Troubles when you are unprepared
By Vapour (One of the characters in this ficcy)
Performance One: Cinderella
Disclaimer: I don't own Cardcaptor Sakura
In the backstage:
"Wait- Click!" Vapour stared at her phone. Angrily, she slammed the earpiece back onto the phone. "Now, what am I suppose to do!" She shuffled her hair with both her hands. "Great! Of all the time in the world did they choose to be sick now! They have one last performance to go before they can get their holiday! Now, without my performers, who can I count on? The show is starting in another twenty minutes!" Vapour walked in circles while ranting 'What should I do?' Finally, she spotted a name card on her desk. She picked it up and on it was written 'Daidouji Sonomi'… …
On the other hand, all of Vapour's performers are enjoying themselves at a restaurant.
"Are you sure Vapour-sama is not going to fire us for skipping the last performance?" One of them said. "We are putting her in big trouble, you know?"
"Nay, our contract clearly stated that as long as we have a valid reason that we cannot perform, she can't do any thing to us." Another replied.
"And who was the one to come up with such a lousy contract?"
"VAPOUR-SAMA!" They yelled in unison.
"Achoooo…" Vapour sneezed.
"Are you alright?" Sonomi asked with concern.
"Don't worry, I'm okay," she replied. In her mind, she thought: must be someone talking behind my back. "Anyway, let's get back to business. Sorry that this is a last minute decision, but because my performers are not available at the moment, I was wondering if you may help me find some performers to make the show go on?"
"That's easy!" Sonomi pulled out her cell phone from her bag and dialed a few numbers. "Please inform Tomoyo and her friends that we need their help now with a performance. Thanks. Click!"
In a few minutes, a car pulled outside of the theater. Some children around the age of six to ten rushed down from the car in fanciful costumes into the backstage.
Vapour stared in disbelief. The children were already dressed in the costume for the play.
"I think they have at least glanced through the script, I downloaded from the Net, on their way here. So, they should be ready for their roles."
Vapour looked at the kids. They are indeed in pretty costumes, but there was a problem. "Erm…why are there some guys in dresses?"
"Lack of ladies in the show. Well, you better start the show now! The crowd seems to be getting pretty impatient." Sonomi hurried Vapour. "I've prepared who to perform what already, don't you worry about a thing!" She then clapped her hands to get all the children's attentions and told them to prepare themselves.
…
…
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to this lovely play. I am Meilin, your narrator today. In this lovely evening, we are going to present you a play entitled 'Cinderella'. But before the play starts, please be reminded to switch off all electronics devices. Thank you for your cooperation. So, without further ado, please sit back, relax and enjoy yourself." Meilin read off the script in her hands.
The roles:
Cinderella-Yukito
Prince- Syaoran
Evil Stepsister 1 :Anastasia - Nakuru
Evil Stepsister 2: Drizella – Chiharu
Evil Stepmother: Sakura
Messenger: Tomoyo
Fairy godmother: Touya
King: Eriol
Duke: Yamazaki
Narrator: Meilin
The red curtains rose to reveal a scene in a house. Sonomi, her bodyguards, her cameramen and other viewers sat in the seats before the stage to enjoy the play. This is going to be interesting. Actually, I have never let the children read the script at all.
"Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a lovely girl- Erm, guy- I mean, girl named Cinderella," Meilin started.
Yukito walked onto the stage with a mop and a bucket full of water. Suddenly, a light shone on the 'girl' whereas the rest of the stage was dark. "Hmm…hm…" Yukito hum a tune while he began mopping the stage.
"Daddy, I am going to marry that pretty lady up on the stage when I grow up!" A boy told his father.
"… Good that you have plans for the future… But you may just want to reconsider first."
Vapour, who was totally concentrated on the show, thought, this is going well.
Meilin was by the stage, in the dark. And without any light, she could not read the script. But the main problem was that the show would not go on if she does not introduce the stepsisters in soon. And Yukito would be humming the tune throughout the performance. Suddenly, she remembered that she always carry a mini torchlight with her around. She fumbled for it in her pocket full of stuff and finally, she could feel that she had got hold of the item.
Click.
She turned on her light source and shone it on her script. Instead, she held it the wrong way up- the light was shinning in her face.
"Arg! I'm blind!" Meilin yelled at the top of her voice.
A baby girl saw the scary face at the side of the stage and started crying. Immediately, the whole hall was filled with the echo of the crying.
Vapour was shocked. Quickly, she dialed a number on her cell phone to the person in-charge of the lights. "Turn on some light for the narrator!"
"Okay." And he did as he chewed on his peanut-butter-and-jam sandwich.
Meilin could see better now and had switched off the torchlight. The baby girl had stopped crying after the 'scary face' was gone.
"Ahem…" She cleared her throat. "Cinderella lived in a small house with her stepmother and two stepsisters. Although they lived together under one roof, Cinderella was not treated with equality. She had to wear rags and work like a slave for the family while her stepmother and stepsisters wore pretty clothes and often go out for shopping."
Yukito walked to the front of the stage, gave a twirl and acting sad, he said, "This is the best dress I had in my closet. I've only two sets of clothing. And I have to work day and night for this family."
Vapour noticed the difference of speech from Yukito and her original script. But, it was not that that needs the worrying. "As long as the narrator has the script, the characters should be able to act quite close to the script," she murmured.
Then, Nakuru and Chiharu walked onto the stage with their heads up high. They were wearing dresses that looked completely opposite of Yukito.
"So, as usual, Cinderella was mopping the floor when Anastasia and Drizella, the evil stepsisters, came into the room to check on Cinderella. Immediately, they tried to pick fault from the poor girl."
"Good afternoon, my dear sisters." Yukito greeted as he bowed before them.
"Oh, good afternoon to you too!" Nakuru replied, smiling. "My, let me help you with the chores." Nakuru tried to take the mop away from Yukito while he kept insisting that she should not.
A boy in the audience whispered to his mother, "Mummy, I am very evil, right? I always help you with the housework." The mother sweatdropped.
Vapour slapped her forehead. Anastasia was not supposed to be on good terms with Cinderella. And what happened to the speeches in the script? Why is Nakuru and Yukito saying things that are total unfamiliar to her? She quickly rushed over to Meilin and whispered something into her ear.
"Erm… the EVIL, I repeat, EVIL stepsisters tried to PICK FAULT from CINDERELLA!" Meilin stressed on some of the words. Vapour at the side praying that Nakuru and Chiharu would notice what they were supposed to do.
Well, luckily, they did.
Nakuru's facial expression changed completely. "Stupid Yukito!" She shouted as soon as she let go of the mop. The other party fell to the ground due to the impact.
"Cinderella!" Vapour whispered.
"Oops…I mean, stupid Cinderella! What do you think you are doing?" Nakuru continued.
"Mopping the floor?"
"Yes! Well, I can see that! It's noon now and you are still cleaning the floor! You're S-L-O-W! SLOW! Damn. –censored-censored-"
Another whispered was heard in the audience.
"Mummy, what's 'Damn' and –censored- and –censored?"
"They are something that are not nice, darling."
Vapour banged her head into the wall. That's just too evil. And how would a child so young know these words?
Yukito got up on his feet. "But..But, I just started cleaning five minutes ago."
Nakuru turned to look at Chiharu, then Meilin and back at Yukito again. "Anyway, who told you to use a mop? Give me that!" Nakuru snatched the object from his hands. "You're supposed to use a toothbrush! Here! This is for you!" Nakuru handed him a pink toothbrush with bunny patterns on it.
Yukito took it and stared at it. "Thanks." He said.
"You're welcom- I MEAN, YOU OUGHT TO THANK ME!" Nakuru continued acting.
Vapour noticed that Chiharu was very quiet for she had not been given a chance to say anything. "Say something, Chiharu. Say something about…erm…Cinderella's chores," hinted Vapour. Something's not quite right. The characters on the stage.
"Ok…Cinderella, after all this mopping or brushing the floor, you got more chores to do, like…erm…" Chiharu stared blankly at Yukito. Then, at Vapour.
Vapour looked around. Chiharu was stuck about what chores to tell Yukito to do. Now, she had to look for things to suggest to Chiharu. Suddenly, she noted the words on Chiharu's palm. Not wasting time, she pointed to her palm.
Chiharu look at her palm. Then, at hers. Now, she understood.
"You have to water the plants, wipe the windows, feed the horses, pull out weeds from the garden…" She reeled off the list of chores from her palm. She had written there in the morning when her mother told her to help out with the work.
The audience, off course, could see her reading off her hand. Vapour rolled her eyes. This is too obvious.
Meilin then continued the play. "At this moment, Cinderella's stepmother came into the room to look for her daughters."
Sakura walked onto the stage with a bit of difficulty for her dress was a bit too long for her.
"Good afternoon, mother," all three of them bowed.
Sakura stood in front of the other three. She opened her mouth and suddenly, she looked blank. She spun round and stared at Vapour.
"Why stare at me again?" Vapour cursed. She waved her hands to indicate Sakura to turn back.
Tears welled up in Sakura's eyes. Vapour had an ominous feeling about this. The three 'daughters' were still bowing to their 'mother'.
"AHHHhhhhhHHHHhhh…I don't know what to say!" Sakura cried. The cries traveled through the mini microphone that was attached to her dress collar to the speakers. Everyone cupped their hands over their ears.
This is bad!" Vapour ranted in her mind as Sakura wailed continuously. "We got to do something to stop her." Thus, she grasped her script and wrote something on it. "Meilin, please try to read this," she struggled through the sky-splitting noise.
Meilin nodded. "The stepmother came into the room crying because she had lost her favourite poodle." At this point, Sakura had stopped crying and had calmed down to listen to the next instruction. "Hence, the stepsisters comforted her and took her to the police station to file a report."
"There, there, mother dear, please be sad no more," Nakuru comforted Sakura, partly because of the acting and partly to make Sakura settle down a little.
"Anastasia and I will accompany you to the police station. I bet you will find your dog again." Chiharu added after Nakuru nudged her.
Vapour waved her hands to tell them to head out of the scene immediately.
Suddenly, there was a plop and a thud.
"Ouch…" Nakuru rubbed her bottom as she sat on the stage. "Stupid floor- Yee Ouch!" She banged the floor with so much force that her fist suffered instead. Chiharu kneeled beside while Sakura was laying flat down on the ground. Apparently, the trio slipped. Vapour's jaw fell to the ground too.
"What?" Vapour yelped after magically, her jaw was back in place. "Not before they leave the stage? Why does it have to happen now!" Vapour cursed. The girls slipped on the wet floor where Yukito had been mopping. Bad timing!
"Aww…" Meilin gave a it's-gonna-hurt noise.
The audiences laughed at them. The rest of the performers were at backstage, so they were not aware of what happened.
Backstage:
"Stop running about! Eriol! You got to take off your pants" Touya yelled after the boy with his wet trousers.
"No way!" Eriol and Touya began to play a game of mouse-and-cat in the crowd of many performers.
On the stage:
Yukito felt so sorry that they fell because of his poor skills of mopping the floor. "Are you alright?" he asked as he threw down the mop. Then, he ran towards Sakura in such a cute way. (a/n come on, he's still a child. Of course, he's cute!)
Sakura got up with a red nose. An audience around her age began to make fun of her by saying, "Hi, Rudolf, the red nose reindeer!"
Vapour's sixth sense told her that another accident is going to occur soon. "Not again? Don't tell me that she's going to cry-"
"WATCH OUT! YUKITO!" Chiharu yelled, forgotten that they were suppose to be acting on the stage. Everyone turned their attention to 'Cinderella'.
"Huh?" Yukito accidentally tripped over the pail of water that was in his way and suddenly, the ground seemed to be rushing towards him in fast speed.
"And so, the stepmother and sisters fell to the ground because of Cinderella's very wet floor and CINDERELLA KICKED THE BUCKET! The end!"
(a/n for people who does not understand, 'kick the bucket' is an idiom which means passed away)
"WHAT!" the audience exclaimed. Some were still wondering if the narrator was insane.
Sonomi laughed. "I told you it would be an interesting play. Hohohohoho…" (a/n don't ask me why she made such a horrible laughter) Her bodyguards all sweatdropped.
Backstage:
"Erm…Brother Touya, can you tell me what is this?" Eriol asked, pointing at the wall beside him.
"…Well, it must be some sort of nail. You better put on your pants now for you don't want to catch a chill." He replied as he handed him a new pair of pants.
But what they didn't know was that Vapour had slammed her face into the wall…
xX((TBC))Xx
A/n:
Arg! Random silliness aroused in my mind. Well, my partner, Fire, got a pretty high fever yesterday and was admitted into the hospital. The doctor says that her brain might fry, but I don't think there will be anything to fry in the first place. Achooo… (sneeze) Must be the wind. Anyways, Fire told me what to write through the phone, so, she did help with parts of the ficcy. I know she told me this when I was ill, so, I'm telling this to her:
I'll be your crusher of nightmares, maker of dreams,
As long as you can get well, I'll be your anything!
Sorry for the simple title. Can't think of anything else.
Whoa! Reviews, please?