"Oh, no. Oh, no, no." Tugging gently at the alarmingly firm grasp of a Madame Victoria, as she preferred to be called, Jasper considered not for the first time that this whole thing might have been the worst idea ever. This wasn't a new sensation. In his short life, Jasper had accumulated an unfair amount of experience with the Worst Idea Ever. He was going to have to stop telling people he was a genius. A genius would have predicted that a Madame Victoria might be on board a very sunny cruise ship to try to coerce Jasper out toward the bar to experience the sunset in its full glory; brilliant, radiant, and drunkenly. Which Jasper would have been concerned enough about without the possibility of bursting into flame. He only woke up to join his friends in the much more shaded dining room for dinner.
"We could always appreciate the view from my cabin," Madame Victoria suggested, sending the ladies around her tittering at the audacity and Jasper blushing nervously until he could blurt, "I think I see my, uh-um..." with a frantic bounce, box he carried lifted to try to get someone's attention. This lady must have been downright dangerous in her prime, which, Jasper had to appreciate, made him a lesser predator on board.