Week 5

[airlockedmods]

[As with the weeks before, life in the Fantasy Sweet returns to something resembling normalcy with shocking efficiency. The second floor rest area and Adventure Zone Death Orb Room are spotless again, the demon glitter has been vacuumed, the deflated orbs have been replaced. It's like none of it ever happened, like three more friends aren't dead and stored away in the guest house morgue.

There's a new floor to explore, their "reward" for a job well done.]

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday



[ooc: Don't forget to to turn in your activity for week 4, submit your memory regains and put in your threads for the Benefactors!]

Comments

[brokencode]

Maybe.

[There was more she wanted to say, but she didn't want to argue with him. Right now, she could at least stomach Rhys' acceptance. If nothing else, someone in this facility still trusted her. She could question it later. She needed comfort now.]

I... trust you.

[More than anyone who came before him. More than her father, and perhaps even more than the otthers here.]

Thank you.

[plugout]

[ Idly, he reaches up to stroke her hair. More than anything, he needs to let her know he's here for her. Now, always. ]

Hey, you don't have to thank me.

[ He doesn't want to see her hurt. ]

It's just... you deserve good things. To be happy. Even if you don't think so.

[brokencode]

I don't... know what I deserve.

[Not when there was so much blood on her hands. It seemed wrong, very wrong, to be happy like this. To have a boyfriend that cared about her, that appeared to want to stand by her despite all she had done. And friends, she had those too. She didn't know if they would think the same of her, but she would gladly count Nari, Junpei and Choromatsu as her friends, and that was only if she was being conservative.

No. She deserved to be in a game of murderers, deserved to be a victim, to suffer for her crimes. Certainly nothing like this.

But she was certain that Rhys wouldn't agree with her if she said as much aloud. Instead, she simply rested her head against his chest and tried to focus on simply breathing.

[plugout]

Better than what you believe. And... what he's made you believe.

[ His voice is firm, because it's truly what he believes. Despite what she thinks, Angel deserves freedom. He's not sure what'll happen in this place, but he'd do anything to make sure she gets the ending she deserves.

And that ending... is an ending without Jack. Because even though Jack is dead and gone in Rhys's time, he's not sure about Angel. Knowing that, if she returns to Pandora, she'll possibly be going back to a death sentence?

That's not right. ]

[brokencode]

[Several protests began and died on her lips. She wanted to argue that the corpses in New Haven, the families of those who died in the massacre, all might disagree with him. But she didn't. Her mouth remained closed, and for a long while, she simply leaned against him.

Eventually, a voice in the back of her head began to chide her. She wasn't the only one who received memories, at least she was almost certain she wasn't. She lifted her head, giving Rhys a serious look, before laying a hand against his cheek.]

What about you...? Are you alright?

[plugout]

[ He hesitates. It feels wrong to turn attention to him when she's not... doing well at all. Rhys instinctively places his hand over hers, squeezing lightly. She's... asking, so maybe... ]

I... not. Not really. Angel, I did something-- really bad.

[brokencode]

[It was as if Rhys had flipped a switch. Though she still felt her own distress rising up within her, it could at least be ignored for the time being. It was like she had thought earlier -- she wasn't the only person receiving memories.]

What happened? [If Rhys could forgive what she had done, she could at least listen and try to do the same.]