beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
Beast seems to be sleeping in a bit this morning. Perhaps he has had a good dream. Belle can study on her own, anyway.
deslandes: (⑮ fangs ♌)
Author: deslandes
"I had the strangest dream," he yawns as he wanders into the library.
beheld_beauty: (perspicacité)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Oh? What was it about?"
deslandes: (⑤ nothing bad coming ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"You were there," he says, "but you weren't yourself, you were someone named Isabella with huge feathery wings like a bird's. They were very pretty. And you had a husband who they said looked just like me. And I talked to the person who wasn't exactly you about you and the spell, and she said you might be afraid I'd be angry with you if you tried to help me and failed, but I told her I wouldn't, and then she turned me human and I borrowed her husband."
beheld_beauty: (inspecter)
Author: beheld_beauty
Belle takes this all in, nonplussed.

"That's a very strange dream," she agrees.
deslandes: (⑩ witchwood ♁)
Author: deslandes
"I tried to ask her what it was like to be in love," he adds, "so I could tell you, but she kept saying you wouldn't have any trouble."
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"There's no good reason to expect your dreams to produce useful advice anyway," Belle points out.
deslandes: (⑫ a killer's hands ♌)
Author: deslandes
"It wasn't a very dreamy dream."
beheld_beauty: (l'oeil)
Author: beheld_beauty
"No? What do you mean?"
deslandes: (④ is it my body ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"I just mean it wasn't like my dreams usually are."
beheld_beauty: (la belle)
Author: beheld_beauty
"What are they usually like, then?" Pause. "And what do you mean, you borrowed her husband?"
deslandes: (⑪ earthly pleasures ♌)
Author: deslandes
"I mean I borrowed him," says the Beast. "That's what she called it."
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Even if we rely on your dreams to produce an accurate-apart-from-the-marital-status-and-the-wings copy of me, I do not know what that means," says Belle.
deslandes: (② but I love this game ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"What uses do you imagine a husband has?" he inquires.
beheld_beauty: (les yeux)
Author: beheld_beauty
Belle opens her mouth.

She closes it.

"I will be frightfully embarrassed if you have caused me to guess incorrectly," she says after a moment.
deslandes: (① bring back the warmth ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"That's enough to tell me you didn't."
beheld_beauty: (inspecter)
Author: beheld_beauty
"All right then. So you dreamed up an angel-me who was married to a you and then you borrowed him. I can only imagine what the traveling phrenologists would say that means about your psyche."
deslandes: (④ is it my body ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"Well, of course I did. He was very handsome. And I haven't done any of that in a hundred years. I wasn't going to waste the chance once I was out of my fur."
beheld_beauty: (à gauche)
Author: beheld_beauty
"And her husband was perfectly all right with being loaned out, I suppose?"
deslandes: (③ have you got the time ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"Of course he was. He was a lot like me."
beheld_beauty: (calme)
Author: beheld_beauty
"This is not something I knew about you," Belle points out mildly.
deslandes: (⑩ witchwood ♁)
Author: deslandes
"Yes," he recalls, "the other you said you should know. I don't see what difference it makes when we're the only two people we can reach, but I don't have a problem with telling you, either."
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"If I learn enough magic or figure out how to fall in love with you, you'll be able to encounter more people," Belle points out.
deslandes: (⑥ centuries of sin ⚦)
Author: deslandes
He shrugs. "Well, does it matter to you if I borrow dream-people's husbands?"
beheld_beauty: (évaluer)
Author: beheld_beauty
"In dreams? No, dream about whatever you like. In fact even awake I have no particular claim on you, now, have I?"
deslandes: (④ is it my body ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"Well, if it made you stop wanting to fall in love with me, I'd want to know."
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
She peers at him.

"I'd need to think about it," she says after a silence.
deslandes: (⑦ roses on your breath ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"Then do."
beheld_beauty: (froid)
Author: beheld_beauty
She nods.

She falls into her mindscape easily, and waits for a rose to offer itself up, and she thinks on it.

It is a few minutes later before she opens her eyes again.

"There could be social consequences, which I would not like, depending on how we wound up situated," she says. "Apart from that I imagine I would not mind."
deslandes: (⑩ witchwood ♁)
Author: deslandes
He shrugs.

"That's fine, then."
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Your clever notions for avoiding the social consequences being...?"
deslandes: (① bring back the warmth ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"Don't get caught. Or don't stay somewhere long enough for anyone to care."
beheld_beauty: (la belle)
Author: beheld_beauty
"I am not sure I share your confidence in the reliability of those methods."
deslandes: (Default)
Author: deslandes
"Well, what consequences are you afraid of?"
beheld_beauty: (froid)
Author: beheld_beauty
She closes her eyes again. "I don't like how this works, but it's been made clear to me that pretty girls are supposed to 'buy' themselves security and faithfulness and matrimony with the purchase price of their beauty and constancy and initial virginity. If I 'buy' less than that or 'spend' more than that - if I deviate from this pattern in any way other than perhaps growing into a lone spinster-scholar - then I stand a reasonable chance of being treated like a pariah. Certainly this could be alleviated with frequent travel, if I liked the idea of frequent travel. Certainly I could simply say that most of the people who'd treat me that way don't matter to me - but I've never had cause to test the borders of my father's affection, now, have I? And he matters. Certainly if you were not caught, no one could laugh at me - except anyone party to the borrowing arrangement, who'd have their reasons for silence likewise. If you could be sure you would not be caught. But I cannot imagine that things have gotten worse in this dimension in the past century. Perhaps you've only forgotten; perhaps the rules are simply different for men by enough that you never learned the counterpart framework."
deslandes: (⑫ a killer's hands ♌)
Author: deslandes
"It is different for men, but no one much likes a poor boy-whore with no home and no money, either."
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"So that is what concerns me."
deslandes: (Default)
Author: deslandes
He shrugs.

"I still think I could manage not to get caught."
beheld_beauty: (calme)
Author: beheld_beauty
"How?"
deslandes: (④ is it my body ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"I could start by not fucking anyone you've met," he suggests.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"That doesn't prevent them from meeting me later," Belle points out.
deslandes: (⑪ earthly pleasures ♌)
Author: deslandes
"If they have no idea who you are, and don't live close by, what difference does that make?"
beheld_beauty: (à gauche)
Author: beheld_beauty
"People talk to each other. People travel, sometimes. If someone you - visit - far away comes to where we wind up living, wherever that is, and they see us together?"
deslandes: (④ is it my body ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"You're right," he says dryly, "of course they'll recognize me and run up to us shouting about what a whore I am."
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Just because I don't understand what possesses people to do certain things doesn't mean that those things are unheard of," Belle sighs.
deslandes: (⑩ witchwood ♁)
Author: deslandes
"Anyway, this is all very much beside the point. Because all that only applies if we're married, and I don't believe we are, or will be in the next year and a half."
beheld_beauty: (froid)
Author: beheld_beauty
"We aren't," Belle agrees. "If I fell in love with you I wouldn't be about to marry anyone else, though, and spinster-scholarhood would hold rather less appeal."
deslandes: (⑪ earthly pleasures ♌)
Author: deslandes
"But you'll probably be a powerful enchantress, too," he muses. "And maybe the rules are different for those. Or maybe you can cheat with magic."
beheld_beauty: (évaluer)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Maybe. I've been focused so intently on disenchantments I hardly know what else I might be able to do one day."
deslandes: (④ is it my body ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"We have time to figure it out. I won't go sleeping around the country until we're sure it won't come back to bite you."
beheld_beauty: (inspecter)
Author: beheld_beauty
"All right. Thank you."
deslandes: (③ have you got the time ⚦)
Author: deslandes
He just grins.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"What do you usually dream about, if it's not that?" Belle asks idly, after a few moments more of page-turning and note-taking.
deslandes: (⑩ witchwood ♁)
Author: deslandes
"...I don't know," he says. "Other things. After all the time I've been here... there's a sense of this place in everything, you see. And there was nothing like this castle in that dream at all."
beheld_beauty: (à gauche)
Author: beheld_beauty
"I dream about places I've never been all the time," murmurs Belle. "It must have gotten very tiresome not to be able to escape the castle even sleeping."
deslandes: (⑬ eye of the ♌)
Author: deslandes
"I hardly remember what it was like to dream of anything else."
beheld_beauty: (perspicacité)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Well," says Belle, "now you have. I wonder if it will happen again."
deslandes: (④ is it my body ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"I'd like that."
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
Belle reads on for many hours. And finally she says, "I need some air. Want to come with me for a walk and see how far the forest will let us get?"
deslandes: (① bring back the warmth ⚦)
Author: deslandes
He perks up. "Yes!"
beheld_beauty: (perspicacité)
Author: beheld_beauty
Up she gets, out they go.

Belle sets a sedate pace. Any attempt at a brisk walk, let alone a jog or a run, will see her faceplanting in the deep litter on the ground of the forest, but she can keep her feet if she's careful and goes slowly.
deslandes: (⑤ nothing bad coming ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"It's never let me get even this far before," he says. "That was why I broke the gate."
beheld_beauty: (calme)
Author: beheld_beauty
"It'll turn us around inside of a few minutes, maybe sooner, but I can usually get that far," Belle says.
deslandes: (② but I love this game ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"I love you," says the Beast.
beheld_beauty: (sourire)
Author: beheld_beauty
Belle laughs. "This is an odd time to mention it, why just then?"
deslandes: (③ have you got the time ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"It's not odd at all, why is it odd?"
beheld_beauty: (perspicacité)
Author: beheld_beauty
"It's not - topical. Is it?"
deslandes: (⑦ roses on your breath ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"The castle lets you out. The castle let me out, with you."
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"...And?"
deslandes: (⑧ never should have happened ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"...And I love you."
beheld_beauty: (perspicacité)
Author: beheld_beauty
"I don't see how the things are related," laughs Belle.
deslandes: (⑪ earthly pleasures ♌)
Author: deslandes
"Well, I don't know how to explain," snorts the Beast.
beheld_beauty: (la belle)
Author: beheld_beauty
"All right then."

Stroll-stroll-stroll, there's the castle again, turn, stroll-stroll-there is a strange glow in that direction, a strange crackling sound -
deslandes: (⑬ eye of the ♌)
Author: deslandes
"Fire," says the Beast.
beheld_beauty: (froid)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Yes - has this happened before - is the castle safe? -"
deslandes: (⑫ a killer's hands ♌)
Author: deslandes
"Yes - yes - safer than here. But we have to hurry."

And he scoops her into his arms and bounds off toward the gate.
beheld_beauty: (l'oeil)
Author: beheld_beauty
She doesn't protest. She certainly can't run.

But the fire is very swift. It hasn't rained in a while, now...
deslandes: (⑪ earthly pleasures ♌)
Author: deslandes
And when they reach the walls, there's not much they can do to shut out the fire, and the way across the yard to the castle is thick with rosebushes.

He puts her down to claw his way through them. Going around would take even longer.
beheld_beauty: (nuit)
Author: beheld_beauty
Belle doesn't know a spell for this, she's been so focused on disenchantment that she knows nothing about managing the elements, she is certainly not yet advanced enough to invent something on the fly -

"Beast," she murmurs when the fire is close enough that she feels sunburnt and he's only halfway through the bushes.
deslandes: (⑭ bloodmouth ♌)
Author: deslandes
He growls.
beheld_beauty: (l'oeil)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Maybe if you tossed me over them - I might break something but I might not -"
deslandes: (⑫ a killer's hands ♌)
Author: deslandes
He shakes his head.

"Climb on my back," he says, "and hold on."
beheld_beauty: (froid)
Author: beheld_beauty
She holds on and scrunches her eyes shut.
deslandes: (⑬ eye of the ♌)
Author: deslandes
The Beast takes the distance to the castle door in a series of jarring leaps.
beheld_beauty: (froid)
Author: beheld_beauty
Belle's ability to hold on is sorely taxed. He may be missing a few tufts of fur at the end of this.

Outside, the fire swirls through the garden, but is stymied - both its temperature and its actual burning - by the walls of the building.

Belle doesn't let go even after it's clear they're safe.
deslandes: (⑥ centuries of sin ⚦)
Author: deslandes
The roses did far worse; his arms and hands are scratched bloody.

Softly: "Belle?"
beheld_beauty: (froid)
Author: beheld_beauty
"I'm okay," she murmurs. "Just - just a few scratches."
deslandes: (⑭ bloodmouth ♌)
Author: deslandes
"The same," he says, turning his head to nuzzle her hand where it is still clenched in his fur.
beheld_beauty: (froid)
Author: beheld_beauty
She holds tight. "Thank you," she murmurs.
deslandes: (⑪ earthly pleasures ♌)
Author: deslandes


Laughing, he licks the back of her hand.
beheld_beauty: (perspicacité)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Ee! What was that for?" laughs Belle.
deslandes: (③ have you got the time ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"To make you laugh," he says triumphantly.
beheld_beauty: (sourire)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Well, you succeeded there, I suppose," giggles Belle.
deslandes: (② but I love this game ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"I love you," he says happily, and starts to purr.
beheld_beauty: (sourire)
Author: beheld_beauty
She scratches behind his ears.
deslandes: (⑪ earthly pleasures ♌)
Author: deslandes
He purrs louder.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"We should probably clean these cuts - or I should look up a healing spell," Belle murmurs after a moment. "At least mine - I don't know exactly how thoroughly the curse protects you from injury."
deslandes: (⑦ roses on your breath ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"The curse will not let me come to harm and stay there. I will be fine."
beheld_beauty: (inspecter)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Mm. I should at least rinse my cuts." She slides off his back with care.
deslandes: (⑫ a killer's hands ♌)
Author: deslandes
He turns around and hugs her carefully.
beheld_beauty: (sourire)
Author: beheld_beauty
Hugs are nice.

"Thank you again. I was - so afraid."
deslandes: (⑭ bloodmouth ♌)
Author: deslandes
He closes his eyes and presses his beastly nose into her hair.

"I, too."
beheld_beauty: (froid)
Author: beheld_beauty
She doesn't know if he means for her or for himself, for surely it would not be pleasant to roast even if he could not die of it - maybe especially - but she suspects for her. She doesn't know how to ask. So she only hugs him, and then slips away to wash, and comes down in a less torn dress.

To resume studying.
deslandes: (⑥ centuries of sin ⚦)
Author: deslandes
And the Beast sits on the floor and puts his head in her lap.
beheld_beauty: (sourire)
Author: beheld_beauty
And he gets petted for his trouble.
deslandes: (① bring back the warmth ⚦)
Author: deslandes
Purrrr.
beheld_beauty: (évaluer)
Author: beheld_beauty
Outside, the fire rages, consumes, and moves away, out of nearby fuel that the curse will let it get.

The view out the window is a mess of choking, swirling ash.

"That's... not going to let us go outside, possibly for weeks," murmurs Belle.
deslandes: (Default)
Author: deslandes
"No, I don't believe it will," he agrees.
beheld_beauty: (inspecter)
Author: beheld_beauty
"I don't particularly mind being indoors - I like to go out now and again but it won't be a terrible hardship. But would you rather be able to step out without coughing? I can look up a spell - it's just a detour from learning disenchantment, is all."
deslandes: (④ is it my body ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"Look up a spell," he says.
beheld_beauty: (la belle)
Author: beheld_beauty
Page page page page. She should make her own meta-index if she's going to keep detouring.

After a while: "I think this will work, and it's not hard - but it's much, much bigger than anything I've cast before."
deslandes: (③ have you got the time ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"All right," says the Beast.
beheld_beauty: (l'oeil)
Author: beheld_beauty
"You're sure? It won't just be one burst, at this level - you could be in pain for hours, maybe days."
deslandes: (② but I love this game ⚦)
Author: deslandes
He nods, and smiles.
beheld_beauty: (froid)
Author: beheld_beauty
"...If you say so."

She reads carefully through the spell. It really isn't hard, it just needs a lot of Will power.

She falls into her mindscape and reaches out for his, and channels.
deslandes: (⑤ nothing bad coming ⚦)
Author: deslandes




The Beast... really doesn't seem displeased about it.
beheld_beauty: (inspecter)
Author: beheld_beauty
Belle checks up on him before even looking out the window, but - yeah, that doesn't look like displeasure, on either face.

"You weren't kidding," she murmurs, and she looks out the window. The ash is cleared, the fire's out. The spell didn't restore the plants, but they'll grow back.
deslandes: (⑪ earthly pleasures ♌)
Author: deslandes
He flops his head into her lap again and purrs.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
Pet, pet. "It can't feel to you the way pain feels to me," she murmurs. "I can't imagine what else it could be like, though."
deslandes: (④ is it my body ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"Why can't it?"
beheld_beauty: (les yeux)
Author: beheld_beauty
"It's inherently unlikeable, for me."
deslandes: (⑤ nothing bad coming ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"But it could feel the same, and I could feel differently about it," he says.
beheld_beauty: (à gauche)
Author: beheld_beauty
"...Maybe. I suppose I'd have to be able to read your mind to know for sure," she shrugs.
deslandes: (③ have you got the time ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"Can magic do that?"
beheld_beauty: (perspicacité)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Maybe. Do you want me to look for that, too?" laughs Belle.
deslandes: (② but I love this game ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"I'd like it," he says.
beheld_beauty: (sourire)
Author: beheld_beauty
"You have very odd tastes," she says, and she starts looking, taking notes for a meta-index as she goes.
deslandes: (⑤ nothing bad coming ⚦)
Author: deslandes
He laughs.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
A woman's voice, speaking Callian but accented with significant Albion, calls from the front hall.

"Hello? Is anyone home?"
deslandes: (⑧ never should have happened ⚦)
Author: deslandes




The Beast is confused.
beheld_beauty: (évaluer)
Author: beheld_beauty
So is Belle!

"Hello!" calls she-of-Albion-accent again. "I got lost, and there was a fire and it chased me here, and I'm not packed for a long trip, and I can't find my friends! Can someone help me? Isn't there anyone here?"
deslandes: (⑬ eye of the ♌)
Author: deslandes
He looks up at Belle.

"Do you want to go and explain?"
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"I - sure. Probably best if I warn her what you'll look like to her."

Belle gets up and goes to the entrance hall.

"Oh! Someone is here! Hello - I'm Chelise - what is this place, who are you?"

"I'm Belle," says Belle. "I'm afraid you're stuck here - the castle is cursed, it's just us and Beast - despite the name he's quite friendly, though."

"Oh - well - but my friends -"

"You're welcome to try finding them, but you'll find that the curse will turn you around and bring you straight back here, and your friends will find that they're turned away if they wind up heading towards us," sighs Belle. "I'm sorry - I do understand; I was looking for my father when I got drawn in."

"But," says Chelise, "but then how long do I have to stay here - without any of my friends?"

"I'm really sorry," sighs Belle. "It's until I manage to break the curse - I'm studying enchanting - or until one of us manages to fall in mutual love with Beast."

"Oh. Well. Can you introduce me, then?" asks Chelise.

"Yes, but you should be warned that he's cursed too - he doesn't look human at the moment."

"That's all right, isn't he still a person?" says Chelise.

"Yes."

"If my friends aren't going to find me I'd better make friends with you two, hadn't I?" says Chelise reasonably.

And the two young women go into the library. Chelise is blonde and blue-eyed and a little older than Belle, plainer in the face but with a friendly expression to Belle's resignation. "Hello," she says to the Beast. "I'm Chelise."
deslandes: (⑦ roses on your breath ⚦)
Author: deslandes
"Hello, Chelise."
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"I guess Belle has a lot of studying to do! Let's go talk somewhere we won't bother her and get to know each other!" says Chelise.
deslandes: (⑮ fangs ♌)
Author: deslandes


He laughs.

"All right," he says, and gets up off the floor.
beheld_beauty: (calme)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Show me around?" asks Chelise winningly. "Do I get my own room? Is this your castle, it's huge."

Belle returns to her books.
deslandes: (⑪ earthly pleasures ♌)
Author: deslandes
"I've lived here a long time," he says, "but I don't think it's ever been mine. Why don't I show you the empty rooms, and you can choose one?"
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"That sounds good to me!" says Chelise.
deslandes: (⑫ a killer's hands ♌)
Author: deslandes
So he shows her the empty rooms.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
And she picks one that is near a room in his wing that he appears to use, though it's not the only member of that category.

Apparently with Belle working on escape route number one, Chelise is going to throw herself into escape route number two.
deslandes: (⑬ eye of the ♌)
Author: deslandes
...The Beast is amused.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
Chelise sits down on her newly chosen bed. "You look soft," she says speculatively.
deslandes: (⑪ earthly pleasures ♌)
Author: deslandes
He laughs, and sprawls on the floor with his head in her lap.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
He gets petted very enthusiastically, and Chelise laughs.
deslandes: (⑬ eye of the ♌)
Author: deslandes
He is soft and fluffy and pettable!

And purring.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Aww, you're adorable. How long has Belle been here? Did she just go straight to the magic books? That's not very flattering."
deslandes: (⑪ earthly pleasures ♌)
Author: deslandes
"She wants to be in love with me but she does not know how," he says. "So, magic."
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Is there a way to magic people in love with other people?" says Chelise with fascination.
deslandes: (⑭ bloodmouth ♌)
Author: deslandes
"No," he snorts. "And people have died trying, if you believe the books."
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Well, I can see why, that would be fascinating," says Chelise.
deslandes: (⑩ witchwood ♁)
Author: deslandes
He shakes his head, growling under his breath.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"What? It would solve the problem here, wouldn't it? And then marriages would never fail and friends would never have to fall out and everyone could love everyone else, I think that would be a much happier world."
deslandes: (⑪ earthly pleasures ♌)
Author: deslandes
"Do you love everyone you've ever met?" he asks, still growling a little.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"I try! I'm very friendly."
deslandes: (⑫ a killer's hands ♌)
Author: deslandes
"I can tell," he snorts.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Aww, I'm sorry if I upset you. It's not possible after all anyway, right? So it doesn't matter." Pet pet pet scritch scritch hopeful smile.
deslandes: (⑬ eye of the ♌)
Author: deslandes
He rolls his eyes and lays his head in her lap again.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"How long've you been stuck here? Are me and Belle the only people who've found you? You must've been so lonesome."
deslandes: (⑩ witchwood ♁)
Author: deslandes
"I was," he says. "For a hundred and fifty years."
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Oh, oh you poor thing," and he gets a hug.
deslandes: (⑪ earthly pleasures ♌)
Author: deslandes


He snuggles into Chelise's arms.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
Pet pet pet. "What do you want to do when you get out?"
deslandes: (⑫ a killer's hands ♌)
Author: deslandes
"I don't know," he says. "Leave this forest, I think, for a while. Beyond that..." He shrugs.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"If it's me - and really I don't think she looks as interested as you said, diving straight for the books when there was a lonely person who needed affection, but maybe I'm wrong, so if - if it's me I could introduce you to all my friends - does the cat thing go away when the curse breaks? It must, mustn't it. That's almost a pity with you so soft." She idly rubs his belly like he really is just a giant cat.
deslandes: (⑪ earthly pleasures ♌)
Author: deslandes
He purrs and snuggles up, hauling himself onto her bed so he can put his head in her lap and still be conveniently placed for belly-rubbing.

"What are your friends like?"
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Oh, there are a lot of them - I was in the forest with some of my oldest friends visiting from Albion, I lived there until I was twelve and they aren't so far away that I can never see them. I'm the only bilingual one in the party, I hope they aren't unable to find any help, I hope they aren't lost for too long," she says. "But I make friends with everyone I can, so the only thing they've all got in common is that they're willing to make friends."
deslandes: (⑬ eye of the ♌)
Author: deslandes
"Why did you leave, when you were twelve?"
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"For Father's work," says Chelise. "He does -" She waves vaguely. "Something to do with ships, and needed to live here. Well, not here, but in Lutetia."
deslandes: (⑩ witchwood ♁)
Author: deslandes
"And so what brought you and your friends into the Witchwood?"
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Well, my brother moved to L'arbe, and when my friends came to visit some of them wanted to see him too, so we all went, and L'arbe is just on the edge of the wood, and - and I don't live around here, I didn't know it would catch fire or that it would turn us around so, we thought we might find berries or something, my brother didn't warn us," sighs Chelise.
deslandes: (⑪ earthly pleasures ♌)
Author: deslandes
"It does not usually catch fire," offers the Beast.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"I hope my friends are okay," sighs Chelise.
deslandes: (⑬ eye of the ♌)
Author: deslandes
He snuggles his fluffy head into her lap.

"So do I."
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Why does the curse turn most everyone away from the castle so that you were alone for so long? Wouldn't it be easier to find someone to fall in love with if there were many choices?" asks Chelise.
deslandes: (⑭ bloodmouth ♌)
Author: deslandes
"I don't think many people could fall in love with me at all," he says. "I think the curse only shows me those who can."
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Oh! Well, then you should be in a good mood, because there's hope," says Chelise merrily. Pet pet pet pet pet.
deslandes: (⑪ earthly pleasures ♌)
Author: deslandes
He snorts derisively.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"What?" asks Chelise. "I don't think you'd be so hard to love. I don't think I am. I don't know about Belle."
deslandes: (⑫ a killer's hands ♌)
Author: deslandes
"Never mind," he sighs.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Oh, won't you tell me? I suppose you needn't."
deslandes: (⑩ witchwood ♁)
Author: deslandes
"It seems to me," he says, "that after a hundred and fifty years of this, I can be in whatever mood I please."
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Of course you can," says Chelise. "I didn't mean that you had to - I'm sorry, my Callian isn't perfect even now, some of my little siblings speak it like natives but I was already twelve when we moved."
deslandes: (⑪ earthly pleasures ♌)
Author: deslandes
He snorts again, but snuggles his head into her lap.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
Pet pet pet pet. They can agree on pettings, can't they? Chelise wants to get along, look how hopeful she is.
deslandes: (⑭ bloodmouth ♌)
Author: deslandes
They can agree on pettings! The Beast is still soft and fluffy and pettable, and he likes the way her hands feel in his fur.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
Hurray!

"So Belle called you beast, but is that what you'd really most like to be called?"
deslandes: (⑪ earthly pleasures ♌)
Author: deslandes
"Do you have a better idea?"
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"I - just doubt that's your name? It doesn't seem very polite of her to call you that, does it?"
deslandes: (⑫ a killer's hands ♌)
Author: deslandes
"I told her to," he says. "You don't like her very much, do you."
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"I hardly know her - and I like most everyone! I don't think she likes me," says Chelise sadly.
deslandes: (⑬ eye of the ♌)
Author: deslandes
"What gave you that impression?"
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Oh, mostly how she looked at me when she talked to me in the front hall," says Chelise.
deslandes: (⑭ bloodmouth ♌)
Author: deslandes
"I'll ask her," says the Beast.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Do you think she'd know? Or tell you?" asks Chelise dubiously.
deslandes: (⑮ fangs ♌)
Author: deslandes
He laughs. "Of course she will."
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"What do you mean of course? Sometimes people don't know. I can usually tell who likes who else, but everyone else winds up asking me."
deslandes: (⑪ earthly pleasures ♌)
Author: deslandes
"Belle knows her own mind."
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Isn't that usually a euphemism for stubborn?"
deslandes: (⑩ witchwood ♁)
Author: deslandes
"Well, that's as may be," he laughs. "But I meant she understands it."
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"Maybe," says Chelise dubiously. "I suppose if she says she likes me then whether she really does or not that means she's willing to try."
deslandes: (⑪ earthly pleasures ♌)
Author: deslandes
"Why do you doubt her so?" he asks dryly.
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"I'm good at telling when people like me. Or each other. I think that's part of why I care so much about it."
deslandes: (⑩ witchwood ♁)
Author: deslandes
"Well," he says, "I'll ask her, and then we'll know."
beheld_beauty: (Default)
Author: beheld_beauty
"If you say so." Pet pet pet pet.
deslandes: (⑭ bloodmouth ♌)
Author: deslandes
Snuggle purr snuggle!