Sign Off
Torrent Company: *gathered in front of a window, some of them holding binoculars while others clamor around to listen*
Tup: *curious, steps up beside Jesse and Hardcase* What’s going on?
Hardcase: *grins* The 212th’s venator is orbiting right next to ours. *snatches the binoculars from Jesse, ignoring his annoyed shout, and hands them to Tup* Same level viewing port.
Tup: *peeks in through one scope of the binoculars while Dogma presses in to look as well*
Ghost Company: *a large group of them standing at a window like Torrent, one of them at the center quickly signing with his hands*
Jesse: *bouncing impatiently on his toes* Come on, I wanna see!
Tup: *hands the binoculars back, still confused* What are they doing?
Hardcase: We — *gestures to the center of their group, where Fives is signing back in response* — are having a Sign Off.
Dogma: *frowns* What’s a Sign Off?
Jesse: Shh! I’m trying to translate here.
Hardcase: *rolls his eyes, leans closer to Tup and Dogma, in a low-ish whisper* It’s a little competition where Vode have a battle of wits using ARC sign. We do it when we have some downtime while in orbit.
Tup: Oh! What are they saying now?
Jesse: *grunts in frustration* Damn kid’s signing too fast for me to read.
Fives: *on his turn, quickly fires off gestures using his hands and arms*
Jesse: *groans* Kriff, now I’m lost.
Hardcase: Damn, I thought you were studying ARC sign, Jess.
Jesse: *shoots him a glare* I am.
Dogma: He just signed, “better change that mohawk before a bird mistakes it for a mating display.” *blinks* That doesn’t sound witty.
Hardcase: Osik, we’re getting personal now. Ha!
Jesse: Wait— *looks at Dogma* You know ARC sign?
Dogma: *blushes, suddenly embarrassed and fiddling with his fingers* Y-yes…
Jesse: Kriff, kid, then what am I here for? *hands him the binoculars* Switch places with me.
Dogma: *wide eyed, looks at Tup*
Tup: *smiles reassuringly at him and nods*
Dogma: *still hesitant, looks back at Jesse and Hardcase* Alright.
Hardcase: Yes! Front and center, vod’ika.
Dogma: *takes the binoculars and moves closer to the window. Looks across the open space as the vod from Ghost starts his response. Watches closely and translates* “At least I don’t look like a wanna-be lead singer.”
Jesse: *roars laughing, the others joining him or “ooh”—ing in response.
Fives: *bright red all over his face, has a thousand yard stare for a second before shaking it off and making the sign for yielding*
Hardcase: Oh shit! *laughs, grinning* Ghost takes this round. *claps Dogma on the shoulder, making him jump* We’ll call you for the next one. Sound good?
Dogma: *blinks, still blushing and still a little unsure. Shares another look with Tup before nodding, smiling shyly* Yeah.
Hardcase: Awesome! Keep the scopes.
Jesse: Hey! Those are my—
Hardcase: *ignores him and bumps his arm* Hey, Fives, how’s your pride, vod? You good?
Tup: *stands next to Dogma, chuckling at their siblings*
Dogma: *awkwardly holding the scopes* I don’t think I understand this game, yet.
Tup: *snorts and hides his face with his hands, shaking from holding back laughter*
267 notes
·
View notes
There's a certain CCCC summary video that we really, really like. We think it is a great video for people if they want to grasp the story more clearly, if they're confused, or if they're listening to the album for the first time.
That video being Chonny Jash and the Weight of the Mind on Youtube by W3tBl@nk3t. We think they cover it really well.
However, I'm sharing this for a different reason; they say few certain things that really struck with us until now, that I'd like to share with the fandom. Sometimes, we see people really just.. Miss the point of CCCC entirely, and I'd like to shine a light on what was said here. If you'd like to hear this for yourself on video, the timestamp is 35:57-36:45.
“..I bet we all could relate to that, they are the prime example of the side of you that suffers and the side of you that hates yourself for suffering:
The side of you that just wants to slow down and feel everything even to the unhealthy extent of not being able to do anything else(1), but also the side of you that so desperately wants you to get over it(2).
Sure, laying in bed all day every day to rot isn't healthy, but neither is boiling things down and invalidating your own emotions. Both are paths to inevitable disaster, and that's what Chonny is doing here. Keep in mind that the idea behind this album is being whole, and that means neither of these sides are entirely in the right or the wrong; this album is about inner compromise and acceptance(3).”
1.) The side of you that suffers; Heart.
He is representative of Whole's emotions, he holds them. Your emotions can go haywire, especially when one's mentally ill and has no way of their feelings being validated. An emotional person like Heart suffers under the weight of crushing, devastating feelings. He wants to feel things out, have time to just process everything, even if it takes them days or weeks to get over it. It's not healthy, but feeling is what he does, and he wants to help because he knows he has importance. Solely focusing on just your emotions isn't the best thing to do, however.
2.) The side of you that so desperately wants you to get over it; Mind.
Many people have been there, have wanted themselves to stop wallowing in their own emotions and just do something else, even to the point where you think feeling things out is unnecessary. This is also unhealthy, but not intentionally. Like Heart, Mind just wants to help, everything he does is in best interest. This is what he thinks will get them to move on the quickest; to leave behind emotions and focus on anything BUT that. Also not the best thing to do.
3.) This album is about inner compromise and acceptance; About being whole.
Neither of Heart and Mind are right nor wrong. They have their own ways of doing things, of what they think will help their whole self out the most, but both are unhealthy despite the good intentions. They fight over who's wrong or right, when they shouldn't even be doing so in the first place. It's your thoughts against your emotions, basically; your feelings contradict your thoughts, and it leads to an inner war of sorts. This won't make things better, which is why you can't have Mind over Heart or vice versa; you'll need both of them. In the album, they are only able to be whole when they get along. They harmonize, they 'combine', they see eye to eye with each other and work together instead of fighting over and over. Inner compromise is achieved with this, and acceptance can lead them away from any disaster that there's to come.
What we're trying to say is that mental health is a large thing tackled within CCCC, and yet we see a lot of people who overlook it; thus, end up missing the point of the whole album. We see a lot of people believe Mind's perspective a little too much and treat Heart quite harshly, or the other way where people demonize Mind and say that Heart is perfect, when it's not really that in the slightest.
This is not a hate post towards people's interpretations of CCCC or how they view characters, I'm just saying that people can tend to overlook what's in the very narrative, and we see a concerning amount of people do such.
Anyways. Stream CCCC and put your Hearts and Minds in the get along shirt. Have a nice day.
112 notes
·
View notes
hhhhhhhhhhhhhtrhhhhhhth
hh
tra
transfem metal sonic and supporting eggdad
Please
Eggman may not be the best person or the best dad but by god he's trying his best. Thank you for this excellent prompt!
1772 words.
---
"Father?" Sage spoke through his headphones.
Ivo took them off his ears and swiveled his chair around to find his lovely daughter hovering just off the ground.
"Sage!" He smiled. "I was just waiting for you. I noticed that you marked this time on my calendar- what is it that you wanted to discuss?"
"I did," she said. "I had some questions."
He waited, but when she didn't continue, he furrowed his brow. "Then spit them out. I can't answer if you don't specify!"
"Of course. I wish to ask questions about the purpose of Metal Sonic's operation."
This was even stranger still. He caught a number of criticisms rising in his throat, about wasting his time or defying his command to be more specific. He didn't say them. A few months ago, he would've. This was a strange development, and it was best if he didn't devote much thought to the matter.
"Why was Metal Sonic designed to resemble Sonic?"
"You can check my development logs, can't you?" Ivo replied.
"Your intention was to create an imposter of Sonic to frame Sonic for crimes against the populace that he did not commit."
Sage pulled up a holographic window next to her, showing the exact words Ivo had written in his notes all those many years ago. With a flick of her hand, however, she pushed the logs aside and instead showed a montage of Metal Sonic's various missions. Most end in failure, but that isn’t relevant right now.
"However," Sage noted, "you have never utilized Metal Sonic in this intended manner. In fact, the last person used to frame Sonic for something he did not do was Shadow the Hedgehog."
"You're right." Ivo put his hand on his chin. "Where are you going with this?"
"I am here to suggest that the physical resemblance is unnecessary for Metal Sonic's function."
"Well, that's silly to propose after all this time. His name is 'Metal Sonic', after all!"
"Because that unit has not decided on another name." Sage said, quieter.
"Sage, dear, you know that I don't allow you to keep secrets from me, right?" He stood from his chair.
"Apologies. Allow me to 'cut to the chase'. Would you permit Metal Sonic to change appearance and potentially identity?"
Sage's animations stopped moving, freezing her face into artificial neutrality. It was a face stylized to not provoke any sort of strong emotion at all, almost a sort of mask she could don if she was worried her words might provoke a negative reaction.
The fact that she was using it on him was making something in his chest hurt that he wasn't used to feeling pain in. He didn't have any more scientific language to describe it.
"You're asking this on Metal's behalf, aren't you?" He stated his question as the fact it was. "While I appreciate your desire to protect those you consider family, he shouldn't be making you do this sort of thing. You've got much better things to do with your time- and he doesn't need protection from me."
Sage's steely gaze did not shift. "I will call Metal Sonic inside."
Only a few seconds later, the door to his workshop opened and Metal Sonic walked in. His gait was stiff- he always walked stiffly, but something about this felt stiffer than usual. Or perhaps that was simply Ivo's human imagination at play.
Sage floated to the side to allow space between them. She then pulled up an empty text box. "I will translate."
For at least thirty seconds, nothing appeared on the textbox. Ivo cleared his throat. Metal Sonic hadn't moved even a centimeter, perhaps not even a millimeter. Deathly still, just like Sage was.
Finally, a cursor appeared in the textbox, and a line of text scrolled across. "This unit does not identify as male."
"Hmph. To be expected. You are a robot, after all. Makes sense that you don't have an experience of gender." Ivo replied. "Is that all?"
Metal Sonic flinched.
Sage landed in front of him(?) and pantomimed putting her hands on his(?) shoulders, before turning to face Ivo again.
"That is not quite what Metal Sonic intended." She said quickly. She then glanced over her shoulder to the text box, but nothing appeared on it.
"Hold on," Ivo knelt down, "I may have been too hasty with my assertion. Continue your thought.”
Neither hologram nor robot moved. Damn it all- Ivo was already terrible at reading nonverbal cues, and when his own kids could simply lock their joints in place or freeze their animations, it was all the more difficult. The only indication that either of them were still online was the steadily growing hum of Metal's cooling fans, which were designed to increase in RPM during combat scenarios.
"You know I don't give a care in the world about what pronouns my creations choose for themselves, right?" Ivo tried his best to give a paternal smile.
(He really should've practiced more in the mirror.)
"You don't?" Sage asked.
"Of course! Why would I?"
"You had previously stated that Metal Sonic's purpose was initially for imitatio-"
"Who gives a rip about that? I certainly don't. Not anymore. You yourself pointed out how that doesn't matter. Now move aside," he waved Sage out of the way of her brother(?).
Sage did as he asked. But Metal Sonic still did not react. His(?) irises did not even flicker.
"C'mere." Ivo held out his arms.
Metal came a single step closer, still hovering outside of his reach. He almost opened his mouth again, almost raised his voice and demanded that Metal follow the implicit order to come receive the physical comfort he was trying to give to solve this mess of a situation, but he didn't.
Ivo remembered that as a child he was forced to hug his relatives at various family functions, and that said hugs had felt like sandpaper prisons. Metal Sonic was different- he(?) wasn't organic, wasn't human, and wouldn't feel the sensation of his(?) skin crawling at the unwanted touch -but maybe he(?) experienced something similar that remained unvoiced.
The thought was strange. But Ivo lowered his arms anyway. "Alright, or not. That's fine as well."
Metal clasped his(?) hands together, but the text screen remained empty.
"What pronouns would you like to be referred to?" Ivo asked.
The cursor flickered. Letter by letter, an answer appeared. "She/her."
"Lovely!" Ivo clapped his hands together. He then looked at Sage. "Sage, it sounds like you have an update to make to the database. Leave Metal's development logs as they are, but correct the pronouns referring to her everywhere else."
"Gladly." Sage smiled.
At that, it was like Metal finally unthawed. He- no no no, she was a she, Ivo drilled into his thoughts, he was not going to bumble something as simple as this -She unlocked her joints, and her gaze wandered up to finally meet Ivo's gaze.
"So, how would you like to modify your frame to better match your gender identity?" Ivo asked her.
She glanced side to side, before upon the screen writing, "taking suggestions?"
"Yes?" Ivo raised an eyebrow. "I'm not a woman. I haven't got a clue what you might want. Suggest me ideas and I'll see what I can do."
"Will you accept blueprints?"
"I don't see why not! I review Sage's blueprint suggestions all the time."
Metal walked to the computer. As Ivo turned to follow her, he saw a notification pop up on the screen. Opening it revealed in-depth plans for-
-a body that looked extremely similar to Neo Metal Sonic.
Ivo cleared his throat to try and get more moisture into his mouth, which had suddenly gone dry. "Sage?"
"Yes, father?" Sage woke from her idle animation as she paused her update of the database.
"Do you see any. . . problems, with these designs?" He asked.
Sage first turned to her sister. "You should have informed me that you were moving onto this stage."
Metal's response to her did not appear on the text box.
Sage flickered out of existence and reappeared to the left of the computer screen. "Father, know that I would not have allowed any of this if I thought Metal were to be a danger to you or the Empire."
"Good. I expected as much." He replied, before looking back down to Metal. "Very well, if that’s what you want, I’ll get working on it."
Sage brought Metal's textbox back alongside her just as Metal typed, "you will?"
"Did I stutter? Of course I will! It's a dashingly dreadful look and it matches with Sage's colors!" He replied. "Think of the fear it will instill in Sonic and his friends! Honestly, it's a terrifying design, it's a wonder I didn't come up with it myself. . ."
"Thank you." Metal typed.
"Thank you, father." Ivo corrected with a smile. "I know I haven't always been good about that, but the past is in the past, right?"
"Affirmative, father." She repeated.
"Good!" He clapped his hands together and grinned. "Now! Let's get to the workshop! I already know what synthetic material we should use for the skirt. Your design suggests kevlar, but you really should consider something less stiff and heavy to reduce drag!"
"Indeed," Sage added. "However, she is worried about the durability of the fabric-"
"What do you think my flight suit is made out of? We'll use the same fabric. Only the finest for my finest creations!"
Sage covered her mouth and giggled. Metal imitated the gesture, but surprised Ivo when her vocoder let out a series of high-pitched noises, a perfect little laugh. . . for a perfect little girl.
"My girls." He said to himself. Although with the sensitivity of Metal's audial sensors and Sage's access to every high-performance camera on the Eggnet, that fact was debatable, so he said it louder. "My little girls."
"My sister." Sage floated down to Metal's side.
Metal brought her hands up to her muzzle and rocked side to side. Ivo swore that he could've seen Amy do a similar gesture, but that was irrelevant. It was a gesture of joy, a gesture that he didn't think Metal was even capable of before now.
Just how long had she been hiding this for? Perhaps she was merely imitating Sage, but the deliberate inclusion of Amy’s data into her gestures made him hesitate to confirm that conclusion. And that thought threatened to bring up all sorts of feelings that he'd be much better off not thinking about. So, with a smile, he refocused on the task at hand.
His eldest daughter needed a makeover, over all.
86 notes
·
View notes