Meanwhile...
With a pouty face, Julien was lying on his bed with his arms crossed, sending a peeved glare at Maurice, who was sitting on a small stool next to him.
"Why did you bring the king here again, Maurice? It's so not past the royal curfew, and I'm not needing any beauty sleep right now." he asked accusingly. "Are you trying to ground me for my pranking spree?"
"What? No, your maje-"
"You cannot give King Julien a time-out!" Julien sat up and poked Maurice in the nose. "You're not my father Maurice, I hate you!"
"Will ya cut that out, fool?" Maurice scowled and slapped his hand away before softening his tone. "I'm not mad at ya, KJ. I was wracked with worry and anxiety thinking ya might be dead, but I was never mad at ya over this, kay?"
"Then why did you take me here?" Julien muttered as he lay back down. "If we're having a midday slumber party we need more guys. At least bring in Karl and Timo."
Julien thought for a moment and waved his hand. "Mort's optional."
"Oi..." Maurice deflated "...Karl and Timo are supposed to be working on the fake "Dr. Blowhole". Y'know, the idea you approved of as a means to get rid of you-know-who."
"Oh, right..." Julien remembered as he watched the green canopy bed above him. "Say, how's progress?"
"Well, it was going great til Karl had to drop everything to save ya." Maurice pointed out, making Julien shrink a bit into his pillow. "And Timo was comatose for some reason but I hear he got better?"
"Then what is it, Maurice? I may have slept all night in a thorny octopus tree but I am not the least bit sleepy right now?" the ringtail grew impatient. He didn't like staying still for this long unless he was too pooped to do anything else.
"Here it goes..." Maurice rubbed the back of his head "...it's sorta tied to your pranking rampage?"
"That again? What about it?" Julien didn't get it. "I thought it was ancient history. Sure, I may have caused many of my subjects grief for my personal amusement and it did almost get me and a bunch of others including a kid killed, but we made it through alive, didn't we? And I talked my way out of any bad PR in front of the whole kingdom. We even avoided Mary Ann getting lynched thanks to Mr. Alex's mad peacemaking skills."
The king wasn't wrong, Maurice knew that. They had just swept another royal screw-up under the rug without any casualties or long-term damage to those involved. But that wasn't what worried the aye-aye.
He didn't know where to start. They had been sitting on this issue for way too long and he knew something had to finally be done about it, even if he didn't want to do it himself. It would undoubtedly upset his blue-blooded friend and Maurice wasn't great at handling pushback from the guy he was supposed to be serving, especially if it meant breaking the sentimental ringtail's heart.
It made him long for the good old days. It was far simpler when Julienne and Barty were presumed dead and he let Julien think his parents lived on a nice farm far away from them; a harmless white lie to placate the prince-turned-king and avoid any tough questions, but the unexpected retcon of the king's parents being alive now complicated matters.
Maurice tried to ease his way into the conversation with a more benign topic.
"Yeah...but the thing is?" he struggled to find the right words, trying not to dent the king's fragile ego. "Not that I'm questioning your title as the Prince of Pranks or anything...but don't you think that whole shtick is a bit..."
"A bit what?"
"...a bit juvenile?" Maurice awkwardly finished. "It was fun while you were still prince but now that you're a king, don't ya think it's 'bout time you moved past pranks and hijinks? That you oughta act a bit more...like a grown-up?"
Julien gasped incredulously, unable to believe his ears.
"The king is not juvenile! How dare you insinuate such nonsensical nonsense!" he sat up again and glared daggers at the aye-aye. "I am not juvenile! You are the one who is being juvenile with your wild and baseless phony baloney accusations and...short stature, standing barely taller than a child!"
Maurice groaned and rubbed his eyes. This was already off to a bad start. "Lemme rephrase it. Jus' what was your motivation for going on your pranking rampage in the first place?"
Julien huffed. "Keke questioned whether I still got it, thus I had no other choice than to prove her wrong for doubting my legendary pranking prowess. A very adult dilemma, as you can plainly see."
"Keke's eight, your majesty." Maurice said flatly.
"Exactly, which is why she needed to learn from a master." Julien said proudly. "Being a teacher is anything but juvenile! Why, I didn't even wear my ceremonial jester hat for this occasion, so there!"
"I...scuse me for being bold, but that reasoning sounds kinda...juvenile."
Julien was aghast once more. "Oh, that's it, Maurice!" he stood up on his bed and pointed at the aye-aye. "That is so not cool, man! You forced me to run away and bemoan your hurtful accusations in a creative and-"
"Wait a sec." Maurice suddenly held up a multi-colored lollypop, smiling and talking in a sing-song voice. "If ya stay put, you'll get this rainbow-flavored lollypop? Huh? Huh?"
"Oh, give me! Give me!" an exuberant Julien was suddenly all over him, but Maurice held the treat just out of reach and Julien at bay with one arm and foot.
"No! Not until we had a serious talk, King Julien." he said firmly, making Julien glare at him, again folding his arms in a sulky fashion as he sat back down.
Julien grumbled, "Taunting a guy with sweet, sugary sweets is such a jerk move, Mo-Mo."
Maurice looked unsure but didn't take the bite. He had to go through with this. "Look, maybe it's high time we drop all pretense and have an earnest discussion 'bout what's really going on here. Y'know? Address the elephant in the room."
"What eli-phant?" Julien cocked an eyebrow. "There are no eli-phants in my kingdom. We have a hippo, and a giraffe, and a zebra, and a lion..." he counted off his fingers "...and two chimpanzees-"
"Not what I meant." Maurice groaned.
Julien made an annoyed humph. "Then what are you meaning?! Nuff with the idle chit-chatting! Just spit it out and stop wasting the king's time!"
Maurice sighed. "I'm fairly certain that Keke talking smack to ya was not your real motivation for running amok and pranking everyone. I think it has more to do with..." his voice trailed off as the aye-aye was faced with crippling second thoughts.
"With what? What in Frank's name are you getting at!"
"I...I have reason to think that it's tied to your...your abandonment issues, your majesty." Maurice finally said it, feeling taxed from just saying it.
"Abandonment issues?" Julien was outraged. "The king never abandoned anyone! I may employ a tactical retreat once in a while, but I always come back to do the right thing, no matter how big I screw up! Have you forgotten how I stood up for Mary Ann just hours ago?"
"No. That's not what I meant either." Maurice reassured him. "I was reffering to your crippling fear of being ditched by those you care about."
Julien's brow fell. "Okay, I'm not following."
"It's jus'...I couldn't help but notice that your pranking rampage came in the wake of ya learning that Clover wasn't coming for your surprise birthday party you're not supposed to know 'bout, coupled with your folks not being interested in spending time with you."
Julien's befuddled expression gave way to a sullen one. "Well...yeah? I was majorly bummed out about that, not even Mort showed up to let me kick him over the horizon."
"Really?" Maurice was caught off guard and looked around. "Where is the lill' guy anyway? Haven't seen 'im since our last meeting at the plane?"
As they were talking about his peeps ditching him, Julien remembered something, and his fierce glare returned. "And I am not recalling you being there to offer me comfort when I was so utterly emotionally devastated!"
"Say what?"
"Don't pretend it's not true, Maurice! You bailed on me too, you lousy bailer!"
"But-but, your majesty? I was preoccupied?" Maurice tried to defend himself. "It is my job to obey the royal family's every wish, including your parents. You always tell me to pamper their every whim and Barty needed a caddy."
Julien opened his mouth and raised a finger, wanting to retort but couldn't think of a comeback, so he just seethed. "Maurice... I'm trying to feel better about myself by pinning the blame for my turmoil on someone else! Why do you have to ruin it with your stupid...logic and reason?"
Maurice lowered his ears. He guessed now was the time to break the ice. "Listen, I know how ya feel. It bummed me out to hear that Clover was a no-show, but she's a queen now, and you oughta know better than anyone what a demanding job being royalty can be."
"I get it, alright! Sheehs!" Julien snapped at him, startling the aye-aye. "So she's busy waging war and can't even attend my surprise birthday party I'm not supposed to know about? Fine, whatever. I can let it slide. KJ is not a hater. I'm sure she'll find time in her schedule to visit us for Franksgiving."
"We can only hope..." Maurice looked aside sadly before bracing himself. "But I gotta point out that your folks had no such excuse?"
"What?" Julien turned back at him. "Pfft...sure they did. Mommy had to get her fur done, and Big Pappa wanted to play a mean round of golf!"
"Ummm...couldn't they have done that at...literally any other time?" Maurice pointed out. "At a time when you weren't looking to spend time with 'em? Not like they do anything else whenever they visit our kingdom?"
"What's that supposed to be suggesting?" Julien glowered, as if daring his friend to elaborate on that unflattering implication.
Maurice felt his throat drying up as he met the ringtail's cold glare. This wasn't the usual petulant anger he had come to expect from his king, Julien seemed to be genuinely enraged by the accusation.
Suddenly, Masikura manifested on the kind's shoulder, spooking him, and holding a tiny leaf notepad.
"I believe he's trying to say that your happiness and well-being are not priorities for your estranged, neglectful parents." the chameleon explained as she wrote something down on her notepad.
"Masikura, what are you doing in the royal chamber?" Julien demanded to know. The chameleon turned invisible and manifested in front of the king on his bed.
"Spying on your conversation and taking notes in order to make a mental evaluation of you, King Julien." Masikura said rather nonchalantly. "We figured Maurice would be the most likely person that would get you to open up."
"We?" Julien blurted and promptly glared at the aye-aye, who wilted and offered a nervous grin. "So you set me up...wait a minute? Mental?"
He didn't know exactly what a "mental evaluation" was, but he knew what the word "mental" implied, and it made his blood boil.
"Mental?! Are you two thinking that your king doesn't have his melon screwed on straight?!" he demanded to know, his tone a mixture of anger and hurt.
"No, no, of course not!" Maurice blurted and jumped out of his seat, raising his hands before shrinking. "We...we just think ya have some... um...unresolved baggage that you might want to try and work through, hence the covert counseling session?"
"Maurice is correct." Masikura nodded. "At a time of crisis, with lemurs going missing right under our noses, our king needs to be in the right state of mind...or at least not be an inconvenience. And you can't do that with your abandonment issues bubbling to the surface and making you act irrationally. An intervention was necessary."
"I do NOT have abandonment issues!" Julien cried like an enraged child.
"My notes suggest otherwise." Masikura replied as she looked them over. "Desperate need to be adored, clinginess to people you feel attached to, intense fear of being separated from them, stunted emotional growth, it's all there..."
"Masikura, you are being absurd!" Julien angrily insisted. "As your king, I command you to burn those records and claim that your king is fine and dandy and has a perfect relationship with his mom and dad!"
"No." the chameleon said simply, making the ringtail deflate. "It wouldn't be in anyone's best interest if we covered it up. Least of all yours, your majesty."
Julien gritted his teeth. "Tttt..traitors! I am surrounded by treacherous traitors!? You're all against me!"
Maurice swallowed. "King Julien...can't you jus'...ehh...briefly entertain the notion that Princess Julienne and Prince Barty are maybe...jus' a lil' bit... inconsiderate and neglectful?"
He chuckled awkwardly. "...bein' royalty and all?"
"I am not hearing this!" Julien threw his leaf pillow at Maurice, who ducked, before covering his ears and looking away. "My parents are not neglectful. La la la la la...I am not hearing this! La la la la!"
"They abandoned you when you were just a child." Masikura told him. Despite his best efforts, Julien heard it loud and clear.
"Oh, not this again!" he snapped around. "That is like ancient history, I fixed them! We made amends! I taught them how to be the parents they were always meant to be, and they even made up for missing out on all my childhood!"
"Somewhat true...and then they mostly relapsed on their old habits." Masikura shrugged. "As the saying goes, you can't teach an old lemur a new trick, or force them to grow a conscience."
"Oh, thank you so much, Masikura." Maurice said inwardly, happy that someone was willing to dish out the hard truth that he wasn't strong enough to say. Unfortunately, Julien was taking it about as well as expected.
"Oh, really?" Julien snarked bitterly as he eyed the chameleon. "Then tell me, oh great, wise and scaly one, why are they the ones planning my surprise birthday party that I'm not supposed to know about? That kinda flies in the face of your slanderous, insane "evaluation", Masikura."
"And what evidence do you have that they are doing that?" was Masikura's simple question. Julien was quickly left stumped.
Seeing his king blanking, Maurice tried to seize the opportunity.
"She has a point? Have you maybe considered that your parents aren't the ones planning the surprise birthday party you're not supposed to know 'bout?" he suggested.
"Maybe instead of 'em, the guy spearheading the whole thing, and this is just a guess, is someone close to you? Maybe someone with a busy tail and big ears, and who is...big-boned, and..." the aye-aye got a bit choked up at the last part "...grew up alongside ya and always saw you as the brother he never had after getting abandoned as an infant by his family?"
Julien tapped his chin, in deep thought. "Huh...that's an oddly specific description you're offering but...no. It's not ringing any bells."
A devasted Maurice dropped his ears. Masikura shook her head.
"Besides, it's not something I need "evidence" or "reason" for believing, you Doubtfull Debbies!" Julien adamantly insisted. "It...it is something you know, like, by heart!"
"The heart's desire can cloud its judgment." Masikura said sagely. "Better to think with your head."
"Oh, don't you ever get tired of your cryptic nuggets of wisdom!" Julien yanked her up by her tail but she turned invisible and Julien lost his grip on her.
Looking around in annoyance, he spotted Masikura reappearing on the nightstand next to him, scribbling more on her notepad.
"Mmmhmmm...irrational anger, mood swings when confronted with reality." she concluded. "Yup. There isn't a shadow of a doubt that King Julien has a serious case of denial."
Julien fumed and clenched his fists. "No...you are! You're in MAJOR denial to think that crackpot dia-gonoz-is of yours is true!"
Masikura ignored his wailing as she tapped her chin with her pen and met Maurice's gaze. "Perhaps tapping into the vast recesses of his mind might help him work through his childhood trauma."
"Wow! Wow, let's try nothin' too radical." Maurice spoke up worriedly. "I think a few simple sessions with ya will do the-"
"I don't need no stupid sessions!" Julien stood up on his bed, glaring at them both. His mind was racing to find any rational excu...reason for why Maurice and Masikura were in the wrong, not him. He couldn't be in the wrong, he just couldn't. Being wrong was for the weak and wrong and unroyal!
"You, Maurice!" he jabbed his finger at Maurice. "I see what's going on here! You're doing that..." he blanked on the technical term and pretended to shoot eyebeams "...that pro...proj..."
"Projecting?" Masikura helped out.
"Yes, that thing!" Julien continued. "You're all salty that your parents abandoned you as a sacrifice to their stupid bell gods and never came back to apologize, but mine did! Minus the sacrifice bit!"
Shocked, Maurice crumbled like wet newspaper and got choked up again. "They couldn't...c-cuz they were eaten by the fossa."
"Exactly! And how is this my fault?" Julien pointed at himself indignantly. "Is it my fault that I still have loving, caring parents while yours got digested in a fossa's gizzard and you never knew them! Just because your parents sucked doesn't give you the right to take it out on me! My family practically adopted you and this is the thanks we get?!"
Reduced to a sniveling wreck, Maurice clutched his bushy tail for comfort, unable to argue with his king anymore. The last bit was the death blow to any confidence he had mustered.
"You're right...I'm sorry, King Julien." he choked on his words. "I shouldn't have run my big, fat mouth..."
Watching his best friend's devastated reaction gave Julien pause. What was he doing?
"Dude, that was totally uncalled for." his conscience scolded him.
"King Julien, that was uncalled for." Masikura scolded him as well. "In my professional opinion, I believe it is you who is projecting their issues onto others."
"But I'm right. Shut up you FAT loser!" Julien quickly told himself, while also trying to block out the chameleon.
"But it's true! It's true cuz I said so!" Julien insisted and jumped off his bed. "So instead of bugging me, have your stupid sessions with him!" he gestured at Maurice, making him wince.
"He's clearly the one needing to work through his family-related baggage, so have at it!" Julien walked off in a huff. "And call in Karl too if you wish. By Frank, he sure needs counseling!"
"Now. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to the hotel to visit my parents. Surely, they must have been worried sick during my absence. I'm gonna visit them right now to alleviate their worries, which you two so rudely and needlessly prolonged."
The tearful Maurice watched him go while Masikura said, "Actually, they took an all-day cruise to Nagalety Falls about two hours ago. They had Maurice book it for after we dealt with the angry mob last night."
As he grabbed the door handle, Julien halted and looked like he was on the verge of breaking down before forcefully composing himself and turning around.
"Fine." he said curtly and started walking back to them. "I shall visit them tomorrow then. After they come back from their cruise which they obviously took to deal with the stress of not knowing where their only son was!"
"And I'll take that, thank you!" He snatched the lollypop from the sniveling Maurice. "I'll need something to pass the time!"
With his nose held high, Julien headed towards the door again with his multi-colored treat and grabbed the handle. "Have a nice day yall." he said in a haughty tone and slammed the door shut.
Feeling defeated, Maurice looked down, wondering what he should do next. Maybe trying to help Julien was the wrong thing to do?
Masikura, on the other hand, was busy contemplating.
The next morning...
Leaning against a signpost in the middle of the village, with arrows pointing towards Anjouan, Mauritius, and Florida, Keke watched various adult lemurs pass by her, looking out for any unfortunate saps that needed an assist.
She felt awkward and uncomfortable. This was such an alien experience, being a goody-two-shoes actively wasting her time doing nice things instead of doing whatever numero una wanted, but it needed to be done.
Her wish was granted when she heard grumbling and saw a black and white lemur walk past her, carrying a big pile of mangoes in their hands. Smiling eagerly, she rushed off in the opposite direction and came back with her small pull cart.
"Excuse me, kind sir or madam." she tried to talk sweetly as she walked parallel to the adult. "But I couldn't help but notice that you're in desperate need of assistance. As a good samaritan, I wish to help you."
"Yuck, how does Mary Ann come up with this cagar?" she thought inwardly.
Hearing her, the pedestrian stopped and craned his neck, and Keke froze as she was met with his glowering, crusty eyes.
"You again." Hector hissed venomously as he got a better look at her. Keke noticed the white beard he was suddenly sporting, which extended all the way up to his ears, creating a pair of tuffs. Keke thought better than to comment on how silly he looked.
"It's worth a try." she thought with uncertainty and chuckled awkwardly.
"Hola, Mr. Hector. Nice day we're having?" she waved innocently. "Do you need help?"
Eyes burning with hatred, Hector clutched his stack of mangoes protectively, ignoring his buckling knees.
"What in Frank's name do you want!" he snapped at her. "To cause more trouble, eh?!"
"No, no. I'm a changed chica. I promised I would behave." she shook her head. "I just saw you carrying all those mangoes. That looks heavy, do you need help? You can carry them in my cart."
She gestured at the cart, but Hector growled and stepped back, nearly tipping over from the extra load.
"Nice try, missy!" Hector scoffed. "But promises mean squat when they come from rotten little eggs like you. Now beat it! Before I get real mad!"
"I see you grew all your pelo back overnight." Keke tried to complement the old grouch in a desperate attempt to win his favor. "Love the barba by the way, it works for ya?"
Hector gritted his teeth. "I only have it cuz you and the royal dunce took off with my trusty ol' razor blade! I've been holding on to that damn thing ever since my army days!"
"I...I'm sure I'll remember where I carelessly dropped it..." Keke said sheepishly "...eventually. But I can make it up to you now, if you'll let me help?"
She stretched her arms out to relieve him of a few mangoes, but the old lemur grunted in frustration and pulled back his barely stable pile of mangoes.
"In your dreams, you fuzzy lil' miscreant!" he glared down at her, eyes frantic and bloodshot. "I know exactly what you're trying to pull! You act all sorry and innocent to lull me into a false sense of security and then, when I least expect it, ya pull the rug under my feet and stab me in the back!"
"No, that's not-"
"Well, newslash!" Hector roared. "Ya ain't dealing with a wide-eyed greenhorn like that rookie penguin, this ol' soldier is wise to your sneaky tricks! So take a hike and drop dead!"
Keke was finally silenced as Hector turned his back on her and walked off, grumbling, "Kids..bah...what's the point of producing those worthless, freeloadin' pests..."
With great labor, he carried his stack of mangoes but was unable to see where he was going. But Keke was.
"Esperar! Watch out for that-" she flinched and closed her eyes as the prolonged sounds of a vehicular accident were heard off-screen.
Seeing the end result, Keke gulped. "Nope. They ain't pinning this on me!" And with that, she ran away from the scene of the accident.
She rushed back into the jungle until she ran into Mary Ann and Horst, who had been watching the whole thing, and shrank and lowered her ears.
"I tried my best, I really did." the kinkajou said sullenly.
Mary Ann's kind expression eased her worries. "We know, sweetheart. We saw the whole thing."
"Yeah, you did everything right, mija." Horst added.
Mary Ann's gaze turned frigid as she looked back at where Hector went. "That curmudgeon would never listen to anyone..."
Horst cleared his throat. "Hun? Maybe Keke should start out with someone...less vindictive and paranoid. I think I know where to start?"
Crap, posting a new chapter for this fic takes forever, it's almost been two years now. Between my other fics and creative blocks getting in the way, this story just keeps being put on hiatus again and again. But I aim to finish it no matter what, no matter how long it takes. Hopefully, I can pick up the slack from here on.
Small side note, based on his colorations, Hector has to be a black-and-white ruffed lemur but lacks the white beard the species is well known for (which the incidental black-and-white ruffed lemurs in the movies did have), so I thought up this explanation a while ago; he kept himself clean shaven during his days as a soldier and the habit stuck, plus the white beard works well with this characterization as crotchety old man XD
