"Your sister," Erik spoke evenly, below him walking in the aisle Eleanor jumped to a stop. A startled look flitted onto her face and she looked around trying to find him. If her younger sister couldn't find him when they first met, there wasn't much hope for Eleanor on finding him.
"Leave her alone." Eleanor spoke in a serious tone.
Rolling his eyes, Erik leaned against the railing in his private box. It was hard, nearly impossible, not to retort to those words. But when he quickly thought over it, what Eleanor didn't know, wouldn't hurt her, right? Erik was rather sure Eleanor wouldn't want to know, or particularly care that her younger sister had actually pulled him out of a lonely lifestyle and also how she has become a permanent fixture in his life. Pulling himself from his thoughts, Erik looked back down at the aisle. Eleanor still stood, cross armed and with a serious expression on her face. "I have no business with a dancer." Erik lied, lying would be his best shot at getting Eleanor to not be so on edge. Although he honestly didn't blame her about being on edge. Most people when confronted with him talking acted the same way.
"What do you want then?" Eleanor asked bluntly, Erik shook his head, Eleanor's bluntness and Fleurette's were too alike, it was clear where the youngest inherited it from. "Or should I say what has she done now?"
"Your sister hasn't done anything."
"Brilliant, then I think I shall be going now."
"Foolish woman, can't you see what you're doing to her? Even to someone who is impartial can see how much you swanning off every five minutes is destroying the poor girl."
"You've been watching her?" Eleanor looked utterly disgusted.
Erik slapped a hand to his forehead and slowly ran it down his face. It seemed like Eleanor was missing the bigger picture here. Although what she had said was truthful, yet again, what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her. "She is feeling left out."
"How can she? She's involved with more or less everything which Felix and I are planning. I am sorry, Monsieur, but honestly, it is none of your business."
"It is when I have a depressed dancer dragging herself around my stage." Erik put a good amount of emphasis on the word 'my' just to get the point across.
Eleanor sighed heavily and her tensed up shoulders seemed to loosen, only slightly. "She's been exploring again?"
Yet again Erik looked at the elder Bousquet dumbly. "Eleanor, you should spend some time with Fleurette. Perhaps you shouldn't mention anything about weddings, wedding plans, or what dresses you perhaps think would look good." Erik honestly didn't want to be blunt on the topic but Eleanor really wasn't making this conversation easy. "In fact, go out for a day. Yes, you have permission from me to have a day off, make sure to tell Madame Giry tomorrow. Go out, have fun, spend some nice sister time together." Erik leaned against the wall and watched as Eleanor was about to contradict him. "She's feeling like you're abandoning her. But I think she's too proud to admit to that, using that exact word." There was a moments silence, "You can leave now." Erik said and raised an eyebrow at Eleanor.
She rolled her eyes, shook her head briefly and pottered down the rest of the aisle. A few minutes passed and he didn't move, soon appearing on the stage and sitting down was Fleurette. He pulled a face as she took to bashing her pointe shoes against the stage.
"I honestly do not see how that can help. Are you sure you are not venting?" He posed the question simply, the reason why he asked was the slightly determined yet annoyed expression on Fleurette's face. He had no intention whatsoever to tell her of the conversation he had with Eleanor just minutes before she appeared. Using the same analogy as the last two times, what Fleurette didn't know about his little interfering moment honestly wouldn't hurt her.
"If I were venting, Erik; I would be muttering and cursing while hitting this viciously against the stage."
"Well you are doing one of the things you have listed. You do have a habit of sometimes talking to yourself. As for cursing, it is not polite or decent to see young women curse." Fleurette stopped hitting the shoe and looked up in his direction. "I am merely saying the truth."
"I honestly can't argue with you and the truth you stated." She grinned and hit the shoe against the stage one last time before setting to giving the other the same treatment.
"When did your others break?"
"Breaking, they're not totally gone, yet." Fleurette answered, "I'm only getting these ready for when the time comes." She paused and looked at them, "I reckon though by tomorrow I'll be wearing them." She nodded seemingly thinking her old ones would break tomorrow. Tomorrow, Erik looked up at the high ceiling and frowned. She wouldn't need them tomorrow, the day after yes. But not tomorrow. "What are you doing up there anyway?"
"It's my private box, Fleurette. Have you forgotten that?"
"But you have free rein over the whole building. Why are you skulking up there for?"
"I'm not skulking, I'm sitting comfortably while watching you vent on your ballet shoes."
"We've already been through this, dearest. I'm not venting." Fleurette smiled and stood up, flinging the shoes over her shoulder by the ribbon she looked up at him. "Night, Erik."
"Oh this is shocking, no late night dancing? Are you feeling all right?"
Fleurette let out a laugh at his words and nodded slowly. "I'm feeling fine. Just...tomorrow we're starting rehearsals of a new show. So you and I both know that it's going to be hectic. I'm just trying to get a jump start on rest."
"You will most likely be back out here in an hour."
"I know," Fleurette rolled her eyes. "It's a little disturbing that you know my sleeping patterns, Erik. Cut back on how much you happen to watch me, some may start to think you are a stalker."
"I prefer admiring from afar."
"Afar, pfft." Fleurette rolled her eyes and grinned, "Night, Erik," she repeated as she waved up in his direction and bowed.
"Women don't bow remember?"
"Old habits! Shhh," she put a finger to her lips and disappeared off of the stage again. Erik smiled lightly and stepped back into the darkness of his private box, turning out it took him little less than ten minutes to get down below the opera house and look at his home from the opposite stone shore.
——
The fair, Fleurette soon discovered, was a rather suspicious area. She had never been to one before, and the fact that Eleanor had freely stated that she was taking her there only added to the suspicion. There were people everywhere, it seemed like the whole city had flocked out in its vast numbers just to come here.
Hearing a man shouting about some lady who was apparently half fish and half human caught Eleanor's attention. Fleurette soon got dragged along and was soon squished tightly in a crowd of people listening to this man. Admittedly Fleurette didn't know her sister had such bizarre interests. "You know it isn't real, right?"
"Shh," Eleanor had shushed her quickly with a wave of her hand, her eyes never left the sharply suited man in front of them.
Rolling her eyes, Fleurette crossed her arms. She personally, hadn't ever heard of something more ridiculous. Coming from someone who read a lot of books about the world, and about what creatures inhabited it, the reason why she'd never come across a half human half fish before was because they simply didn't exist.
"Beyond this curtain dwells the last mermaid," the suited man said. Around them the hushed voices murmured, either from apprehension or wonder. Fleurette rolled her eyes again. "Behold!" The man exclaimed and pulled the curtain away. The voices all escalated, Fleurette frowned at the woman in the tank. Sure enough where her legs should be a scaly fish tail was. The group of people either dwindled to other attractions or went in to see the other, what the man called: "Side Shows."
Fleurette walked forward and looked at the woman, the woman in turn looked at her. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Mermaids didn't exist, Sirens didn't exist. "Superstitious twaddle." Fleurette said quietly, Eleanor joined her side and unlike herself took to marvelling and rambling how life must be hard for someone who is half a fish.
Fleurette frowned and looked at her, "What? I'm only saying."
"It's not real." Fleurette couldn't help but to state bluntly. When did her sister get so gullible? Was she always like this? Fleurette had no idea. She was all for trying to keep the world more magical by make-believe things, but there was a limit; and this mermaid-imposter was definitely going over the limit and then some.
"You're ruining this whole thing."
Pouting, Fleurette gripped onto her sister's arm and dragged her into the tent. "Mermaids are myth, myth doesn't exist."
"But myths are based on truths, are they not?" Eleanor smirked thinking she'd caught her sister out.
"Truths which can be blurred," Fleurette answered and eyed up someone who was covered in hair from head to toe and was being fobbed off at being a wolf child.
"You look too into things."
"No, I just don't believe every fictitious thing which is waved in my face." Fleurette said while looking over into a pen where an incredibly small man was pottering around.
"Explain that then, huh?"
"I'm not about to admit I'm looking at a Leprechaun." Fleurette looked at Eleanor sidewards.
"Well sorry, little flower, you pick apart one thing you've sort of lead yourself down the avenue of contradicting everything else in here."
"And you've lead yourself down the avenue of perhaps being one of the most gullible people I know." Fleurette pushed away from the pen and wandered around the rest of the tent.
——
"Tea, Claudia?" Fleurette popped her head around the kitchen and looked at the older servant. Claudia jumped and put down her book, Fleurette walked more into the room and took to making tea regardless of the answer she was going to receive.
Claudia watched slightly confused. "My dear, what are you doing here?"
"This is my house."
"I know dear," Claudia smiled off Fleurette's blunt tone. "Are you not meant to be at the opera house?"
"Yes," Fleurette frowned and put down two cups on the table. "But Eleanor and I had an outing."
"Oh, that sounds lovely! Where is your sister now?"
"Gone." With that said Fleurette dumped the tea pot on the table, Claudia shooed her hands away and lifted the pot up slowly. She was expecting to see a dent mark from the force it was put down with. Or in fact if there was no dent, she was half expecting the pot to break as soon as it was picked up.
"Gone?"
"Yes, Claudia. Gone, as in; she is not here, she is not at the opera house, she is not in my company."
"Have you two had a falling out?"
"Not in the slightest."
"Stop being sarcastic, what happened?"
Fleurette sighed and leaned her head against the table. "We went out to breakfast, then to lunch then to a fair. It was lovely! In all seriousness, it was really, truly very fun. Then all of a sudden she starts floundering around and being elusive and saying that she was sorry but she really had to go." Fleurette raised an eyebrow.
"She does have a wedding to sort out."
"Do not remind me."
"You'll be the same when it's your turn." Claudia said while lifting her cup up to drink from. Fleurette looked serious for all a matter of a second before bursting out laughing. "What's wrong?"
"Me? Married? No, never going to happen."
"Oh, you say that now."
"No, I've seen what marriage does to people who love each other so much. Take mother and father for example. I got told all the fun and enjoyment they had, and then they got married. As soon as that happened problems popped up." Fleurette nodded surely with her words. "No, marriage interests me as much as going to see a doctor." She shut her eyes and opened them slowly. "And I hate doctors."
——
Reedited: 18/Jan/2022