itscurtains | week 7

[Seven weeks. Twelve deaths. Five survivors.

When you wake up at the start of the new week nothing in the opera house seems all that different. The Box Office door is still locked tight as it ever was but the box you've been submitting letters to for the past several weeks still appears to be open. The Phantom is still accepting correspondence apparently.

But something within you is different. You remember everything. All the gaps, the missing pieces, entire chunks of time from back home- they're back and neatly fitted where they should be in your heads.

Just like the previous week, there's a distinct lack of contact from the dead after all of their activity before. No moving Tom Jones cutouts, no recording studio mishaps, no mysterious deliveries for Tad Cooper or automatic writing sessions. It's probably fine though.

As the days trickle by you get the looming the end is near.]

[ Sunday Monday Tuesday ]

[ooc: don't forget to submit your final memories, toss in your regain coins and check in for endgame! Reminder, since this is the last week all characters should be at their true canon point memory-wise!]

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[He keeps their pinkies united. Just because he can.]

A little less worrying them. [A pause.] And yes, please. By all means, keep yourself alive.

Just a little... It might go easier for both of us if you don't get more injured. I can't kiss everything better, you know.

[It's a joke, but there's still concern in her gaze, as she looks at their linked pinkies.]

I'll do by best to avoid any further injuries. Just for you.

[He squeezes her pinky again. Another promise for the promise pile.]

[Christine has put a lot of faith in their promises. Doing it like this... she wonders if that's what had kept them both alive. She'd made promises to others, but they hadn't made it like this... It's silly, to think making a promise in such a childish way gave them something to cling to. But she can't help it.]

Good. As long as you try... And I'm sorry for taking on too much.

I forgive you.

[He releases her finger finally and... Just takes a few moments to look at her.]

Just remember that you can share your burdens with me. Always.

Are you sure about that? Some of my 'burdens' are the silliest things. And I know the computer talk would be confusing enough already...

[That's without getting into the less than consensual fashion in which she got her SQUIP, which is... definitely still on her mind.]

It does not matter. I am here for you unconditionally, Christine.

[Sure, he might not understand all of it! But he'll try! That counts!]

Unconditional love? Now I really know you've grown a heart.

[It's a little teasing, but it's very affectionate, as Christine slowly stops curling in on herself, opening up to him a little more.]

Did Jeremy ever tell you how I got my SQUIP? Probably not, it... doesn't paint him in the best light.

[Mephisto huffs, tucking his chin down as he does. His gaze flicks to the side, away from Christine.]

He didn't. Jeremy was... often difficult for me to talk to. Too many nuances to read through. [Jeremy made one pop culture reference one time and Mephisto stopped listening except to ask him about computers.]

It wasn't just you, don't worry. I thought it was easy to talk to him but... things changed.

Anyways, he confronted me during opening night of our play, trying to give me one. I already knew about them, and they seemed dangerous, and, um, I didn't really think there were things about me that needed to be fixed by something like that.

[She winces for a moment, a hand going up to her forehead. The voice in her head clearly has opinions about that.]

Problem was, he had already snuck a bunch of them into a prop potion, so when I drank it... it took over for me. Before I knew what was happening, I was telling him I loved him, that we'd... be together forever.

[Well... That certainly sours the mood. Mephisto bites the inside of his cheek to keep from outright snapping. None of it is Christine's fault, so he shouldn't snap at her, right? Even if he does think her a fool for being so enamored with someone like that.]

I... Can see why he was wary of continuing your friendship. Anything with a basis like that is... incredibly harmful, I would think.

[He would know, right? He'd lied to Stephen for two weeks, after all. Things had only gotten better when they'd both acknowledged their rocky start..]

[She's aware now that she was a fool, that maybe not all her feelings were as true as she felt them to be... but she's one lonely teenage girl. She looks down, noticing the tension in Mephisto's tone.]

It wasn't like that was the first time we had met. I met him before he had one, and... I thought, with time away from the SQUIP, he could be like that again.

Besides, if he took something like that willingly, then... it's obvious he needs help. I wanted to try to help him, at least as a friend.

... I still do, even if he probably doesn't want me to.

You shouldn't make excuses for him. You shouldn't make excuses for anyone that hurts you, Christine.

[He knows full well that he's included in that bunch. Since coming to care for her in the way that he had, Mephisto has often found himself grappling with the amusement he'd felt as the body fell on her. To say nothing of the fact that he'd intended to manipulate her, to steal her soul at one point or another.

In any case, he would hope that she wouldn't make excuses but... Considering her vocal defense of Jeremy, he couldn't say for certain.]

Sometimes people need the kind of help that we are incapable of giving. Sometimes people do not want to be helped. It is... something I have been considering a lot lately, after what Stephen did.

My point is... We cannot beat ourselves up or run ourselves ragged for those that are not willing to accept our assistance.

...Maybe I shouldn't. But then, what's the solution then? It's not like I can just decide not to forgive him! I know he manipulated me, and I know he did horrible things to me e-even outside of the SQUIP. And... of course I've been angry. He never acted like my feelings mattered. It was always his feelings first.

[That stupid conversation in the movie theatre... every conversation since then... even leaving her alone with the SQUIP instead of giving her the dignity of a proper goodbye. It all makes her so angry, and she genuinely looks like she could scream for a moment, jump up and take another hammer to the walls, take out all her frustrations on this prison around her.

But she deflates at the mention of Stephen.]

...Stephen made one mistake. He still loved you, no matter how desperate he was. He's still someone you could help. I know it.

But... I can't help Jeremy. And I can't let him go, either. If I give up, it's just putting his feelings first again.

I'd rather not talk about Stephen.

[It comes out just a little snappy. He doesn't mean for it to, but it can't be helped. He doesn't want to think about Stephen's love. It hadn't mattered in the end. Bitterly, he recalls Ariel's own words.

Love means nothing to me,
If there is a higher place to be.

No. He'd rather not think about it at all.]

I think you're putting too much of your energy into him, and not enough energy into you. Certainly not nearly as much energy as he wants to put into you, either.

But that's all I will say on that.

...I'm sorry.

[She really should have known better than to mention Stephen to someone still so angry with him, even if she believes firmly that they still love each other. She shouldn't take away someone's right to be angry.

Even if she tends to make excuses to take away her own. Already, her mind is filling in all the words Mephisto didn't actually say. Stop talking about this. Stop talking about him. Haven't you discussed this enough to get over it?

Are those his words, or just words from that voice in the back of her mind? She sighs and brings her knees closer to herself again.]

...I think this place has messed me up too much. I used to focus more on myself, I promise. I always knew what I wanted.

[It's just that she was always desperate to understand other people, and her energy was still always poured out towards them.]

week 7

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