seven
- Masterful Virgin -
**This cannot be good....**
Posts: 42
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Post by seven on Feb 24, 2009 12:54:50 GMT -5
The oppressive silence of the back room was broken as the door to the alley swung open. A slender girl bolted through the portal, slamming it closed behind her. Pressing herself against it, as if to keep some horrible beast at bay, her ruby eyes were wide with fear. Platinum hair hung in a bob about her head, lank with perspiration. Combined with her alabaster skin, she practically glowed in the dark of the musty room. She wore an odd suit of close fitting white fabric that clung to her like a glove, a black 07 emblazoned on her chest and on each shoulder. Pressing her ear to the door, she couldn't hear her pursuers. With a sigh of relief she slid down the door to sit on the floor. That was close... She thought to herself. Holding her head between her hands she caught her breath for a moment. As her breathing slowed she began to look about for the first time, trying to determine where it was she'd run to. Ropes.... Props... a piano... What WAS this place? Rising to her feet she padded silently towards the far end of the room, examining her surroundings. She began to hear muffled voices, perhaps in another room? If there were people she should probably run... Looking to the door she thought of those men who had been chasing her. Then again... Perhaps they will be nicer people? She pressed her ear to the door, listening to those in the next room.
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Lissie
- Masterful Virgin -
Posts: 5
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Post by Lissie on Feb 24, 2009 13:04:27 GMT -5
For the record, Lissie did not think these were very nice people at all.
She might have been a dancer - and might have been enormously fond of, and good at, dancing - but Lissie Borden rarely appeared like one in a throng of other girls. Where the others giggled and preened - or swanned about, smirking seductively at nothing in particular, thinking themselves much too sophisticated for that sort of nonsense - Lissie moved like a large and regal elephant with a sultana on her back, striding like a governess.
A stagehand had called to them for a length of rope, a new one with red hair and ridiculously feline manners, and the girls had begun to argue about who should be the one to do it. Becoming quite impatient, Lissie had waved her hand at them all sharply and stormed back to get one.
She did not slam the door - she'd been raised better, by her... parents! - but might as well have for all the swift, efficient suddenness it shot open. Thinking it was blocked in part by a box that must have been in the way, Lissie had not paid attention to any weight she'd felt against it.
As it creaked closed behind her, however, she became aware of the presence of someone new, and, not recognizing the thing she saw at all, Lissie merely stared, possibly moments away from speaking, or maybe just horrorstruck.
After a moment, she shot backwards with all a dancer's grace until her back hit a wooden crate, and she crossed herself.
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seven
- Masterful Virgin -
**This cannot be good....**
Posts: 42
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Post by seven on Feb 24, 2009 14:02:27 GMT -5
Seven sat on the wood paneled floor, rubbing her head. That had hurt.... After a moment though she came to her senses. A woman had just entered the room, looking just as shocked about their meeting as Seven was. Grabbing onto a banister Seven pulled herself to her feet. She saw the woman crossing herself and flinched. The overseer at the facility she'd recently escaped from used to do that regularly, she was frightened to think these people might be connected in some way. Holding out her hands in a gesture of surrender the scared looking girl backed up a step. Struggling to think of how she might connect with this woman she suddenly remembered the rosary. The Overseer had forced herself and her sisters to use them, saying that it was the only way for them to be forgiven the sin of witchcraft. She had no idea why wooden beads on a string meant anything, but it DID have a cross. Tapping a small button on her wrist, a compartment on the bracelet of the suit opened and the rosary fell into her hand. Holding it out in front of her like some form of peace offering she hoped the woman would understand.
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Lissie
- Masterful Virgin -
Posts: 5
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Post by Lissie on Feb 24, 2009 14:42:10 GMT -5
Lissie stared quite a bit longer, blinking, no expression entering her features, not even one of alarm or disgust. She looked, in fact, for anyone who knew Lissie, very composed, which, as she usually was, was not uncommon.
It dawned on Lissie that she might not have seen some monstrous hellish thing at all, but instead, perhaps, an... an albino. Yes. The hair was white. She ignored the fact that albinos were generally less unusual than even this small thing was and decided that that had to be it.
"Aha. Ah. Well. What are you doing here?" She said, regaining her composure and sounding like a schoolteacher reprimanding. "You are not... you are not allowed in this part of the Opera House. Come on. Up with you."
Strange clothing, might have been a costume... She did not think this was a dancer, as Lissie lived in the dormitories and knew all of the faces, but she was willing to ignore this as well. She was mostly peeved at the slight speech impediment obstructing her commands, as she tried to reorder everything that she said so that it no longer included a sound she couldn't make, and failed.
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seven
- Masterful Virgin -
**This cannot be good....**
Posts: 42
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Post by seven on Feb 24, 2009 14:59:07 GMT -5
Seven decided that the best coarse of action would be to follow this woman's lead. She had no idea what an Opera House was. Attempting to break it down in her mind she analyzed the title. Opera House... She thought. The home of an Opera would be the obvious conclusion. She stepped up to the woman, looking a demure as possible. The submissive role was one she could play well. What then is an Opera? She pondered. This woman looked quite familiar with the place, seeming to understand the going on of this "house". Perhaps SHE is an Opera? The thought occurred. Reaching out with her mind she glanced at Lissie, scanning her. She seemed human, as far as Seven could tell... Her fine brow wrinkled slightly as the gears turned. Perhaps a variant? Some type of sub-species? She quickly cast that idea aside, there were not enough visible variations to warrant a new species classification. Perhaps a social classification? This certainly made more sense. Well, if the size of this "house" is any judge, then it must be a social classification denoting great wealth or political standing. She concluded. If this was so then one should probably show respect to the individual who owned it. All of these thoughts took place over the coarse of seconds, as Seven stood in front of Lissie. Suddenly the slender albino bent at the waist in a bow of respect, dropping one hand down and holding the other behind her as she had seen "gentlemen" do in the old movies that she had been forced to watch for social education. She hoped she was doing it right.
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Lissie
- Masterful Virgin -
Posts: 5
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Post by Lissie on Feb 24, 2009 15:10:55 GMT -5
Lissie stared for a moment. Then, without deliberate rudeness or an extremely heavy way of handling her, she took her by the shoulders in extreme starkness, pulled her up, and marched her out of the room.
"Don't - " She wasn't going to say sass! She couldn't say sass. Oh, how frustrating. Her teeth were gritted behind her firm frowning mouth. How pretty Lissie might have been if she had not been the most abominable personality among the corps-de-ballet. "Be rude."
She let go of the albino girl once she was out of the room, then went back to retrieve the requested rope and closed the door behind her. Placing her hand firmly on the girl's back with the utmost seriousness, as though this were her God-given duty, she led her swiftly down along the backstage direction, gave the stagehand his precious rope, and continued on. The sheer number of people might have been overwhelming to one who had only seen that small room, but Lissie, of course, had no idea what she'd seen, so said nothing to warn her of the many stagehands of varying ages and sizes, and certainly nothing of the many unsympathetic girls who looked over, unimpressed for the most part, when Lissie returned with someone else.
"Now off you go. Wherever you're supposed to be," said Lissie sternly, not faltering even though she was completely out of her element, going to rejoin the girls. If that one was a dancer, she'd better change.
The other girls did keep their distance from Lissie - except for a tall one with long, straight black hair, who was nearest to Lissie and seemed ostracized herself, and kept throwing sympathetic and curious glances at the newcomer - although hardly due to reverence.
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seven
- Masterful Virgin -
**This cannot be good....**
Posts: 42
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Post by seven on Feb 24, 2009 15:44:27 GMT -5
Seven looked about, seeming nervous. Supposed to be? She wondered. Where am I SUPPOSED to be? She twirled in a circle, trying to get her bearings. "Out of the way!" Called a large gent carrying props. Seven stumbled out of the way just in time, only to bump into a rather disgusted looking dancer. "Hey!" She yelped. Seven held up her hands to ward off the woman's anger only to trip over a two dimensional "bush", landing with a thud. With so many people in the same room the thought noise was overwhelming and she felt more then a little disoriented. Righting herself she caught the sympathetic gaze of the other loner in the room. Perhaps SHE knows where to go... Seven shook her head, this place was insane. it was like barely controlled chaos.
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Odette
- Masterful Virgin -
Odile to her gentlemen friends.
Posts: 34
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Post by Odette on Feb 24, 2009 15:51:18 GMT -5
Odette, who had been sitting on an unused, overturned bench and not entirely comfortable about it, noticed immediately when she was glanced at and stood abruptly, hands rigid at her sides, almost as though she were expecting to be reprimanded for something much like this little blond girl had been being reprimanded by Lissie - which was certainly puzzling. Odette was too meek to outright question Lissie, who might have been right for all Odette knew, but she'd lived in the dormitories longer than the other girl had and knew she did not recognize this girl from anywhere around there.
But Odette noticed more than Lissie Borden did when newcomers showed up at the Opera House, and there seemed to be a lot of them. Nervously wrapping her hair around her hand, she walked over to the girl, almost sideways, flightily.
"You shouldn't be here. Not during rehearsals. Follow me into the hallway," she said in a low, tight voice, without looking back to see that anyone was indeed following, and walked gravely from the stage, heading to her left for one of the exits there.
((I don't know if you want to or not, but if you were wondering if it was all right or not, Odette can certainly be spoken to telepathically. She's got her own mildly-supernatural backstory and doesn't really how sane she is or isn't. XD))
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seven
- Masterful Virgin -
**This cannot be good....**
Posts: 42
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Post by seven on Feb 24, 2009 16:56:19 GMT -5
Seven smiled happily, perhaps this woman might have some answers. Following her out of the room she tilted her head to the side questioningly. Why does she seem so nervous? She wondered. Looking down at herself she did not believe herself to be in any way frightening... Perhaps it was her uniform, the outfits these people were wearing certainly were very different from any she'd ever seen on the compound.... Or on the streets for that matter. What is a rehearsal? Perhaps it is akin to a training exercise... It was infuriating to have so many questions and no way to ask them. She feared that if she used her telepathy the woman would panic. Heaven knows she looked ready to jump out of her skin as it was.... With a sigh she thought: They never told me how difficult it would be to communicate with humans. I would seem the inquisitions educational program is lacking in more ways then one.
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Odette
- Masterful Virgin -
Odile to her gentlemen friends.
Posts: 34
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Post by Odette on Feb 24, 2009 17:02:04 GMT -5
Once they were in the hallway, Odette, while her posture did not become necessarily more free - she was a very private and introverted person, after all, and was frequently closed up in herself, except when dancing - seemed a lot less nervous, no longer letting her eyes dart about and instead gently shutting the door and turning gracefully to scrutinize the young albino girl. She thought they might be around the same age, although she behaved as though she were much younger.
"You're not from here," said Odette, her Russian accent apparent now that she was speaking more loudly, although not too loudly, showing she wasn't, either. Her eyebrows knit in thought. "Do you know how to get back? If you don't, come with me to the dormitories and you can take some of my clothes. If you do, I will help you, until the moon comes up; then I can't."
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seven
- Masterful Virgin -
**This cannot be good....**
Posts: 42
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Post by seven on Feb 24, 2009 17:19:29 GMT -5
Seven was about to simply nod and follow her, but the last remark caught her off guard. **Moon?** Came the blip of telepathic question. Seven realized what she'd done and attempted to look oblivious... Maybe if she acted casual the woman wouldn't realize it was her... Wow, off to a bad start already. She berated herself. If she screams it is your own fault....
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Odette
- Masterful Virgin -
Odile to her gentlemen friends.
Posts: 34
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Post by Odette on Feb 24, 2009 17:24:45 GMT -5
Odette looked momentarily puzzled, pressing her fingertips to her temple, lips parting. But the other girl didn't seem to notice anything amiss, and so she assumed that it had been her, rather than something in her own mind. She wanted it to be that, anyway. Odette's mind sometimes was very strange. She believed she was sane, of course, but then, there she wasn't at all certain...
"Yes. I cannot be in moonlight," said Odette seriously, deeply so.
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seven
- Masterful Virgin -
**This cannot be good....**
Posts: 42
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Post by seven on Feb 24, 2009 22:01:29 GMT -5
Seven tensed. She caught her... And hadn't responded negatively. Breaking into a grin Seven decided it was time for introductions. **You can hear me!** She chirped mentally, her lips never moving. **It has been a very long time since I've gotten to converse with another individual!** Looking positively bouncy she extended her hand to Odette, holding it at a ninety degree angle to the rest of her right at chest level. **I am ACU unit Seven. What is your name?** Her wide smile was almost infectiously innocent. Like a child at Christmas.
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Odette
- Masterful Virgin -
Odile to her gentlemen friends.
Posts: 34
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Post by Odette on Feb 25, 2009 11:35:26 GMT -5
Odette had met all kinds of strange and studiously avoided the weirder elements of such persons - even normally intimidating features in grand people got under her skin very quickly - but the eccentricities of Seven were not more than usually bothersome, as they did not seem grandiose or threatening in any way.
Odette didn't shake her hand, gently shaking her hair back and folding her arms as though cold and wanting for warmth. "I am Odette Gabrelovic," she said, voice still several notches too soft for most people to hear without straining to listen very attentively. "Do you know how... how to get back to where you're from?"
Odette could not remember where she was from. She had just appeared as a child and been quickly enrolled in the conservatoire in a way that was common here even though it seemed atypical by logic's standards. If the answer was no, she supposed Seven would have to find some similar method of adapting.
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seven
- Masterful Virgin -
**This cannot be good....**
Posts: 42
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Post by seven on Feb 25, 2009 12:09:12 GMT -5
**Back?** Seven tilted her head curiously once again. **I do not wish to go back.** She thought the woman was referring to the base she had escaped from. **Why can you not go into the moonlight? Is that an aspect of being an Opera? Perhaps a species derivation IS necessary...** Her hand was still extended as she did not know the protocol if somebody was unreceptive towards the gesture.
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