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Post by Vianne Giry on Jul 15, 2006 15:08:39 GMT -5
*Mme. Giry pushed aside the heavy tassled curtain that led into the box nearest the stage on the right-hand side. She strode over to the edge of the box, holding a candlestick aloft as she peered out into the gloom of the empty auditorium.* No one. "He will come here, Monsieur..." *she said matter-of-factly, turning to face Sir Percy.*
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Post by Sir Percy on Jul 15, 2006 15:22:40 GMT -5
((Aha! Good thing I caught this as I was hunting you down))
Sir Percy bowed.
"Madame..." he began hesitantly, "you seem well acquainted with the Opera Ghost. Have you any advice to offer me?"
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Post by Vianne Giry on Jul 15, 2006 15:28:20 GMT -5
*Mme. Giry pressed her lips together in thought.* "The only advice I have ever followed is in leaving him be, Monsieur. I cannot now think in terms of deliberately consulting him. There is nothing to be done now but wait." *She turned to go, then stopped and faced him once more.* "May I--would you like me to--allow me to stay while you waited? As eager as you seem to be to face such danger, my conscience would be uneasy if I merely left you to your fate with the ghost in an empty auditorium."
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Post by Sir Percy on Jul 15, 2006 15:33:05 GMT -5
Sir Percy frowned.
"There are not many of your fair sex, madam, who would willingly give themselves to danger. I entreat you, do not stay if you wish. If you do stay, madam, I beg you to guard yourself as sternly as a priest, and leave if danger bears too swiftly on wings for you."
Turning to look full into her eyes, he added, "You are a strong woman, and a reliable one. It has been long and longer still since I have met such a one."
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Post by Vianne Giry on Jul 15, 2006 15:39:12 GMT -5
*Madame Giry sat down in the box and folded her hands in her lap to keep them from trembling.* "Those who are weak shortly find themselves enslaved to the strength of tyrants, Monsieur; and yet for whatever strength you see in me I am merely one of the many who bow to the will of the Ghost for fear." *She smiled wanly.* "You once asked me for a piece of advice, Monsieur. I have just now recalled--your hand at the level of your eyes." *She demonstrated, then let her hand remain where it was to guard against the Punjab lasso--the only thing more merciless than the man who wielded it.*
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Post by Sir Percy on Jul 15, 2006 15:45:55 GMT -5
Percy crouched in front of her and took one of her hands, very carefully.
"My hand at the level of my eyes. I shall endeavour to remember it."
He paused, then added gently, "Somehow, madame, I do not the the Ghost would hurt you. And you are far stronger than you believe, if you are willing to face him."
He stayed very still for a moment, merely looking at her.
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Post by Vianne Giry on Jul 15, 2006 15:48:11 GMT -5
*Madame Giry tilted her chin upwards and gazed towards the ceiling and chandelier with a faraway look on her face.* "There are some things even I would not dare, Monsieur." *She looked back at him, now with a slightly surprised expression, as though she had only just realized where he was.*
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Post by Sir Percy on Jul 15, 2006 15:57:13 GMT -5
((Sorry it took me a minute! My power went out. We've got a bad storm over here))
Sir Percy stepped back and bowed.
"Forgive me, if I startled you."
"Madame, I believe that you would dare almost anything. You remind me very much..." he cut himself off abruptly and smiled a little.
"Indeed, your courage is to be commended, if the stories I have heard about you are true."
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Post by Vianne Giry on Jul 15, 2006 16:02:36 GMT -5
*Madame Giry laughed, beginning to relax, even a little, although her hand went back to the level of her eyes.* "Stories! About me? I had not thought myself to be so infamous a ballet mistress. Pray tell, what worthy deeds or heinous crimes I have done to merit a report reaching across the Channel?"
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Post by Sir Percy on Jul 15, 2006 16:10:18 GMT -5
Sir Percy had been glancing around, keeping his sharp blue eyes--ah! the very laziness had seemed to vanish out of them--fixed on openings and vulnerable spaces, but now he swung to look at her.
"They say you are do not live in fear of the Ghost, but are his aquaintance...and ally. They say he would not harm you, for all the kindness you have shown him, he has kept you alive, and kept you protected. Rumors of your Ghost do flit across the Channel, but so do rumors of the kind-hearted woman, who is both stern and just. In my country, madam, they call you la amie du fantôme."
He studied her intently for a moment.
"To speak plainly, madam, I think the stories are right. For madam, you see, you are part of the reason I think the monster no monster at all, but a man."
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Post by Vianne Giry on Jul 15, 2006 16:20:29 GMT -5
*Mme. Giry twisted the gold band on her left hand around her finger as she thought.* "If you are right, then I should have done more...for him. What good did it do to make him a man when the world would not see him as such? To give him the feelings and sensibilities of a heart of flesh, only to leave it absent of a strong moral guidance? To allow obsession to overtake rational thought in the name of genius? By allowing him a friend and not a mentor, I gave him the ability to love, but not to judge correctly. I am no better than one who would abandon a child who only knew its basic nature and nought of right and wrong." *She smiled weakly.* "So you see, Monsieur, how a spark of truth may be dimmed in the darkness of myth...how brightly one star would seem to burn, and yet the night is still many times the larger of the two points; and it surrounds all else." *She gazed out into the darkness of the theatre.* "I was not a friend as I should have been--a friend who would have spoken the truth without fear and known that the reward, in the end, would have been far greater than a momentary reprieve from anger--a soul would have been saved."
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Post by Sir Percy on Jul 15, 2006 16:36:23 GMT -5
((Sorry! Groceries to put away))
"Madame," Sir Percy said quietly, "I highly doubt that all his faults may be laid at your feet. You did what any noble and compassionate person would do, and you must not doubt yourself about that."
"The world will see him as a man, Madame, I swear it. And I do not think his soul beyond saving. Even Lucifer was an angel once."
He gently took her hand.
"My lady...I believe you are the truest friend he may ever know, and so I beg you not to grieve for something that cannot be fixed."
Bending, he pressed his lips to her fingers.
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Post by Vianne Giry on Jul 16, 2006 15:22:18 GMT -5
*Madame Giry smiled gently.* "Thank you, Monsieur, for your kind words. If anyone can help him now, I believe it is you..."
((My replies might be a bit short for the time being. I'm on heavy herbal cold remedies right now.))
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Post by Sir Percy on Jul 16, 2006 15:25:33 GMT -5
((No problem. Yay for herbal remedies!))
"La, Madame, you honor me with your faith," Percy said. "I shall simply do what I can do, and leave the rest to God."
((Erik dropping in would be nice right about now. I'm running out of things to say short of snogging her senseless.))
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Post by Vianne Giry on Jul 16, 2006 15:34:50 GMT -5
"When one must leave all to Providence, quite often you find it is all you need," *murmered Madame Giry.* ((... ;D ))
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