Belle had been trained very early in her Awakening to defend herself without magic. After all, you couldn't exactly count on blasting creeps away with a word and a gesture in, say, a crowded bar or a well-lit alley. Breaking the Veil wasn't worth a quick and easy win.

Dammit!

So it was no surprise that Belle had, in the midst of her travels, invested in a punching dummy. She hadn't unpacked it yet, since she'd been training with Phoenyx...

Dammit!!

But lately she'd been bottling. Which was so antithetical to Belle that it'd been making her sick to her stomach. She'd always worn her heart on her sleeve, for better or for worse. Regardless of whatever trouble...

"FUCK!!!!"

Well...needless to say. Belle was pissed. The last Consilium had left her viciously angry. She'd just stood by and watched as one friend was blown off, another was punished for preventing loss of life, and another talked himself into a hornet's nest. And she'd done nothing. Worse...she'd SAID nothing. And that hurt more than anything else. Almost...

It hurt Belle to see friends get hurt; to see friends fail to live up to potential; to see friends make avoidable mistakes. And to be powerless to change any of it.

"Why??? WHY!!!!!" ​She snarled at the faceless sack of sand and plastic that she struggled to imagine faces on. Faces she wanted to hit...to hurt...to smack into reality. To pummel and bludgeon until...

Then came the voice. That little whisper from the Artifact she'd set on the nightstand while she'd gloved up. They're all WEAK! Petty and small-minded and WEAK! You should teach them a lesson. Damn the Veil! Damn them ALL! Belle's curses congeal into a wordless scream as she slammed her fist into the punching dummy. She shuddered; weeping hot, bitter tears. "I can't...I just...I can't"

She slumped forward into the inanimate vessel of her rage. She hated getting to that point. She hated getting to the point where she could SEE the bloodied faces of people she knew in her fantastical tunnel vision. It had been one of the first lessons in her Awakening. And one of the most bitter...

"Be careful, Maya. The line between thinking and doing is razor thin for us." This voice wasn't from the Artifact. It was from her stepsister. "Someday soon, and maybe sooner than you think, your thoughts may be enough to cause incredible harm..." They'd had that conversation after Belle had said some rather nasty things about another Magi. A not-so-nice Magi. "...so don't forget: save those thoughts only for those who really deserve it. The tyrants. The villains. Because they're out there. And they're way more deserving of your world-breaking anger than some douchebag who gets on your nerves because they had a bad day."

Belle pulled herself up to standing. Her stepsister had been right. And Belle had seen examples after that conversation of Magi who'd been ruled by their anger and paid terrible prices. She sniffled, glad that she was alone aside from the pigeons in the living room. Her step-sister had been right though: even though people made her mad and disappointed her, which would happen for forever, these Magi she knew would never be worthy of that kind of blazing anger she'd fantasized about. At least, I hope not. All she could do for the moment was be there for them. And hopefully set a better example of how to see the best in others at the worst of times.

Belle walked over to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. She wipes her eyes with a Kleenex, takes off her gloves, and puts the Artifact back on her finger. She remembered why she was attracted to the magical ring in the first place. It wasn't a curse: it was an achievement. Because no matter how many times she would hear those voices that encouraged the worst in her, there would be other voices...better voices...to lead her back to the right path.