SMOKING AREA

Seeing as the marine had closed them in the room together, Falcon took it upon himself to further close the distance until it was so minute--near toe to toe--that all the other had to do was move slightly and he would immediately breach Faclon's own personal space.

He was speaking, but he had stopped listening after 'playing cute'. And really? Playing cute? Had he said that himself?

...He could think of several things that 'playing cute' would get from him.

He became aware of an uncomfortable pause in which neither of them said anything, and finally his eyes returned back to the would-be-warlord's from where they had somehow ended up on his lips. There was a faint flush on his cheeks both from the paths his thoughts had wandered and from the embarrassment from letting that happen while he was on duty and in front of someone he was supposed to be interrogating.

Muses/Rules Multi-muse One Piece blog. Penned by Ziggy. Semi-Selective and mun is 27+ Minors DNI

[ @smcker and Marina's Chill Marine Cadet Playlist]

Drake blinked, his frown wide, as he actually started to become a bit annoyed himself now, and while he didn't have to explain to Smoker, maybe - just maybe - if he did the guy would get upset enough lay off him...

"Hey, Phil." The voice that answers Smoker from across the alleyway is deep and husky from years of smoking with the sort of lackadaisical drawl that's like nails on a chalkboard to so many law-abiding types. And--hell, she's not talking to the Vice Admiral at all, is she?"

Woolf takes the cigarillo in her mouth between two fingers and stubs the lit end out against the wall, sparing a moment of regret for her unfinished smoke as she flicks it into a nearby puddle of wastewater. "I really wish you hadn't brought me into this one."

Idiots don't last long in Cross Guild, and they sure as hell don't last long in the New World. The man in handcuffs--Whale-Eye Phillip-- is neither of those things. He's miserably competent, which begs the question: why in G-d's name did he try for the head of a Vice Admiral?

'Death wish,' she realizes, 'or wrong place, wrong time.'

The Cross Guild bounty hunter gives a half-hearted jerk against Smoker's grip, rattling the cuffs and rolling a look over his shoulder at her as he flashes a mouthful of silver teeth in a tight grin. "Berri for a bit o' help, 'Lady Friend'."

An irritated, "Hey," from the woman at the other end of the alley, followed two seconds later by a flat, "shut up."

Finally--yes, fucking at last--her eyes shift toward Smoker. Woolf ignores the urge to bare her teeth right back at him, instead regarding him down the length of her nose. The White Hunter. She doesn't even have Observation haki, but the power drips off him even so. "This isn't a fight either of us wants."

(That's a g-ddamn lie. Her pulse is racing, and that part of herself she's always having to tamp down, tamp down, tamp down is burning like a fire in her gut.)

There's nothing conciliatory about her smile. It's a hint too wide, and though the teeth in her mouth are blunt and human, she regards Smoker as if she wouldn't mind a go at chewing through his neck anyway.

"I can't let you take him--" she draws out the name, sampling the feel of it in her mouth as she would a puff of cigar smoke, "White Hunter." She tilts her head slightly, tongue slithering over her teeth as she does so. All at once, there's a bright gleam in those sleepy eyes of hers. Anticipation warring with good sense. "Any chance you'll oblige me and unlock those handcuffs?"

His captive and this apparent 'Lady Friend' talking gave him ample opportunity to take in her appearance and a red bead hanging around her neck gave him pause. There was an unconformable familiarity in her mannerism and speech to a man who was long dead now. His eyes found their way back to her face. Had he seen her before?

His expression had smoothed from ferocity to uncertainty but shifted right back to where he had started when she finally deigned to speak directly to him. He is shocked at how much she seems like a feral animal, something clawing at the bounds of her body to be set loose. He can see it's a boldfaced lie from her to say she doesn't want to fight.

They were further from the town center but not far enough, he would have to take her down fast or risk attracting the attention of the other Cross Guild operatives at the port.

He looped another set of handcuffs though the first set, and cuffed the man, Whale-Eye, to a metal pipe in the alleyway to free his hands to wield his jitte.