The Diamond Dog Chronicles
Mariclaire: Touched By The Hand Of Baz
Chapter 4 Part 4
~ By Magenta ~
**Includes original dialogue by Craig Pierce and Baz Luhrmann**
‘The boys’ were seated at a booth in the Moulin Rouge, now all Mariclaire had to do was find Satine, make her meet Christian and then she could get back home.
She didn’t know where to begin looking, but didn’t have to go far as momentarily Satine began her sparkling decent from the rafters of the Moulin Rouge.
As Baz had promised, he had ‘people’ stationed to ensure the second Christian saw Satine, he would be smitten. Christian was breath taken, by her poise, beauty, and sultry voice.
Mariclaire smiled, ‘I guess cupid does exist after all,’ she thought.
Unfortunately as Satine made her decent, Mariclaire noticed someone who could potentially folly her plans, a well dressed rodent-like man was sitting in the booth beside the bohos. Unlike all the other men who wanted Satine, Mariclaire could sense that this man wanted her more...and evidentially he had the means to make it so.
‘Dammit Baz, you didn’t warn me about this,’ Mariclaire griped.
Mariclaire drifted closer to this man to comprehend the situation. He seemed to be a duke and was talking with the owner of the nightclub.
‘That must be Zidler,’ she thought remembering the case file.
“When am I going to meet the girl?” The Duke questioned Zidler.
“After her number I’ve arranged a special meeting just you and mademoiselle Satine...totally alone,” Harry responded easing the man’s fears.
Mariclaire became frantic, so she did the first thing that came to her mind, and echoed Harry’s words, for Toulouse to tell Christian. It didn’t matter that Toulouse had no such meeting planned...she would have to remember to deal with that later.
“Alone?” Christian voiced to Toulouse worried.
“Yes, towtawy awone,” he responded.
Christian panicked at that prospect, and decided to leave, however, fortunately Toulouse and the bohos stopped him.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry, I’ll sally forth and tee things up!” Toulouse exclaimed with a drunk’s confidence.
Mariclaire sighed, and moved her attention back to Satine as Toulouse walked toward the dressing rooms, and en route knocked a platter over spilling liquid on a The Duke in the next booth.
Now on stage, Zidler paraded with Satine.
“Is The Duke here Harold?” she questioned.
“Pigeon, would daddy let you down?” he returned.
“Where is he?”
“He’s the one Toulouse is shaking a hanky at.”
Toulouse was in a stupor, attempting to clean up his mess, by using The Duke’s handkerchief, and then desisted as The Duke snarled at his actions.
A light bulb went on in Mariclaire’s head, but she would have to leave Satine for a moment. Lightning fast she appeared by Toulouse’s side and suggested that he borrow Christian’s handkerchief, hopefully thereby making Christian appear as the Duke to Satine.
“Are you sure?” Satine said, thinking Christian looked much to young to be a duke.
“Let me take a peek...” Zidler said looking in The Duke’s direction, and thankfully, Toulouse was now back using Christian’s hanky on The Duke.
“That’s the one chickpea,” Zidler smiled and then quipped, “I hope that demonic little loon doesn’t frighten him off.”
Mariclaire hovered under the abundance of can can skirts as Satine went through her costume transition and in doing so she learnt her charge’s main weakness and desire. She wanted to become an actress, to be loved by millions.
Mariclaire breathed a small sigh of relief, ‘So Satine does want to be loved. I just need to channel that to one person.’ she thought.
After Satine leapt up from under the skirts Mariclaire invisibly lead Satine to Christian’s booth.
“I believe you were expecting me,” Satine said to a stunned Christian.
“Yes...yes,” he breathed.
“I’m afraid it’s ladies choice,” Satine said to the rest of the crowd indicating she had chosen her dance partner.
Christian froze, scared by the attention, and unsure what to do.
Mariclaire threw her hands in the air, “She’s gorgeous, you’re in lust with her, dance for heavens sake!”
Just as Mariclaire thought she would have to help him work through his feelings, the bohos took the quicker route of verbally and physically encouraging Christian.
“I see you’ve alweady met my Engwish friend” Toulouse said to Satine.
‘No, he’s going to ruin my cover,’ Mariclaire worried.
“I’ll take care of it Toulouse” Satine responded.
Mariclaire was beyond her wits, “DANCE!” she commanded.
Satine followed Mariclaire’s lead and confronted Christian, “Let’s dance!”
Mariclaire was perplexed that once the pair had met, she didn’t get transported back home, and did not know what else to do. She hovered above her charges as they danced, listening, and amidst the confusion, everything seemed to be working out.
***
The night moved along splendidly. Each of her charges was firmly planted in the forefront of the other’s mind. However, upon Satine’s exit, the worst almost happened.
Sitting high on her trapeze, Satine passed out.
Mariclaire hurtled, panic stricken to a tall dark skinned man beneath her.
Satine fell and Mariclaire screamed at him, “CATCH HER! CATCH HER!”
‘She can’t die. If she dies, I’ll never get home,’ Mariclaire thought, even if rather selfishly, truthfully.
He caught Satine with ease, and left Mariclaire’s tiny heart pounding in her chest. She made herself take deep breaths in order to stay calm, this was no time for a panic attack. She was emotionally drained, and ready to hurry things along. Indeed they had met...but they were seemingly far from being in love.
***
In the elephant it seemed the pair were about to get to ‘business’. They were alone in the same room, and this was a very good sign to Mariclaire.
They put on quite a show for her, and Mariclaire was rolling with laughter as Christian naively told Satine that it was ‘quite long’.
Satine straddled Christian’s hips and roared, “Free the tiger...*oh* big boy!”
At first Mariclaire couldn’t resist a peek, why should they get all the fun...she had to get a few perks from being invisible.
However, as Christian moaned in response, Mariclaire, didn’t know where to look. She couldn’t leave, could she? Instead Mariclaire decided that Satine was temporarily a lost cause, and encouraged Christian to alter the situation using his charm to woo her through words.
As Christian sung, even Mariclaire’s knees grew weak, ‘how could she resist this!?’ Mariclaire thought.
To spur their passion, Mariclaire decided to take her faerie dust for a test drive. She took some from the pouch attached to her waist and sprinkled it before the pair, upon which their perception of reality completely changed. They felt as if they were dancing in the clouds.
Mariclaire dopily sighed, “How romantic. I think I may have pulled it off,” she said to no one as the pair moved in for their first kiss.
Satine, “Oh, I can't believe it. I'm in love. I'm in love with a young, handsome talented Duke.”
Christian grinned, “A duke?”
“Not that the title’s important of course”
“I’m not a duke...”
“Not a duke?” she responded
“I’m a writer”
“Dammit Christian!” Mariclaire yelled.
Satine had unravelled Mariclaire’s deception, and all hell was about to break loose. Mariclaire thought she was about to pass out, however, it seemed that Satine had beaten her to the punch.
‘What is with this girl??’ Mariclaire thought.
Christian began to place Satine on the bed, but was interrupted by The Duke abruptly entering the boudoir.
“OH MY BAZ! I FORGOT ABOUT, ABOUT THE DU...” she exclaimed before passing out.
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