"That's even stranger than it sounds, when I think about it," muses Belle. "Everyone in the world? She can't even meet everyone in the world."

"It may be that she only cares about the ones she has met, or will meet," he says. "I'm not sure."

"So she didn't tell you this outright - how can you tell?"

"What she said, how she said it, how she acted, how she seemed to feel."

"Huh. Ironically," says Belle, "I don't think I find that an appealing quality."

"I'm frightening?"

"Frightening like thunderstorms," he says affectionately.

"Is she also frightening like some kind of weather?"

"No," he says. "She's frightening like... I'm not sure. You can hurt me, but you won't, if I don't want you to. She can't, but I think she would."

"But the curse thinks you could fall in love with her. And vice versa."

"Sometimes I like frightening."

"If she wants to be liked so badly why would she hurt you even if you didn't agree to it, though? Does she know that you sometimes like to be frightened?"

"She wants to be liked so badly that she would force it if she could."

Belle shudders. "Ew."

"Yes."

"...Maybe I should keep the magic books written in Albish in my room and lock them up during the day. The Callian books don't have anything useful on that front, but she's got a heavy enough accent I bet she can read Albish and I haven't got those catalogued fully."

"Do that," he says.

Belle stacks up Albish books and takes them away. She requires three trips.

The Beast arrives on the heels of lunch, covered in scratches and grabbing food from the top of the tray as it skitters playfully away from him.

"She's ignoring me," Chelise murmurs under her breath to Beast. "I've been in here for an hour looking at the books and she hasn't even said hello. I told you she didn't like me."

"Shhh," he says, resting his chin on her shoulder and hugging her. "She's busy. Have some lunch, it's very good."

Chelise nibbles at some lunch disconsolately. "Too busy to say hello?"