itscurtains | week 5

Entry tags:

act 2,
week 5

week 5

[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. ))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm sorry. I'm sure it'll be okay soon. We'll get better.

[And maybe she's just deluding herself, but she doesn't show any indication of that, aside from a scowl at something off to the side.]

We don't know about that. Maybe there is a way for them to write us. Maybe in the morning, there will be new letters here for me! I know they're ghosts, but holding a pen... they can probably manage that!

[If Stephen notices her glance, he doesn't show any sign. He considers this for a moment, and then;]

What about an open invitation to use our own hands? You had a good idea at the meeting, with - Beetlejuice was the name, right?

[He has not met the guy yet, OK]

What if we gave a certain time we'd be in our rooms with a pen ready, and if they needed to say something, they could do it then?

Oh! That's a good idea! I could actually... wait a second...

[She's fortunate she tends to bring her binder with her pretty much everywhere, so she takes a piece of paper out and jots a note on it:]

Hello everyone!
If you want to get in touch with me, I'll be in my room with a pen at 11:00 tonight. Please pass this on to everyone else.
Love you and miss you all!

[And then she tapes it to Riley's other letter. She looks pleased for a moment, but only for a moment, before seeming to deflate.]

I-It's not that stupid. Stephen always has good ideas. He isn't babying me...

[That's...harder to miss.]

Christine? Who are you talking to?...

[Nobody, obviously! But when Christine tries to say that, she immediately answers:]

Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

[This is followed by her clamping her hands over her mouth, glaring off to one side. She is trying very hard not to offer up more information here.]

[Blink.

Blink.

Yeah um. He gives her a wry look, figuring she just doesn't want to admit she was talking to herself.]

I'm not babying you, I promise.

[He certainly doesn't have to believe her. She's sure it's fine. It's not like it can do anything besides... say things. Some nasty things, but she's totally fine. She gives a sideways smile and shakes her head.]

It's okay. I know I'm... not the most normal girl in the world. And I don't always handle things super maturely. Like the meeting yesterday.

That probably could have waited until another time and place, yeah. [There's no hesitation in saying that.] But you still contributed, so- I guess it evens out, a little.

Just...do me a favor and don't do that kind of thing again?

[A soft groan.] I was trying to be quiet. And I mean... it's hard not to understand why I was mad.

[She isn't sure why she's arguing, really. Maybe because she keeps hearing someone telling her to just defer, to just be proper and polite and gentle like she's supposed to. She's not going to get anyone to like her otherwise, doesn't she know that?]

No, but...Jeremy seems like he needs to deal with a few things, first, before he's ready to start being himself again.

[He glances at her]

...I think you two will work it out. Eventually. But I've pushed people away, too. [Was it smart? No. Does he think he was kind of a douche in doing so? Yeah, he can admit he didn't handle things well, and was very much one of the assholes he so Dislikes.] Don't give up on him.

He does need to. And that's why I tried to help him. I'm just...

[Listen, sometimes, you're tired of being nice and are all for the possibility of just going apeshit. Especially after this long of being kicked down.]

I'm just tired. He doesn't even let me talk about what bothers me about him before deciding I'm forgiving him and just... hating that for whatever reason.

[She should definitely stop talking. She's not at all holding up appearances and it kind of hurts not to? She's imagining that. Definitely imagining that.]

I didn't have any friends, back home. I thought he was the only one.

[He's quiet, letting Christine talk. At the end, though, he startles a bit]

A kid like you, without friends? No way.

[Christine looks honestly confused by Stephen's shock.]

I mean, yeah. When I was younger, I got invited to a couple of things, but that's just because girls had to invite all the girls in their class to stuff. Around middle school... I started eating lunch in the library while reading Shakespeare. I tried to get involved, sometimes, but I, I'd get too excitable. Or awkward. And I'd say or do things people didn't get... I mean, it didn't really bug me, I was busy with drama club... Except it bothered me a lot? And I didn't know how to... fix me.

[She isn't sure why she's pouring her heart out about this now, but it's not exactly surprising that she wouldn't be able to stop herself from talking now. She digs her heels into the ground, as if trying to physically halt herself, but it fails.]

Everyone in the club was nice to me, but they all moved on from it eventually. When Jeremy joined, I thought for a second it'd just be the two of us... and, and I didn't mind? Because he, I thought he actually listened to me. He didn't care that I was too emotional or too passionate. I thought, maybe he liked that?

[Stephen has never had more mixed feelings on teaching high school versus college. Then again, he's no therapist, no counselor. And he remembers his own experience with it. Nonetheless...

After a moment, he reaches up and makes to place a bandaged hand on her shoulder.]

From what he's told me? I don't think you're wrong. Just- keep in mind that everyone deals with everything in their own way, Christine. It can be...hard...for some people to be expressive.

[At least after rambling on like that, Christine has the decency to look ashamed. She winces a bit, when Stephen touches her shoulder, looking past him, before stumbling over an apology.]

I'm-I'm sorry, I shouldn't... I shouldn't have gone on like that. All of that stuff is stupid anyways, I mean, we're dealing with way more important problems here.

[He wants to tell her otherwise. That she's important. He almost manages to work his lips around the latter, but- is this music? If she thought he was babying her before, he's not going to risk it now.

So he clenches his jaw, waits for the moment to pass, and tries something else. Subject change, go?]

I spoke with the Phantom, too.

[Right. Onto more important subjects. Christine exhales slowly and does her best to hide the hurt in her expression.]

In person? What did he end up saying to you?

[Not. Looking at that face. His attention is back on the gravestone]

...it's why I asked if we could trust him in the meeting. Because he asked if I thought he was lying every week, and that made me realize that something bigger was going on.

[He frowns]

...bigger than any of us, really. If he can bring all of us here, together - if he can bring back the dead - or even if it's not him, it's that Wizard Anne mentioned - then what the hell is all this for?

He told me that people didn't need to die for what he wanted to accomplish. It definitely isn't for whatever his plan is. It might be this Wizard, or the patron he mentioned to me, that all this is for, and maybe they have a reason for it that the Phantom doesn't know about.

But he avoided the questions whenever I asked him about who was behind this.

Same with me. It's pretty obvious whomever's doing this wants to keep their hands as clean as possible. [For certain definitions of 'clean'.] I ended up mostly telling him that I wasn't going to pretend we were friends, but if he needed to talk to someone, the offer was open.

[He sort of. Holds up a hand.]

Mostly, I was just glad I didn't have to hold a pen for a little bit.

I... offered to help him. Like I said. But he told me... not to make offers on things I don't understand, because someone might take me up on it someday.

[Which, as usual, is cryptic, and not something she understands at the moment. But she worries she will later.]

I think you needed to think a little more about that offer before making it. [gently] For what it's worth, I told him I'd try and understand- then realized I couldn't. Not without knowing more than he was willing to share.

Edited 2020-07-28 22:44 (UTC)

[She looks hurt again.]

I did think about it! I just... I thought if there was a way to fix things without anyone getting hurt, then I'd do anything to make it happen. I know it sounds naive.

No, I know you did, Christine, it's- keep in mind you can not want to hurt people and still do bad things.

[Something twists in his heart. Did Gregor?]

I don't want you being used like I was.

[wait, what-]

[Yeah, okay, that gets her attention.]

You were used? What happened, Stephen?

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