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Post by Erik on Apr 30, 2007 12:01:03 GMT -5
*Finally! Silence, but for the lively strains of the organ, reigned. He had found a way to keep the woman quiet, but at what cost? He did enjoy silence, and his fingers would not thank him for constant use. The piece drew to a close and he drew out the end, adding another coda of his own devising. But he had to stop eventually. And he did.*
"You may eat if you wish, as long as you can cook for Erik, as well," *he offered, at a loss as to what his new servant was for.*
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Post by Lady Norrington on Apr 30, 2007 12:05:15 GMT -5
"It'll take some prac-"
Megan stopped short as a rather large brown spider slid down from the ceiling a scant inch or so from her nose.
"Erik?" she said weakly. "There's a spi- a spider... Could you move it without killing it? I don't m-mind them on their own, but I hate how they feel if they... touch me..."
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Post by Erik on Apr 30, 2007 12:54:20 GMT -5
((You're temping the Kay-monster, here.))
*Erik sneered at her as he gently scooped the spider into his hand.*
"So the stowaway is afraid of spiders?" *he mocked.* "Poor choice for a vacation, woman, if you're as squeamish as all that! Erik anticipates with great pleasure the day you encounter our rats. Perhaps a misdirected snake will find his way down here, for Erik's special pleasure."
*He watched the spider scoot over his long, boney fingers, turning them this way and that to keep it in his vision. He calmly walked over to the door of his bedchamber and opened it, letting the innocent little arachnid down on the rug beyond.*
"There. Just like all the rest, aren't you? Fearful of the unknown, the ugly, the... the exotic. Erik cannot even blame your sex, for such fear, such hatred, are factors in most men's dealings as well."
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Post by Lady Norrington on Apr 30, 2007 13:05:31 GMT -5
Megan, feeling vaguely insulted, crept over to the rug outside the bedchamber and, shaking, knelt down with her hand extended.
"I don't mind snakes," she said loudly. "Or rats."
Come on, little spider, she thought, watching the little creauture on the rug and half-heartedly willing it to crawl onto her hand. I'll show him who's afraid.
The little thing cautiously moved toward her hand until it could feel her finger with its front legs. She almost let out a whimper, but then she thought of Erik's attitude toward her squeamishness and swallowed.
"Come here, baby," she cooed, as though talking to a pet. "It's okay..."
The spider reared up and crawled into Megan's palm.
Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod...
"S-see?" she announced, struggling to keep from flinging it to the floor and letting Erik win.
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Post by Erik on Apr 30, 2007 13:16:07 GMT -5
*Erik stared at her.*
"Why should Erik be impressed? Why should you disturb the travel of such a tiny creature, who must take days to cross the distance we do with a few steps? Merely to prove a point?"
*He paced to the other side of the room.*
"Perhaps you should tell Erik, once and for all and without your meddling, scheming diversions, what you want from him."
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Post by Lady Norrington on Apr 30, 2007 13:21:54 GMT -5
Megan glared at him.
"I want to help you. I want to be your friend."
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Post by Erik on Apr 30, 2007 14:04:41 GMT -5
((Come now, what do you expect? Dropping in on a crazed misanthrope's dungeon?))
"Erik neither has, nor desires, friends," *he said coldly.* "And if he did, they would be of his own choosing. One cannot take in every mangy dog that follows one home." *He laughed madly.* "Help Erik? What help could I hope to gain from you?"
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Post by Lady Norrington on Apr 30, 2007 14:16:04 GMT -5
((Oscar clip!))
Megan thought for a moment.
"Aren't you ever lonely?" she said finally. "In a weird way, I get it. Back home I only had two people I could confide in, too. My family has told me I've been 40 years old ever since I was 5. Do I look 18, Erik? No, I don't. I've never fit in anywhere before. I was reading Dickens at 5! I- I did an in-depth analysis of Dante's Inferno when I was 7! And instead of being pleased or even indifferent, everybody always mocked me for trying to have an intellect. So I tried to pretend I was happy alone, but I wasn't. Even when I was alone with my books and supposedly happy, I wasn't. I've been lonely ever since I was three years old. You and I are both deeply messed up people, Erik, and the least we can do is be messed-up together."
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Post by Erik on Apr 30, 2007 14:40:47 GMT -5
*Erik listened with what he thought was uncommong patience, and it wasn't as if she said anything that surprised him deeply. It wasn't any great surprise that difficult people sometimes had abilities. But it was beyond him, what he was to do about it.*
"And so Erik should take on your problems, as well?" *he scoffed.* "You're eighteen, girl--that's nothing. You had parents, you had books, you had more than Erik did until he created it for himself. This--" *he waved a hand to indicate either the house or perhaps the opera entire* "--is Erik's world, which he has built as a fortress against loneliness. Erik has learned not to feel it; and you have no reason to require such a lesson. There is nothing keeping you from finding that normal life Erik cannot attain, and has... given up on."
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Post by Lady Norrington on Apr 30, 2007 14:43:51 GMT -5
"I don't know if I want to," said Megan, by now stroking the slightly velvety abdomen of the spider and looking defeated.
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Post by Erik on Apr 30, 2007 15:53:40 GMT -5
*Erik caught himself almost smiling at Megan's absent attention to the spider.*
"Of course you do," *he scoffed.* "Do you think Erik has not observed disillusion in the young? It passes, with each new suitor, each new baby, each care that is laid upon you. So you are just living; as Erik cannot. You are not he, for Erik would trade this world for the one above, if he could. You either feel as he does, in which case you should turn right around and go back to your world. I will let you, gladly. If you do not desire a normal life, you are not like Erik at all."
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Post by Lady Norrington on Apr 30, 2007 15:59:33 GMT -5
Megan was now waving her hand slowly to allow the spider an ever-changing area on which to crawl.
"Then maybe I'm not like you, because I had that normal life and I've had my fill of it."
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Post by Erik on Apr 30, 2007 16:48:57 GMT -5
*Erik watched the spider, impressed at her control. So she could learn, after all.*
"Then perhaps you are more worth of pity than Erik," *he said sadly.* "Erik--I... would not be so foolish in your shoes."
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Post by Lady Norrington on Apr 30, 2007 16:53:20 GMT -5
Megan looked at him, touched (though she'd never admit it) that he'd actually spoken in the first person.
"Maybe this was supposed to happen, then," she said quietly. "Maybe I'm supposed to be here."
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Post by Erik on Apr 30, 2007 17:07:43 GMT -5
*He frowned.*
"How does that follow?" *he asked.* "No one is supposed to be anything. We are all set here to fail on our own, with the miserable lot given us." *He snorted, an ugly, hollow sound with no nose.* "If you seek some higher purpose in your presence, you seek it alone. Erik sees no reason in it."
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