smash_logs | merry merry christmas, and I want you to know

Entry tags:

merry merry christmas, and I want you to know

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

SUDDENLY, AND WITHOUT WARNING...

title or description

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.]

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And she could sympathise. It was a little weird to see in Connor wearing garb that wasn't his robes. But she understood that he had to dress the part for his work and she respected that. Not that she had any intentions of wearing the school uniform. She'd been at the academy long enough that people knew she was a student. At least she assumed they knew. And if they didn't perhaps that was indicative enough that they weren't the most observant.

After all, she was an attentive student and just about always went to her classes. Even when she was feeling unwell.

"I think you make a good point. If you want to change, then you should change," she nodded to him. "I can wait. I certainly don't mind."

There came a kiss that followed, as fleeting as it was, which left Eirika momentarily unsure of how to respond. Saying 'thank you' seemed silly, so she didn't bother to say it, but it was obvious that it affected her. Romantic gestures weren't lost on her at all, regardless of whatever squabbles might have been happening.

"A-as I was saying," she stammered somewhat bashfully, "I... really don't mind waiting. You always look more comfortable in your robes, anyway..."

He was about to respond, because Eirika didn't get that bashful often. When was the last time she got like that? He could've sworn he had done something like that in past, multiple times. Connor wasn't a teaser really, so making some slight fun didn't really appeal. Although, Eirika has prodded on that side of him. Who knew Connor had it in him to tease, even sometimes?

No, he would've regarded lovingly. Treated her bashfulness with love and care, she was being so adorable.

Again, he nearly did so. Instead, his mind left him. In place was something so unexpected, that he froze for a good few moments as it happened.

Maybe it happened for Eirika as well.

Connor was wounded, and dazed, walking through a ruined home. He practically limped along, breathing heavy. He had to stay hidden, he was in no condition to fight anymore. An exhausting trudge led him to a ruined opening in the wall to a courtyard. The sky was clouded with smoke, and rubble was strewn everywhere. The sound of cannons strung about the town, destruction.

He had to find him. He had to. He had to keep fighting, he couldn't give up. He was on a mission.

"Where are you Charles??" Connor yelled out only to be greeted by a familiar face.

"Gone," Haytham all too calmly said as he was soon attacking Connor. In fact, beating him down. To which Connor responded in turn by attacking back, including stabbing Haytham's arm, completely rendering it useless.

"Give me Lee," Connor threatened. Haytham scoffed, holding back his own pain. "Impossible. He is the promise of a better future. The sheep need a shepherd."

No, and Connor came all this way. Haytham was so sure of Lee, so sure of him. It was wrong, all wrong to Connor. "He has been dismissed and censured. He can do nothing for you now," Connor responded, getting defensive as they both started sheathing their blades, they were ready to fight to the death on this.

Connor didn't want to this, he didn't want to. He really didn't. Haytham didn't lower his guard, however.

"A temporary setback. He will be restored," Haytham said, seemingly to finalize those words.

"We have an opportunity here. To break the cycle, and end this ancient war. I know it," Connor said back, reeling a little bit not still not lowering himself. Haytham didn't bat an eye, "No. You WANT to know it. You WANT it to be true. Part of me once did as well. But it is an impossible dream."

"...We are in blood, you and I. Please..."

"No, son. We are enemies. And one of us must die."

The next thing Eirika would see would be Connor and Haytham bloodied from fighting. Connor was on the ground, with the latter trying to choke the remaining life from him. Connor felt his strength leaving, he couldn't die here. No matter what, he couldn't die.

He had a few seconds, Connor sheathed his hidden blade and did the deed, striking Haytham at the neck. Soon Haytham started bleeding profusely, defeated. Connor had won, but at a huge cost.

Haytham started losing his strength, weakening, but he still had something to say. With the remaining strength he had, he spoke to his son.

"...Don’t think I have any intention of caressing your cheek and saying I was wrong. I will not weep and wonder what might have been...I’m sure you understand," Haytham then knelled on the ground, he only had a few moments left. "Still, I’m proud of you in a way. You have shown great conviction. Strength. Courage. All noble qualities...I should have killed you long ago."

Then he was gone, he fell to the ground, lifeless. Connor loomed over his body, looking him over. The last thing said was, "Ó:nen ki’ wáhi Raké:ni."

Goodbye, Father.

"Ó:nen ki’ wáhi Raké:ni."

Eirika's knowledge on Connor's language was not good. She had learned little phrases here and there, something to impressive the Native, but beyond that, it was difficult to find resources for an unwritten language without going directly to Connor or to his mother. And considering she wanted to surprise Connor, he wasn't an option. And considering she respected Ziio, she was also more than a little intimidated by the woman. And that didn't seem an option either.

Regardless of one string of words that she could only guess context on, Eirika understood everything else loud and clear. Connor had told her months prior that he had ended his father's life. She'd been horrified. To think someone so close to her was capable of something so horrid. It had been one discovery of a few that had set her on edge. Things she was supposed to know and almost didn't want to know.

Seeing it with her own eyes, she found herself so emotionally attached to the situation, as if she was the one living it. Connor's pain was her pain. Facing Master Haytham, a man she'd at least respected, in a way she'd never gotten an opportunity to at the academy. Seeing a side of him she never knew existed. Who was he, really? Why were they against one another? Assassins... Was it a problem with the Assassins? It would have been reason enough for them to oppose each other. Parents could easily be angry at their young for such things.

And it didn't end there...

There was only confusion in Eirika's eyes, stationed between brother and best friend. Her gaze switched between them both, hands tightening with uncertainty. "What... what's going..." Because none of it made any sense. All she could hear was one side and the other, as if both attempted to drown out her own feelings. How could she think with so much going on?

"Your dreams, Lyon. I am about to make them come true for you." It came from Lyon's mouth. It came from his handsome face. It was, in essence, him, but at the same time, it wasn't him at all. "I am about to crush Prince Ephraim and take Princess Eirika for my own. Isn’t this all that you’ve ever prayed for, young fool of a prince?"

Impossible. The words alone left implications that rendered Eirika bitter and soft all at once. When her brother gasped, unable to hide his surprise, her blue eyes turned onto him, imploringly. And she had to wonder if he knew about it all along. But that was equally impossible, wasn't it...?

Lyon continued, or at least the feigned Lyon. The Lyon with the gentle face and the not-so-gentle voice. The Lyon who wasn't Lyon at all. A former shell of the prince Eirika had grown up with. "Rejoice, Lyon. The time has come... Ephraim, the man you envy..." He briefly paused with a sinister smile before he continued. "And Eirika, the woman you desire... I will now grant you all of your darkest wishes!"

She hated everything about the moment. Standing against him. Unsteadily, her hand held onto the hilt of her rapier. Everything else seemed far off with the exception of Lyon and her. Even thoughts of her brother sat in the background of her mind. Fear and concern were transparent within her gaze, and made treason of her denial to the contrary.

"Lyon, please! You must stop! I..." Briefly she faltered, unable to hide the way his very presence affected her. After all, they'd been apart for so long. "...I have no wish to fight you!"

She was met with laughter, a kind that chilled her to the very bone. "Wretched girl. Are you listening, Lyon? Is this truly the girl you loved? Then I will use these hands to tear her limb from limb!"

Lyon.

Just like that, the next few minutes passed. Connor looked at Eirika without actually feeling like she was in front of him. He just saw Eirika in front of a man, her twin brother, and-

He couldn't fathom a coherent thought yet on how he felt about this.

He saw a vision? Memory? He, as an Assassin, was not a stranger to a sixth sense. In fact, oddly, he and his other kin could use it. Eagle Vision. But he didn't have anything like this, so it left him speechless; completely.

He would tear apart whomever threatened her, but everyone hesitated at this Lyon. One recall of events gathered that both Eirika and her brother knew him, respected him, liked him.

...Maybe loved.

The man who was "Lyon" didn't seem like himself, there was something incorrect about his demeanor. Referring to his own name and all, like something took him over. Something evil.

He loved her, but he-

Connor felt sick for Eirika, and sick in general. But still, he looked at her blankly for a few moments longer before regaining himself.

He was still silent.

She didn't know how to interpret what had just happened. Either what she had witnessed from him, or the very concept that he saw something so very private to her. She already had her sentiments set aside where Lyon was concerned. Sentiments she wasn't ready to talk about yet, or ever. Unless she somehow managed to save him and then she likely would have some things to explain. To someone. At some point. She just didn't know what or to whom.

Eirika shook her head, as if to clear her head of what she'd seen, except the sting of both memories, Connor's and hers, remained stamped upon her heart in a most prominent manner. It did nothing to truly clear them aside. Only to briefly disguise them under logic and an apologetic glance.

"...That..." She drew in a deep breath, "...I suppose with everything else that has happened here, it shouldn't have surprised me so. I didn't expect it." She was quiet, uncertain, and unaware of how to proceed. In some ways, she didn't want an explanation and in others, she did.

"I also guess your issues with your father were far deeper than I had truly known. Hearing of it did not prepare me for that."

So, it really did happen.

How else would his father be brought up just like that? Then he was overcome with a sense of fear. Connor thought to himself, what had she seen? Anything about Haytham deep within his memories were either horrible or awkward. That comment she made basically wound that down to something horrible.

There was something about such a sensitive subject being displayed that terrified him.

If it involved these plants, which he was sure of, then it was either start going back to tearing them down. Or retreating.

Eirika outright said something, so Connor had to. With a worried expression, he replied with, "I...now understand what you meant about dark magic, and why you wish to learn it."

She wasn't sure how to interpret his response or his explanation. The mistletoe was something she'd been up against before. Just the year prior, she and Connor were exchanging adoring looks between one another. Just the year before, they'd discussed what the very definition of mistletoe was. A plant for lovers and infatuations. It really was as simple as that.

This felt entirely different. Was... was there even mistletoe above them? Eirika hadn't checked. She'd not even considered it when Connor leaned in. Had he done it intentionally? It was the case of too many questions and not enough answers. Complicated enough that she didn't know where to even begin. What a pain.

Connor's words entered one ear and didn't quite leave. If anything, they remained and echoed with promise. A promise of what? Demise? Further complication? Nothing had ever really been easy between them. Why not throw in concepts of fathers and sons at war with one another? Why not toss in a side of best friend slash jealous lover consumed by dark magic? It was a headache, to say the least.

Frowning, Eirika looked aside with thought, "Hm... I... What is it that we experienced?"

Connor couldn't answer that, not really. Was it the shock? Of the experience itself or what he saw?

He couldn't answer that.

Nevermind the small mistletoe hanging on the top of the tree, the one small plant that rued the day and ultimately changed things. To what end, Connor couldn't guess.

"I cannot say," Connor mused, and then he was finally able to force out an explanation and a question, in hopes it got them anywhere.

"I saw a man named Lyon, I saw you and your brother," he began. "Lyon was not himself, and he threatened you both. Or the man who pretended to by Lyon before you."

Long pause, he had no idea how to follow that up. In case he really saw a memory and got a detail wrong. He didn't want to offensively fill in blanks, it was all things he couldn't understand.

"...What did you see?"

Edited 2015-03-03 18:01 (UTC)

"Nothing good."

It was too short and succinct for Eirika to properly reign in her words and offer something more substantial in his direction. As she rubbed the bridge of her nose with some consideration, trying to think less of Lyon and more of Connor's plight, she cleared her throat and decided to try once more. No, she didn't understand what had happened or why. No, she wasn't comfortable with it. And yet there was very little she could do to have changed it. What happened, happened.

Lowering her hand, she eyed Connor a bit closer. Scrutinised, almost, as if she was trying to read what exactly was going through his mind. She couldn't, obviously. "Hm. Your father and you. You trying to salvage your relationship. Him not having it. And him dying. Your last conversation with him, I assume."

Looking aside, she thought for some moments. "You loved him. I don't think he loved you." And she didn't know how she felt in that moment. Not about Haytham. Not about Haytham's relationship with his son. Not about any of that.

All of what she said was a nail in his coffin, so to speak. It felt that way emotionally. Everything felt worse until her final two sentences.

You loved him. I don't think he loved you.

That caused him to stop completely. Did he love Haytham? He knew he had loads of hesitations to kill him, was that love? Could he call their twisted relationship love?

Maybe, maybe not. He loved his mother, he loved Kanen'tó:kon, and he loved Achilles (despite them fighting all the time). Achilles was his father, Achilles oversaw him growing up as a man and as an Assassin. Haytham did not. Haytham said he was proud of him, and then soon after he found his journal. He felt like he did misjudge him, and he was ashamed of that.

Then he saw him again at the school, and Connor refused to recall his feelings on that.

"I never knew him," he simply said. "I cannot claim to have that kind of relationship, even if we were father and son."

It felt empty to say that, but it was all he felt he had the right to say. Then he felt that they were talking to much about him.

"But you knew Lyon. He is important to you."

Eirika nodded, finding it once more unfair that Connor had lost both of his parents, even if with one of them it was not a storybook kind of relationship. She had lost hers as well, but she'd loved both of hers and they'd loved her in return. It was, in some ways similar, but not... entirely so. And truth be told, she felt worse for him. He was the one who hadn't had a father.

Or maybe they were more alike than she'd thought. She couldn't remember much of her mother, after all, and she blamed that on young years and only the strictest definition of death.

"I see," she began quietly. When he mentioned Lyon, her weight between her feet shifted, somewhat uncomfortable with diving into the subject. "Lyon is my best friend. Was. He, Ephraim, and I were always together. Of course he's important to me." He was important to Ephraim, too. Eirika was certain she'd implied several times before that Lyon wasn't just some random man. He was a great deal part of her life, her history, and quite possibly her future.

Well, undoubtedly a part of her future. The Grado Empire had great need to flourish and she'd truly believed that under Lyon's soft heart it would be able to. Or so she'd thought before she learned of the Demon King.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

merry merry christmas, and I want you to know

no subject

no subject

let's trade memories, beep boop

ugh

feelings WHOA OH OH FEELIIIIINGS

guuuughhghghhhh

baby feelings

bitty babies

no subject

this is painful for srs

for srs