Recursion Error

Episode 68- It's a step forwards

Sorun didn't know how to deal with depression.

He'd never taken a psychology class. Never was even remotely invested into the subject. Had he seen it? Sure, of course. Half the people he knew on Earth were depressed. Here on Mobius? The concept existed, of course, but Mobians themselves were... robust creatures.

The teen tried looking back at his memories of fiction at severely depressed fictional characters, with his other half reminding him that maybe taking advice from fictional characters about psychological issues wasn't such a great idea, but he'd been desperate and tried it anyways. What had he learned from that mental excursion?

Well, nothing, really. Other than he knew a lot of depressed fictional characters that were either saved through the power of friendship or became raving psychos. Or just... kind of stayed the same throughout their entire screen time with some character development here or there. Or died. Neither fate seemed to appealing to Sorun. All of his friends seemed to collectively agree that the power of friendship was all he needed to boost him out of this "funk" as it were.

Power of friendship be damned, because he was pretty sure they didn't know what they were doing, either.

"Yeah, Amy, because this is what I wanted to waste my day doing. Go shopping with you."

The basic gist was that everybody was given the rundown of Sorun's situation. So of course they volunteered to help. To that end, they'd all decided he'd be rotated between everybody for "friendship sessions" with them to help him get better. He didn't know how that was supposed to work. He was pretty sure they were just trying to distract him as much as possible in the hope that he'd eventually get better on his own if his mind was taken off the more bad parts of his thoughts. He kind of hoped they were right.

Thankfully nobody actually used the phrase "friendship session", because he probably would have punched the person who suggested it.

First on was Amy, who decided they'd do something she enjoyed doing. Which was shopping for clothes. Because nothing cheered Sorun up like watching someone buy something so he could be reminded he was flat broke.

Every man's dream, really.

Amy, in response to Sorun's flippant disregard of her hobby, had pouted at him and placed her hands on her hips. They stood outside the city's market, with Amy's back to its entrance and with Sorun staring at the pink hedgehog with dull eyes. She didn't seem to approve of his attitude. He couldn't find it in himself to care.

"First of all, it's not a waste. Second of all, it'll be fun!" she claimed.

Sorun scoffed. "How's buying stuff for you fun?"

"It's not all for me. Mostly," she quickly mumbled while turning her head to the side. "I just wanted to get some gifts for the others, and I thought maybe you could help me out! Maybe you could buy something for someone you really like if you find something in the process."

"Yes, of course. I'll just use my not-money to buy an extravagant gift." His voice dripped in sarcasm, though it was seemingly lost on the pink hedgehog standing in front of him.

Amy squinted and tilted her head to the side. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I live in poverty."

He could practically see the gears in Amy's head begin to turn. After they finished, she grew an incredibly awkward I-can't-believe-what-I've-done look, and then began speed walking forwards and away from the market. She'd grabbed Sorun's wrist and began dragging him away in the process, with the human forced to walk with her.

"You know what? Gifts are overrated anyways," Amy claimed. "I'm sure we can find something else that's fun to do! What do you like to do for fun?"

"Sleep," Sorun deadpanned as he was dragged along the streets.

A frustrated huff left Amy, after which they stopped on a sidewalk corner. She released Sorun's hand and turned to face him once more. "That's not what I meant and you know it," she said. "What about those video game things you like so much? I know you have the console from the HQ back at home. We could do that!"

"That wouldn't be fun."

Amy gave him an inquisitive look. "Why wouldn't it be fun?"

"The same reason I wouldn't get any satisfaction from punching a child in the face," Sorun's mind snarked. "You're terrible at games. I wouldn't get anything out of beating the likes of you. A complete novice."

She dared to look offended by the claim. "Sorun, come on, that's not fair. I know I've barely ever touched that thing, but don't you think calling me terrible at it is a bit much?"

"Are you Nicole?"

"... No?"

"Then you're terrible."

"Come on!" she stomped her foot down in indignation and gave him a heated look. "You say that like she's the only fun person you can play those things with."

"She is. She's the only one that can challenge me. She even wins half the time," he said to her. "Not even Sonic compares to her. They're on completely different levels." The corners of his mouth twitched upwards. "Being the fastest thing alive doesn't mean much when the game has a hard limit on how fast it can read controller inputs. And he fails to grasp the finer arts that is playing those games. Pattern recognition, timing, situational awareness and adaptivity. He's too headstrong for most of these. He relies on pure reflexes alone." Given they were Sonic's reflexes that actually carried him quite far. In fact, he was fairly certain the only reason he and Shadow were in the middle of the leaderboard, right between the gap separating him and Nicole from everyone else, in those games was because of their absurd reflexes. Vital, sure. But reflexes weren't everything. Sorun was a walking testament to that.

It was because Sonic couldn't learn that button mashing wasn't everything that Sorun would always be superior to him in that regard.

"Sheesh. If you like playing them with her so much then why don't you do it more often?" an exasperated Amy asked him.

"We do. Frequently." Almost daily, really, and times they didn't were just when they decided to talk the whole time. "Speaking of which..."

Sorun turned his head to the side, towards a street lamp. He looked up it, and he could have sworn that the lightbulb in the street lamp looked awfully similar to a camera lens. But then he blinked, and of course when he opened his eyes it was back to being an ordinary lightbulb. Like he'd just imagined it.

Nanites really were interesting.

"She's watching me again," Sorun intoned, making Amy follow Sorun's gaze to the street lamp. "Nicole keeps sneaking cameras around me thinking I don't notice. I notice," he said, a bit more loudly than he normally spoke. "You have any idea what she's doing?" Sorun asked in his normal volume when he looked back down at Amy.

Amy bit her lower lip when she turned back to Sorun. "She's... just worried about you. We all are," she confessed. "You just haven't been yourself lately. We know why, we just... we just wanna help you." She made a frustrated sigh and crossed her arms. "And can you really blame Nicole? You didn't see because you left, but you really, really scared her when you stole Tails' plane. She wouldn't calm down the entire time you were gone."

"I... hadn't known that." Nobody elected to tell him what he would have assumed to be pertinent information. He made a resigned noise and glanced to the side. Another mistake he had to rectify. "It isn't so bad," he said. "At least she respects my privacy and only spies on me outdoors. As far as I know, anyways," he quietly mumbled out.

He didn't think she'd go that far. Honestly doubted it, really. There were a lot of hard lines and boundaries Nicole refused to cross out of decency, and disrespecting the citizens' privacy was one of them. Public spaces like sidewalks and the park were one thing. The inside of homes may as well have been a whole other world, and she was acutely aware of this.

"Sorun, come on. You know Nicole wouldn't do that." Amy softly punched Sorun in the arm and gave him a half-grin. "Now come on, think of something fun we can do."

"You decide," Sorun said. "What do you even like doing outside of shopping?"

"Well...~ We could always go visit Sonic."

Sorun mentally recoiled from the idea. "I thought we were supposed to be doing something fun?"

"You don't think it'd be fun to go see Sonic?"

"It feels more like a punishment than anything else." A deserved one, maybe, but just because he deserved it didn't mean he was inclined to endure it.

"Sorun!" That offended shriek from Amy could have probably shattered glass if she tried hard enough. It was enough to make Sorun wince at her while she glared at him. "What do you have against him, anyways?"

"I don't have anything against him," Sorun denied. "He's... obnoxious at times. That's all."

"Tah!" Amy waved him off and turned away from Sorun. "Well, I don't know what you want to do, Sorun. You didn't want to look at dresses with me, you didn't want to go shopping-"

"No man wants to do these things."

"And who decided that!?" As Amy yelled that towards the sky, Sorun turned around and began walking the opposite direction of her. "Just because you don't like doing things which I think are perfectly normal for everybody to do doesn't mean every guy has to hate it! You like doing lots of things I think are just for children! Like those stupid games of yours." She rounded towards him. "And another thing-!"

Her voice cut off when she saw the space behind her was empty.

"Uh... S-Sorun?"

"Yeah, still here." Amy jumped when she heard Sorun speak just behind her. She spun around to see the human calmly standing behind her with his hands tucked in his pockets. "I walked off halfway through that, but then realized that was kind of a jerk thing to pull and came back," he explained. "Look, Amy, I don't want to be rude, I just... I really don't want to do any of that, you know?"

"Ah, well..." Amy sighed out and rubbed the back of her head as she glanced away. "I don't know, Sorun, do you at least wanna go get lunch? Speaking of which, you've been eating again, right?"

An embarrassed sigh left Sorun. "Sally's been donating some food to me 'til I figure something out. And Nicole threatened to lock me in a hospital room and have the doctors feed me intravenously if she saw signs of me getting skinnier and not eating." He made a "tch" sound. "Wouldn't be the first time she locked me in a hospital room."

He was pretty sure she was serious with that threat, too. She'd had a pretty serious tone when she said it. And a rather serious face.

"She's just trying to look after you," Amy rationalized. "You... don't really make things easy. For anyone."

"Yeah, I know..." Sorun let out an airy breath and kicked at his feet. "I'm tryin' here." He looked back up at Amy's eyes. "So. Lunch?"

"Oh! Sure, follow me!" The pink hedgehog began to practically skip down the sidewalk. Sorun dragged his feet in following her. "I know this one place that makes these really great crepes and I was thinking..."

Lunch had been... well, lunch. Nothing more, nothing less. Amy tried having a discussion with Sorun, though most of the words she spoke had been tuned out by Sorun with him nodding along to whatever she'd been saying. He didn't even know if she knew he was indirectly ignoring her. He felt bad, in a way, but the crepes helped alleviate some of that guilt.

As long as she at least thought she was helping, he supposed... She at least left looking pleased with herself.

Well, she was gone, and now he was here. At the back of Antoine's house. The coyote himself was absent, out on an errand, apparently, but his wife and Sally were there, with all three of them sitting around awkwardly and not knowing what to do. Sorun himself was sitting on an artificial tree stump, Sally was sitting down on the ground next to him, and Bunnie was standing off to the side with her arms crossed.

He only got here in the first place because he ran into Sally after leaving Amy, and she'd all but dragged him here under the pretense of just wanting to hang out. He wasn't sure he bought it, but then again it wasn't an entirely inaccurate statement. But he still knew why, and knew the consequences of saying no, but he'd still went along with it.

Didn't help that this was more or less an impromptu gathering and neither of the three actually knew what to do to pass the time.

"You know, there's a world of difference between friends coming together to hang out and do whatever and... whatever this even is," Sorun said, hands on the side of the stump. "I appreciate the effort, but you don't think this is awkward?"

"There has to be a reason for us to get together?" Sally asked him. "We're all friends, aren't we? We really need a reason to socialize whenever we feel like it?"

He looked towards her, and much to his surprise she seemed genuine. And, in a way, she wasn't wrong. Sorun knew that. It didn't help how... forced this all felt. Maybe because he felt more like a hostage than a visiting friend. "What do you even want?" he asked her.

"Why do you have to say it like that?" she asked back. "You've been cooped up inside your house for weeks and I just thought you needed to bond with us a bit. What's so wrong with that?"

"I meant right now," Sorun deadpanned. "What do you want to do right now?"

"Ah. Right." Clearing her throat, Sally gestured to him. "Why don't you decide?"

"Hopeless." Shaking his head, Sorun turned to Bunnie, who'd been all but silent for the most part so far. "Bunnie, what do you even like to do for fun?"

"Fun, huh?" The rabbit cupped her chin and looked up towards the sky. "Ah suppose... ya probably wouldn't understand what ah mean, but ah like to fly around a lot," she answered, looking back down at Sorun. "With the thrusters in mah feet. It's freein', ya know? Jus' bein' up there."

Sorun hummed. "Huh. I didn't know that," he said. "I used to be able to fly. I can't do that anymore." His gaze shifted to Sally. "Well, unless someone wants to let me-"

Sally caught his meaning immediately and shook her head. "No, Sorun. The Emerald's staying locked in the vault in the castle," she said.

Tsking, Sorun leaned in her direction. "Well, what about you? What do you like doing in your free time?"

The princess shrugged. "Well, exercising is always fun. Plus it helps me keep in shape and-"

"Yeah, but that's not something Bunnie can do with us," Sorun quickly stated in a higher than average pitch. He turned towards the rabbit in question. "I mean it's not like she can work out her legs and arm when they're made of metal and-"

"Actually there is some physical therapy ah do have to do regularly," Bunnie corrected him, making Sorun freeze. "It wouldn't be too hard for us-"

"Now that I think about it flying isn't something we can all do, either," Sorun said, almost in desperation. "We should do something we all can do. Equally. All equal-like."

At this point he was down for anything as long as it wasn't exercise.

Both Bunnie and Sally narrowed their eyes in his direction. The deflection was a clear one, though Bunnie had made an agreeing sigh and dipped her head a bit, making Sorun sag in relief. "Alright, then. What do you think we should do?"

"I dunno... baking?" Sorun suggested with a shrug. "You tried to give me a piece of that carrot cake stuff you said you made once. We could do that?"

Bunnie's green eyes sparked in interest, though she also looked a bit doubtful. "Antoine told me about you tryin' tah bake once. You really wanna try somethin' as advanced as carrot cake?"

Sorun shot her a questioning glance. "What's so complicated about it? It's the exact same recipe as normal cake but with carrots thrown into the batter, ain't it?"

"..." Bunnie's calm look became a bit strained as she glanced away from Sorun. "Maybe we oughta hold off on baking," she suggested, pushing down the brim of her hat over her face to hide her grimace. She blinked a few times when the action caused her to notice something, followed by her removing her hat to look at its underside. "Goll-darnit, I think there's a hole here."

"That's from the last mission, right?" Sally asked. "I think I saw a laser blast graze your head."

"Yeah, looks like the heat jus' barely got to the hat. Ah think I can fix it..."

A tinge of worry grew in Sorun's stomach. Probably a natural reaction to anybody learning their friend was almost shot, but then he remembered just what exactly almost all his friends did for a living. And that he'd stepped away from that life for a very good reason. His fingers began to unconsciously tap against the tree stump and, eager to divert the conversation, said, "You know if I had the Chaos Emerald I could show you a really cool hat-"

"Sorun," came Sally's warning voice, causing him to sigh and drop his shoulders.

It was a topic Sally steered away from whenever Sorun asked about it. Since he wasn't a Freedom Fighter anymore, nobody thought he had any reason to gain powers from the Chaos Emerald he brought back. And since they didn't have any other use for it, they locked it away somewhere in the castle so nobody else could use it for any misdeeds. That was the justification Sorun was given, at least. He personally thought they were just withholding it from him because he'd proved to be "irresponsible" during the drinking incident, but it was a baseless theory. And beyond that he saw the logic.

Even so, he felt incomplete without at least the Yamato at his side. It didn't feel right to not be holding the sword. And he didn't like his supposed "friends" were keeping what was rightfully his away from him, even if he saw the reasons behind it. He didn't find himself caring. He wanted his sword.

"When are you going to give me back my Chaos Emerald, Sally?"

"It's not yours, Sorun," Sally rebutted. "And I already told you. You don't need it."

"So when can I have it back?"

A half-frustrated, half-exhausted sigh left her. "Why do you even want it so bad?" the chipmunk asked him. "I get they can't hurt you as long as you don't permanently absorb them, but do you really need it just to hold onto it?"

Sorun scoffed and threw his hand up. "Because everybody has their own thing that makes them distinct," he said. "You're the princess with the genius tactical mind, Bunnie's the cyborg, Sonic has his speed, Tails can fly and is a genius, Rotor's up there with Tails' brain, Antoine's... got his thing-" Sorun coughed to the side when Bunnie shot an annoyed glare at him, "- and Amy's got her hammer. Need I even mention Nicole? Everybody's got all these different niches, and what do I have?"

"Sorun, you're the only human that lives in the whole city. You have more niche than anybody else," Sally stated, an unconvinced look on her face. "What's this really about?"

She'd sent him a scrutinizing look, and Bunnie had joined her with an equal glare. The looks they both were sending him caused Sorun to sigh. He could try getting out of it, but he didn't find the effort worth it. And he didn't want to give them any misconceptions, whatever possible misconceptions the pair could draw up from this.

"The Yamato is... important to me. On a personal level," Sorun admitted to the two of them. "It's not just about the power. It's the sword itself."

"I think I remember Eggman mentioning something about it. Something about a storybook," Sally said. "Back when we were all in those Egg Grapes."

"Yeah, I remember hearin' that, too," Bunnie added. "What'd he mean by that, Sorun?"

"You guys honestly thought I just created that sword from a mental picture I made up on the spot?" Sorun made a bemused laugh, drawing confusion from the two Mobians. "Well, not entirely inaccurate, I suppose. It's from a story, yes. One very personal for me. There were a series of these stories, and I was introduced to the very first one by my mother, on a birthday when I was young." He looked off to the side, avoiding the two's looks. "It was an exceedingly bad time for me. The gift wasn't even wrapped, like it was a last-second thing. I think my mother just bought the first thing she could find at a store to help distract me."

Sally's expression grew worried. "What happened?" she asked him.

"... It's not for Mobian ears."

"And just what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means I won't speak of it," Sorun stated as he looked back at the two, noting the confused, irritated looks both Sally and Bunnie had adopted. "Look, the point is those stories were important to me, and the sword came from them." He looked down towards the stump. "It's my only connection to my home," he continued in a quieter voice, making the two Mobians freeze. "I have nothing else from Earth. Not a single possession. Even the clothes I came with were lost when Knothole fell. That and a gum wrapper I'd kept for good luck. But that's all gone, now. Yamato is the only connection I have left." He looked straight into Sally's eyes. "And you're keeping that from me."

It was only a half-true. Left unsaid was how he detested how vulnerable Sorun felt without the Yamato's power at his side, or any power granted by the Emerald. But even disregarding that the sword alone held incredible sentimental value to Sorun, and he did not like being left without it.

Sally made a deep sigh at the accusatory glare he was sending her. "Sorun, that isn't fair." She almost looked sympathetic with that look she was giving him, though she met his glare with one of her own. "I understand why you want it, but there's nothing I can even do at this point. It was the council's decision to lock the Emerald away since its power is so dangerous, and my word alone isn't enough to overturn a decision of theirs." She leaned forwards a bit and folded her arms over her knees. "I only took it away from you because you were acting irresponsible. Hearing that, and seeing as it was a one-time thing, I would give it back to you. I really would. But like I said, it's not my choice. And I really don't think the council or my brother would have the same reaction I do."

He had the same doubts she did. It brought some comfort knowing she would let him have it if she could, and he was thankful for that. And a bit guilty-ridden for the tone he'd taken with Sally now.

"I'm sorry if I seemed a bit overbearing. It's just important to me," Sorun apologized. "Listen, I don't think this is really working out. I appreciate the effort you're going through, and I'm thankful you all want to help, but this is too awkward." He slid off the stump he'd been sitting on and stood up, hunched forwards with his hands in his pockets. "If you wanna invite me to group things, fine. If either of you or anyone else wants to invite me to something or just swing by my place to hang out, then sure. But forcing an outing like this isn't... it's not doing it for me," he admitted with a shake of his head.

"I know." Sally rubbed a hand over her face and stood up along with him. "I'm sorry if this got weird. We're just-"

"Tryin' to help, I know, I know," Sorun tiredly sighed out. "I already said I appreciate it, but I prefer a natural progression of friendship as opposed to this," he said, gesticulating his hand around to the general area. "This damn pity parade," he thought, but didn't dare speak. He figured the other two got his meaning anyways.

... Or maybe they'd taken it the wrong way, because all of a sudden Sally was stroking her chin with a thoughtful look. "Natural, huh...?" she'd mumbled, making Sorun blink in worry and turn away.

"Right, well, I'm going home." He began walking away from the pair before any of them could say anything further. For better - or worse - he'd managed to get away without them making a single sound. He'd left feeling a slight sense of foreboding, but in the end chose to ignore it in favor of just being able to head home. For however much good that got him.

The next day found itself proving that the sense of foreboding Sorun had felt the previous day was correct.

His best guess to why any of this was happening was that Sally misinterpreted Sorun's meaning of how yesterday's little gathering had been too forced. That must have translated into her convincing "the guys", because that's what he had to deal with now, crashing his home and inviting themselves in under the pretense of hanging out with Sorun was the best idea ever. Which, in fairness, was what they were doing.

In fairness to Sorun he was pretty sure he could classify this as a home invasion if he really wanted to. Then again, he wasn't sure anyone would actually listen to him.

With a sigh, Sorun's relaxed eyes stared forwards at the TV screen telling him he'd won the game. Again. And with one single hand at that, because at this point he needed the handicap to make things at least a little bit interesting. He looked to his right side to Sonic, who was staring at the TV in muted shock with his controller loosely held in his hands.

If there was one thing, one thing, he could forever hold over Sonic's head for being better at it than him, it was games. He may have been faster than Sorun, and stronger, and everything-er, but this was something Sorun could have. His element. His specialty. His... well, it was just his. Nobody was allowed to be better at it than him.

... Nobody but Nicole, anyways, but she was special. She was the only one allowed to beat Sorun.

"Maybe I should start using less fingers. Give you a better chance at beating me at this," Sorun dryly remarked to the stunned hedgehog. "What did I say about button mashing?"

"It's gonna work eventually..." Sonic growled under his breath, his mouth set in a thin pout.

"In some situations, yes," Sorun amended. "In most cases, though, it won't. And this ain't one of 'em."

"Well could you maybe show me how exactly that's supposed to work?"

"Tch. You're Sonic the Hedgehog. Figure it out yourself." If Sorun were a better man he would have loved to volunteer to help Sonic learn the finer intricacies. But that would entail Sonic becoming marginally better in an area Sorun liked proving his superiority over in. And would lessen the gap separating him and a spot he personally reserved for Sorun and Nicole. Both of these were unacceptable. So the blue bastard was on his own.

Sonic blinked at Sorun, and then set the controller down. "Okay. Didn't have to say it with that much emotion, but alright," he said. "Things are going fine with you, right? Like, you're okay?"

Sorun exhaled through his nose. Sometimes he had to remind himself there was actually a reason he was friends with Sonic. He actually was a nice guy. Irritating, too, but nice. "I'm getting on," he answered.

"Really? 'Cause Tails-"

"There's only so much I can do to apologize for an accident," Sorun interrupted with a tired half-scowl. He looked past Sonic and towards the kitchen. He saw Tails sitting down at the kitchen table, arms folded and tails slowly swishing behind him. Antoine was rifling through cabinets Sorun knew were empty in the hope of throwing something together for them all. He wouldn't find anything, but Sorun let him search anyways. He liked seeing him fumble around in futility.

"You did break his plane."

"How much of that plane was his plane, anyways?" Sorun asked, focusing back on Sonic. "I know the Special was completely lost in the Knothole bombing, but how'd the plane make it out?"

Sonic winced a bit. "In fairness Nicole had to recreate a lot of the parts with her nanites, but it was still the plane. Mostly," he said.

"You know, there was a proverb about a ship or a axe or something where I'm from. Some philosophical thing that asked the question of whether something is something even if you replace all the parts or... was it about the integrity of the spirit, or...?" Sorun frowned a bit, not quite remembering what he was trying to say. Eventually, he shook his head. "Look, even if all the parts are different does it really matter? It's the same plane. You know. In spirit."

"Yeah, try tellin' that to Tails," Sonic grumbled. "Look, he's gonna get over it, just don't, er... do that again."

Sorun clicked his tongue. "Guess I'll have to dash my plans for hitting the sauce and stealing vehicles again..."

A small amount of laughter was shared between the two of them. In ended in tapering sighs on both their parts, with Sonic sinking further into the couch as Sorun began idly tapping the controller he held in his hand.

"I'm sorry Rotor couldn't come over with the rest of us," Sonic suddenly said. "Guy's been swamped with all the council work. I hear my uncle complain about it a lot, too. They're practically drowning in paper over there."

"Ah, yeah, I heard Rotor got voted into the council." He couldn't exactly be remiss about the walrus not coming to visit. Three was already stretching Sorun's patience. And while the two were friends, Sorun wasn't overly close to the guy. Worked with him, had a few conversations and hung out a bit. But that was about the extent of that friendship. There wasn't much beyond that. "Must be strange, going from being a Freedom Fighter to politician." And probably as equally stressful.

A wry laugh left Sonic. "Yeah, well, the whole back thing kind of threw that career out of the window. He says he likes where he is now, but sometimes I catch him complaining that being on the council takes a lot of his tinkering time away."

"Right. His back." Sorun clicked his tongue. "That never cleared up?"

"... He said it's manageable."

So no, then. "How'd that even happen, anyways?" Sorun asked.

"I don't even know. We were all fighting, or at least trying to fight, Egghead in that big dumb mech of his, and out of nowhere this giant rock just flies in and nails Rotor in the back," Sonic recounted. "I don't have any idea where it came from. Couldn't have been Eggman, 'cause he was right in front of us. Wasn't Snively, 'cause the Chaotix were dealing with him." He shook his head. "I dunno. I think an explosion from the bombardment chucked a piece of rubble at him. Only thing I saw when I looked back was a bunch of red. Probably all the fire and explosions."

Sorun's head snapped to Sonic. The speed at which his head turned caused the hedgehog to jump a bit in his seat, though the slightly startled look Sorun had on his face quickly died away. "Right. Must have just been an explosion," Sorun quietly muttered out, not quite believing his own words. "Red, huh..."

"Sorun! What iz zis travesty of a kitchen!?" Sorun was more impressed that Antoine had the audacity to say such a thing more than anything else as he looked back into the kitchen. All the cabinets had been opened to reveal they were all empty. "How am I supposed to be making zomething from ze nothing!?"

"My sincerest apologies you weren't able to find food in the kitchen. A kitchen that's my kitchen. In my house. The same house you all barged into like you owned the place. Without asking. That house."

"Oui, but where iz ze food!?"

Sorun deeply inhaled through his nose, and was aiming to say something he would have likely regretted saying before Sonic had zoomed off the couch and stopped right behind Antoine. He wrapped an arm over the coyote's shoulders and practically began steering him towards the front door to the home.

"Hey, you know what, I just remembered my mom had a bunch of extra stuff lying around the house," Sonic voiced as he half-guided, half-dragged Antoine towards the door. It was at the same time they left that Sorun realized that only left two people inside his house: himself and Tails. The latter of which was sulking in his depressingly empty kitchen.

"I feel like Sonic did this on purpose." Sorun made a sigh as he stared out towards Tails. "I could kick him out. Technically. It's my house." It was all too tempting seeing as he didn't want to deal with feelings talk right now. Then again, he'd have a hard time explaining that away to the others. With in inward grimace he shook his head and rose up off the couch. "Egh, fine..."

With a large amount of hesitation weighing his footsteps down, Sorun had somehow managed to trudge his way to the kitchen. If Tails even noticed him sit down in one of the other dining table chairs next to him, he didn't so much as move in acknowledgement. Sorun almost took that as a sign that he didn't want to talk and almost left at that. For some reason his mouth began moving before his feet did.

"So did Antoine not get the memo my pantry is as barren as my wallet?" Sorun asked, resting in arm on the table as he looked to the side at Tails. "Thought you guys had this whole big friendship gathering just to discuss little ol' me."

"He thought you still had some of the food Sally gave you," Tails airily answered, not even looking his way. "What happened to that?"

"She gives me enough to get by. That's about it." Sorun drummed his fingers along the table. "Tails, I'm sorry about the plane."

"I'm not... I..." Tails finally looked over to Sorun. There was some hurt in his eyes that made Sorun inwardly flinch. "I just can't understand why you would do that. Why? You know how much I like that plane."

"Mina poisoned me." He tried to keep his head high and his voice even and steady. It came out a lot quieter than Sorun would have liked.

The excuse didn't do much to placate Tails. "And what does that have to do with anything!?"

"Apparently very little," Sorun mumbled out. He had to be very careful with his words here due to the fact that Sonic and Sally had made it very clear they didn't want the concept of alcohol introduced to Tails. Plus his mom was on the council. He didn't need political figures angry at him. "Tails, I can't tell you why I did it because I genuinely don't remember. The, uh... the stuff Mina gave me, it..." He clicked his tongue a few times. "You know I'm from Earth, and this is Mobius, and the fact is there's stuff here on this planet I can't eat because my body isn't accustomed to it."

"Oh... is it like allergies?" Tails asked, looking much more understanding. "I know Sonic's allergic to these specific kind of berries, but he doesn't like talking about it."

"Pfft." Sorun couldn't hold in the laugh that hissed through his teeth. "Sonic's allergic to something? Fuckin' dweeb." He didn't feel it was okay to demean something like an allergy, but for Sonic, he'd make an exception. "Yeeeeaah, it's... sorta like that," he said to Tails once he'd calmed down. "'Cept instead of getting bloated or hives or whatever I just... kinda lose my mind a bit. Hence me not remembering what happened," he explained. "The doctor said it blew away all my inhibitions for a bit."

Tails blinked in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"No idea." A lie, he knew exactly what that meant, even if he didn't know why drunk him decided stealing Tails' plane was the best idea in the whole world. "I don't know why I did it. I don't even remember doing it. I wouldn't have done it if I knew that stuff was poisonous to me."

Part of Sorun found it odd he was trying so hard to get the fox to forgive him. At the end of the day, it didn't change anything. Nicole would fix the plane and Sorun could walk away with relatively little to no accountability from the whole thing. The only thing hurting Tails was sentimentality over the plane itself, and even then Sorun couldn't find it in himself to care enough to that extent. He cared about Tails, though. Not so much his opinion, but... well, he did have an image. A poor one, maybe. But he still had it.

"... Ugh. I get it," Tails finally said with a slump of his shoulders. "The Tornado's just special to me, you know? Seeing it all busted up by you of all people... but it's fine. I can understand it wasn't really your fault."

That was probably as good as Sorun would get. He breathed out a sigh of relief and sat back in his chair. "Yeah, I know. You know, there's this old saying about the grandfather's spaceship, or... eh, forget it, I don't remember," he said upon catching Tails' confused look. He faced ahead at the empty cabinets so he didn't have to look at the Mobian. "I never thanked you," he said suddenly.

"Huh?" Tails looked over at Sorun again, who was making a pointed effort not to look at him. "For what?" he asked him.

"If it weren't for you pulling me through that portal I would have suffered through a world-ending armageddon and died," Sorun said. "So thanks for ruining my life. Because apparently that saved it."

Figured it'd be prudent to say that now, because it had to be said at some point. If not for his sake, than at least for Tails'. Maybe it'd go to make the fox feel better, which was a win as far as Sorun was concerned.

"O-oh. That." Tails' ears and twin tails wilted a bit, and he turned his head away from Sorun. "You still died," he mumbled.

Sorun made a humorless chuckle. "Yeah, guess I'm doomed no matter what I do," he agreed. "I came back, though. As it is I'm too stubborn to die." Sorun sat forwards in his seat and clasped his hands together. "If you really still feel bad about it just consider the plane my way of paying you back and we'll call it even."

That actually managed to elicit some small laugh from Tails, who looked back towards the human. "Sure. I can live with that," he said. "I just... always felt kind of responsible. You wouldn't have had to go through all that if I'd never brought you here, but... yeah, it feels better knowing it was for the best in the end. For you." He looked away from Sorun and began to idly rub at his shoulder. "Are you really okay, Sorun?"

The small amount of amusement that had been building on Sorun's face began to fall off. "What brought this up?"

"You've been acting weird ever since we found out what happened to your zone. Everybody keeps talking about you like they're really worried about you, and then there's this." He gestured to the empty kitchen. "It's got me worried, too," he added, looking back towards Sorun. "So is everything alright? Do you need something?"

"A job," Sorun morosely thought, but chose to keep this to himself. "It's been hard coping with everything on one side and juggling with adjusting to my new life here on the other side," he admitted to him. "I'm trying my best, but this kind of thing has never been... I'm not good at this. And I didn't wanna tell the others for stupid reasons, and that didn't work, so now they're trying to help, I dunno, normalize me?" He shook his head, dropped it, and placed a hand on it. "Don't tell Sonic this, but I really do appreciate you all coming here to check on me and everyone for worrying. It helps."

Helped tell him he wasn't so alone, at the very least. If it wasn't a step in the right direction, it was at least a step forwards towards somewhere better. Dulled the aches in his heart just a little bit more each day, which, Sorun supposed, was a sign of good progress. It'd be better if he could find some way of supporting himself, but it was a start.

He said he'd fix himself. He didn't know how long that was supposed to take or how he was supposed to go about doing it exactly, but he guessed that was why the others were there. To help, because try as he might, this wasn't something he could do on his own. And as suffocating as they were at times he enjoyed the company despite his disposition and outward appearance.

"Well, you're getting better, right? That's what's most important, I think." When Sorun looked back up at Tails, he caught him smiling at him. "But seriously, if you need something you just have to ask. You know we're here for you."

"You've all made that abundantly clear," Sorun half-grumbled, though he still had an amused smirk on. "In that case, would you be willing to break into the castle and steal the Chaos Emerald they have there for me?"

The smile Tails held dropped off in an instant in lieu of confusion. "Huh? N-no. I'm not doing that. Why would I do that?"

"Could you at least ask your mom? I know she's on the council. You can't pull some political strings for me and just, like-?"

Tails shook his head. "I don't think she'd do that for you," he said.

"Can't blame a guy for trying."

The rest of the conversation was cut off when Sorun's front door was opened again. Sonic sauntered in without as much as a single item in his hand. Antoine, by contrast, stumbled in holding so many food items Sorun wasn't even able to see his head. Both Sorun and Tails glared towards Sonic as a result, who gave them both his best innocent grin while shrugging.

"What?" he asked. "I held the door open for him."

"Oui, and I am very grateful." From how sarcastic he sounded Antoine didn't sound very grateful. He somehow found his way to the kitchen and set the food items down, muttering something in French Sorun couldn't understand as he bent down towards something. "I am just being glad your mother was gracious enough to- mon dieu, Sorun, have you even used zis oven!?"

"I have an oven?" Sorun looked closer towards where Antoine was crouching down towards. That thing had gone so unused by Sorun he'd forgotten its existence. "Huh. Yeah, no, I never really used that."

"Incroyable." With the way he said it Antoine almost sounded disgusted. He'd shaken his head as he stood up, and then turned towards Sorun and grabbed at his wrists. "Alrighty, up, up!" he ordered, pulling a startled Sorun up out of his chair. "Eef you are to be living on your own I will not be 'aving you starve because you did not know how to even work a oven. You are helping me weeth zis."

Sorun's only protest to all of this was a very visible scowl on his face. He'd still obeyed Antoine without any resistance and stood at the kitchen counter next to him. "Ugh, do I have to? Don't even know how to cook."

"All ze more reason to be doing zis." The coyote shot Sonic an annoyed look. "We should all be more zan grateful Soneek's mother 'ad more zan just hotdogs to spare and gave us actual food."

The short sound of rapid footfalls followed Sonic standing next to the pair with his arms crossed. "You tryin' to say somethin'?"

"Nothing I am not needing to prove," Antoine grumbled under his breath. He reached towards one of the items he'd been carrying and held it out to Sorun. Sorun only needed a quick glance to confirm his fears: it was a bundle of vegetables. "Sorun, can you start cutting zese?"

Sorun visibly blanched. "I don't want vegetables."

"Oui, well, I am wanting you to be healthy and not go back to ze hospital, so you are eating zem whether you want to or not." Without another word Antoine thrust the vegetables into Sorun's arms, and then turned around to fiddle with the oven while Sonic began searching around for pans.

"What is he, my mother?" Sorun, scowling down at the vegetables and already planning on how he could avoid eating them, reached to the side, grabbed a knife, and then turned to Tails who'd flown up towards the three of them. "If you can handle a plasma torch I imagine you can handle a knife," Sorun blandly stated as he handed the fox the knife and vegetables.

"Uh, sure." Hesitantly, Tails accepted the items. "What're you gonna do?"

"He can show me where the stupid pots and pans are," Sonic loudly grumbled from the side. "Seriously, Sorun, where'd you put them? And the plates? And the... everything else? I can't even find the utensils!"

"Oh, yeah, I put literally everything in a single, really large cabinet because I figured I'd never use it and it'd be easy to find something if I did need it."

Repressing a loud groan, Sonic rubbed a hand over his face and stood up from his kneeling position in front of an open cabinet. "Okay, I guess we're organizing your kitchen while we're here, too..."

Thus was how Sorun ended up hosting dinner to some of his friends that night. And how he learned to actually make a dinner. One kind, at least. The kitchen was a mess, too, but they'd all promised to help him with that.

... Well, Tails and Antoine had. Sonic acted evasive whenever the state of the kitchen was brought up.

Overall, it wasn't the worst. Sorun didn't know if the French accent attributed to it or not, but Antoine was a startlingly good cook. And it was nice, having people just... be there for Sorun. Even if he wouldn't verbally admit it. All of them talking around a dinner table in an actual house made Sorun almost feel normal for a change.

It was nice.