Beauty and the Squid

Chapter Two: A Funny Girl?

At last, Squilliam had caught up with (Y/N). He bid her a 'good morning' and complimented her on the book she had. (Y/N) asked if he had read it to which he replied that he hadn't. He was just trying to flatter her. He then handed her the flowers, asking if he could join her and her father for dinner that evening. (Y/N) told him that that evening wouldn't work. He asked if she was busy to which she replied that she wasn't. She just didn't want to have dinner with him. Saying no more, she walked off back home.

Patrick walked up to Squilliam, asking if he planned to move on. Squilliam told him no and that it was always the girls that were hard to get that were always the greatest prey. That's what he liked about (Y/N). She just hasn't become fool enough to gain his favor. While Squilliam found that attractive, Patrick just thought it was basic dignity. But Squilliam became distracted when the models called him over.

Finally glad to be away from Squilliam, (Y/N) hurried back home where she heard the sound of a music box coming from her mother's workshop. Inside, Maddie was looking at the music box shaped like a windmill. The blades spun slowly as the music played. The center even opened up to reveal a scene all too familiar to her. Inside was a small model of a painter painting a portrait of a man and their baby in the bedroom. In the man's hand was a small rose. As Maddie watched the painter's arm move up and down, she sang along to the tune.

'How does a moment last forever? How can a story never die? It is love we must hold on to. Never easy, but we try,' (Y/N) walked in, hearing her sing but didn't dare to interrupt, 'Sometimes our happiness is captured. Somehow a time and place stand still. Love lives on inside our hearts and always will.'

(Y/N) walked out from where she was standing with a plate of bread in her hands. Seeing her, Maddie went back to tinkering with her new invention to make some final touches. Taking apart the bottom of the music box to reach the gears, she tried to ask (Y/N) for a pair of tweezers but (Y/N) was already ahead of her. Maddie took them from her to take a cog out. She then tried to ask her for something but (Y/N) handed her a small cog instead. Maddie tried to say that it wasn't the part she needed until she saw it actually was. She took it from her and put it into the music box. As (Y/N) was starting to declutter her mother's workspace, (Y/N) asked her a question that was playing at her mind.

"Mama, do you think I'm odd?" (Y/N) asked her mother

Maddie was taken slightly aback by her question.

"Odd? My daughter? Odd? Where did you get an idea like that?" Maddie asked her

"I don't know. People talk," (Y/N) explained simply

"This is a small village, you know. Small-minded as well. But small also means safe. Even back in Paris, I knew a man like you who was so... ahead of his time. So different. People mocked him. Until the day they all found themselves imitating him."

(Y/N) knew who her mother was talking about. It was her father. (Y/N) never knew her mother due to her passing away when (Y/N) was just a baby. Maddie never spoke of him often as she was often still in mourning. While (Y/N) respected that, she still wished to know more. Maybe it would help her understand why she felt so different compared to the rest of the village who all saw themselves as normal people.

"Please, just tell me one more thing about him," (Y/N) begged her mother

Maddie turned to the music box as if to change the subject. But looking back up to (Y/N)'s eagerness, she relents.

"Your father was... fearless," was all Maddie said but she could see that (Y/N) wanted to know more, "Fearless."

With that, Maddie closed his music box. Outside of their cottage, Maddie carefully loads her music boxes onto her wagon, as (Y/N) tends to the family's old glue horse, Philippe. Maddie climbed into the wagon and smiles down at her daughter.

"So, what would you like me to bring you from the market?" Maddie asked (Y/N) before she left on her journey

"A rose like the one in the painting," (Y/N) requested

"You ask for that every year!"

"And every year, you bring it."

"Then I shall bring you another. You have my word."

(Y/N) smiled up at her mother before stepping away, letting Maddie leave with Philippe. They bid each other goodbye, saying that they would see each other the next day. Maddie rode away while promising to return with the rose that was requested. (Y/N) smiled while mumbling for her to stay safe. Back inside, (Y/N) wrote on a scrap piece of paper, calculating how much soap she would need to do her and her father's washing. Her mother may be gone for the day but she still had work and chores that needed to be done. Once she calculated the right amount, she ground up enough soap shards for her laundry and put them in a bag.

She then took that and the laundry to a hut at the edge of town with a barrel and pool of water. She put the soap and laundry into the barrel before letting a donkey help spin the laundry around. While she waited, she read her book to pass the time. As this was happening, a little girl who was watching her nearby asked what (Y/N) was doing. (Y/N) explained that she was doing the laundry before asking the girl to come over. She wanted to try and teach the young girl to read. She had a small word book with her to help people who were learning to read.

(Y/N) taught the little girl how to read one of the sentences. Unfortunately, a headmaster and an old woman caught them, seeming disgusted that (Y/N) was trying to teach another girl to read. The headmaster called (Y/N) out on what she was doing, asking if one girl who knew how to read was enough for the village. Believing that they needed to do something, the headmaster and the old woman had three men take (Y/N)'s still-damp laundry and tipped it onto the gravel. Acting quickly, (Y/N) picked up the laundry and started to put it in her basket. Pere Robert even came over to help her, taking pity on her situation.