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

[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?

[heathencall]

I do.

[He... isn't coming out with it, though. It keeps wedging in his throat every time he tries.]

I thought it weak at the time, I'm sure. Mocked him. But I understand, now.

[37773972]

[He looks at Mephisto, arching his brow...then...looking back at Riley, and letting out a breath.]

...at least you remembered something nice.

[heathencall]

[The huff Mephisto lets out is a bitter one.]

Sure. Nice.

[A glance toward Stephen.]

What about you, then?

[37773972]

[Stephen...is silent again. This is a much longer pause than before, where he's just staring ahead at Riley's stone, for all the world lost in thought.

Memory.

What the fuck was going on?

Gregor at a laptop. Dana wearing some kind of helmet, head shaved. VISUAL/VISUALIZATION. A haunting, dreamlike flow- ghosts of images.

His breath has quickened without realizing it, and he closes his eyes, a slight headache forming at his temples. He reaches for them, bandaged hands bumping against them- and he looks down at them, confused, before remembering what happened.

Right. Injuries. Mephisto asking him what he remembered. His tongue wets lips he hadn't realized had gone dry.]

...I'm still trying to understand it.

[heathencall]

Stephen?

[That's.... There's no masking his concern. He places his good hand on Stephen's shoulder, thumb rubbing in. He doesn't push, don't attempt to shake him out of his daze.]

[37773972]

[It's probably no surprise that Stephen startles a little bit at the touch- not flinching away, but looking back sharply, as if he'd forgotten Mephisto was there. He blinks a few times, pulled out nonetheless.]

I'm okay.

[It's the only thing he can think to say.]

[heathencall]

[He won't hold Stephen's hands outright but... He does brush his hand over them.]

Don't fall apart on me now.

[37773972]

[A glance down at their hands...and another breath. This one, to steady himself.]

...it was Dana and Gregor. He was...doing something to her, I think. I don't know how to explain it.

[heathencall]

Dana your... friend? [Is that hint of -- No, no, it's fine.]

And Gregor, the dead but not dead scientist?