Boredom is a terrible thing
Ooh! Two chapters in one day! I'm spoiling you all!
Spunky-hyper-girl: (sings) C is for cookie, that's good enough for me! Um, short answer, no, got sidetracked and had to add more stuff, cameo is now chapter 27 (I hope)
Nightshadesister-01: Hey half a tango is better than no tango at all. Heh heh, images...
BiP: Dammit! You got that song in my head too now damn you! Heh, sexual healing, why do I have a sudden mental image of Gerik lying in a beanbag humming that while stroking my hair? -shakes head- hmm...don't know.
IflyNavy: Kisses are goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooduh!
Reltistic: You're welcome (all together now) awwwwwwwwww...
Domonique Vida: Believe it or not, the head turn was completely unintentional, she was actually turning to talk to him, but hey! Ya gotta take the good with the bad now dontcha?
Cap'n Meg: Cloak song, I like it, -hands Meg more rum-
Lady Fae: Thankyou, thankyou! Bows and blows kisses, more mischief will appear soon
Two days later…
Erik?" Adriana called as she stepped off the gondola, returning from a successful little spooking, "Oh Monsieur Le Fantômee?"
"Yes?" said French ghost replied from his organ, where he was testing the notes "What is it now?"
Adriana slipped around behind him and winced as a sour note snagged in her ears, "That was out," she said, unpinning her veil and tucking it into a pocket.
"I know," Erik muttered, reaching out to touch the strings, he licked his twisted lips nervously as she drew closer. Dammit! He still couldn't get the strawberry lip-gloss taste out of his mouth! He turned as something occurred to him, "I thought you were musically illiterate, little one, how could you tell the note was flat?" Adriana shrugged, shaking herself out of her black jacket and revealing her corset and chemise, Erik hissed a curse and looked away. "Oh grow up," he heard her mutter as she wrapped a shawl around her bare shoulders, "It's about the only thing I can tell about music, we had an extremely out of tune piano at home and it sounded exactly like that."
"Hmm…" Erik turned back to his work, deliberately trying to
ignore her. Go away you damned girl! One part of his mind
raged, Don't you know what you're doing to me!
Not
that you mind another part argued quietly, Erik hurriedly crushed
the thought. No. "Where have you been?" he asked, changing the
subject from his own rather confused thoughts.
"Toying with the managers, what else?" she replied, twisting and stretching her legs to hear the joints pop, Erik raised his eyebrows "Again?" he asked, "That's the fourth time in two days, I suppose the costumes department has finally lost its charm."
"Fifth time, actually," she answered, bending to touch her toes, "I slipped a pair of huntsman's into their cigar case last night when I couldn't sleep, and I just hid a pair of skeletons behind their office curtains. And no, but I can only get into the costumes at night, and unfortunately for me, I don't have glow-in-the-dark eyes to see with."
"Where did you get those?" Erik asked, watching in amazement as she did something rather uncomfortable looking with her arms.
"Props department," she shrugged, pulling her slipping ribbon out of her hair before it fell and she lost it, and scruffing her fingers through her hair.
"Cheap tricks," Erik scoffed, Adriana sighed, "Please Erik, I'm trying to get things across the them on a level their limited brains can comprehend, however poorly." She tossed her alarmingly tangled hair over one shoulder defiantly, "I do have to admit it is getting a little boring"
"No!" Erik exclaimed in a mock horror tone. "Whatever will you do?"
"Good question," she replied, then her eyes lit up, "Actually, now that I think of it…"
"You mean you can actually string two coherent thoughts together?" his sarcastic side was reasserting itself.
"Ye-es, I know it's hard for someone with such limited intelligence as yourself to comprehend such a feat, but I do hold that ability."
Erik gaped at her, did she just call him stupid? No one spoke to him like that!
Oh get over it that little voice in his head told him, She
could and does, and don't pretend you're not enjoying the
conversation. Oh shut up, he thought back,
"Touché"
he grumbled, "What were you thinking?"
"I've forgotten" she replied glumly, "Don't distract me like that" Erik sniggered, "Oh wait! Now I remember!" she clapped her hands, "Will you teach me to fence?"
"Will I what? No!" he exclaimed turning back to his organ. Adriana put her hands on her hips, "Why not?" she demanded.
"Because you are a girl!" he retorted angrily, folding his arms, Adriana tossed off her shawl and stormed around to face him, "That's no excuse Erik, and you know it!" Erik twisted away from her angry glare and stared resolutely ahead into the wall, "There are some things that no properly bred young lady should know about!"
"Oh but haunting an opera house is perfectly acceptable," she retorted sarcastically.
"Look you damned woman!" Erik shouted, leaping up and spinning around to face her, she raised her eyebrows at his mask, "Oh gosh, I've gone from a little one, to a girl, to a lady, to a woman all in the space of one conversation, my lord I've grown up fast." As she said this she was moving across the room and around to behind a red divan. Erik stared at her, "Where are you going?"
"Nowhere" she answered, "I just felt the need to get at least one piece of furniture between me and your lasso."
Erik smirked in reply, and with a superhuman leap, jumped over from the organ and landed beside her, Adriana looked up at him, her eyes wide in her pale face, "Oh…eep."
"Indeed," Erik replied silkily, stepping away from her "Why do you want to learn?"
"Obvious answer? Torture the fop. Not so obvious answer? I've been wanting to learn for years, but no one ever lets me near anything sharp or pointy," she sighed in mock depression, then looked up at him with big cats innocence eyes (different from puppy dog eyes in that you absolutely know that if you decline, they'll do whatever's been banned anyway.) "Please Erik? You're my last hope?"
Erik folded his arms, his resolve weakening, but determined to make it a good fight, "Why should I help you?"
Adriana's answering grin was vicious, "Because if you don't I'll spend the next three days following you around and singing All I ask of you off key"
"You wouldn't," Erik glared, She would the little voice piped up again. (If I teach her will this shut you up too?) He asked silently, Possibly, the voice answered, for a while anyway. Erik groaned, good enough. "Wait here" he ordered, crossing with a swirl of cloak into the dark passage to enter his room, Adriana grinned in triumph.
Inside his room, Erik rummaged through the bottom of his wardrobe,
seeking his skull hilted sword and another plainer, older one he kept
there. In his mind he silently puzzled over Adriana. Why was he
putting up with her? What in God's name was she doing apparently
enjoying herself down here with him? Who was she, who was she
really? And most importantly, did she remember what happened two
nights ago?
The first one was easily answered, he needed, he
craved, human contact, of any kind, the rest, he just shook his head
in frustration, finally retrieving the second rapier.
You could
ask the voice was back again.
I thought you'd gone! Erik
thought,
Not a chance, ask her, you might even learn something
you like.
"Not a snowballs chance in Hell." He muttered,
Adriana used the phrase often, and he found it rather satisfying in a
twisted kind of way. Something about the way the declaration brought
to mind a tiny little slushball pleading for mercy on a red-hot
pillar while fires raged all around "I'm melting! I'm
meltiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggg!" appealed to him.
With a chuckle he left his room and walked out to find Adriana pushing a last chair off to one side to leave a clear space to practise. She had abandoned her shawl and tied her hair back in the ribbon again, a few stray hairs falling about her face.
"Ahem" Erik's cough interrupted her and she turned, a grin lighting her face as Erik held out the second rapier. "Oh goodie!" she exclaimed, pulling the sword from its sheath, her face blanched a little at the silvery metal, she had been expecting wood to start with, but shrugged and pulled the blade out, admiring the glow in the candles.
"Shall we begin?" Erik called her back to the present (or past).
"Of course," she answered with a debonair bow, sweeping her sword to the side, Erik resisted the urge to roll his eyes, oh what the hell, he did it anyway.
"Stance," he ordered, "feet spread, face your opponent, don't get down your guard for the sake of posturing" Adriana nodded and imitated his position, spreading her feet and holding her blade low but ready, "Good" Erik approved, "Now block," he lifted his blade, Adriana followed suit, "Step," they both stepped one foot over the other, "And strike, no keep your arm higher, higher, that's better." The blade swept down with a whistle, "Very good," he walked behind her and pressed a hand to her lower back, and one against her shoulders, straightening her posture, "Now against me, Block, step, strike," he faced her, sweeping off his cloak expertly and stripping off his jacket to toss it carelessly onto the closest chair. (Authoress swoons at mental image), Adrian took a moment to admire Erik with his shirt half unbuttoned and stood in position, "Begin."
Strike…step…block
Strike…step…block
Strike…step…block
They continued on for the better part of an hour, changing halfway for Adriana to practise blocking then striking. By the end of an hour and a half they were both panting (see Pertie, there's your heavy breathing) and Erik's face and torso glistened with sweat, (excuse me while I go take a cold shower after that mental image…okay I'm back), his shirt sticking to his back and Adriana's hair had fallen loose from her ribbon for the fourth time. "Enough," he finally commanded, stepping back and bowing to her, she did the same, "Thankyou," he shrugged with cold indifference, "It stopped you badgering me," Hurt flickered in her eyes and she threw a pillow at him, he ducked and raised an eyebrow, "If you want lessons in pillow fighting, I would suggest you seek out the ballet rats, mademoiselle, not me." Adriana glared at him, "I am perfectly competent in pillow fights thankyou very much," she retorted, trying a few practise swings at an imaginary opponent. Her left side was left open and Erik slid in to catch her blade with his own, she spun under him and twisted her blade with his, catching him off guard. He caught her arm as it rose over his head, his own blade still tangled with hers. Adriana stared up at him, pressed against his lean body, dripping with sweat, her neck cradled by his encircling arm. He looked down at her in reply, still panting slightly as he blinked sweat from his eyes. With a sharp twist he pulled his blade free and released her, she stepped back, sliding her rapier back into its sheath, Erik sighed, silently reprimanding himself for getting too carried away, "You did well, my Theatre Wraith, you should be proud. Practise every day and you will make yourself a worthy opponent." He sheathed his own weapon and whispered silently into the kitchen in search of a drink, as Adriana, unseen behind him, did an "Oh what a feeling Toyota" leap into the air in victory. (Terribly clichéd, but I just couldn't delete it).