It was a warm late spring day and the Moomin family decided that it was a nice enough day to have a family picnic on the beach. Snufkin, Snork Maiden and her little brother Snork were tagging along for the fun.
Walking along and holding hands with each other, Snork Maiden was telling Moomintroll how scared she was to see him cursed like that.
"Yes, my beloved Snork Maiden," Moomintroll said gallantly, "I too was scared. But your mere presence was enough to heal my soul and bring me back to you."
Little My gagged audibly.
Moomintroll looked over his shoulder at her, annoyed.
"Do you mind," He said.
"No. Do you mind," Little My said, "We're in public."
Sam then gently wacked Little My in the back of her head with the beach umbrella and said, "Leave them alone, My. They're being cute with each other and it's beautiful," Sam then gave Moomintroll a thumbs up through her holding the picnic basket and said, "You do you boo."
Snork Maiden giggled as Moomintroll said, "Thank you."
"Can I ride on your shoulders then," Little My asked Sam, hoping to get as physically far away from the two nauseating lovebirds.
Sam crouched down and Little My climbed up to stand on Sam's shoulders, moving her straw hat on to her own head and holding onto Sam's hair like they were reins.
"Let's go walk by Snufkin and Snork," Little My said as she whipped Sam's hair like she was whipping reins on a horse.
"Okay, Remy," Sam said as she marched faster than the two love birds.
"Stop calling me Remy," Little My shouted as they walked away.
Snork Maiden couldn't help but giggle again.
Moomintroll cleared his throat, ready to wax poetic to his girlfriend, when Snork Maiden asked, "What's it like living with a human? I bet she's really deep and mysterious."
Moomintroll had flashbacks of Sam being completely covered in dirt every other day because she's trying to plan out her own garden and testing soil and cataloging plants, of Sam farting on Little My because she stole a pastry that Sam called dibs on, of Sam giving him what she called a Wet Willy when he was practicing his poetry.
"I wouldn't call her mysterious," Moomintroll said, "She's just like anyone else around here, she was just raised with a different culture and so on. Why do you ask?"
"I don't know. She's quite handsome," Snork Maiden said.
Moomintroll looked between Snork Maiden and Sam, as he couldn't believe his ears. Sam was at best odd looking, but certainly not handsome.
"I've written some new poetry for you if you'd like to hear it," Moomintroll asked, deciding to change the subject.
"I always love your poetry," Snork Maiden said, "I would love to hear it."
Moomintroll then recited his newest poem to her as they made their way to the beach.
The sand looked white and fluffy and was warm. The ocean looked dark and murky and was cold. The sky stretching out into the horizon was pure blue. It was a lovely day for a picnic. Moominmamma, Moominpappa, and Sam were setting up the picnic area, Little My and Snufkin were inspecting the tide pools, Snork was in the process of building a castle that was just a wet pile of sand, and Moomintroll and Snork Maiden were having a romantic stroll along the beach while letting the cold ocean water lap at their feet.
"It's such a beautiful day," Moomintroll said as they walked together.
"It sure is," Snork Maiden agreed.
"But not as beautiful as you," Moomintroll said then he kissed her hand.
Snork Maiden giggled and snorted with restrained laughter from his complement.
Sam then ran past them, in only her underwear and bra, as she jumped into the ocean, yelling with delight.
Moomintroll immediately looked away.
"Why are you naked," Moomintroll yelled at Sam.
From the water, Sam gave Moomintroll a flat, disbelieving look, then she yelled, "You aren't wearing anything at all, mister. Out of the eight of us, only three of us are fully clothed at all times. It's amazing I'm not a nudist at this point just to fit in more."
Sam then dived down into the ocean.
Moomintroll sighed, then he turned to Snork Maiden to continue their little date together.
"Let's go swimming too," Snork Maiden said as she started walking further into the ocean.
"But the water's freezing," Moomintroll said, not feeling like going swimming.
"Yah, but it's the ocean. It's always freezing," Snork Maiden said, as she tried to pull Moomintroll in, "Come on. It'll be fun."
Moomintroll was resisting, as he thought about it, but then Little My got behind him and pushed him into the water, making him belly flop. Sputtering, and trying to get back on his feet, he slipped and fell back into the water. While this was happening, Little My was full on belly laughing while Snork Maiden was trying to help him back up while also restraining her own laughter.
"Ugh! Thanks a lot, My. Now I have sand in my eyes," Moomintroll said, pouting and embarrassed that she made him look like a fool in front of Snork Maiden.
Moomintroll then left the two girls by the ocean as he stomped over to his mother and sat on the picnic blanket. His mother immediately took a towel out of her black handbag and started helping him clean his face of the sand and salt water.
"Would you like to have a cucumber sandwich, Dear," Moominmamma offered her son.
"Thanks," Moomintroll said as he took the sandwich.
He munched on the sandwich as he watched Snork Maiden swim over to Sam and pouted as they talked to each other in the water. Moomintroll loves his water almost scalding hot, and he can't understand how they're able to swim in the ocean in the middle of spring.
Soon Little My had taken off her dress and shoes and was swimming in the middle of the ocean to join Snork Maiden and Sam. The three girls laughing and playing together in the water. After he finished his sandwich, Moomintroll decided to hang out with Snufkin.
Moomintroll said hello to Snork as he passed by him and his sandcastle and walked up to Snufkin who was still examining the tide pools.
"Seen anything interesting," Moomintroll asked him.
"I'm trying to find clams to eat," Snufkin said, "I'm pretty sure Moominmamma brought a pot so we can boil some. It's been a while since I've gotten a chance to eat any clams."
"I'll help," Moomintroll said.
As they searched the tide pools for ten minutes, the two of them managed to find ten clams in total.
"This isn't nearly enough for everyone," Snufkin said.
"I was only searching for you to have them anyways," Moomintroll said.
"What are you guys doing," Sam asked from the water as she hung on to the slick rock.
Moomintroll frowned at her as Snufkin said, "We're searching for clams to eat, though this is all we got."
"There's probably more below the water," Sam said, "Let me look."
Sam dived down and the two young teenage boys walked over to the tide pool out cropping's edge and looked at where she dived down. After two minutes Sam resurfaced.
"Do you guys have anything like a bag or something?"
Snufkin gave her his hat. Sam then dived back down.
The two of them watched the water for a long time, waiting for Sam to resurface, and they were beginning to worry. Little My then swam over.
"Why are you two just standing there. What happened to your hat?"
"Sam has it," Snufkin said.
"Where is she," Little My asked.
"Below the water," Moomintroll said.
Little My sighed and rolled her eyes, then said, "I'll go see—"
—Then Sam resurfaced, with Snufkin's hat bulging with clams.
"Clam's back on the menu, tonight, boys," Sam said in a fake deep man's voice, then in her normal voice, said, "Oh. Hey My."
Sam handed Snufkin back his hat and the boys added their finds to his hat.
"Nice! So we'll all get to eat fresh clams with everything else," Little My said.
"Let's go give this to Moominmamma," Snufkin said.
Moomintroll followed Snufkin, and Sam and Little My followed the boys to the shore.
"Hey, where's Snork Maiden," Snork asked as they passed by him.
"She told me she was heading to shore," Little My said.
The five of them immediately looked out into the ocean.
Moomintroll was the first one to see that something was splashing wildly in the water.
"Snork Maiden's drowning," Moomintroll shouted as he raced out into the water to try and swim after her to help her, but Sam, the next person to see where Snork Maiden was in the water, ran into the water and was swimming faster than Moomintroll could.
Everyone just stood around and watched as they followed Sam with their eyes. They watched as Sam got to Snork Maiden, then after some time, Sam was swimming with Snork Maiden in the nook of her left arm. Moominmamma and Moominpappa had walked over by the time Snork Maiden and Sam made it to the beach. Snork Maiden had netting around her left ankle and it was caught around her anklet too. Sam's mouth was bleeding.
"Oh, Dear," Moominmamma said as she went up to Snork Maiden who was coughing up and throwing up salt water.
"What happened," Moominpappa asked.
"Her foot got caught on a ghost net," Sam said, then she turned to Moominmamma and asked, "Do you have a knife in your handbag, Ma'am."
After getting a fresh towel out for Snork Maiden, she then fished out a large knife and gave it to Sam. Sam then went back out into the water.
Moomintroll knelt by his girlfriend with Snork and tried to comfort her as she was finishing coughing up the sea water that she accidentally inhaled.
"I'm sorry. I was on my way back to shore, but then I saw something shiny in the water and I wanted to see what it was, but then my foot got caught and I couldn't get it off me," Snork Maiden said.
"Hush, now," Moominmamma said, "It's not your fault, but next time you'll be more careful."
Moominpappa saw Sam starting to swim back to shore and said, "I'll help her haul it onto land. Everyone else can go ahead and start eating."
And so they did. Moominmamma even pulled out a pot from her handbag for Snufkin to put all the clams in to be boiled over a fire. Sam and Moominpappa soon joined the group after they dragged the old, slimy net onto shore and dragged it to the edge of the forest. Once Sam had dried off and put her dress back on, Moominmamma notice that Sam's mouth was still bleeding.
"How did you do that," Moominmamma asked Sam as she pulled her down to her height so she could look into her mouth. Moominmamma saw that there was a long cut against the corner of her mouth and along the inside of her cheek.
"She used her teeth to set me free from the net," Snork Maiden said, "It was amazing."
Moomintroll rolled his eyes to himself as he was helping Snork Maiden untangle the net pieces from her ankle. One part of him was happy that Snork Maiden was safe, and sound and he was sad that Sam got hurt in the process of saving his girlfriend, but another part of him thought that Sam stole the show from him because he thought he should have been the one to save Snork Maiden.
Moominmamma pulled out some cotton balls from her handbag and gave them to Sam to put into her mouth to stop the bleeding.
For the rest of the day the family and friends ate well together. They played games, talked, and enjoyed the warm late spring sun that was shining on them. Moomintroll mostly sat by his mother, pouting, as Snork Maiden seemed more interested in fawning over Sam than him, her boyfriend. He just kept telling himself that he was just being stupid for feeling jealous and that Snork Maiden can make whatever friends she likes… Even if she seems attracted to Sam for some reason. He just told himself that he can ask her later to go on a date with him, tomorrow, so that they could have some alone time together. It's not like a family picnic is very romantic anyway.
As the sun was setting, the family and friends packed up and started walking back home. Moomintroll and Snork Maiden were walking hand in hand again as they walked to his house.
"Hey, do you want to go hang out at our secret place tomorrow," Moomintroll asked.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I already made plans with Sam to help her with her garden," Snork Maiden said, "But after tomorrow we can hang out, just the two of us."
With a strained smile, he said, "Yah. Okay."
The next day Moomintroll was in his room, sulkily watching over Snork Maiden and Sam work in Sam's garden. He could only hear bits and pieces of their conversations. It was mostly just Snork Maiden asking Sam about her life before coming here. As his eyes drifted away from them, his eyes started to follow the stream upriver, where he saw a naked Snufkin taking a bath in the stream.
Moomintroll immediately fell backwards as the pinks of his ears burned bright red with embarrassment. He's seen Sam naked and Little My naked, but the sight of them was more annoying than how he just felt about seeing Snufkin naked. He immediately decided that he needed to get out of his room.
He ran downstairs and ran outside to Sam's garden.
"Hey, Moomintroll, are you wanting to help us," Sam asked.
"Yes," He said, as he could still feel his ears burning.
"We were just about to start putting down the soil," Sam said, "You can help us pour it into the perimeter."
Sam pointed toward a large pile of bags filled with soil that she's collected, so he went over to grab them while the girls went to grab Moominmamma's gardening tools. Moomintroll struggled to lift up a single bag. When the girls came back, Sam immediately went over to help him, so he didn't pull a hernia or something from struggling with the bag of soil.
"Wow, you're so strong," Snork Maiden told her.
Moomintroll couldn't help but feel annoyed by that complement.
"Well… Yes, but also, a lot of technique goes into lifting things," Sam said as she walked over to her garden and started pouring soil into the perimeter.
Sam then went back over to Moomintroll and showed him how to properly lift with his legs and soon enough he was lifting the heavy bags of dirt with less strain, but he wasn't able to put them over his shoulder like Sam could and that annoyed him too. As he helped pour out the soil into Sam's garden, he was trying to look strong and tough and impress Snork Maiden with that strength, but to him, Snork Maiden seemed to only have eyes for Sam.
After pouring all the dirt into the perimeter of Sam's garden, and spreading it out, Sam said, "That's enough work for today. I can start planting seeds tomorrow."
"So what do you want to do now," Snork Maiden asked.
"Let's have a tournament," Moomintroll blurted out.
"A tournament," Snork Maiden repeated while both girls looked at him like it was out of character or him to suggest such a thing.
"Yah, why not," Moomintroll said, "Sam and I will compete, and you can be the judge."
"Oh, can it be like one of those fairytale stories of a champion knight defending his lady," Snork Maiden asked.
"Yes, that sounds like what I was thinking," Moomintroll said.
Sam shrugged, then said, "Well I know who the White Knight should be," then she booty bumped him playfully in the side, then said, "I'll be the Blackfoot Knight."
"Why not just be called the Black Knight," Snork Maiden asked, "Why are only your feet black?"
"Oh, that's just what my nation's name is," Sam said, "If I'm going to be here then I want to," she shouted in a deep voice, "represent!"
"Okay, then," Moomintroll said, as he looked around, "Uh, first one to that tree and back to Snork Maiden, twice, wins the first contest."
Moomintroll was pointing downstream towards a half dead looking tree that looked like a child's rendition of Big Foot. Once they agreed on whether they're just touching the tree or running around it, the two of them got into position to race each other. Then they were off.
Moomintroll ran as fast has his fat stubby legs would let him, but Sam had already finished the race by the time he finished his first lap.
Moomintroll was breathing so hard that he couldn't speak when he finished his part of the race.
"Maybe we should have done this on an incline," Sam said, "It would probably have been fairer."
Moomintroll frowned. He didn't want Sam's sympathy.
"You did a good job," Snork Maiden said.
Finally catching his breath, he said, "Thanks."
"So is this it?" Sam asked.
"Absolutely not," Snork Maiden said, "A tournament has at least three events in it."
"Okay?... Soooo?"
"The next challenge will be a challenge of endurance," Moomintroll sputtered.
"Oh! Then how about I tickle you guys for a set minute and if any of you laugh, then it's over," Snork Maiden suggested.
"Mmm, no thank you," Sam said, "I don't like the idea of being touched like that."
Moomintroll was fine with that since he's very ticklish himself.
"How about a wall squat then?" Sam suggested.
"What's that?" Moomintroll asked.
Sam explained and all they would have to do was hold the position for as long as they could. Moomintroll thought that it would be easy enough to beat her in.
It was a minute and thirty seconds in and Moomintroll was groaning in pain and his legs were shivering from the exertion. He looked over at Sam, who was leaning her back against the wall like he was, sitting like she was in a chair like he was, but she had her eyes closed as she had her hands out in front of herself like she was praying or meditating. She opened an eye to look at him, then she closed it.
"Don't put your hands against the wall, Moomin," Sam said, "It'll give you the chance for you to use your arms to support yourself and not your core and legs."
Moomintroll removed his arms from the wall and felt immediately worst.
"This is torture. Who in your world came up with this exercise thing?" Moomintroll asked.
"I don't know," Sam said, "It's just something I did a lot in P.E. and on Dry Land Day."
"It's been two minutes," Snork Maiden said.
"Ah! This is the worst," Moomintroll groaned.
Sam giggled then said, "Life is pain and accepting that is how you move past it."
"Wow. That's so deep," Snork Maiden said.
"I don't know about that," Sam said, "I don't think that phrase is very disability or chronic-pain friendly. But it's certainly sport friendly."
"Huh…" was all that Snork Maiden could say.
Moomintroll didn't like that they were having an intellectual conversation. He's the deep one and the sensitive one of this family. He's the one to have deep conversations with his girlfriend. He won't be out done.
By the time Snork Maiden had counted to three minutes and thirty seconds, Moomintroll collapsed from exhaustion and couldn't hold the position anymore, making Sam the winner again.
"Wow," Sam said with genuine enthusiasm, "That was amazing Moomin. You've never done this before, and you managed to last over three minutes. Your dedication to win is awesome."
"Thanks," he said begrudgingly.
"What should the next competition be?" Sam asked.
Snork Maiden was about to suggest something, when Moomintroll said, "A test of words. A Knight isn't just about strength and endurance, but also wit and compassion."
"So like write a poem or sing a song," Sam asked to clarify.
"Yes. But give me a minute. I still hurt," Moomintroll told them.
"I'll get you both a glass of water," Snork Maiden told them before leaving them to themselves.
Once she was gone, Sam asked, "Hey. Are you mad at me?"
"What? Noooo," Moomintroll said.
She scrutinized him as she said, "Okay then."
Snork Maiden came back with their drinks and after taking some time to rest up Moomintroll went first.
Snork Maiden and Sam sat on the grass in front of Moomintroll as he told a poem that he wrote and memorized a week ago, that compared Snork Maiden to the wonder and beauty of nature. After the two girls clapped at his performance, Sam got up and Moomintroll took her place.
"Okay, so a little heads up. I'm going to be singing a song, but it's not original, so if we're counting points on originality then just know that. Also, I'm going to be covering my eyes with my hat," Sam said.
"Why?" Moomintroll asked.
"I have terrible stage fright," Sam said.
"But it's just the three of us," Snork Maiden stated.
"Yah. And it's terrifying," Sam said, already having covered her eyes.
Sam then started to sing a song called Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You by Reneé Dominique. Sam wasn't the best singer, but it was still good and the song she was singing was beautiful. The song made Moomintroll think of Snufkin, but as soon as he thought of his best friend, he remembered that he saw him naked, and it made him feel all embarrassed again and that made him mad because he didn't understand why it made him feel that way. He was in a bloody competition against Sam to prove how much of a man he is to Snork Maiden anyways. He needs to focus on not getting distracted. Moomintroll then looked to Snork Maiden to see what she was thinking, and she looked absolutely enraptured by Sam's singing and her song. That didn't exactly make him feel good about himself either.
Sam finished singing and she raised her straw hat out of her eyes. She was shaking like a dead leaf in the wind.
"Alright, well that's all of the contests then," Snork Maiden said as she stood up and stood in front of them while Sam sat down in her place, "It's time that I announce the winner."
Moomintroll crossed his arms and frowned, already knowing what was coming next.
"I announce Sam, The Blackfoot Knight, as the winner of this tournament," Snork Maiden announced.
"Neat," Sam said.
"And as her prize, I shall give her a kiss," Snork Maiden said.
Moomintroll's frown grew deeper.
"Ha!" Sam laughed, "How?"
"Well, like this," Snork Maiden said as she approached Sam.
Sam yelled as she jumped back away from Snork Maiden, which surprised Moomintroll, and Sam started running away from Snork Maiden who was chasing her.
"I changed my mind! I don't want to know how!" Sam yelled.
Laughing, Snork Maiden said, "Come on. I won't bite."
They ran circles around Moomintroll as he watched them run. Eventually Sam ran towards the stream.
She jumped in, yelling, "I forfeit my prize to Moomintroll!"
With a splash she was in the water. Snork Maiden stood at the bank and said, "Okay."
She then trotted back over to Moomintroll and bumped noses with him.
"See you on our date tomorrow," she told him before walking back home.
Moomintroll then got up, leaving the cups on the ground, and went to the bank of the stream and asked, "Do you need help out?"
"Naw. I'm actually going to stay in here for a while. The water's nice," Sam said.
Moomintroll then saw Snufkin starting to walk back to his tent and Moomintroll told Sam, "Alright." Then he left immediately.
It was the next morning and it was a couple of hours before Moomintroll would be going on his date. He was lying in bed as his insides felt all twisted up and knotted. He couldn't beat Sam at anything yesterday. At this rate he's going to lose the love of his life. To a weirdo from another universe, no less.
There was a knock on his door.
"Who is it?"
"It's Sam."
Moomintroll sighed, then he said, "Come in."
The door opened and Sam said, "I see you're still in bed. Do your legs hurt from yesterday?"
"I mean. Yah. A little. I'll get over it," Moomintroll said as he rolled over to face her.
He saw that she had a hairbrush in her grasp.
"I wish I had some hot-cold cream. It would help with the muscle cramps," Sam said.
He said nothing as he stared at her.
"So. I came over to see if you'd want me to brush your hair… fur? Um, the little pomf thing on your head," Sam offered.
"Why do you want to do that," Moomintroll asked.
Sam walked over and sat at the foot of his bed.
"Well, you seem pretty upset," Sam said, "You've seemed pretty upset for a couple of days now I think and well, I was wondering if doing your hair will make you feel a little better like it always made Luna feel better."
He sat up and put his back to her, "Sure."
Sam started brushing the top of his head, and it did feel nice to him. He felt his insides unknot a bit. Then Sam started talking about random things, like how she found a funny looking stick yesterday and how Little My tried to prank her earlier this morning. As she continued to talk and brush/play with his hair, Moomintroll was thinking of a new way to win Snork Maiden back. If he can't out do Sam by strength or by words, then what if he looked more like her.
Moomintroll suddenly stood up, the brush stuck on his head, as he started pushing Sam out of his room.
"I've got to get ready for my date. Leave," Moomintroll said.
"Okay. Okay," Sam said with a smile.
He slammed the door behind her, then looked for ways to make himself look dark and edgy, like he's assuming how Snork Maiden sees Sam. It took some doing, but Moomintroll dipped the tip of his tail and the top of his head in ink to make it black. He found coal to color his eyelids. Then he made stilts to make himself as tall as Sam and made a makeshift skirt to cover his lower body so it's not so obvious that he's wearing stilts. Then Moomintroll walked out of his home, confident that he looked dark and edgy.
As he was making his way to their secret date spot, he saw Sam, Little My, and Snufkin hanging out with each other on the bridge, talking. Snufkin was the first one to spot Moomintroll and he looked shocked. Moomintroll thought that was good. Then Little My and Sam turned to look at him. Little My started laughing her head off, as Moomintroll almost lost his footing on his stilts, and Sam immediately push her into the stream as he got close enough to talk without yelling.
"Heading for your date, Moomin?" Sam asked.
"Yep," he said as he walked behind them on the bridge.
"You look great," Sam said.
"Thank you," Moomintroll said.
"Have fun," Snufkin said.
"I will," he said.
He had finished walking past them and as he got farther away, it sounded like they were arguing. He didn't have time to think about it as he made his way to their secret date spot.
It was a little hard for him to walk to their secret dating spot, but he managed. As he got closer, Moomintroll saw Snork Maiden was playing with the flowers that were growing in their date spot, in the middle of the forest, and she had made flower jewelry. The sun was shining over her in the middle of the field, making her white fur and blond hair glow. Her back was to him.
Moomintroll called out to her, making his voice deeper than what it naturally was.
"Oh Moomin! Ready to—Ack!" Snork Maiden yelped in surprise.
"You look—Woah!" Moomintroll said, trying to complement her, but instead tripping over his own feet on his stilts and falling to the ground.
As he looked up to ask for Snork Maiden's help, he heard her snort, then she laughed hard and long, like Little My did at the bridge. It's one thing to hear Little My laugh at him, he's practically numb her to laughing and teasing, but it's another thing to hear Snork Maiden laugh at him. Holding back tears, Moomintroll kicked off his stilts and tore off his makeshift skirt. Then he ran back home. Snork Maiden was yelling for him through her laughter, but he couldn't hear her as he kept running.
He ran through the woods, over the stream, into his house, up the stairs to his room. He flung himself onto his bed and cried. He cried wretchedly about how he lost Snork Maiden and how she doesn't see him as anything but a joke now, and how he doesn't know what he's going to do with himself anymore. After an hour of crying, he decided that he should go find Sam and tell her that she's bested him. It's the least he could do, considering he lost.
Head held low, Moomintroll walked to the second floor to Sam's room and knocked on her door.
"Come in," She shouted through the door.
Moomintroll entered her room and saw that she was reading one of his Papa's books, The Exploits of Moominpappa, to be exact. She was laying in her big new bed and was laying on her back, relaxing. She laid the book on her chest.
"Oh no. Buddy? What happened?" Sam asked as she sat up.
The coal that he used as eyeshadow was smeared all over his face, giving him a chimney sweep look.
Moomintroll closed the door behind him then said, "I lost. You win."
Sam gestured for him to sit by her on her bed.
"What did I win exactly," Sam asked.
Moomintroll sat down next to her and said, "Snork Maiden's not interested in me anymore. She wants to date you."
"Whoa! What? Noooo. What?" Sam asked.
"It's true," Moomintroll said, "She thinks that your just so cool, and handsome, and mysterious, and she's obviously very interested in you."
Sam sputtered with laugher and it annoyed Moomintroll.
"Hey. Could you stop. I've been laughed at by too many people already today," he said.
"Oh! No, no, no, no, no!" Sam said quickly, to reassure him, "I'm just laughing at a concept from my world, and I never thought I'd be the monster in the Monster Fucker concept."
"I'm sorry. The what?" Moomintroll asked, having never heard of such a thing.
"Don't worry about it," Sam said, then said, "Have you talked to Snork Maiden about this?"
He was quiet for a while, then he said in a small voice, "No."
"You should. She may find me attractive, but that doesn't mean she loves you any less," Sam said.
"I feel like I can't face her. I'm an absolute mess," Moomintroll said.
"I can help with that," Sam said as she got up and grabbed his wrist.
She then walked him to the bathroom, and she helped clean off his face and get as much ink out of his head pomf and tail as best as she could.
"Sorry I can't wash out the ink all in one go," Sam said, "It might take a couple of days for that to completely disappear."
Sam was brushing his head pomf in the bathroom as Moomintroll was watching her brush him through the bathroom mirror.
"I kind of like the black streaks," Moomintroll said. Then he looked thoughtful for a moment then said, "I'm sorry I thought a lot of bad things about you."
"Don't apologize for something like that Moomin," Sam said as she continued to brush his head pomf, "You are intitled to your own thoughts, the good and bad. You've never said anything mean to me, so I don't care what you think. Okay?"
She stopped brushing his head pomf.
"Okay."
From the first floor, Moominpappa yelled, "Son! Snork Maiden's here for you!"
Moomintroll started to panic, saying, "But I don't even have anything prepared."
"You don't need to prepare anything," Sam said as she pushed him out of the bathroom, "Just tell her how she's been making you feel."
Moomintroll walked down the stairs and saw Snork Maiden in the living room, alone. She looked sullen and guilty looking in Moomintroll's opinion.
"Moomintroll, I'm so sorry I laughed at your new look," she said, "I didn't mean to, it just came out."
"Yah. It did hurt my feelings when you laughed, but I'm not planning on keeping the look, since I was only wearing that get-up to look more like Sam," Moomintroll said.
"Why were you trying to look more like her," Snork Maiden asked.
"Well, you seemed to be really interested in her… Like a lot. And I got jealous…," Moomintroll managed to spit out.
"Oh. Moomin," She said as she walked up to him to hold his hands, "I didn't mean to make you feel jealous. It's true, I do find her attractive, and looking back on the past couple of days, I did go a little overboard, but I'm your girlfriend and I will always love you."
"Thanks. I love you too," Moomintroll said.
"Thanks. I guess I get jealous too," Snork Maiden confessed, "Considering how you sometimes act around Snufkin. Occasionally I can't help but think he's the only one on your mind."
The pink of Moomintroll's ears turned bright red as he got a flashing memory of Snufkin bathing naked in the water again. He let go of Snork Maiden's hands to flatten his ears to his head.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I act normal around him," Moomintroll said.
Snork Maiden raised an eyebrow at him, but she didn't press it.
From the top of the stairs, Sam yelled, "Snork Maiden, do you want to stay for lunch?"
Snork Maiden looked to Moomintroll.
"Well, do you want to?" Moomintroll repeated the question.
"Yes please," She said.
And so Snork Maiden and Moomintroll hung out together at his house, enjoying each other's company and conversation.