[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

[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!"

[angstennou]

"Um... He's not... the most logical person, really. He probably thought a dinner was a good start? Give him a little time to calm down and ask him to let you go home." Minako tried to gain some time, but she doubted that Ami would even start to like Nephrite.

"But first! Let's go downstairs so you can eat something! Mako-chan's cooking is delicious, and she'll be upset if a guest doesn't try it! The beast should be in his room at the west wing by now and won't come out anytime soon." One of the things Usagi missed the most of being human was to eat.

[innerflow]

"Do you think so?" If the beast would let her go eventually, that was really the best thing, Ami thought. Maybe she could at least be patient for awhile. "If he'd let me go, I can wait a little. But I really need to go home to Mama."

She was absolutely not going to compromise on that. She wanted her freedom, and Mama needed her.

"Mako-chan?" she let herself be curious, since she was going to be here at least a little while. "Is she the cook for the castle?"

[angstennou]

"Yeah, I think he will understand his mistake eventually. Try to be patient with him." Oh, it worked better than Minako had thought. At least Ami was willing to wait a little.

"She is! Let's go downstairs to meet her and her helper, Luna!" Usagi ushered Ami to the door.

[innerflow]

"Are.... all of the people in the castle like you?" Ami asked carefully. What she meant, was were they all enchanted objects? (Or were there other beasts?)

Meanwhile, she was rehearsing their names in her mind: Usagi, Mamoru, Minako, Makoto, Luna...

[angstennou]

"All the household staff became objects when the master became a beast. You met me, Minako-chan and Mamo-chan, right? Mako-chan became a teapot, Luna a teacup, Artemis, that is Minako-chan's cat, became a stool, Zoi-kun, that is the maestro and Minako-chan's boyfriend became a piano and Motoki-kun, that is the head of the staff, became a clock. He is in love with Mako-chan, but she hasn't accepted him yet." Usagi talked as there was nothing unusual with her friends.

"Mako-chan! We're here!"

[innerflow]

Usagi was definitely unusual, by any standards of any type of being. So cheerful, so enthusiastic. It was like she didn't even mind what happened: being turned from a human into an object.

"It sounds as though all of you get along very well," Ami said, finally managing to smile a little. "And do you get along with - with the castle's owner?"

[angstennou]

Usagi didn't dwell much on it. She still had Mamo-chan and her friends, after all.

"We do! And I'd love to be your friend too!

Ah, he gets along better with the boys. Mamo-chan says the master is clumsy with girls, and has tried to help him, but he still gets a bit awkward with us sometimes…"

And while Usagi was gossiping, Makoto and Luna had already laid out a banquet for Ami.

[innerflow]

Clumsy with girls? That was one way to say it... But Ami couldn't help noticing the objects in the castle - and not only Usagi - seemed cheerful enough and happy enough to work for Nephrite, for the beast.

Maybe he wasn't always terrible? But that still didn't excuse what had happened.

"Then," Ami asked thoughtfully, "Why would he put someone in prison like this?"

[angstennou]

"Ah... I don't think there's a good reason... He got upset and that always makes him do things that he shouldn't... But he's not a bad guy! He really tries to apologize and fix things when he realizes he did something wrong!", Usagi replied with pleading eyes. She swears that Nephrite has a good heart!

"Yeah, but now he's upset and embarrassed, so it might take a while for him to come out of his room again." Mamoru added, coming down from the beast's quarters. "In the meantime, be our guest, Miss Mizuno."

[innerflow]

"Then he should apologize to me and let me go," Ami said firmly. She was absolutely not going to give up that theme. Freedom was important, and while she'd rather be here than leave mama here, that didn't mean she wanted to be here.

But she was hungry. And it didn't seem like anyone here - not even the beast - wanted to specifically harm her. So dinner sounded like a good idea for now. She would need time to figure out how she was going to escape, after all. She nodded to Mamoru. "I'd like to eat a little," she admitted.

[angstennou]

"I'm sure he will. Just give him some time?" Mamoru replied with an apologetic smile.
"You can eat anything you want, just ask Makoto. And you can walk around the castle and the gardens, but don't go to the west wing, that is where he hides to sulk when he's in a bad mood."

"Now, tell us about the outside world! Where do you live? Do you have other relatives besides your mother? Pets? A boyfriend?", Usagi asked excitedly.

[innerflow]

"The west wing..."

But whatever Ami thought about that (curiosity, of course), she was quickly distracted by that embarrassing question. "No! Nothing like that! No boyfriend!"

Which was probably good news for the household objects and the beast.

"I have fish for pets," she offered quickly, as if that would effectively change the subject. "And Papa, though he travels, so..."

[angstennou]

"No? What would be your ideal boyfriend, then? Blonde? Dark hair? Redhead? Tall?" That subject had picked Makoto and Luna's curiosity too, and the three girls sat at the table to discuss it, while Mamoru discreetly skitted away.

"Fish? You have a pond at home, then? And your papa, why does he travel? Is he a merchant?"

[innerflow]

"My kind of guy?" Ami thought for a moment - not very long, because this is something she's thought about very often - and said, "Someone like Einstein!"

What? Brilliant, a contributor to society, and very handsome in his younger days. Perfect!

[angstennou]

The girls exchanged looks. It seemed Nephrite really would have no chances with Ami.

Usagi talked about how much she loved Mamoru and teased Makoto about Motoki when he showed up to say it was getting late and they should all go to bed.

"Do you remember the way to your room? Or do you want me to go with you?", Usagi asked Ami.