II.
China Doll watched the sunrise from outside the gates of the 'Rouge. She hated them, hated them with fervor. "Sunny, it seems, doll face." Arabia's voice startled her. Slipping her arm around China's sore waist, Arabia let her wavy tresses tumble, a mane of fire. "Rough night?"
China Doll exposed her left breast, showing bruised flesh. "You might say that." Arabia rubbed the last of the black lines around China's eyes with pity, and kissed her cheek. "Nothing a good rest couldn't mend. Bed?"
China nodded, and took Arabia's hand. Her back ached, her muscles throbbed. She hated this just as much as her sunrises. Their ghastly diamond, the infamous Satine, had mused about the splendor of sunrises, basked in their beauty. Of course, Satine spoke of the inaccessible, all things fruitless, and impossible. Dreams, imaginings, and the like.
China Doll hated sunrises, yes, and clouds with silver linings. But she did enjoy the warm kisses Arabia would place upon her lips.
"Feel better, then?" Arabia chuckled. China smiled against her skin. "Yes." She had already slipped her hand down, crushing the flimsy cloth that kept her hand from the roses she so desired. China Doll couldn't fumble with the fabric for long – Arabia had pushed her away. "Now?" she asked with overwrought eyes.
"Yes, now." China Doll grinned. Her hands found Arabia's breasts, and begun to untie her corset. "Sleeping in this had to be very uncomfortable, mademoiselle." China said as though speaking to one of her clients. The bodice slipped to the ground, a burden in a heap on the floor.
"See no evil." Arabia muttered as China stared at her naked beauty. Before her stood no doll she was used to, (China spent too many nights with Babydoll; it reminded her of the porcelain she was meant to be) but this was an exotic flower on the Amazon, Nile, Ganges. "Speak no evil." Arabia continued, somewhat tentative.
She began to remove China's clothes, but with more delicacy. "I won't break." China Doll whispered. Arabia sighed as she glanced at the reflective glass across the room. "But that will." And they both laughed.
First, to entwine the fingers. Legs wrapped together, a mix of porcelain and sand. Beautifully contrasted, the press of their bodies, where an irrepressible desire lay between. They knew now that they wanted this, despite doubts or hesitance.
With the lust, encounter became quick. Arabia slipped her fingers in, a secret swan dive. China twisted in the sheets. It was driven farther, deeper; it was ecstasy. Their mirth was silence to all but themselves. Arabia seemed so skilled of her feminine curves, sending tingles up China's spine. This was all there ever was.
"More…" China urged, as any would. She kept her stunning orbs open, gazing at Arabia with mounting intensity. Flames kissed her hips, and drove inside of her, until their release. And then did the sparkling stream pour.
"Eager, young one?" Arabia teased, a smile of lovely pearls. She was all trickery and mockery. "Must it end?" China growled, curving her spine upwards with Arabia's absence.
"It won't." Arabia merely replied, biting China's lip with seduction.
"Burn with this fire." China uttered as she grasped both of Arabia's breasts, roughly pushing herself against her. They pressed on, without hesitation. Arabia's hair was slick with sweat, beads running down her neck. The way she gleamed and rippled so, China Doll knew she was worthy of only this flower. The raindrops that fell outside were like the tears running down their cheeks, if from pain or of pure elation.
When China grasped Arabia's hollow, she smiled mischievously. "The tongue works in inexplicable ways." China Doll said, her own taking the place where her fingers once occupied. This rainwater was thick, bitter, like salt. Arabia could not lie still, and stroked China's locks with her hands. China Doll's tongue traced patterns, explored, searching for some jewel. Arabia hid behind her headdress each hour of darkness. Maybe tonight she'd dance without it.
"Further, my love …" Arabia sighed, forcing China's tongue deeper into the point of liberation.
When the sugar coated her lips, China fell to the floor and watched her tiger's chest move, a beat with her heart. Moments passed, and there was a stare that meant everything, and nothing. China rested her head upon the bed frame, and closed her eyes. She saw the instants that had just passed, images that calmed her eagerness, the wanting she had felt just the day before.
"Quite the revelry, don't you think?" Arabia said, and cupped her friend's cheek in her hand. "Tomorrow night, my love."
With a few adept movements, Arabia was dressed, off calling down the hallway for another of the girls. China Doll was left on the floor unaccompanied, unclothed.
Exposed.
---
"Here they are, gentlemen!" Harold's voice echoed in the dance hall, and China painted on her pearly whites. Golden boots shone under the lights, turquoise and violet bound her olive skin. The farther into the crowd she got, the more unwanted hands and pleadings she received.
scream my name.
One glance at Arabia, and she saw her sprawled out on a pair of legs. Her lips spoke those well-known and seductive words, and instantly, the chap answered to her call, following her across the floor. "Too susceptible." China Doll whispered. Spanish caught her words.
"My, jealousy from our little geisha doll tonight."
"Quiet, senorita." China mocked.
Spanish just took hold of her hand, and told China Doll to dance with her for a group of young men. "Leave them wide-eyed and, as always, wanting more!" Spanish said in her rough foreign accent. In agreement, China wrapped her legs around her crony's waist, and they spun 'round the room in crimson and royal blue swirls. China could feel the cold stare on her back, but she felt no reason to care.
love those eyes.
China Doll grinned at Spanish. "And to end this salsa." She engulfed Spanish in a wet and tender kiss, entwined in her chinaware arms. Spanish left with a solemn face and a twist of her hips, for her eyes were set on her other, her aficionado; her Argentinean.
they are only flames.
Arabia made her way across the dance floor, avoiding all but the mangled plaything across the room. When she finally found her, it was obvious she had no means of mending the deplorable doll.
"What's all the fuss about, my love?" China Doll said with a bit of disgust. "You couldn't be covetous, now could you? Just must've gone completely mad."
Arabia had no patience for pleasantries. She had no patience for anything at the moment, really. Her kisses were hard, rough. And China couldn't afford those bruises. "This night is not ours."
And for once, China Doll sauntered away.
---
Arabia leaned against the wall drowsily, absinthe bottle in hand. Quite drained, as was she.
"What a tender moment, Arabia." muttered a familiar voice.
"The prettiest flower in the garden." Arabia said without looking up.
"But you are my exotic lily, dear. A spice to the night sky." Garden Girl said with a wave of her hand, and wrapped her arm around Arabia's shoulder. Her green dress sparkled like the fairy drawn on the glass clutched in Arabia's hand. Her burning ginger hair shimmered like sunrises drenched in Hell's fire. If someone were ever needed to replace Satine, she could pull it off. Sadly, Arabia thought, she'd never abscond her gardens.
"Don't worry. When porcelain breaks, something's got to mend it."
"And what's that, Rosie?"
"Kisses." Placed on irksome lips. "And other quite obvious things."
---
China, coupled with gentleman, could not hear their screams.
She spent the rest of the night with a middle-aged artist who rewarded her with his latest print's sellings. Insisting that he call her Marie (some old lover, she supposed – no matter, play-acting was always exciting), she dreamed with her usual mask carefully fitted over her olive face.
I'm not here.
She woke with a bitter taste in her mouth, and Arabia beside her. "Why must you insist," China Doll said to a quiescent beauty, "on this?" She wrapped herself in the sheets, the flavor in her mouth akin to venom, somewhat distilled in her throat. Laying her head in the crook of Arabia's neck, China shed her tears until she found sleep. She couldn't say why.
---
"Look, the seraphs sleep."
"Can they rise?"
"Never."