#sleeptalks

"Wait, are you…talking in your sleep?" he whispers, more to himself, as he raised an eyebrow.

Your mumbles were completely incoherent at first. But after a but sonic slowly started to peice together strings of barely coherent sentences. He tries not to laugh too loudly when you suddenly mutter something about "being too flammable" and "the fridge being haunted." It’s too ridiculous to ignore, and Sonic, being the teasing type, pulls out his phone and records a snippet to show you later.

Your words are incoherent at first, a mix of jumbled sentences and half-formed thoughts.

As time goes on, Sonic starts noticing that your sleep-talking isn’t just random, it sometimes reflects your dreams. If you’ve had a particularly eventful day, your mutterings often reference things you both did together. He thinks it’s adorable how you unconsciously process your adventures, sometimes even calling out his name in your sleep.

One night, you mumble, "Sonic…don’t eat all the popcorn…" while snuggling closer to him. He smirks and responds,"Don’t worry, I saved you some!" even though you’re not awake to hear it.

Over time, Sonic develops a habit of engaging with your sleep talk. If you mumble questions, he answers them. "Where’s the Chaos Emerald?" you mumble once, and he dramatically responds, "Safe in my hands, as always!" He jokes that he’s the best at keeping you entertained even when you’re unconscious.

At some point, he even gets used to your nighttime chatter, finding it comforting in a strange way. It keeps him grounded.

Shadow:

Shadow doesn’t notice the first time it happens. He’s too used to quiet solitude and doesn’t expect you to disrupt the silence of his home while you sleep. The first instance occurs during a rare moment when you’re resting beside him. He’s sitting on the edge of the bed, polishing a gun, when he hears a faint, barely audible murmur.

"Shadow…"

His ears perk up, and he freezes mid-polish. He turns to look at you, his eyes narrowing slightly. "What are you saying?" he mutters under his breath.

You respond with something nonsensical about "flying cats" and “Chaos Controling to the grocery store.” Shadow stares at you in utter disbelief. He’s not sure if he should be amused, annoyed, or concerned. "What on earth goes on in that head of yours?" he mutters, shaking his head.

As time passes, Shadow becomes more observant. He starts piecing together patterns in your sleep talk, often correlating them with your moods or daily activities. On nights when you’re stressed, your mutterings turn into fragmented worries about mundane things. On happier days, your sleep talk is lighthearted, sometimes even funny.

He won’t admit it, but he finds it endearing. Hearing you speak his name in your sleep makes him feel... important to you. He’s always struggled with feeling connected to others, but knowing that you’re dreaming about him, even subconsciously, touches him.

However, Shadow is the practical type. If your sleep talk disrupts his rest, he’ll wake you up without hesitation. "You were muttering again," he says bluntly when you groggily open your eyes. Over time, he does grow more patient.

When you have nightmares, though, Shadow is swift to act. The moment he senses distress in your voice, he shakes your shoulder. "Wake up," he says firmly. "You were having a bad dream." He doesn’t say it, but he’ll stay up with you as long as it takes to calm you down.

Eventually, he adjusts to your sleep talking, seeing it as just another "quirk". He tunes it out mostly, but its a reminder your still there with him.

Silver:

Silver discovers your sleep-talking habit on accident. The two of you are camping under the stars, resting after a long day of exploring. You’ve drifted off before him, and he’s lying awake, staring up at the constellations when he hears it, a soft, barely-there mumble.

Curious, Silver sits up and leans closer to you. "What did you say?" he whispers, thinking you might be awake. But your breathing is slow and steady, and your eyes remain closed.

"...Time travel is weird," you murmur, followed by something about pancakes.

Silver quickly covers his mouth to stifle a laugh. He’s always known you were a bit weird at times, but hearing your ramdom mutters and thoughts while you’re asleep is a whole new level of hilarious to him. He spends the rest of the night listening to your random murmers and mutters.

Over time, Silver starts looking forward to your sleep-talking episodes. He’s endlessly curious and often wonders what your dreams are like. Sometimes, your mutterings are so bizarre that he can’t help but write them down, thinking they’d make great conversation starters later.

"You said something about ‘psychic pancakes’ last night," he tells you one morning, grinning. "Do you even remember dreaming about that?"

Nolan Stormgate. Son of pirates and inventors, who elected to settle down in Wizard City where their son's magical proficiency wouldn't get them killed.

Nolan wants to repay his parents for their sacrifice. Nolan plans to marry up, in influence at least. Ends up marrying Sabrina Greenstar's younger sibling Eden.

Eden and Nolan are not in love. Let me make that very clear. They're friends, for sure, but that's about the limit. There's no romance. A lot of this is the Game that is upper class politics for Eden, and Nolan likes to run his mouth and feel important so it's a generally productive set-up.

Nolan and Eden have two daughters, both adopted, though Eden has zero emotional connection to the girls, seeing them more as props or obligations.

Quinn was a girl on the streets of Skull Island, had a sick older brother who couldn't keep caring for her. She would have died. Nolan and Eden agreed to take her back to the ship to feed her, and by adopting her they get the Happy Family image without Eden ever having to actually get pregnant.

Cynthia was only a little baby when they found her, abandoned and left for dead in a snowdrift while the couple were staying in Polaris. Two kids seemed a lot but neither were so heartless to leave the babe to die.

Nolan and Eden, especially early in their marriage, spent a LOT of time away from Wizard City, so considering Quinn was young enough and looked so similar to her alleged father, no one questioned it too hard. Not the normal way people have a family, but children were acquired anyway.

Eden is not a good parent. I will make that clear.

Quinn doesn't care, when she stops planning to make her escape she just focuses on working with her father's crew after Nolan allows her to drop out of the rebuilt Dragonspyre Academy. Quinn is abrasive and snappy, better with a sword than she ever was with a wand, even before the mana made her sick. Despite this, and with Greenstar reputation on the line, Quinn is talked about like a sickly little girl despite being a confident and competent young woman.

Cynthia is a darling, loves dressing up and being praised. Is Eden's perfect little doll for dinners and galas. Cynthia is a pretty competent diviner, and adores watching her dad work on various tech for the storm gates. After a particularly hard night where Cynthia had sat at the edge of Nolan's workbench crying about how Eden only smiles at her when people are watching, Cynthia gets permission to use Nolan's workshop for her own crafts and curiosities.