A/N: OH MY GOOD GOLLY GOSH TWO CHAPTERS IN A ROW! XO
So…sample writing. Enjoy.
oo0o0oo
Tori quietly sat on a chair, doodling on a piece of parchment. It was her first day temporarily living in Erik's home, the first day of three months. He had gone out shopping to fetch extra supplies and goodness knew what else.
She looked at the watch in her dress pocket and sighed. Three minutes to one. Where was he? By now she was quite famished, and the pain of hunger was increasing; she usually ate lunch at 11:00.
Tori went back to her parchment, where she was drawing a picture of a creature she had created, one that looked like an unusual grey, black, and white cat that was always unhappy. How very much like me, she thought.
After about 10 minutes, she heard the swish of water, and, after a couple more seconds, the soft clunk of the gondola hitting the shore, although she did not look up.
Erik stepped off and went the back way to Tori's room, where he dropped off an enormous amount of boxes and such. He then took a secret passageway that probably led to a storage room, where he put the rest of the packages.
He closed the door carefully behind him and looked over to Tori. He sighed.
She's such a nice girl, but so terribly frightened of me. Why did she agree to live with me in the first place?
Erik walked over hesitantly to where Tori sat and looked down at her parchment.
A cat. That's quite normal. Such a gorgeous picture, however…she does indeed have real talent besides music…
Tori, noticing the presence, stopped drawing and, starting to tremble gently (it had now become an odd habit of hers), looked slowly up to Erik. Their eyes met.
Erik cleared his throat. "What are you drawing?"
Tori looked down to her drawing again. "This is a kind of creature I invented," she said quietly, pointing at the cat. "I was going to draw something else, but then you came back." She looked up once more to Erik, as if waiting for his approval of the picture.
Erik nodded. "Your drawings are quite nice."
"Thank you."
The rest of the day was quiet between the two of them. After eating lunch, the two went off on their own, with Erik writing music and Tori drawing and writing poems and short stories.
Erik's thoughts
She is everything a man could ever want or need. No wonder the Vicomte is courting her…
No! Do not think of him! He is trying to steal her away from you!
(Looks around to Tori, who is sitting in her room, writing)
Writing something…what? A journal, maybe? No, there should be many more papers with that one. I have seen her room, and it's quite organized; she wouldn't have the papers separate, and her journal is more like a small, pink book.
Maybe she is writing a story or a poem? More likely.
She is indeed a strange little thing, so quiet and creative.
But beautiful. Her voice is beautiful, her face is beautiful, her body is beautiful.
Why hasn't she mentioned my mask?...
Tori's thoughts
Perfect. The villain has been captured, and Sally is back with her family again.
(Reads over her work)
It's good, but the villain is so much like…
I don't know his name! I must ask one of these days. If I am to live with the Opera Ghost, I must learn more about him.
Why does he wear that mask? What lies behind it? If it is just for show, I think he should have it off when he's near me.
He doesn't need to have it on to impress me. I'd rather he had it off.
But it would be rude to simply tear it off of his face. I shall ask him.
Normal
Around dusk, Tori walked timidly up to where Erik sat, her head bowed slightly.
"Good sir, I've realized that I do not know your name."
Erik turned around slowly to where Tori stood, about 5 feet away from him, shifting her weight from foot to foot uneasily.
His face turned hard. "Erik," he replied coldly, turning back to the organ.
That was a bit unkind. She's so helpless; she simply asked you your name.
When he realized that Tori was still standing there, he turned to face her again, his expression softer.
"Do you need something, Tori?"
Tori started to tremble slightly violently. She took a small step towards the organ, looking down at her shoes.
"W-well, I-I-I…was wondering if…you c-could…take your m-m-m-mask off?"
She nearly regretted the words as they fell out of her mouth, and she blushed a deep shade of scarlet as she looked up at Erik.
His expression was unreadable for a few seconds, then he became slightly angry.
"No. This mask will always stay on."
Tori ceased her trembling a little bit.
"But Erik, is it just for show? The side of your face I can see," she nodded her head toward the part of his face that was not covered by the mask, "Seems quite handsome. Is the other side any different?"
Erik was at a loss for words. She thought it was for show! She did not have any idea what lay behind the mask! In fact, she thought that the rest of his face was as…
Did she say that I'm handsome?
That was what caused his mouth to become dry. No one had ever said he was handsome, seeing as they only paid attention to the part of his face that was unmasked. No one had ever said he looked nice, or even that he was talented, creative, or clever…well, the managers had said he was clever, but in a very sarcastic way.
"May I take it off?"
Erik was snapped out of his thoughts by Tori, who was now looking straight into his eyes curiously, almost pleading.
He closed his eyes and shook his head no, sighing.
"Oh. Alright. That's all I wanted to ask."
With that, Tori walked quietly away, leaving Erik to stare after her, still dazed.
oo0o0oo
Tori carefully walked up to Erik, taking care to be quiet. It was a last resort, and it was impolite, but she honestly wanted to know what lay covered by that white strip of porcelain.
She silently said a quick prayer, and then ripped off his mask.
Immediately she was thrown to the ground, where she hit the stone hard.
Erik stood furiously above her, the part of his face normally covered by the mask now covered by his hand.
Tori began trembling as violently as ever, shielding herself slightly with her arms. As much as she wanted to look away from Erik's angry face, her eyes remained glued to his.
When Erik spoke, his voice was a yell of fury.
"Didn't I tell you no? Twice I told you no, yet you still rip off my mask! Ungrateful little girl, you don't listen when things are told to you, even when they are repeated!"
But he was quickly cut off as a single tear rolled down Tori's cheek, and she fainted.
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A/N: Hey, it had to happen sooner or later. xD