You are Not Alone (Mister Y)

[Christine Svenna Daaé]

It was a bright, late summer morning as Christine walked through the forest dressed in a turquoise colored t-shirt from the aquarium and a pair of blue denim jeans that very closely resembled the trousers she had worn with her pageboy costume in Il Muto back home at the Opéra Populaire. She carried with her a wicker basket she'd come across discarded inside of the manor. She had decided to take a stroll out to go berry picking that morning.

It was one day on her way to work at the aquarium that she had noticed a large mulberry tree with its branches heavy with ripe berries, just begging to be picked and eaten. She hadn't had much of a chance until now, but after having come across that basket, she thought it a good idea to go picking before they all fell to the ground and began to rot. Perhaps she could actually convince Raoul to have some of them. He had been eating nothing but Ramen Noodles it seemed for months now, though she could not fathom why, considering the fact that there was plenty of other good food there at the manor...

She set her basket down on the ground and reached up into the tree to pick berries from the branches. Maybe she would attempt to go through the different cookbooks in the kitchen later on, after she got back, and find a recipe for mulberry pie. Ha! There was a thought – her cooking. It wasn't exactly something she'd done on a regular basis, so she wasn't very good at it, but she thought it might be fun to attempt to make something following one of the recipes.

[Mister Y]

Erik walked with purpose through the forest. He had to find a way back to America, before it was too late. He'd been here for a few days, and he'd been fruitless in every search for a way away from this blasted Manor.

A stone lay a few feet ahead of him, and he walked toward it. When he reached it, he kicked it, then followed after it so he could kick it again. While he played this childish little game, he thought about what he'd even DO when he got back to America. What was he supposed to do when he saw her again? More than likely, he'd just stand there and take whatever she said to him. He had his excuses, and his regret had been building up for years and years, until he resolved to go and meet her face to face. Until he was cruelly snatched from his chance at redemption by someone to inhabit this wretched place.

The stone rolled into a clearing, where Erik saw a girl in front of him. She had her back to him, and was wearing the most peculiar outfit...but Erik could have sworn on his own soul that she looked EXACTLY like Christine...

[Christine Svenna Daaé]

((This thread is officially the Misty Y thread because I have an odd fascination with bad puns :I ))

As Christine continued her picking, she began to notice a trend in the little dark purple colored fruits. On the lower branches, many of the berries had already grown overripe and had fallen to the forest floor where they lay rotting. On the other hand, the higher branches had plenty of ripe fruit, just begging to be picked. There was only one problem; she was far too short to reach them and had no latter to get up.

She stepped back a little and looked up into the tree, pondering how she could approach this situation. There wasn't anything nearby that she could stand on to get them, and they were too high for her to be able to jump and reach them (besides, if she did so, they would only be smashed in her hands when she grabbed them), but maybe, just maybe, she could manage to climb up and reach the branches.

Thinking that this was probably as good an idea as any, she popped a few berries into her mouth and chewed and swallowed them, before looping her arm through the handle of the basket, and then going up to the tree and gripping the bark, climbing up into the foliage.

[Mister Y]

Erik walked quietly across the clearing, up to the tree. The girl had started climbing it, and Erik thought it would be rude of him to let her climb alone. What if she fell? Or needed assistance? But...but then he'd have to talk to her..

Erik wasn't good with social situations...He never had been, and he suspected he never would. He'd tried, and failed, and never wanted to try again. Ten years ago, he'd tried to tell a woman that he loved her, and killed his chances by making a fool of himself. But...well...she did kiss him after all of that...Erik sighed. He'd have to talk to her. Reminiscing wasn't going to do him any good.

"Excuse me, Miss...? Do you need help?" Erik's voice implied more confidence than he felt. He chided himself for being shy. After all, she was only a girl. Just a girl.

[Christine Svenna Daaé]

Christine had already managed to get up the tree's trunk, and was starting out onto one of the thicker branches when she heard a voice that startled her enough to misplace her hand for a moment, allowing the basket she had been carrying to slide off of her arm and fall to the forest floor below. She had not been expecting to come across anyone else while picking berries there (the forest was generally fairly empty from what she had seen).

She sighed in frustration at the loss of her basket and glanced down seeing the top of a black wig, a white half mask, and long dark coat. “Oh! Hello there, Erik,” she said, remembering the name that Erik Lenoir had given her. “I wasn't expecting to see you out here. Umm... Yes, actually. Would you mind handing me that basket down there? No wait... not yet. Hang on...”

She climbed out a bit further on the branch. There were some very nice berries over that way. The only problem as that the branch was a bit thinner too, and it was becoming difficult to grip the branch, Suddenly, she faltered in her footing and missed gripping the branch, slipping an starting to fall to the forest floor, letting out a shriek as she did so.

[Mister Y]

"How do you--" Erik started, but before he could finish his sentence, she'd slipped. He darted beneath her, holding his arms out and bracing himself to catch her. She fell exactly where he'd anticipated and he caught her in a bridal-style carry.

"You really should be more careful..." Erik bit his lip. It was Christine! She hadn't aged a day from when he'd last seen her...He immediately turned a bright red out of mortal embarrassment. "I...I...Hello..." He could've died. He wasn't ready for this. He'd been kidding himself when he thought he could handle talking to her after ten years of no contact with her...he was so wrong.

She was so...oh, she was just as he remembered. Beautiful, innocent, happy and adventurous...And he was...he was holding her! What would she think, what would she say?! Should he put her down?! What should he do?! God....ten years hadn't done ANYTHING for his nerves.

[Christine Svenna Daaé]

Christine laid there in shock in for a moment in the man's arms, a bit shaken from her sudden fall. It took a few moments of setting there, breathing, and taking in her surroundings, before oddly enough, a smile spread across her face and of all things she started laughing. And it wasn't the sort of nervous, or sarcastic, or irritated laugh either. No, it was more of one of exhilaration.

She saw him turn bright red and raised a hand to his cheek, hoping to make him feel a little less uncomfortable, still laughing and smiling. “Oh, stop being so worried. I'm fine, see? Right as rain. Sorry about that. I should have looked for a ladder or something, I suppose. It's just that all of the best berries are a bit high up for me to reach.”

Something seemed a little different about Erik, though she couldn't quite pinpoint what it was exactly. Oh well. No matter, really. Perhaps he'd just done something different with his wig...

[Mister Y]

Erik smiled. His little Christine hadn't changed at all. "Would you like some help?" He set her down, brushing himself off and feeling much more confident. He didn't care how she'd gotten here as well as himself, no...no, Fate had designed this. Something in his stars had gotten his life to go just right for once.

But...he couldn't help but feel that this was off...just a little. She seemed too much like the girl he used to know. Didn't people change with time? Shouldn't she have at least aged, if her personality stayed the same?

This all confused Erik as he watched her, the happy little thing that she was. Perhaps he was over-thinking it, as he did with everything else? Perhaps, indeed...

[Christine Svenna Daaé]

((OMG Svenna is Pinky! *epiphany moment*))

“Please?” she asked when he set her down and offered her assistance. If she was ever going to even attempt baking that pie, she needed some berries first. “All of the berries inconveniently decided to grow where I can't reach them.”

She narrowed her eyes almost menacingly at the berries, as if she expected to intimidate them into coming down to a lower branch so she could pick them. Stupid berries, she thought to herself.

Christine places her hands on her hips and have a sigh, then scratched her chin, thinking, trying to come up with a way that she could possibly be able to reach the berries. Erik had offered his help...

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “I have an idea! Let me climb up onto your shoulders.”

[Mister Y]

Erik blushed a little. "M-m-my shoulders?" He straightened. This was a chance to bond with Christine. Why should he pass this up? It would help him, perhaps, get into her good books again and make up for what he'd done ten years ago.

"Whatever I can do to help, I'll do." Erik smiled. It was a rare occasion for him, to smile. But he felt that perhaps this was a good time for him to do so. He held out his hands to her, bending his knees a little bit. "Did you want to sit on my shoulders? That might be best. It'll be more stable that way." He nodded. It would be better if they were more stable when it came to picking these berries.

[Christine Svenna Daaé]

Christine nodded in affirmation when Erik repeated her statement about going up on his shoulders (though he did so as more of a question than anything). She was happy to know that he was willing to help when he responded, and then saw him smile.

Smile?

That was something she’d never really recalled seeing him do much, but when she saw it, she couldn’t help but to smile a bit too. It was a nice change. Then he suggested that she sit on his shoulders. “It would probably be best. I’m ready whenever you are.”

[Mister Y]

Erik knelt in front of her - OH, how irony seemed to love him - and nodded. "I'm ready." He held out his hands, just in case she needed his help in situating herself on his shoulders. This...this was an accomplishment! Christine! She smiled at him, accepted his help, and was MORE than willing to touch his hands...Erik was ecstatic!

His whole countenance was happier, he could've jumped for joy at the thought of Christine actually liking him after all this time! He would've thought for sure that she would've hated him....After ten years, and after he left her, he would've been spiteful if he were in her place.

[Christine Svenna Daaé]

When Erik got down in front of her and acknowledged that he was ready, and then threw her left leg over his shoulder, staking there straddling it for a while before slowly sort of scootching her way around and tossing it over his other shoulder, sliding herself a bit more forward so that she was less likely to fall off.

She wasn’t really giving much thought to her proximity of the other, but rather was more focused upon the object of obtaining mulberries from the upper branches. As she adjusted herself further, the basket that she was carrying shifted and hit Mister Y a bit in the face. “Oops! Sorry about that,” she said with an embarrassed chuckle. "All right. I’m ready to go up now.”


((CURSE YOU AUTOCORRECT!))

[Mister Y]

Erik blushed hard as she sat on his shoulders. He'd forgotten about the position that would put him in. Not to say he was complaining...of course he wouldn't complain to any sort of proximity to Christine. It was around that particular thought that he got whacked in the face with the basket. He spluttered as Christine apologized, and he took a second to make sure he was good to go before picking her up.

"Alright, here we go..." Erik straightened up, and now Christine could reach the higher branches of the tree, just like she wanted. He moved around to her directions, keeping a hold on her at all times. And his thoughts strayed again...to the fact that his hands were on her legs...and he blushed hard again.

[Christine Svenna Daaé]

As Erik straightened up, Christine immediately began to pick the berries, now that she was able to reach them more safely, and placed them in her basket. There were quite a few of them—the branches were heavy with the things, ripe and plump and ready for picking. She popped a berry into her mouth and chewed, savoring it’s sweet and juicy flavor.

“Mmmm… hey, you have to try these!” She said to Erik. “They’re delicious. Here—” She picked a nice plump one from the branch and then held it down in front of his face, bending over so that she could watch his expression, even if it was upside down. He seemed a bit red… maybe he was hot? After all, he was the one exerting himself really in this situation…