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another-chorus-girl · 6 years

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Erik House - Chapter 16

Merry Christmas ya filthy animal! And a happy New Year! :)

Cherik blinked, “Sorry Monsieur?”

"No it can’t be could it? He's certainly not like the others." Claudin shook his head.

Lom agreed, "Still it's a very similar resemblance. I think it is him."

"How exactly did you find us?"

"And what exactly is that squriming and jingling in your pocket?" The man with a single eyepiece pointed, as Polo was fidgeting.

"Never mind her, poor dear is just excited." Cherik waved off, "It was an accident really. I didn't know anyone would be down this passage, does no one know you're here?"

"Of course, he just rarely comes to see us." Claudin stated. "By our request that is."

"But why?"

"We've been forgotten," Lom stated. "No one needs to know we're here if we've been forgotten, simple as that."

"Not to sound very insensitive to your situation gentlemen," Cherik piped up,

"But you realise we're all accustom to the feeling of isolation. Why not come up to see the others?"

"They just think they're better than us." Another man scowled behind his white mask. "Those theatre boys get all the fame, and have at least half a face!"

"Easy Hill," Claudin placed a comforting hand on his cloaked shoulder.

"Please," Cherik frowned, "They're really not like that."

The grey haired masked man studied the redhead for a moment before turning to the others.

"Would it hurt to give it a try?" He asked the other men.

Lom crossed his arms, "I suppose the situation can't get much worse."

Hill sighed harshly, "Fine, they're not all British are they?"

Cherik shook his head, "The Meriks? Not at all, they've expanded quite a bit over the last thirty years."

"Thirty years and still going..."

"Err thirty one now actually."

"Greaaaat." Hill huffed.

"Come along gentlemen..." Claudin scolded.

Needless to say the older mens' appearance stirred some attention. While the Meriks' were not unwelcoming or offputting to the new 'faces', it was a somewhat awkward first encounter.

"I'm sure I've seen you before," Crawford remarked to Claudin.

The greying man shook his head, "As flattering as that is monsieur, I sincerely doubt that."

While they regarded each other rather obscurely Lom and Winslow surprisingly felt they were on a relatable level.

"At least you kept your soul throughout the whole ordeal." Winslow noted.

"I may as well have lost it after what I did,"

"But you didn't sign anything in writing..."

Lom blinked with his good eye, not entirely sure what the helmet clad man meant by this.

"So let me get this straight..." Panaro asked Hill. "You prefer a knife over a lasso?"

"So? Jack the ripper sitting in the corner doesn't seem to have a problem using one."

"And you dragged a priest down to your lair to marry Christine to you?" Karimloo also probed.

"You were willing to kill her boyfriend if she said no to your 'proposal'!" He argued

"And Nadir is your brother?" Kerik asked puzzled.

"Who the hell is Nadir?"

"And you threatened Chrsitine's life as well?" Lewis asked, most of the Meriks agape at all of this information.

Hill scoffed, "Don't think I don't know about that chandelier drop."

Warlow shook his head, "And then you-?"

"Are you going to be badgering me with questions all day? We can't all wear bedazzled capes and play the romantic."

Sensing the growing tension Hill was stirring, Claudin cleared his throat. "While this visit has been...enlightening. I feel it's time we take our leave."

Kerik blinked, "Where's he going?"

Lerik was following the men down the passage.

Claudin shrugged, "He's actually quite an interesting fellow. Not one for words sadly, but we invited him down to try and start a proper introduction. If you're interested in another little chat you know the way monsieur."

Gesturing to Cherik whom nodded. Claudin readjusted his hat before turning back to join the others.

"Seems he's finally made some friends," Crawford noted regarding Lerik.

Turning to Cherik he asked the redhead. "How did you find them?"

"Polo really, she activated a trip switch by accident."

"I don't think they liked us all that much but you seemed to do well with them."

Cherik nodded. "Yes. I can't quite explain it but I feel like I should know them."

"Well at any rate, I'm sure that won't be the last that we hear of them."

Kerik rolled his eyes, "I feel like as each day passes this is turning into a seniors home..."

"A little more....no! No! My left not your left."

Kerik raised a brow, watching the Meriks struggle to straighten the giant pine now situated in the second floor's parlour.

"Please hurry!" Panaro snapped, the pine needles scraping against his palms

Jones poked his head out from the other side of the tree. "How about now?" He called.

Crawford shook his head. "Tilt it a little more."

"Like this?"

"Keep going, keep- Stop! Right there!"

"Now?"

"Yes. Looks good from here."

Jones and Panaro came around-the latter's sleeves coated with pine needles.

"Looks splendid," Jones smiled.

Kerik scoffed, "Just what your overly lit candelabra filled lair needed was a smelly fire hazard."

Crawford sighed, "I take it you don't enjoy this time of year?"

"If you mean Christmas, I do not. I don't believe in any sort of deity, much less the traditions of this pagan holiday."

The full masked man's golden eyes widened doing a double take, noticing the difference in colour and clothing the Meriks wore.

"What ARE you all wearing?!" Kerik questioned in disbelief.

"Cherik knitted them for us." Jones smiled pridefully, pulling the sleeves down on his sweater. "He even made one to keep Draco warm."

"I still can't believe Erik's ok with you keeping that pint size lizard. Might as well abolish the whole rule."

"Although Karimloo's arms needed to be refitted for his." Panaro chirped in.

"Also, if you hate Christmas so much, why did you invite your boy here for next week?"

"Just because I want to see Charles doesn't mean I agree with this whole holiday-although he doesn't help matters being just as festive as you lot."

The house had never been so filled as it was on Christmas Eve. Several of the Meriks' sopranos that attended the festivities dressed the men up in more holiday oriented masks.

Sierra held out two red and green masks, both seeming to match and reflect the other.

She smirked at Karimloo and Panaro.

"You needn't feel left out," The brunette said.

The men accepted the mask, excusing themselves to the hall to more privately remove their masks.

Karimloo took Panaro's festive mask in his hand and handed the Broadway Merik his. Removing the white porcelain, they placed the others new masks onto the others face.

Gerik felt at ease but at the same time on edge sitting adjacent from several Meriks' in their parlour room, even more so that Mr. Y was also seated with him. "Would you stop looking around like that? Nothing is going to happen." Y badgered his younger friend.

"I don't understand why you're so calm down here," Gerik mumbled uneasily.

"Because I'm not causing a fuss. If I just sit here and enjoy the festivities nothing will happen. Besides, the last thing I want is Monsieur Crawford's hands around my throat again, especially as he's the one that extended this one time invitation.

Anna took a seat next to Y, whom smiled down at the former,

"Enjoying yourself my dear?" He smiled, taking her hand to place a kiss on the back of her hand.

"Very much darling," Anna nodded, a little giggle escaping her when he started toying with a curl that'd come loose from her updo.

"Is Gustauve back yet?"

"No, but that charming boy he went with said they'd be returning right about now."

Despite the party already underway, Cherik still proceeded to bustle about bedazzling even more of the parlour with tinsel and holly.

"It's quite nice you allowed them here as well," Sarah remarked to Crawford.

He shrugged and exhaled. "Well it is suppose to be a time of giving. So long as it doesn't end with me being pushed into a body of water again."

"And your friend seems to have brought some new companions with him." She indicated toward Lerik, whom was seated on the other end of the room with Claudin and Lom.

"It's good to see he has someone to talk to," The older Merik paused, "Err, that was a poor choice of words..."

The brunette soprano just smiled shaking her head. Her pale blue eyes glanced up, a mischievous look coming over her expression.

Tugging on the Merik's sleeve she nodded for him to look up. His mismatch eyes spied the green and red hung over their heads.

"Oh? Is that mistleto-mmph!" Distracted he hadn't noticed her arms snake around his neck, one playfully tugging on the hair of his wig, careful not to yank too hard. Tumbling over on the free seat of the couch, as her lips were upon his in a passion filled kiss. His arms flailed almost birdlike taken by surprise but his alarm seemed to easily melt away.

Cherik, whom was guilty of just hanging the offending mistletoe laughed, "You're welcome."

"Father! We're back," A boy's voice called as the click clack of feet coming up the stairwell met Y's ears.

"Had fun on your little adventure?" He asked his son.

Gustauve nodded, "Charles took me to see so many lights around the city! It was very beautiful."

"He may be a little hyper, I broke down and bought him gingerbread sweets passing through." Charles chuckled.

"Thank you for taking him, it's not often Gustauve gets to see the city," Anna said with gratitude to the youth.

"Not at all Mademoiselle it was nice. It felt like having a little brother actually. You haven't seen my father around have you?"

Mr. Y and Anna shook their heads, "No I haven't. Gerik, did he say he would be here?"

"I convinced him to attend," The film adapted phantom said sipping on his wine.

"But I haven't seen him for quite awhile tonight."

"I didn't think this place would be open," Winslow remarked, as he sat across from Destler at their usual table in the back.

"The usual messiuers?" The young waitress asked.

"Please," They answered.

"Surprised you guys came out on Christmas Eve? You guys not overly festive?"

"Not particularly," Destler answered, pushing his glasses up on his face. Once she'd returned with their drinks, the men toasted.

"To a lack of all that holly jolly nonsense," Destler smirked, raising his glass. Once he'd downed his glass, setting it down on the table, his newly made up brows rose glancing down at the box.

"You liar. I thought we weren't doing gifts." Destler smirked, taking the offered present.

Winslow merely flashed him a sideways smile. "I suppose were both liars then?" The dark haired man chuckled, nodding his head as he revealed a well wrapped package out of his bag.

"Just this once then a merry Christmas is in order." Destler said, ordering them another round.

Erik growled low in his throat hearing footsteps.

"Why must you disturb me?" He grumbled at the intruder.

"Don't be such a Scrooge and come upstairs." Kerik crossed his arms. Sitting up from his seat Erik pointed a skeletal hand in the younger man's direction.

"First of all monsieur, YOU certainly do not tell ME what to do like some sort of child. Second of all I shall not be joining the festive soiree going on upstairs. And thirdly, since when do you-especially you of all people-care at all about this trivial holiday and how I spend it?"

Kerik eyes matched the golden glow of the black masked man's as they stared each other down.

"First, I don't see anyone else brave enough to. Second, I'm not about to just be told no when I came all the way down here to fetch you."

"And why is that?"

"You never let me finish," Kerik said and heaved a sigh. "Thirdly because as asinine as I find it, this is a time of year to be spent with family."

Erik blinked from behind his mask, "What did you say?"

"I'm sure your ears work fine monsieur."

"Might I remind you, you have family already."

"Cut the technicalities, you're as much my family!" Kerik fumed, "And I'm not leaving unless you're coming up with me. You're....you're the closest to a father I have"

The older man was stunned to say the least.

"But you had-"

"I ran away after I killed the stonemason's daughter, remember? Like he'd want to see me, besides he's likely dead by this point." Extending a hand, Kerik frowned. "Please?"

He considered Kerik's outstretched palm, with slow caution he clasped it with his own bony hand.

"One hour, that's all I will entertain."

While not every Christmas carol was a masterpiece, there were several holiday oriented arias that the Meriks found enjoyable to sing, filling the parlour with a musical air of tranquillity. Even Cherik happily joined along with them, none having an objection to this.

Lerik had begun to play the organ situated in the parlour. The breathtaking melodies that echoed as his hands pressed down on each key conjoined with the harmony brought on by the half masked tenors and baritones song.

Panaro patted the seat next to him and Soot happily jumped up by his masked master's side.

"He enjoys his new collar," The Broadway Merik regarded, startling Gerik as he almost spilled his glass.

"I beg your pardon?" He blinked.

"You made it, didn't you? It's rather charming actually."

"Is this a trick?" Gerik asked,

"Call it a holiday truce. But you are quite good with crafts. Kari was just admiring some of the ornaments you added to the tree."

The film adapted man's eyes seemed to gleam at this, "H-He did?"

"Mmhmm." Panaro said, scratching behind the labradoodle's ears.

The Broadway man reached into his breastpocket and pulled out a handkerchief. Leaning over he passed it to Crawford.

He gestured to a spot on his own face, "Just there."

Taking the offered handkerchief, he wiped away a dab of pink that'd smeared on the edge of his mask.

The parlour had gone deftly silent just as Jones finished a rendition of 'Oh Holy Night'.

Everyone's attention was drawn to the doorway.

"Sorry I'm late to the party," Kerik greeted. "My plus one was taking an eternity to find something nice to wear."

"Bon nuit messieurs," Erik nodded standing tall and prominent with his hands crossed behind his back, his golden eyes seeming to soften slightly. "Or I suppose I should say joyeux Noël?"

Maybe there was a such thing as Christmas miracles after all.

Alrighty, several little easter eggs here:

-As many phans know-but just in case some of you don’t-The Charles Dance Cherik version of Phantom is based on the play “Phantom, an American musical” by Yeston and Kopit. The miniseries movie is fairly close to the original Y&K play to my knowledge. Technically Cherik is like Claude Rains and Lom and came before ALW as the Y&K musical was being produced before the mega musical was made but due to several push backs was not finished until after Webber created his musical and the Y&K production was condensed into the miniseries movie in 1990, four years after Webber’s version.

-My knowledge of Ken Hill is not very good so forgive me if some of these facts are backwards. To my knowledge of this musical, which came out in 1976 well before Webber-however it did inspire him to create his version ten years later. This version is very obscure both to the ALW version and the Leroux novel. This Phantom prefers using a knife-similar to Destler in the 89′ version. In the play he kills several more people than Webber’s, the Persian is also his brother in this version. At the end the Phantom has in his lair a priest and one other witness to marry him and Christine, and almost pulls a murder suicide to stab Christine and himself. But in the end the Phantom only kills himself with a knife.

-During a concert he performed in the 90s, Michael Crawford said when Webber was interested in him for the musical that along with reading Leroux’s book he also watched the Claude Rains version of Phantom for further research (although at the time Michael was under the impression he was going to play Raoul not the Phantom).

-In Kerik’s story he was raised to believe in God, but after a series of events when he was five years old he forsakened any belief he had in God-to my knowledge this was the same case when he was in Persia as well.

-John Owen Jones in real life has a western hognose snake named Draco-this house is certainly becoming full of domestic wildlife!

-The red and green masks some of the Meriks are wearing is a reference to West End over the years having their current Phantom wear at curtain call when their show falls on or close to the holiday season. I’m not sure if Broadway does this as well.

-The stonemason is a reference to Giovanni, a character in Susan Kay’s “Phantom” whom takes Kerik under his wing as a mentor and even a father figure of sorts for him, as Kerik never knew his own father Charles, whom died before he was born.

#Erik house AU #Merik #Gerik #Cherik #Kerik #Lerik #Erik #Christmas #Claude Rains #Ken Hill #PotO #phantom

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lawfulgoodedgelord · 7 years

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Okay, so continuing on my earlier roll of “Rudy Lom as a Hephaestus Metaphor”, I have a million tabs open and the sum of my excessive knowledge about the lore behind A.I. to bring to the table. Let’s go, I’ll attempt to make this as coherent as possible by bringing up one point at a time.

First off, Hephaestus is the Greek god of craftsmen, blacksmiths, metallurgy and fire. In Antiquity that just about represented the driving force of technology and industry, metallurgy being pretty much an art as much as a science. Rudy is a cyberneticist, but also a computer scientist, programmer, and has notable background in other sciences, mostly related to industrial printing (see: his knowledge about the ChemPrinter in “Perception” and his knowledge about the BioPrinter in “Straw Man”).

Secondly, Hephaestus’ symbols are a hammer and anvil, OR a pair of tongs:

[Source]

In Rudy’s front pocket here (ignoring the circle). Those may look like scissors but, forgive me for not finding an adequate picture, the handle is identical to that of an old fashioned pair of forceps. A tool used in medicine which function not unlike the bulkier tongs used in blacksmithing, but for small delicate things (such as the inside of that poor unfortunate MX′s head for example).

Thirdly, Hephaestus does not reside with the other gods, but instead has his own palace under the Mount Etna and is generally outcast from the rest of the Olympians. Rudy, as we well know, is lonely out in his re-purposed church which is outside the precinct. Hephaestus is an outcast who never gets any visits, neither from his family or rarely even from his wife Aphrodite who cheats on him with Ares. Rudy never goes out, period.

Fourth, and most importantly, Hephaestus is known for his gift with technology and special power to produce motion. Hephaestus made a number of notable objects for Olympus and special figures, which ties rather nicely in to Rudy being Chief Technician. But Hephaestus also built metal automatons to work for him in his workshop, silver and gold lions and dogs to guard palaces, and most importantly, Hephaestus built Talos, the man made of bronze who circled Crete thrice a day to guard Europa. Talos, as I have mentioned before, is the first known mention of artificial life in mythology, the first A.I. if you will. Rudy supervises the Synthetic Dispatch Division. He is in charge of how the androids are doing. The men made of metal, carbon fiber and silicon who circle the City on patrol to keep the inhabitants safe. And when we first meet him, Rudy is working on a robotic butterfly, imbuing the inanimate with motion. Later, during “The Bends” he “abandons” the head of an unknown android (who I still feel bad for) who was neither a DRN or an MX. A personal project? Probably.

Fifth, @mehay1 brought up a very interesting point with the Synthetic Souls, and I think that there is definitely a mythological link. Prometheus stole the fire that he gave to humanity from Hephaestus’ forge. Now, if we take the fire to mean the “thing that defined humanity above the rest of the animals as sapient meta-conscious beings”, then Nigel Vaughn stealing the Synthetic Souls from Rudy’s lab was stealing “the thing that elevated androids above other machines as sentient meta-conscious beings”, we have a striking parallel. (note: I use “sapient” and “sentient” here separately as two words with distinct meanings, the former relating to reasoning and the latter to feeling).

In addition, @starbase-yorktown noticed the song, which I hadn’t correlated it to anything, but adds another dimension to that first scene. It definitely places Rudy further into the divine sort of area that he already seems to inhabit. But the lyrics (as copied from their post) are actually Spot On for Rudy’s part in giving Dorian to Kennex:

Feeling unknown and you’re all alone,

This is Kennex, he’s just woken up, alone, from a coma and has lost everything. He doesn’t even know himself anymore.

Flesh and bone, by the telephone.

Lift up the receiver, I’ll make you a believer.

This I think in with Kennex’s synthetic leg, he has to believe in the technology, because it’s a part of him now.

Take second best, put me to the test.

These verses are Dorian. Dorian is second best, he’s a decommissioned android of a model notorious for catastrophic malfunctions. He’s second best.

Rudy is being put to the test, but more in the sense of a dare. Rudy knows what he is doing by giving him Dorian. And while It’s true Maldonado requested that Kennex be partnered with him, Rudy is the one we see actually doing the introductions.

Things on your chest, you need to confess

Kennex again, he has guilt over his past and he has his demons, and through even one season, Dorian helps him through some of it.

I will deliver. You know I’m a forgiver

Rudy: he will deliver Dorian to Kennex, that’s why he was called.

But also Dorian: Dorian forgives a lot of Kennex’s mistakes.

Reach out and touch faith (x2)

“Touch it to his left ear”. That’s all that’s coming to mind because the fact that it’s a stick felt weird and I sort of know why now.

All in all, I think this small passage of the song is a tremendous block of foreshadowing. I know my analysis is messy at best, and I’m sure that if we had gotten to see more of Kennex and Dorian’s relationship develop, the verses’ relevance would have been much clearer then they are currently.

In conclusion, there are a good number of traits that Hephaestus and Rudy share, the most salient one being their ability with technology. I think the most convincing argument is the literal symbol of Hephaestus present in every scene where we see Rudy working. However, there is another thing which throws all of this out the window. Hephaestus is lame footed, either from birth or due to fall when he was cast out from Olympus. This has been correlated to the fact the blacksmiths, especially those that worked with bronze, over time suffered from arsenic poisoning (a key component in early bronzes was arsenic). Rudy, as far as the show tells us, is unfit but able bodied. Now, I can propose some theories, which are more canonically plausible headcanons than anything else. But given the (non-exhaustive) evidence above for the correlation between Rudy and Hephaestus leads me to believe there was an unreleased “Rudy’s Backstory” episode where we would have gotten some more information supporting (or denying) the parallels explained above.

Either way, feel free to add to/disagree/argue with me about any and all of this.

#almost human #rudy lom #long post #opinion time #phew this took me a while #but it was very fun to do #i'm sorry it turned into an essay but there was So Much

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