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

[madgiganticfeelings]

[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.

[37773972]

[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.

[madgiganticfeelings]

[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?

[37773972]

[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?

[madgiganticfeelings]

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.

[37773972]

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.

[madgiganticfeelings]

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.]

[37773972]

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.

[madgiganticfeelings]

[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.

[37773972]

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-]

[madgiganticfeelings]

[Yeah, okay, that gets her attention.]

You were used? What happened, Stephen?

[37773972]

It's...[nothing, he wants to say. The word is stuck in his throat.] ...it's complicated, Christine. And it's just a suspicion.

[madgiganticfeelings]

Complicated doesn't mean I couldn't understand it.

[37773972]

[He's quiet for a few long moments, and it seems like he's going to stay that way. Eventually, though, he takes a deep breath, and;]

I saw someone I thought I trusted, doing something I can't really describe to someone else I care about, and- I'm wondering if he did the same to me. It'd...explain a few things, if so.

[He reaches up to touch the side of his head. His hair has grown in enough to cover the tattoo, over the weeks, but it's still there.]

Did I tell you I woke up missing six weeks of my life? In a gas station bathroom, too. I went to my apartment, and- someone else was there. They said I'd sold it, signed it over to them the month before. I couldn't remember.

[madgiganticfeelings]

Oh... oh my gosh, Stephen, I'm sorry.

[Now she really feels stupid about her problems. Maybe not all of them, as her latest memory was pretty painful, but... the ones she's shared with him, at least.]

I can't imagine what that was like. It was bad enough for me to forget a couple things when we all ended up here. What did you do when you realized?

[37773972]

That something was going on? I followed whatever clues I could. Asked someone for help. Realized I was in a lot deeper than I thought I could ever be- and then I was here, and now I'm remembering...other things.

The six weeks are still a blank, though. I'm...hoping they come back, sooner than later. But I'm pretty sure Gregor had something to do with it, I just don't know why.

[madgiganticfeelings]

Gregor is someone from home, I'm guessing.

[She thinks that's almost a sterotypical name for someone a little morally corrupt, but she holds her tongue.]

What kinds of things were you doing to try to remember back home? Maybe... maybe we can try the same thing here.

[Even if the murders might be more important... Stephen is distressed about this, so Christine wants to help.]

[37773972]

[A nod] He was my teacher. I thought he died. [And at the question, he considers.]

...I was a little more focused on figuring out what was going on than trying to remember. I figured- once I got my feet under me, then I could worry more about what I'd missed. But maybe I should have started with that.

[But he has no idea where to start.]

I don't know, Christine. Like I said, it's complicated. Changing-the-future-complicated.

[madgiganticfeelings]

...It is complicated. Probably too complicated for me to help with. I'm really sorry.

[She might be smart for a high school student, but that's really all she is. She hugs her knees to her chest.]

I guess... all we can do is make sure our feet are under us. So we can keep moving forward.

[37773972]

I appreciate it anyway. [He looks at her, and manages a smile.] One step at a time, right?

[madgiganticfeelings]

Exactly. Always one step at a time.

[She smiles back at him for a moment, but she feels a bit unsure. Stephen told her a lot that was probably hard to admit to, and here she's been keeping information to herself that he probably was curious about.]

Hey... since you were helping me and Jeremy, um. Do you need to hear more about the SQUIPs? I remembered... what Jeremy was talking about at the trial.

[37773972]

...I wouldn't say no, if you had more information.

[madgiganticfeelings]

It's not much, really. I mean, it was just... I remembered how it felt when it was active. Which was bad.

And how much power Jeremy's had over the rest of us? Which was a lot.

[She threads her fingers together and stares at them as she opens and closes them, trying her very best not to just blurt out absolutely everything.]

[37773972]

Christine.

[And he kind of taps her shoulder to get her attention more on him for a moment]

I don't want you talking about it if it's going to make you too uncomfortable. Only share what you want to. Okay?

[madgiganticfeelings]

I-I'm okay. I want to talk about it.

[It's sort of related to the mess with Jeremy, so she thinks if she at least talks through this, maybe she can find a solution to bridge the gap between them there.]

Jeremy had come to me before our school play's performance, to try to give me a SQUIP. I already knew about them, and I kind of freaked out, I guess? And I told him no. As much as I could before I had to get on stage.

But I didn't know he'd already filled a prop beaker with them before. So I got one on stage. Like my pamphlet said, it looked like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and I know that sounds ridiculous and funny but you have to stick with me here when I say it was honestly terrifying? Especially because it kept insisting the best way for everyone to be happy was for me to confess how I felt to Jeremy.

Or... I think it's how I felt? It gave me the words, though, and they feel like what I wanted to say, but also not. And it's not like I could say or do anything differently, I just...

[Her stomach rebels again, but she swallows hard and exhales.]

I just had to make Jeremy happy. That was the only thing that seemed to matter to me.