He looks almost ten years younger than the Philza that Q is familiar with, which... actually is bizarrely young to have a kid Wilbur's age and, wait, now that he actually thinks about it is anyone on this server older than thirty-five, what is up with that, he almost hadn't noticed because there's just so few people in general—

"Will do!" 

Phil does not nag Wilbur to eat his dinner but he does pointedly put a large meal's worth of food in front of Wilbur. They exchange a series of pointed looks until Wilbur eats; when everyone's done, or close enough to it, Phil cleans up.

(Q doesn't nag either but he does quietly observe the series of pointed looks. It's... nice, having allies.) 

He does automatically get up to help with dishes, almost as if he's internalized a very specific set of rules for being polite to people you don't know well whose houses you are visiting, which is in fact the case. 

"Oh, thanks mate."

(He's also developed a habit of announcing when he's behind someone, and especially when he's behind them and holding something sharp, as if he's used to sharing kitchens with extremely jumpy people, which is also, in fact, the case.)

Once he's done: "I— should probably be getting home. Thank you Phil for dinner; Wilbur, I'll see you at some point in the next week or so?" 

“See you around.”

Home, then. And—

Wow. That did not actually help with his feelings about Tubbo even a little bit. Okay. Good to know. What if, instead of dealing with that, he does not. 

Well, he’s got more tranqs if he wants to use them. 

He isn't sure he does. Down that path lies becoming George, and it's not that he doesn't love George but, also. 

....but when he's spent an hour curled up in bed with his eyes closed and is no closer to sleep than he was when he started, the little metal box of assorted drugs on his bedside table starts to look really, really nice.

Fuck it. It's not like he's doing anything in the morning, right. Why not. 

The next two days pass fairly uneventfully. He doesn't have nightmares on tranqs, but he doesn't take any more, so the nightmares come back. He hangs out with Fundy at Las Nevadas a little bit. Ranboo is sometimes around Paradise, but Wilbur isn't.

On the third day, Wilbur's back at Paradise to meet Ranboo, a grin on his face and a bounce in his step.

Q's first thought is, oh no. His second thought is, no, this is a good thing, it is good that he ever leaves the house, if it took him too long I was going to have to show up unannounced at Phil's again. And his third thought is oh no again but in a different tone of voice. 

"Do either of you know what today is? --It's not a trick question, I promise, I know you both joined the server later."

"...N...o?"

"Back home it'd be mid-April but here I'm pretty sure it's August? From the question I'm guessing it's the day something important happened I have no idea what." 

"August 3rd. Anniversary of L'Manberg's independence. Come on, follow me."

"--O--oh, okay!"

He does not remotely trust that face but sure he'll follow Wilbur. 

He's not, for the record, walking towards Las Nevadas. He's walking away from Las Nevadas, towards the central area closest to spawn. He sings while he walks:

I heard there was a special place
Where men could go emancipate
The brutality and the tyranny of their rulers

"Do you know that one?"

"I do, yeah."

"I'd heard of it but didn't know the tune." 

"Oh, you don't! I was actually just going to talk about the tune, it's--it's from a song called Hallelujah, very good song--I didn't write it, I wrote the anthem.

I heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do ya?

I do like the anthem. Not just because I wrote it--you know what they say, you are your own worst critic--but because of the, because of the story, of why we chose Hallelujah, because I think it's quite cool. I was going to ask if you knew why we chose Hallelujah but I guess, Q, you must not, if you didn't even know it was a song. So basically it was-- the reason I did it is because Tommy used to sing Hallelujah to the plants, in the-- around the-- thing-- you know, the, the caravan, that's the word, do you know about the caravan? Have you heard of the caravan?"

(They've reached the main area and are now on the main oak path; they walk past fields of beetroot next to a little house built into the hill.)

"Yeah, I've--I've heard of it. There's a recreation in the museum. That's about it."

"The— Camarvan, right? I've heard of it, yeah." 

"Yes! Yes. He used to plant stuff around the camarvan, and to make it grow better, my man Tommy--" They pass Tommy's house and Wilbur suddenly processes the giant beet farm that they are walking next to. "--Wait, what is this, this is new? I... won't ask questions."

"Um, a lot of-- someone just planted a lot of beets here. I don’t know why."