Chapter 18
It's just another night at Mooney's. Today marks two weeks at Mooney's. I can tell Oswald is anticipating the paycheck he'll receive today, just from the way he whistled into work while his arm was wrapped around me.
"So...are you and Oswald…?" Ann awkwardly asks as we prepare for the next show in the dressing room.
"Yes, yes we are." I reply nonchalantly, applying powder to my nose. Whenever I'm performing onstage, I always wear skin makeup that makes my skin look lighter, lighter skin reflects off of lighting better, also, it just looks nicer.
She raises an eyebrow, "I'm sorry, but...why him?"
I look up from my mirror, "What do you mean?"
"What I mean is...ugh, the pale skin, long nose, creepy stare, not to mention he sounds like he's halfway through puberty-" she stops herself, "look, it's your decision, and you two seem pretty happy with each other but...I'm just saying I think you can do better."
I apply a dark red lipstick, "Thanks for the concern Ann, but I think I'm good with where I am right now. What about you?"
Ann pulls up her garter belt, "Oh me? I don't do men."
I nod understandably, just as Morgan enters the dressing room, "Ladies, you're on in five minutes!" he calls out, before running up to me specifically, "Trixie, can I talk to you for a second? Alone?"
"Of course Raoul." having picked up on the language of the club, I'd noticed that everyone seemed to refer to each other by their first name.
I follow Morgan into the narrow hallway just outside the dressing room. The hallway is empty, and the murmur from the crowd outside comes drafting in through the curtains separating the two areas.
"This is going to sound strange, but, how well do you know Oswald?" he asks, his voice quick and snappy.
I shrug, "No better than you."
"Because, I don't know, I get a weird vibe off of that guy. I know he's here to help but...you know what I mean? Guy just kind of rubs me the wrong way."
I'll admit, I know what he's talking about, Oswald still never fails to creep me out, or at least put me on edge every once in a while but, as I've gotten to know him, I feel he does at least some of it on purpose, as a sort of scare tactic.
"I see why you'd feel that way. Personally though, I think he's just...misunderstood." at least that's the best way I can put it.
The introduction music starts playing from the stage, and I run back into the dressing room to line up with the other girls. There's about six of us, all dressed in the same playful red, black, and white lingerie with long, chunky heels. We all enter the stage single file, with me at the end. I look out at the audience, Fish and Oswald are no where to be found tonight. Must be out on business.
The music starts up as one of the musicians turns on the player connected to the stage, and the lights are brightened as the six of us start dancing to a low, fast-paced song. We move our arms and legs, turning and kicking and making all kinds of suggestive movements. There's whistling from the audience, and as the three minute song comes to a close, I step to the front of the stage as a black table and a chair are set in the center of the stage. The music changes dramatically, becoming slower, and the musicians get up and play the intro,
"What good is sitting alone in your room?" I begin, walking around the table and chair, "Come hear the music play. Life is a cabaret old chum, come to the cabaret." I lean against the metal chair, bending my knees, "Put down the knitting, the book, and the broom, it's time for a holiday." I walk around the chair to the table, "Life is a cabaret old chum, come to the cabaret." I place my entire back against the table, lifting up my upstage leg to the air. Lowering my leg, I face the audience, "Come taste the wine, come hear the band, come blow your horn start celebrating," I sit up, smile at the audience, and cross my legs, "right this way your table's waiting." I jump off of the table, "What good's permitting some prophet of doom," I spin to the side of the table and lower myself under it, clutching the stand, "to wipe every smile away?! Life is a cabaret, old chum, so come to the cabaret." I get out from under the table as Ann sits down in the chair. I approach her,
"I use to have this girlfriend known as Elsie," I cross around the table and lean against the back of the chair, placing my hand on Ann's shoulder, "with whom I shared four sordid rooms in Chelsea. She wasn't what you'd call a blushing flower," taking Ann's hand, she rises from the chair. We take each other's arms and waltz to the other side of the stage, "as a matter of fact, she rented by the hour." I dip Ann, "The day she died the neighbors came to snicker," I look up at the audience and see Fish and Oswald watching from the doorway. Oswald's expression is hostile as he glares at the two of us onstage. I move Ann in a half-circle, lifting her up on the other side, "well that's what comes from too much pills and liquor." I strut around her, placing my finger under her chin, "But when I saw her later, like a queen," the moment I flick my finger off of her chin, Ann falls, and two other girls catch her from behind, "she was the happiest corpse I'd ever seen."
I walk back over to the table and chair, where I sit down on the chair, putting my feet up on the table, "I think of Elsie to this very day. I remember how she turned to me and said:" I twist my head to the audience, "what good," I slam my legs down, "is sitting, all alone in your room?" I grab the arms of the chair as I rise from it, "Come, hear the music play." I twist my hips with the music, "Life is a cabaret old chum, come to the cabaret!" I kick the chair and the table away, the both of them skidding offstage and are caught by stagehands just offstage, "And as for me, and as for me," I begin stepping back as the other five girls step forward, "I made my mind up back in Chelsea. When I go...I'm going like Elsie." I link arms with two girls next to me, "Start by admitting come cradle to tomb," in a single line, we all start kicking our legs in sync, picking up pace with the music, "it isn't that long a stay! It's only a cabaret old chum," we get out of the kickline and three of the girls move off to the side while the other two get behind me, lifting me, "and I love, a cabaret!" I hold the final note as the girls move me back and the remaining three encircle us. I lift my arms at the final note, flashing a smile as the audience applauds.
The two girls lower me as we all bow, before walking offstage. We all head to the dressing room, where Fish is waiting for us,
"Bravo girls, lovely job as always," she claps, the six of us standing in a clumped group before her. She turns around to Oswald, "go, I want to talk to my girls alone."
He nods, "Yes, Ms. Mooney." before scurrying out the door.
She smiles, turning to us, "Ladies, I want you know that you're all my girls, and I'd never do anything to harm any of you."
We all nod and smile, but I can tell that this is leading up to something.
"One of my men has been stealing money from me, and I'm tasking all of you," she points her fake nail at every one of us, "to find the man responsible for this."
She paces around the dressing room, her three inch heels clacking against the wooden floor, "Tonight I know at least some of you will go home with one of my men, try to find out what they know," she spots a wig resting on a head bust and picks it up, "and report anything you find out to me," she sets the bust down, "understood?"
"Yes, Ms. Mooney." we all reply.
She holds out her arms, "That's my girls. Come to momma."
We all run into her arms, group hugging. While I smile, I'm uncomfortable being in such close contact with half naked women. When the group hug ends, we all go to our mirrors, as Fish strolls to the door, opening it,
"C'mon Oswald, let's go."
As the night comes to a close, I change out of my work clothes and change into a green shirt with a cropped jacket and a black miniskirt with low heels. Definitely more modest than the numbers I've been pulling off all night, but still sexy. I walk out of the dressing room door to find Oswald waiting outside. He smiles as soon as I walk through the door,
"I was beginning to worry you'd never come out."
True, I was the last girl out of the dressing room, and that might have been because I was snooping through the stuff on their mirrors, but that's besides the point,
"The girls in there never clean up after themselves, I figured I'd help them out." I excuse myself, as Oswald links his arm with mine.
He smirks as we lean our heads into each other's, "Fish is looking to usurp power from her boss, Carmine Falcone, she's been buying out his men little by little, but she's vulnerable right now. I say it's high time we strike."
I shake my head, "No, we need to get Fish with something big, something Earth shattering. Men move all the time with the sway of a dollar, it's no big deal."
He twists his lips, but nods in the end, "Also, I have something that might interest you," out of his pocket, he pulls out a black and white picture of a bald man holding a gun, "one of Don Falcone's men, a skilled hitman named Victor Zsasz. He'd make a sufficient candidate for your Suicide Squad, don't you think?"
I'd have to see this guy in action to really be sure, but as of right now, he's the only candidate I've got. I reach out for the picture, but Oswald swipes it out of reach,
"Ah, ah, ah, I think I deserve a little reward first."
I reach over, my right hand landing on his stomach, "You want a reward? I think I can give you a little something." fingers splayed, my hand glides down his belly, the palm of my hand smoothing his thin white button up shirt. Oswald's cheeks flush as I wrap my other hand around his shoulders, and my index finger grazes the rim of his pants for a single moment, when I kiss him, and snatch the photo from his grasp.
"Ha!" I laugh, holding the picture with two fingers.
"That's...that's not fair!" Oswald cries, his accusation like that of a child.
I fold the picture and tuck it into my pocket, "Hey, I did say I'd give you something. That is the lowest I've ever tried reaching."
He balls up his fists, and his shoulders are tense, "Fine." he grabs my wrist and leads me out of the hallway,
"Also, the way you looked at that girl during the performance today, you're not attracted to her, are you?"
I shrug, "What if I am?"
Oswald stops in his tracks, his grip on my wrist tightening. I sigh, "Oh, c'mon, don't tell me you look at Lazlo just out of jealousy, do you?"
He whips around, his breathing increasing rapidly, and his eyes shifting in every direction. I smile, patting him on the back, "Calm down, so we're even, though I understand why you're more tense about it than I am. Women from Gotham like other women, it comes with the territory, but men? Not a chance, and you're a target enough as it is," with the hand that's gripped by Oswald, I twist my hand up to pet his hand, my fingers playfully brushing his soft, smooth skin, "and besides, I prefer you." I reach up and kiss him on the cheek.
He moves his hand down so that it holds mine. He smiles, and a small sigh of relief escapes me, I've thankfully defused the situation.
We continue into the main restaurant area where Gilzean is waiting by the bar, "There you two are! I've got your paychecks."
He presents two blue slips of paper. Oswald instinctively reaches for his, but Gilzean holds it back, "Sorry Penguin, you haven't quite earned it yet."
"Don't call me that!" Oswald barks angrily, but he just laughs.
"Nope," he leans in toward us, stuffing our paychecks into his pocket, "you see, I know you two faked it on your initiation night, and that's just not fair for us folk who passed it fair and square, you know what I mean?"
He lunges out, grabbing my head with his large hand, slamming me into the nearest table, his elbow digging into my neck, practically choking me. My vision blurs and I receive an instant headache as my head collides with the table, and I'm not bent over on top of the table, my hips and legs facing them.
"Now, I'm willing to forgive this discrepancy if you two are willing to follow through on your promise," he explains, "Oswald, would you do the honors?"
"Wha...what do you want me to do?" he asks nervously.
Gilzean scoffs at his question, "Uhm, you could lift up her skirt for a start."
I can't see what's going on behind me, but I wait, and in a few seconds, Oswald's cold hands touch the bare skin of my thighs as he carefully, and slowly pushes up my skirt to my hips. I cringe, and try to lift myself up, only to be pushed down by Gilzean's hundred pound hand, "Sorry babe, can't be a tease this time."
"May I touch her?" Oswald asks him.
"Of course dude, go nuts."
I bite down on my lip as Oswald's hands return, starting on my upper thighs and working their way up. I grit my teeth as tears start rolling down my cheeks. Maybe we should've just done it in the bedroom, had I known this would be the consequence. Either way, when we're done I'm going to kill him, and Gilzean too. With every moment I get the creeping sense that the act is inevitable. I swallow my tears, well, so what if this is how I lose my virginity? It's not like I was saving it for anyone.
There's a shuffling of fabric behind me, and the heat of Oswald's body causes me to shiver.
"So, you want me to do her right here, on the table?"
Gilzean pushes me head into the wood of the table, "Yep."
Oswald chuckles maliciously while massaging my upper back, "How decadent."
He moves his legs closer to mine, our knees touching. My eyes widen as I sense an opportunity. With my right foot, I stomp on Oswald's foot, the heel of my shoe digging into his, and I give my foot a good twist.
"AH!" Oswald screams, stumbling back.
"Bitch!" Gilzean shouts, before slamming my head into the table once more, this time releasing me and letting me drop to the floor.
"What the hell is going on?!" it's Fish Mooney, her high heels pounding against the ground.
Facing the floor, I wait until I hear the movement of fabric and the clinking of a belt to look up. Fish is standing on her own, and despite being much shorter than the two men, she still intimidates the both of them, "Gilzean, you know better than this," she turns to Oswald, "and leading Oswald to this too…"
"Ms. Mooney, I apologize, it was an honest mistake...I...I got excited."
"I bet you did." she snarls, but her expression lightens as she approaches him.
She pets his head, "You just need a bit of guidance, don't you?"
"Yes, yes, exactly." he nods profusely.
She stops petting him, letting her flexed hand hang in the air. Finally, she looks at me as I get up and straighten my skirt, "Trixie...I want to speak with you tomorrow night, privately," she turns away and starts walking toward the door, but just as she's about to leave, she tilts her head, "y'all take care now."
Gilzean takes out our paychecks from his pocket, handing them to us, "You heard her, get out of here." he mumbles.
As soon as we're outside Oswald grabs my shoulders, "Trixie, I'm so sorr-"
I push his hands off of me and slap him across the face, sending him spiraling to the ground, "Don't you dare touch me, or talk to me."
"Does this mean you won't help me..?" he asks meekly, lifting himself up.
I sigh, as much as I hate him, he could rat me and Morgan out to Fish, and that would jeopardize my entire mission, "I'll help you, but anything between us, is over."
Author's Note: A long chapter, and yes, I realize the content contained is really pushing the envelope. Once again, I'll leave the judgement to you guys, the reviewers, and if the scene in question is deemed too visceral, I'll remove/modify it.
Songs at the club:
Song Natalie/Trixie, Ann, and other girls dance to: "Let's Dance Boys" from "Bayonetta"
Song Natalie/Trixie sings: "Cabaret" from "Cabaret"
Emily: Thank you :)
Amy: Might not be anymore romancy scenes for a while, but if/when they start again, I promise it'll be worth the wait.
Shadow Cat Mistress: Thanks, it's hard to imagine what Oswald flirting would be like since in the show, his sexual advancements are very minimalistic.
HellsButterfly13: Thanks, and there will be more, especially once we get into the events of the show.
Thanks! :)