For Whom The Belle Tolls
You are Doctor Eggman. You're sure of that.
But there is some part of you that can remember Mr. Tinker. He was a happy man, a joyful man, and one whose creations brought smiles to the faces of others and praise to himself, though he was quite bashful.
You are Doctor Eggman, but you remember the joy that Tinker found in this simple task. All camera's to this workshop have been turned off, Sage has been instructed to cut all audio devices and only respond if a key phrase is said, and the door is locked. You feel as safe as you can to actually indulge in this.
The chisel is a bit awkward in your hand as you start, the first few test pieces are immediately pushed to the side as they are not to the standard you hold yourself, but… you can see it. As you work the wood and see the progress there is a contentment here that you can understand. It is a simple pleasure not dissimilar to when you first crafted badniks with your own two hands, seeing the idea take shape from your brilliant mind into the world at large.
It's still not right however and unlike with metal, you can't simply melt it all down and reforge it, each piece when carved incorrectly was something not worthy of the perfection you demanded of all of your creations! Or at least most of them, you muse as you slowly continue your work on this new piece, trying to bring the image in your head-
You're broken from your almost meditative state as the door to your workshop falls to the ground, Belle retracting an arrangement of tools as she steps inside, shoulders tensed as she steps over the dismantled door. You very quickly hide your work before you realize what Belle has done.
Before you can bring her to task, the puppet speaks and you have not heard this tone from her before. "Did you know that Dr.Starline was very interested in talking about some of your old plans? He loves talking about you, Doctor." The way she says that, something inside of your flinches as she continues forward. "He was just so interested in talking about your plan with Egg Planet Park and the amazing uses of Hyper-Go-On energy you discovered."
Your mind briefly flashes to the fiasco with the interstellar amusement park and you still rue the day you introduced Sonic and his friends to the Wisps, though if you had your way-
"AND he talked about how you enslaved an entire race to steal their lives to power a giant MIND CONTROL CANNON!" Her voice quickly grows into an angry shriek as she slams her hands down on the table, her blue eyes narrowed in a scowl.
You almost laugh at her rage, almost.
"Yes? And what of it?"
She reals back at your simple response, almost like you'd hit the girl. You shake your head and casually slip the tools and carving into a set of drawers.
"I haven't tried to hide who or what I am from you Belle. I told you from the beginning that I was not your father-"
"I don't need you to be him!" she interrupts you again. "I just thought you were better than… this! Better than trying to burn up an entire species as fuel for a laser gun to make people like you!"
Make them like you? That's not at all what mind control is for! It's for th-
"Since I've joined you, you've talked about the Eggman Empire," your thoughts are again interrupted by the wound up puppet. "And you've had me bringing people in who you've honestly helped at every turn! And look! Your Empire is growing!"
A finger raised, "The Darcsen love you! You've saved their lives and given them someplace to call home!" A second, "You had no reason to help Canaan and Maria besides it being the right thing to do! But you still sent Metal and I into that crazy freaking city to get her back!" A third. "And Cassia! You told everyone that it was just for your ego, but you still saved her! When literally no one else in the world cared, even The Restoration were just going to let her wither away, you Dr. Eggman," she almost spits out your title, "save a teen girl's life!"
"So how…" She is breathing heavily, her eyes wild at this point. "How are you the same man who was willing to commit genocide on an entire race, to try and hold the planet hostage with a giant flipping lazer, and someone who literally cracked the planet apart!"
…
You don't have an answer.
At least, not an easy one. You have noticed your changing actions since The Shattering, the difference in your choices. You still hold the same goals, the same Drives as before, but now you are… different. Different from the man you were before.
But that is not an answer you can give, not to Belle.
And so you fall back into a strangely uncomfortable groove and look down on her.
"Because I am a man of such untold genius that I am more than simply good or evil as you so like to view the world," you fire back. "The brilliance of my mind and what drives me is global conquest! Not just of a few peoples, but the world over! Even that is not enough though. Today Earth, Tomorrow, The Universe!"
You laugh, trying to get your same boisterous, dominating laughter.
But even to your own ears it rings hollow.
The look on your girl's face, almost brings you to a halt.
Her exit does entirely.
You stand in the workshop, the barrier you put up torn down completely by the puppet girl, and now you're all alone. Again.
Pulling open the drawer you had hastily hidden your work in, you look at the crudely shaped wooden bell. It wasn't perfect…
But what made by your hands has been?
Results
Belle has looked into Eggman's past and discovered the Egg Planet Park, Space Colony Ark, and Dark Gaia incidents and was horrified by them. Belle's opinion drops by 10. (-20 due to her trait.)
Eggman is… confused on why this opinion loss matters so much. He must take the Talk To Belle action next turn or suffer a -10 to all of his personal rolls next turn.