Paintings for Sale

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #16

Panicking, the butler was trying his best to run away from Gabriel, turning around to get back up at his feet, but he slipped and fell to the ground. It was at the moment when the Professor caught to him. Grabbing that old man for a shoulder and violently turning him around, one spear hand raised and ready to strike.

“I won´t be asking for the third time, where is Danielle!”

He growled furiously, just as the door leading to Mr. Marlowe´s office opened and the master of the house himself emerged.

Releasing the butler, who was so terrified that he simply fell to the ground, shaking from the shock, the Professor stepped forward to the man who he thought kidnapped his puppy.

“Yes, where…”

Suddenly, as if caused by magic, his murderous rage disappeared, being replaced by a kind and warm smile, when he noticed Danielle and Beast both safe and uninjured.

“Here you are! I was getting worried!”

Gabriel rushed to them, hugging the large malamute, and then the treasure huntress, completely ignoring the dumbstruck criminal.

Only when Danielle showed him these cheques and introduced him as a history professor and her associate, he turned his attention to Mr. Marlow.

“Oh, yes I am Gabriel Moon, nice to see you. I..ehm sorry about that door, I got carried away a bit.”

He laughed nervously as he was slowly realizing that they should probably disappear as fast as possible, given what happened at the station.

Fortunately, Danielle got the exact same idea, trying to drag him outside as well and so he simply followed her, while Beast was jumping around them, happy that her dad was all right.

“Yeah, about that…I don´t think him charging us for the damage is our biggest problem right now.”

Gabriel smiled apologetically, but before he could continue, he noticed something more disturbing. Sigrid wasn´t sitting and drinking anymore, instead she was standing, just a few blocks away from them with hands raised in front of her as if she was trying to defend herself from something.

“Listen…just…relax all right?! These things are dangerous, and I don´t want any trouble! I just…”

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Three powerful explosions echoed through the city. The Professor watched in pure shock as three cannonballs hit the giantess into her head, smashing it into hundreds of large, sharp shards that started showering down on the city below her, only for her head to regrow in the form of black obsidian, before transforming back into its regular state.

“What the…”

Gabriel whispered, but his surprise quickly turned into panic, when he noticed the tears running down Sigrid´s face.

“YOU ARE SO MEAN!”

The giantess screamed from the top of her lung kicking into a nearby house out of pure fury, smashing it into pieces.

“I JUST WANTED TO DRINK IN PEACE SO WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?! YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME!”

With that she swung her large fist down, releasing a large cloud of dust and debris when she hit whatever was unfortunate enough to stand in her path.

“We have to stop her…”

Gabriel whispered, rushing into the direction, just as another cannonball hit the giantess into her shoulder, releasing another rain of shards.

[Bobbie]

Before she could make any attempt to stop him, Gabriel wrapped his arms around her and held her in a tight hug, which both shocked her and made her uncomfortable. Deciding to just let it pass, Danielle didn’t resist and simply waited to be released, before carrying on with rushing the Professor to leave.

“What do you mean him charging us is not the biggest problem? I just sold all twelve paintings to him and got the cheques with absolutely no problems whatsoever - he was a little hasty, but he’s clearly not the monster you or Namkhai seemed convinced he is. I told you it would be safe, the greatest danger I was in was from inhaling incense smoke in his office!” Despite the frustration written all over her face, she did enjoy telling the Professor that she was right and he was wrong. Then a second opportunity presented itself as she stood outside with him and Beast, and her jaw dropped open.

The towering figure of Sigrid stood there, head high in the air as she pleaded with someone not to use something dangerous. What she was referring to, Danielle wasn’t sure. Perhaps guns, but surely those wouldn’t worry a giantess to this degree… Three loud bangs followed that were nearly deafening to any normal sized person on the ground.

Cannons…

All three of the cannonballs struck the mighty giantess in the head, causing a massive eruption of large, sharp shards to rain down on the city. There was no hope to hide Sigrid’s presence now or to keep her out of trouble, as she was clearly right in the middle of it at this very moment. The hundreds of screams that rang through the streets were enough proof that the damage she caused had certainly not gone unnoticed.

The treasure huntress was certain that there would even be casualties from this, which meant more trouble with the law, which then meant a bounty for the giantess and her associates, Gabriel, perhaps Beast, and… herself.

Once the deadly shower of obsidian shrapnel had passed, the street littered with bits and pieces at their feet, Danielle turned to Gabriel, filled with rage. “I told you it was a bad idea to let Sigrid off the ship! But you didn’t listen, because you know better! You insist on treating me like a helpless puppy, but I'm not!” She snapped and punched his arm, a slap being far too girly of an assault, as she was overwhelmed by the fear that if she got a bounty from this, she would not be able to marry her Rosalina and everything would be ruined. Her life would be over.

“I told you!” she punched him twice more, “You couldn’t just let me handle everything!” finally, she took the bag with the heavy chest in it and took a swing at the poor Professor while the cries of the giantess could be heard in the background. The collision of the previous box within her bag with Gabriel’s person coincided with Sigrid destroying a house, the ground beneath them shaking at her wrath.

This little earthquake was enough to take Danielle’s attention away from Gabriel and how furious she was at him, and she quickly realised that they didn’t have time for this. “Stop her? How do you plan to stop her, have you seen her!? We have to leave!”

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Butler: #79b9b9

Mr Marlowe: #9c79b9

Drunken George: #a5930e

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #17

Danielle was seemingly enjoying the fact that she could tell him “she was saying so”. But since she was technically right this time, the Professor didn´t find the strength to protest and let her punch his arm. Only when she swung her seemingly heavy bag did he resort to the “Indestructible”

“All right, all right, I admit it you were right about this, but…she seemed to be so sad about being stuck on the ship…”

He muttered while speeding up into a run. At first, Gabriel considered flying there with a True Step, but with the whole city in panic, he didn´t want to let Danielle and Beast alone, especially when someone could connect them with him or Sigrid and vent their anger on them.

He adjusted his tempo to the young treasure huntress so that she could keep up, while Sigrid continued with her angry rampage, causing havoc and destruction throughout the whole port district. Forcing Gabriel to think, about how to stop her.

Truth be told, the reason he didn´t answer Danielle to her earlier question was, that he simply didn´t know. A rampaging giant was bad enough, one that couldn´t be hurt even by cannon shot was a completely different thing. But at the same time, he knew, that he couldn´t leave her behind. Not after he accepted her into M.A.R.I. and made her part of his family.

Fortunately for them and unfortunately for everyone in Sigrid´s vicinity, before they actually reached her, her tantrum was over and the giantess simply sat down in the middle of the destruction she caused and started crying, head hidden in her massive palms.

The Professor signaled to both, Beast and Danielle to stay behind and approached her carefully through what was left of the small market square, which was now filled with debris of destroyed buildings and bodies of people some of whom were wearing the uniform of local militia or even marines.

“Hi, there…”

Gabriel addressed her calmly a friendly tone hiding the shock he felt when witnessing such destruction.

“are you all right?”

The giantess sobbed loudly, taking a look down on the Professor who was standing near her feet.

“No, I am not! Humans are so stupid!”

She yelled, before releasing another waterfall of tears.

“I…I just wanted to enjoy time on dry land, make some friends, and taste some foods but no! They had to treat me as if I was some kind of monster!”

She sniffed, taking a look at the devastation she brought to the city, before taking another look at Gabriel in a desperate attempt to find support.

“I…am I a monster?”

She sobbed, gazing at him with pleading eyes, that met with his kind smile.

“No you are not.”

The Professor said, silencing the voice deep inside him, that was screaming in horror as she reached up toward her.

“You were just defending yourself. They should have treated you nicely from the beginning.”

The giantess leaned down, letting him pat her head as if it was bringing her the badly needed comfort.

“I just wanted to make some friends…”

Sigrid said, sulking.

“Yeah…I am sorry it turned this way, but you still have your family. You still have us.”

Finally, she smiled, although sheepishly, getting up on her feet.

“We should probably go, I did quite a mess here and the marines already called for a reinforcement…”

Gabriel nodded.

“Yes, let´s go home…”

[Bobbie]

Danielle watched as the Professor took off in a run and she let out an aggravated groan. She knew that leaving without Sigrid wasn’t an option - her hope was that the giantess could simply make it to the ship in a matter of three large strides or so while they could all keep their distance to avoid getting into trouble for all the destruction she caused. She was tempted to take off and head to the ship on her own, with Beast, if she would follow, but she then sighed and held the bag on her shoulder again before hurrying after Gabriel.

She was angry at him more than at Sigrid, but she was also angry at herself for allowing this situation to happen and to be dragged into it. One thing was clear, it certainly couldn’t be helped. She supposed there was something admirable in the Professor’s unrelenting loyalty and caring nature, even if it did come from a rather odd and unsettling place and was frustrating when it complicated matters. He has always somehow protected her name from being included in the long list of offences carried out on any of his ‘adventures’, so now would be a good time to show a bit of faith in him to do so again. Surely her image would be kept out of the limelight, Rosalina or her family would never find out about this.

As Gabriel’s slowed pace allowed her to catch up, she didn’t say anything, but focused on trying to avoid any oncoming debris that was falling from the sky at the hands of one very angry giantess. Coming to a halt when he did, however, she frowned as she was signalled to wait and advance no further, yet she didn’t argue. She had no real connection with Sigrid, after all, there would be very little that she could say or do to calm her down.

Staying back with Beast, the treasure huntress once again began to pet the large dog, unable to keep her hands out of the luscious fur on her back and at the scruff of her neck, while she listened to the conversation being had.

For a moment, Danielle’s worries were swept away and she was ridden with guilt as she felt like she had been terribly selfish. While she knew she had no consoling words to offer, it saddened her to hear how Sigrid felt. It was common with people who were different in one way or another, causing them to be rejected by such an unwelcoming society. The blonde felt quite fortunate that she didn’t have to face such problems as her heart was filled with gratitude for her Rosalina, with whom Danielle was certain she would always have a very special place, surrounded by unconditional love. Watching such a mighty being reduced to tears made her heart ache for Sigrid and she had to look away, facing Beast instead.

“Humans really are difficult sometimes, aren’t we?” she asked, softly and almost apologetically, as if she could offer some sort of apology on behalf of all humanity that could fix all the wrongs that have been done to the many different species that they share a planet with. It’s true, she thought. Humans are so stupid.

By the time Gabriel would return, Danielle’s features had softened significantly as the woman calmed down from her previous anger. That was not to say, however, that she was no longer aware of the urgency of the situation.

“Ready to go now?”

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Butler: #79b9b9

Mr Marlowe: #9c79b9

Drunken George: #a5930e

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #18

While Gabriel was talking with Sigrid, Beast looked at the young treasure hunter with confusion written all over her fury face.

“Soooooometimes, buuuuuuut Beaaaaaaaast looooooove heeer hooooooooomans!”

She smiled, licking Danielle´s nose.

Fortunately, it didn´t take long for the Professor and Sigrid to return to them and so they could continue back to the ship.

“Yes, let´s go.”

As they were leaving the destroyed square the Professor felt strange. He knew, that back in the days before Myra pulled him into the Python´s tournament he would regret what happened there and probably even blamed Sigrid and himself for all these dead and wounded. But not anymore. The man who emerged after that five-day event was very different compared to the one who entered it. He chose his dual path, an unlimited kindness towards those under his protection to balance out the boundless cruelty he had to use to achieve his dream. In his world, there was no place for pity toward those who wanted to hurt his Sigrid, nor was there a place for remorse.

Following the path towards the sea, they reached the port without an issue as the few locals they met quickly ran into the relative safety of their houses at the first sight of the approaching giantess.

Entering the port, Gabriel fully expected another group of guards or even marines to wait on them there and he was almost right. They either did the connection or followed Eponine and the rest of their group towards their boat, but they weren´t waiting for them. Instead, they were lying down on the ground, mostly unconscious and battered, with Namkhai holding a tall and athletic-looking man in the uniform of a marine commander for a neck in the air.

“Oh, here you are.”

He grinned, throwing the already unconscious man away, to be able to wave at his approaching friends.

“Care to explain what you did there? I know I am pretty famous, but these guys weren´t looking for me.”

Namkhai grinned, obviously in a very good mood, despite fighting with what looked like a whole platoon of marines. Of course, he wasn´t alone. Hariyama and Niko were also standing among the bodies, both marked by the battle although neither of them seriously wounded.

“They are hiding below the deck by the way.”

Niko grinned, swiftly punching one marine, that was still conscious and was trying to reach for his pistol.

“That new puppy of yours and her friends I mean.”

Gabriel nodded, but then as if he realized how awkward this situation was, looked carefully at Danielle to see how she´ll react at the mention of “new puppy.”

“Either way…”

Hariyama´s booming voice echoed through the emptied port.

“We should leave this place as soon as possible this guy…”

He gently poked another marine with his foot.

“Was yelling something about reinforcements into his Den Den Mushi and I don´t think they will be too far away…”

[Bobbie]

A lick from Beast was enough to cure Danielle’s blues as she laughed and continued to pet the dog, but didn’t get the chance to reply. As the Professor returned, she nodded and walked with him toward the port where they had left the others on the ship. However, she couldn’t stop the knot in her stomach as they passed all the destruction and even a few bodies that Danielle chose to believe were simply unconscious. Walking through that mess, she kept her gaze low on the ground slightly ahead of her and looked around her as little as possible, as she figured the less she knew of the onslaught that ensued while she was dealing with Mr Marlowe, the better.

The walk felt longer than she thought and she found that she was struggling to get through all the debris that required more delicate footwork. Her muscles were tired and at times refused to cooperate. Brushing it off as the stress of the situation and simply being tired of this man’s shenanigans, she thought very little of it and pushed forward with no pain to hold her back.

Unfortunately, reaching the ship did not provide the relief that she was hoping for, as she simply couldn’t avoid seeing all the people lying on the ground, most of them unmoving and clearly injured. Her eye wide, she subconsciously did a quick headcount, then looked at Namkhai and her jaw dropped.

What… is that idiot doing!?

She screamed internally as she saw the wrestler with a uniformed marine commander - a commander! - in his grasp by the neck.

“Are… Are you insane!?” she meant to yell at him, but it seemed her voice only came out as something of a forced whisper. Danielle was struggling to catch her breath from the walk for some reason, and she was starting to feel sick to her stomach, all because of the horrors that she witnessed on her way over here and once getting here.

When Namkhai and Niko elaborated on their experience with these unfortunate lads, Danielle went cold as the nausea intensified and she suddenly felt dizzy, panic rising in her chest. Namkhai said they weren’t looking for him, did that mean that they were looking for Gabriel, alone? Gabriel and Sigrid? What if that pink-haired marine passed on Danielle’s name and got her wanted by marines as well?

“Did anybody mention my name? Were they looking for me too?” She asked, her face pale and her heart racing as she feared the worst. What if she already had a bounty on her head and didn’t even know it?

Then she paused, confusion on her features as she looked at Gabriel. “Puppy… and her friends? What puppy is he talking about, Beast is right-” the moment her confusion faded and the realisation hit her, she narrowed her eye on the Professor. This creep better not have kidnapped someone! I left him alone for a few minutes, why couldn't he just get arrested and sit in a jail cell quietly!? The murderous look on Danielle’s face was enough to reveal what she was thinking without having to utter a single word, until she suddenly pushed past everyone to move toward the door that would lead below the deck. She didn't get far, however, as she soon had to stop, her body feeling so tired as if she had weights strapped to her legs.

“I want to see this puppy. Is it really a puppy? Tell me it's an actual puppy...” Turning to face Gabriel, a deadly gaze fixed on him, she crossed her arms, sternly and stubbornly, while an obsidian shard from the chaos in the town square was lodged in her thigh at an angle she seemed to completely miss.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Butler: #79b9b9

Mr Marlowe: #9c79b9

Drunken George: #a5930e

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #19

In a reaction to Danielle´s question, Namkhai tilted his head to the side as if he was confused about why she even asked.

“No, why should they? They were chasing the…”

The Titan of Bokh stopped, when he noticed Gabriel, as the Professor was watching Danielle in a way, that most guys reserve for the situation when their girlfriend finds them embracing another woman.

“Well, that would be…”

He was interrupted by a soft and seemingly terrified woman’s voice, coming from the ship.

“That would be me…I guess?”

Eponine was standing on the upper deck in her dirty dress and with a large bruise on the left part of her face. As she was standing there, she looked genuinely terrified, but not of Gabriel, Namkhai or the fallen Marines, but Danielle.

“I am terribly sorry, I know how this look, but I swear me and your boyfriend, there is nothing…”

She started, probably thinking that Danielle was being jealous, but was interrupted, this time by Gabriel, who just noticed something terrible a large obsidian shard, that was stabbed deep into the treasure huntress´s thing.

“Danielle, you don´t feel anything?”

He asked utterly confused by the fact that she could completely miss such a wound.

The tone of his voice attracted the attention of the remaining members of their group. Beast´s eyes widened as the large canine started whining in fear, licking Danielle´s face, while Sigrid gasped for an air.

“Oh my god Danielle, I am so sorry! I…I swear I didn´t do this on purpose…I…I don´t even know how these things work! We need to find you a doctor!”

Namkhai shook his head in response.

“Are you crazy? After what we did here? We need to get out now. Both me and Gabriel already stitched similar wounds, so she will be all right!”

His booming voice was suddenly replaced by the much softer voice of Eponine.

“I mean…my apology, but I am...I was studying to be a doctor…I didn´t finish yet, but I know how to stitch…”

Gabriel nodded, with the look of a parent who suddenly became very proud of his child.

“Well it´s settled then! Everyone on the ships! We have to get out of here. Namkhai, Hariyama, Niko, and Sigrid, get us out of here. Danielle, you will go with my pup…Eponine underdeck and let her treat your wound!”

[Bobbie]

Danielle looked at Namkhai, then at Gabriel, as it felt like they were talking so fast and she needed a minute to catch up and process everything. Her head was spinning. She wanted to ask everyone to slow down and speak clearly, but an unfamiliar voice spoke from somewhere before she could, and she turned to find that it was the young lady named Eponine. The new puppy.

As she stared at the woman, Danielle couldn’t believe what she was seeing and a range of emotions was displayed on her face. Shock and disbelief, sadness to see the woman’s bruise, then rage. Even her face, as white as it currently was due to the blood loss from her wound turned red with anger.

“He’s… not my boyfriend…” she spoke through her teeth, her breaths laboured and her voice shaking as she spoke.

Turning to Gabriel, she glared daggers at the Professor, “I can’t believe you did this. You brought this woman on board! A stranger! Even though I asked you… not… to stir anything up!” Ignoring his question, she furiously snapped at him, though her words lost a lot of their bite as they came out slower and the more she spoke, the physically taxing on her body it was becoming to focus. She knew she was angry, but now this was starting to feel very strange…

“What do you mean? Oh I feel something, alright!” Had her body listened to her commands, she might have been angry enough to draw her sword, but with the slightest movement, everything was spinning.

Another lick from Beast, and some of that anger subsided, only to be replaced with confusion. “Beast, what’s wrong?” She asked, before turning to look at Sigrid, whose gasp had enough force to rattle the sails of the ship. For a moment, she stared with a frown, wondering if she was apologising for causing all that trouble in the square, then she mentioned a doctor.

From that moment, everything went downhill.

Even a second stranger emerged to give his opinion, as George stepped out onto the desk and, with a grimace, inhaled sharply through his teeth as he stared at Danielle's leg. "Ouch..."

Turning to look at the others, she realised that most of the crew members were staring at her, and hearing the word ‘stitched’ in the same sentence as ‘me and Gabriel’, spoken by Namkhai sent a shiver down her spine.

“What are you talking-” she now thought to follow people's stares and looked down at her body in an attempt to make sense of what they were on about. Finally, she spotted the shard in her leg and fell silent for a few seconds.

With a loud scream that was anything but dainty and feminine, she staggered back, dropping the bag from her shoulder as she stared at the sharp object in horror. “How long has that been there!?” she asked as the treasure huntress’ heavy breaths were only getting quicker as she was spiralling into panic. Reaching down and suddenly grabbing it, she was deaf to anything anybody was saying as she was frantically trying to pull it out, but her hand was immediately cut on the jagged edges, preventing her from getting a proper grip on the material.

“Wh-What… I can’t feel it… I can’t feel anything! Why can’t I feel it!?” Gabriel’s question made sense now, but before she could say anything further, she finally succumbed to her wound and the world went dark as her body collapsed to the floor of the deck.

Danielle fainted.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Butler: #79b9b9

Mr Marlowe: #9c79b9

Drunken George: #a5930e

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #20

Danielle wasn´t taking it well, first, she yelled at Eponine who quickly withdraw looking like a puppy that was kicked by a stranger, then she got utterly confused about the whole ruckus around her proving what Gabriel´s fear, that she in fact didn´t feel any pain from her wound.

“But why?”

This though had to wait for a later however as Danielle simply lost her consciousness, prompting Gabriel to quickly step forward so he could grab her and lift her in his arms, suddenly disappearing as he rushed to the ship with blinding speed, using his Blink.

“Come with me.”

He simply ordered Eponine, who was startled not expecting his voice to come from behind.

“I…yes!”

She nodded, basically running after him to keep up with his long stride.

The Professor took Danielle downstairs, putting her down on her bed, before sending George for a first aid kit that was hidden in his cabin.

As she looked terribly nervous, Gabriel stayed with the black-haired girl through the whole operation, working mostly as moral support than anything else.

“You did well…”

The Professor patted Eponine´s head as she rested it on the bed next to Danielle, exhausted by everything that happened during that day.

“Just take some rest and alert me if anything happened.”

With that, he headed upstairs as there was one more mystery that needed explanation. As he climbed the stairs the sun was already slowly setting and the island of Mirrorball was nothing more than a small piece of land on a distant horizon. There was no sign of enemy ships but that could change at any moment.

“Sigrid!”

He raised his voice so the giantess sailing on the second boat would be able to hear him.

“Yes? Is Danielle all right?”

She asked with her face red, swollen, and wet from all the tears she cried over the hours.

Gabriel nodded in response.

“Yes, she is it´s just…I didn´t realize you had such a powerful ability. Why didn´t you use it back then when I threw you during Gatling´s party?”

Sigrid looked at him surprised, then bit her lip as she carefully whispered

“That´s…because…I…didn´t…have…it?”

The Professor shook his head in confusion.

“What? But then how…”

His question was interrupted by Niko, who growled from the other side of the ship.

“For god´s sake, woman tell him already! We kept it secret because you begged us to let you tell him this yourself, so do it already!”

Gabriel frowned, his voice suddenly getting a dangerous tone.

“Tell me what Sigrid?”

Suddenly she looked like a kid that was caught red-handed, looking around herself in an attempt to find a place where she could hide herself, but that was an impossible task for a giant at the open sea, so she had no other option than to face Gabriel again.

“I…first promise me you won´t be angry please…”

She whispered, making the Professor even angrier than before, but when he looked into her face to snap back at her, he realized he can not do it. She was so sad, desperate and scared, that single look into her large teary eyes melted all the anger he felt till now.

“All right, I promise, just tell me…”

He muttered.

“Well…”

Sigrid started carefully.

“It happens when you were on Goa, hunting that assassin, there was…a package delivered in your name. And…the box was damaged, so I saw what was inside. It looked; I thought it was chocolate I swear god! If I knew what it really was I would never…but…it looked really good so I…nibbled a bit and…”

Gabriel was looking at her speechless.

“You…you did what?”

She hid her face in her large hands.

“I am so sorry. Back than when I was working for Gatling, I rarely get anything sweet because it was all so expensive and small and…I didn´t have chocolate in ages…and…”

She erupted into another fit of crying.

“I AM SORRY!”

Sighing, Gabriel kicked the air under his feet, using the True Step to jump at her shoulder to be able to pat her head in soothing manner.

“Now, now, it´s really O.K. see, I am not mad at you.”

He did his best, to mask his real feelings behind a warm smile. It seemingly worked as she looked at him, smiling as well, while the tears were still running down her face.

“R…really?”

The Professor nodded.

“Yes, not angry at all, so please stop crying, it really pains me to see you like this. Besides, that ability came in handy to you, no?”

She nodded, drying her face with the sleeve of her shirt.

“Yeah…it did.”

She muttered still watching the Professor.

“Well in that case don´t be sad about it…just who on earth was sending me a Devil Fruit?”

That question wasn´t answered by Sigrid but Niko instead and turned out to be one of the rare questions he wished he would never ask. 
“It was Magnus. He attached a note to it as well. Apparently, he hoped you will put it somewhere safe so no one would be able to use its power.”

Yes, that was exactly his luck, especially now when he though things can not become even more complicated...

[Bobbie]

As Eponine tended to Danielle’s wounds, the largest one on her leg in need of stitches while the cuts on her hand would heal by themselves if cared for and dressed properly, the blonde was perfectly still and may have looked more peaceful than she ever did since she met Gabriel. There was no frown on her face, no rage reflecting in her eye, and no angry words coming from her mouth. Thankfully, while a needle was used to seal the wound from the obsidian shard in her thigh, the treasure huntress slept soundly.

Some time later, Danielle began to stir as she let out a groan and turned her head before finally opening her eye. For a moment, she was perfectly still as she stared at the ceiling of the cabin she was in, the room rocking gently. Now that she regained consciousness, her frown returned as her mind was plagued with confusion, struggling to make sense of what happened, where she was, and how she got to be there.

Propping herself up on her elbows, she looked around her, things slowly coming back to her as she recognised the room. She was on her bed on Gabriel’s ship. Then she saw Eponine and Danielle recoiled in shock at first, then an image flashed in her mind and she recognised the girl’s face. Her eye narrowed once more on this ‘puppy’ that Gabriel either kidnapped or coerced to bring onto his ship for reasons unbeknownst to her. She couldn’t quite tell if the girl was awake or not, but she wasn’t moving, and she looked like she needed more rest than Danielle did, so she went with the assumption that she was completely passed out from exhaustion - either from the trauma that led to the bruise on her face, or simply the stress of being brought here at the hands of Professor Creep who, somehow, couldn’t figure out that humans did not need to be treated like puppies.

With another sigh, she sat up at the edge of her bed, steadying herself as her body still felt weak. Her head ached and she was still prone to bouts of nausea, but at least the dizziness had stopped. As she looked down at her ripped trouser leg, all her aches and pains seemed to be forgotten as she reached down to pull at the torn fabric, embarrassed and furious that her leather trousers had been torn in this way. Then her attention fell upon the dressing of her wound, bandages wrapped around her leg and more around her hand.

Seconds passed as she recalled the events that led to this. She didn’t know how much time had passed, but the last waking moment that she could remember was when she discovered this wound in her thigh, but could feel nothing.

“You were in shock…” she quietly told herself, but soon placed a hand over the bandages and began to press down onto her leg. Just like the last time she had given her wound any attention, it triggered no pain receptors in her body, as it took a significant amount of pressure put on the wound to trigger the slightest sense of pain. It was like there was barely any injury.

As she was once again filled with anger toward the Professor, blaming him for her injury that led to such a revelation, she turned to look at the only human face present in that room, other than her own. “Get out.” She barked at Eponine, barely waiting for a response, before she opened her mouth again and spoke in a louder voice. “You! Get up and get out! Now!” Although she didn’t lay a hand on the girl, Danielle insisted until Eponine would rise from the bed and leave her alone where she could try to process what was happening.

Danielle tried everything to convince herself that this wasn’t real. She peeled off the bandage just enough to look at the wound, hoping to find nothing - but sure enough there it was, stitched up and cared for. She tried to pace around the room to prove to herself that her leg was fine, but one step caused her to nearly fall over, prompting her to hold onto any furniture that was nearby. It didn’t hurt, but her muscle wasn’t functioning like it should and she couldn't walk without a heavy limp. Next, she tried to raise her foot onto the mattress of the bed, but she couldn’t do so without using her hands to physically lift the limb high enough, all while feeling absolutely no pain.

Like a lioness in her cage, Danielle basked in her rage for a few minutes, a number of swear words strung together most of which were directed toward the Professor.

Finally, after a quick check that her eyepatch was in place, she stormed out of her room, swinging the door open so hard that it slammed into the wall behind it. “What did you do!?” like that of a scorned witch, Danielle’s voice bounced off the wooden frame of the ship, and one by one, she ascended the stairs with great effort as she clambered and clung to anything to assist her with her leg. By the time she reached the top of the stairs, she was heavily out of breath and her attire completely disheveled.

“I’m going to murder the Professor!”

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Danielle: #fffd17
Butler: #79b9b9

Mr Marlowe: #9c79b9

Drunken George: #a5930e