Hey
everyone! I know that I promised this chapter for last Saturday, but I ended up
at guard practice for four hours in the afternoon and seeing MR again that
night ;). I was going to put this up yesterday, but I was out of town and then
when I sat down to write it, it suddenly became really hard to capture the
atmosphere of this particular part of the movie, even though it's one of my
favorites. So bear with me, please. Thank you so much!
Same standard, don't read
if you haven't seen Moulin Rouge, but if you haven't see it, you'll love it!
Don't own characters from either MR or Passions, so don't sue me because I'm
spending all my money on this movie.
Feedback!!!
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Ivy quickly checked her appearance in the mirror in her dressing room.
Backstage at the Moulin Rouge, girls were running around preparing for that
night's crowd. She was known as the most beautiful of all the courtesans in
Paris and was a sight for sore eyes every night. Age and experience had only
improved her technique and increased her popularity. In the past, she had had
her fair share of men and clients, but had never even considered love. In the
world of the courtesan, love was out of the question. There were men to tease
and customers to please, Harold Zidler had once told her. She couldn't wait to
escape this place and become a real, true performer on the stage. Hopefully,
tonight's meeting with the Duke of Worcester would help secure her fate.
"Come on, Ivy, we gotta go out there," another
girl, Sheridan, called to her. Ivy did one last lookover in her mirror and
climbed the stairs up to the swing where she would descend onto the dance floor
that night. On her way up, she heard Sheridan groan, "Why does SHE get the
glory and we get squat?"
********************
Sam, Hank, Ethan, Luis and Timmy sat at a booth on the outer edges of the dance
floor and watched the girls dance as Harold Zidler led his famous band on the
balcony. "It's confirmed. After tonight's performance, Sam will meet Ivy in the
elephant outside," Timmy explained. "Completely and totally alone."
"Why does he talk in third person?" Sam
whispered to Hank.
"Don't know," Hank answered.
"So when's Ivy going to come out?" Sam asked
impatiently.
"Soon," Ethan answered.
"She's something else," Luis told him with a
grin, "but I prefer that spunky one, Sheridan."
"Sheridan?" Hank asked. "I told you I had first
dibs on her if something were to happen."
"Whatever," Luis said. "Anyway, you wouldn't
believe what Ivy does."
"I bet I won't," Sam said.
"That's Sheridan, right there," Luis explained
and pointed to one of Zidler's "Diamond Dogs." "She's the next best one to
Ivy."
All of Zidler's girls looked strangely familiar.
Sam swore that he saw not only Sheridan, but also Rebecca, Gwen, Whitney,
Theresa and even Kay. He grinned to himself. "Where's a camcorder when you need
one?" he muttered to himself and continued to wait for Ivy.
********************
In the booth behind the men, Julian Crane, the Duke of Worcester, was
anticipating the same thing that Sam was. "Ah, that delicious little specimen
Ivy," Julian said to his manservant and sighed. "Forget about financing this place
into a 'real theatre'—I want that pastry!"
Zidler came out to talk to Julian. "Sir, it's
confirmed. After tonight's performance, you'll meet Ivy in the elephant
outside. Completely and totally alone."
As if on cue, the lights dimmed and a velvet
swing was lowered. A beautiful blonde was lowered from the ceiling. "The French
are glad to die for love," she sang in a sultry voice as the men went wild.
"They delight in fighting duels. But I prefer a man who lives and gives
expensive jewels."
Sam could only stare. THIS was Ivy? She looked
and sounded just like the Ivy back in Harmony, but he could never see her doing
this. She was dressed in a sparkling silver tank leotard and a top hat with a
silver band around it. Around the waistband of her leotard was a fringe skirt
and underneath it she wore fishnet hose and high-heeled silver shoes.
"A kiss on the hand may be quite continental,
but diamonds are a girl's best friend," she sang as she swung around atop the
crowd. "A kiss may be grand but it won't pay the rental on your humble flat, or
help you at the automat."
"Wow," Sam said under his breath. He couldn't
help but feel envious of all the men on the floor that she was lavishing
attention on, but figured that he would get his turn later.
"What did Timmy tell you?" Timmy said,
interrupting his thoughts. "Ivy's the sparkling diamond of the Moulin Rouge.
And SAM gets to have a private meeting with her later!"
"I can't wait," Sam remarked, still in a trance
over Ivy.
"Men grow cold as girls grow old, and we all
lose our charms in the end," Ivy continued, keeping the audience wanting more.
"But square-cut or pear-shaped, these rocks don't lose their shape, diamonds
are a girl's best friend."
Ivy got off of the swing and walked around the
crowd as men offered her diamonds, flowers and everything a good performer
deserved. She was so sick of this act, though. She wished that she could fall
in love just once, one time, just to know what it was like. "Tiffany's! Cartier!"
She picked one man and sang, "'Cause we are living in a material world, and I
am a material girl." She grinned. "Come and get me, boys," she teased as they
lifted her off the floor. Zidler joined her on the floor. "Talk to me, Harold
Zidler, tell me all about it!"
Sam smiled at the "Material Girl" reference. "So
it's all their fault?" he asked himself.
"There may come a time when a lass needs a
lawyer, but diamonds are a girl's best friend," she sang while she and Zidler
were dancing on a platform. "There may come a time when a hard-boiled employer
thinks you're awful nice, but get that ice or else no dice." The other girls –
Sheridan, Rebecca, Theresa and Whitney – sang the next part: "He's your guy
when stocks are high but beware when they start to descend."
Ivy and Zidler tried to converse amongst the
noise on the floor. "Is the duke here?" Ivy asked.
"Yes, he's the one Timmy's shaking a hanky at,"
Zidler told her. At that point, Timmy had been shaking a hanky in Julian's face.
But when Ivy saw Timmy, he was shaking it at a
Sam's face. THAT was the duke? She thought. No, he was too good-looking to be
an old, rich royal looking to buy a theater. "Are you sure?" she asked Zidler
in disbelief.
Zidler looked over her shoulder. Once again,
Timmy was with Julian. "Yes it is," he confirmed. "Let's hope Timmy doesn't
scare him off."
Ivy turned to see Timmy again. He was with the
same young, handsome man she had seen before. Their eyes locked for a moment
and Ivy thought that she saw recognition in the duke's eyes. Turning jher
attention back to the dancing. The can-can dancers lifted up their skirts,
forming a wall around her and Zidler. "Will he invest?" she asked as she
prepared for a split-second costume change.
"After a night with you?" Zidler asked. "How
could he refuse?"
She grinned. "What's his type? Wilting flower?
Bright and bubbly? Or smoldering temptress?" She acted out each of the personas
for Zidler to help him decide.
"I'd say smoldering temptress," he told Ivy.
"Just think, sparrow. After tonight, we'll have a real theater, a real show and
you'll be—"
"A real actress," Ivy finished, her voice filled
with hope. They popped back out of the shadow of the dancers and she finished
her number. " 'Cause that's when those louses go back to their spouses,
diamonds are a girl's best friend." While singing the crescendo at the end of
the verse, she walked over to Sam's table. "I believe you are expecting me,"
she told him in a low, seductive voice.
"Y-yes, I am," Sam stuttered out as his friends
congratulated him.
She winked at him and turned back to the crowd.
"I'm afraid it's lady's choice," she announced and held her hand out to Sam.
Sam didn't accept at first, mostly out of shock. She pretended to pout and
began doing a dance in front of him to convince him. Finally, Luis and Hank
pushed Sam to her and they danced to the background music.
"So wonderful of you to take an interest in our
little show," Ivy told him while dancing.
"It sounds very exciting. I'd be delighted," Sam
said. "Timmy thought that we might be able to do it in private."
Ivy suddenly stopped, thinking that he meant
what she did. "Did he?"
"Yes, you know, a private poetry reading," Sam
explained.
She smiled. "A POETRY reading? Ooh, I loooooove
a little poet, how they have to suffer!" The dance was almost over. "Throw up
your hat!" she told him as he did.
Mounting the swing after Sam went back to his
seat, she finished her set. "Diamonds, diamonds," the song then went into
fermata, "are a girl's best—" Suddenly she couldn't find the strength to take
in the final breath. She gasped a few times before falling off the swing and a
man who looked like Chad to Sam caught her.
Sam couldn't help but be incredibly concerned
for her. 1899 or not, she was still Ivy and despite what she had told him in
Harmony—or what she didn't tell him—he was still worried about her. As he
watched the Chad lookalike take Ivy backstage, he said a silent prayer for her.
********************
Lemme know what you think!
Also, are the song lyrics better like I had them in "It's Karaoke
Time" or in here? Thanks!
~*Maggie*~