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"Please, Belle, I want to come and see!"

This was one of the most difficult partings she had yet had to make, but as Belle stood on one side of the Nexus, trying to dissuade a chipped teacup from following her into the hotel, she thought that this was never something she had ever imagined happening, not even when she cast herself in her own little stories in her head. "Chip, I'm sorry, but I don't know that you can even follow me in here," she says as kindly as she can manage.

Beyond that, she'd not sure she wants to bring all the beings in the castle into the Nexus. True, most people here didn't seem like they'd mind, but a talking armoire? It definitely wasn't the kind of hotel furniture people expected, even with mad shifting doors and outer space.

"Can't I come in for a little while and meet people?" Chip asks plaintively. "I don't like it when you're not around."

Belle smiles softly as she kneels down, her dress covering her as she scoots closer to the divide so that she's half in one world and half in the other, allowing Chip to hop into the palm of her hands. She knows that he wants her to come back to the castle, but things are so different and difficult now. She thinks that maybe she could still break the curse, but she doesn't know that she'd stay and given the choice of breaking the Beast's heart and putting off the decision, she's chosen the latter because she's happy with her life.

She thinks that it makes her a coward and she's ashamed for that, too. It's even more reason to continue hiding.

Belle's so lost in her thoughts that she doesn't even notice Chip jumping in her palms, trying to get someone's attention who's passing down the hall behind her. "Hi there!" Chip cries, bubbly and delighted. "Are you from here?"

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"I'm Nebari," Chiana answers, which Belle here would already know if she was from any place where the Nebari existed. She looks up from Chip and at the young woman, so Sebacean-looking. "Nowhere near your Earth. You're human, right?"

"I'm human, yes," Belle replies, thinking that it's something else indeed that after all this time, she doesn't think of that as a strange question. "Chip is, too, but he's currently existing in a wonderful form," she praises firmly, not wanting him to think he's odd. "I'm Belle," she introduces herself. "From France, on Earth."

The cup's human. Well, that is one form of humanity Chiana hasn't encountered until now, and she peers down at him curiously again, smiling a friendly smile. What can she say? He seems like a bit of a rarity, and she likes people that stand out.

"Nebari Prime," she answers Belle with her own planet of origin, as she smiles down at Chip. "What do you say, Chip?" she invites him, holding a gloved hand out for him to hop into. "Wanna come on over?"

Belle smiles as broadly as she can, moving her palms closer to the ground so that Chip can hop his way over. Belle is still fairly trusting and she doesn't think she's been given any reason not to trust Chiana, though she knows that if something happens, she'll be very quick to make sure to get them out of the situation.

"What's a Nebari Prime?" Chip asks with wonder.

"It's a terrible place," Chiana answers, but she sounds delighted with him, anyway, lowering her hand to the ground for him. "No sense of fun. I don't recommend it." That's its own joke all on its own, and she gives the cup a sharp smile.

Chip wrinkles his little handle nose and hops around to stare at Belle. "I want to go there," he says, as if he hasn't just been told that it's a terrible place and Belle can't help her fond laugh as she shakes her head. "I want to go anywhere, all the places Belle told me about!"

"I've been telling him about the hotel," she explains.

"How about we start with the hotel," Chiana confirms with an amused little smile.

Belle gives Chiana a small smile and a shake of her head. "He can't come in, we've tried," she says quietly, because as much as Chip had wanted to come into the Nexus, something had barred him, like a physical barrier. She's not sure if it's the spell or something else, but it had been a dismal moment.

Chiana frowned unhappily. "This frelling place," she muttered. Wouldn't let her get back home, wouldn't let Chip through. What did it have against them?

Belle's eyes widen with mild confusion as she awaits what she hopes is the coming explanation of such a word. "I'm sorry, I don't know what those things mean," she admits, laughing to shake off her nerves at being completely in the dark.

Chiana looked up at Belle with surprise. "You don't know curses?" Her lips curled into an amused smile at the original meaning of the word. "Or about frelling. What is your Earth like, Belle."

"Very tame, I think," Belle admits, given that she'd led a somewhat sheltered life and though she's picked up a great deal from her books, it's not like the local library had been too open with books about how to curse. Jacob's taught her a good deal, though. "I've heard of curses, but never 'frelling'."

"Ah, um - fucking, you call it," Chiana states with a somewhat predatory grin.

Belle blushes, but she understands a little better and her mouth forms an 'o' as she tries to regain a little dignity as she nods her head. "It's certainly a word I don't think I've heard much in conversation, but I always appreciate learning new things."

"Any time," Chiana offers, tilting his head the other way, her smile inviting and wicked at once. She isn't sure what's up with the pink rising in Belle's cheeks, but she seems uncomfortable, and it amuses the Nebari.

Belle tries not to get too flustered, even though she's had relations many times she still finds it odd to talk about. "Can I say that word?" Chip pipes up and Belle nearly startles for it, having almost forgotten he was there.

"Y'can say any word you want, Chip," Chiana assures him, directing her grin back down at him.