Chapter 49: Platonic Love for Dummies
One pit stop at the underwater house, and 'Little Guppies' Room' later, Ursula led the crew through a particularly foreboding kelp forest. Unlike the ones they'd ventured into with Ariel, it had little to no sunlight, the shadows appeared (for lack of a better word) alive, and faint whistling noises drifted through the thick canopies of marshy green.
Dakota got into a loud squabble with Flotsam and Jetsam at the caboose of the 'Awkward Express' as he'd dubbed it. He openly complained about them being sandwiched between the Sea Witch and her cronies, and it soon escalated into a full-on brawl.
So, Mindy handled the conflict with the fairness and grace expected of a princess.
She put them in separate 'time out bubbles' which they remained in for the majority of their trip. When she was certain they'd learned their lesson, Mindy snapped her fingers and freed them. Despite their lack of physical violence, they still shot hostile looks at each other when she wasn't looking.
"Psst!"
Mindy snapped to her right.
Peter's head poked out from a straggle of kelp. He tilted his neck before disappearing into the foliage. Mindy rolled her eyes with a groan. When the rest of the gang weren't looking, she dove in after him. The first thing Peter did was grab her shoulders and shake her.
"Have you lost your mind?! What were you thinking?!"
"I know it's crazy, but in my defense, she didn't exactly give us a choice," Mindy replied.
"I would've thought the choice was obvious! Don't team up with the sassy, evil octopus lady who wants to take over the kingdom!" Peter burst, "I was already iffy about helping her at the end of the movie, and you all sleeping in her house, but letting her join Mediocrity at Its Finest is where I cross the line!"
"What was I supposed to do?" she asked, "Say: 'Sorry Ursula, but you can't come with us because you're a Disney villain, and by that logic you're always up to no good! Never mind that you have unresolved trauma from The Projectionist's curse, and are afraid of being left to your own devices and getting stabbed by a sinking ship for the last time! You're a big, fat, mean meanie pants and that's all you'll ever be'?"
Peter missed the sarcasm in her voice, "Couldn't've said it better myself!"
"What is wrong with you?" Mindy demanded, "I know in your original story you're a narcissistic, whiney, obnoxious brat, but I didn't think these problematic traits would carry over to your animated counterpart!"
"Yeah, I'm selfish!" Peter admitted, "But that's only because I don't think siding with someone who's so obviously playing you for a fool, is a smart plan!"
"Are you hearing yourself right now?"
"Why are you defending her, Mindy?" she'd never seen the otherwise laid-back boy so incensed, "What do you get out of this?"
"I...I have a hunch," when he gestured for her to elaborate, Mindy sighed in defeat, "You're gonna think I'm nuts,"
"With the way this conversation is going so far, I'm already leaning in that direction,"
Mindy debated with herself before sucking in a breath, "I wanna try to rehabilitate Disney villains,"
Peter blinked.
"Rehabilitate means to reform,"
His head tilted.
"Reform means to redeem?"
His mouth formed a straight line.
Mindy threw her arms up, "Oh for Walt's sake! I wanna try to make them good!"
Understanding settled in Peter's eyes. He proceeded to laugh boisterously in her face. Mindy's cheeks burned. She should've seen it coming (it was Peter Pan after all), but it still stung to have the confirmation he thought her idea a ridiculous one.
He wheezed as the last chuckles left his system. Then, he looked up at her... "Oh, you're serious,"
"Don't...don't you ever think about how unfair all of this is?" Mindy chose her next words carefully, "Unlike real people, you guys were crafted by talented writers, artists, and storytellers spanning across a sixty-year legacy started by one man. Your destinies chosen for you. Never getting a say in whether you're good or bad,"
"We aren't real people though," Peter pointed out, "I don't know what they taught you in the Otherworld, but here in the Dremesphere, everything started in black-and-white. Everyone knows there are heroes and there are villains. How many other ways do I gotta spell it out for you?"
"What if you're wrong?" she persisted, "Have you ever considered why Ursula is the way that she is? What if this is her chance to prove she's more than what the screenwriters portray her as? I saw in her heart how miserable she was. How broken she was; doing the same thing over and over again,"
"Her whole 'Woe is me' backstory is most likely an act," Peter said, "Don't you see? This is what she wants. She wants you to feel sympathy for her and let your guard down enough for her to wrap you around her tentacle!"
Mindy paused, "Was it an act when Hook rescued me from drowning? Or when Wendy got jealous of you and Tiger Lily rubbing noses? Or when Tinkerbell blabbered to the pirates where Hangman's Tree was?"
"Wait what?" Peter's brows shot up as Mindy's hands flew to her mouth, "Tink... betrayed me?"
She winced, "Sorry you had to find out this way,"
"No," He shook his head, "She'd never do something like that. I knew she tried killing Wendy that one time, but-but I banished her! She'd learned her lesson!"
"Didn't you ever wonder how Hook was able to find your hideout?" Mindy tried to put it gently, but the gradual look of realization and heartbreak that formed on Peter's face, made her wish she hadn't said anything.
Peter collapsed onto a boulder with short, staggering breaths, "H-how could she have done this to me? How could she have thought that was even remotely okay?"
Mindy knelt beside him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"People don't think when they're in love," was all she could say.
Peter glanced up with puffy eyes, "Love? What does that word mean? I know it's used to talk about something you really, really, like. I love chocolate, I love being a boy forever, and I love being able to go on adventures every day,"
"Yes, those are things you love, Peter," Mindy said, "But...what about people?"
"What about people?"
She shied away with a strained cough, "I'm not sure if I should be the one to have this conversation with you. Why don't you ask Wendy instead?"
"I would, but I already did,"
"And what did she say?"
Peter scratched his head with his tongue sticking out, "Nothing. She just muttered something under her breath and swam away. Her face was really red though,"
"That's because love is a touchy subject," Mindy explained.
"Why is it so hard to talk about?"
"A lot of people don't understand it," she wrung her hands, "Love...love is a deep emotion of affection. Typically, it centers around two people who like each other very much,"
"So, like...us?"
Mindy resisted the urge to puke, "No! No, no, no! Not in a million years! Peter, what you and I have is platonic love. That's different from the kind of love I was talking about. That love involves familial or friend relationships. The type I was referring to, is romantic love,"
"But what is romantic love?" Peter questioned, "How is it different from platonic love?"
"You're asking the wrong person,"
"You've done alright so far. What's stopping ya?"
"I'm just..." Mindy sighed mid-sentence, "I'm just not very experienced in that department,"
Peter sat cross-legged and made a gesture to urge her on, "Give it your best shot,"
"Fine," but still she hesitated..."It's like I said. Romantic love is deeper than platonic. It's more intimate. More personal. There's a level of unspoken attraction between the two individuals. It's where you share the most vulnerable parts of yourself with another person, and they do the same for you. It's where you would do anything to ensure the other person's happiness, even if it costs your own. It doesn't have to be strictly hetero (between a boy and a girl). Sometimes, but not as often as we need, princes can be attracted to princes. Princesses can be attracted to princesses. Someone could also be attracted to both, or none at all. It also involves more physical elements such as holding hands, cuddling, things not suitable for the workplace, and-" Mindy hiccupped with beet-red cheeks as she remembered the previous night, "-kissing,"
Peter wrinkled his nose, "That's what Wendy tried to give me the first time we met! Wait...does that mean she wants a romantic relationship with me?"
"Well...her and every other female in Neverland,"
His jaw dropped, "THAT'S why Tinkerbell gets so jealous whenever I hang out with other girls?"
"And why she tried offing Wendy and gave away Hangman's Tree to Hook," Mindy resumed, "He'd tricked her by promising he would 'Shanghai Wendy' so you and her could be together. That's what I meant when I said people don't think when they're in love,"
"That means...Tink is evil," Peter said.
"No, she's not," she countered, "By that logic, you're evil because of how self-centered you are. Or Jiminy's evil because of how adamant he is in getting in other peoples' business...or I'm evil because of how I blew up at Jack Sparrow,"
"That's different! He's a bad guy!"
"Sometimes, he's a bad guy," Mindy said, "That is my point. No one is entirely good or bad. We just...are. Despite how rash and immoral Tink's actions were, they stemmed from a place of love. A classic case of doing the wrong thing for the right reason...at least a reason that was right in her eyes. You should also remember that fairies can only hold one emotion at a time. She must've felt so heartbroken when you'd banished her, which left her vulnerable to Hook's manipulation. So vulnerable that she'd felt the jealously flare up, and let it overtake her. That doesn't justify what she's done...but it shows how much she cares about you,"
"I guess that's true," Peter said, "I'm still gonna have a strong conversation with her. But Tinkerbell isn't evil. I've known her my whole life. She isn't perfect. She's hot-heated, stubborn, and jealous at times," Mindy shot him a look and he rephrased his sentence, "Okay, all the time. But she's also funny, resourceful, clever, and sweet. She also came through in the end when she'd warned me about the bomb,"
"Now, you're getting it," she smirked as she conjured a cup of matcha tea, "So, you're saying even though Tink has faults, she's still a good person at heart?"
"Yes!" Peter sprung up with a steadfast grin, "That's exactly what I'm saying!"
Mindy stirred the contents with her index finger, "So, you're saying it's possible for a Disney hero to exhibit villainous qualities, and a Disney villain to exhibit heroic qualities?"
He opened his mouth, then shut it.
...
"I hate you,"
"I know," Mindy said, "But you also secretly love me. I make you consider the hard questions,"
Peter rolled his eyes with an astonished chuckle as he swam out of the kelp. Mindy took a slow, deliberate sip from her cup.
