milliways_bar | (no subject)

*Meg grins.* It did get us lots of publicity for the Opera, though . . .

I bet. Did you give the police half off admission?

*Meg looks shocked.* Of course not! They pay to see the show like everyone else.

You cold, calculating thespians.

*Meg grins at him.* . . . yes, and?

*Xander shakes his head.* Nothing but gimmicks. Sheep, dead guys ... what happened to art?

We had that, too, *Meg informs him snootily.* Don't you go insulting our dancing.

Well, you know, you didn't say anything about it. I'm just checking. I'm sure it was great, and that no one tripped over the sheep.

*Meg looks defensive.*

Well. I didn't. Maybe some of the other ballerinas did.

*Xander resists the urge to pat Meg on the head.*

I know, I know.

... What was that opera even about?

Oh.

Well, see, there was this Countess, having an affair, *Meg explains cheerfully,* so she disguised her boyfriend as a girl so that her husband wouldn't find out - only actually the boyfriend was played by a girl, I never quite got that - and then the husband had a thing for the boy-dressed-as-a-girl, and it was just basically chaos.

*Xander grimaces.* Ah, veiled homoeroticism. Always a favorite in the literature of yore. Why haven't I seen this opera already? And when did the chandelier fall?

Well, really halfway through, but in the movie -

*Meg doubletakes.* Hang on, you've seen the play?

*He shakes his head.* No, but there probably isn't anyone in the western hemisphere who hasn't heard about the chandelier. It's getting to be a bit of a Phantom shtick.

Oh. *Meg looks rather disappointed.* Well, it was very impressive when it actually happened for real, I should tell you.

*Xander nods.* Must have been. I mean, hey, you guys didn't know that you weren't going to die. I bet the sheep went nuts.

Oh, goodness yes, *Meg agrees, rolling her eyes.* And also? You know that voice, when he talked to Christine in her dressing room? You could hear it all the bloody way through the Opera House - none of us ever got any sleep, because Christine's bloody stalker couldn't leave her notes like a normal person.

*Xander nods sagely.* Right. A normal stalker.

They're not uncommon, *Meg protests.*

Neither are venereal diseases.

Well, no . . .

*Meg looks rather uncomfortable.*

*Xander raises an eyebrow.*

*Meg shrugs whatever it was off.* Venereal diseases are awfully common in my time especially, I have to admit.

Well, George Washington DID get syphillis. Bad example, then.

Uh ... telemarketers are common. Doesn't make them acceptable. Or human, necessarily.

. . . telemarketers?

*Meg is blankly inquisitive.*