Duela Does Clowning
Story suggested by AnimeLover1808
By Aghori Shaivite
When Barbara Gordon awoke that morning, she felt like her mind was a train wreck. She hadn’t felt this way since her days at college, waking up from so many drunken nights with a hangover. She was happy to realize that the feeling was temporary, for after a few minutes of keeping her eyes closed, she could feel the pain slowly going away. Her hands pushed her pillow out the way as she arched her back and smacked her lips, slowly rolling out of bed. She did a long stretch with a yawn before reaching down to touch her toes, raising back up to twist her sides. She could already tell a long day was ahead of her.
Barbara rose her hand to her cheek and felt strange as her forefingers rubbed against the flesh. There was something covering it- something soft and creamy to the touch. Barbara lifted up her hand and held it in front of her eyes. On the forefingers was a pinkish tint of makeup.
“Last night,” Barbara said as she stared at the makeup. She could clearly remember putting the makeup on. After that, everything else was a blur. She could remember going to the store, buying all sorts of clownish items from greasepaint and makeup to clothes. She remembered sitting down, looking at the stuff, and putting it on. Yesterday, she had been wearing a bunch of clown clothes. Now, she was just naked with her clown face still on. Had she passed out? Barbara lifted her head a little and looked down on her pillow. There was a small mess of white and red makeup with what seemed to be baby powder. “How did this get on me?” The makeup was way too much, and so out of the ordinary that Barbara could never imagine wearing something like that. She just had to see it. The woman walked to the mirror to get a better look.
The woman’s face went into shock immediately as she stared into the glass and saw a clown’s face staring back at her. It was her face alright- a strangely beautiful visage of white with violet eyelids, rosy cheeks and red lips. Her hair was still as red and beautiful as ever, but it’s length had been shortened. Now, she had a more emo look to her, her hair cut in a way she had seen younger women wear their hair. Although it surprised her, she couldn’t be too angry at the hair. It was quite beautiful. Still, the face really scared her, along with the lack of memory. Nothing for the life of her could spark any idea as to how she got into this strange, miraculously weird predicament as a clown girl.
The headache she had did make her think that maybe she had made a drunken bet at a bar or a club. None of that made sense, though. She wouldn't have gone out in such a ridiculous clown get up. She must have just been tired from all the shopping and makeup work. She was a bit confused as to where her costume must have gone and why she had gone to sleep naked like that. Barbara wished that instead of dressing up like a clown, she would have, just like any night, spent the twilight hours hunting down villains and stopping crimes. She couldn’t remember what had happened, frustration picking at her like a sore rash. How could she have nonchalantly slept the night away? Hadn’t Batman gone out of town for a while? She would have never given Gotham a chance to slip while he was gone on her watch. This was so strange.
Batgirl was trying not to feed any credibility into the worst case scenario. Any sort of clown related mystery automatically had the possibility of Joker and Harley’s involvement written all over it. Had she somehow been tricked or misled into her comic role? Although it seemed highly likely that she had been dressed by the clown duo as a joke, it would make no sense as to why she would be found safe and sound in her own room, unless the entire place was a hallucination. Was it? Batgirl pinched herself and was satisfied to believe that reality had not shifted. She was indeed in her room, standing naked with nothing but a clown face that she kept touching repeatedly. She had to admit, it was really cute on her- her shiny blue eyes stared back from a face of greasepaint. She didn’t look like a ridiculous circus clown or, even worse, some tacky birthday clown. Barbara’s clown character had a touch of pizazz to her, class and glamour.
Barbara placed her hands on her hips as she looked up and down at her reflection in the mirror. There she stood with her clown face on, stark naked with her breasts perky and body toned. She gave a few turns, studied her hair a little as it sometimes wandered near her eyes. It was a cute look, very nice, and she would keep the hair, but even such a creative face would have to go.
“It’s a work day,” Barbara jokingly reasoned with a smile. Giving the reflection a final look, the girl walked into the shower.
Thinking about what clothes she would wear when she came out of the shower, Barbara turned on the showerhead. And what happened to the clown clothes she was wearing? Maybe they would be hanging up in the closet. She could donate the clothes to a charity; she didn’t really need them for anything. It would probably be a good cause, giving away a costume for someone that needed it and didn’t think of the Joker every time they looked at it. Barbara didn’t know why on earth she had gotten such a strange guise, but she was going to get rid of each article of clothing.
The woman held her hand up to the water to test the heat of it as it ran out of the showerhead. Feeling satisfied, she stepped in and let the water run all over her. Barbara had never had to wash greasepaint off of her face, but she was soon surprised to feel how thick and stubborn the stuff really was. She was already watching a lot of mix and rush in the water, leaking onto other parts on her skin from her neck to her hands, but for the most part it felt like most of it wasn’t going anywhere. The soap did help a little, and she rubbed it on her face for a while to feel that maybe more of it was coming up.
After a while, she got tired of her efforts to fully clean her face and decided to handle her hair until she could come up with a better way to take care of greasepaint. Barbara ran the shampoo through her hair, covering up the red locks and rummaging her hands through them like spiders, trying to clean it the best that she could. She didn’t trust the cleanliness of her hair after going through the craziness that was her clown face; there were no doubts in her mind that greasepaint probably leaked and smeared from her early attempts to get rid of the stuff. After a few drips of the shampoo from her hair and onto her face, however, Barbara was starting to realize that the shampoo made the greasepaint feel easier to clean. She moved to her face with some gathered shampoo and moved her hands in circular motions, starting to realize that her guess was absolutely correct. The shampoo did to a better and easier job in removing the greasepaint than the mere soapbar did, and after Barbara reached up to grab her washcloth from the shower bar, she was ready to get rid of the makeup entirely. Her hands kept going for the shampoo, lathering her face and rubbing as water poured down. After each circular hand movement of shampoo clearing the greasepaint, Barbara took the washcloth and got into the little sides, nooks and crannies to clean up the remaining residue of paint. After Barbara wiped away any remaining crush from her eyes, she could look down and see the dirty paint stained bottom of the tub. Yes, she thought, it was working well.
Barbara took the time to give some care to the rest of her body. She cleaned off her neck first, realizing that there was even more greasepaint there. The shampoo did the trick again, and with more shampoo, she was able to get rid of any remaining white. A quick raise of the washcloth to her ears revealed even more makeup, and Barbara was at her shampoo again, working to clean up the extra clown white she had found on the sides. God, she thought, would this ever be over? She wasn’t sure what had exactly given her or whoever did this to her the idea of wearing a clown face, but Barbara hoped she would never had the displeasure of wearing one again. Cleaning the stuff was a pure nightmare.
Barbara washed up and down her breasts, cleaning them off the stains that had run down from the water. After lathering her washcloth with more soap, washing the rest of her body was a pure breeze- the arms, the legs, her torso and back were all washed at a normal speed. She couldn’t see any more staining from the greasepaint and all that was left was to make sure that she was clean.
After she had finished washing around her crotch, her feet, and her backside, Barbara was done again. She let herself soak and drip under the showerhead for a few more minutes as she regained her thoughts. There were a few things on the agenda for that day though not too much. The first thing was to go to work after dressing up and having a small breakfast. After that, she would go home, talk on the phone with daddy, and then get all dressed up for the night. Gotham would be patrolled again, and hopefully Batgirl would remember going to sleep at the end of the night. It all sounded simple when she went over the itinerary in her head, but life for Barbara Gordon was never as simple as it seemed to be.
Barbara turned off the water faucet. She was dripping. The woman licked her lips, glad to taste no red makeup on it as she stepped out of the shower and onto the bathroom rug. Grabbing a towel, she dried off a bit before opening the bathroom door and stepping out, drying off again. With a relaxing shy, Barbara battered her eyelashes before dropping her towel. She reached her hands up to her eyelashes and found herself pulling off fake extensions. It was just as she expected it; no wonder her eyes looked different when she looked in the mirror this morning. Oh well- it was time to start her day. She would go mad if she gave the weird clown stuff another thought.
Barbara opened her closet door to get the clown costume. Gone. She didn’t see any trace of her clown clothes from the costume shop anywhere. There was nothing on the hangers or on the floor and top rack of the closet. Just to make sure, Barbara walked over to her dresser and checked each drawer. Nothing. None of the clown clothes were there. That’s funny, Barbara thought. No one had taken them out- they couldn’t have. Barbara didn’t remember if she had left the place that night, and with her clown face on like that, she doubted that she had. Was it possibly that she had really gotten rid of the clown clothes during the night? It was a mystery that was taking too much of her time and Barbara was starting to feel like she didn’t have any time to spare. Barbara decided to start getting dressed for work. She slipped on some black lingerie and a nice, business casual black dress with matching top and flat shoes. There, she thought- something plain, ordinary and dull in comparison to what she had remembered herself wearing last night. Barbara had to give herself some respect- even in the most drab clothes, she felt like her physical beauty shone through. She was well dressed, nicely put together and professional looking. Just like any other day at the office, she was sure that she would wow some of the patrons with her peppy attitude, cool demeanor and flashing beauty.
Batgirl’s breakfast was simple enough to take out of the door without a second’s hesitation. Simply put, it was a bagel with some cream cheese, something she only ate when she was in a rush. Looking at the clock made her a little nervous, since cleaning off the greasepaint had been very time consuming. After spraying a small amount of perfume, which provided enough of the scent she needed, Barbara was out of the door. Walking through the downtown area, she didn’t have enough time to admire the sights of Gotham City as she usually did on her work mornings. Instead, she did a quick walking trot in her flat shoes, glad that she decided not to wear heels today.
It didn’t take too long for Barbara to come to the Gotham Public Library. Stepping in, she looked around and saw that the place was buzzing with patrons. She reasoned it to the sunny atmosphere of the day- libraries were most inviting when the day was nice. After fixing her suit’s collar a bit, she walked down the aisles and towards the checkout desk with a big smile. A woman she knew well, Ethel, was handling the desk this morning, and already in the middle of checking someone’s books out. Ethel was thirty years senior to Batgirl, yet still as sharp as a whip mentally and always professional. Barbara respected the woman more than anyone else she could think of.
Sliding by the desk, Barbara placed her hand on the table top with a smile and pointed behind her. “Okay, sister. I got you covered.”
Ethel had just finished marking the book out as the patron walked off. Looking up, Ethel looked at Barbara with an astonished gaze before smiling back. “Well! Aren’t we in a happy mood today!”
Barbara shrugged. “Well, aren’t I always.”
“Well, yes, to an extent, you’re always cordial and nice, Barbara, but... I swear, yesterday, everyone thought you were even more cheery than usual. Today, it looks like you might outdo yourself again!” The woman looked back and forth with caution, making sure no one was around before she leaned in towards Barbara. “Did you get an exciting new man in your life?”
Barbara jumped a bit, her smile still plastered on her face. “Me? Oh, heavens, no. No way. There’s no new man in the mix for me. I’m still single, Ethel.”
“Well, isn’t that a shame! Well, there must be something that’s making you happy. Oh well! Look at me trying to pry and get into your business. The checkout desk is yours now. I know I have to help reference.” The woman looked around again, as if she were about to deliver a big secret. Leaning in to Barbara, she said, “Let me tell you something else deary. That hair style you have now is so... alternative. I like it.”
“Why thank you!” Barbara said, trying to hide her embarrassment. She had almost forgot about the hair alteration. Little had she thought about how others would take it.
“It’s beautiful, dear. Becoming of you. Sometimes I’m afraid you’ll end up an old fuddy duddy librarian like me. These last two days give me more hope for you, yet. And when you’re ready to tell me who Mr. Right is, I’ll be here.” Ethel winked before turning from the desk.
“What if I’m hiding a Mr. Right Now?”
“Ha ha!” Ethel laughed merrily, holding her sides. “God, whoever the man is in your life now must be funny! Obviously, he’s rubbing off on you. Well, I swear I won’t take anymore of your time.” The older woman started to walk in the direction of the reference desk.
“Bye, Ethel!” Barbara said as she got comfortable in her seat and adjusted some of the items of the desk, organizing supplies for any patrons that would need them.
Barbara was having a good day. She had nearly forgotten about her strange wake up fiasco. People were entering the library with books to check back in and new books to check out. Some of them were asking for phone books, erasers, and pens just like Barbara had always prepared for, but others just came to talk. Barbara liked her job, but the library was truly a peculiar place. There were moments where you could meet strange people. At times, she would call security, but often, no one ever gave that much of a start. There was just a mix of eccentric and ordinary patrons using the book service.
Ethel’s observations were undoubtedly shared with a lot of people encountering Barbara throughout her day. Many had commented on how beautiful her hair was, how chic and up to date it seemed in comparison to the Barbara they usually knew. Today, she was telling so many jokes, and she hadn’t noticed at first. The more she saw people around her laughing and telling her how funny she was, however, the more Barbara realized that she was being funnier than usual. The humor streak did surprise her- although Barbara was a lover of books and, as her dad had often called her playfully, a computer whiz, Barbara had never fancied herself to be a comedienne. Yet, here she was, having a joke or two for every patron that came to see her, and she couldn’t help smiling. What could she say? Barbara had always loved her job, but maybe she was just noticing it more at the moment.
A few hours later, a young woman by the name of Tess came to relieve Barbara from her position at the checkout desk. Tess was fresh out of library school but an efficient worker. She was cute though a bit dorky. Barbara had gotten along with her since she came.
“Hey Tess- catch!” Duela shouted as Tess jumped and stopped in her tracks. Barbara threw a huge encyclopedia at Tess, making the young woman react quickly and catch it. Duela laughed wildly as Tess breathed a huge sigh of relief after a worried gasp.
“Boy,” Tess said as she looked at Barbara with wary eyes, approaching the desk carefully. “Looks like you’re in a good mood today.”
“Do I?” Barbara grinned wide as she stood from her chair. “What can I say? I just keep going and going and going and going and-”
“Ethel said you were really happy today? She thinks you found a man.” Tess giggled.
“Hahaha. Well, you know what they say about old ladies and assumptions- better they stick to daytime dramas than have to create their own stories.”
Tess looked at Barbara in shock. She couldn’t even catch anything humorous from what Barbara just said, and from the sound of it, it sounded so mean. Sure, she was used to hearing Ethel or any of the other library people say weird and mean things from time to time... but this was Barbara. She was the good one, the just one that cared for everyone and never said anything negative about anyone. Suddenly, that interpretation of Barbara Gordon was being challenged. Even with Barbara’s grin and playful attitude, Tess couldn’t help but feel like Barbara’s sudden change wasn’t for the best.
“Well?” Barbara said. “Where’s the ha ha ha?”
“I’ll cover you at the checkout desk, Barbara. It’s your lunch break.”
“My lunch break, eh?” Barbara looked at the clock. “Well, looky there. It sure is my lunch break, isn’t it? Excuse me.” Barbara got up and walked towards the break room in the back, not noticing the worried Tess looking at her from behind.
When Barbara walked into the break room, it was just as she expected. A few of the older staff members were in the room, smoking and eating away a bunch of gluttonous sandwiches and dishes that made the athletic woman cringe with disgust. Didn’t any of them realize how nasty they were. Usually, she would just ignore the scene, but why not have a few laughs?
“I see this place is still the diabetic lounge for future cancer patients. Ha ha ha!!” Duela laughed wildly as the other staff members looked at her in shock, some suddenly feeling anger creep through them. None of them had ever heard Barbara say something like that. No one had anything to say in response either.
A radio was playing at the far end of the room. Some of the staff members were listening to it. Barbara could tell from the announcer’s dry tone that they listening to the news.
“So what messed up stuff is going on in Gotham today, huh?” Barbara walked towards the radio. “Rape, murder, weird schizophrenic criminals- the usual!” Barbara grinned as she walked behind her fellow co workers and listened.
“And in other news today,” the news announcer continued, “The Joker strikes again. We’ve seen one of his gal pals, Harley Quinn, many times, but is it possible that he’s gained another?”
Barbara listened more carefully. Her heart beat throbbed. This was important.
“Joker was seen with not only Harley Quinn, but the lesser known Duela Dent on a security cam recording a home invasion last night. A previous victim of The Joker, famed photojournalist Vicki Vale, was visited by the clown prince, Harley, and Duela Dent in one of the strangest recorded robberies the Gotham PD has ever seen. From Vale’s security cameras, Vale can be seen being gassed,tied up, and even hypnotised.”
“Hypnotised?” One of the staff members scratched his balding head. “Really?”
Barbara just listened carefully.
“Vicki Vale always started to put on clown clothing and makeup with the assistant of her... “hypnotist”... Duela Dent, probably under the orders of her ringleader The Joker himself. The entire ordeal seemed to have lead to Vicki Vale’s insanity when police arrived. The woman was reported as being, and I quote, ‘inaudible, mute, making hand motions and pantomimed actions’. Police are keeping the videos confidential to protect Vicki Vale’s privacy and for investigative purposes. For now, this case is a mystery. Police are requesting that any professional hypnotherapists and psychologists that can help with this case can call them at the Gotham PD’s main Headquarters, 555-”
Barbara started to walk away. The story was so strange and bizarre. Joker had struck last night! He even had a new accomplish. Where was Batgirl? Would Batgirl have been able to stop all of that? The whole thought made Barbara very uncomfortable. She didn’t like thinking that her lack of participation in crime fighting was allowing bad things to happen in Gotham. Maybe she really needed to piece the puzzle of what happened last night. What was everything such a blur? What did she wake up naked? If only she could figure things out, make sense of what was going on.
“Ouch!” someone shouted from one of the reading areas near the staff lounge.
Barbara walked towards the reading area to see a library patron picking out tacks from her backside. Apparently, she had sat on them, as tacks were all over the seat she had chosen. Barbara laughed instantly, knowing full well that she had placed them their before she entered the lounge.
The woman turned to the laughing Barbara, her eyes widening with rage. “You... you’re one of the librarians here! Why are you laughing at me? Oh my God... was it you that put these things in my seat?”
Barbara laughed even louder.
“Oh... my... argh!!! I’m never coming to this library again!” The woman raised her nose in the air and started to walk out of the library.
Barbara watched the woman with a grin before turning around and accidently bumping into the balding man from the staff lounge. Apparently, he had seen the whole thing. He was looking at Barbara with worried yet sympathetic eyes, as if he was watching the woman at the throes of a psychological breakdown.
“What’s the matter, Grandpa?” Barbara placed her hands on her hips. “You never heard of staying on the edge of your seat? Ha ha ha ha!”
The man shook his head. “Barbara... you’re acting very strange today.”
Barbara sneered. “Are you from the binding department? Yeah, that’s right, in the very, very back where no one pays attention to you. Guess the only thing keeping you attention back there is ol’ dusty up here.” Barbara wiped the top of the man’s bald head before laughing.
“Barbara, this doesn’t make sense.” The man sighed. “You’re usually so nice to people.”
“Calm down, baldy! I’m only having a little fun! Don’t cry, you’ll wet up my nice suit.” Barbara grinned as she walked away, leaving the man standing with a sorrowful look.
The rest of the day had moved a little smoothly, but Barbara was still acting up. At one moment, she had ordered a pie from a nearby bakery and slammed it into Tess’s face. Tess cried and went to take her lunch. Another woman on the job became the victim of an involuntary panties wedgie. The worse was when Barbara had gotten some floss and made a handicapped patron trip in the middle of a few aisles.
The clock had hardly reached 3 before Barbara got a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see Ethel.
“Oh, great!” Barbara said before giggling. “Another episode of my favorite show, Desperate... desperate.... really, really super desperate housewives... that aren’t hot.”
Ethel frowned. “Barbara, I think it’s time that you go.”
Barbara shrugged. “A second lunch break? Wow, what luck I’m having today!”
“No, Barbara. I mean that you’re going home for the day. The rest of the day. The entirety of it.”
“Hmm... and I assume I should come back tomorrow before noon, yes?”
“We’ll call you if you’re needed tomorrow. Just... get some rest.”
Barbara crumbled up a paper and threw it in Ethel’s face, laughing.
Ethel leaned in with concern. “God, Barbara... what’s wrong with you? Have you gone mad?”
“Mad? No, I’m happy!”
“I mean... insane. Have you gone crazy? You’re so different! You used to be so helpful, loving, but now... you’re treating everyone like your own joke around here!”
“Fine. Fine. I’ll go where my jokes are appreciated.” Barbara stood up and dusted off her jacket before starting to walk away.
“No, Barbara,” Ethel called behind her. “We’re just concerned about you, that’s all! You’ve worked so hard at this job. We don’t want a strange day to ruin it for you!”
Barbara would hear no more of it. She headed for the door, walking out and ready to get into some real fun.
As she checked some inventory, Harley looked up to see the woman that had entered the store. She instantly recognized that her Barbara had arrived, obviously still under Joker’s suggestion. Subconsciously, he had planted the mandatory note that Barbara should come back to the store after she left work and let her new personality “show” just a little. Harley wondered why the woman had come so early since she expected her after 6. She probably got kicked out for causing a ruckus, Harley thought. Inside, Harley was laughing at the possibility of Barbara creating mischief at her workplace but she had to hide it here. She couldn’t dare ruin her somber goth girl disguise.
Barbara didn’t remember that the goth woman at the desk was secretly Harley Quinn in disguise. In fact, she couldn’t if she wanted to. The Joker had brainwashed her into forgetting everything up until when she put on her makeup the previous day. That meant Joker & Harley’s visit, the night on the town, Vicki’s place, and the nightcap afterwards would all be forgotten completely.
“You again,” the goth lady said as she looked up from the register to greet Barbara. “Did you enjoy the clown costume we gave you yesterday?”
“From my memory, I did,” Barbara said as she looked at the cashier. “I just don’t know what happened to it. It disappeared somehow.”
Of course it did. Harley laughed inside of her mind. She knew that Joker had completely left Barbara stripped after the three of them had had their little fun, dropping her back off at her place. The costume had been put up for another time, somewhere in the back of the store where no customer could see it. Instead of the clothing she wore yesterday, Joker had mentally influenced the Batgirl to wear something else.
“That’s a pity,” the goth girl responded. “Shall we go back to the clown section and get a replacement? We have so many costumes. It’s on the house, by the way.”
Barbara shook her head. “Oh no... I feel so bad for taking advantage of your hospitality. I should pay.”
“Oh, no. You’ve paid enough. The only extra payment I need from you is a smile on your face.”
“You’re too kind,” Barbara said.
The goth girl ushered Barbara towards the clown costumes and accessories. Barbara remembered the section but it seemed like they had traded out some of their inventory. The more she looked at the rows of shelves and hanging costumes, however, the more she realized that most of it had been traded out. There were many new things she was seeing that she hadn’t seen before, and all of it was very attractive to her. Still, for some reason, Barbara felt like there was already a setlist embedded in the short term memory of her brain.
“Do you see anything that interests you?” the goth girl asked.
“Hmm... well.” Barbara looked around the rack of costumes. Even with the great assortment of stuff- one stood out to her more than the others. It was a green and purple one piece with a black and red skirt. The piece was so beautiful to her! Instantly, a part of her mind thought of Joker and Harley with those colors, but instead of feeling the repulsion associated with such characters, she felt a fondness. Something strong spun in her heart.
“Ah.” The goth girl smiled. “So you like the one piece with the shirt, eh? It’s a pretty cute ensemble. I think you would need those to match with it, though.”
The goth girl pointed to where Barbara was looking next. Barbara was amazed with how the goth girl was on the same page with her. She was looking at the tights, too. They would go well with the one piece- they were striped with black and purple lines all around them. Hanging nearby the tights were some black and green gloves. Underneath the gloves were a pair of green and purple ballet shoes.
“Wow,” Barbara said out loud as she looked at the collection. “Perfect!”
The goth woman smiled. “Would you like to try them on?”
“Yes. Where’s your dressing room, please?”
“Ha! Silly woman. You don’t need a dressing room.”
“No?”
“Of course, not. I’ll dress you here.”
If Barbara had been in her old thinking state, she would have not found the woman’s suggestion that wise. For some reason, now, it appealed to her. She didn’t know if she was becoming more of an exhibitionist or if she was just changing so much she could hardly keep up with herself. Somehow, dressing in front of this cashier who was just as close as a distant stranger didn’t seem that far fetched of an idea to her. “Well, certainly, let’s do it then.”
“Good.” The cashier started to pull the costume parts down. “Get undressed, please, madam.”
Barbara kicked off her shoes before dropping her dress on the ground. She pulled her coat jacket off and undershirt, throwing them to the floor. As she stood in her black lingerie, she looked at the goth girl patiently.
The goth girl blinked. “I’m waiting.”
“Um.” Barbara looked at her lingerie. “Oh. I thought I could just dress up in this.”
“You won’t be a proper clown if you’re still wearing your regular clothes under your clown clothes. Why, that’s just not a full change at all.”
“You’re saying I should be naked under all of that costuming?”
“Yes. Or else, how will you be able to feel the pleasure of being a full and realized clown?”
“I... guess that makes sense.”
“Full and perfect sense. Now, turn around.”
After Barbara turned around, the woman unhooked Barbara’s bra and tossed it to the floor. From there, she was able to reach down to Barbara’s panties and pull them down to the ground. Barbara stepped out of the panties obediently.
“There. That’s a good customer.” The woman handed Barbara her tights. “Here. This first.”
Barbara slipped on the tights. Wow, they were really tight-fitting. Barbara was immediately embarrassed as she felt a case of camel toe. She pulled on the tights against to make them flatten out and stretch well. After a few movement, Barbara had been successful.
“That feels really good,” Barbara said with a grin as she looked at her tights.
“It should. We only sell the best costuming products.” The goth girl pulled the shirt over Barbara’s head and buttoned it up. After making sure it fit well, she slipped the one piece on Barbara. “Got to make sure our new star client looks great for her night on the town.”
Barbara laughed. “Excuse me?”
“Night on the town. Special man in your life, eh?”
“Well, I don’t think so. But everyone keeps thinking that I do.”
“The truth can be written all over a woman’s face... even if she doesn’t know the truth.”
“How?”
“All in a little smile.” The goth woman grinned as she finished slipping the gloves on Barbara’s hands. “Now the shoes. Here you go.”
After being handed the shoes, Barbara slipped the shoes on her feet herself. They fit well, and the goth woman brought the woman over to a mirror so that she could study her own figure. As soon as Barbara saw herself, she was exhilarated. Wow, she thought, how gorgeous do I look? She had never thought that she could look so good. It was just amazing to her, seeing herself in that suit. She turned a few times, held up her tush, pulled at her jacket and admired her legs. It was really such a treat.
“Should we ring this all up?” Barbara asked the cashier.
“Now, I’ve told you before, you’re not buying anything. This is all free, on the house, from the owner. Now, let’s get your face painted. A clown just isn’t a clown with a dry face.” The goth woman started to walk off. “You just wait here patiently.”
Barbara listened obediently. She stood in front of the mirror, looking at herself and admiring her form, her figure and face. She was so beautiful. She could hardly believe it. She had liked the clown costume before, but this one was way better, more impressive.
The goth girl appeared from behind Barbara, placing a bag on the ground. It was filled with greasepaints. Reaching out to pull out a canister of clown white, the goth girl dipped her fingers in and grinned. “Now you just close your eyes. I’m a pro at this.”
Barbara did as she was closed. Closing her eyes, she felt the woman move the cool cream across her face. She could tell that the goth woman was working face, smoothing out the cream all over her face, neck and ears to the best of her ability. Barbara felt like the woman had better control that Barbara had her first time. Of course she did- this woman worked in a store of costumes and probably made herself up all the time. Barbara was lucky to be escorted by someone like this into the unavoidable world of clowning.
It seemed like the minutes had hardly passed before the goth woman was powdering her face. It was fitting so well, making her feel like a true professional clown. After the powder had all been done, Barbara could feel the woman applying lipstick on her lips before rubbing some more greasepaint on her cheeks and then on her eyelids. She also felt the woman applying some eyelashes over her eyes and darkening the edges of her eyes and lashes with a black mascara tip. After the entire face was done, Barbara felt the woman slip something over her head, stuffing all of her hair inside of whatever the thing was.
“Okay,” the goth woman said in a cheeriness that seemed to portray her somber dress style. “Take a look.”
When Barbara opened her eyes, she gasped. There she was, standing with her full clown garb and looking at someone she hardly recognized in the mirror. It was amazing! She had gone through the transition into a fully madeover clown. Barbara had a small pink nose, red lips, blue eyeshadow, three colored balloons on one cheek and a heart on the other. There was also a big purple star painted on the top of her right eye. On her head was a nice fitting green bop of a wig. It was amazing! She didn’t know what to say.
“Thank you.” Those were the words that came from Barbara’s mouth, the only ones that could be vocalized, and she meant it from the bottom of her heart.
“Something else we can do... is this.” The woman temporarily slipped Barbara’s gloves and shoes off. In a few minutes, she was able to paint all of Barbara’s nails green and purple. “There, isn’t that cute?” The woman slipped Barbara’s shoes and gloves back on.
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“No problem, babe. But we’re not done with you yet.” The goth girl grabbed the woman’s hand as she walked her back to the clown aisle. “We started you out with just a little ha. After your makeover, you had the ha ha. But now, you need the ha ha ha.”
Barbara raised a brow. “The ha... ha ha?”
“Exactly.” The goth woman wrapped an arm around Barbara’s as she motioned towards some clown props. “All the world loves a clown... and anyone in the world knows that a real clown needs props, gags, gizmos... or else the clown isn’t a real clown.”
Barbara was so astonished. “Wow... how do you know all this stuff!”
“Secrets, secrets, secrets. We all share them.” The woman let Barbara loose to explore. “Take a gander.”
Barbara walked up to the props and studied them. Hmm, she thought. There were so many and they all looked so great. Barbara picked up a few and studied them. Still, she felt there was a whole list hanging in her head. Soon, she would have the right things that she would need.
Something rolled off the shelf and near Barbara’s foot. She stepped on the item and it honked. Barbara reached down and picked it up, looking at it.
“What have you got there?” the goth woman asked, her devious grin hidden behind Barbara’s back.
“Hmm... looks like a clown horn.” Barbara started to honk it in delight.
The goth woman licked her lips at the sound of the clown horn. “Oh, I just love that sound.”
Barbara continued to honk it. The sound of it made her feel... funny. “Yeah. For some reason I like it, too.”
“I knew it’d have that effect on you.”
“And look at this... a flower! Wow, it’s so big.”
“It can squirt water... and other things, if someone wanted to use it for something else.”
“So funny. Like a classical clown.” Barbara stuffed the horn in her tights and attached the flower to her coat, hiding it’s bulb underneath her one piece’s front pocket. “Wait’ll they get a load of me!”
“And they will.”
Barbara grabbed a rubber chicken and also stuffed it in her tights. She liked it a great deal. There was also a big clown purse filled with some balls and pins for juggling, which she put on immediately. There was a big ball that she played with for a while, trying to balance herself on it while the goth woman clapped for her, egging her on. After playing with the ball for ten minutes or so, Barbara found a tricycle and rode it for a little while, riding around the store before coming back to the goth woman.
“What a lot of great stuff you got!” The goth woman smiled. “You’ll need help getting all of that to the car.”
“You’re so kind,” Barbara responded.
Barbara looked at the clock on the wall. She was amazed to see that it was 9 o’clock. So much time had passed. A part of her was telling her that she needed to dress up as Batgirl, go and patrol the city, and get out of the costume shop. Another side of her thought of how ridiculous that was. She liked being a clown now. It felt way better and she could do it forever.
“Let’s do one final thing before your date,” the goth girl said.
“My date?”
“Yes, your date. Or have you forgotten?”
Barbara nearly protested but she decided against it. The woman had done such a good job, why not let her continue. It wasn’t long before the woman had brought out some new earrings from her pocket. They were purple stars. She slipped them into Barbara’s already pierced ears.
“There we go.” The woman grinned. “Mission complete.” She grabbed Barbara’s hand. “Well, now it’s closing time. We’d better go. It’s time for your date.”
“What date?”
“Oh, you’ll see. Don’t worry. I’ll drive.”
The goth girl’s car drove through the site of an abandoned circus. There were still tents there, stretching up to the sky with amusement park style rides old and rusted. Some old popcorn stands and different booths could be seen to.
Pulling up to what looked like the main tent, the car came to a complete stop. The goth girl got out of the vehicle and went to the other side to help her new clown friend out.
“Where did you take me?” Barbara asked as she looked around at the dark and abandoned circus. Being at such a weird place at night was starting to give her the creeps.
“I took you where you’re suppose to be, Barbara.”
“Wait... did I tell you my name?”
“Opps.” The goth girl covered her mouth. “Never mind that. You just be ready when the boss says the magic words.” The goth girl started to push Barbera along.
“The magic words?”
“Yes. The magic words. It’s like hocus pocus, but way better and more effective. You’ll know. Soon as the boss says them.”
“Who’s your boss?”
“Your date. Now get in there!”
As the woman pushed the clown into the tent, they could both hear the boisterous and loud laugh of someone waiting for them inside.
To Be Continued