mes études

[beheld_beauty]

Belle studies magic.

It's tricky. Getting into and out of her rose-sphere is routine after a few days, but she still hasn't uncovered an explanation of how channeling works, though she's been informed that there are three options for how to do it (by herself, through a willing helper, or through an unwilling helper). Unlike the fourfold options for reaching the Dreamworld, this does not tell her how to begin fumbling towards a practical understanding, even though she can rule out the last one just on the basis of its description.

Beast can only do so a tiny bit of reading per day, and her pile of books that she can read shrinks much faster than his. She combs the library for multilingual dictionaries, so she can pick her way through the titles of the foreign-language books and at least prioritize them before handing them over.

Finally something in an obscure language that even Beast can barely read - Belle has to look up a lot of words - explains the channeling in a way she can understand.

Comments

[deslandes]

"Yes," he says. "If this works, it will mean you love me, and that will be very different."

[beheld_beauty]

"And presumably unambiguously a happy occasion."

[deslandes]

He shrugs.

"I don't know that until it happens, do I?"

[beheld_beauty]

"Surely you can make reasonable guesses?"

[deslandes]

He just shrugs again.

[beheld_beauty]

She sighs.

Notes notes notes. "How are your eyes doing?"

[deslandes]

"Fine for now. What do you want me to read?"

[beheld_beauty]

She turns to a page in a book about permanent spells, and hands it over. "If I'm going to do the enchanter's sight thing I need to know more about what I'm walking into."

[deslandes]

He reads.

This section deals with duplication of permanent spells: apparently you're not supposed to do it. Casting a particular spell on a particular object, and then casting the same spell on the same object again - with the same or different parameters, it doesn't seem to matter much - will usually lead to effects you didn't anticipate, and it is always better to either disenchant the subject before the second casting, or find two different spells that you can combine to get the desired result. Even casting two separate permanent spells on a single person or thing can be tricky, but unlike the same spell twice, it isn't a near-guarantee of disaster.

[beheld_beauty]

Bell writes all of this down. "Well," she says, "if the sight spell I have in mind does what I mean for it to do, I'll have plenty of time to learn to safely disenchant myself if I want to switch later. ...If it doesn't... When you said that one book was about fake love potions did you mean the potions don't work, or that they work to generate 'fake love'?"

[deslandes]

"They don't work," he says. "The first part was all about how dangerous real love potions are, and how it's a much better idea to sell fake ones and let people fool themselves."

[beheld_beauty]

"...Real love potions exist, though? They might be more or less dangerous than attempting a disenchantment, so it might be a good option to have in reserve if we run out of time."

[deslandes]

He shrugs. "I haven't seen them in any other book; have you?"

[beheld_beauty]

"No, but we haven't got through all the ones in the other languages yet. Let me know when your eyes are up for more reading," Belle says.

[deslandes]

"I could do a little more now."

[beheld_beauty]

She passes him another book and opens it for him.

[deslandes]

He reads.

He turns up nothing about disenchantments, and nothing about love potions.

[beheld_beauty]

She lets him rest, and she works, and dinner comes, and she eats, and she works, and finally she goes to bed.

This pattern goes on for several days, until finally she says, "I think I can do the enchanter's sight now, if I channel through you."

[deslandes]

"Then do," he says cheerfully.

[beheld_beauty]

"It's gonna be worse than the last spell I cast," she warns, but when he doesn't produce a last-minute objection, she relaxes into her mindscape, and composes the now-familiar spell, and sends it through the front door of his castle-mind.

[deslandes]

The Beast wriggles happily in his chair, and when Belle opens her eyes into the real world again—

He's still there, tall and fluffy and catlike. Nothing about her perception of the real world has changed.

But... behind him, or beside him, somehow existing in exactly the same place while being simultaneously and mutually visible, there is the image of a man with a familiar face, smiling a familiar smile. He is somewhat older than seventeen, but still not yet into his prime, let alone past it. The two images move together, the Beast in physical reality and the man in the reality of true essence.

Neither image is wearing any clothing. And unlike his Beast-form, his man-form needs it.

[beheld_beauty]

Belle shuts her eyes again. "You should probably start wearing clothes. I didn't think of that."

[deslandes]

...He laughs.

"Where am I going to get them?"

[beheld_beauty]

"Does the castle not offer you clothes? It might if you ask. It does me."

[deslandes]

"Are there clothes that would fit this body?" he says. "And it would be so uncomfortable..."

He observes Belle with her eyes closed.

"I'll go ask," he decides.