The Banquet's All Prepared (Isla)

[Louis Facilier]

 Although Louis' heart may often pine for french food, or at least the semi-french food he grew up with, he didn't eat at Gusteau's very often. Also by very often Louis meant maybe once in a blue moon, at most. Why? Well simply because he was an orphan who didn't have a penny to his name. He didn't have the steady cash flow like those snotty little strumpets all high and mighty underneath their precious gold crowns. It wasn't really fair in his opinion that they got not one, but two weekly allowances to spend like it was water slipping through their fingers. Everyone should get the same allowance and that would be that, but no. Those brats just had to complain and whine to their parents and poof more money for new dress, fancier shoes, or some other useless things that bored Louis. Besides didn't half of their stories have someone who was like him before they got a crown? Snow White had been a scullery maid, Cinderella a maid, and Aurora had been raised in a forest. They should know what it feels like to have rags for clothes and the envy that built up inside them when they saw someone walk by them with silk and taffeta. However they just had to let the gems get to their heads, and their children's too. 

However just like the more spunky and rebellious royal gems, Louis knew the importance of at least looking sophisticated in certain occasions and this was certainly one of those occasions. After all just how many times in his life was a penniless orphan from the streets of New Orleans was going to have a meal with a princess for Christ's sake. Not too often mind you. So as Louis entered the fancy restaurant, he at least looked the part. He done some digging in his closet and managed to find an old "monkey suit" that was once his father's. Okay so maybe it didn't exactly fit -too tight in the shoulders as well as both the pant legs and sleeves being far too long, but it'll do. After all Gusteau's was strictly formal attire only. Bah no doubt they spent too much time fraternizing with the little gems. He would've preferred a more casual locale for this meeting, but it was either this place or the polka dots. Besides he might be able to do a little more flattering in French here since as Isla not so regally stated, she only spoke Whale and English. If this rendezvous wasn't so serious for him - like an entire royal treasury serious- he might've done something dastardly like make her order a fish or something like that, but there was gold to be gained here. Louis was going to have to behave which was much more easily said than done. 

Louis slid into the booth seat that the waiter showed to him to and waited for Isla to appear. It was already three and she was running late. No surprise there rules didn't apply to royals after all. So he glanced over the menu and waited for the princess to appear. Hopefully she wouldn't take too long though. Louis was getting hungry. 

[Isla Triton]

Isla was nervous about the not date. Her talk with Eli hadn't really helped her figure things out in her own head, so maybe another talk with Louis was in order to properly get her head screwed on the right way. Or at least help figure out what was going on in his head, because she wasn't too sure. Louis had asked her out to eat at the fanciest place here, and yet he'd seemed kind of resentful about her status at home. As if it was her fault that she ha happened to be adopted by royal parents.

But she donned some nice clothes. She managed to borrow a blouse from a girl down the hall. It was a shiny light blue material and fit a bit loosely around her torso. The arms had a bit of poof and stopped just above her elbow. She had it tucked into a pair of nice black slacks that fit more snugly than was probably proper. She had borrowed a large chunky necklace from Azalea and she wore a pair of tall high heels. And then she had to do her hair, which always was a battle and a half.

And that was why Isla was teetering into the restaurant late. She spotted Louis and headed his way, throwing an apologetic smile his way as she slid into the booth across from him. "I'm sorry I'm late. I always forget how difficult heels are to walk in. You haven't been waiting long, have you?"

[Louis Facilier]

Although Louis was known to be a rather patient lad, he couldn't help succumbing to the immense boredom he felt as he waited for Isla to appear. Maybe it was the stress about this whole rendezvous subconsciously demanding that he solve some random problem in order to confirm there was some order to these first stages of Louis' plans. So if this was the case, Louis listened. First he aligned both of the menus to be exactly opposite each other down to the nearest millimeter. (He had an uncanny way of picking up on things like that. It was useful whenever he needed to mend the kinks in a plan.) That took no more than a half a minute maybe a minute at most. So attempting to push it back next the sugar packets you always find in a restaurant fell victim to Louis' meticulous eyes. At first he reorganized them according to the colors dictated by the rainbow. Then bored with that he rearranged them according to shape. Next after that came brand. In the end though he settled on size then brand. Which was exactly how he found it. Can't beat the original can you?

The next victim on his list was going to be the menu, --he was planning to rearrange everything according to the alphabet, in both French and English-- but before he could, he heard the telltale click click click of heels that announced that either a fellow villain or princess was approaching. He was about to shrug it off though, because he had seen Isla wobble unsteadily as she made her way back to the school earlier that week so it didn't seem like this could be her, but soon he heard that trademark teetering that announced Isla. Louis immediately swung his head around and started to stand up to help her, but when he caught sight of her, Louis was frozen in place. Isla looked amazing in that outfit, but what really caught his eye was that flashy necklace hanging from the princess' neck. 

On catching sight of the accessory borrowed from a friend, Louis' gold lust went into overdrive. It had to be solid gold, it seemed to be a bit heavy so no fake metals. Also the material appeared to be 22,,, no 23 karats! That alone had to be worth more than the parlor and the entire block around it, especially since houses were cheap now compared to the twenties. Plus all those gems... All of them shimmering greens, blues, clear colors. Oh Louis wanted it! Oh how he just wanted to clasp it in his hands and never ever let it go. Except when he was going to sell it to some fool. He could just see Isla taking it off, handing it over to him, and he would run all the way back to New Orleans. Or maybe he would just grab and run. However that might just ruin it and that in turn would ruin it's value. If this had an easy solution! Maybe.... Perhaps... Or...

Stop it fool, Louis mentally scolded himself. If this is just one necklace than there will be plenty more in her uncle's vault. Would it really be worth it to risk so much for such a small prize? No! You are going to get the jackpot, now get out there before you screw up again. So he quickly regained his composure and said in a typical Louis Baptiste-Facilier fashion, "Why you look amazing Cheri. That necklace sure does pull the outfit together doesn't" Hopefully though if she thought much about where his gaze had landed she would think he was simply admiring it, not formulating a plan to steal it.

When the both were seated once more Louis answered Isla's question, "No. No. I couldn't have been here for more than five minutes at most." Okay he lied. He had been here for more than fifteen, but he couldn't start this off on a bad note. He needed details about the final plan that forming in Louis' mind. Isla would not hand over that information if she believed that Louis was still spiteful about their individual stories had played out. So being polite as possible, Louis posed a question trying to strike up a conversation to learn more of this Atlantica place. "Ah French Food, possibly heaven's best gift to the mortal world. You must absolutely try the coq au vin or le canard avec orange. They are simply magnifique." He said with a classic french bon appitite gesture. He then looked back at Isla and asked nonchalantly, "So what kind of gormuet foods did you have under the sea? Probably not Beef or Chicken that's for sure." He added a slight chuckle at the end as if he was imagining those animals living under the sea with Isla. Now that would be an odd sight to say the least.

---

 Coq au Vin - Chicken with a wine marinade 
Canard avec Orange - Duck covered in an orange sauce.

First things that came to mind when I thought of french food beyond Poisson 

[Isla Triton]

"Oh," Isla said, taken back by both the compliment and the staring. "Thank you. It's my roommate's." No one had ever stared at her in that way before. She had often turned heads for being unusual and in more recent years for being unsteady on her legs and often falling at inopportune moments. Being looked at like this by a boy made Isla nervous and she wasn't sure why. She was so confident and composed usually and one look from a boy sent her into a nervous state. She didn't know what to do about that.

Isla relaxed a bit in relief to know that Louis hadn't been waiting long. She had meant to get there on time. She had planned it out and everything, except that she forgot about high heels. And that was her downfall.

"I have no idea what that even means," Isla said to the flurry of French words. French went completely over her head and she kind regretted not taking a language class while she had been able to. Silly naive little Isla hadn't thought that she might need to know another language to communicate adequately with other people. She was a mermaid. She already knew the languages she needed to know. Boy had she been wrong.

Isla raised an amused eyebrow at Louis. "Of course not," she answered lightly, opening the menu to peruse. "Chicken don't swim. We mainly eat fish, crustaceans and plant materials like seaweed and kelp. Occasionally we might have something else like squid or octopus, but that's rare. They're pretty solitary creatures and keep to themselves."

[Louis Facilier]

Now Louis would be lying if he said that he wasn't disappointed in the slightest by hearing the jewels weren't Isla's at all, but instead were her roommate Azalea's, the princess who could often be seen with twigs in her hair and some crazy idea on her lips. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but there was only so many times a wild princess could knock off his hat with that enchanted rug of hers before nerves became frayed. There no way in either heaven or hell that she was going to let her best friend fork over a necklace that was clearly worth a fortune to the guy her friend went on a date with. Ahh better luck next time shadow kid. However it did raise a small concern in the back of his mind, surely if Isla needed to borrow a necklace, did this reflect the current state of her uncle's treasury? Or did it mean their where tensions between the king and his niece? What if this  meant that maybe Louis was just wasting his time? Well he also couldn't just turn back now if he was mistaken, he already gone too far and besides if he just left for no reason or came clean this pretty little angelic hen would go cluck to her friends  that the shadow kid is up to no good once again. No he would need to find out more first. 

"Well it's lovely nevertheless." Louis complimented keeping his conflicting thoughts hidden away where the princess couldn't find them. Not that she would've gone looking for them in the first place, but still she was a princess and there were only two different types of princesses in Louis' opinion. Those were about as naive as a child meeting a stranger or extremely suspicious of everyone. Isla was a wild card to him, she was in both categories. She was naive enough to believe that this was a date and yet she was still suspicious of his villain status. Ah too bad it wasn't enough to make her listen to that nagging voice in the back of her mind. 

"Oh my mistake cherie, the first dish is a chicken with a fantastic wine marinade drizzled onto it and the second one is a duck quite literally with orange sauce." He said with a light chuckle as he translated his own sentence, he briefly considered talking in English only because it seemed to be confusing her, and that wasn't the plan. It was supposed to woo her, sweep her off her feet, drop her suspicious defenses, but of course she had to be the one princess who couldn't say anything 'bonjour' or 'bon appetite' Typical. His plan involves the one girl that he couldn't use his best weapon against. He thought for a moment before coming up with a brilliant idea and he said keeping with the same tone and attitude as his previous statement, "You know we simply must work on your French." Let that put this whale speaking mermaid off of her guard. 

Louis practically choked on the glass of water he was drinking when Isla revealed that fish was a staple of her diet. After coughing and having his eyes bug out slightly, he stupidly stuttered completely unlike him. "You eat.. eat... fish!" His eyes glanced down at the table to the approximate location where her feet were and continued, "But that's... that's cannibalism! You're part fish, you said so yourself! How can you..." Louis paused for a moment to clutch his stomach, trying to will away the queasy feeling he felt in his stomach. That was disgusting, it was wrong. How could a mermaid eat a fish? That would be like him devouring a chimp. "Why that's like eating your own tail..." He quietly muttered. 

[Isla Triton]

Isla smiled at the compliment. She'd never really been the type of girl to wear jewelry and there wasn't much under the sea. Isla preferred pearls in jewelry but she admired the sparkling gemstones too.

Isla shuddered at the thought of eating duck. She enjoyed water fowl. They were generally funny creatures, but she liked them. "The chicken sounds good," she agreed. "I don't think I could eat the duck. I've known too many to want to eat them." Ducks were one of her favorites because they were birds that were just as awkward on land as she was, but took to water as naturally as breathing.

She was a bit surprised by the offer to help her with her French considering she knew nothing about the language. "Oh, yes, I suppose that would be helpful." She nodded. She sounded stupid honestly, even to herself. She sounded like some kind of simpering idiot. Isla was not a simpering idiot. "I would like to learn French if you'll help me. I can't promise I'll be any good at it though."

Isla was perusing the menu when Louis started to look horrified at her. She looked up at him as he stuttered, confused and a bit alarmed. Then she was confused. "You've got to be kidding me," she muttered.. "It's not cannibalism. Merfolk are completely different species than fish." Isla didn't really know what to think about that statement. It was kind of stupid if you thought about it properly. "If I ate another mermaid that would be cannibalism. Fish eat other fish the same way that land mammals eat other land mammals. Wolves eats rabbits. Big fish eat small fish. You don't need to look so horrified. Different species eat other species. That's just the circle of life."

[Louis Facilier]

"So wait," Louis started trying to make sense of what Isla was saying, "You have absolutely no problem eating fish, which are sort of your brethren, but you'll draw the line when it comes to ordering duck?" He looked at her with an expression of disbelief. It made absolutely no sense to him. After all this was sort of like Louis opting to order a plate of chimpanzee meat, or at least through his eyes. Since he had grown up on land and never really had anything to do with the water, he didn't really get the fact that the option menu was really limited thanks to the rarity and poison levels of certain creatures. Without realizing it Louis was assuming that Alantica had just as many different choices as New Orleans did. After all if he went to the butcher he would have dozens of meats to chose from ranging from poultry to beef and everything in between. However under the sea it was probably kelp, seaweed, or fish. That would be a difficult palate to adjust to if the shadow kid suddenly sprouted a tail and dove into the water. 

However he did realize and understand that there was no way he was going to be able to change this stubborn girl's mind. She ate fish. Fish was absolutely fine to her. It was beyond wrong to Louis. End of Story. So Louis swallowed his pride and let it go. It would only benefit him in the long run if he was able to repair the damage he had done in the Polka-dot Palace. In order to do that though, he was going to have to get Isla to trust him. Certainly it was going to take some time, and a whole lot of effort to fix the mistakes he made, but like his father always believed, you got to play your cards right. Luckily for Louis he always had some cards up his sleeves. 

So with a shrug that could easily be translated to, eh everybody has their own taste buds, Louis once more turned the conversation to something he could easily control since after all it was one of his two natives tongues. French. "Haha mademoiselle, I'm positive you'll be quickly be a natural at it." He said with a light hearted smile, "Here why don't we at least try to order our meals in French?" He said as he spotted the nicely dressed waiter making their way over to them. "You wanted the chicken correct? So that would be 'Je voudrais le poule s'il vous plait.' However if you wanted the fish instead," Louis mentally shuddered at the thought of Isla actually ordering it, "You would have to replace 'poule' with 'poission.' Simple enough?" He asked with an eyebrow raised. He was honestly quite curious to see how well Isla managed as a parrot. Would she swim like a sailor? Or would she flounder and sink under the pressure? 

As the waiter came over to take their order the shadow kid added, "Don't worry about not fairing so well, they'll answer to English as well as French and I'll be right here to help you." He gave her a reassuring smile as he gestured for her to order first. 

[Isla Triton]

Isla raised an eyebrow at Louis, annoyed at the suggestion that mermaids were fish and that she was eating her 'brethren'. That was probably the stupidest argument she'd ever heard. And now it wasn't okay for her to choose not to eat an animal she liked befriending? It was not okay for someone to look down on her choices because they didn't understand. "Well that are lots of people who object to eating veal because it's a baby cow, although veal is delicious. Granted, I've never seen a baby cow. I like ducks. I like playing with baby ducklings and swimming with ducks. I can choose to not east duck if I'd prefer not to. And I am not related to fish any more than you're related to monkeys. We have a common ancestor. We are not the same species."

With an annoyed huff, she went back to reading the menu. Humans were always thinking they were better than any other species. But it did seem like Louis was going to drop the whole fish thing, which was good because she really loved fish. Raw was best, but cooked was alright. Though she probably wouldn't be eating fish tonight since Louis had such an aversion to her eating it. She rolled her shoulders to shake off her irritation and looked back up at Louis.

But Louis was talking about ordering her meals in French and spitting something out in French, a language she had never had a single lesson in, and expecting her to repeat it. She didn't even know how to say hello in French, never mind ordering food. She wasn't a parrot. Isla liked to know things before she delved into them completely. And this was too much and now the waiter was coming over.

Isla was feeling far too overwhelmed to know where to begin with this. She looked up at the waiter who was waiting to take her order. "Um, would you give us a couple minutes?" she asked. Then she turned to Louis, flustered. "I don't know French at all. I don't know how to say hello. And kind of pleasantries. Nothing, Louis. I don't exactly think throwing me to the sharks on a first try is going to work. I want to learn French, not just repeat after you. That's not learning."

[NPC]

The door to the restaurant was pushed open by a serious looking man in a security uniform, he waved a waiter over and spoke quietly to him for a few minutes before the waiter rushed off, returning to the security guard with a suited man who could only have been the restaurant owner.

Diners were starting to notice the whispered conference by the door now, particularly as the three men started summoning the other waiters as they passed, sending them away with messages that spread throughout the whole staff. Meeting apparently finished, the security guard moved to the door, leaving the somewhat paler looking owner to turn to the restaurant. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Excuse me ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention for a moment please. It seems there has been a br-" the security guard shot him a warning look and he covered whatever he'd been about to say with a cough "Excuse me, an incident in the village and it is not sa- I mean," he hastily corrected himself after a warning look "it is perfectly safe, but in the interest of absolute surety we are afraid that the restaurant must be closed. Immediately. Please give your names to your waiters on your way out the door and we will be sure to provide you with a free meal as compensation when we reopen."

Looking very flustered, he stepped back and motioned for people to leave. The waiters dispersed amongst the people, asking them to please make an orderly exit, fetching coats and hastily boxing up meals for anybody refusing to leave their food.

Outside, it seemed that Gusteau's was not the only business affected, students were spilling out of Pride Rock and the Black Dragon, ushered back towards the school by staff and security guards both. There were a lot more security guards around than ever seen before, and they were all intent on evacuating anybody in the village.

Just visible through the crowds was the line of security guards preventing everybody going backwards, as each business was cleared they moved forward slightly to ensure the flow of people away from the village. Beyond them, there was the tiniest glance of what appeared to be several hooded figured being apprehended. The people cleared just for a moment, if Isla or Louis were paying attention, just in time for one of the figure's hoods to fall down. The person was facing away, but even in the dim lighting it was easy to spot the waves of flame red hair spilling down the figure's back, until the hood was shoved roughly back up by a guard and the crowds flowed together again, cutting off the view.

Students were ushered out the village until there was noone left, and the guards started setting up a barrier behind them, cutting off the main street.

[Louis Facilier]

Louis looked at Isla with a small look of confusion. So she didn't want to be a parrot, but ironically that's how he learned to speak French. When he was little in the orphanage whenever something was given to him he would be told what the item was in both English and French, then he had to spit the words back at the workers in order to get whatever he wanted. What he was trying to teach Isla wasn't too different from that. She wanted food, so she was going to have to order it. Besides honestly Louis didn't see what was the big deal about her just not at least trying her hand at mimicking what Louis told her. She couldn't screw up that badly and if by some rare chance she did, Louis could just swoop in to clean it all up. Maybe it was the stubborn princess part of her kicking in, or more like dragging her heels in the ground. That was something he noticed about the Royals at this school. They could preach about being just like everyone else, but the moment you told them to do something and if you weren't a teacher, fangs would appear and their special-snowflake qualities bubbled to the surface once more. Princes and Princesses did not like being told what to do, after all they're the leader's kids. They're so used to being the one giving the orders. 

"And that'll be the first thing you'll learn for real." Louis responded when she complained of not knowing how to even say hello. (Which for the record he highly doubted. Everyone knew how to say Bonjour for goodness sake.) He spoke in a calm tone and had a reassuring smile on his face. He hoped that if he stayed calm and polite she would at least try. Louis then gently eased into the topic by asking, "However what's the harm in at least attempting Isla? It's just one sentence and it'll give you a feel of the language..." 

Louis then trailed off as he noticed a group of people in official looking suits gathered near the front door of the restaurant and, irrationally, it set Louis on edge. Growing up in the segregated south, whenever a group of people began whispering near a business' doors it was a sure sign that Louis was going to get kicked out. Which was foolish because this was no longer the case for Louis' life. He was no longer judged on factors he couldn't control. Instead he was judged based on his own choices, after all it was his decision to jump into the villain's life head first. He was still ostracized, but it was by his choice. Nobody here could truly understand how positively that effected him.

However it also didn't hurt that there was just a general taboo among the students to associate with villain, but Louis just liked to deceive himself.  It was also a large no-no for a villain to be on a "date" with a princess as well. (Everyone has to follow their storylines after all.) Which is what appeared to be going on at their table by any onlookers watching the pair with curious eyes. Although as far as Louis knew there was no specific rules against a villain and royal dating, it wouldn't surprise him if the Seacombe staff added an impromptu rule once word reached them. It seemed like something they would do. 

So it was safe to say that Louis was a little nervous when the owner addressed the restaurant guests. However by the time he was done speaking Louis was in a state of barely controlled panic. Those suits could say whatever the hell they wanted, you could not sugarcoat danger to group of fairly intelligent teens. The man had nearly said it wasn't safe, and Louis was just going to have to believe him. 

He jumped up from his seat and practically pulled Isla from her seat as he said, "Come on, you heard what the guy said!" No doubt Isla was going to try to be rational and get him to calm down, but if Louis' presumptions were correct then it was time for them to go. After all there was only one phrase in his mind that could apply to this situation that started with "Br-," break in. There was no reason for a student to be a thief. The school made sure everybody had a generous amount of cash placed on their cards to spend in the village. Teachers didn't really have a reason either. So that meant that it was likely someone from the outside was behind this and that was more terrifying than any other situation. Why? Well simply put Seacombe is a fortress. Surrounded by a vast forest the only way in or out was a system of portals barred from the students. At least that was the only exit the students knew of. Who knew of what other secrets this school was hiding. 

That's what scared Louis if this was actually a break in of some sort. If it was some outside group they knew how to get into the school that the students didn't know and who knew what they wanted. After all this was a school for Royals and everyone knew just how could be taken from them. Heck that was even Louis' plan. He was going to rob Isla blind, but he didn't want to be robbed himself. 

After giving their names to the waiters as a check in of sorts to make sure everyone left the restaurant, Louis kept a firm grip on Isla's arm so he wouldn't loose her in the chaos that was bound to come once they came outside. Which was  exactly the pair walked into once they spilled out onto the streets. 

There were people everywhere. Students, staff, and security filled the streets in a magnitude Louis had never seen before. Or at least never here at Seacombe. "Stick close, this is a mess we don't want to get caught up in." He warned Isla as he veered them towards the side of the group where it was more clear for them to move and not get swept up in the panicked, confused crowd. 

As they were all being ushered back towards the school, Louis paused for a moment to look behind him out of instinct, and what he saw caused him to pause for a second. "Isla look! They're just kids! They're arresting kids!" He said as the split second image of the security apprehending a group of hooded figures, but it was easy to see they were about Louis' and Isla's age. Maybe a little older, maybe a little younger, but still teens. He saw one of the hoods fall down for a second and a cascade of fiery red curls spilled down the figure's back. By the time a guard had shoved the hood back up once more more people had spilled onto the street blocking the view and forcing the pair to keep moving forward. 

In no time they were out of the village and walking up the path back to the dormitories along with other confused students. Behind them they could hear the barrier going up, and this time Louis couldn't see anything when he turned his back. 

So instead he looked over to Isla and asked with wide eyes and a shocked tone, "What just happened?"

[Isla Triton]

Isla didn't want to get the words wrong. She didn't want to get the accent wrong. Isla was smart. She knew a lot of things. She studied hard. She actively liked learning. But Isla was a perfectionist. She didn't want to screw up French, even though a very small part of her knew that she would be fine, Isla didn't want to fail. She didn't want to fail for the first time in front of Louis. She had to prove herself.

But when Louis trailed off and focused his attention somewhere over her shoulder, Isla turned to look too, her expression curious and puzzled. She wondered what was going on as the man started to speak. She'd never heard of anything like this happening before.

And as soon as he was done Isla was being pulled out of her chair by none other than Louis, who seemed to be reacting very strongly to this. "Hey," Isla said stumbling along behind him. "Louis, slow down. We're going to be fine." She wasn't even sure what nonsense she was saying as she was concentrating on not falling over the stupid shoes she was currently wearing. But she knew that Louis was agitated by the situation and she was trying to keep him calm.

But the chaos in the street was not something Isla had been prepared for. She stumbled forward and grabbed Louis' arm, the one holding her wrist. She'd never been among so many people before. She'd never seen so many bodies in one space. She suddenly felt like livestock and she was suddenly afraid of what would happen if she got separated from Louis. The crowd might trample her if she wasn't careful. She was glad they were more off to the side.

Isla paused when Louis did and looked, alarmed, thinking that the guards were arresting students. Instead it was a group of people she could identify. And then someone bumped into her, making her stumble and she couldn't see anything more than that. Even though her glimpse hadn't been very long she had a sneaking feeling that she knew what was going on. Or at least a part of it. "If we stop for a second I'll tell you everything I know," she said, chewing on her bottom lip, unsure what Louis was going to think. But she had to do this. Louis deserved to know what was going on.