week 5

[stagemanagers]

[That was...an absolute shitshow. More beloved friends are dead in a mess of a trial that's left Angus half the man he was, Riley in a free fall and the Phantom...somehow still standing despite taking two stabs to the torso.

When you wake on Sunday, you'll find that you've recovered another one of those memories - or had another dream, if you still wanna be in denial about it. The door blocking the stairwell on the second floor has been unsealed. You can now venture up to the third floor! You have so much space now, it's just a shame it's all come at the cost of eight lives.

But despite the tragedy you have made progress! The trip into the Phantom's lair yielded some hints to the past of the Opera House, your house manager's apparently grim hobby and the possibility of an ally outside the Opera House. Who knows what this week will bring?]

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday


(( Welcome to Week 5! Please remember to submit your AC and your memory regains, as well as your coins! You can also still contact the Phantom. ))

Comments

[37773972]

[He's silent for a moment. Part of him- part of him wants to say no. To hurt someone who allowed someone else to be hurt, but...

He steps forwards, looking down at Riley's stone.]

What would it change, Mephisto?

[heathencall]

If they had been there. If they had known. It could have changed everything.

[The Phantom clearly has the power of time and space in his hands. He just needs to catch hold of it. Intercede on Riley's behalf before it was too late.]

[37773972]

It could have.

[God knows he's thought about changing things, lately. Thanks, Nana.]

If we could get to her before any of it happened...I'd say, go to town. [He nudges a rock with his foot] I just...don't know what we can and can't get to, anymore.

[First he'd been ecstatic to know Gregor was alive. Now?...now he doesn't know.]

[heathencall]

The Phantom has a way. We can fix... anything.

[Right? Surely they could get their hands on anything, anyone they needed to and right the course they were on.

He had to keep believing in that.]

Looks like we'll have our hands full for awhile.

[37773972]

He can fix...

[...we can change the future.

we can change...the past.

He presses his lips together.]

...a lot of things, given the chance. Where would we stop?

[heathencall]

[He considers it for a moment. A heavy question. No right answer, it feels like.]

Whenever we get bored?

[37773972]

[...he's not sure it feels right. To fix from disaster is one thing; to fix everything? He furrows his brow, unable to phrase it in to words. It feels...a little too much like playing God, to him. The ability to go back and change things, save countless lives, save Angus's Earth, Stephen's own, Riley's life and her classmates...

Oh, is it tempting. All that power...

...he needs to think about this when his head's clearer. He shakes it, trying to dismiss the thought for now. Instead, he glances towards Mephisto and half-raises a hand]

...I didn't realize how bad your wing was.

[heathencall]

[Mephisto is almost grateful for the subject change. It would be dangerous, to get so caught up in such a fantasy. He needs to keep his head in the moment, watch out for all signs of a threat.

If he'd opened his eyes, maybe he could have seen Riley's despair.

He won't make the same mistake twice.]

This wasn't all your doing. [He motions backward.] I made it worse yesterday.

[37773972]

It wouldn't have been made worse if I hadn't been doing something miles out of my league.

[He'll be sticking with the stars from now on, thanks. But he's not going to linger on that in itself, just...]

...I'm sorry, Mephisto.

[heathencall]

I'm alive, aren't I? And we were doing what I could to find a way out.

[Mephisto shrugs.]

Far worse could have happened.

[37773972]

[I could have died.

Stephen doesn't say that. He doesn't want this to be about him, he doesn't feel comfortable with that kind of focus right now. But he does reach out and - hesitantly - touches an uninjured part of the wing with a wrapped hand.]

Maybe.

[...]

How long will it take to heal? A few weeks?

[heathencall]

Months. [Years, even, if he heals at all. It's hard to say, cut off from heaven as he was. It'd taken him ages to get back his feet after falling. This might not have been as severe, but who could really say.]

A few days for me to be able to put it away though, I would hope. At least then I won't look quite so mangled.

[37773972]

Months. [Shit. He tightens his jaw and looks away, lowering his arm as if he's been burnt.]

...at least we'll have time once we're out. Right?

[Look on the bright side, Stephen, look on the bright side...]

[heathencall]

All that and more. Seventy years worth, right?

[Surely his wings will heal before then.

Even if does seem like a blink]

Having second thoughts now that I've lost some of my charm?

[37773972]

[That jab...actually relaxes him. Eases some of the tension from his shoulders. He doesn't laugh, but he does quirk a smile.]

I didn't need the wings before. If anything, it just means we've got even a less chance of flying.

[heathencall]

Must be counting your blessings then.

[He glances toward the little memorial he's left on the grave.]

Can I confess something?

[37773972]

[Mephisto? Confess?]

...if you'd like.

[heathencall]

When we met, I wanted her to break. I didn't know what I did, but I could see there was some part of her that wanted to... [He trails off, remembering the teddy bear she'd ripped in two. How dazed she'd been after it had happened.

He'd seen a crack there, and he'd wanted to pry it apart.]

It changed after Sigyn, just like everything else. But perhaps I put something in her then. Perhaps if I hadn't even tried to plant the seeds, she might not have cracked.

[He knows better, knows that those cracks were there long before they'd met. But he still gone back and forth tearing apart his ever action.]

[37773972]

[He's silent.

It's familiar; blaming oneself. With Mephisto, though, he...he can see it. Who knows how many lives the angel has ruined? How many souls he's captured, deals made? A few weeks living with humans isn't forgiveness for all the transgressions he's committed. He has a lifetime - multiple lifetimes - to dedicate trying to fix things, not just Stephen's seventy years.

And yet, when Stephen looks at him, he does not see an angel. He sees a man. It makes him wonder just what makes them different, from each other, from the Phantom- even Jeremy's SQUIP.

They're all just trying...to get by. Aren't they? He remembers seeing something in the Phantom, during the trial, before Riley attacked him, and...]

...I think this place is meant to crack us all. One way or another.

[heathencall]

It's succeeding.

[He thinks again of that moment, that memory. The words had brought euphoria for Mephisto in that time. Now, he repeats them to himself, dreading the ache that comes right along with it.

Maybe Ariel deserved what he got, what Mephisto did. But he'd maintain until the very end that Riley did not.]

I won. In my game with Ariel, I won.

[37773972]

...so you get his soul?

[heathencall]

His soul, and my return to Heaven.

[37773972]

[The latter...doesn't make sense, all told, but. A bet's a bet, he guesses. Stephen considers this for a long moment, then;]

What are you going to do with it? Since you got what you wanted.

[heathencall]

I don't know.

[He kicks at a loose patch of dirt.]

There were conditions to our deal, but I was never sure what they were. I... have not recalled that piece. But I think I can put the pieces together. He wanted help. If I could bring him sublime satisfaction, give him the answer to the question of life, I would win.

He found that answer.

[37773972]

[He's quiet for another moment. It's a lot to think about, all right?]

Do you remember what it was?