The Talk (Raoul Edouard)

[anastasia]

Finally! Everything out in the stables were taken care off. The horses were worked, fed, turned out and Wildfire got a bath. A couple more repairs on the Stables then she turned off her music and went inside.

After showering - as sometimes it's just gross to be out in a stable - and dressed in something comfy to her - denims and a light sweater and comfy shoes. With her MP3 player in hand and Kindle, she went down to one of the Sitting rooms, started a fire, then went to get some Dr Pepper and returned to the room with that and popcorn.

Comfy on the sofa with all the tech and listening to the music, she started to surf the web while listening to Prince. Crossing her legs after slipping her feet out of the shoes. She was incredibly relaxed to a point of high tech zen!

[Raoul Edouard de Chagny]

Edouard didn't know what to do with himself. He was bored and hadn't seen Emilie for a while. Now that Christmas and New Years had come and gone, there wasn't much to do. Perhaps a ride would be in order later, but he didn't feel like it at this moment.

So not having anything much to do this morning, after having knocked on Emilie's door and getting no answer, he sighed and decided to read in one of the sitting rooms. He picked up a novel from his room and went down to one of the rooms which had been decorated lovingly for Christmas a few weeks ago. Everything was back to normal now. And the whole place looked cleaner than it had a while back. For Christmas, the ladies must have scrubbed and cleaned as they never had before.

Edouard walked in the room and there was already someone there. It was Ana, one of the ladies who had been baking before Christmas when he had come upon them in the kitchen. She hadn't been particularly nasty to him, although he couldn't remember exactly what she had said to him. And she had been at the Christmas party too. But he couldn't remember her name. He stopped at the door, wondering whether he should indeed step into the room. Hesitating for a moment, he noticed she was using some modern machines, small ones and seemed to be unaware of his presence. She had wires coming from her ears. He wondered what that was for. He decided to go in. He sat on the other side of the room, between the fireplace and the window, where the sun was pouring in brightly and elegantly this cold winter day. He sat down and crossing his legs, opened his book and began to read.

[anastasia]

Rather oblivious for a moment that someone had entered the room, too. That is until she caught the movement from the corner of her eye. Glancing sideways to lock upon Edouard, almost raising her brows. Trying to place him and then realized who it was, so to speak. And recalled that one morning baking Christmas goodies where he was rather drunk then quite abusive to Lenoir. She sighed at that and nearly grimaced in disgust. So, she turned her attention back to the Kindle for a while as she listened to her music.

After a few minutes, there was something nagging her and she sighed again. Putting the kindle down and pulling out the plugs, she turned to face Raoul Edouard a moment to study him. Was he drunk or sober? This would make a big difference really. From the looks of it, he seemed sober. So perhaps she could bring something to his attention. Not that she could really make a difference but she'll be damned if she'll let him continue on with bashing Lenoir. No one ever deserved to be abused. Not even a murderer and extortionist.

She finally got up and moved over to sit in a chair across from Edouard. Her brown eyes transfixed upon him as she crossed her legs, draping her arms over the armrests. Just... sat there watching him a moment before she cleared her throat. "You seem to be rather... mellow... today."

[Raoul Edouard de Chagny]

Edouard saw the woman who was sitting on the other side of the room, get up and come over closer to him. Or rather he heard her, then he looked up and saw her. He wondered what she wanted. He put the book down and looked at her enquiringly.

He had recognized her but couldn't for the life of him remember her name. Maybe he hadn't ever heard it. He remembered she was American and of the modern persuasion. Which in Edouard's thoughts, was not necessarily a good thing. They seemed too outgoing and then being American made it even worse. But he would be pleasant. He wondered what she wanted.

"Good day, Mademoiselle." He paused a bit. "I'm afraid I don't know your name, but of course I remember you from the Christmas gift session. It was quite a party, was it not?"

[anastasia]

Sitting there looking at him and nearly smirked as he set the book down. Oh, good, she got his attention. It's a start. Phase two.
Was he looking her over? Measuring her up? Good! Hopefully she was intimidating enough to hold her own against him.

"Hello," she replied in her mid-depth warm voice, keeping her brown eyes upon him. Mademoiselle? Ahhh, yes. One would indeed notice if a woman was married or not by a ring upon her finger or not. A give away at such a failure in her life and she didn't like it! So he was rather observant, she'll give him that. But will he be open to some help? She will see.
Nodding rather casually and gracefully, "It was a nice little get together." Pausing a moment after she glanced out the window then turned her eyes back to Eddy, "I'm Ana. And you are...?" Trailing off. She had a hunch but she wanted to confirm it by hearing it from him.

Gazing back at him with a haunting look and tried to at least soften her visage, "And I remember you from the day some of us where in the kitchen making Christmas cookies and deserts." Pausing a moment as she pursed her lips not sure how to bring up the part about the alcohol.

[Raoul Edouard de Chagny]

Edouard wasn't sure what to think of this modern woman. He really had no thoughts one way or another. She was just there and that was all. But now she had decided to speak to him. It seemed as if she had a reason for speaking to him too.

She wasn't bad looking. He just didn't particularly have any interest in her. Women from his own era were so much more interesting.

She had a pleasant voice, he would give her that much. Pretty brown eyes. But he hardly noticed. He wasn't attracted to her. What did she want with him?

She agreed with him that the Christmas party had been a nice one. Then she introduced herself as Ana. He stood up to introduce himself and shake her hand. "I am Le Vicomte Raoul Edouard de Chagny," he said with a bit of pride. He also noticed she was somewhat taller than he was. "The Vicomtess de Chagny is my wife."

She brought up the embarrassing cooky baking episode. He decided not to bring up his own bad behaviour, but he suspected she was planning to do so. He stiffened a bit, preparing for an onslaught. All the women seemed to be in love with Lenoir. So she would probably start in on that. "Yes, the ladies, including yourself, did an excellent job of baking. Christine brought me some of the many varieties and I must say, I have not had such excellent baking for some time. Come to think of it, since I insisted that Christine stop working herself to death cooking and baking, since we had a cook and a baker when we were married." He laughed. "It's possible I was wrong about that. Well, there's a first time for everything." Trying to get off of the subject which he was quite sure he was going to bring up, namely that he had said something a bit rude to Lenoir, not that he didn't deserve it, he said, "What was that you were doing when I came into the room, wires coming out of your ears? I have never seen such a thing. It must be a new device. What does it do?"

[anastasia]

Looking up at him as she sat there in her chair, slightly raising her brows at his attempt of being formal and genteel. Well isn't this interesting.
Shaking his hand and nodded in acknowledgement, "Mister- I mean, Vicount de Chagny," recalling that Philippe liked to be called Count so she figured that Raoul wanted to be called Vicount. She gave him a pleasant smile at least. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well." He actually was the first of the Raouls that she met.
Lifting her head slowly, "Ahhh.. I see. And her name is.. Christine, I take it?"

Grinning as he praised the goodies that they made. "Thank you," she said grateful of the compliment. Despite the issues it still turned out to be a good day and some wonderful holiday treats. "I'm so used to making cookies for the Holidays. It was only natural to make them this year."

She listened to what could have been a regret.. or not. Studying him a bit wondering if Christine made a good pick out of Raoul. She never really thought about how their life would have actually gone after the Phantom. This was interesting insight.
"How else are we do learn if we don't make mistakes. Again, so long as we learn from them." Raising her brows and looking both concerned and stern at Raoul.

She snickered. Oh, he was good. Trying so hard to divert her from the obvious. Perhaps he did have an inkling of what she was here for. How intuitive of him. Perhaps this was not the first time something like this happened. Ahhh, more insight! This was great fodder!
"I was doing some researching and reading on my Kindle Fire while listening to some music. That's what those wires were. I had them hooked up to-," and she got up at this time from the chair moving over to where she set the Kindle and MP3 player down, "-to my music player-" picked both items up and walked back over to him, "-while I was on the internet." Shaking her head and snickered again as she handed the items to Raoul for him to look at. "There's a lot that most likely you are not aware of. Perhaps I can show you and help you catch up on the past hundred years. I promised Lenoir the same thing. I'm sure there are some things in there that will interest you guys."
Standing there beside his chair and placed her hands upon her hips, watching him look over the modern devices.

[Raoul Edouard de Chagny]

Thinking perhaps she was more accustomed to a little more informality, and because of the plethera of Raoul de Chagnys at the mansion, he said, "If you wish you may call me Edouard ... there are many men here with the same name as I. Edouard is my middle name. And yes, my wife is Christine. Christine Emilie to be precise. Again too many with the same name." Edouard laughed.

"Mistakes? I don't know. I expect that Christine thinks she made a mistake by marrying me. Bur we were so in love you see, and I had to save her from a life of ...well, I expect it would have been downright horror. She agreed with me at the time."

He looked at her and smiled. "I don't expect you wish to speak a bout things from the past that are long dead and buried." Then he thought, ruefully, Or should have been.....

"So, this is new to me. You are bringing up some things I haven't heard about." Ana went over to the couch where she had been sitting and picked up her modern gadgets and brought them over so Edouard could see. She handed them to him. She said she was listening to music with the wires in her ears. "You listen to music on this?" Edouard frowned. Alas, he had no idea what they could do, and really had not much interest in them either. Putting wires in your ears to music seemed quite absurd. He didn't care to do that.

Then she mentioned Lenoir. He visibly stiffened again, but hoped she hadn't seen. He did not want to talk about his enemy. At one time, he had thought they could be friends, but the man was crazy. And it seemed nothing would keep him from going after Emilie...But Ana need know nothing of this. It wasn't her business and she wasn't to interfere. For if Edouard caught Lenoir with his wife one more time, he would shoot the man. It would be justified....completely.

Edouard just wished Ana would go away. He wanted no part of her silly devices. He wanted to read his book. But he was determined to be pleasant, in any case. Then she called him and Lenoir "guys." An informal English slang expression that did not sit well with him. And he had no wish to be linked with Lenoir even if it was only in the same sentence. Still he ignored the obvious. His smile was a bit strained, as he handed back the modern objects.

[anastasia]

Nodding slowly once to both explanations of various Raouls and various Christines. "Ahhh, I see."
Barely raising her brows as she looked at him while listening. "What makes you say that?" Curious why he believed Christine made that particular mistake in marriage with him.
Then shook her head, "That's something we never really know. Only speculation of what could have been. We could bash our brains to a liquid pulp trying to figure that out." Then shrugged," you both were young and scared and in young love." Almost wincing with the fact she hinted to knowing what happened. Realizing that even Lenoir had a hell of a time with her knowledge of what happened. What would this Raoul think?
'That's up to you, Edouard," Being rather informal while keeping a steady gaze upon him. "Sometimes... discussing things from the past helps you to think about what to do better next time and what to get off your mind. Relieve that stress."

She snickered, "Oh, I would be surprised if you had, de Changy." snickering some more. "It's called and MP3 player and the other slightly larger device is a Kindle Fire. Now, with the Kindle I can obtain books and read them on it, as many books as I want. I can get information like the weather in Chicago or down in Istanbul at any time. I can make payments to anything, buy anything I want on there, I can even write a note or send a message to someone. There's a lot I can do on there, even listen to music on it, too. Now the MP3 player is only music. Instead of using some disc or cassette each time, it can store hours of music on that little device. I can even connect it to a computer or even another device to put more music on it or change music. Now," stepping around behind the chair, "did you want to listen to something? Maybe something from Beethoven? Or perhaps a little new song that is only a piano? Or maybe you like ragtime? Unless you want to hear what I listen to." Curious to see what he will do.

She noticed but dashed it off and focused upon trying to explain reality to him. The man better shape up and get with the times if he was going to survive.
Trying to wait for that perfect opportunity to get Edouard to confront his alcohol problem and his abuse of Lenoir. Patience

[Raoul Edouard de Chagny]

The woman was beginning to go on a bit with her explanations of the modern objects. "You can read a book on that? Why would you care to do that? There are plenty of books in the library. And I have quite a few of my own in my suite." Then she said she could get the weather in Chicago or Istanbul at any time. "Really, how interesting. I can hardly think why that would be relevant, considering the fact that it's unlikely you are going to be leaving this mansion and going to enjoy the weather in Chicago or Istanbul at any time soon"

He paused and looked at her. She seemed serious. "And what kind of payments are you planning to make? If you bought something where would you tell them to send it? None of us are even sure where we really are. Some say England, but it could be anywhere for that matter." He was becoming annoyed with her senseless devices. And if you want music, why don't you ask one of the Eriks to play something for you. I am sure any one of them would be delighted." He tried to smile, but it was more of a sneer. He didn't believe her claims that the little thing could play Beethoven or some other music. That little thing, hah! Ridiculous.

He picked up his book to rudely shut her out of his consciousness.

[anastasia]

She could easily explain why it was convenient to have books on the small, thin device rather than books that take up space. Granted books were nice, but when you travel or have limited space, one can not always afford a book or have room for it.
Nearly annoyed, she decided to make a brief explanation. "Because perhaps you don't always have the space for a lot of books. It's cheaper to have books on there and as I mentioned, a space saver."
Now she couldn't help it and slightly rolled her eyes. For curiosity's sake, perhaps there was family there, or you might travel there... "Because I AM from Chicago and I DO want to know what the weather is like there! Because I WILL return home someday!" She started to growl at him with a gentle sarcasm.
Taking back her Kindle with slightly pursed lips. "It's the idea of having information at your fingertips so that you won't be ignorant." Starting to get a little short with him but doing her best to be a pleasant as possible.
"Maybe a house payment or mortgage. Or car payment. Buying clothes or music or a book."
Where to send it? Now she looked at him with a bit of slight scowl. Really? Where would she had the items sent? That was truly a no brainer! Shaking her head rather annoyed he had to even ask that question. This was Raoul de Chagny?!?
"Yes!" with raised brows, annoyed visage and the tone of her voice reflected it well enough. "We ARE in England!" Lord! Was he really as dense?
Another scowl and she was trying to keep her annoyance and anger in check but he was quickly starting to rub her in the WRONG direction!
From a scowl to a forced big smile, "Yes, they would. I could record his music on here even." Motioning to the Kindle.

Once again, raising her brows, shifting to one leg and stared at him. "You know... for someone who's supposed to have been of a good and wealthy family, you sure don't act like it."
Tossing the Kindle and MP3 player down upon one of the posh chairs as she stood there with hands upon her hips, locking her eyes upon him. "I thought reading a book in the presence of someone was a major etiquette no-no?"

[Raoul Edouard de Chagny]

She continued to talk and annoy Edouard. Now it was getting hard for him even to smile.What was wrong with this woman? Obviously she was not from a good family or she would have manners and know enough not to disturb one of her betters while he was occupied with something he wished to do.

"You are talking about doing a lot of travelling, I see. Well why don't you and ..." here he was going to say Lenoir because he really wished the fellow would leave the manor and go drown himself of get run over by a horseless carriage or something.... " why don't you get the h.....get out of here then if you hate it so much?" Edouard was frowning and looking unhappy.

"So you have these great hopes you shall come back to Chicago some day? Well, I wish you luck. And don't forget to take your wonderful little machines that can do everything." Then she mentioned house payment or mortgage. "Surely you jest. There is no mortgage here, nor are the spectres charging us rent. And a car payment? You are buying one of those horseless carriages? I thought you were a horsewoman. If we had an address for this place, perhaps we could send for some help to get us out of here. Does the postman carry letters and packages here? I think not. We get no mail here." Crazy woman..."he muttered under his breath.

Then she went into a diatribe about how she thought he was from a noble family and he should know better than to be rude and read in her presence. He took the book slowly off of his lap and stood up. "See here, Miss whatever your name is. I am from a noble family indeed and the people that worked for me knew their place. I am not saying that you work for me, if you were working for me, I would sack you at once! But you should know that you do not disturb your betters when they are involved in something in which they wish to be left alone. Why don't you just get out of her and leave me!" The last few sentences were shouted and he pointed to the door.

[anastasia]

Looking rather shocked and stood there almost frozen processing what he said trying not to be incredibly angry but again she was a bit shocked.
With a slightly pinched face and barely a shake of her head, "Who said I hated this place? I just mentioned returning home to Chicago. Didn't mean I would not come back." Shaking her head a bit more visible this time.

She continued to be in a state of shock as he went on and on in his vicious sort of rant. With a tilt sideways of her head, closed eyes and a slightly open mouth as though in a mixed amused disgust then shook her head again. Rubbing her forehead just stunned that he was being rather arrogant. She actually liked the character Raoul and this... this Raoul was making the view of him dwindle to a low rating. In other words, have a complete lack of respect for Raoul!
"Excuse me?" she barely heard something but it sure sounded like he said something about her and appeared she didn't like it at all!

Stiffening and almost stepped back, but she stood her ground. She was high on alert ready to fight or defend herself if necessary. It didn't matter in her view or opinion if a man was rich or poor, a great family or not, they could still hurt and beat the crap out of you. She saw this with a couple friends, and even once herself. So this caused her to be on the defensive so to speak.

Placing her hands upon her hips but by no means was she relaxed at all. Pursing her lips a moment and gazing hard back at him. "But I DON'T work for you," she said back at him with a soft but harsh bite to her voice. Those brown eyes were hard, intimidating, looking like a frightened animal ready to attack.
With a loud "Ha! hahaha" and looking around. "You really are an ass," still keeping her volume down but with a harsh bite to her voice. "If you were a better man, you wouldn't be so arrogant, rude, obnoxious and vicious to other people!" Her face so desperately was trying to restrain how pissed she was. "Oh, and might I add... ABUSIVE! Only a coward, a bully, an ass would be cruel to others. Least of all to Lenoir! He's had more than enough from you already! He's not perfect, but neither are you! So don't belittle someone else just to make yourself look better! It actually makes you more the monster!" She barked at him.

Snickering a little as she looked around, hands upon her hips. "Funny. I was the one occupying this room BEFORE you came in!" Glaring at him.
"Better start doing some soul searching, Mister de Chagny! I actually liked the Raoul character! But you! YOU, are just killing my respect for you!"

[Raoul Edouard de Chagny]

"If you find a way to come and go from this place, I wish you would show me how to return to Paris, you who seem to know everything. It must be your amazing modern gadgets that you use instead of using your head." Edouard had enough of this woman. He was done with trying to be polite. If this was what modern people were like, he wanted none of it.

When she said, I don't work for you, he looked at her and smirked. "Thank goodness!" Her brown eyes looked hard, but his blue ones were icy. "You're calling me abusive? I have never laid a finger upon you and I don't intend to. So I'm a coward, a bully and an ass in your eyes. Well I really don't give a damn about what you think of me. You're obviously a low class rude woman with no manners whatsoever. You call me arrogant, rude and obnoxious. What do you think you are acting like at this moment? "

Then she brought up Lenoir.Just the subject he didn't wish to talk about. But if he didn't say something now she would continue to rant about it. "Sit down. Let me tell you about Lenoir. I don't know if you are aware that he has some ugly secrets to hide. Things uglier than his face. He's a murderer. He killed two people at the Opera House in Paris. One of them knew too much about him. The other, he used in a plot where he was going to steal Christine away in front of a full house at the opera. He almost got away with it, were it not for Christine's quick thinking.She unmasked him in front of everyone and he again whisked her away to his lair in a vain attempt to force her to marry him. I braved the waters of the lake to get to her. He almost killed me too with his wicked Punjab lasso. He gave her a choice of killing me or staying with him for the rest of her life, which apparently he saw as a cruel fate for her. Surprising him, she chose that and to set me free. He was overwhelmed at her sacrifice and let us both go. I give him that. He has a tiny bit of goodness in that black heart of his. But then Christine surprised both of us by kissing him. "

"We left after that, but Christine was never the same. What did he do to her? I don't know. I think he mesmerised her and caused confusion in her mind. For all the years that we were married, she pined for him. I had terrible nightmares all of those years. about him stealing her away. He truly ruined our marriage. Coming here, I hoped it would be different. But I discovered he was here too and he was up to his old tricks. I caught him kissing Christine nd then he had the gall to blame me and he almost killed me by strangulation. How many others he killed before the opera house or after we left, I couldn't say. But I do not trust him."

"The man has a way with women, I must admit. He knows how to make them pity him and then fall in love with him. He knows how to woo them with soft words and I must admit, he has a wonderful voice which he uses to his advantage. I would not care about the marks on his face were he not uglier of soul. How many of you women has he wooed here in the mansion? I know there was Teressa, with whom he had a fight. But I'm sure he will get her back in no time. And Adina, she sticks to him like a thistle. It even looked like that odd western woman Lu cares something for him. And you, here you are spouting the things to me that he has made you believe about him. And last but not least, there is my wife. She claims to love me, but runs to his arms every chance she gets. So there you are. Of course you probably will not believe me and still think of Lenoir as poor, misunderstood, lovable Erik. Now are you satisfied?"

[anastasia]

Pursing her lips as she slightly glared back at Edouard. She'd nearly forgotten what Lenoir stated about leaving this place. However, Billie was able to come and go at will. He was like Ana, who came here from the US and some how ended up at the Manor. They were Phantom sort of character. It was obvious to her that at least she and Billie could leave at will and to anywhere. It seemed unfair to all the other residents of the Manor who were unable to leave.
Then he rubbed her raw the wrong way! "Excuse me?!?" raising her brows and looking like she was ready throw something at him or punch him! But she didn't, restraining herself greatly at the obnoxious comment of using her head. Narrowing her eyes and glaring at him, pursing her lips again with a slight shake of her head. "Granted knowledge does not make a person wise. Knowing how to use the knowledge makes a person wise as well as experiences. It's very arrogant of you to assume that I never use my brain!" She snapped at him and was clearly upset beyond what she's ever been since coming to the Manor.

Narrowing her eyes and glaring at Edouard again when he said 'Thank goodness'-
"You don't have to lay a hand upon a person physically to be abusive! You can do just as much damage using unkind words or even behaviors such as not paying attention to them!" Pausing a moment as she shifted her weight and crossed her arms. "I think everyone sees that you are a coward and cruel. I'm just strong enough to actually confront you about the problem to at least help you see what you are doing to be a better person! But, that's up to you if you want to be a better person. To respect others and be respected in return. 'Cause right now, I don't think there is anyone who really respects you! I'd love to respect you but I can't respect a person who is abusive with alcohol and towards other people, especially Lenoir!" She was nearly fit to be tied but still restrained herself. Wanting to get her point across just as much as he was trying to do. Yes, perhaps she was trying to prove herself as right and him as wrong.
"Class has NOTHING to do with being rude. It's your character and how you respect others. The poorest of men can be the most respected person in the world and the richest can be the most hated all because of how they behave and act towards others and in the eyes of other people!"

Took her a while as she stood there and started to listen to Eddy talk about Lenoir. Shifting her weight again but arms still crossed. As he explained it all, she gazed back at him as though nothing was new. She knew it all already and it didn't phase her. She didn't appreciate the mention of his face. Not shocked that Raoul would know what he looked like for he'd seen the unmasked Phantom at the end when he rescued Christine. And granted she didn't care much for the murderer part or any other law breaking things that Lenoir had done - or any of the Phantoms really - but she could not completely hold that against him.
Raising her brows and sat down finally after he explained that Christine was never the same after that incident. "You REALLY think Christine would be fine after a traumatic incident like that? If there was anyone that, in a way was close enough to a figure like her father, it would have been her Angel of Music! She associated that Angel of Music to her father! And when the Phantom utilized it and perverted that dream, it confused her child-like mind! But because of the both of you, she grew! Of course she won't be the same! She became a woman instead of a girl at that time! Both of you have a heavy influence upon her! You really expected her to just drop the whole thing and forget the Phantom as though it never happened?!? That's incredibly blind of you to just not see her needs!" Now she was upset and felt complete pity for Christine. Almost tearing up in thought of a nearly similar situation where something happened to her and she needed someone but her boyfriend at the time had completely overlooked her needs and she was further sent into depression. Men were asses, that was so very obvious!

Shaking her head, rubbing her forehead as she sat back, crossing her legs. "You really screwed up," then crossed her arms again and sighed. Took a moment to look back up at him. "A woman can never stop loving someone. And it's not the sort of love you think, Raoul. After all, the Phantom filled a void when she needed someone at the time. Remember, she just lost her father and that was perhaps the MOST traumatic time in her life," She once again was sympathetic to Christine. "You were not there but her Angel of Music was! You CAN'T force a person to not love any more unless there's a darn good reason. She started to hate him because she was angry with how she was used but in the end, that was all resolved! All was forgiven! And you.... I don't think you see ANY of that! You never forgave, you never cared!" Yes, this was getting far too deep for her as she had experienced a part where a man really did not care nor let go. And it only made things worse. Always does. Why must men never let go? Why must they be so emotionally attached in the wrong way?

Sitting back in the chair all defensive and upset, stuck between anger and hurt, this was reaching into a realm she was not wanting to go. Damnit, why did Edouard have to do this?!? She wanted to confront him on his alcohol and his abuse of Lenoir not open him up further. Yet, she encouraged that and now... they were both paying the price for her need to fix things. What a horrid flaw this was!
"Lenoir was no sweet Angel when I met him. In fact we butted head like two wild rams! I refused to believe him. But the reason why he's won the ladies is because he is charming. He's chivalrous and willing to listen. He does the things that women want out of men. Remember, he's had YEARS to observe what men to wrong and to know what to do better! And his own brief experiences he's had to learn from. So far, he's learning from his experiences to become a better person." Staring at Edouard, "Is that something we can say about you?" Pausing a moment. "Have you learned from your mistakes? What are you doing to be a better person?"

A hefty sigh as she collected herself, "Lenoir is NOT perfect! Far from it! But he's still learning as he should be. The only time anyone stops learning and stops growing is when they die!" Another pausing, "he's hurting himself over his relationship with Teressa but he's trying hard to learn from it and move on if he has to. He doesn't want to make that mistake again. A great example there he learned with Christine is how one person greatly affects someone else. Something, again, that both Lenoir and Christine realized deep down in their souls. But did YOU see that?" Obviously not from what she saw. Raoul was as daft as a turkey looking up watching it rain with opened mouth and drown itself!

Rubbing her forehead again, "A person cannot just love only one person. It's impossible to do that." She continued to rub her forehead then held it, turning her eyes to look at Raoul. "Women will love anyone and everyone they can. We marry the one whom will put up with us and love us in return, to spend the rest of our lives with. It's a miracle if that happens!" as she sighed and looked away. "Just because we love many people, even several men, does not always mean they will spend a life time with us, to be there with us, to create and raise children with us, and more." Pausing again as she thought more.
"She perhaps runs to Lenoir because you are not filling a void that Lenoir fills." this was hurting her to say this for it was too close to a similar situation that she was in.
Looking up at Raoul as she was shocked. "You are right. He is still the poor, misunderstood, lovable Erik. Poor, Unhappy Erik. For we have to pity him." That little part from the book she remember about the need to pity poor, unhappy Erik.
And now, Raoul was becoming a victim of circumstance.

"Damnit, de Chagny," Shaking her head, arms and legs crossed still as she sat in the chair. "You need to clear your mind and become a better person! If you want my respect and I'd be more than willing to give it back to you again, then you need to... one, stop being so mean and cruel and abusive towards Lenoir. Two, you need to stop your habit of drinking all the time. An occasional drink is good, but to just to get yourself drunk all the time is NOT healthy! Three, do something to improve yourself! Become a better man! Your Wife needs you to be that and you are failing miserably! Don't take that the wrong why. Wise up and use it as a challenge to become the man she needs you to be! If you really know her, then you should know what she needs most of all!"