Disclaimer: I don't own the Disney characters, nor the original story pitch from R.L. Stevenson. This story is mostly centered around Delbert's background life and thoughts, but don't worry, you'll see plenty other familiar characters along the way! P
"Oh! Sorry... I seemed - to - have - gone overboard... with the sale... Sorry!"
The lanky dog creature stepped aside in a zigzag manner from the customers, as he left Sir Hyde's Bookshoppe with two sloppy towers of books balanced on his arms. The books were blocking his view ahead as he descended down some stairs, and really hoped he wouldn't crash into anyone, or for that matter, trip over a step and fall sheepishly with a rain of books.
"For God's sake, Delbert... there'd better be a book about Corinthian Architecture in there, because that's all I needed." A female, plump dog creature grunted amusingly at the other end of the street, waiting for him outside the Painter's Pallette art supply store. She carried a slightly worn portfolio in one arm, and crossed her arms in disbelief as her cousin tried not to make a fool of himself.
"Don't worry, Daisy. I have it, and it's brilliant!" He shouted out to her in excitement as he crossed the street carefully with the book tower not failing him.
"Listen, I know we shouldn't say terrible things to each other, but really... you're the worst person to shop with, you know that?" Daisy laughed as she lingered on the corner of the street to help Delbert with some of the heavy books he had managed to carry on his stick-figured frame. She grunted by the weight. "How many books on Electromagnetic Plasma can you find in one place?"
"Just this one," he pointed it out with his nose, as they began to walk to the carriage. "But oh... the rest that I found... such a goldmine! An original folio of William Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'..."
"Who?"
Delbert rolled his eyes. "An ancient playwright of the Renaissance, Daisy. Ah, the Renaissance! My father would read me his work from our Collection when I was little, to try to get me to sleep, but I would never shut an eyelid with Shakespeare--"
"Oh nevermind... what's this one about?" Daisy noted a small book that was too thin to have its title written on the spine, almost hidden under a thick untitled book by some man named Austen. "It looks like a children's book."
"I think it is, actually. It's a virtual storybook I found in the rummage pile, called Treasure Planet. I liked the artistic quality to it, so I thought you might appreciate it."
Daisy smiled. "Haha, yes... the story sounds familiar to me... doesn't it involve a certain Captain Flint and his fleet of pirates?"
"I don't know; I didn't get that far into it, really. Too childish for my taste."
"Well that's saying a lot." Daisy smiled and stuck her tongue out at her cousin, and Delbert scoffed as if he had been insulted, and spontaneously tried to chase her down the end of the sidewalk towards the other street, balancing the books on their arms like two masters.
Delbert Doppler was a young man of few words, he would admit, but that wasn't to say his knowledge was not elaborate, explicit and very, very articulate. As the most renowned astrophysics student in Montressor, he'd happily spend an hour or two explaining the phenomenon of Arachni Borealis, with each piece of plasma extending itself out to make a delicate spider's web image in the sky for approximately four minutes before disintegration. The problem was that when he spoke about his hobbies or critical things, specifically, he would become so worked up, and it would be like an exploding thesaurus of emotional matter to the person listening to him. Most of the time, Daisy would be the victim to this. He didn't know what exactly it was, but his personal life didn't seem to connect well with other people, as if there were a huge barrier between what he studied, and what he felt.
He grew up reading about adventure, just as any other boy would, and perhaps he was the lucky one, because he had the privilege of living inside the most exceptional collection of literature in the Inglaterr Galaxy. The Doppler Manor, his home, had received amounts of acclaim from people by the enormous effort that generations of one family had placed into their library. Delbert even remembered how once, as a boy, his house had become practically a museum in the planet Montressor with the sheer interest that people gained from the books.
It came to be known as the Doppler Collection; books capturing the minds of great visionaries, thinkers, artists from long ago... long before Inglaterr had even been colonized. The titles were like a piece of intricate ancient history, and few scholars faintly recalled learning about such names as Plato, Da Vinci and Herodotus - the so-called "father of history" of a certain time. Each book was brought in its own unique way, stumbled upon by an ancestor at market or an old bookshop, where they would not sell for much. They would read the complex Shakespearean sonnets about love, the fantastical epics of knights from Camelot, to the fascinating ideas of a perfect society called Utopia... and they would want to go back there. The Dopplers never knew exactly how this obsession for old books got started within the family, but nevertheless, they kept it going... and over time, it became an impressive library of historical thought. It's easy to say that the Dopplers found quite a profit from the museum admissions, and retained their name in high class society as the people who loved history.
You would say it was inevitable, how young Delbert fell into this love for old books, sneaking down into the library as a child at late hours to read about pirates and dragon-slayers and their well-guarded treasures. You would probably think it common sense that he would want to study these things as a profession, researching into the metaphorical realms of these stories to compare them to his modern-day culture. Many scholars had already done so, after all. However, although it seemed that those classic arts and traditions were maintained throughout Inglaterr, the history behind them seemed to have been forgotten, all for the sake of modernization.
"Delbert, you can't place all of your mind and energy into what's already happened." He remembers his teachers saying. "You have to look ahead, and see what you can do to help your current society."
And so he did, burying his nose into the sciences and the arts of astronomy and physical elements, in that same compassion he always carried with learning. While his only cousin dove into the artistic gifts she was born with (to hopefully become an influence to Montressor's design), Delbert Doppler read into the most unseen parts of the Inglaterr Galaxy. He tried to make sense of the strange phenomena that would be scanned by his own personal observatory at the Doppler Manor, and make sure they wouldn't be of any threat in the forthcoming future. But he never outgrew his childhood ambition of adventure, and even now, as a young doctoral candidate at the University of Montressor, he still longed for that chance to go on an adventure of a lifetime...
"Whoa! Delbert... stop!" Daisy had frozen mid-run as she approached the corner the street, catching the figures of two people walking by perpendicularly from the adjacent street. She was lucky enough to not crash into them, but Delbert, unfortunately, couldn't see nor hear her.
"AAAHHHH!!!!" An instant domino effect, Delbert ran into his cousin, and the tower of books came tumbling onto the young couple without warning.
The young man's hat caught the Austen book and caved it in like a canoe, with his arms catching a few books from the air like a basket. The woman was lucky enough to have stepped back slightly just before the avalanche of books came. The two of them seemed to have been in the middle of a stroll in the marketplace, when this crash suddenly cut their sweet conversation short. Daisy was left in a slight fetal position under a pile of old books, and Delbert saw the surprised-yet-unimpressed look on the man's face.
Carriages continued to pass by the streets, and customers walked around the large pile of books laid on the ground, looking with sincere interest, and then continuing on foot.
"Oh – oh my goodness – I'm extremely sorry about that, sir. Really I--" Delbert got up immediately to try and get the book from the man's damaged hat, but the man swiftly handed the book over to Delbert's arm in one unhappy gesture. Delbert suddenly felt like he'd lost his voice. The man's face looked a bit overworked and exhausted, yet his rough jawline and thick mustache would have made anyone stand up straighter than usual. Daisy picked herself up from the ground and attempted to apologize herself, but the man just handed the books he'd caught over to her, and turned to acknowledge the young woman he was with.
"You alright, Sarah?" The man went and gave her a hand.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Thanks. Boy, that was close." The young woman named Sarah carefully stepped back to the sidewalk, and looked over to Delbert and Daisy with a grin that said no harm done. "Are you both okay? Here, let me help..."
Delbert and Daisy felt awful, seeing how this woman was nearly bombarded by heavy books, and now she was insisting to pick them up along with them. Sarah's long braided hair swang over her shoulder as she bent down to start helping them out, the roundness of her cheeks releasing a sense of warmth as she smiled.
"No no no, you don't have to do that..." Daisy's voice trailed off, noticing how this young woman's belly was protruding a little bit outwards. Her eyes froze. Sarah was pregnant, and Daisy and Delbert felt even worse about that. The damage that could've been done was unimaginable.
"Really, you don't... we're sorry." Daisy attempted once more.
"Oh nonsense, I'm alright. Lucky for us, I jumped back right before it happened, eh?" Sarah handed a book over to Delbert and they all continued to pick up the books. The man at her side eventually knelt down to help as well. "What're your names, anyway?"
"I'm Delbert Doppler, madam. And this is Daisy Egburt, my cousin." Delbert swallowed the nervousness out of him, Daisy gave a small nod of support for him.
"Well I'm pleased to meet you both." Sarah shook each of their hands, then glanced over at the man, who looked indifferent about the formality. "This is my husband, Jonathan Hawkins. And I'm Sarah Benbow."
Jonathan blinked.
"Hawkins! Sarah Hawkins." Sarah corrected herself meekly, and chuckled, looking at the ground with embarrassment. "I can't believe it. We've been married for almost a year, and I'm still not used to this new name."
Delbert laughed, more to save Sarah from blushing like a tomatoe. "Oh it happens; my mother always insisted in being called by her maiden name in formal occasions. She just preferred it that way... though I partly feel it's because she had the memory of a goldfishae."
Daisy shook her head with annoyance, but decided to let that conversation end lightly, seeing her cousin talk confidently about things other than books. When the four of them had finished piling up all those books on each other's arms (Sarah's pile being less heavy) the mood seemed to become awkward, and Jonathan did not seem to change his facial expression at all. Delbert felt nervous and cautious at the same time, wanting to say something, but feeling as if the man would throw a book at him at any moment.
"Look, if it isn't too far, we can take these over to your carriage, to spare the weight on your arms." Sarah suggested to Daisy lightheartedly, and turned to the man. "Jonathan, you don't mind, do you?"
With a sigh, the man shook his head, but it was clear to Delbert that Jonathan was not looking forward to this walk with books at all. Keeping a close caution to traffic, the four of them headed towards Delbert's carriage, Daisy leading in front with Sarah. The women seemed to have hit it off quite easily, talking about Sarah's baby, and the new marriage and recent move, etc. For the men, it could not have been more uncomfortable to walk side by side, not having much to say.
"Eh...you're Homcanids, aren't you?" The man asked curiously to Delbert, trying to break that silent barrier with little effort.
"Um, well, yes. Yes we are..." Delbert would've scratched his head, had his hands not been occupied with the books. He didn't know if this man was being more curious or judgemental, but nevertheless he managed to answer him just as oddly. "...our family has lived in Planet Montressor for centuries."
Now feeling like he classified himself as the dull, awkward Homcanid, Delbert didn't know what else he could say, and was about to ask Jonathan if he was indeed Human, but Daisy seemed to have sensed the tension brewing, and she cut in.
"So, are you both new to Montressor?" She asked Jonathan and Sarah, with a hint more of optimism.
"Yes, yes we actually just sailed in a few days ago, from the Columnia Galaxy, on the far west solar region." Jonathan seemed to have found a bit more dignity in his voice, as the four were approaching Delbert's fine cherrywood carriage, but he kept carrying on with the conversation. "I was a merchant of antiques there, and I'm trying to expand my trade over here in Inglaterr and network with other businesses. I don't hope to do much of it yet, with the baby and all, but I'll be traveling a lot, finding antique furniture and metallic wear in good condition. I might extend into more exotic goods as well, who knows? Sarah... well..."
Jonathan passed on the rest of that conversation over to his wide, and his voice returned to its usual tone.
"...I'll be managing my own Inn, hopefully. It's something I'd been saving up for, for a long time, even before I met this guy," She turned her head towards Jonathan with a lovable acknowledgement, as she handed Delbert the books to load on the carriage. "We're actually on our way to look into some foriegn equity loans, and find the best designer and building contractor for it. All the nitty-gritty stuff, you know?"
"Oh, you're in luck! You've already befriended one of the best young architects in the whole planet of Montressor." Daisy laughed, amusing herself as she loaded her books on the trunk of the carriage. "Let me know when you'd like to start and I'll be more than happy to help you out with the project. Old-style cottages are my specialty at the moment."
Sarah's eyes beamed open with more hopefulness. "Would you? That's really sweet... you see, it's always been my dream to open an Inn, and let explorers and travelers stay... hearing their stories of danger and excitement. It thrills me."
"Sounds like the perfect environment to raise a family." Delbert commented, feeling a sense of childhood coming back to him as he climbed onto the driver's seat. The sluugifant creature had waken up from a nap and was immediately eager to take off in the carriage, but Delbert took hand of the riding straps for control. "Well, please know that you're always welcome at the Doppler Manor. I make a dangerous cup of tea!"
"That's not a lie." Daisy mumbled as she climbed up to sit next to her cousin, and Delbert elbowed her in annoyance. After the pairs respectively waved their goodbyes, Sarah placed a hand on her belly for comfort and turned around with her husband to continue their strolling. Daisy suddenly remembered the storybook Delbert had bought for her at the shop, and quickly had an idea.
"Wait, Sarah!" The woman turned around at the call of her name, and Daisy jumped off the carriage to pick up the Treasure Planet storybook from the pile. She then proceeded to catch up to Sarah and her husband. "It's for the baby. Consider it as a welcoming present from me and Delbert."
"Aw, thanks, Daisy." The two women hugged one last time, and Jonathan gestured to Sarah keep going before the day got late. "We promise we'll keep in touch!"
And at that, Delbert signaled the sluugifant to take off, and the cousins left the marketplace in the carriage, feeling slightly better about their ultimate accident involving books. As Delbert led the carriage to drop off Daisy at her small European-style flat near the Montressor's market square, his mind seemed to go back to that list of books he had found at the store. The Doppler Collection will be receiving wonderful additions.
With this newly found friendship he and Daisy had made with the humans, things seemed to be taking a better turn for Delbert's life. Perhaps he just needed a new crowd of people to talk to, to get his mind out of the strange world of astrophysics for a while, and just hear about stories of travel and excitement. Part of him just wished he'd carried more of that Jonathan fellow's ambition with navigation, but goodness knows, Delbert was content with the ambition he had for knowledge... and the sense of humor that came along with it.