The Woman I Love Is... (Erik, casual)

[JANE EYRE]

Jane loved her apartment and her apartment building. She loved it even more with Polyphemus around the home, it made it less lonely. But, no matter how much he purs and how often he answers back (which is quite often, eerily enough), Jane missed having people around the house to talk to or share things with. So, she's made a habit of inviting people over or planning outings with them. After running into him at the gallery, Jane hadn't seen much of Erik so she decided he would be next. Knowing he liked music and musicals, Jane ran down to the video store for the first ever in her life and asked the clerk what musical she recommended most.

That was how she ended up popping 'Moulin Rouge' into the DVD player.

When she called to invite Erik over she made sure to ask what sort of Chinese food he liked. There was an old family eatery just down the street from where she lived that had wonderful food and she was just going to pick something up from there. She ordered Szechuan Chicken and chicken Chow Mein and picked them up as she was on her way home from the mart with new litter for Paul.

Jane had everything set up in the living moments before Erik said he would be there. Paul was sleeping away on 'his' chair. Jane had bought the armchair thinking it would be nice to read in it but Paul had claimed it as his own. Jane didn't mind so much really. The poor dear deserved it after going through all he had. Jane thought that he liked the soft apholstery on his hairless tail. The vet said that it probably wouldn't ever grow back but a small tuft had grown back right on the tip but it had come in a blue-grey.

"Do try to behave," She said to Paul who meowed back and flipped his rat's tail at her. "I know, you're a gentleman, but try anyway," He flopped down and purred loudly.

[JEAN-PAUL DUBOIS]

Erik was completely shocked when he recieved a call from Jane of all people. He'd thought their relationship was nonexistant. They barely knew each other, though she had painted him, and he had given her the confidence to take pride in her artwork. And he had nearly kissed her in the graveyard.

He didn't even want to think what she thought about that moment. How vulgar and abrupt he was, both praising her and wrapping his hands around her throat. Such a pretty throat, and he'd sought to crush it. What was wrong with him? Honestly? Oh, right, he was clinically insane. Or at least he thought he was. He had no doubt in his mind that if he was tested, he would be thrown into a mental institution.

'But I digress...' he thought sarcastically as he knocked on the door of Jane's apartment. He was barking mad for going through with this. He'd never even been in a woman's home before. Never gone out to socialize, especially with a woman. A very beautiful woman.

No, no, she was just a friend. Friend? Wasn't that a foreign word to him? Did he really have a clear grasp of the word, since he'd never had a true one in his entire life? He couldn't count Daroga at all. The Persian fellow could turn his back on him quite easily, given the chance to.

But he trusted Jane. Truly he did.

He had knocked, and called out "Jane, it's Erik," briskly, and waited.

[JANE EYRE]

"I mean it Paul," Jane wagged her finger warningly at the lazy cat. Paul didn't even seem to hear her. Rolling her eyes, Jane berated herself. She was talking to a cat. A cat who couldn't answer her. Rubbing her face, she double checked everything just in time to hear a knock at the door.

"Jane, it's Erik,"

Of course it was him. Who else would it be?

Jane hurried to the door to answer, slipping on her house slippers as she went. By herself she had no problem puttering around barefoot but when she had company she made sure to cover her feet up. Her freakishly small and skinny feet.

"Hi," Jane smiled up at Erik and stepped back for him to come in. "I'm glad you could make it. I know it probably seems like an odd request but it's been a while since we saw each other and I thought maybe we could catch up. I...am rambling. Sorry," Jane gave a nervous giggle and shut the door behind him once he was inside. Every single day it seemed, she let her mouth run away from her. It didn't matter who she was with or what the occasion was, she had a habit of rambling.

It was a tad embrassing.

When the door was shut again, Paul rose from his slumber like a Titan and practically stomped over to Erik and began to size him up. Tutting at her moody cat, Jane bent over and swept him up in her arms. "This is Polyphemus, or Paul, by the way," Paul, having decided that Erik wasn't a threat, rested his head against Jane's shoulder and started his engine.

It sounded like a boat motor.

[JEAN-PAUL DUBOIS]

Erik did seem quite subdued upon the opening of the door. He subconciously shrunk back, nearly shrinking a foot in his height just by hunching over, twidling with his fingers. He forced a small smile on his face when he saw Jane, and the smile grew wider with her incessant babbling. She might seem like a bore to most, and indeed Erik as well, had she not been in his favor. But he enjoyed her company, and was surprised at himself when he stepped through the door, actually entering a woman's home.

This was... Nice. Normal for a change. Normal was wonderful, normal was great.

Oh, hello. There was a cat. A very ugly cat. Good Lord, was his paw missing? The tail! There's no tail! Or wait, there was, it was just hairless. What was wrong with this cat?!

"Yes, well... Hello... Paul." He struggled with the simple name as if it was a curse. "Polyphemus, rather." He nodded to the staunchly rigid cat, and grimaced when Jane swooped it up. It didn't look right, her beauty contrasting with its ugliness. It was grotesque. And when it purred, it made him clench his fists. How dare he have the gaul to purr while laying on this gorgeous woman's chest!? He had no right!

He suddenly realized he was being ridiculous. "And it's no problem," he said, trying to divert attention from him. He smiled as if it was nothing, sticking his hands in his pockets. "It was... kind of you to call me," he said, voice fading into a sort of sadness.

[JANE EYRE]

Jane pulled Paul away from her chest; the cat extended his neck and lovingly bumped Jane's chin with his head. Kissing the cat's forehead, Jane carried him back over to his chair and sat him down. Paul just flopped down right where she put him and went back to sleep. Jane laughed at her new pet and went back over to the couch where everything is set out.

"Now, there are chopsticks from the restaurant," Jane held up the paper wrapped sticks. "But I also have back ups," She held up a fork. Jane was rubbish at chopsticks but she always tried anyway. When she failed, she just switched over to her trusted fork.

Jane had gotten both of them a glass of water and a glass of iced tea each because she didn't have anything else to offer. Jane sat down on the couch and looked down at the remote. She didn't know how to use it. Chewing on the inside of her cheek, Jane pointed the remote at the DVD player and pressed her best guess for the right button.

The movie started.

"I've never seen this before. The woman at the video store suggested it,"

[JEAN-PAUL DUBOIS]

((Starting to write Erik in first person... 3, 2, 1, NOW! ))

The cat bothered me.

It couldn't be a stable cat, surely. The way it flicked its tale at me and purred against Jane's far too petite and plain arm. It was a wild thing not to be trusted. But I spoke nothing of it, for the benefit of my companion.

Companion? Is that what I was to call Jane now? According to my estimate, we were still acquaintances, or at least marginally sociably inclined toward one another. That was... normal, I supposed. But what was normal to me, anyway? I'm just a freak.

"Now, there are chopsticks from the restaurant, but I also have back ups,"

I felt my mouth quirk into... a smile? Huh. That was rightly odd. She made me smile, often. But perhaps this was just a reflex, some sort of inner instinct that had felt the need to hide until now. I did not interact well with others, and Jane just might be the first person I'd ever known to stay on as an... engagement of sorts. She engaged me.

What a sap I was, giving into these silly notions of normalcy.

But, then again, I did agree to join the girl for this movie.

I kept forgetting she was just a teenager, really. I know she was an adult legally, but to me, she was just a child. It felt suddenly wrong to be standing in her living room, staring at her couch (where I would eventually sit, eat dinner, watch a very romantic movie that I've seen before and I KNOW how ridiculously frivilous it is, be very close to a person of the opposite sex on, and quite possibly have to hold her as she cried tears of false longing for a man and woman portrayed only on a screen). I felt foolish being positively alone with her.

But then there was that damn cat.

I had half a mind to bring Jezzie next time I came over (next time? Well that was quite presumptuous of me). She would show this little deformed beast a thing or two about real cats.

Thanks to said animals I now had the entire score of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical stuck in my head (things tended to happen that would set my mind only to one particular music track), as I joined Jane on the couch as the movie began, and the tune slowly switched to that of the Galop from Orpheus in the Underworld as the overture began.

"I've never seen this before. The woman at the video store suggested it,"

"You'll enjoy it, M'amselle..." I muttered, taking to the floor in front of the coffee table. It was easier to eat, and an excuse to distance myself from the woman on the couch.

The very female and alone woman whose house I was in, watching Moulin Rouge and eating Chinese with, and whose cat was staring intently at me as if I had a death wish.