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 Jul 11, 2012 17:04:26 GMT -5
“This is television. It’s a means of communication…like a telephone almost, except one-way. And it has pictures. Let’s see…how did he explain it worked…there is this…machinery in space that relays a message back down to earth—a satellite, it was called. I still don’t quite understand it…but it’s amazing how far technology has come from our day, isn’t it?” Raoul commented, glancing over at the woman before looking back at the television.
Just then, England scored a goal against America. “See?” he exclaimed, clapping raucously and bolting to his feet. “They’re no match for Her Majesty’s finest!” He had always liked playing with a football when he could—by himself—when he was a child. Watching professionals play the game—even if just through a box—was absolutely thrilling.
He sat back down and smiled, reclining in his chair and tapping his fingers on the armrest of the couch. He was so immersed in the excitement of the game that he almost didn’t hear Christine speak. “Hm? The point? Why…to beat the other team—by scoring more goals.” he replied, confused. “Isn’t it exciting?”
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Christine Daaé
The Swedish Nightingale and Fairy of the North
If when the time comes, I refuse to go with you, well then, Raoul, you must carry me off by force!
Posts: 1,592
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Post by Christine Daaé on Jul 17, 2012 22:32:41 GMT -5
Christine stared at the man as if he were speaking Chinese when he tried to explain television to her. And then.... from our day? the girl's eyes narrowed a little and she pursed her lips. She didn't like that phrase 'from our day'. She didn't like it for two reasons: first of all, it made it sound as if they were quite old; and secondly, it further made it sound as if he really thought that they were somehow in the future, which was one thing that she absolutely refused to believe herself.
She winced and squeezed her eyes shut at the man's sudden exclamation about the game. She rubbed her ear a little, after having been started by the sudden shift in volume. “No,” she replied simply to his question about whether or not it was 'exciting.' “No, not particularly so. Is that absolutely all that one does with this infernal communication device, because it most certainly does not seem very useful invention...”
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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
|
Post by Raoul Christophe de Chagny on Aug 30, 2012 22:00:16 GMT -5
“Really? But America is getting put in its place by civilization.” Raoul protested, but sighed anyway, changing the channel. He supposed that she might not enjoy it as much as he did as it was a bit violent at times, and that might have upset her feminine sensibilities. Perhaps he wasn’t being as considerate as he should have been.
He then realized that she had sort of asked him a question. “Oh…um, no. There’s broadcast news—which is like a newspaper except…well on the television. There are some other random…plays of sorts—I think they call them ‘shows’ and ‘movies’. In fact I believe my colleagues said that they come in little boxes called ‘DVDS’…and they’re played on discs. There are some over here but I never bothered to look at them…” he said, nodding his head over at a shelf before standing up and looking through the DVDs stacked there. ‘The Godfather’, read one, ‘Casablanca’, another—but the one under it caused his blood to nearly freeze. The Phantom of the Opera… He picked up the box, surprised by the picture of the mask on the front. He turned the case around to look at the back, and dropped it on the floor in shock when he saw a photo of himself and Christine.
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Christine Daaé
The Swedish Nightingale and Fairy of the North
If when the time comes, I refuse to go with you, well then, Raoul, you must carry me off by force!
Posts: 1,592
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Post by Christine Daaé on Aug 31, 2012 10:37:29 GMT -5
Christine shook her head a little and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Men... She sometimes wondered with what seemed the all too often rash and somewhat pompous nature of them how exactly 'civilization' had managed to survive for this long. Seeing that such was often the case though, she should not have been so shocked when this other 'Raoul' associated such mindless behavior as kicking a ball back and forth with 'civilization'.
She listened rather unenthusiastically as he rattled off what other things could be done with this 'television' device. Some of them seemed less useless than others. She didn't see the point in the news, as there were morning and evening papers printed already for that precise reason. At the mention of plays on the contraption, she frowned. “But why on earth would one want to sit in front of a talking box to watch a play when one can go to the theatre and support the salaries of all who work there. It is an insult to the performers! A talking box cannot possibly add the same human emotion and living breathing soul that an artist puts into his or her work! It's preposterous!”
Suddenly this talking box seemed less and less appealing. She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm her frustration. She had to remember that this was Monsieur de Chagny's birthday (as strange as that name still felt on her tongue, even when only said in her mind) and if he wanted to watch the talking box, then they should watch the talking box, no matter how much she had made up her mind already that she detested the thing.
She let out a frustrated sigh and plopped down on the sofa as he rattled off the names of the different DVDs ,as he called them. When he stopped though, she looked up at him and then saw hi drop a little blueish box on the floor as if in shock. “What? What is it?” She got up and walked over, crouching down to pick up the box to look at it herself. The words on the box were written in English, but she could make out a little of what it said. “The Phantom of the Opera...” she read aloud. Phantom... it wasn't a word she was familiar with in English, but it sounded a bit like....
Fantôme! Le Fantôme de l'Opéra!
She got a bit pale for a moment. Why on earth would one of these DVDs know anything at all about the Opera Ghost? It wasn't exactly a legend that was widely spread, or it would keep all superstitious people away from visiting the Opera House... The box depicted a mask on the front, but it didn't look a thing like any of the masks that she had seen Érik wear before... Slowly, she turned the box over, and on the other side, saw the statue atop the Garnier – Apollo, Poetry and Music. she continued to examine it and her eyes fell upon something rather curious...
“The man on the box... he looks exactly like you!” the girl remarked as she looked back up at Monsieur de Chagny. She glanced back down at the box. It was most certainly him... and he was with a woman who seemed vaguely familiar for some odd reason, though she could have sworn she'd never seen her before... “Who is she?" Christine murmured aloud, more to herself than to the other. Something about this little blue DVD box rather intrigued 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 Sept 16, 2012 11:33:30 GMT -5
Christine’s previous comments about the pointlessness of television plays fell on deaf ears. Raoul was too stunned by what he had seen to even answer. That face…he had only seen it in his dreams since their last meeting, and he feared that he would never see it again. But there it was—there was that beautiful smile he missed so much, and what’s more, it was directed at him. And he looked equally blissful as he held her on the DVD cover. It looked too good to be true and too wonderful to be anything more than a fantasy.
“Christine Daaé.” he answered immediately, his voice barely above a whisper. He looked over at the woman and repeated more firmly, “Christine Svenna Daaé. She…we were childhood friends, you see. I believe I told you this the first time we met…” he trailed off before looking at the DVD cover, his eyes fixated firmly on the photo. “And if that’s her then that must be me…but how?” he wondered, tilting his head in confusion. His eyes skimmed over the words in English on the cover, and one in particular stood out. “Fraser…Hadley Fraser? That’s what they called me when I went to the village…” An actor—who looked exactly like himself? “Mademoiselle, if I may—I would like to see this play.”
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Christine Daaé
The Swedish Nightingale and Fairy of the North
If when the time comes, I refuse to go with you, well then, Raoul, you must carry me off by force!
Posts: 1,592
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Post by Christine Daaé on Sept 17, 2012 1:51:30 GMT -5
Christine tilted her head a bit, confused at first when the man told her the name of the woman on the cover. Christine Daaé....? We don't even look remotely similar... But then he explained further. Christine Svenna Daaé. She must have been the Christine that he had been talking about previously.
He asked several questions, but she assumed them to be rhetorical, given his current seemingly dazed state of mind. The only thing at all he said that she actually bothered responding to he said as a statement.
Mademoiselle, if I may—I would like to see this play.
Christine nodded simply. After all, it was his birthday, and even of it were not, this was obviously something that he felt a deep personal connection with... “Go ahead... It seems more interesting than your violent sporting events anyway.” he added that last part with a hint of a smile, hoping to brighten the situation a bit. She actually was quite curious to see the thing herself.
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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 Oct 19, 2012 0:49:14 GMT -5
Raoul was so deep in thought he almost didn’t hear the woman speak. When he did, he had to repeat what she had said in his mind, and a few moments too late he managed a smile and opened up the DVD case. He withdrew the disk and walked over to the player, hitting the button to open in and inserting the DVD. He closed the player and then ambled back over to the couch, picking up the remote and keeping his eyes fixed on the screen.
After clicking past a few screens with the right button, the movie itself finally started. It began at the Paris Opera House in 1905—with an older version of him with a cane and a nurse, apparently there for an auction of the house’s property. He was immediately drawn into whatever was happening. He was older than he was now—in 1905 he would have been 45, but he had a beard and there were flecks of gray in his hair. And he wore spectacles—which he did in fact now occasionally, since the doctor had said he needed them, at least for reading. He looked so sad…as if he were mourning someone. “Christine…” he muttered when he heard the words that he—or the man who looked like him—was singing. He had outlived her. For some reason he found himself tearing up, and his hand gripped the arm of the couch, his knuckles white.
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Christine Daaé
The Swedish Nightingale and Fairy of the North
If when the time comes, I refuse to go with you, well then, Raoul, you must carry me off by force!
Posts: 1,592
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Post by Christine Daaé on Oct 22, 2012 16:17:39 GMT -5
Christine could tell that the man was quite caught up with the thought of this 'DVD' as he had called it. It seemed rather important to him, she assumed due to the woman on the case whom he had called 'Christine Svenna Daaé'... She sat on the couch as he put the small metallic-looking disc into a strange machine that seemed to eat it.
Before long, a moving picture flickered upon the screen of the black box called television where the 'football' had been before. It appeared to be an auction house. Christine couldn't understand much of what was being said – it was all in English – but a man who vaguely resembled the one sitting next to her, began to sing, and it was at this point that she heard him (the one beside her, not on the screen) utter her name... or at least, what she thought was her name. Christine... She turned to look at him and couldn't help but to notice that he was tearing up and gripping the arm of the couch. “Are you all right? she asked him concernedly.
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