"Presea's so... different."
It was the next night. Presea was already in bed, exhausted after having to go to work at the resort after her home schooling was done- and all after having stayed up all night talking with Sheena and Regal, laughing and quickly establishing herself as someone different than the Presea Sheena once knew while still retaining some of her old quirks. She was immensely pleased with the maneki-neko Sheena had brought her and set out at once to carve a matching set out of wood.
Regal loosened his tie with one hand, reclining against the broad window that overlooked the bay. "She's simply more awake now. The last of the memory-dampening effects of her Ex-Sphere have finally all been washed away by time, and by love." He pulled the tie free, held it out into the moonlight and contemplated the scars on his wrist. "She might be only a few years younger than me, but her experiences of this world are as limited as a fifteen year old girl's."
"So she really is your daughter," Sheena said, wonder in her voice. "I… I'm not sure why, but I just suddenly want to say how happy I am for you, Regal."
He looked up from his scars to her, eyebrows shooting up. "Whatever for?"
"For having a family again," she said. "It's a wonderful thing to have."
And a horrible thing to lose.
Regal and Sheena both wondered if it was prudent to say that last one out loud, since they both knew how very true it was.
OoOoOo
"We need to get those two together," David said to Presea, sitting on her window ledge. How he had managed to get all the way up to the top suite without anyone noticing was perhaps a story for another day.
"Huh?" Presea said, looking up from her cat carving. There was a pile of wood shavings all around her feet, and she sneezed a few times from the dust before continuing. "Sheena and Regal?"
David grinned. "Yeah! I mean, did you see how she was looking at him?
It took Presea a while to respond because another sneezing bout had hit her. "Wit- wha- how?"
"She wants him. She wants his sexy man meat."
"David!" Presea said, scandalized. "This is my father we're talking about! My father does not have 'sexy man meat'. And besides, Sheena has been our friend for a long time. I think she would have made a move by now." She paused. "Wait… you're right, Sheena's too shy for that."
And Regal is pretty lonely… she thought to herself. Who better than one of their old traveling mates? Who else would understand them? Understand Presea?
Presea set down the unfinished cat carving, a strange light entering her eyes. "I think I have an idea…"
OoOoOo
"Presea, wake up. We're going to the beach."
Presea groaned as her father shook her shoulder lightly, opening the window to let some fresh air in. "Oh God, Regal, I was up all night again doing that thing," she said, pointing to the cat sculptures. "Let me sleep?"
There was a long silence from his end until finally he said, "All right, Presea. But I hope you can at least try to join us later for dinner."
Dinner, huh? That gives me another idea! But Presea really was tired so she only had enough energy for one pleased smile before she collapsed into slumber. David, however, was not as tired and was able to spy on the would-be couple as they headed towards the elevator. Sheena was wearing a navy blue sundress over her bathing suit and a big floppy straw hat. Regal was already in the elevator when the doors started to close, even though his foot was in the way and the motion-sensors on the doors should have stopped when they sensed that. Sheena broke out into a sprint, holding onto her hat with one hand and her beach bag with the other.
Regal pinned open the malfunctioning doors, his mind a total blank except how much of an inconvenience this was. Reaching out, he yanked Sheena by one arm and pulled her in, the end of her floppy hat just barely getting pinned by the doors.
"Ow ow ow!" Sheena tripped over his feet, stumbling into him. "What a wonky door! You need to get that looked into, Regal."
"Sorry…"
Then, with a crunching of gears and a flickering of the lights, the elevator stopped dead in its tracks.
OoOoOo
And when stuck in such close proximity, they realize their true feelings and start to make out!
Or at least that was the plan. David was there on the bottom floor (having used the stairs) twp hours later when the elevators started working again. But when he waited at the door, instead of seeing the two in a compromising position he found them sitting on the floor in identical poses, hands on their laps and legs crossed. They were meditating- after all, both were accomplished martial artists, and were used to having their bodies ignore certain things like the stifling heat in the elevator (the air conditioning shut down) and the fact that Sheena drank too much orange juice this morning and had to go pee.
Once that was taken care of, they decided to go to the beach anyway.
Mission failed.
OoOoOo
David, wearing a conspicuously large pair of sunglasses and a trench coat for added effect, was spying on the two as they enjoyed their day at the beach. Regal actually had been taking surfing lessons since he was old enough- after all he grew up on the resort- and after renting one he was going to try and teach Sheena how. But before that…
"You have very fair skin, Sheena," Regal said. "It would be wise to put on sun block now."
"That's the problem," Sheena complained. "I'm too pale. I want to get tanned."
"The only thing you'll get is burned. Trust me Sheena, I live here."
Sheena groaned. "Aww… Well could you at least help me do my back?"
Aha! David tensed in excitement. No man could resist the allure of so much skin exposed under their hands! She was practically throwing herself at him!
"Certainly." Regal slathered his hands with a goop of the white stuff and applied it to her back. No-nonsense. He didn't even try to fondle her or anything. This was really starting to get boring to David. "Don't forget your ears and the back of your neck. Those are the worst."
Just about as flirtatious as he got was when he cracked a rare smile at her when she turned around, rubbing the excess lotion off of his thumb onto her nose. If it had been David there with such a hot babe, he would have been like, "Want me to do the front now?" but Regal said no such thing and they just paddled off into the water like boring adults. Where was the sexual tension? The drama? Why didn't he take advantage of the fact that a beautiful young woman was staring at him with stars in her eyes? When she was so damn cute?
"He's a eunuch," David mumbled to himself, sweating profusely under his trench coat. "That's it. No other explanation." He then promptly had a heat stroke and collapsed. Some concerned passer-bys called the ambulance. Four hours later he was fine, if a little dizzy, with a warning from the nurse to take it easy and drink lots of water.
OoOoOo
"Wasn't David going to be joining us?" Regal asked Presea from deep within his wine glass. Sheena, Presea, and him were in the lobby enjoying dinner with all the guests. There was live music that night, and some brave couples could even be seen dancing.
"I think he wasn't feeling too well," Presea said, picking at her food morosely. "Anyway, what's the game plan for tomorrow?"
"Game plan?" Sheena asked.
"You know. What're we gonna do?"
"We could always stay in," Regal suggested. "After today's fiasco I'm scared to use the elevator again. I could cook for us. It'll be nice."
"No way!" Presea said. "Sheena needs to be entertained. We should go out."
"Where, though?"
"To the woods outside the resort," Presea said, beaming and clapping her hands together once, decisively. "We'll have a picnic. And Regal will cook for us anyway."
"Then we can have a free-for-all!"
All three of them looked up as David appeared in full evening wear, pulling himself a chair next to Presea. "A sparring match between the four of us, whaddaya say? And by the four of us I mean myself and these two ladies, while Regal… um… doesn't fight. At all. Or at least avoids me."
Regal smiled thinly. "Not feeling up to it, David?"
Sheena, however, was curious. She blinked at David, at his scrawny frame. "You're a martial artist?"
"David's family has been sending their eldest to the Bryants for training for generations now," Presea explained. "That's how I met David." In a whisper, she added to Sheena, "It's the only time you see Regal fighting without his handcuffs on. It's really quite frightening."
"I really don't think Sheena wants to-" Regal started, but Sheena cut him off with a, "Sounds like fun!"
Not waiting for Regal to respond, Presea jumped up and grabbed David by the arm. "Excellent! Tomorrow we spar!" and then dragged her beau off to go dancing with the other couples.
"The elevator trick didn't work," David confided in her.
"Oh, I knew it wouldn't," Presea said, whirling around in his arms. "I only did that as revenge for kicking you out the other night."
"Oh. Well, what should we do now to try and push em together?"
"Absolutely nothing."
She nodded over to the adults. Regal was standing, offering his arm to Sheena, and after a moment's hesitation she took it. They started dancing.
"Regal smiles more when she's around," Presea said. "I think I could get used to having her here."
Regal was, in fact, smiling as he spoke to Sheena. "You're a surprisingly good dancer." Realizing what he said, he began again. "That is, I hadn't thought you were a bad dancer…"
"Don't think so much, then," Sheena suggested, one hand resting on his upper arm. Under the smooth fabric of the suit, she could feel the solid strength of his body, so much larger than hers. "In my experience, you just let yourself down by hyping yourself up too much."
"But if I don't think…" he twirled her around. "I might do something I'll regret."
"Yeah? Like what?"
A pregnant silence.
"…I don't know," he admitted at last, when the song had ended. "But I'm afraid of making mistakes."
