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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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"There's a small dale just past the door, here," Belle says, having learned these woods some time ago and though it's autumn in her world, turning to winter, it's still comfortable enough. "If you'd like to come in and we can have a nice long chat." She lifts Chip up with both hands so he's on eye level with Thea.

"I'd really like that, Miss Thea," he says with a bubbly giggle.

"Oh, well, off to the woods, then," Thea says brightly. Seriously. She's going to hang out with Belle and Chip and that warms the heart of her inner 12 year old. That was a long time ago, back when things were simple and happy.

She goes through the door, waiting for Belle and Chip to follow along.

Belle smiles with delight as she pushes to her feet and wanders back into the woods with her palm open and flat so that Chip can settle down onto it, bouncing as he looks around and rambling at ten miles an hour while he does. "Belle took me into the village and even though I had to hide in her dress, I got to see and smell so many things! My favourite is the cinnamon buns!"

"It's only a shame he couldn't have more than a few morsels," Belle says fondly.

"That's a big trip for a little guy," Thea says, laughing. She can't help but be a little happy about it because Chip just seems so eager - she hasn't been that excited about something in a long time.

"I haven't had a good cinnamon bun in a long time."

"He's taken quite a trip, yes," Belle agrees fondly, but thinks that he deserves it. She knows that the Beast doesn't know about her sneaking him away from the castle, but that's also because she'd been very careful not to let anyone see her on her way through the halls. "I can show you where we got it, if you'd like?" Belle offers.

"Look, I am all for pastry adventures with china and French women," Thea teases. Everything just feels lighter for once, like she doesn't have anything to worry about, and it's been a really long time since she's felt that way without the help of drugs or alcohol.

"Lead the way?"

Belle nods, standing and brushing off the dirt, dust, and grass from her skirts, thinking that Thea certainly has Chip with her. "I think I could happily put away another few pastries," she confesses. "Which is awful of me to admit, but they're so very good."

"There's nothing wrong with the occasional overindulgence." Thea knows that better than anyone though it seems that the Queen family doesn't know where to stop with the indulgences and that's the problem.

"I tend to just take each moment as it comes and enjoy myself. It's a good way to live."

"I feel as if I'm always on the move and half the time, I'm so caught up with a book that I miss a meal," Belle confesses, which makes her think that it makes it all the more fine to indulge when she pulls her head out of the clouds. "And Chip here is lucky enough to live in a place with the most fantastic and wondrous foods."

"Where are you guys from?" France, obviously, but Thea wants to know if her suspicions about who these guys are is correct. If it is, it's awesome, because she definitely wants to live in a world where her favorite Disney princesses from childhood are real.

"My house is big and lonely and full of miserable people. We won't be scheduling a visit."

"Well," Belle says fondly. "I'm from a small provincial town in the south of France and Chip here is close to us, but it's not really a town so much as a large castle on its own land." She gives Thea a sympathetic smile. "Maybe it just needs to be filled with the right kind of people?"

"Castle, huh? Castles are great. I saw some on a trip to Germany once," Thea says. That had been a nice family vacation. So had been the trip to Disneyland but that probably isn't something to mention to Belle and Chip.

"I don't guess there's a chance we could go see it, is there?"

"It's still there," Belle says, trying not to let the confusion and difficulty of the decision show on her face. "And I'm sure Chip would be more than happy for the company, but I'm not so sure that I should be going there. It's complicated," she says, given that she's not sure how to explain it to someone she knows, let alone someone she's just met.

"Castles usually end up that way. What with the royalty and all that noise," Thea says. She knows the story, of course, but she thinks it's a little creepy and unfair to let on that she does. If the situation were reversed, she wouldn't feel too comfortable with someone knowing her life story.

"We can just enjoy the provincial life or whatever. I'm game for anything."

"Bakery!" Chip announces gleefully and Belle is genuinely hard-pressed to argue with that. She laughs and gestures onwards with a hand, seeing as she thinks that's the best. "And maybe you can tell me about your castle," he says to Thea. "Does that mean everyone has one?"

"I don't think everyone has one," Thea says. It reminds her of Roy, inexplicably, and that twists in her chest until it gets painful. "But my family is lucky and we have one. Lucky with money, anyway. Unlucky in other ways."

Thea grins. "I have horses, you know. A whole stable full of horses. That's my favorite part about being at home, I get to ride."

While Chip might have been fascinated by the castle, Belle is far more interested now that they're speaking about horses. Her interest piqued, she perks up with a hopeful look on her face. "Really?" she asks, feeling a bit breathless and eager. "What sort of horses do you have?"

"Arabians," Thea explains. "I used to do show jumping too, until I fell once and broke my leg."

Thea remembers her father being really attentive that summer, being more affectionate than ever, but now she knows it's all because he just had cold feet about leaving them. Of course.

"I wish I had some pictures to show you. They were beautiful. My jumper's name was Jasmine."

"I'd love to have seen," Belle raves, thinking that Jasmine is truly a lovely name for a horse. "I had Philippe, but he's not a jumper so much as he's our horse for everything. Travelling and exploring and he's quite a good rescuer, too," she says, giving Chip a knowing smile considering they'd had the privilege of meeting.

"Which breed?" Thea is a little knowledgable about horses and thinks, in another life, she might have ended up a professional equestrian instead of a fuck up and a bar owner. She thinks things might have been a lot different if her father hadn't died and if Ollie hadn't disappeared.

"I don't even know," she admits with a slightly amazed laugh that all this time, she'd never really cared to ask. "He's always just been Philippe to me, though I imagine there's a bit of a mish mash as far as his genetics go. He served the purpose we needed. He took us where we had to go and made sure we arrived, no matter the weather. I miss him all the time," she confesses.

"I miss Jasmine too," Thea says, her own smile a little wistful at the memories of racing and jumping and even just brushing her down in her stall at the end of the day. She had always taken incredible care with her horse and missed the companionship they'd shared.

"I wonder if there's somewhere to go riding in the hotel? It wouldn't be our horses but it would be horses and I would love to go riding again. It's been entirely too long since I had the time to be able to go."

"Well, there's the stables," Belle says, lighting up now that she gets to talk about her work. "I spend a day or two there every week and while it isn't Philippe or your Jasmine, it really is a wonderful thing to spend time in a place that feels so safe." Her smile grows even broader as she thinks of taking a new friend there. "I'd love to go riding with you!"

"Me too?" Chip asks hopefully.

"Only if we find a very small horse," Belle teases, even though she knows he won't be able to join them.

"You can ride in one of our saddlebags," Thea says, wanting to include Chip if she can. It just seems wrong not to, knowing that he's just a little boy deep down and it's not his fault he got cursed.

"You can hang on in there, right?"

"We'll make sure he's good and secured," Belle says, stomach fluttering with the potential that he might not be so securely fastened. She'd hate for him to get hurt or lost. "It's been ages since I've last rode, though. You might have to put up with me being a bit slow!"