let's sync up!

[justmeheere]

[Jeremy hasn't actually been around a lot, but he has been having a lot of long conversations with the SQUIP because they, unfortunately, are in possession of a bunch of information and a weirdly unique situation that means they kind of understand some things about this whole being dead thing.

So late Tuesday afternoon, the SQUIP will be wandering around and informing everyone that they should all convene in the dining hall. Unlike a lot of other meetings, Jeremy's a garbage teenage boy who's provided uh. There's some grilled cheese and Minion mugs full of water. You're welcome.

Oh, he's also laid out a whole Pepe wall's worth of notes and shit on the table. You might wanna ask about that first.]

Um, hey. So, uh. Well, I mean - have you, uh. That's the SQUIP and it's gonna be quiet [Jeremy glares at the SQUIP.] but uh. I just. We thought. Have you ever really thought about being dead?

[Oh god, he's gonna ruin his own meeting, isn't he?]

Comments

[isawallflower]

[ Riley just. Geeeently puts her hands together. ]

Jeremy. I took a swan dive from a catwalk and probably broke every bone in my body. It sure as hell felt like I died, for real.

[justmeheere]

Yeah, but that's us. Think. Think about. It's like virtual reality, right? You. It feels real. It looks real. But it's just. Fake, you know?

[isawallflower]

Are you seriously thinking we're in the Matrix? That's where we're going with this? Because- because of that?

[ Unlike everyone else, Riley isn't messing up the SQUIP's name on purpose! She's just. Rudely gesturing to it. ]

1/2

[justmeheere]

Okay, explain why it's here for a normal reason then.

[itsfromjapan]

This may not have been apparent from your perspective, but I was deactivated during Jeremy's execution which isn't possible.

[isawallflower]

Because it could-

[ Then the SQUIP talks to her and Riley's lip curls. She stares it down, glaring daggers. ]

There's lots of things that shouldn't be possible. Like, the Phantom not bleeding from a gut wound. Maybe it's another freaky magic thing. Anything that has to do with you will have to do with computers, won't it? But, anything to deal with, like...Steven's going to be about his...half-alien biology.

[itsfromjapan]

We thought the Phantom was in possession of a SQUIP until that moment. Jeremy made it through the entire trial with two broken ribs because I dulled his senses, a few stab wounds would be nothing.

[Hilariously for EVERYONE between the two characters I'm playing right now the SQUIP is the helpful one.]

The Phantom in the musical forms of Phantom of the Opera by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, upon which this Phantom's costuming seems to be based, possesses no magical powers. He is simply a man. Does this not strike anyone as odd?

[isawallflower]

[ we all know who wrote the play you pretentious little breath mint ]

Obviously, it's like I was saying from the beginning, he's not the Phantom. Or. ...Maybe it's from his boss. He said-- [ oh right- ] Umm, so, for everyone who wasn't there- the Phantom showed up the other night. Like...to talk to us. There was a force-field around him when I tried to- um. [ .....clears her throat- ] To keep us from getting close to him, but he didn't. Really seem to notice it?

A-anyway, he wanted to, uh... He doesn't know what we are, either. He said his patron thinks we're...ghosts. But that's not- the important part, it sounded like he's getting all the power to do this from- from him, the patron. He doesn't even- [ ......... ] he doesn't even pick the motives.

[justmeheere]

Yeah, okay but that like. Brings up a totally different question? Why. Why use the fiction of, like, "oh I'm the Phantom of the Opera" if he's not the Phantom? What. What purpose does that serve, really?

[isawallflower]

I don't...know but- but I think we need to stop just...thinking of him like the character. There's something else going on beyond his story and it's...tripping us up.

[itsfromjapan]

I would say his behavior matches up with popular fanfiction on the website "Archive of Our Own" tagged with the pairing "Christine Daae/Erik, Phantom of the Opera."

[Aren't you all so glad I get to type SQUIP tags freely now.]

Would you say this is an "alternate universe" version or a "canon divergent" version?

1/2

[isawallflower]

2/2

[isawallflower]

This is exactly what I was talking about. Look, I don't know what his past was like, I never got cozy with my letters. He just said, once- he said he's a person, not a character, and it's about the only thing that actually sounds...like something to respect about him.

[itsfromjapan]

I respect his personhood. However, analyzing behavior and data is how I learn. If he looks like the Phantom and behaves like the Phantom, what reasoning is there to treat him as something else? How else should he be classified?

[isawallflower]

That's not what I'm- I'm saying, just because he has no magic or whatever there- he doesn't run psycho death plays, either! We can't rule something out just 'cause it didn't happen in his story. Maybe...he is the Phantom, but he's so obviously beyond that now, right?

[ A slow, dragging groan, because if this wasn't a meeting, where they had things to get done, she would be telling the SQUIP about how annoying she finds it. ]

I'm not using fanfiction to judge my way out of the afterlife. I'm just not.

[itsfromjapan]

Is a "psycho death play" not essentially what he ran his opera as?

[JUST SAYING.]

That he's beyond the bounds of the story is not the question, but by determining the course taken, I can envision possible futures based on the current situation. Therefore, is this not simply Phantom of the Opera fanfiction?

[superbeliever]

You'd be surprised the powers people can get when they're willing to sign their soul away.

So, no, not really.

[itsfromjapan]

He gave me no indication of such a deal when we spoke.

[Oh yeah, by the way the SQUIP spoke to the Phantom face to face.]

Nor do I believe he would have been able to offer me what he did under such a deal.

[superbeliever]

...Yeah, okay, people who make deals for evil powers can't usually shut up about them.

[Okay that was definitely about both his ex-wife AND someone in this very room who may or may not be Scottish.]

What did he offer you?

cw: mentioned suicide attempts

[itsfromjapan]

He came to our room after hours and offered several courses of action before confirming for me that my deactivation would count as a murder. It was he who told me that Jeremy making the attempt would count as a "suicide." Jeremy agreed to my plan.

[The SQUIP pauses. It actually doesn't like to talk about this, really?]

That I would be reactivated later seems like an odd thing to offer, if our death is the point of this game.

[superbeliever]

I mean, but you're not really a... person, though.

[Rude.]

Counting you as a murder at all is really just fluffing the numbers a bit, don't you think?

[itsfromjapan]

Yes, but I keep Jeremy alive. If death is the point, it seems expedient to turn me off.

[isawallflower]

[ ...Few things to unpack here, but-- ]

Actually he-

[ .................. ]

He said his patron just needs us to die. He...told me he was planning on...reviving everyone, when it was all over.

It'd...hardly be helpful, he said. To leave people dead.

sees this four days late

[superbeliever]

Helpful? What the heck is that supposed to mean?

[isawallflower]

No clue. But apparently, that's his take. He's told- um. Well, Steven and Dr. Browning, actually, but- neither one of them believe him.

...Not sure if I believe him, but.

[ .....it's nice, you know. To hope. ]