Reunion of the (used-to-be) Partners

Luci smiled, pushing away the heat rushing to her cheeks once more. She watched curiously as Leo picked up the book-she wondered if he would start reading it again-then set it on the table. Luci, being an orphan who'd never gone to school before now, actually didn't know how to read. Just realizing this, she stared at the book in wonder. She'd never read a book before. 

"What are you reading?" She asked, her eyes still trained on the book.

Leo: This. It's actually a bunch of fairy tales. It's multiple different kinds and multiple versions of each of them. My mom made it for me when I was really young, and it's my favorite book to read. I usually read it at least once a month.

"Fairy tales?" Luci asked, "I don't think I've ever...er..heard any 'fairy tales'." She'd been alone most of her life, and no one had ever told her stories. She'd made up her own, sure, but never the tales of old or the traditional ones. "What are they like?" She asked, scooching forward and sitting on her knees.

Leo: They depend. Ironically enough, most fairy tales usually ended very badly. If you want to see some fairy tales that have a happy ending, usually Disney fairy tales are the way to go. If you want to read them, you can. I don't really mind that much if you do.

Luci's eyes dropped to the couch and she began to chew the inside of her lip nervously. She wasn't sure she knew how to read....She'd heard of Disney though. She remembered seeing advertisements for movies when passing by shops with TV's, but she'd never seen one of them.
 
"Right...uh...." She mumbled, "I can't...exactly..uh...read."

Leo raised an eyebrow, thinking back to when they first met.

Leo: No, you can read, just not that well. I remember you grabbing a fairly easy book to read, plus you would have had to learn some. All the same, if you want to read better, there is no time like the present, now is there?

He handed her his book, giving a small smile.

Luci smiled nervously, taking the book with shaking hands. She did know how to read, just not very well, and big words were difficult to pronounce....the letters seemed to move around on the page, confusing her. But she could try, right? 

"Right.." She mumbled, flipping it open to a random page. It was titled Sleeping Beauty. She pulled her feet up so that the book could rest on her her knees. "S-Sleeping Beauty" she started, her eyes trying to make sense of the words.

Leo leaned back a bit, laying down on the couch. He figured that since it was his book, he might as well listen. He may as well get comfortable as well. He let his eyes go shut as Luci read the book, listening to her carefully.

Luci's eyes narrowed, trying to focus on the words on the page. It took a moment before she could start the first sentence, but then she seemed to get the hang of it, and spoke slightly faster. She stuttered on words fairly often, but found herself enjoying the strange story. It sounded so odd to her, such odd characters. 

As she continued, her voice became more fluent and she spoke more confidently, stammering less often. It intrigued her, this tale of fairies and curses. The part that had the largest effect on her was the bit about a True Loves kiss. She'd actually never heard of this before. When she first came across the statement, she stopped reading. Luci took a moment to think about it, shrugged, then continued reading. She actually became a little bit scared when the evil fairy cast the curse upon Aurora. To die upon touching a spindle would be awful! But the little girl relaxed when the last fairy made it so she would only sleep. 

When she finished, she laid back against the couch and closed the book. 

"That was an...interesting story." She said softly, thinking about it.

Leo: You seemed to enjoy it. And that wasn't too much different from most. Well, kind of. Usually something bad happens to the princess, the prince comes to the rescue, and saves the princess. Everyone lives happily ever after with a marriage in there. It's the basic story of all Disney fairy tales. Most, however, didn't have that happy of an ending.

Luci nodded, chewing on the inside of her lip as she thought about the story. Magic was an odd concept to her, but fairly interesting. It was...strange.That was really the only word Luci could use to describe it. 

"Right, a damsel in distress right?" She joked, crossing her legs again. She offered the book to Leo, unsure of what else to do with it, "So, what's your favorite fairy tale?" She asked curiously, tilting her head.

Leo: Hmm. . . Beauty and the beast. That was the one my mom would read me all the time whenever I couldn't sleep, plus it was my favorite Disney movie. Well, at the very least, that was the one I read the most, so I consider it my favorite.

"Beauty and the Beast?" Luci repeated wonderingly. That seemed like a bit of an oxymoron, but maybe it was just her Fairy Tale-less mind talking, "What's that about? It sounds pretty good." She blinked curiously at Leo, tilting her head. Her hair fell slightly to the side.

Leo: I'll tell you about the Disney version. It starts off with the most beautiful girl in the city, Belle. Belle isn't very well liked, since she really doesn't do much and acts like a free spirit. Her dad goes out one day and is captured by a beast when he rest in his castle. Belle goes into the castle to find him and finds out the story of the beast. He used to be a prince, but after being rude to an old lady who turned out to be a witch, she cursed him into becoming a beast until he can learn to love. His time is up when all of the petals of a rose fall off. Also, his servants are household objects, like clocks or cups. Anyway, Belle takes the place of her dad, and starts to teach the beast the ways of love.

Luci listened silently to his short retelling of the story, frowning at one point. The servants are household objects? How odd....Her brows furrowed as she thought about the story, trying to picture it in her mind, it was kind of difficult but she managed something..similar to what Leo had said. 

"Huh," she said, "Interesting story, I guess..."