A Mere Quelque Chose [Active]

[burningamour.livejournal.com]

Character(s): Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts
Content: The servants discuss their progress... or lack thereof.
Setting: Beast's apartment
Time: Evening
Warnings: None

There had been a change in her. A change Lumiere could have never predicted. He was enthralled, amazed, and, well, admittedly a little worried. One could not help but feel such way. Although, Lumiere did suspect that, perhaps, Cogsworth had rubbed off on him. As frightening a thought as that was, it could have been true. The change was indeed good there was no doubt about that. It was more than what they could have ever hoped for. It was the lack there of in him they had to worry about. There had been an unmistakeable change in the Master. The problem was that it had not been at the same rate as that in the girl. Lumiere was patient. The rose, however, was not. There were no second chances.

Resting atop one of the apartments wide and wooden windowsills, Lumiere watched the ongoings on the street below as he patiently awaited the others. He could not recall that last time he had called a meeting among his fellow servants. That too had generally been something Cogsworth would do. These, however, were different times. And, as it would seem, now was as good a time as any for change. Lumiere chuckled to himself, witnessing a citizen be struck in the head by a snowball thrown by another. He could easily imagine doing the same to Cogsworth, Chip at his side as Mrs. Potts scolded them both. But soon he found himself wrapped in another thought; how would it feel to place his hands, not wicks, in the cold snow. Would he ever know that feeling again?

Comments

[stoutteapot.livejournal.com]

Mrs. Potts had noticed the changes and she, too, felt the rose's pull. Each time she thought about it, she was reminded forcefully of how far they had come, how far they had left to go, and how short a time frame they had. The meeting itself wasn't a surprise. The surprise was in who had organized it, though she supposed to herself that she should have been the one to call it. Still, the end result was the same and that was what mattered.

So she hopped on up to where Lumiere stood and sighed. "What are we to do?"

[forpudding.livejournal.com]

Once again he was placed with that one big predicament! That one thing that had been over his back for oh-so-many years- and then a little while longer on his first 'clocknapping'! ... and then now. He didn't know whether now was worse, now that it wasn't his life in jeopardy, but instead his workers- no, his friends. Before, he couldn't have imagined living the rest of his life as a mantle-clock (or at least he couldn't imagine that many years- and not to mention whether they would have lived forever or not), but in present-time? He wasn't sure whether he could live with himself knowing that his friends had not received the same, fortunate fate.

Right now however, he was quite confused as to what Lumiere had called the meeting for! Obviously he wasn't so great at something that a Majordomo would traditionally do... Lumiere could never do Cogsworth's job.

"I personally would like to know what we're actually doing." Firstly, he hadn't been there very long. Secondly, he had been running around the city looking for houses... Cogsworth felt very much 'out of the loop' and was very much annoyed about it. He had guessed that it was about the rose- there were rarely servant meetings about anything else- but he would have liked to know the exact reason, at least.

[burningamour.livejournal.com]

Lumiere rolled his eyes at Cogsworth’s remark, though was thankful he could still rely on the former clock’s predictability. Some things would never change and he was glad for that… at the moment, anyway. “That is something I plan to discuss.” He replied firmly. “You must know an important matter has come to my attention regarding the girl. When last we spoke she mentioned concern for the Master. Though, it had not been in a way I had expected. She has reached out to me, sort to speak. And, of course, I can see why she would choose me over Cogsworth…” he glanced over at the man, a smile across his features. “But I digress.”

“The girl has confessed her feelings for the Master.” The candelabra smiled, pleased to share such news that was sure to fill his fellow servants with the same excitement and joy as it had him. They had waited many long years hoping to hear the words. To finally do so felt like a dream came true. However, behind his smile a lingering shred of worry could be felt. As much as Lumiere would have liked that to have been all, their fairy tale ending, to his misfortune he had more to tell them. He glanced between the others, concern having notably grown present on his face. His smile looked off, significantly more forced by the minute.

[stoutteapot.livejournal.com]

Mrs. Potts shot Cogsworth a pointed look at his words, but he wasn't the only one to be on the receiving end. Lumiere's remarks provoked one as well from the teapot, who thought it would be a miracle if they would ever truly get along. "Come now!" she grumbled, bouncing from where she stood on the windowsill and glaring from one to the other. "What else did she say, Lumiere?"

Somehow, from his words, it seemed like there was more to the story.

[forpudding.livejournal.com]

It wasn't the words that told Cogsworth that there was more, no, it was that expression. Quite often Cogsworth had to detect a hint of something from the candelabra, just to tell if he was up to something- which a lot of the time he was. This expression was one he didn't see as often, but he could certainly see that he was hiding something.

"And?" It wasn't said softly, or calmly; Cogsworth was waiting for bad news.

[burningamour.livejournal.com]

Cogsworth would expect bad news. But, to be fair, Lumiere always expected the opposite; he was optimistic and always determined to find a bright side to almost everything. Cogsworth was usually right to call him stupid for it. Usually. Unfortunately, Lumiere did not feel that same sense of optimism now. He was the last to give up hope but all the same could not help but feel as though they were fighting a losing battle.

“I’m… afraid she has begun to doubt herself.” He said, sadly turning his glance away from the two. “He has not been nearly as bold as we had hoped. What if the girl begins to believe he does not share the same feelings?” Lumiere looked down at the two candles he had in place of hands, the worry he felt having finally grown present in his voice. “I don't understand. Should the spell not already be broken? The Master has learned to love, has he not? And what of the girl, do her feelings in return mean nothing?”

[stoutteapot.livejournal.com]

The downhearted words and way Lumiere spoke them were so unbecoming of him that Mrs. Potts couldn't help the sad droop to her stature and expression. She shook her head, unsure of what else could be done.

"I don't know," she answered sadly. "Has he spoken it to her? Or to anyone? Do you think something here might be preventing it?"

It wouldn't be beyond the realm of possibility to have some sort of sorcery here holding back the true spell on all of them.

[forpudding.livejournal.com]

Cogsworth shook his head and began to pace back and forth, obviously irritated by the whole fisaco. Why couldn't anything just be simple?

"The spell cannot be broken unless they announce it to one another." It was said as a fact. He had been through this all before... Something gave them hope, then it was taken away and then it all worked out in the end. Although this wasn't then... Drat. What if this didn't play out like before?

[burningamour.livejournal.com]

It seemed so obvious. A simple exchange of words was all it would take to set them all free. And yet those three words could not have felt further away. To think falling in love had been the easy part. It was almost laughable. Though, Lumiere had been more than confident that the girl would be ‘the one’ from the start. She would break the spell. Mrs. Potts had heard it countless times from the candelabra, both his excitement and optimism having got the best of him. Getting the two to voice their own feelings regarding the matter, however, was entirely something else.

Lumiere tapped his chin thoughtfully. “We have given the Master our all. The girl, however… Perhaps we would be of better luck to convince her to speak to the Master. Could we have merely focused on the wrong one?”

[stoutteapot.livejournal.com]

"It's possible," Mrs. Potts mused, bouncing a little on the windowsill. This was troubling, to be sure! What if something was hindering them, preventing the two from coming together like they were supposed to? What would they do then? No one wanted to live their lives like this... and not here. But they didn't have much time left before the rose would be fully wilted.

"It's certainly worth trying. We could be supportive of her, ask her if there's anything she needs, perhaps find out what she really feels."

At this point, she was starting to think that almost anything would be better than sitting around worrying about it.

[forpudding.livejournal.com]

Cogsworth stopped pacing suddenly at the words of his fellow servants, a small, excited smile curling up his lips. "The house! That's it- of course, why didn't I think of it sooner... It would be the perfect opportunity to bring them together!" His babbling... He begins to pace again, continuing to explain what his genius idea. "As you should know, the Master sent me on a quest of great importance." Very great importance... to Cogsworth, "And I am quite sure that I've found a suitable place for all of us- Belle included. And that means..." And then mentally he waited for the applause that he so deserved for such an idea.

[burningamour.livejournal.com]

Lumiere could almost hear the gears turning in Cogsworth head as he paced. He waited impatiently for the man to collect his thoughts as he spouted only bits and pieces. Were this not such a serious matter, Lumiere would have gone about his usual teasing, informing the former clock that he needed to work on his English. Instead, he merely gestured for him to go on.

Unfortunately for Cogsworth, the applause would have to wait. Primarily because neither one of the two servants had hands. And while the candelabra had been tempted to mock the man’s sense of great entitlement, he instead shared a blank look with Cogsworth as waited from him to finish his sentence. “That means…?”

[stoutteapot.livejournal.com]

Where Lumiere was floundering, Mrs. Potts understood right away. Her eyes lit up and a bright smile crossed her china face. "Yes, of course! What a wonderful idea!" If they lived together, they'd had more chances to bond and their love would grow stronger. Maybe it would hurry everything up so the spell could be broken in time!

"It means they'd have a greater chance for love to blossom in enough time to break the spell!" she finished, beaming up at Cogsworth. "How soon can they move in?"

My sincerest apologies for my lack of punctuality.

[forpudding.livejournal.com]

"Exactly, Mrs Potts! And then you'll be back to human in no time." As much as he could often be pessimistic, he really could only be optimistic when the plans at hand were his own. And he never expected Lumiere to get such an ingenious plan...

"I expect we can all move in soon, at least. No time frame was given..." If you looked carefully, you could see his mustache twitch a little. He was being made to work without a time frame to work with! It was un-punctual, completely unprofessional andentirely not his own fault (just-in-case-the-Master-asked)!

[burningamour.livejournal.com]

“Being of such ‘great importance’ I am surprised you had not mentioned your findings sooner.” He replied tauntingly. Whether Cogsworth had been given a time frame or not by the Master, the sooner was always better. Unfortunately, they hadn’t the sort of time on their hands where they could sit around, though it seemed much of what they had been forced to do. “Does the Master know you have been resting on such information?”

[stoutteapot.livejournal.com]

"Oh I'm certain he's already told the Master," the teapot informed Lumiere with a pointed look. "Well, the sooner the better, I say!" She bounced once on the windowsill, demonstrating her excitement. This plan... it brought together all their hopes for the Master and Belle. They would be perfect and soon... so very soon maybe they could all be human again... finally.

[forpudding.livejournal.com]

"Lumiere, must I remind you who you are talking to? Of course I have told the Master."

"And then, at the end of it all, you'll have moi to thank for being human again." For a matter-of-fact and for future reference on where to send all of your appreciation.

[burningamour]

“You?” Lumiere stared at Cogsworth. Perhaps the oversized pocket watch was right; maybe he truly did have wax in his ears. He could not have heard that right. “That is impossible! If anyone will be to thank, it is me. It was under my guidance that he won the girls heart.” In the other absents the candelabra had strived to teach their master to be kind, charming and sweep the young mademoiselle off her feet. Everything from speaking poetry to simple manners, Lumiere had all he could to help the Beast become the man, the gentleman, he so greatly longed to be.