Helping Out Backstage with Ariel

"Under the sea, Under the sea,

Darling it's better, down where it's wetter,

Take it from me!"

'Ariel's Undersea Musical' was one of the newest stage attractions in Fantasyland, which meant it was also currently the most popular, and as such there was not an empty seat in sight. Though given just how spectacular the show looked from the audience you suspected that would remain the case for years to come. The attraction itself was situated like a theater, though rather than a screen or a stage the audience was facing a gigantic aquarium tank decorated to look like Ariel's Grotto from the Little Mermaid movie. And inside the tank was Ariel herself, captivating the audience by singing popular songs from the movie as she swam and danced around gracefully underwater in her iconic purple seashell bikini. Her flowing red hair and seafoam green tail made for a fantastic visual as she performed spins and loops during the more energetic numbers like this one, and even for the slower numbers they trailed behind her like streamers, drawing the viewers' eyes in the same way that her singing drew their ears.

Though what drew the audience more than anything else was that this was as close to seeing a 'real' mermaid in her natural habitat as they were likely going to get. Sure, people might have Ariel Love Dolls of their own (you even see them in the audience sometimes), but not many of those people have one with the mermaid tail, and even fewer of them are able to construct an entire aquarium like this for her to swim around in. But thanks to multimillion dollar parks budgets, they could see her do so here for just the price of admission. And Ariel herself was encouraged to interact with the audience when possible, just to drive home that she was more than just an expensive animatronic. In fact, right now you were watching 'Under the Sea' for the second time, as it was the song chosen by this particular audience as the encore performance to close out the show. It along with 'Part of Your World' were the usual picks, though you could always tell that a particular showing's audience was full of horndogs if 'Kiss the Girl' was chosen instead.

"Each little snail here, know how to wail here,

That's why it's hotter, under the water.

Yeah we in luck here, down in the muck here,

Under the sea!"

As the number closed out, Ariel gave you the perfect example of her capacity to think for herself as she went off-script. At this point in the show she was supposed to thank the audience for coming and say she would meet them outside. Instead she swam right up to the glass of the tank and said to the audience, "Okay everyone, I want to sing one more verse, but without the music I'm gonna need your help! All you need to do is start clapping your hands like this. Come on, don't be shy!"

She started clapping in a steady beat, and soon most of the audience was following her lead, the unified beat filling up the theater to replace the missing music. Ariel pointed to a guy in the front row and with a smile said, "Hey, you! Yeah, the guy in the green shirt! I don't see you clapping! Come on, I know you want to!"

Having been called out, Mr. Green Shirt nervously did his best to follow the rhythm of the rest of the crowd. As he did, Ariel started bopping her hips from side to side in time with the claps, "Yeah, there you go! Just like that! Alright guys, keep the beat steady for me!"

With the audience following her instructions, Ariel began to sing again, "Under the sea, under the sea! Since life is sweet here you've got the beat here, naturally! Keep it up!"

Ariel was practically bouncing in the water now, her entire upper body moving in sync with the claps, "Even the sturgeon and the ray, they get the urge 'n' start to play! We got the spirit, let's let 'em hear it! Everyone!"

"Under the sea!"

"Good job! Each little clam here, know how to jam here!"

"Under the sea!"

"One more time! We got no troubles, life is the bubbles!"

"Under the sea!"

Thunderous applause came from the audience as the improvised song ended. Ariel pushed herself off the glass of the tank and swam upwards, doing a backflip underwater before spreading her arms and saying, "And that's our show! Thank you for coming everyone, and I hope you all had as much fun as I did! I'll be out front in a few minutes if you want to chat, take pictures with me, or get an autograph. Goodbye for now!"

An instrumental medley of Little Mermaid songs began to play over the speakers, which was the cue for the audience to begin filing out, and for Ariel to swim into a tunnel that led to a small dock area backstage. You made your way to an Employee's Only door to meet the mermaid there.

You arrived just as Ariel was strapping her upper torso into a harness lowered into the water for her by one of the three technicians that worked backstage. When the redheaded princess saw you, she smiled and waved excitedly. "There's my favorite Imagineer! Did you see the show?"

"I did," you told her, "And you were fantastic, as always."

She blushed at the compliment, then turned away momentarily to signal to the technician that she was strapped in. As they went to activate the crane, Ariel turned back to you and asked, "What about that thingy I did at the end with the crowd clapping and singing? Pretty neat, right? I've been doing stuff like that during the last few encore performances, but I think this is the first time you've been here to see it. Maybe we could close out the show with it more often, and-"

"That's actually what I'm here to talk to you about," you interrupted, your eyes tracking her body upwards as she was lifted out of the water, "You have to stop doing it. It wasn't so bad this time, but I was told you've gotten carried away before and dragged these improv singing sessions on for way too long. You're on a tight schedule as is, and while you're doing that in here, people are left waiting outside for you at the Meet and Greet."

"But didn't you see the crowd's faces? They loved it!" Ariel said with a pout, jiggling a bit as the crane finished pulling her up, "I don't think I've ever heard applause that loud before I started doing it."

"You have a point there," you said, "Alright, fine, I'll talk about it with the higher ups and see what they think. Maybe we can find a way to fit it into the schedule somehow. But until then, no more adding stuff to the program yourself. That's an order."

"Will do," Ariel said, though it was clear she was disappointed at the rejection.

As the crane swung the mermaid away from the water and over dry land, her body and hair began to emit steam and rapidly dry itself off. One of the reasons Ariel got her own attraction while most of the other Princesses had to share the Fantasyland Theatre for their musical shows was because she was one of only three Custom Love Dolls that the park currently used (the other two being Rapunzel, who could make her golden hair glow when she sang, and Elsa, who had what your fellow Imagineers cheekily dubbed 'refrigerator hands'). Ariel's modifications were all geared to making her completely amphibious, and the park wanted to both show that off and get their money's worth from it at the same time. In addition to this mod, which allowed her to go from soaking wet to bone dry in less than thirty seconds, she also had one that allowed her to speak and sing clearly both underwater and above it. But both of those were mere accessories compared to her third and most extensive modification.

"Alright people, let's move it!" you shouted at the other technicians, "Ariel needs to be dressed and outside for her Meet and Greet in three minutes, and we're already behind schedule! Where the hell are her legs?"

"Right here!" the most muscular of the three shouted, picking up the detached lower body of a naked woman from its shelf.

"Good job Jerry, stand by with those at the ready," you ordered, "Here Deborah, I'll help you with the tail."

You and the mousy female technician got on opposite sides of the hanging mermaid and put your arms around her scaly fish tail. Once the two of you had a solid grip, you said, "Okay Ariel, we're ready. Detach your tail."

Her hips gave off a click, a whir, and a hiss, and then her tail went limp and came loose. You and Deborah carefully moved it out from under her, leaving the still active upper body of Ariel dangling in the air humming to herself. You helped Deborah carry the tail over to its storage shelf while the other two technicians, Jerry and Bob, lined up the human lower half with Ariel's waist. You got back over just in time to hear the locking mechanisms kicking in, and once they finished the techs stepped aside.

"All good?" you asked.

Ariel smiled and wiggled her toes to show she had full control of them, "Yep! Lower me down guys!"

As Ariel was slowly lowered down to the ground, you couldn't help but look over her lower body. Even though it was sitting on a shelf just minutes prior, from the tips of her toes to her perfectly shaved pussy, it looked just as realistic and natural on her as the tail did just moments before. If it wasn't for the very faint seam along the waist, which the fleshy lip of the mermaid tail covered up completely when she was wearing it, you would have no idea it could even detach at all.

Once her feet were on the ground, Ariel undid the harness straps, then took a couple of steps towards you... and promptly stumbled and fell into your chest, her arms grabbing onto your shoulders as she pressed her near-naked body against you.

"Oops, sorry," she said with a giggle, "Takes me a moment to get used to my land legs again."

"It's okay. I'm always happy to help you out," you told her. This wasn't the first time she fell into you like this, and honestly you found it kind of cute. Especially since according to the technicians, she only ever seemed to have these 'leg problems' when you were in the room to catch her.

Ariel blushed, then let go of you and turned around to grab her purple panties from the storage shelf. Company policy was that they were supposed to stay on the legs even when detached to protect her modesty, but after the sixth time in a row they got caught in the locking mechanism during the attachment process, you all decided it would be easier to leave them off. Not that Ariel minded: in fact when she noticed you were still looking at her, she gave her pert butt a playful little wiggle before she pulled her panties up. You walked over and gave her a swat on the rear, causing her to let out a giddy squeal.

"Looks like the touch receptors are working down there too," you said, "Now stop seahorsing around. You still need to get dressed."

Ariel giggled, then making her way over to the rack where her aqua blue princess dress was hanging. You would be hesitant to flirt with one of the Love Dolls like this in front of most people, but thanks to you every one of these technicians has had sex with Ariel themselves at least once (even Deborah, who really liked having the princess eat out her ass for some reason), so you knew they were more than happy to keep their mouths shut about it. With the help of said well-trained technicians, she was dressed in the heavy garment within a minute.

"You know, I have a bit of free time between the Meet and Greet and my next show," Ariel told you as Deborah touched up her make-up and Bob styled her hair, "Maybe I can show you my appreciation for dealing with me and my two left feet. What do you say?"

"Perhaps, if I'm not busy," you told her. Even though nothing was currently on your schedule that would conflict with it, you knew better by now than to commit to a hook-up ahead of time, given that you might be needed at short notice to deal with a situation somewhere else.

"Well, I hope to see you then," she said, giving you a wink as she stepped into her matching heels. She then walked up and gave you a kiss on the cheek, before following Deborah outside to meet her adoring fans.