Comment only: Taking an idea,a sketch, the bones of an idea and fleshing it out, this is an interesting story.

Make me WANT to see Erik and Christine together.

Comment - no question: "Each of them different, all about love" - i just finished watching Moulin Ruge for what muswt be the 40th time. I love the color and music. So When I read this line all I could think of was "Freedom, Beauty, Truth and L-O-V-E" sung of course.

On to the next.

A peacock tail feather fan is going to be one really big fan.

The description of Erik on the train brings up a whole list of thoughts. How old is Erik. In earlier chapters you have presented him as being Madam Girys age. Which I think is correct. In the Leroux book he is at least twice as old as Christine AND Raoul. But, here we see him as he has never taken a train anywhere before. I have always pictured Erik as a man of the world, a train excursion should not be anything new to him.

In fact, Leroux points to him having a mask that mimics a normazl fzce, and he goes about the world to get supplies for the house.

Even using the ALW world, as restrictive as a two hour musical is, I don't get the impression thst he is restricted to the "lair".

WE all have our own takes on our Erik.

Attention to detail is wonderful.

Still reading

"At the very least nobody was dead!" how droll!

Still reading.

My fav fanfic :)

You are singing to the choir on French nobility titles. Since I wrote in the Hornblower site, I know the English nobility titles and ranks backwards and forwards. (Bear in mind, I'm an American and we don't have that problem, we're all Mr, Mrs and Ms over here.) Not only can I not figure them out. I can't spell 'em either.

Oh boy.. This is really good. A: You have not put them in bed yet. Hallelujah! Give me action, gie me prose, don't put them in bed every chapter. Please...There is a place for that, but maybe not yet. B: No clear heroes or villains yet. Keep me guessing.

Is this a real rope noose or a cat gut one (the Punjab lasso?)

Yrs.

I guess I ought to confess something.

I am not a Christine fan. She's ok and I can put up with her, but I tend to yell at the character and want to tell her to get her head out of...well you know.

I would have thought she would have figured this stuff out by now, but that is what happens when a 70 year old sees a 20 something being stupid.

To tell you the truth, I was in Christine's corner all through the first act of LND, cheering even. A woman who knew what she wanted and didn't want and was not afraid to tell Erik or Raoul about it.

I don't see what Raoul or Erik see in her, and oh well, anyway ... I will keep reading. You are spinning a good story.

Good point about bandages deflecting curiosity. I'll remember that one.

I think I can do one more tonight.

OK, lets talk disfigurement. I hope you follow along here because I'm going to send you off to some other sites to see what I'm talking about. I think Erik's disfigurement needs to be something that he could LIVE through. Michael's scarring is one of those things that look horrible, but could be survived. He has to be able to sing, he has to be able to eat, and he has to have an eyeball that won't dry out and blind him. Voila! We have just gotten rid of half of the Eriks out there. Check out the link below. Its from "Gotham" which is a forerunner of the Batman series. It's Harvey Dent (Two Face). This is what could have been done for the 2004 movie. They had all kinds of money to pull something like this off, but they gave us less than a disfigurement, they gave us a mangled ear and a sunburn. I was disappointed. They did give us a great chandelier fall, even though it was in the wrong place (even for Leroux).

. /villains/images/1/1c/Two-Face_%28Nolan% /revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/788?cb20210604175401

As long as Michael could have worn the wig, he could have gone unmasked. I have my Erik going through the American west without anyone batting an eye. That's because of the American Civil War wounded in many instances were WORSE than Eriks disfigurement.

OK rant over, back to your story.

Piano Pudgy - ohhh too funny!

I love it! I'm on the way to the next.

"Come and See, Come, come and see, come and see the Beauty Underneath." ('Scuse me, but I really, really like the music from LND. Can't say so much for the story, but the music is great!)

Oh, you go Giry! I'm in your corner!
"Let you die fat!" too precious!
"Thumping on their heads, and they don't like the piano!" Oh too good!

666 the mark of the beast. Ooooh lets see where this one leads.

i picked up your fic from the discussion group. Before i give feedback, I need to know a couple of things.

I am not a terribly serious person, so if I see something funny, i will laugh and tell you. Are you open to that kind of feedback?

I am open to many versions of Phantom. I even get along with Robert Englund's take and LND,. and those are two different ends of the spectrum. I live in the US, almost in the dead middle and that is where my point of view comes from. I used to be a historic reenactor with my favorite periods being 1880 through 1918. My own farcical fic will be set in those years, but I'm not going to publish until it is complete. I used to write for the Horatio Hornblower groups, but haven't done that in some time.

I will also tell you when I find something that is waaay out of time period or out of the canon you have posted. I will also question you when I see something out of period or unusual. I've seen far too many fics die on the vine or turn into never ending stories.

I'm am not an English teacher, hut a story needs a beginning, middle and end. Never ending stories are no fun. Tell me what happens to my heroes.

And - I need to know how old your Erik is.

If you have questions you can message me on facebook. Just look for the Mary Brown in the Merry Widow red dress. (I will be going back to my Moulin Rouge FB picture in a couple of days, because my Erik is there with his lady (who is NOT Christine.)). I tend to like my cast in the 1890's-1910. They have telephones, automobiles and NO bustle skirts. (Yes, I have worn them, no I don't like them.)

As a side note, i LOVE the beautiful coat that Ben wears in one of the scenes in LND. I want one and may end up making one. (I am also a costume maker.). I think I'm going to like the costumes in the Sydney version of Phantom. But even though Red Death's hat and feathers is Leroux canon (I finally got an excellent annotated version and for the first time, I am enjoying reading it.) Huge and lots of feathers, I miss the middle ages version of Michael Crawford's costume. (Michael took Claude Rains (my mother introduced me to Phantom with that movie) place as MY Phantom).

So, I'm going on to part 2 and may make it through 3 before the night is over.

Yrs, Mary

You do not know how thrilled I was when I realized that you had a new chapter. When the alert came into my inbox I was like "What's this?" I opened it up and was unfamiliar with it and then stared at it as I tried to remember and when I looked at your user profile and looked at the bio it suddenly hit me that this was one of my favorite PoTO fics and that you updated. I've read this like 3 times already and let me tell you I teared up a bit when I realized that there was a new chapter.

Now that I have that out of the way let me just tell you how excited I am that Erik composed. I honestly think that this is a major breakthrough for Erik and will allow him to heal. The question is if he will allow it. Looking forward to the next chapter!

Absolutely loving this! Thank you for writing!

I’ve tried to post a review several times but life keeps stopping me! Most of the insightful thoughts I had I now can’t remember :( I mainly wanted to thank you for coming back. I was so so happy to see an update and it was a lovely chapter. You write the facets of Erik’s struggle with his abstinence from music so vividly! Actually when Christine arrived I felt like a glass of water had been thrown over myself and Erik. I was so tuned in to his thought process. He is so so stubborn though, but I’m sure Christine will prevail in the end :D. Thanks again for the update. And wishing you a restful festive period :)