mon ami

[beheld_beauty]

Not much happens at the castle. It's the two of them and the magic. She studies. He wanders around. He's not very careful about standing behind things - he does when he remembers and there is something nearby, but it's plain that nothing about being visible in the less-than-fluffy nude bothers Beast except on her behalf.

Finally she excises an hour of study time to spend on being able to look at him without intervening furniture or flinching. She finds it's possible to do this in her mindscape, without having to use a notebook. She can zoom in deep into a rose petal, find a level of detail beyond which there are no patterns, and write, directly there. This isn't an ideal memory aid - if she looks later the words aren't exactly the same - but it's much faster for sheer processing, and the chosen modifications morph into the structure of the rose without special effort as soon as she's sure she wants them.

She behaves with more equanimity about his nudity after that. "You can stop trying to remember to hide behind things," she tells him.

Comments

[deslandes]

"Well, of course not."

[beheld_beauty]

"Why 'of course'?" (Comb comb comb.)

[deslandes]

(Purr purr purr.)

"Becaaaaaause," he says lazily, "I'm not any of those people."

[beheld_beauty]

"Yes, but many of them are more similar to each other than you are to any of them, why should you be so far off?"

[deslandes]

"I don't know why," he says. "I just know it's been that way all my life."

[beheld_beauty]

"Ah, so you've always been an oddity."

[deslandes]

"Since long before I was seven feet tall and covered in fur."

[beheld_beauty]

"Hm."

She's been meaning to ask for a while, but no occasion has come up.

"You never explained why you killed your father beyond him being - unpleasant."

[deslandes]

"It was reason enough."

[beheld_beauty]

"Should I be fearing for my life, should I wake up in a bad mood one day?"

[deslandes]

"Not unless your bad moods involve beating me bloody."

(Perhaps this is a good time to mention the scars on his true form's back and thighs.)

[beheld_beauty]

"Never. Not even if I could."

[deslandes]

"Then you have nothing to fear from me," he says.

[beheld_beauty]

"Is that where the scars came from? I had been wondering if your habit of wrestling rosebushes was a very old one."

[deslandes]

"I don't remember all of them," he says. "I think there were more - from other places, later. But most of them, yes."

[beheld_beauty]

"From where else?"

[deslandes]

"I don't remember them all," he reiterates.

[beheld_beauty]

"Them all, but - never mind."

[deslandes]

Softly: "Thank you."

[beheld_beauty]

"You're welcome."

Comb comb comb. "I think you're all untangled now."

[deslandes]

"Thank you for that, too," he says, and turns, and nuzzles his catlike nose against her hand.

[beheld_beauty]

"That looks really strange if I focus on your trueshape," observes Belle.

[deslandes]

He laughs.

[beheld_beauty]

"In fact, a fair fraction of what you do is strange when I focus on your trueshape. Did you always act like a giant cat? Did the behaviors come with the curse? Did you pick them up as you got accustomed to the form?"

[deslandes]

"A little of this, a little of that, a little of the other, I think."