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Post by Wednesday Addams on Nov 23, 2008 21:37:12 GMT -5
Wednesday Addams had briefly ventured into the Opera House an hour before, holding her German camera purposefully in both hands, but after being jostled a bit by a number of passing crowds of costumed dancers and actors, she had decided to leave and wait outside until it seemed more comfortable to enter in. It did occur to her that the reason there was no one in the Foyer anymore was because they had someplace particularly important to be, someplace she might be interrupting by storming into the auditorium, but it did not occur to Wednesday to respectfully return at a later point. She was there now and she had every intention of being very silent.
It was dark in the auditorium when the straight-faced, pallid, diminutive student entered, and after standing around in the back, peering through the viewfinder, she decided that this would not do well at all for photographing, and strolled down the aisle with camera in hands. She stopped when she had reached the second row, edged in, careful to pull the hem of her skirt away from her feet, and sat promptly, briskly moving to the next frame on her camera, lifting it, and beginning to photograph.
Yes, there was a rehearsal she had come in the middle of, and little groups had been disrupted by people taking notice of an intruder with a camera, but these people did not happen to be Wednesday's main focus and so she ignored them.
Where might she best catch a ghost on film? Wednesday turned, slowly, and took a loud photograph of the infamous Box Five. The flash was bright and the pop of the flashbulb also seemed to attract attention, not that she noticed. She moved to the next frame and repointed, taking another picture. This was scholarly work. And so Wednesday took her time to consider what places might be the best to photograph.
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Post by Maleo Basilio Addams on Nov 25, 2008 0:57:30 GMT -5
Taking it upon himself to police the opera a little bit, as there was little of Wagner's role in the rehearsals today, Maleo slipped from the backstage to the front, around the orchestra pit and around the aisle. Normally, he might find it fit to simply shoo away a bothersome person sneaking into a rehearsal and going out of their way to interrupt it, but as he approached, he found him slipping into a seat an aisle ahead of the girl, kneeling backwards in the chair.
"Can I help you, senorita?" he asked a bit sharply, folding his arms across the top of the seatback.
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Post by Wednesday Addams on Nov 25, 2008 9:52:12 GMT -5
Wednesday could understand French - it was close enough to Spanish for her to only study a bit of it and get the general gist of the rest - but she could recognize a Spanish accent when she heard one, and, economic as she was, she found it best to take advantage of that. It would be easier for both of them, she imagined.
"Yes," she responded matter-of-factly, reaching up a small white hand like to push back a strand of hair that had gotten loose, although there was none there, her Spanish perfect but decidedly non-European. "I need to find the Opera Ghost." She nodded deeply towards Box Five before looking back to him. "It's...for a school project."
So keen was she on her subject that she did not realize one would not ask in that town of voice in order that one might actually assist her. And with or without help, she would succeed, in her own opinion, but asking an employee of the Opera was certainly the best place to start. Narrow down all choices, then revert to the shady ways. She looked forward to it.
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Post by Maleo Basilio Addams on Nov 25, 2008 17:32:51 GMT -5
"Ah, you you speak Spanish as well," he answered, replying fluently, glad to hear someone speak the language and not mutilate it as El Castro did. And her manners were delightfully blunt.
"Well, you will have better luck purchasing a ticket and hoping that one of his most disliked performers is on the stage. I do not believe he would waste his time on a rehearsal. At least, I have not seen him during them yet." Which was a partial truth, in some areas - Maleo had not seen either Phantom he was familiar with during a rehearsal (actually, he had never seen his tutor at all). However, he would not be surprised if one or more of them were lurking about.
"However, I do not believe they would allow such a big thing like that," he said, pointing to her camera, "In beyond the doors." Now that he had given her the information he felt he wanted to share, he dug for a little.
"What is your name, Senorita?"
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Post by Wednesday Addams on Nov 25, 2008 17:51:07 GMT -5
Wednesday logged these details into her memory fastidiously, thinking that she would have time to transcribe them to paper later. Wednesday hardly had need for paper, her memory was that flawless, but she enjoyed perfecting her penmanship and watching the letters form and waiting for the ink to dry. That, and it gave her pride to reflect on her perfect memory, as she always did in the quiet time of recording things down. It would have to be in a paper eventually anyway, and what if someone wanted to read her notes later? They couldn't if they were all in the girl's head.
There were several ghosts. - They disliked certain performers. - They would not... Wednesday frowned. Her plan had met a hitch. They did not allow photography. Well, this was not suitable. She could not base her reports on hearsay; she had to have actual evidence to back things up, and photographs were the best option. Even if they did not show, she would have something. Wednesday shut her eyes momentarily and shook her head twice. She would have to work something else out.
"Wednesday Addams," she replied with precision. Although the word - in English - had a pronunciation that did not quite suit its spelling, she spoke the consonants both distinctly and smoothly. The flow of d's was apparent. Although she spoke well, she was preoccupied, and had lowered her eyes, as well as having lowered her camera into her lap. "...A trick camera. The lens behind a peek in fabric. Some way that the Ghost wouldn't know..."
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Post by Maleo Basilio Addams on Nov 25, 2008 19:31:50 GMT -5
Another Addams? How wonderful to have a cousin visit if she truly were one! In this part of Europe, it would be far too coincidental that she merely were given the last name - and the Addams clan circumvented the globe in both worldly travels and in contaminating the population and multiplying.
"I did not merely mean the Opera Ghost would not allow it, Senorita Addams. I meant the ushers." Standing from his seat, he acrobatically boosted himself over the back of the chair and landed beside Wednesday with a smirk. Folding his arms over his chest, he decided to speak more privately with the girl.
"My name is Maleo Basilio Addams. I am a sopranist here at the Opera." Though it should have been obvious that he sang for the Opera, he doubted his name or face were popular enough to warrant notice. Unless they really were related...
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Post by Wednesday Addams on Nov 26, 2008 13:32:31 GMT -5
The quick, sudden shift in movement caught Wednesday's attention and drew her eyes up again; although she herself was often very still, she could be quick at times, and a sort of acrobatic sense of motion in other people was one of the few things she admired, for people who were neither still nor lively seemed really only to be mundane. Mundane things certainly happened to Wednesday, at least by her standards; but by her standards, mundane was not quite the same for her as for Most People.
His introduction brought a bit of sparkle to her eyes, and she opened her mouth as though she were going to speak suddenly, but she paused, as though confused, before speaking, enthusiastically, "You are?"
She paused again, frowning in thought, and then pulled something very quickly out of her pocket. It was a large, hand-held microscope. She held it up to her eye without knowing or caring how suddenly insectlike she seemed on the other end to it, and examined him through it in a matter of moments. Then she put it down, no longer having doubts, and thus managing to be more enthused. "You are, I recognize you from your photograph!" She held out her hand to shake, cheeks a bit flushed from the sudden burst of energy; it made her look more feverish than rosy, but again, she didn't care.
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Post by Maleo Basilio Addams on Nov 26, 2008 22:11:12 GMT -5
Grinning, both at the girl's enthusiasm as well as the amusement afforded being inspected and then confirmed to be the real deal, Maleo bowed his head for a moment before he took Wednesday's hand, kissing it swiftly. He shook hands with men, but not young ladies, even if they did turn out to be related.
"You have a photograph of me? I'm flattered. How did you go about acquiring it?" he asked, turning his almost-solid-black eyes back toward the stage, thinking he heard a cue for him, despite his low placing in the cast.
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Post by Wednesday Addams on Nov 27, 2008 16:44:20 GMT -5
Wednesday would only accept having her hand kissed by a member of her family; it struck her as unnecessary and annoying otherwise. But her father had been an old-fashioned gentlemen, a real Valentino, and so she would suffer the overly-polite attention without suffering. Still, Wednesday preferred to be treated in an ungendered fashion on most days.
"It's in the family album, of course," said Wednesday, not really smiling, but her eyes sparkling with the hint of one. "There are several. This is a very momentous occasion." She did not say it as though it was, but she did not sound sarcastic, either, for she did mean it. She paused a moment to think. "Will you allow me to photograph you?"
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Post by Maleo Basilio Addams on Nov 27, 2008 23:37:51 GMT -5
So they truly were family, confirmed by what she said. Maleo smirked and stood up, smoothing out his suit and hair with a few quick movements of his hands, posing against the back of a chair.
"Only if you can catch me in a proper shadow," he replied, grinning broadly. All the teeth from his canines back were incredibly sharp and inhuman looking. "Wouldn't want to spoil your own album."
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Post by Wednesday Addams on Nov 28, 2008 17:41:39 GMT -5
Wednesday frowned, although it was not in mislike of the situation.
"I should not have presumed... Yes, that does pose a bit of a problem, doesn't it? Is there a place more admirably suited for it? Hmm..."
She took a picture anyway, carefully, although she had her doubts about how it might turn out. "How do you come to be in Paris?" she asked from behind the camera.
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Post by Maleo Basilio Addams on Nov 29, 2008 19:50:26 GMT -5
"I have spent these past few years touring with the Zarzuelas," he said, leaning against the seat back, still posing for her shot. "The Spanish Opera," he added, in case she were unfamiliar with a rather localized term.
"But now I am performing here in The Garnier... in Faust. Unfortunately, my voice is ill-suited to the role of Mephistopheles. Yet... I have made a few friends here, in higher places..." he said airily, making a short glance of the infamous Box Five before he smiled for the camera again.
"You seek the Opera Ghost for your schoolwork?" he finally said, drawing back to the subject at hand.
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Post by Wednesday Addams on Nov 30, 2008 20:56:42 GMT -5
Wednesday nodded slowly, pressing her tongue to her upper lip as she thought things out. Yes, that made sense. Everything had to make sense to her before she could move on, or it didn't feel right. She disliked feeling left out of something, and strove to understand. It was what made her such a fine scholar - that and her knack for attracting bits of esoteric trivia.
"Yes," she said, when they had returned to the base matter. "I have made his history and existence - the documentation of which, mainly, although I suppose I will be discussing theory as well - the basis of this semester's study abroad program. I switched it last minute from a study of Anne Boleyn's ghost, for which I would have gone to London. I was not certain why I had done so." She smiled rather brightly for a tiny thing that had the look of a pre-make-up'ed corpse at a funeral home. "Surely, I was meant to rediscover you. I have not inherited my mother's intuition, but certainly my share of fateful coincidences has befallen me."
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Post by Maleo Basilio Addams on Dec 1, 2008 17:34:33 GMT -5
Maleo smirked and slid back down into the seat beside Wednesday, looking back out to the stage. He looked to be debating with himself over something, then offered his relative a sly smile, stretching his arms across the seat backs before he spoke again.
"While I may not know your mother, I do believe you are onto something with your destiny's path. You found me, here at the very opera you research, and I may... mind you, may be able to help with your report. However, this is neither a promise nor a guarantee. My..." He paused, an index finger raised for effect, "Connections here are not as spectacular as many may believe, but I will see about you capturing your Ghost on film."
Peering back at the stage, he let Wednesday simmer on that notion before he would go any further; he had said it was not a certainty, as he was not sure if he could get either Opera Ghost he knew to comply.
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Post by Wednesday Addams on Dec 9, 2008 16:13:31 GMT -5
Wednesday did not believe in destiny, not in the ridiculous sense that she felt some did, whereby everyone had a True Path that they went along. But she believed in fate and bizarre coincidences and strange things happening for a reason. Undoubtedly, if she had gone to Paris only to meet a long last Addams who might be able to assist her research - there was a purpose in that. She gave him her full attention, intense but not unpleasant, holding so still that she swayed slightly in her seat.
She thought on this. It sounded like extremely good news to Wednesday, and on another note she was not at all surprised that her cousin - the word would have to do - had connections of that nature at all. "I believe I understand," she said, with a nod. "Yes. This is very good and very overwhelming news," she said, smiling naturally at him. "And...how are you? You say you sing here, yes? Will you be in the upcoming opera?" She frowned slightly as it occurred to her that she was not sure how it would be proper to address him.
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