maiden with wrought iron soul

Iwai tried to keep his face impassive as the old woman turned her attention towards him. You never know what old people were thinking. And he just preferred in general that people did not think anything about him. He cocked a brow slightly when she shuffled off in her yoshi green crocs (complete with brightly coloured charms).

"Baba," he echoed, bowing his head to the old woman who soon returned with their food. He had considered adding a 'miss', but in the end thought it unwise. The language on those bottles were incomprehensible, nor did the illustrations help in the least. The liquid were exciting, or worrying, shades of electric blue and orange. They probably tasted fantastic, then.

Plus, Melody liked to think she was helping the older woman live more comfortably on the decrepit space station. 

“She takes care of me and my friends,” she explained with an easy smile and mild shrug of her shoulders. She waited for Iwai to dig in before doing the same, smiling softly when he took his first bite. “Good, right?”

“What do you want the outcome to that poor excuse of an apology to be?” she asked, voice suddenly lacking any of the venom of before.

“Do you want me to say I miss you? I miss… whatever we were?” she frowned, exhaling harshly and hating the cloud of smoke that followed.

       He  couldn't  stop  the  smile  that  curled  his  lips,  only  half  as  slow  as  the  drawl  of  that  crooned  mocking  apology.  Though  Jonathan  could  admit  he  was  surprised  by  her  own  answer,  that  her  train  of  thought  ambled  down  that  particular  track.  It  had  been  very  clear  she'd  come  to  appreciate  the  freedom  his  work  had  held  the  promise  of,  and  he'd  used  that  to  his  own  advantage. 

“Darlin',  you  made  yourself.  Sure  I  offered  a  helpful  nudge  to  the  broken  pieces  you'd  slapdashed  together  with  elmer's  glue  and  hope.'  He  offered  a  shrug  and  a  chuckle.  "Ain't  no  one  in  this  godforsaken  city  innocent.  Even  the  babies  are  little  bundles  of  crazy.'

       The  start  of  her  losing  her  temper  was  noted,  pinned,  ignored.  Now  that  she  was  so  firmly  trenched  on  proving  herself  one  of  those  honor  scout's  she  was  much  less  a  threat  than  she'd  been  before.  In  Gotham  they  tended  to  lean  towards  a  no  kill  policy,  the  rogues  didn't  honour  in  return.  Didn't  mean  he  wasn't  likely  to  get  his  hide  scorched  and  bronzed  on  high  heat  landing  him  in  a  hospital  bed  in  Arkham  until  he  was  well  enough  to  be  tossed  back  into  solitary.

"What  I  am  hearing  though,  is  that  if  I  were  to  give  you  a  real  apology  you  might  be  a  bit  sweeter.  Where  should  I  start?'

The place was cursed and truth be told, she’d probably be better off simply leaving. Let Batman and the rest do as they pleased. What the hell was the point in any of this?

One shoulder lifted at the comment. The name wasn't one he'd chosen after all. He was first and foremost a doctor. The fact that the world had deemed it necessary to give him such a title was none of his concern. Though it did hold a kind of poetic justice. After all, he was a pirate, and while he took his vow seriously, he had also earned that title.

Snapping his book shut, he rose from his seat and moved to the side of the medical bed she'd been laid out in after surgery. "Don't try to sit up." One hand pushed into her shoulder gently to prevent such an action, even as he dipped his chin towards her abdomen. "I had to remove shrapnel from your stomach due to the explosion, and would prefer to be required to restitch you back up."

Gaze shifting towards her vitals, he lifted the clipboard with her information on it, jotting down a few notes as he added absentmindedly. "There are four of your crew members here in a separate medical wing. We lost three others while trying to save you all."

Slipping the clipboard back into place, he leveled her with the gaze of one captain to another. "As for the others, I don't know. We pulled those that we could find worth saving out of the wreckage. The only reason we even found your shipwreck was because your body sank past our ship. You're lucky to be alive."

Four. That was all that remained? Seas. Her heart rate spiked at the news and her chest felt tight, prompting her to wince as she struggled to calm herself. Each and every member of her crew, herself included, knew the risks with being in the Marines, but the loss was never easy. They had all lost someone at some point in time during their service, but Melody had never lost such a staggering number of those serving under her.

For the life of her, she couldn’t remember what had happened and that was maddening.

“ Sleep is important. You gotta get some rest in there, yeah? If you want, I can make some chamomile tea. That's usually what works for me. ” Sheva laughs a little at Melody's comment, and she holds her book up for her to see.

He couldn't help the laugh that slipped out from his lips at her comment, the sound half of a huff of annoyance at the same time. It honestly still amazed him when it came to his captain the antics that Luffy got up to. Even after all of the darkness they'd witnessed, there was still an innocence to the man that left him slightly dumbfounded. Then again, that same innocence and outlook on the world was the reason he and the other would follow Luffy to the ends of the world and back.

"At least you have money half the time." The words were muttered under his breath along with Nami's name and owing her debt. In fact, other than the money she gave him for maintaining his swords and clothing, he pretty much never had a spare coin. The woman was a downright thief even to this day.

Speaking of which. "How good are you at gambling?"

Because if he could watch Mel's rob Nami blind in return at her own game, he'd probably sell a body part at this point. An ear would be worth it just to watch Nami fall victim to her own antics.

Zoro really needed to learn how to take care of his share of the treasure. Ah well, that wasn’t her problem as she had a steady paycheck that very rarely was spent. By now she probably had a pretty sum she could retire early on if she moved to a remote island and lived a simple life within a quiet village.

“Not when you drink my retirement,” she joked, getting her wet hair thrown up in a messy ponytail. She would worry about it later, just like the salt water making her clothes stiff. She shrugged at his question, but there was a twinkle in her eyes. “Decent,” and she tapped her nose. It wasn’t her fault that she could smell when someone was lying, it was just another perk of having a canine Zoan Fruit.

“None of ‘em are dead..this is me talkin’.” He turned to face her with a confident smirk on his face as he then turned to face the pack, aiming their firearms towards him. “I’d really appreciate ya don’t hit my guest here. So why don’t we put down the-” Yusuke’s voice was interrupted.

“Sooo like I said I got a few questions that I need the answers to. Am I gonna have t’ make more examples??” Yusuke asked as he kept his hands in the pocket of his pants as the alpha who at this point had sighed and signaled his men to stand down. “Good boy.” Now Yusuke’s tone was a little condescending but at the very least no one had to die and that’s a good night for him. “So about a week ago, a family came around here. Werewolves just like you, Mother’s a local, but his dad’s from overseas. Considerin’ what Melody told me I have a feeling you mutts might know more about this story.” Yusuke spoke with a calm tone.

“Yur talkin’ about Debbie’s (Deborah) kid. Look I’ll be the first tuh admit I wasn’t too keen on her mixin’ with the asian fellur. Us wolves we need to stay pure..but it wasn’t any of us who did him in. If you really wanna know what happened to the kid, I suggest you go find Jesse. He has a club not too far from here, what say get you a map and then you’d be on yur way?” The alpha asked, this could be a ploy to grab an extra weapon but..he’ll let it slide.

“Sure, you do that we’ll be here.” Yusuke turned to face her for the moment..hoping she was known who this Jesse is.

Fuck, this was such a mess. She kept her mouth shut, hoping that her silence would help her own case if things went sideways further.

She expected the alpha to do a bit more, but was surprised when he had his men stand down. Weird. What was he playing at? She met his gaze briefly, frowning, before looking away. “Be nice,” she hissed to Yusuke, poking him sharply in the back with one finger. Did he have to be so cocky? No amount of cute food was worth this stress!

She tensed at the mention of Jesse, eyes cutting back to the alpha with wide eyes. Jesus, this was a mess and one she didn’t want any part of. Melody didn’t trust the alpha or anyone else in the bar, not after Yusuke’s display of strength. The pack was bound to try something to get him back for being uppity. Shit.

Swallowing, she reached for one of Yusuke’s wrists, holding onto him, gaze bouncing between him and the wolves around them. “We should go,” she mouthed to him, squeezing his wrist lightly before finally releasing him entirely. Meanwhile, the alpha had one of his lackeys, a prospect for the pack, go and grab what was needed. He flashed Melody a sharp grin and she just growled in response before focusing on Yusuke again.

"Fried rice and shrimp?" Pausing for a moment as if in thought, he then gave her a playful wink. "I think I can pull something together with those."

Quietly in the back of his mind he was already creating the menu based around the two. Pulling in various spices and techniques he'd picked up from various islands they'd visited to add a different spin on what many would consider a simple dish. Naturally, there was no way he was serving just fried rice with shrimp.

Tucking the tray he'd brought the drinks out with under his arm, he paused at her offer, slightly surprised. It wasn't that the others didn't help him; in fact, he'd had to chase some of them out of the kitchen. They just knew that he loved his craft and didn't mind the work. That and he ran a tight ship in his kitchen.

Yet he also knew that look. The hesitation in her eyes, as if she felt she were being more of a burden than anything. As if she'd never had drinks brought to her or been allowed to simply relax while others worked around her. "It's a pretty small kitchen, so it's hard for two to work in it."

Smiling, he then added. "But I wouldn't be opposed to the company while I cook?"

She still wasn’t sure what she wanted and imagined it would be a while before she figured that part out. For now, she had to adjust to being a criminal and the fact that she no longer had anyone controlling her future.