Voice Testing an Operatic Songbird

[chorusing]

You shouldn't be so ready to take me from the world I know. I appreciate your interest, but matters are complicated enough, don't you think?

I would much prefer your well-wishes for the life I have chosen.

Comments

[keening_phantom]

[Mun hopes you forgive them for tagging in.]

Matters are always growing more complicated. [While he wishes her well, he's also jealously wondering what life it is that she's chosen.]

What have you been taken from?

[chorusing]

[No need for forgiveness!]

Even for you, it seems. [Finding herself in odd circumstances in one thing, but he... He doesn't deserve it.] The book, mostly.

[keening_phantom]

[His world has always been complicated, he rolls with it for the most part, whether or not he 'deserves' it.]

Interesting. Regardless of the face before you now, so too is Erik.

[chorusing]

[There's joy and sorrow in that. She almost wanted to believe he was from a kinder tale - if such exists.]

What do you remember, Erik?

[keening_phantom]

[If only.]

I was to have a living wife if I spared your dear Viscount.

[chorusing]

And so you do. [Maybe not as he wishes, but she hasn't - and won't - break the vow.] I will not take my life.

[keening_phantom]

[He has to take a breath, because the Viscount de Chagny is not here, and he could keep the other half of it from her. But she was to be his wife, she was to have his full disclosure as such things should.]

And then I freed you. Because you wept with me. You let me -

[In his world she had not shied from him, had not turned pale or fainted when he'd kissed her forehead. It had been enough to make him happy.]

[chorusing]

[He makes her heart ache. She knows there is good in him - she had seen it when he had released her. It's his jealousy and fear of being abandoned that interferes, which is why she won't abandon him. Not completely. They will see each other before his death.

A soft smile follows his words and she stands on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.]

I remember. You were very kind to me and, at first, I didn't understand. I think I do now.

[keening_phantom]

[His heart simultaneously sings and sinks to his feet when she kisses his cheek. It takes a lion's share of composure not to kneel at her feet again, though tears threaten in his eyes.]

You have been so very kind to me, for all the devil's games I made you play.

[chorusing]

You are in pain. I would be angry with you if you played the games just to be cruel. [Even so, she wishes he had merely approached her as a friend.] I missed my father very much. When he died, there was a hole. I didn't know what would happen to me or where I would go.

It was then that you came into my life. You gave me opportunities I never dreamed possible.

[keening_phantom]

[A man so desperate and lonely, he'd far over-reached on that account and had paid dearly for it.]

I can only imagine your father, looking down from on high to see his Christine, and being proud of who you've become.

Earthbound as I am, I can't speak for him, but I do know that I am proud.

[chorusing]

[Her breath catches and she smiles, bright and warm.]

You are proud? [Tears shine in her eyes, shimmering until they fall. She turns away, voice soft.] I believe he was speaking of you when he told me of the Angel of Music. You have watched over me and...

I care about what happens to you.

[keening_phantom]

[Still, what he wouldn't give to call that smile his. She really is his own Angel of Music, and that glisten in his eyes from earlier grows a bit brighter in return. That someone in this world truly cared what became of Erik, was a gift in itself.]

And I you. [Another time in the past perhaps he would have approached her while her back was turned, but now he holds his feet firmly in place. Uncertain where that line is between them.]

[ingenue_bait]

Who takes you, Christine? Your poor, unhappy Erik would never harm you. Tell him who is doing so.

[chorusing]

[It isn't fair that she has come to like - perhaps even crave - his embraces. He brings her comfort and that's...

Selfish of her. She needs to find a way to return what he has given her - not further confuse both of them.]

Will you leave the Opera house if I ask it of you? [He can always return, but fresh air might do him good? Especially if he isn't being mocked by senseless people.]

[chorusing]

It is not you that causes me concern. [She gives him a faint smile.] Have you encountered these...mundanes?

[keening_phantom]

Your wish is Erik's command. [He has his ways of moving about the rabble, but if she has something in mind he's curious. A trait that's made significant trouble for him, but also driven so much of his learning and exploits. That, and he's fairly certain he can't say 'no' to any request she makes at this point.]

[ingenue_bait]

There is nothing mundane about the complete loss of privacy and autonomy.

[chorusing]

I want to take you out of the city. The countryside is beautiful. [As much as she loves the city, there are times when one doesn't want to be perpetually surrounded by people.]

[chorusing]

I think the term they use is ironic; meant to coax us into a false sense of security. But here we are - away from everything we know. They are not powerless.

[keening_phantom]

[That is part of the irony in his choice of habitation. To be just below hundreds of people every night and yet still be in perfect solitude. He doesn't travel too much, the last time being to the Daae crypt, but the idea is novel and she has asked it of him.]

Name your time and place. I will be there without fail.

[chorusing]

We can make a day of it! [Picnics with the Phantom. Only Christine would come up with this.] I will hire a carriage and meet you early one morning. Does that suit you?

[If you're gonna make a day of it, make a day of it. Who needs to wait until dawn?]

[keening_phantom]

[It's a quaint idea, but it's one of those normal things that deep in his heart he's always wanted to be part of. Not specifically a picnic, but just pretending that he was like everyone else for a day.]

It does. [Pre-dawn also makes it easier for him to move about. He isn't quite certain what he's agreeing to, but he can't help but follow Christine when she beckons. It will likely be a day to remember, however it happens.]

[chorusing]

[They deserve some normalcy. Spring and Summer are the best times for picnics. It will be a good thawing from all the pain that surfaced during the winter.]

Tell me your favorite foods? [She'll ensure the basket is well provisioned.]

[imlapislazuli]

That isn't how this works. They take us away, and then they just... keep us. To entertain them.