"Once upon a time..."
In the hidden heart of France, a handsome young prince lived in a beautiful castle. Although he had everything his heart desired, the prince was selfish and unkind. He taxed the village to fill his castle with the most beautiful objects. Then one winter's night...an old beggar woman arrived at the castle, seeking shelter from the bitter storm. As a gift, she offered the prince a single rose. Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the prince turned the woman away. But she warned him not to be deceived by appearances...for beauty is found within.
When he dismissed her again, the old woman's outward appearance melted away...to reveal a beautiful enchantress. The prince begged for forgiveness, but it was too late, for she had seen that there was no love in his heart. As punishment...she transformed him into a hideous beast...and placed a powerful spell on the castle, and all who lived there.
As days bled into years, the prince and his servants were forgotten by the world, for the Enchantress had erased all memory of them… from the minds of the people they loved. But the rose she had offered was truly an enchanted rose. If he could learn to love another… and earn their love in return by the time the last petal fell… the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time. As the years passed… he fell into despair and lost all hope. For who could ever learn to love a beast?
. . .
You may recognize this story as a tale as old as time and a song as old as rhyme. It is known as "La Belle et la Bête" throughout all of France, but to international countries, it is best known as "Beauty and the Beast". First written in 1740 by novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, it was then shortened and published first by author Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont in 1756, and subsequently by Andrew Lang in 1889. What most people may not realize was the influences that gave the story prominence, such as "Cupid and Psyche", "The Metamorphoses of Apuleius" by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis in the 2nd century AD, and "The Pig King" by Giovanni Francesco Straparola. There was a deeper message than the seemingly innocent fairy tale may suggest, seeing as it would serve as a metaphor for the preparation of 18th century girls in arranged marriage and the social changes occurring at the time, but it's never been certain. In any case, it was very popular throughout the world that it's been adapted to death with the emergence of films, books, and stage musicals that have been directly or loosely inspired by the French fairy tale.
Speaking of fairy tales and folklore, there are so many out there that there are too many to count. The classic examples include "Sleeping Beauty", "Cinderella", "Aladdin", "Robin Hood", "Snow White", and "Rapunzel". They too have movie, graphic novel, and big-budget musical adaptations of their own, leading some (if not all) to criticize the lack of originality in the world of storytelling. If you think you know the classic stories of old...we suggest you think again...
. . .
"And they lived happily ever after...or so everyone was led to believe..."
(Friday, November 16th 2012)
(7:00 AM to 12:00 N)
She was one of those people in the everyone section.
Meet Lena Holland, a young French-English woman who lives with her widowed father in upstate New York. She worked at the local library and invented along with him on occasion, having learned both from her late mother. They had moved to America when she was much younger, but the mother remained behind due to a sickness that had spread throughout of Paris. Because Lena and her father were somehow immune to the disease, they were sent to London for quarantine. Not soon after, her mother had passed away from the sickness, leaving both of them heartbroken by the tragedy. However, she vowed not to let it overshadow her for the rest of her life and dedicated her life to her education, with her background in literature becoming her defining trait.
A few years later, they moved to Maine in order to make a new life and path for themselves. Even so, despite her current career as a common curator, Lena couldn't help but wish more than this provincial life of hers. But you would think, considering the events that follow, that she be more careful what she wishes for...
Lena exited her house and walked to her building of work, which was located a few miles away from where she lived. Of course, that didn't mean she knew how to drive, having acquired her driver's license at the meager age of 16. Entering the Villeneuve Library that stood not one, not two, but three stories above the ground, the shop doorbell rang and alerted the shopkeeper of her presence.
"Ah, if it isn't the only bookworm in the town of Storybrooke."
Lena looked up to find a middle-aged London-Indian man slide down a ladder and approach her with a couple of books in his arms. "Good morning, Mr. Bromley."
"Good morning, Lena. So...where did you run off to this week?"
"Two cities in northern Italy. I didn't want to come back. Did you acquire new places to go?"
"I'm afraid not," Mr. Bromley chuckled at Lena's enthusiasm, "Not since yesterday. But you may reread any of the old ones if you'd like. Especially the one with the daring swordfights, magic spells, and a prince in disguise."
Lena in turn chuckled in response. "I doubt I'll find my prince, but that's okay. When taking the persistent calls and encounters of the street into consideration..."
Mr. Bromley's look of concern took center stage for a moment. "Is Mr. Fields bothering you? If so..."
"Yes. He is, but he is honestly the least of my concerns at the moment." Lena handed him a book to return as he shot him a smile. "I wouldn't worry just yet."
His concern assuaged for now, Mr. Bromley smiled in assurance as he walked over to the shelf the returned book belonged to. "I see."
"Now, back to the earlier topic..." Lena picked up a book to examine; it was Beauty and the Beast. "Your library makes the small corners of the world feel big."
"It's my job, Miss Holland, and now..." Mr. Bromley handed her a pile of books to sort and place away, "it's yours."
Lena chuckled as she started working alongside him. Meanwhile outside, a young woman passed by the library on her way to work. She had blonde hair, blue eyes, a grey skirt with a white trim at the bottom, a black bodice over a light grey blouse, a pair of black Mary Janes, and a plain black headband that held her hair back. It was quite an interest set of clothing, but none of the townspeople didn't seem to mind. This made her the perfect candidate to run her own clothing store, the majority of the content of which she made with nothing but a spinning wheel. Her concern of technology malfunctioning in the midst of performing its function was one of her many reasons to rely on the good old-fashioned spinning jenny to make her business go around.
Young Mary Dawson was a simple girl with a simple plan.
Mary entered her store and was immediately greeted with a face of white. Yelping as she jumped a few inches back, she examined the face before her. It was a young woman, roughly ten years her senior with reddish-brown hair and green eyes.
"Mary, darling!"
"Oh! Hello, Miss Weaver!" She recognized the woman as her quasi-business partner and sort-of best friend. "How are you?"
"Miserable, darling, as usual. Perfectly wretched. And please, call me Mia. You calling Miss Weaver makes me feel old already."
There was something about Mia that undoubtedly frightened and intrigued Mary the moment they first met. Said moment involved her being defended by her from a pair of nasty and so-called passion-for-fashion twins; they ended up with a totaled limousine and painted-splattered dresses on the way back to their fancy and expensive mansion. Bless the poor girl they hired this time for their scullery maid. Anyway, Mary and Mia got acquainted rather quickly due to their respective interests in their respective fashion style, with the latter offering to fund the former's normally under-the-radar business. With some persuasion, she agreed and thus commenced a "very" beautiful friendship.
"Oh. Okay then. So... Mia, what brings you to the Sleeping Beauty Clothing Store?"
"There's an upcoming gala in downtown New York. I need you to design a special kind of dress for me. Something bold, something courageous, something...daring."
Mary rubbed her chin in thought of her dress design for her friend, "Well. I have silk, velvet, and fur among other fabrics."
Mia's eyes suddenly lit up in realization as she gasped, "Fur..."
The grin that grew on her face was truly a devilish one, worrying her friend for a moment's notice. "Um, Mia...?"
That snapped her out of her nightmarish trance as she donned a toothy smile again, "Sorry. Yes?"
"So... Fur? Is a fur dress okay with you?"
"Well, it depends on you. Are you up to the challenge?"
"I... I suppose. I never done anything with fur before. I usually favor myself with satin, leather, and wool of the like." Mary walked the counter and retrieve the materials required as Mia watched on, "What time do you need it?"
"A few weeks from now," Mia waved her worries away, "so you can take your time. I'll inform you when. I won't be in town for a while because of a business trip in London, and a last-minute one at that. I swear the people behind this debacle will be poisoned, drowned, or bashed on the head..."
"... I understand," Mary nodded, "I'll get to work right now."
"Like I said, darling, take your time." Mia slipped on a pair of sunglasses and turned tail to leave, "Good day to you, Mary."
"Good day to you, too, Mia." As soon as Mia left the premises, Mary got to work straight away. She retreated upstairs to her work place, clutching the supplies she needed as she took a seat to work her magic. Goodness gracious, as much as I like Mia, she scares me...
As Mia drove in her black-and-white 1971 Stutz Blackhawk back to her manor, she passed by the Zimmerman Mansion. She sneered in disgust and mentally mocked them for giving rich people like them a bad name. This was before she noticed the keypad entry lock on the iron gate. When she did, she immediately pulled her stainless steel Walther PPK/S and immediately opened fire, effectively damaging it in the process. Cackling as she drove off, her gleeful laughter increased tenfold upon hearing their cries of grief and disdain for a mangled piece of private property.
"Ugh, curse that wretched Weaver and her flashy automobile!" Lady Zimmerman muttered under her breath before commenting, "Does she know it cost of half of the $4 million we earned from that charity event to repair ours?" She then turned to her two daughters, who (after being livid themselves) turned white under her wrath, "What did you two imbeciles do to her this time?"
"It wasn't me!" The youngest named Bonnie proclaimed her innocence with her hands flailing about, "I was just following Daisy!"
"Bonnie..." The eldest named Daisy growled at her sister.
Lady Zimmerman pinched her nose bridge, sighed, and shook her head in annoyance. Quickly regaining her posture, she pressed into her earpiece and summoned her ever-so-faithful scullery maid: "Ella...?"
"Ella" in question was a young woman named Deborah Temple, whose nickname was derived from none other than Cinderella. As she traveled back to the mansion with a new keypad in the bag, she passed by a two-story diner and slowed down to glimpse inside. Her friend Aisha Hamilton was waiting tables, cooking entrees, and receiving tips all at once. Sometimes, she wondered how she could possibly multitask at that near-endless rate. Deciding to pay her a visit later on, she continued her trek back to the mansion and passed by the Villeneuve Library on the way there.
Five hours had passed already, and Lena's shift was about to end ten minutes 'til noon. In that timeframe, she had organized the books from letters A to Z, constantly switching back and forth between them at the same time. All there was needed to be organized was the 'O' section. Ten minutes 'til noon, she discovered something...peculiar about one of the books labeled as such. It was a brown leather book with visible scuffs and a gold latch on the opening; because of these details, they absolutely looked nothing like the others on the shelf.
It was now five minutes 'til noon. Glancing around to see if Mr. Bromley or anyone else was here, Lena carefully tucked the book into her satchel just as quickly as she finished organized the remainder of the books on sloppy display. Sliding down the door and standing a few feet away from the shelves to check her work well done (hopefully), she nodded in satisfaction and turned tail to leave.
"Mr. Bromley?" Lena called out for her boss, "My shift has ended. I'm leaving now."
"Alright then," Mr. Bromley himself called out from the back, "Have a nice day!"
"Thank you!"
As Lena exited the library and took a left, it would seem that she took it a little too hard; she was nearly sent crashing down when she unintentionally bumped into another passerby, clouded by her own intrigue by the mysterious book she obtained. Shaking her head and noticing a young biracial woman picking up her belongings, she realized what she had done and bent down to help her, hastily apologizing while at it.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!"
The young woman in question shook her head and waved her apology attempts away, "No, this thing happens. But thank you for helping me out. Lena, right?"
"Yes. How did you..."
"A friend of mine told me about you. The town bookworm, she dubbed you."
"Ha. Librarian, not bookworm. But close enough. It's nice to find out that I'm somewhat famous."
"Ain't that so? Well, since I know you and you don't know me, I should probably introduce myself. My name's Kimberly, and I own/run a jewelry shop named Diamond In The Rough."
"Pleased to meet you, Kimberly. Oh, I must get going; I have errands to run."
"The pleasure's all mine, Lena, and I understand. Though I highly suggest you buy a car. We can't run everywhere."
"No, we can't. See you!"
"See you!"
As Kimberly watched Lena leave, she cocked her head. Why does she look familiar...? She then merely shrugged and walked away. Meanwhile, Lena entered her house as she sat down in her room, opened up her satchel, and pulled out the ominous publication that she stumbled upon in the library. Unhooking the latch, she opened the book and began reading:
"Once upon a time..."