Hello everybody! Boy, it's almost been an entire year since I've updated this story. I honestly completely forgotten about this when I started my summer job last year. Put that on top of the summer college courses I decided to take and that provides a lot of stuff on my mind. That and other story ideas always popped into my head whenever I manage to have some semblance of free time to myself. And it's with all this in mind that I apologize to all of you who have been faithfully waiting to see the next update to this story for my long hiatus moment on this accord.
Now that this is all out of the way, I hope that you all find this new chapter just as good as the others. In fact, I hope that you might find it better than some of the other chapters now that my grammar is different and better than it was year ago. After all, they always say that practice makes perfect. I just hope that it reflects in this chapter and makes it all the more appealing to you.
To be honest, there's a specific reason why I had suddenly just remembered about this story. You see, yesterday happened to be the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, the main place of where this story is taking place. For those of you here in America, you might have known that they were showing a four-part series titled "Titanic" on the television. Needless to say that it reminded me of this story after captivating me in the story, fictional or not, of the passengers who lived their lives as normal as they could in a class-differentiated society before watching one of the worst calamities unfolding all around them. And I know that it's just a show, but the sight of the ship actually rising into the air straight up and slowly sinking was nonetheless a breathtakingly scary sight to behold. I can only imagine who both those on the ship and the rescue boats had felt then watching the horror.
...Anyway, that's enough of my ranting on everything. The point here is that I put out a new chapter for you all to read. I hope you all really enjoy it. Please don't forget to leave a review before you leave to the next story that you want to read. I always read them and take into consideration any and all suggestions and corrections that you put on there. And if you all have the time, please go ahead and read some of my other stories, especially my other sonic fanfiction called "Sonic Hedgehog Investigations" if you never heard of it. It's a mystery style and has a lot of talking in it, but you might like the mysterious air I put into it. You could also play along with the mystery instead of just reading through it. You'll have to look at the format in order to understand what I mean. And don't pay attention to how bad the first case might be; I promise you that the others after that are a lot better and more attention-grabbing.
Until the next update on this or any of my other stories everybody! And I promise to try and not take as long to update this story, although don't expect to see a review immediately after this one. I'm now in college after all, and that unfortunately demands more of my immediate attention.
Chapter 13: Prepping for a First-Class Dinner
In the two days that followed, Sonic was busy learning the basics on how to act when in the presence of first class noblemen and women in preparation for the invitational dinner. Being that he had lived his life as a simple third classman and thus had what could be considered a likable but rough attitude, both Silver and Knuckles had a hard time to make the cobalt hedgehog actually try and act proper without going back to his usual behavior easily seen as deplorable to most first classmen.
Despite having lots of trouble with the behavioral department, they somehow managed to pull together a rather passable act provided Sonic kept his tongue in check and minded his words. They had spent the two days leading up to the dinner that Shadow had invited him to with the process, and they barely had enough time to try on a few suits that Silver was more than gracious enough to loan out. Then again, he had already said when they first made this arrangement that he rarely ever liked to wear suits yet brought them along in case the occasion to dawn them suddenly arose.
Tails had spent most of his time either in his room or up on deck while the three older teens were busy with their own things. While Sonic and Knuckles were concerned about him wandering on his own being that somebody might recognize him as a supposed fugitive, the young one brushed off their worries. He always came back to his room safe and sound at the end of the day, so they had allowed to let their fears dissipate.
"Remind me again why I'm forced to put such restricting clothes on instead of a bowtie to make myself look nice?" the teen hedgehog asked disdainfully as he looked himself over in a large changing mirror inside Silver's rather luxurious room that was clearly marked for only first-class inhabitants. He was dressed in a nicely pressed black tuxedo jacket over a wrinkle-free white dress shirt underneath and a pair of black pants. His trademark white-and-red-stripped sneakers were traded in with shiny black dress shoes, and adorned on his neck was a black bowtie with the straps cleverly hidden underneath the dress shirt collar. Both the room's inhabitant and Knuckles were seen standing a couple of feet behind the hedgehog with their arms crossed and looking pleased with themselves.
Sonic then continued on with a sour frown pasted onto his face as he began to mess around with the fancy cuffs that were added onto his trademark white gloves in an attempt to make them look to be of high standard, "Wouldn't a bowtie choking me to death have been enough? I honestly feel like I've been trapped in the tightest bubble ever to exist. You might as well have thrown me in a box that was only three feet wide all the way around."
"We've been through this a hundred times already, Sonic," Silver calmly responded, a feat that was rarely seen with first classmen speaking to third classmen. It was clear that he was as different from the rest as the echidna had claimed him to be. "Everybody in the first class dining hall is going to either be a member of first class or well-to-do second class folks invited up to eat. I don't know about the second classmen, but the first classmen would figure you to be in their eyes a lowly third classmen in a heartbeat and chase you out before you even get the chance to open your mouth. At least you should be able to somewhat blend in with the crowd with nothing but a few unspoken suspicions with a nice dinner suit on."
"I would if I could come with you to help make sure you keep your act together, but most of the first class people I've seen on board are bigwig business owners," Knuckles stated with a shrug of his shoulders. "I'd be surprised if none of them ever heard about my family's so-called fall from riches. They'd probably call me out on it and chase me out now that most consider me to be nothing more than third class trash. Not that I mind being said trash being that it allowed me to see what it truly meant to live and all that."
"Don't worry; I have a plan to make sure what we've taught him doesn't go to waste," the silver furred hedgehog reassured the echidna as he himself was also donned in a fancy dinner jacket. Everything was the same except that the outer clothes along with the bowtie and shoes were ebon white while the dress shirt was as dark as the blackest night. "Dr. Robotnik happens to be good friends with my family, so I can just graciously invite myself to dine with them just before Sonic comes into the picture. That should at least soften him up a bit along with allowing me to try and get you to the group in case they have something else to say about it. That's also why I'm choosing to wear a suit since he tends to give more respect to those wearing one. It's not foolproof, but it should allow some leeway if the time before we start manages to go wrong courtesy of Shadow's father and fiancée."
"Not to mention his ever creepy bodyguard that even the guy admitted he did not like much," Sonic added with a light chuckle as he stopped fiddling with the cuffs and seemingly resigned to his fate. "Why don't we hurry up and get this over with? I don't want to suffer through this any longer than I have to."
"It's almost seven, so I suppose we better go," the first classman agreed with a nod of his head as he started to head for the door before taking a gold pocket watch from a nearby dresser. "The good doctor is a bit of a stickler for tardiness. He already has a bad enough impression of you because of your social position. Let's try not to make that any worse.
"And Knuckles," Silver added as he motioned for Sonic to follow him towards the door. "You can go ahead and stay here if you want. I happen to know the personal attendant of this room, and he's just as lax as me about the whole social class situation. You can also invite Tails down here if you want, but it'll be harder to come back without me accompanying you."
"Well, you got to get out of here before you can get to the first class dining hall," Knuckles explained as he followed the two hedgehogs towards the wooden door just as it was opened. "If you can just give the crewman keeping guard there the word to allow me and a two-tailed fox to come through, then I'm sure we'd be okay. After all, you do have a respectful business under your belt last time I checked, and we all know how the crew respects or sucks up to people like that."
"It's worth a shot, I suppose. Just make sure you don't try to pull anything crazy like lose your temper it they decide to just reject you. Last thing we need is for you to go into this ship's version of a jail for the rest of the voyage."
"I'm not that stupid enough to do something like that when Tails is kind of depending on me right now to make sure nothing bad happens to him," the echidna scoffed as the three finally left the room. "He might say that he's okay, but he's hardly out of the woods from the frame job he got from the authorities back home. It's only when he's finally off this boat when I'll feel safe enough to leave him alone. Not to mention that I've kind of made it my mission to keep an eye on this brat so he doesn't get himself into irreversible trouble."
"Hey, I resent that!" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed with a large pout before they made their way down the corridor. The other two simply laughed at this childish display while ignoring the odd and sometimes offended looks from others they passed by. They soon got into their small talk mode and politely made their way through the hall that led to where the first class diner was until they reached the end.
"Excuse me, but could you please allow this echidna and his fellow two-tailed friend to come through into my room?" Silver asked the crewman standing guard at the entrance to the first class hall. "He just needs to go and get something before returning, and I won't be able to accompany them back because of a dinner engagement."
"If you trust them enough, then who am I to not comply with your wishes?" the crewman dressed in black formal ship wear responded with a shrug of his shoulders as if he could care less about the whole thing. "I only warn you that it will be you who'll be in trouble if something bad ends up happening and they're under fire for it. I can only imagine what kind of trouble your third class friends may cause when unsupervised."
"I assure you that they can be trusted better than even the most honest man onboard," the silver hedgehog responded with a quick flash of a smile that oddly seemed to reflect a sense of annoyance. "Of course, I will take responsibility if any kind of trouble that is proven to have been caused by them ensues. I doubt, however, that it will come to that tonight."
"You best hope it doesn't lest you want to pay dearly for your naiveté," the man added with a huff of his breath before the three left him to his own musings.
"Well, I better find Tails and get back here before they either decide to change guards or we catch that ever so nice man in a worse mood," Knuckles stated sarcastically before moving towards a set of stairs that led upwards. "I'll see you two later! Make sure to tell me how the whole thing turns out."
"Alright, follow my lead and make sure to not pull anything that will embarrass both you and me," Silver warned before straightening out his dinner jacket and started to lead the way to the first class dining hall. "While I can live with it from the other first class guys, Knuckles will never let me forget about it and torture me until the day I die."
"Yeah, he kind of has that annoyingly good memory for embarrassing things," Sonic simply stated with a shrug of his shoulders as he followed closely behind. Like the first class hedgehog had said when they were still in his room, the first and second class people they had passed by either gave him silent suspicious looks or completely ignored him despite the fact that he was more or less likely walking somewhat stiff and awkwardly. Other than that, the trip to the first class dining hall was quite normal and unappealing apart from the small talk the two hedgehogs engaged themselves in.
"…And that's how Knuckles and I first met," Silver replied after spending about five minutes talking and finally arriving on the floor where signs started leading people to the first class dining hall. "Our parents decided to pull a partnership on a new business, and they just left us two to do whatever we wanted to do. We were only seven, but we really clicked and been friends from then on."
"But if Knuckles's parents made a business deal with yours, then how did he ended up falling into third class status?" Sonic asked with raised eyebrows as they turned a corner and saw the dining hall at the end. "That must've been one hell of a bad deal."
"Were that not the truth, I'd probably punch you in the nose for saying that," the other deadpanned. "An explosion in the main factory they were investing in decided to go up in flames, and that basically burned up all their profits. Put that on top of the fact that Knuckles's parents' second and last business they had was plummeting in stock sales, and you get what he is today. I'm sure you already know this, but both of his parents died from the stress it no doubt caused them just to try and stay afloat."
"You can say that again," the cobalt hedgehog responded sadly as they reached the back end of the line of people waiting patiently to go inside. "My Uncle Chuck had worked for his family as the manager of the ships that handled their goods. When he died, they graciously allowed me to live with them being that we were good family friends. It was barely even a year before Knuckles's family name went down the drain that lead to their deaths and left both of us to fend for ourselves. We ended up being one of the lucky few kids to survive on the streets."
"Hmm, I really wish that I could've been there to help you both out. Unfortunately, my parents decided to move after the factory explosion incident. With no way to contact Knuckles, I couldn't find any way to offer any help."
"Don't kick yourself in the butt over it now. It's already passed. And besides, Knuckles himself said earlier that it allowed him to figure out what it really meant to live. Even with my kind of spacy and borderline arrogant attitude, I could tell that he was kind of living in a small bubble with only me in there to keep him company. With all this happening, he now seems a lot more confident and willing to take the initiative. That and he was the one to earn us some money just to live being that his dad actually taught him how to play poker. Illegal or not, it was the only way for him to get money, and I hardly have any kind of talents that would even constitute the ability to make money. I pretty much just wandered around and hoped that he would come back with something and not get caught by the police for illegal activity. But if I didn't do that, then I wouldn't have found four-year-old Tails crying his eyes out and wondering why his parents had abandoned him."
"Tails was abandoned at four years old?" Silver asked with raised eyebrows in surprise at this revelation. "Why would any parent want to abandon someone as young as he was at the time?"
"We never really figured it out, but it didn't make any difference in our decision to take him in," Sonic explained as the line slowly moved forward. "While it was true that we were already barely getting enough money and food for just the two of us and that adding another person to take care of would most likely kill us, we weren't just going to let Tails fend for himself. He wasn't going to stand a chance no matter what, and it would have left a bad taste in our mouths if we just left him alone while only being concerned about ourselves. Luckily, the worst didn't come to be, and we managed with what we had. We soon learned that he is a great genius who can create lots of small things with what materials he could get his hands on. Needless to say, he grew up to be quite an independent little guy and decided to try to strike out on his own when he was eleven. We haven't seen him for two years until our fateful run-in aboard this ship."
"Wow, that is one inspiring story you three got there," the silver furred hedgehog responded with a genuine smile once the short remembrance was finished. "I can't believe you all managed to make the best out of the worst of situations and live through it. I've learned not to take things for granted thanks to my parents being very open with me about everything, but I doubt that I'd even be able to be as well off as you three were in the same conditions."
"There were times when things got pretty dicey to the point we'd wonder if we were going to make it, but we managed to pull through it by cutting corners like just cutting down to one meal instead of the usual two being that we agreed to skip breakfast," the cobalt hedgehog said with a shrug as if it were no big deal. Then again, it was already all in the past, so he could afford to just shrug it off now. "Not once was it ever easy to just find something to eat, but I have to admit that being with Tails and Knuckles made the whole thing a lot easier."
"All I can say now is that I'm glad you three managed to get on this ship. I'm not sure if you heard because of your potential lack of information, but there has been talk about a method on cleaning out the streets of homeless people in lieu of the economic slump. From what I heard, they were going to go as far as arresting any and all homeless people they saw and keep them imprisoned on false charges. And by making sure that they don't come out again, they can keep the streets safe and get rid of the third classmen at the same time. You're a member of third class, so I'm sure you know how bad the prejudice is against the classes."
"I-I never heard of anything like that! I noticed that a lot of the kids were no longer in the streets, but I figured that was because they were caught and sent to the orphanages where there are stories of mistreatment and all that. Wouldn't there have been some kind of stink about prison overcrowding and all that if what you're saying is true?"
"That's why they send said kids to the orphanages after capturing them and keep the adults in the prisons. I don't know what they do if either of the facilities become overcrowded, but I can assure that that it doesn't seem to be a happy ending for them. And with the way the economy is going in Robotropolis, I doubt things are going to get any better for the city's poorest inhabitants. All I can say is that you three were lucky to board this ship when you did. I hardly think that you would've been able to continue to live the way you've been."
For a couple of seconds, Sonic mused over the things that Silver had said as they continued to wait patiently in the quickly dwindling line for the dining hall. He had taken notice in his street travels that things were starting to become different. He knew that most of the poor people he remembered seeing and being friends with some were no longer there. He had never thought that the city officers were starting to really crack down on the homelessness in an attempt to clean up the streets.
"…I guess I really shouldn't be as surprised as I am now," the cobalt hedgehog responded with a low sigh. "I mean, I vaguely remember hearing some of the poor adults I've passed by a lot complaining about how the homeless shelters were closing down faster than they thought possible. That must've been their way to both save money and rally all us homeless guys in the streets were we could easily be caught. I really must have been a stroke of luck that Knuckles and I won those two tickets in our last Robotropolis poker game."
"Many people regardless of their economic position would gladly risk their lives for the chance you've been given to sail aboard the world's fastest and currently most famous ship," Silver responded with a small smile in an attempt to lighten up the mood that was starting to take the turn towards depressing before looking serious as it was finally their turn to enter the dining hall. He then said to the steward dressed in white and standing behind a wooden podium with pen in hand in a more refined tone, "My name is Silver Hedgehog. I believe I have a reservation for a table in the dining hall tonight."
"Just a moment, Mr. Silver," the steward politely responded in a deep voice as he looked down at a booklet that was most likely filled with names before moving his pen in a slashing fashion against the page. "You may go on ahead. Am I right in assuming that the gentleman beside you is an invited guest of yours?" the then asked with a small gaze of suspicion cleverly masked behind a seemingly welcoming smile.
"Of course he is," the silver furred hedgehog replied pleasantly in a tone that just possibly could be translated as a threat if one were to have listened more than carefully. "I trust that it will not be too much of a problem to allow him in along with me?"
"Of course not sir," the man politely responded before bowing his head lightly and motioning his hand towards the dining hall in allowance for them to enter. "Please enjoy the Titanic's well-acclaimed dining hall sirs."
"Thank you kindly," the first class hedgehog thanked with what seemed to be a forced smile before walking into the dining hall with Sonic following closely behind. Once they were out of earshot from the steward and in a sort of dead zone of the room where there were no chairs and hardly any people, he whispered, "The only people who could possibly miss that sense of animosity in his tone are others who actually side with his sentiments. I thank the heavens that my parents aren't like other first class people and raised me to judge with an even mind!"
"Sorry for asking you this, but are you bipolar or something?" the cobalt hedgehog asked with raised eyebrows after watching the previous short exchange at the entrance. "The way you talked with that guy earlier was completely different from how you were speaking with me! You took on such a sense of formality around you. You sure you weren't a third class guy that was adopted into a first class family?"
"As I just said, my behavior can hardly be considered anything like your usual first classman. Most would probably consider a new generation of wealth who will ruin the integrity of all first class and stain it with the filth of lower classes. I personally don't consider speaking to those of a class lower than me to be lowering my standards. In fact, I consider everyone I speak to as equals with the exception of extreme criminals.
"With all that said, I know how to shift from casual talk to formal conversation," he continued on with a small smug smile of sorts. "After all, a person of my stature must be prepared for the time when we speak to other respectable people."
"I think I know where Shadow learned how to switch between two styles of speeches so easily and quickly now. He's the same as you when it comes to that. Speaking of which, where is it that he's sitting at?"
"I see him with his father, fiancée, and personal bodyguard over there near the window," Silver discreetly pointed out through the crowd towards the other side of the room where the telltale sign of black quills streaked with red could easily be seen along with both the bald man and creepy hedgehog who were determined at the time to pin an attempted assassination on him. The bright orange horizon of the setting sun could easily be seen out the window behind the ebon hedgehog along with the emerald-like sea that the light imparted upon it. "Remember to be on your best behavior and keep your tongue in careful check. And if you can, try to talk somewhat as proper as I can if only to save yourself the embarrassment from Dr. Robotnik. He's well-known by most to look down at anybody lower in class than him and is not one of his most trusted workers. I'm still amazed that he allowed himself to dine with you in his presence considering how he was more than convinced you tried to kill his son."
"Thanks for the friendly warning," Sonic responded sarcastically before he quickly straightened out his black dinner jacket and followed Silver's lead to where their intended destination was at. He could only hope that he would not embarrass himself by tripping over his two feet or do something else clumsy with what he considered to be choppy movement thanks to the awkward suit he was forced to wear. "I'll make sure to try my best to make a good impression. If I fail, I'll just make sure to take you down with me."
Instead of answering, the other chose to ignore the comment and continue to lead the way while politely passing by the few people who happened to walk in the opposite direction and exchange quick greetings to those he knew. This was definitely going to be an interesting night no matter how anybody chose to look at it. That much was certain.
Well, I hope you all liked this new chapter. I really wanted to try and shift Silver's style of speech to show that he can easily connect with those of a lower class than him yet still easily converse with others of his social level should the need arise. It also serves to show that he really is different from the rest of the otherwise arrogant first class passengers in that he sees everybody as people and equals.
I also decided to put a bit more back story in Sonic and the gang's rather harsh past. I thought it would be fitting for you all to see where they came from and what they just barely managed to escape in search for a better life at Mobius. I hope that you all liked that little tidbit, especially since it took me a little while in order to get it right and on this site without any contradictions.
Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to write. They are always very helpful to me in that I read them and take into consideration any kind of suggestions that you may have. They are also pretty good morale boosters and keep me thinking of new things to write for both this and my other stories. Until the next update on this or my other stories everybody!