storypaint (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
storypaint) wrote2009-01-12 11:05 am
storypaint) wrote2009-01-12 11:05 am
Applying Yourself (Mulan & Belle)
Title: Applying Yourself
Length: 1255 words
Fandom: Beauty and the Beast/Mulan(/Tarzan/The Incredibles/The Little Mermaid): college students AU (Disney Hall)
Pairing/characters: Mulan and Belle gen
Rating: G
Warnings: n/a
Prompt/challenge you're answering: no_true_pair: Belle and Mulan -- I've traveled the world and the seven seas / everybody's looking for something
Excerpt: Belle was definitely thrilled to meet new people. She was at Mulan's door when Mulan emerged the next day. Her hair was tucked into a business-like ponytail, but she was wearing another sky-blue button-front and a bright smile.
It was her first day and the crowds were ridiculous. Mulan had never seen anything like this back home. She stood still in the sea of humanity and just looked.
She wasn't scared, really. She'd been dreaming of college for ages. She just didn't know where to begin.
"Need some help?"
The speaker was a dark-haired girl. Her blue button-front shirt had the college logo on it, and a nametag.
"I'm Belle!" the nametag proclaimed with enthusiasm.
"I was looking for Disney Hall," Mulan said, and the girl smiled brightly.
"I can take you right there-- it's my dorm too. I'm getting off shift as a new-student aide right now, anyway. Just finished first orientation."
"I wouldn't want to cause you trouble," Mulan said.
"Nonsense," Belle replied, offering her hand to shake. "My name is Belle, and I'm a student!"
Mulan didn't think too much about the introduction until she'd met the rest of the people on her floor. (Belle turned out to be her RA, which she clearly found thrilling.) She was the youngest; most of the others were sophomores and juniors.
Megara was a junior art major, Ariel was a sophomore studying Spansih, and Jane was also a sophomore, majoring in biology. The rest of the names and faces escaped her, but she was sure she'd learn them in time.
"Belle's thrilled to have a freshman here," Violet, her roommate (pre-law), confided as they prepared for bed that night. "She loves new people."
"Oh?" Mulan said absently, shelving the few books she'd brought from home. "You know, she never did tell me... what's her major?"
"I think it's English this year," Violet said with a fond laugh, and thought Mulan found her phrasing unusual, she didn't ask any more questions.
*
Belle was definitely thrilled to meet new people. She was at Mulan's door when Mulan emerged the next day. Her hair was tucked into a business-like ponytail, but she was wearing another sky-blue button-front and a bright smile.
"Walk you to class?" she offered, taking Mulan's books before she could protest. The trek across campus was highly educational. Belle seemed to know every shortcut and every teacher they passed, chatting amicably in-between greetings about the class Mulan was going to take, an English class that had a particularly picky professor.
"She hates adverbs, so leave them out and you'll be fine," Belle told Mulan, handing her books back to her, and Mulan just nodded, reeling from information overload.
Belle waved cheerfully and rounded the corner to catch her own 9:30AM Tuesday class, and Mulan watched her go.
*
She'd been at campus for two months before she heard the rest of Belle's story. Though the girl frequently dropped by to offer homework help or an afternoon's distraction, she didn't talk about herself very much. She talked about the world, holding court on a number of subjects; she seemed to be an expert on all of them. The liberal arts education, Mulan figured. Clearly, Belle loved to learn.
"So you guys think Belle will apply for graduation this year?" Violet asked the room. She, Mulan, Megara, and Jane were sitting in the common area, piecing together an old puzzle they'd found in someone's closet, in lieu of anything better to do.
Mulan looked up from her search for the edge pieces and watched as Megara yawned lazily and said, "She usually does, doesn't she?"
"She didn't my freshman year," Violet said.
"She didn't have enough credits for History, I think," Jane said, shaking her head and dipping into the box for pieces of the sky.
"I thought she was an English major?" Mulan said curiously, and the other three looked at her and laughed.
"I forgot you were a freshman," Meg said as confusion broke across Mulan's face. "You don't know how Belle is."
"What do you mean?" she asked, as the Greek girl rose to her feet, stretching lazily.
"Belle's been here for... hmm, eight years, is it now? She doesn't want to graduate, so she changes her major every couple of years. The college doesn't care as long as she pays tuition."
"Eight years?" Mulan said, gasping.
"Isn't that what Phillip told us, Jane?" Violet said, turning to her. "He was the grad student for our freshman seminar. He went to high school with her."
"Yeah," Jane said, piecing together a couple of puzzle pieces. "He told us everyone thought she was strange back home."
The conversation veered off after that to a discussion of grad students, but as she fished through puzzle pieces, Mulan thought about Belle. She couldn't imagine being a student for that long without a goal in mind. She admired Violet's persistence in pre-law.
A few weeks later, the thought still coming to mind, she decided to pay a visit to Belle. The girl was thrilled, as usual, for company, and gestured Mulan into her room, offering her a seat on her bed.
As an RA, Belle had no roommate, so Mulan looked around the room with a new eye. Books-- there were books everywhere, piled carefully next to the desk and slotted into bookshelves. Mulan had never seen such a variety of subjects, and she suspected one could watch the development of Belle's interests just by studying the strata. Women's Studies, Math, History, Russian, English...
"How can I help you, Mulan?" she asked, sinking into her desk chair. Above her, on the bulletin board, Belle had tacked a periodic table of the elements, a diagram of the human body, and the complete list of Shakespeare's plays.
"I was just wondering," Mulan began, "how difficult it is to change your major. The other girls told me you'd done it before, so I thought I'd ask your advice."
"Eighty percent of college students change their major at least once," Belle told her. "Have you decided that computer science isn't for you? The earlier you transfer majors, the less credits you lose when they don't apply to your new one."
Mulan had decided nothing of the sort, but she continued. "Why'd you change yours?" she asked innocently. "What do you want to do when you graduate?"
Belle blinked, and then shrugged. "Whatever," she said. "I don't think about it much."
"But isn't that the point of college, really?"
"I just want to learn," Belle said. "I just want to learn..."
She bit her lip and turned toward the desk, lifting papers like she was looking for something. When she found it, she got up and handed the page to Mulan.
"I, uh, I had an extra form. I can help if you'd like," she said, lacking her usual enthusiasm. Mulan rose and the two of them looked at each other or a long moment before Mulan headed for the door.
"It's okay not to know what you want to do," she said, trying to sound reassuring.
"Of course," Belle said, a little sharly, and that was all.
*
Mulan did transfer once that year, out of the difficult English class, and she ran into Belle in the registration and counseling office. Belle fingered her shirt color a little shyly and said, "I want to teach math to second-graders."
"Sounds wonderful," Mulan said. "I think I'm going to be a cubicle monkey. I can't resist the free coffee."
"I'll treat you to one if you don't have to be somewhere next," Belle offered, and the other girl smiled.
"You can tell me about the second-graders," she said, falling into step beside Belle, as they walked through the hallowed halls of education.
Length: 1255 words
Fandom: Beauty and the Beast/Mulan(/Tarzan/The Incredibles/The Little Mermaid): college students AU (Disney Hall)
Pairing/characters: Mulan and Belle gen
Rating: G
Warnings: n/a
Prompt/challenge you're answering: no_true_pair: Belle and Mulan -- I've traveled the world and the seven seas / everybody's looking for something
Excerpt: Belle was definitely thrilled to meet new people. She was at Mulan's door when Mulan emerged the next day. Her hair was tucked into a business-like ponytail, but she was wearing another sky-blue button-front and a bright smile.
It was her first day and the crowds were ridiculous. Mulan had never seen anything like this back home. She stood still in the sea of humanity and just looked.
She wasn't scared, really. She'd been dreaming of college for ages. She just didn't know where to begin.
"Need some help?"
The speaker was a dark-haired girl. Her blue button-front shirt had the college logo on it, and a nametag.
"I'm Belle!" the nametag proclaimed with enthusiasm.
"I was looking for Disney Hall," Mulan said, and the girl smiled brightly.
"I can take you right there-- it's my dorm too. I'm getting off shift as a new-student aide right now, anyway. Just finished first orientation."
"I wouldn't want to cause you trouble," Mulan said.
"Nonsense," Belle replied, offering her hand to shake. "My name is Belle, and I'm a student!"
Mulan didn't think too much about the introduction until she'd met the rest of the people on her floor. (Belle turned out to be her RA, which she clearly found thrilling.) She was the youngest; most of the others were sophomores and juniors.
Megara was a junior art major, Ariel was a sophomore studying Spansih, and Jane was also a sophomore, majoring in biology. The rest of the names and faces escaped her, but she was sure she'd learn them in time.
"Belle's thrilled to have a freshman here," Violet, her roommate (pre-law), confided as they prepared for bed that night. "She loves new people."
"Oh?" Mulan said absently, shelving the few books she'd brought from home. "You know, she never did tell me... what's her major?"
"I think it's English this year," Violet said with a fond laugh, and thought Mulan found her phrasing unusual, she didn't ask any more questions.
*
Belle was definitely thrilled to meet new people. She was at Mulan's door when Mulan emerged the next day. Her hair was tucked into a business-like ponytail, but she was wearing another sky-blue button-front and a bright smile.
"Walk you to class?" she offered, taking Mulan's books before she could protest. The trek across campus was highly educational. Belle seemed to know every shortcut and every teacher they passed, chatting amicably in-between greetings about the class Mulan was going to take, an English class that had a particularly picky professor.
"She hates adverbs, so leave them out and you'll be fine," Belle told Mulan, handing her books back to her, and Mulan just nodded, reeling from information overload.
Belle waved cheerfully and rounded the corner to catch her own 9:30AM Tuesday class, and Mulan watched her go.
*
She'd been at campus for two months before she heard the rest of Belle's story. Though the girl frequently dropped by to offer homework help or an afternoon's distraction, she didn't talk about herself very much. She talked about the world, holding court on a number of subjects; she seemed to be an expert on all of them. The liberal arts education, Mulan figured. Clearly, Belle loved to learn.
"So you guys think Belle will apply for graduation this year?" Violet asked the room. She, Mulan, Megara, and Jane were sitting in the common area, piecing together an old puzzle they'd found in someone's closet, in lieu of anything better to do.
Mulan looked up from her search for the edge pieces and watched as Megara yawned lazily and said, "She usually does, doesn't she?"
"She didn't my freshman year," Violet said.
"She didn't have enough credits for History, I think," Jane said, shaking her head and dipping into the box for pieces of the sky.
"I thought she was an English major?" Mulan said curiously, and the other three looked at her and laughed.
"I forgot you were a freshman," Meg said as confusion broke across Mulan's face. "You don't know how Belle is."
"What do you mean?" she asked, as the Greek girl rose to her feet, stretching lazily.
"Belle's been here for... hmm, eight years, is it now? She doesn't want to graduate, so she changes her major every couple of years. The college doesn't care as long as she pays tuition."
"Eight years?" Mulan said, gasping.
"Isn't that what Phillip told us, Jane?" Violet said, turning to her. "He was the grad student for our freshman seminar. He went to high school with her."
"Yeah," Jane said, piecing together a couple of puzzle pieces. "He told us everyone thought she was strange back home."
The conversation veered off after that to a discussion of grad students, but as she fished through puzzle pieces, Mulan thought about Belle. She couldn't imagine being a student for that long without a goal in mind. She admired Violet's persistence in pre-law.
A few weeks later, the thought still coming to mind, she decided to pay a visit to Belle. The girl was thrilled, as usual, for company, and gestured Mulan into her room, offering her a seat on her bed.
As an RA, Belle had no roommate, so Mulan looked around the room with a new eye. Books-- there were books everywhere, piled carefully next to the desk and slotted into bookshelves. Mulan had never seen such a variety of subjects, and she suspected one could watch the development of Belle's interests just by studying the strata. Women's Studies, Math, History, Russian, English...
"How can I help you, Mulan?" she asked, sinking into her desk chair. Above her, on the bulletin board, Belle had tacked a periodic table of the elements, a diagram of the human body, and the complete list of Shakespeare's plays.
"I was just wondering," Mulan began, "how difficult it is to change your major. The other girls told me you'd done it before, so I thought I'd ask your advice."
"Eighty percent of college students change their major at least once," Belle told her. "Have you decided that computer science isn't for you? The earlier you transfer majors, the less credits you lose when they don't apply to your new one."
Mulan had decided nothing of the sort, but she continued. "Why'd you change yours?" she asked innocently. "What do you want to do when you graduate?"
Belle blinked, and then shrugged. "Whatever," she said. "I don't think about it much."
"But isn't that the point of college, really?"
"I just want to learn," Belle said. "I just want to learn..."
She bit her lip and turned toward the desk, lifting papers like she was looking for something. When she found it, she got up and handed the page to Mulan.
"I, uh, I had an extra form. I can help if you'd like," she said, lacking her usual enthusiasm. Mulan rose and the two of them looked at each other or a long moment before Mulan headed for the door.
"It's okay not to know what you want to do," she said, trying to sound reassuring.
"Of course," Belle said, a little sharly, and that was all.
*
Mulan did transfer once that year, out of the difficult English class, and she ran into Belle in the registration and counseling office. Belle fingered her shirt color a little shyly and said, "I want to teach math to second-graders."
"Sounds wonderful," Mulan said. "I think I'm going to be a cubicle monkey. I can't resist the free coffee."
"I'll treat you to one if you don't have to be somewhere next," Belle offered, and the other girl smiled.
"You can tell me about the second-graders," she said, falling into step beside Belle, as they walked through the hallowed halls of education.