I Met The Law, And...

[Crocodile]

The light of the sun laid upon the island with a harsh bright sun, after a common sunrise. In a complete contrast of colors a man of dark skin and ultra violet locks walked groggily across town to his favorite outdoor diner. A few people already sat at some of the stalls but locals knew to keep his favorite seat vacant. That being said, it wasn't as if people were intimidated just a mutual understanding of where the Violet Outlaw was going to sit when he came around- sometimes he'd end up sitting on someone because of this routine. Once he took his seat he sat his feet up on the counter- this part people tolerated a bit less, but an outlaw do what an outlaw does.

He leaned his head back and tipped his hat to obscure his face letting out a groan before letting one of his arms dangle. The familiar bartender curled their lip looking over at the violet haired cowboy, displeased with the little scene he was making. "If yer gunna be like that the least you could do is keep yer feet off the counter!" The lady behind the counter swept his feet off the counter with her arm and gave him a grimace, not that he could see it. A little more time passed by and the news coo had finally shown up, a bit late over all but the mail was delivered over the island along with their own local island news ran by a few well meaning young folk.

After reading the headline the bartender lady slapped the paper over the top of Violet's hat with a thump. "...eh? mmm, wut' business this paper got wit'me?" He questioned being able to tell what was being pressed against his head. He took it with one hand then took a look for himself. 'The mysterious killer strikes again!' "Tell me you don't know nothin' bout this, Ray!" The Violet cowboy sucked his teeth and finally lifted his hat up revealing his angry grape purple eyes darted at the lady behind the counter. "I'm an outlaw, not some murder-hobo, don't you go questionin' me like I ain't born in raised like any other well meanin' gunslinger on this here island..."

The barlady rolled her eyes. "I don't know many 'well meanin' outlaws'" she retorted.

"You know me though, that should be enough t'tell ya I ain't harborin' no blood junky, thang like that is out my jurisdiction anywho- we got a good sheriff and deputy."

"An' what kinda outlaw relies on the law to solve problems?"

Ray was silent for a bit he rolled up the news paper with nothing else interesting to read. "Eh, don't mean the honest boys and gal's in the militia shun't do nothing...then we'd be relyin' on the navy- and then where would we be..." Ray pressed an index finger against the inner roll of his hat up as he let out that last comment.

[Smiley]

On a small navy warship, as the sun was turning harsher the closer they were getting to the island in question, a certain young, short woman remained seated outside, on a beach chair she herself put there, quietly reading the newspaper that the News Coo had delivered a few minutes ago. Through half-lidded eyes, the slight hint of red sclera peeked out as she read through it carefully. As she expected, once again, that mysterious killer had killed another man who was rumored to be part of the seedier parts of Sundance. 

A killer, prolific, unidentified and mysterious, hunting only those who seem to have connections to the underground. There were a few possibilities that she could think off the top of her head: an earnest, but violent vigilante, a criminal taking out the competition, a boss taking out the loose ends and weak links or, possibly, it was all a huge misunderstanding - a bunch of killings done by different people, all lumped and blamed on a mystery man. 

Whatever it was, HQ had sent her to the West, to assess the situation and see if it is necessary/worth solving. Under the leadership of Akainu, things really were picking up when it came to catching criminals. 

"We'll be reaching Sundance soon, Ms. Ensign Gretel!" A slightly nervous recruit called out to the woman, who took a small breath before closing the newspaper, placing it down on her chair as she stood up. Once she had slung the rifle strap over her and tied the sabre to her belt, she walked towards the edge of the ship, waiting for them to finally land, giving the marine a simple "Thank you. Dismissed." before she crossed her arms and went quiet again. 

---

Finally, they had landed. After having a recruit hand her the coat she seemed to like, even though it was a hot day, she put it on and walked off of the ship, telling the men behind her to stay on the ship and keep watch. For a simple mission like this, she'd be enough. 

Truth be told, once she was out of ear and eyeshot of her small unit, she almost rushed into the closest pub she could see, almost barging in, sitting down as quickly as she could on a seat as close to the counter as possible, sighing with relief as she relaxed. Her full uniform, including the coat that only higher ranking of marines could wear likely didn't go unnoticed. She didn't seem to care, as her eyes fully opened, revealing the acidic, grotesque red and yellow, her toothy mouth opening up as she called out to the bartender.

"A mug of cold ale and whatever heaviest meal you have! It's hot as balls today." Gretel grumbled loudly before she took that damn coat off, taking surprising care in folding it and placing it on an empty seat next to her, rolling up the sleeves on her dark suit, just so she could rest her arms on the cold counter. 

And then, she looked to the side.
And saw Violet, in all of his objectively (to her) attractive figure and hair that she genuinely admired. That loud and boastful attitude of hers died down for a moment before she realized that she was looking at someone of note in the island. "Ultra Violet. Infamous, but altogether nonthreatening outlaw of Sundance Island. Your name came up on a few reports I asked about this island, you know?~ Don't worry, I'm not here to arrest ya. Petty thievery isn't the type of thing I hunt." 

The ensign laughed happily, her laugh having a deeper, yet venomous and guttural tone to it, before she calmed herself down and just looked at Violet, very visibly eyeing him up and down. She just couldn't resist on comenting again. "Do wish those assholes had specified what a 'loud and brash' outfit meant on those reports, though. Because you really don't leave much for the imagination." Gretel snickered this time as she took a few moments to stare specially into his eyes, to try and get a decent read on the type of guy she was talking to.

[Crocodile]

Ray inhaled for a deep exhaled before stretching out every limb for him to then sit up in his chair. "Alrighty! I'm fully awake now!" He announced before his signature smirk returned to his face. His eyebrows narrowed and he showed off his choppers that charmed all the suds in the soda. "I'll be avin' my usual, Nancy" He points and finger guns while clicking his tongue a few times.

Finally getting his drink; a peculiar person sat adjacent to him. His tongue ran across his upper lip. He eyed the raspberry soda in the glass mug condensation from how cold it was running down the glass, it's the same thing he always ordered but for some reason it always felt like centuries when he'd get to drink it again. While focused on his favorite drink he nearly didn't notice the the person addressing him- he raised his glass and started downing the raspberry soda through the glass mug.

It wasn't until he heard that his name had come up in 'reports' that his eye opened focusing on the peculiar woman across from him- a bit of his drink escaped his mouth and ran down the corner of his lip down his neck until eventually hitting his chest. He Shivered a bit as if the marine scared him...but it was really the feeling of the cold drink touching his up until now mostly warm body. He sat the glass down and wiped his chest down quickly. "Yeesh!"

He'd emote in time to hear out the last of what the marine woman had to say. He finally got the chance to focus his eyes on the person who was talking. The first thing he'd take into heavy consideration while sizing the marine up was that laugh of hers. He almost felt like it was purposefully antagonistic, and it's not like he was some oracle that could easily read people but it seemed to be apparent that the laugh was genuine. He turned in his seat so that he'd face her directly- one of his legs rested on the ground beneath while the other on the counter top foot rest. He rubbed his chin and looked off to the side for a moment.

"Petty thief...? let's stick to outlaw- it ain't like I'm stealin' banana's from markets..." He pursed his lip- it wasn't like he had a high horse to sit on but come on...petty thievery? is that all those water bucklers had on him? Well, that's what infamy's for. A part of Ray felt like he should have something to say about not being the woman's target- but he decided to let it pass, it wasn't like he had much to boast about- and contrary to popular belief he wasn't a HUGE trouble maker. The cowboy lifted a leg and rested his ankle on his other knee. While facing her direction- Ray couldn't help but eventually make eye contact with the marine. One of his eyebrows slightly raised- he couldn't see very well but it looked like her sclera was bloodshot! He couldn't help but wonder- did she get hot sauce thrown in her eyes...? He knew what that was like too. Looking into her eyes made his own feel like they were being burned a bit.

"Owch..." he muttered under his breath. He looked down as if to examine himself after her comment 'not much to the imagination'. It took him a minute to understand what that meant- he looked back up to examine her fit by comparison, it wasn't anything you would guess out of the ordinary for a marine. Ray stood up out his chair pinching the tip of his hat with a smirk.

"Well, I guess that's just about the reaction you'd expect from the o'l Navy, can't even see yer shoulders- now that just ain't no fun." He brushed off his thighs before picking up his mug again. "If not for the navy bein'...well...the navy, it'd definitely be that dresscode ya'll got, ain't my style no way no how..." He bent his head back and finished his drink.

[Smiley]

Conveniently for him, banana stealing was not one of the things that appeared on the reports. If it was, she'd be glad to tease him for it. But either way, the way he carried himself was quite confident, surprisingly attractive, but so.. not exactly brutish, but a bit uncouth. Essentially, she found his manners to be quite lacking, though she wouldn't condemn that. Whenever she was alone and free of expectations, she liked to throw manners to the side and live her life as she pleased. So, once she heard him diss the marine's dress code, she took a long sip of the ale she had been given, before she spoke.
"It's not like this black suit's my personal clothes, you know? These are combat clothes, the typical uniform is too tight. Besides, I kinda dig the coat. The pauldrons give me that sign of authority that I enjoy!" She retorted, still not breaking her gaze on his bare chest, occasionally looking up into his eyes. Gretel wasn't blind, she had noticed that he saw his eyes and seemingly winced. For now, she decided not to explain or correct any sort of misconception he had. Making him think that she was in awful agony while talking like normal sounded very fun. 

As much fun as she wanted to have, though, she still had a job to do. A job she, for once, was actually excited to do, if that mysterious killer was really one man that could give her a good, bloody fight. It had been too long since she got the chance to cut a true bad guy down. In the blues, all she would get were low-grade grunts or tourists with a bit of thievery on their record. 
"Either way, I'm here for obvious business. There's some big bad killer going around here and HQ sent me here to investigate and see if it's worth interfering. You know anything about it? Y'know, being part of the supposed targeted demographic." 

AKA she meant that since Violet was a male and an outlaw, it was likely that he could know something. At least about the victims, since she didn't think him to be the type to help a murderer.

[Crocodile]

    Violet blinked- taken a back by the marine admitting as to her partialness to the pauldrons on her coat. She had a spicy, scary look about her but she was far too open about her thoughts to be like the marines he associated with the navy in his head...maybe he was just a bit ignorant about them overall...? NAH! Ray smirked endearingly at that comment from the marine. Though any enjoyment he was getting out of this was stripped away when the marine revealed the reason for their being here.
    The presence of marines on this island was already something he had a problem with but to think they would call in one over see's for a local issue with their community. The smirk on the violet cowboy slowly dipped into a frown- leaning his head back and planting his hand on his forehead with a sigh of annoyance but a little chuckle afterwards. Straightening his head back, Ray shook his head and lent himself a pinky to dig through his ear.

"You're out of luck if you think I'm a lead missy, I just learned about this today, but you know something!?"

He said sarcastically tapping his chin before snapping his fingers. "We actually do have a sheriff lead militia on the island...as well as one of yer fancy marine bases er' whatever...if you ask me I think it's a waste of time if you've come here for that- I think the fine men and women of said militia will handle it." Suddenly the doors to the pub opened with the thud of someone who wanted to make an entrance. Ray would look over to the door first, sensing it was someone he wasn't fond of- and speak of the devil it was.

Through those doors came his long rival, a tall woman who wore the militia's uniform her head was covered in long red hair with dots of black littered about, making it seem like the pattern of a strawberry, bronze skin and freckles on her cheeks. She wore a smirk similar to the one Ray usually had on his face.
"Oh thats just like you Ray, all this talkin' about what's best for the island with no idea of what it actually needs..." She stepped right up to Ray, asserting her dominance with her height. Ray kept a deadpanned look at her and rolled his eyes.

"ugh...here we go again."

"Ya just don't understand Ray, the militia asked for the marines help!" She said that with the utmost boast in her voice- knowing how it was dampening his pride. Raspberry Maze the name of the so called rival, nodded to Gretel before returning to teasing Ray.

"I mean- I thought you'd be smart enough to realize but you're still wet behind the ears...this perp has killed 5 men in three days...kinda scary huh? Something of a REAL criminal." One of the militia men with her handed some folder over to Gretel. "Some concrete information on the victims, ma'am." the militia man nodded before returning behind Raspberry.

"You done here, Maze?" Ray asked disgruntled like.
"Heh, poor lil Ray...yeah we're done here."
Raspberry made her way out toward the entrance of the pub. "When we catch this perp they'll probably have a grandiose execution, just like yer pa!" She'd spit before finally leaving, the doors flapping together violently after she did so.
Anyone who cared to check for Ray's reaction would see he was mostly unfazed by the mention of his fathers death. The bartender lady held an indifferent look on her face as well. "Sheesh, bringing up yer dad like that...what's got her up so high like that...?" Ray rolled his eyes and retreated back into his seat.

"Egh...we sparred today, she won- scores in her favor now..."

---

    The notes Gretel received had a few more details about most of the victims, all mostly older men who were owners of businesses that seemingly didn't make much money, but all of them were still making a decent living for how little they made. The men also weren't too friendly with those around town- standoffish attitudes, but nothing to get them in legal trouble on the surface.

[Smiley]

Nothing she hadn't heard before, really. The presence of marines, specially lately, had been slightly jeopardized with recent and very famous news. Dressrosa had thrown a massive spanner into the works, the dissolution of the Sichibukai system had exposed the World Government's failings and foolishness in trusting pirates, the victories attained by the revolutionaries and the strong-handed methods of the new Fleet Admiral. To say the least, Gretel had noticed a clear and distinct disdain for the marines that she hadn't seen when she first began her service after graduating from the academy, a fresh 17 years old, just a few months before THE war that started off this new wave of disdain for marines. 

Frankly, all she could do was take a long sip of her ale and let Violet speak. And before Gretel would have a chance to honestly agree with him, she got proof that no, the 'fine men and women' would show their faces and prove that they were just northside of completely fucking useless. 

Sure, she was educated enough to accept the info and read through it while she listened to the tall woman, sure, she remained composed, but those last words earned a loud cough from Gretel: the even shorter person who could not be ignored in this situation.
Turning to face the tall woman, with her freakish eyes peering into hers, she took a moment to really gouge out the woman's personality before she spoke.
"I'd appreciate a more understanding and polite conduct, madame, lest I arrest you for disturbing the peace and obstruction of justice. I was in the middle of a simple questioning - and do not appreciate that needlessly antagonistic, loud attitude.

Let this not be repeated in my presence." Gretel then dismissed them so she could go back to her meal, growling lowly while she let them leave. Were it not for her position, the absolute reaming that she'd give them would be a lot louder and a lot worse. But she needed to maintain SOME appearances, before she'd groan and chug the rest of what she had in her mug.
"Oh fuck's sake, I hate this job. How can someone be SO smug about admitting that they need reinforcements for one man?" 

She asked for another fill, one which she paid forward. While she waited for it to be filled, she'd slip the notes to Violet after getting a good look at them.
"As you can see, local authorities are as useful as wheels on a ship. So tell me, did you know any of these men? Enemies, dealings, anything at all." Gretel had calmed down again and, now, was asking Violet for help, having deemed that unlike the annoying woman, he might actually be useful. If not him, certainly his contacts.


She simply didn't believe that a guy as friendly as him could possibly NOT have connections. 

[Crocodile]

"I wish she wouldn't do that when outsiders' 'round...givin' folk the wrong idea and all..." Violet shook his head, overhearing Gretel scold and grimace Maze about her behavior. He couldn't help but chuckle about it- shaking his head he walked over to the marine lady. "Don't take that as nothin...now that I think about it, she must be nervous t'say something like that- she won in'ar spar t'day, which puts her in the lead- heh yeah...she's desperate to keep the score that way, but she knows it's only inevitable that she'll end up behind me again."

He leaned his head back as he let out a boastful laugh- it wasn't a front it seems he really was confident in that being the reality of the situation. He was brought back to the matter at hand with Gretel's question about the men in the news.

"Dang lady I thought I already told I don't..." He paused as he actually read the reports- it seems something struck a nerve...well maybe not a nerve but a wrinkle in his brain. "Oh..." Rubbing his chin with his free hand, Ray's eyes narrowed on the page- he somewhat recognized these folk...kinda.

He turned his gaze back to Gretel leaning forward a bit to see if he could get a better look at her eyes- oops getting sidetracked! "We better go ask my ma's girlfriend about it, Ma prolly won't talk to the likes of ya, but I think o'l Mayday might know more on one of these fellers." He handed her back the papers.

"Just follow me if you're still fixed on me bein yer lead, clingy marine lady...hmmm that don't really roll off the tongue do it? You never did introduce yourself." He waved off to the bar lady before walking toward the exit- pushing open one of the floppy saloon doors but not going too far until he was able to get a name from the marine. He was about ready to get this show on the road but then he had realized something really important, damn near more important about this little quest he was on. He looked back to the slightly shorter marine lady in her baggy suit and her long coat.

"...is it possible for you to change into...something else...?"

[Smiley]

This was costumary between them? What kind of fucked up relationship was this!? Sure, she understood berating and teasing friends, she absolutely loved to do it, but actually joking about someone's dad being executed? Shit, that was too much, even for her - and that's saying a lot, there's not much that Gretel puts off limits. Either way, if they had an understanding between that, then she figured that she could at least refrain from scolding the woman again. 

Or not. She'll scold again if she damn fucking feels like it, that's the wonderful thing about having a nice rank in the Marines! She gets to scold assholes at her leisure, just like her superiors at the academy scolded her when she acted like a brat.
"Ha, knew you could help. Fine, I'll talk to anyone, long as they're useful." Gretel was more than glad to stand up, reaching out to her coat to sling it over her back, not sliding her arms through the sleeves like usual, after all, the day was just too hot for that. Speaking of doing things because she felt like it, she'd open up her wallet and count out the money for her bill and, out of goodwill (and to keep Violet cooperative) she'd place a whole bunch of money on the counter. "That's for me and him, bosslady. Good day." 

Walking out of the place while putting the papers in a pocket on the inside of her coat, she'd tilt her head slightly towards Violet when he mentioned that he had never gotten her name. A bit of a bummer that she wasn't known, but being a HQ Marine, it made sense the blues wouldn't know her.
"HQ Ensign Gretel Strumbaccle Jr. And why should I dress different? Will he really not cooperate if I tell him that no trouble'll come his way if he cooperates? You are, after all." Gretel really didn't want to change clothes right now. Not necessarily because she was unwilling to go 'incognito' to accomplish a mission or better perform questioning, it wouldn't be the first time. She just didn't want to change into the personal clothes she had ready on the ship.

They were..
Well, quite girly.
Too girly for her to show and still be respected as a warrior by these outlaw types.

[Crocodile]

"Gretel, huh? it's never really a pleasure to meet a marine, but I think I'll make an exception for you, darlin'" He gave a wink after saying that- then refocused on the current event. With a response like that it was clear Gretel didn't grasp the problem here with her dressed up in that marine wear how she was, His mother's girlfriend was the least of his worries- what about the rest of the island!? He leaned in close to Gretel narrowing his eyes onto her! "What do I look like walkin' aroun' with a long coat world government lass by my side!? Got my image t' think about, lady...hng, it is what it is I guess..." He retracted from how close he had been to the somewhat shorter lady and huffed out some air between his lips- putting the trouble behind him before walking out with Gretel in tow. He kept a straight face, his hands in the rim of his pants while walking down the way of the street.

    Familiar faces to him got strange looks- it wasn't as if everyone on the island had a bad opinion of the marines but...what was Ray doing walking with one? One bystander in particular looked at Ray with wide open eyes in genuine confusion. "That'a...marine, Violet???" The bystander probed. Ray couldn't stay quiet about this...he had to remedy the situation somehow, everyone was watching. He turned and started walking backwards- a grin on his face. "Yep, I dun' finally did it, I'm gettin put away, o'l Navy just caint put up with O'l Ray anymore I'm afraid- I'm off t' one'a them big execution islands and they're gonna put my name in the stars...!" A majority of people around- staring knew Ray and the reputation he currently had so after hearing this they...all laughed! If Gretel tried to get a hint of Ray's reaction to this- she'd see he's still smiling, looks like everything went according to plan! Eventually he made it to his mother's Saloon where she and her girlfriend were reliably stationed.

    Walking in, He didn't see his mother- or anybody really the place was usually empty...but he did happen to just catch Mayday herself. Her eyes immediately looked to the marine...then to Ray. Her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed. "Ray...what is the correct context for this...?" Ray let out a big groan in response to this but shrugged it off otherwise. "Not worth explainin' you aware that there's some killer goin' around takin out...er...specific folk? Well- I mean even if you don't, you remember that one feller, came in here...he had the strange haircut n' kept givin' you and Ma' the eyes?" Mayday kept her eyes on the marine taking her sweet time recalling the memory- whether it was genuine memory recovery or if she was just trying to make sure she didn't tell anything the marine didn't need to hear was unclear, even for Ray.

"Tsk- ah I recall now...creepy sunva' I heard he had been eyein a few ladies in town, mostly younger- about your age rather than the likes of me n' Sway...dunno if there's any truth to it, but I heard rumors he was trynna take em off the island." Ray grimaced he turned to look at Gretel then back to Mayday.

"And he's dead now, huh..." The violet cowboy pondered, rubbing his chin and tapping his foot.

[Smiley]

"Don't patronize me." She hissed a bit at his wink, enjoying the friendliness but still wanting to keep him a bit at arm's length, being that he is still a criminal with a wanted bounty and she's a marine. If anyone sees her getting too chummy, it might just screw her over and ruin her career. When he leaned over and actually had the balls to complain about HIS image to her, she scowled a little, staring him down with those blood-red eyes of hers. "Your image!? If this gets leaked out I'm getting booted back a rank or two. Shit, worse maybe, court martialed. I got an actual paying career!"

That aside, it seemed that he actually had some sort of pull over the people in the island, even if it came at the cost of his dignity. Or, actually, was it? It seemed that people were laughing with him and not questioning his situation any further, even though they clearly knew that he wasn't getting executed, or arrested. Had they assumed that he was just getting questioned or scolded? How did these idiots work!?

The masses are confusing.

And once she went into the saloon, she was once again met with not very welcoming eyes, which was just bringing her so many questions. There IS marine presence here, how come everyone is so outwardly disdainful of them? Sure, she knows that they can be huge sticks-in-the-mud, she knows that Fleet Admiral Akainu has a terrible reputation with common folk, that the world government has just the worst pieces of shit at the top and -- yeah right. Makes sense. 
At least Ray was helping her, which she was quietly grateful for, listening with open ears and attentive eyes to everything the woman was saying, as well as body language.

"Urgh, that's fucking creepy. But I still have no idea why he'd get killed for something like that. ..Although." Was this a human trafficking ring that was coming apart at the seams? Was the vigilante theory an actual reality? But if it was a human trafficking ring, would it really be THIS open about it? It's highly illegal - there's even two authority figures here. 

Unless they were getting women for world nobles. In a blue, by a shady guy with no government backing? No shot, nah. 
In short, she still has no damn idea. She had to talk, respectfully, as much as it hurt with every word she let out.
"Dead, right. Know of anyone he ACTUALLY approached? And if he was trying to get girls off the island, maybe a dock worker or a civilian captain knows something about him. Describe him better for me, would you?" Gretel asked while shuffling around with her coat, getting out a small notebook with a pencil inside its rings. She was ready to do a simplistic, although functional sketch of the man.

[Crocodile]

"A paying career? cut it out lass, yer on MAH homeland- I got more to lose than the WG will ever when it comes to a run of the mill navy grunt!" Ray ended doing a lot more back and fourth with Gretel than he had planned but it seemed their personalities did clash just a bit, even if you didn't take into account their own personal ego's. He probably shouldn't have been too surprised by it but, he was pleasantly accepting to hear that Gretel retained much more of her individuality as she expressed an acceptable amount of disgust at the details about the victim.

"Well as far as the victim, his picture should be in that there report o' yurs- that's partially how I recognized him along with the establishment his body was supposedly found in." Ray leaned over Gretel pointing at the folder files. Mayday hummed to herself as she cleaned a glass mug thinking of anyone she may know of that possibly spoke to him.
"Well, there's another saloon by the place he was offed at y'know, but it's always a ruckus down there you might not get a cooperation being dressed as a marine and all." Mayday informed.

"By 'ruckus' she means party, heheheh- I feel like I see the same folk there every time I visit, the musicians are always playin their darn music loud enough for you to hear from outside the place- but it's also closer to the marine base so they probably won't really care...hell I bet there might be some marines there ahead of you...speaking of which..." The violet haired outlaw spun on his heel and turned toward the door, the topic of his reputation was bugging him again if only that damn Gretel changed into something less blatant! Maybe he could convince her to try on something else...well convince was maybe not the word to use.

Without a word he dashed to the back of his mothers bar took one of her big bottled of cola and shook it up while he was still hidden under the counter top. He took it over to Gretel holding it in both his hands. "Hey, you fan of soda? You should try this stuff- it's me own ma's special recipe, even if she don't like braggin about it much...I'll pour you a cup-!" He twisted the quark off of the bottle as he spoke- once it was properly free- if Gretel didn't catch onto the unstableness of said bottle she would find herself being sprayed with the suds and juice of some cherry cola all over her- from boots to cap!

"WA-HA-HOAH woah there!" If he managed to hit Gretel and thought she was messy enough to put forward the idea of changing her fit he'd wrestle the tip to point away from her then eventually close it back. "Ain't that a sucker- I didn't know this thang was loaded, Mayday! So sorry marine-gal...I didn't think it'd pop off like that!"

[Smiley]

"R-Run of the mill!? WHY YOU--!" And of course, that comment made sure that she wouldn't stop bickering with him until the very moment they got to the bar. Having her illustrious career insulted like that was a wonderful way to get her deluge of insults flowing.

But worse even was after she got the information on the other bar, with her nodding with hopes of finding more information, once again checking through her papers to read up on what she had, now with the new context that they had given her. If she could maybe get info on at least another victim, she could begin drawing out connections, leading to a pattern. And from a pattern, hopefully, she could predict the assassin's next move, give that info to the local authorities and fuck off. Or, if it's easy enough, catch him herself and use that for a handy promotion.
"Soda? Awesome, get me some." Gretel was a fan of all things garbage food and drink so, of course, she was more than eager to accept a nice homemade soda to get the thirst off of her throat after bickering so long.

Instead, what the distracted Gretel got was a nice sticky shower of cherry soda. For a second, she didn't react, as if not believing what had just happened to her. Then, she slowly looked at her now wet papers, then at her soaked clothing. Then, at Ray, into his eyes, as if still not believing that he had fucked up that bad. For a moment, her red eyes felt like they were glowing.

She had no idea how to react. She wanted to cry, because he had just ruined her hair and her clothes.
But she wanted to do something else a whole lot more. Drawing out her sword, she'd drop the papers and put herself in a violent stance, her muscles tightening.
"Y-You..! HOW DARE YOU! You glorified fucking stripper, you ruined my hair! MY CLOTHES! THESE WERE STEAM CLEANED!" Gretel had tears in her eyes, the girlier side to her escaping a bit as she was ready to not only slice Ray in half, but the whole bar! Someone needed to calm her down!