[Thread] Times have changed
Characters: OU!Rouge, OU!Shadow
Where: Mui-Enas
When: Christmas
Summary: Rouge has invited Shadow down for some cake and sake. Which, despite their spellings, do not actually rhyme.
Warnings: None
Christmas was, as Shadow understood, intended to be a time in which people reunited with friends and family, to gift each other with various items as tokens of affection and to celebrate what they had, in terms of both material and social wealth. That was what he had observed, at least, during the few Christmases he'd beheld. This was only his fourth, after all. Six months after he had been created, he'd seen the holiday for the first time and found it confusing. The Professor's lead assistant had had an artificial tree shipped up to the station, and while the collection of researchers and their families and the few military personnel permanently stationed there - and Maria, too - decorated and sang and all the rest of it, the Professor seemed to stay back and act as if nothing was happening. Shadow had sought an explanation, and the old man had grumbled something about "pointless religious nonsense", which had only confused the hedgehog more.
And so he had asked Maria what was wrong, and what was going on, and she'd given him an apologetic smile. Her grandfather always got like this around this time of year, she said, and she didn't understand either, but she thought Christmas, as it was called, was great fun. And while she didn't know much about the religious significance of it either, aside from the very basics, she told him that for her and many others, it was a time to celebrate the things she cherished in life. Her family. Her friends. Him. And that had made him feel nice, because friends and family weren't really things he had thought he had, until then.
It would have been nice if she'd arrived before last Christmas, or stayed through this one, he thought to himself. More time with her at all would have been a gift in itself, though, and asking for more was pointless anyway. She was gone, and he was lucky he'd gotten to be with her here at all.
He was interrupted mid-thought by a beep on his PDA. Rouge wanted to see him? He sighed, and considered it for a moment, then messaged her back. Sure, fine, he'd go join her. Why not. In many ways, she and Omega were the closest he had to family now. Not that he thought of them as such, but Rouge at least was his closest friend after Maria. If she wanted his company, he wouldn't mind obliging her, especially when there was cake and alcohol involved.
So he stood and shook a light dusting of snow from his quills, then brought himself instantaneously to the main room. And as he entered the kitchen, he gave the bat a small nod of greeting.
Where: Mui-Enas
When: Christmas
Summary: Rouge has invited Shadow down for some cake and sake. Which, despite their spellings, do not actually rhyme.
Warnings: None
Christmas was, as Shadow understood, intended to be a time in which people reunited with friends and family, to gift each other with various items as tokens of affection and to celebrate what they had, in terms of both material and social wealth. That was what he had observed, at least, during the few Christmases he'd beheld. This was only his fourth, after all. Six months after he had been created, he'd seen the holiday for the first time and found it confusing. The Professor's lead assistant had had an artificial tree shipped up to the station, and while the collection of researchers and their families and the few military personnel permanently stationed there - and Maria, too - decorated and sang and all the rest of it, the Professor seemed to stay back and act as if nothing was happening. Shadow had sought an explanation, and the old man had grumbled something about "pointless religious nonsense", which had only confused the hedgehog more.
And so he had asked Maria what was wrong, and what was going on, and she'd given him an apologetic smile. Her grandfather always got like this around this time of year, she said, and she didn't understand either, but she thought Christmas, as it was called, was great fun. And while she didn't know much about the religious significance of it either, aside from the very basics, she told him that for her and many others, it was a time to celebrate the things she cherished in life. Her family. Her friends. Him. And that had made him feel nice, because friends and family weren't really things he had thought he had, until then.
It would have been nice if she'd arrived before last Christmas, or stayed through this one, he thought to himself. More time with her at all would have been a gift in itself, though, and asking for more was pointless anyway. She was gone, and he was lucky he'd gotten to be with her here at all.
He was interrupted mid-thought by a beep on his PDA. Rouge wanted to see him? He sighed, and considered it for a moment, then messaged her back. Sure, fine, he'd go join her. Why not. In many ways, she and Omega were the closest he had to family now. Not that he thought of them as such, but Rouge at least was his closest friend after Maria. If she wanted his company, he wouldn't mind obliging her, especially when there was cake and alcohol involved.
So he stood and shook a light dusting of snow from his quills, then brought himself instantaneously to the main room. And as he entered the kitchen, he gave the bat a small nod of greeting.