Panis Angelicus and... Teapots? [Tag: Chris]

[CASSIDY BOWERS]

P A N I S 𝄞 A N G E L I C U S
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"Panis angelicus
Fit panis hominum
Dat panis coelicus
Figuris terminum
O res mirabilis

Manducat Dominum
Pauper, pauper
Servus et humilis
Pauper, pauper
Servus et humilis

Panis angelicus
Fit panis hominum
Dat panis coelicus
Figuris terminum
O res mirabilis

Manducat Dominum
Pauper, pauper
Servus et humilis
Pauper, pauper
Servus, servus et humilis"

The song was a beautiful one- one that floated and flew, filling the auditorium with its simple, clear, gentle melody. The light ring to the sound was impeccable, but the fullness and the body made it seem almost impossible for it to have come from the small woman on the stage. She sat at the piano, inside the circle of light that surrounded it, blinding her to little more than what was inside that circle. Cassidy couldn't see the seats, or the edge of the stage. Not that it really mattered because she had her eyes closed, listening to the instruments play on her ipod, completely unaware of anything else.

After a long moment, she stood, moving off of the piano bench to stand in the light, spinning slowly as she let the instrumental wash over her. She finally opened her eyes as she started to use the space, moving about slowly in the circle of light as she sang. It was a glorious experience, having the stage to oneself. Not many had achieved the leading roles in productions that would allow for such soloistic performances. True, her experience lacked the nervous addition of performing in front of an audience, but in truth, Cassidy never thought she would have to experience it. After all, she wouldn't get that far. Not yet, anyways.

That was the dream, and that was far off in the future, as much as she wanted it to be tomorrow.

The song ended and she stood there quietly for a moment, relishing in the ring of the auditorium, waiting for the sound to die into complete and utter silence before she began again. Her time on the stage was limited, and she wasn't about to waste any of it.

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[Panis Angelicus][Outfit]

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[CHRISTOPHER JORDAN]

Chris had crossed up and down the same aisle inside of the Barrie University Bookstore at least twelve times, trying to find the last tool he needed for his courses in the fall. He knew he had to be looking in the wrong spot, or something, but couldn’t help feeling like it was just hiding from him somewhere on the shelf he was staring at. It was so stupid to him that he’d wasted more than five minutes, even, looking for the thing, but he felt like he wouldn’t ever come back for it if he didn’t get it right then.

Finally tired of the search, he left the aisle to find someone that could point him in the right direction. The only available employee was standing behind her cash register with a good ten minute line waiting for her to ring them up. He sighed impatiently, but moved towards the back of the line, where he waited less than his estimated time (it was only eight minutes) for his turn to be helped. He asked about the tool, and frowned a little bit when she said that she had them somewhere behind the counter. She left to grab one for him, then put it under her scanner so that he could pay for it.

Thirty-seven dollars and forty-nine cents from his debit card later, and he was able to walk from the bookstore with a brand new clicker for his Algal Diversity and Evolution course. Whoopdedoo.

He thought it was the dumbest thing he’d ever bought, but wasn’t going to complain anymore than that. At least he had the damn thing, and was going to be able to answer any questions needed when the time came.

He was walking leisurely through the dark building that would serve as the fastest route to his bike, when he heard something coming from one of the rooms he’d passed. He looked up at a label over the door that told him it was the auditorium, then turned to walk closer to it to see if he could hear it better. It was a beautiful female voice, without a doubt the most incredible he’d ever heard, singing the soft melodies of Panis Angelicus. It was the beginning to a hymn called Sacris Solemniis that he’d often heard in school he was younger. The reminder tried to bring with it a feeling of annoyance, but it was quickly smothered by his curiosity. He felt like he’d heard some pretty great music in his day, but this? He had to know who it was.

Chris approached the door carefully, and pushed it open a little bit so that he could peek his head inside, and get a look at the source of the voice. He was nervous, at first, that the girl would be able to see him from her point on the stage, and that he might startle her so badly that she’d stop singing. As he stepped forward, though, further into the auditorium, he realized that she probably couldn’t see anything past the stage’s end, thanks to the lights she had shining on her. Was she practicing for one of the school’s shows? He’d heard that their music and performance programs were pretty good, but he’d never really taken the time to check them out. He was finally starting to despise his ignorance.

At first glance, he seemed like he would be the last person on the planet that would be interested in anything that was considered ‘classical.’ He looked, and acted, like he probably didn’t appreciate music at all, save for an occasional rock song, or something off of a ACDC playlist. His reaction to the girl singing in that auditorium said otherwise. He loved the music she was making, and felt like the sound was operating his legs for him, drawing him closer to the source.

It stopped as he did, and he gave an amazed chuckle before leaning his elbows forward to rest his weight on the banister blocking off the orchestra pit. “Wow. That was really... really good.”

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[Outfit]

[CASSIDY BOWERS]

P A N I S 𝄞 A N G E L I C U S
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Now, normally, the light from an auditorium door would catch anyone's attention, but in this case, Cassidy didn't hardly even notice. Partly because her eyes were closed, but it was mostly because of the fact that she wasn't just lost in the music, she was the music. She swayed and moved with it, lost in the sound coming from her earbuds. She had delved into it so far that she didn't even notice as a group of drama kids dropped off the set pieces for the school's production of "Alice in Wonderland." The giant teapots and teacups and flowers littered the edges of the stage and filled the space backstage, locking her in on stage unless she went down into the audience. Not that it really mattered. Her world was there and then, in the ring of light, twirling around the piano lightly.

Nothing could phase her. Nothing could break into her world of music. Nothing. Not a single thing.

Or at least that's what she thought.

It wasn't five minutes later when there was a voice. Cassidy spun to face the front of the stage, gasping as she did so, ripping her earbuds from her ears with a hand. Her gaze fell on a man, leaning on the edge of the orchestra pit like he was going to fall over or something. She blinked for a second, too startled to speak, before her cheeks filled in pink and she stumbled out a few words, "Oh... Uhm... thank you." For a long moment, she chewed on her lip, wrapping the headphone cord around her ipod as she tried to figure out what to do. The only real solution she was coming up with was to run. Run from the awkward situation. She looked around at the stage, realizing that the back door had been closed, meaning it was locked. The only way out was through the house doors.

Hiding. That could work, right? She could hide until he left? Maybe. It was all she could really think of at the moment, and this moment had already gotten far too awkward for her tastes. Another long moment passed as she gathered up her things, stuffing them into her over the shoulder messenger back before she tossed it over her head and onto its usual shoulder. "Yeah, uhm... Thanks. I've gotta get going to.... uhm... Somewhere...." Smooth. Real smooth, Cassidy.

With that, she ran. As best she could in a dress and heels anyways. She climbed around a teacup and under the branches of a tree before ducking into the giant teapot intended for Alice to hide in. It would work, right? Pulling the cover over the opening in the back, she listened out the spout while mumbling under her breath about how stupid she was being, hiding in a teapot. There must have been better places to hide. Besides, now she really was trapped if he found her again. What was she supposed to say to that? "Oh, yeah... I just had to come test out the teapot, make sure it was the right size..." Yeah, that would go over real well.

She really wasn't sure why he had flustered her so much anyways. She sank by trade. She shouldn't get embarrassed for singing. Maybe it was just because he'd startled her? Or because she hadn't realized he was there? How long had he been there? She had no clue. That was embarrassing. Most definitely. This was just an awkward, embarrassing day all around.

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[Panis Angelicus][Outfit]

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[CHRISTOPHER JORDAN]

Chris took a little bit of a step back out of surprise at the girl’s abrupt reaction. He realized a second later that he’d probably scared the crap out of her with that stupid entrance, and came back forward with a guilty frown, getting ready to apologize until she spoke first, thanking him for the compliment. He thought that he could see her blushing, but honestly couldn’t tell for sure with the lights on her face. He scratched his head a little bit, and tried thinking of something to follow up with that wouldn’t make him look like a complete ass. “Yeah, it was.. great. Are you- I mean, do you go..” His next question faded like smoke in the air as he realized that it didn’t have much of an ending, and that she was already talking again anyway. Technically, he didn’t think she was interrupting since he’d been speaking so quietly he was even having a hard time hearing himself. What the hell had that been anyway? He wasn’t exactly a very shy person. Awkward: yes. Quiet: yes. But shy?

Maybe it did make sense, come to think of it.

He shook his head a little bit, surprised when she said that she’d needed to leave. Wasn’t she just in the middle of a song? “Yeah sure.. wait- what?” To somewhere? Didn’t she know where she needed to go? Or was she bailing?

He watched her take off backstage, listening for a second to the sound of her heels clacking against the ground, then suddenly stopping. He hadn’t even heard her open the backstage door, which was sure to make a decent amount of noise. His face scrunched up a little in confusion, and he took a second to look around for anyone else in the auditorium before climbing up the stairs to see if he could find out where she’d gone. There was no way she’d actually left.

He would have thought that it was weird that he was following the complete stranger, if he wasn’t so distracted by how weird it was that she was actually hiding from him. Maybe he’d scared her more than he thought..

He had a hard time at first finding his way backstage in the dark, and only found the giant teapot set because he’d actually walked into it blindly. His hand reached up to feel for any bumps on his forehead, but he stopped when he thought he could hear the girl speaking quietly somewhere. He stopped moving, and listened closely to see if he could follow the sound, but it hadn’t lasted long. He lifted a hand so that he could feel his way around the edge of the teapot, and stopped when he heard the echoing sound his sliding hand was making from the inside. Was it hollow? He leaned closer, and knocked on it to test out his theory, pulling back when he actually heard the echo. It took him a second to realize that there was a ladder that could get him on top of it, hopefully up to the lid, if there was one.

There actually was. These drama kids were way more detailed than he would have ever guessed.

Once he got up the ladder, he lifted the closed lid, and peeked inside, trying to see if he could find anything in the darkness. “You in there?” he asked, feeling absolutely crazy for thinking that she would actually hide from him inside of a teapot. He would lose his mind if she stepped out somewhere behind him, getting him back for scaring her earlier. He sighed, frustrated that he still couldn’t see at all, even if she was inside, and reached into his back pocket to pull out his cell phone so that he could use the screen to see.

He actually laughed a little bit when he realized that she was actually sitting inside, then leaned on the pot’s lid as he watched her. “What are you doing?”

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[Outfit]

[CASSIDY BOWERS]

P A N I S 𝄞 A N G E L I C U S
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Cassidy heard his questions, but she was still frazzled from his unexpected appearance. At least he'd spoken from down off the stage first, rather than just showing up on stage right by her. That would have freaked her out even more. Still, she was in no state to answer questions. So, she'd simply run.

Cassidy would never have imagined that the guy would actually follow her, so upon hearing him approaching, she gave a small, surprised ‘eep!’ and then clamped her hand over her mouth. The wait in silence was almost excruciating, and it seemed to last for ages. She held her breath, then let it out in another squeak as a loud thud echoed around her, the noise extra loud simply because she was inside of the teapot.

The knocking made her jump, but this time she was actually able to keep quiet. Maybe he would think she wasn’t inside of the teapot- after all, it wasn’t exactly the best hiding place in the world. She looked up quickly as she heard the lid to the teapot open, and she froze, not wanting to give herself away. She couldn’t see him, so obviously he couldn’t see her. At least until he pulled out his phone.

Really, it was surprising how much light could come from one little screen. It seemed really bright, anyway, because she’d been sitting in complete darkness for the five minutes prior, so her eyes had adjusted to the darkness. She blinked as her pupils dilated in response to the sudden light, and left her even more blind to who the guy was.

Shaking her head, she finally spoke, “Oh, uhm… Nothing. I was just… checking the teapot? I had to make sure that it was going to work for the performance, because the actress playing Alice is about my size….” Of course, she was totally making things up, and she was a terrible liar. However, she thought of something else. Looking over at the top of the teapot where she still couldn’t see the guy, “What are you doing? Who are you, anyways?”

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[Panis Angelicus][Outfit]

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[CHRISTOPHER JORDAN]

Chris shook his head, breathing out a little laugh at her answer. The story would have made sense if he was an idiot, but then he wasn't about to insult her lack of ability to lie after just having met her. Strike that, they hadn't even said more than a couple of words to one another; he couldn't technically say that they'd met. All the more reason to keep it polite. “Everything up to standard, then?” He asked, trying not to make it obvious that he was teasing her. He didn't want her getting embarrassed, and running away to a giant flour sifter next, or something. Leaning his elbow on the lid so that he could prop his head up on his raised hand, he gave her a more polite smile, not that she could probably see it in the dark anyway. When she asked what he was doing, and who he was, he frowned a little, and put the phone back into his pocket with a shrug. “Just passing by.” And hunting down strangers, apparently. “I heard you singing from outside, in the hallway.” With his phone removed, he couldn't even make out her silhouette in the dark. He would have kept it up, if he didn't think that it was blinding the crap out of her.

He moved his arm so that he was standing straight again, and leaned away from the lid, “What's your name?”

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[Outfit]

[CASSIDY BOWERS]

P A N I S 𝄞 A N G E L I C U S
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Cassidy blushed, knowing that she'd been caught, though it wasn't at all surprising considering how horrible she was at lying. She couldn't even tell the smallest of fibs. She nodded a bit, "Y-yeah... It's good." She tapped the inside of the teapot a bit, as if she was checking the material, just trying to do something so as not to look completely awkward sitting down inside the gigantic teapot. She blinked up at him as he leaned on the top of the teapot, and relaxed as he put his phone back in his pocket. "Well, I didn't think I was that loud... Why did you come in?" Her eyes adjusted back to the dark and she pulled her shoes off, climbing up the spout of the teapot and out, carefully climbing down to the floor and scurrying off to hide behind a teacup, "Cassidy. My name is Cassidy. But people usually call me Cassie."

She paused there for a moment before scurrying off to hide behind a different teacup. Maybe if he couldn't find her he would stop looking. Then again, he might not leave. After all, he'd gone looking for her when she hid in the teapot. After a long moment, she slipped her shoes back on and stood up, walking back over toward the teapot again, "Might I ask your name? Otherwise I'll just have to call you 'the guy that showed up in the auditorium.'" She wrinkled her nose ever so slightly, "Because that sounds slightly sketchy, don't you think? My mother wouldn't like it one bit."

Drifting back over to stand in the light of the spotlight, she motioned him over, "We could actually see over here...." She spun in the light a bit, causing her dress to spin outward, and the curls in her hair to bounce ever so slightly. She stopped, facing forward on stage, and took a deep breath before releasing it with a sigh, "Isn't it just glorious? It's amazing how such an empty room can seem so majestic and magical. Truly remarkable." She smiled back over her shoulder, looking over at the guy shyly.

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[Panis Angelicus][Outfit]

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[CHRISTOPHER JORDAN]

Chris watched with an amused expression as the girl tapped the side of the teapot, trying to make the appearance for her ruse. He decided not to embarrass her further by calling her out on it, and instead nodded as he continued on to answer her question over what he was doing there. His expression became more thoughtful as he thought over his answer to her next question. He wasn’t sure if the honest reason sounded nosy, or rude, and didn’t want her thinking that he was some sort of a creep either. He decided, however, that it was the only excuse he had. “I don’t really know... I guess I was curious. I mean you can really sing..” He gave a quiet laugh, a little embarrassed at the way he hadn’t been able to explain exactly how her voice had drawn him into the auditorium. He’d just had to know where it was coming from.

He looked down again, curious when he heard her shuffling around in the base of the teapot. By the time he’d gotten out his cell phone again, she’d already climbed out of the spout of the teapot. He leaned down, trying to see if she’d gotten stuck at its lip, when he heard her moving around the stage. He was surprised by the effectiveness of the prop; what had made them think to make the thing with an actual spout? He pulled himself up to look for her on the stage, squinting to see in the darkness. Was she seriously hiding from him again?

He smiled, though, when she told him her name. He liked it. “Nice to meetcha,” he said, hopping down from the teapot so he could try finding her again. He was getting ready to respond by telling her his own name, but he was afraid for a second that she’d snuck around him, and left. What was she so afraid of? He turned around, listening closely in case he could hear her leaving from the auditorium, but whipped back around when he heard her closer to where he was standing. He breathed out a laugh at her joke, and scratched his head. ”Yeah... Sorry about that.” He laughed quietly again, and dropped his hand back into his pocket. “You can tell her I’m Chris, instead.” He was thinking about offering her a hand to shake, but realized that she probably wouldn’t be able to see it anyway.

Instead, he let his face follow the sound of her feet hitting the floor as she walked back towards the front of the stage where the light was. He started after her when she beckoned him to do so, pausing to watch with a thoughtful smile as she spun in the light. She seemed to fit perfectly at its center, addressing her invisible audience with both ease, and excitement. Completely opposite from the way he crept along the edge, avoiding the points of center focus. Even with the hundreds of empty seats surrounding them, he felt uneasy.

He looked up at her, and tried to return her smile, hoping that his discomfort wasn’t written across his face like an embarrassing pimple. “Well you definitely belong up there.” To him, that was about as interesting as the room got. He’d always liked going to see shows, if only to listen to the music, and to let himself get swept away by someone else’s story. He enjoyed being in auditoriums for sure, as long as he was on the other side of it, blending in with the rest of the audience. “What made you decide to sing that?” He decided to play dumb with his knowledge of the song, not wanting to shine an immediate light on his Catholic upbringing. It didn’t really seem like the best ‘first conversation.’

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