fandomhigh | Library; Thursday [ 06/09 ].

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Library; Thursday [ 06/09 ].

Alexander had put aside his regular research for today, curious about the events of the weekend. He remembered being the Beast and the strange feelings that moved him, as if he was cursed, and that made Alexander intensely curious. He'd collected a few books on myths and curses, figuring even if he didn't find what he was looking for, it was all still quite interesting, and perhaps something about the Land of the Green Isles might show up in one of them. One never knew.

And finally, he found at least something: A prince known for being incredibly vain and selfish one day encounters a fairy, who turned him into a hideous beast after he refused to let her in from the rain, and that only by finding true love, despite his ugliness, could he break the curse.

"Zounds!" said Alexander, intrigued, and he kept reading. Somehow, he had a feeling this would be valuable information for later.

The Library is open!

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Alexander drew in a deep, careful breath. "I really only got one look at myself...er, him all weekend. In a mirror; I couldn't stand the sight of myself, so I completely smashed the thing. And everything else in the room, as well. But I was...big, and hairy, like some animal. Black horns and a large, toothy maw, sharp and massive claws. Unlike any creature I've ever seen! Yet I felt too big and hulking for my own skin, as if it were unfamiliar and unnatural."

And now she was just outright staring at him, because that was Adam's voice -- he hadn't been human long enough for her to recognize that as his voice, since she still knew the Beast's more gutteral one better -- and he was describing...well, not just a Beast but her Beast.

"...oh my," she said, a little faintly, though she was more amazed than upset. "I...well. I might have some experience with that particular Beast, it sounds like. What sort of curses are you looking at?"

Maybe it was all pure coincidence, though a curious part of her hoped it wasn't.

"Some experience?" Alexander asked, frowning at the librarian for a moment before turning the book he was reading around and pointing to the passage that had particular caught him.

"This one," he said. "A curse cast upon a prince of a haughty nature that would refuse to help a powerful magic user. It's said, often in mythology, that the gods and powerful beings frequently test the hospitality of mere humans; when it is not given, especially by those who can afford to give it, the consequences appear quite grave. One might be turned into a sort of beast, to...reflect his beastly nature..."

Alexander almost wished he could have been that poetic with his transformation of Manannan, but, let's face it, cats were pretty evil.

"That happened to someone I know," she said carefully, peering to look at the passage before lowering herself into a seat beside him. "A curse just like that. And -- I'm sorry, this going to sound very odd, but he sounds just like you. I mean, your voices, now that I'm really listening, are identical, though I'm not sure how that's even possible." She wanted to believe it, though, because it really was fascinating to her. Nerd.

And that left Alexander staring at Belle for a moment. "The same...voice?" He tried to think back to how he sounded as the Beast, but all he could remember was a lot of yelling and snarling and growling, and that wasn't very helpful. "That's...very odd. And you say he went through a curse of this nature, as I experienced over the weekend?"

She nodded vehemently, the bow in her hair bouncing with the effort. "He selfishly turned away an old woman who asked for a place to stay one night," she explained, frowning slightly. Some part of her still did think he deserved at least some of what had been dealt to him, even if her conversation with Hermione had made her see the Enchantress slightly differently. "She turned out to be an Enchantress, who transformed him into a Beast, and his servants into household objects. The spell was broken when he learned to love, and was loved in return. So it's...quite similar to that curse you just mentioned, yes."

Alexander remembered, in that moment he did see his reflection of a Beast in the mirror, feeling the hopelessness of such a curse ever being lifted. In looking back on it, he could sympathize with that feeling of despair. How could anyone ever love a Beast? How could anyone find a place that didn't exist? But Belle's words made him smile a little.

"So he did find true love, then?" he asked, turning hopeful eyes toward the librarian. "Even though it seemed impossible?"

"It took a...lot of effort," Belle said with a rueful little laugh, "and not a small amount of arguing along the way, but yes, he did. And he's a human prince now, and his entire household was restored, too. His restoration came in just the nick of time."

"Ah, that's right!" Alexander remembered eagerly. "I remember feeling terribly distressed about a rose; if something happened to it, then any chance of the curse being lifted would be gone..."

Then he grew thoughtful for a moment. "In just the nick of time," he repeated quietly.

"She wanted to pay him with a rose initially, yes. And he had until the petals were gone to find a way to lift the curse. As it happened,the last petal fell right as he was returned to his human form," Belle said quietly, a little introspective. She wondered what would have happened if she hadn't said it then -- yes, that had been when she realized she loved him, but she wondered (not for the first time) if it was the declaration or the emotion itself that broke the spell.

She was just glad he hadn't died, though. The human restoration was a welcome surprise.

This made Alexander quiet for a moment long, wondering if perhaps it was some sort of curse that was keeping him from Cassima and, if so, what was the nature? What needed to be done? Clearly, it couldn't be as simple as realizing that the love they felt was real, as that had already happened. But what?

"It's a lovely story," he finally said. "I'm glad he was able to find his love and, I assume, become a better human because of the experience?"

"Well, that's what made her fall in love with him, after all," she said with a warm smile. "His transformation. He certainly wasn't terribly lovable before, though the raw material was there. He's ruling his kingdom much more kindly now," she added, a little wistful. "And with more awareness."

"I'm glad," Alexander said with a smile. "It is a shame to think that many are not so fortunate to not only recover from their curses, but to also learn from them so well."

Yeah, Manannan realizing the error of his ways after a lengthy stay as a feline? Not going to happen.

"I'd hope so," Belle said, eyes wide. "It'd be terrible to go through something like that only to never learn your lesson at all. What's the point, then? The only reason I even think this curse was any sort of acceptable use of magic at all is because Adam did learn his lesson, eventually. If he hadn't, then I think it's just nothing short of reckless on the part of the Enchantress!"

Alexander reminded himself that a selfish prince who turns away a visitor in the night a far cry away from a megalomaniac tyrannical evil wizard who murdered young boys he kidnapped into slavery. So the whole Manannan thing, he reasoned, was still okay.

"I suppose you're right there," he allowed. "Although, if he did not eventually learn his lesson, perhaps, then, that is the point. But you said she changed everyone in the kingdom, too, and that hardly seems fair to them."

"Just his household," she said, shaking her head. "Those of us who lived outside the castle, in the village nearby, were fine -- until we chanced upon the castle, anyway. But there were children turned into teacups, and dogs into footstools. They didn't do anything wrong."

"Teacups and footstools!" Alexander remarked, astonished. "And dogs as well as people! That must have been so strange! My father tells a story of once turning into a slizard, but being an inanimate object must have been much odder."

"What's a slizard?" she wondered. "And they were able to talk and move as these inanimate objects. My best friends during the time I was at the castle were a clock and a candlestick and a teapot."

"Really?" Alexander had to ask, with a small laugh as he tried to picture it. "That's incredible! And, as my father tells it, a slizard is a small creature, quite like a lizard, only, when it looks into your eyes, you trade places with it, so that you are in its body, and the slizard inhabits yours."

"...how do you get back to your own body?" she wondered, her own eyes wide with curiosity. "My repeating that same ritual with the eye contact?"

Alexander nodded. "Which made it a particularly interesting feat for my father, but, clearly, he managed. Either that, or the slizard learned human behavior quite quickly. I should think, though," he said with a chuckle, "that my mother would notice immediately, and then reprimand the slizard quite harshly."

"Or train it," Belle laughed. "Unless slizards are quite well versed in human etiquette. But I'd think she'd probably rather get her husband back than train a new one."

"And that she would," Alexander agreed. "It seems that questing comes from both sides of my family; she'd march right back into the Kingdom of Sorrow and demand her husband be returned, and I imagine they'd hand him over in a heartbeat."

"She sounds like a very fearsome lady," Belle said warmly. "Woman after my own heart. Sometimes the only way to get things done is by demanding it."

"And she's quite good at that, too," Alexander said with fondness. "Except perhaps when it comes to my sister. It seems the only one as stubborn as my mother is her very own daughter."

"The world needs more women willing to take a stand," Belle said with a firm nod. "Where I'm from, I was always the odd one because I wasn't content to keep my mouth shut and find a husband to take care of me."

"I think you would like to meet my sister, then," Alexander said with a smile. "That sounds exactly like Rosella, much to Mother's chagrin."

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Library; Thursday [ 06/09 ].

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