Author's Note: This story is based on Prompt 137 from .com. I've also posted an unedited version of this story on my tumblr, so if it looks familiar, that's why. This is my first official foray into writing for this fandom, so please be nice. Or, if you can't be nice, be mean in an entertaining way.
Wink!
Sylvia had walked away from her life several times. She'd walked away from her home to a life of odd jobs. She'd walked away from the odd jobs to work for a succession of criminals before walking away from them to strike out on her own. She'd joined Ryder only to be left behind one time too many before walking away from that life to become a bounty hunter. She'd ended up walking away from that, too.
The difference was that, this last time, she'd had someone to blame it on: Wander.
Wander wasn't much to look at—he was a tiny, fuzzy, orange spoon of a creature who looked even smaller than he was because of this large green hat he insisted on wearing at all times that was nearly as big as he was. The big eyes and elastic mouth that was nearly always curved into wide smiles made him look naive, and his almost always unflagging optimism in the face of harsh reality seemed to confirm the apparent naivete. The fact that he could be so easily amused and distracted didn't help with the whole "How-Had-He-Survived-This-Long-Without-Someone-Watching-His-Back?" department.
The absolute last word Sylvia would ever apply to the little wandering weirdo was "guile".
At least, until today.
She wasn't entirely certain what had happened, exactly. One minute, they'd been about to be gored by Tyrant Decadent's Glutiators; the next, Wander had her up on stage singing and dancing for Decadent and his court while he made the Tyrant an elaborate meal. Then Decadent had pushed her off the stage and Wander out of the kitchen so his Glutiators could take over, giving her and Wander the perfect opportunity to sneak away from the festivities.
Whatever had happened, Wander had caused it. But had he done it on purpose? Or had this simply been some kind of whim of his that had just happened to turn out well for them? It wouldn't be the first time they'd been outrageously lucky!
On the other hand, what if those other times hadn't been luck either? What if her little buddy was actually some kind of mastermind?
"You, uh, want to explain to me what happened back there?" She continued walking, propelling their orbble away from Tyrant Decadent's Fab Fortress into the atmosphere of Planet Is-Wander-A-Crazy-Genius-Or-Just-Crazy?, not wanting to stick around long enough for Decadent to notice they were missing.
"Whatever do you mean, Sylvia?" Wander's voice sounded so innocent, she almost questioned her suspicions of him before realizing what he was doing.
"Oh, no," she said tersely, "you're not going to play innocent with me. Spill—what was all that about?"
"I don't know what you mean," Wander insisted. "If you want to know something, you need to ask more specific questions."
Sylvia grit her teeth. "The wink. What was that with the wink? Don't think I didn't notice it!" How could she not when he'd actually had the audacity to say "Wink!" when he did it?
"Oh, that." Wander chuckled. "It was a Thing."
Somehow, Sylvia just knew that the word "thing" had been capitalized. "Care to be a little more specific, pal?"
There was some shifting behind her. Then she heard banjo strings being idly plucked. "I know it got a little scary back there, but I had a plan. And it worked."
"A plan?" Sylvia stopped and turned to look at Wander. "You mean... you mean all that with the dance number and the cooking contest—?"
Wander nodded. "All part of the plan." He smiled up at her through half-lidded eyes. "I knew Tyrant Decadent wouldn't be able to resist a chance to have dinner and a show. And, of course," he finished, closing his eyes, "he'd want to prove to his court that his people could do it better than us."
Sylvia stared at him for a long moment, then faced forward and continued walking. While she'd never thought her friend was stupid, she'd never realized how clever he actually was. She'd thought he was just as What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get as she was in his own Wander way, but she saw now that Wander had layers underneath the happy go lucky exterior. She'd let herself be taken in by how harmless and naïve he'd seemed—just like Decadent had. "I'm glad you're on my side," she said quietly.
"Of course I'm on your side!" Wander exclaimed, sounding as though he couldn't believe she could believe otherwise. "You're my best friend. I'm always going to be on your side." He hesitated, frowning in thought. "Or on your back. Or beside you. Or at least somewhere in your general proximity."
As much as her cold, cynical brain wanted to resist, her warm, cynical heart could not. "All right, Wander." She turned her head to level him with a mock stern stare. "Next time you're gonna do a 'Thing', you let me in on it, too, all right?"
"I did wink." He winked again, saying "Wink!" to punctuate it. "I only Wink! if I'm doing a Thing."
Sylvia laughed, reaching her tail up to lightly knock him on the back of the head. "Fine. But you owe me a jellyfish pie for making me dance and sing for Decadent."
Wander rubbed the spot, smiling. "As you say, fair Sylvia, one," he gagged a bit, "jellyfish pie. All for you."
"From Slarnack's Deli?"
Wander grinned. "Nothing but the best for my best pal."
End Notes:
Prompt 137: "Write about/Draw out the first time Wander and Sylvia did a *wink* thing. Did Sylvia understand what was going on, or was she totally lost and confused on what Wander was doing/planning?
Bonus: This is also when Sylvia realizes how smart and clever Wander is to be getting his way/saving people without using violence." woyprompts. tumblr post / 157845956419 /prompt-137
Tyrant Decadent and his friends are my own invention.