Rodents, Singing, and Cupcakes {Giselle}

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Eventually, Remy was going to run out of cupcakes. He wasn't sure when exactly this would happen; it felt like he was still dealing with the aftermath of the Great Cupcake Explosion, but he just knew it would happen. Sometime. Eventually. For now, he usually ended up wandering around with some on hand, handing them out to whomever. Naturally his friends had gotten them first. Plum probably was sick of giving him the polite smile and taking them. Dory, had, well, that was something. Henry had been a little more accepting, probably because it was food, and Henry seemed to eat pretty much anything, really. All in all, Remy was doing alright getting rid of them.

Still, there he was, sitting on a bench and breaking one into pieces. He was busy tossing it to various birds, which had for some reason gathered nearby. Remy couldn't quite figure out why there were so many birds in the area. That didn't make much sense to him. However, he was willing to take it in hand, like you did so much around this school. They certainly seemed to enjoy the semi-stale cupcake.

Just as Remy was breaking off a relatively hefty chunk, the birds paused. It wasn't as if something had startled them or anything. They'd all just stopped moving, their heads cocked, and then they were flying off. Remy sat there, blinking, a bit of cupcake still in his hand. Then he heard the noise, a floating melody, and he found himself moving. Before he even realized what was happening, he was sitting in what really appeared to be a grove of trees, holding a cupcake, and staring at a pretty girl.

Sadly, this wasn't that unusual for Remy.

More unusual was the singing, and the near enthrallment that Remy felt upon hearing it; he stood, nearly frozen, staring at the girl as though she were magical.

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It was such a lovely day and Giselle just had to spend it outside with all of her animal friends! Giselle had been quite sure that Cinderella wouldn’t really appreciate living with a small herd of animals in their room. Mice were just fine and a couple of small animals, but nothing bigger, so Giselle went to be with them. Besides, they could always come for a visit anyway!

But today the sun was shining and it was just calling to her so she knew that she had to go outside. It was just such wonderful weather and it was simply lovely. The sky was blue and the white clouds were gliding across the sky. As she walked across the commons she felt a song bubble up, waiting to burst forth. “Ding dong, ding a ling dong,” she sang, sashaying across the way, oblivious to the looks she was receiving. “Were the steeple bells ever quite as gay? Wonderful, wonderful day!” She threw her arms out to the sky and let them fall back to her side.

“Bluebirds in the blue bells, Sing a song to send me on my way! Wonderful, wonderful day,” she sang to a blue jay that had caught up to her and was flying by her side. A squirrel began to run beside her and Giselle smiled at it as she sang. “Though I’ve got to own up, I’m as grown up as can be.” She twirled again and then did a couple of hop-kick steps. Then she sank down into the grass. “Seems I’ve gone and flown up to a bright, airy, merry fairyland.” She gestured to the beautiful scenery surrounding her. Then she smiled as a small group of animals gathered around to listen and she sang directly to them. “And so you’ll forgive me if I simply throw out my chest and say beautiful, glorious, heavenly, marvelous, wonderful, wonderful day!”

Giselle looked up from her animal friends and saw someone standing there watching. “Oh hello!” she called to the boy. “Would you like to come sit with my animals friends and I? We were just singing. Isn’t is a lovely day?”

(This is the song Giselle is singing! Wonderful, Wonderful Day from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers)

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So... so very many animals. They were just everywhere. Even weirder, they were inordinately cute. It was like this girl had the unique ability to summon cute animals with talented singing. Actually, as Remy thought precisely that, he realized that it was very, very likely. Which he guessed made sense. It also explained why he was there. Well, sort of; he didn't know if he really would have considered himself to be a "cute" rat.

It wasn't until she stopped to address him that Remy regained his ability to actually say or do anything. He then blinked and looked to Giselle. She was pretty enough, but he found himself automatically doing comparison, and for some strange reason, he found himself thinking of Dory. That was odd, and something that he very quickly shoved away. Very quickly. The thought's all gone now, and definitely not still hanging around in Remy's head. Nope, not at all.

"I, uh, guess I could," he tried. He blinked. His voice sounded a little strained. A hand reached up and he coughed, trying to clear it. "I actually was giving them these cupcakes and stuff, but..."

Actually, now that Giselle wasn't singing, a good portion of the animals were staring at Remy. Or, to be more accurate, they were staring directly at the cupcakes, with hunger in their eyes.

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Giselle waited patiently for a response from the boy. He seemed very nice and he reminded her of something…she just couldn’t put her finger on what. But that was okay. She would probably think of it eventually. He seemed nice and that was good enough for Giselle.

She noticed that Remy was indeed holding cupcakes in his hand. “Oh, you feed the animals too?” she cried delightedly, clapping her hands. “I love to cook and bake for my animal friends. Isn’t it just delightful to share with them?” She felt that she had found yet another kindred spirit. Although even people that she had next to nothing in common with she felt were kindred spirits.

She waved Remy over and patted a spot next to her, which was also right next to a small family of squirrels. The parents and the four baby squirrels that were growing quite nicely into young squirrels. She didn’t look after them quite as often now that they were growing, but she saw them quite frequently and made sure they were doing well. “Did you make those cupcakes yourself?” she asked. “What kind are they? I do enjoy baking and then sharing with friends.” She smiled brightly at the boy having decided that they were good friends already.

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"Well, yeah, I feed them all the time," admitted Remy, adding a shrug. He looked over the gathering of the animals, wondering if some of his distant relatives had ended up in the bunch. "it just feels right, for some reason."

Probably because he used to be one of them not that long ago. He could just picture hearing his brother ask for food, or thinking about his clan back home and how very difficult it was for them to find food. Whereas here, here they were practically throwing it away. Well, Remy wasn't sure how much throwing they'd do with the army surrounding them or whatever, but he didn't want to think about that, really.

"What?" Remy jerked up, looking at the girl again. Something about the situation still left him a little dazed. It didn't help that he had the strange urge to climb up the girl's shoulder and bob to music. "Oh, yeah, I made these. I make all my own food, usually. It's sort of what I do. Though I can't really be sure what exactly these are made of," he looked at the tray, frowning. "I just kind of... made them. I really don't remember much of the whole process. I just got... caught up. So, uh," he looked up, feeling awkward again. Then again, that was fairly usual for Remy around females. "Do you do this often? This whole singing to animals thing?"

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Giselle was nearly busting with happiness at the fact that Remy also fed the animals regularly. It was just so wonderful to find people who were so like her! It was really was amazing how many people she’d met at this lovely school who loved animals. Why, even Bartok had said he loved animals and wasn’t that just wonderful?

The redhead didn’t really understand not knowing what you were cooking with. Wasn’t that how you cooked and made things? But oh well. It probably didn’t matter anyway. The cupcakes certainly looked delicious, so they must have tasted even more delicious. Giselle had always found that this was the case. “Well that’s lovely!” she commented.

She laughed at the question about singing. “Oh, I love to sing!” she told him, nodding emphatically. “I sing all the time. Back home in Andalasia the animals sing with me. They can talk too, but they can’t here. But I still like to sing to them and they seem to enjoy it.” Giselle just loved to sing about anything and everything and she’d never heard of anyone who didn’t like to sing. She figured that everyone liked it. Why not? It was just wonderful to sing. Why, even Edward sang and she was sure Queen Narissa sang too. Singing was just so fun!

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Well, that explained it. Some. "You'd be surprised," said Remy. He looked to the animals for a moment. "Where I came from, the animals talked too. But we really just did it to each other. The humans really didn't understand us."

They didn't really try to either, now that Remy paused to think about it. He looked up at the girl, saw that smiling face, and had to smile himself. There was just something infectious in that look, something that demanded that you smile back.

Now that Giselle wasn't actively singing, several of the animals were showing renewed interest in Remy's tray of cupcakes. The chef didn't even realize at first that they were practically clambering over his treats. When he did look down, it was because a squirrel had somehow managed to stretch itself so that its paws were nearly upon the cakes. Said squirrel looked remarkably intelligent, and possibly a little familiar. He also looked very much like he wanted sweets.

"You suppose it's safe to give it to them? I mean, I've got a lot."

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Giselle tiled her head a bit to try to think about what he had just said. Her nose wrinkled adorably in confusion as she tried to put things together in her mind. There was something a bit peculiar about Remy that she could quite put her finger on. It wasn’t talking to animals because everyone in Andalasia in that! So of course that was completely normal. But he was talking as if he had been an animal previously, which would make quite a lot of sense, really. All of her animal friends were quite enchanted with her singing, so if Remy was too and he had been an animal at one point then that would make a lot of sense. Besides, she’d heard that very strange things happened here so it was entirely possible that animals could be people, or people could be animals.

Giselle nodded. “Oh, I see. Were the animals afraid of people like some of the animals here? They don’t seem quite used to people at all, although they never seem to mind me.” She smiled dazzling at him. She had always enjoyed making new friends, especially animal friends. She’d certainly never had any problems making friends. Why, people and animals alike were quite friendly when you spoke to them.

Giselle, oblivious to the fact that her animals were not being very polite while watching the cupcakes with interest, she nodded happily at Remy. “Oh yes, they do enjoy baked treats. Why, I share with them all the time!” she cried delightedly. “And it’s simply a wonderful way to make new friends. Everyone seems to enjoy baked goods or treats, don’t you think?”

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"Uh, yeah, most animals are afraid of people, really. It's that whole killing them thing," said Remy, pointing as if that helped his explanation. What leaped to the forefront of his mind was his own father's advice and beliefs. Remy's father had been quite adamant about the ill that humans caused, and how rats needed to avoid them at all costs. Remy had always held a decidedly different belief, which was probably why he was adapting as well as he was here.

Giselle seemed oblivious to that though, just as she'd been more or less oblivious to the animals. Remy ended up taking a step back and blinking as she nearly exploded with more glee. What was with the girls here? it seemed like they were all rather on the happy side, in a sort of manic way. It was... disconcerting, really.

"Right, well, let's share the cupcakes with them then," he said, holding up the tray. he'd hold it long enough for either Giselle to take one or for things to become awkward. Either way, he'd soon be plucking one out himself. He tried holding it out to the nearest bunch of animals, caution making his motions a little slow. The animals seemed slightly suspicious of him, and most of them were looking to Giselle, as if waiting for her to approve of the weirdo with the sweets.

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“Killing them?” Giselle gasped, horrified. She would never kill another person. Not ever. Why, that would be horrible! She couldn’t kill her friends! How could anyone kill another animal? The whole idea was just so awful that Giselle was beginning to feel tears well up in her eyes. The whole idea of killing animals was just appalling! How could anyone do that?! She didn’t understand, but it was awful.

One of her bird friends, a blue jay, flew down to coo comfortingly at her and Giselle smiled at her dear friends. They were just so kind and she would never let anyone hurt them. She simply couldn’t. They were very dear to her and she’d do whatever she could to help protect them.

Giselle smiled at Remy and took one of the cupcakes off the tray. “It’s so kind of you to share,” she told him, breaking a piece off and holding it out to the fawn that sat by her side. He delicately took the piece and then the girl broke off another piece and held it out for the fawn’s mother, who wasn’t far away. “It’s alright,” she said, nodding at the others. “Don’t be afraid. It’s alright.”

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"I wouldn't either!" piped Remy, almost too quickly. He nearly held up his hands, but just managed to stop. Which was definitely a good thing, as the tray of cupcakes wouldn't have survived the sudden gesture, that much was certain. His startling did make the tray jerk a little, which caused a cupcake to bounce free. Fortunately, a rather fat chipmunk managed to bound ahead and grab onto it, clutching it like all true fat kids did to cake.

Remy stared at that for a moment, before shaking his head, looking over to the girl. That was just... odd. She seemed to attract attention, with creatures literally flocking to her. wasn't that... well, it was like princesses used to be in stories, right?

"What? Oh, yeah, I share," he said, gesturing sheepishly toward the other animals and the sweets. He bent over to begin crumbling another cupcake for the closest animal, not at all surprised to see that they were now standing patiently, almost like they were waiting in line.

"It's probably because I know what it's like," said Remy, shrugging. Another cupcake rolled off, and the chipmunk got that much happier. "You know, not having food and being afraid of everything. It kind of sucks."

Remy looked to the critters, contemplative.

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Giselle sighed happily. This was just the way she liked to spend her time. She loved to spend time sharing delicious treats with her animal friends. It was just like living back in Andalasia, only the animals didn’t speak here. It was really a shame that they didn’t speak and she was finding that she missed it. She missed Pip with his wonderful advice as her constant friend and companion. It just wasn’t the same here in Trenale, but she was trying her very best to make the best of the situation.

She looked up at Remy with a smile, which then turned into a thoughtful frown. “What do you mean?” she asked confused. “You didn’t have enough to eat? Why were you afraid of everything?” Giselle didn’t understand what Remy meant. Her friends had plenty to eat because they lived in the forest and could find their own food. And they weren’t afraid of everything. They were afraid of most people, but not everything. Giselle didn’t understand at all.

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"I mean I didn't have enough to eat," said Remy. He shifted, trying to get into a more comfortable position, only to find that really wasn't possible right now. You couldn't physically alter an awkward conversation, at least, not by shifting. You'd think that Remy would have learned that lesson by now.

"I was a rat,' he said. He shrugged, as though that could dismiss things. "I used to be a rat, anyway. I accidentally got caught up in one of those portal things. You know, the ones that get you to this school? Well, I washed through a drain and ended up running into one on accident. The whole trip thing turned me into a human."

Remy shrugged again, a very familiar gesture to him by now. He reached up and tossed nearly an entire cupcake out, which was almost immediately scooped up by an overly excited chipmunk, one that looked as though it might very well explode with the sheer glee of its circumstances.

"Where are all the fat chipmunks coming from anyway?" muttered Remy, looking around as though he expected them to launch into a musical number at any moment.

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Giselle was rather distressed for Remy. He hadn’t had enough to eat. That sounded just awful! Giselle couldn’t imagine not having enough to eat, but it was probably the most awful thing she could ever imagine. It must not have been very nice to be a rat if he hadn’t had enough to eat. She listened, wide eyed as Remy explained that he’d turned human when he’d gotten here.

“You have enough to eat now?” Giselle asked. She hoped that he did, because if he didn’t then she would have to figure out a way to help him. She didn’t want any of her friends to be hungry. That sounded just awful. Giselle had more than plenty to eat, so she would be more than happy to help anyone who needed more.

But then Giselle was distracted by the cooment about the chipmunks. “Oh, they live over there,” She pointed towards a tree. “They live among the roots and collect the nuts that the squirrels drop.”

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"What? Yeah, of course I do," said Remy, looking at Giselle with a look that was halfway between appreciation and stating just how crazy that question was. "I actually cook for the school. I definitely get more than enough to eat here. Everybody does."

Well, as far as Remy knew everyone did. Heck, they were outside feeding food to animals right now. That seemed to hint that things were alright as far as the whole food thing went. Remy couldn't even think about humans actually taking the time to feed him back home. Then again, he supposed that he and his family weren't exactly as adorable as most of the critters that were gathered around Giselle now.

"Huh, well, it's just that there seem to be an awful lot of fat ones or something," said Remy, nodding to the one that was currently hoarding a large bit of cupcake, looking for all the world like the chipmunk version of Jabba the Hutt. "It's like someone's trying to be funny but failing miserably."

Remy waited a beat, before looking up at Giselle. "So, uh, you do this often? The whole sitting in the woods and calling the friendly animals to you thing? Seems like they'd get kind of demanding after a while..."