bibliophile

Belle was very much aware of Gaston's presence at Astra ( it was hard not to know, the entire town practically mourned his departing to america as if they would never see him again ). She wasn't exactly looking forward to seeing him again, if she was being completely honest, but she knew there wasn't really any plausible way to avoid him altogether while she was here. The man had been everything that infuriated Belle perfectly compressed into one individual that seemed to go out of his way to be around her, after all. Nonetheless, her parents had taught her to be polite and kind, even to those who inadvertedly weren't kind nor polite back to her, so she'd try her best to at least be pleasant. " I'm well. Sorry. " she was quick to shake her head, her shoulders stiffer than ever. " I came through the initiative, the same as you. I got here not too long ago. "

Belle hadn't even stopped to consider maybe the stranger wanted to be left alone, her initial protective instinct ruling over her common sense. She watched patiently, a deep frow settled onto her cherub face, as the blonde walked back and forth, wondering to herself what could have happened. Despite her initial ease at comforting the girl, Belle refuses to pry into her life, so she decides it's for the best if she doesn't ask too many questions. " You don't have to apologize to me, you did nothing wrong. " Belle is quick to point out, her head shaking softly in dismissal of any and all apologies. There was no shame in crying if you felt the need to do so, in Belle's head. Overall, she wasn't one open to judge others. "It's nice to meet you too, Ella. My name's Belle. Belle Livre. " the brunette responds, her hand reaching up to shake Ella's. " Do you come here often? Or is this the first time? " she asked, hoping it would clear the air between them and make Ella more at ease.

Belle was on her way back to her room, a handful of books clutched tight to her chest. It had been another successful trip to the public library; she was as fast of a reader as ever, devouring book after book in a couple of days. She was already befriending the librarian and she couldn't be more pleased, since her recomendations never seemed to fail Belle. She was happily perusing the cover of one of the books she rented when she felt herself bump into someone, making her clutch even tighter to the books to make sure no harm came their way. Thankfully, none of them fell to the floor, though Belle's body did wobble slightly, but there was not enough force to send her to the ground. " I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. " Belle apologized sincerily, finally looking up from her books to come eye to eye with what she had assumed to be a stranger. " Gaston? "

The observatory had been quite high on Belle's list of places she wanted to visit once in Los Angeles. She had spent the whole week before the trip making it, adding place after place like a child writing up their first ever letter to Santa. Her father, ever so helpful and quite giddy himself, helped her along with it, encouraging her to see more that the world had to offer besides her beloved books, even if it seemed out of her comfort zone - hence why some more popular (and crowded) tourist attractions made their way onto the list as well. As the queue moved along, Belle was making a mental note of all her surroundings, hoping to capture everyting neatly in her head so she could tell her father all about it on the phone as soon as she had the chance. If only he could be here with her to experience everything as well. Faintly shaking her head, Belle had to remind herself she was almost thirty now, she really needed to stop craving her father's company as much as she did, didn't she? That's what you get when you don't have many friends to begin with, she supposed. Belle had been so lost in thought that she didn't notice it was her turn until the woman in front of her pointed it out to her. Rather than being mesmerized by the telescope, Belle was more worried by the teary eyed look on the woman's face, her brow furrowing as she decided to step aside in line and allow other to bypass her as she moved closer to the stranger. "Is everything alright?"

Settling in hadn't taken nearly as long as Belle had feared. For one, she didn't exactly pack much with her, she didn't own that many clothes to begin with, neither did she feel the need to buy more. Books weren't a problem either, she always rented books from the local library back home, so she had very few to call her own to bring along - mostly children's books and some of her mother's - but she made sure to store them all neatly in her new room. It was perfect, really. Better than her room back home, but still familiar enough in its design to remind her of home. Belle could already feel the ache in her chest just thinking about her father back home, all alone, but she couldn't let it get to her. He had been the one to encourage her to join the Astranauts, after all. They both knew this was her chance at doing good in this world, just like her mother had. She didn't regret coming here, but she was starting to miss him dearly. Instead of staying in her room moping, Belle decided it was time to finally look around and hopefully find her way into the closest library. She couldn't wait to find out what kind of books they held, considering they had to be at least two times bigger than her small town library back home. With an excited bounce to her step, Belle left her dorm, only coming to a halt when she came across a pile of crumpled paper. " I don't see why not. Did you know there's a sheet of paper crumpled into a ball that was once showcased at the Museum of Modern Art in New York? I read all about it in a book once. "