Raoul de Chagny
If I don't save her from the hands of that humbug, she is lost. But I shall save her.
Posts: 89
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Post by Raoul de Chagny on Apr 22, 2012 20:54:45 GMT -5
Raoul awoke from the first true slumber he had had in days. It seemed, for now, that all was well. Granted he still was not certain of where he was and how he had come to be here, but the positive aspect of this experience was that he had found Christine, and that both she and he were alive and well. Unfortunately there seemed to be a discrepancy between their recollections. His memory ended when he was in the flooded torture chamber with the Persian, but according to her, he had been saved and let go, and the two were planning to elope.
He did not know why they remembered differently, but he knew that the Phantom did not let him go. The man was mad, and he wanted him dead—of that he was sure. Christine seemed sure that Erik had planned this entire ordeal, and that he had been the one to bring her to the manor, as well as him. That made little sense to him, because if he had her, than what use did he have of him? Would it not be easier to just kill him?
He couldn’t figure it out. He would give himself time to do so later—for now he was going to go about exploring the manor. After dressing in a black morning coat, pinstriped pants, a blue waistcoat and a black ascot, the nobleman went downstairs to get some breakfast. He made himself an egg and toast, as well as some coffee, before setting off on his adventure. He wandered down a long, winding hallway until finding a polished mahogany door with handles shaped like the heads of lions. Curious, the young man pulled the door open and found a dusty old room filled with bookshelves. This intrigued him, so he took a step inside.
The shelves were filled with books of several different languages, many of which he recognized—French, German, Spanish, English, just to name a few. A copy of Beowulf caught his attention, so he slid it out from the bookshelf and sat in one of the armchairs, beginning to read silently to himself. It was one of the many stories he had enjoyed reading as a child, and he was glad to have found it again.
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Raoul Edouard de Chagny
You need the man you knew back here beside you?
You need the man you knew back here beside you?
Posts: 365
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Post by Raoul Edouard de Chagny on Apr 22, 2012 22:16:26 GMT -5
Raoul shaved, washed and dressed in his room in the dormitory. He put on his navy blue trouser with braces over his white silk shirt. His satin waistcoat was also navy blue with a pattern. He attached his upturned collar in back and in the front with the collar button and then tied h is lighter blue ascot. The blue brought out the colour of his eyes and he felt good wearing it. He pulled on black boots and then the matching navy blue frock coat was the finishing touch.
Christine didn't show up on time to make his breakfast, so he decided to try it again himself. He saw that there was coffee in the odd little gadget that made automatic coffee. It was rather convenient. He poured himself some and then added cream from the refrigerator. He made scrambled eggs, and found some bacon to fry. He was getting to be amazingly handy in the kitchen considering that he had never cooked in his life until coming here when he was forced to once in a while. He wanted Christine to wait on him, but she wasn't always about when he ready to eat, so he had to fend for himself at times.
Then he decided to go to the library. He had several weeks ago, met a fellow who claimed to be a ghost and was named King William Leverich. He had told the Vicomte that he had lived several centuries ago and Raoul was interested to find out if there was a historic record of the fellow. He claimed to be from England.
The Vicomte remembered where the library was, a dusty dank room but filled with books. Some of them crumbled under his touch, but there were some more recent ones. He found the heavy carved wooden doors after walking several corridors to find the room. He entered and then saw that he was not the first to arrive. A very young and handsome blond man with a pencil moustache was sititng in an armchair. He was wearing a black morning coat and looked quite natty.
Raoul entered and greeted the fellow. "Welll, another new face. I believe we should all become acquainted when we meet, Monsieur. I am the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny. And you?" Raoul went over to the young man and held out his hand.
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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 Apr 24, 2012 1:14:34 GMT -5
Christine awoke from a good night's slumber. She had been sleeping much better now that she had so much less to worry about. Raoul was alive and safe, and no one in Paris could find him here. And she was so happy to have been in his soft, timid embrace again. She had missed him so much. Granted it was a little strange that he did not remember anything of the week where they were free before she had come here, but she wasn't extremely concerned about that at the moment. Surely it was all just the stress and the trauma of what had been going on and soon enough he would remember and everything would be back to normal!... Well... not to normal, per se, but most definitely closer to the norm than now highly irregular events had been in the past month or so.
She washed up a bit, dressed, and pinned her hair up, then went to go tap upon the door of her fiancé's room. She waited for a short while, and when there was no reply, she decided to quietly open the door and to peer inside. Raoul would not mind after all. They had been separated for so long that surely he would be happy to see her, even if she was intruding just a little bit. Perhaps he was still asleep and that was why he had not answered her. After all, he had seemed very tired...
But when she peered inside of the room, there was no one there. “Raoul?” she said. Is he up already? she wondered to herself. She glanced a bit about, just to make absolutely certain that he was not in the room. As he was nowhere to be found, she figured that he must have gone off to do a bit of exploring on his own. She most certainly hoped that he would not get lost there. She remembered how intimidatingly large the manor had seemed when she had first arrived there. Although it was still quite large and a bit intimidating in its sheer scale and size, it no longer seemed as much to me the immense labyrinth it had been upon her first arrival. She had a very good sense of direction, and was quite used to going about the twisted and winding corridors of the backstage areas at the Opéra Garnier, so this place was not too far out of her comfort in that sense.
She began to wander about the halls of the Manor, looking for where Raoul had gone to. And after a bit of searching, noticed the door to the library had been left ajar. She peered inside and saw her husband-to-be sitting in one of the big armchairs, and the older Raoul, husband to the auburn Christine, standing before him with his hand out as if to shake that of her Raoul. She smiled, glad to see her fiancé getting to know other people and stepped inside.
“There you are, dear,” she said upon entering the room, moving toward her love. “Making her friends are we? And a good morning to you, Monsieur de Chagny.” It sounded odd, but Christine really did not know what to call this older man, other than 'Monsieur le Vicomte Raoul de Chagny' and it would be rude of her to just make up a name for him...
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Raoul de Chagny
If I don't save her from the hands of that humbug, she is lost. But I shall save her.
Posts: 89
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Post by Raoul de Chagny on Apr 27, 2012 19:01:33 GMT -5
Raoul looked up when the door opened and in walked a blonde, middle-aged man dressed in fine clothing wearing a friendly smile on his face. He closed the book and set it down, standing up as the man entered. The young Vicomte smiled back at him and was about to shake his hand when his mind registered what he had just said. Vicomte de Chagny? His smile was replaced by an expression of shock. “I…there must be some mistake, sir. For you see I am Le Vicomte Raoul de Chagny…” As far as he knew there was only one Chagny family in Paris, at least within the nobility—and the possibility of him having the same exact name as him was simply ludicrous.
As he waited for the man’s response, another visitor entered the room, the second being his fiancée. A broad smile spread across his face, all thoughts of the confusing introduction vanishing almost immediately. “Christine! Good morning,” he told her, taking her hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it. At her question, he glanced at the man and nodded. “Well, yes, but there seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding of sorts…you see, this man is Monsieur le Vicomte Raoul de Chagny…but I don’t understand how that could possibly be, as I am the only Monsieur le Vicomte Raoul de Chagny that I know of…” Then it hit him that she too had addressed the man as Monsieur de Chagny. His eyes switched between the two before he asked no one in particular, “What exactly is going on here?”
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Raoul Edouard de Chagny
You need the man you knew back here beside you?
You need the man you knew back here beside you?
Posts: 365
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Post by Raoul Edouard de Chagny on Apr 28, 2012 16:02:49 GMT -5
Raoul could see the young man's confusion when he held out his hand and introduced himself as the Vicomte de Chagny. Then the little blonde Christine entered the library and he withdrew his hand for the time being.
"Bon jour, Madamoiselle Daaé," he said politely, bowing slightly. "I see you know this young man," he said, noting her happy demeanour." Then the other man mentioned that he too was the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny. "Monsueur, we appear to have a plethera of people with the same names. There is another Raoul de Chagny that I have met. He didn't add that he believed Raoul Christophe to be his younger self and the young man had agreed. "And there seem to be quite a few Christine Daaés also."
"If I could, I should like to help clean up some of the confusion concerning the duplicate names. Perhaps we should refer to each other by our middle names. For example, my name is Raoul Edouard de Chagny. I should be delighted for you to call me Monsieur Edouard to help cut through the confusion. It would be helpful for the Christines too. There are three Christines that I know. And I have met several Eriks also., masked men all of them, however, they can be referred to by their last names." He was thinking of another name he had in mind for Erik Lenoir, but since it was rather nasty, he would not voice it front of these two lovely young people, at least not yet. He knew Christine had met the fellow, but probably the young Vicomte here had not. It was no matter at the moment, in any case.
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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 Apr 29, 2012 1:28:55 GMT -5
A light blush crept to her cheeks as her fiancé kissed her hand, a warm smile, playing at her lips. Christine tilted her hear a bit when he spoke however of the 'confusion' in his meeting of the older man. “Yes, well... it would seem that he is Monsieur de Chagny as well... Did you not read my letters yet? I explained everything there...” It was true. She had explained every person whom she had met thus far, along with her suspicions as to what Érik could possibly be up to.
“Yes, I do know this man, Monsieur,” she said, smiling warmly again at the younger man. “He is my fiancé. And yes, it would seem that we do... Though all quite distinct! I have yet to meet a man who could compare with my Raouly-bear.” and she gave her fiancé's hand a happy squeeze. Perhaps she should be more thoughtful before using pet names, but she was in too good of a mood to think of things like that.
“You only know three Christines? Oh, I've met.... Four I believe, excluding myself, of course,”she said, taking a moment to count on her fingers. “ I have also met three Raouls, including you, dear, and a total of four men by the name of 'Erik,' though one of the latter I would prefer to have never met...” Her delight faded a moment when she thought of him. It was amazing how merely the thought of a single man could cause her so much grief.
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Raoul de Chagny
If I don't save her from the hands of that humbug, she is lost. But I shall save her.
Posts: 89
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Post by Raoul de Chagny on Apr 29, 2012 16:06:58 GMT -5
“I have read some of them, yes…but you must understand I’m still confused—“ Maybe he was pretending to be him like she said that she thought he was in her letter. But the way the man carried himself was very akin to that of a nobleman. Then again if he was an actor, then he was used to doing a convincing impression of nobleman…oh, he was getting confused just thinking about this. “Well, it’s very nice to meet you Monsieur Edouard…I’m afraid I don’t have a middle name I can give you, as my full name is just that—Raoul de Chagny.”
As he watched Christine converse with the other Vicomte, he thought back to the particular letter in which she had spoken of him. She had said that he was married to a Christine de Chagny, and that their marriage was unhappy. Christine had said in her letter that she could not imagine the same thing happening to them—and neither could he. He loved her ardently, so he was not worried at all about falling out of love with her. She had promised him that her love for him would never change, and he trusted her, therefore there was nothing to be afraid of.
He blushed considerably at her pet name for him, looking away embarrassedly. He felt her squeeze his hand and he offered her a bashful smile as he squeezed hers back. His smile dimmed when she mentioned having met four different Eriks. He knew that there was more than one—he himself had met Lenoir and been saved by him, but had not encountered the others. He took her hands in his and reassured her softly, “It’s going to be alright. He isn’t going to bother us for much longer…we are leaving this place.”
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Raoul Edouard de Chagny
You need the man you knew back here beside you?
You need the man you knew back here beside you?
Posts: 365
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Post by Raoul Edouard de Chagny on May 1, 2012 20:17:08 GMT -5
The older Vicomte smiled. "Tt's very confusing at first, but as you get used to all of the people, it starts to make some sense. Perhaps when you have met more of us, you will be able to go back to your letters and then they will make a great deal of sense." Raoul wondered what Christine had said about his Christine and himself, and he didn't know how much she knew or how much she would tell. But it was no matter. They were here for at least a time and in all probability, all of their ssecrets would see the light of day, including, Erik Lenoir, whom he hoped would be shown to be the criminal he was.
When the young de Chagny stated that he didn't have a middle name, the older Vicomte said, "Then of course you shall be Monsieur Raoul." And then the little Christine called her fiancé by her pet name for him, Raouly-bear. The older man raised an eyebrow and a hint of a smile played at his lips as he saw the poor fellow blush. She should know better than to embarrass her fellow in front of someone else. Not that he disapproved of pet names. He wished he and Christine were still at the point where they could call each other pet names. It was rather sweet...
Then the conversation turned the numerous Eriks that seemed to be pervading the place. The young Raoul vowed to leave the place. "Monsieur Raoul," said Edouard, "That is a more difficult quest than you think..."
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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 May 2, 2012 11:05:39 GMT -5
“Yes, I'm afraid that this place is quiteconfusing, dear...” she sighed. “but the letters will make things easier. I have described every single person I've met so far in them. I'm sure that it won't be so bad once you finish... I apologize though if they have been a bit tedious. You know how the writing calms me....” It was true. If he had been there, in her dressing room, after the masked ball, then it was quite likely that he had seen the pages and pages she'd written then. She had been writing to Mamma Valérius to tell her that she would be home soon and to ask her a few things, like how those socks that she had been knitting were coming, and if the maid had continued feeding the stray cat while she was gone, like she did every morning before setting off to the opera, etc. Although even not seeing that, he likely knew, for she often wrote to him when she was back in Paris as well. Whether or not the letters actually reached him was an entirely different story, like the majority of the letters which she had written to him while she was with Érik for those two weeks... These letters in the manor were not so much different than those. After all, she was not sure that they would ever reach him. However, she was quite happy that this time, they were able to reach their intended recipient.
Érik... That name which made her tremble. She looked up at her fiancé as he spoke words of reassurance. She only could hope he was right.. That they could escape him and be free of him forever... And then the older of the two men spoke. “Monsieur, must leave here somehow... if he were to find out....” The thought only made her tremble even more.
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Raoul de Chagny
If I don't save her from the hands of that humbug, she is lost. But I shall save her.
Posts: 89
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Post by Raoul de Chagny on May 7, 2012 22:07:14 GMT -5
Raoul shook his head in protest. “No, no, they aren’t tedious at all…I just haven’t gotten a chance to read them all. I’m sorry, Christine.” He had only sat down to read a few of the letters, thus he was still confused as to what was happening. But what had shocked him at first was how sincere she seemed in each of them of her love for him. He had so wanted her to—to really, truly love him and not just pity him and want his protection, though foolish as he might have been he would have given it to her anyway. And now they had a real engagement, and they would really get married. He couldn’t have any cause to be happier, but he knew that they still had to deal with Erik—should he find out that he was here—as well as figure out where they were. As soon as they did, they were leaving this place and going far away as he said, so that he could protect her from him.
The other man’s words stunned him slightly, and he looked up after he spoke. “What do you mean, monsieur? Why, there’s a village in the distance…I saw it from one of the balconies—why couldn’t we go there and find transport to another land? That does not seem too difficult…” What was Edouard talking about? Was money the issue? He was sure he could find some work if necessary in order to buy them passage away from here. He saw Christine trembling and stroked her cheek tenderly. “He won’t. Everything’s going to be fine, you’ll see.”
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Raoul Edouard de Chagny
You need the man you knew back here beside you?
You need the man you knew back here beside you?
Posts: 365
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Post by Raoul Edouard de Chagny on May 10, 2012 0:15:20 GMT -5
"I have no facts, Monsieur Raoul," said the older Vicomte. "I have only heard it said that one can go to the village, but no further. I myself have not gone there, so I could not tell you one way or the other." Edouard noticed Christine was trembling a bit; he assumed, trembling with fear that they would not be able to leave. "Don't take my word for it, though, for as I said, it's probably just idle talk. I shall venture to the village at some point and then find out the truth for myself. I will of course let everyone know what I find out. It would indeed make sense for there to be a way home. There must be a train or perhaps water somewhere for passsage home...I can't imagine a village with no way out. How would they get supplies?"
"On another note, I had a very strange experience the other day, which I have been mulling about in my mind. I do not of course, believe in ghosts. However, I did see something...or I should say someone, who would almost have convinced me if I were not a skeptic. He actually put his hand trhough a stone bench. It was amazing. At the time, I took everything at face value. However in thinking about it, I quite feel I must have been mistaken. I fear I may have not been myself at that point, and I was most likely wrong. However, I should be interested in any thoughts you may have on this subject and also if you have seen any oddities and if so, how you think it may be explained. Perhaps an explantation of that could lead us to an explanation of why we are here..."
Raoul was clearly upset about what he had seen, but tried not to let on that perhaps, just perhaps, he may have been convinced by this strange fellow who claimed ot be a ghost...
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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 May 15, 2012 16:09:53 GMT -5
((Sorry she isn't really speaking in this post XD For once, Blondie is quiet lol.))
Christine rested there, trembling in Raoul's arms as he stroked her cheek. She wished that she could stay there like that forever. She had missed resting in his arms like this, like that evening on the balcony that should have been the night before their flight. Oh, she never wanted it to stop now. Somehow, she felt safe in his arms, like she didn't have to worry about ever being alone...
Edouard (as she now knew to call him) began to speak again, this time about a ghost of sorts. The man must have either been dreaming or raving mad. “No, Monsieur, I cannot say that I have seen anything like that. In fact, it seems quite likely that you may have been dreaming or hallucinating...”
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Raoul de Chagny
If I don't save her from the hands of that humbug, she is lost. But I shall save her.
Posts: 89
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Post by Raoul de Chagny on May 18, 2012 10:22:58 GMT -5
Raoul listened as the other man explained that he had heard of the village, and suggested that it must have some means of transportation to other places as it couldn’t possibly survive on its own without supplies. “Then we must go and find this village, Monsieur, if it is our way out.” he stated with a nod. “It is essential that we leave as soon as possible.” He promised that he would not let Erik take her again, and he wouldn’t. He was going to take her far away from here, from him, and they would live out the rest of their life together in peace.
He frowned at the man’s story about his having seen a ghost. Before he could say anything, Christine dismissed it as a hallucination, and the Vicomte nodded slowly. “There’s no such thing as ghosts, Monsieur. Perhaps you merely thought you saw something like that?” he proposed timorously. “Or maybe the man you saw was a magician or something. He couldn’t really have put his hand through a bench.” He knew that magicians were good at tricks like that to fool the brain and the eyes. Erik was a magician of sorts. “Out of curiosity what did this man look like?”
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Raoul Edouard de Chagny
You need the man you knew back here beside you?
You need the man you knew back here beside you?
Posts: 365
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Post by Raoul Edouard de Chagny on May 18, 2012 17:53:17 GMT -5
"It's quite mysterious how supplies come to the mansion. But I am not worrying about it. It's a fact and that's all there is to it. I daresay whoever is keeping us here knows they have to feed all of us and there are quite a few of us." He laughed. "It's their problem. But I do agree that both of you should perhaps venture to the village for yourselves. I intend to do so also, at some point."
"And yes, you could very well be correct that the fellow who claims to be a ghost is a magician instead." Edouard remembered the tricks that Erik had played in the opera house, disappearing in a cloud of smoke. the skull staff that spewed lightening and fire and the almost magical way Erik wielded the Punjab lasso. But he didn't mention that.
"What did this fellow look like?" Edouard had to think hard, for he had been quite drunk the other day when he saw the man, but soon the details came back to him. "He was wearing odd clothing...something from the future, I think....He is taller than I am, but not inordinately tall. Probably hhe is in his early or mid forties. His eyes are very blue and striking. He has wavy brown hair. Another striking thing about him is his soft-spoken manner. He is very amiable and cordial...but just a bit odd. He said his name is William Leverich. Have either of you talked with him?"
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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 May 21, 2012 17:06:24 GMT -5
“I know that we are in England from what I have heard from others and from what I have seen here – most of the labels on the foods in the kitchen are written in English. Unfortunately that's all I know of the village though,” other than the fact that she had heard that they were apparently in the future and that there were carriages that moved without horses. Christine really didn't know what to make of this. The whole aspect of the 'future' (which she still refused to accept), combined with the fact that she barely spoke any English frightened her.
Christine listened to Edouard's description of this man or magician named William Leverich. When he had asked if either of them had spoken to him previously, she shook her head. “I have not seen him as of yet. Though his name does sound very anglophonic... Is he a native resident here?”
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