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

[thereyouare]

Taking his offering and looking at it, she wasn't entirely sure what to do with it since her head was muggy with emotions. She just clutched at it weakly, trying to catch her breath.

"S-sorry... I-I am broken. I'm a broken h-human, Doctor. Please understand. I w-won't make mistakes anymore. I'll g-get better. I w-will be perfect. I won't get in t-trouble anymore...and everyone will be happy!"

Talk about rapid fire thought processes.

[iamtheeggman]

Eggman had no idea what she was going on about. But he hated seeing her leaking crying like that. He took hold of both shoulders and looked her in the eye.

"You listen to me," he started off. "Human beings are not perfect, and never WILL be perfect. They all make mistakes." Even him, but he wasn't going to admit that. "It's part of being human. If you make a mistake, then all you can do is accept it, learn from it, and move on. Try to make up for it if you feel you can." Or, you know, never learn and try to blow up the planet or brainwash the human race or any of the other stupid things Eggman has done in his life. BUT THIS ISN'T ABOUT EGGMAN'S HYPOCRISY.

"Unless you intend to give up that humanity, then that's the best you can do, or ANYONE can do. Do you understand?"

[thereyouare]

So it really was true... Taka said something along the same lines. A lot of people have - and even the Doctor, one of her most trusted people. Her family, as far as she was concerned.

But she didn't understand one thing...

"T-then why do I make everyone so sad?" And it hit her like a bullet train. "Doctor...?! Do I make you sad, too?!"

[iamtheeggman]

Eggman waved his hand as if to brush it off. She made him feel all sorts of things, but none of them sad. "Pssh. You don't make me feel sad at all," he told her plainly.

But he looked down at her, how upset and worried she was that she was perhaps disappointing him, or those around her. Sometimes he really hated how easily she seemed to have worked her way under his skin. Perhaps that's why he seriously entertained the thought that he had. It likely wouldn't change her opinion of him, but it might put her own problems into focus. Hmm. How he hated the power she had over him sometimes.

He got to his feet, offering her his hand. "Vivian. Do you want your memories back?" he offered her.

[thereyouare]

Her wheezes came to a crawl, breath mostly knocked back into his place by his offer. Her vision was blurry, eyes stinging red from all the crying. This offer... it had come up once before. Heck, she'd been given the option plenty of times to really take back what was stolen from her, but she opted not to. She always thought there was a good reason why, and she trusted those around her.

Not once, however, did it occur to her that not having them was creating problems that she couldn't understand. She knew some of the events but had no attachments to them - not really, anyway. What else had been taken when the Doctor did what he had to to save her?

With her leaving Taka alone, she almost saw no reason to hold back anymore. She had already lied to him. Could she do much worse by accepting the Doctor's offer now?

Unlikely.

Her shivering shoulders slowed, resolution gathering at the peak of her heart like warriors on their final battlefield. It came almost too easily, she realized, when she replied,

"Yes."

[iamtheeggman]

"Then come with me," he told her, taking her hand and leading her out to the parking lot, where his Eggmobile was double parked, because of course it was.

He still didn't know how great an idea this was, but if it helped Vivian... A short flight up to the Egg Carrier later, and she was taken to his robotics workshop. He walked to the computer console, gesturing to the examination table. "Lie down there," he told her.

[thereyouare]

A table she was familiar with. Vivian obediently wandered to the table and crawled on. It was cold against her thighs, and she wondered if she had to change back into her old body for this, too.

Uneasiness. Anxiety. It was clear on her face.

[iamtheeggman]

Eggman punched in some commands on his computer, retrieving the data files containing Vivian's backed up memories, stored when he did his procedure to repair and restore her. He still wasn't entirely sure this was the right thing to do, but she was suffering. Perhaps this would help her sort out whatever was wrong with her.

He came up behind her on the table, placing a metal band around her head, wires trailing off to his computer. "Your mind is still digital enough for this to work," he explained under his breath. "There may be some... tingling. But it won't be long. Are you ready?"

[thereyouare]

A firm nod.

"Yes, Doctor. P..." Deep breath and let it out slowly. "Please."

[iamtheeggman]

With a nod, he returned to the console and activated the device, streaming Vivian's memories back into her head...

[thereyouare]

As a strange sensation washed over her, nose tingling warm and eyes blurring, she felt sedated by what was flowing into her mind.

It was miserable, most of it, but in a sense, she already knew that. What she saw left her lips parting as she tried to remember to breathe, but it wasn't so simple when so many other things were asking to be remembered first.

Her cheeks flushed red as her mind blanketed in the warmth of sorrow, the blood that pooled everywhere. On occasion she smiled because something happy actually came back to her, but then it would slip away, as most of her happiness seemed to. This was normal to her. It was basically all she knew.

And now she knew it again, fully, with none of the pages stuck together or missing completely. She tipped her head forward and finally recalled how to use her air passages, letting it all flow back in.

"Doc..tor..." She almost couldn't take it anymore. "Is it over...? Please..."

[iamtheeggman]

Eggman turned off the computer as soon as the data upload was finished. He returned to the table, and slowly pulled the ring from around her head. "It's over," he told her. "How do you feel...?"

[thereyouare]

"Overloaded," she confessed, touching her head gently as if any little contact could shatter her skull. She never felt fragile, even when she was beaten to a pulp - which she fully recalls now. Thank you, Doctor.

She lowered her hands to her lap, a confused expression on her face. She didn't seem so much sad anymore as she was thoughtful.

[iamtheeggman]

"It's to be expected," he replied. "You'll need time to process all of these thoughts. Would you like to be alone...?"

[thereyouare]

"...No..."

Vivian's eyes rose to look at the tips of her shoes, for a moment seeing an image of her bare feet when she was first created - reborn before born again. It seemed like an endless cycle.

"Doctor?" Vivian didn't look away from her concealed toes. "Would you... ever hurt someone?"

[iamtheeggman]

Eggman was silent for a moment. He crossed his arms behind his back. "Vivian. You remember what I told you when I rescued you," he began. "In order to create a better world, sometimes violence is necessary." He started to pace around the room as he spoke.

"Say for instance, there are RABBLE out there, attempting to incite rebellion and sew unrest! Let's call this hypothetical rabble Eirika for the sake of discussion. Now, if Eirika were to, say, upset civil authority and cause mischief in a time of chaos and strife, well, that's simply unacceptable! And when troublemakers like that refuse to listen to REASON, then sometimes force is the only acceptable answer!"

He turned on his heel. "So the answer to your question is... I would, in the name of creating a better world for everyone!" he declared, raising his fist in triumph. Or, you know, creating a giant robot city with his face slapped on it. But that just went without saying.

It also went without saying that the world would be better with him ruling it. Because come on, that was just obvious.

[thereyouare]

Memories converged more than stood on their own, an unsettling, sickening storm of recollection clouding up her mind. She followed his motions, hearing and understanding him as if it were the most natural thing in the world to her. There lingered what she had done, what she wanted to do, and what was taken and twisted and replaced in her brain.

Were all the memories there? She trusted that to be the case.

"... Protect everyone," she whispered, that first word being of utmost importance to her. Protect.

And so she smiled at the Doctor, because if her memories were anything to go by... Well, he wasn't the only one to think this way, right?

"Okay. Let's protect everyone, Doctor.

"Let's make a better world."

[iamtheeggman]

His hand clapped on her shoulder. "That's the spirit!" he declared proudly.

"Now, you've had a long day, and been through a lot, young lady," he added, helping her down from the table. "A better world can wait until you've had time to rest up."