A Dreaded Encounter of Two Lovers and Doggo

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #16

As Rosalina repeated his name Namkhai, for the first time she approached him turned his eyes away from the water towards her.

“Yes, that´s me.”

He muttered without much enthusiasm, looking for any signs that she recognized anything more but his name, but no. Apparently, this girl was as clueless as they come.

Lost in his thoughts the Titan of Bokh didn´t even notice the large shadow that moved towards them as Sigrid leaned forward.

“Hey and me? What about me? I am kind of famous too, my name is Sigrid!”

She showed her nearly perfect teeth in a wide smile. For someone who was devastated by the fact she had a bounty not so long ago, she got used to it pretty quickly.

She moved back however as she noticed that Gabriel arrived with the rest of his search party and the two lost siblings.

“Oh here you are! Rosie just got interested in Namkhai´s big b…”

She almost said a bounty but paused realizing that the ginger didn´t mention something about him being wanted. Perhaps she didn´t know and just overheard his name somewhere? Maybe she would get upset if she realized that her Danny was traveling with wanted criminals. Oh god, and she told her, her name! What has she done? Terrified, the giantess covered her mouth, quickly turning her eyes elsewhere.

It definitely didn´t help that for the first time he met her Namkhai looked genuinely interested in what Rosalina was saying to him as this piece of knowledge was quite important. If her teacher was truly a fan of his, perhaps he could try to locate him and make him talk some sense to Danielle.

With Beast carrying Danny towards Rosaline and Namkhai, Gabriel and the two siblings were left behind on the pier in awkward silence.

“Ehm…I…have some stuff to do…sis?”

Marcus turned to Eponine, who quickly nodded.

“Yeah…me to!”

She muttered disappearing quickly under the main deck.

“Hmmmm….”

The Professor muttered, probably the only one who was completely lost in the scene that was unfolding in front of his eyes.

“Why is everyone acting so strange all of sudden?”

Looking from side to side he gave his brain a moment to get the grip on what was going on but then he realized that it wasn´t really worth the effort. Whatever happened it clearly wasn´t his fault as Danielle wasn´t trying to break another piece of wood over his head and so he could ignore it and follow Eponine and her brother downstairs to prepare his cello for the upcoming concert.

[Bobbie]

As Sigrid towered over them and brought her face forward, Rosalina’s instinctive response was to jump into Namkhai’s arms - if he would allow it. Frightened by the giantess’ large features, her body would instantly move closer to Namkhai’s in search for some sort of protection. However, the large smiling face quickly moved away before Rosalina could utter a word in response, and Sigrid announced where Rosalina’s interest currently lie.

Staring at Sigrid, Danielle couldn’t believe what she had just heard - or was about to, if Sigrid didn’t cut herself off in such a guilty-looking manner. “His... big what!?” she blurted out, demanding an explanation, but perhaps Sigrid was not the one it should come from. She redirected her attention back to Rosalina and Namkhai.

Danielle was furious. Her usual frown developed into a murderous glare at Namkhai, more than Rosalina, as her grip on Beast’s fur tightened. Watching the pair, the interest that each one displayed in the other was undeniable, whether for reasons of infatuation or otherwise was irrelevant in her mind at that moment, and it stung Danielle’s heart.

The moment Beast arrived beside Namkhai and Rosalina, Danielle’s first reaction upon climbing off her ride’s back was to grab Rosalina and pry her away from Namkhai, causing one of the ginger’s hand to linger and loosely try to hold onto Namkhai instinctively so as to prevent herself from falling. With the sharp yank from Danielle, she quickly found herself by her lover's side.

“Rosalina, what are you doing?” Danielle’s tone was not very gentle, and she lowered her voice in order to make less of a scene in front of everyone.

“What do you mean, Danny?” With a confused look on her face, Rosalina feigned her innocence, perfectly suppressing her satisfaction in getting such a jealous response from her lover. In her mind, it was what Danny deserved for leaving her here. “I was just getting to know your friends… you seem to like them a lot, so I thought they must be wonderful people! Namkhai and I were just sharing some of Mr Hariyama’s delicious dumplings, have you tried them?”

“Yes, getting to know Namkhai and his big-” As Danielle ignored Rosalina's actual question and completely lost her composure, Rosalina let out a sharp gasp, silencing the blonde before her statement could get too far. Thankfully, a quick grasp of Danielle's hands also stopped her from making any gestures toward the man's body.

“Danny! I can’t believe you would even make such an accusation.” The doll-like ginger princess seemed to know exactly how to tackle the situation, removing all blame from herself and twisting the situation around back onto Danielle. As her lover flinched, she knew that she had once again succeeded.

“You were-”

“You’re being so rude, this isn’t like you… You left me here to mingle with the crew, so that’s what I was doing, and now you’re implying that I would behave in such a despicable manner?” As her voice rose in pitch, her eyes grew teary. “I’m sorry, I should leave… I should have never come here...” Bringing one hand up to cover her mouth and nose as the girl made a victim of herself and began to quietly sob, Rosalina walked past Danielle to leave the ship.

The hurt reflected in Danielle’s eye was extremely evident, now made to feel like the villain, though the effects of her actions seemed to be completely lost on her fiancée.

“Rosie…” turning after her, Danielle tried to catch her hand, but the girl pulled away. “Rosalina, please wait!” Forced to rush through the next few steps to catch up with Rosalina, a subtle blood stain seeped through the bandaging around her thigh and into her suit trousers. Grabbing the ginger, she pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry…” Danielle whispered as she seemed to accept fault in the situation if it meant being with the love of her life, even when the fault was clearly not hers. She rocked her beloved in her arms who had not only succeeded at getting away with her devious behaviour, but won her a lot of affection as well.

Only once Rosalina’s cheek was pressed against Danielle’s chest did she look up at the others, feeling foolish and embarrassed for this outburst, yet she still couldn’t shake the feeling that Rosalina and Namkhai got a bit too close while she was away. Sighing softly, she decided to move on.

“The Professor has offered a cello concert while we eat. I think that was very nice of him.” She shared that bit of information with anyone who was listening, and while she had no doubt it would be a brilliant performance, she had every intention of acting like it was in the off chance that it failed. Then she finally addressed Rosalina again, hoping to lighten her mood their argument as she released her.

“I’m looking forward to it, aren’t you?” To this, Rosalina merely nodded.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Rosalina: #ffaaff

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #17

Seeing how quickly the conversation grew into a lover’s quarrel, Hariyama quickly disappeared below the deck to prepare everything necessary for the barbecue, leaving there only Beast, Sigrid, and Namkhai as Niko disappeared right after Eponine and her brother.

“Biceps, I meant biceps!”

Sigrid howled realizing that before she could figure out some word starting with b, that could be used in such a situation it was already too late and the damage was caused.

Meanwhile, Namkhai was just standing there, leaning against the taffrail, while saying nothing at all, his brows frowning in disagreement when Rosalina manipulated Danielle into apologizing for something that wasn´t her mistake by playing the victim.

“Seriously…?”

He growled for himself, but before he could say anything else, the Hariyama and Niko started carrying out a table, chairs, grill, meat, and vegetables, while Gabriel pulled out a large and slightly dusty case for his cello.

“I am sorry it took me some time to find this it.”

He smiled, completely oblivious to the general mood that was on the deck. Taking a chair for himself he prepared his cello spending a few moments fine-tuning it before he started to play.

With the first tones the sumo wrestler threw the meat on the grill and raised his voice.


“Everyone to the table, I have few pieces before…well what great timing Sigrid would you mind?!”

As he talked four large carts filled with supplies for today´s party and the upcoming journey approached their ships with the coaches keeping a healthy distance from the giantess.

“Ehm…did someone pay it already?”

The giantess asked nervously, with the Professor nodding as he didn´t want to disturb his performance by talking himself.

“Aaaaalright, in that case…excuse me…”

She smiled, grabbing the boxes, barrels, and sacks on one cart, and carefully putting it on the deck next to Hariyama before repeating the process with the other two.

“Wonderful!”

Their cook grinned as Gabriel seamlessly started another piece.

“Now the true party can begin!”

[Bobbie]

Danielle sighed quietly to herself, her gaze falling upon the setting up of the tables next. She wanted to offer her assistance with the task, but didn’t dare even suggesting leaving Rosalina’s side again. Their embrace was soon reduced to hand-holding and while Rosalina found it fairly easy to move on and continue to look around, in awe of the sailor’s life, Danielle stood there, feeling awkward.

For the first time that she could recall, she found herself to be quite glad of the Professor’s oblivious nature to reading the mood of a room as she took his arrival on the deck as a welcome distraction. Gently tugging at Rosie’s hand, she gestured toward Gabriel with a smile, whispering something to the ginger that brought a little smile to her face.

Before they could admire Gabriel’s talents for very long, Hariyama’s voice roared over the melody coming from the finely handled instrument. Pulling Rosalina along, Danielle went to the table, as instructed.

However, her glance drifted toward Namkhai for a moment to keep an eye on where he was going to sit. It seemed Rosalina has similar intentions, but before she could act on any of them, the treasure huntress made sure to pick the seat next to Namkhai herself with Rosalina on the other side, so that she would be between them. To this, Rosalina reacted with subtle hints of annoyance on her face that were easy to miss, but she said nothing and then smiled to Danielle, sitting in the adjacent seat next to her.

Once they were seated, the lovers let go of each other’s hands to get comfortable, and Danielle turned her head to the right, Rosalina on her left, to watch Gabriel playing the Cello. It was more graceful than she anticipated - if this was the result of him being rusty, as he put it, she couldn’t imagine what magnificent pieces could be played if he were well-practised.

“I never knew he could play, and so well…” she uttered about a minute into the Professor’s song while Sigrid helped Hariyama with the food. She was quite clearly taken by his musical talents as her eyes were fixed on the strings being worked by his fingers.

Rosalina admired the sound of his playing, but was not as engrossed in the ambience as her fiancée was.

“It’s beautiful,” Danielle added, now turning to her Rosie with a look of admiration of all of her surroundings - including the face of this woman, the woman of her dreams. As she raised one arm to put it across the back of Rosalina’s chair, the girl reciprocated the same sentiment, momentarily forgetting about Namkhai, before she moved her chair closer to Danielle’s to rest her head on the blonde’s shoulder as they waited for the food to be cooked and served. “It is beautiful…” she agreed, glancing up at Danielle before they kissed.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Rosalina: #ffaaff

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #18

Everyone seemed to be enjoying the moment. Hariyama was almost dancing around the grill, taking care of the meat on it just as about everyone´s plate stayed full, including Beast´s who forget all of her restraints stuffing herself with quality steaks as if Gabriel kept her starving for weeks. Niko and Sigrid started a conversation about the giantess´s homeland and the Professor became completely absorbed in his little concert.

Only Namkhai seemingly didn´t share the festive spirit with the rest of the crew as being forced to sit next to the girl he liked, while she was on a date with another was more like torture for him. Many times the Titan of Bokh thought about leaving for a walk, but he never came up with a good reason that wouldn´t sound like a pathetic excuse. And the last thing he really wanted was to make Danielle angrier at him than she already was because of that little theatre her fiancée pulled out before. And so, he did the only thing he could, endured with a stone face and a bleeding heart.

Gabriel´s concert continued for about an hour before the Professor paused and put down his instrument as Hariyama offered him a plate filled with grilled goodies and veggies.

“Thank you.”

Gabriel nodded in appreciation, moving to the table so he could enjoy his meal with the rest of them. Walking there and seeing these two lovebirds a though occurred to him and he gave it a voice before really thinking it through, regretting it almost immediately.

“Speaking of which Danny, why did you never ask me to pay for the wedding? That way you two could marry right away.”

The reason he regrated this wasn´t because of the money, but because it would bind his precious puppy to that awful woman forever.

Namkhai seemingly realized it as well, because he shot him an angry glare, but said nothing about that matter, at least not for now.

[Bobbie]

Throughout the lunch, Rosalina’s mood reverted back to that of a loving companion in the company of their significant other as she returned to the sweet ginger that she presented herself as before everything took a turn at the fountain.

Danielle was delighted to be with her, having not expected to get such a chance before the actual wedding. As much as she loved being with Rosalina, however, Namkhai’s mood did not go unnoticed by the blonde who sat beside him, although a lot of her attention was on her beloved Rosie. Danielle decided to say nothing about it and not act upon it, as she assumed that it was only the result of what was implied by Danielle’s snapping at them for being so close while she was away - perhaps she offended him, and she thought the best thing to do would be to let it pass, with the hope that it would never happen again.

The food was delicious, her counterpart eating it more gracefully than her, and Danielle’s appetite was more than satisfied. Hariyama could work wonders at the grill, there was no doubt about it and the treasure huntress couldn’t remember the last time she ate such a fulfilling meal!

The Professor’s words seemed to catch the attention of both Rosalina and Danielle, as well as Namkhai. It was a gracious offer which the man’s protegée couldn’t believe was actually made. She looked at Rosalina, who was equally shocked and then back at Gabriel. Hurriedly raising one hand, she shook her head.

“Thank you, that’s very kind, Professor, but I cannot accept. This needs to be done the proper way, or I fear such conditions would not satisfy the… criteria... set by Rosalina’s father.”

“I think it’s a great idea!” Rosalina argued, looking at Danielle with a look of slight disbelief. “Danny, we have a chance to speed this up and finally be together, are you really not going to take it?” Rosalina may have tried to lower her voice, but it was clearly not enough as the façade that had been kept up throughout their lunch faded away to reveal the controlling nature of the girl yet again. Danielle stared back at Rosalina, then glanced at the people around her, and finally at Gabriel with an apologetic smile. This was terribly embarrassing.

“Rosalina, I don’t think we should be taking somebody else’s money like that.” Turning to Gabriel once more, she excused herself, then looked at Rosalina again. “Can we talk about this-” as Danielle made an attempt to stand up, however, she was pulled back down into her seat, Rosalina clutching Danielle’s hand.

“He’s offering it, Danny…” she replied, in the same failed manner of being subtle with her whispers that were harly whispers at all. Then she put on a bright smile in Gabriel’s direction, “Thank you, Professor Moon! That’s very generous, Danny and I will be in your debt!”

“Thank you…” Danielle added with a soft sigh, riddled with worry that this could backfire terribly.

Now it was Rosalina’s turn to rise as she sprang to her feet in a big gesture of pure excitement. “Come with me to the castle! My father would be delighted to meet you. I would also like to bring that beautiful jewellery case that you brought for me, Danny, it’s so wonderful! He will be pleased, I’m sure.”

A little smile soon grew on Danielle’s face. As the treasure huntress was undeniably blinded by this girl and saw none of the overwhelmingly present flaws in her character, her heart entirely belonging to Rosalina to a fault. There was nothing but love and adoration in the woman’s smile. Rosalina’s bubbly attitude as she took Danielle’s hand once more to pull her lover to rise from the chair was almost infectious as a rare gentle laugh escaped Danielle.

“Okay, okay. Only if The Professor is sure that he is really okay with this. Perhaps I can pay you back in installments or through some other service.” Danielle’s gaze was on Gabriel as she spoke, but it drifted away at the mention of other services, glancing at Hariyama and his grill, Namkhai, and finally on the beautiful Beast that had been chowing down on all the delicious meats like they were a taste of pure heaven. Considering her options was easy - dogsitting, of course.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Rosalina: #ffaaff

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #19

Everything was all right, the Professor thought to himself as he cut himself a piece of his steak, while Danielle was explaining her reason for refusing his help. Yes, in the future, he should be more careful with what he was saying but this time around it turned out just fine.

“Or maybe not…”

He sighed for himself as Rosalina added her voice to the debate, voicing her support for his plan. And while Danielle tried her best to put up a fight, but anyone, who witnessed any of their previous interactions was painfully obvious, how this little argument ends. By Rosalina manipulating Danielle in whatever she wanted. In this case into agreeing to use Gabriel´s money for their wedding.

“And now what…”

Gabriel bit his lip, feeling the angry glare that he was getting from Namkhai. The Professor didn´t need his lieutenant to remind him that in this case, he messed up a big time and should do something about it, but the problem was, he had no idea what. Fortunately, the inspiration came itself as Beast, completely oblivious to what was happening around her, finished her steak, only to woof for another one.

“Dogs…she hates dogs!”

He smiled to himself, getting up on his feet.

“Of course, I am, I wouldn´t offer it otherwise. Well, seeing you two lovebirds so happy together, why don´t we go right away? At least you will have more time to prepare for your big day. Beast!”

For the last word Gabriel raised his voice so the fluffy ball of happiness would realize it was a command on which she rushed to his side, nearly knocking down the whole table.

“Would you like to see a real castle? I bet you would because you are also a princess, right? My big fluffy princess!”

Being a terrible liar, the Professor was clearly overacting when talking to her, but he didn´t have a better plan than this.

[Bobbie]

Danielle nodded gratefully to Gabriel as he confirmed his certainty in this decision, but his behaviour that followed wasn’t quite… usual. She knew he loved Beast very much, of course, but even she had never seen him make such a public and exaggerated show of affection toward his dog as this.

The sprint over to his side by Beast also caused a ruckus of its own as the table was nearly knocked over and Rosalina let out such a shrill scream before leaping into Danielle’s arms for protection from the large furry monster. Unlike her partner, however, Rosalina knew no better and believed the Professor’s act, her eyes fixed on the giant malamute in horror. “Danny… dogs aren’t allowed inside the castle…” she muttered to her lover, now succeeding at lowering her voice in a more honest gesture and desire not to be heard. Shyly, she added, “Can you please tell him?”

Danielle sighed, “I will need Beast’s help to get to the castle and probably make my way around it once inside…” she replied, holding her lover close to protect her from whatever threat the ginger mistakenly believed there to be. Danielle knew otherwise. Danielle had already hurt Beast because of Rosalina once and was not about to do it again. With a huff, Rosalina moved away from Danielle, a mumbled 'fine' coming from her before she returned with the fancy chest - then gave it to Danielle to hold. Seeing no harm in this, despite her own hindrance in her leg, Danielle relieved her beloved of the burden of carrying her own gift.

“Beast will be coming with us. She is very well-behaved and I promise you she won’t harm anyone or anything within the castle.” Unfortunately for Gabriel, Danielle decided to firmly stand her ground on this and somehow succeeded at silencing Rosalina’s complaints.

“The Professor is right, we should go right away,” she added before any protest could come from her fiancee. “Perhaps you two should walk ahead while Beast and I stay together so I won’t hold anyone back… what do you think?” Her question was not directed toward either one of the two, but rather to Beast as she gestured for her to come closer.

To this, Rosalina did not reply and simply narrowed her eyes on Gabriel with a sulk.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Rosalina: #ffaaff

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #20

The Professor was angry at himself. After a whole day of carefully choosing his words, he let his guard down and said something he will probably regret for the rest of his life. Not that he would be upset about the money. There wasn´t a sum he would regret spending for Danielle´s happiness. The problem was, he wasn´t really sure this whole relationship could lead to anything else but a disaster. Although she seemed to be nice at first, that ginger proved to be an evil, manipulative, possessive, petty, shallow, hypocritical, ignorant cat lover, that surely didn´t deserve the love of someone like Danielle. So, even if their relationship would survive the suspected case of mistaken identity…or rather gender, the Professor was sure that his puppy would be unhappy in it. And if someone like him could see it he couldn´t understand how Danielle herself could be so blind to all these warning signals.

Well, unfortunately, it was already too late to do something about it. Words one spoken couldn´t be taken back and his last feeble hope for redemption was killed right away when Danielle convinced Rosalina, that Beast have to go with them.

“Woof! Woof!”

The oversized ball of happiness walked towards her best friend, head held high, only to lower herself down so the treasure huntress could easily climb on her back.

“I don´t think that will be necessary.”

The Professor muttered in response Danielle’s words, moving further away from Rosalina who was giving him an upset look, and towards Beast and her rider.

“We can all go together.”

Hiding his dread behind the usual kind smile Gabriel would do anything that was in his strength to avoid another situation where he would end up alone with Rosalina. Their first conversation was stressful enough and he really didn´t wish to repeat it anytime soon. At least not until getting few moments alone with Danielle to confirm his suspicion.

[Bobbie]

Once Beast got close enough and so kindly lowered herself, Danielle could easily climb onto her back. The smile on her face was a clear indication of how, not only comfortable, but happy she was up there, seated upon a majestic throne of fluff and love. Her hands instantly buried themselves in the malamute’s coat, petting Beast appreciatively while also letting her know that she was ready.

Rosalina was far less satisfied with this situation. She didn’t wish to spend more time with the Professor, but she couldn’t bare to walk so close to the fluffy creature that could have so many bugs nestled in that long fur. It was bad enough to her lover was so attached to it and it seemed that nothing she could do or say would make Danny see otherwise, so the poor ginger would be forced to endure secondhand exposure to the furball that she disliked so heavily.

“Okay, fine, but I’m only making this exception for you, Danny.” As Rosalina made sure that her sacrifice was known and recognised, she reached up to gently hold the blonde’s hand, a gentle smile on her face.

Danielle had to lean uncomfortably to reach Rosalina’s hand and she smiled in return. She gave it a gentle squeeze and nodded. “Thank you, my love.” With that, she released Rosalina’s hand and nodded to Gabriel.

“Let’s get going,” she uttered, now facing ahead with a content smile as they all started to make their way toward the Fernandez Dior Castle. While she still had her concerns about this and was insistent with herself not to be overly optimistic, it was nice to feel that the near future could hold something absolutely wonderful for her. She hadn’t felt like this in a long time, as the struggle of jumping through hoops to please Rosalina and her father had become the central focus of her life.

“If this goes well, perhaps you, Rosie, could be my beloved bride by tonight.”

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Rosalina: #ffaaff