//Hehe

In retaliation to this act, the echidna simply follows her up onto the emerald and... simply lifts her off it, trying his best to hide a smirk despite lifting her up with total ease. "Oh no you don't. I haven't cleaned it yet."

Sigh. He can't exactly lie to her. "No..."

Slowly waving. He's tired.

"Heh, you don't exactly own the Master Emerald... You just choose to sit on it while I'm trying to clean it." The echidna was obviously joking around given his tone was softer than usual. After all, the last thing he wanted was to make Alicia angry now.

"Well, why don't you stay here for a while? Relax a little, you know?" He's trying his best to calm her down with a genuine smile mixed in with his words, but given that reassurance isn't his strongest suit, he didn't know how she'd take that.

@cosmic-eternity.bsky.social The sun was shining through a window and the birds were singing in the trees... Knuckles meanwhile was happily sleeping away with Amy. He doesn't remember much about being invited over to her place for the night, but he certainly wasn't complaining as he was laying —

"You look like you could use a break..." Knuckles said, instantly observing the softness in Alicia's tone, as well as her seemingly visible exhaustion whilst he watched her eat the grapes.

That was an... unconventional way of letting him know he was hungry, but the echidna accepted her request nonetheless, standing up to bring her a massive bunch of grapes, fresh and ready to eat. "Here you go." He didn't feel like asking about what happened to her.

"Wait, hold on, you were asleep for four months? How is that even possible?" Knuckles was now just as confused as Alicia was, raising a brow. "Well, at least you're here now, I guess..."

Knuckles could hear the groan from quite some distance away, so he knew that Alicia was on the island even before he laid eyes on her. Crossing his arms over his chest, the echidna looked at her with a deadpan expression. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Well, that's nice of you to say..." Still completely oblivious—

... "Hey, Amy... what brings you up here tonight?"

Is trying to sleep on the island— "What the hell is going on tonight?!"

Knuckles began to circle Rouge with a similar glint in his eyes, not breaking that particular gaze for a second. "Well, I'd say I've learnt well so far given you haven't stolen the emerald. Is someone getting rusty? Or are you not as cold hearted as I thought you were?"

No. It wasn't funny. *GLARE—*

"Oh yeah? Well, you know what they say, it takes two to tango..." Knuckles responded, attempting a flirtatious tone with a smirk on his face, feeling her needed to fight back just a little. "At least that's what Vector told me anyway."

"Well, yeah, because you try and STEAL it all the time!" It's such obvious ragebait, but the echidna falls for it every time despite ignoring Rouge's elbow resting on his head.

It definitely sounded like she was trying to rob him. Again. "No can do, bat girl." The echidna said with a blank expression.

「 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐍-𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐋𝐎𝐘𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐘 」♡࿔ Brought to you by ... ELI! ADMIN IS AN ADULT. MDNI. "𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘐 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘚𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳. . ."

All of a sudden, Knuckles had tripped over Rouge's foot, quickly regaining his balance before he stumbled, glaring back at her. "Do you get some sort of sick thrill out of tormenting me?"

It's not as simple as that! She always comes back!

Rouge is trying to torment me again!

Amy! Thank Gaia you're here! You gotta help me!

"Hmm, let me think about that... every time you come to visit me, you come to steal the emerald." He isn't giving into her. He knows what's up.

"Whatever..."

... "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Tch, whatever." He's still trying to ignore her. "If you've come for the emerald, you ain't gonna get it."

He doesn't know anything!

... "Damnit!"

//Why is the TL coming after Knux help??????

... "No." Arms crossed over his chest.

"I thought she'd at least leave me alone because it's the holiday season!" Knuckles, that time has passed now—

"Rouge is here?! Oh come on!"

"At least Rouge can't steal the Master Emerald on Christmas Day..."

Knuckles could feel Amy's face resting on his chest, giving her a few gentle pats on the back as he kept her in the embrace. For once, it was his turn to fluster someone. "Looks like someone's happy, heh."

Knuckles didn't say anything, but after a few seconds, a smirk formed. "Hey. I'm not peabrained." Was all he said with a soft tone before he playfully pulled her into a hug, a hand resting on her back as he held her close. "I'm me, just the way I am."

A soft yawn escaped the echidna's lips. "It's fine, I'm glad you came. Really..."

Rubbing his eyes, hair in an absolute mess. It seems she woke him up— "Merry Christmas, Amy."

[𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐃.] #SONICRP X #UTRP | #MVRP

//Considering how bad Knuckles is with this sort of thing... (I will be selective with this—)

The echidna was silent and motionless, thoughts running wild in his head about whether this felt right. It was certainly an unusual feeling, the warmth of the embrace making his heart beat a little bit faster. As his arms remained wrapped around Amy's frame, he closed his eyes.

All of a sudden, Knuckles had a feeling in his heart. A gentle beat as he turned back to face Amy, walking towards her and gently pulling her in for a hug, holding her close to him. "Thank you..." Was all the echidna could muster, his outer shell crumbling more rapidly with every passing minute.

Knuckles stopped himself from reacting any further, taking a few seconds to look at the drawing. A small smile formed on his lips, shaking his head. "That's pretty good actually..."