itscurtains | Week Five

[Last week, you had your very first minor body pileup! Granted, the Balladeer's death was entirely unrelated to anything, but at least he died as he lived - getting completely fucked up in some kind of carnival-themed hellscape. Only two days later, another terrible accident took Rina and Varian both from you. It's just been one of those weeks, huh? At least you got to add both of their corpses to your weird growing collection!

Again, you'll wake up this morning with another new snippet of memory. You'll also find that the stairs in the lobby are no longer blocked. You can only access one part of the second floor, but it seems like there's some neat stuff up there!

Outside, a few things seem to have changed. For one, the weather has turned - it'll be overcast this week, with periodic rain and even scattered thunderstorms. For another, the bushes around that rock out by the football field have bloomed. That's nice.

Get to it, friends! I'm sure everything will be fine this week!]

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

(( Be sure to submit your memory regain and your AC for this week! As always, Hester's office hours and the merch booth remain available. ))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Orpheus takes a deep, shuddering breath and reaches out to cling to Eurydice. He's not crying, more lost in the shock of it than anything else. It had never occurred to him that this could be a possibility, but it could be one, even without the Wizard having to do anything. No one understands how immortality is or isn't passed down. He'd have no way of knowing. ]

I can't lose everyone, [ he whispers, so quiet that only Eurydice could possibly hear. ] Not like that. Please.

[ Eurydice holds him close, pressing her forehead against his -- both to ground him and also to make it so he doesn't have to speak so loud. She is acutely aware that everyone else is still in the room.

He speaks, and her stomach drops. She whispers back, low and with a forced steadiness: ]

Like what? What did he threaten this time?

Immortality. [ he breathes, wrapping his arms around her. ] That one day you'll all go - somewhere I'll never be able to follow. Even if we get you out of Hadestown, I'll still -

[ Outlive her, and almost everyone else he's ever loved, ever will love. Be forced to watch them all age and die, say his goodbyes over and over again, all while he stays the same. ]

[ Eurydice's first instinct is to chalk that up to a completely preventable Wizard threat. After all, Hester didn't strictly say the pictures would come true this time, right?

But then she remembers that she's married to someone who can move rocks and conjure flowers with his voice, and that's because his mother is a Muse, and Muses are immortal. All of a sudden her eyes grow very, very wide.

Eurydice has no clue how immortality is or isn't passed down. But she knows that Orpheus inheriting it is a real possibility. His loved ones could leave him like that, over and over again. ]

No. No. If there's a way to bring me back, then there has to be a way you can follow. If that's even the case.

[ Swallowing back tears, he nods and tries to calm down. There's no guarantee that any of this could come to pass, not from the Wizard and not from his own heritage. ]

That's right. If it's true. It might - it doesn't have to be. [ He pulls back from her slightly, just enough to look her in the eyes and grip her hands between them. ] We'll find a way. No matter what, we'll find a way to be together.

[ And for all that he looks and sounds shaken and afraid, he means it. They've had so little time together. He won't lose her this easily, to the seasons or the passage of time. ]

No matter what. [ Eurydice wills her voice to be as steady as she can make it, as she looks back up in his eyes. She's never been the most optimistic person, but if Orpheus can meet her in Hell, if they can survive weeks in this place together...they can do this. They'll figure it out, together. ]

I'll walk beside you, love
Any way the wind blows

[ That gets a smile out of Orpheus, at least, weak and watery but hopeful. If Eurydice thinks they can do it, it feels that much easier to believe. ]

I don't need to live forever
Just long enough to see us grow old
Don't need a throne on Olympus
Just need a steady hand to hold
Don't want my name writ in starlight
Don't want to be worshiped or known
Just walk beside me, love
Any way the wind blows

I don't know where this road will end
But I'll walk it with you hand in hand
I can't promise you fair sky above
Can't promise you kind road below
But I'll walk beside you, love
Any way the wind blows

[ She squeezes his hands, a little stronger this time. She doesn't know who will live, or who will die, or when. But she knows she loves him, and it's gotten them this far. ]

[ Orpheus joins in with her, singing along, still teary-eyed but just a little bit better for the reassurance that Eurydice is with him. ]

Do you let me walk with you?
And keep on walking come what will?

[ He's still afraid - terrified, even - of what the Wizard has shown him today. But he trusts her, and she trusts him, and if they can make it out of Hadestown together then surely nothing else can tear them apart. Not even the Fates could be so cruel as to separate them after all of that. ]

I do
I will

[ She catches that little spark of hope, and it makes something warm and fragile bloom in her chest. That's the Orpheus she knows and loves. They'll walk out of the underground together, and when the time comes, they'll walk back in -- hand in hand, arm in arm, side by side. ]

We will

[ His expression softens into something more relaxed, and he presses his forehead against hers again. Even here, in the midst of everyone else panicking, angry, railing against the Wizard, he can feel just a little calmer with Eurydice holding onto him. ]

No matter what happens, I'll - I'll be with you every step of the way. Nothing will take me from you.

[ And silently, he thinks to himself - even if time takes her from him, even if death is not a problem they can solve from either end, he'll remember her, always. And nothing can take that away. ]

Week Five

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