Chapter Seventeen
The Way of Things
The next time I was at the House of Mouse, I made sure that there was no possible way that I could cause any attention whatsoever. I had Mickey erase me from the roster of attendance and Goofy made sure not to send any waiters to my table that night. But that didn't stop people from noticing me.
It was long until I found myself center stage again. Jiminy Cricket, the conscious of Pinocchio, walked over to me and sat at my table. Initially, Jiminy struck me as annoying, always hanging around and asking questions hoping that you'd figure out the answer on your own and realize something that was usually deep inside of yourself the whole time.
"So what's on your mind friend?" he asked as he drank from a small water glass, "Nothing" I answered, "Can't you just leave me alone?" Jiminy sighed, "That kind of attitude won't get you anywhere in life" I huffed, "Please don't tell me how I should live. You don't know anything about me" Jiminy extended his hand, "How about this? We'll start with names. Jiminy Cricket" I complied much to my displeasure and took his hand, "Iago the Parrot"
Jiminy sat on the unlit candle in the middle of the table and began asking questions, "What's your affiliation?" he began. Affiliation? That could only mean one thing in the Disney Universe, Hero or Villain. "Neutral Party" I answered, Jiminy frowned, a rare if not unheard of occurrence, "This is no neutral" Jiminy said, "You're either a good guy or a bad guy" I stared at him, my eyes were burning with rage, "Who says I need to label myself?" I shouted, almost knocking him off the candle. Jiminy straightened himself out, "Come on Iago. You know just as much as I do that is the way of things here" I nodded, I knew that he was right, there is no grey areas in Toon Town or the Disney Universe, there is only black and white, good and evil.
Looking around, I noticed that this was all too clear. On the right side of the room sat the Heroes, on the left were the Villains. There was a large aisle in the middle of the room that served as a dividing line. My table was placed on the edge of the aisle in the Villains section, as it always was. Jiminy's table was squarely dead center in the Heroes. That's another thing, where the tables were set, determined where you fell in the hierarchy of the two sides. The more inward you were, the more aligned you were, the same principle goes for the balconies, which were reserved for the best of the best. The only place that wasn't this way, was in Amazon's Rest in the rafters, that was privately owned.
As if this wasn't enough, the Heroes and Villains were segregated further by class. In my book there are three kinds of Hero patrons- The Royalties, The Sidekicks and The Subjects. On the Villains side there are four- The Wizards/Witches, The Gods/Titans, The Gangsters and the Homicidally Insane. But there is another group that exists within both Heroes and Villains, the Outcasts.
The Outcasts are the ones who don't belong to any particular group. They are also the group that everyone hates, because they don't have a side. They are the grey area. The thing about The Outcasts is that they don't immediately judge you based on wither your a Hero or a Villain. They see your heart before anything else, next they look at your situation to see if your heart if justified and finally they look at your goals. It doesn't matter if the goals are for good or ill, as long as you have them. Which is why they are the only group that has both Heroes and Villains inside of it.
Another thing about the Outcasts, once you're a member you're a member for life. You are sworn to protect your group and defend their honor at any cost. Which is why they are so few in number and extremely selective. They do not forget their purpose, to stand together in the clam of the storm, to be there, because the world no matter if you look left or right is the same, cruel and unforgiving. That's why they stand together, and the reason why the Heroes and Villains that are members get along, because they are all they have.
To hear anyone else tell it, The Outcasts are a stain on society. Even Mickey disagrees with them, but I think they're on to something. That maybe we could just end this hostility and be people, become more than what we are and be free from the chains that we have linked together and locked ourselves in.
I must have zoned out because Jiminy was almost directly in my face, "Hello?" he said, obviously annoyed, "What" I asked still stupefied, "did you say something?" Jiminy sighed, "Never mind. I wanted to help you, but clearly you are beyond help" I shook my head, "Beyond help? Do you have any idea what you are saying?" my voice was getting louder but I didn't care, "You're saying that I can't become one of you!" Jiminy nodded, "That's exactly what I'm saying. You're in too deep" I huffed, "In too deep! let me tell you something. The day that Jafar found me, was the worst day in my entire life! I watched as thousands of people died and couldn't do anything about it."
I looked around, people were beginning to stare at me and listen to my ranting, but I continued, "That's not even half of it! I was with Aladdin every step of the way. I saw his mother, limp and lifeless, and I cried along with him. How do you think he ended up at the flat? Me. Abu? Me again. Saving Aladdin from falling off a cliff into a frozen? Me. Putting Jafar in the Lamp and saving the world? Me." If this is starting to sound self centered, believe me I'm not trying to be. I was just plain furious at Jiminy, at Aladdin, but most of all myself for letting all this emotion sit and fester in my soul.
Breathing heavily, everyone who still had interest shrug me off as trying to get attention, after all I was a Villain, and everything that I just mentioned doing, Aladdin got credit for, minus the mother of course. The only one who seemed to believe my anger was Genie and he already knew about it all, so he doesn't really count.
I had enough of the House of Mouse, I had enough of the everyone pretending that it was okay that something like this, the segregation, the harsh words, things like that,were perfectly normal. Flying up on stage, I grabbed the microphone and began to speak. "Ladies and Gentlemen" everyone turned my way, "if you would allow me to have a serious discussion. Those of you who want to leave can go, but if you want to change your life, stay and listen." I stopped and gave everyone a chance to back out, no one did. They were glued to me. Good. I continued, "What is going here? Look at yourselves!"
I stepped off the stage and went into the center of the room, commanding the attention of the entire house, "What are we doing? There is literally a line separating us!" My voice grew louder with each passing word, but I didn't care, "Do we really have to go with what we are supposed to be?" Everyone began staring at me as if I was an insane lunatic, and to some I probably was, but I knew what I was talking about, "Who says that we can't make our paths. Walt Disney created us to be the heroes and the villains sure, but he didn't say that we had to be those things. We are who we want people to believe we are, not what we want to be for ourselves." This got people thinking I could tell, the stares of confusion immediately morphed into stares of wonder and amazement, as if I were talking directly to them, stating exactly what it was they were doing to themselves.
I flew up towards one of the balconies on the Villains side, to show the Heroes that my conversation wasn't one sided. Looking around, I saw faces full of malice and hate, I had to turn that around, "You want so much from the world. You never stop and see that on the inside you are your own worst enemy. That the very thing you desire you will never be able to have, because of your own faults and deeds in getting that thing. It's extremely ironic, but you know it's true." It was a little off topic, but at least it got the Villains to stop staring at me like they were, instead they cast their eyes downward in utter shame, even Jafar looked worried.
I redirected myself to the topic at hand, "This whole segregation thing, shouldn't exist. We are better than this, and it's not because we're Disney or because Walt had a hand in making us, it's because we are people." I paused, "This. This thing, now. Is our Civil Rights Movement. We have to be able to let us choose our own destiny for ourselves, not have it be set out for us! What's the point of living, if all we are doing is going by a rule book? So let's start over" I flew back on the stage, "Let's make our own destinies" putting the microphone back in its place, I stepped off the stage, tipped the waiter and walked out of the building.