#milkteapowder

Oh yeah! Absolutely! :D

Originally I wanted to have Tails take the Cyclone on a test run after adding subaquatic transportation to her range of transport options. While down there, he was going to get an alert that there was an underwater Eggman base nearby in the middle of testing, then decide to go check it out, even if it would exceed the testing parameters he'd decided on for the Cyclone's first ever open water excursion. He believed he could handle it.

Though, sure enough, he'd get stuck. The Cyclone would either run out of fuel or start to crack under the pressure and he'd have to stop. Too deep to reach anyone via communicator, Tails could only hope he'd ping on a naval base's sonar or something. But he'd start to think that maybe he would actually die down there because he didn't tell anyone where he was going or what he was doing. It was just a simple test.

But then the Sea Fox (Tails's submarine from Tails's Adventure that he built at the Mystic Ruins workshop in my timeline) would show up, being piloted by Sonic. He showed up at the workshop and saw Tails's notes on the Cyclone and the fact that they were both gone, so put two and two together and decided to wait around for him to get back from his test run. When he didn't come back and didn't answer his comm, Sonic took the Sea Fox down to check on him. Tails's tech was powerful enough to be able to pick up on the Cyclone's distress signal. Even though Sonic didn't really know how to pilot a sub, he just sort of winged it and managed to get where he needed to go, lol.

Then they'd have a similar conversation about how Tails didn't think Sonic would come to find him, especially knowing he was underwater. And Sonic would be all annoyed that Tails had so little faith in him. Then cue heart-to-heart, lol.

But even before that, I'd also debated having Eggman kidnap Tails and hold him hostage in a base underwater, knowing Sonic would have to either face his weakness or abandon Tails forever, but I didn't get very far with that idea since Tails was at an age where I wanted him to have a bit more agency than being kidnapped.

But yeah! Those were the original ideas! I just really didn't feel up for all the nautical and science research I'd have to do to pull off the Cyclone submarine version. And I didn't have a solid resolution in mind, that was still going to depend on how the initial conversation went. Plus, I feel like the version I went with more matches the scene from Sonic the Comic that I was referencing, so overall, I'm happy with the choice to pivot!

Thanks for reading!! im glad you liked it <33

At risk of outing myself as a kpop fan, the song I associate with buzzsaw dilemma the MOST is definitely welcome to my world by aespa. not so much in the lyrics sense, since they dont fit super well, but moreso in the vibes sense. the nature-sounding bits at the beginning, combined with the creepy orchestral bit that explodes later in the song, matched the tone i had in my head for when tails finally accumulated enough knowledge to escape and then got to explore the outdoors again. i listened to it so much while writing the later chapters that i named chapter 8 "my world" after the song.

usually, i listen to movie soundtracks and classical stuff while writing, so i dont have any really fun associations otherwise. i listened to the album "elements" by ludovico einaudi a lot for sure :)

Ooooh, I'd love to share! :D I'll try to explain as much as I can without spoilers for future story events.

My basic chaos energy theory is that some beings are more naturally attuned to it, born with a predisposition to be able to tolerate it. Sonic is a prime example of this. Not only is his personality suited to harnessing their power, his body can also withstand it without any adverse effects. Shadow was also purposefully designed this way from his creation and Silver's also in a similar position. Think of it like being "chaos-sensitive."

That isn't the only way to use chaos energy though. My headcanon is that the more exposure a being has to chaos energy, the more tolerance they can build up over time. Everyone has the potential to access chaos energy, but there is a higher risk that their bodies will reject it if they haven't been exposed to it for as long, if that makes sense.

So Tails is in that camp. It's why he couldn't really use the Chaos Emeralds in "Cost of Chaos Can't be Paid in Gold." He'd built up some tolerance by that point, but not nearly enough to handle the toll it would take on his body, especially with him being only five years old and with fear being his driving force (fear of letting Sonic down, fear of being left behind). As he gets older, spends more time in the presence of chaos energy, he becomes more attuned to it, eventually leading to a sixteen-year-old him being able to use abilities like Chaos Control or time travel in "No Cracks in a Closed Loop." At least for a little bit. He's still not on Sonic or Shadow's level, because frankly that's almost next to impossible, but he can at least pull off a few moves before getting fatigued. I think he still prefers to use the chaos energy to power his devices moreso than himself though, but when push comes to shove, he'll use himself to channel it.

Then, just for comparison's sake, Knuckles is somewhere in the middle, he's got slightly more of a tolerance because of his exposure and connection to the Master Emerald, but that tends to neutralize chaos energy, so he usually can't tap into the Chaos Emeralds unless he's far enough away from the Master Emerald.

youre my goat i hope your holidays are happy :)

Hi! :D Thank you so much, oh my gosh. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season as well <3

I think I've talked about it super briefly, but it was definitely a while ago, so I'm happy to touch on it again! "No Space for Sentimentality" is a fic that is supposed to expand on the epilogue of "Sometimes the Picket Fence isn't Perfect" and is set during the events of Sonic Heroes.

The idea was that Metal Sonic with Sonic's bio data had too much "Sonic" in him. It's what led to him empathizing with Tails and freeing him from being roboticized, so Eggman decided to strip Metal Sonic of all aspects that resembled Sonic that he deemed extraneous. Which was everything except for his speed and his identity as being "Sonic."

My headcanon from there is that it's impossible for him to be Sonic without his full sense of self, when he's completely empty inside and there is nothing remotely "Sonic" about him. Metal is driven to madness - leading to the events of Sonic Heroes and the development of Metal Overlord.

It's not supposed to be a long fic, and it's not as huge a priority as other projects which is why I haven't really given it too much of my time yet. But over time, I also decided I want to delve a little into each of the four teams as well. I know I want the Team Dark vs Team Sonic fight, and Team Rose vs Team Sonic (or something adjacent to it that expands on the conflict between Sonic and Amy), so there's still a bit of plot/pacing to iron out there. Or they might end up being two different fics entirely, lol.