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. ))

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[Every time Mephisto looks at the ceiling in the opera house, it warps. Occasionally he sees the castle, just like the night before. Once, though, he sees stars, fading further and further out of reach as he feels like he's falling. It happens once in the morning, while he's staring up at the ceiling in the main lobby.

He comes to his senses on the floor, trembling and aching, feeling as if he'd simply fallen back to earth.

It takes only one time for him to realize he doesn't really want to be seen today. And though he spends most of his day in the room, eventually restlessness does take him, and he scrambles outside and into the courtyard. Today he avoids the graveyard, not wanting to deal with spirits any more than he already has. Instead he makes his way to the fountain staring at its surface until --

The reflection warps. Ariel stares back at him, alive and happy, resplendent somehow, despite everything. Despite his damnation. No matter how many times he beats his fists against the surface, Ariel stares back.

When exhaustion gets the best of him, he comes to rest below the wall on the edge of the courtyard. He mostly intends to look up at the stars, perhaps nod off out where the air is thick and warm. If he can do that, maybe --

A voice, chanting his name, startles him out of his daze. He looks up at the wall and -- leaps to his feet. He saw her there, just for a moment, before plummeting down to the other side. He'd failed to climb after her death, but maybe now, even if he can't catch her, he can go to her.

Don't mind him, trying to mount the wall. His fingers rip and tear as he tries to claw his way up. Maybe he'll manage it, wobbling precariously at the top of the wall before peering off the other side.]

[ In the dark, the red of the McKinley High Cheerios uniform might pass for the orange of the Giles Corey High cheer uniform. Santana, as usual, is wearing the former.

Santana notices Mephisto wobbling at the top of the wall, and her stomach immediately drops. Mephisto is no flyer — odds are he’ll fall, and break his neck.

Santana has seen Riley climb to the top of the wall; she knows how it’s done. She’s slower than usual, but able to make the ascent, joining Mephisto at the top of the wall. ]

There’s nothing on the other side. You need to get down.

[Dazed as Mephisto is, his breath does indeed catch when he sees that uniform. The fog in his mind doesn't help, it's almost too easy to see a bright hair bow there.

But all the whispers in his mind can't change Santana's voice. Later, he'll deal with the guilt of confusing the two. For now -- ]

She said there was a door. It led back to the opera house. That has to be how we find them, Santana.

[ If you’re dead, does that mean I’m head cheerleader here?

That’s what Santana had said, when Riley found the door. It was a shitty joke then; it’s a shittier joke now. For the first time in her life, Santana regrets not saying something halfway decent to someone, for once. Santana takes a deep breath, tries to collect herself. It’s not the time to take a trip down memory lane; Mephisto needs her. ]

Yeah. There was. I’ll help you get down to the other side, alright?

[Mephisto at least has some sense about him. He squints at Santana, bow wobbling in and out of reality, then shakes his head.]

Don't know what's down there. Shouldn't let another kid get hurt.

[He scoots forward a little but... Yeah that's really far down, huh. He thinks about using his wings but -- he needs only strain against his bandages once before thinking twice about it.

Against his arm, Octokitten -- RiRi -- squeezes and mewls pitifully.]

Edited 2020-07-30 23:11 (UTC)

I do. I was there when — [ Santana’s breath catches. ] — when she found the door. It’s just trees and stuff.

[ Frankly, Santana trusts the cat to stick the landing more than she trusts Mephisto. She extends her hand. ]

Here. Can you get yourself sat down? You can just slide off. I’ll jump off first and catch you.

[Catch me.

He flinches, nearly stumbling off in the process. It's startling enough that he has the sense to sit firmly down on the wall. Sure, he's covering his ears for a brief second, wincing as the whisper lashes against his mind.

I always will. I promise that.]

Whenever -- You're ready.

Edited 2020-07-31 00:09 (UTC)

[ Santana has never seen Mephisto so vulnerable like this, with the wincing and covering his ears. It frightens her, a little. He’s one of the few people here that Santana views as an equal, someone who can be as tough as she is.

He’d helped her, in Riley’s room, when she couldn’t be tough. Santana figures it’s the least she can do to offer the same assistance. She lightly touches Mephisto’s shoulder. ]

Okay. I’m gonna jump.

[ And she does, landing with both feet on the ground. ]

Ready when you are, Medieval Times!

[She jumps, and for a moment he sees himself on a catwalk, watching Riley fall. Watches her break into a thousand pieces and he can't --

Santana draws him back. He blinks down at her, trying to sound out the static, block out the illusions. The nickname helps, it's something definitively Santana, and that's enough to keep him grounded.

Or as grounded as he can be as he pushes himself off the wall and plummets toward the Earth. He closes his eyes this time, so he doesn't have to watch the stars fall away, at least.]

[ Santana has good intentions and top-of-the-line athletic training, but the fact remains that Mephisto is taller and a good forty pounds heavier than Santana is. She can’t catch him so much as she can break his fall, and he lands body in her arms, but feet on the ground. Santana is able to hold him upright, although she does stagger back a few paces upon impact and coughs once. ]

Okay, you made it. Let’s go find that door.

[Santana stumbles and Mephisto chases her forward. He's hardly got his own balance in check at this point, but he's terrified of watching another girl collapse on him. He grabs onto her shoulder, steadying her and perhaps himself, and takes a moment to catch his breath.]

Right.

[He squints into the murk of the woods and steps in front of her. Santana might know more about what Riley saw, but he'll be damned if he lets Santana stumble blindly into danger while he cowered behind her.]

...Mephisto?

[Christine's voice is tired and slightly hoarse, but she still does her best to make sure to be heard over the splashing water. She abandoned her cloak in her room, but now she's finding that she's shivering, perhaps from the mist of water surrounding them.]

C-Come on, Mephisto. There isn't anything there.

[His full name just sounds long and burdensome in her mouth, but... she doesn't want to annoy him, like she knows she will. Everything about her was so terrible, and she needs to work on fixing it.]

[He doesn't hear her at first. All he hears is Ariel's voice, singing as he reaches his one and only truth. It should have frightened him -- it spelled out his damnation. But there he stands, painted in the lights of heaven himself. Saved.

He stiffens as he hears Christine's voice, head twisting around to stare her down. He glances back to the water once, but it's only his face staring back now.]

You should be inside.

[For a moment, Christine takes a step back, the glare from Mephisto so cruel that she's worried she's done more wrong than she already had. Surely the party wasn't bad enough to gain that much displeasure from him...

But she knows it was still unforgivable. She moves forward again, tries to reach out for Mephisto's hand.]

We both should be inside. You're going to make yourself more sick, don't you think? Come on...

[He thinks to flinch away from her touch, to tell her that he can't leave until he knows he's won, until he's certain that Ariel has plummeted down to hell like he was supposed to. There's an awful feeling he can't shake and --

Christine's hand touches his, and he finds the tension in his shoulders easing, just a little. He softens, just a fragment. What happened then didn't matter, the deals he struck were null. He wasn't a pawn in God's game, because -- ]

Christine. [He breathes out.] You're right.

[Christine breathes out with him, gives his hand a little squeeze. She's relieved to see him coming back to himself. Even if she hasn't completely yet, maybe they could all fight this illness away eventually.

She has to hope for that. Because the other solutions are too awful to consider.]

...I'm sorry about how I acted at the party. You shouldn't have seen that. I just, you and Stephen were fighting, and it made me nervous, because you aren't a bad person-

[Mephisto isn't. He's just done some bad things. Things that might have set off Christine's sort of downward spiral in this place, but it's fine.]

Christine.

[For a second, he can only think to repeat her name at first. He hardly remembers the night prior, at least not right off the bat. It's only when he remembers her reaction, the things she'd said and the fear he'd felt for her, that he understands why she's apologizing.

The guilt hits hard.]

That had nothing to do with you. [He closes his eyes. He can still remember the fight he and Stephen had prior to the party. That was what had set him off in the end.

And it had only rippled out from there.]

You aren't to blame for this. For any of this.

[Why does he look so guilty? He wasn't to blame either. He did some bad things. It was in the past. She already told herself, she can't get mad about it, especially with that staticky figure over her shoulder. She shakes her head, as stubborn as ever.]

It did have to do with me. I'm the one who tried to get answers out of you. That must have been what got Stephen's attention. And then I had to say those awful things, and the SQUIP made me act...

[Wrong. It was wrong. Just say it was wrong.]

Different than how I usually am. I understand why it hurt you. Even if I wanted to avoid hurting you ever again. I...

[And she knows even more clearly that she shouldn't say this, and her throat closes around the words, but somehow, she still forces them out with a sob.]

I don't want to end up being another Riley to you.

[There's so much to worry about here. The fact that she brings up the SQUIP, like it's chattering away in her head like Jeremy's had. Maybe now he understands her desperation from before -- he'd gladly give his life to free her.

He'll bring it up later. He'll bring up the fight with Stephen later too. Right now, there's something far more important.]

Christine. [How many times has he said her name now. It's starting to sound like it isn't a name at all. He's losing her, or maybe he's just losing himself.] I need you to understand something.

[His hands trembling as he cups both of her cheeks. It's a light hold, enough for her to pull away if she needs.]

You won't be another Riley. And not just because I won't let you leave me. [He pushes her chin up just a little, just enough to meet his eyes.] You are spontaneous where she was meticulous. Heart on your sleeve where hers was carefully tucked away. The silly little girl who cried on my shoulder about friends she didn't knew, not knowing she was charming a demon in the process.

She was my Riley. You are my Christine.

[It can all be discussed later. Of course, she doesn't want to, doesn't want to be forced to spill every secret she's bothered to keep since she arrived here, even those very few ones she's managed to maintain, but she doesn't have a choice, not when Mephisto is looking at her like that.

She feels lost in his gaze, in his gentle tone, but maybe that's just the fog of sickness in her head. She doesn't pull away, but she shivers a bit, and she doesn't know whether it's from fever or fear.

Or from those words, those kind, kind words... Her eyes remain locked on his, even as she feels them welling up.]

I won't leave you. Or hide from you. I promise that. I promised we were going to work together to get out, and... and that's the one thing that's been keeping me going some days.

You may be a demon, but you're... you're my savior. My Mephisto.

[Her hands reach out to grip his wrists, tightly, as if frightened he may fly out of her grip.]

Please... please don't leave me either. Don't go where I can't follow.

[Mephisto opens his hands to hold hers, but stops short as she takes hold of his wrists. Even now, she feels so small compared to him, far more fragile than the rest of the human lives he's come to treasure. He'd written once that if Riley could be eaten alive by this place, then Christine had one foot in the mouth already.

It's truer than ever, now, and that fills him with terror.]

We've saved one another, then. [Maybe not wholly, they're still here after all, and Mephisto doubts that these few weeks of kindness make up for what he's done for centuries in the grand scheme. Right now, though, in this moment, it's true enough.]

I won't go anywhere, Christine. I promise.

[She feels so small in comparison to him. She had tried so hard to be strong, a warrior and protector... but Riley was gone, and everyone was sick, and as much as Mephisto saw something in her, she was becoming acutely aware that she was depressingly normal.

This place could swallow her whole at any moment, and it's only Mephisto's promise that's been her rescue. She nods, slowly, biting down on her lip.]

Good. Good. If you're gone, I... I'd just be lost. Everything around here is spinning so fast, and, and I can't make it stop, not without you.

[She hates that she has to ask so much of him, but she knows she doesn't have a choice. She looks up at him, suddenly more focused than she's ever been.]

I need you to hold me steady. When I tried to go over the fence, Santana said I needed an anchor, so I didn't spin out and get dizzy. Can... Can you be my anchor?

Then I won't go anywhere. Wherever your light is, I'll be there to help it shine all the more. [He frees his hands, shaking as he does, and reaches out. He cups her cheek, thumb smoothing over the skin there. His chest aches, and not just from the coughing and the muscle soreness. What he's seeing here... None of it is fair.]

I will hold you down, as long as you hold me down. [His hands slide back, pulling her tighter to him.]

You are the light that is blinding me
You're the anchor that I tie to my brain
'Cause when it feels when I'm lost at sea
You're the song that I sing again and again
All the time, all the time
I think of you all the time

You're the one who's my light. We can help light the way for each other, right?

[She doesn't have much to her, but... but if he believes in her, then she can be around for him, pushing him to go a little further, until they are no longer sick, until they're free.

Her voice is hoarse and aching, and her arms are weak, but she hugs him and sings along with them, trying to keep them both sinking against gravity.]

Let the sorrows end when we lose our friends
'Cause you cut through all the noise
Let the days roll on 'till the static comes
'Cause you cut through all the noise
Bring me some hope
By wandering into my mind
Something to hold onto
In this dark, eternal night

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week 5

hallucinations, auditory and visual; finger injuries in last para

wall

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fountain

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