Men don't have Pointy Teeth (Cosimia)

[Louis Facilier]

Although Aristeides may have staked out the lounge as her personal hunting ground for poor fools she'd use and loose, Louis wasn't one to respect these unspoken rules lashed out by death's daughter. After all who was she to say that Louis couldn't put his own villainous skills to work in one of the most popular places on campus? They may be allies, but that did not make this New Orleans native her minion. Louis Baptiste-Facilier listened to no one, reported to no one, and most certainly feared no one. Or at least no one who's human, Louis slyly thought as he took a side glance at his own shadow on the wall doing it's own thing. The Loa were the only exception to that statement, other than that Louis listened to no one and that wasn't going to change anytime soon.

Which is why Louis had a small smirk on his face as he lounged on one of the common area's couches. In his hands was his precious card deck and he was flipping through it remembering all the people he conned, and guessing at the ones he didn't recognize. Those were the ones his father tricked and although he could guess at their stories, he would never truly know. Only his father could probably tell him, but he's been dead since Louis was a baby. That wasn't the truth however, but it was easier to deal with then what he now knew to be true. His father was indeed alive, but he wasn't going to come into his son's life anytime soon. So it was just easier to pretend he was dead. 

As he flipped through the cards he ran across one of his father's that Louis had no trouble recognizing and it caused a nasty scowl to appear on his face. It was Prince Naveen's card and the stupid card was a reminder of just how his differently his life would've been if he had just accepted the hand fate had dealt him. Louis would've known his father, he wouldn't have grown up in that blasted orphanage, and he sure as hell wouldn't be attending this wretched school. But no that stupid gem had to go and try to fix what wasn't broken and had his father's amulet broken in the process. That was why Dr. Facilier was alive, but dead at the same time; the loa were making him pay for a crime he didn't even commit! 

It's also why he hated the royals so much. They destroyed his life and got a happily ever after. 

Frustrated, Louis got up to toss the card towards the fire that was quietly burning in the now rarely used hearth. He watched with a twisted grin as he expected to see the piece of special paper burn, but it didn't. Heck it didn't even smolder and Louis had known that would happen. He couldn't burn the cards, no matter how many times he tried to get rid of that one card. His face twitched slightly as he saw how that stupid mandolin prince on his lilypad made of money mocked the seventeen year old. He grabbed a fire poker and tried to move the card right into the flame, but the little wisps of hot light just skirted around the edges of the card. It was not going to burn. 

His anger towards Naveen began to bubble inside of him, until it got to the point where, without thinking, Louis plunged his hand into the fire to somehow make it blacken and crumble to a fine gray sand as he yelled, "Why won't you just burn?!" He pulled it back as the flame began to burn his fingers, dropping the still miraculously cool card onto the ground before the hearth. Small wisps of smoke flew up from where his now throbbing hand had touched it. 

Louis held his hand close to him, it was an ugly shade of red, but the damage would be nothing more than a few angry blisters. Tears welled in his eyes and he told himself it was from the pain, but he knew it was because of everything that he lost because of that one measly card. It destroyed his life and his father's too, but yet everyone saw the pair as bad men. What about Naveen? Tiana? Their animal friends? They had some how ended up as the good guys even though they heartlessly destroyed two different lives and Louis didn't see how it was fair. How come they got the perfect life while he had to become a criminal just to survive back home? What was so bad about what Dr. Facilier did? That spoiled brat deserved to be a frog, his girlfriend should've been the one dragged into voodoo hell. She was the one to break the amulet after all. 

It was here during his silent sob that he was grateful that it was just him and his shadow in the lounge. However what the shadow kid didn't realize that he wasn't alone that instead there was someone now watching him clutching his burnt hand to his chest and quietly cry over something he had no control of. Someone who would no doubt question the scene in her naive, sheltered, and not purposely inconsiderate way. 

[Cosimia Gothel]

Cosimia had been quietly working on an essay, stopping between words to stare at the fire and doze. Everyday was so full of action at the school that each day left her exhausted. Yet if she wanted to do well and distract herself from Rapunzel, she had to do the same thing everyday.

It was at the beginning at one of these 'stare at the fire' moments that she noticed that the boy, the only other person in the room started poking the fire with with a stick. Curious, and wanting to know the cause for the strange behavior, Cosimia abandoned her essay, and though drowsy, watched the boy closer. When he put his hand into the fire, Cosimia barely recognized that he had done so. It was only when he began to yell that she completely woke up. Standing up abruptly as she processed what she saw, Cosimia was about to go and pull the hand out herself, when the boy did so. After he had done so, he clutched his hand to his chest.

Cosimia knew that would hurt quite a lot but she was hesitant of approaching. Finally she decided she would try to help and approached him. "Hello? Are you all right?" She asked kneeling down. She held out her hand for his and asked, "May I see your hand?" For the moment the card laying by the hearth went unnoticed.

[Louis Facilier]

When the sound of someone else's voice reached Louis' ears his head shot up and he regarded the stranger with a deer in the headlights expression on his face. He had forgotten that there had been someone else in the room as well, he had just zoned everything other than the little card deck. "Who are you?" He angrily spat at the girl in front of him, an foolish attempt to counteract the fact that he was crying a few moments earlier. It was a stupid guy thing, whenever one of them was caught doing something viewed as "weak," they do something mean and gruff to counteract it. He really meant nothing by it, but how would Cosimia know that? They didn't even know each other after all. 

He eyed her warily as she knelt down beside him and he didn't really show any emotion, but maybe just a detection of a snarl curling up in the corner of his mouth. Whoever this girl was she seemed to be cut from the good girl cloth, kind and caring just like those stupid gems. Just like Naveen, Tiana, and their brats. This alone set him on edge, if there was anything he had learned in New Orleans as well as this place was that he wasn't wanted and if anyone was kind, it had to come at a price. After all that was the game he played with his cards and the Loa. He pretended to be kind to people and then he betrayed them all in the most horrific of ways. Louis was just a regular chip off the ol' block, wasn't he?

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." He said rather rudely as he tried to get up, after all it was just a flesh wound in his mind, and the true amount of pain that he was going to feel hadn't really set in yet. However cradling his injured extremity to his chest proved that to be rather difficult. He ended up stumbling and fumbling for a moment before he gave up. but he played it off as if he didn't want to get up. He pushed himself back over towards the couch to lean against it, and with each jostle of his own movement sent a small wave of pain to his hand with the shock wearing off quickly and all. His face scrunched up and he lightly hissed each time it happened. What was he thinking trying to get the card like that? Did he think it was like the parlor back home where he could actually do it without him being hurt? However the answer was clear, he wanted to get rid of that card so badly he would risk his own well being to rid himself of it. Well clearly that plan didn't work.

He didn't want to offer up his hand to the girl, but it was really beginning to hurt and Louis got the feeling that she wasn't going to take no for an answer. She reminded him of Isla in how she was immediately caring, and maybe she also was equally as stubborn as his one time date, so with great reluctance he offered her his wounded hand. It was a bright reddish pink and it was beginning to swell. He looked at it for a moment, before quietly saying, "That was stupid. That was really, really stupid"

Louis eyed the forgotten card lying by the hearth with narrowed eyes, this was just another thing he could blame on that pretty looking crapaud. 

~~ toad

[Cosimia Gothel]

Cosimia was very surprised at the tone of the boy's voice when he asked her who she was. Cosimia didn't deign to tell him, yet. Honestly, from what she had found out of manners, Anger wasn't polite. She wasn't expecting him to be angry with her, but perhaps it was only the pain.

Then he told her rudely that he was fine, Cosimia knew that it must be an act though, because no one would be fine after thrusting their hand into the fire. She stood back as he tried to get up but when he leaned back on the couch, Cosimia went in closer and was about to demand he gave her his hand, when to her surprise, the boy held it out.

The extent of the burns shocked her and at his admitance that sticking his hand in the fire was a stupid idea, Cosimia coudldn't resist saying sarcasticly, "No really? That was the worst idea of your life." Well, it probably was. Hopefully he didn't do stupid things like this every day. "I'm Cosimia Gothel." She said as she examed his hand, "Who are you?" Then she sighed, "You have a pretty bad burn and I don't know how to heal it except to put something cold on it." She wished she could help the boy more, but she didn't know much, or anything, about medicine and it wasn't like she had healing powers like Rapunzel. Rapunzel, her face curled up like she smelled something horrid as she thought of the girl. If it wasn't for her, Mother Gothel would be alive and Cosimia wouldn't be here. "I'm sorry I can't do anything more." 

[Louis Facilier]

He gave this girl a warning glare when she decided the best comment for the situation was that it was the worst decision in his life. No, no it was not. The worst decision he ever made was a three way tie between agreeing to be the Loa's puppet, willingly coming to this school, and letting Aristeides walk all over him by forcing him to keep a deal that was going to end with Louis being more hated than his father while the goddess  was going to walk off scott-free. He had made worst decisions than sticking his hand in a blazing fire to rid himself of a reminder of the life he could've had. This girl was wrong.

"No. I've made worse believe it or not." Louis said with a small wince as she inspected the burn, sending waves of pain up his arm with each touch. The hardened expression in his eyes made it clear that this girl was not to ask what those decisions were. Louis was in no mood or shape to tell a sob story. Besides what would she care? She acted just like those goody little two shoes, with the way she was all caring and that fake stuff. They never cared about him, Why would this girl break the pattern? 

Well maybe she was a bit different, because Louis recognized the name, or the surname at least. He looked at the girl in disbelief as he said, "You're Gothel's kid?" In villain classes there was often pop quizzes on the different evil masterminds and their crimes. Truth be told, Gothel wasn't all that impressive anyway. All she did according to the teachers was kidnap a baby to stay selfishly young and like every other villain perished at the end of the tale. However that wasn't what surprised him really. Gothel had always been one of those villains that had been labeled as childless so it was a bit of a shock to see her flesh and blood before him, but then again his own dad had that label as well before Louis showed up. Speaking of which, he had to introduce himself as well, "I'm Louis Baptiste-Facilier." He said rather quickly in his typical French Quarter style making it all sound like one word. He made sure to stress that it was Lou-e not Lewis like some of the other students pronounced it. That irked him to no end. 

She said the burn was pretty bad, but Louis had to disagree. He had seen some pretty nasty burns before, but this wasn't one of those. His hand hadn't been in the flame long enough to cause some serious damage, and although blisters may form they weren't going to be large ones, Louis could just sense it. He shook his head slightly before saying, "No, it's a first degree, maybe a second. It wasn't directly in the flame for more than a few seconds." He winced every time he paused. Yeah that burn was definitely swelling. "Something cold ehh? Ombre! Venez ici!" He said with a raised eyebrow before turning to the shadow on the wall, calling it to him where it reached him by jumping around the flickering lights of the fire. It just stayed there for a second not sure what Louis had called him to do so the Shadow Kid had to fill the darker mirror of him in by saying, "Eh bien? La jeune fille dit qu'elle doit être froid." Louis detected a slight nod before the shadow reached out to wrap it's non-existent hands around Louis' wounds washing them over in the shadow's cold yet comforting darkness. 

He breathed a sigh of relief as he looked back towards Cosimia just in time to see her face contort in an odd fashion, "What? You never seen somebody talking to his shadow before?" He said with a small grin, it was always interesting to see people's reactions to the shadow. They were always interesting ranging from fascination to horror. After all nobody should control their shadows, but yet he could. Never disgust though, which made Louis think that maybe it wasn't the shadow, but instead it was something else that revolted her. He regarded her with a peaked interest, wondering what exactly caused that expression, but at the same time being smart enough not to ask. He'd never get an answer that way. Girls were funny like that. 

---

Ombre! Venez ici! - Shadow! Come here!
Eh bien? La jeune fille dit qu'elle doit être froid. - Well? The girl says it needs to be cold.

[Cosimia Gothel]

Cosimia couldn't believe what he just said, she didn't ask but inside was burning with curiosity. "Really?" She asked instead, going for the round about way instead of a straight out question. "I still can't believe you stuck your hand into the fire." She didn't ask a question straight out, but nevertheless there was a question within the words.

Cosimia smirked at the boy's surprise, most hadn't heard of Mother Gothel, so Cosimia was pleased he had. "I am, you're surprised?" She said in answer, feigning hurt at his surprised tone. Then she laughed, a short laugh not without humor, telling the boy that she didn't want to hurt his feelings and laugh while he was hurt. "I don't look as much like her here. I used to have black hair." She said as she twirled a lock of her curly brown hair around a finger.

"Louis," said she, trying the name out, she did say it the way he did but it sounded strange to her. "A strange name, is Baptiste your middle name?" She questioned, unaccustomed to two surnames.

First degree, second degree, Louis mumbled on, saying words that made no sense to her, she understood the words, just not what he meant. Then something disturbed her. He spoke words that she had never heard before, and before she could ask him about it, his shadow moved! It came up to him and wrapped it's hands around his hand. So her expression turned from disgust at Rapunzel, to amazement at the shadow. "No, actually, I never have. Is this common where you live?" It certainly wasn't common where she lived, but she had found out quickly that strange things happened in the worlds that the other students lived in. "So you were speaking to it? I thought you were going crazy." Cosimia blushed a little, but then in her sheltered cottage she had only ever heard her own language. She had never heard another.

[Louis Facilier]

So apparently the girl could only barely take a hint. Didn't really surprise him though, everything about this so called villain screamed sheltered good little girl who was just now leaving her tower for the first time. She probably wasn't socialized as a kid or whatever. It wasn't his problem and he wasn't answering her unspoken question. He made bad decisions before and that was all she was ever going to know. So he stayed quiet for a few moments to make it clear he was not going to have a Q&A session about his lifestory. Hopefully this time she'll catch the message. 

"A little bit honestly, we were always told in villains class that she was childless. She didn't have the capicity to have kids of her own, she was instead too focused on that little gem she stole." Louis said with a small shrug as she asked if it really was that strange for Mother Gothel to have a kid. What he left out though for the kid's sake was that Mother Gothel was essentially a five minute lesson on choosing the right goals. Obviously eternal beauty was not considered to be one of the "right ones" because of Gothel's fate. "Maybe it's also the hair like you said, I'm a bit paler here than back home so maybe that's it." He smoothly lied, there was no reason to shatter this girl's image of her mother. Louis knew how precious family could be since he didn't grow up with one. 

"Not it's not, it's a part of my last name. I didn't know who my real family was until shortly before coming here." Louis explained when the girl questioned the old, but still legal part of his name. He didn't mention that it was only his name because his mother died before she could give him hers. Though judging by the stories that he had been told about her, it was unlikely that she would've given him a name at all. According to the caretakers she refused to talk to any of them about the baby that was growing inside of her except to say she hated it and it ruined her life. She had planned to dump the baby in the crescent city and head back home like nothing had ever happened. And to say if anything ever did? Facilier never touched her. The wretched Loa made sure that the kid had their puppet's blood. After all they knew his time was winding down and they were going to need a new poor, unfortunate soul who was just like the last one. 

He chuckled for a moment when she asked if people talking to their shadows was common. She was definitely Gothel's kid, it certainly seemed like this girl had spent her entire life in a tower. She was so naive, if Louis wasn't in so much pain right now he would've played her for all she had. After all the naive ones were perfect for his little card tricks. However he was in no shape to deal any cards. "It's not common anywhere che- Cosimia. There's only two people that can do this, one of them being me and the other being my father. But he's dead so I guess it makes me special." He started to say chéri, but stopped himself short. For some reason it didn't feel right for him to say that, almost as if he was betraying someone by calling someone else "darling" even though he knew it meant absolutely nothing. It was strange. He never stopped himself from speaking in his semi-native tongue before. 

Louis also nodded to her question, effectively forgetting about his slip up. "I'm guessing you never heard French before then?" He said with a curious grin as he regarded the girl before him. It was very rare to run across someone who didn't swoon the moment they heard a pretty boy speak the so called language of love. Bah, everyone thought of Paris when they heard French. The Francophone world was much larger than that actually. "The shadow doesn't know English, it just knows French. I told him that you said that the hand needed to be cold. He can be a pretty good icepack if you can stand the goosebumps." He explained as he motioned to the dark figure wrapped around his arm like a wet towel. The truth was, the shadow could understand some English, like the basic commands a dog would know, but Louis liked being able to speak in his native tongue and actually have someone understand him. It was a bit comforting even if they couldn't talk back. 

A sly grin appeared on his face as he looked over to the witch's daughter and asked, "Would you like me to demonstrate?"

[Cosimia Gothel]

Fine. If he wasn't going to tell her, he wasn't going to tell her. It didn't make her any less curious about what had been so bad though. If she thought about it, however, it did make sense why he didn't want to say, if he had made a really bad choice in the past, it could potentially still be affecting him now, couldn't it?

Cosimia's joy of having someone finally know her mother diminished when he mentioned Rapunzel, "Well, she lived with her for the first two years, I'm two years younger." She said this fire in her eyes and her voice just barely controlled. At Louis' next comment, She relaxed, "Yeah, it's probably just the hair." 

"So it's not your middle name?" Cosimia hadn't heard of two surnames and continued, "Why do you have two surnames?" She didn't get his first explanation, he didn't know any of his family? Where did he live then? her mind was teeming with questions but she kept them in check.

Cosimia didn't get why he was laughing at her at first then with his explanation it became clearer for her. Only two people that he knew of and one, his father was dead. For a moment she didn't know what to say, just sat there, awkwardly. Finally she said, "I'm sorry."

So it was called french was it? She had never heard of it before. "Actually no, is it a common language?" Louis continued and Cosimia nodded when he finished.

Cosimia liked Louis and answered his question eagerly. "I would love to see how he works, and, does he have his own mind?" She wasn't sure, she had heard of puppets with no mind of their own, but the shadow didn't seem like that for some reason.

[Louis Facilier]

Only an idiot would fail to pick up on the anger in Cosimia's voice when the villain of her own personal story become the center for their topic and Louis was not an idiot. "You hate her don't you?" He blurted out. He wasn't talking about Gothel. He had seen the way she absolutely lit up when her mother was mentioned. Instead he spoke of the gem. The precious little princess who just like that rotten Tiana and Naveen got their happy ever afters and left their parents for dead. Maybe their as a common bond between this criminal and naive girl after all. A mutual hatred for the heroes when they knew in reality they were the villains for heartlessly leaving kids as orphans. However he didn't bring this up, but maybe she could pick up on some of his true feelings thanks to the empathetic look he gave her as he continued to move on, personally knowing how touchy of a subject it was. "Yeah it's just the hair."  

He shook his head slightly when she asked once more if Baptiste was his middle name. "No, it's actually César believe it or not." He said with a small grin although he didn't know why. He didn't know why he was named after a dead king and emperor. It wasn't like he chose the name or anything like that, but maybe it was a sign. Maybe it was a sign that someday Louis would be a powerful leader, but then again both of his namesakes were killed by the people they once called their friends. So maybe it wasn't, who knew? At least Louis did know what his own last name signified and it wasn't as pleasant as being a king or emperor. He eyes shot down to the ground as he tried to come up with an explanation as to why that wouldn't come back to bite him in the butt, but he couldn't think of anything he could feasibly get away with. After all he already told this girl his father was dead and he knew that her type of person --you know naive, sheltered, innocent-- was also really bad at taking hints and would be persistent in getting an answer. Lord only knew how many of them he had to deal with in this place.

So with a sigh of defeat, Louis took a deep breath before saying with as little emotion as he possibly could, "Legally I only have one last name and that would be Baptiste. Though since I've started attending this school Facilier has been added onto the end of it because that should be my last name and I want it to be my only last name. However I can't drop the first part until I turn eighteen and-" He paused here for a moment before flickering his eyes off the floor and looking Cosimia dead in the eyes searching for understanding in them because he didn't know if she would catch on or not. He then said with a little more emotion, mostly that of dejection and sadness, but also a little quieter, "Age out of the children's home." There he said it. Louis admitted that he was an orphan and not only was his father dead, but his mother was too. No doubt Cosimia would have her questions, but Louis would probably end up lying to her. Maybe tell some story of sickness or becoming a burden due to the Depression. Anything was better than admitting that his dad was killed by a frog, his mother didn't want to look at her newborn son before dying, and how all this occurred within minuted of the shadow kid being born. He never knew his parents and he didn't want that sad pitiful look everyone gave him when he said that. As if they really cared. They never did. Nobody cared about Louis Facilier. 

Nobody ever did.

However just like everyone else he ever met, things turned instantly awkward and the best she could manage to say was a pathetic apology. As if she was really "sorry." She didn't know him, she never knew the elder Facilier so how could she be sorry? "Don't." Louis started before she could say anything else. "You're not really sorry. You didn't know him and you probably would've never heard of him before. You may feel sad, but you don't really care. So save your breath." He said rather spitefully with an expression of stubbornness and slight contempt. He then looked down at the floor again before he mumbled "I hate it when people say that."

"It honestly depends on where you are in the world." He said calming down considerably when she questioned him on how common French was. "Some places, like Europe or the Caribbean it's seemingly everywhere. However in other places like America and Asia, well not so much. I come from one of the small pockets in the States where it's spoken a great deal. It's more of mixture of both French and English actually, but I prefer to keep the two languages separate." He said with a small shrug. It was easier actually to do that, but there were some occasions where his franglish tongue would prevail and nobody really understood what he was saying. Hasn't happened in a while though, it only happened for the most part when he was really confused or just plain old emotional. Which didn't happen too often mind you. It turned out Aristeides wasn't the only one that had methods for dealing with anger levels. 

A childish grin appeared on his face when the villain's daughter stated that she would like to see what the shadow could really do. He motioned for her to come closer before he whispered in her ear so the shadow wouldn't hear. "He likes to think he does, but he really doesn't." It was true, the shadow sometimes acted of his own free will, but in the end he always listened to what Louis told him to do. It was his shadow after all. He pulled away and with the same smirk on his face he said to the dark figure that was currently still wrapped around his injured arm, "Elle veut voir ce que vous pouvez faire." He shook his arm a little as the shadow unfurled itself from him sending a small wave of pain up his arm and down his spine. Louis hissed slightly as a reaction before adding with a semi-forced smile, "Pourquoi ne pas vous faire des amis avec son ombre?" 

He then turned back to Cosimia and said with a small smirk because he knew what was going to come while she was in the dark, "Alright you're going to have to keep your eyes on me for a few seconds. He's rather shy believe it or not." With Cosimia's back turned she couldn't possibly see his own shadow sneaking up on hers and lightly shoving the darkened, mirrored image on the wall. By doing this it would force Cosimia to tumble slightly as well, but she should be able to keep her balance. If not, well at least Louis had one working arm to catch her if need be. "He can mess with the shadows of basically anything which would effect the solid version of them as well. Pretty cool isn't it?" He asked with an almost uncharacteristic laugh to top it all off. 

This wasn't like Louis at all. Which may or may not be good. 

---

Elle veut voir ce que vous pouvez faire. -- She wants to see what you can do.
Pourquoi ne pas vous faire des amis avec son ombre? -- Why don't you go make friends with her shadow.

[Cosimia Gothel]

Nothing could have surprised Cosimia more then Louis blurting out her exact feelings and she drew back, surprised. Of course she hated Rapunzel. There was no way she could even dislike her. However, she gave him short, stiff nod when she saw him looking next. She didn't elaborate, but from his sympathetic glace, she guessed she wouldn't need to.

"Cesar." She said, trying it out, It was a strange name, indeed. But still Cosimia didn't get it. She was pretty sure she had heard what she had said, but that couldn't make her understand. The part about the two last names had been misunderstood by her but slowly she began to piece it together. He really only had one last name, but the people in his world wouldn't let him change it to what should be his last name. But what was a children's home? The way he said it made it sound bad, but what was it really?

Then it started. Louis started an entire speech, all about how she couldn't really be sorry. At first she hadn't minded, but then, at the end of his pretty little speech he said, 'I hate it when they say that.' and she started to flame up. She tried to stop herself, she tried to stop herself from saying anything, but it was no use, her guards that she kept for defensive purposes betrayed her and she felt herself growing angry. "And you're the only one who has to live out loss?" Cosimia could feel the warning signs coming from her body, telling her to calm down, but she couldn't. That selfish boy seemed to think that he was the only one who was to be pitied here? Not on her watch. "My mother was killed!" Then with a rush of understanding, he hadn't known his parent and they were both dead. She continued, "And I knew her!"

Gaining control again, she was ashamed at herself, "I don't know what came over me." She knew what had come over her, but that didn't mean she had to say. Truth was, she didn't like it when others acted like they were the only ones suffering. Because, no matter how many times they insisted that, it didn't change the truth.

So, it was in many places, but, Cosimia had never heard of it. In a way, it wasn't surprising to Cosimia to not know of this- she had seen so many strange things since arriving, but in other ways, it was very surprising. It had never entered her head that there might be other languages besides her own.

She dropped the subject of french when Louis answered her question. She smiled in return, though honestly the answer didn't really make sense. It kind of did, but yet, it also didn't. She stoically kept her eyes on him, however much she wished to glance at what the shadow was doing, but she didn't. Thus, the shadow's small shove caught her by surprise. She stumbled and almost fell, but caught herself at the last instant. "Wow!" She exclaimed. "How...?" She began but Louis answered her unspoken question before she had asked it. She didn't think twice at the laugh and agreed, "Amazing!" It was amazing. Something rare and also incredibly cool. But perhaps, if she knew the full extent of his powers she would have perhaps drawn back, but as it was, she saw no reason what so ever to do so.

[Louis Facilier]

When Cosimia confirmed what they both already knew, Louis felt a strange wave of empathy wash over him. Not only did he understand that deep burning hatred within the girl before him, he lived with it every single day. There was not a day that went by did he not think of what could’ve been, and how that was stolen from him by a pair of frogs. He was all too familiar with the red bubbling anger that filled the both of them as they thought about how they got the happily ever after. They got to move on in their lives and forget about the people they killed. They didn’t care about the orphans they made, they didn’t care about anything. All those posh Princes and pampered Princesses cared about was getting their happy ending, not about the countless lives they were destroying by doing so. “I hate them too.” He said quietly as he looked over to Cosimia. Using his good hand, he reached over and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze as if to say, hey you’re not the only one who knows what it’s like. You not alone.

He dropped it quickly though, unsure of how Cosi would react. It did appear to be that like with Rapunzel, Mother Gothel had kept her daughter away from society so a comforting action like that may be taken the wrong way accidentally. He didn’t want her to freak out on him after all, Louis wouldn’t know what to do. People freaking out were not his specialty after all.

Louis nodded when she tried out his middle name, “Yeah that’s it, just try to pronounce the last part like zar not sir. It’s a little different from it’s English counterpart.” He said with a small smile, it was strange how kind he was being to this girl. He suspected though it was from the unfortunate link in their pasts, none of the other villains he knew was also an orphan like him. Aristeides’s dad was immortal and he was guessing her mom was too based on the fact that she was a goddess not a demi-god. Gigi also had both of her parents waiting for her back home. But Louis? There was no one and it appeared that there was no one for Cosimia too. It made Louis strangely want to take this naive girl under his wing and just help her in some way when it came to these awful feelings that came after a parent’s death. After all it was something he was unfortunately an expert in having lost both of his before he was even an hour old.

But then she practically blew up in his face. She started to scream and carry on about Louis thought he was the only one who could grieve which made the villain hold his hands up in a defensive way and say calmly. “Cosimia, that’s not what I meant at all. You need to calm down.” He reached out to try and to get her to calm down, but first she yelled one final thing that caused Louis to pull back and cringe. “And I knew her!” That was a pretty low blow, hitting Louis in the most tragic event of his life right behind meeting the Loa. There was no denying it was designed to do so and it did hurt. It was the one ache he always felt when he heard of others speak of their own parents or he saw a happy family somewhere. He almost had that. He almost got to feel that love. He almost had a mother to fret over him and a father to play catch with. He could of had a little brother to bug him or a little sister to protect. He could of had a dog, or maybe a cat. He could have lived in one of those white picket fenced houses. He almost had real friends. He almost got to be around people who loved him at the holidays and birthdays. He almost didn’t have to feel unloved and unwanted everywhere he went. He almost had a place to belong, but it was stolen from him. It was so cruelly taken from him and by doing him it sent him spiraling down a path of hate. He could have avoided it! If only just one of them had lived! If only…

“I didn’t mean it that way. Cosimia I’ve just grown tired of people telling me that they’re sorry even though they probably cheered at the news of my parents’ deaths after seventeen years. It just bugs me. I never meant for it to mean that others couldn’t mourn the loss of their loved ones.” Louis clarified with a detached tone of voice, clearly hurt by her words. He knew she didn’t mean it. She was only grieving, but that didn’t make the wound sting any less. By saying that she was only setting up a major difference between them, and one she perceived to make her more important than him. “I knew my mother and you didn’t so I should be allowed to say sorry if I want to and you can’t stop me if you tried.” Although she didn’t realize it, it made Louis think of another phrase he’s heard a lot in his life. “I’m white and you’re colored so I should be allowed to do whatever the hell I want to and you can’t stop me if you tried.” Yes those two phrases sounded almost exactly the same to Louis.

“You’re clearly still sorting through some pretty rough emotions and that’s okay.” Louis started to say, making sure he emphasized the okay part of that statement so she wouldn’t blow up in his face again. He paused for a moment to carefully chose his words before continuing, “It’s pretty normal believe it or not. However if you ever need an ear to bend, a person to vent to, or even a shoulder to cry on, you could always come to me. They, they can think they know what you’re going through, but they don’t. I do though.” He offered gently unsure of how she’d respond to the offer. He empathized with her, he too knew of the empty void in his heart that could never be filled. At times in his childhood it was his best friend. He’d stay up until the wee hours of dawn imagining what life would be like if his parents were alive. What they would look like and what they did. He had one sided conversations with them telling them about his day and how he was doing since they left. It was like that song from Annie. Maybe, wasn’t it? Well at least that depressingly optimistic tale got one thing about being an orphan right.

“I know exactly what you’re going through.” He then murmured in a sad tone, although it was offered as some sort of comforting phrase to the witch’s daughter it seemed be more for Louis in some weird, unknown way.

He laughed along with Cosimia when his shadow decided to “play” with hers. He had to admit the party trick was pretty cool. If it hadn’t come at such a high price… However that probably didn’t concern Cosimia. She probably wasn’t thinking about how Louis had to literally sell his soul to get the shadow and the talisman in order to follow in his father’s footsteps. She probably didn’t also care that he was possibly considering ways in how to get away from the shadows. She probably also didn’t care that he couldn’t think of a single plausible way without him ending up suffering the same fate as his father. Which is most certainly not what Louis wanted to happen. However that was concerns for another time, right now it was show off time. “You know that’s not all he can do.” Louis said with a small grin before barking to the shadow, “Ombre! Copiez le sien!” The shadow quickly complied, taking the form of Cosimia’s on the wall. It was clearly Louis’s because her own still could be seen stretched out on the floor from the fire’s flames and the hanging lights above. The shadow then began to pose, like a model on a runway, pulling laughs from Louis --and hopefully Cosimia.-- It wasn’t making fun of Cosimia at all, it just never really got a chance to show off it’s drag queen skills so it was taking this opportunity by the horns. In between the laughs Louis managed to shout out, “Ombre!.. Héraclès!” Almost instantly the Cosimia on the wall was transformed into a buff dude’s shadow. A really buff dude’s shadow. “It’s Heracles.” Louis explained through his laughter of his shadow’s interpretation of what Heracles did in his free time. Which was apparently direct traffic.

After a few moments Louis was able to pull himself together to ask, “Is there anything you would like to see? You name it he can copy it. Well just as long as it’s got a shadow of course.”

---

Ombre! Copiez le sien! - Shadow! Copy hers!
Héraclès - French version of Heracles (Son of Zeus)

[Cosimia Gothel]

Cosimia, who had turned turned away from Louis took in a sharp intake of breath as he confirmed what she knew with his voice and... took her hand. It wasn't as if she didn't want him too, it was just, she hadn't been expecting it and touch with others was not what she was used to. In fact, the only other human who had ever touched her was her mother. The taking of her hand had probably been the safest way of comfort, somehow it seemed to make her more comfortable, even if he did release just moments later.

Cosimia hated herself for yelling at Louis. After all, he was a lot like her. She hid her face, trying not to cry as Louis explained. Gaining control, she looked up at him, "It's not your fault Louis. It's just," She took a deep breath, "I almost had a sister, I almost had my mother." Her voice turned bitter, "But then my 'sister' turns out to be a murderer." She smiled a bit, "Louis, all those villains will hate us, even though we haven't done anything. I really am sorry about your parents." She smiled again, hoping he wouldn't feel any offence. "You know what you have over me though? You know who both your parents were." This was true, she hoped. Cosimia at least had no idea who her father was, sometimes, however, she would imagine him, though it was only ever his face. She had absolutely no idea what a father would actually do with his family.

This phrase was her attempt to clear away resentment that might have built up because of what she said. If she knew just how deep the phrase went, however she would have been completely and utterly appalled.

Cosimia was still trying to regain control of her emotions when Louis continued. She looked up at him as he finished his offer, slightly surprised. "Really? Thanks." She paused for a moment, then voice shaking only slightly continued, "Same for you, I mean..." She stumbled, for a moment unsure, "I know you need a family too, perhaps we can be like... brother and sister?" 

The ending part was likely the most comforting part of all someone else knew what it was like to be alone in the world. Even in this strange place, especially in this strange place, someone had went through the same kind of things she was.

She laughed alongside Louis as the shadow began to mimic herself as a model. Then as 'Heracles' waved his arms around. She didn't recognize the name but thought he might have something to do with Aristeides. When Louis asked her to give a request though, Cosimia hurriedly backed off. "No thank you, I have no idea what I would request." She declined politely.

[Louis Facilier]

"I know, I know." Louis said reassuringly as he snaked an arm round her for support, making it clear that he was there was for her as Cosimia just let all her emotions pour out in the form of bitter tears. He understood how awful it felt to learn that someone you thought was wholly good turned out to not be so good. After all before he came to this academy he thought that his father was a good man, so it was quite a shock to learn that he was classified as a villain. He didn't see it as fair and he didn't understand how that could be. He was essentially murdered. That stupid Tiana and her precious Prince Naveen resigned him to an entirety of torture because they were unsatisfied customers. They deserved to be Frogs for what they did! They deserved what they got, but they just had to go against fate and made an orphan in the process! How dare they? How could they?

Hearing the heroes being called villains sounded weird to Louis because he had always referred to himself as a villain. After all that's what the school wanted him to be, and of course Louis agreed only because it meant that he could exact revenge on those that had made him lose everything. "Yeah, they'll hate us, but they're also terrified of us. They're so scared of us striking back at them. Just keep that in mind and they can't hurt you." He whispered quietly as he carefully watched her expression unsure if it was the best thing to say at the moment. After all there was a major difference between the two villains, Louis had grown accustomed to his role in life, while Cosimia was still adjusting to life without her mother. He could also sense that now since the both of them knew parts about their pasts, she was truly sorry that he had lost his family too. It was strange knowing that there was someone who really cared, instead of seeing people pretending to care. It had never happened before and he didn't know what to say in response to that. This had never happened before. He had thought of thanking her, but he was forced against it when Cosimia assumed that Louis knew who both of his parents. A sad look suddenly overcame him and for a moment he was quiet before he had to admit that in a sense he too was a killer, "My mom died giving birth to me. She didn't even tell anyone her name, she didn't want anyone to know that I existed." He said solemnly as he looked away from Cosimia afraid that he too would get emotional. It was a hard burden to bear knowing that his own mother didn't even want anything to do with him. Plus on top of that his dad also died on his birthday so he never got to meet him either. All he had was a few scattered photographs in the voodoo parlor and that was it for his father. He had no clue as to who his mother was and he didn't know what his father sounded like. He didn't even know the man, he only knew a name and what his job was. That was it.

It was extremely tough to admit, but he felt that she at least deserved to understand the truth, that instead of Cosimia believing that he had more than her, it was in fact opposite. She knew who her mother was and she had memories. Good ones, bad ones, they were all more than what Louis had. He couldn't help, but feel a little jealous about that, but he fought to keep this feeling inside. Cosimia didn't need to know that. 

"Perhaps." Louis said with a small smile when Cosimia mentioned that maybe they could be siblings in name only, but he was a little bit apprehensive of the idea. After all he was a bad luck charm, he caused harm to everyone he cared about and Cosimia had already been through so much he didn't want to give the Loa any new ideas. They could get rather antsy if they didn't have any deals in action, he didn't want them to figure out how much Cosimia might mean to him, just like how he wanted to protect Isla from Aristeides's wrath and instead directed it towards the only substitute he could offer, Eli. He quickly moved them away from the subject of brothers and sisters so Cosimia wouldn't ask questions, "There's another villain like us here you know. Her name is Josslen, but everybody calls her Joss. Her mom's Maleficent and like you she knew her mom before those monsters you know... Maybe I could introduce her to you? She's nothing like Aristeides you know." He suggested with a small shrug, none of the other villains were like the Queen Bee herself. She saw herself above everyone else only because her dad was immortal, so that meant unlike the other villains she could never be an orphan. Aristeides may not truly realize it, but Louis saw it every single day in her arrogant little sneer. 

He shrugged non-nonchalantly when Cosimia admitted that she didn't have any idea what she would like to see the shadow do. "Okay then. Ombre, revenir." Louis said to the shadow as it peeled itself off the wall and came back to the bokor and rewrapped itself around Louis's throbbing arm. He breathed a sigh of relief in response and looked over to Cosimia and explained with a small shrug, "It's a burn, it's going to hurt. I'm fine though." He didn't want her to needlessly fret over the wound, he could leave that to the school nurse when he went to her later. By then there probably wouldn't be much she could do either and it wasn't that bad of a burn anyhow. He would be fine, he would be okay. After all he had already faced much worse in his short life as a feared villain's only child.