peace and quiet...almost [Gaston]

[Isabelle Dupont]

Isabelle was so new to this place and when she had been assigned her house, they told her to get a job as well. She wasn’t quite sure what was available but she saw an opening for a librarian. At first she had no idea what the duties would entail, but she knew it had something to do with reading and books. Belle, as people called her, wouldn’t be herself if she didn’t like reading. She figured she was a shoe in for the position. It helped that they would give the job to anyone remotely qualified due to the fact of being shifted. No one really explained how she ended up here or why she was here either, no matter how much she asked. It was all “we will work hard to return you, but do enjoy your stay with us”. Her interview went great and she was hired right on the spot.

She went in the next few days and shadowed another teacher that knew how to run the library. There were really not a lot of people running the library, which would be one of her duties. The library was beautiful, nothing compared to the Castle’s Library, but needless to say it was nice. To be surrounded by so many books made her feel giddy inside and lifted her spirits. Don’t get her wrong, she longed for adventure like this, but on the same token she missed her “Beast”. She focused her attention on learning how to do her job and was quick to learn. In no time, she was on her own.

It was now her first day to be on her own and run the library for the students. She had yet to find any that were big on reading, as she was, but she hoped she would soon. She was going about her daily routine occasionally a class or two would come in for books to read for class and she would handle checking them out as well. She then noticed that she had quite a few books she would need to put back on the shelf and since the library seemed to be dead except for a few students studying in a corner. She grabbed the cart and started to wheel it around and placing the books in the correct order. That was something she would have to take time to actually learn. She wasn’t used to having a system for organizing books back home, but fiction was easy for her. Non-fiction, well that was a different ballgame, but with enough reading and studying she would understand it in due time.

She was shelving the books when she heard the library doors burst open as if they had been flung. It scared her at first and she stopped dead in her tracks frozen for some reason. She had no idea who would have flung the doors open as if on a wild goose chase.

[Deleted]

Gaston had stomped down the loud halls and off in the direction that he had been told was where the library was located. Moments ago, a student in the hallway had whispered to another boy that there was a new librarian and mentioned her to be very attractive. Upon some persuasion from Gaston (which may or may not have involved loudly confronting the boy and lifting him up by the hood of his jacket), he received tell of where she could be found. Of course, Gaston had never been in the library before; he would much rather be where he could work out and otherwise boast about his strength and muscles. Books? They were pretty much useless- well, aside from displaying how many of the large volumes he could lift up with one arm. That was the only thing he found them to be good for.

The young man threw open the doors a little to roughly. Sometimes it would seem to others that he didn’t seem to know his own strength… but perhaps he did and displayed it for his own enjoyment. The latter seemed more likely.
“I, Gaston, have arrived in the library! Where is this new librarian I have heard so much about?” He grinned and struck a pose by the doorway with what he expected would look very masculine and impressive; one arm slightly flexed with his sleeve pulled back to reveal his slight muscled build.

His expression revealed his surprise, however, as he looked ahead and saw a familiar face. A familiar face that he indeed recognized… “Belle?” Gaston blinked, his blue gaze clouding for a second. The last he had saw her; she had rejected his proposal and humiliated him in front of the town. He had quite a bit of mixed feelings from this, and not knowing how to feel made him somewhat confused. This was the girl who had rejected him, but at the same time, it was the girl he was set on winning over and had feelings for. How could she not feel any attraction toward him?
Yes, he would definitely win her affection eventually. Maybe he just had keep trying harder. If Gaston was one thing, he wasn’t a quitter. Quitters were definitely the weakest of specimens; and Gaston was not a weak specimen in the least!

“Well, Belle! What a surprise to see you here in the library!” The slightly arrogant grin was back on his expression as he moved forward, possibly hiding his earlier flash of hesitation. “You know, I came because I heard the new librarian was attractive; the most attractive in all of the town! Surely it must be you,” Gaston grinned as he moved to lean an arm against a nearby bookshelf.

[Isabelle Dupont]

Belle’s mouth flew open when she heard a familiar voice, Gaston’s voice as a matter of fact. She couldn’t recall the last time she had heard his voice. Luckily, her face was turned away until she regained control of her emotions. She never thought she would run into him here or ever for that matter. She was supposed to live in the Castle with the beast in return for her father’s freedom. The book in her hand fell as she turned to face him. She couldn’t believe it was true and at first thought she was just hearing things and maybe it wasn’t Gaston, but there he stood by the doors flexing his muscles as he usually did. The man could be so arrogant, but you couldn’t deny he was attractive. Maybe if he wasn’t so arrogant, she would have accepted his hand in marriage, but he never liked that she read and wanted a trophy wife of sorts. That wasn’t Belle, not one bit.

His entrance was quite grand and proud as he announced himself in third person looking for her. How did he know she was here? She figured he wouldn’t work here or if he did, he wouldn’t step foot in the library. The library was her sanctuary, a place she could be that calmed her and he just had to barge in rudely. Guess it was wrong of her to think that, but he was just so darn arrogant about everything. At this point it was too late for her to hide since their eyes locked onto each other. She took a moment to take in his appearance. The ponytail seemed to be gone a replaced by a much shorter hair style, but everything else looked like the Gaston she remembered, right on down to the muscles and all. Again, he wasn’t bad to look at and if he would change his ways, she’d agree to marriage with him.

The flash of hesitation was picked up by Belle and made him look somewhat like a decent human being, but quickly he changed back to the Gaston she remembered with his arrogant smile his advance toward her. This was similar to how she remembered it only he had the advantage this time. She was backed into a shelf the contained a lot of wonderful looking books. This wasn’t like when she had the advantage of opening the door causing him to fall out. She noticed how the kids studying didn’t seem to focus on what was going on between Gaston and her. Yes, they looked up when he entered and the two girls at the table giggled as they looked over at him. Girls always seemed to be smitten for Gaston, but for some unknown reason he kept tossing himself onto her, kind of like now.

He was right on top of her at this moment and her chest was moving quickly. It had to be from nerves of running into him again. For all she knew, she was the only one from her town that had landed here, but here Gaston stood leaning over a book case. The book from earlier was still in her hand as she spoke “I’m flattered Gaston, but I am most likely not the most attractive one here. You would be right in the sense that I am the new librarian here. What are you doing here and by here I don’t just mean the library?” She could still hear the young girls giggle to themselves. They obviously were still looking despite the rest of the group trying to study.

[Deleted]

“Now Belle, don’t be so down on yourself, I am quite certain that you are the most attractive one here,” Gaston grinned, “aside from myself of course!” He put his hand to his chin thoughtfully at the last question, and then his eyes brightened. “What am I doing here? Why- what a tale to be told!” He immediately yanked up a stray chair that had been cast by the aisle and sat down with one elbow casually rested on his knee, the other across his lap. As he spoke he heavily gestured his arms, as if to wildly liven up the tale.

“There I was; walking down a path through the forest with my musket. The hunt had just begun, and I knew very well that there would be prized game to be found. I set my eyes on a nice looking trophy to hang on my wall; it was wolf the size of a man, when suddenly, out of nowhere- the odd suited men attacked. They brought out their weapons and vowed to take me down, but I would have none of that. No, using the strength of my amazing muscles and fighting with the rage of twenty men, I fought them all off! Unfortunately in the battle, I appeared to have lost some of my weapons, and I found myself in this strange town where everything is so unusual. Now, I have taken to work here- as a gym teacher. Yes, I teach all of the young lads how to become as well muscled and as strong as I am. From the looks of it they could all use as much help as they can get.” Gaston crossed his arms with a bit of a smug expression on his face that spoke of how pleased he was with his story. Of course, pretty much all of it was heavily exaggerated, but how could he tell Belle that he had been hunting a duck, when the suits tackled him and took all of his weapons, forcing him to remain in this town? It certainly wouldn’t do, and he liked his version better. Besides, he could’ve taken them… he had just been distracted by the thrill of the hunt. That was all.

“Now then, what have you been up to since I last left? Still reading books, I see.” He eyed the books on the shelf suspiciously and took one out, fumbled it around and flipped through the pages before setting it upside down on the shelf. “Hm, it appears there are no pictures in the books here either,” he commented out loud with a bit of disapproval and possibly a twinge of disappointment. Nothing but words! He still didn’t understand how she could read these things and even enjoy them. One, being that she was a girl, and two, being that he hardly enjoyed reading himself.

[Isabelle Dupont]

“Really Gaston, you are a piece of work if you ask me” she said rolling her eyes at him. She realized she had the book in her hand and she quickly placed it in its spot. It seemed as if Gaston was not leaving anytime soon, which bugged her. She watched him yank over a chair and plop down on it ready to tell his tale. She couldn’t tell if she was looking forward to it or not. It was a story, which she loved, but was told by Gaston, who she disliked a bit despite his looks. He seemed to tell a grand story using his arms a lot as he did. He talked about hunting, which was usually his topic of choose.

She kind of tuned him out a bit on his story and nodded politely, but the giggling girls were getting too loud for her liking. Library was a place of learning and not some place to giggle and fawn over older men. “If you could excuse me just one moment” she said as his finished his story and she slid away from the back of the book self and went over to the group. She politely asked the girls that if they couldn’t be quiet then they could leave, which they chose to do. As they walked by Gaston, they giggled and flipped their hair, which made Belle roll her eyes. She headed back to her cart in time to see Gaston looking through a book before questioning her on it. She noticed he put the book back the wrong way and she fixed it.

“Well I just got here a few days ago. I was attending a birthday Ball for the host I was staying with. I had on this amazing yellow dress and my hair was up. It was unusual for me at first and I didn’t enjoy being overly dressed up, but the ball was in this stunning ballroom. I had seen the prep work for it, but I never made it down the stairs. I was in my room one minute and the next I am in the middle of a meadow alone in the same ball gown. A man in a suit escorted me here and told me where to go for housing ad finding a job. I found this position and agreed to take it on.” She said to him. He made a crack about the books having words and no pictures and it gave her an idea. Maybe she could somehow make him a more decent man so he could find his perfect wife. “Hold on another minute, Gaston” she said as she ran over to the children’s section and grabbed a book on ducks. She came back and handed it to him and then waited for him to make a move.

[Deleted]

“Why, thank you, I know I am!” Gaston replied, smiling and placing his hands behind his head casually. Clearly he didn’t know that was intended to be an insult. ‘A piece of work?’ Yes, he was the finest of the works! He was very glad to hear that she agreed with him. He was also pleased to see that she seemed to enjoy his tale- or at least he assumed she did since she was nodding. He waited patiently as she disappeared to say something to a cluster of students in the corner, and then smiled at the girls as they walked past to leave.

“A ball?” He frowned slightly. He had thought that while he was gone, Belle might have missed him, if only a little. Now it seemed like she had been going to social events with other men. Well, he assumed she was, because women never usually went to balls without an escort. Not that Gaston was one to always be at a fancy get together- that was clearly a thing that women usually enjoyed what with all of the pretty dresses and decorations, and men came along to meet them. It actually shouldn’t have bothered him, if it weren’t for the fact that she had rejected him right before he left. Had she really just rejected his proposal, and then gone on with other men and events without even hesitation? Surely not… everyone should have missed Gaston, even Belle, right? He was sure that even if she had prepared to go, it wouldn’t have been the same; perhaps she had still felt very down in the dumps about it. “I am certain that the dress looked great on you,” He commented truthfully as he tried to imagine it. He never had seen her wear anything aside from her usual casual clothes before.

Gaston looked puzzled as she handed him a book. It was a very colorful book with what appeared to be ducks on the cover. “Hmm,” He flipped through the pages. Everything was displayed in pictures, except for a large sentence or two that was hardly four words. They were really basic lines like, “The duck swims,” followed by a depiction of a duck that was indeed, swimming. “You see Belle, this is the type of books you should be reading. I can see why you would enjoy this one so much. It is so much simpler to follow!” He flipped through the rest of the pages. Nothing else really happened, the duck flapped his wings, the duck swam over to other ducks, etc. etc. until the very end. “Huh, this one isn’t so good though. There are no hunters shooting the ducks! I think the writer forgot to draw them in! What a shame that is,” Gaston nodded and held out the book back to her to take.
If he were to write the ending himself, the duck would have been hanging in his tavern, or perhaps given to hungry townsfolk as an evening meal. 

[Isabelle Dupont]

It was clear to Belle that Gaston had no idea how sarcastic she was actually being calling him a piece of work. He always assumed that he was the best, which was true for the town they came from. He was the hero of town and the tavern loved him. It probably helped that people found him to be the most attractive man in the world, well at least the girls back from home did. There were triplets that came to mind on the issue of Gaston’s attractiveness.

"I had no choice on attending or not attending. I was suppose to live there till I died. It was the deal I made so my father would have been spared." she said to him with a hint of disappointment in her voice. She started to recall her time with the Beast in his Castle. At first, he was unkind and ungentle. He had no manners at all and lost his temper quite a bit. He lost it enough to frighten Belle who tried to escape the Castle only to be attacked by wolves. She thought her days would be over, but he came from nowhere and saved her life getting hurt in the process. This is when he started to become kind and sweet to her. She was falling in love with him and he treated her like an equal. He let her into his library, which was much grander than the library she was currently in. One might ask, how could anyone love a beast? It wasn’t easy to answer at all, but his attitude toward her after saving her life was pure and made him seem unbeastlike. She didn’t realize for a few seconds that Gaston had spoken to her again. “It was the most beautiful dress I had ever seen. I am kind of thankful that it came with me just in case this town throws any grand parties. Would help save cash on a new gown.” She commented.

She watched him flip through the book with ease and hoped that somehow she could get him to be less arrogant. She had a feeling that no one here would want Gaston once they actually spoken to him and saw his arrogance and he might never find his wife. Belle would have married him in a heartbeat if she could just think of her as an equal, which wouldn’t have fit in the standards of her town and time period, but here woman were treated better. She could only hope it rubbed off on Gaston because he would make a great husband if he didn’t have such a big flaw in his personality. “Of course it is easy to follow, Gaston, it is a children’s novel after all. They don’t know big words and so people write stories for them to understand. It is around this age that a person will either get into books or never be quite a big reader. You know, the writer sometimes draws his own books, but quite a few have an illustrator draw for them. The writer does the writing and someone else will draw the pictures to match the words. Children like happy endings so of course no one hunts the duck! That would upset the children. I do sometimes read these when I have a group of children here for story time.” She commented on what Gaston had said to her. She took the book from him and placed it on her shelving cart with the children novels.

[Deleted]

Gaston had been reclining back in the chair casually after returning the book, the front legs tilted slightly off of the ground. After she had finished speaking though, he straightened up with a jolt, causing the chair to heavily fall back into place. “Live there until you die?! Who is this madmen who made you do this?! Where is he? When I find this monster I’ll teach him what for! He will never forget my name!” Gaston waved his arms wildly and instantly stood up, looking as if were about to march around all of Tenebrae until he hunted down the culprit. To those who knew him or encountered him, they might have thought there was nothing unusual about the threat- that it was just he being his usual boastful and heroic self. To Gaston, however, this situation meant something different entirely. There was a pain in his chest as he had tried to picture someone harming or even remotely advancing on Belle while Gaston had been away, and of course that pain flared up with heated anger and vengeance. The coward! Gaston would not let him get away with his injustices so easily. Belle was his, and she would not be the victim of some cruel man’s deals!

He was so distracted by his anger that he almost missed her comment about the book. He blinked in a daze for a moment, before shifting his attention back to her, “Yes… children,” He replied, Children, and women. “But Belle, hunting a duck IS a happy ending! Why- I remember when I hunted my first duck. I was just a small lad then, barely old enough to hold a gun. Of course, that was the first of many hunts, and after that they became much more impressive- not to mention dangerous!” Gaston rambled on with a pleased look appearing on his expression. Surely a story of a hunt would make any child happy! Who didn’t like a good old hunt? “You should tell them one of my hunting tales! They would absolutely love to hear of the adventures of Gaston! Why- they might even learn something from them; how to be a strong and impressive men like I am. Except for the girl’s of course,” He smiled at the thought, clearly thinking that his stories would be the difference between these children’s futures. Who wouldn’t look up to him as a role model?

[Isabelle Dupont]

She jumped back at the loud sound the chair made as Gaston jolted up. She barely missed the wheel of the cart which would have caused her to trip and fall. Her back was once again against the bookcase as if she was a trapped animal again. She heard Gaston speaking while his arms moved abut. She guessed he was just in a mood to boast about his strength and ability to take down any foe whatever it may be. He was an established hunter, from what she heard around town, although she has never personally seen his tavern at all. “You over react too much Gaston. He is probably not here at all and I did have a choice in the matter. I gave my word that I would stay there and in return he released my father. My father wound up there one night while on his way to an inventers contest. He actually left shorter before you came around that day and when you had left with your friends, our horse came back and led me to my father. He was sick and would have died there and I couldn’t just let that happen. Tell you the truth, the wolves tried to harm me more than the Master of the house. Why if it wasn’t for him, I might have died.” She said getting too carried away in her tale.

She felt scared around him, but it didn’t show at all. He looked like he was about to rip the head off the next person who walked in. “Well it MAY be a happy ending for you, Gaston but children do not want to hear about animals dying. That sort of upsets children you know and upset children normally cry. This place is different than home and here there is no need to hunt every last animal since they are not a threat to the town. Sure, let’s tell them all about you as if we need anymore ‘Gaston’s ‘ running around. I think one is enough.” She said as she grabbed her cart and started to move away from him. He could be so arrogant all the time and she had only a few more books left to shelve. If he was that interested in conversing with her, he was free to follow her around. It was almost the end of the day anyhow and it wasn’t busy then.

[Deleted]

“I react the perfect amount. That is no choice though, Belle; he shouldn’t have kept your father there in the first place! Only a criminal would do such a thing,” Gaston replied, his determined expression unchanged, “And he better not be around if he knows what is best for him! He should stay as far away from here as possible!” He frowned as he heard her tell the rest of the tale, before looking startled. Wolves attacking his Belle! Why hadn’t he known about this sooner? “Wolves?! Are you ok? The beasts didn’t hurt you did they?” He frantically looked her up and down as if checking to see if all of her limbs were intact and if there were visible injuries. If those creatures had taken hold of delicate Belle, she would have surely been injured! “If I had been there, I would have fought them all of myself,” Gaston muttered. He was glad that she appeared safe, but was upset that he hadn’t been there. If he had, he would have rushed in and made sure that both she and her father were brought back to the village, and fought off any wolves or cruel men in the process. Nothing bad would’ve happened at all, then, maybe she would’ve said yes to his proposal and they would be happily married by now. He was sure that would’ve been the result of it, if only he had been there…

His expression lifted to a smile and he didn’t look phased after she spoke of the story again and corrected him. “Well, you see, that’s the problem; this town has not had me to guide them before! Afraid and upset about shooting ducks- why, I feel very sorry for these children. At this rate they will be afraid of everything that moves and will never grow to be tough men! Never to worry, they will soon learn to not be afraid of anything, especially not duck shooting! There may be hope for the lads yet,” He looked thoughtful as he contemplated possibly bringing in a duck-shooting course to his gym class. Yes, that would be most helpful. Now, if only he could obtain a multitude of guns to use… hmm. Shouldn’t be too hard, and wouldn’t the children be eager to learn! He congratulated himself on such a genius idea. No one came up with good lessons like he did!

“Hunting animals is not just about threats Belle, where do you think meat for the food comes from? A village can’t survive without food, you know, and clothing too.” He added with a hint of gloating superiority as he leaned against the bookshelf again. Clearly she saw just why he was so important to their town, and of course she would be impressed! Now that Belle had mentioned it though, he didn’t think he had seen much of any wildlife upon arriving here in this town. Well, aside from the ducks in the pond that he had tried to shoot. No matter though, he made a mental note to find some just as soon as he could get his weapons back from the men in suits. He laughed at her last comment, “More than one! I can see that you are worried that there will be too much competition for me! No need to fear, I’m always going to be THE Gaston- and the finest hunter and man in the town. The children will look up to me, but of course they will only become great hunters, not the finest like I am,” He grinned. How thoughtful of her to worry about his reputation. It was just another reason why he liked Belle so much.

[Isabelle Dupont]

“For once I agree, but it was a choice I had to make. It was me or my Father and he was sick and needed help. I love my father more than most other people love a parent. Wait, why do you care about my father so much, you and that buffoon of yours used to mock him and call him crazy because he was inventive. Gaston, none of us has a choice in all of this. We somehow got pulled from our place and landed up here. I have no idea if he’d be here or if he is on his way or not. I probably wouldn’t recognize him here if he was to shift” she said truthfully. All she knew was a Beast with four paws and hair all over. That was the Master of the house and the one she was supposed to stay with till she died. Gaston almost seemed pleasant and concerned, but shortly thereafter, he changed back to his conceited self, which made him less attractive. Belle had to admit, Gaston was an attractive man. He was built and had nice facial features, but his personality diminished his attractiveness.

“It was a close call. I couldn’t stay in that place much longer. He was so cruel and would lose his temper so much. He scared me and I was ready to leave promise or no promise. I grabbed our horse and was ready to ride home when the wolves came from nowhere and attacked our horse. We ran through the woods trying to escape them, which landed us and the wolves in a frozen pond. It was winter and we had broken though the ice. We thought we would be fine, but more wolves were on the other side and I was flung off the horse. I did my best to defend our horse and was beating off a few wolves, but one grabbed my cloak and had me down on the frozen ground and one lunged at me. It was then that the Master of the house came and fought them off. He scared them into the woods and passed out. I wasn’t going to just leave him out there so I brought him back to his house and tended a wound he had. It was then that his behavior changed and he became sweet and caring. As a gift, he showed me his library which was filled of bookcases that reached up to the ceiling.” She finished the tale with as much detail as she could recall. She figured he’d have some snide comment to the story and add in how he wouldn’t have been hurt at all. That was typical Gaston, the town’s hero and crushed on by many females.

“Ducks don’t mean harm to people Gaston. The only things that mean harm are lions and other large animals and even then it doesn’t mean we just go around killing them for fun. Now it is a whole different story if they are attacking a town. I do know of a few books for children that introduce them to death in a way that will not scare them.” She remarked to him. He didn’t seem to comprehend how arrogant he was behaving. She truly felt bad for the classes he taught. The poor kids had to have been out of breath by the end, if Gaston behaved the way he normally does. He wants all boys to be “strapping” like himself. At least, he wanted that when he asked her to marry him. She recalled that day. A hunting lodge with his latest kill roasting over the fire as his little wife messaged his feet and the children played on the floor with the dogs, six boys, none the less. How would he expect any woman to agree to marry him by painting out that scene.

“Gaston, this isn’t like home and we don’t need to consistently hunt to provide food and clothing. This place is a lot different from home. I’m been reading up on this new age and clothing is mass produced and we breed farm animals just to kill them for food. This time and age is a bit more civil then our time and we have to adjust to this until we can get home, whenever that will be. I miss my Papa so much and I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to him” she said feeling tears rising up threating to spill any moment. She cried as she promised to live with the beast forever just to save her father. That was a rough day for her, but at least he was somewhat kind to give her a room. “I don’t know Gaston, maybe out here you might find your match, maybe someone who is a better hunter than you. You never know what could happen here. Maybe, just maybe someone will be more fine than you or a better hunter. I just wouldn’t want to see you foiled by some new kid in town, Gaston.” She said sarcastically, but she knew he’d never pick up on that. He’d think she was worried that he wouldn’t be the best and seeing as he felt she was the best, he felt she too would deserve the best, which was him. Truthfully, she couldn’t stand him that much. He was way too prideful, which she found to be a bad quality in him and didn’t seem to be open to the idea of woman being equals at all. If he could just get passed that and be the concerned Gaston that he was showing occasionally, he’d be perfect for any woman. He had a few major flaws which is why she said no to him the first time he asked her to marry him. Everyone had flaws, but some were just so bad that they outweighed the good.

[Deleted]

“But he is crazy-“ Gaston started to argue, but then seeing Belle’s expression made him feel the need to correct himself, “-er, I mean; it was just a joke, Belle. A harmless joke,” He smiled and shrugged, “Anyhow, I don’t just care about your father- though I would’ve certainly saved the old man for you if I had been there- I care more about YOU being locked up there in his place. It must’ve been horrible for a girl like you!” Gaston commented with a somewhat concerned look. Indeed, he was surprised she had lasted so long! She must have been very distraught and upset without Gaston there to rescue her. “Well, you don’t need to worry about him. I’ll make sure that if he is here, he won’t be around for long. He certainly won’t ever come near you again.” He stood a little protectively, as if someone might come past him and run towards Belle at any moment. He didn’t want that to happen; he was determined to make sure that nothing ever hurt or upset his Belle again.

“That must’ve been terrifying for you!” Gaston exclaimed once more as she told him of the wolves in great detail. He had felt more and more uneasy as the tale had continued, the image of Belle in trouble having gotten to him and burning in his mind. Urgh, if only he had been there to protect her!
And despite what she said, he didn’t see the Master of the house as any sort of hero. From the sound of it he seemed rather weak and not very good a hunting beasts like wolves, but Gaston was also convinced that he had saved Belle only to keep her locked up for himself again. A monster indeed! It just fueled even more of his hatred and revenge towards this man. “He passed out? Doesn’t sound too tough to me. I could’ve easily taken care of those wolves with my musket.” He nodded dismissively.
“Well, you are safe now. Don’t worry; I’ll make sure there are no wolves here to harm you.” Gaston promised. He would go scour the forests just to make sure that they were chased far away from the edge of town if they were here. Certainly Belle knew that!

“Of course ducks don’t harm people. Who ever heard of a person being attacked by a duck? What an odd tale that would be,” Gaston replied with a sudden laugh, “As for lions and large animals; if they are close enough to the town then the always remain a threat. Stealing livestock, killing young children, attacking travelers and civilians, you never know what the beasts might decide to do,” He folded his arms as he thought back to his tavern walls. How he wished they were here so that he could show Belle each trophy and tell her the tale behind them! She would surely be impressed then. “Well, if you know of a good book that will not make them scared of hunting, then I will most certainly have to tell it to them.”

He then looked puzzled, “Mass produced?” He didn’t even know what it meant, but didn’t the women always make the clothes? Unless she meant there were a lot of women making clothes… that seemed to make more sense to him. This town was certainly a bit bigger than their old village. “Civil? I think you mean boring,” He frowned. No thrill of the hunt? No game to catch? What did people do, just sit around on their rears all day and stare at walls? Did they ever do anything exciting at all?! Maybe he would have to teach them to start living a little more.

“Meet my match! What a laugh! No matter what village I’m in, there is no finer hunter than Gaston. I’d like to see someone try to compete with me.” He flexed his arms to display this, hoping that his confidence would reassure Belle as well.

[Isabelle Dupont]

“You may think it was just a harmless Joke, but to me it wasn’t just a harmless joke. How’d you feel if I called you or someone you cared for crazy? I bet you wouldn’t like it either. If you did care, you wouldn’t have joked around like that at all and I liked it there. I wasn’t locked in a cell, I had a nice big bedroom and the run of the castle, except for the west wing.” she said lashing out at him. He had finishing up talking and was standing protectively around her as if she couldn’t handle herself from anything at all. She may be a girl, but she could take care of herself pretty well without the need of a strong man to protect her.

She chose to ignore most of his boastfulness because the more she responded to that the more boastful he would get. What she really would like was for this conversation to be over with as soon as possible. He went on and on about how he could kill them with his musket with no problem at all and how noting would ever harm her again. Gaston being his typical heroic town hero who protected the town from everything that went bump in the night. Gaston was loved by the town, while Belle on the other hand was called strange because she liked reading.

“Then there is no need to hunt ducks! Well you’ll be the first person I’ll alert if I see any large animals eating livestock or children.” She said sarcastically back to him. Again, she knew he wouldn’t understand it but maybe one day he’d take a hint and let her be. Hadn’t his ego been hurt enough when she rejected him and humiliated him in front of the whole town at his ‘wedding’? She figured that would go through his pea brained head and make it so he wouldn’t want to see her again. She had humiliated him pretty bad back there at home, but how would she not when he proposed to her in that way.

“I’ve been reading of on what they call technology in this place and some of the stuff is amazing such as computers and cell phones. I looked into how clothing is made here and it is produced in factories with machines that have a specific job and people who work there that have a task as well. Most of it is done by machine though. The machine can produce identical outfits that look the same as the others. It is quite fascinating when you think about it.” She said enjoying how she was sharing knowledge with someone, even if that someone was Gaston.

She was about to respond to what else he said, when she heard the library door open and noticed the other librarian was coming in. The other librarian taught her what she knew and took care of staying here after school to supervise kids so that Isabelle could go home. She heard the other lady calling out her full first name. No matter how hard Belle asked to be called Belle, this lady would still use her proper full name. She knew she had to see the lady, but Gaston was towering over her and her back was still against the bookcase. She knew he wasn’t going to suspect her pushing him, so she raised her hands and laid them against his chest, she had never felt Gaston in this way and she had to admit he was built nicely there, but she still didn’t care for his personality. She pushed with all her might to move him enough so she could get around him. She managed to and she greeted the other lady. “Everything went smoothly today and I should be out of your hair as soon as I finish up the conversation I am having with someone from my past” she said to the other woman who took her place behind the desk as Belle went back to where Gaston stood.

[Deleted]

Gaston thought she might be overreacting a bit. Of course it was just a joke! Not to mention true… though he didn’t think he would win her over by mentioning that point. “Belle, the only other person I care about is you!” He said with a smile, clearly not understanding her message.
The smile quickly turned to a slight frown as she went on. Liked it there? How could she possibly like it there, in the home of an insane, cruel man? Did that mean she had liked being there more than she liked being with himself? No… surely not… Perhaps he needed to get a castle. Would that make her happy with him? He just couldn’t comprehend what it was she wanted or what she was saying.
“You liked it there… even though the owner of the castle was insane?” Gaston repeated with a blink.

“Of course there is a need!” Gaston announced. He didn’t understand why she acted like it was a bad thing. Did she really not want him to hunt ducks? No one in their town ever told him NOT to hunt before. Or, perhaps she was just being modest, and meant that he shouldn’t hunt ducks for her. In that case, of course he would. Belle deserved the best after all!
“Good thinking, you never know what type of livestock they might have here in this strange town. They could very well be children-eaters.” Gaston remarked thoughtfully with a hand on his chin. He would be sure to take care of them and save the town, if that were the case.

“Computers? Cell phones? What type of nonsense is this?” He was beginning to wonder if these books Belle read were fairy tales, or otherwise made up and full of very unhelpful things. He had never heard of such terms before in his life.
He was, however, suddenly taken by surprise as Belle turned and pushed him. She didn’t push him too hard due to his size, but the surprise of her suddenly doing so made him stagger back and into the bookshelf. He leaned against it and blinked in surprise, a look of astonishment as well as confusion crossing his face. She PUSHED him? Why had she pushed him? No girl had ever pushed Gaston before! And right after he had promised to protect her. He didn’t understand why she was acting so strangely. Was it the books that made her act this way?
He frowned as she walked off past him. Her pushing him just reminded him of the time he had proposed to her not too long ago, of which she had caused him to fall out the door and publicly humiliate himself. Once again he was met with a mixture of feelings, the main two being confusion and hurt. He was sure that there was nothing that he had done to make her so openly (and literally) push him away.

As she returned he straightened up to act as if he had just been casually leaning against the bookshelf like nothing had happened. He couldn’t seem to get himself to smile just as convincingly, however.

[Isabelle Dupont]

He went on about how he cared for her but he never seemed to have proof of showing he cared for her. He was always boastful about himself and how amazing he is, but never seeing the good aspects in other people. True, back at home he was the most skilled hunter and the best looking male back home as well and had only ever mentioned how she was just as good looking as himself and therefore he deserved her. “Gaston, if you cared you wouldn’t have been so rude to my father like that. I honestly do not think you care about anyone but yourself. Everything is always about you isn’t it?” she said when she returned to him. He leaned against the bookshelf like he usually did. “He wasn’t insane. He just was a bit hard to deal with at first, but then he became kind and gentle. I can’t blame him for being the way he was he really had no visitors besides myself.” She remarked.

She realized the argument over hunting was not worth her time or energy. He wasn’t going to budge on the topic and neither was she. It was also clear his pea sized brain didn’t comprehend the sarcasm of her turning to him if she saw any animals eating children, so she figured to not bother responding to that either, but to instead share her knowledge of this new world and its technology. Good thing they were near by a book that she could show to him and let him borrow to read up on it. It was a non fiction title that talked about technology in a basic way that he might understand.

“Hold on for just one minute” she said as she reached over him to grab the book she had in mind. It had pictures in it and words as well. It had more words then a children’s novel, but not so much that Gaston wouldn’t be able to handle and the words were basic from what she remember, well except some words that she didn’t understand that pertained to this world. “Here,” she said handing the book over to him, “this is a non fiction book, which means the information in it is real and not made up. It talks about some of the technology in this world and it also has pictures in it. You may borrow it if you like.”