A/N- Domino here comin' in with the stealth patch. So... upon passing a cursory glance over at the comics just to get all my ducks in a row and to make sure I wasn't mixing events up it came to my attention I accidentally mixed up Robotropolis with New Megaopolis. I called the latter the former. In my defense there's, like, four or five something-opolises to keep track of in this world and I haven't taken any written notes since I started this story, I've been running off sheer memory. So I got some wires crossed and I'm sorry for that. I went back a few chapters and fixed it but I honestly wouldn't be surprised if that little mix-up isn't shotgunned around earlier back in the story and I wouldn't even know where to begin fixing that short of scanning over all the chapter files.

So uh... yeah, whoops.

Recursion Error

Episode 103- Corn syrup-based lifeform

"Sorun! I demand thee come out here at once! I would trade words with you!"

The blinds covering the windows to Honey's shop rattled. Fingers pried open a gap, allowing a pair of golden eyes to peer out at the stork Mobian in the green unitard yelling outside her shop. "Sorun, he's back," she said.

A pair of blue eyes settled next to the golden ones. And then there was a sigh. "Ugh, for the- open the window, he wants some words I'll give him words."

The clasp to the window was unlatched and the blinds were risen up. After the window itself was opened Sorun leaned his torso out, facing towards the stork Mobian glaring angrily at him from outside the store while ignoring all the odd looks the nearby passerbys were giving them. "Irv, you nerd, what is it now!?" Sorun yelled out at him.

"You know precisely what it is!" the stork yelled back at him. "I come to you not as Irving but as a representative of the New Mobotropolis Courier's Guild! And we demand you cease poaching work from us at once!"

"Oh, as if! It's called the free market!"

"You already possess a lucrative position working in Honey's shop! you have no reason to be taking potential business opportunities off of our plate for your own gains!"

"Yeah, and what are you gonna do about it!? Jack diddly squat, that's what!" Sorun yelled out, slapping at his own chest. "Ya got nothin' on me! Nothin'! All you got are formal protests I'm never gonna listen to 'cause guess what!? I'm working within the confines of legality!"

"You're a rogue, sir! A dastardly rogue with no respect for your fellow couriers! No respect at all for our trade!"

With a clenched fist shaking in Irv's direction, Sorun yelled out, "It's no use, New Mobotropolis Courier's Guild! I'LL NEVER STOP UNDERCUTTING YOU!" With a huff he ducked back into the shop and closed the window, and then harshly pulled on the nearby string to drop the blinds back down in front of the window. He glanced to the side; Honey was giving him a pointed look with crossed arms.

"Sorun, I'm about ready to file a complaint at the castle over this. Those mail nutjobs are scaring the customers off," she said, tail flicking to the side in agitation.

"Ah. Yes. Of course." Sorun's eyes drifted to the side, towards the other end of the store where Larry was dressing up a mannequin in Honey's latest lineup. A mannequin that was just a headless skeleton held together by metal wiring and rods. "The irate mailman outside is what's scaring people off and not the fact you're making mannequins out of your employees' skeletons."

On the other end of the store, Larry paused in his actions, shirt in hand. His eyes flickered over the display mannequin, and after a few more moments he shouted out in fright, leaping back as the shirt fell from his grasp and fell on the ground. "GAH, what- this is real!?" he screamed, a horrified expression etched on his face as he stared at the skele-quin. "Why!?"

Completely nonplussed by it all, Sorun nodded. "Yeah, Honey wanted to turn my old bones into a mannequin. I had them bleached and gave them to her."

"No, why!?" Larry repeated, this time gesturing towards Honey, who looked equally as nonplussed as Sorun did. "Why would you do this, why!? what could you possibly get out of this!?"

"What do you mean, why?" Honey asked, sounding more confused than anything else. "Look at it. It's an attention-getter. It's the same principle behind the rule of contrasting colors: put some of my merch on a skeleton and the contrast will be so eye-catching that people won't be able to help being appealed by it. It's a solid marketing strategy."

"She needed another mannequin and didn't want to pay for it," Sorun translated, casting a knowing smirk her way. She sent him an irritated pout and turned away in a huff, but the damage was done.

"And that doesn't bother you at all?" Larry incredulously asked, gesturing towards Sorun. "Those were your bones, Sorun. Those were inside you and now Honey's hanging clothes on them."

Sorun shrugged. "Nah, I don't think they mind."

"Oh my gosh, why...?" Larry moaned out, holding his face in his hands.

"Hey, it wasn't like I was doing anything else with them. It was either this or send them off to the school to be used as an educational display model." A dark look overcame Sorun's features. "There's no way I'd ever allow my bones to become a part of an educational institution. They deserve better than that."

"I'm working with crazy people," Larry muttered under his breath. He rubbed at his face and smacked at his cheeks, trying to beat away the concerns. The worries. It didn't work, as when Larry addressed Sorun again he had a tired look in his eyes. "What was all that yelling about, anyways?"

"Oh, that." Sorun's right hand tightened around the object it was holding: a thin, silver cane. It clacked on the floor as he stepped out from the window, Sorun speaking as he crossed the room. "The local couriers are upset over my side-hustle."

"Side... hustle?" an unsure Larry repeated.

"Yeah, over at the castle. Elias pays me to transport stuff for the council sometimes and all the couriers keep crying about it. They're just jealous I can do their job a million times better 'cause I can open portals." He stopped at the other end of the store where a small, miniature fridge was leaning against the wall. "Pfft," Sorun continued as he bent down to open the fridge, "imagine physically traveling all over the world instead of just opening a portal. Losers."

"Don't you feel bad, though?" Larry asked. He walked over to where Sorun was and was now leaning over a waist-high display cabinet full of shoes. "It's just feels a bit unfair that you're-"

"Unfair? Unf- lemme tell you about unfair." With a bottle of cola in his free hand Sorun spun around, using the end of his cane to shut the fridge door while pointing the cola bottle at Larry. "Unfair is becoming a refugee 'cause your planet died and then getting grifted by the job market in the city you live in. You got grifted by the same market; you wouldn't be working here of all places if you actually had a choice."

"Hey!" an offended Honey shouted from the store's counter.

"My point," Sorun said in a lighter tone, flashing a grin and placating look towards Honey, who only offered a flat look in response, "is that turnabout is fair play and if the job market grifted me I get to grift it." Grin dying, Sorun turned back to Larry. "So no. I don't feel bad about it. And if they start protesting outside my house with picket signs I'll drop the ocean on 'em."

"You ended up getting a job, though," Larry argued.

"Yeah, 'cause I happened to be friends with a business owner!" Sorun rebutted. "For all my talents none of them are actually good in the working environment so I'm taking what I can get. And it ain't like they're starving. It ain't like they're out of work. And honestly they should be grateful that things're so peaceful they get to complain about small stuff like this."

Larry's lips pressed together, not being able to find a good counterargument. He could only watch as Sorun tossed his cane up, grabbed it halfway up the shaft, and then used the handle of the cane to pop off the soda bottle's cap. It spun through the air and landed on top of the minifridge next to Sorun. "Hey, what's that?" he asked.

"What's what?"

"That," Larry said, pointing at the cane.

"... A cane?" With a raised eyebrow, Sorun rose it up for Larry to see. "This may surprise you but getting your skeleton ripped out of you is a fairly intensive surgery and I can't really move at a hundred percent yet. It's better than it was a week ago but... eugh. Can't really do more than walk. So, you know, cane," he explained, waving it around a bit.

Larry winced a bit. "Ouch. Should you be working?"

Casting a dry look over at Honey, Sorun answered, "I dunno, Honey says I'm good enough to be working and who would know more about the health of my body than her?"

She didn't look very amused by Sorun's words. "Sorun, you've moved one box all day. For the past week you've moved one box a day. I'm practically paying you to stand around and drink soda. I even offered to give you a paid week or two off but you were all, 'nah, Honey, it's fine, I can't let the grind die' or whatever."

"Boxes across the whole world," Sorun reminded her.

"That means nothing when you can teleport with your sword. It's literally just a few steps for you."

Sorun rolled his eyes and turned back to Larry. "I'm fine. I just need the cane to get around is all."

"Where'd you get the cane?" Larry asked, gazing over at the silver implement. "Looks really fancy. Never seen anything like it before."

With a passive expression, Sorun held the cane up. Larry jumped back a bit when the cane dissolved into a cloud of blue energy and particles, and then instantly reformed into a glowing blue gem. Then the gem dissolved and reformed into the cane. "It's mine," Sorun answered.

"Oh, wow! It's one of your, uh, one of your things!" Larry leaned back over the counter. His eyes were wide, practically sparkling with stars, his mouth a wide "o" in wonder as he gazed at the cane. "Does it have any cool powers like your sword?"

Sorun blinked. "It's a cane."

"Yeah, but does it do anything? Does it transform or summon something or-" Larry made finger pistols and jerked them up and down, "-shoot out some sort of weird energy thing or-"

"It has the ability to help me walk from point A to point B." Upon seeing Larry's face deflate at the description Sorun chuckled a bit. "It's just a cane, man. The metal's a bit special but that's it. It's probably the most mundane thing I can make with a Chaos Emerald." He tipped his head back and began drinking from the bottle.

Honey spoke up from her side of the store. "I wanted to ask, is it okay for you to be handling that?" Her eyes lowered to the cane Sorun was holding. If he didn't know any better he would think she almost looked concerned. "I thought all your problems kept happening 'cause of Chaos energy..."

"Honey, Honey, Honey..." Sorun stepped over to her side of the store, twirling the cane in his hand and leaning against the sales counter as she looked at him. "Cards on the table I'm not too sure holding this thing all the time is doing more damage than breathing the air on this planet. But hey, what else is new?" Sorun asked before tipping his head back to take another swig of soda.

The cat frowned. "It's probably not doing anymore damage than this," she grumbled, swiping the soda from Sorun's grasp, who immediately began making whining noises as he sluggishly groped for the bottle. "You know how many of these you drink on a daily basis?"

Mirroring Honey's frown, Sorun stopped with the half-hearted grabs and sprung his hand out to snatch the bottle back. "It's not nice to make fun of a recovering addict, Honey," he said, drinking back the soda.

"To soda?" she asked, disbelievingly. "How?"

Sorun lowered the bottle, tapping it idly with his finger. "Earth soda was built different. Arguably worse 'cause-" he turned the bottle around to read the label on the back, "-well this stuff won't kill you if you drink too much. But the corn syrup market on Earth was a brutal one and they put it in everything. Soda included."

Honey's face wrinkled in disgust. "You made syrup out of corn? And drank it?"

"Hey, corn syrup was the best invention ever after sliced bread. Especially when they started putting it in sliced bread." Sorun quickly took another swig of soda. "I say that as a former hopelessly-addicted consumer who had to go cold turkey after coming here. That first month was bad. Got shakes."

"... I'm thinking about stopping stocking the fridge with this stuff," Honey said, eyeing the already-empty bottle Sorun was holding.

Back straightening in panic, Sorun pointed a warning finger at Honey. "Hey, no. Nooo. Don't you dare. I already got one feline woman worrying about my health and I don't need another." He shot her an accusing look. "And I see you with your morning coffee, Honey. You have comfort drinks, too. And what would Larry say about you letting the company fridge go dry? What'll that poor guy drink?"

"I only drink water," Larry called from the other end of the shop.

Sorun's head whirled over to Larry's direction, mouth hung open in shock. The one time Sorun needed him to not be the most boring person on the planet and then he goes and pulls this on him. "... Not even juice, man? For real?"

Larry shrugged. "That's just how it is, Sorun, I-I just really like water."

"I don't know what to say. Who even are you? Why are you like this?" Shaking his head in some approximation of disappointment, Sorun walked his way over to the recycling bin near the door and tossed the empty glass bottle in. "Boss, uh, tell you what I'm gonna go ahead and clock out. I got a double dinner date to get to."

Honey gave Sorun a dismissive wave, not even bothering to look over at him. "Yeah, sure, go ahead. Nothing left here for today anyways." She looked over at Larry. "Oh, that reminds me. Larry, there's a new shipment of fabric I need you to go unload."

Larry's mouth dropped open. "What!? You just said-!" He cut himself off and pointed at Sorun. "Why can't he do it, he's barely done anything all day!"

Sorun's response was to double over in mock pain and hold his stomach. "Ouch, oof, my new artificial bones... oh, t-the pain, it's... it's overwhelming." He shuffled his feet a bit as he turned around, dipping his head to hide the small grin he was wearing. "Gotta... go recover from intensive surgery..."

"Y-you fibber!" Larry's protests fell on deaf ears, as Sorun was already stumbling out the door... only to shift into a normal, stable gait with his cane the second he was through the shop's threshold. "Sorun you fibber I saw that!"

The concept of going on a double dinner date was somewhat of a weird one to Sorun seeing as one of them didn't eat. Still left three out of four, which at seventy-five percent was a passing grade to be fair, but he didn't like Nicole being left out of things. She'd insisted so much, though, and so many plans had been made behind his back. Because Nicole and Bunnie had been talking and apparently that was a thing women did, they just made plans behind their partners' backs and they were forced to just go along with it.

He also didn't know if this could even be called a double dinner date. They didn't go to a restaurant or anything. This was just Antoine's house. Which wasn't bad, per se, because he liked visiting him, and they were having a nice time. But at the same time Sorun had kind of assumed Antoine would be the one cooking because he was pretty much the only person in their circle of friends with actual culinary skills.

It didn't really shake out that way.

"You know I shouldn't be surprised about the heavy aroma of carrots wafting in from your kitchen, Antoine, I really shouldn't. And yet I am." The both of them were in the house's living room, sitting down on the floor with a coffee table between the both of them with cards sprawled out on it. The girls were in the kitchen. Probably plotting more. "I thought you were trying to diversify her diet?"

"Oui. I was. I tried." He looked at the cards in his hand, single eye-ridge raised in confusion as he considered what he was looking at. "Sorun, I am not zinking we are playing zis right. Are you being sure you are not misremembered anyzing about zis game?"

Oh, he was sure. Though Sorun's face was set in a neutral expression he was grinning like a schoolboy on the inside. It took some persuading on his part but Nicole had briefly made a printing machine for playing cards to print out a very special deck for him to play with. He told Antoine a long time ago that one day Sorun might bring Uno into this world, and by George by did. He remembered just a few days ago when Nicole had given him the cards made to his specification and she'd been interested enough that they'd tried the game out.

She didn't want to play the game anymore after that first time. In fact she hadn't talked to him the entire day after.

"No, trust me, we're doing it right," Sorun assured Antoine.

"I started zis game weeth seven cards and now 'ave twenty," he protested, shaking the massive deck he held in his hands. "And yet you are having only four!"

"I told you the game was to get rid of the cards. It's easy, look." He played the blue draw two. "I play this card which makes you draw two more cards and cycles the turn back to me." Antoine grumbled and did draw two more cards, but then froze when Sorun played a blue reverse. "Then I play the reverse to bounce the turn back to me." A third blue card. "Then I play this blue skip card to skip your turn and make it my turn again. Uno."

"Ze game iz about to end, isn't it?"

"Yeah. And then I play this blue four and win the game," Sorun finished, smugly grinning while Antoine narrowed his eyes at him. "It's all strategy, man."

"Strategy? What strategy? Zere iz no strategy!" Antoine exclaimed with a loud scoff. "You keep abusing zese ridiculous rules, making us switch ze hands on zeroes and sevens and stacking ze cards!"

"It's your fault for not keeping the plus twos and fours in reserve."

"Oui. My fault. Jeu stupide et regles stupides..." Antoine threw his cards down in a huff, staring down at them scornfully. "Was zere anyzing fun in your world or did you all just torture each other for amusement with zese ridiculous games?"

"We're gonna skip Five-Finger Fillet because I don't want to answer that." Sorun scooted around the small coffee table, ignoring the odd look Antoine was giving him, until he was sitting right besides the coyote. "And we did fun things. Real fun things! And I'll introduce 'em all. Like karaoke, everybody loves karaoke."

"Kary... oak?" The words came out slow and unsure from Antoine's mouth, slightly slurred, like he was having trouble simply even pronouncing the word. His face even wrinkled a bit, as if just saying the word brought some kind of distaste to his mouth. "I am not... understand," he said after a short pause.

"'Do not understand', you're gettin' there." Sorun stretched his arm out and draped it over Antoine's shoulders, who made a surprised yelp when Sorun drew him in further. "It's, uh, it's singing songs, basically. We'll set it up, a whole karaoke bar, I'll... I'll find a Frank Sinatra album if I go to Earth and bring it back and we'll sing over it. Or maybe I'll just bring back a whole machine, and we'll set a place up!"

Antoine made a nervous sort of chuckle, limply grabbing at Sorun's wrist, the one hanging off his shoulder, as he looked at Sorun. "My zinging voice iz... not zo great, Sorun. Zat wouldn't zound good at all."

"Nah, that's the beauty of it, the karaoke machine shows you the lyrics and the tempo and everything, you just sing the words it's super easy!" Sorun made a playful laugh while lightly shaking Antoine again, who chuckled along with him. "'Sides, it doesn't need to sound good, that's the point of karaoke. It's just a dumb thing to do with friends."

This was... great. Yes. This, this whole thing. Eating out at friends' houses and hanging out. Going to bed knowing he'd wake up to a stable life. Sometimes it still felt like Sorun was living in a fever dream even after managing to get his life back in order, but here it was. Him just sitting there. Laughing with a friend. Because... hell, he didn't know when the last time was he did that. When the last time was he could just cut back without some awful something weighing him down. Or even the times he'd refused to just relax around other because of reasons Sorun couldn't even recall anymore because he didn't care enough to recall. It didn't matter anymore. He was here. Livin' the life.

He didn't want it to end. It felt too great.

"Oui, fine, but zen we would all be making fun of each other for ze terrible zinging," Antoine chuckled out. "Soneek would have ze worst zinging voice of zem all, we'd 'ave to invite him."

The good feelings died and Sorun's smile dropped off. A burst of anger flittered through his heart, raging until he'd managed to calm in down with a short breath. "Well, I was... thinking it'd be more a couple thing," Sorun hesitantly said with a tight voice. "We could bring our girls, make it a competition, maybe invite another couple like, uh, I dunno... Charmy and his girl, they'd like it. Not Mina and Ash, though, she sings professionally, she'd smoke us all." A small frown formed. "Sonic isn't in a relationship right now so he can't come."

"I'm not sharing you with him. I won't share ANYTHING with him. He doesn't get to come. It's our thing. OURS."

"Ah, fine, zat's fine." Sorun's mood lightened considerably when Antoine seemed agreeing to the idea. "But, you zaid... going to ze Earth." Sorun noticed that the lighthearted expression Antoine was wearing just a few seconds ago had turned into a worried look. "You still want to go zere?"

Sorun and his big mouth. The mood was brought down a tad and now he was almost regretting bringing it up. "... Because of this new skeleton of mine I can't use that body to survive the conditions there. So that plan's been... put on pause, somewhat," Sorun confessed. He untangled his arm off of Antoine and scooted back to his previous position on the other side of the coffee table. "I talked about it with Nicole and she said if I really wanted to go she could maybe use the nanites to put together some kind of protection suit for me, but at that point I... I don't know." He tapped idly on the table as he glanced out the window. Wasn't much to look at; it was the dead of night and pitch black out. "Between searching for answers and scavenging for cool stuff to bring back here I don't know. I like where I am right now and don't really want anything to change."

"... Would zings change?" Antoine asked after a moment. "What would change?"

"I mean... I guess nothing." Sorun looked back at him. "Pragmatically speaking nothing that happens there will affect my life here. Nothing but where my head is, I guess. And I like where it is right now." Where he was happy. Where he wasn't seeing hallucinations of himself yelling at himself. Where things were finally fine. "I really wanted to go but now I kinda... just don't. But then on the other hand there's this, I don't know, feeling, you know? Just... things I want closure on that I won't get unless I go."

"Zo zat's it? Peace of mind? Nozing more?"

"I guess. Yeah. That and the karaoke machine." They both shared a short laugh at that. "You think I should?"

Was this how bad it had gotten? He'd gotten so indecisive over the whole matter he needed to ask others? Sorun supposed it was. He was happy here and he didn't want to disturb that by disturbing ghosts. But at the same time he didn't know if he'd ever be fully content without getting answers for mom and Dave and all the others. But without Devil's Body that trip would be phenomenally harder, even with Nicole's help. But her help would make it feasible.

So many buts but so little conviction.

Antoine made a long sigh as he thought. The question seemed to make him uncomfortable, that was plain to see on his face, and yet when he next spoke it was with deliberate sincerity. "Sorun, I 'ave not been through zis particular kind of tragedy zo I do not know. I do not zink I have ze right to tell you what you should do. But if you are always going to be zinking about it, zen... maybe talk with Nicole more. About all ze radiation and how to avoid going to ze hospital. Again. You've been zere enough and will worry ze poor woman to death."

"Yeah, I know." That didn't really help him as much as Antoine probably thought it did. It was more or less the same conclusion Sorun had already come to. "It's not like there's a hard time limit to this or anything," Sorun mused, drumming his fingers along the table. "I can afford to wait. Wait as long as I want, really. Maybe I'll seriously considering going through with it if the feeling doesn't go away after a while."

Deep down Sorun didn't think it would. Not really. Not with how long he'd already been considering the possibility of going back to Earth. Over time it'd strengthened and waned, always in flux due to his indecisiveness, but the urge never actually left no matter how weak it would sometimes get. He was worried that, given enough time, it might actually outweigh the desire to continue living in his cushy new life here. It was a large part of why he couldn't just let it go.

Sorun sighed. He didn't know. "Maybe we should step away from the serious stuff," he mumbled out, glancing over Antoine's shoulder and at the kitchen. He kept catching glimpses of Nicole and Bunnie's shadows in there, kept hearing a few clipped whispers and giggles. "What do you think they're talking about back there?" he asked Antoine.

"Oh, we'll never know, Sorun, ze mademoiselles keep almost everyzing to zemselves," Antoine lamented. "If I had to be ze guesser I would be guessing zem telling embarrassing stories of us but zey will never admit it."

"Hey, we can... we can think of things to make fun of them over behind their backs, too," Sorun weakly said, though he found a withering sigh leave him at the doubting look Antoine sent him. "No, yeah, you're right, they're too perfect we'll never find a single thing."

"I am afraid zo," Antoine sighed out, quickly glancing over his shoulder. "... Maybe ma cherie's preference in diet concerning ze carrots. It could be worse. At least she doesn't like corn." He made a disgusted face. "I hate ze corn."

"I don't like it, either," Sorun said. "Corn syrup's amazing, though."

Antoine blinked in confusion. "Corn... syrup?" As soon as the words left his mouth his lips wrinkled back in distaste. He looked genuinely offended by what he just heard. "Non, non zat zounds... what iz zis, Sorun, what iz zis evil thing you are bringing into my home?"

"It was an American staple was what it was. Which was honestly terrible, I'm serious, don't bring it back into this world while it still has some innocence left," Sorun said in a half-joking, half-warning tone. "For all the heart disease it caused, though, you had to hand it to my world for finding so many industrious uses for corn. I don't remember any of them but they did a lot with it." He cupped his chin while grinning over at Antoine. "Corn here is so different, though, you only got the yellow kind. We had white corn, red corn, black, purple, even blue. We practically had corn for every color of the rainbow and then some."

"Vraiment?" Antoine leaned forwards with an interested gleam in his eyes. "Did zey actually taste palatable?"

"I heard they tasted different but I never tried it. I don't like corn." Sorun's grin grew a fraction. "It's real weird, though, the corn here doesn't try to fight you when you harvest it like Earth corn did."

"Eh?" Now Antoine looked a bit startled, with the coyote's back going a bit straight as a nervous chuckle left him. "Zis is, uh... you trying to zay ze funny, oui? Zis is a joke?"

With a serious expression betrayed by the amused gleam in his eyes, Sorun pointed at Antoine and said, "Ain't nothin' funny about corn harvest, Antoine. We lost an average of three hundred farmers annually to corn harvest." Antoine's jaw dropped open in shock. "Except for that one time, of course," Sorun continued. He leaned back and tilted his head up at the ceiling, narrowing his eyes while speaking in a deeper octave. "So many lives lost during the Corn Wars... of '08."

"Mon Dieu. What happened?"

Sorun shook his head in false remorse. "Thousands died to the corn, Antoine. Pulled into those corn fields never to be seen again." His eyes tilted back down and caused his grin to grow back when he saw Antoine was shaking slightly where he sat. "They say all those scarecrows you'd see out in the fields were actually the bodies of farmers propped up by the corn as a reminder of the Corn Wars. As a reminder of what every side took from one another. And every time someone would try to take them down it'd just make more scarecrows. The corn was relenting, unceasing." He glanced towards the window. "Come to think of it doesn't that chicken lady that runs the produce market have a scarecrow in her garden?"

"Eek!" It'd been too much. When Antoine had let out that frightened squeak and jumped up in the air, hands pulled up to his chest and teeth chattering, Sorun couldn't help it. He laughed, which made Antoine flush in embarrassment before he'd crossed his arms with an indignant look.

"Sorun, dear... you promised you wouldn't make up stories about your old home."

Feeling himself go ramrod straight, all amusement washing out in an instant, Sorun's eyes snapped to the direction of the voice he just heard. Nicole was standing at the entrance of the kitchen, a large platter held in her hands and an unamused look on her face. Bunnie was standing next to her with a similar platter, mirroring her expression.

A worried chuckle left Sorun. "I never... explicitly promised..." he said while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Please don't make us continue this conversation at home," Nicole said with a roll of her eyes. "We're just getting done setting the table now, so please come join us in the kitchen."

Sorun watched the both of them retreat into the kitchen, and then looked back at Antoine, who had his arms crossed and had that indignant look. "Look, uh, I didn't, none of that was- can we just go eat?" he pleaded.

"Ugh... oui, oui, let's go." Shaking his head with a sigh Antoine stood up and ventured towards the kitchen, with Sorun walking behind him. By the time the both of them arrived in the kitchen the table was set with three spots and a fourth spot that was completely absent of any plates or cutlery. Antoine and Bunnie were already setting themselves down at the table, with Bunnie wearing a teasing grin and saying something that made Antoine hide his face in his hands. Sorun didn't even get a chance to sit down before Nicole was at his side.

"Where is your cane?" she asked, worriedly. Sorun didn't even get a chance to respond before she'd grabbed at his arm, like he'd collapse right there without it. "Did you leave it in the living room?"

He'd be annoyed if this wasn't so endearing. "I don't need it that much, Nicole, I was just walking to another room," he weakly argued, though there wasn't much energy behind his protest.

"You still can't move as well as you used to, Sorun. What if you fell?"

"I'm not gonna fall from-" Sorun cut himself off when he heard the snickers. From both Antoine and Bunnie, the traitors. "You really gotta do this in front of company!?" he whispered out at Nicole, who only shook her head as she gently guided Sorun to his own seat, against the mumbling protests he'd made. She'd only let him go and moved to her own seat once he himself was sat down.

He liked it better when she was so doting on him without spectators. From the warm feeling in his chest he wasn't sure his heart was of the same sentiment, but his brain could argue with it over the matter later. The food was now.

And what food it was. There was a meatloaf - whatever meat it was made from and where it was acquired from was a question Sorun had utterly given up on ever getting a straight answer for. A lot of vegetables set out... he'd try and avoid those... no fries, neither Antoine nor Bunnie ever made fries so he couldn't be that surpr- OOH BREAD.

"Gimme." No hesitation, absolutely none, the second Sorun saw that load of bread he immediately snatched up his knife and reached for it. His hands didn't even make it halfway to the bread before Nicole swatted them away.

"Sorun, you know better," she chastised. "No dessert before you eat the actual dinner."

"But it's Bunnie's carrot bread, Nicole!" Sorun whined out. "You can't just make me wait for it!"

"Ah followed mah Antoine's advice and added the pumpkin spice since ya'll seemed to really like it last time," Bunnie added.

"SHE ADDED THE PUMPKIN SPICE, NICOLE, COME ON."

Nicole's stare was unwavering, despite Sorun's protests, much to his chagrin. "Dinner first," she said in a flat voice with no room to argue.

Utter defeat. It was no use. During the small argument Antoine and Bunnie had already filled their plates with food, so grumbling under his breath Sorun reached over to cut some of the meatloaf off for himself. After he did so he picked his fork up, but not even two seconds passed before Nicole spoke up again.

"The vegetables, too, you need the nutrients."

Sorun froze, knife and fork poised in the air as his eyes drifted in Nicole's direction. "I'll get them later," he lied.

"I want to see them on your plate now."

"Who do you always gotta do this? Why do you always gotta harp on what I eat?"

"Because I care. Now, do you want to talk about your dietary needs when we go home or would you rather do something else?"

"..." Both of them had their eyes locked onto the other's, unflinching. Sorun was the one to cave, breaking eye contact first and mutely - albeit with some hesitance - shoveled what he hoped was a satisfactory amount of vegetables on his plate while ignoring the satisfied smile Nicole was wearing now.

Utter defeat. Again.

When the snickering started back up Sorun's eyes shot up to Antoine and Bunnie. "What are you two comedians laughing at?" he grumbled out.

"Aw, nothin'. Nothin'." Certainly didn't sound like nothing between the light chuckling Bunnie was making and that smirk she wore. "It's jus' funny watchin' you two go at it. Reminds me o' the arguments we used to have." She passed a cursory glance over at Antoine as she bent over her food. "Usually ended the same way, too."

Antoine didn't respond. What he did do was look over at Sorun so the two's eyes could meet. Upon doing so Sorun was taken back by the sheer look of sympathy the other male was giving him. It was a look of complete understand, one that screamed out, "I understand, brother. It's all going to be okay."

Sorun could only respond by giving a jerky nod in silent thanks. It was a world they both lived in, but at least they could share in it together.

All these thoughts were completely forgotten when Sorun noticed movement out of the corner of his eye and saw the shimmering, transparent plate of food that was in front of Nicole. It materialized further to look solid after a couple of seconds, but it didn't change the fact that Sorun knew it was just a hologram. He looked up and gave Nicole a questioning look.

"Really?"

"I wanted to feel more included," she bashfully admitted. The admittance made Sorun jolt a bit in his seat when he heard how shy she now sounded over the question and it made him want to immediately refrain his earlier comment. "I also felt it rude for me to just sit here while you all eat and-"

"No I was just surprised it's fine you can do whatever you want," Sorun quickly interrupted, going as far as to wave his hands at Nicole while nervously smiling. She seemed a bit taken back by the response from the way she leaned back. "Just, are you sure?" Sorun asked, calming down a bit as he looked down at the food. "It's not like you actually get anything out of doing that."

"I'm satisfied with just going through the motions," Nicole answered. "It feels normal."

"Alright." All he really needed to hear was that she just wanted to do it, but it felt nice knowing she liked the act that much. "It's cool if you wanna be like Plankton eating the hologram food." He suddenly grinned a bit and made a breathy chuckle. "'Good grief, he's naked!' Classic."

Nicole tilted her head a bit. "... Pardon?"

"That's another thing I gotta do if I go, scavenge around Earth for episodes of 'Spongebob'. It's a generational classis," Sorun mumbled to himself, cupping his chin and staring down at his food in thought. It drew the attention of the other three at the table, who were largely being ignored by Sorun as he deliberated with himself. "There's gotta be a DVD box set in a Wal-Mart bargain bin somewhere. Although... oh, I don't know, maybe it's not such a good idea after all." He scratched at the side of his head. "What happens if they all get obsessed over it? There isn't another media like it here. Could spoil 'em, and I'm not too sure about disturbing the mental ecosystem with something so unnatural to these parts... these are pretty dire ramifications for introducing an otherwise solid cartoon."

"Should... iz zis a conversation topic?" Antoine wondered, glancing back and forth between Sorun and Bunnie. "What iz he even talking about?"

"Uh... I don't know." Bunnie fixed Nicole with an unsure look. "Nicole, you live with 'im. You know what he's rambling on about?"

Nicole shook her head. "No. Sorun?"

Sorun looked up at her. "Yeah?"

"What are you thinking about?"

"Weighing the risks of potentially destroying a fragile ecosystem versus an injection of cross-world culture into the minds of today's youth," Sorun answered, though it didn't seem to answer anything for the other three as they still looked confused. "I'm lookin' at it and I don't think it's a good idea."

"That's... that's good," Nicole hesitantly answered, slowly nodding. "I don't think destroying ecosystems is the right thing to do."

"But would it be the responsible thing to do?" Sorun wondered. Would it really by right to deprive the youth of this art when he was in a position to do something about it? The only one? Did he have the right to make such a life-altering decision?

"I do not think a case can be made where the answer to that question is 'yes', Sorun."

"Yeah, you're probably right." With a disappointed sigh, Sorun sat back in his chair, eyes up at the ceiling. "Sucks. I woulda shown them the splinter episode first. Really get those kids' blood pumping. Ah, what could have been..."

"Can you please give me a concise explanation of what exactly you're talking about?" Nicole asked in a pleading tone.

Sorun blinked over at her. "I just did," he said.

"No. No you did not. None of that was concise. You're assuming I have context where there is none," she argued.

"The context is irrelevant. What matters is morality versus pragmatism, the core theme of this debate."

"I don't even know what this debate is-"

"A fact that is completely moot as consensus on an appropriate course of action has already been decided. Which is doing nothing." Sorun shifted his attention to his food and began cutting into it. "Good old nothing. Man, I love doing nothing. Doing nothing is the best, ain't it, Nicole? Glad we decided to do nothing."

Nicole continued stare, utterly lost and holographic food utterly ignored. "We decided on something?"

"Yeah, on doing nothing."

"When?"

"When you said destroying the ecosystem is a bad idea."

"How is that relevant!?" she exclaimed.

"I feel like we're not on the same wavelength here." Sorun paused in his motions and glanced up in thought, playing back the previous words of this conversation in his head. And then he grimaced. "Okay, yeah, I think I see where the confusion is coming from, that's on me, my bad." He looked back at Nicole while absentmindedly still cutting into his food. "I wanted to bring back something from Earth to keep the kids here entertained, but, well... it involved a media format that hasn't really been innovated here yet. On one hand it'd be inspiring but on the other hand I feel like there'd be a lot of negative repercussions to introducing such a foreign piece. I dunno. Am I thinking too hard about this?"

"What I think is that there could have been a legitimate discussion here if you had been this forthcoming with context initially." She paused, looking conflicted with her next question. "You're... still intent on going there?"

"... I'm on the fence about it," Sorun admitted, biting into his food. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that of all things Nicole looked a bit relieved to hear that, and he'd sighed through his nose and decided to focus back on his food. He couldn't blame her for being concerned over it, not really. If their roles were reversed he'd be worried about it. Wouldn't have even blamed her if she outright refused to let him go, and though he was happy she saw how important it was to him he felt he would have been... understanding for the most part if she said no. "I'm not really in a condition to do that anyway," he continued in a mumble. "Might have to put a pin in the idea for the next couple months."

She looked even more relieved to hear that. Even smiled a bit, which... Sorun didn't know how to feel on. Maybe a bit glad someone cared about him enough to be this worried. Maybe a bit annoyed.

Over on the other end of the table Bunnie and Antoine had decided to shift attention to their own meals, the conversation between Sorun and Nicole completely lost on them. But while Antoine had abandoned them entirely in lieu of just eating his food Bunnie was only halfheartedly paying attention to her own meal while glancing back and forth between the other couple. After a few moments of quiet she'd cleared her throat.

"So, er, Sorun! The, erm, the new skeleton treatin' ya alright?" she asked. "Any concerns ya had?"

Sorun's head snapped over to her. "Oh, no, everything's been alright with it, thanks," he answered. "Body hasn't really adjusted to it completely yet but it's getting there."

"Don't hurt none?"

"Not anymore. Moving's just... weird." Sorun pursed his lips because he wasn't entirely sure how to put it into words. Aside from the weight difference the motorized joints took some getting used to because they didn't always listen to his muscles. It was a problem that was becoming less and less prevalent with time as he learned to work with it but it still startled him sometimes when his arm or something else moved in a different direction he wanted it to.

"Well, alright. That's great tah hear." Bunnie pointed her fork at Sorun with a small grin on her face. "Was gettin' kinda lonely being the only cyborg around an' all. Could maybe make a little club outta it!"

Sorun tapped the side of his plate with his knife in thought. "Do mine really count, though? You can't even see them. It's all interior."

Bunnie waved her mechanical hand. "Aw shucks, that don't matter none. And ah feel like a skeleton's a pretty big thing to swap out."

"By that logic you'd have to invite anyone with any technological implants into your club," Nicole commented from the side. The holographic meatloaf she'd taken a piece out of shimmered and briefly turned into static. "If I recall Sonic still has that translator implanted in his brain. Would that not make him eligible?"

"Ah guess that's a good point. Maybe. But that tiny li'l thing...?"

"I am not seeing ze difference," Antoine said with a shrug. "Sorun?"

"I don't want him in our club." Before he'd heard his name Sorun had been glaring down at the table, clenching down hardly on his own utensils. When he heard Antoine he'd relaxed and looked at him. "He didn't replace anything like us," he responded in a blank voice. "It doesn't count."

"That seems pedantic," Nicole pointed out. "Is it really that significant a difference?"

"Naw, Sorun... Sorun's onto something, ah think." Bunnie glanced at her own cybernetic arm, frowning a bit. "It ain't an easy thing tah get used to. Most he had tah get used to was understandin' more voices than usual." She shrugged and returned to her food. "Guess we ain't too serious with it. Two'd be too small fer a club anyways."

The sadness from the club not being formed was dwarfed by the satisfaction Sorun felt that Sonic wouldn't have been invited to their hypothetical club, which brought his mood up a fair bit. "Yeah," he said. "With all you've had to deal with you're probably sick of other cyborgs anyways."

"Ugh, don't you get me started now," Bunnie groaned out. "If I nevah hafta see another one of them crazy Dark Legion fellers it'll be too soon. Ah'm just glad that mess is over with."

"You should have seen the people's reactions at the announcement of your victory," Nicole said with a small smile. "Everyone was dancing in the streets. It was very amusing to see."

"I was sleeping in bed at the time. Recovering." Sorun's voice became a bit distant as he stared down at his food. He felt his mood begin to drop once this topic had been brought up. "Big congrats on the win and all. I just..."

"Just what?" Bunnie asked.

Sorun glanced up at her. He hadn't wanted to bring it up. It was a couple of days after his surgery, when the Freedom Fighters did their big final assault on New Megaopolis. They'd won, everyone had seen it coming and Dimitri had made good on his promise to sabotage the defenses so the win had been even easier than predicted. Sorun, of course, had been asleep at the time and had to be filled in afterwards.

He remembered it a bit fondly. He'd barely made it out of bed before Nicole had just appeared, smile wide and laughing as she'd hugged him so hardly they'd fallen back on the bed. And after a whole ten minutes of her profusely apologizing she'd explained how they'd won. Final victory achieved. Eggman Empire was dismantled and no more.

Really, it was an event that should've had the whole world celebrating since it was finally free now. And from all the noise that night from all over the city it practically felt like the world was celebrating. There'd even been a big feast and everything. And Sorun would admit it didn't feel as momentous as it should have, it felt like that was the general consensus among everyone, but to be fair it was a conclusion they all saw coming months in advance. Nobody'd been holding their breath on them losing, not really. The victory didn't come as a surprise. It was more... relief, maybe. At the world finally being liberated.

And Sorun would be right there alongside everyone else if it weren't for one single detail.

He hadn't wanted to ask about it. He'd figured it wasn't his fight so he didn't have a right to question it. Didn't have a say, even if he'd personally fought the guy in the past. But he'd be a liar if the most important detail of the end of the conflict didn't rankle him, didn't keep him up that night as he kept thinking it over, all the double-takes he'd taken when he heard. And he was assured it was all fine. And he believed those words since they came from Nicole. But now the topic was here and he couldn't help the question.

"Why did you just leave him?" Sorun asked. He was so eager for in answer the question was almost a demand. "I just don't understand."

Nicole didn't have much of an outward reaction to the question. Antoine and Bunnie were different: they'd both stiffened, growing visually uncomfortable at the question as they glanced at each other. "Sorun-" Bunnie began.

"No, really, I don't get it," Sorun continued. "The guy terrorized everyone for a decade- okay, wasn't the same Eggman for a large chunk of that time but nobody really cares about that detail," he amended. "After everything he did, when you finally beat him back, beat everything he threw at you, finally, finally got that definitive win... you just left him there? Left him in that dome in New Megaopolis?"

When the Freedom Fighters had come back from their final mission and he heard they didn't have Eggman in tow wearing chains Sorun had been stunned. Because he figured that was the entire point of everything, that it was the inevitable conclusion to it all. Part of him even dared to hope that the reason was because something had happened and he died. Maybe took himself out in some ill-fated last-ditch "you didn't win!" suicide attempt or was shot in the back by the Dark Legion or something, anything, just some explanation.

But no. The Freedom Fighters just left him there after they won. They didn't capture him, didn't do anything. They won and left. It didn't make sense to Sorun. It... honestly almost sounded like insanity to him. He was barely tolerable over the idea of imprisoning but this? This was so far beyond the pale of what he expected he didn't even know what to say. So he'd said nothing, deciding to trust them all since in the end it was their decision. But he couldn't help wanting to question it.

"Sorun, Robotneek..." Antoine began, swallowing at the very uncomfortable topic. Not that Sorun saw how it was uncomfortable. "He was... driven insane."

"This is known," Sorun said. "The man's insane. I think everyone in the world is aware."

"Not that kind of insane," Bunnie mumbled out with a shake of her head. "You'd've had tah been there, Sorun. When Sonic beat him fer the last time the man just... snapped. Was rollin' around on the floor and frothin' at the mouth. None of what he was saying made a lick o' sense."

"Zere were no words. Ze man was rabid. Completely mad," Antoine added. He touched the top of his lip with his fingers. "Sorun, he tore hiz own mustache clean off."

In any other circumstance Sorun would have laughed when he heard that, but felt that wasn't appropriate right now so he kept it in. And frankly with the current subject he wasn't completely sure he was even in the mood.

"To put it in Snively's words it seems that Sonic had trounced Robotnik so many times he couldn't mentally comprehend it," Nicole said. Sorun looked over at her in disbelief because she actually sounded sad, of all things. "I don't fully understand it myself, but I don't know the man's mind and perhaps that's for the best. But they speak the truth, Sorun. Robotnik's loss came as such a shock that he isn't even capable of forming words anymore." She paused, eyes drifting down to her holographic food in thought. "I'm not sure what better a prison there is than one's own mind," she muttered after a time.

"So you all just left him there? With Snively? You're not even gonna do anything against him?"

"No. The goal was to neutralize Robotnik as a threat, and though we didn't intend it in his current state the only person he's an actual threat to is himself," she said.

"Oui. Snively agreed to look after ze madman, so we left," Antoine finished. "Eet iz doubtful ze man will make trouble, and even eef he does he iz no Robotneek. Ze war's over. Haz been for some time and we're just now realizing eet."

"Ah think it's best tah just enjoy it for what it is," Bunnie added, glancing at Sorun. "He can't hurt no one no more. We're all still here and if somethin' does go south ah doubt it'll evah be as bad as anythin' Eggman evah threw at us."

Sorun exhaled. They made good points. He couldn't really refute any of them. At the same time he was having a hard time agreeing with them, because he still wanted that man dead and in the ground so he never had to think about him ever again. He had to wonder how much it mattered, though, if at the end of the day it all worked out anyways. Maybe it didn't really matter in the end if he was dead or stark-raving mad, probably in a straight jacket and tossed in a rubber-padded cell somewhere. Maybe it wasn't even his business to criticize. It was their war. He'd just fought in it a bit.

"Ah. Whatever. I don't want to think about the Twenty-First Century Schizoid Man anymore. He'd doesn't deserve the effort," Sorun said. It was whatever in the end. He had a new life and it wasn't worth pursuing the thoughts anymore. Wasn't his business and wasn't worth the time. It was done. Over. And any thoughts of maybe going on his own to finish the job were discarded, because dammit, he'd built too much to risk losing it doing something stupid like that. No. If they said it was done then it was done. He could easily live with that.

"Sorun," Nicole chastised, sending him a admonishing look. "I know the man has done little to deserve respect-"

"Nothing, he's done nothing."

"He's entitled to some decency regardless," she said.

Sorun sighed. She just had to be so nice, huh... "It was a reference to a song from Earth, nothing more," he explained in a chuckle, though all this served to do make Nicole go from admonishing to giving him a disapproving pout. "I thought it was funny," he grumbled out, returning to his meatloaf.

... Ah, was getting kind of low on meat. And the vegetables were untouched, making Sorun send a nervous glance Nicole's way. If only Sonic's pet dog was here for Sorun to smuggle veggies into his stomach like he'd done in the old days when he lived in his family's house.

"A song? Oh, speakin' o' songs," Bunnie started, suddenly smiling, "Mina and her band's gonna be doing a big concert to celebrate the victory."

"Oh, I heard! Everyone in the entire city is planning on attending!" Mirroring Bunnie's smile, Nicole turned towards Sorun. "Isn't that wonderful to hear, Sorun?"

God, maybe he could just pocket the vegetables and just throw them out in the trash at home. She wouldn't notice, would she? No, not if he was slick enough. "Hm?" Sorun sounded out, still staring intently at his vegetables.

"Mina's concert!" The exuberance at which Nicole said that slightly startled Sorun and forced him to abandon the vegetables to look over at her. "Remember that promise we'd made?"

It took Sorun a second to remember. "Ah yeah. How could I forget that day? A giant robot wolf almost bit me in half. And then we- oh, right, that promise." He felt his face heat as the memories became more clear the deeper he dived in. "We... did say we'd go to the next concert, huh? Since that one got ruined."

"Well... in fairness everyone is going so it will look strange if we don't go, but I don't see how that devalues anything." She reached under the table and grabbed at Sorun's wrist. He froze. It was just a romantic gesture, right? Had to be. It's what the current mood was. "It'll be nice. We can all enjoy ourselves with all our friends over the fact we don't have to think about the war anymore."

Boy, wasn't that a concept: a worry-free, fun-filled day with friends. Was practically a dream come true for Sorun, and a concert did sound pretty nice. And more importantly he had promised. "Yeah. It'll be great." He found himself genuinely smiling at the thought. A fun event with everyone sounded like a nice diversion, especially if it meant a day off work since Honey would likely close the shop if everyone was going. Yeah. It sounded like it'd be the best. A good way of celebrating the fact everything could finally be normal.

"I'm glad you think so." And just like that the smile Nicole wore dropped as she lifted Sorun's arm up from under the table and dropped it on the table's surface. Most noticeably he was holding a fistful of vegetables. "You're still not getting at the bread until you finish eating these, Sorun."

Caught. Not good. It felt like Sorun's stomach jumped up into his throat as he slowly looked from his hand to Nicole, who was giving him an unimpressed look. "... This wacky new skeleton of mine, you know?" Sorun chuckled out nervously, hoping to play it off. "Does all sorts of stuff on its own sometimes, ha ha ha... alright, fine," he grunted, giving up and tossing the vegetables back on his plate.

A/N- I mean listen I'm trying to play it off but there's no fronting it. Everyone who read the comics already knows what's coming. I'm basically holding a giant Wrestlemania sign over here while pointing up to the stands.

Also after five months give or take four and a half months the first chapter of the side project's almost done. Should ship out sometime between Sunday and Tuesday. Or Wednesday if I'm feeling particularly lazy. Thursday at the absolute latest. Maybe Friday.