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... [A frown twitched over her lips.] Maybe forgiveness? That is... what you do, what you have done. How do you forgive other people, regardless of their sins?

And... how can I learn to forgive myself?

[desperateprayer]

First, let me ask, Angel... What are you going to do from here?

[ It's important, she promises. ]

From this point on, what will you do?

[brokencode]

I... would like to help.

[She couldn't bring back the people of New Haven, but now there were 12 others that she had a chance of saving. They were dropping like flies though, and the more time went on, the more unlikely it seemed that she could do even that.]

I do not want to lose anymore people. Especially not my friends.

[desperateprayer]

That's good. That... Is what matters, to me. I don't think it's ever too late for someone to change. It is, as always, a choice. And I feel that... If there's someone there who will accept them because they made that choice, then no one will ever have to be alone. It's... It's not always easy, true, but...

[ ...But one person gave her a chance. And look where she is now. ]

[brokencode]

[Clarith you're in a murder game, I don't think that choice did you any good.]

I do want to change. I don't want to be the thing that hurt all those people. It was... awful, playing that role. Being that kind of monster.

[Hearing people screaming. Watching her father burn homes and people to ash with no regard for anyone or anything. She'd let that happen, and it horrified her.]

What should I do then? To change.

[desperateprayer]

That is... Hard for me to say. But if you were given that choice again... What would you choose?

[brokencode]

Knowing everything I do? I would stand up to my father. There is no question of that. [No matter the pain, no matter anything, it simply could not be as bad as the guilt seemed to feel.]

[desperateprayer]

...Then you've already taken the first steps toward changing.

[ Angel. She's so proud. ]

...You... Are far stronger than you think you are. When something breaks but doesn't die, it can heal stronger. And I think you have, truly, become very strong. ...I think you simply needed to realize it.

[brokencode]

I do not feel any stronger. Everyone around me keeps getting hurt and I can do nothing. I can acknowledge that, perhaps, I have changed. But stronger?

[She shook her head and wrung her hands together.]

[desperateprayer]

Strength doesn't always mean the strength to stop something. Sometimes it means the willingness to get back up and keep moving forward, to keep going no matter how bad it gets. The strength to stand up and fight a battle even if you can't win because you refuse to simply take the easy way out. Things... Like that.

[ And for that, Clarith is proud of you. ]

[brokencode]

That... does not sound like me. At least not this week.

[Waking up on Sunday had been enough of a blow to her morale, considering the memories that had come with it. And then, losing Kip, someone who she would have thought invulnerable... If this place was meant to incite despair, it was succeeding.]

[desperateprayer]

...And yet here you are, talking to me about how you'd stand up to what must probably frighten you just as much as PAL. It's okay to take a break, or take your time getting back up. What matters is that you're determined you eventually will.

[ Things will get better. ]

[brokencode]

[Angel opened her mouth to argue, but no words came out. She closed it once more, opened it again, and then finally pressed her lips into a firm line. She regretted not coming to the woman sooner, lamented what had only been a passing interest, and only ever when Clarith was hurting.]

You... are a very kind woman. Impossible to argue with, too.

[desperateprayer]

[ Well now you have a big sister, Angel. ]

...Thank you. I hope... That you can begin to see that strength, too. In yourself. It's hard. I won't lie about that. Bu... Maybe we can pick each other up.

[brokencode]

[She'd never had a big sister. Oh no, what does she do.

I think, if nothing else, I can do that. Pick you up, at least. You have already done so much for me and I... I'm really good at helping people!

[desperateprayer]

Mm. I think you'll be just fine, Angel.

[ OH THE FUCKING IRONY ]