The True Story of Aladdin

Ch. 03 - The Daring Ladies of the Evening

~~Enchanted Forest~~

A hand in her hair

A hand gripping her waist

An overpowering scent of pricey cologne

A haughty man-child who thinks he owns her-

Ali's eye twitches as she thinks on the previous events.

How DARE he. The scummy, cocky, ignorant little-

Deep breath in, deep breath out.

'This is what you wanted, remember? Just play along for a little longer...'

Outwardly Ali walks calmly back through the market until she reaches a familiar red door; walking past it she takes an immediate sharp turn into the next alley over and reaches a plain wooden door. Knocking seven times in a distinct pattern, the door is cracked open before she is swiftly pulled in.

Ali's eyes adjust to the dark lighting and peer into the faces of multiple women.

"Aladdin!"

The stress on Ali's shoulders lessens slightly and she allows a short smile. "Morning Ladies! How's business?"

One of the women, this one dressed in scarlet, answers "Slow for right now, you know how it goes. Most men wait at least until noon."

Ali nods.

This time a woman dressed in purple speaks "How did your talk with the prince go? Surely you have time to tell us while you change?" The women around her smirk and grin in agreeance; Ali's plan had been slow in the beginning, but now it was picking up speed. She had finally gotten close to the Prince, and now? Now the time had come for the last few steps; the steps that would lead to the freedom of many in Agrabah.

Ali shakes off the disgust of her previous actions and grins "Why of course, wouldn't want to disappoint! Would you ladies hand me my other clothes while I strip these?"

The women do so quickly as Ali strips behind a curtain.

"Where to start," she hums "well, as always, he came bounding up to me like a rabid dog soon after I came into town. All I had to do was mention a couple we had passed for him to drone on and on about his engagement issue."

The women all snickered, folding the clothes that she had passed to them in exchange for her more comfortable attire.

"As we've discussed, this is exactly where I've been wanting to get him for months! But with his father suddenly pushing him to get married," Ali chuckles "he opened up to me as easy as drunken men open up to all of you."

Stepping out behind the curtain, Aladdin stands tall and proud. "It didn't take long for him to confess his undying love for me. And from there, well..." Aladdin snorts "I let him do all the talking. And let him have a small taste to sweeten the deal."

"The fool was too preoccupied to notice that I certainly didn't reciprocate. Nor did I say a word to him other than 'I better get back to town now' when he had finally quit his face sucking." Aladdin rolled her eyes and the women around her giggled.

"You sure you don't want to work with us on your off days? You seem awfully good at luring foul men to their doom."

The woman's giggles carried on and Aladdin merely shook her head with a smirk. "Afraid not ladies, my luring lasts longer than a few hours. I play the long game, it's how I've warranted my face on many a wanted poster."

It was true; Ali, or more so Aladdin, had found herself on many wanted posters within the past few years. Aladdin had garnered the attention of not just Agrabah, but quite a few neighboring kingdoms as well. She had started her trickery around the age of 13, when she was still able to easily be confused between being a boy or a girl. As Aladdin grew older, she had feared that her deeds would have to come to an end; seeing as it was becoming increasingly difficult to hide how she was growing into a woman. But unexpected help had arisen from multiple places. One of which had been the Ladies of the Evening.