Days In The Sun

The waltz

"And that's when I said; If it's not baroque. Don't fix it."

"Cogsworth. The girl has been her for how many weeks and you've told her that joke how many times?"

"Well let me see you come up with--"

"I find it quite funny, actually" Belle budded into the conversation as she walked beside the mantel clock and candelabra towards the castle's front foyer.

The young girl wore a heavy overcoat, as well as boots, as she held a small novel within her hands. Earlier that morning she had questioned where Adam had gone, and after being told he had gone out into the front court to read - out of all things, she knew the only way she was ever going to understand the Beast better was to spend a bit more time with him. So, she had decided to grab her own novel, and go down to the front court, that is, until two certain servants decided to join her.

Belle was defiantly more comfortable wandering around the castle now, even while avoiding the West Wing. But, one thing she couldn't shake was the fact that there were so many enchanted objects. There was more than one occasion Belle had merely picked something up to use in a task, only to find herself holding one of the Prince's servants. Even with her newfound freedom within the palace, she still didn't wander everywhere - simply because of the odd feeling the servants gave her. Yes, she pitied them, and so desperately wanted to help them, but it was a bit hard to sleep at night knowing your wardrobe was alive, and occasionally woke up bursting out into song, nonetheless. Half the time while inside of the castle Belle had to face herself in the mirror to remind herself that she wasn't dreaming. And that she really was the prisoner inside of a castle where she was being held by a horrid beast.

Whenever Belle would try and get some alone time to be alone with her thoughts, she was always interrupted by, you guessed it, a servant or two coming in to 'check up on her' or, 'making sure she didn't wander too far'. She found their simple gestures kind, but even as she'd get a bit frustrated with them from time to time, she had to remember that the Beast wasn't the only one suffering under the curse as well.

Even if they were trapped, the antiques somehow never really got into fights with one another. Belle took notice to that little fact right away. One night, after overhearing what she assumed to be an argument between Cadenza and Cogsworth, she noticed just as soon as the two had finished their argument, they were already apologizing for whatever it may have been.

It seemed as if the antiques had a feeling that arguing wouldn't make anything better, which was right, and Belle was surprised - she had suspected after ten years of being stuck in such a state at the misdoing's of the prince, she'd assume they'd all have a much more hurtful attitude towards the man who basically ruined their lives. But, they didn't. They were nothing but kind, spoke with gentle, and most of the time encouraging words to boost Adam's confidence. They really were like his family.

After learning about Adam's past, Belle most likely knew the reason behind why the staff was so kind to the Prince, even if he wasn't all that kind to them.

It wasn't his fault he had such an attitude, after all.

Belle would occasionally overhear Adam referring to his staff as 'idiots', which didn't sit well with the farm girl.

So, after everytime she'd overhear the man's harsh words, Belle was quick to approach the servant at hand and assure them that was not the case, but, again, Belle was surprised at how calm they'd be. As if being called an idiot wasn't as new or shocking to them anymore as it once was.

Upon reaching the castle's foyer, Belle took a few steps forward towards the front door and held her hand out to open the giant doors in all their glory, only to have them open themselves. That was another thing that put Belle on edge. There were many antiques who were alive, but couldn't talk. And there were also so many antiques, that Belle wasn't even sure if they were servants or not. Her biggest question being the doors. They all opened themselves. She had assumed that there might've been a doorman, who had no doubt transformed into the entry ways, but she was assured on multiple occasions that the castle never had anyone designated to hold the doors open, and that ever since the curse was placed upon the castle, Adam had attempted at making the joke that the doors open themselves because the enchantress knew the antiques were too small to open them and that he, with his beast-like strength, would destroy the handles if he did so. But that never stopped the man from pushing or slamming the doors open and closed in fits of pure rage. Belle still didn't understand all of it. She had so many questions but just didn't know when to say them or how to ask. She'd never want to make any of the servants uncomfortable, but it became hard to not ask some eyebrow raising questions towards the enchanted objects from time to time.