foolishmortals | How could this happen? (afterparty)

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round 1

How could this happen? (afterparty)

[Wander has reeled back from this execution faster than Mulan's. This murder wasn't an accident, but it was still terrible all around, and it wouldn't have happened under normal circumstances. Knowing that Tadashi planned this out made it...a bit better, but it still made something awful eat at his stomach.

Speaking of which, everyone needed to eat something light today. Right after the trial, he heads to the kitchen and prepares twenty bowls of fruit salad and mixes together ingredients for chocolate chip cookies. While they're cooling off, he slides a note under everyone's rooms.]

There's fruit in the lounge, cookies coming soon. We should stick together, especially after this.

♥ Wander

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It's no bother to me. Helpin' folks is what gets my heart pumpin' and my mind ready for the day!

[Even if he is overworking himself. His fingers are sore from the chopping, baking, and folding, but he's not dead so that's fine.]

Really, I promise I'll sit down once you're comfy.

[He does this exact same thing, when he doesn't feel like his soul is actively trying to leave his body. He has an upswing where he thinks, if he keeps busy enough he can avoid the fears that come to him in the dark.]

I insist. It'd make me the most comfy to have some company, if you don't mind.

[They could both overwork themselves helping others, and both would be fine with that.]

No, I insist that I do somethin' for you, Lefou. You should be comfy first.

[That gets him to chuckle, tiredly.]

Alright, Wander. If you insist.

[Success! Wander fights the urge to do a victory bounce and transfers the energy to walking to his room and rushing back with the cape received from the machine, which flies behind him as he holds it above his head. It's thrown onto Lefou's lap and tucked around him like a blanket.]

There. Now you can relax in comfort. [He sits on the floor and crosses his legs. He doesn't need a chair, someone else might need it more.]

[He smooths his hands over the cape when it's tucked around his legs.]

Are you happy, now?

[It's said with as much of a lighthearted tone as he can muster right now.]

[A strong nod!]

Can't leave a buddy hangin' now, can I?

[He plays with a bit of fur on his leg. He needs to bring a subject unrelated to today.]

...What's France like? I never got to know about the planet you're from.

[Oh my god thank you]

I haven't...seen much of France, outside of my home village.

[He plays with some of the lace on the edging of his sleeves. By now it's starting to fray a little bit.]

But Villeneuve is... A small little provincial town. It's busy, from dawn until dusk, with people out in the fields and the forests, the baker baking bread, the boys sitting in school or playing out in the streets, the women all doing their laundry at the well...

It's never dull, that's for sure.

[It shouldn't be so strange he hasn't visited his entire planet. France could be one of the larger ones with multiple villages separated by forests. Wander can just imagine it: a temperate climate with quaint pine trees surrounding it, mountains in the distance, humans in the village going through their daily lives...It's beautiful.]

Gosh, it must be swell livin' there. [chinhands] I'd love to visit Villeneuve fro a few days.

[He enjoys the dreamy look on Wander's face. It's nice that someone else can enjoy the pastoral nostalgia that he has for his home.

Right up until he suggests visiting.]

I'd love to show it to you... Do- do you have a way to, um. Look...human? No offense, it's just that... Honestly, I'd never seen anyone who wasn't human before I came here.

...You only get human visitors?

[Humans live on Earth, France, multiple planets? Is their galaxy populated entirely by humans? What is this strange dimension with only one species?]

Well, actually we don't get many visitors at all, but... Yeah, they're all human.

Oh. [That is super disappointing. He deflates a little.

But. He needs to stay positive, find the bright side of this revelation. He sits back up.]

But if you don't get many visitors, it means you don't get lots of attention from galactic conquerors, so you're pretty safe there! And it must sound like a nice place to grow up in!

...Galactic...conquerors?

[Yeah apparently not because those two words don't. ...They just don't.

He learned what a galaxy was two weeks ago, Wander, don't do this to him]

You know. Bad guys. They wanna rule the galaxy and take over planets.

[So like regular conquerors but with flashy outfits and evil laughs.]

Not that they're all bad on the inside. Just after a bit of talkin' and stoppin' their plans, and even they can change their ways.

...We were almost taken over by the Portuguese. It was - Captain Gaston who saved the town and pushed them back.

Captain? [Military leader. Defender of the planet of France. Someone like.]

The hero?

Yeah. He was... [Kind of a mega asshole.]

Not...the hero he was cracked up to be, in the end.

[Oh. Like Brad.]

Like he was mostly in it to look good?

...Actually, yeah, exactly that.

I used to worship the ground he walked on.

[Wander stands up and rests a hand on Lefou's knee. Even if he had admired Brad from afar just because he was a Hero, it wasn't worship. Town hero that was Lefou's friend - this was even worse, as if Sylvia never really wanted to be Wander's friend, just look good by saving the galaxy. As he she would ride off with the first person that promised her more exciting adventure.

He recalls a giant metal gate slamming in front of his face, the pause as he pondered whether to knock, and turning away to wander the cosmos on his own.]

I'm sorry. [The brim of his hat hides his face, but his voice is quiet.]

[He looks down at the ginger-furred hand on his knee.]

Don't be- I wasn't the only one. Well, at first.

Anyway, he's gone now, I'm just... still dealing with that, I guess.

[And the fact that the Captain Gaston that he'd loved had been gone long before the man who fell off of the castle. If he'd ever existed at all.]

[Still, it's important that Lefou has someone who can be there while he recovers from, well, the betrayal. He slightly tightens his grip.]

You're a brave guy, you know that? You've already come this far, so who knows how much more you'll improve?

[He believes in the best you can be, Lefou.]

[Will you stop saying that, he wants to snap, but he doesn't have any snap in him at the moment.

So he laughs. Hollowly.]

If I was really brave, maybe I could have stopped him when I realized I was...

losing him.

[That's gay.]

[Wander stops his hand and looks away.]

...We all have regrets, Lefou.

We all got things in our past we wish we could change, but...we gotta keep out eyes on the horizon without lookin' back.

[Advice he had given to Sylvia early in their partnership. A lesson he taught himself a long time ago, and one that he can never let go of.]

How could this happen? (afterparty)

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