The Guardian

[ ooc ;; ] I think most of you saw this coming but I’m putting this blog on a permanent hiatus. As much as I love this muse and the community I don’t have the time to give this blog the love it deserves and stressing over it for the last few months hasn’t been helping but I do want to say a big thank you to those who interacted with me here! 

The last few years have been fantastic and I’ve learned a lot from the interactions I’ve had here. It’s going to be hard to let Knux go but the experiences are something I’m never going to forget. 

And of course a special thanks to @chaosworthy​ and @thewayfaringmechanic​ for letting me be a part of the magic with them. It’s been wonderful, I can’t even begin to say how honored I am to be a part of the zone and lore with these three boys. You can still follow their escapades on their respective blogs (and maybe see Knux as a guest muse?) and this blog will stay up for archive reasons but I’ll be unfollowing everyone in the next few days and cleaning out some other things.

Take care of yourselves you guys! Things are super tough and awkward right now but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Just keep your heads up and remember we’re all in this together.

      “What do you think of New Years?”

       He had to ask. It was getting to be that time of year and he was curious to know if the mouse thought it was as ridiculous as he did.

     “You look lost. Need some help?”

      It was a confusing part of the city. Knuckles wouldn’t have even been there if he hadn’t needed to pick some things up for back home. But he knew his way around pretty well so he figured he might as well help. He was in a GOOD mood after all.

     “I’d think twice before sneaking up on me.”

     Knuckles liked the man, it was just WEIRD seeing them again after so long and after everything that happened.

     "So, are you glad to be back? Or is it still weird?"

     He LUNGED at it, fist drawn back but not striking yet. But he was ready to.

     "If you can talk, you have three seconds to explain yourself before I tear you apart."

     Turning, he met eyes with a bear. NOT what he was expecting.

     "Did you need something?"

Anonymous said:

I'm sure the Fox Boy's keeping a close eye on things, he's probably even closer than you think.

     {➹} – THE COUPLE STAYED where they were for a moment, watching the other two go with something akin to interest until Mina raised a brow and turned to the hedgehog, amusement in her tone. “Think they’ll be okay?”

     “Probably. If not, at least we’ll have a reason t’ poke fun at them,” he said with a grin, chuckling softly before starting forward, mongoose in tow. The sooner they got this over with, the better. And not in the least because between the citizens’ slight distrust of strangers and his current reputation, the hedgehog didn’t want to spend too much time mingling, just in case. 

     It was a fear that was all for naught, he soon found out. While not wholly convinced that having Mina there didn’t offer a sort of cushion (turns out the mongoose really did have fans everywhere), the hero was pleasantly surprised when their first interaction went well. Then the next and all that preceded it. While not strictly what they came to do there was even some small talk thrown in the mix, which was a pleasant surprise. 

     In the end, they didn’t end up with much, merely a rumor about there being some odd happenings in the deeper tunnels, something most people seemed fine to chalk up to tremors and nothing more. After a little more digging provided them with nothing more and the pair decided to call off their search a little early and head back to the ledge. Neither of them expected to see Knuckles or Mighty right away, expecting them to wait until the last minute to show up.

      All the more reason that, after that half hour had passed, worry had started to settle in the hero’s mind. And even more so when his attempts to get in contact didn’t work.

      “That’s…probably not good, right?” Mina asked after the third unsuccessful attempt and the hedgehog lowered his wrist, frowning. “What do we do now?”

     “Find them. If they’re not out there,” a gesture was made to the village below, where no sign of the other pair could be found, before emerald eyes looked back to the mongoose. “Then I have a nasty suspicion where they might be. Feel like a little spelunking adventure?”

     There were a lot of levels to Mystic Cave, more than people ever thought. Its paths and caverns covered most of Westside Island and most of them were unexplored because of how dangerous they were or closed off thanks to years AND years of collapses and earthquakes. No one would ever know how big the caves were and they would hold their mysterious forever.

     But that didn’t mean there weren’t some that were still within reach. IF someone looked hard enough and had the means to.

      Knuckles and Mighty were those people. With their abilities, carving through rock and lifting boulders were easy feats, if they had to do them. After seeing the movement back in the villager the pair had gone after it. They could never get a GOOD look at what it was but it was clearly running away from them, and they intended to find out why. The fact it, or they, hadn’t attack yet only made them confident that it wasn’t a threat.

      Knuckles didn’t know how long they were following the thing for but it felt like a while before he and Mighty stopped in a chamber a lot bigger than any others they had passed. It was empty expect for some fallen rock but it was also a DEAD end and that worried the armadillo.

     “There’s nothing here, Red,” he said, looking all around them and only seeing stone walls and creepy shadows. He was getting a bad feeling about this.

     Knuckles made some noise as he did the same, but he wasn’t convinced there wasn’t more to it. His gut was telling him otherwise and that there HAD to be something there but he couldn’t see anything, didn’t even hear anything. 

      At least until there a GLINT of metal from above them on a ledge, the sound of a hammer being cocked and a deep voice to drive it all home.

rules: bold which trope you prefer (or, in some cases, maybe just hate the least!) out of each of the following pairs:

Satisfied that the Chao had more or less calmed down, Jayce calmly lifted his hands behind his head, unable to hold back his grin. He’d heard the fastest way to calm small children down was to mimic their own tantrums back at them, and he was semi-relieved to see similar logic applied to the Chao. Not that he or Stella intended on applying it to Galaxy in the future, unless they were desperate…

Evidenced by Stella raising her eyebrow as it bared its teeth at her, not responding beyond a quirk of her lips, and gestured to it as it retreated into the echidna’s hat. “So is it always this bratty?”

Oh please don’t let Galaxy be like that…

That was a thought for when she was born and older, though. For now, she just nodded. “Alright, perfect. Who knows, maybe the little shit’ll wear itself out splashing around and get out easier. C’mon, let’s move before someone decides to harass us or something.”

“Yeah, last thing we need is some asshole bugging us…” Jayce was looking around as he gestured for Knuckles to follow, clearly making sure no one was approaching or looking at them with intent. “If we’re fast, we can be there in–”

“There! I told ya they were here!”

Immediately, both twins froze, simultaneously facepalming in frustration as a familiar wolf and his cronies appeared from seemingly nowhere. “Fuck…”

     “Depends on who you ask,” he answered Stella’s question with a shrug. “It’s fine around me, and calmer than you’d ever think the damn thing could be around my brother. But around strangers? This is pretty much normal. At least he didn’t bite either of you.”

     It had happened before and while it had been a LITTLE funny to see Vector’s face at the time Knuckles didn’t want the same experience with someone he didn’t know. That was a lawsuit waiting to happen. He thought they fine now and actually glad to be reunited with the Guardian but getting rid of some of that excess energy was still a good idea. 

     He tried to hide the chuckle at Stella’s fitting description but failed and shook his head as he waited for them to lead the way. He had just been about to ask about this harassment when the new voice spilt the air and he turned to see the wolf and the others. They didn’t look like anything SPECIAL to Knuckles, just more students if he had to guess, but the twin’s reactions were what caught his attention.