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

[likemypicture]

Wasted opportunity. [Does she mean that? Well. She can't exactly tell lies right now. The Anne-pile lets out a dreary sigh, but at least she's not crying. Instead, she tries to talk herself up.]

I can't die. I have a new kingdom waiting on me, now. Richard gave his kingdom to me, and if I lose my head-- I don't just lose my story. I lose everyone else's too.

[heathencall]

Well. The door is sealed shut. They'll have to go through myself, this cat, and Tad Cooper to get to you. And also a handful of trombones, I'm sure.

[Never mind the fact that he doesn't hear anything.

Actually -- ]

Can you hear them still?

[likemypicture]

[Anne is quiet, listening intently-- and then when she speaks again, it's in a quiet and hissed voice]

Ja, like they're --- [She frantically starts to try and bury herself further. Maybe if she tries hard enough she can go inside the mattress itself and vanish completely]

[heathencall]

[Mephisto tries his best to hear whatever it is that Anne is so afraid of. All he can make out is the frantic shuffling on her part, though, the rustling of blankets and not-blankets, and a few articles falling to the floor.

Once she's settled, he stands up again. He creeps toward the door and presses his ear to it.]

Anna. Do you trust me.

[likemypicture]

[The question catches her off guard, and it at least makes her pause, to think. Does she trust him? She is a woman who has only really trusted herself, and God. She knows what he is. Just last night, he had confessed such awful things. Can she trust him? Does she dare?]

Ja.

[heathencall]

Awful decision, really. But --

[He presses his ear to the door once more. His eyes close, straining to hear anything that might somehow validate what Anne was so afraid of. When he comes up empty, he looks back over at her.]

There is no one out there.

[likemypicture]

[She doesn't reply-- for she is positive that there are men right outside the door-- she can hear their boots, their movements-- but if she can't lie, and he can't lie--

Momentarily, the panic clears. She springs upright out of the pile of blankets, jackets, --- is that a lion skin rug? Whatever, worry about that later. It's too ridiculous.]

What the fuck. [And... then she starts to laugh, like a crazy person, but she's so relieved.]

[heathencall]

[Mephisto anticipated Anne railing against him for his honesty, accusing him of all manner of untruths (never mind the Truths). The calm is... almost unnerving, and he has to blink several times to convince himself that this isn't yet another hallucination.]

It's getting worse. [He pinches the bridge of his nose, eyes squeezing tightly shut.] Are you back with me, then?

[likemypicture]

I didn’t leave, I was terrified! [That would be a yes—- her laughter fading, though she still finds her body trembling.]

Is there—- truly—- I should have known. It just—- it sounded so much like him. They looked....

[heathencall]

You weren't entirely in your head. [He slinks back from the door and... sits on the floor beside her bed. Now that she's lucid, he won't encroach on her space.]

We're safe. From that at least.

[likemypicture]

I was very in my head, which is where I would like to stay. [She touches her neck, as if to verify it’s still connecting her head to her body. In the process, she touches hair, and—-] Oh dear lord.

[She peers across the room at the mirror, and cringes.]

What is happening to us?

[heathencall]

We're falling apart.

[Honesty, right?]

And it will continue to happen as we pick each other off one by one.

[likemypicture]

That wasn’t the answer I was looking for. [She shakes her head, and slowly begins about the work of styling her hair back into place.]

I should prepare to lose my head, in that case.

[heathencall]

Never hurts to be prepared.

[He swallows.]

I am afraid to promise safety and protection to anyone else.

[likemypicture]

You don’t have to. I’m a grown woman, and most of the time, I can take care of myself. [Most of the time. She gets her hair as best it’s going to get for now.]

If it comes down to it, though—- I would rather be killed than kill another. I hope it does not.... need to be one by one.

[heathencall]

In my darkest moments, I've thought about ending them all myself. The children at least. It would be far more merciful than whatever the Phantom subjects them to.

Or whatever they do to themselves.

[He shakes his head and holds up his hands.]

I couldn't do it, so... Don't worry yourself about that

[likemypicture]

I won’t. I don’t think you would, either. The way you stepped in front of Red—-

Are you sure you’re a demon?

[heathencall]

Not really. A half-step above.

I haven't been to hell yet, after all.