#( ; ooc ) ( i know!! even if TBA is never to be — i really miss seeing RC on my screen in general )

[therosepetalrps]

『✣』 Belle stood rigid as he spat his parting words at her, hands curled into pettish fists at her sides. She felt like she was more entitled to the dramatic storming-out and door-slamming, but of course, she couldn't flee her own library. She looked at the book he'd tossed haphazardly on the shelf, the pen he'd endearingly asked to keep left behind on the counter, the card she'd dropped into the bin. To an outside observer, nothing was out of place. But to Belle, it felt like a tornado had whipped through and she was left standing among the wreckage. It suddenly felt deadly quiet without his nasally shouting.

She could feel the heat of the argument lingering in her cheeks. I wanted tae fuckin' help ye; I don't want tae fuckin' help anyone! She wasn't sorry for what she'd said — he had deserved it — but the ensuing silence felt uncomfortable and oppressive. It was unresolved. The needle had been flicked off the record, leaving the final note of the song hanging — unfinished.

She slumped down in her squeaky desk chair and rubbed her temples. God, what had even happened here?

✣ ✣ ✣ ✣ ✣

Belle thought little of Danny in the ensuing days. She crumpled the memory of him up like a piece of scrap paper and pushed it to the back of her mind. But then the boxes arrived. A truck pulled up, nearly onto the kerb, and two hulking men unloaded a series of cardboard boxes. Despite her objections, the boxes of old-stock computers and office equipment were stacked along the wall near the children's section — where they had since spent several weeks, acquiring a fine coat of dust.

Belle talked a big game, but she wasn't actually going to relegate perfectly functional electronics to a landfill. She couldn't bring herself to be so vengefully wasteful, despite her anger.

She'd attempted to phone him multiple times — taking his number from his application form — but hadn't gotten through. Maybe Danny's idea of 'business hours' differed from hers. Maybe the obnoxious bastard was scanning caller ID and deliberately ignoring her calls. That's when she started leaving the messages.

ᴩʟᴇᴀꜱᴇ ʟᴇᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ᴍᴇꜱꜱᴀɢᴇ ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇᴇᴩ. ʙᴇᴇᴩ.

❝ 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐎𝐎𝐍, 𝐌𝐑. 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐄. 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐄 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐇, 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐑𝐘. 𝐈 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐈 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄 𝐌𝐘𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐂𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐈 𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍. 𝐈 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐖𝐄 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐊𝐄, 𝐒𝐎 𝐌𝐘 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐘 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐋𝐈𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃. 𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐁𝐈𝐆 𝐌𝐄𝐍 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐗𝐄𝐒. 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐘𝐎𝐔. ❞

ᴩʟᴇᴀꜱᴇ ʟᴇᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ᴍᴇꜱꜱᴀɢᴇ ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇᴇᴩ. ʙᴇᴇᴩ.

❝ 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐎, 𝐌𝐑. 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐄. 𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐄 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍. 𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄. 𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐋𝐄𝐃𝐔𝐌 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐋𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐏𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌 𝐔𝐏? 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐌𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊. ❞

ᴩʟᴇᴀꜱᴇ ʟᴇᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ᴍᴇꜱꜱᴀɢᴇ ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇᴇᴩ. ʙᴇᴇᴩ.

❝ 𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐘! 𝐈 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐑𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐒𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐒! 𝐃𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐈 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐎 𝐃𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐁𝐀𝐃𝐆𝐄𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒? 𝐈𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊𝐒. 𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐒𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐗𝐄𝐒 𝐆𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐁𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘! ❞

ᴩʟᴇᴀꜱᴇ ʟᴇᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ᴍᴇꜱꜱᴀɢᴇ ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇᴇᴩ. ʙᴇᴇᴩ.

❝ 𝐇𝐈, 𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐍, 𝐈 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐈 𝐆𝐎𝐓 𝐀 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐀 𝐅𝐄𝐖 𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐀𝐆𝐎. 𝐈 𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐈𝐙𝐄. 𝐈 𝐖𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐈𝐓 𝐈𝐅— ❞

ᴩʟᴇᴀꜱᴇ ʟᴇᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ᴍᴇꜱꜱᴀɢᴇ ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇᴇᴩ. ʙᴇᴇᴩ.

❝ 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐂𝐀𝐍'𝐓 𝐈𝐆𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐄, 𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐘 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐄. 𝐈'𝐌 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐅𝐔𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐏𝐀𝐋𝐌. 𝐈'𝐌 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐆𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐏 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆. 𝐈 𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐎 𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐘 𝐑𝐔𝐃𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃— ❞

It was around message seven or eight that Belle accepted the fact that she was locked in a battle of wits with an answering machine. It drove her mad. It wasn't even about the stupid computers anymore. It was the principle of the thing. He was taking these boxes back if it killed her.

He wasn't answering her calls. There was no home address on his form. 'Between places', he'd said. Well, that left her with only one option.

The clicking of the woman's heels came from behind the man as he was writing. She was upset, and he could feel the tension from the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. His writing didn't slow down getting everything put in his planner, but her words would hit him hard when she came around to face him again. "No reason to be afraid of me, love." He said low but more to himself than her. Wincing at the sound of the card being tossed in a trash can under the counter. 

Danny wasn't sure why she was upset at him; everything he spoke after told her he didn't care what she was afraid of. That was all to himself; that was all meant for him. "My externalized crisis shouldn't fuckin' concern you." He says before the last bit comes out of her mouth. His eyes twitched at that; she had every right to say that.

"I wanted tae fuckin' help ye; I don't want tae fuckin' help anyone!" Devine spits back at her before tossing the pen from his hand onto the counter. The one she had given him when they were being playful with each other.��

"I'll fuckin' go; I'll just fuckin' go." He repeated pushing himself away from the counter, not wanting to even touch his agenda. "Enjoy your fuckin' books," Danny says, turning as quickly as he had appeared and bolting for the door. The sinking feeling in his chest was ever presented like a weight was being pushed down on him. There was no way he could stay there; he felt like he couldn't breathe.