| "In Between The Lines" 'The Greatest Thing You'll Ever Learn' Part 3 Chapter 3 |
| Comfortably dressed in her new robe, Satine sat splayed across a single armchair in Toulouse�s eclectic studio. She had spent the evening watching Christian excitedly run-through his outline for �Spectacular! Spectacular!� She loved being near him. Enthusiasm and joy just seemed to surge from him and his presence had an intoxicating effect on her. When Satine was near Christian, she found herself once again acting like a carefree teenager and this evening she was having the time of her life, just lazing around in Toulouse�s studio. Satine snapped back to reality as Christian continued his lively rendition of the play. Christian stepped from behind a makeshift curtain, � �She has betrayed me!� � He declared in a booming voice, taking off the shawl he was using as a character prop and continued to narrate the plot. �Mad with jealousy, the evil Maharaja forces the courtesan to make the penniless sitar player believe she doesn't love him,� he said, making his way across the room. Toulouse, working away in the kitchen on his latest gourmet invention, was in raptures. As if dumbfounded he put his hand to his head and exclaimed, �Oh Yes!� and continued to marvel at Christian�s brilliance. |
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| Christian leapt to the windowsill, now involved in bringing his characters to life. � �Thank you for curing me of my ridiculous obsession with love!� � He said, adding a forceful pelvic thrust to entertain his companions and iterate his point. |
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| �Says the penniless sitar player, throwing money at her feet and leaving the kingdom forever!� he said, continuing to narrate. He moved to jump from the studio balcony to the street below, causing Satine and Toulouse to simultaneously cry out, �NO!� They were so involved in Christian�s brilliant storytelling that for a moment they actually believed he would jump. Christian grinned at the fact that they were so ensconced and when Toulouse realized Christian�s words could have such an effect on an audience he exclaimed, �Brilliant! Brilliant!� Energy was high and Satine joined in the creative outbursts and called out to a hidden Christian. �Oh, but a life without love, that's, that's terrible!� she said, quoting him from the night they first met, in a half mocking, half serious tone. Christian was glad to hear Satine was opening up her mind and heart to the possibilities of love. He reappeared through another window, catching her gaze. They were both fully aware of the underlying meaning within the play and the freedom of role-playing could allow them to reveal their true feelings without having to completely expose themselves. �Yes, but the sitar player...� he responded. Christian perched himself across Satine�s lap and nuzzled the side of her face, inhaling the scent of her hair, and for the moment forgetting there were more than the two of them in the room. �...the magical sitar player� he said, laughing, attempting to keep track of the plot. |
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| Like children, Satine and Christian giggled at their intimate contact and Christian�s lack of concentration, they were drunk on one another. However, momentarily Toulouse made his presence known, �Wait, that, that, that�s my part Cwistian,� he said, hobbling over with a platter in hand. Standing next to the pair he attempted to join their fun, continuing, �Don�t you dare! No, I know this.� he said trying to conjure up one of Christian�s lines. Christian and Satine momentarily paused waiting to see what he would say. �The magical sitar who can only speak the truth he says...he says...� Toulouse was madly trying to compose something that would impress his Sparkling Diamond and her talented poet. Satine burst out laughing at Toulouse�s insistence that he knew the line, yet apparent failing to voice it. She folded over in laughter and rest her head on Christian�s chest. Toulouse saw they had given up on him and insisted, �No, no, wait...� but had to concede when Christian bailed him out. Christian pulled back from Satine, looked at her and let them both hear the pivotal line of the play, �The greatest thing you�ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.� Satine placed her hand over Christian�s, voicing her response. She was deliriously happy, and yes�she was in love. Satine was almost waiting to wake up from a dream at any moment, but she felt so alive from the touch of her palm against Christian�s skin, she knew that it had to be real. Out of the corner of Christian�s eye, something drew his attention away from Satine and he looked strangely at Toulouse. �What on earth is that?� he said gesturing to the concoction Toulouse held in his hands. �Fish,� Toulouse replied simply, �Come on, you have to try it, this is your dinner,� he finished and walked over to a nearby table. Christian turned back to Satine and scrunched his face up in distaste, and both suppressed more laughter. Toulouse placed the platter on the table, in the process, clearing a table full of art supplies to the floor in one sweep. Christian stood and extended a hand to help Satine out of the chair. She took it and then held on as he lead her to the dinner table. Letting go of Satine�s hand, Christian picked up several small sketches and assorted pieces of artwork, which were still on the table. Whilst removing them, he took a moment to appreciate Toulouse�s work. He noticed they all seemed to be of the same person and asked, �Who�s this...the woman in your drawings?� It was obvious Toulouse hadn�t had sit down dinner guests in quite some time; he was too busy attempting to set some semblance of a dinner table to hear the question. �That�s Avril,� Satine quietly said, peering at the pictures over Christian�s shoulder. �Who?� he responded, indicating the name wasn�t familiar to him. �Avril. Jane Avril, she�s Toulouse�s favorite,� Satine said, placing a brief kiss on Christian�s cheek, �he�s smitten with her.� For a moment Christian wondered, �favorite what?� but from Toulouse�s embarrassed reaction to Satine�s glance in his direction, Christian gathered that Jane was somewhere in the category of Satine�s...�co-worker�. No longer liking the direction of this discussion, Toulouse came and took the drawings away from Christian, and put them with a stack of other discarded creations. �There, dinner�s weady!� he exclaimed and gestured toward a table left multicoloured from various paint splatterings over the years. Nothing on the table matched, Christian and Satine drank wine from mugs, while Toulouse drank absinthe from an empty jar he found with his art supplies. He had made a special effort to find three matching plates and cleaned them in the dish stacked sink moments before dinner was served. To Christian�s surprise, the fish was actually the best he had tasted...it was the worst he had seen, but still the best tasting. Satine loved the few times she had eaten at Toulouse�s in the past. His creations in the kitchen were just as bizarre as his artwork; however likewise it wasn�t often he created something she didn�t like. Tonight, Satine was thankful to be wearing her new robe, as it meant she could eat more than a few mouthfuls without having to excuse herself due to the painful restrictions of her corset. *** �My compliments to the chef!� said a merry Christian, as he charged his glass with cheap wine and toasted to Toulouse. �Well, I�m stuffed Toulouse, you�ve outdone yourself again� Satine said, slumping back in her chair to demonstrate her full stomach. �I trwy� Toulouse laughed, �So what do you think about my ideas for the scenery� Toulouse probed, eager for Christian�s take on their dinner discussion. �Well you�re right. We�re not going to need that anymore,� Christian laughed at the giant Swiss mountain landscape in the middle of Toulouse�s studio. �I was thinking vibwant gowlds, and stwong weds, repweesenting the decadent Indian life.� Toulouse said evidencing this area of the show as his forte. Christian was absorbing all of Toulouse�s ideas, eager to hear the artist�s take on his play; likewise, Toulouse was eager to hear Christian�s view�s on his artistic concepts. Both men were deeply involved in discussions about the play; clearly they revered and respected each other�s opinion. Satine sat, sipping at her wine, attempting to feign interest in their discussion, but she decided no amount of alcohol could make stage colour schemes and metaphoric scenery interesting to her this evening. She was far from drunk, just pleasantly buzzed, and was in no mood to sit at a table listening to what was sure to turn into another night of bohemian ramblings. Not that she was against the bohemian ideals; in fact of late she had come to appreciate such things in her life quite a bit, however she could only handle so much and knew Toulouse�s conversations tended to drift off subject into the philosophical and fantastical. In an effort to entertain herself, Satine uncrossed her legs under the dinner table and ran her bare foot up the pant leg of Christian�s calf and back down again. Christian tensed up and his eyes widened at the unexpected contact. He looked to Satine who innocently looked back to him as if she had done nothing. Giving her a sly look out the corner of his eye, Christian turned his attention back to Toulouse who was still discussing the intricacies of the Indian lifestyle. Moments later, Satine was back playing her game, this time going further than before. She first repeated her motion over his lower leg; however the second time upon retracing her path back to his calf, she slowly continued toward his inner thigh. Christian drew a sharp breath and in a reflex reaction, jerked his knee upward, banging it against the table, spilling the contents of several glasses. Toulouse leapt up from his seat to escape staining his clothes. �Oh, oh, I�m so sorry...sorry!� Christian baffled, �here, let me...� he said, moving to stand and clear the mess. �No, no, I�ve got it, you stay there, I�ll gwab a wag from the kitchen� Toulouse said, before disappearing in search of a suitable, absorbable item. Christian suppressed a smile and stared at Satine, in an effort to ask what she thought she was doing. He was yet to get used to Satine�s sexual aggressiveness, and obviously had a long way to go before learning how to deal with her playful outbursts when in the company of others. In response, Satine did no more than raise her eyebrows at the flushed poet, playing Miss Innocent as if asking, �what?� Toulouse returned with a worn painter�s rag and began to mop up the small spillage by hand. He quickly cleaned the surface of the table and took the dinner plates with him, returning them to the stack of dishes in the kitchen. �All fixed!� he said upon returning and sat back with his guests. Satine boldly yawned, making a minor performance out of her artificial tiredness, and looked in Christian�s direction with desire in her eyes. She was ready to leave and was waiting for him to excuse them both. Once Christian caught onto Satine�s intentions, he pushed his chair back from the table and said, �Well Toulouse, it�s getting late, we really should get going.� �But you haven�t finished your run through of �Spectacuwar! Spectacuwar!� � he said in an effort to keep them there just a little longer. He didn�t want the night to end so soon. If he couldn�t be �the charming writer� or love interest to the Sparkling Diamond, living vicariously through their company was the next best thing. �That�s as far as I have written� Christian replied and then looked softly to Satine, �I can�t quite figure out what the ending for this one is going to be.� Satine darted her eyes away from Christian, embarrassed by his implications. �Oh, alwight, just make sure you let me know how it ends, everwee detail� Toulouse said, indicating his intense interest in the play. After his double entendre with Satine, Christian was unsure how to answer Toulouse. He didn�t want Satine thinking he would relay intimate details, but muffled a, �uh, sure� in response. Satine stifled a giggle as she observed Christian�s predicament. Toulouse looked at her in curiosity; in return she covered by yawning yet again. �I think I better get you to bed� Christian said, regretting the choice of words as soon as they left his mouth. Whenever Satine was near him, his skill with words was often lost. Toulouse observed the interactions between the pair, shook his head and shooed them off with this hands. Embarrassed, but relieved he had �permission� to leave, he thanked Toulouse for being a wonderful host and all promised they would do it again soon. Christian gathered his papers and the two made their way back down the ladder to his garret. |
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