Beauty and the Moon

[Bobbie]

Somehow, the calmer Gabriel was in his response, the more it frustrated Danielle. It wasn’t that she was specifically trying to irritate and provoke him just for the sake of getting a reaction out of him, but it felt dismissive to have her bark disregarded with what seemed like such little effort.

The sly professor then took full advantage of the situation to take the lead in their dance while she was drawn closer by her own little mishap. Danielle tried to speed up her pace to not only keep up with him but also take the lead back, but the steps he was guiding her through now were more complex than the last ones and a bit more challenging to get ahead of, so the lead remained his throughout the next couple of turns. All the while, his dance partner had a terrible sulk on her face as she refused to look at him.

When he began to whisper, however, she glanced at him, and then away from him again. “Flattering me now? I’m not blinded that easily with kind words, you should know by now.” She rolled her eye, but although she wouldn’t admit it, she did appreciate the compliment. This was, in fact, extremely difficult for her. She was functioning in very foreign attire and taking steps that she had only rehearsed the counterpart to.

Mentioning Rosalina, however, had a different effect. Her harsh features softened as her cheeks became flushed, her gaze lowering. “Rosalina would be the one who makes it wonderful, not me…” she muttered in a hushed tone and with a hint of sadness, yet, the moment she spent thinking about her beloved was enough to bring a gentle and astonishingly graceful smile to the tomboy’s face. “She looked absolutely amazing in the last dance that we had together. She wore this beautiful light blue dress with pleats and ribbons on it to match with one she wore in her hair. It was gorgeous.” Danielle shook her head lightly as she remembered the moment she was dragged onto the dance floor by Rosalina, “She loves dancing and simply wouldn’t settle for sitting out on a single one, even when her feet were killing her and she could barely keep standing anymore. I had to carry her home by the end of the night and she fell asleep in my arms.”

Any thought of Rosalina seemed to make the boyish treasure hunter happy - so happy, that it might even look like she was enjoying their dance to anybody with an outside perspective.

That all washed away when Gabriel proposed a deal in his attempt to get her to relax and a frown once again plagued her face. It was an interesting deal that she could easily see as a win-win situation. It’s not likely that I am going to end up enjoying any part of this, not really, so in that case I get to spend a week with an entire thirty dogs! If they were anything like Beast, that sounded like heaven - if not, it still sounded like heaven to her. If, by some miracle, I do find myself enjoying-

Her thoughts were interrupted as she felt her arm being raised higher by the hand as Gabriel raised his. She was so lost in thought that for a moment, she almost didn’t resist as she barely noticed what he was doing, yet now that she had, she could only glare at him.

“I’m not doing a spin.” She forcefully brought both their arms back down. “It’s not my part, but you can lead without it, and when this terrible ordeal is over, I will enjoy every second of that week with all thirty ‘fluffy angels’ because I can already tell you from now that I won’t enjoy the whole night, not even a little bit.”

---

Danielle: #fffd17

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #9

Amused by her response, Gabriel smiled.

“I am not trying to win you over by sweet words. I was honest there.”

He fell silent, as Danielle became lost in her memories of Rosaline, letting her to dream about what seemed to be the happiest moments of her life without an interruption. She deserved it, a moment of happiness after all these traumatic moments she went through because of him.

“You know…”

Gabriel smiled, feeling privileged for the opportunity to witness the softer side of this otherwise grumpy treasure hunter.

“for what it´s worth, I really hope it works out for you. Love as pure as yours deserve the happy ending.”

As she refused to go for the spin, the Professor took it in his stride, pulling her back closer to himself, continuing through several other steps. He had no reason to force her into parts she didn´t want to go through as even the fact, that she agreed to their little bet was a great win for him.

“That´s fair, I won´t force you to do anything.”

He nodded, going back to the basic box step, giving Danielle time to relax and get used to the rhythm of his steps before introducing any more complex figures again.

“But you know, after you´ll win our bet, will you be truly able to enjoy the spoils of your victory knowing, that you didn´t experienced this night to its fullest? That perhaps, if you really let go, you could enjoy it?”

With that Gabriel raised her hand one more time. He wasn´t forceful, he didn´t want to try to impose his will on her. It was an offer. One she could either accept or turn down without any consequences and for once, the Professor was really curious what she will chose.

[Bobbie]

Danielle couldn’t help feeling somewhat embarrassed by his kind response to what she described as a perfectly splendid night with the love of her life, and while her features remained soft, she couldn’t bring herself to look at him. “Thank you…” she uttered, quietly, as the noble Professor extended his good wishes to her and her love story.

It was pure love. Danielle knew this with every fibre of her being, she loved Rosalina and nothing else in the world mattered more to her.

As Gabriel took her refusal to spin so elegantly, she was grateful that he didn’t press on with such a silly notion. Of course, it might have seemed like the natural thing to do to anybody on the outside, seeing Danielle all dressed up and clearly fulfilling the role as the female companion in this dance, but this was all very foreign to the treasure hunter. It wasn’t necessarily the case that she didn’t consider herself able to fill this role, it was simply less comfortable for her than it seemed to be for any of the women present... perhaps excluding Sigrid. Not once had she even thought about identifying herself as anything but a woman, yet somehow everything just fell into place even when she didn’t.

For the rest of their conversation, Danielle remained silent, staying close to Gabriel as they waltzed and finally relaxing a little bit. It was extremely odd to her, yet there was something about him that was reassuring - or perhaps it was the image in her mind of her sweet Rosalina.

However, all of that seemed to be cast away as Gabriel raised her hand once more. She had heard what he said, though she hadn’t responded to any of it. Their hands both raised, locked together with a bit of distance between them as she let go of his shoulder, she once again glared at him in disbelief that he had the audacity to actually try this again.

Her body resumed its rigid manner and refused to move, until she let out a soft sigh and glanced around seeing so many other women turning under their partner’s arm. He did have a point, the dance seemed to be such a critical part of this entire event, and she had never actually experienced an underarm turn before. If not for her own principles, it did not look too horrible. Besides, Rosalina’s done so with her too, and she always seemed to enjoy it so much, so surely it couldn’t be that bad… Turning back to face her waltz partner with an irritated frown, her lips parted, about to spit out more words of protest, but a groan was all that came out instead and her eye rolled in its socket.

“Fine.”

Being careful of her footing, she hesitantly turned underneath the bridge formed by their arms joint at the hands, before she returned to be close to him again. “Are you happy now? Full experience has been had, and guess what - I did not enjoy it.”

---

Danielle: #fffd17

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #10

With how tensed she was Gabriel seriously doubted that Danielle will let him to lead her through the spin, but to his surprise she did it in the end. Reluctantly, but still, she did it.

“Yes, I am, thank you.”

The Professor smiled gently, supressing sudden urge to pat her head and tell her that she was a good girl. He put his hand around her waist again, leading her through several other figures before the music stopped.

“Thank you for the dance. It will be a memory I will truly cherish.”

Gabriel raised her hand and hinted a kiss as the etiquette commanded, before offering her his arm, to lead her back to the tables. On the stage a singer was preparing for her solo hinting, that there was a panned pause before another dance.

There, the Professor offered Danielle a refreshment, before leaning with his back against one of the tables. From the outside, it looked like if he was really enjoying the opera aria, the woman sang for them, but in fact he was watching the guards moving in the shadows. Their numbers and especially the way they moved and acted, as if he was trying to judge the level of their skills based on the way they were walking around.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, he turned back to Danielle offering her a warm smile, while the singer was showing them how high her voice could climb.

“You know, I still remember my promise, that we will have only the first dance, and my word in this matter still stands, but I really enjoyed dancing with you, and I would feel honoured if you would agree with another one.”

It was a sincere request, but still a request. One that could be turned down without any consequences.

[Bobbie]

In response to him thanking her for the dance, all Danielle could offer was a grumpy little hum, followed by one more eye-roll at the gesture of kissing her hand.

“Well, that’s good I suppose because it’s not going to happen again.” She grumbled before taking his arm to walk back to the tables. Her grip on his arm was a bit tighter than it had been earlier, which could mean either, or both, of the following two things: she was either slowly starting to trust him more, or she was simply tired of being in heels and leaned on more support than she needed before.

Once they reached their table, Danielle graciously took the refreshment that was offered her and she leaned against the table beside Gabriel with a soft sigh. Her attention was divided between the singer on stage and the rest of the crowd, trying to gauge how much sneaking would be necessary and how possible this task would prove to be while she assumed Gabriel was simply enjoying the singing. 

While she was deep in focus, lost in her own scheming thoughts, Gabriel’s voice suddenly came out of nowhere, causing her to flinch before she turned to look at him in surprise.

As he made his outrageous request, Danielle stared at him for a moment, a mixture of embarrassment, annoyance, and confusion on her face, perhaps not in equal parts.

“Why?” She blurted out with a hint of a laugh, a sceptical eye fixed on him as it narrowed slightly, her facial expression twisting into one of sheer puzzlement now. “We were bumping into each other half the time and arguing about who should lead.” The notion that this man actually enjoyed dancing with her was one that she couldn’t understand, although it was a flattering surprise. “Do you actually mean you want to go again, just for fun?” she asked for further confirmation to try and get some clarification on the matter, “There isn’t even any waltz music playing anymore, what do you propose we dance to?”

Danielle didn’t need an excuse to say no. Whether she had a valid reason to do so or not was quite irrelevant, if she said no for any reason, then it was clear that her answer would be a no, yet it was somehow more difficult than she thought it would be… not because she felt obliged, but rather because a part of her was curious…

She shifted her weight and looked away from him, sipping her drink to distract her mind from her sore ankles.

“I don’t know any other classical dance that would fit such an occasion,” she muttered her excuse, quietly, scanning the crowd again. How much longer would it be until she could get those paintings? If they didn’t press on with the plan soon, Danielle feared the worst… she might actually end up enjoying the night with this man…

---

Danielle: #fffd17

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #11

Hearing Danielle´s answer, Gabriel laughed in response. Not because he would be mocking her, but from the pure amusement.

“You won the heart of the most amazing woman in the world, and you are surprised I find your company enjoyable?”

He asked, taking a sip of water he found in the sea of alcohol, before getting more serious again.

“But yes, if you need to know, I would like to dance with you again because it was fun, even though we were bumping into each other half of the time.”

The Professor smiled. He wasn´t arguing about the music, as the current song wasn´t really suitable for a dance, but the singer was slowly finishing her solo and something was telling him, that the next one will be for dancing again.

“You know you don´t have to worry about that. I can lead. And I am sure, Rosalina would appreciate if you returned a better dancer than you left.”

As he finished the singer was slowly clearing the stage and so the Professor moved so he would face Danielle, reaching towards her with his left hand.

“So, would you like to dance with me again?”

Just as he asked the first tunes of the next song reached to him, causing the muscles at the back of his neck to stiffen. Although nothing could be read on his face and not even from the soft rhythm of his breath, Gabriel realized that he should probably wait for the song before asking her. Por una Cabeza, a tango. That was one h*ll of a dance for someone who wasn´t feeling comfortable in dancing the women´s part not just a five minutes ago. But with his honor and pride on the line, he couldn´t back off after asking her to dance. Perhaps, just this time it would be better if she refused?

[Bobbie]

“Yes, that does surprise me…” she mumbled, quietly, not necessarily meaning for him to hear her. It was a generally unpleasant experience, save for perhaps a few moments here and there, and she assumed that he felt the same way.

As he put forward his new proposition, however, Danielle had to consider it. If she could learn a new dance to impress Rosalina with later on, that would certainly be a win… the question was could she learn anything by watching Gabriel while she herself would be quite preoccupied with keeping up on her part? The next very important question that she needed to think about was whether she could stand for him to lead again. This elicited a bit of a glare in his direction which seemed to form without Danielle’s even knowing, as she despised the very idea of it.

However… it was worth noting that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and Gabriel was definitely a good dancer, better than herself.

Danielle hesitated at his invitation as the music was already starting to play. She didn’t recognise it and had no idea what she would be going in for were she to agree to a dance with him now. Meanwhile, he also seemed very calm about it, so surely it couldn’t be anything too wild - they just barely made it through a waltz, even if he genuinely did enjoy it, she was sure he wouldn’t drag her into something more complicated than that.

“Fine… but this is the last one.” She frowned, despite their last dance meant to be the last one. Taking his hand, she stepped toward him, only to stagger and nearly twist her ankle if not for her grip on his hand to steady herself, which was considerably tighter almost to a knuckle-crackling degree all of a sudden for just a moment. “Ugh, I can’t take these anymore!” with a deep frown, she lifted one foot up off the floor and reached down with her free hand to take off one shoe, then did the same with the other before angrily throwing them down on the ground with such indignation it was as if they had done her some personal wrong. “They are breaking my feet, and they barely show under this dress anyway!”

With a frustrated huff, she grabbed the skirt of her dress so she wouldn’t step on it. “Ready?”

---

Danielle: #fffd17

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #12

Danielle agreed to dance again. That was very surprising turn of events and while one part of him was happy for an opportunity like that, the other more rational one was preparing for the inevitable disaster.

As she took his hand, he masked a painful grimace behind a soft smile, when her hand clenched around his fingers and at the same time, he moved closer, with one arm outstretched in case she would fall down. Nothing like that happened however, and so the Professor relaxed again, watching as his dancing partner ditched her shoes in a way that implied very deep and personal grudge towards them. He opened his mouth a little to protest against such behaviour, but closed it right away as, given what was in front of them, letting her to move as freely as possible was probably for the best.

“Of course I am.”

Gabriel answered with small, taking her left hand, while putting the right one on her lover back.

“Just relax and let me lead you.”

He whispered, taking the first steps of their second and probably also the last dance. At least at the beginning the tango wasn´t so hard. The basic steps were quite straightforward, perhaps even easier than these of waltz, however the stance was much closer without leaving much, if any personal space for the young treasure hunter. And then it began, the first backward band for Danielle, followed by few regular steps and turn, before he raised her hand up, leading her into an underarm turn, during which the Professor led her away from him, only to pull her back, into the basic stance. He led her gently, with skills and precision of someone who knew how to read the flow of other people´s bodies and how to use it against them, but not forcefuly so she wouldn´t feel like a rag doll in his hands. 

[Bobbie]

With Gabriel’s hand on her lower back, Danielle was instantly made more uncomfortable than she was during their waltz. “You’re not giving me any space to move…” A complaint immediately came out of her mouth as she had nowhere to put her free hand but on his shoulder, her arm awkwardly going around his.

As he moved, the blonde dancer had little choice but to move with him if she didn’t want to lose her balance and trip over in his feet or her own. She did find that she needed to stand on her toes at times, however, kicking the dress out of the way to ensure she didn’t step on it.

Suddenly, she found herself being pushed into a backward arch, and a gasp escaped her as her eye widened in panic for a moment. Her grip on her dance partner's hand tightened and her other hand clawed at his shoulder in fear of falling.

The panic on her face, however, was also for another, much more serious reason as the realisation hit her…

Sh*t… this… this is a tango. The creep pulled me into a tango!!

As she was pulled back up and held close to Gabriel, a deep frown was on her face, her jaw clenched. “You didn’t tell me this is a tango!” she hissed into his ear, moving her body to be in time with his, though, in reality, it didn’t require too much effort - he was skilled enough to do all the heavy work here as even with minimal contribution of her own, Gabriel was able to guide both of them through the dance quite perfectly.

Next came another spin but Danielle was this time led away from him, where she took the opportunity to land her glare precisely on her target, looking daggers at Gabriel once there was enough distance between them for them to make eye contact. A brief moment later, she was pulled right back.

“I suppose you must be very pleased with yourself. Assuming you have me trapped in a dance that I know nothing about and ensure that you do get to lead…”

The woman mumbled quietly to him in her usual grumpy and irritated tone, and failing to realise that her words could easily be mistaken for a challenge, perhaps due, in part, to her tone as well as her poor choice of wording. Now that she was stuck in this situation, Danielle could in fact do anything but relax, as her muscles grew tense in the sheer annoyance that she found herself here, and her movements were beginning to display some resistance as if she had her own intentions for their dance - which although she could recognise, she had no clue how to dance.

---

Danielle: #fffd17

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #13

When Danielle became concerned about the lack of space, the Professor only smiled at her encouragingly, mistaking her complain for a inquiry based on her lack of experiences with tango.

“Don´t worry, it´s supposed to be this way.”

He reassured her, leading Danielle through the most basic steps of tango. At the beginning Gabriel though that because of her lacks of experiences that would be enough for this dance, so he was really surprised, when his partner revealed in such angry tone, that she in fact was experienced dancer as well. How rude of him…from his sister, Gabriel knows that women hated when men underestimate them and judging from the murderous gaze Danielle was giving him, he really offended her this time.

“My sincere apology.”

The Professor whispered.

“I didn´t want to embarrass you, I just assumed, that you didn´t know the steps because of what you said earlier. Please, allow me to correct my mistake.”

As he finished these words, Gabriel turned his dancing up to eleven. Even under a normal circumstance the Professor was a very good dancer, actually an excellent one, but this was something more. To amend for his mistake, he poured his very soul into this dance, pushing his superhuman body and mind to their utmost limits. He reached a very strange state of being where time lost its meaning and he and the task at hand became one. He felt every fibre of his body and the body of his partner almost as if part of his own being was. He led her through the dance and together, they created unique piece of art, one that could never be repeated.

Almost as if the remaining people around them felt the power of the moment, they stopped in their tracks, making a wide circle around the two of them, watching the breath-taking spectacle in awe. Even the otherwise cynical James Gatling stopped to watch them although his eyes were reflecting deep jealousy instead.

Then, the music stopped and Gabriel´s mind returned back to the reality and the thunderous applause from the people around them. Surprisingly it didn´t unnerved him despite his hate for being put in the spotlight as even his social anxiety and awkwardness couldn´t supress the feeling of happiness that found it´s way into his soul.

“I am sorry.”

He smiled at Danielle with the pure joy he felt reflecting in his face.

“I think I overdid it a bit. Are you alright?”

[Bobbie]

Danielle shook her head with yet another eye-roll as Gabriel offered reassurance that it was ‘supposed to be this way’. Fine, she thought, but that doesn’t make it any less uncomfortable.

His apology did cause her to soften up a bit, especially when she heard his willingness to correct his mistake. Would that mean that this dance would be over? She wasn’t prepared for a tango and had no idea how to move forward with this. Everything about it made Danielle squirm and she has never wanted anything more than to get out of this situation right this instant before in her life - possibly not even to see her Rosalina.

Before she could say anything, however, Danielle learnt that her dance partner had gravely misunderstood her words and somehow even her annoyed tone. When he said he would correct his mistake, he somehow seemed to think that it should mean to step up his dance game to impossible levels as the fury that came from her tango-duo was one that she struggled to keep up with. Again, a lot of the work was done from his end, but she was a lot less compliant this time and often fought back against his movements.

Unfortunately for Danielle, pushing back only fuelled their tango further as each bit of resistance she made against Gabriel's advances was met with an equal drive from him that powered their dance through a series of twists and turns, spins that pushed her away and pulled her closer, and at one point her attempt to simply walk away from him was somehow also integrated into a spectacular dance step that brought her right back into his arms, unbelievably enough.

As the music finally stopped, Danielle found herself clinging to Gabriel, her body tilted backward and supported by his own leaning hold over her. One leg between his, her other leg was raised to hook onto one of her partner's, her bare foot stretched flat in desperate attempt to create a firmer grip on their tangled legs. This was all out of sheer distrust that he wouldn’t stop her from falling - just in case her own arms wouldn’t be enough to keep herself latched onto him in such a position. Once she was brought upright again to have both her feet touching the floor and her partner made yet another apology, Danielle looked around, her chest heaving as she was left out of breath. You think you overdid it!? She silently hissed at him in her head, but was far too stunned by the fact that quite literally everyone had formed a circle around them to watch the magnificent performance that the pair delivered to actually speak words to him.

In a last act of heated emotion, she pulled away from Gabriel, beyond embarrassed to have so many people see her in such a feminine role - including reporters, she could only imagine - and, with her skirt in one hand, she stormed in the direction she was sure she left her shoes, pushing the circle of on-lookers and breaking it open to force her way through it.

---

Danielle: #fffd17

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #14

Gabriel watched as Danielle ran away without a word after their dance ended, completely dumbstruck as he was trying to figure out what did he done wrong this time. Did he offend her somehow? But she wasn´t looking angry, more like embarrassed. Was she feeling that way because everyone was watching them? But that didn´t make much sense either, she wasn´t really shy and, they were applauding them so…then he realised it. She liked it! She was enjoying the dance and now was upset about losing their bet and the chance to meet his dogs!

The Professor growled in frustration. How could he be so stupid and selfish? Hwe rushed straight behind her, catching up to the treasure huntress right after she got past the circle of their audience, embracing her tightly around the shoulders.

“I am so sorry…”

The Professor whispered, not letting go of her even if she would try to struggle.

“I got so carried away by our dance, that I completely forgot what it means for you and how important it was. Can you forgive me?”

He patted her head, his voice showing that he really deeply regrated what had happened. He stayed silent for a moment, just hugging Danielle and patting he head, before he put his thoughts together to properly formulate the second part of his apology.

“So let´s forget about our bet alright? And I will let you visit my dogs anytime. You can take Rosalina with you and stay as long as you like, alright?”

He promised in a attempt to ease her sadness that was tearing his heart apart.

“I´ll have the summer house repaired, so you will have complete privacy, and no one will bother you, not even me, yes? So please, don´t be sad, I am really sorry.”

[Bobbie]

As Danielle stormed away, she made sure to keep her head down, avoiding the gazes of all their audience, most of which were whispering among themselves about how cute they were or wondering how long they had been dancing together like that. She also wanted to hide her face from any reporters, and most of all, she wanted to get away from Gabriel. She was fully intent on getting her shoes and leaving the event right there and then, but she was suddenly stopped in her tracks as somebody’s arms wrapped around her and pulled her into a tight embrace.

Immediately she began to writhe, trying to get out of his grasp, but it seemed the man was fully intent on making her more uncomfortable - as if that dance that he pulled her into was not enough!

“Let go of me!” she snapped in response to his apology, trying to pull away from him with all her might, but nothing seemed to work. It might not have seemed like it, but despite her anger she was actually listening to his apology. Yet how could he forget how important it was for her not to be put in such a feminine position, considering all of her protests and reluctance to even put on a dress? How could he forget that she didn’t want to be in the spotlight in fear of her sweet Rosalina finding out?

She was devastated and hurt about all of this, no amount of head pats would ever make up for it. In fact, they only fuelled her rage toward this man who was so incapable of practising normal human behaviour in social interactions despite all his good manners.

Danielle was close to accepting his apology, just to put this behind them, but as he mentioned their deal, it made her blood boil. He thinks I’m mad about the stupid deal!? The more he spoke, the angrier she felt, he thinks I’m sad? SAD!?

In a sudden burst of rage-fuelled strength, she finally squirmed her way out of his grasp and swung her arm across in front of her, her palm aiming to collide with his face - he wanted her to act like a woman, so he’d get a classic womanly response when a man does her wrong.

The slap was loud and rang through the air in a loud clap.

“I’m not sad, I’m livid!” she snapped at him, it taking a lot in her not to yell those words.

Her hand stung as she took a step back away from him. Bending down, she picked up her shoes, right where she remembered leaving them and then threw one at Gabriel. “What the heck was that!? A tango! A tango!?” She aggressively threw the other one, “And you really went all out, didn’t you? Couldn't keep things light and simple, you just had to take it up a couple hundred notches?”

---

Danielle: #fffd17

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #15

The Professor saw that slap coming. To be honest, it would be weird if he missed such sloppy, wide and attack. He knew he could block her; he knew he could dodge; he knew that he could kill her before her hand would even land. As these thoughts raced through his mind a sudden killing intent, so strong that it was almost palpable, transformed his otherwise kind face into mask of cold and focused fury. It wasn´t that he knows he would be able to kill her, for a second, he really wanted to do it, to get rid of that complicated, ungrateful woman that had no idea what he was risking just because of her. Then, he saw the glimpse of that lost, hurt puppy and everything was over. Like if someone flipped a switch, the kind and utterly confused Gabriel was back, just in time for some good old-fashioned slap across the face.

However, if Danielle wanted less attention, this definitely wasn´t the way how to do that, as both the slap and the follow up scene perfectly captured everyone´s attention.

The Professor didn´t even tried to dodge these shoes thrown at him and let the young treasure huntress blow some steam, before sighing.

“I thought I was embarrassing you with the basics.”

He muttered sadly. His arms moved forward, almost as if he wanted to embrace Danielle again, however they stopped halfway as he realized it probably wasn´t the best idea and let them fall back down.

“You know…”

Gabriel smiled kindly at Danielle despite all that anger that was directed to him.

“You told me that you found the greatest woman on the world, but I think you have it wrong. Rosalina, not you did. I have to yet met someone who else who would be willing to go to such length and to sacrifice this much for someone they love and for this I admire you. I…”

He paused for a moment seemingly overcame by sadness.

“I am really sorry that I hurt you and…”

Gabriel paused as he noticed Mr. Gatling walking towards them. Another wave of cold rage moved across his face, this time however it didn´t disappear.

“Tell me about bad timing…for now, just focus on why you came here and remember, no matter what you´ll see or hear, I would never hurt you.”

Gabriel whispered turning towards Mr. Gatling.

“Well, I have to say, you brought here one fierce cat, but perhaps you should tame her first before taking her along.”

He chuckled, looking at Danielle with a mixture of amusement and contempt.

“Who keeps me company is none of your business.”

The Professor growled, his voice biting like an ice blade.

Misunderstanding the reason behind his sudden change of behavior, Mr. Gatling chuckled.

“Yes, it´s not, but I don´t like when someone disturbs the peace of my guests, so why don´t we put our deal together so you can…deal with your disobedient b*itch in private.”

Gabriel stepped forward, his body tensed, like if he was a predator ready to jump on his prey. This time James flinched, taking quick step back.

“I don´t think that will work either sir. I am not here for weapons.”

Gatling froze.

“What?”

“You see, two weeks ago, my good friend was murdered. Single shot from a sniper and while it seems to be incredibly hard to find that guy, I recognized the sigil on his gun. Your sigil.”

James Gatling cursed, looking to his left, on the giantess who was chief of his security for the night.

“Sigrid!”

Moving even before he called her name, the over seventeen meters tall woman jumped on her feet and threw a punch against Gabriel.

“And there I was rooting for you, you b*stard!”

The Professor didn´t even flinched. Instead, he intercepted the incoming attack, with his own arm, pushing it away from his body with graceful, almost effortless movement, before twisting her arm and leading her into throw.

“Empty Moon: Reversal”

Both, Mr. Gatling and his guests looked with a mix of awe and terror, as the gigantic woman was forced to do a flip, before Gabriel slammed her against the ground. At first, he intended to throw her headfirst, but single high pitched cry of fear that escaped through her lips made it´s way through his anger, forcing him to guide her into much safer although still painful landing on the ground.

With a deafening thump the giantess hit the ground, causing weak earthquake in the garden. For a second, there was complete silence. Then panic erupted among the guests and guardsmen alike. And while the fist ones were trying to run away, the armed men and women were making their way towards the professor, their guns ready.

[Bobbie]

Danielle had seen the cold look in Gabriel’s eyes, one that she had never seen before. It made her flinch, but once her hand was already in motion, there was no stopping it. In any case, stopping now would only cause her to lose all credibility.

As he moved toward her to hold her again, Danielle recoiled once more, glad that he thought twice about it.

Of course… his explanation was short and brief, but it made it clear that it was all a misunderstanding. A very stupid mistake that Danielle couldn’t figure out how anyone who spent more than a day with her could make! Everything that she had been so adamant about resisting was captured in that one dance.

However, her facial expression softened as her anger seemed to subside when he carried on. He always speaks so kindly to me even when I’m yelling at him… she thought to herself, and she let her gaze drop with the words that he spoke, partly out of shame but partly other deeper emotions that were at play. All her years of chasing after Rosalina and trying to get her father’s approval had her convinced of the opposite of what the professor said - no, it wasn’t Rosalina who found somebody great. It was why Danielle had to prove her worth, in her lover’s eyes through her devotion and in her lover’s parents’ eyes, through her financial status. Although she averted her gaze, it was easy to see a deeply rooted low self-esteem when it came to the topic at hand. It was a side of her that she never let anybody see, yet she couldn't stop it from emerging.

“Gabriel, I-” she started to apologise. While she was not without pride, it was obvious that she owed him an apology for her outburst and was ready to give it, had Mr Gatling not interrupted them.

Turning to look at the man, the treasure huntress in her unusually vulnerable state, looked at him, then at Gabriel again as she moved a bit closer to him. She could see the same expression on his face as before, like he was ready to kill someone, but his words conveyed the very opposite to her. Taking a deep breath, she nodded as her fear was washed away. It was true, this man was one heck of a creep, but he had always been kind to her even if she didn’t agree with his methods and not once had he ever done anything to intentionally harm her.

Mr Gatling’s behaviour, on the other hand, was a different story entirely. If their first encounter wasn’t enough to make Danielle despise this man, their next conversation certainly would do the trick.

First came the implication that she was to be tamed, which brought all of Danielle’s anger rushing right back to the surface as she glared at the disgusting man who had come to address the pair. “Excuse me?” The woman, eyebrow raised, stared at him in disbelief - she was not to be tamed by Gabriel or anyone! Perhaps not even Rosalina! Next came the foul language that was spewed from Mr Gatling’s mouth, his tongue rattling off an outrageous insult that instantly prompted a response from his target.

“What the f*ck did you just call me!?” she snapped, but before she could physically make a move to attack the insulting man, Gabriel did so in her stead and elicited a very satisfying flinch from the coward that causing a chuckle to escape the woman's throat.

Honoured to see Gabriel step in to defend her, Danielle merely crossed her arms, her gaze fixed on Mr Gatling as all the rage she had felt prior culminated to this point, and her stare was fully focussed on their current aggressor. Any anger she previously felt toward the professor was long forgotten.

As she listened to her partner’s explanation and purpose for seeking this man out, Danielle remembered Gabriel’s previous words - if he felt the need to warn her of what she might see or hear, then she must be about to see or hear something quite uncharacteristic of him... neither of those two took very long to make their appearance and confirm her assumption. Despite being quite shocked to hear his story, she made no show of any surprise, standing by him the entire time and she only revealed her astonishment when she watched him single handedly throw the mighty giantess with seemingly no effort.

How the heck!? she was inwardly screaming as she took a step away from Gabriel and the chaos that was clearly about to ensue.

                     
                      One more step…

She looked around her to assess everything that was going on - the head of security was down for the count.

                                             Another step…

Mr Gatling and all of the guests were really quite busy and distracted with Gabriel’s doings.

                                                                      Two more steps…

Then there was panic!

Danielle’s next step allowed her to blend into the crowd perfectly, pushing through the people who were frantically screaming and running about, half of them aimlessly as they were not thinking straight and couldn’t make head or tail were the exit was. It seemed Gabriel was not far off at all when he had originally stated that the signal will feature a number of guns, all pointing in his direction… as she slipped away, she offered a quick glance back toward Professor Moon, hoping he would see that she was alright as well as the silent request in her eye for him to take care of himself, then she disappeared inside the building.

Sneaking was easy, though the dress was uncomfortable to move in. Ditching her shoes was probably the smartest move she had made all evening as she was able to nimbly move across hallways and up a staircase in search of the gallery where all the paintings were displayed without making a sound.

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Danielle: #fffd17