Chapter two! It's kind of a filler to let the others get to know Eternal better, but, it's still a chapter. I hope you guys ignore any missing capitalization. My shift key is a douche.
I'm not very sure how long it took to get back, but Sonic got a bit impatient.
So did I.
When we got back my shoulders were cramped, so I imediatly dropped my backpack by the couch, and nearly fell into it.
"Why did I pack so muuucch?" I whined.
"That's your gig," Sonic laughed, jumping onto the opposite end of the couch.
"Ya know, it took you two long enough... What did you do, crawl like cats the way there and back?" Knuckles asked, sounding very upset with our time.
"No... He carried me half way there and we walked the rest of the way there and back," I said.
"Why didn't ya let him carry ya back?" Knuckles asked.
"I had my backpack and it would be hard to hold on to me," I pointed out.
"Oh," Knuckles obviously felt retarded at that moment.
"Enough arguing, please," Tails begged.
"Oh, sorry," I brushed my bangs out of my eyes.
"So, Tails? Ya figure anything out while we were gone?" Sonic leaned back with his hands behind his head.
Tails sighed. "No... Nothing. I've gone over my data twenty times over... I can't seem to find where exactly Eggman is hiding his machine!" the fox sounded very desperate.
"That's okay, buddy. You'll get it eventually!" Sonic closed his eyes and crossed his left leg over his right.
"So what do we do?" I asked.
"I'm not sure... You guys can do whatever... I'm going to try a scan for something else," Tails turned back to his computer and began typing something.
I sighed. What was there to do?
"Eternal? What do you usually do at home?" Sonic asked, opening his right eye to look at me.
"Well... I either write, draw, do useless things on my laptop, or play video games. I don't get out much... Never anything for me to do..." I replied.
"I see... We've got a ton of video games in the back room, so if you wanna play, go ahead," Sonic offered.
"Alright, thanks. I'm not really up to it right now, but I'll keep that in mind," I said.
"So what do you wanna do, then?" Sonic asked.
"I have no idea..." I sighed.
"There's an old laptop in the attic. You can do whatever you want with it," Tails said almost half mindedly.
"You sure?" I asked.
"Yeah. The hard drive was too small for my needs, so it's just sitting there. You can do whatever with it. Download stuff, beat it up, I don't care," Tails clicked a few times.
"Really? Thanks. Where's your attic?" I moved my hair away from both sides of my face.
"Sonic, can you show her?" Tails asked.
"Yeah, sure," Sonic got up and led me to the attic. I found the old computer quickly. It was sort of dusty, but all I had to do was dust it off.
I handed Sonic the power cords, and I carried the laptop and it's mouse.
I set up 'shop' in the corner of the couch.
I sat down with the old thing in my lap and turned it on. It was the kind of operating system my father had. Definatly old.
"Geez... This thing's a dinosaur... It's real old," I muttered as it booted up.
"Yeah, it is. I hate that operating system..." Tails agreed.
I laughed. "I grew up with this system. Haven't used it in three years, but it doesn't bug me all that much," I logged into the computer. It didn't even have a password.
"Really? What did you do on computers when you were little?" Tails asked.
"Well.. I usually only typed useless things... Or searched up pictures on Google... Or scribbled in Paint. So not much. I guess I don't know how hard it is to do other things on these things..." I muttered as I checked the computer's internet connection.
"Hehe... If you're doing the things I do, that system is useless!" Tails laughed.
"I can imagine!" I said. Then I started wondering about how old Tails was. He looked about ten. "Hey? How old are you?"
"Hmm? Oh, I'm eight," Tails replied, opening a folder on his computer.
"Seriously?" I asked.
"Seriously. I'm smarter than I really should be," Tails laughed.
"He's a genius!" Sonic chimed in.
"Now that's a rare sight," I said, noticed that the computer wasn't connected to the internet.
"No one minds if I put on some music, right?" Sonic asked, edging towards the edge of the couch to get up.
"Nope," Tails said.
I shook my head. "Not at all,"
Sonic began searching through CD's.
I pulled up the internet connection box. "Yo, Tails? You got a wireless router hooked up anywhere?" I asked.
"Oh, yeah, it's the one labeled 'N.E.T.'," Tails said.
"Alright, thank you," I clicked on the router network labeled N.E.T. and connected.
I went about downloading the programs I needed from GNU Image Manipulation 'GIMP' to MikuMikuDance.
Sonic had put in a CD of P!ink.
The whole 'getting what I need' process took some time.
"Geez. What are you downloading? You've been sitting there waiting forever!" Sonic leaned over to look at the computer screen.
"Well... A lot... And it's being a bitch to me... This thing really is old..." I growled.
"I told you..." Tails giggled.
"Yes... You did..." I sighed, and moved the computer off my lap and slouched down. "I think I toasted my lap..."
"Is that even possible?" Sonic asked.
"Not literally, no, I don't think so... But if you put a really hot laptop on your legs, it hurts. Trust me," I said. I knew from experience.
"Hmm.. I will remember that," Sonic leaned back.
I constantly checked the computer, and it was taking literally forever.
"Stupid dinosaur..." I muttered.
"Must I say that I told you?" Tails obvously couldn't help but laugh.
"You told me," I said.
I was glad when the computer was finally done.
"Finally! Damn thing took long enough!" I exclaimed, grabbing the laptop and putting it back in my lap.
"It's finally done?" Sonic asked.
"Yup... Finally," I grumbled.
I then had to do the tedious task of downloading and saving any MikuMikuDance (Or MMD) models I wanted, and the art bases I used so fequently.
Then I decided to start on making an MMD model just for the heck of it.
"So, what'cha doin'?" Sonic asked after a moment, leaning in again.
"3D modeling... Sort of..." I replied. It was true, it was 3D modleing, but I kind of sucked at it at that time.
"What do you mean, 'sort of'?" Sonic moved closer to me to see the screen better.
"I kinda suck at it, so I usually kill it and make it's parts fly everywhere," I replied, scrolling through the model bases I quickly downloaded on PMDEditor.
"Is that Japanese?" Sonic asked.
"Yes. It is," I repled.
"Then how do you know what does what?" Sonic stared at the screen quizically.
"I've learned what button does what. Most buttons and options have a letter alias, so I'm used to using those to identify what they do. I'm otherwise blind to these programs," I explained.
"Interesting," Sonic didn't seem too interested, but not utterly bored either.
"What program do you model with and for?" Tails suddenly asked.
"I model for MikuMikuDance and with PMDEditor," I chose a male Piron style base and opened it.
"Ah, I've heard of that. Never used it before, though. Is it hard?" Tails moved around a few folders.
"To me, yes, it's hard.I can't even animate right. But to others it's really easy. It's sort of a 'live and learn' thing. It's a skill developed over time," I said, rotating the camera around the base.
"I see," Tails brought up a map I couldn't see well.
"Why is he bald?" Sonic asked, laughing.
"It's a base. People take off the hair and stuff so others can use it to make their models. Makes it SO much easier, trust me," I giggled, remembering my first edits of Animasa styled models.
"Uh-huh..." I was more than sure that Sonic was utterly bored with the whole thing.
The rest of our day was much the same.
Tails worked relentlessly on finding Eggman.
Knuckles slept all day.
Sonic actually went out, claiming that he was getting too bored.
And I sat there playing with MMD and GIMP. I ended up listening to my music through headphones, so I wouldn't bother anyone, so I couldn't really hear much. Drowned out Knuckles' snoring.
Around seven o'clock, Sonic finally came back.
"There you are. You sure were out a while. What were you doing?" I asked.
"Eh, not much, just visited a few other countries, nothing exciting," Sonic replied, coming to sit down and observe what I was doing.
"Still doing that 3D stuff?" he asked.
"Yeah... I've failed a few times, but I'm getting somewhere! I think..." I sighed. Computers really hate me.
"Hey, Tails?" Sonic looked up at Tails.
"Yeah?" Tails replied.
"What's for dinner? I'm starving," I couldn't help but laugh as Sonic said this. It seemed like men always think about food.
"Huh? Is it that time already?" Tails stopped a minute to glance at his clock. "Oh... It is..."
"You didn't notice?" I asked. I had been annoyed for a while by my stomach growling, but I didn't want to complain and bother him.
"No... Not really... Sorry, guys! Should I cook something or order out?" Tails asked, getting up and stretching.
"You know what I like, Tails," Sonic replied, leaning back into the couch.
"Depends on what you're planning to cook or order," I said. I'm picky, so I was prepared to have to settle for something I may not like.
"Do you like chilli dogs?" Sonic asked suddenly.
"Yeah... Why?" I replied, clicking the load button in MMD.
"I guess that's what I'm cooking then..." Tails sighed, obviosuly he cooked them a lot, I could tell that. "Someone wake up Knuckles,"
"And do ya suppose we do that?" I asked.
"I could hit him with something!" Sonic suggested.
"Sounds fun, but it's rude," I said, then I got thinking. "Does he wake up to sounds he's not fimilar with?"
"Yes, he does, why?" Sonic was clueless.
"Tails! Prepare for some really loud and odd music!" I called into the kitchen.
"Okay!" Tails called back.
I began to search on YouTube, hiding the screen from Sonic.
"What are you doing?" Sonic asked.
"You'll see..." I smiled deviously.
I soon found what I wanted. The song 'Fukkierta' by the UTAU Teto Kasane.
I turned up the volume as high as it would go. "Prepare yourselves!" I said loud enough for Tails to hear, and clicked the link.
The song blared through the speakers, and Knuckles was up in an instant.
He freaked out and ended up upside down in his chair. "What the heck is THAT?" he yelled.
Sonic and I burst out laughing, and I paused the video.
Tails stuck his head around the corner. "Was that Teto Kasane?" he asked.
I took a moment to quit laughing. "You actually know who she is?"
"Yeah. I listen to Vocaloid stuff every now and then," Tails replied.
That surprised me. I'd never met anyone outside of internet friends who had heard of Vocaloid expcept one girl in my Language Arts class and a girl in my music class. "Really? I've never met anyone else who's heard of Vocaloid. Save for two girls in two of my classes," I replied, utterly shocked.
"There's a first time for everything!" Tails laughed and returned to cooking.
"That was rude!" Knuckles yelled.
"Better than his idea of hitting you," I stated.
"Yeah! But it was still rude!" Knuckles straighened himself in his chair.
"But it was funny," Sonic was still laughing a bit.
"Yes, it was," I agreed.
Knuckles mumbled something we couldn't hear and crossed his arms, closing his eyes and turning his head away from us.
I sighed, giggling, and returned to my computer work.
"So, how's that 3D thing going?" Sonic asked, leaning in once again to see the screen.
I laughed. "You sure seem interested in what I'm doing,"
"There's nothing else to do except watch you," Sonic shrugged.
"Okay, then. It's going pretty good... I think... Depends on if I just killed the model's physics," I said.
"What are physics?" Sonic asked.
"Oh, God... Um... Physics are what makes the model's hair and clothes move like they're real... Instead of being stiff like cardboard. If one messes up the physics, the model will mess up very bad," I tried to make it sound simple. "Here, let me show you,"
I opened up the Animasa style model of Miku Hatsune.
"This is what the model looks like without physics turned on," I said.
"Uh-huh..." Sonic shifted to get a better look.
"And this..." I clicked on the 'Anytime' option under the 'Physical Operation' menu. "Is what the model looks like with them on," the model's skirt and hair fell down as if gravity and wind were affecting them.
"I see..." Sonic didn't sound like he was lost, so that was good.
"Now, you're lucky I killed one model and didn't delete it yet," I said, moving Miku to the left. "Ehh... Better turn off physics," I turned the physics back to 'Only Playtime'.
I hunted down the model I'd murdered the physics on, and loaded it.
"See how it looks fine?" I asked, circling the mouse around the model.
"Yeah," Sonic nodded.
"Now look at it with the physics on..." I giggled and turned them on. The model's mid-section flew and twitched to the model's right, and the hair completly scaled the head.
"Holy crap..." Sonic stared at the messed up thing.
"And that's all my doing," I laughed at my own fail.
"You really need practice," Sonic said.
Tails walked back into the room then. "Trying to teach Sonic how something digital works?"
"Yeah. Showing him how MMD physics work," I replied, hitting the new option from the file menu.
"Ah. Good luck," Tails moved back to the computer chair, but instead grabbed the TV remote and turned on the TV instead of working on his searching.
"I'm already done, so that's kinda late," I laughed.
"He understood?" Tails asked, absently flicking through the channels.
"I mostly understood. It's confusing. I don't get how she can do that stuff," Sonic said, shaking his head.
"It takes time and skill," I replied. "I didn't know how to do shit when I first started!"
"And when did you start?" Tails asked.
"Errmm... Two years ago!" I replied after thinking a minute.
"And you haven't completly gotten the hang of it yet?" Sonic tilted his head a bit.
"Well, I said I started two years ago. Doesn't mean I did a lot. Just means that's when I discovered it!" I opened up the model I'd recently added a few things to.
Tails stopped at the Disney Channel, which had surrently been showing the movie Radio Rebel.
"Isn't there anything better you can put on?" Knuckles grumbled.
"Possibly. But I wanna watch this," Tails pulled his legs onto the chair and sat criss cross.
He may be a genius, but he's still a kid at heart... I thought, loading the motion data for the song Be Myself onto the model.
Knuckles growled but he didn't protest any further. He seemed quite grumpy. Maybe because he hadn't eaten? Guys are like that.
I continued to mess around with MMD and such until dinner was ready.
If I had to say anything, I'd say that Sonic eats like a pig.
I eventually got so bored I started randomly making odd poses in MMD. A lot turned out perverted.
That didn't keep me busy long.
In between watching Radio Rebel, Tails continued his work.
Knuckles headed into another room that I didn't know what it was at that time.
Sonic either watched me, or played with an old GameBoy.
The night went on the same.
I eventually put the computer down to get up and stretch and get something to drink, and right about then, something made a very painfl sounding breaking clattering sound. And Knuckles yelled.
"What the fuck?" I walked back into the living room.
Sonic sighed and got up and headed to the room Knuckles had walked into.
I followed and Tails just watched from his chair.
Sonic opened the door. Knuckles was on the floor, buried in the pieces of one of those things that you swing side to side in. Some sort of workout machine.
"Broke it again?" Sonic asked, sounding half annoyed, half amused.
Knuckles was obviously stunned and had to take a few seconds to recooperate.
"Uh.. Yeah," the echinda sighed. "I guess I got too rough,"
"You always get too rough," Sonic shook his head, laughing.
"Do not!" Knuckles started to argue.
"Knuckles! Don't start, please! It's late! Just pick it up and I'll fix it tomarrow!" Tails called from the other room. He sounded tired.
Knuckles muttered things under his breath and pulled himself out from under the metal pieces.
I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass of fruit punch. Then I returned to my computer work.
After the metal clanging sounds stopped, Knuckles was nowhere to be seen.
Nothing else happened.
"Alright, well, I'm turning in for the night. Se ya guys in the morning," Sonic got up and headed down the hall at around midnight.
"Good night," I said as he left.
"Night!" he called back.
Tails was too deep in his research to say anything.
"Night, Tails!" Sonic called, laughing.
The rest of the time I was up was silent except for the TV and the sounds of the computers in the room.
Tails eventually took a break from his searching.
"I'm sorry, I've been rude, I forgot to give you a place to sleep!" Tails said a few seconds after getting up.
"It's alright," I said. "I'll sleep on the couch or the floor,"
"No, no! You're our guest!" Tails really is the consiterate type.
"Dude, it's fine. I've slept on my own floor before. I've slept on my own couch. I've slept on my friend's floor, couch, and folding bed. Couch is fine with me," I insisted.
"Are you sure?" Tails asked.
"I'm sure," I nodded.
Tails sighed. "Okay. Let me go grab you a pillow and a blanket," Tails walked down the hall and came back a few moments later with a pillow and a few blankets.
"Thanks," I said as he put them down on the edge of the couch.
"No problem," Tails came to sit by me. "So what ya doin'?"
"Not much. Just trying and hoping not to kill this model," I said as I moved the .pmd file for a baseball cap on the fifth tab on PMDEditor, the model editing program.
"I see. Any character in specific you're doing?" Tails asked, shifting towards me a bit. He was obviously cold.
"No. I just like making random models and naming them later," I said, locating the hat on the model, and started fitting it to the model.
Tails yawned. "Mmm-hmm... Oh! I meant to ask, how old are you?"
"I'm thirteen," I replied.
"You're only thirteen? You look older to me!" Tails gasped.
"Really? First time I've heard that!" I laughed.
"Maybe it's just me in my half asleep state, but you really do look older!" Tails said.
"Whatever you say," I giggled, finally thinking I had the cap on the model.
Tails sighed. "I better continue working..." Tails got up and headed back to his computer.
"Tails, don't stay up and hurt yourself. You're only eight. Don't screw yourself up now," I said, knowing from experience how bad it is to stay up too much.
"So?" Tails muttered.
"I know from experience. I'm half nocturnal. It's bad to stay up too much. I've stayed up 'till five every morning then get up at eight in the morning for a long time. You can get sick if you don't sleep. That's what started to happen to me. So please, heed my words," I warned. I'd gotten into so much trouble that way, and I still did it, too.
"I'll be fine. I promise I won't make a habit out of it," Tails laughed. "But you're obviously one to talk,"
"Yeah, so? Hehe. I'm used to living on barely any sleep. Painful? Yes. Bearable? Barely," I laughed.
"You're kinda weird, ya know?" Tails looked back at me from his chair.
"Proud of it, too! I'm plenty weird when I wanna be!" I can be calm and cool one moment, and splurting random penis and pedophile comments the next.
"I'd love to see you at your weirdest, then," Tails said.
"Catch me when I'm hyper, then," I garantee that anyone who sees me hyper will think something's wrong with me. The only part of my younger self that I still have is my odd hyperness that comes from nowhere. I've had it for as long as I can remember.
"I'll remember to," Tails yawned.
We continued about our buisness for about an hour or two before Tails actually fell asleep over his computer.
When I noticed the clicking had stopped, I said his name a few times, and when he didn't respond, I got up to check on him, and realized that he was asleep.
"Aw, cute," I grinned. But what was I meant to do with him? I didn't want to leave him over the keyboard all night. But I didn't know where to put him.
So I just left him there for a while. It sounds rude, but I didn't know my way around the house, and I wasn't sure if I'd beable to pick him up to move him anyways.
I was just about to pass out over the computer as well when Knuckles came out of wherever he'd been.
"Huh? You're still up?" he exlaimed when he saw me still awake.
"Yeah. I'm a master at it," I said.
"And he fell asleep over the keyboard again, I see..." Knuckles sighed.
"Yeah. Mind taking him wherever he's meant to sleep? ...I'd do it, but I don't know my way 'round here, plus I don't think I'm strong enough to pick him up," I said, yawning.
Knuckles sighed, rubbing his right eye. "Fine..." He picked up the sleeping fox and carried him down the hall.
He came back a few moments later and headed into the kitchen
I wondered what he was doing, but I was too tired to really care.
In a moment, Knuckles headed back down the hall carrying a paper plate, but I didn't really pay attention to what was on it.
A little bit after, I decided that enough was enough, and turned the laptop off, unplugging it and leaving it at the head of the couch on the floor where it was out of the way.
I set the pillow and blankets up, and crawled under.
I was asleep in nearly a minute.
