"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?"

He nuzzles his nose against her cheek.

She giggles and wraps her arms around his neck.

It is! Snuggle snuggle.

It is also more cuddly! And everything is better with purring.

"Do you think she'll ever like me?" asks Chelise after a few moments of silence apart from purring. "I don't know how long we'll be here. I don't think I could bear to be trapped in one place with someone who couldn't like me no matter what I did."

"Give her time," he murmurs. "I don't think she likes you or doesn't like you. I think she doesn't know you at all."

"But then why wouldn't she say hello and try to get to know me?"

"Because if someone doesn't break this curse one way or another, I will be trapped here alone forever," he sighs. "And there might not be time for her to learn all she'd need to learn to break it with magic."

"Oh, you poor thing, alone forever, I can't imagine anything more horrid - if there might not be time wouldn't it make more sense for her to do what I'm doing, then?"

"She does magic," he says, "you do belly rubs. Each to your own talents." And he nuzzles her cheek again.

Well, Chelise can certainly do belly rubs!