Author's Note: Hello, everyone!
After finishing the previous chapter, I started to write the first half of the new chapter. After falling off the bandwagon, I began to pick writing back up.
Thank you to retro mania, Crimson Commander688, and Sarah West 94402343 for the reviews, I hope you enjoy this new chapter.
Believe it or not, this year marks the 65th anniversary of Disney's Sleeping Beauty! My, how the time flies.
Sleeping Beauty and Enchanted all belong to Disney. Some OCs belong to retro mania and some OCs belong to me.
Happy reading!
Chapter 15
Back at Circus, Circus, Holly is escorting Aurora to the clowns' dressing room. The duo had just done a trapeze act and it turned out to be successful.
The girls made it to the designation.
"Well, here we are," said Holly. "Make 'em laugh and break a leg."
"Break a leg?!" Aurora gasped, horrified.
"In show business, it means good luck." Holly explains, calming down the sixteen-year-old.
"Oh, right. Thank you, Holly." Aurora replied.
"You're welcome," Holly nods and left.
Aurora stood there for a minute. Taking a deep breath, she knocks on the door.
"Come in!" Seymour's voice called.
Without hesitation, Aurora opens the door and enters. The clown performers look up. They're all dressed in their costumes and adorned with makeup and wigs.
"Well, hey Aurora. Where you been?" JoJo greeted the blonde.
"We were all wondering what happened to you," said Bruce.
"We thought Jack had sent you away." Seymour added.
"Yes, it's true." Aurora admits. "After performing with you all, Jack came to see me. He took me to the lobby and I met Sam. She tried to help me get home, with Jack's instructions."
"I knew it," Peggy commented.
"So, what happened?" Joanna asked.
"After Sam failed in finding Auradon, Jack gave me loose change to get in touch with my aunts and Philip. I apologized to Jack for all the trouble I caused between him and Vanessa. I wished Jack well and luck in reconciling with Vanessa, before walking away and finding my aunts." Aurora continued.
"You found your guardians?" Bruce asked.
Aurora nods.
"Wonderful. You can tell us the rest of your story, after we get you ready." Seymour advised.
"Come take a seat," Bruce instructs and Aurora obeys.
"All right. The first thing I'll do is put a towel on you, so powder won't get all over the dress Peggy gave you." Joanna drapes a plum colored towel over Aurora's shoulders and holds it together with a claw hair clip.
Next, Peggy pulls out Aurora's golden locks. She styles them into a long braid, then creating a bun and pinning in place with a hair pin.
The comedic performers went to work on Aurora's face, repeating the first few steps of the makeup process Joanna had done earlier. After putting powder on and then dusting it off with a makeup brush; each clown took turns in creating a new look for Aurora.
" Be a clown, be a clown," Seymour sings as he paints on black eyebrows above Aurora's actual brows (which are covered with white paint and powder).
" All the world loves a clown," Peggy adds, putting pink blush on Aurora's cheeks and painting Aurora's lips and nose red.
" Take a fall, make a gaffe," Joanna interjects, creating an outline around Aurora's eyes and drawing tiny triangles with black eyeliner.
" And you'll always have the last laugh,
Wear the cap and a bell,
And the sound of laughter will swell." Bruce and JoJo join in. They pull out a little container with silver rhinestones and a bottle of eyelash adhesive.
Joanna and Peggy expertly placed a tiny dot of adhesive at the tip end of the triangles. The women put on one rhinestone each where the adhesive is and applied it with a little pressure.
Picking up a red, medium sized, plastic clown nose, Seymour puts spirit gum inside the clown nose and sticks it on Aurora's nose.
"There you go, dearie. Have a look," said Seymour.
Aurora opens her eyes and blinks twice, amazed by the makeup look.
"Oh, my goodness, this is incredible!" Aurora gasps. "Thank you all so much."
"Pleasure's all ours, hon." Joanna responds. "You like the little rhinestones, Peggy and I put on?"
"Oh, yes. They look lovely, thank you." Aurora said.
"You're welcome. Now, let's get you dressed and we'll put a skull cap and wig on." Peggy said.
Aurora nods as Peggy removes the big clip and towel. Aurora gets up and Joanna drapes the towel over the chair, placing the clip on the vanity.
The trio head over to the clothing rack. They pick out a few articles of clothing and shoes. Going inside the changing room area and pulling the curtain forward, Peggy and Joanna help Aurora get dressed.
Peggy unzipped the dress. Joanna helps Aurora out of the dress. They remove the espadrilles. Peggy gives Aurora a pair of bloomers and puts them on. Next, Joanna puts a pink and green checkered blouse with green and pink balloon sleeves on. The two women help Aurora get into a pair of striped clown pants with a hula hoop and suspenders.
"My, these are unusual pants." Aurora remarked.
"Yep, that's being a clown for you." Joanna responds as she adjusts the suspenders and moved a pair of pink and green clown shoes towards Aurora. The sixteen-year-old puts the shoes on.
"All right, let's get a skull cap and wig on your head," said Peggy.
The trio emerge from the changing room area and head over to the vanity table counter.
"Nice pants, Aurora." JoJo comments.
"Thank you," said the princess. "It feels a little odd wearing them."
"Yes, it can be strange, hon." Bruce comments.
"But those clown pants can come in handy for stashing props in." Seymour adds.
"Oh. So, anyways…I was very happy to see Aunt Flora, Aunt Fauna, and Merryweather. Philip accompanied them, to help with their search in locating me, but somehow he got separated." Aurora resumes her story as Joanna delicately puts a white skull cap on Aurora's head.
"They were going to take me back to Auradon, yet Jack convinced them into staying, so that he won't get in trouble with Oswald." Peggy puts a shoulder-length lemon yellow wig onto Aurora. There are two red bows on the side of the wig. Peggy combs and brushes it.
"And while we were out, my aunts and I picked out a floral wreath for Vanessa. We had doves deliver the flowers to her on Jack's behalf. She got them and became very happy. Both Vanessa and Jack reconciled." Aurora finished, as Joanna picked up a black, Blossom style hat and placed it on top of the wig. The hat is decorated with an artificial sunflower and a colorful scarf.
"Oh, how sweet." Peggy comments, smiling.
"Wonderful," Seymour remarked. "That was very clever on your part and your aunts' part, to patch things up between Vanessa and Jack."
Aurora beams.
"Put these gloves on and you're all set." Peggy instructs, offering Aurora a pair of white gloves. Aurora complies, accepting the gloves and putting them on.
"Let's have a look," said Seymour.
Aurora turns and faced the group. She smiles and bats her eyes.
"Beautiful," said Bruce.
"You make a wonderful clown." Seymour comments.
"Thank you all," Aurora responds.
"I got all the props in the bag." JoJo speaks up.
"Good. We're all going to do juggling after our little exercise." Bruce addressed.
"Let's go, our public awaits." Seymour leads the performers out the door. JoJo picks up the bag of props and follows.
They head towards two clown cars, just outside of the Circus, Circus Carnival Midway.
Meanwhile; Flora, Fauna and Merryweather take their seats next to Annie. They were very intrigued by the circus acts they had seen. Annie was thrilled upon learning that Aurora's guardians were actual fairies and thought they were kind. The trio were also taken with Annie, found the eight-year-old delightful. Jack joins the them as well. He had completed additional tasks and decided to watch the show. Jack acknowledges the Good Fairies with a nod.
"Say, Aurora, have you ever ridden in a clown car, before?" Seymour asks.
"No, I haven't." Aurora answers.
"Now, what we're going to do is make our entrance in the cars." Seymour informs. "Bruce, Joanna and I will ride in the first car and you, JoJo, and Peggy ride in the second car."
"But, how am I going to fit inside the car, with these pants on?" Aurora asked.
"Don't worry. You might be sandwiched between the both of us, but hang tight." JoJo assured.
The group splits up. JoJo, Aurora, and Peggy get inside the second car; while Seymour, Bruce and Joanna get in the first car. It was a struggle at first for Aurora to get in, but Peggy managed to push her in. Aurora is sandwiched between Peggy and JoJo, as the little clown starts up the ignition and follows the vehicle.
"Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, making us laugh again is our hilarious, entertaining troupe of clowns!" Oswald declared.
"Which one's Aurora?" Flora questioned Jack.
"I'm not sure." Jack answered.
Applause erupts as both cars pull up. They spin and finally come to a stop. Seymour, Bruce and Joanna step out. The trio struggle and fall on their butts, causing the audience to laugh. They get up, dusting themselves off.
The audience applauds as Bruce, Joanna and Seymour walk over to the second car. Opening the door, they help Peggy and JoJo get out. The two wave. JoJo tosses out the bag with props. He tugs and pulls out Aurora, they end up tumbling on the ground. JoJo pushes the lever up and Aurora's foot pressed the button. An elaborate music machine begins playing " Merry Go-Round Broken Down."
" Now Seymour is his name,
Laughter is his game,
Come on, you dope;
Untie his rope and watch him go insane," Bruce sings as he struts forward in an exaggerated way; while JoJo helps Aurora up.
Bruce shoves a broom onto himself, bonking on the head. Peggy slaps herself in the face and falls on her back. JoJo bounces off the broom and does a flip. The crowd laughs, and so does Jack, Annie, Fauna and Merryweather. Aurora does a cartwheel and walks on her hands.
"Have they lost their minds?" Flora asked, frowning.
"No, they haven't." Annie responds. "The whole point of clowning is to make people laugh."
Aurora does a cartwheel and walks on her hands.
" This singing ain't my line,
It's tough to make a rhyme," Joanna sings, dancing a bit, while holding three balls.
" If I get stuck,
I-I'm out of luck.
I'm…"
"I'm running out of time!" Annie shouts.
"Thanks," said Joanna.
She and Seymour juggle balls, dancing a bit. They wobble upon jumping on top of the balls and fall on their butts. JoJo slips on a banana peel, falling backwards into a stack of boxes. Aurora and Bruce bounce high on pogo sticks. Two vases fall on their heads and breaks. Crowd chortles.
Joanna opens a champagne bottle and bubbles come flying out. She tilts the bottle, holding it upwards. The bubbles spread out. Children and adults reach out and touch them. Even the three fairies are amazed.
Everyone applauds and the clowns take a bow.
Aurora starts to walk off, but JoJo pulls her by the suspenders. The mass laughs and Aurora moves backwards.
"Now, we're not through yet; ladies and gentlemen." Seymour declared. "We got one more up our sleeves."
"We're going to be doing some juggling." Peggy announces as Bruce and JoJo pour the props inside Aurora's wide pants. Joanna helps them.
"And if our fellow clown comrades can come forward," Seymour gestures to the other performers.
The quartet approaches Peggy and Seymour. Aurora even waddles as she's walking.
"Let's grab a couple of props," Peggy reaches in and pulls out several lightweight, colorful, chiffon scarves. She even hands a few to Seymour. JoJo and Bruce grab bowling pins. Joanna and Aurora pull out a couple of bean bag balls (in pastel colors).
Suddenly, Aurora spots a pair of sparkly jewels. She places them in front of her eyes. The blonde shows off to the audience and they laugh.
Noticing this, Joanna lightly swats the back of Aurora's head, knocking off the jewels. The audience laughs once more.
"The one with the big, round pants is definitely Aurora." Jack whispers to Flora.
"Oh," said the red fairy.
Bruce and JoJo juggled bowling pins. Joanna juggles bean bag balls.
Seymour motions for Aurora to pay attention. He along with Peggy took two scarves in their hands and let them hang down.
Aurora watches very carefully as the duo threw the scarves into the air and caught them with their hands; the scarves switch over.
Peggy hands two scarves over to Aurora. Remembering what she had just witnessed, Aurora skillfully juggles the objects. She kept juggling until the scarves fell inside the pants.
The crowd applauds. Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather looked very impressed.
"That's very good." Seymour praised Aurora's prowess.
"But now, we're going to do another trick. This time, with bean bag balls." Joanna interjects.
"Now watch very closely, dearie." Seymour advised Aurora.
The sixteen-year-old obeys as Seymour demonstrated the technique. He starts off with holding two balls in one hand and one in the other. Tossing one ball in the air, Seymour catches the other ball. Next, he throws each of the balls and catches them.
Aurora looks amazed. She copies Seymour and once again juggles beautifully.
Peggy puts one scarf in the crook of her thumb. She puts the next scarf at her finger tips. Peggy throws one scarf in the air and catches it in the same hand. From there, she juggles three scarves. The crowd oohs and ahhs.
Next, Joanna tosses one ball and then two balls in the air with one hand. She then proceeds to toss three balls in the air with one hand. Aurora follows suit.
Both clowns do the two in one trick, by tossing three balls in the air at the same time.
Seymour holds the ball in his left hand and tossed two balls with his right hand.
JoJo juggles three balls like a yo-yo (Aurora nods her head up and down) and measuring spaghetti.
Joanna tosses three balls and licks one like a lollipop. She and Aurora take turns licking one ball, causing the audience to giggle.
Bruce juggles and spins the balls, like the theory of the universe. Another laugh from the audience.
And finally, Aurora puts a different ball in her mouth and held up two balls to her eyes. The mass chortles once more.
Even the three good fairies and Annie laugh. Jack himself even chuckles, a smile on his face.
"A job well done, my dear." Seymour congratulates Aurora.
"Why, thank you," Aurora responds, smiling. She shakes hands with Seymour and he flips her over on her backside (without hurting her). This earns a guffaw from the audience.
Seymour and Peggy help Aurora get up. The entire crowd applauds as Aurora and the clowns join hands and bowed.
Flora, Fauna and Merryweather looked impressed and proud. Even the Radcliffe siblings enjoyed the performance.
A/N: Phew, another long chapter! But I hoped you enjoyed it.
The "Merry Go-Round Broken Down" song and sequence is a nod to Who Framed Roger Rabbit, specifically the scene where Eddie makes the weasels laugh. The gags Aurora and the clowns perform during that sequence, I pulled from my previous Who Framed Roger Rabbit fan fic, It Takes Two.
The bubbles coming out of a champagne bottle and JoJo pulling Aurora back by the suspenders is a nod to the clown scene with Mickey Rooney from Babe: Pig in the City. I thought it'd be fun to use.
Also, Aurora see a pair of jewels and putting them in front of her eyes is a callback to Dopey from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, plus Giselle during the True Love's Kiss sequence in Enchanted.
The "Be a Clown" song comes from Mickey's Fun Songs: Let's Go to the Circus. I remember watching it on VHS and loving it.
In the next chapter, Jack and Annie take Aurora and the three fairies to a restaurant in Las Vegas for a birthday dinner. We learn about Jack and Annie's backstory a bit more and why he has become cynical and jaded. Aurora and the Good Fairies encourage Jack to be more open to love. And of course, Diaval tries to kill Aurora with a poisoned apple drink but is thwarted by Merryweather.
I hope you all had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day weekend and I will see you next time. Bye for now!