I Immediately Regret This Decision! (Emma/Dancey)

[Detective Emma Brook]

Emma immediately regretted the decision she had just made. And the reason was unusual, simply because she wasn't easily creeped out. But while taking the elevator, she'd had the brilliant idea to climb out through the ceiling hatch. As the mechanism stopped, she'd found a strange metal tunnel, a little like an air-duct.

And that was how she had dropped into this... strange, strange place.

It looked like a forest, because it practically was--blooming flowers and hanging willows and shrubs and fountains and the works. As she walked through it, parasol tucked under her arm, she squinted painfully--above her, a horrible glaring light came down, intense as the sun but... unnatural and disturbing.

"Hello?" she called out, walking by a rose bush. She picked one of them and inspected it... it was fake! And there, just over the bush... were those deer? They didn't move, even when she threw the fake rose at them.

"What the ever-loving..." She trailed off, popping her parasol open as if for protection, and continued down a stone-paved path. This place would be quite charming if it weren't so...

Emma thought she heard something behind her and looked over her shoulder. Nothing. But as she did so, something on one of the trees caught her eye. It looked like... a mask... a black mask. The Opera Ghost hadn't even crossed her mind, but immediately, she recalled the strange tale Leroux had recounted to her about the torture chamber that was made to look like a forest.

She cursed her inquisitiveness--she didn't want to be tortured! But perhaps... should she be able to reason with the Opera Ghost, she would find the answers she was looking for now not for Leroux, but for herself. "Hello?" she murmured, quieter, for she sensed someone near.

[Erik Carriere]

Erik was not in such a good mood at the moment. He had his black mask on and he had been stomping around in his domain. He wasn't completely sure why he was in such a foul mood, perhaps it was because of his dream... his horrible awful dream he had last night. Christine was dead in his arms... so much blood... so much red... and there wasn't a thing he could do about it.

He wished to talk to someone. Anyone. He would have gone to the Vicomtess but he knew that she needed to rest and regain back all her strength. Gerard would have been next on his list but for some odd reason, he could never find him, he was always somewhere else or momentarily occupied with something. And suppose he could talk to Lenoir but... he really didn't feel like spilling out his emotions about Christine to him when Lenoir had his own problems at the time anyways. Thus, there was no one else but himself. Alone.

Erik hadn't changed since getting up this morning, he hadn't felt like it since he didn't think he would be seeing anyone and he didn't plan on leavening his domain today. So, he was dressed carelessly, no tail coat or cape, only his black shoes, black pants, and his poofy white shirt that was open in the front and exposed his chest some. He thought that perhaps taking a walk through his Dreamery would give him some peace of mind. After all, it was possibly one of the most enchanted and calming spots in his domain. Plus, even if someone where to come down to his domain and try to get his attention, he wouldn't be able to hear them and so he would be able to walk in silence in his Dreamery.

Erik was in the Dreamery for not even ten minuets before he heard some sort of strange noise and went to inspect it. Staying hidden behind the foliage, he saw a lady looking around and watched as she inspected some of the roses and had picked one and tossed it at one of the fake deer. This woman was definitely not his Christine... but possibly one of the other Christines. She definitely seemed to have the curiosity to be one of them. Erik fallowed her silently, going from tree to tree to keep hidden some and wondered what else she might do here. He stopped behind one of the thicker trees and watched her go by. She then turned and possibly caught a glimps of him as he quickly hid himself from view behind the tree. It was quite difficult to catch him when he didn't want to be found, which was why he was so good at being the Phantom of the opera. But he did get sighted here and there, thus people rumored that they had seen his mask.

He listened to her call out, but he would not show himself quite yet. And as much as he would have liked, he would not be able to stay hidden the whole time if he wanted to get her out of his Dreamery and domain quickly. But at least for now, he would stay hidden and out of view. Erik was silent for a long moment, his back to the tree as he thought. "Mademoiselle, what is your name and how did you get in here?" He asked her, and using his ventriloquy skills, made his voice sound as if it were surrounding the stranger, coming from all directions. He turned around quietly so he would be able to see her but still out of sight. If she had come into his home while still being at the opera house, instead of this decoy of his home, then he would have killed her. He couldn't allow anyone to see his home. But since this place was a decoy, they were not at the opera house, and he did not enjoy killing anyone, he would most definetly not attempt to kill this mademoiselle.

[Detective Emma Brook]

"Mademoiselle, what is your name and how did you get here?"

"Oh, Jesus!" she cried as she jumped a bit, placing a hand on her heart. She'd not have been startled at all were he just to speak to her, but the fact that the voice seemed to come from everywhere was disconcerting indeed.

Emma turned a few times before finally giving up and talking in the direction that she'd seen the mask disappear. "My name is--I am Detective Emma Brook, and I found a passage above the lift." She felt her neck, as if she expected a noose to drop over it at any moment.

"You scared me, Erik," she said, happy with taking her chances. She was fairly certain that was his name--he wore a mask and hid, like many other men here, and they were all named Erik. Lavalais, Lenoir... who else had she met? She really was horrible at remembering people without writing them down.

She had been mistaken for a Christine a time or two, and sometimes by very handsome French nobility. But this man did not seem fooled--no, indeed. She would just have to trust that he would not kill her on the spot. She did not trust him with that, though, and so her hand stayed on her throat.

[Erik Carriere]

Erik just stayed calm and observed her jump, he had been use to people being startled by him, though it hadn't happened before here until now. He listened as the woman gave him her name. Not a Christine at all... and in fact, a detective. Truth be told, Mademoiselle Brook was the first detective to be a woman that he had met or rather... seen. And usually, his times with any branch of police didn't go down rather well.

He was slightly happy that she hadn't see any of the rest of his domain, he wouldn't like that a total stranger could just fall in and look all over his domain... especially a detective. Her next words caught him off guard. She had called him out by his name. Well... suppose it wouldn't be that difficult to figure out any more since there were quite a few masked men running around with the same name. And it definitely wouldn't have been that difficult to figure out for a detective. Erik wanted to see how much more this Emma Brook knew about him.

He hoped that she wouldn't know much about him other than his name, unless she had asked Lenoir or the Vicomtess. Though, it was quite unlikely that she would have because he had never seen her in his life before. There was also really no reason then for her to have asked anyone about him, especially since this is the first time he had heard anything about her or had seen her. He leaned silently against the tree, thinking about showing himself, but then went against the idea. He would find out a little more about her and what she knew before he showed himself. There really was no reason for him to need to know anything about her or her knowledge, but being around detectives or any branch of police gets him kind of edgy like that.

"Mademoiselle Brook, do you know anything else about me other than my name?" He asked her, once again his voice sounding like it was coming at her from all sides.

[Detective Emma Brook]

Emma relaxed considerably at the silence, which told her that she had indeed gotten his name right. It wasn't really a stunned silence so much as one that made her think he was regrouping, getting his thoughts together, and she was content to let him do that. She'd have to think a moment, too, if a completely stranger broke into her house and called her by her name.

While she was waiting, she strolled along a little bit, closing her parasol and letting it swing on her arm. The false grass fell over a swallow hill, and on the other side of it was a little stream. Though disturbing, it was actually quite impressive, what he'd managed to fit into a room. It would look real if she didn't know better.

Finally, he spoke. "Mademoiselle Brook, do you know anything else about me other than my name?"

"Detective. And actually, no... though I think I am learning quite a bit about you from this room." She set her parasol aside and sat on the shore of the fake stream, leaning back on her hand and squinting back up at the horrible light in the ceiling.

"This place is quite impressive," she said casually, "what do you call it?" Emma hoped he didn't answer 'torture chamber'.

[Erik Carriere]

Erik smirked when he corrected him about calling her Detective instead of Mademoiselle Brook. He listened to her as she told him that she knew nothing else about him... though learning by being in his Dreamery. He watched as he set her parasol down and look up at the ceiling. It was quite difficult to get those lights up there, but he had been very proud the day he had accomplished it.

Erik continued to smile when Mademoi- Detective Brook complemented the room and asked what he called it. "Thank you." He said, his voice again sounding like it was coming from all directions. He took off his black mask, revealing his white mask underneath, and placed it on a near by bush- he could come back and get it later. He then stepped out from his hiding spot but was behind Emma, she not noticing him yet. He leaned against the front of the tree he had hid behind. "I call this place my Dreamery. Its my most enchanted spot in my domain." He said, his voice now coming directly from him and from behind Detective Brook.

[Detective Emma Brook]

When she heard the voice from behind her, she turned to look over her shoulder. She expected something much, much different from what she saw and knew that she had not found the Erik she was looking for. He was fair, unlike Lavalis, with ginger hair. He wasn't so much taller than her like all the others, though of course, he was still a tall man. He was dressed casually and she knew that he had not expected to receive any guests.

Emma smiled slyly when she finally did see him. The mask was what got her--it almost, almost blended into his skin. He was an attractive man, yes. Not attractive like Monsieur Lavalais, but quite handsome all the same. She did not stand to greet him or anything; she figured he wouldn't want her to bother, and frankly, she didn't feel like getting up just yet. Her knees hurt from crawling through that tunnel.

"The most enchanted, you say?" she asked in an amused fashion, her eyes leaving him to scan the 'Dreamery' once more. She really was learning quite a bit about him... some things, she didn't think she liked. She felt like leaving, but she didn't want to run away. She wasn't scared...

[Erik Carriere]

Erik saw that Detective Brook was not at all surprised by his mask, something he had grown use to, especially with all the other Eriks around who also wore masks. Or at least, most wore masks from what he was told. He really only had met one of the Eriks here out of the few that seemed to be here, he had heard little about some of them, but not much other then some possible similarities between each other.

"Enchanted yes.... and well, as you could figure, there is not many places like this. Or at least not that I have ever seen." He said, chuckling a little. And if there were any places like this, he certainly wouldn't know about it unless it was in a book. The only places he would ever be was in his opera house, the Bistro, and the Notre Dam. Plus, if there were places like this, he couldn't have copied him. This place was shaped by his dreams... one of the reasons why he called it his Dreamery. This is what he dreamed a real forest and such would look like... and since he had been in the real forest by the manor, he wasn't too far off.