A Festive Farewell: Between Friends or Family?

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #38

Watchind Danielle making her way across the plank, Namkhai, s smile changed into wide grin as he applauded her achievement.
“Congratulations, you just proved that you are very agile monkey!”
The Titan laughed, although there was no malice in this joke.
“Now watch this!”
Without a pause he grabbed his own glass, already refiled during Danielle´s attempt, before emptying it in one go. His courage and confidence boosted beyond human levels, the Titan sprinted towards the barrel, before jumping atop the plank. For a second or maybe two it looked like he seriously overestimated his skills, but at the end he managed to find his lost balance and finish his walk across the plank, cheered by thunderous applause from Niko, Hariyama and Eponine.
“That´s the spirit man! Show the little monkey we gorillas don´t fear any challenge!”
Niko yelled, prompting Eponine to jump on her feet, spilling much of her own glass on the deck.
“Sc*ew gorillas! Monkeys for the win!!!”
She yelled from top of her lungs before falling back into her chair.
Chuckling, Namkhai made his way back to Danielle, refilling her glass as a true gentleman.
“So you wanted to raise the bets huh? So here is the deal. I win, you will sing me some nice hearth warming, romantic song. You win, I will swim all the way back to that s*ity island to bring Rosalina here! Then you can marry her right away with Gabriel being captain and everything!”
He boasted, offering the treasure huntress her glass.

---

While Namkhai was offering another deal to Danielle, Sigrid looked at Hayden with a spark in her eyes.
“Oh so you would like to bet with me? Well that´s easy! I am beting on Namkhai! And If I´ll win…hehehe.”
She chuckled, before emptying the rest of her barrel.
“If I´ll win, you will become my official boyfriend!”

---

While her wild proclamation dropped more than one jaw, Beast left the table quite distressed, looking for her dad, who was standing away from the centre of attention, leaning against the taffrail.
“Dad.”
She whispered, earning his attention.
“Something´s wrong?”
The Professor asked, suddenly alarmed by the distressed tone of her voice.
“Yes I…”
Beast looked back towards Danielle to make sure she isn´t hearing her.
“You know…Danielle told me she likes me better as a dog because of Rosalina, but…I don´t know how to transform back!”
Being on the verge of crying she looked up to her adoptive father with a pleading eye.
“What if I stay like this forever? I love being dog, its much better to have four paws than these…weird…”
She waved with her hands.
Supressing his first instinct to start laughing, Gabriel nodded, making his best to look very serious.
“Well, if that´s a Devil Fruit I am sure you can transform back. Remember Myra? She wasn´t stuck in her raven form, right? Come, let´s try something, I am sure we´ll figure it out.”
Holding her shoulder he took her even further away from the main stage to explore her Devil Fruit abilities.

[Bobbie]

Danielle laughed sarcastically in response to Namkhai’s teasing remark, but that transitioned into a genuine laugh moments later.

“Well, this agile monkey is about to teach a big hairy primate a thing or two about balance.” She crossed her arms as she watched him empty his glass and then perform his trick. Her eyes followed him as he made his sprint toward the barrel and then suddenly jumped onto the plank. For a moment, it looked like he would fall and Danielle raised her eyebrows, almost eager to see him fail at his own game. It would serve him right, she thought, he could use a lesson on humility. However, he did not fail and made it to the other side as Niko and Hariyama cheered him on.

Scoffing at Niko’s comment, the treasure huntress rolled her eye just as Eponine yelled at the top of her lungs.

“Yeah, sc*ew gorillas! Team Monkey!” the blonde immediately joined in and raised her glass with a loud cheer. It was quite a good thing that it was empty, or its contents would have spilt everywhere.

Namkhai soon approached and changed that as he filled her glass, Danielle’s gaze on him once more, before she eyed her drink.

“Oh ho ho!” Danielle exclaimed with a wide grin as Namkhai offered a new additional bet. “That’s very bold!” She replied with a laugh and stepped closer to the man only slightly taller than her but significantly larger in frame. As she confronted him in a heated face-off, her nose barely a few centimeters away from his and the woman’s flat chest lightly brushing against his in a classic intimidation tactic.

“Big words, I hope you’re as strong a swimmer in those freezing waters as you are a talker, Mr Monkhbat.”

With a snicker, she moved away from him and drank everything that was within her glass. Walking to the barrel instead of sprinting as he did, she climbed on top of it on one end of the plank and took a deep breath before she suddenly drew her sword. Tapping the plank to help with gauging the distance in her calculations, she then placed the tip of her blade on the wood, as she hoped it would support her weight, pressed her palm onto the base of the hilt on her scimitar. Kicking her feet into the air, she did a brilliant flip over her sword, her palm pressing on it as she balanced for a brief moment to get across the plank. Her untucked shirt was quick to fall victim to the reversed direction of gravity, riding up toward her chest to reveal the hem of a navy blue, tight-fitting cropped vest underneath it, while her suit jacket draped downward over the sword. The move was not graceful in the slightest as even the sword appeared to protest against its barbaric misuse, and she appeared to be stuck for a moment in that awkward position. With a gentle sway, however, she gathered the little momentum required to push her body along and reached her goal as her boots landed on the plank as well.

Immediately, one foot slipped off the edge and a look of worry plagued her face, but the blonde sword-mistress managed to steady her balance on her other foot to prevent herself from falling off. Sheathing her blade and raising both hands in the air, she turned to face Namkhai and walked the rest of the way backward until she slipped off the edge to step off the barrel.

“Your turn, tough guy.” Danielle walked past him, playfully allowing her shoulder to hit him as she passed, and went straight to Eponine with one hand out to her to high five her one and only supporter.

---

Hayden nodded in agreement as Sigrid placed her bet. “Then I-” he began his reply while she drank her beer, his own having finished long ago, but she spoke again before he could finish.

His face flushed as she made her request for the winning conditions, and he then grinned. With the most innocent smile a young man could ever wear, he nodded.

“Then if I win, you will become my official girlfriend!” he replied, failing to realise that they would both reach the same result whether they win or lose, or perhaps pretending not to so as to ensure they did. Chuckling, he got comfy in Sigrid’s palm, crossing his legs while he watched Danielle balance on her sword and look like a wobbling mess.

“I guess I’ll have to bet on my sister…” he uttered, with very little confidence in his voice. It came as quite a surprise to him when he saw that she didn’t lose that round.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Hayden: #c3f8fa

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #39

Hearing Danielle´s boasting, Namkhai started laughing from the top of his lungs, his booming voice resonating across the ship.
“Yeeees! Show me! Unleash the full power of your inner monkey!”
He taunted her, but what he saw in these following seconds left the Titan speechless.
“Wow…”
He muttered as the treasure huntress was walking towards him.
“I have to say…your abs are fre*king amazing! It´s like If they were carved from marble!”
His words started another fit of laughter from the people around them.
“Of course he is more interested in that, than her performance.”
Hariyama grinned, taking a friendly jab at the Titan, who however took it with a smile.
“Sure I am, as someone responsible for her physical training I am interested how is that effort paying off!’ Hey!”
He protested in a jest as Danielle hit him with her shoulder on her way towards Eponine.
“You cheeky little monkey!”
“Yeah, team monkey for the win!”
The young medic roared, hitting Danielle´s palm with her own, without even raising from her chair as after the last incident Eponine didn´t really trust her ability to stand anymore.
“If I had both arms healthy…!”
Grumbled the Titan as he was emptying his glass, before heading towards the plank, climbing up to walk over it. Only this time, each step was accompanied with one leg squad, all the way down, with each reps teasing Danielle about touching the ground, while keeping his free leg only centimeter or so above the deck.
“See how nice I am? I am already warming up for our dance!”
Namkhai taunted her again as he jumped down at the other end of the plank.
Meanwhile above them Sigrid giggled at Hayden´s idea.

---

So either you will become my boyfriend, or I will become your girlfriend? That´s so cute!”
She leaned forward to kiss him on cheek, either too drunk to realise what they just agreed on, or wilfully oblivious to the fact, that there was no difference between these two.
“Waaait! But…what if it will be draw?”
The giantess asked suddenly worried, hinting that perhaps the first option was the right one.

---

Meanwhile on the other side of the ship Gabriel and Beast trained her transformation. It was kind of awkward as the Professor himself wasn´t Devil Fruit user and so couldn´t share his own experience, but he knew Myra long and good enough to at least guid her in her attempts.
In the end it was surprisingly fast as all she really needed was to relax and stop thinking too much about it. So after few attempts, she was able to transform back and forth between her human and dog for without an issue.
“See, I told you it will be easy!”
Said Gabriel, proud of his doggo´s accomplishment.
“Yes! I did it, Danielle did you see it?!”
Beast yelled on the blonde woman whose round it was right now.
“I can turn back to doggo! Look!”
Eager to showcase her newfound skill she rushed towards her in her human form, suddenly bulking and growing into tall and muscular werewolf like monster.
“Hmmm, that´s a new one…”
Muttered the Professor with academic interest.

[Bobbie]

Namkhai’s kind words about her physique caught the treasure huntress quite off guard. It wasn’t uncommon for Rosalina to comment positively on her physique, though frequently followed by a comparison to a more muscular man. She never quite understood it and would always give the same response: ‘Well, I’m not that man’.

Her cheeks warmed at what she considered a gross exaggeration of the definition of her muscles, then she rolled her eye and shook her head. Before she could chastise him for having his eyes on the wrong goal, Hariyama addressed that fact first and Danielle laughed along with them.

“Cheeky? There’s nothing cheeky about wanting to put mister Macho in his place! Looks like he’s easily distracted though.” She teased with a lighthearted chuckle, now standing beside Eponine to lean on the back of the chair and keep herself from toppling over.

“Oh, ‘if I had both arms healthy’,” she mimicked him with a playful snicker. “No excuses! You’re a gorilla, remember? As your hairy compadre said, you don’t fear any challenge! Don’t be a bi-” a hiccup interrupted her taunt.

Watching as he made his way across the plank on only one leg, while his other foot was lowered dangerously close to the deck, she was in awe of what good balance this man had. She wasn’t quite sure how she could top that, especially after giving it her all in the last round, but she masked her nervousness well behind an unimpressed façade, and, most characteristically of Danielle, a frustrated one.

“How thoughtful of you,” she grumbled, sarcastically, once his turn was over. She filled her glass and drank all of its contents, starting to wonder when she should stop. Now, however, was not the time.

Dropping the glass and letting it crash onto the deck, another hiccup escaped her and she made her way to the barrels and plank, dismissively waving her hands for him to get out of the way. Climbing up on one end, she stared at the plank as she thought about how to make her passage across it interesting and daring, but the more she stared at it, the narrower it appeared to become, shrinking before her very eyes while everything else swayed and turned.

“Okay, here goes…” she muttered quietly to herself as she began to take the first step, planning on miming a shimmy. However, Beast’s voice called to her and she whipped her head around to look at the beloved doggo, eager to see her return to her former fluffy self.

Unfortunately, she was fluffy alright, but not quite as cute and cuddly, as Beast somehow transformed into something terrifying that towered over them and wasn’t quite human or dog.

On instinct, Danielle took a step away from the threatening figure, her eye wide, and unintentionally stepped right off the plank. Faster than she could even register what just happened, the blonde contestant was suddenly sitting on the floor while her eye was still fixed on Beast’s new form.

She was silent for a few seconds, in shock of the horrifying creature before her, until she reaslised something far worse and scarier than this werewolf transformation.

She fell off the plank.

“FU-” Immediately cursing, she slammed her palm against the deck and let out a devastated sigh.

---

As Sigrid kissed his cheek, Hayden’s face lit up. He may have been drunk, but he had no doubt in his mind that he was enamored by this giantess.

“Well… in that case…” he explained with a slight stutter, before he let out a soft chuckle. “I guess we’ll both get our rewards. I’ll be your boyfriend and you’ll be my girlfriend. Officially!” The young pharmacist had a proud grin on his face as if he had just cracked a code to solve a world mystery.

It was at this moment that his sister fell off the plank and yelled out a profanity.

“But I guess you won… Also, Beast looks very scary. Did she always look like that?”

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Hayden: #c3f8fa

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #40

Rushing to Danielle with a happy smile on her bestial face Beast suddenly stopped. Not because she would be alarmed by Danielle´s shock, but because she realised, she was still running on two legs.
“Wat…this isn´t right…here you go!”
She smiled proudly, dropping down on all four and running the remaining distance as a huge fluffy dog, with her tail wagging left and right.
“Did you see it? Did you see it? I can transform now! I am clever girl right?!”
She demanded to be praised, licking Danielle´s face while Namkhai slowly approached the defeated blonde.
“So, I won…”
He muttered, but there wasn´t much pride or happiness in this statement.
“Not the way I wanted, but I still won.”
The titan rubbed his jaw as if he was thinking about something.
“God I am such sucker for these angsty eyes of yours. And I don´t really want you to leave this ship while feeling defeated and utterly humiliated either…so here is the deal. You will sing to me…that´s given, I won after all!”
He nodded sagely, offering her his healthy hand to help her back on her feet.
“Buuuut, because I really love you, I´ll give you that ring afterwards and we´ll go and fetch Rosaina for that wedding together! What do you say?”

---

Under normal circumstances, the Professor would be perhaps happy even for such development between these two, but now he had other worries that needed addressing. The most pressing one was Eponine, who was sitting on her chair watching a large shard from the glass Danielle shattered with a great fascination.
“It doesn´t seem fair for you to be sitting here all alone so…would you like my company.”
The dark haired medic looked up, startled by his sudden presence.
“That depends…”
She muttered, dropping the piece of glass back on the deck.
“On…?”
“do I deserve a snuggle?”
Sighing, the Professor reached for a nearby chair so he would have something to sit on.
“Of course you do.”
Faster than he would think was possible, Eponine left her chair behind and curled in his arms.
“I knew it…”
She whispered with a blissful smile on her face.
“That shirt is incredibly cosy.”

---

Watching Danielle to lose in their last game, Sigrid smiled and gave another kiss to Hayden.
“I won! That means you are my official boyfriend now! I got myself cute boyfriend!”
She laughed, celebrating her victory with a big sip from another barrel, before focusing back what was happening bellow them.
“Noooo, she never was. She was normal doggo you know, but than Danielle let her eat some weird fruit and poof! She can transform now!”
Sigrid giggled.

[Bobbie]

From the ground, Danielle looked up at Namkhai with the angriest frown she could muster in between licks from Beast that forced her to turn her head left and right to avoid getting doggy slobber in her mouth.

“Yes, I did see it, and of course you are a clever girl. I never had any doubt.” Inevitably, the animal lover gave in and redirected her focus away from Namkhai and onto Beast entirely as her fingers made it through the giant malamute’s thick fur to scratch her neck. “You are the cleverest and most beautiful doggo in the whole world.”

Her moment of bliss with the beloved creature was interrupted when Namkhai spoke, and she once again glared at him. “I’m aware that you won, but this shouldn’t count.” Danielle protested, groggily. It wasn’t the way she wanted this to end either, she was quite intent on winning, but she supposed that being distracted by Beast was not the worst way to lose at the game. She was truly such a beautiful creature, and also an excuse for her careless step.

“How am I supposed to sing for you?” The blonde sighed, “I don’t know any song lyrics by heart, and I don’t have a good singing voice.” She grumbled about it, but in the end knew that a bet was a bet, and she had more pride and honour in her than to go against their agreement, especially considering his offer. With a nod she agreed to it.

Taking a deep breath, she took Namkhai’s cup, her own now shattered on the deck, filled it and emptied its newly filled contents into her mouth again. “Don’t complain if it’s not to your liking…” she muttered, giving him a warning look, then tossed the empty cup through the air to him. Wasting no more time on her nerves, she clapped her hands twice and then stomped her foot twice, repeating that rhythm for the song as she had no instruments.

“Come on, Gorilla, bring the wine to me, bring the wine to me, bring the wine to me!” Once she had consumed enough liquid courage, she started singing a tavern song about a man and woman who meet for the first time at a pub.

---

Hayden’s cheeks felt like they were on fire. “Aaaah, oh no, I lost!” he laughed, waving his empty cup with something of a disappointed frown, although he has clearly already had enough to drink. “Your cute boyfriend must be very lucky, it would be an honour!” he announced with a grin, before looking down at Beast once more.

“Right, devil fruit… those things are very scary. What was it like when you ate yours?” His head turned yet again to look up at her. “You mentioned obsididon,” he uttered, pronouncing the word wrong despite having a fair range of vocabulary, but the beer didn’t help. “What does it feel like when part of you transforms?”

---

Danielle: #fffd17

Hayden: #c3f8fa

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #41

Happy that she was praised, Beast decided to showcase her abilities one more time, transforming from her doggo form into her human form and back, leaving the Titan who was watching them speechless for a moment, until Danielle snapped at him, that this shouldn´t count.
“Of course it counts! Loss is loss! Win is win! Just look at them!”
He pointed upwards at Sigrid and Hayden, startling the giantess to the point she almost dropped her new boyfriend.
“She just got a boyfriend because of my victory; do you really want to break that?!”
The Titan tried to fold his arms on his chest, only to come to a painful realisation, that it won´t work with the broken one.
Ignoring her complain about not knowing any proper song or lacking a singing voice. Instead he grabbed the glass she threw at him, putting it on the table as he suspected that full bottle of mead would work better in this case than single glass.
“Here you go!”
He let her drink to her fullest until she finally started singing. And to his surprise on a familiar tune, one that he heard many time in inns all over the East Blue. His initial surprise, that Rosalina even allowed her to visit such places soon disappeared and Namkhai added his voice to hers, soon followed by Niko, Hariyama and Sigrid, who just shoot an apologizing look to Hayden for ignoring his question.

---

“Hmmmm, can we dance?”
Eponine´s question tore Gabriel from the half-asleep state he was slowly falling to.
“Ehm…to this?”
He asked, unsure if he ever danced to something like that. Truth to be told, he wasn´t sociable and learned how to dance only because it was expected from him as a noble. Meaning his repertoire was quite limited when it came to folk dances and simple alcohol driven improvisations always felt too awkward to him.
Feeling his reluctance, his medic looked up with a puppy eye so perfect that they could be comparable to these of Beast herself.
“Please?!”
Knowing that he will be probably regretting it for the rest of his life, the Professor helped Eponine on her feet, before climbing up, only to find himself pulled into a wild and unpredictable series of hopping movement by his puppy.

---

“I am so sorry for almost dropping you.”
The giantess giggled when the first song ended and Niko with Haryiama followed up with another piece almost immediately.
“And uh…I dunno? I never really thought about it…”
The giantess muttered, transforming the hand that was holding him into large piece of obsidian.
“Well…maybe it´s because I am coooompletely drunk, but I don´t think there is much of a difference?”
She laughed, turning it into its usual state.
“And what about you, would you like some Devil Fruit? Like if you could wish to have one power, any power in the world?”

[Bobbie]

Danielle had mixed feelings about what was going on between her brother and Sigrid, not because she didn’t approve of the pairing, but rather because she was worried about the moment Hayden would have to part ways with his new lover. While she trusted Sigrid, to some degree, not to break her sibling’s heart – not intentionally, anyway – she was sceptical that the crew’s travels wouldn’t get in the way.

Dismissing her thoughts, she focussed on their song and drink. Everything was in good cheer as once Niko and the others all joined in and started singing as well, the treasure huntress relaxed and gained enough confidence to sing louder with the crew.

Bottle in her hand, she raised it high and faced Namkhai after seeing that even the Professor was brave enough to hop into a lively dance with the drunken Eponine. With a snicker, she stood up on a chair, challenging Namkhai with her gaze as she continued to sing, the bottle of mead raised in the air. “Come up on the table and dance with me, come and dance with me,” the lyrics went on as she then stood up on the table and trod over toward him to offer a hand and urge him up in as carefully a manner as any drunkard could.

---

Hayden was starting to get used to Sigrid’s clumsy nature, but perhaps he was too drunk and his reactions too slow to feel any sense of panic now. All he could do was stare at her in response with a big and happy grin.

Suddenly finding himself encased in obsidian, however, the young pharmacist had a reaction to offer. His eyes widened in a slightly delayed response and he gently slid his fingers along her obsidian palm, fascinated by its texture. “This is amazing…” he muttered before lying down and curling up in foetal position to fill the entire base of the giantess’ palm. Then it was back to the normal fleshy material and the blond proceeded to prod at the squishier surface with a gentle laugh.

“Me? Nooooo, Devil Fruits are terrifying… I never thought I’d want to be a giant, but if I could have one power, it will be to allow me to grow biiiiig like you, and then back to being small like my sister.”

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Hayden: #c3f8fa

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #42

Pulled into whirlwind of movement by his spirited dance partner, Gabriel quickly lost a track of time and his surrounding, so he couldn´t enjoy the feeling of satisfaction when Danielle invited Namkhai to dance with her on the table and the Titan accepted, rolling with the fact that the treasure huntress sang the male part of this song, without batting an eye.
“I'll get up there for a kiss from you, a sweet kiss from you…”
Namkhai smirked, jumping atop the table with everything but a gracious landing.
Their dance continued through few more verses, before the song ended and Namkhai turned to the crowd.
“AAAALRIGHT GUYS! TIME TO GRAB THAT GINGER WOMAN!”
He laughed, pointing his healthy arm at Gabriel.
“Boss! I need that ring!”
Reaching in the inner pocket of his jacket, Gabriel handed the precious jewel back to its rightful owner, before being nearly knocked down as Eponine lost her balance and fell on him.
“Sorry daaad! I think I am too drunk!”
She smiled, holding on him for her dear life.
The way she addressed him surprised Gabriel for a moment but in the end, the Professor decided to go with it, at least for today.
“Yes you are, what do you think, should we put you in bed?”
Eponine curled her lip, as a small child that was about to start sulking, but than she looked up, testing the power of her puppy eyes again.
“Will you read me a bedtime story?”
Her plea made the Professor smile.
“Of course, I will, now let´s go.”

---

Meanwhile, holding the ring between two of his fingers Namkhai raised it high to the sky.
“With this! No woman will be able to say no to you! So lets go and get that ginger!”
Roaring from the top of his lungs he accidentally dropped the ring on the table bellow.
“Oh sh*t I…uh…that´s no good! We are too drunk we could lose it on our way there!”
He laughed, kneeling down to grab it again.
“Wait! I have an idea! My little monkey!”
The Titan looked up to Danielle with the ring in outstretched arm.
“Would you mind hic…if I put it on your cute little hand?!”
Listening to Hayden´s explanation, Sigrid giggled, patting his head with one of her fingers.
“You are so cuuuute, but you know, you don´t have to grow. You are big enough for me…”
She paused; her jaw dropped as she realised what was happening down below.
“Wait…is he….”¨

[Bobbie]

The dance that took place on the dinner table, leftover food going to waste and cutlery crashing to the deck, was not at all graceful as the pair trampled on anything in their path. Danielle and Namkhai were not particularly in synch, but that only seemed to add to the enjoyment as the woman’s face had never been redder with cheer and alcohol, smiling and laughing so much that her cheeks hurt.

As the dance concluded and Namkhai shouted out to the Professor, Danielle also came to a halt in their movements and felt a rush of vertigo overwhelm her. For a moment, her head dropped forward, before it jolted upright again and she grabbed onto Namkhai’s arm with a chuckle that wasn’t nervous, but for the first time since meeting the crew, it was entirely carefree.

Before she could even process what was going on, groggy from the mead, the Titan was suddenly down on his knee and asking for her hand. Danielle immediately spotted the glistening, jewelled ring and held her hand out.

“Of course, my mighty gorilla! Put that-” a hiccup interrupted her words, “that ring on my finger for safe keeping! I will treasure it and- hic! Keep it safe until the day I die!” She yelled in a grandiose manner, before frowning a bit. “Till I marry Rosalina!”

Would those two events result in the same thing? She wondered this for a moment, a very brief one, before all of her attention was captured by the expensive piece of stone mounted on the ring that was now on her finger.

---

Hayden blushed at Sigrid’s response, but was focussed on Danielle and Namkhai. Seeing the man get down on one knee and put that ring on his sister’s finger, Hayden couldn’t help but allow his mouth to hang open, literally.

“HE’S PROPOSING!” the young blond shouted out in a terribly drunken manner, though his voice didn’t travel very far. Patting Sigri’s finger to get her attention, as if she hadn’t just pointed out the scene herself only moments before, he was bouncing with excitement. “They’re getting married! Are they getting married!? Till the day she -  Goodbye ginger witch!”

He knew he probably sounded very rude, although he was drunk, but the truth was that he really didn’t care if he showed disrespect to Rosalina. In his eyes, anyone on the planet would be a better fit for Danielle, and she was truly such a rotten and spoilt child.

---

The rest of the night continued with high spirits until it was time for everyone to call it a night. Hayden curled up in Sigrid’s palm, cosily tucked away underneath her fingers and dosed off long before the more hardcore party-goers, having had more to drink than he had in a very long time and quite possibly stayed up much later too. Keeping her eye open became a struggle for Danielle once her energy levels began to deplete. Eventually, it was time for them to retire to their cabins and escape the chilly air on the deck into the comfort and warmth of their beds.

However, as Danielle awoke, she would soon realise that it was not her bed that she was lying in.

---

Taking in a deep breath, the treasure huntress let it back out in a tired groan that sounded like pure regret of last night’s party. She was laying on her stomach, her right arm and leg hanging off the bed while her left arm was slightly elevated on a solid surface that was very warm… and moving.

As she opened her eye, she stared at her hand that was not very far from her face as it rose and fell, rose and fell, before she realised that her right cheek was also pressed against this moving surface as well. An interesting mixture of scents entered her nostrils, one that she hadn’t really smelt before. It was the combination of musk and earthy scents, with sweat… Oddly enough, she couldn't say she disliked it.

Drawing her hanging arm back onto the mattress, she was about to move closer to the source of warmth and get comfortable again, until she suddenly realised where she was.

She was snuggling Namkhai!

In instant horror, her one eye darted open and she immediately pulled herself away from his bare chest. Feeling the absence of the eyepatch lining and elastic applying pressure on her skin, she reached up to feel for it, only to find that it was not there. The treasure huntress covered her scarred eye while looking around the room.

A second realisation soon hit her like a truck as she saw what Namkhai was wearing, a man laying there in his underwear - perfectly understandable attire for sleeping, and he looked go-Danielle aggressively shook her head to dispel her thoughts, before she quickly looked down at herself. This was beyond embarrassing - she was wearing a pair of grey shorts that could have easily gone for men’s boxers in a small size, though they were undeniably her own, and the tightly fitted cropped vest that she always wore underneath her shirts. When worn underneath a shirt, it perfectly concealed her womanly form, although that was never the intended result, but by itself, that was impossible. Her physique was as it was, a flat chest was a flat chest, but there was the clear indication of it being a woman's.

“Sh-t, f-ck, mother of-” and a string of other curse words came from the blonde’s mouth in a hushed whisper and in no cohesive manner.

Hoping that she wouldn’t wake him, she moved quickly to locate the eye-patch so she could put that on first and have both hands available, as one was currently occupied with covering her eyeless socket. Locating it under her pillow, she was quick to turn and give Namkhai her back while she put it on, then turned once more to search for her clothes, hopefully before he woke up.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Hayden: #c3f8fa

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #43

In the end the Professor spent rest of the night in Eponine´s cabin. There was nothing romantic going on, just a simple gesture of kindness as the woman was troubled by terrible nightmares and Gabriel didn´t have the heart to let her face them all alone. So he spent most of the time sitting next to her bed holding her hand. Well, at least until the medic herself woke up with painful growling caused by hangover.
“Good morning.”
The Professor welcomed her into the world of living, keeping his voice down to not aggravate her pain.
Rolling to her side, Eponine looked at him with eyes filled with grief and gratitude. ¨
“Thanks dad…”
Flinching, Gabriel looked at her with mixed feelings. He didn´t mind when Beast called him that because he technically raised her from little puppy, but when Eponine used that word, it sounded…inappropriate. Yet he decided not to trouble her more than she already was, keeping this discussion for later date.
“You are welcome. Would you like anything to eat? I would say Hariyama has breakfast ready by now.”
She smiled, well her mouth did, as her eyes remained just as sorrowful as before.
“That would be nice. Can I just change into something clean?”
She asked, as her bag was among things saved from their old ship.
“Sure, I´ll wait outside.”
He nodded, climbing to his feet to give her some privacy.

---

Meanwhile in a nearby cabin Namkhai rolled to his side, disturbed from his sleep by Danielle´s string of curses.
“Oh come on…”
He growled, eyes still closed as he was still half asleep and very determined to erase that half part from that statement.
“Just ten more minutes. I´ll make you breakfast to bed afterwards.”
He yawned, grabbing her shoulder, only to pull the treasure huntress back to himself, snuggling her firmly in preparation for another round of deep, blissful sleep.

[Bobbie]

As Danielle was securing the eye-patch, her elbows in the air, a large hand was suddenly placed on her shoulder and she felt her body tilt backward. In such a position, it was easy for her to lose her balance, sinking into the bed’s mattress and rocking back into Namkhai’s arms.

Gritting her teeth, the blonde growled in frustration, immediately moving her hands between their bodies to protect herself from the closeness that she was being pulled into.

“What do you think you’re doing!?” She aggressively snapped at the Titan, placing her hands on his arm to try and pry it off her as her heart raced. Danielle had no recollection of how she ended up in Namkhai’s bed - or was he in hers? - how they both ended up dressed in nothing more than under garments, and what on earth could have happened that would lead him to offer her breakfast in bed! It was such a newly-wed kind of thing to do, the idea of it made her nauseated. Perhaps, however, the hangover was part of the cause of that as well.

After vigorous wriggling to get out of his grasp, the treasure huntress squirmed under his arms to get free, her hair loose and the hair tie lost somewhere. Her first intention was to urgently fetch her clothes, if only she could locate them, but something else caught her eye that interrupted her search... something truly terrifying. Now kneeling on the mattress without a care for how badly she had disrupted the man's sleep, facing him, she held her hand outstretched in front of her, palm out and fingers outstretched.

On her ring finger, was an engagement ring.

The panic that rose in her chest made Danielle feel sick and lightheaded. Oh no… what did I do last night? She asked herself, before shaking her head. What did WE do last night? Did we…?

Unable to finish that unbearable thought, she desperately began trying to remove the ring from her finger, but it appeared to be stuck. In her frantic movement, her body swayed on the mattress, her spatial awareness significantly diminished, and the room suddenly spun as she fell backward off the bed with a loud thud onto the cabin floor while her feet stubbornly remained caught on the mattress.

“Why is there a bloody ring on my bloody finger!?” Danielle tried to keep her voice down to a whisper, but clearly proved to be quite unsuccessful as her whisper was anything but hushed and more like a furious hiss, dangerously close to a scream that was viciously directed at Namkhai.

“Namkhai! Wake up!” She kicked the mattress from the crammed space between the bed and the cabin wall.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Hayden: #c3f8fa

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #44

Whatever beautiful dream the Titan had, it was interrupted by Danielle´s snappy response. The hungover man opened his eyes just in time to see her lose her balance and fall from the bed with a loud thud as her body hit the wooden planks bellow.
“Too loud…”
He growled, his head pulsing with pain, that was clouding his thoughts.
Slowly rising to sitting, it took him several long seconds before he realised two things. First, Danielle was in his room lacking most of her clothes, second, she was wearing that old ring he wanted to give her on her ring finger.
Suddenly fully awaken Namkhai looked at her with his jaw dropped somewhere below the sea level.
“Wait, you have my ring? How…did we…? Damn, I don´t remember a thing.”
The Titan said truthfully as no matter how hard he tried, he couldn´t remember much beside the point where he walked over some plank, but why he walked over it or when he had no idea.
“Well guess, I should make you a breakfast to bed when you are my fiancée now. Or is it wife? We should ask Gabriel, he is the only one on the ship with the authority to marry us.”
Realistically speaking, he knew that whatever happened had no real meaning. Danielle was so helplessly in love with that crazy ginger that nothing he could offer her would probably change that. He already realised that much. But still, the idea this amazing, beautiful woman could be his fiancée, even if for one day was really nice.

---

Waiting for Eponine to change he clothes, Gabriel´s attention was drawn by loud thud and angry voice that couldn´t belong to anyone else than Danielle, followed by less subtle Namkhai´s comment about possible marriage.
That gave Gabriel a pause. Were they looking for him yesterday so they could get married? Did he messed up that hard by not being available? No, that probably wasn´t the case, or was it?
Unable to figure out whatever he should knock on their door and offer his services, or pretend he didn´t hear a thing he growled in desperation, almost stepping forward, when the door behind him opened, revealing Eponine in simple trousers and shirt.
“Is everything alright?”
She asked, confused by the position she found him in.
“What? Oh yes, let´s get something to eat.”

[Bobbie]

The dishevelled blonde groaned in frustration when Namkhai said he didn’t remember a thing. She didn’t either, and her head was throbbing.

“Turns out the whole pain tolerance thing doesn’t work with hangovers…” Danielle grumbled, quietly, as she brought her feet down and slowly began to manoeuvre her way back up onto her feet.

Hearing what the Titan in whose bed she had just awoken said about engagement and marriage, however, gave her a burst of energy from the shock alone. Suddenly springing to her feet, she pressed one palm onto the bed and leaned forward to grab the man’s shoulder.

“Don’t even joke like that!” She snapped, pulling away to create more distance than the few centimetres between their faces. “We were both very drunk… everybody was drunk.” The woman uttered, straightening up and taking the loose hair tie that was just hanging off a lone strand of her hair. Running her fingers through the fine golden strands to untangle its mess, she tied it in a side pony tail, though in her panicked state it was anything but neat and would come undone again within moments.

“We can’t be engaged,” she continued to ramble as Danielle now began to pace, talking while looking for her clothes. “I’m already engaged to Rosalina, and what kind of jerk would wed two people who were clearly drunk out of their minds?” Locating her shirt, she picked that up and slipped her arms through the sleeves, buttoning it up.

“Do you think it’s possible nobody else knows? We can’t tell anyone! Everybody was drunk, maybe they won’t remember either, just like we don’t remember if we…” pausing, she gestured to the bed, but couldn’t bring herself to say it. “Did that… you know what I mean!”

Once her shirt was on and buttoned incorrectly, as the treasure huntress had misaligned the buttons with the holes in her haste, she continued to walk around in the shirt and her shorts in search for her trousers.

Picking up a pair of linen trousers, she frowned when she realised they were Namkhai’s and threw them at him instead.

“If Rosalina and her father find out about this, it won’t matter how much gold I acquire over six months or six years! I won’t ever have a chance at marrying her. We can’t ever let this get out…” pausing, she let out a huff and finally stopped pacing. “Where the hell are my trousers!?”

Before she could even consider looking any further, the room began to spin, prompting Danielle to sit down on the edge of the bed with her back to the wrestler. Leaning forward, she rested her elbows on her knees and hid her face in both palms as the cold metal ring touched her skin. "This is a nightmare..." she whispered quietly, feeling overwhelmed and putting a lot of her energy into not breaking down. She couldn't believe that this was happening, silently admitting to herself that the worst part in all of this was not that she woke up beside Namkhai, but rather the possibility that she was unfaithful to Rosalina. Just one week ago, the treasure huntress wouldn't have had a shadow of a doubt in her mind that it would be impossible to conceive anything happening with another soul, yet as she sat there, an engagement ring on her finger, she had no certainty of anything.

---

Danielle: #fffd17
Hayden: #c3f8fa

[Mr. Moon]

Gabriel #45

The Titan raised up to the sitting, watching Danielle as she nervously marched across the room, in an attempt to find the rest of her clothes.
“Well as you said, we were all drunk, Gabriel included.”
He pointed out, when she protested against the possibility that they could be married. Well truth to be told he didn´t really believed it either, but it was amusing possibility he could tease her with as a revenge for waking him up this rudely.
Sadly this mood didn´t last for long as Danielle threw his trousers at him, before nearly breaking down because of the possibility she could cheat on her fiancée.
Sighing Namkhai quickly pulled his pants on, before kneeling down next to the heartbroken blonde, carefully putting his healthy arm on her back.
“Listen it will be alright. Even if anyone else knew we are all friends here, no one will ever say word about it to anyone, I can promise you that much. Besides, if we were both drunk enough to not remember a thing from the last night chances are we simply passed out while arguing whose bed this is.”
He paused for a moment taking one last look at the ring on her hand before continuing.
“And as for the ring…I intended to give it to you as a parting gift anyway. So perhaps I did and you just put it on so you wouldn´t lose it. I mean, you are the purest, sincerest person I know, there is no way you would say yes even if I proposed to you. Look, let´s take down that thing.”
Reaching towards the ring, Namkhai´s hand covered Danielle´s when suddenly the doors leading to his cabin opened as Beast rushed in.
Standing there in her human form she saw what looked like a highly romantic gesture and her human face widened in sincere smile.
“So its true? You two are getting married?! Danielle is staying?! Can I be the bridesmaid?!”
She blurted, running circles in the room, switching between her human and dog form as her emotions were getting the better out of her.

---

Walking through the corridor with Eponine, Gabriel was trying his best to ignore the voices coming from Namkhai´s cabin. But what he couldn´t ignore was the large malamute that rushed down the stairs, nearly knocking him down, only to stop in front of his door.
“Young lady, what kind of behaviour is this?”
He asked, trying his best to look like a stern parent although he was failing miserably.
Transforming into her human form Beast shoot him an apologetical look,before rushing in, accidentally revealing him a scene that could be described only as a peak romance! Smiling happily, Gabriel stopped in his tracks, watching Danielle and Namkhai until Eponine gently pulled on his hand.
“Do you want to go there and congratulate them?”
Looking back and forth between her and Danielle, the Professor was evaluating his options for a moment before shaking his head in disagreement.
“No need to, we will probably meet them during the breakfast. That would be much better time and place then this.”