The tom with the black around one of his eyes and a repulsive confidence in himself kissed the scarlet queen on her cheek and then on her lips. Bombalurina could feel his lips turn up in a smirk through the kiss. When any tom tasted Bombalurina's much desired lips, they smirked. The red queen often wondered why, for no matter who they were and no matter what their personality, they smirked. She, of course, smirked as well but in a playful manner. Their smirk, she decided, was due to the belief that they had taken her in some way; it was produced by the mere thought of consumption. Each had a fantasy that deemed Bombalurina their possession with that one kiss. In their eyes, she gave them power and a right to have her in any manner their imaginations allowed.
She quickly jerked his head away from hers and, with an undesirable look in her eyes, she asked, "Why do you smirk?"
Confused and annoyed that he was taken away from his fun, Alonzo answered without the slightest attempt at class, "Because I'm about to have the scarlet queen!" Assuming his late night meal was finished speaking, the hungry tom rashly attacked her collar with his teeth. The suddenness of the sensation caused her to bite down on her lip. She then wove her claws through his tangled mane and tugged his head away from her collar.
"I'm serious!" Feeling awkward and resenting Bombalurina's ruining the mood, Alonzo stood down.
"Oh, I know!," the black and white tom urged with his paw up to exaggerate his bright idea. "How about you stop calling me out," he began, leaning in until his lips touched her skin, "and start calling me darling?" With pride at his slyness, Alonzo grinned and purposefully fell into the tire just a step away from both of them. "How 'bout it, darling?" he mocked, attempting to mimic the voice Bombalurina used when referring to her fellow Jellicles as "darlings" .
Impatient and slightly offended, Bombalurina moseyed to the tire and stroked Alonzo's ear.
"Darling," she purred slowly, humouring him for a moment, "would you be so kind as to get out of my sight and be vulgar somewhere else?" By her latter words, the queen was annunciating with a force meant for intimidation.
Being the joker that he was, Alonzo shouted on his way out, "Queen of vulgarity calling me vulgar! Now, I'll call that an accomplishment!" As the last sign of his figure was lost in the distance, Bombalurina heard the echo of a boyish chuckle. The queen, now alone, closed her eyes and exhaled, regretting the entire event.
Time had escaped Bombalurina as it did every time she pursued a tom. Seeing the Sun peek out, she wondered what Demeter would think. No matter how many immoral acts she began and no matter how many times she went against her judgement, the scarlet queen never even began to desensitize her conscience. Every act, every kiss, and every drop of liquor she fed to a silly and eager tom ended with her asking that same question; what would Demeter think?