[beauty and the beast au]

[angstennou]

Who: Beast!Nephrite, Belle!Ami
What: Ami meets the Beast
When: Around 18th century?
Where: Beast's castle, somewhere in France?


One day, a proud prince called Nephrite and his companions were hunting when a poor-looking woman appeared in the woods. She begged the prince for one of the rabbits they had caught to feed her children, and offered the prince a rose as payment. He laughed at the woman. Why would he want such a puny rose? The woman revealed herself to be a powerful enchantress then, transforming him in a beast to match his inhumane character, and the servants into inanimate objects.

Some time later, a doctor got lost in the woods after visiting a patient in a distant village and ended up in the beast's castle. The beast demanded that she cured his curse, but as it wasn't a medical condition, she couldn't do anything to help him. Angry, the beast locked her up in the castle's dungeon.

Comments

[innerflow]

Her mother hadn't come home. This was doubly alarming when her mother was really the only person Ami had in the village. Most of the villagers found her strange, wanting to follow in the footsteps of a woman doctor, and always reading and studying.

But it wasn't as if she couldn't take care of herself. Ever since Ami was very young, there had been times Mama had to stay out overnight with someone sick, or a woman in childbirth, or even a dying elder. So Ami didn't worry until a full night and day had gone by, without even a message. Mama always sent messengers when she could.

Ami decided to search the nearby woods. And although she'd never realized there was such a place so close to them, she somehow found herself near a castle. It would have been a perfect place to shelter for a day or two if the weather had gotten bad.

"Mama?" she called out into the empty darkness. "Are you in here, mother?"

[angstennou]

Discreetly so she wouldn't notice them, the servants who were turned into objects directed the girl to the castle's dungeons. But as soon as she found her mother, the beast roared.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, INVADING MY CASTLE LIKE THIS, GIRL?"

[innerflow]

Ami whirled around to face the beast. Her first instinct was to put herself between it and her mother - after all, her mother couldn't even run away, locked up like that. And while normally, Ami might have been very apologetic for accidentally trespassing, that had all flown out the window when she'd seen what had happened. There was no way she'd ever believe her mother did something to deserve it.

"I came here looking for my mother!" she faced the Beast despite her fears, her expression determined. She couldn't let herself back down from this. "What happened here?"

[angstennou]

The beast stayed in the shadows, growling.

"SHE TRESPASSED, ENJOYED MY SERVANTS' HOSPITALITY AND WHEN I ASKED TO BE CURED FROM THIS CURSE IN RETURN, SHE REFUSED TO HELP ME! NOW SHE'LL STAY HERE UNTIL SHE DECIDES TO COOPERATE!"

[innerflow]

Ami shook her head, somehow still managing to seem brave despite the trembling of her hand.

"I'm sure she'd help you if she could! But a curse isn't the same as an illness!" she insisted.

[angstennou]

The beast glared at the girl. Deep down he knew that, but the doctor's arrival had given him a tiny hope. Weren't doctors able to cure anything?

"Whatever. She'll stay here."

It was his final decision. He turned to go back to his chambers so he could sulk in peace.

[innerflow]

"Stay here?" Ami shook her head. She couldn't even imagine it - staying in some dingy cell, at the questionable mercy of this beast.

"She can't! There must be something we can agree on so she can come home!"

[angstennou]

The beast roared again.

"SHUT UP OR I'LL LOCK YOU IN A CELL TOO!"

Stop arguing and leave him alone, girl!

[innerflow]

Hey!

Wait.

Maybe...

"If you let her go unharmed, I'll stay."

This shook the elder Mizuno out of her shock. "Ami, no!"

Ami didn't even turn around. It'd be too painful to look at Mama while saying all this. "It's something I'm choosing to do," she said quietly, forcing herself to calm. "Your patients need you, and so does everyone else. I'll be alright."

After all, the Beast hadn't actually hurt Mama, but Ami was younger, and had a better chance of managing an escape. Not that she planned to say that part, of course.

[angstennou]

The beast stopped, confused. "You want to switch places with her? What a weird girl.

But his servants had already made a plan. The girl might be able to break the curse if she stayed in the castle: if the beast learned to love her and she loved him back, the curse would be lifted and they would all transform back to humans. So, without waiting for their master's approval, they accepted the girl's offer and released the doctor.

[innerflow]

It said something about Ami that she kept her head calm when faced with a talking beast and, now, sentient household objects.

What on Earth was going on here? Some sort of magic, of that she was certain.

She made sure to stand between the household....people.... and Mama, so that the beast would have a harder time stopping them from freeing the unlucky captive. At first, Mama refused to go - but with Ami's insistence, the household objects hustled Mama along. Time to get this romance started, as far as they were concerned.

Which left Ami looking at the Beast. She managed to swallow her fears and keep her gaze curious. And, well, if they were going to be trapped together... "What is your name?" she asked first.

Time enough later to cry over missing Mama. She couldn't show those fears to this beast.

[angstennou]

The fact that the girl seemed pretty okay with all the magical situation made the servants even more hopeful that this would work.

None of that had even remotely passed through the beast's mind though, and he was already yelling at the servants to bring the woman doctor back when the girl asked his name. He turned back to her, surprised.

"My name…? I…was called Nephrite."

It had been so long since the last time he told his name to anyone that it sounded strange even to his own ears.

[innerflow]

"Nephrite?" It sounded strange on her tongue, too, not a name like the ones she was used to. Foreign, somehow. She wasn't sure from where. (And why did he say he was called Nephrite?) "I'm Ami Mizuno."

This was not simple courtesy and politeness, although those were deeply ingrained. She had read somewhere, once, that if you were a victim of a crime, it was important to make the other person see you as a person, so they would be less likely to hurt you.

[angstennou]

He was called Nephrite when he was a human. Now, no one spoke his name.

"Ami…Mizuno…" He hesitated. "It's…good to meet you…?" As she had been polite with him, he tried to be courteous, even though he had never been good with people when he was a human, and it had gotten worse now that he had become a beast and had been isolated for a while.

[innerflow]

She's finding it a little hard to believe it's good to meet her when he only met her because he kidnapped her mother and is now going to keep her. But well, politeness deserved politeness...? Maybe she could even find some way to reason with him.

"You know, I'm sure Mama would have cured you if she could. She wants to be able to cure all her patients. I'm sorry that she couldn't, but she shouldn't be punished for it." There. Polite, but also direct and blunt.

[angstennou]

"STOP LECTURING ME! I THOUGHT WE WOULD FINALLY BE FREE OF THIS CURSE!" The beast stomped away to the castle's west wing. He might have been unfair with the girl's mother, but wasn't it unfair too that all his household had to suffer because of his mistake? And they were running out of time. The rose that the enchantress had offered him was losing its petals, and if they didn't break the spell before all of them fell, they'd never be human again.

The household staff (that had been watching to see if they would get along) sighed. The beast never made things easy for himself. Mamoru, the candlestick, led Ami through the castle to a guest room. His girlfriend, Usagi, had been transformed to a feather duster and was finishing cleaning the place for Ami. Maybe if they were more welcoming the girl might give him another chance? Usagi was always hopeful, and eager to befriend new people.

[innerflow]

Beastphrite was going to quickly learn that Ami might be gentle, but there were certain things that were so important to her that she became much stronger. Mama was one of those things. So was the idea of being a physician. Putting mama in danger, and implying mama wasn't acting as a proper physician?

She was not going to stop lecturing. In fact, she made a definite effort to brush aside the household staff so that she could follow the Beast and continue the argument.

It was probably lucky for her that the staff managed to nudge her towards the room after all. It was... Large. Pretty. Like something a noblewoman would use. That made sense, of course, since this was a castle, but-

"Is this room really for me?" Mama was well-respected, and they lived comfortably, but not quite like this!

[angstennou]

"Yes! You are our guest, after all. If you need clothes, ask Minako-chan here and she'll find you something! And someone will come call you when Mako-chan finish making the dinner! Can I call you Ami-chan?" Usagi was so excited to have someone new in the castle!

In the meantime, the other staff members were trying to calm the beast down so they could have a civilized dinner together.

[innerflow]

That... was a lot of energy. Ami blinked at the pink feather duster. "Um, I don't think..."

Was it really appropriate to be on such friendly terms with a captive? On the other hand, it wasn't like the feather duster had kidnapped Ami. That would be ridiculous.

Minako was already bustling up clothing that was definitely not Ami's usual simple, modest taste. They were much fancier and... well, she wasn't entirely sure those necklines were decent!

"I can wear what I brought with me," she said a bit stiffly.

[angstennou]

The feather duster and the wardrobe girls were still trying to convince Ami to try Minako's clothes when someone knocked on the door.

"Would you... join me for dinner?" , the beast asked, trying to sound as gentlemanly as he could. (But he actually sounded very unsure whent he wasn't yelling.)

[innerflow]

That was quite possibly the most awkward dinner invitation in history. The most inappropriate dinner invitation, too.

Join him for dinner? Absolutely not. He was her captor! But she was wary, still, of making him too angry, so she gave her refusal politely, keeping her voice as calm and as even as she could.

"No, thank you." No explanation given.

[angstennou]

The door shook as the beast punched it and yelled at his servants that were outside the room with him.

"IDIOTS! WHAT MADE YOU THINK SHE WOULD ACCEPT? THERE'LL BE NO DINNER TONIGHT!" He went back to his chambers, stomping his feet. Nephrite might not be very intelligent, but even him could see that the girl had good reasons to hate him.

[innerflow]

It was going to be a long, uphill battle for anyone (the servants) trying to nudge these two closer to each other. It was Ami's first night in a strange place with a stranger host, and maybe she wasn't at her best, either.

The wardrobe sighed, cheated of the chance to dress Ami for dinner.

Having realized that the household objects could talk, and had minds of their own, Ami started talking aloud to herself them.

"I don't know why he invited me..." she started with her confusion.

[angstennou]

The feather duster and the wardrobe looked at each other. They couldn't tell Ami the real reason why the beast had come to invite her, so they needed to come up with a more... favorable answer.

"I think he wanted to apologize, you know. He's not that bad.", Minako offered.

"Yeah, he just... The curse made his temper worse, I think.", Usagi added.

[innerflow]

"If he wanted to apologize, I shouldn't have yelled," Ami conceded. But that didn't mean it was her fault. The larger situation would always be Nephrite's fault - the beast's fault - for holding someone captive for something they couldn't avoid.

"But if he wanted to apologize, he could have let me go home to Mama!"