Taking Fantasia : A Disney Fanfiction

Chapter 66: The Fairy Godmother Algorithm

Chapter 66: The Fairy Godmother Algorithm

Edna Mode curled over her sketch pad. Her pen vibrated with anticipation.

"I ask the questions – " she instructed the girls, "—you answer, and I SKETCH! No other talking! Agreed?"

Wendy and Ariel nodded timidly.

"And no lies!" Edna ordered, squinting down her pen. "Or you will be set on fire by the lie detectors."

"What?"

"First question!" Edna Mode pointed at Ariel. "You! Triton girl! What color is your hair?"

Ariel raised an eyebrow. Then, she pointed.

"Answer..." Edna Mode glowered over her sketch pad.

"Red." Ariel said. "As a fire-truck."

"No embellishing!" snapped Edna Mode, scribbling across her pad. "Second question! What color are your eyes?"

"Deep blue."

"Third question! What is your least favorite color?"

"Pink."

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Edna's pen smoked across the pad. "Fourth question! What is your favorite ice cream flavor?"

Ariel made a face. "This is the Fairy Godmother Algorithm?" she giggled at Wendy. "These questions are so easy – "

"Answer!"

"All right...Gosh." Ariel smiled. "Double chocolate chunk."

Edna Mode paused. Her pen hovered over the pad as she looked up. "Fifth question...What do you fear?"

Ariel froze. The hilarity washed from her face. Sparkle dulled, Ariel shook her head. "That's a pretty big jump from favorite ice cream."

Edna glared. Impatiently, she rapped her sketch pad. "Your answers have lead the algorithm to this question! Answer!"

"Okay. Okay. Um...oh I don't know..." Ariel twisted and wrung her hair. "...I'm afraid of what Lana and other girls think about me."

Zrrrrrrinnng!

A blaster the size of a small jet dropped from the ceiling and zeroed in on Ariel.

"Deactivate lie detector." Edna said lazily into a command recorder.

Disappointedly, the blaster sagged. With a shudder, it crept back behind the ceiling, leaving a trail of exhaust.

Ariel and Wendy edged closer together, gaping at the blaster's nose peeking through the ceiling tiles.

Edna Mode smiled. "Again..." she said, staring into Ariel's deep blue eyes. Sinisterly, she poised her pen. "Fifth question: What do you fear?"

Ariel squeezed her hair. Then, she spoke. "A cage." her voice trembled across the big room, surrounding them in echoes. "Being told what is right, what is wrong, and who to love. Not being heard. Loosing..." Ariel looked down, stroking a strand of red hair. "...my freedom."

Edna Mode considered Ariel. Pen twirling between her fingers, she disappeared behind the sketch pad.

Wendy glanced at Ariel. Ariel was abnormally meek, as if exposing her fear completely disqualified her from the spotlight. Reluctant to interfere further with Ariel's feelings, Wendy offered a comforting hand. Rubbing Ariel's shoulder, she silently mused how similar Ariel was to Jim. Both thrived in freedom.

"Fabulous!" Edna Mode suddenly declared. Swooping her signature across the pad, she ripped out the paper with Ariel's dress sketch. Breathlessly Edna Mode brushed her hand across the clean sheet.

"Next!" Edna Mode' glasses flashed as she whipped her finger at Wendy. "You Dahling!"

"That's it?" Wendy's heart beat faster as the spotlight centered on her. "Just five questions?"

"Five is usually enough, Dahling." said Edna Mode, clicking and re-clicking her pen. "But the algorithm is limitless! However – I am a professional! NOW – "

Wendy jumped as Edna Mode slapped her sketch pad against her knee. "Are you ready, Dahling girl?"

Wendy nodded. Thinking furiously, she rehearsed her answers to Ariel's questions. "Yes. I think – "

"— First question!" boomed Edna Mode. "What color is your hair?"

"Light brown." Wendy replied automatically.

"Second question! What color are your eyes?"

"Light blue."

Edna Mode sketched a few long lines. Wendy took a breath, preparing for the next question – least favorite color.

"Third question!" said Edna Mode, her shinny black bob bouncing with her enthusiasm. "What is your most favorite color?"

"Re – oh. Um...most?"

Wendy caught herself as the blaster jerked from the ceiling. The blaster trembled like a child containing a temper tantrum. Carefully, she turned back to Edna Mode.

"I...I like..." a color flashed across Wendy's eyes. Surprised by the forced honesty, Wendy blurted her answer. "...green."

Scribble. Scribble. Scribble.

"Interesting." Muttered Edna Mode, nose pressed to the paper. Her pen wiggled back and forth. "Very interesting, Dahling."

"These aren't the same questions..." Wendy began, still flustered by the abrupt change.

"It is an algorithm!" Edna Mode snapped. Impatiently, she returned to her sketch pad. "My God! What do they teach you at that school? Okay! Forth question!"

Wendy braced herself.

Edna Mode adjusted her glasses. "Do you believe in magic?"

Wendy sighed, relieved. "Yes. Of course."

Edna Mode smiled. Reclining, she bit the end of her pen. "Fifth question...are you in love?"

Wendy's heart stopped. Helplessly, she stared into Edna Mode's round lenses. She could feel Ariel's gaze, pulling at her conscience.

"Answer." ordered the shrewd, little designer.

Wendy inhaled, knowing that the truth would cut her heart open to nonnegotiable vulnerability.

"Yes." Wendy whispered. "Yes. I am..."

And although her heart was breaking, Wendy smiled. "...in love."

Edna Mode smiled with her eyes. The glint was magnified by her round glasses and exultant cry.

"Fabulous, Dahlings! Fabulous!"

Triumphantly, Edna Mode scrawled her signature and ripped out Wendy's sketch. Flitting up from her chair, she clapped twice.

"And now!" Edna Mode declared as the room revolved, shutting out the underwater view and flooding the walls with light.

Striking a pose she beamed at the ceiling. "And now my genius will be complete! For all to admire and see! I give you silk from the wind and sequence from the stars! I give you invisible stitches strong as steel! I give you dresses of power! Sophistication! Beauty! And grace!"

Dramatically, Edna Mode returned to the girls. "In a word – I give you Edna Mode. Magic, without the magic touch."

Sweetly, Edna Mode ushered Wendy and Ariel from the pedestal and onto separate ottomans.

Flexing her fingers and preparing to style, the fabulous designer winked at an imaginary camera. "Despair, fairy godmothers. Despair."