"My dear!" Harold Zidler exclaimed as he came rushing in the front doors. "Are you decent for the Duke? Where were you?"

Satine caught hold of one of the lace extensions of her attire, holding out as she attempted to position herself in front of me better.

With the way everyone was talking about this Duke, I wanted a glimpse of him. I noted a second pair of feet entering behind Zidler, and, assuming that they belonged to the Duke, I slowly peeked my head out from behind Satine, attempting to get a good look at the man.

She must have felt my movement, being that I'd no sooner gotten my nose past the back of her knee when she roughly drove the side of her leg into my face in warning. I was stunned, but I took the warning well and recoiled back out of view.

"I..." She stammered out, taking a very small step backward toward the refreshment table, nudging me along the floor as she did so. "...was...waiting." She concluded only after having gotten herself directly alongside the table.

I took my cue and crawled behind it.

"Dearest Duke," Zidler exclaimed, apparently addressing the figure that -- although I was yet to see him -- I knew to be my competition of sorts in gaining Satine's attention. "Allow me to introduce Mademoiselle Satine."

I had to get a look at him. Slowly, I straightened behind the table, using the fruit bowl as cover as I risked a glance at the entering man. What I saw was far from what I expected.

The Duke was short, impossibly thin, and was dressed in what could be noted as a very expensive tux, though it did little to make him look any more masculine than he was. He removed his hat upon fixing beady eyes on Satine, an action that revealed a chin-length tuft of stringy, blonde hair that hung about his face in such a way that gave the allusion to being dog-ears. His long face was overshadowed by a strangely large and pointed nose, under which a mustache as blonde as his hair grew. His lips were pursed in a manner that made him look something like a rodent, completing his absurd appearance.

I gawked. How had Satine mistaken me for that man?

"Mm, Monsieur," She purred, shifting about on a heel to cast a sharp glance in my direction, a motion that made me duck back under the table in response. Right. I was supposed to be hiding. "How wonderful of you to take time out of your busy schedule to visit."

"The pleasure, I fear," The Duke responded in a voice that made me cringe. His voice was as nasal and revolting as he looked. "-- will be entirely mine, my dear."

"I'll leave you squirrels to get better acquainted," Zidler offered to them, a statement that made me writhe mentally. "Ta-ta!" It was the sound of the door slamming that alerted me to the fact that I was alone with the two of them.

The problem was, I really wasn't supposed to be there at all.

"A kiss on the hand may be quite continental," the obnoxious voice of the Duke rang out as the door shut. Although I couldn't see what was occurring, I could tell that he'd made something of an advance on Satine.

"...but diamonds are a girl's best friend," she completed for him, her voice bordering severely on patronizing. She gave a soft squeak shortly after, then I heard the bed shift.

They were already in bed?! Frowning, I lifted my head again to glance between the two. Satine had taken the Duke's hat and cane and had dropped back onto the bed with an exasperated contortion to her features. The Duke's back was to me, but it didn't take much observation on my part to note that he was enjoying the view that her sprawling back on the bed had presented.

The Duke turned rather suddenly toward me, something that made me recoil back under the table again. He was crossing toward the table. "After tonight's pretty exertions on the stage, you must surely be in need for some refreshment, my dear."

I heard the champagne bottle rattle within the ice bucket and winced. It would only be a matter of seconds before he spotted me.

"Don't!" Satine all but shrieked, a sound that must have startled the Duke as much as it startled myself. Seemingly realizing her error, she stammered to continue. "...you just...love the view, mm?"

From my angle behind the table, I could only see the Duke clearly, and Satine must have motioned toward the heart-shaped window, for he turned (albeit cautiously) toward the window to cast it a glance.

"Charming," The Duke provided reluctantly. No sooner had he breathed that was he turning back toward the champagne bottle and, more importantly, my hiding place.

"Ooh!" Satine blurted out. "...I feel like dancing!" Shortly after, those yipping yowls of hers were filling the air of the elephant, and I couldn't help but slowly raise my head out from behind the table to see what she was doing.

She'd grasped hold of the lacey extensions of her negligee and was twirling them about herself as she danced across the floor.

The Duke and I both stared at her in shocked silence.

"Don't you feel like dancing?" She questioned as she performed a three-sixty on her heel.

"...My dear," The Duke attempted to speak over her shouts. "I should like a glass of champagne --" With that, he turned back toward me, a motion that I noticed a hair too late. Attempting to drop back down under the table, it was Satine's distracting voice that saved me from being seen.

"No!" She shrilly interjected again, causing the Duke to pull to a shaky halt. "...It's a little bit funny!"

That seemed to have the Duke confused and he leaned forward to view her, as if genuinely confused. "What is?"

"This feeling," She stammered out before falling silent. I realized she was attempting to recite my poetry, yet had forgotten it along the way. Casting a cautious glance up on the Duke, I rose from my hiding place again, mouthing the next line to her while pointing at myself in emphasis.

She fixed her gaze on me, studying my words before blurting out. "I-inside!" Furrowing her brow, she continued to stare at me, attempting to determine what it was I was pantomiming. "...I'm not one of those who can easily..."

I covered my eyes, a motion that she quickly responded to with: "...hide!"

Unfortunately, the motion of bringing my hands up had brought my elbow into a collision with the side of the table, causing the metallic trays on top of it to rattle audibly. I dropped my head back under it just as the Duke turned to look toward me.

Again, it was Satine that saved me from being spotted. "No!" She shouted, springing forward in one motion and dropping to the ground, raveling thin arms about the Duke's legs.

Taking that distraction as my cue, I slowly crawled out from behind the table, maneuvering myself directly behind the Duke as Satine kept him... distracted.

"I don't have much money, but, oooh, if I did," She purred, hands wandering slightly up the front of the Duke's legs in a way that was nearly as distracting to me as it was to him. The only difference was that his distraction was caused by arousal whereas my distraction was caused by repulsion. "I'd buy a big house where we both could live."

In one motion, Satine pushed her hands between the Duke's knees, prying them apart to look at me from between them. The Duke gave a strangled moan in response to the motion, one that made me cringe, frowning at Satine. She made a sharp gesture with her hand toward the door behind me prior to pushing the Duke's knees forcefully closed again.

I turned slightly to glance toward the door, nodding in understanding. She'd keep the Duke distracted while I made a getaway. I didn't necessarily like that idea -- leaving her with the slimy rodent of a man, but I didn't exactly have a choice.

"...I hope you don't mind," It was Satine, that lovely soprano voice of hers repeating the lyrics I had improvised merely minutes earlier perfectly. She was carefully maneuvering herself into a standing position in front of the Duke, but was making certain with strategic strokes of her hands up his body that his gaze never moved from her during the movement.

"I hope you don't mind, that I put down in words..." She continued. It was something of a struggle to not lose myself into the beauty of her voice as I rose simultaneously to her, leaving the Duke pinned between our standing frames.

"...how wonderful life is, now you're in the world," Satine concluded, slim hands easing up to either side of the Duke's face.

The Duke himself was as stunned as I was, though he managed to find his voice when I could only stare at her in awe. "...that's very beautiful."

Only then did I note that Satine's left hand (which was still positioned nearly against the Duke's face) was motioning me toward the door.

Nodding just slightly, I turned and began to tiptoe for the door as she spoke in that sultry undertone of hers to the Duke. "It's from Spectacular, Spectacular. Suddenly, with you here, I finally knew the true meaning of those words."

I reached the door and cast a reluctant glance back on her and the Duke, fingers raveling about the handle with which I could pull the barrier open. The last thing I wanted right then was to leave her there with that man.

"How wonderful life is now you're in the world," She completed, casting a glance in my direction. For a fleeting moment, I wondered if she was speaking to the Duke or me but was given little time to entertain the notion. Turning, I pulled the door open slowly, if only to prevent any creaks from the hinges.

Over my shoulder, I heard the Duke's voice quietly questioning Satine. "...and what meaning is that, my dear?"

I'd hesitated to risk a longing glance back on Satine and the Duke, something that I learned I shouldn't have done if only for the dropping sensation the view of them together like that caused my stomach to perform. I was still contemplating that when I began to maneuver myself out of the opened door only to bring myself to a sudden halt.

Standing on the other side of the door (with his back fortunately to me), a short, fat man with a bald head was stationed, undoubtedly awaiting the Duke's exit. I somehow restrained the strangled gasp I gave in startled surprise, back-peddling into the room again, slamming the door closed in my haste.

I didn't realize until I'd already performed the act that the sound of the door slamming would alert the Duke to my presence. Stiffening, I threw myself into a corner, covering my head with my hands as if the action of preventing the Duke from seeing my face would keep him from seeing me altogether.

I'd lost count of how many times Satine saved me by then, but she pulled through again, this time by giving a strangled cry out and tossing herself onto the bed in a heap. "Duke!" She exclaimed, pointing a finger at him, something that made him freeze -- forgetting about me all over again. Cautiously, I lowered my hands, pushing myself out of the corner. "Don't you toy with my emotions!"

Sniffling, she began to feign a sob. The Duke fell for it, however, and moved forward as she continued. "...you must know the effect you have on women!"

The Duke was apparently impressed and flattered by that statement, venturing to offer her something of what I assumed to be a fake-modest smile. That smile faded, however, when Satine leaned forward and jerked him down onto the bed with her. "...let's make love! You want to make loved, don't you?"

I frowned. I'd been stepping gradually across the room toward the window (earlier, I noted the fact that there was a small staircase that attached to it -- one that I could only assume that led to the top of the elephant where I'd be safe until the Duke left) when she'd made that suggestion, one that caused me to halt, wounded. Only minutes before, she'd claimed to love me, and there she was, offering herself to a different man she didn't even know.

I stared, frowning at her, something that, upon noting, she rolled her eyes at, using one hand to guide the Duke's head to her neck while waving me toward the window with the other, mouthing the word "Go!". Half a second later, she turned a grin on the Duke, calling out. "Oh, oh, Duke!"

I tried to obey her order for me to leave, I truly did. I even managed to get a whole two steps toward the stairs before I pulled to a halt again, turning on my heel to glance back on her, tangled up with the Duke. The sight itself made my heart ache. I couldn't leave her there, and I made that evident when, midst the wrestling between them, she risked me a glance over the Duke's shoulder. It took but a single stare of longing from me before she crumbled, an action that made me believe even more so that she'd been speaking the truth when she -- as Satine, not the Duke's Sparkling Diamond -- said she loved me.

"-- Y-yes, you're right!" She breathed over the Duke's mumbled words into her neck. Satine maneuvered her hands up and under his chest, firmly pushing him back and off of her. "We should wait! Until opening night!"

The Duke didn't seem to be exactly thrilled by her decision. I didn't get the time to relish in his facial expression, unfortunately, being that when he rose, I was directly in his line of sight, and had to duck into the gilded staircase that led to the top of the elephant. "Wait -- wait?"

I leaned into the staircase slightly, straining to hear the conversation from the other room.

"There's a power in you that scares me... you should go!" It was Satine again, and by the sound of her voice, she was already leading the man toward the door.

"Go? But I just got here!" I couldn't help but bite a smirk back at the Duke's vain rebuttal.

"Oh, yes, but we'll see each other every day during rehearsal!" It was Satine again. "We must wait, we must wait until opening night! Now get out!"

I peeked my head 'round the corner of the staircase just in time to get a glimpse of the Duke's backside as Satine shoved his cane into his hands and forced him out the door, slamming it behind him.

Carefully, I eased my way down the narrow set of stairs, stepping back into the elephant as I turned attentive hues to her. She whirled on me in a flash, falling into stride for me.

"Do you have any idea -- any idea --" She exclaimed, her voice coming out a high-pitched, strangled half-whisper as she made her way toward me. I briefly thought on the strange tone, but was given little time to do so before she continued. "...what would have happened if you'd been found?"

Her last words fell almost silent as she wavered noticeably on her feet, head tipping back in much of the same manner it had while she was on the trapeze. Lips turning downward gradually in concern, I took a reluctant step toward her, reaching a hand in her direction.

"...S-Satine?" I'd barely stammered the word out before she fell forward, slouching limp and unconscious into my arms, leaving me to cradle her to my chest in confused silence.