After reading in a magazine about how the talkative robotic hairdresser Doo-Bot has recently been stripped of both her hypnotic and voice-recording capabilities given to her by Dr Robotnik, as well as the repairs done on her hair salon before its re-opening, Sonia The Hedgehog now feels that it is safer than ever to get her hair done there again - and let's face it, she hasn't had her hair done at ALL in a few months. How tragic!

The hedgehog steps inside the salon. Bouncy pop music plays from tinny overhead speakers, though the sounds of Doo-Bot's motorised roller skates are far louder. While a lot of things have stayed the same - the tiles on the floors still shiny, and the mirrors on the walls repaired and polished, free of any bullet holes - the one thing that Sonia notices about the interior right away is the change in size; the room is much smaller, but not to a claustrophobic degree, and it makes more sense to only have three salon chairs rather than eight, especially if you only have one hairdresser.
Sonia sits down on a small cushioned seat by the window. There aren't many other Mobians waiting, and Doo-Bot makes her way through the queue rather quickly.
"Sonia, darling!" The robot hairdresser calls out, spinning a chair around for Sonia to sit in, "Long time no see!"
"Good afternoon, Doo-Bot!" Sonia says, quickly taking her seat. 
Doo-Bot spins the chair around again, so that Sonia is now facing the tall mirror on the wall. The robot smiles brightly at Sonia's reflection.
"What are we wanting today, sweetie?" Doo-Bot asks, putting her hands on the back of the chair.
"While I'd love to have ‘the works' today," Sonia says, "Sonic and Manic are waiting for me back at our base, and I'm not meant to take too long."
Sonia pauses.
"So I think I'd just like a little trim, and nothing more!" She decides.
"Brilliant!" Doo-Bot exclaims, clapping her hands together.
The robot quickly wraps a black hairdressing cape around Sonia, then grabs a spray bottle with one three-fingered metal hand and a comb in the other.
"So, how've ya been, hun'?" She asks as she spritzes Sonia's hot-pink hairdo with water.
"About as well as the life of a freedom fighter can get," Sonia shrugs, "So, not great. But we've been making do."
"And ya brothers?"
"About as annoying as normal." Sonia laughs.
Doo-Bot swiftly but carefully combs Sonia's hair.
"What about that Bartleby?" Doo-Bot says, her mild distaste towards the guy rather evident in her voice.
"What d'you mean?" Sonia asks.
"Oh, you know, dear. Anything happening between you two?" Doo-Bot asks.
"Ah, right." Sonia explains, "You see, I've sorta given up on him."
"Oh, why's that~?"
"We really don't see eye-to-eye about freedom fighter business, and he probably thinks I'm really annoying because I just end up following him around, and, well..." Sonia lowers her voice a bit, "I think he still sees me as a guy..."
Doo-Bot pauses for a second to process this, before briefly placing a hand on Sonia's shoulder and saying,
"Oh, sweetie, it's okay."
Doo-Bot picks up a pair of scissors from the bench. They're small, but incredibly sharp, and she begins cutting the ends of strands of hair - very small bits, but incredibly quickly.
"Well, have ya made any new friends, at least?" She asks.
"Oh, plenty." Sonia explains, "When you're a freedom fighter, you get to meet all sorts of cool people, and let's face it, most people who are for Robotnik tend to be pretty nasty folks."
Sonia thinks for a moment.
"I've been spending a lot of time hanging out with Mindy lately." She says.
"Oh, Mindy LaTour?" Doo-Bot asks.
"Yeah!" Sonia explains, "She actually got a bit injured from a surprise SWAT Bot attack the other day, so she and her dad have been staying at our base for a bit."
"Is she alright now?"
"Yeah, she's been pretty cheerful, actually." Sonia says, "And it's been nice to hang out with her without an... Immediate threat looming over our heads. Like, Mindy and I are so alike, and it's super fun to talk about make-up and fashion with her, and I think her obsession with polka-dots is super cute..."
Sonia blushes, just a bit.
"Ya know what I think, hun?" Doo-Bot says.
"No, you don't have a brain." Sonia says.
"Ya know what I mean, sweetie," Doo-Bot suggests, "You should write her a song! Perform it for her at one of your little concerts!"
"Alongside my brothers? No. Way." Sonia says, "They'd tease me about it for YEARS!"
"Well... Just make Mindy a little song on the piano!" The robot says, "Play it for her at the base, just you and her. She'd love it."
"Actually... Yeah, that's not a bad idea." Sonia says.

Doo-Bot turns the chair around slowly, letting Sonia see her haircut. It's not all that different than before, just a bit neater and nicer.
"Ya like it, hun'?" The robot asks.
"Yeah, it's nice!" Sonia says.
She hops out of the chair.
"Thanks for the haircut!" Sonia says, "And the advice, too."
"No worries, sweetie."




Taking Doo-Bot's advice to heart, Sonia The Hedgehog tries her hardest to get some time to herself so she can write her song for Mindy. Unfortunately, her brothers aren't having any of that.

"Are you two up for another mission?" Sonic asks, rushing around the dingy base of the Underground, picking up supplies.
"I don't have much else to do." Manic says, smiling as he taps his drumsticks on the armrest of the couch.
"What about you, Sonia?" Sonic asks his sister, who is deep in thought, humming a song.
"W-What?" Sonia asks, standing up.
"We've got some more bases to raid and 'bots to smash," Sonic explains, "Are you in?"
For the first time in a while, Sonia says immediately, "No thanks."
Sonic looks at her, puzzled and disappointed.
"What d'you mean?" He asks slowly.
"I have stuff to do." Sonia says matter-of-factly.
"But sis, we-"
"Don't say it..." Sonic interrupts him.
"We need you, Sonia!" Manic says.
"Huh, so for once you actually value my help." Sonia says, crossing her arms, "Well, sorry guys, but this is far more important than destroying a Robotnik base that'll just be rebuilt the next day."
"It is?" Sonic asks mockingly, "Would you care to tell us what it is that you're wanting to do, dearest sister?"
"I'm writing a new song." Sonia says.
"Is that all?" Manic calls out, still lying on the couch.
"Sonia, we've made enough songs to fill MULTIPLE records." Sonic says, "I think destroying 'Buttnik's junk is more important than writing ANOTHER song!"
"I'd agree," Manic says, "But if the lyrics are good, I might have to agree with Sonia here."
"Oh, come ON!" Sonic exclaims.
"C'mon, let me see 'em!" Manic asks Sonia.
"No way!" Sonia says, putting her hands on her hips.
"Aww, why not?" Manic asks.
"Well... Yeah, how are we gonna perform this song if you won't let us see the lyrics for it?" Sonic asks.
Sonia sighs. She stands up once more, picking up her keytar, and before she storms off into another room, she says,
"You two would never understand."


Sonia spends a few minutes calming down, taking deep breaths. She can hear through the walls that her brothers are making plans for the raid, though she can't make out exactly what they're saying. 
After a while, Manic knocks on the locked metal door, saying, "Uhh... Sorry about that. We're going now."
Sonia doesn't respond. She can hear him following Sonic out the front door and locking it behind him.

She looks over at her keytar leaning against the wall, by far the brightest-coloured object in the otherwise pretty empty room. Sonia carefully folds out its stand and places her keyboard upon it, pulling up a grey stool and flipping through her notebook. 
She also places a tape recorder on a little table next to the keyboard; even though it's been a while since her transition started, Sonia's still getting used to singing at a higher pitch, and has found in the past that she doesn't sound very good singing her older songs. Since then, she's always taped her original songs immediately after she's finished them, even if purchasing tapes can get difficult and expensive when you're a literal criminal on the run.
First, Sonia listens to a good amount of the MIDI instruments available on her keyboard, eventually settling on the vibraphone option; it's the prettiest-sounding instrument she can find. Then she begins playing around with melodies and chords, putting together whatever notes she thinks sound nice.
After just a few minutes, Sonia stumbles upon a cheerful little tune, one that she can immediately imagine singing along to. She plays through the melody a few times, seeing whether it sounds nice in 4/4 or 4/3. Then she starts singing along, random, lovely phrases she can find scribbled in her notebook.




Sonia nervously stands at the doorstep of the base. She awkwardly looks around at the scenery, or perhaps the lack thereof; At this point, most of Mobius is grey, shiny, and VERY ugly.
It's been a good half-hour since the time she and Mindy had arranged to meet at. While it's adorably in-character for Mindy, (and everyone has to know at least one chronically late person in their lives!) Sonia had specifically said to her that it's urgent, and that she's gone out of her way to avoid destroying SWAT Bots today, even if it puts Sonic and Manic at a lot of risk.
"Mindy's worth it, though." Sonia mutters to herself, laughing at how stupid she sounds.

Sonia then notices Mindy peeking out from behind a large metal container nearby. The hedgehog immediately goes bright red. "How long has she been here? And how long have I been standing here, looking stupid?" She thinks.
Sonia gestures for Mindy to come inside, and, after carefully surveying the surrounding area for robots, Mindy follows her into the base.

"Make yourself comfy!" Sonia says calmly. Inside, though, she's desperately battling against her nervousness.
"Oh, yeah. Thank you!" Mindy says, quickly going to sit on the couch. For once she isn't worrying about how dusty it is, or how badly the wallpaper is peeling. 
She stays looking at Sonia, her expression strangely difficult to read.
"Say..." Mindy asks, idly playing with her hair, "Why'd you invite me over in the first place? I mean, it's cool, I like chatting with you! I really do..."
Sonia looks away from Mindy as she goes to retrieve her keytar from the other room. It's mainly just to hide the big grin on her face, though.
"But aren't there more... Oh, I dunno, urgent things happening right now?"
Sonia's smile vanishes in an instant.
"Well..." The hedgehog thinks for a second, "I think we all need some time off once in a while, y'know?"
Mindy tilts her head to the side, puzzled but amused by Sonia.
"A-And..." Sonia takes a few deep breaths before speaking again, "I realised that... I don't speak with you as often as I'd like..."
"Oh?"
Sonia sets up the keyboard on its stand, opposite to the couch. She places her notebook on the edge of the keyboard, and she switches the instrument to the vibraphone once again, thinking back to the melodies she had put together a week ago - being a part of the Sonic Underground means you have very little time to practise music, so Sonia and her siblings have become scarily good at remembering songs as a result. In fact, Sonic often jokes about Manic's mind being like a radio.
Sonia stands by her keyboard confidently, taking more deep breaths.
"But I wanna change that."

It's like magic, or maybe it actually is. 
Sonia's never been great at speaking with people - perhaps it stems from her upbringing, where she was always told to "speak only when you're spoken to" - but when she's standing behind that keyboard, all barriers are broken down in an instant, her hands and her voice work together beautifully, and she's able to say whatever is on her mind - as long as it all rhymes, that is.
So she tells Mindy about everything - all of her worries, all of her dreams, all of the strange things she's felt as of late, and all of the lovely things that make Mindy who she is.
Mindy watches her, absolutely mesmerised. It's difficult to tell what she thinks about all of this, but it's obvious she cares enough to listen.
It makes Sonia think about what would have happened if she had written a song like this for Bartleby. He wouldn't have listened to it at all, shutting Sonia down before playing even the first note because all he listens to is classical music, none of this "common punk rubbish".
Even the thought of Bartleby makes Sonia mad enough that she accidentally plays a few notes completely out of time, making Mindy giggle.
She's so much better. In every way.




Sonia leans against a table, catching her breath. She looks over at Mindy, whose face is equally as flushed. She's avoiding eye contact, staring wide-eyed at some stain on the carpet, which Sonia notices as being very un-Mindy.
"Not even any applause?" Sonia teases.
Mindy doesn't say anything.
"Uh... Oh, man. I'm sorry. Was that too much?" Sonia laughs nervously.
Nothing. 
Sonia goes to sit next to her on the couch.
"Are you okay?" She asks.
"Yeah. Very." Mindy says quickly, still not looking up.
"Well..." Sonia says, "I wanted to ask if you'd..."
The hedgehog sighs.
"If you'd like to... Go out with me. But I get the feeling you don't."
Mindy looks over at Sonia.
"Oh, d'you want to go shopping?" Mindy asks, trying and failing to sound oblivious, "O-Or to get our nails done?"
"No, Mindy. I wanna go on a date with you." Sonia says.
Mindy pauses.
"Oh. Ohhhh." She says, "I... Um..."
She smiles sheepishly at Sonia.
"Yeah." Mindy says, "Yeah, I do."
"Truly?"
"Yeah!"
"Miss LaTour, I don't want this to be another Bartleby situation." Sonia teases.
Mindy giggles.
"Princess Soooooonia," Mindy says, doing her best impression of him, "I most certainly DO like you back. You are one of the only people on Moooooobius that I can truuuuuuly depend on!"
And in her normal voice, she says, "And I think your hairstyle's super cute."
"Thank you!" Sonia says, smiling, "Doo-Bot did it the other day. She gave me some rad advice, too. The song was her idea."
"It was great. Really great." Mindy suggests, "You should perform it with the Underground."
Sonia laughs.
"No way!" She exclaims, "Doo-Bot suggested that, too. I am NOT pouring my heart out for any old audience!"
"So I'm special?"
"Very."