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

[inspirethefire]

One red eye focused on him, laser-focused over his body, and Hajime went entirely stiff with dread. He didn't need to know the specifics of what was before him to tell at a glance it was designed for nothing good. And here he was, in its sights.

If it wanted me dead, it could have done it already. It could have done it so often. Have I triggered a different stimulus, though? Did I activate a code? It lied before, is it lying now? Why now, why now??

Somewhere, deep inside, his voice managed to creak out. "Th-this is...what... you are...?"

[thereyouare]

"Was."

She wondered if that was clear.

"... What I am sometimes."

Her eye shifted to look away from him, the laser going with it as she could read enough to tell she was scaring the piss out of him.

How to explain what she was feeling right now was the next step. To explain that he did understand. She saw it. She knew he did.

"Not what I want to be."

[inspirethefire]

The him that had that memory could understand, perhaps. The one in this reality, however, was having a bit of trouble. His conversation with Zero, at least, helped get him partway there; Zero had claimed he'd not been designed as a soldier, and chosen that path. So now, Vivian was... trying to claim the opposite, then...?

"Why... why are you... showing me this now...?"

[thereyouare]

"Uhm... I'm sorry, I saw your memory." With Taka it was one thing, but with Hajime, it was very much another. Her eye clicked back toward him. "Like this, I can't feel anything. I don't hurt. I don't feel hungry. If you touched me, I don't think I would really know.

"I thought that was okay."

With a shift of space, Vivian stood there, human again, eyes threatening tears. "But you understand it's not, right? You understand that difference now. You've been like me. You were different!"

She rubbed her palm against the corner of her eye. "Humans... are strange. But they're a just... a different different. I'm not very good at it, but I want to be this way. You understand why, don't you?"

[inspirethefire]

With her return to a human form, Hajime only felt more uneasy. Her original form was still there, lurking underneath. He'd seen what she was designed for, and an imitation of humanity only covered it up, rather than removing it.

It would have been one thing, if she'd been making any sense, but her speaking of some unknown memory only made him less sure than ever of her meaning. A spot on the left side of his chest ached dully.

Mouth drawn tight, he looked into her eyes, devoid of visible will. She was asking for something from him, but he couldn't lie. "I don't know... what memory you're referring to, to have led you to that conclusion. You're mistaken. I can't... give you the expertise you need. I'm sorry."

[thereyouare]

Hope visibly left Vivian's small body, her posture loosening, her grip on what she saw weakening by way of her dangling fingers.

After the shock had worn off, her face slowly shifted to disappointment and then... nothing.

Was he lying? She saw it. She knew what she saw.

And now he was lying to her, as far as she was concerned. What did she do wrong this time?

"I... understand." Lie. "So you were never different." Lie.

"My mistake."

Lie.

She smiled.

Lie.

She quickly turned on her heel and took off down the hall.

When had lying... become so simple?

[inspirethefire]

"Ah--"

He'd wanted to say something else, to give her something to work with, at least. Before he'd gotten a word out, however, she was gone.

That... hadn't felt right, somehow. Clearly, they'd missed something, some kind of... opportunity?

He swallowed, hard, and finally let some of the tension drain away. No... no, this was right, surely. Whatever she wanted, it wasn't something he could provide for her. He knew only of life, which she simply didn't have. Advising her would be a waste of time for them both.

Hajime turned, to leave the other way. She'd find the right person, to help her figure out what she needed.