Have you had your cup of ANGST today?

[cantlearnsurf]

Who: YOU ..and probably your friends because it's more fun to play with friends.
What: "Memory bubbles" have been sprouting up everywhere. You may or may not be experiencing reliving a particularly emotional moment in your life right before your eyes. Or maybe someone else's...
Where: All around the island.
When: Now?
Warnings: W for WTF

So this was new: every now and then, here and there, brief moments in people's lives have magically appeared as a sort of misty projection and then disappeared like a puff of smoke; as if someone was showing you movie clips of memories from your and your friends' lives. Why or how this was happening is anybody's guess.

Some people have stumbled upon playback of a particularly rough memory from their childhood right before their eyes. They always seem to be memories of great emotional importance, too, which in some circumstances could be really embarrassing depending on who was around. A scolding from a parent. A love confession gone wrong. A first kiss. Hope your current crush isn't around to see those.

Memories from the mansion seem to be the most common, but some from childhood homes and even Smash Academy pop up here and there. Even forgotten ones weren't immune to the phenomenon.

What events do you experience, and how do you react?

Comments

[sexyspybat]

Rouge was a bit weirded out by all the random flashes of people doing... things... out of the blue, but it wasn't affecting her much, so she just sat atop the mansion and watched them blip into and out of existence in front of horrified unwilling participants. Their reactions were endlessly entertaining! So she sat on the roof, legs crossed, sipping a mimosa.

That is, until there was suddenly a translucent Knuckles right beside her.

She was taken aback and dropped her drink, which splattered over the roof's tiles as the glass rolled down into the bushes below.

"Knux...? Oh, drat. I guess it's my turn to tolerate these nuisances."

Curious, she watched as Knuckles, panting and irritated, talked to someone just outside the bubble's projection. He was atop... what was that, a construction beam?

"Is that how you say 'thanks' to someone who just saved your life?!" Knuckles' projection asked aggressively.

"Saving my life?" Rouge gasped silently. She recognized that voice.

"Don't think I owe you one; you just wanted to hold my hand, didn't you?"

It was her.

"That's why you saved me... You're such a creep!"

It was her voice. It was the time Knuckles saved her from falling into the lava pit. She turned bright red, horrified at how snooty and rattled she had acted, and hoped no one else was here to see it. Or hear it, as it were. Only Knuckles was visible. Still,...

[forgotlegday]

Suddenly...! Double the Knuckles! Double the fun! For Rouge

"Rouge! I-- What the heck's going on?" he asked as he ran up and stood by her side, eyeing the projection of himself that stood there before them. "Is that me? But I'm me..."

[sexyspybat]

so much fun!

"Uhhhhhh--!" Rouge sputtered, not sure how to handle the situation. ..Wait, was he really not sure what was happening? Maybe this was salvageable. Or would be if she wasn't so tipsy.

"So, um, someone is summoning portals into hypothetical scenarios and this one here just so happens to be about you. But don't try to jump into it or anything, Knux! It'll create a paradox with two Knuckles in the same place."

She was pretty sure her bullshitting was apparent, but she hoped how MUCH of it was bullshit was unclear enough to help her save face. Don't want him remembering her being so vulnerable back then, now.

[forgotlegday]

Knuckles' eyes widened at her explanation. Luckily for her, he trusted her completely, and took her explanation at face value. He'd never seen anything like this before, and as such he trusted her expertise in the matter. "Two Knuckles?! No way. That'd get way too confusing!" he said, taking her by the shoulders and pulling her just a biiit further back from the bubble. He wasn't taking ANY chances now! "...Also I don't wanna share you with myself," he added. He was a simple creature, but earnest.

[sexyspybat]

Rouge grinned discreetly. Yep, still unfailingly gullible.

His touch made her heart beat faster. There was just something about the feeling of his gloves on her body that drove her mad.

"I don't want to share me either, honey," she told him, patting one of his hands. "Let's leave this thing alone before it can..." She thought for a moment. "...seduce me into that other world." Nailed it.

In a mild haste, Rouge gently pushed to turn him around lest he recognize the memory and think of her in that more vulnerable state again.

[forgotlegday]

"Hmph!" Knuckles grumped. "Not a chance! Nobody gets to seduce you but me!" he declared. He responded by scooping up Rouge into his arms to take her away from the bubble.

"Think what you want, bat-girl, I was saving the Master Emerald!" came his own voice from the projection behind them. There was something a little familiar about it... But no. Remember what she said!

"Hey! You don't talk to her that way, other me!" Knuckles shouted at the bubble, before jumping from the roof to glide away from the memory bubbles that had formed there.

[frozenfeathers]

Articuno had grown tired of everyone's laughing, crying, and just generally reacting loudly to the smokey apparitions of people, their families, their friends, and their rivals doing whatever they did in those places. Many of those places were far from there -- the dark, dreary mansion she couldn't escape from -- and the reminder that she may not be able to visit those places or even her home for a very long time, if ever, was making her depressed. So, she hid away in the abandoned ballroom of the mansion where it was quiet, feathers ruffled, hoping she wouldn't have to relive some past experiences the way the others did. Having to go through them once was enough for her. Some she prayed she'd never have to live through again.

[withmindbullets]

She wasn't as alone as she realized, however. There was someone there already, curled up in a ball of fear and helplessness, as images played out all around him. There was a tube, surrounded by ghostly figures carrying clipboards, talking about how much pain their test subject could take. Inside the tube, subjected to regular electric shocks, was a small purple creature, like a deformed Mew.

"I hate you... I hate you..." Mewtwo mumbled to himself as he shivered in his curled up state, trying to will the memories away.

[frozenfeathers]

Mewtwo's mumblings caught Articuno's attention, and she looked up to see him curled in a corner across the room, practically accosted by the flashing images. He seemed distressed by the scenarios playing before him. Concerned, she stood and flew over to him, trying to at least shield him from one of his stressors.

"Mewtwo, are you all right? Are these your memories?" she asked him gently.

[withmindbullets]

"Yes," he mumbled, once he recognized the voice calling to him. "I don't want to live through them again..."

The scientists spoke with each other in the bubble of memory, pressed a few buttons, and then... the young Mewtwo let out a scream of pain as electricity shot through the tank. The elder Mewtwo huddled tighter, shivvering as the memory was dragged to the forefront of his mind.

"Make it stop..."

[frozenfeathers]

Articuno flinched upon hearing the phantom Mewtwo's screams. Damn these things! If only she knew how to make them vanish!

"Listen," she said to him with conviction. "You're a Psychic type, aren't you? You can read minds? Read mine. Focus on my thoughts and memories, if you can. Trust me."

And with that, she began thinking of the good times in life she'd had. Soaring free over the Seafoam Islands. The wind in her face. The sun on her back. No humans in sight. No one could try and fight or capture her up there. It was a calming memory--one she thought back on during her own times of distress. She only hoped her idea helped him, if even just a little.

[withmindbullets]

Mewtwo took a deep breath. He hated anyone seeing him like this. It was humiliating... His weaknesses should not exist. He should be beyond feeling like this. For memories like this to affect him so was a disgrace. As such he didn't really want to depend on Articuno to help him through this, despite her efforts. And yet the indignity of this was already immobilizing him. He had nothing to lose from this...

His mind reached out to hers. His breathing steadied as he closed his eyes and focused on the memories she shared. It felt... liberating. Freeing. His own memory bubble didn't vanish, but he seemed less tense than before as he focused on pleasant thoughts.

[frozenfeathers]

Articuno noticed a change in Mewtwo's composure. Sharing her thoughts seemed to be working. She tried to keep focusing on her happy memory, but she realized a little too late that he could probably sense how she was thinking about him. She hoped her feelings of kinship with him didn't throw him off.

Without saying a word, she approached him and sat up against him, ruffling her feathers into a sort of soothing, protective shield of fluff. The memory playback was still going. How long were these things going to torture him?

[withmindbullets]

Her feelings were not lost on him. No feelings were ever lost on him. Whether he reciprocated was another matter. He didn't push her away though, and that wasn't nothing. Although there was one thought nagging at him. And quietly, weakly, he gave voice to it.

"...Why are you doing this for me?"

[frozenfeathers]

Articuno answered without a second thought: "Because you need help."

Even if she was hardly ever afforded aid in her time of need, at least now she had a chance to pass it on to someone who needed it. And Mewtwo, as apathetic as he seemed to be, could clearly use some.

To her relief, the image of a younger Mewtwo in a stasis tube vanished. Others remained, but that one appeared to cause him the most distress. Seeing his reaction made her glad nothing similar had happened to her yet.

[withmindbullets]

The memory wasn't plaguing him anymore. He could bury the thoughts it stirred up deep inside himself again. But it wasn't quite that quick of a process, as much as he wished it could be. Articuno was a comforting presence, as loath as he was to admit it. He didn't attempt to push her away, at least not yet.

"I don't understand," he said quietly, not moving from that spot next to her.

[frozenfeathers]

Articuno looked puzzled.

"What do you mean? You don't understand... compassion?" she asked him earnestly.

[withmindbullets]

"I don't understand why you care so much about me," he mumbled.

[frozenfeathers]

Articuno wouldn't have called it 'caring' on her own, but now that she thought about it, it was caring. She did care about his welfare. He was still mostly just an acquaintance with a shared life experience, but in just their short time of forming a kinship, she, at that point, would almost call him a friend.

She wasn't sure how to answer his question. She didn't want to come off as imposing, dismissive, or overly sentimental. After a few moments of consideration, she responded:

"Because you seem to need it. And no one should have to go through what you're going through by themselves."

Articuno hoped it was an adequate answer. She felt the need to go into more detail but held her tongue, awaiting his reaction.

[withmindbullets]

Mewtwo didn't answer her. He couldn't think of a response appropriate for her. Could he have said that caring was weakness? Maybe. But he didn't. He decided instead... he just wanted to stay there. He sat by her side, silently. He didn't need to say he appreciated it. She could tell.

[frozenfeathers]

Articuno was glad he didn't dismiss her ideas of compassion. She tried to hide her sigh of relief and settled closer to him as the silence between them grew longer. One by one, the bad memory bubbles dissipated, leaving only the two huddling against the wall of the empty ballroom.

She wanted to ensure he'd be okay but couldn't find the words. Instead, she just looked at him kindly and inquisitively.

[withmindbullets]

He didn't feel the need to speak for the longest time, even after the final memory bubbles faded away. He sat there next to her, not making eye contact, lost in his thoughts. It was some time before he felt ready to stand up, and he got to his feet slowly. As unaccustomed as he was to this sort of affection, Mewtwo couldn't meet her gaze as he just looked around, and said simply, "Thank you..."

[ironrhinocop]

Garrett was horribly irritated now that these bubble memory things had emerged. It was making everyone emotional and irrational and generally just not open to following the rules. HIS rules.

Eventually, he couldn't take the yelling, the wailing, and the laughing anymore. They had to be quiet, dernit! People were likely sleeping! ...Somewhere! He could be seen running awkwardly through the halls, his thick legs moving as fast as they could, waving a stick he'd fashioned into a makeshift baton, commanding people as he passed to be quiet, stop crying, put those dishes down, etc.

[cantlearnsurf]

Kaiko hadn't been trapped at the mansion very long, but he liked to think he had a grasp on what was with this crazy place and its inhabitants.

He wasn't expecting the havoc of people watching themselves enact some rough times, though. It was as if he was witnessing portals into people's thoughts. Maybe this place wasn't as reasonably normal as he thought.

Kaiko floated quietly inside a hallway, figuring that if some life event of his was going to magically appear, it probably wouldn't fit inside the tight walls inside the mansion.

He was incorrect.

[babylonmechanic]

Wave was finding it hard to concentrate on her work. She had a partially assembled Gear set out on a blanket, and was trying to finish assembly, but every few moments she found herself stopping to try and ignore something going on behind her.

A memory bubble opened up behind her. And in it, she could easily see herself as a small child. And with her... was her father. An older purple swallow, visibly getting on in years, but with kindly features about his face. He was showing the young Wave new technology he was working on, encouraging her enthusiasm and curiosity... And Wave wanted it to stop. He was her greatest influence and teacher. And seeing this bubble was dragging up her feelings of loss at not having him there anymore. She was doing her best to ignore it, but every once in a while she had to wipe a tear off of her cheek.

[will_be_god]

Cyrus was used to having flashes of old memories suddenly surface. But what he wasn't used to was those around him being able to see them.

When he turned a corner and found himself face to face with what appeared to be a first-person view of the creation of the Red Chain, his first impression was that somebody was manipulating him. They had to be, to get all of the details correctly. He could practically feel the chain in his hands, how smooth and warm it was, how it shone in the light of the lab, red even through the green emanating from the tubes along the corner.

This was his own memory, impossible to be a reconstruction from any outside source, and that had to mean that somebody had tapped into his head.

"I know that you're there," he remarked to nobody. "Show yourself."