K, I've been going through a bit of a depression lately. Just stuff and things, mostly chemical and or hormonal, but it's been putting a damper on my writing...and eating habits...and drinking habits...and spending habits...yeah, rough times. x.x
I'm doing okay now. Fingers crossed.
-Chapter 97: Fuzzy Details-
Back at the house, Sonic came from his bathroom freshly showered. He towel dried his quills as he sat down on the couch across from his guest.
"Feeling better, I take it," Rouge said as she looked over the top of her reading material.
"Much better," he said and saw Rouge was back at it. "More research?"
"You know me: Always on the grind, darling." As she flipped the page, a hand reached out to take away her book. She moved the novel and read from a distance.
The two had a brief back and forth of grabbing, bobbing and weaving for the paperback. Rouge almost had the upper hand as she took flight. Sonic spin jumped over her. When she turned to see where he was, the naughty novel was kicked straight up and out of her hand. It flew into the air. With a savvy backflip, he caught the book mid air and landed with it in hand.
Rouge was amazed she was duped so quickly. "You're quick and tricky; no wonder Shadow says you could rival him in a fight," she said with folded arms and a half cocked smile as she resumed her seat.
"They don't call me 'Sonic' for no good reason. Gotta go fast." He flipped through the book he reacquired for something in particular. His eyes scanned the pages meticulously.
Rouge sat back and relaxed one leg over the other. "Funny that they don't call you 'Maurice' though. What's with the moniker?"
Embarrassed, Sonic rubbed the back of his head. "My folks named me after my two grandfathers. No disrespect to any of them, but I felt I was best suited with a name that had more of a modern 'hero' ring to it instead."
"I suppose."
"Same for Tails. He felt 'Miles', as he said, was too proper and snooty. I gave him the name Tails and he gave me mine, Sonic. It's been like that since we were nine and three, respectively."
"Aww, that's actually very sweet," she said with a warm expression.
He looked somber. "When and if this sovereignty thing goes through, I may have to go by my actual name; maybe I'll split the cheek and call myself 'Sonic Maurice Hedgehog', for good measure."
She laughed a bit, "All about that branding, aren't you?"
"You know it," he said and folded the book open to the page Rouge read last. He handed it back to her. "Jules and Bernadette should have planned out their naming scheme for me a bit differently. Though, they both had old names too; maybe it's traditional to give your kids names they're destined to nic-name over."
"Jules?" Rouge said quietly as she looked thoughtful. She took back the homemade piece. "You don't care if I read this then?"
Sonic shook his head. "Go for it. I thought it was a different book."
Her wrist communicator vibrated. Private Walker had gotten back to her on her personal line. "Why would that matter?"
"B-because," he blushed and averted his gaze. "There's a story Amy wrote about us that actually happened. It's got a lot of stuff in it that's factual, and I'm not comfortable letting that knowledge go any further than the book it's written in."
Rouge's eyebrows raised. "...what if I already read it?"
Sonic smirked. "You didn't, because I know where the book is. I'm gonna get it and burn it the next time you head out. Or at least half a dozen pages in it. No sense in ruining the whole thing."
Rouge leaned closer and quietly said, "Now I need to read it, darling."
Sonic leaned forward and whispered, "No you don't."
Rouge leaned even closer and took his face in her hands. "Yes, I absolutely do." She fluffed his face fuzz. "When was the last time you shaved? It doesn't look any longer than last night."
Sonic felt the beard that had plagued his face for days. "It stopped? How?!" Sonic ran to his bathroom and quickly fired up the clippers. Moments later, he came out with shortened facial hair. "Finallllllllyyyyy," he exaggerate as he felt the velvetyness of his cheeks. He paused in his celebration. "I'm getting the feeling this has to do with my Chaos Emerald. Let's wait till Shadow gets back before we draw any conclusions."
"You don't think he'll start growing a beard now?" Rouge thought out loud, "He's always cut to the quick. I'm starting to wonder if he ever has to shave at all."
Sonic pondered and tapped his chin with a curious finger. "I thought the beard thing was the interaction of the two wereforms coming together."
Rouge shrugged. "I doubt we can tell from the data left behind. From what I read, they only ever tested the wereforms on three subjects. Hugh, who has no side effect like that, Ophelia, who's unaccounted for, and Mex, who's very dead."
"Great." Sonic laid back on the couch and flopped his limbs over the edge on one side. "I'm kind of hoping it has to do with the emerald, we can always do a cleanse on it to reset it's energy to normal again." He yawned and placed a pillow over his face. "I'mma take a nap. I'm sure Shadow'll wake me up when he gets in."
Shadow didn't return to the house directly. After his messy encounter with a sunken village, he opted to shower at Eggman's lair, lest he risk exposing Sonic to some unseen trigger.
Orbot met him at the front entrance. "Shadow? To what do we owe the, uh, pleasure?" he greeted him warmly as the guest left muddy footprints in his stead.
Shadow looked beyond the robot and was shocked at the state of the lair. "What happened here? This was in shambles not even two days ago. Explain, now," he said with gritted teeth. His knee jerk reaction to be upset at his siblings for leaving out a vital piece of information quickly faded. He realized how disingenuous his reaction to the lair would have been, had he known what to expect. 'Clever.'
"Doctor Eggman's got slate replacements for all the wall and floor panels. Y-you know, in case of situations like fire, explosions, sink holes or...werewolf attacks."
"I see." He looked around and did his best to look impressed.
"You're looking a little more rugged than usual, sir. Would you like me to prepare measures for you to clean up?" He asked with politely folded hands.
Shadow nodded and slipped his shoes off to track less mud in. "If you could get the doctor to run these through a mineral bath, that would be appreciated."
Orbot took the muddy rocket shoes and held them at the back, where they were the least muddy. "C-certainly, ew, right away." He hovered off and held the shoes at a distance.
Shadow cleaned up in the same Shower stall he and Rouge had shared once. He contemplated his absolute need to tell the military about not only his fraternizing with a co-worker, but also the extent to which he had the ability to heal. 'All this time I thought it was only my blood that had healing properties.' He looked at the soap run off his hands and down into the drain. 'How do my nano machines know what 'healthy' is for everyone? Can they heal things that shouldn't be healed? Like bacteria and fungus,' he said and looked directly down into the drain, curious of the superbug he might have unknowingly created. 'No...my abilities are curtailed to DNA respective to anthros and humans...but how can I even find out?'
He got out of the shower. A plush white towel set was left for him to dry with. He noticed a razor and shaving cream laid out for him next to the towels. "What's this for?" He looked in the mirror and noticed his face looked shaggy. "...I don't actually know how to do this..." In fear of messing up and or looking stupid, he begrudgingly decided to ask the guy who'd been dealing with a rogue beard for days.
Before he headed out, a sight caught his attention. Cubot carried painting supplies down a long hallway. Art brushes and paints were aplenty and nearly fell out of his arms. As an excuse to look around, he followed the small square robot in hopes he'd stumble on Eggman's lab and the 'robot that used to be a person'. 'This is the dumber of the two...maybe I can get him to divulge information about what that buffoon's been into.'
Shadow began his search for Eggman's plans, via Cubot's naivete.
Careful not to burn any bridges there, Shadow :P
