Okay, screw the part about my laptop dying; it was actually revived with much more space and a clean slate for me to work on.
Yay.
This came with bad news: Something that I was working on and planning on publishing this spring (it was a pretty huge document, with many little documents branching off of it) has been killed off along with the harddrive failure. And even this comes with good news: Something in the said story that I wanted to change badly couldn't be altered without changing the rest of the story. So now I can start anew. Double yay.
And Christmas is coming...Viva la Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Tales of the Abyss, and possibly a Nintendo DS! I probably won't get those things! Yeah!
oo0o0oo
No sooner had she progressed three steps that she stumbled a little. No one noticed it, but she could barely navigate in dresses. In truth, she would much rather wear boys' clothes; they might restrict your legs, but at least they were harder to trip over.
The strong smell of baking bread and cooking eggs, mixed with the tang of coffee, increased in intensity, and Tori staggered a little once she reached the entrance to the kitchen. Hovering over the stove and long dining table were three different servants: the two she had seen before (Corrine and the one who had told them that dinner was ready last night, whose name was Renee), and another one with brown wavy hair that was tied up in a strict bun that didn't seem to stay in place very well.
She coughed at the smoke. "Is something burning?"
Corrine turned and shook her head, smiling nervously. "No, no, nothing's...burning..." She tried without success to hide the blackened bread from Tori.
The singer's green eyes darted to the stove, and she gasped, rushing over. "You lie, Corrine! See here, it's smoking!"
The servant with the thick bun nodded, shoving Corrine over. "Renee was starting to make bread, but then Corrine-"
"I don't want to hear it."
All four girls turned to see Erik, standing in the doorway with a stern, hardened expression on his features, looking unusually regal in a full suit, rather than his normal casual attire. "Madamoiselles Corrine, Renee, and Valerie, throw out the bad bread and simply give us the rest of the food."
Renee was opening her mouth to say something, but Corrine clamped a sturdy hand against her mouth. "Of course! We'll get to it right away! You just...wait in the next room!"
The Phantom and his bride were easily ushered out by the three girls, all of them mumbling about "how they should enjoy the beautiful morning".
"But...it's raining out...," Renee said slowly in unison with Tori as the door closed quickly, the twitters of the servants heard clearly through the wood.
----------------------------
"Married, you say?"
"Yes...married...," Tori said, brushing a loose strand of black hair behind her ear.
"Since when?"
"Just yesterday."
Meg nodded and practiced her balancing, smiling. "I hope you married a rich man! Always good to have extra money!"
Tori laughed, giving the girl a playful shove as she sat on the floor, lacing up her black ballet slippers. "What, so you could have more gifts on Christmas Day?"
The high-pitched giggles of the two girls called upon the attention of the rest of the ballet girls, and they all flocked over to see what the ruckus was about. Once Meg had explained, the room was filled with gossip and eager questions, most of them wanting to know why Tori had decided to stay in the Opera House's main cast.
"Are you trying out for lead roles still?"
"What is your new husband like?"
"Are you still getting voice lessons?"
To all of them, Tori had very blunt answers, not wanting to give much away. If she had said she had married the Opera Ghost, who was actually a real man who had a disfigurement on his right side and who sat in the dark writing music all day, her reputation would be torn apart and she would become the back end of most of the jokes. Everyone was usually on the wrong side of things, but it was the person who had done the strangest thing who got most of the relentless teasing and who was the subject of the gossip filtering around.
Soon the topic switched to exactly what Tori was fearing: where the infamous Ghost had gone.
"I haven't seen him in a rather long time," said a small, redheaded girl that had joined only a month or two ago, flipping her vibrant hair before starting to tie it up in a bun.
Her friends started to say quickly that she hadn't even seen him at all, only heard, but they were distracted by the loud shutting of the door.
Tori had left early to start exercises, and had dragged Meg along with her.
