RUNNER held responsible for the death of Clear Sky's child in Moth Flight's Vision, WHEN IT WAS COMPLETELY HIS OWN FAULT??

So, why should I hate her? Because she's mean to the idiot protagonists? Because she's Yet Another Bad Mom whose actions ARE treated as Bad in the story, in the arc famous for openly weeping whenever someone's mad at their abusive dad?? When she has this whole horrific, unexamined story about how incredibly bigoted The Settlers are towards her and the extremes she goes to in order to please them?

I'm glad she's mean, actually. She should have been even meaner. I think she should have a gun

#so anon I am very sorry #Uou are going to the Shadow Realm #I am the patron saint of every woman in wc #but especially the ones in dotc #because that arc does them so fucking dirty #Wind Runner can be as mean as she wants I support her #The Settlers deserve it actually #Wind Runner #Windstar #Warrior Cats Analysis #also again everything wind runner has ever done that was mean was done worse by clear sky #but clear gets off with a slap on the wrist. IF that. #while Wind Runner gets her leg sickeningly snapped on screen as several paragraphs detail her growing fever and horrible agony #before the magic of JesusClan heals her and bestows her lives upon her #Guys getting hurt in WC: ''owie'' #Girls getting hurt in WC: (you can hear the writer breathing heavily through the 6 paragraphs of prose they use to describe her injury) #..........also. to put into perspective just how fucking bad the misogyny in this arc is; #there are only 4 female characters in Book 1 who survive to the end of Book 6. Besides some cameo cats who exist in the tribe #Wind Runner is one of them. The other three are Settlers. #I won't even say their names lol. Can you even remember who all three of the other ones are #warrior cats analysis

[enigmatic-elegancee]

#dark academia #poetry #dark aesthetic #prose #dark art #heartache #literature #light academia aesthetic #light academia #sky children of the light #blades of light and shadow #light yagami #warrior of light #spilled words

[beansprean]

"Nandor lives a very ordinary life that is just fine. Every day he goes to the coffee shop where he works, and comes home to his one bedroom apartment. But that's all he needs. That's how things have always been.

...and then this weird guy who has some sort of THING about Nandor starts showing up at the coffee shop every day, and Nandor begins to learn that maybe that isn't all he needs.

And maybe this isn't how things have always been."

@vampireshmampire and I collaborated on a prose comic!! It's half words (courtesy of her) and art (courtesy of me). It's been a year in the making and we hope you like it!

#wwdits #waking to a dream #fic rec #nandermo #mlm #human nandor #coffee shop au #what we do in the shadows #what we do in the shadows fx #my art #fanart #prose comic #image described

[derangedrhythms]

I was moving through shadows as one who dreams.

Jeanette Winterson, Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days; from 'Dark Christmas'

#jeanette winterson #christmas days #dark christmas #prose #shadows

[theartoffresco]

#art #poetry #prose #words #lit #poem #spilled ink #literature #life #love #frescowho #photography #capture #snapshot #nikon life #nikon #carlo point marina #rainbow beach #queensland #australia #sunset #sky #marina #reflection #clouds #nature #earth #shadow

[wonderinc-sonic]

TDW 4 - "Medicine for Malware" on Ao3

2.7k Gen, All Audiences

Slice of Life, Illness, germaphobia, Silly, Domestic, Post-Comic Arc: Metal Virus (Sonic the Hedgehog)

TDW 4: Creation // Malfunction - I chose Malfunction

Shadow takes any potential malady a bit too seriously, but when it comes to friends it really can't take risks.

Shadow started the coffee machine in Rouge's kitchen. Once the beans had crushed for her drink, it snuck a few out the top that hadn't gone through the grinder, crunching furtively. It flicked its ears back to face away from the whirring.

She was under a blanket, and on the phone to some sister, or friend from school, or whoever else Rouge knew. They were laughing about something.

"That's so grim. A judge couldn't drag that out of me!" She cackled. The person on the other end said something that made her snort even more, then said something else. Rouge was quiet for a moment, flicking through something on her phone.

"Oh, god, that was tomorrow. I'm gonna have to pass, I'm, er, actually not feeling well. Sure, I mean I didn't wanna say, kill the vibe, but yeah it's kinda nasty. Uh huh, don't think I should go far from the bathroom. God, no don't catch it. Oh, thanks I will. You have a lovely time! I, er, actually gotta go right now, see-ya-mwamwa-bye-" she hung up the phone with urgency, then leant back on the sofa and smiled to herself, tucking the blanket under her chin.

"A-hem! Barista?"

Shadow plonked the mug in her hand and rolled its eyes.

"What?" She shrugged.

"Why lie? You should say you don't want to go."

She blew on the foam and smiled toothily; "The plan was to set her up with the only other person who won't bail, somewhere they're in bikinis. I think it'll go swimmingly."

"That's invasive of you."

"Sure is! But it wasn't a total lie, I don't feel great, and I would rather stay in."

Shadow's fur stood on end, but it didn't move. Rouge didn't notice, flicking through the TV channels unimpressed.

"You feel ill?"

"Enough to sit in front of the sofa and be waited on, sure."

"What are your symptoms?"

"Eh? Oh, nothing that bad. Usual stuff, y'know. I just don't fancy a waterpark."

"Is it the caffeine? I will take this away. Dairy is also an irritant to the gut."

"What- no, it's not food! I just want to stay in and rest, I'm tired. What's wrong?"

Shadow took the coffee from her hand and poured it down the sink, holding the mug with only its fingertips, and took a deep breath. It disappeared into a room, which she thought was odd until she realised it was her room.

"Oi- what are you doing? Get out of there!"

It reappeared, and let the breath go, having opened all the windows in her room and placed the washing up bowl next to her nightstand.

"Go to bed."

"Go to hell! This is my house, don't tell me what to do!"

"Bed. Now. You're ill. I will manage all duties. Do not move fast, but go immediately."

She tilted her head, but scooped up the blankets and her phone and laptop.

"Well whatever, weirdo. I didn't wanna hang out with you anyway. Sure, you wanna do things for me? Go buy my shopping, then, and do a couple loads of laundry while you're at it. I want takeaway for dinner, and it better be nice. That's what this terrible disease demands - chop chop!" She huffed, and it distinctly thought it heard the word 'dumbass' as she closed the door.

Shadow threw its gloves in the washing machine, and started scrubbing down its hands, arms and face in the kitchen sink. It cleaned the surfaces with a bleach cleaner, and put every soft fabric surface in the washing machine too, setting it to very hot. It finished opening the windows in the flat, and stared out, hands shaking.

Tests would be needed, and Shadow would of course need to administer them to reduce any further contact, at risk of picking up a greater potential viral load. They would need a double seal on the entryway for incoming supplies, or some method of receiving from the outside world that couldnt transmit disease...

Shadow tapped out a message to E-123 Omega with trembling bare fingers.

It could hear the sounds of banal television from Rouge's room when Omega arrived with ample groceries and a bit less ammunition than he set off with.

"I do not like Waitruse. I am coincidentally no longer welcome in Waitruse."

"Clean yourself down this instance." Shadow barked, tossing a cloth and isopropyl alcohol to Omega, who dropped all the shopping and caught both. Shadow laid a bowl of soup and bottle of still water on a tray in front of him, with a little packet from the shopping bags.

"Take this to her, then immediately clean yourself again. Take her temperature, the instructions are here."

Omega looked dimly over the sealed thermometer, and barged open Rouge's bedroom door, as Shadow darted to the window to breathe the clean air.

"Why are you in bed?"

"I've been sent to bed, oh thank god some lunch. Has it done my washing yet? I want my fuzzy slippers. And make it fill my hot water bottle. And kick it, just because." Rouge yawned, taking the soup and eyeing Omega's shining chest.

"Did you wash?"

"I was forced to. What is your core temperature reading?"

"How should I know? Normal temperature? I'm fine."

"Puny meatbag, insufficient internal data. I will perform manual test."

Rouge huffed and put the soup down, then shuffled up in her bed as a thermometer was stuffed in her mouth.

"38.5°C. Within normal range of Bat. Why is Shadow afraid of you?" Omega huffed.

Rouge blinked dimly, and paused the sitcom as she thought.

"Is it? I thought it was angry with me? Shadow! Why are you scared?" She shouted through the door, but Omega stopped her.

"You will leave until we know it is Shadow who is faulty. I will reconvene."

As he shut the door, Shadow was spraying him down.

"She is bat temperature."

"Go back in with this kit."

"Query: why are you cleaning me again? Illogical order of events. Clean once after contamination."

Shadow huffed, and threw some testing kits at Omega.

On the other side of the door, Rouge groaned.

"Oh my god, is it some kind of germophobe now? Honestly, one zombie apocalypse and everyone and their granny is a virus expert." She grumbled, sticking a swab up her nose as instructed.

"Unclear: are you malfunctioning? Rouge is not known for compliance with orders."

"No. I wanted to laze around today anyway. It's normal, Omega, don't let Shadow spook you."

"If Shadow is wrong, why comply with its idiocy?"

"Because my stomach aches and I don't want to fight right now. If it wants to spend the day playing doctor, then it can knock itself out. You done? Thanks for the soup. Now go play somewhere else, apparently I'm contagious." She growled, stuffing the completed tests into his hands and shuffling back into bed. Omega left, something nervous churning in his core processor.

Shadow took the tests in a pair of rubber gloves and laid them out on labels it had prepared.

"Clean yourself off, and you can go. You are highly unlikely to incubate a disease."

"Query: why am I expendable to infection?"

Shadow glared at him, and shook its head like he was being stupid.

"You're a machine. We have no evidence you can be infected with anything biological. I am apparently not so fortunate. I'll have to stay isolated too."

When Omega stared nonplussed, it sighed, covering each little test strip with a glass as it expanded:

"On the ARK new crew spent 3 weeks in solitary confinement, sealed with a different air cycling system. I thought it was excessive, but I see now..." Shadow stopped, bearing its teeth and closing its hands into fists.

"It was only with those careful measures that Maria could stay well. Even the smallest illness in mortals can be deadly. And you are less likely to carry transmissable diseases than I, even if I don't become as unwell as others."

Omega's head felt light again as he thought about how deadly mobian infections had proved they could be. He spread his arms out to let the excess heat leave his body quicker.

"... Concern level unwarranted. Rouge is lazy, hungry and grumpy: she is clearly in normal Rouge condition."

Shadow tutted its tongue, and scrubbed its hands again, before it began to sanitise the shopping. It quirked its ear back as Omega whirred hard.

"What? Are you thinking? Try not to."

"Unit has no thoughts."

"Lies, your fans are going."

Omega looked down at his chest and bonked the fans.

"Nothing can be wrong. They are... congested, working theory. Take them out immediately."

Shadow frowned, but took a screwdriver to Omega's chest. When its damp hands touched the barrel the water hissed.

"You are very warm. Something is wrong."

"Ridiculous! Robots are immune to fever."

"I know. I meant mechanically."

"Query: can machines run a fever? Time sensitive. Urgent. Respond now."

"No. I just said that, calm down."

"Secondary opinion required! Acquire more testing aparatus!"

"You want a swab? For what? How do you suppose you'll get a saliva sample?"

Omega spun his wrists in panic, and clanked to the ground as Shadow tripped the back of his knee.

"I am in peril!"

"You are incorrigible. Sit down, I'll check inside."

"Urgent: Shadow is machine and meat. Shadow is susceptible to all viruses! Beware my malware!"

Shadow flexed its hands in and out of fists, and bore its teeth.

"I'll risk it. Stop moving."

It opened his chest, and started carefully unpacking the wires.

"Beep. Beep. Beep." Omega trilled rhythmically while it laid all the pieces out on the floor meticulously, digging for his fans. As Shadow's fingers came close to the motherboard, the beeping surely sped up, because it was in tune with its own hammering heart. Something hissed and rumbled in the background, and it wiped sweat from its brow. It had watched Rouge do this thousands of times, but what was that blue coil again? It touched a latch carefully.

"Ooh, wouldn't do that if I were you." Rouge whispered over its shoulder.

Shadow sprang from Omega and her, clinging to the curtains where it landed. Omega gasped dramatically.

"Urgent! What has it touched! Shadow has forsaken its brother!"

Rouge tittered, and stuck her hand boldly into Omega, cuddling a freshly filled hot water bottle to her stomach.

"Rouge must leave! This unit is compromised by her diseases!"

"More like my fur - when did you last clean your fans, Omega?" She huffed, yanking a greyish mound made of white fur and black spines from one of his fans.

"Get back in your room! I can't help you if you make me sick!" Shadow hissed, as Rouge glared at it, clipping Omega's chest back on. He whirred his fans fast, but they only whooshed this time, instead of roaring.

"Why did you open his whole chest instead of the back panel to get to his fans? Are you feeling alright, idiot?"

"Critical Failure: Rouge's malady is spread to Shadow! The whole team is compromised."

Rouge clutched the hot water bottle and pulled herself up, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Do I need to explain to you two there are some things you literally cannot catch? Beyond yourselves not being susceptible, but completely uncontagious? Are you that dense?"

Omega scratched at the nape of his neck, trying to open the panel with his finger. Shadow climbed down the curtain and unscrewed it, eyeing Rouge carefully as Omega's fans were exposed and spluttered out more fluff and dust.

"... I thought I couldn't catch and spread anything. That was my design, I never doubted it was true. I won't make the same mistake twice."

Rouge pinched the bridge of her nose and nodded.

"Right. I get that. But, you never used to think I'm dying when I got a headache, or try to take Omega apart when he's a bit dirty. You're gonna have to go back to that."

Shadow nodded, but visibly leant away from her still. She sighed.

"Shadow, I'm so confident, I'd bet... my whole fridge that you won't catch what I have. Does that ease anything?"

"Fridge is replacable. I won't go out until we are passed the infection window."

"I would bet the whole house."

"It isn't actually yours."

Rouge clapped a hand on Omega's metal body: "I bet the 'bot you can't get what I have. So stop worrying." She smiled tiredly at Shadow, and it weighed up how serious she could be.

"This unit is not a pawn! Omega is Queen of Chess Board!"

"So I win Omega if I get sick? Perhaps that's a fair deal." It smirked slightly, as Omega spun his head between them.

"Oh sure, buddy, I'm that confident you'll be fine. And if I'm right?"

"Well, you can have Omega, obviously."

"Protestation! This is not obvious!"

"Fine, I guess I'll take Omega. How about I'll keep him for now, and when you catch my period, you can come claim him, how's that?"

"... that didn't occur to me. Fine, you win Omega."

"Idiot. I change my mind, I don't want just him. If you lose, you can keep serving me til I'm 'better'. And I am going back to bed. Actually, Omega: you're mine now so princess carry me. Then make me a mocha."

"This unit did not consent to bet!"

"Caffeine is still an irritant-"

"Irritant yourself."

"-As is your fur to his fans. You shouldn't keep him in your room, it's filthy in there." Shadow huffed, shunting the fur tumbleweed around with his toes.

"Oh, you're volunteering to clean that too? How thoughtful!"

Omega growled metalically.

"Conversation Moot! This unit is not won! He will go wherever he wants!" Omega huffed, and Rouge tapped a hand on his forehead, shushing softly.

"Careful, all that bluster has you feeling a little warm, big guy! What was that talk of malware? Maybe you need some soup and a bath?" She laughed softly, but put herself to bed. Omega turned on his heel and plugged himself into the internet port, downloading an antivirus update.

In just twenty minutes, he was in a half-sleep mode, whirring away at the foot of Rouge's bed, while she flicked through crap TV. Shadow lay on top of the duvet criticising everything, and flinching everytime she groaned. She shifted in her bed, and its ears pinned back to its head.

"Really not a big deal, Shadow."

Shadow nodded, staring at the screen.

"You wanna talk?"

It shook its head.

"Fine by me." She snickered, and they both groaned at a laugh track, so Rouge changed the channel again.

"You..." Shadow began, then shook its head.

"I? Moi? My favourite topic?"

"You have to take care of yourself. Don't get ill."

"I won't try to."

"Good."

"But I'm not making a promise."

Shadow sniffed, and exhaled a low growl, staring at the nature documentary before them.

"It's gonna be fine, Shadow."

It hummed back.

"I'm not weak, and I'm not planning on hitting my deathbed anytime soon. I've got to spend at least a few more years getting mad at you before I have to say something inspirational and check out."

She chuckled to herself, but Shadow shook its head hard.

"You can't live being scared of people getting sick, Shadow. You don't even remember most of the virus."

"not scared. Cautious. And not remembering is what's unnerving. Yet,"

Shadow stopped himself, watching a killer whale pack corner a baby seal in awe.

"Yet?"

"... yet I'm glad I wasn't in your shoes."

Rouge sniffed.

"You would have coped."

"Naturally."

The baby seal was thrown between the Orcas.

"But I guess it's fair. I mean, you'll do your turn of... holding down the fort."

"Supposedly. I don't know what I believe anymore. Perhaps Omega will have to live on without us."

"Omega alone? Harrowing. What say you, big guy?" Rouge snickered, kicking the back of his head.

Omega jerked awake, eyes whirring before he pointed at the screen, where the baby seal's body was being tossed around by the orcas.

"Excellent. The sports channel has been found." He remarked, standing up to stare at the screen, tapping his feet with glee.

"He'll be fine." She nodded.

@teamdarkweek

#tdw 2024: day 4 #shadow the hedgehog #rouge the bat #e-123 Omega #team dark #teamdarkweek #team dark week #tdw #prose #text post #wonderincs #writincs

[shadowxamyweek]

[Amy's smile shifts, softening as she drops her gaze to their entwined hands. She chews her lip in silence. Shadow can't help but watch. On the roof above, the rest of the party has found its way outside and is getting ready. There's chatter, and laughter, but in this moment, it feels as though it could have been leagues away.] [Amy takes a deep breath, then looks back up to meet Shadow's gaze.] Amy: Can I kiss you now? [Shadow stiffens. Their eyes dart from the dark sky back to Amy's face. Amy can't help but giggle.] Amy: I know it's not midnight yet, but... [She moves forward, slowly, giving Shadow an out, but they don't take it. They stand there and shiver as her thumbs brush along the backs of their knuckles and her breath tickles their face. [Shadow's eyes are wide, glowing in the dark. Being this close, they are all Amy can see.] Shadow: ...Yes. [Trepidatiously, Shadow leans in, and Amy follows suit, closing her eyes.] [It's not a great kiss, by all technicality. Few would even call it good. Noses bump, lips still randomly in trembling confused panic, and neither party knows what to do about the fact that the other's teeth exist.]

[Yet by the same token, that is what makes it absolutely wonderful.] [Their friends on the floor above begin to count down, and Amy is just aware of it enough to open her eyes and find Shadow never shut theirs.] [Amy can't help but laugh, and Shadow's face cracks into a smile at the joy.] [The fireworks go off. Their friends start screaming. All across the city there is cheering and singing and crying. Meanwhile, without a word spoken between them, they lean in and try again, slowly getting accustomed to the two of them, now, together.]

#SonicCharacterAsk #AskAmy #amy rose #AskShadow #shadow the hedgehog #shadamy #countdown #new years eve #I've been trying very hard to keep this in script writing vs prose but there was no way I was going to be able to do that for this part XD #THANK YOU AGAIN FOR PARTICIPATING/ENJOYING/SENDING ASKS/BEING HERE! #AS ALWAYS IT HAS BEEN A BLAST! #LETS SEE WHAT WE CAN PUT THESE TWO THROUGH IN 2024 XD #sonic #sega #sth

[soracities]

Death is exactly that: the ultimate dissolution of myself into the universe. And hence, if "L" signifies love and "D" signifies death, then L=f(D)—that is, love is a function of death...

Yevgeny Zamyatin, We (trans. Natasha Randall)

#q #lit #quotes #prose #yevgeny zamyatin #we #the shadow side of love #liebestod #reading #archive #m #x

[thepersonalquotes]

Women are beautiful in the light of the day, but are even more so in the shadows of the night.

Andrzej Majewski

#Andrzej Majewski #thepersonalquotes #Women #Beauty #Light #Night #day #evening #lighting #shadow #quotes #literature #lit #prose #life quotes

[constelllahtions]

03.2.24

A man, with a brittle outgrown beard half covered in drool, matted and bloody.

Long grey robes, tattered and tainted.

Head hanging aloof between knobby knees, back meeting the dark ridges and hollows of a cave.

Breaths? staggered with no discernible patterns, heartbeat? quiet and yet, heaving the darkness that took and took and took.

Mind? In chains and cuffs no better than those that clung onto his ankles and knees, suffocating the glimmers of hope and revolution that occasionally made it out onto the sea of otherwise morose thoughts and dreams.

Nightmares would be more accurate but the word falls short, failing to convey the depth of misery and fear that poison every cell in both the world within him and that around him - though the idea of one being different or rather, separate, from the other never would sit quite right with him.

For somebody who claimed to seek wholeness, he can’t help but laugh at his own naiveties around the matter, can’t help but swallow his pride (if any had survived down here that is) and admit, begrudgingly so, that he is scared. Admit that maybe he would have turned the other way if he knew this was what he was signing up for. Admit that maybe, the path of the mundane with their shallow joys and shallow dreams was one that he was finally beginning to understand.

With the corner of his mouth lifting up as the gleam in his eyes and the brightness in his chest expanded, he laughed. A broken hum; pained but overflowing with more relief and mirth than one would think any man in his position to be capable of. Even the thought of it was so ridiculous - that he would ever go back, that he would ever want to be anywhere but right where he was, that he would ever choose soulnumbing placations and cheap illusions of joy - of living - over actually doing so (or learning to, atleast). It didn’t matter that he was bloodied and bruised beyond recognition, didn’t matter that he was stuck reliving every whipping both mental and physical - no, it didn’t matter because how could it? He was alive. He was feeling it all so fully and so deeply, tunnelling into the depths of the world within him and gods did it hurt but it was real. It was real and he was with himself mind, body and soul. It was real and he was feeling a myriad of agonies with every cell he over turned in his being and he was alive. His laughter grew stronger, now echoing off the walls of the cave as the light began to reach within, and all the separation fell apart (it was never meant to be there). The separation between good and bad, between life and death, between love and hate, between worship and sin, between joy and pain, oh gods the walls were coming - crumbling - down allowing for connection between these supposed opposites in a way that was so beautiful he almost cried. The union of forces that were never meant to be apart, of feelings that were all blended within one another, moving in such whimsical harmony it made him scream. The light was everywhere now, just as the dark was - one did not take away from the other, only added to it. What a fool he was to have ever assumed otherwise.

Here in the cave, frail knees shaking as the suffocating hands of his past ghosts dug deeper into him, the man looked up and watched in complete awe as the light danced with the darkness, wisps of black and white embracing one another in what could only be described as a heartfelt reunion - sons and daughters of love come together at last.

Now standing tall, surrounded by the wise streams of oneness, the man pulled his ghosts up one by one - smiling at them with a love so full it never needed to dismiss any pain or fear, only embrace it. No, he thought to himself, nothing separated could ever feel this whole. His entire being sung tunes of love stronger than he had ever known - shattering every illusion, breaking down every limitation. Right there in the hollows of that cave, bloodied and bruised, with a mind haunted and a heart that had felt more pain than one would think it capable of withholding, he felt love. Right there in that cave, feet still in shambles but a soul that would never be caged, embracing every single feeling past present and future, he was free. No smile had ever felt so sweet.

m.f

#short story #storytelling #writing #writers and poets #poetry #freeform #writeblr #fiction #shadow work #inspiration #spilled words #quotes #spilled ink #prose #literature #lit

[jazzythursday]

Prompts: Diamond | Longing | Corrosion (876 words)

A sharp intake of breath, only to be met with brackish water climbing up his nose and through his airways. The cold and harsh slap of it, fresh and stinging with remembered wounds.

In dreams, it came all at once, shifting and writhing like the letters on ledgers he couldn’t ever read, couldn’t ever touch. Memories corroded with salt-brine and time, gone hazy and altogether larger in his head than they could have possibly been in real life. Linearity was a thing made impossible, and life was circle.

In dreams it was hands, it was water, it was falling.

In dreams he was choking, and it was Prior’s hands, until it was his father’s. Wylan was on the boat, and he was dying. He was in his father’s office, and those same hands wrapped around his neck with hatred burning in ice blue eyes like nothing that Wylan could ever hope to change. He was swimming, he was walking, he was floating, he was gone.

He was looking up at stars shining like diamonds in the dark, and his mother was next to him. They were lying on their backs on a blanket in the yard, and he was smiling. Looking up at clusters of light that he was told made shapes. Made stories. She was teaching him the lines and shapes of them, holding his hand up to trace the pinpricks of white on the dark canvas with hers, like she did when they were painting.

She was pointing at the Great Bear and the Small Bear that lived together in the sky. A mother and her son. So they could be together, always. Safe in the stars.

Like us, Mamma? he asked. But she blew away with the breeze like dust shimmering in the sunlight, before she could answer.

She was gone, and he longed to be held in a way that didn’t hurt. He longed to be touched in a way that didn’t bruise. He was looking up at stars that didn’t speak, couldn’t help, didn’t hear. He was choking on the alphabet, words forced down his throat by hands that used to brush his hair and kiss his head. He was swimming to the Barrel but he was still a child, the child he’d been. The child that, no matter how he tried to hide it, he still felt he was. The child that cried for her, though she was too far away to hear. The child that cried for the solitary mother bear in the sky, and he was alone.

He was at the bottom the canal, where the light couldn’t reach, where stars didn’t shine, forgotten like the bodies in the barge, left to rot like a living corpse, like a bloodstain on a cream carpet. A beaten cheek resting tiredly above. A body left to pick itself up or else die with it’s shame spilling out in ruby red and tarnished gold and saltwater.

He was alone, always alone, and it was worse than the rising waters and cruel words and crushing hands. It was worse.

Wylan woke gasping, hands immediately pulling the collar of his nightshirt away from his throat to press to his beating pulse and hold himself there, chest heaving. His eyes clenched tightly on their own accord, and he pinched his mouth shut as nausea raced through him with the fear that pounded in his heart.

Dreams, always in dreams. It was reality falsified, memory made gruesome. The nightmares slipped through his fingers, ephemeral. Fear and remembrance and cursed imagination, coming for him with claws.

In dreams, Wylan drowned, but in waking it was this:

A warm body, just next to his. Shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip. A boon in a black sea. Ghost light in the shadows. Stars, shining through the dark.

Wylan breathed.

There was soft tones and honeyed words. Gentle murmurs in his ear and quiet comforts, calling him home. A hand smoothed lightly over his hair, a kiss pressed softly to his temple.

Wylan opened his eyes.

He saw the question in Jesper’s eyes, and he nodded. Strong arms wrapped around him, pulling him gently back, and he went without hesitation. Everything was still, if not for the way his breathing was unsteady and rough. If not for how he shook. He buried his face in the crook of Jesper’s neck, and hid.

Jesper’s hands were sure, and steady. They smoothed over his hair and rubbed softly against his shoulders until the tenseness of his muscles started to loosen. Jesper kept speaking, dulcet tones and soothing reassurance and, It’s okay, love—We’re home—We’re safe—I’ve got you—It’s okay—Wylan held onto the words as much as he could (held onto Jesper even tighter). He let them guide him back until his heart stopped pounding and his hands stopped shaking and the world felt a little more real.

“Jes,” he croaked.

“Back with me, love?”

Wylan nodded, burrowing closer.

“You’re here,” he said. He did not mean for it to sound surprised.

“Always,” Jesper said, lips pressed into Wylan’s hair, hands holding him together at his sides. He did not ask what Wylan meant, he already knew. “I’ll always be here.”

In dreams Wylan drowned, but he always had this to wake up to, every time. And every time he did, Wylan knew, without a doubt, that he was no longer alone.

#I can’t decide if this is Geldstraat or the Slat era honestly #a drabble for your troubles? #poetic prose? #me?? #more likely than you think #jazzy writes #jazzy writes fanfic #wesper fic club #shadow and bone #wylan van eck #six of crows #wesper #jesper fahey #soc fanfic #sab fanfiction #wesper fanfic