So...here we go. Like I've said before, thanks again everyone for your patience with me as I work to write this section. Because it is long, I'll be make two posts for this part. Yes, there is even more to Eel-ectric City but that hasn't been written yet (we'll see what happens in the next couple of weeks). But hopefully this will suffice for now. As always, let me know what you think and thanks again for all the kind words and encouragement!
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Points was the no-nonsense blowfish bouncer at Poseidon’s Palace. He was small, but he was full of enough grit to keep all the bottom feeders out of the famous hot spot. He’d seen a lot of things in his years working in this, the shining pearl of Eel-ectric City; only the splashiest of marine life came to the Palace. That meant that Points had met nearly every celebrity in the ocean. At this point, it would take a lot to really impress the worldly blowfish now.
“Excuse me…”
Points turned around to see seven beautiful faces. The little blowfish nearly inflated seeing them all staring eagerly at him. It took him a second before he realized that it was the brunette closest to him that had called his attention.
“We were wondering if we could get a few tables for tonight. We kind of have a large party.”
“Oh, and could we possibly be close to the stage?” asked a stunning blonde with her wavy tresses falling over one eye. “We know the band,” she added with superiority.
In the time that the two mermaids had spoken, Points had made the connection: these were the seven princesses of Atlantica, all together and all here at the Palace! Even Points was impressed by guests like these. He knew exactly what he had to do.
“Of course, your majesties,” said the little fish, trying unsuccessfully to smooth out the rough edges in his voice. “Move it, move it,” he said to the gawking fish and merpeople staring at the princesses as they passed.
He led them through the beautiful building that was Poseidon’s Palace. From the outside, it looked like a huge upright clam with a pearl in its mouth. Inside, the concave curves of the massive mollusk, the pearl from the outside was filled with an enormous school of constantly moving bioluminescent fish that filled the room with all kinds of color. On the way to their seats they passed the bar where two very talented octopuses were performing amazing tricks with bottles and bubbles. Across from the bar was a gaming area with people playing all sorts of games including one that looked like billiards with sword fish for cues and roulette with a pearl on the wheel and sand dollars for chips. In the center of the room was a glorious statue of Poseidon himself. Beyond the statue were the tables and booths of the seating area. Below that on a lower part of the room were the square, mother of pearl dance floor and the stage.
Points led the group through throngs of people to three circular tables that were being pushed together for them on the edge of seating area, looking down on the dance floor below. The band was just beginning the set up on stage as the girls and their guys sat down.
“There you go your highnesses. If you need anything, just call for Points.”
“Thank you,” said a black haired, green-tailed mermaid with a wink.
Points swooned a little and drifted very un-bouncer like back to his post at the door.
“Adella, do you have to flirt with anything that floats?” Attina asked, half kidding and half in earnest.
“What! That wink probably made his night!”
Waverly cleared his throat loudly.
“Oh, Wave! You know I’m just playing, don’t you?”
As he gave her an "Oh, really?" look, a cute strawberry blonde mermaid swam by the table. As she did, Waverly gave her a wink and sent the girl into a giggling fit.
“Waverly!” Adella cried.
“Well, there’s a taste of your own medicine, Dell!” said Waverly as everyone laughed.
“Well,” Sheldon started, “since the band hasn’t started playing yet, is anyone up for a game of swordfish pitch?”
“Yeah, sure,” said Eric, pushing his chair away from the table.
“Wait, no,” Ariel said, pulling on Eric’s arm. “Shell, you’ll lose your fin if you try playing Eric in anything.” At that, all the boys’ interests were piqued.
“This I gotta see,” said Finn.
“Yeah, me too,” said Waverly.
“I’m up for a challenge,” Sheldon said, straightening up.
"What challenge?" Rip asked confidently. "Eric doesn't even know how to play."
“Alright,” said Ariel with a sigh and releasing Eric’s arm. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Don’t destroy him please,” she said to Eric.
“What are you talking about Ariel? I don’t even know how to play,” Eric answered, with a dimpled half smile that was just devious.
At that, all the boys followed Sheldon and Eric as they swam in the direction of the billiards. As they left, a little angel fish swam up to the table.
“Can I get drinks for anyone?”
As everyone else ordered, Ariel leaned to Aquata.
“What should I get? I’ve never ordered a drink in Atlantica before.”
“Oh, that's right; you were never old enough!” said Aquata with the smile of a proud big sister.
“Get her a sea cucumber twist, Aquata,” Arista shouted from across the table.
Ariel and Aquata looked at their sister in mild shock.
“Ariel’s allergic to sea cucumber, Arista,” Aquata answered impatiently.
“Oh, that’s right. How could I forget?” she said insincerely.
“We’ll both have sea-tinis, please,” Aquata said to the little fish that then flitted away. Then she turned back to Ariel. “You’ll like it.”
“Aww, our little sister out on the town for the first, oh, wait no, second time,” said Arista. “Let’s try not to do any collateral damage tonight, huh, Ariel.”
“Arista,” said Aquata, narrowing her gaze over the table and looking a lot like their father in the process.
“Come on guys,” Andrina said.
“Yeah,” Adella chimed in. “This might be Ariel’s last night out in Atlantica for a really long time. I don’t think we should spend it getting all upset at each other, do you?”
Aquata took a deep breath as Arista nonchalantly flicked her hair out of her face.
Ariel paused for a moment. Adella was right; this would be the last time she’d be here with all of her sisters for a while. If she married Eric, she’d be a queen, and the last time she checked, queens don’t take vacation very often. That thought could have ruined the whole night, but strangely, it didn’t. It just made Ariel want to party harder than she ever had in her life!
“Then I guess you guys have to show me a really great time huh?”
The girls smiled at their little sister as they began to talk about all the things they wanted to do tonight. They decided that they'd need a lot of fun before the stress of tomorrow's celebration set in.
After a few minutes, they were interupted by a thick Jamaican accent. “Looks like you girls made it!”
Ariel spun around like lightening. “Sebastian! I didn’t know you were playing the Palace! Congratulations!”
“Tank you Ariel. I had to pull a few kelp strings to do it but here we are! Your sisters wanted to make sure that your night went swimmingly so dey made sure to take you da best club in Eel-ectric City and dat da best band in de ocean would play for you!”
“Oh, guys. This is wonderful; I can’t wait to hear you play!”
“We’re on in just a little bit. Where are all da guys?”
“They’re watching Eric pummel Shell in some game,” Ariel answered curtly as she rested her chin in her hand. As she said it, there was a huge shout from the swordfish pitch table. “There he goes.”
Sebastian quickly swam upwards to look in the direction of the noise. “It looks like dat human of yours is really causing a current over dere.”
“So is Eric just good at every game he tries or what?” asked Attina.
“Basically, yes,” Ariel answered. “I’ve never seen him lose at anything really. As you can tell, I gave up playing anything with him a while ago. But if Sheldon wants to learn the hard way, he can be my guest.”
“Here are your drinks,” said the little angel fish. She was balancing a ridiculously large tray laden with all kinds of drinks on her head.
Attina helped the little fish with the tray and passed the glasses around.
“Well,” Sebastian said, “I’ve got to go and help set up. I’ll see you girls on da dance floor!”
As the girls waved good-bye, there was one more cry from the table where Eric and Sheldon were playing and then an outburst of applause. In a few moments, the boys, Eric and Sheldon returned, the former with just the slightest grin and the latter pale as a sheet.
“Well…” said Ariel as Eric sat down next to her.
“It was fun,” Eric answered plainly. “It’s just like billiards, but, you know, with animals as cues. Once you get past that part, yeah, it’s just like billiards.”
“I’ve never seen someone get beaten in swordfish pitch so completely or so fast in my life,” said Finn.
“That was amazing Eric!” said Caspian. “You should stay here and play in competitions!”
“Sheldon,” Ariel continued acting like she hadn’t heard Finn or Caspian, “are you alright?”
“Ariel,” said Sheldon in a low and almost pained voice, “I should have listened to you. I don’t think I’ll ever play again.”
“Oh, Shell, you’ll be fine,” said Andrina. “Here, let me order you a drink,” she said hailing another angel fish.
Ariel was shaking her head, reprimanding Eric’s guilty smile as the lights dimmed and a drum roll announced the band. A suave voice slid through the room: “And now mermaids and mermen alike, you fish and fishettes, put your hands and fins together for the waviest crustacean in the seven seas…the Great Sebastian!”
With assorted squeals everyone got up from their chairs and hit the dance floor. It felt like the entire room had shrunk to just that small square in front of the stage. The merpeople and assorted marine life were squeezed together shoulder to fin and everyone was moving to the sound of the music.
Of course, all the princesses were in the center of it all. They knew that Sebastian was going to be great, but they also knew that since they were there, it was going to be an exceptional show. There’s really nothing like being in the audience when someone is performing just for you. There’s a feeling of pride and a singular enjoyment that comes with it, and that’s exactly how all the girls felt. This meant that they were having at least ten times more fun than they would have had anywhere else. Between that and the facts that they were all out together for the first time in years and that they were each dancing with the ideal guy of their choosing made this one of the best nights the princesses could remember.
As for Eric, he had to adjust to the movements of Atlantican dancing. The restrictions of the minuets or gavottes he was used to were non-existent; every person was moving the way their body wanted to. It was a kind of complete freedom that Eric had never known. But that was really what the whole trip had been: emancipation from the formalities and protocols of everything he’d known on land. There was nothing he couldn’t do down here and for someone who’d had nearly his entire life regimented each day, that was downright exhilarating!
Soon enough, Eric’s knack for picking up quickly kicked in and after the first song, he was effortless dancing with Ariel and spinning her around the dance floor.
After about the third song, Sebastian’s band played “Jump in the Line”, which was a particular favorite among the princesses. At the sound of that unmistakable guitar intro, all their eyes lit up.
“Come on, girls!” Sebastian beckoned. “I know you know dis one!”
Suddenly, the six mermaids in the front of the crowd all looked at Aquata with the most pleading looks ever made.
“Why are you looking at me?” Aquata shouted over the music. “The stage is that way!”
With that, all seven girls were on stage in a split second. The guys gathered together right in front and started cheering them on enthusiastically.
The girls sang up a storm, just the way Sebastian had taught them to years ago. It was electrifying; the entire club was energized as the princesses’ harmonies filled the room. The girls were really putting on a show, the way they had always wanted to, without any rules or any scolding, just pure fun. And when the song ended, they just hugged each other tightly and even with all the cheers and applause, they couldn’t hear a thing.
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* So, "Jump in the Line" is one of my favorite party songs of all time. When I heard that it was in Ariel's Beginning I almost died! It had to be in this story. If you haven't heard it, I implore you to get on that right now!