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~Monsieur Reyer~

The director gave a soft groan, half of relief and half of resignation when La Carlotta made her entrance. Well, at least we know she didn't have a temper tantrum, he thought wearily.

But thanks to her entrance, the semi-organized chaos had once again- at least to his eyes- descended into simple chaos.

I'm getting far too old for this. If the rumors about Monsieur Lefevre's retirement are true, then I may well join him, he thought as the diva marched off to change.

Then, Wonderful. She brought the dog.

The creature had a tendency to get underfoot during the most important parts of rehearsal. And, of course, no one- not even the director- dared tell Carlotta to leave her precious pet at home.

Reyer only hoped that this time could be different.

Antoinette noted the nasty little looks Mary Jane was giving her, mentally reminding herself to put the girl back in the fifth row. If only the girl cared enough to put some effort into her dancing, there would be no trouble. Bella looked absolutely horror-stricken when the dancers finally stopped only to groan and mumble about never getting any work done. Honestly, even when they were working, they slacked off! And to top it off, little Miss Christine Daae came in just as the dancers had retired to going back to their duties so the late girls could get the ritual lecturing.
"Fine idea you should join us, Christine." She said in an icy tone, giving the girl a 'I'm not very pleased with you' stare. The poor thing was an orphan and the best friend of her own daughter, but that was no excuse for her to be late.
When the trio had moved off the centerstage as asked, Mme. Giry struck her cane against the floor again.
"Honest to goodness, what will it take for you three to be on time? Mary Jane, you've been demoted--again. Bella, don't give me those eyes, you're to help the stagehands the rest of the afternoon. Yes, yes, I'm serious young lady. If you can't dance like you're supposed to, you'll earn your bed another way. Christine," She finally turned to the girl, "Help the others should their ballet shoes get untied or their costumes get loose. You're being moved to the second row. No, you aren't row leader anymore. Not tonight." She finalized her punishment with a stomp of her cane and the defiant raising of her pointed chin. "Now get to it. I will not tolerate--"
Lord have mercy.
Cutting herself off, Antoinette moved her gaze to the entrance where Carlotta babbled off on her arrival and handed that blasted little dog to one of her little followers, who cradled the thing as if it were an infant. She snorted as the woman continued her descend toward the stage in a royal manner, acting as if she were the Queen of England. It was amazing she'd lasted three seasons. Yes, Carlotta had a fine tuned voice. Yes she could go through two octaves with no cracking of the voice. And yes her ego was as big as her bosom, if not bigger. Antoinette sighed and motioned to the dancers to move offstage so there would be room for the Italian woman. Heaven forbid a ballerina touch the Diva.
"So she arrives." Madame Giry greeted through her teeth, quirking her eyebrows as she too moved offstage. Regaining her strong voice, she said to her dancers, "Alright. Practise backstage for now. When La Carlotta gets into costume, we shall run through the dance once more with the singers onstage. Quickly, quickly! Shoo with all of you!"

"Yes, to both of you." Christine said quickly and a bit of a loud whisper. Before she knew it, Carlotta was then on stage, looking to Monsieur Reyer with a look of, 'Ok.. anytime this week or year, or whenever you plan to be ready.' Which was the basically the same look of her "Queenly" manner.

Christine shook her head, whispering again, "Too in love with herself." Carlotta heard this and turned to her, "Run that by me again, ballet rat?" Christine twitched and sighed, "It was nothing "Your Majesty"." Carlotta shook her head and returned to looking at Monsieur Reyer.

Christine sighed, hopefully someone or something would cease the torment of Carlotta. But as she thought this she moved backstage with the other chorus girls, whilst sighing, again, her now being in row two. She first helped the others lest their ballet shoes become undone or their costumes loose.

(My posts are getting bad, I should keep writing in my journal.)

Erik frowned as he leaned lightly against the rail of one of the catwalks. The management was to be changing today as well. How dare Lefevre make such a decision without his consent. Now he would have to break in two new managers, and, knowing Lefevre, they would would probably be a pair of idiots who didn't know the first thing about music. In a way that might make things easier, but it could also make things more difficult. I haven't a clue about this pair that will be coming in. He pulled an envelope out of a hidden repository in his cloak and looked at it for a moment. "Antoinette, I will have to trust you to do as you always do," he whispered gazing down at the ballet mistress.

Once more he would need to wait for the right moment to drop the note down to her. He certainly couldn't do it while she was surrounded by the ballerinas. He needed to wait until she was off to the side by herself.

Quirking one eyebrow with a mixture of surprise and amusement, Erik waited to see how Madame Giry would react to the girl's behavior. Certainly she would not simply let it slide.

"I must be rubbing off on you, Antoinette," whispered Erik with a smirk as he watched the ballet mistress standing off by herself. She knew he was there. She knew him too well, but that was to be expected after how long they had known each other.

He needed to get in place so that he could make a mess of Carlotta's rehearsal. Quickly he let the note drop from his hand and silently slunk off to find the perfect vantage point. He knew he could trust Madame Giry to deliver his message, so he didn't need to hang around to make certain that she did.


((Who do you think is older in the movie: Madame Giry or Erik?))

~Bella~

Bella had frozen in place when Mary Jane had rounded on Madame Giry, and had flinched at said Madame's reply. Hurriedly, the young woman went to assist the stagehands. It would not do to be anywhere near Madame Giry right now, especially since she had been one of the late girls today.

Nimbly dodging a few of the stagehands that were setting up a few of the props, she quietly asked one that didn't seem too busy what she could do to help. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too strenuous, or have anything to do with being near that awful Buquet man...

Mary Jane got in her row, now 3 rows behind Desiree instead of 2. How dare she threaten me? Well, then again my job is of much more importance than my triumph for now. Mary Jane thought to herself, and fixed her hair as Desiree had, though not in the same style. Her silk brown hair went around her neck and stopped at her shoulders, just above her chest. She took her position and tied the laces on her slippers as many of the girls had, and attempted to tightened the costume, but couldn't reach, he thin arms weren't as long as they looked and were often clumsy. Still she reached and decided to give up since Christine was helping with the constumes anyway. Mary Jane looked at Bella, and gave her a hopeful smile, of course hoping she did not have to do something moronic or odd. Mary Jane decided to keep herself relaxed until the girls were called out. She looked around, and how lovely! Someone's bottle of red wine was left on ground near the dressing room, Mary Jane made a quick run for it, picked it up and drank only a sip before placing it back down. She ran back over to where she had once been and pretended that it didn't happen. As usual.