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]

"You know," he says consideringly, "I do believe you're right."

[beheld_beauty]

"No firsthand experience to make this a certainty? I'm surprised."

[deslandes]

"Well, some."

[beheld_beauty]

"All too long ago to remember clearly?" suggests Belle. Scritch scritch scritch.

[deslandes]

He nods his fluffy head.

[beheld_beauty]

"Le pauvre." Scritch scritch scritch.

[deslandes]

He purrrrrrrrrrrrrrs.

[beheld_beauty]

"I do like you," she murmurs.

[deslandes]

"I'm glad."

[beheld_beauty]

Hugs. Sighs. Thoughtfulness.

"I'm pretty good at feeling how I want to feel, but I have to know what I'm doing," says softly. "I can decide to - to not be angry about something, if I want, because I know what it's like to not be angry. But I don't know what it's like to be in love. Even though I'd like to be."

[deslandes]

"I know what it's like for me to be in love," says the Beast. "I don't think I know what it's like for you."

[beheld_beauty]

Pet pet. "It might help if you told me more about what it's like for you anyway."

[deslandes]

"It's nice," he says. "It's a good feeling."

[beheld_beauty]

"Is that all you can tell me?"

[deslandes]

He shrugs.

"I don't know what else to say. I know what it's like; I don't know how to say what it's like."

[beheld_beauty]

"What isn't it like?" she suggests lightly.

[deslandes]

He laughs.

[beheld_beauty]

"Maybe I should study the Heart spells," laughs Belle, "if you can't tell me - see how the spell's defining it. It must have a definition."

[deslandes]

"Maybe," he says agreeably.

[beheld_beauty]

Studying detour. It must explain all those colors somewhere.

[deslandes]

Well...

...not very specifically.

Apparently the exact shades vary from person to person. There is an incomplete list of which emotions are usually associated to which hues; romantic love is indeed sometimes violet. And the exact shades are consistent between repeated viewings by the same enchanter, so an experienced enchanter can learn to distinguish emotions very well if they have the patience to study live examples.

[beheld_beauty]

All right... she remembers checking the fondement to see if romantic love in particular was required, and she remembers that it was but what else is in her notes...

[deslandes]

While she looks it up, the Beast curls up on the floor and snuggles against her legs.

[beheld_beauty]

Her notes are inconclusive on the question she's curious about. Drat. It does have to be romantic; it doesn't have an exhaustive description embedded in the spell of what that is.

[deslandes]

The Beast puts his head in her lap.