[AU] Beau-ty and Liz-Beast

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau mouthed a "wow" at the thought of having enough servants that you literally had a "bacon guy." He did sort of notice that she'd copied his drawl there for a bit, but he figured she was doing it in a kind of affectionate way. That's how it went down in his mind, after all. Far more important was the whole not snapping at him for taking another piece of bacon, though of course it was entirely likely that neither of them really noticed as much.

"Gotcha, will cut back on the sass, ma'am," replied Beau, firing off a quick salute with the hand that still clutched his food. He even managed to keep silent for the next few bits, even when she definitely asked a question that he should've been allowed to legitimately respond to and all.

The silence only deepened as Liz revealed the room to him. Beau walked around, gaping, not quite believing what his eyes were seeing. Instruments everywhere, and a gramophone, which he'd only heard about, and there were weird looking discs and stuff that Beau supposed went on the gramophone or something. 'Wow,' he said, unable to say something else. He walked forward, running his hand around things.

Not even any dust... why was that...?

[Elizabeth Edison]

The minstrel's reaction to the room made the beast grin smugly. Of course, it was mixed with a little trepidation. She hadn't let anybody in this room in forever. It was her favourite room after her own.

She went over to the gramophone and put in an Elvis record, letting play through the room. "So you can't complain that you have nothing to do. Because you do. Just...be careful with them. My broth- I mean...I'll kill you." The beast looked away so the minstrel couldn't see the pained look on her face.

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau didn't even immediately shake out of his daze as the music started drifting through. Even though he couldn't quite place it, he felt like he knew it, as though that kind of song and style had somehow been embedded in his bones from another life. He felt it fill the room, nearly losing himself in the rhythm and words.

"Definitely got a lot to do here," agreed Beau, nodding a few times as he looked around, unable to shake the sheer amazement of it all. "An' don't worry," he ran his hand along some of the instruments, "I'll be good an' careful..." he paused for a bit, his fingers running over the wood, frowning. "Hey, if you don't mind my askin'," he turned to look at her. "I thought you were all against music an' minstrels an' stuff. So, what's with," he gestured around the room before looking.

"Some kinda painful memory locked up here or somethin'?" he tried guessing. He spoke softly, without his usual buoyancy and near sass, as though he could understand or at least sympathize.

[Elizabeth Edison]

She was looking through some of her old sheet music when the minstrel asked his question. A part of her wanted to tell him not to pry but he seemed to be getting his information wrong.

"I didn't say I was against music. Or minstrels." She sighed and shook her head. "We used to hold music parties in this house. People from all over the world came to share music. Some of these are from those people. My family and I used to come here and play together." She admitted after a long pause.

It was weird talking about it to someone who probably didn't know what happened to the castle ten years ago. "After the incident with the fire...things just got weird. My staff became mute, the house barred itself shut somehow and I became the town recluse. Until you showed up. I don't know what it is about you, minstrel...you woke this place up or something."

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau listened quietly while she explained. The story jogged a few memories loose in Beau's mind. He seemed to recall tales about parties and shindigs and stuff, talk about how the house used to be a regular gathering place for people. Then something had happened... a fire? Beau was tempted to ask about that, but he knew better then to interrupt a story while it was going.

"Well," he said, chuckling, "can't say I'm sorry 'bout that. Sounds like this place was jus' waitin' for the right way to get it all goin' an' all. 'sides, you're obviously too pretty to be all shut up in here,' he gestured at her. He nodded again then looked around, pointing at few things.

"I don't even recognize some of these. I know the piano an' all," he nodded, "an' the guitar," another point, "an' the banjo over there. Can play all those. Well, and the mouth organ, an' I mean really play it. But some of these are jus' odd." he walked around for a bit, then turned, smiling at the girl. "You play any of these? Or were you jus' a listener?"

[Elizabeth Edison]

The beast stared at the minstrel when he called her pretty. So he was clearly deranged. Might have been due to the lock up. Maybe.

She started stuffing her mouth with the bacon before looking around, pretending to be more interested in the saxophone on the wall. That had been from a Frenchman who had a distinct talent with his mouth.

As the minstrel pointed to the various instruments he recognised, the beast walked up to one of the instruments that were from Asia. "This is the sitar. It's from India. That is the rebana, the origins are unknown but it's very popular in Malaysia and Indonesia. They use it a lot at weddings. Oh and this is the Gu zheng. Very popular in Chinese folk music. An ambassador's kid...barely three, played this for us one night. Kinda like the harp but you put it on the floor and pluck it."

She went on and on pointing out all the instruments in the room, not really waiting for any input from the minstrel. For a moment, she looked like the little girl before she lost her family, bubbly, chatty and very sweet.

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau followed along, dropping any of his flirtations or sly comments as his interest took over. He listened as the girl described each and every one, pointing at them all. He didn't recognize the instruments by name, but his instincts and knowledge did help to a degree. The only times he spoke were to comment on how impressive a story was, or on how cool looking an instrument was. He walked right behind the girl, his attention riveted.

"It's all really cool," he said, meaning it, and having said some much better things, discussing tone and potential in some of the instruments and wondering if he could play them. "An' I can tell you take care of it an' all," he nodded, looking around. "But ah," he held up a hand, pointing for a moment, "you totally didn't answer my question: you play any of these?"

He gestured around. "Like, you wouldn't happen to be some kinda see-tar master, wouldja now?" he said, pointing at the first instrument she'd described, walking toward it slightly.

[Elizabeth Edison]

Turning when she heard the minstrel's voice pretty close to her, she shrugged when she realised that she hadn't answered his question.

"Well, I can play them, but I'm not a master of them. Except the violin, maybe. And the piano. And the guitar. And a bit of the hand held drum thing from Arabia. Self taught mostly so I don't know exactly how good I am." She shrugged.

She put the tray down, not noticing half of it was already gone, and licked her fingers clean before wiping it on the front of her shirt.

"You wanna try playing some of these? I have these tutorial videos that you could watch so you can learn them."

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau let out a low whistle as the girl listed off all the various instruments she could play. "That's all kinda impressive," he said, nodding. He watched as she set down the tray, before darting over to grab one last piece of bacon and absently chew on it while he watched her for a bit. If it bothered him that she used her shirt as a napkin, it didn't show in the slightest.

"Well, I dunno," he said, stepping toward some of the instruments and looking around, "ain't really sure I could follow one of those video things, right?" Beau paused, looking to the audience, "an' yeah, we jus' kinda shattered the whole time thing. Jus' roll with it," before looking back at the girl.

He gestured with the hand still clutching his bacon piece. "Why don't you show me some of your stuff? After all," he took a bite, chewing while he raised his brows and smiled, "you were sayin' how I was doin' all the singin' an' whatnot. So I figure you'd want your shot to get back."

[Elizabeth Edison]

"I've had about ten years of solitude to kinda hone my craft." She shrugged, not caring that the minstrel was stealing off her tray again. "I'm surprised you're still following the time thing. I dunno mate, this room would not be possible if we were back in the fourties." She shook her head and waved a dismissive hand.

Turning to the minstrel with a raised eyebrow, she considered for a moment before shrugging and pulling down the guitar. She didn't need to tune it since it was obviously already tuned. After strumming a few times, thinking of a song, she finally chose one.

She played her guitar first before she started to sing. The beast didn't look at the minstrel as she played, walking around the room, trying to remember the words to the song.

[Beau LaRoux]

"Ten years eh? You should be a master then," replied Beau, a little of that old tease leaking back into his words. He smiled at her, gesturing for her to take hold of the guitar and all. He then stood back, watching, listening. He couldn't help but note that she didn't take the time to tune, which had to mean that someone, likely the girl herself, kept the thing in tune regularly.

The girl could play, and Beau soon found himself humming, unable to stop. For that matter, his hands had started to twitch, and he looked over at the piano, really considering it. After all, there should've been a solid musical interlude by now, what with the two of them being talented musicians and this being a recreation of Beauty and the Beast and all.

Still, Beau didn't want to interrupt. He just moved over to the piano bench. He slid onto the seat, watching her, waiting. If she wanted him to, he could play to accompany her, but he didn't want to ruin the moment by asking, by tossing mere words into the music that started to fill the room and lift them both up.

[Elizabeth Edison]

The beast noticed that the minstrel had moved to the piano and she wondered if she should let him play with her. The song was ending soon and she didn't quite know when to bring him in so she shrugged and finished the song.

At the last note, she sighed and placed the guitar on the nearest stand and went to where she placed the tray of bacon to steal off it.

"So yeah...that's that."

[Beau LaRoux]

The music finished without Beau getting a cue, which worked alright for him. He waited till the girl finished, putting the guitar away. As she went to get the bacon, he let his fingers play over the keys. They moved by rote, trusting his inner sense of melody to guide it. He just let his fingers go.

"Sounded pretty darn good to me," he said, looking over. "You could make it as a minstrel if you wanted," he winked as he continued. He let his fingers play for a bit, humming before looking back over at her.

"Y'know, I don't think you ever told me yer name an' all. Feels weird to jus' keep thinkin' of you as 'girl' an' all," Beau quirked his brows, tilting his head, "though I guess 'captor' could work too, or bosslady," he smiled teasingly at the girl, letting his fingers dance a quick little bar on the piano.

[Elizabeth Edison]

Laughing at the minstrel's tease, the beast rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I wouldn't last a day outside." She admitted before waving a dismissive hand.

"Huh," she shrugged again and pursed her lips. "I've been calling myself the beast for a hundred odd posts that I just don't know if I should be revealing this information now."

Pondering it for a moment, she laughed and waved a dismissive hand and answered. "It's Liz. Well, Elizabeth because my parents liked old names I guess. I don't. So Liz." She nodded.

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau was tempted to argue otherwise, but he honestly wasn't sure. People in the outside could be mean, and, well, he couldn't say for sure that they wouldn't be to her. Even if she did go outside, she'd need to freshen up a bit first.

Soon he was chuckling as the girl realized that she had, in fact, gone nameless for at least six pages of thread, which was definitely saying something. Or was it five? Not like they put the pages atop when you were writing a response or anything. Beau still waited patiently, hoping they'd at least come to something more usable then "girl."

"Liz, eh? Elizabeth," Beau repeated, tasting the word on his tongue for a bit. He worked his mouth a bit as if tasting something, or potentially getting some of the bits of bacon out from his teeth. "Seems to suit you. You kinda look like a Liz." He nodded and all. "I'm still Beau though, if you wanna use that instead of minstrel an' all. Minstrel ain't really fittin' anymore anyway, what with the records an' Elvis an' all," he nodded toward the records then walked over, looking through them, wondering if there was something else there they could play.

Because yes, music could distract as well a sooth the savage beast.