Christine Svenna Daaé
Twisted every way, what answer can I give?
Screw being ladylike; Imma Pageboy!
Posts: 230
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Post by Christine Svenna Daaé on Jun 11, 2012 15:58:52 GMT -5
It was a bright and breezy summer day, in Perros-Guirec in the year eighteen seventy-four – a perfect day for going to the beach, and that was exactly what little Christine and her father were doing. Monsieur Gustave Charles Daaé was a fairly well-known traveling violinist and he had brought his violin to the beach to play while his thirteen-year-old daughter Christine sat in the sand, listening to him.
Christine was wearing a simple brown from and a bright red scarf. Now, one might ask why she would be wearing a scarf in the middle of summer. The answer was quite simple, really: it was her very favorite thing to wear in the whole world. Her father had given it to her as a Christmas present for her one year and she had worn it every day since. She thought that it smelled like the mountains where she and her father lived for a while when she was younger.
But the scarf was not only something that she liked to wear – it also proved to be a great toy. She would often go on adventures by herself and the scarf would come along with, playing a crown, or a monster, or even a bridal veil. Needless to say, it explained part of the reason why she never parted with it. It was great fun for playing pretend. So many fond memories were tied to that scarf.
Christine was sitting in the sand, listening to her father's playing, when the wind caught hold of her scarf and ripped it from her grasp, blowing it out toward the sea. “Oh no!” She cried, as she quickly got up, trying to grab it, not bothering to brush the sand off of her. She was too late though. She chased it down to no avail, for the wind had blown it out into the ocean.
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Raoul Christophe de Chagny
I?m here, with you, beside you, to guard you and to guide you.
Love me, that's all I ask of you
Posts: 414
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Post by Raoul Christophe de Chagny on Jun 11, 2012 20:15:41 GMT -5
“Slow down, Raoul! My knees aren’t what they used to be…”
“Yes, Madame Elizabeth.” the blonde-haired teen answered obediently, stopping mid jog for his nursemaid to catch up. He couldn’t help but be impatient. He had been inside all day studying arithmetic and reading long-dead authors in Latin, and frankly, it was boring him. Granted he was the perfect student—he dedicated himself completely to his schoolwork—but he much preferred being outside at the beach on a hot, summer day such as this to being stuck indoors.
He breathed in the salty sea air and grinned. It was really the perfect day for a swim. His blue eyes skimmed over the water but froze upon seeing an auburn haired girl on the shore. His breath caught in his throat for a moment and slowly a smile began to form on his face. In that short moment dozens of words must have come to the young Vicomte’s mind in an attempt to describe the girl, but none of them seemed accurate enough. ‘Beautiful’ was too cliché, ‘pretty’ was too much of an understatement—‘angelic’? ‘Angelic’ worked.
Thus he stood there staring in a rather unbecoming way for a Vicomte for a good few seconds until he realized that the girl’s expression had changed. She threw her arms in the air as if to catch something. His eyes followed a red object soaring through the air and plummeting toward the waves—a scarf. The boy immediately started running toward the ocean.
Madame Elizabeth saw this and scowled in disapproval. “Raoul, come back here!” she called, and then grew angry when he kept running. “Raoul Christophe de Chagny!”
Raoul, however, was not listening. All he thought about was the look of distress on that girl’s face. “Don’t worry, I’ll get it!” he shouted reassuringly as he dashed past her and into the surf, swimming rather expertly toward where he had seen the scarf fall. With a great intake of breath, the boy went under. A few minutes passed and he reemerged from the sea, clutching the red scarf. Scarf and boy were both soaked, but he was grinning nonetheless.
“I’m terribly sorry that it got wet—but here it is.” he apologized, handing the scarf to her. Water was dripping off the ends of his hair, and his clothes were completely soaked through. In addition, he was cold and shivering slightly. He must have looked a sight, but at the moment he didn’t care. All the young Vicomte wanted was to see the girl smile again.
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Christine Svenna Daaé
Twisted every way, what answer can I give?
Screw being ladylike; Imma Pageboy!
Posts: 230
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Post by Christine Svenna Daaé on Jun 12, 2012 15:02:18 GMT -5
Christine was up running, trying to catch the scarf, when all of the sudden she heard the voice of a boy coming from behind her. Don't worry, I'll get it! She slowed to a stop and turned just in time to see a flash of dirty blonde whip past her and dive into the sea toward the fallen scarf.
She watched with baited breath, teetering back and forth on the tips of her toes, trying to see what was happening. Both the boy and the scarf had gone under. It had been a couple of minutes since he had gone under and honestly, she was beginning to worry. Maybe someone should go in after him. She wasn't the strongest of swimmers, but...
Suddenly the boy emerged from the water and Christine let out a sigh of relief. In his hands, he was clutching the red scarf. The girl waded in about ankle deep to meet the boy as he swam toward the shore and walked up to her, handing her the scarf, both he and the scarf completely soaked through.
Christine laughed when the boy apologized for it getting the scarf wet. "Oh, don't worry about it. It will dry out." She took the scarf from him, grinning from ear to ear and then began wringing it out. "Thank you for getting it. My name is Christine, by the way. Christine Svenna Daaé. But you can just call me Christine."
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Raoul Christophe de Chagny
I?m here, with you, beside you, to guard you and to guide you.
Love me, that's all I ask of you
Posts: 414
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Post by Raoul Christophe de Chagny on Jun 12, 2012 18:50:48 GMT -5
He smiled when she laughed and pushed some of his hair out of his face so he could better see. She had a lovely laugh—like music, almost. Her smile was quite charming as well—and contagious. There was something about her face that seemed to put him at ease. Usually he was very shy around other people, especially those he had not yet met—but then again, he had not really met too terribly many people, and hardly any his age. But the young nobleman was sure that she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen.
He took her hand gingerly and kissed it as he had been taught in his lessons in etiquette. “It’s nice to meet you, Mademoiselle Christine.” he stated, beaming as he let go of her hand. “I’m Raoul, Raoul Christophe de Chagny—the Vicomte de Chagny.” he added after a moment, remembering how Madame Elizabeth had told him to always state his title. “You have a very pretty name.”
“Are you from the area? I haven’t seen you out here before…” He tried to go out on the beach whenever he could. Ideally it would be every day, but lessons and whatnot often managed to keep him indoors. By far going to the beach was his favorite activity. His governess always went with him for supervision, but she never really bothered him while he was playing. Thus he was always alone. It was fun, to be sure, but it would still be nice to have another person to play with. Phillippe never played with him and he never asked because he was so—well, old, and serious. He didn’t seem like the type to enjoy playing. But this girl seemed friendly, and she was his age. Was it possible that he could finally have a friend?
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Christine Svenna Daaé
Twisted every way, what answer can I give?
Screw being ladylike; Imma Pageboy!
Posts: 230
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Post by Christine Svenna Daaé on Jun 13, 2012 15:12:36 GMT -5
Christine was quite surprised when the boy took her hand and kissed it. She certainly hadn't expected such a gesture, especially not from a boy who didn't seem much older than she was. It was only something she'd seen grownups do on occasion, or heard about in fairytales – never something she'd actually experienced before. Christine couldn't help blushing a little. It was just like the princes in the stories her father would tell her. And then she laughed. Mademoiselle Christine? “No, just Christine. Nice to meet you, Raoul,” she said. “What's a vicomte? Is it like a prince or something?”
Christine shook her head when he boy asked if she was from the area. “My father and I just moved here a couple of days ago. We travel around a lot for his work. He's a traveling violinist – best in the world!” She said proudly. “Well... maybe not best in the world, but he certainly is the best I've ever met.” She slung her wet scarf around her neck, giggling as it hit her in the face, splashing a little. “My father is further down the beach if you care to meet him.”
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Raoul Christophe de Chagny
I?m here, with you, beside you, to guard you and to guide you.
Love me, that's all I ask of you
Posts: 414
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Post by Raoul Christophe de Chagny on Jun 14, 2012 16:42:24 GMT -5
Raoul was confused when the girl blushed after he kissed her hand. Wasn’t that what he was supposed to do? His governess always stressed how important it was for him to be a proper gentleman, and that was certainly being a gentleman as far as he was concerned. Or at least that was what vicomtes were supposed to do. Perhaps she had never met a vicomte before, then?
He was surprised when she laughed at him using the word ‘mademoiselle’ and insisted that he simply call her Christine. He only called his brother by his first name, and even then he couldn’t help but call him ‘sir’ every now and then. Even if he was his brother, he was a lot older than him and ‘sir’ was a term of respect. He respected his brother to be sure, but he wished that his father would have paid him more attention. It had always seemed like Phillippe was the favorite son. He knew why, though. Phillippe had not killed Mother.
Her question confirmed his suspicion that she had never met a vicomte. He frowned in thought as he tried to explain it to her. “Well…a vicomte is like a nobleman, basically—well, it is a nobleman. One of my ancestors was given land by the king of France and so our family is nobility. I guess it’s sort of like a prince…”
“A violinist? That sounds interesting…” Raoul commented genuinely when Christine explained that her father played the violin. He enjoyed music—he didn’t consider himself particularly good at it, but he had plenty of sheet music and had been playing the piano for a few years. When she asked him if he would like to meet her father, he glanced up at Madame Elizabeth, who was hovering a distance behind him. The British woman nodded and he smiled and nodded at Christine. “Yes, I would love to.”
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Christine Svenna Daaé
Twisted every way, what answer can I give?
Screw being ladylike; Imma Pageboy!
Posts: 230
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Post by Christine Svenna Daaé on Jun 18, 2012 11:19:11 GMT -5
“I thought that France didn't have a King,” the thirteen-year-old girl said. Being that she and her father never really stayed in one single place for very long, she wasn't really very well acquainted with the history of each of the places. The only thing that had ever been really necessary for her to learn was the different languages. In this way, she had become familiar with French, German, Spanish, Italian – even English. The girl tilted her head a little, but smiled at him. “Oh well. It's not every day you get to meet a prince.”
Her smile widened so that she was beaming when he said that he would love to meet her father. “Come on then!” she said, hitting his arm playfully. “Tag! You're it!” she giggled, and then ran off down the beach toward the man who was standing about fifty yards away with a violin, looking back over her shoulder to make sure that he was following her.
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Raoul Christophe de Chagny
I?m here, with you, beside you, to guard you and to guide you.
Love me, that's all I ask of you
Posts: 414
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Post by Raoul Christophe de Chagny on Jun 20, 2012 0:01:40 GMT -5
“Oh no, we don’t. People didn’t take too kindly to the idea and killed Louis XVI…and then down the road Louis Philippe abdicated and…” He stopped before he could go off on a tangent. He often did that when he talked about history, and his father used to tell him how annoying he was. “No, France doesn’t have a monarch anymore. But Vicomte is a title of nobility…which is somewhat close to royalty. You could say it’s like a prince?” he explained, wondering if he was making any sense to her. But then she smiled and commented how it was a rare thing to meet a prince and he beamed.
He grinned again when she smiled wider after he accepted her invitation to meet her father. The young Vicomte nodded, but was surprised when she tapped him on the shoulder and said something about ‘tag’. “Tag? What’s that?” he asked, but she was already halfway down the beach by now. Shaking his head, Raoul ran after her, managing to keep up quite easily as he followed across the beach. He did have to admit she was a pretty fast runner though. He looked past her momentarily to see a man with a violin, who he assumed was her father.
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Christine Svenna Daaé
Twisted every way, what answer can I give?
Screw being ladylike; Imma Pageboy!
Posts: 230
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Post by Christine Svenna Daaé on Jun 24, 2012 16:06:57 GMT -5
Christine was half way down the beach, laughing and looking back at Raoul as he was so confused about the game she was playing with him. Had he really never heard of what tag was before?.... Nah! He was probably just trying to get her to stop so he could tag her and then she would be 'it'.
It wasn't long though before the boy started catching up to her and so she started to run faster, hoping to widen the gap between them, but he kept up nonetheless. Christine was actually quite impressed. It had been a few towns since she'd actually met another kid who could keep up with her. She laughed breathlessly, looking back at him, and then looked back forward just in time to trip on a piece of driftwood and face-plant in the sand in front of a graying man with a violin in hand.
“Christine? Are you all right?” he asked, setting his violin back down in the case and kneeling down to help her up.
The brown-haired curly mass sat up and spit out a bit of sand, then brushed herself off. “I'm fine, father.” She glanced over to see if Raoul had made it there all right. That was slightly embarrassing...
The girl's father followed her gaze to see the teenage boy running down the beach toward them. "And who might this be, Christine?"
"This is Raoul," said the girl when the boy finally caught up to where they were sitting. "He's a prince!"
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Raoul Christophe de Chagny
I?m here, with you, beside you, to guard you and to guide you.
Love me, that's all I ask of you
Posts: 414
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Post by Raoul Christophe de Chagny on Jun 27, 2012 11:18:31 GMT -5
Raoul was confused when Christine started running faster as he got closer. “Wait! Wait, don’t be afraid!” She was running from him as if he were chasing her—which, of course, he wasn’t. However she was running awfully fast, which meant that he had to run in order to keep up. He wished she would slow down. It wasn’t that he was having trouble keeping up with her—he was a fairly good runner, actually—but he didn’t want her to fall and get hurt. Eventually she did slow down , but only because she tripped and fell—which was precisely what he hadn’t wanted to happen. The Vicomte quickened his pace, intending to help her up, but slowed down when the man holding the violin did.
He watched their exchange quietly and then smiled and looked up at the man when he was introduced. “It’s nice to meet you, monsieur.” he stated politely. At Christine’s comment about him being a prince, he shuffled his feet. “Actually I’m a vicomte…” He was pretty sure there was a difference and he didn't want them to think that he was something that he really wasn't.
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Christine Svenna Daaé
Twisted every way, what answer can I give?
Screw being ladylike; Imma Pageboy!
Posts: 230
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Post by Christine Svenna Daaé on Jun 28, 2012 23:33:03 GMT -5
((gaaaaah! Misty I despise that phrase....))
Christine shrugged and rolled her eyes when her newly discovered playmate corrected her. “Oh, Prince, Vicomte – same difference! It doesn't really matter...”
The man shook his head smiling at his daughter's naïvité, and then gave a respectful nod to the young boy, extending his hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Monsieur le Vicomte. It would seem here that you've made quite an impression on my little Christine.”
The girl nodded excitedly. “He rescued my scarf when it blew off into the sea!”
“Did he now?” she man chuckled. “Well now, that explains things. I was wondering why the young vicomte here was so wet.”
“Oh!” she exclaimed suddenly. “You must be cold – here!” And she took off the scarf and wrapped it around his shoulders. Not that it would do much, of course – the scarf was soaked completely through as well – but it was the thought that counted.
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Raoul Christophe de Chagny
I?m here, with you, beside you, to guard you and to guide you.
Love me, that's all I ask of you
Posts: 414
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Post by Raoul Christophe de Chagny on Jun 30, 2012 17:14:57 GMT -5
Raoul wanted to protest that there were significant differences between princes and vicomtes, but he refrained from doing so, feeling as if it would be a lost cause. When Christine insisted that it didn’t matter, instead of feeling insulted like most viscounts would be, he was actually in shock and relieved—and even joyful. It was so strange, being treated like a normal person after all this time—strange, but nice for a change.
Maybe he could actually have a real friend. He didn’t meet too many other children his age, and the ones he did were other nobility who were brought to the estate just because their parents knew his dad, not because they wanted to be his friend. Besides, they had relatively little in common. None of them had ever liked the beach, or reading, or any of the other things he was interested in.
Raoul smiled and shook the man’s hand firmly. He ran a hand through his hair a bit sheepishly when Christine’s father stated that he had made quite the impression on her. After she explained that he had rescued her scarf, the man commented on how wet he was. For the first time in the last few minutes he became self-conscious of his appearance, realizing that he was indeed soaked.
Then the girl wrapped her scarf around his neck and he laughed. “Thank you.” he told her with a grin. “I really should go in and dry off before Madame Elizabeth gets after me for it—she’s my governess…” A thought occurred to him and he added, “Christine, would you like to come over for dinner? I’m sure Phillippe wouldn’t mind me having a guest…”
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Christine Svenna Daaé
Twisted every way, what answer can I give?
Screw being ladylike; Imma Pageboy!
Posts: 230
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Post by Christine Svenna Daaé on Jul 18, 2012 23:24:44 GMT -5
(( *sucks at playing dudes* ))
Daaé smiled when the lad shook his hand. “Ah! A good firm handshake. That's a sign of a fine young man in the making.”
Christine teetered up and down on her toes as she listened to the boy speak, grinning back at him. She was glad that he enjoyed her scarf just as she did. She was about to ask him what a governess was when he asked her if she would like to come over for dinner. The girl's eyes instantly lit up. She had never been invited to dinner by anyone before, except to accompany her father to dinner with some of his friends sometimes when they would invite him.
“Oh! Oh! Can I, father? Can I pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease?”
Her father chuckled. “I don't see why not. He seems like a nice young man. As long as you're home by nine o'clock.”
“I promise,” she said, crossing her heart with her index finger and giving a bright grin.
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Raoul Christophe de Chagny
I?m here, with you, beside you, to guard you and to guide you.
Love me, that's all I ask of you
Posts: 414
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Post by Raoul Christophe de Chagny on Aug 3, 2012 23:48:14 GMT -5
“Thank you sir.” Raoul replied with a smile as the man shook his hand. He had no idea he had a good handshake—nor did he know that it was a sign that he’d one day be a fine young man. His eyes caught Christine’s again and he smiled bashfully, unsure of the reason why he felt so nervous around her. He looked away reluctantly, as she had very pretty eyes and he was sure that, if given the chance he’d be able to stare into them all day…
He felt his cheeks heating up, and he rubbed the back of his neck embarrassedly. What was going on? He had just met her, she was just a girl—a friend, maybe? And here he was acting like he’d never been around a girl before…at least, he hadn’t been around a girl like her before. She was so different from the nobles’ children—like a breath of fresh air. “Is six a good time, mad-Christine?”
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Christine Svenna Daaé
Twisted every way, what answer can I give?
Screw being ladylike; Imma Pageboy!
Posts: 230
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Post by Christine Svenna Daaé on Sept 6, 2012 2:24:19 GMT -5
Christine teetered on her toes excitedly and looked up at her father for confirmation before she was able to give her new found friend an answer. Her father gave a simple nod and the girl jumped up and down excitedly. “Oh! Yes, yes, Raoul. Six is a perfect time.”
And then a strange thought hit her. “If a vicomte is like a prince, does that mean that you live in some sort of a castle or something? Oooo! Does your castle have lots of towers and dungeons, and a dragon inside? Can we go exploring? I'll bet you're really good at slaying dragons.” And the girl swung a few times as if fighting with an imaginary sword. This was going to be a very fun dinner – of that much she was certain.
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