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[chippedcup]

[Belle has been spending the past few days exploring the Castle. Today she's has decided to brave the kitchen and all of it's technological wonders. She's already decided to avoid the microwave because of the note next to it, hasn't noticed the stove yet, and already inspected the running water, which she is in love with. Right now she's opening and closing the fridge.]

...What makes it cool food? Is it magic, or something else?

Comments

[ectobabble]

Well, it's funny, there are an awful lot of people who don't last that long, too - I haven't quite figured out the ratio yet, but - we've got a pretty decent turnaround rate. According to CastleNet, there was someone who wasn't even here a week. So ... it evens out.

[he sets the teabags in the mugs and fills them up to steep]

[chippedcup]

Maybe the castle doesn't like them. They don't react the way the Castle wants or their loss isn't good.

[She watches him fill up the teabags and says slightly to herself:] This brings back memories... only I was the one making the tea.

[ectobabble]

... That's a good theory. ... Yanno, that maybe it doesn't get quite what it'd hoped out of them or something. I'm pretty sure it gets its energy from our emotional reactions to things, sort of a psychokinetic booster.

... [her remark brings him up out of his babbling, though, and he smiles a little] Good memories, I hope?

[chippedcup]

[She gently stirs some sugar into her tea.] Both good memories and bad memories, actually. I used to work for someone and I made him his tea all the time.

[ectobabble]

Yeah? ... Were you a servant in a castle, or something like that, then? [he smiles a little as he holds out her mug]

[chippedcup]

...Something like that. I was the only one, so I ended up doing pretty much everything. [She takes the mug, smiling as she does so.] he hadn't had a housekeeper for a while, so everything was amazingly dirty. I certainly had my work cut out for me.

[ectobabble]

Wow. [he blinks a little, amused] It almost sounds like something out of a fairy tale. Was he nice to you?

[chippedcup]

Well, at first he wasn't. I was kept in the dungeon... But then he started to warm up to me. And I did to him.

[ectobabble]

The dungeon? Oh, no! [yep, he's entirely invested in your story now, Belle, you'll never get rid of him] How'd you end up down there?!

[chippedcup]

[She doesn't really mind. He's nice.] Well, to be completely honest I actually made a deal with him. I would come to work for him forever if he saved my home from the Ogre Wars. My family didn't want me to, but I wanted to save my entire town. I wanted to be brave. So I was.

So technically, I was a prisoner.

[ectobabble]

[Ray's face crinkles in sympathy] That's terrible. ... I mean - you're really, really brave for doing that to help save everyone, but - the fact that it was even happening in the first place.

Did he keep his promise to you? Is everyone okay?

[chippedcup]

Yes, of course he kept his promise. He's actually not that bad. Just...very lonely. [And a coward, but she won't mention that.]

[ectobabble]

Oh, good. ... I'm glad. It sounds like both of you managed to turn something awful into a good situation. [he grins] I love it when that happens.

[chippedcup]

[She smiles.] So do I. But... [Her smile fades.] It didn't last long.

[ectobabble]

It -- oh, no! [his face falls right along with hers] ... What happened?

[chippedcup]

He let me leave. He wasn't even expecting me to come back. A part of me didn't want to leave. See, I had fallen in love with him. But I did leave. [She's fingering the cup, slowly, as she thinks about this.]

On the road, I met this...queen. A witch, more like. See, he was under a curse. And I wasn't sure if I... could love him like that. Anyway, she told me that all curses could be broken with True Love's Kiss. And if he had let me go... then he must love me. So I went back. [She drifts off here for a moment, to take a sip of her tea.]

[ectobabble]

[he frowns, confused, as he takes the tea bag out of his mug - it's steeped long enough] ... but that doesn't sound like a sad ending at all. What happened? Was he okay...?

[chippedcup]

It worked. Of course it worked. Or started working. Until he realized it. See, he thought I was working for the Queen to try to break his curse. It was the source of all his magic powers and she wanted him gone.

[She brushes her hair out of her face and looks down at her cup.] He threw me in the dungeon, and then came down and told me he wanted me to leave, that he didn't need me anymore. He was too much of a coward to think he could be happy, to think that he didn't need his magic.

[ectobabble]

... Oh, no! [his face falls completely] So ... you mean ... being in love with each other was actually hurting him? That's a terrible curse!

[chippedcup]

Not...exactly that. He didn't want to lose his powers for...whatever reason. He'd be more powerful than the Queen. He was afraid. But he still chose them over me. And he made me leave. So I left, willingly. [Yeah, they didn't part on the best of terms.]