Chapter 2: Unstuffed
Aladdin woke early the next morning and was about to leave before Jasmine's voice stopped him. "Aladdin, where are you going? I've barely seen you all week!"
Aladdin winced. "Just running errands in the Marketplace this morning, that's all."
She folded her arms across her chest, giving him a side-eye glance. "You're hiding something."
"What? Me? I'm not hiding anything." Aladdin realized his voice sounded a little *too* eager to answer that accusation, but he swallowed against the lump in his throat, even as Jasmine leaned forward. He leaned back about an equal distance as she leaned in.
"You know, maybe I should go with you. It's been a while since I've gone in the Marketplace anyway..."
Aladdin was ready to protest, but then Jasmine smiled, leaning back and casually shrugging while looking over her shoulder at him. "But...Father wants me to help him on a few things right now and that will probably occupy me until this afternoon."
Aladdin recovered quickly, realizing he had to make up some excuse, or something that would be genuine and give him enough time to make free to spend with her. "Well, maybe we can do something this evening at least. It'll make up for the time we haven't been able to spend with each other." He put his arms around her waist. "I'm sorry I haven't been around much." The last part of his statement was true; he did miss her, and he hated keeping secrets from her.
She put a hand against his chest. "Don't worry about it. I'm looking forward to seeing you tonight then."
Aladdin nodded. "Sure, I'll be there." They shared a brief kiss before they parted.
Aladdin's shoulders slumped as he stood just outside the palace walls, looking up at its towering pillars. He'd definitely dodged a rotten piece of fruit given his encounter with the Princess. "Great, I guess that means I'll have to do double the work that I was gonna do tonight. I hope I get enough done so that we can finish the preparations for the art festival before Jasmine catches on. And the Sultan too."
"So wait, does that mean Jasmine's on your case now of all times?" Iago asked as he and Abu perched on Aladdin's shoulders. They moved through the morning crowd of the Marketplace, trying to buy supplies where they could.
"Yeah, so while I take Jasmine out tonight, you guys are going to have to work without me," Aladdin said. "But I'm going to try to do my part today so it's not as much work." He flexed one of his arms and gave a confident grin. "I think we can handle it since we only have so much more to do."
"Ugh, count me out, I need a break from all that painting. My sinuses can't handle the smell. ACHOO! ACHOO!" Iago sneezed several times, so much that he fell off Aladdin's shoulder, much to Abu and Aladdin's alarm. Genie appeared beside them, catching Iago and handing the bird a handkerchief.
"Geez, Iago, I hope that's not contagious," Genie said.
"It's an allergy!" Iago blew his nose.
Carpet suddenly appeared out of nowhere, frantically flying around them.
"Whoa, whoa, Carpet, slow down," Aladdin said. "What happened? Are you okay?"
Genie's brows rose as he tried to interpret what the rug mimed. "He's saying something happened at your place, Al. He said it's pretty bad."
Aladdin's brow narrowed. "Come on, then, let's see what he found.'
"Yeesh, what happened here? Wait...You know what? Maybe I don't wanna know. I just think it's creepy no one decided to tell me that you wanted to go into making creepy dolls for a living. Tell me that one of them wasn't me. Seriously - I don't like bad karma." Iago looked around at the puppet parts that were strewn across the floor of Aladdin's hiding place.
Genie looked horrified, about as much as Aladdin felt. "All my projects, my masterpieces...literally blown to pieces!" Genie took out his own handkerchief and blew his nose into it. Hard. Abu patted him on the shoulder in comfort while Iago gave him a side-eye glance.
"I'm sorry, Genie. Who would do something like this?" Aladdin asked.
"I don't know, but I think whoever they were, they don't want this festival to happen. This is gonna set us back a day from when we wanted to put this thing on. And we still have the scripts to write." Genie sniffled a little, his eyes watery. "Maybe you were right. This is gonna be harder than we thought."
Aladdin clenched his fists at his sides. "Genie, don't worry about it. We'll handle it. And we'll find out whoever did this. If they thought we'd give up just because of this, they were wrong."
Genie nodded. "Thanks, Al."
Aladdin gathered up some of the parts and put them in a pile on Carpet, whom Genie was using as a transport and workstation. "While you work on these, I'll clean up and then start on writing the scripts. Abu and Iago, I need you guys to start rehearsing lines tonight while I'm out with Jasmine. I'll need you guys to check on the merchants to see how they're coming with the sets and booths, too."
Aladdin smiled a little even as he met the eyes (and fibers) of his friends. "Don't worry guys. We've got this."
Just a little more,
There's nothing here to ignore,
We've got a mission not set to fail, higher heads will always prevail.
Just a little more,
We'll work for everything in store,
We'll give what we need, it's all guaranteed.
A little effort here, a little pick me up there,
It's nothing too hard if we know how to share.
Just take all the time we need to prepare.
So what if we meet a bump in the road,
I'll give you a hand and take on the load.
Iago frowned. "I'm glad you've got time to sing while we're bustin' our feathers."
Aladdin laughed. "You're the only one with feathers here, Iago. And I'm working too, you know?"
Just a little more,
I'll keep taking score,
It's nothing we can't handle, if we take up the mantle.
Try to understand, I'm here in command,
Take my advice, it's worth the sacrifice
Getting everything together's all worth the price.
So keep at it just a little more,
And keep your heart at your core,
And when it's all said and done, you'll know,
it's all worth fighting for.*
Aladdin sighed, wiping the sweat on his brow as he picked up the last of the scattered puppet parts. It'd taken a while to clean them up, and even as Aladdin had worked on the scripts between, he'd still missed pieces that he'd seen Genie needed. His eyes scanned the area. "I think that's all of them. How are you coming along?"
Genie held up his paintbrush. "Well, I did manage to get about half of the puppets put back together, it's gonna take me a little while longer to get the costumes on and faces painted. And for some reason, I couldn't find the parts for your puppet. Guess I'll have to start over with that."
Aladdin winced. "That is weird. Well, I'm going to see if anyone saw anything suspicious in the city. It may've been like this since last night, but it's still worth asking around."
Abu leapt on Aladdin's shoulder as he went to leave.
Iago rolled his eyes. "I hate to be pessimistic, but that vandal's probably long gone by now. They're not gonna find anythin'."
Genie snorted. "That's interesting coming from you Iago. I don't think I've ever know you to be NOT pessimistic. I think that would be your middle name."
Iago cut his eyes at Genie. "Really? And what would be my last name?"
Genie considered it a moment. "I wouldn't know. I don't think I have a last name. I'm just 'Genie of the Lamp', but since I've gotten my freedom, 'of the Lamp' isn't exactly binding. You on the other hand." Genie used his magic to put a flashing sign over Iago's head. Iago read it aloud.
"Iago the Pessimistic Parrot...really? That's the best you could come up with?"
Genie grinned. "It does have a nice ring to it."
*Author's Note - brief little interlude of a song there is called "Just a Little More." I have a few others peppered in the story, so I'll just add footnotes to the chapters when they come up.