[Thread] Long before they said you were no more
Characters: OU!Shadow the Hedgehog, OPEN
Where: The park
When: Midnight
Summary: It's another late night for the hedgehog, as is now usual, but the snow brings memories of Maria.
Warnings: Brooding and emo. Also, depends on who shows up.
It was a wonder the hedgehog hadn't worn a rut around the inner perimeter of the Obex. Sure, his feet didn't touch the ground when he moved at his preferred pace, but over time it seemed as though the burn of the Chaos-powered air shoes would erode the soil. Maybe he hadn't run it enough yet.
He'd been at this for a while, now. Shadow was restless, both out of boredom but also out of the anticipation of escape. But even if neither of those things were true, he would probably still be out here, running just for the exercise. It wouldn't do to get out of shape here, after all, and so he'd made it a regular part of his day again recently. It had been a regular thing, and then Maria left, and things fell apart a little.
Shadow had run harder than usual tonight. It was the snow. He'd enjoyed it before, purely for the novelty of it.
Maria had arrived in the snow.
Suddenly the beautiful precipitation had taken on a new association. He hadn't realized it at the time, but when he saw the white powder scattered across the ground earlier that day, he remembered. She'd never seen snow before she came here, but she loved it, for all the cold and the wet and how it could damage her health. They'd spent a fair amount of time in the snow together, and as much time warming up afterward with hot chocolate and marshmallows. He and Tohru had taught her to ice skate.
Shadow straightened in his stance and coasted for a while through the trees on the northeast end of the compound, then stepped out of the glide and into a trot, which became a walk as he approached the small stone bridge. The light trails faded away behind him, seeming to take longer than usual due to the pitch black of the compound. With no lights in the sky but for the pale luminescence the Keepers emitted, and no electricity in the compound, the area around the bridge was dark under the trees. If it wasn't for the thin layer of white on the ground, visibility would be extremely poor.
With one Chaos-powered hand held ahead of him as a dim gold torch, Shadow stepped onto the bridge. He leaned over the edge, elbows on the rock, and watched as a few isolated snowflakes drifted through the light and melted on the surface of the water.
He'd been thinking of getting her a new coat for this winter. The one she'd asked the Indigeo for had been left behind when they had to move. It was going to be white, plush, with a pale blue lining. A fur-lined hood, maybe. Gloves.
She'd learned to live in Earth's gravity, walking in the snow.
Movement in the water below startled him, out of the corner of his eye, and he looked down. There was a single set of ripples, slowly spreading concentric circles on the surface, marring his reflection.
Snowflakes didn't make ripples. They just melted.
With a quiet sigh, the hedgehog waved away the glow around his fist, then rubbed at his eyes with the back of his glove.
Entirely unnecessary.
Where: The park
When: Midnight
Summary: It's another late night for the hedgehog, as is now usual, but the snow brings memories of Maria.
Warnings: Brooding and emo. Also, depends on who shows up.
It was a wonder the hedgehog hadn't worn a rut around the inner perimeter of the Obex. Sure, his feet didn't touch the ground when he moved at his preferred pace, but over time it seemed as though the burn of the Chaos-powered air shoes would erode the soil. Maybe he hadn't run it enough yet.
He'd been at this for a while, now. Shadow was restless, both out of boredom but also out of the anticipation of escape. But even if neither of those things were true, he would probably still be out here, running just for the exercise. It wouldn't do to get out of shape here, after all, and so he'd made it a regular part of his day again recently. It had been a regular thing, and then Maria left, and things fell apart a little.
Shadow had run harder than usual tonight. It was the snow. He'd enjoyed it before, purely for the novelty of it.
Maria had arrived in the snow.
Suddenly the beautiful precipitation had taken on a new association. He hadn't realized it at the time, but when he saw the white powder scattered across the ground earlier that day, he remembered. She'd never seen snow before she came here, but she loved it, for all the cold and the wet and how it could damage her health. They'd spent a fair amount of time in the snow together, and as much time warming up afterward with hot chocolate and marshmallows. He and Tohru had taught her to ice skate.
Shadow straightened in his stance and coasted for a while through the trees on the northeast end of the compound, then stepped out of the glide and into a trot, which became a walk as he approached the small stone bridge. The light trails faded away behind him, seeming to take longer than usual due to the pitch black of the compound. With no lights in the sky but for the pale luminescence the Keepers emitted, and no electricity in the compound, the area around the bridge was dark under the trees. If it wasn't for the thin layer of white on the ground, visibility would be extremely poor.
With one Chaos-powered hand held ahead of him as a dim gold torch, Shadow stepped onto the bridge. He leaned over the edge, elbows on the rock, and watched as a few isolated snowflakes drifted through the light and melted on the surface of the water.
He'd been thinking of getting her a new coat for this winter. The one she'd asked the Indigeo for had been left behind when they had to move. It was going to be white, plush, with a pale blue lining. A fur-lined hood, maybe. Gloves.
She'd learned to live in Earth's gravity, walking in the snow.
Movement in the water below startled him, out of the corner of his eye, and he looked down. There was a single set of ripples, slowly spreading concentric circles on the surface, marring his reflection.
Snowflakes didn't make ripples. They just melted.
With a quiet sigh, the hedgehog waved away the glow around his fist, then rubbed at his eyes with the back of his glove.
Entirely unnecessary.