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musezip · 1 year

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Prologue + Little Town

𝐍𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐆𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 !

Beauty and the Beast au, Eventual Clevarr, Multi-Chap

↳ Catherine Parr, Henry Tudor, Bessie Blount, other characters mentioned, Anna of Cleves

𝐀𝐨𝟑

2.202 words

Once upon a time in the hidden heart of France a beautiful young princess lived in a beautiful castle.

Although she had everything her heart desired, the princess was selfish and unkind.

She taxed the village to fill her castle with the most beautiful objects and her party's with the most beautiful people.

And then one night an unexpected intruder arrived at the castle, seeking shelter from the bitter storm.

As a gift she offered the princess a single rose.

Repulsed by her haggard appearance the princess turned the woman away. But she warned her not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within.

When she dismissed her again the old woman's outward appearance melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress.

The princess begged for forgiveness but it was too late, for she had seen that there was no love in the princess' heart.

As punishment she transformed her into a hideous beast and placed a powerful spell on the castle and all who lived there.

As days bled into years the princess and her servants were forgotten by the world for the enchantress had erased all memories of them from the minds of the people they loved.

But the rose she offered was truly an enchanted rose. If the princess 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 she would be doomed to remain a beast for all time.

As the years past she fell in despair and lost hope.

For who could ever learn to love a beast?

.....

Catherine fixed her dress as she walked out the door, her eyes slowly adjusting to the vastly different light outside.

She took in the still quiet streets, looking up at the town's clock tower, it'd only take about a minute for the quiet to change.

In an effort to fill the silence she started muttering to herself as she went down the steps.

"Little town, it's a quiet village every day like the one before."

Catherine smiled as she went, her gaze still fixed on the clock waiting for the bell to ring inside. "Little town full of little… people."

Her gaze traveled to the windows and laundry lines. "Waking up to say.."

"Bonjour!"

Catherine chuckled as she waved at the people she passed, the streets which were silent and empty now bustling with life in under a second. "There goes the baker with his tray like always. The same old bread and rolls to sell."

Despite her words, she bought a roll of bread and stuffed it into her bag. "Every morning just the same."

She went up to pet one of the horses, the horse attempting to eat the few crumbs on her hands as she smiled brightly. "Since the morning that we came. To this poor, provincial town."

"Good morning Cath!"

Catherine turned around and waved, moving closer to talk. "Good morning monsieur John, have you lost something again?" She asked, a small tease in her voice.

He nodded. "Yes i believe i have, the problem is i can't remember what." Catherine laughed, like every single day.

"Oh well, i'm sure it'll come to me." He said, grinning. Cathy nodded as she turned to wander off.

"Where are you off to?" He asked, getting Cathy to turn around and dig into her bag.

She got out a book, showing off its cover. "To return a book to Edward Burgh, it's about two lovers in Fair Verona."

The other shrugged. "Sounds boring." Catherine giggled, shaking her head as she continued on her journey.

Catherine caught small pieces of chatter as she wandered through the town's large streets.

"Bonjour, good day. How is your family?" Ah Thomas, always trying to woo a new lady.

"Bonjour, good day. How is your wife?" Catherine snickered at that, turning for just a second to see the look on the man's face.

"I need six eggs… that's too expensive!"

Catherine sighed as she continued. "There must be more than this provincial life."

The woman reached her destination, taking out her book and smiling at the familiar sound of the bell ringing, which signified her presence to the man dusting.

Edward smiled. "Ah if it isn't the only bookworm in town, where did you run off to this week?"

Catherine smiled and went to put her book back in place. "Two cities in northern Italy, i didn't want to come back." She turned to him with a bright grin. "So, have you got any new places to go?" She asked.

Edward sighed, shaking his head. "I'm afraid not, but you may reread any of the old ones if you'd like."

Cathy frowned for a second, before spotting one of her favorites and taking it happily. She gave the man a coin as she clutched the book to her chest. "Thank you, your library makes our small corner of the world feel big." She said as she walked out.

"Always a pleasure, bon voyage!"

Catherine smiled and waved. "Bye!"

She immediately opened the book and started reading as she wandered back home, catching a few people talking about her but she couldn't care that much.

She smiled as she reached the flower shops, just in time for her favorite part.

"Oh, isn't this amazing? It's my favorite part because.. you'll see.." She flipped another page. "Here's where she meets prince charming, but she won't discover that it's him till chapter three."

"Look at her, Bessie." Henry Tudor put down his monocular and gave it to the girl beside him. The two stood on a hill a bit away from the village, both on horseback.

"My future wife." He added as Bessie adjusted so she could see as well. "Catherine is the most beautiful girl in the village, that makes her the best."

Bessie pushed down her offense at the comment and gave the man his monocular back. "But she's so well read and you're so.." She bit back the word 'not'. "Athletically inclined."

Henry grinned. "I know, Catherine can be as argumentative as she is beautiful."

"Exactly! Who needs her when you've got us?" Bessie said rather enthusiastically.

"Yes, but ever since the war i've felt i've been missing something. She's the only girl that gives me that sense of.." Henry stopped, trying to find the right words to describe it.

Bessie searched through her mind for a second in an attempt to aid. "Je ne sais quoi?"

"I don't know what that means."

Bessie froze in a moment of confusion before following alongside the man into the village.

"Right from the moment when i met her, saw her. I said 'she's gorgeous!' and i fell." Henry started. Bessie raised a brow as she turned to the three women staring at them walking by.

"Here in town there's only she, who is beautiful as me, so i'm making plans to woo and marry Catherine."

The two dismounted, a few people immediately rushing to their aid with their horses.

The three women quickly ran out of their small boutique to gush over the man, which Bessie had to resist the urge to gag at.

"Oh there he goes, isn't he dreamy? Monsieur Henry! Oh, he's so cute! Be still my heart, I'm hardly breathing!"

Henry spared them a single glance.

"He's such a tall, dark, strong and handsome brute!"

And with that Henry's horse stepped a little too hard in a puddle of mud, sending splashes of it onto the three.

Henry walked away from them, While Bessie quickly rushed over to them. "Never gonna happen ladies." She whispered before she followed the older man.

Catherine still walked through the market while reading, though minding to greet anyone who greeted her. There was still a lot of chatter around her, in fact it was kind of hard to get through the swarm of people.

She closed her book with a sigh as she reached the fountain where she took her chance and tossed a coin in. "There must be more than this provincial life!"

"Just watch, I'm going to make Cath my wife!"

Catherine continued reading again as she walked, now noticing most of the chatter was about her.

"Good morning Catherine!" And as if on cue the many people behind her continued with their day and normal conversations.

She gave a polite smile to the man and closed her book to take part in the inevitable conversation.

"Lovely book you have there." He said, a little hesitant.

Her smile brightened immediately bringing it closer to Henry's view. "Have you read it?"

Henry stopped for a second. "Well, no. But i've read.. books." He handed her the flowers he'd gotten in an attempt to change the topic. "Here, for your dinner table." He said.

Catherine hesitated, but put her book away and took the flowers with a small smile.

"Shall i join you this evening?"

Catherine's smile dropped. "Sorry, not this evening." She said as she slowly backed away.

Henry raised a brow. "Busy?"

Catherine grimaced as she turned around to head for her house. "Not exactly." She said before leaving completely.

Bessie approached, whistling. "Giving up yet?"

Henry hummed. "No, Bessie. It's the ones who play hard to get that are always the sweetest prey." He said.

Bessie sighed, groaning softly.

"That's what makes Catherine so appealing. She hasn't made a fool of herself trying to gain my favor. What would you call that?"

"Dignity?"

"Outrageously attractive, isn't it?"

Catherine let out a sigh of relief as she closed the door behind her, immediate relaxation hitting her as she untensed.

A quiet humming filled her ears, accompanied by the sound of a music box. Catherine smiled softly, wandering to the source of the sound.

She found her mother, humming to herself as she messed around with a music box, one she'd personally crafted to depict her family.

Maud grabbed a tool before she started to sing softly. "How does a moment last forever, how can a story never end?"

Catherine's eyes wandered to a portrait mounted on the wall, one of her as a child with her father. Clearly, she wasn't the only one.

"It is love we must hold on to, never easy but we try." Maud turned back to her work, smiling at the moment it portrayed. "Sometimes our happiness is captured, somehow a time and place stand still. Love lives on inside our hearts, and always will."

Maud looked up, jumping back slightly when she saw her daughter. "Oh! Cath."

Catherine smiled as she came closer.

"Oh, could you hand me a…" Maud stopped to think of the tools name for a moment, while Catherine chuckled and got what she guessed was needed out.

"Oh, thank you." Maud said, getting a giggle out of Catherine as she handed the tool.

"Oh could you get me a.."

Catherine hummed as she searched again before showing what she thought Maud had needed.

Maud smiled but shook her head.

"Oh wait, yeah that is.. what i need. "Thank you, love." Maud said, smiling sheepishly. Catherine laughed softly.

She hummed in thought as she watched her mother work.

"Mama, do you think i'm odd?" She asked quietly, maybe the chatter had gotten more to her then she'd initially thought. Maud raised a brow.

"Odd? My daughter? Odd? Where did you get that idea?" Maud asked, a hand on Catherine's knee in comfort.

"I don't know. People talk." Catherine shrugged. Maud huffed.

"This is a small village you know, small minded as well. But small also means safe."

Before Catherine could add anything, Maud continued. "Even back in Paris i knew a boy like you. He was so.. ahead of his time. So different. They all mocked him, until the day they all found themselves imitating him."

Catherine listened intently, taking her mothers hand in her own. "Could you tell me more about him?"

Maud nodded softly. "Your father was…. Fearless."

Catherine smiled, squeezing her mothers hand.

Maud looked her up and down for a second before getting her own smile. "Fearless."

She took her hand back in order to close up her music box and put it away. "So.. what can i bring you from the market?"

Catherine hummed. "A rose." She responded. "Like the one in the painting."

Maud laughed. "You ask for that every year."

Catherine chuckled and pressed a kiss to her mothers cheek. "And every year you bring me one."

Maud returned the kiss before she continued. "And i shall bring you another one. You have my word."

Catherine followed her mother outside after an extensive routine to check if she had everything she needed.

Maud mounted the family's mare, Catherine going up to give it a treat in the form of an apple as she did.

"Bye, Mama." She exclaimed as her mother rode off, Maud immediately waving back.

"I'll see you tomorrow!"

Catherine smiled as she watched her mother ride away. The moment she lost sight of her she turned and got back into the house.

A pile of laundry awaited her inside. Right yeah she still had to do that.

Catherine examined all the supplies in the room.

Or… maybe.

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perfectlyyoungtimetravel · 2 months

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Tech and innovation Tuesdays

Today I drew Bessie Blount Griffin. She was born on November 24th in 1914. In Hickory (Now Chesapeake), Virginia. She unfortunately had to discontinue her elementary education in the 6th grade, but later she earned a GED after her family moved to New Jersey. She studied nursing at the Community Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Newark, while they were developing a passion in the field of physical therapy (although the profession was not formalized and established until her her birth).She attended Panzer College of Physical Education (now Montclair State University) and Union County Junior College (Union County College now) where she would obtained certification in physical therapy. As one of the few African American physical therapists at the time, she blended her interpretive dance, her hobby, to enhance her patient's treatments.Unfortunately the World War II, thousands of American soldiers in need of physical therapy as they returned to the US. Bessie practiced at various veterans' hospitals restoring physical function to wounded soldiers (since mostly of them became amputees due to their injuries). Recognizing that much of the equipment in use at the time was not really great, Bessie found innovative ways to rehabilitate her patients. In particular, she helped arm amputees compensate by teaching them to use their feet. She also created a food receptacle equipped with an electrical motor that propelled food through a protruding tube which was inserted into the patient's mouth as they were sitting upright,it was called 'Portable Receptacle Support' to which she received patent for on April 24th in 1951. 3 years later after she filed her patent and that same year she got married to Thomas Griffin and the two would have a son called Philip.In 1952. The French Government purchased the patent rights of the Portable Receptacle Support and they put it into widespread use in military hospitals across the country and in some of its colonies. This ingenious apparatus positioned her as one of the earliest inventors in the burgeoning field of physical therapy.Bessie also invented a disposable cardboard emesis basin, a device that is still standard in Belgian hospitals today. In 1953. She was the first black woman to appear on the tv program 'The Big Idea' which exposed her inventions to a popular audience. In 1969. Bessie began a second career in forensics as a chief examiner for police department in Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia. She was also the first American woman admitted as a student at the Document Devision of the Metropolitan Police Forensic Science Laboratory in London, England (specifically Scotland Yard) in 1977. She maintained a private practice as a consultant to law enforcement and law firms on legal strategy and procedure until 1983. Bessie also enjoyed a brief stint in journalism, she made breakthroughs in research in medical graphology, she held high ranking memberships in numerous respected organizations and she was even an outspoken advocate of equal rights for the marginalized. She was bestowed several honors in her lifetime, including the New Jersey Joint Legislative Commendation.Bessie died on December 30th in 2009. In Newfield,New Jersey from old age.

If it weren't for her, amputees would face even more difficulty in life.

#Blm #black history month #Tech and innovation Tuesdays #Bessie Blount Griffin

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