Dadow - Blog Posts

This is the fic it's for, I'm so excited it has a cover!!!!

I made this book cover for Scattereddarkmatters fanfic on ao3.

Is literally anyone going to be upset if I heavily base Silver's powers on Project 06 instead of the original?

Like I highly doubt anyone who even cares will end up disliking it (I mean, I have yet to be called out on my descriptions of his magic matching p06 more than the retail), but I figured I'd ask. It's not going to change very much, like at all, but I significantly prefer it.

For anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about:

It would have all of the specific attacks and the updated glow and stuff.

Hi hello chapter 4 of Psychic and Empathetic is finished so here's a update/sneak peek/whatever the heck this is going to be.

Alright okay so in this chapter, 6yo Silver and Shadow make things out of play-doh, because Shadow's a good dad who Parallel plays with his son! It was getting a little hard to describe the play-doh things, so I thought "hey, can't I just make these things? I mean, it's not like Ao3 can't have pictures!" So here's pictures of some of the things they make.

I didn't actually have play-doh, so I used my own weird undrying clay, and I'm NOT an artist, and my wrists identify as Jello, so this isn't the greatest art project in the world but I did the thing! So I win! I guess!

Exhibit A

Silver makes a play-doh birthday cake, and its candles are described as looking like limp noodles, and falling off. This is exactly what happened when I tried to recreate it irl, but believe it or not, the super limp one was actually the most stable for some bizarre unfathomable reason

Exhibit B

Silver also makes a turtle! I think this one came out really well–aside from the face. The face isn't supposed to look like the creature from Garten of Banban 2 or 14 or whichever game, but apparently cute faces are beyond my skill set.

Exhibit C

This is what Shadow makes, and this is why I decided to do it irl. Try describing this. It's supposed to be fire... I mean, you can't really tell but that's what it's supposed to be... Anyway, imagine this but like waaay better

I hope you all enjoy the chapter when it comes out! <3

Hey guys, you'll never guess what I'm working on!!!

Okay yeah it's that same dadow fic that went silent for half a year too long. But! I am working on it. Chapter 4 currently.

It's almost finished, not quite, but almost. I just want to assure you guys that I'm not ditching it or anything. Chap 4 was just a significantly more ambitious than I realized when I first decided to go the direction I did. I don't regret it at all, I think this chapter will turn out great, but it was quite the steep incline in difficulty.

If you're like me and want more Shadow as Silver's dad then please, please go check my fic out! I think it's shaping up nicely, and if it's not your cup of tea then no hard feelings!

There will be more explanations of why I disinte-vaporated for months in case you care

So my health is quite the rollercoaster, it's constantly up and down and the answer to "how are you?" depends on what day or week or hour you're asking. But generally speaking, things are getting way better. I can eat, I can sleep, I can go to school consistently, so my disappearing can be attributed to a thousand different things at any given point, but one of the more recent/significant ones is just burnout.

It was just really bad story burnout.

I dream almost every night. And every night there's a new story. My mind is so overflowing with story concepts that my subconscious leeks them into my dreams so that I feel like I told the story I want to tell.

One of my dreams was about a creature that showed up one day on national geographic and as time went on they got more prominent and started attacking the city Godzilla-style.

Another one featured a little girl who was given a locket with a vengeful spirit inside, and she must try to contain it by fighting her curiosity.

One was a Journey to the West style story, with similar writing cliches and story structure that was built to mimic the Monkey King's episodic adventures. And it worked. It felt like it could've been ripped straight from the book I grew up on.

Horror game type stories, musicals, apocalyptic survival circumstances, dating Sims I can sequence break. So when my dreams up and ghosted me, it was terrifying.

Apparently the spotty sleep and constant studying was rougher on my brain than I thought, and I just had to give it a rest. So I gave my mind some space, a couple weeks, and it recovered exuberantly.

I still don't fully know what the deal with that was, but I'm going to work with it instead of against it.

So I'm back! My fingers aren't malfunctioning, my brain is back so get ready for some more dadow fluff!!!

Just some wholesome non angst sketches

I've run into a problem...

06 sucks!

Like we knew that, but writing wise, 06 is such a mess, and I don't- I don't know what to do about it, I have fanfic ideas that take place in 06! And it's such a mess that I feel like it'll tank the quality of my fanfic just from its garbage-ness!

And you might be thinking, oh, but 06 isn't that bad, you said yourself, it's one of your favorite games of all time, and other people deal with it just fine so–

No, you don't get it, it is that bad. And you can tell because almost nothing from that game made it out alive. Like, conceptually, there's some really cool stuff in 06. Crisis City's unique environment, Mephiles as a villain, double chaos control time powers (well...), Iblis, Soleanna. All that stuff is good, but because it was in 06. 06's garbage kinda rubbed off on it, and when everyone realized the game was horrible (including SEGA) all that stuff was never attempted again. No one decided to try and make Mephiles work in new games, no mention of Crisis City, or Solanna, or anything. It all just died with the game. Which makes it all the more impressive that Silver made it out alive.

But that's not the point. We all know it's bad.

The point is that idk where to go from here? Do I keep it the way it is? Do I change it? I'm leaning towards change but what should I change? Would people like those changes?

For example, Blaze is a mess. She's "got amnesia" or whatever, and she's here, but she doesn't talk to anyone but Silver (she almost does when she says "blue hedgehog" but that barely makes any sense and it wouldn't surprise me if it was secretly a pun lost in translation), she always seems to know what Silver was up to even if she wasn't there, she doesn't affect the plot other than making Silver doubt his judgement and then leaving, it's-, it's just a mess.

So, what if we cut Blaze out, altogether? Like, she left before Silver runs into Memphis so Silver's on his own. And since silver can't rely on her to tell him whether or not to trust Mephiles, it makes it so Silver believing him shows it off as a character trait of Silver's desperate naivety instead of it feeling like Blaze sitting there watching him get tricked cuz "it'd be funny". That whole scene really feels like Silver and Blaze get tricked by Mephiles because the plot demanded it of them more than anything else.

Plus, if you don't have Blaze here, Silver's heroes journey can be, in part, trying to figure out what to do when no one's around. Lean on other people less, make his own choices. You wouldn't even really need to cut Blaze's dialogue because Silver would be thinking "what would Blaze do/say?"

And I think it'd add to their friendship, the idea that when he comes back to the future and says he knows how to defeat Iblis, she just goes along with it, and is willing to do anything for Silver because they have such a strong relationship, because she trusts him.

But would people like that retcon? What if people hate it cuz there's less Blaze content?

Idk. It's just something I've been thinking about, there's more things I'd like to change, but luckily, a lot of 06 can be improved by adding extra context, or slightly different introductions that barely change the story.

I'd love to hear what other ppl have to say about dealing with 06's writing, tho

I was actually thinking about a slightly less angsty version of this where everyone is used to Silver coming from the future to fix things, so no one bats an eye when they see a hedgehog step through a time portal (I always picture the freaking chaos control portals from 06)

Anyway no one really looks as a figure walks through the foggy portal, and just go "oh, hey, Silver!" And then he growls and everyone stops and looks up to see Future!Shadow instead. More pissed than ever before. Everyone instantly gets a bad feeling cuz they know something went wrong. And Shadow growls and goes "Silver's missing, and his stuff is starting to vanish. Which one of you idiots stopped him from being born!" (And that's how present!Shadow finds out that Silver's his adopted son.)

And then the rest of the story is just everyone trying to fix whatever's wrong without any clues as to what happened, meanwhile Future!Shadow is no help because he's too angry with them to give them any real info. (Mans seeing Red, he's not focused on anything but "give back meh son"

And it can be mostly Eggman's fault and he's like the background external conflict or something idk

Not really espilver, sorry. I don't ship it, but I don't not ship it either, so... It would probably be extremely easy to turn it into an espilver plot. Like, just have espio lose it more than everyone else over that and putting the most effort into trying to get him back. And then when silver returns Espio is rly happy and they have a moment™

now that im thinking about espilver angst if silver died in the past who would tell shadow. how would he know. would he have to guess? worse, would he have to be well aware of the fact that one of these days his son's going to go to the past and never come back?

Frankly, I'm of the opinion that if Shadow is the only person Silver's around (and Shadow's probably protective but you didn't hear it from me) then it could still produce that naïve-ness that we see in the games, not socializing properly can jack you up in all sorts of ways. It's important to learn how to talk to strangers and new friends and learn how boundaries work, and you can't get that from a parent. And if Silver didn't know Blaze for a good while (like until he was nine) then I think it's plausible.

But tbh, you're not really talking about funny hedgehogs so much as you are talking about child psychology. (Nerd time from someone barely qualified!)

The real question is Nature V.S. Nurture™ and it's like the trolley problem of child psychology. It's the question of what makes a person the way they are. Are they naturally naïve, or is it directly their upbringing. If someone was raised by a murderer does that automatically mean the kid will become one too? It's pretty complicated, but if you want to grasp the concept better then go and watch Megamind again. I'm serious.

The point is, if you're someone who's fond of the idea of souls (as a loose concept not like in a fanfic way) a "that soul is a naïve one and if they weren't then it's not their soul anymore" idea, then you might be more inclined to Nature, whereas if you're more of a science, brain neurology, "our experiences make us who we are" kind of person, then you'd be more camp Nurture.

I'll give you a hint: it's both, but how much of each is debatable.

You're absolutely right in the fact that being raised by Shadow would make him less like how he is in the games, though. Which I commend you for. Though a Shadow raised him thing is more common, I change Dadow flavors once a week, so I'd love to see other scenarios implemented more in fanfiction <3

(I don't mean this to be "um actually" or anything, I just thought it was cool to think about. I hope I didn't come off as aggressive)

Silver would be a very different person if he was raised by Shadow. Silver is naive precisely because he wasn't raised by anybody.

yeh you right!

i think the way i imagine dadow is different from how most other people imagine it; where silver still grew up on his own and it was only after he first went back in time he meets shadow in the future n he becomes his dad, basically to explain why the first time silver came across shadow in the past he wasn’t immediately like “dad?”

so i imagine silver comes across old man shadow at fourteen and is like “shadow??? wtf???” and from there the father-son relationship begins, so silver’s naïveté would still make sense ‘cus he wasn’t raised by shadow from day one

This got the cogs turning in my head, all of them could be interesting, but Tails and Cream were interesting for me,

I can already picture Tails having almost everyone's DNA for one thing or another, and one of the many times Silver time travels, He gets hurt or something weird happens with magic or smth (idk) and tails gets a DNA sample only to find it matching up with Shadow's extremely weird DNA. Like, just a little too much black arms in it. And then he is debating mentioning it, because he's not sure if Silver knows, or Shadow, or if he should know.

And then Cream is just really funny, she's the sweetest character, she'd find out and then accidentally tell freaking everyone. Maybe they're in a group or she just doesn't like keeping secrets because vanilla taught her to be honest, but either way everything gets really chaotic and no one knows what to do with that information. Hilarity ensues.

Happy belated B-day, Sonic 06

You're my favorite travesty, and the fact that this abomination of a video game happened barely six months after I was born is honestly kind of hilarious to me. I always know exactly how old my favorite Sonic game is.

I know I called you an abomination, 06, and that's cuz you are, but you might be one of my favorite games of all time, ironically and unironically. It being a buggy mess is hilarious, Project 06 being awesome is the best, and honestly if you're willing to sift through all the garbage writing execution, you can find some real treasures. Shadow's written so well that I think that's where all the budget went, Silver is a character so charming he survived to reach other, significantly better games, Crisis City is honestly such a cool and distinct concept for a fictional space, I mean, I wouldn't be writing Psychic and Empathetic if I didn't think so.

(I say "writing" as if it isn't just brainstorming I keep forgetting to put in my notes app, and flesh out into chapters that I then never remember to upload cuz my brain would rather write an entire fic and then post it instead of the usual fanfic, post chapter when it's done thing...)

Anyway, ily '06 you freak of video game nature!

Sonic 06 fanfic I was referring to btw, it's still happening, I promise! Dadow will return!

I'm posting this now cuz I'm getting a surgery first thing in the morning, and recovering from that will have me all out of whack, so here's something to chew on while I remember how to move!

I really love your story and the dynamic you've created with Shadow and baby Silver. It's soo cute it gives me the warm feels ❤️❤️❤️

Aww thank you! My life is really stressful and chaotic, so it's been my main form of escapism, but love writing and I really want other people to enjoy it as much as I do, so I'm really glad you're enjoying it! <3

Plus, I think everyone needs more fluff right now

Btw, new chapter coming soon-ish? ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

The dadow continues! I'm in too deep now. Chapter 2 is out and chapter 3 is on the way!

I have nothing else to say other than pls read it I need validation

So, I wrote a dadow fic. I'm a sucker for found family, and dadow is underrated.

ENJOY.

If u can, dadow….

dadow so real i think. shadow just finds silvers egg abandoned somewhere fhdjjfjsd. he takes it with him because he can feel silvers energy buzzing inside and his palm ring mark on the shell makes it pretty obvious also bonus HC mobians are all born like chao- both parents eat the heart fruit, smack foreheads in the grass for a bit and a flower circle will sprout with an egg 👍

Dadow to the rescue!:

He had a bit of an accident.

Dadow The Hedgehog!

See my only problem with the headcanon sonadow being silvers dads is that, if they are his parents. and you know. they eventually realize that their kid is literally just silver. They have to live with the fact that they couldn't protect each other OR silver in the destroyed future. in a that catastrophic timeline. Sonic Hero of Mobius and Shadow thr Ultimate Lifeform weren't enough. They couldn't protect the people the cared about.

just something to think about i think about it a lot. the. i cry cause of the potential.

EDIT: THE PROBLEM I HAVE WITH IT IS THAT IT MAKES ME CRY. I LOVE IT AS ANGST POTENTIAL

We all up making fankids huh

I’ve been seeing people make a lot of sonadow fan kids over on twitter and I inspired me to revisit mine!

Star the hedgehog was engineered by a mad G.U.N scientist as a project to perfect Gerald’s work called Project M.I.L.K.Y.W.A.Y. G.U.N practically made Shadow adopt her so that she wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands which he was not pleased about, but he eventually warmed up to having her.

"Boom Shadow's pissed cause he never got over the break up"

"Boom Shadow's pissed cause Sonic won the house in the divorce"

[INCORRECT BUZZER]

Actually, Boom Shadow's pissed because Sonic still owes him child support.

(Source: Ian Flynn's dog's wife told me in a dream)