merry merry christmas, and I want you to know

[mansionstaff]

Who: YOU
What: KISSLETOES
When: December 14th - January 1st
Where: Everywhere
Warnings: Sloppy makeouts.

SUDDENLY, AND WITHOUT WARNING...



The entire school has become covered in mistletoe overnight. It grows out of the walls! The ceilings! Everywhere you least expect it? HOW CAN THIS BE??

It's probably best not to think about it. Attempts to uproot the plants or burn them away only makes the plants grow back faster. For the time being, it seems the school must live with it.

[OOC INSTRUCTIONS:
+ Post dudes, get kisses!
+ Some (NOT ALL) plants are cursed. If you manage to step under a cursed plant, you will exchange a memory when or if you exchange a kiss. The memories will be first-person and very vivid, and characters will feel like they are experiencing the memory in real time, though in reality the transfer is instantaneous. Memories can be as short, long, happy, sad, or traumatic as you like.
+ If you'd like to participate, we highly suggest making a list of a few memories (with accompanying links/descriptions) that are up for grabs, and linking or posting the list in your top-level comment. Memory exchange is COMPLETELY OPTIONAL. When in doubt, OOC communication!
+ PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE TAG YOUR CHARACTERS
+ That's it, we love you.]

Comments

[forgetbeam]

It was one thing to say he believed in overcoming one's programming, but another matter entirely when he had to witness something like that. Even back when he fought so hard to convince everyone that a deadly turret could live as an innocent little girl, he was proven so, so wrong when Vivian struck down some thugs in the city. Even if it was self defense, she acted like those lives were nothing then. The only way to overcome her programming then was to reprogram her after all.

And those nightmares about the future he had from time to time...

He'd think on this, whether he wanted to or not. He missed the simpler days when things seemed so plainly black and white to him. He was sorely mistaken back then but he was never plagued by so much doubt.

"Of course! One can never be too careful!" which was the opposite of what he told Yarne but WHATEVER. With that, he turned and marched off.

For about five steps.

Darn it.

[awakeningwill]

"..."

Ah... well done, Kiyotaka.

Zero just stared. He just told the kid to stay on his guard... these mistletoe were truly plants to be wary of. It seemed like they could spring up at a moment's notice, no matter where you were are how recently you were struck with the curse.

Tentatively, but not yet moving from where he stood, Zero ventured, "...Do you need help this time?"

[forgetbeam]

Well. This was humiliating. It wasn't like it was his fault - it was kind of everywhere and it was hard to tell which ones were cursed and which weren't. He grit his teeth and managed a pained, "yes."

At least this time he was prepared for whatever kinds of memories Zero had.

[awakeningwill]

Zero wouldn't have held it against him if Kiyotaka declined, considering the things the bloody images that had just been pushed into his mind. But, knowing the risks now, it probably was just better to get it over and done with. Who knew if it would only give the kid more reason to distrust him - still, there was no sense running from the past. Not for either of them.

Walking briskly over, Zero returned the favour by giving Kiyotaka a quick, dispassionate peck on the cheek. The rush of another memory overtook them - this time, on the reploid's end, from a more recent time.

"You'll be far more use to me in one piece!"

Brought back from the brink of death, Zero looks his 'saviour' in the eye and sees only evil. This 'Dr. Eggman' may have been human, but that power-hungry look in his eyes was no different from Dr. Weil. He'd killed one tyrant roboticist, only to fall into another's clutches.

He can't move. Even without the restraints, the reploid wasn't sure if his body had any strength left to resist. Huge, greedy hands forcibly yank off his helmet, leaving him vulnerable and exposed. Hair spills out everywhere, like a river of gold. Weakly, Zero's head falls back down against the operating table, only to have those fingers wrap around his head, probing and searching his body for an opening. "You've been a very naughty robot," the doctor says. "Show up out of nowhere, cause property damage, and then attack my law enforcement mechs? I can't allow that to go UNPUNISHED!"

Zero grits his teeth, unable to fight back against this disgusting man violating his body. Soon, he knows, he's seen it before, the doctor was going to violate his mind as well. Once he finds that access port (when, not if, it was a matter of time) then those fingers were going to be in his code, twisting him, changing him against his will into something monstrous.

He couldn't let that happen. Zero knew he was too dangerous, he was an instrument of war, one that couldn't be allowed to fall into such hands. Death was preferable to becoming his slave - better to die than to become a danger to innocents.

Only one option left. Reroute all remaining power into his energy core, overload it. Destroy himself, take out this Maverick and his base in the process. Self-destruct sequence detected. Sirens sound. The doctor, enraged, frantically combs through Zero's hair, desperate to turn him off. Only a few seconds more--

Click.

It's too late. His body shuts down, robbed of all control.

So, this is how it ends. Maybe this is the fate that awaited all weapons, their punishment for tempting the power-hungry and evil at heart. He should've died instead. Despair followed Zero as his mind fell into darkness. Soon, no part of him would remain his own - not even his soul.

[forgetbeam]

Another kiss, another swap. Another game of chance. Kiyotaka had never been the lucky one.

He still can't believe it. A straight up confession, a thorough timeline of events, the motivations all laid out in front of him, and he refuses to accept a single word of it. The votes have already been cast (his took the longest, before a trembling fist finally slammed down on his own name again and again), but he's sure there has to be one more chance to find a flaw. Something... anything...

His vision blurs, blackens at the edges. People are talking, but he barely hears any of it. Maybe it's a nightmare. Maybe he'll wake up any second now!

"...couldn't cut free from the outside world," the cartoonish, childlike voice pulled him back to an unsympathetic reality. "He doesn't know what true strength is. Do you see hope anywhere in there? 'Cause I sure don't!"

It's not enough that they're stuck in this situation. That bear - or whoever's running it - has to rub salt in the wound and kick them while they're down, again and again. He can't take any more of this. If there's anyone who deserves to die painfully and violently... it's...!!

"You... bastard...!" He just barely manages to choke words out as he takes a step away from his brother's podium. He has no idea what he's trying to accomplish, but it's like he's going on autopilot. A crazy, malfunctioning autopilot. "Just shut up, you son of a bitch! Go ahead, say that again, I dare you!"

The monochromatic stuffed toy leisurely drapes an arm over the side of its comically oversized chair, like a petulant young king on his throne. "Okay! I'll say it as many times as I want! ...Is what I want to say, but unfortunately, I can't do that right now. Because the time for punishing is fast approaching!"

--No!

"You mean... execution?!"

No, no, no! He doesn't even need to listen to Monokuma confirm it. He's seen one, he knows what's coming. His brother is just standing there, silently, like he's already accepted this. Why? Run, fight, do something... Please...!

"Hold on-!"

Nobody at all moves as Monokuma goes on through his usual pre-execution spiel. Why don't they do something? Kiyotaka's the only one trying, his voice getting higher and more frantic as he tries to drown the headmaster's voice out, as though being the loudest means he wins.

"N-no, wait! Wait!" He snarls and grabs the arm of the chair, and over his cries he hears the words 'punishment time.' He's run out of time, not that he had anything he possibly could have done with it anyway. His pulse is pounding in his ears and his stomach knots so tightly he's sure that it'll purge its contents at any second. "I said waaaait!"

Monokuma doesn't.

It never stopped being weird to Kiyotaka how ever the shortest kiss could result in a memory that went on and on. That was just the power of the subconscious, he figured. But that made the unpleasant ones that much more unbearable, as though he was experiencing pain or helplessness in real time.

Even after Zero left his cheek, a sense of overwhelming despair lingered, though he wasn't sure if it was his own or the reploid's. One thing was for sure: he recognized the man in Zero's memory all too well.

"That was... Robotnik..."

But what the heck did that mean...?!

[awakeningwill]

It was with a mild sense of disappointment that Zero noted that the fragment of his memory that the mistletoe ripped out hadn't even been one he'd lost. It remained clear in his mind, disgusting and vivid, as though it happened yesterday. He felt a bit more rotten inside for being reminded of how violating his capture had been, and so much angrier. A severe look of displeasure stained Zero's face as Kiyotaka spoke the scientist's name with a tone of bewildered recognition.

As a general rule, the reploid's expression was almost always stern or stoic, even in the heat of battle. This was probably the first Kiyotaka had seen pure hate in his eyes, sharp and burning - the kind of hate that was almost murderous.

And what of Kiyotaka's own memory? Emotions that weren't his own swirled in Zero's head - betrayal so painful it left him numb, until helpless, desperate despair ripped his heart out and murdered it. That kind of ordeal was nothing a normal high school student went through, he was certain. What kind of hell had Kiyotaka been through? And that bear... it'd been a robot of some kind...

Perhaps Zero's expectations of most humans was pretty low, but it did surprise him that the student didn't bear more resentment towards machines, all things considered. Then again, maybe he didn't know Kiyotaka's mind that well at all.

Scowling, this time it was Zero's turn to look away first. "Yes. It was."

[forgetbeam]

It didn't matter now, about his own memory. It wasn't the first time he thought about that and it wouldn't be the last. Hopefully Zero wouldn't care too deeply about it either, not with the much more immediate and alarming problem present in his head instead.

"What did he do to you?!"

That was... some kind of reprogramming, wasn't it? He wondered if that was what Vivian had to endure, too. Part of him had to wonder what his own mind-wiping process went like, too. It was a severe breach of privacy and personal space, and just thinking about it made his skin crawl.

"You... must be loyal to him." And there was clear disappointment in his voice. Vivian had been reprogrammed to love the man despite everything he'd done-- despite everything he didn't do for her. Jealousy was a pathetic emotion Kiyotaka liked to think himself above, but... it wasn't entirely absent. It was just buried under heaps of concern that this man was allowed near any robot after everything he pulled the previous summer.

This is not here obviously

[iamtheeggman]

Eggman flew overhead and flipped them both the bird.

HATE YOU SO MUCH

[awakeningwill]

[awakeningwill]

Zero looked as though he wanted spit at the mere suggestion. Thankfully he didn't, or Kitty would've scolded him Sounding more insulted at this than anything else in his whole life, the reploid whipped his head back to face Kiyotaka to growl, "I'm not his slave anymore."

He'd clenched his fists without realizing, and for a moment it almost seemed like Zero was about to storm off in a rage. Being reprogrammed like that was the worst possible fate for any reploid - even Mavericks were given the mercy of death rather than being violated so deeply. Zero had fought the brainwashed before... heretic, twisted shadows of once proud reploids, unknowingly enslaved. They were to be pitied. To think that he'd been that way himself was both revolting and terrifying.

Because that fear was always there. It never went away - knowing that you were a tool to be used, an instrument that could be turned to kill those you loved. Even a brief experience left him feeling dirtied.

But it wasn't Kiyotaka's fault. He'd just been mistaken from the memory he saw... with this reminder, Zero forced himself to calm down and explain.

"Knuckles defeated me before I could cause any real harm, and my programming was restored. If he hadn't..."

Zero glanced away, burdened by the possibilities of what could've been. He would've hurt a lot of people in the war between the Eggman Empire and the Shadow Bug clones. Most likely, he would've killed them.

"...We wouldn't be talking like this right now."

[forgetbeam]

Kitty totally would have scolded him

He'd never seen Zero so worked up about anything before. He didn't doubt that he could feel emotions, just that he was either awful at expressing them, or chose not to most of the time. To see such anger on his face now was both jarring and a relief, because it meant that there really was no such loyalty to that egg-shaped bastard. There was no way he was faking that anger just to trick him or anything.

He breathed a small sigh of relief, nodding firmly in understanding, but that didn't mean he could rest easy just yet.

"What if it happens again? That man is given too much power here, and his previous crimes are completely glossed over and unpunished..." He could do anything he wanted and nobody would do anything about it. They'd stand there and let it happen because that was what people did. He needed to be stopped, one way or another.

[awakeningwill]

Zero's eyes narrowed. He'd considered the exact same thing, and he knew exactly what action he was going to take if he ever saw Eggman's ugly mug harass anyone else at the school. There was no hesitation in his voice as he announced it:

"The man is a Maverick. The next time he tries something... he'll be eliminated like one."

That was that.

[forgetbeam]

Eliminated...

Terminated. Killed.

His immediate reaction was that it seemed harsh and that such cold finality was a sign that maybe it was Zero who needed to be dialed back a little, because death penalties were never going to be alright in Kiyotaka's eyes. But on the other hand...

(He hated that he was even beginning to think of the other hand.)

...With the kind of stunts Eggman pulled, it could be innocent people who died at his hands instead. And the man was far from innocent himself - it wasn't a case of extreme circumstances or lies driving him to extremes. He was evil just for fun.

Soemone like that really should be eliminated, he thought. He didn't say it out loud. He wasn't sure how he should respond. After a long moment he looked away from Zero, recalling how easily he took down all those Primids on the island. Because they too were a threat.

"What about anybody who tries to protect him?"

Because there was still the matter of Vivian, who undoubtedly would.

[awakeningwill]

"Then I'll defeat them," said Zero simply.

If someone stood with Eggman, then they were supporting that megalomaniac's actions. Given the facts against him the reploid was hard pressed to think how anyone decent would possibly stand with the doctor, not unless they were also brainwashed into their allegiance.

And that thought repulsed him. There was no possible fate worse than someone twisting your mind from the inside, changing you. But if they became Zero's enemy...

There was only one thing Zero did to his enemies.

[forgetbeam]

"Maybe that day won't even come."

It was foolish to believe that could be true, but he could at least hope. People fell through the cracks in Final Destination City all the time. Either they willingly left the Academy, or they vanished without a trace, presumably back to whatever world and time period they'd come from. With any luck, Robotnik would just leave before he did anything.

Because otherwise, he would have to be the one protecting the girl that would protect the madman.

"--Anyway," he went on, before he could let himself get too worried about something he was powerless to change at this very moment. "Thank you for freeing me. We'll both have to be more careful from now on."

Just with the mistletoe...?

[awakeningwill]

"I'd like to believe that," Zero told him, but the tone of his voice suggested that he in no way actually held such optimistic beliefs himself. He simply couldn't picture an anti-climatic parting for the monster. And even if he disappeared of his own accord, simply knowing that he was still out there somewhere, alive, disturbed Zero to contemplate. That was exactly the kind of punishment given to Dr. Weil all those years ago, and he'd simply endured, let his grudge intensify and returned to terrorize the world.

No, sometimes there were things that had to be purged from the world. Some evils would never change, and only grew stronger from the mercy of better men.

But the point was, he'd face that day when it came. To think on it any further now would just be dwelling on negative feelings - and the two of them had already dawdled enough. Zero turned away, ready to leave.

"Watch how you go, Kiyotaka."