(no subject)

[opera-floozy.livejournal.com]

Who: Celes
What: Answering a letter
When: Evening
Where: The Opera House
Interactions: Open
Warnings: hah, like I would give you a warning >D



She stood there, one hand on her hip, an envelope held in the other. Outside the small room she could hear people bustling about, the partrons were already arriving. And she sighed and shook her head, blond hair falling over her shoulders as she did so. Celes was baffled, after all, it had been some time since she'd been in this room. Perhaps...a year was it? Still, she didn't move away from the doorway just yet. Instead laying her ice blue eyes on the back of the beautiful, perfectly groomed head of the woman sitting in the chair.

"The letter said it was urgent." She said with a hint of annoyance tinging her voice. "So why did you call me here?"

The woman turned around, stepping gingerly over to her less-than-pleased visitor. "I called you here because I need you" She said pleadingly. Looking her up and down, Celes could see that she wasn't dress right at all. And placed a hand on her head. "You can't just drag me here all the way from South Figaro whenever you think you 'need' me." She tried to explain, but the other woman would have none of it. "Please, my voice is ahl but done with, and I need some time away. You're the only one I can ask, what with our...similarities, an all." This statement was true enough, for all intents and purposes, the two of them could be twins. Celes however remained skeptical. "And...?" She asked, giving the other woman a scrutinizing look.

"And....I arranged to uhm...meet someone. For dinner." Maria finally confessed, "But he's on another continent, so I thought while I was there I'd take a little side trip and see some family as well. She sighed dramatically, strolling over to her 'fainting' couch and collapsing there with all the melodrama that came with her smooth southern-accented voice. Celes rolled her eyes and walked across the room, examining the clothes haning on a hanger perched carefully on the frame of the Vanity's mirror. Then she picked up the script and thumbed through it. Her face made a grimace and she looked slightly annoyed, but finally she tossed a wrap-cloth at Maria.

"Fine then. Put that over your head so no one recognizes you coming out. I'm assuming that you have to leave now or you won't be able to get a ride?" She looked sharply at her living-mirror image, but the other woman hopped up and dashed across the short distance to give her an enthusiastic hug. "Oh thank you darlin! I won't forget this I swear!" She said as she wrapped the cloth about her, forming a loose hood and shoulder wrap. "Well tootles!" She said as she hurried out the door.

"Hey wait you didn't-...explain the concept." Celes said but the woman was already gone. "Why do I do this to myself?" She muttered as she stripped out of her clothes and folded them, before donning the gypsie-like costume and reading over the script more carefully. It seemed interesting enough, and matching words to notes it didn't take her long to find the right pitch for the numbers she'd perform. "I guess it's simple enough" She admitted "But...gods that woman is so pampered and spoiled and...dammit I'm just adding to it aren't I?"

Soon enough though she was applying makeup and practicing breathing excersizes that Maria had shown her a couple of years back. Back then, she'd been secretly thankfull that the woman didn't hold a grudge after the way Celes and trussed her up with ropes and literallly stolen the show. And they'd become quite close in the years that followed.

By the time she was done reminicing, she was already heading out to the stage. Maria had left her just before one of the most important numbers, but even with that, Celes was just glad that most of the work had already been done. All she had to do was this song, and then carry through the rest of the play. Easy, right? Taking a deep breath, she made her way onto the stage and began her part. First speaking the intro...

When will I love you?
Good Lord, I don't know,
Maybe never, maybe tomorrow.
But not today, that's for sure.

And then beginning the aria, which had been labeled on the script as "The Habanera"

Love is a rebellious bird
that nobody can tame,
and you call him quite in vain
if it suits him not to come.
Nothing helps, neither threat nor prayer.
One man talks well, the other keeps silent;
it's the other one that I prefer.
He said nothing, but I like him.
Love! Love! Love! Love!

Love is a gypsy's child,
it has never, ever, recognized the law;
if you love me not, then I love you;
if I love you, you'd best beware! (You'd best beware!)
if you love me not,
if you love me not, then I love you (You'd best beware!)
but if I love you,
if I love you, you'd best beware!

Choir:Love is a gypsy's child,
it has never, ever, recognized the law;
if you love me not, then I love you;
if I love you, you'd best beware! (You'd best beware!)
Carmen: if you love me not,
if you love me not, then I love you (You'd best beware!)
but if I love you,
if I love you, you'd best beware!

The bird you thought you had caught
beat its wings and flew away ...
love stays away, you wait and wait;
when least expected, there it is!
All around you, swift, swift,
it comes, goes, then it returns ...
you think you hold it fast, it flees
you think you're free, it holds you fast.
Love! Love! Love! Love!

Love is a gypsy's child,
it has never, ever, recognized the law;
if you love me not, then I love you;
if I love you, you'd best beware! (You'd best beware!)
if you love me not,
if you love me not, then I love you (You'd best beware!)
but if I love you,
if I love you, you'd best beware!

Choir:Love is a gypsy's child,
it has never, ever, recognized the law;
if you love me not, then I love you;
if I love you, you'd best beware! (You'd best beware!)
Carmen: if you love me not,
if you love me not, then I love you (You'd best beware!)
but if I love you,
if I love you, you'd best beware!

The rest of the Opera was a blur, but Celes knew that she'd done well as 'replacement Maria', because the audience errupted into applause, and showered her with roses. In true starlet appearance, she took a deep bow along with the cast, then someone tossed a bouquet of 1 dozen long stemmed roses from the audience. Celes reached out to catch them, and suddenly, she could see the steam of her breath. Her eyes widened as the roses missed her grasp, and fell, frozen, to the stage floor, shattering like crystal on the wooden planks. Shaking her head, Celes looked about her and saw that swirling ribbons of ice had formed around her. They were tiwsted and curled like a frozen water fountain, and while the audiance seemed to be both stunned and impressed, Celes was terrified, having not willed that to happen.

Looking at the now silent audience, cast, and crew, she shook her head and turned, running off stage and slamming the dressingroom door behind her before pressing her back against it and sliding down, stretching one leg out and tilting her head back to let out a long sigh filled with fear and confusion.