phantomsdarkangel
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No thoughts within her head but thoughts of Love
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Post by phantomsdarkangel on Feb 23, 2012 9:57:37 GMT -5
As they both looked around, the place was getting even more beautiful. A piano... a fireplace... it was almost like a dream. It made Christine smile and let her mind start to wander about how that room must had looked when it was clean, when there was light all around. In her mind, the place looked like she had imagined it was to look, but when Erik asked her something, she snapped out of her thoughts and the room went back to normal. There was no doubt it had been beautiful once, but now it needed someone to take care of it.
Finding an old cloth, Christine shook it a few times to get rid of possible dust on it and then started to wipe the piano, removing the dust from the top of it and then went carefully through the keys, trying not to get any dust inside of the instrument. She was really concentrated in what she was doing, so she barely noticed the pause Erik made when he called her by her name.
She was almost done with the piano. There was still some dust on it but she looked back at Erik and offered him a kind smile when he asked her about her name, and she nodded. "Of course you can call me, Christine! It's my name after all..." she told him, turning her face to the fireplace he had just pointed out. "It's lovely, Erik..." she stated as she watched him light it up. The light and the warm of the fire filled the room and Christine followed Erik with her eyes. She watched him as he removed the rest of the dust off the piano and walked up to him when he sat down. As soon as he hit the keys, Christine flinched. It sounded awful!
"Yes, indeed, it needs a good tuning!" she agreed and started to look around. "If there's a piano... there should be tuning levers about..." Christine started to look through drawers and tables around the room until she finally found tuning levers. "Erik, here!" she called out from the other side of the room. "Does this work?" she asked her, turning her head to look at him.
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Erik Lenoir
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Post by Erik Lenoir on Feb 24, 2012 14:19:00 GMT -5
Erik looked at the items that Christine handed him for tuning the piano. There was a tuning lever and several mutes and a tuning fork. He put down the tuning fork, for he did not need it, having perfect pitch. He removed the music desk, revealing the tuning pins. He started with middle C and placed the mute over two of the three strings to isolate one at a time and started in. He found several broken hammers and some loose ones.
"Christine," this is going to take some time...I need a screw driver to tighten some of these hammers and some glue for the broken ones...I have no idea where we could find that. Fortunately the broken hammers are on the very ends and it should render the piano playable when it's tuned. I would venture to say that no one has played this piano for quite some years. It's an excellent piano, but in deplorable shape. The wood could use some refinishing too."
Erik placed the oil lamp as close to the pins as possible to be able to see each pin clearly. It was almost an impossible task as the room was so dark, only lit dimly by the lamp and the fireplace. He was so involved in tuning the piano that he forgot that Christine was in the room with him. He had no thought of being hungry for he often went for several days without eating or sleeping while working intensely on his music. He had no thought that his lovely companion might be hungry or thirsty or perhaps exhausted and in need of sleep. He had only eyes for the task at hand.
Because the piano had been sitting for so long without being played or cared for, the task was taking Erik longer than it normally would. He had not wound his pocket watch, so he had no idea of what time it was or even how much time had passed since he had started tuning the piano. Indeed it had been several hours now, nuch longer than a normal tuning. As he finished, anxious to try a song on the piano, he knew in order to bring the instrument to perfect working condition, he would need much more time and more tools. Doing a job only half way grated against his perfectionist nature, and he felt helpless that there was no more to be done at the moment.
Finally he felt ready to try playing a song, looked about the room and called, "Christine? Would you sing for me?"
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phantomsdarkangel
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No thoughts within her head but thoughts of Love
Posts: 194
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Post by phantomsdarkangel on Feb 24, 2012 19:26:38 GMT -5
Christine smiled softly and left him to tend for the piano, watching him as he was so focused on the piano. After a few minutes, she silently stood up and moved closer to the fire to warm up a little bit. She then started to look around the room to see what else was there. That wasn't much... a few books that seemed untouched for a long time, she assumed that they were music books. There was a table and a few chairs, also; and a vase without flowers.
When Erik finally said something to her, she smiled softly again and focused on him and his words. "I think I saw some glue back in one of the rooms," she stated, more to herself.
Erik went back to the piano and Christine leaned against a wall and let herself slip down until she was sitting on the floor, watching as the piano came back to life. For a moment, she closed her eyes and thought she was going to fall asleep. She really needed rest, but she didn't want to sleep. Not yet...
She thought about her restless nights and fought to keep her eyes open as she looked at Erik fixing and tuning the piano. A few hours passed and yet Christine was still amused at how focused Erik looked. That made her smile.
Then, Erik asked her to sing. She paused for a moment, speechless. She had been dying to sing since she got there, but... she always sang for a reason, and she had found none since she appeared in the Manor. Standing up and walking towards him, Christine gave him a smile and nodded. "I'd love to, Erik."
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Erik Lenoir
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Post by Erik Lenoir on Feb 25, 2012 2:24:53 GMT -5
"Just a moment, Chrsitine, I should put these away first." Putting away the tuning tools in the drawer in which Christine had found them, Erik sifted through the dusty items in the drawer, some pencils and several odd looking pens. He clicked the top of one and the writing end popped out of the bottom of it. Made of an odd and garishly coloured material, he wondered how one would refill such a pen, but put it back in the drawer, for he was looking for glue or some type of adhesive to fix the piano hammers. Not finding any, he noticed some art supplies in the next drawer, more pencils, paper and a set of pastels.
"Another room...you mentioned glue in another room, Christine...where would that be? I am anxious though, to see how the piano feels under my fingers and how it sounds when in tune. So I shall leave that venture for later. "
Erik smiled at Christine. He was anxious to hear her voice. "All right, tell me what music you know...what you can sing. Are you a soprano? I shall be able to play nearly anything if I stay away from the end keys. Those are the broken ones. Perhaps I can fix them later." He looked at her expectantly.
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phantomsdarkangel
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No thoughts within her head but thoughts of Love
Posts: 194
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Post by phantomsdarkangel on Feb 25, 2012 8:58:18 GMT -5
Christine nodded again. "Yes... but, if you don't mind, I'll look for it in a moment. I'd need the oil lamp and you need it here, now," she explained, clearing her throat to warm up a little bit.
"Yes, Erik. I'm a soprano," she added, "So... any aria from an Opera would be alright, I think. I have to say that I'm quite in love with "Carmen" by Bizet. What about the main aria from it? "La Habanera"?" Christine suggested, but at the same time, she was thinking about other options.
"Would you like me to sing that?" she asked him. "I know it pretty well and I think my voice can handle it," she said, smiling at him. She was nervous about singing for him, yet excited and anxious. She /wanted/ to.
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Erik Lenoir
Hide your face, so the world will never find you...
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Post by Erik Lenoir on Feb 25, 2012 15:02:00 GMT -5
"La Habanara ...ah....the rebellious bird....perfect, Christine...I shall play the introduction. Please come in at your cue." Erik started to play the piano. When tuned, this piano had a beautiful tone. Erik thought how lovely it would sound with new strings and a refurbishing job...but still, this piano had been made well enough to withstand even the neglect it had been put through.
When Christine started to sing, though, he was entranced. Her voice was high and ethereal and her notes were perfect. Her voice was unlike his own Christine's voice, which had sent shivers of pleasure to his very soul, having a different timbre and quality, yet it entranced him so that he played the piano without even hearing it, there was only Christine's angelic voice...
When she finished the aria, he turned about on the piano bench, facing her, his eyes a bit wet, although thankfully that could not be obverved in the dark room. Christine had obviously been taught to sing by someone almost as good as he himself was, for he had shaped and molded his own Christine's voice to perfection. This Christine was as good, although her voice was different, at least in his own opinion, which he regarded highly.
Erik stood up and held his hands out toward her to take hers. "A lovely voice indeed, my dear! I could stay here all night to listen to you...but wait..." Erik suddenly realized that Christine looked tired, now that he was close enough to see her face. "Are you tired? Would you like to rest? He looked about them again, as if there would be clues as to where to go to find a place to rest.
Then another thing which kept gnawing at him..."Do you have any idea how long we've been here? You must have been here longer than I have, but I can't for the life of me put a number on that...Time moves strangely here..."
Erik continued, "Much as I hate to do this, I must leave our piano. Would you come with me? I not only want to find some glue to fix those hammers, but we must find out where we are..."
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phantomsdarkangel
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No thoughts within her head but thoughts of Love
Posts: 194
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Post by phantomsdarkangel on Feb 25, 2012 16:37:36 GMT -5
She heard Erik play the introduction to the aria and started to sing when she had to. "L'Amour est un oiseau rebelle que nul ne peut apprivoiser. Et c'est bien en vain qu'on l'appelle, s'il lui convient de refuser," she sang, closing her eyes and focusing on the song and trying to get the spirit of the character. Even thought the song wasn't for a soprano, she had chosen it because it could show her singing skills but she wouldn't hurt herself in the process. She hadn't sung in a while and she needed some kind of warm up.
She repeated the first part once more and then moved on. "L'amour..." she sang. She repeated this note twice, each time higher than the others. "L'Amour est enfant de Bohême, Il n'a jamais, jamais connu de loi, si tu ne m'aime pas, je t'aime, Si je t'aime, prend garde à toi!" she continued, singing passionately.
She went though all the song, finishing it with a high, perfect pitched note and took a deep breath when she was done. Smiling, pleased with herself, she took Erik's hands and listened to his compliments. "Thank you, Erik. But no... I'm not tired, I was, but singing always gives me energy," she told him, smiling.
She honestly didn't know how long had they been there, not that she cared, though... "I have no idea, but yes, time's strange here..."
Christine nodded when he told her they had to leave. "I'd come with you, Erik," she said, smiling. "I want to find out where we are, too." She smiled at him and turned towards the door, but then paused for a moment, turning around to look at him again.
"Oh, Erik? Can we return here later?"
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Erik Lenoir
Hide your face, so the world will never find you...
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Post by Erik Lenoir on Feb 27, 2012 22:00:14 GMT -5
"Of course we shall return here, Christine," replied Erik to her query. He silently wondered when they had become "we," but it was only a passing thought. "I have every thought of returning to work on the piano so it will be in excellent condition. But it needs a great deal of work. And...I need quite a few more tools."
Erik looked about him in the music room. "This once must have been magnificent, " he mused. "The whole place is fantastic, at least what I've seen of it." He paused. "But there must be an area where one can eat and sleep in this place. I don't mean to complain, and I usually don't need much of either, but I am decidedly hungry. An odd sensation for me. Perhaps I'm bored." He glanced quickly at Christine and smiled. "Not bored with you, of course, my dear..."
Erik went out in the hall again and looked both ways, as if expecting someone. "You know, Christine, you've said it in three little words...time's strange here...that sums up everything I've experienced...It looks as though no one else is here..." Erik sighed audibly and then realized it was probably the first time in his life that he felt he would be happy to see another person. Although he appreciated the fact that Christine was with him. Not that she knew more than he did...but there was that word again. ...Companionship...A completely different thing than any of his previous relationships with people. She was pleasant, not afraid of him and she wanted nothing of him...
Erik took a few steps in the same direction they had been going before. He looked around behind him to make sure she was following him. There was a corner up ahead and an area with many smaller doors. They were carved and wooden, but the tops of them were not gothic archways; the doorways were straight across the tops. Erik took a glance backward at Christine again and nodded in the direction of the door, as if saying something would break some sort of spell. He turned the knob and entered. This room was not dark.
Erik stepped into the room and looked about him, confused. The sight that met his eyes had no understanding to his late nineteenth century mind. There was a humming sound that pulsed throughout the room. There were many lighted panels, and when Erik came closer to them, he could recognize some sort of pictures. And the pictures were moving! There were blinking lights and parts of typewriters sitting about. He wondered why there would be typewriter keys without a place to put paper... There were also some strange large machines set on the floor in several corners.
The room was so full of light...it must be electric, he thought...the Opéra Populaire had been electrified recently...but the rest of this...he was utterly fascinatted...
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phantomsdarkangel
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No thoughts within her head but thoughts of Love
Posts: 194
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Post by phantomsdarkangel on Feb 28, 2012 9:52:51 GMT -5
Christine smiled as he said they'd be back. "I'm sure you'll do a good job with the piano... I'll help you find whatever you need. Maybe in a few hours, the corridors will have good lightning and I can explore the rooms near by to find whatever you may need, Erik," she told him, turning around to look at the music room again.
"I'm sure if was," Christine muttered. "It can be, again. I'm sure of that." She then remembered the rooms where she had been sleeping. "I know there are bedroom somewhere. I've been staying there. I'm afraid I don't really know where they are now, for I didn't know this part of the manor but I'm pretty sure we can find them, again," she smiled weakly.
When he said he was hungry, she looked up at him, "First, I'm glad you're not bored with me, Erik... but, hungry, huh?" she asked, smiling. "Find me a kitchen and I can cook something for you," she giggled softly. She was a good cook, overall. She didn't have many chances to cook.
Walking down the hall, she looked around, trying to see someone, anyone, walking around, as lost as they were. "It's strange, indeed... I don't really know how long I've been here," she told him, a hint of sadness in her voice. "I'm actually getting used to this place..." she looked up at him again and nodded. "And I don't really know if I want to meet anyone else... I met some strange people in here. Not you, Erik. But... well, thanks to my confusion, people started thinking I'm crazy..." Christine sighed.
Following Erik, she wondered what was that new room they had found. Stepping him, Christine gasped silently. This room scared her. The pictures moving and the typewriter keys all around. There was so much light in the room... it was unbelievable. Christine had to admit she was scared. She took a step closer to Erik and spoke with a cracking voice, still looking around the place. "E-Erik, where a-are we?"
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Erik Lenoir
Hide your face, so the world will never find you...
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Post by Erik Lenoir on Feb 29, 2012 0:31:11 GMT -5
Christine seemed frightened of the strange room. It had the opposite effect on Erik. He was utterly fascinated. He glanced at Christine. Not too practiced with comforting anyone, he nonetheless put an arm tentatively about her shoulder. "I don't believe there is anything to be frightened about, Christine. It's all right..." He was amazed at how easily this came to him. One kiss from his Christine seemed to have changed him, gave him a bit of gentleness.
Erik had no idea what the pictures and all the equipment was in the room, but he wanted to find out. "Sit down Christine...perhaps this will tell us something about the mansion..." He studied the moving pictures, trying to make sense of them.
Suddenly he saw something that startled him. It was a scene of a door.... The door had the same gothic look to it as the door to the music room they had just left...how could that be? He looked at more of the square flickering pictures and they all seemed to be of the inside or ouside of a house. "Christine, look at this, come closer, do any of these strange moving scenes look familiar to you? I think they may be places in a house, most likely this one..."
Erik looked closer and thought he saw some people walking, with choppy movements, through some of the pictures. "Do any of those look familiar, Christine?"
Then Erik saw something that made him startled, if not frightened. He stood up so suddenly that the chair he was sitting in, rolled backward and fell over. "That person...on the picture...disappeared before my very eyes, Christine...you said there were ghosts here...and yet, it can't be true, could it? " He turned and glanced at Christine and the look on his face, at least the visible half of his face showed what looked to be...a bit of ...fear...
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phantomsdarkangel
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No thoughts within her head but thoughts of Love
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Post by phantomsdarkangel on Feb 29, 2012 9:48:05 GMT -5
Looking around, still in disbelief, Christine felt Erik's arm wrapping around her shoulder. It surprised her, at first, but she was glad he was there to comfort her. "What is this place, Erik?" she asked him softly. It clearly didn't look like any other room they had visited.
Sitting down as Erik told her, her eyes kept wandering around, trying to find out what the pictures showed or what the machines were supposed to do. Had they found the reason why they had appeared there? Were this machines messing with their heads?
Christine snapped out of her thoughts when Erik called her. She stood up and walked up to him, "What did you see?" she asked, but then glanced at the picture herself. A house... different parts of a house. And then, the outside part of said house... Christine's eyes widened as she saw the fountain she had seen outside. Pointing to it, she exclaimed, "I've been there, Erik! It's the fountain in the garden!"
But then, the scene changed again and it was back inside. With people walking around... Christine tried to recognize them, but she couldn't. "I've never seen them..." she replied, sadly.
Christine blinked. She had seen a person there and now there was nothing. It couldn't be true. When Erik stood up and knocked his chair over, she knew that he had seen the same. Then she remembered. That person was the ghost she had seen floating around. It had scared her so much that she couldn't forget what she had seen. "That's what I see, Erik... there are ghosts here... I told you. I knew I had seen a ghost and this proves it." At least, Christine knew she wasn't going insane. Looking up at Erik, she showed the same fear she thought she had seen in his eyes. "There's something going on here, and I'm not sure if it's something good..."
// Have they found the "Marauder's map"? xD \\
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Erik Lenoir
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Post by Erik Lenoir on Mar 1, 2012 20:00:57 GMT -5
Erik was still shook up from the oddity he had seen on the strange blinking, electronic things...he could think of no word for them. He turned around to pick up the chair which had fallen when he had arisen in surprise.
"Christine, I think we had ought to leave this room. It may be nothing to be concerned about, or it could signify something dangerous. I don't know..." he paussed. "It doesn't give me a good feeling when I don't know something...and this whole experience has been very... strange... for me." He could have used the word "frightening" instead of strange, but Erik didn't want to admit his fear to Christine. He wanted to protect her, for some reason. But a larger reason was that he simply hated to admit to any weakness.
He continued: "That ghost you claim you saw...it was the same that I saw in the pictures? The same person who disappeared? It's impossible, and yet, this house seems a focus of some very strange happenings. I suggest we move on. I know that I saw the outside of the house, or some house, as it were. And you confirmed that you had seen the same view, with the fountain. We must find the way out and .... I think we are wasting time just standing about. Shall we?" he said, expectantly to Christine. He held the door open for her, only too glad to be leaving the weird elecronic room.
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phantomsdarkangel
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No thoughts within her head but thoughts of Love
Posts: 194
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Post by phantomsdarkangel on Mar 1, 2012 22:11:39 GMT -5
Christine wanted to leave, that was for sure. Nodding in agreement as Erik told her they should leave, she turned around. She couldn't bare to look at that strange picture any longer.
"Please, let's leave this place..." she almost begged.
"It's the same exact ghost I saw... and the fountain... everything. It's the same," she added, a few moment later, walking towards the door. "I... I think we're in danger, Erik. I really think so..." And she was scared. Out of her mind. More than she had ever been.
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Erik Lenoir
Hide your face, so the world will never find you...
Hide your face so the world will never find you...
Posts: 1,241
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Post by Erik Lenoir on Mar 2, 2012 18:30:52 GMT -5
Christine seemed, to Erik, to be frightened and she voiceed her concern that they may be in danger. Erik was unnerved by this strange room which seemed out of some Victorian science fiction writer's odd imagination. It seemed a nightmare, but he knew it wasn't. He wasn't really frightened, for he had supreme confidence in his ability to overcome nearly anything, he was more annoyed by the feeling of not knowing what was happening. He certainly wanted to leave this room.
Erik held the door open for Christine and let it close. He hadn't realized how loud the mechanical sounds from the machines were until they were safely out in the hall and the quiet returned.
"Shall we continue in the same direction we came? I realize I am still hungry although all thoughts of that had left me in that odd and perhaps I should call it, futuristic room. "
He continued to lead the way, and then felt perhaps, since she was frightened, he should hold her hand to comfort her. She seemed to like it and he was definitely not adverse to it either. He offered his hand again. Coming to another set of doors, Erik pushed them open. "We may have found the dining room, Christine..."
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