a tiny book, with gilt edges (Teressa Lavalais)

[Christine Daaé]

Christine had decided to return to the library in order to finally do a little bit of book browsing. She had been to the library on three previous occasions. The first time, she had met a rugged-looking man by the name of Thomas Boehm, who was apparently a cellist, though he looked more like a miner. The second time, she had only opened the door and stepped in when a man who lived with the rats, grabbed her, threw her over his shoulder, and carried her off, holding her hostage. Needless to say, this second time was not a very pleasant one in the slightest. The third occasion on which she sad been to the library was that very day, only a couple of hours before when she had gone looking for her fiancé and found both him and the older Raoul there in the library.

Seeing as none of these times she had had time to actually browse the selection of books there and sit down and read, she had come back to the place to finally relax a little. She briefly glanced over the shelves and saw a little book with gilt edges that caught her eye. L'Imitation... why, they have the same edition which I was reading while in the House on the...

She stopped herself. Of course the same edition was there. She should have suspected as much considering.

Oh well. It was a good book.... She picked it up off of the shelf. There was a thick layer of dust over it for some odd reason. She blew over the cover and ended up coughing herself to begin coughing with the about of dust that flew up. Bloody allergies...

Taking the book with her, she sat down in one of the armchairs, settled down a bit, making herself more comfortable, and began to read.

[Teressa Lavalais]

Teressa walked down the hall back to that library that Lenoir had taken her to. Now that she had some clothes that fit her and she'd gotten back to Erik, she intended to look around this room again, perhaps find a book that suited her fancy. She walked in and headed straight for the clearing with all the armchairs when she heard coughing.

She walked over to the armchairs to investigate and saw a girl sitting there. Blonde, willowy looking, a little round-faced, and young. Definitely young. "You alright? I heard coughing..." Teressa walked to another armchair, plopping down in it and throwing her legs over the arm of the chair like she owned it.

[Christine Daaé]

“I'll be fine,” she said, still coughing a bit. “It's just a bit dusty is all. Whoever is in charge of cleaning this place should really be relieved of their duties and replaced...”

Christine couldn't help shooting an odd look at the woman when she flung her legs over the arm of the chair. It was most unladylike...

[Teressa Lavalais]

Teressa pursed her lips when the girl gave her a funny look. "You're very right. This whole place is in a bit of a state of ruin...I've been all over, and the only places that are clean seem to be the stranger parts of the manor, and the home that my father and I live in."

She remembered the Opera House that she'd woken up in. Now THAT was in a state of disrepair. The whole house was covered in dust, and it wasn't much worse than this library. The whole place was kind of falling apart, when she took a bit of a look at it.

[Christine Daaé]

Christine attempted to fake a smile at the woman, but failed miserably and it came out as more of a wince. Her manner were quite atrocious – completely unladylike and extremely vulgar.

“The stranger parts, you say? And what exactly do you mean by 'stranger'?” Christine had been under the impression that the entire manor was quite strange. “Your father? You live here with your father, you say?” Someone ought to tell her father to teach the woman some manners, because the way that she was behaving showed an extreme lack there of.

“I'm sorry. I failed to introduce myself. My name is Christine. Christine Daaé.”

[Teressa Lavalais]

"Yes, my father and I live under the manor, from the looks of it. A few stories under." Teressa re-situated herself upright in the chair. "And I'm Teressa. Teressa Lavalais." She smiled, hoping this Christine would stop giving her that look. It was starting to discourage her.

"Where are you staying here?" That was something that she'd been wondering. Where were all the other people staying?

[Christine Daaé]

Teressa Lavalais... Christine frowned a little. “Any relation to Monsieur Erik Lavalais?” Christine felt a bit more comfortable now that the woman was sitting properly in the chair. Well.... perhaps not entirely properly, but at least she was sitting upright now.

“Where an I staying? Well, in the dormitories area of this place, though hopefully not for too much longer. My fiancé and I were hoping to leave this place fairly soon...”

[Teressa Lavalais]

Teressa furrowed her brow when Christine mentioned her Erik. "Yes, yes, he's my colleague. We're not actually related, we just choose to go by the same last name. How do you know him?" This was something that Teressa would most certainly like to know. Just how many people had Erik met since he'd arrived here?

"There are dormitories here? I had no idea...that would've been useful to know a few days ago." She smiled slightly at the little waif of a girl in front of her.

[Christine Daaé]

“Oh...” she said. “I'm sorry. I just assumed there was some sort of relation given the similar names... I've met him a couple of times here, actually. The first time was in the chapel while having a sort of mass. The second was only a few days ago, actually. In the ballroom. He was re-building the piano in there...”

“Yes. Yes there are...” She looked down at her book and flipped through a few pages, trying to find where she had left off on her reading in the house on the lake, but there were questions that kept burning in her mind... “If you don't mind my asking, Mademoiselle Lavalais, how did you come to... be in this place?” It was an odd question perhaps, but she was rather curious...

[Teressa Lavalais]

"Well, to tell you the truth, I frankly have no idea. One minute, I'm walking through a corridor to meet with the Shah. The next minute, I have the wind knocked out of me and I wake up on a dusty stage. It's all rather odd, when I think about it, actually." Teressa leaned forward.

"What about you? Was it anything similar?"

[Christine Daaé]

Christine listened to the woman's story. It sounded very similar to those she had heard from the other residents here: Monsieur Lavalais, the Monsieur de Chagny who had found her, the older Monsieur de Chagny who was called Edouard... How very odd...

And then the woman addressed her in regard to the same question. “I? Well... I was asleep in my bed in the home of my Mamma Valérius back in Paris, and when I awakened, I was in a bed in the dormitories here, feeling as if someone had chloroformed me...”

[Teressa Lavalais]

"How strange, indeed...Do you think perhaps there is a reason that we are all here? I believe we've been assembled here for some purpose..." Teressa narrowed her eyes, waiting for a response from the girl.

Did she perhaps know anything about this place? A way out perhaps? Or maybe she knew why there were so many people here. And why all of them were in similar situations, too...

[Christine Daaé]

“Oh, I have no doubt that there is a reason. Although I must say that the reason for why some are here is much more difficult to figure out than the reason for others. That is, of course, unless the reason is simpler than suspected.”

She probably wasn't making any sense, but it really was difficult to explain her theory for why they were all here without flat out calling Érik out for his murderous tendencies. And this woman before her... Christine had no idea at all how she could figure into Érik's plot. But then again, she hadn't spoken to this woman for very long either.

[Teressa Lavalais]

Teressa raised her eyebrows. The girl was being confusing, that was for sure. But she wasn't going to say anything on it. She didn't want to be rude. Well, she didn't want to be as rude as usual.

"So, what exactly do you do? Or do you have a job?" Teressa tried to make polite conversation. She had nothing else to do. And what was the harm in trying to make a few new friends? She'd never really had any friends while she was with Erik. Well, besides Akasha. But Akasha wasn't here now, and Teressa didn't want to end up amusing herself because she was alone. And to her, that Lenoir man wasn't going to suffice as a best girl friend. Both because A: He was a man, and B: She didn't think that he'd be as excited over new pointe shoes or dresses as she would be. Perhaps, if she got to know this girl, she could make friends.

[Christine Daaé]

Christine bit her lip a little when she saw the confused expression on the woman's face. She knew that what she had said must have sounded quite confusing, but the situation itself was rather confusing...

“I am a soprano at the Opéra Garnier – or rather, I was. I had been planning to retire when I was married, but it seems I'm retiring by force now... And you, mademoiselle?”|