"So, what dare I ask, needs your attention more at home than your friends here?" Meg asked casually, Fleurette was rocking in her chair and stopped to look at her.
"There are still things which need to get sorted out. Documents...and that..." Fleurette said awkwardly, it was an obvious lie. A obvious lie which Meg seemed to buy.
"That sounds dull."
"That's because it is!" Fleurette laughed. "But with Eleanor away someone needs to sift through it."
"And that someone is you?"
"Mmhm," she nodded slowly and ran her hands through her hair. "But luckily Claudia helps out."
"Who?" Meg asked confused and raised an eyebrow at her.
"Oh! Claudia is a servant, but also a very trusted friend." Fleurette nodded and smiled lightly, she frowned lightly. She was actually starting to believe her own lie, shaking her head slowly, she looked at Meg. "I better get going."
"Will you be here tomorrow?" Meg asked hopeful.
"Your mother gave me the day off." Meg's expression saddened a little. "But I may pop in!" Fleurette smiled, Meg clapped her hands together happily and jumped up from her chair. Fleurette laughed lightly when the blonde flung her arms around her.
"I would like that," Meg said quietly while taking a step back. "See with Eleanor now married that's one less person to spend time with. Also Christine is busy with Raoul all the time too. It's only you and me left really."
"You make it sound like everyone else has suddenly disappeared."
"I'm being dramatic I know," Meg smiled and winked at her. "Anyway don't let me keep you! The sooner you get all these annoying documents sorted out the sooner you can come back here!" She clapped her hands together happily again.
Fleurette smiled and nodded, saying a quick goodbye she picked up her cup, which was now empty and exited from the room. Looking over her shoulder, she watched Meg take to pottering around the room. Fleurette walked in the opposite direction to the exit and swung her arms loosely by her side. Much like earlier on, none of the stagehands paid the least piece of attention to a pottering dancer. Turning the corner, Fleurette walked down the corridor and the only sound which could be heard, apart from the distant chatter of the workers, was her pointe show blocks.
The sound echoed rather loudly through the quiet corridor, Fleurette had to admit it was a little unnerving really. Turning into a large kitchen space, Fleurette walked over to the sink and put her cup in it, quickly washing it up she put it to the side to drain. Looking around, she took to picking food out of the cupboards, any food which was light enough to travel with and that could be stored downstairs.
Usually the kitchen would be filled with people, but considering the time most of the people who inhabit the opera house had already eaten. Popping an apple in her mouth, Fleurette looked up at the clock. It was about quarter to seven, her talk with Meg wasted fifteen minutes if that. It was an enjoyable fifteen minutes though.
Putting the food she had collected into a material bag, she picked it up and casually strolled out of the room. Walking stiffly down the rest of the corridor she walked down the stairs as quickly as she could without tripping over her pointe shoes. "Hello, Erik! Sorry I'm late." Fleurette said while walking tentatively on the stony surface. Her battered and broken shoes were on the other side of the lake. She honestly didn't want to ruin her new ones here.
Erik perked up from his position in the boat and looked at her oddly. Fleurette after all was taking slow steps and stopping every so often. Lowering his book and putting it on the seat he jumped out and walked over to where she was attempting to walk. Rolling his eyes, he side stepped her and swiftly put his arms around her waist and lifted her up. She let out a surprised yelp but she soon found herself in the boat.
Turning and watching Erik she smiled, "Thank you, Erik."
"If you would have continued walking like that we'd be here for hours."
"I'm sorry! I just don't want my shoes to get busted up." Fleurette pouted lightly and sat down, she put her bag of food in front of her and reached across to pick up the book Erik was previously reading.
"You could have taken them off." Erik said simply while steering the boat across the lake. He heard a light mutter from over his shoulder. Looking at Fleurette he raised an eyebrow at her.
She looked up at him slowly and smiled. "Lord knows what's on the ground back there, Erik! I don't even want to think about what I could step in."
"Or on."
"You are not helping!" She exclaimed and put her hands over her cheeks. Erik laughed lightly and jumped out. Easily pulling the boat forward so it was against the stony shore slightly, he held a hand out for Fleurette.
"A day off?" Erik repeated somewhat sceptically, Fleurette's head peeked around the thick curtain she was standing behind and nodded. She had left some change of clothes down here so she was currently getting changed out of her dancing gear and into something a lot comfier. "Sorry, a day off?" Erik looked at her confused, "Since when did she freely give people a day off?"
"Erik?"
"Yes?"
"Can I have tomorrow off?"
"Well," Erik put a hand under his chin in thought and looked to the curtain just as it got pushed aside. Fleurette reached up and tied her hair loosely up, she then straightened out her mint green dress, there was darker green detail on it too and around her waist was a light golden ribbon. "Considering it is you," he said as she lifted up the skirt and walked down from the alcove. "I shall say yes."
"You are too kind." Fleurette smiled and made her way over to where the bed was. Sitting on the bedside table, away from the candles, was the cleaning fluid and some clean bandages. Stretching out her legs Fleurette rolled her feet in circles and frowned. Her feet looked more sore today than they previously did. "Perhaps I should see a doctor." She mused and took to cleaning and bandaging her feet up.
Erik slowly walked away from his desk and walked up to the bed. Sitting down slowly he frowned, "Visiting a doctor on your day off. That sounds like fun."
"A doctor wouldn't be able to do anything logically anyway." Fleurette looked up at him while tucking the end of the bandage away so it wouldn't unravel.
"I think you just need to rest."
"Yes, because resting on my day off sounds like fun."
"Fleurette, I'm suggesting you not dance on your day off. I'm not saying don't move around." Erik said simply, "Clearly keeping on wearing your ballet shoes is harming your feet more and more. Only wear them when you need to."
"Fine, fine, keep them away from me tomorrow then. No matter what I say, do not give them to me. I shall spend the day resting in my bandage socks." Fleurette smiled and wriggled her toes, they were only just visible over the bandages.
"You are honestly so easily amused." Erik shook his head, Fleurette laughed and lightly nudged her shoulder against his.
"Yet again: you are just jealous." He rolled his eyes at her words yet didn't retort to them. This just caused a grin to appear on Fleurette's face. "Are you hungry, Erik?" Fleurette questioned, changing the subject simply.
He nodded slowly, Fleurette jumped up from beside him and walked lightly down to where she'd left the bag of food. She'd grabbed whatever she could, and what was easiest to carry down. Fleurette also took food which she knew no one would miss. If she stole obvious food she was rather sure people would notice and then some sort of ruckus would happen over missing food. Some people who inhabited the opera house were that petty to start arguments over food.
After eating the meal which was small and humble at best, Erik lowered the book in his hand, which caused the redhead who was leaning against him to look at him with a frown. "Why did you stop reading?"
"Because," Erik paused and thought over his words. "Well," he paused again and looked up at the dark ceiling. "We have different reading interests that's all I can say."
Fleurette smiled slowly and raised her eyebrows at him. "I was honestly wondering how long it would take you."
"What?" Erik looked at her with slightly wide eyes.
"Yes," she nodded and plucked the book from his hand. Admittedly, making Erik read one of the novels which Fleurette's mother loved along with herself was by far the most evilest plan she'd ever concocted in her life. It was partially evil, but very hilarious. And the best thing about it was that Fleurette couldn't feel any guilt from going through with it. It wasn't like she was making him go through with something horrid, reading a book with a slightly awfully written plot was harmless. Harmless and she stuck by it: hilarious.
The two had been reading for the past twenty minutes, through the twenty minutes every so often Erik would look at her and question the plot. He didn't question it, he ripped the plot apart and pointed out a million errors with it. In all honesty, he had put her off reading the book ever again considering she now saw how awful it was too. So for the remainder of the time she pretended to be reading and even more so, pretended to look utterly enthralled in the book. This seemed to just confuse Erik, who had already shared an interesting opinion, and couldn't figure out quite why she continued to read.
"I have to say, twenty minutes," Fleurette smiled and flicked through the book quickly. Her eyes watched the pages flit from front to back and then repeated the pattern again. "That is a record. Even Eleanor cracked after five minutes." Fleurette's eyes flicked up to look at him, Erik pointed a finger at her and frowned. She smiled sheepishly and fidgeted away from him, tilting his head to the side Erik shuffled closer to her.
"That was a very mean trick to play."
"Harmless! It's only a book."
"...Only a book? A book-"
"Which in your opinion should be burned along with any other books which are considered to be a prequel or a sequel."
"And?" Erik encouraged.
"And," Fleurette rolled her eyes. "That someone should honestly think of stopping the author from ever picking up a pen again. The world is better off without their writing." She crossed her arms and frowned down at her lap.
"Correct," Erik nodded happy that Fleurette actually remembered his opinion on the book he'd been forced to read. Putting a hand to his chin in thought the only thing logically left to do was to concoct a plan for revenge's sake. There was no way in the world that Erik was going to just let this moment slide. Although admittedly anyone looking in would most likely consider this moment to be very childish. The only thing which could make it more childish was if he were to suddenly state; "Fleurette started it."
Erik looked down at Fleurette suddenly, she raised her eyebrows slowly and looked at him confused. "Are you still a little annoyed at me?"
"Only slightly." Erik paused, "It may take reading a few good books to forget ever setting eyes on that though." He pointed a finger slowly at the book, Fleurette smiled, snapped it shut and literally threw it over her shoulder. Somewhere off in the distance the sound of the book hitting the stony floor echoed throughout the cavernous space.
"There you go! All gone, your eyes shall be fine now." Fleurette smiled and took to twiddling her thumbs. She looked up at him confused when he had lifted a hand up and pressed his forefinger against her forehead. Frowning and looking up she looked back at him. "What was that for?"
"I can't see you." Erik stated with a shrug while standing up and walking off.
Fleurette pulled a face and stiffly turned to watch him walk away to sit at his desk. "What?" She said truly confused. "No really...what?!" She waved her arms in the air and pointed a finger at him.
Erik looked up from a piece of paper and frowned. "What?"
"I'm right here." Fleurette said while pointing a finger at herself.
"I can't see you." Erik shrugged again and looked back down at the paper in front of him.
"Erik, you're not only being silly, but you're also being annoying." Fleurette huffed and crossed her arms. Erik smiled lightly and continued writing, he was happy his plan was getting to her in some way. Although he had to admit he did feel a little guilty, "You cannot turn someone invisible. It is humanly impossible." Fleurette said and then looked down at her arms. "If I am 'invisible' then why can I see my arms?"
"Because you cannot be invisible to yourself, that'd be silly."
"Erik, you are silly. This whole thing is silly." Fleurette waved a hand at him, which he swiftly ignored. "So you're telling me, that if I pick something up it'd just be hovering in the air?" Erik nodded but didn't look up. "That is idiotic." Fleurette rolled her eyes and stood up, she took to just walking around and ended up plucking a blanket off from the end of the bed and wrapping it around herself.
"Now I can partially see you." Erik leaned his head against his hand and waved his pen at her. Fleurette looked at him deadpanned, she really wasn't buying any of this. Rightly so, it was after all impossible to turn someone invisible. But him pretending that she was, was his way of getting revenge on her. He honestly had to admit that he didn't think that Fleurette would get this annoyed this quickly. It seemed like she had a shorter tolerance than he first thought.
She didn't retort to his words, instead she rolled her eyes and sat back down to start reading another book. When she soon got bored of the book she was holding, Erik soon noticed out of the corner of his eyes that she was standing looking over his shoulder at what he was writing down.
Fleurette reached out and flicked him on the arm. "Do you mind?" Erik questioned as serious as he could, Fleurette's childishly pouting expression made seriousness almost impossible. Yet again she didn't reply but flicked him on the arm again. "Is this your form of getting revenge on me, for getting revenge on you?"
"I'm sorry, can you please stop pretending that I am invisible when I am so obviously not."
"But you are." This earned him another flick on the arm.
"So, you cannot see me but can feel that," Fleurette said while flicking him again.
"What's your point?"
"No, no," she smiled and turned away. "Just pondering." Erik narrowed his eyes at her retreating form. From personal experience, anyone pondering was bad. Whatever thoughts were going through their minds could lead to anything, and could involve anything too. But, and this was a big hitch Erik noted, if the person pondering was a woman then Lord only knows what's going on through her head.
Erik found it rather easy to figure out what thoughts men could happen to think up. Women on the other hand were a completely different thing. So, feeling a little on edge about whatever schemes may be going through Fleurette's head, Erik returned to writing. His train of thought got cut off however, when two arms draped over his shoulders and a weight leaned against his head. Fleurette shut her eyes and nudged her head against his shoulder. She leaned away and walked off though when he lowered his pen and went to place a hand over one of her arms.
She looked over her shoulder at him with a rather triumphant smile on her face. Sitting down still smiling happily, Fleurette lifted up her book and took to reading again. Erik shook his head and drummed his fingers lightly on the desk. "I call that a draw, my dear." Fleurette said while pointing a finger in his direction. Her eyes peeked over the book and looked at him.
Stopping drumming his fingers, Erik lifted up his pen and finished writing quickly. Fleurette rolled her eyes and went back to reading. She stopped though when she heard Erik walk over to where she was and watched out of the corner of her eyes as he sat back down next to her.
"Can I help you?"
"I still can't see you."
"You're such a liar!" Fleurette laughed and snapped the book shut. Putting it to one side she crossed her arms and looked at him. "I am right here." Fleurette said again while pointing a finger at herself yet again. Erik's eyes rolled skywards before looking at her. He smiled lightly and nodded. Fleurette frowned and pointed a finger at him. "You just wanted me to say something idiotic along those lines again, didn't you?" At this Erik nodded slowly, still smiling. Fleurette sighed shortly and shook her head, looking away from him she opened her eyes and looked towards the dark lake.
"Now I call it a draw," Erik said while reaching over and putting a finger underneath Fleurette's chin and turning her face back to look at him. "My dear." He smiled again and pushed some of her hair behind her ears.
"Touché, Erik." Fleurette smiled and pulled the blanket more around herself, it was steadily getting cooler down here and she was not coping too well with the drop in temperature.
"Likewise," Erik said while looking at her a little worriedly. He moved his hand from underneath her chin and put it on her shoulder. He could easily feel her shivering ever so slightly. Moving and putting his arm around her shoulders, Erik pulled Fleurette closer to himself. From this she let out a surprised sound but fidgeted to get comfy and soon leaned her head against his shoulder.
"Remind me never to play a practical joke on you ever again."
"I'll try and remind you." Erik said with a smile and looked down at her, Fleurette looked up at him and grinned quickly before settling her head back down against his shoulder.
——
Reedited: 18/Jan/2022