ma bête

[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.

Comments

[deslandes]

"I don't know," he says. "Leave this forest, I think, for a while. Beyond that..." He shrugs.

[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]

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]

"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]

"Why did you leave, when you were twelve?"

[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]

"And so what brought you and your friends into the Witchwood?"

[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]

"It does not usually catch fire," offers the Beast.

[beheld_beauty]

"I hope my friends are okay," sighs Chelise.

[deslandes]

He snuggles his fluffy head into her lap.

"So do I."

[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]

"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]

"Oh! Well, then you should be in a good mood, because there's hope," says Chelise merrily. Pet pet pet pet pet.

[deslandes]

He snorts derisively.

[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]

"Never mind," he sighs.

[beheld_beauty]

"Oh, won't you tell me? I suppose you needn't."

[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]

"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]

He snorts again, but snuggles his head into her lap.

[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]

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]

Hurray!

"So Belle called you beast, but is that what you'd really most like to be called?"

[deslandes]

"Do you have a better idea?"