Peeping Thomas! Breathless and the Burning Heart!

[Jade]

It had been several weeks, too many for her to care to remember at this point, since that sugar-wasting imbecile had left her stranded on Shivre Mountain. It had been only six days, however, since Bianca had made the mistake of visiting the hot springs near Shivre Out, where she had encountered the least of the island's worries: the pirate "Peeping" Thomas. After a very embarrassing encounter, which shall never be recalled as long as anyone shall live, Bianca had decided that, help or no help, the bounty on Thomas's head was well worth the risk of obtaining. Sure, it wasn't a very high bounty, barely even worth mention, but an up-and-coming bounty hunter mustn't be choosey. Or, at least, that was one way of rationalizing it.

What little she had been able to discover about this Thomas character from the people around the island was that the man was fairly simple-minded, a pervert, and really not that dangerous. The bounty he had didn't make sense, then, Bianca had argued with the man she had been forced to talk to to get all this information, as well as the pirate's bounty poster. The man had only shrugged, admitting that the bounty, low though it was, didn't make sense to him either. Thomas wasn't strong and didn't give off any sort of vibes pointing towards his supposed status as a pirate; he seemed a very... Average sort, really. But things started to make a little more sense when Bianca started asking about the "Peeping" part of Thomas's name...

"That boy is nothing more than a nasty, dirty pervert." was what everyone had said. A few overheard conversations had helped Bianca to piece together at least one possible reason for the bounty Thomas held. Sure, perhaps it was nothing more than a silly tale, nothing more than a rumor, but the story was that Thomas had been found by a Marine officer, outside said Marine's house, spying through a window at the Marine's teenage daughter. The Marine had been furious, and, although he was unable to catch Thomas, he had made sure that the young pirate received a bounty.

~~~~~

Bianca sat calmly upon the flat rock she had chosen as her seat for the time being, content to sip at the green tea she had just poured for herself while she watched the entrance to the hot springs. She wasn't particularly worried about Thomas seeing her; unless he was going to go out of his way, he'd most likely miss the young lady, even though her dark dress was a stark contrast to her surroundings, sitting several hundred yards away from the hot springs. All signs pointed toward the pirate returning to the hot springs soon, so, even though she was not exactly sure when he would return, she was absolutely certain that the pervert would be returning. And, perhaps this was just wishful thinking, but Bianca had a feeling that Thomas would show his face soon.

All she had to do was sit, drink her tea, and wait. And when "Peeping" Thomas did show his face, she was going to capture him, help or no help.

~~~~~

"Hey."

The raven-haired woman turned around, finding herself looking at a young, blue-gray haired young man wearing pink-rimmed goggles on his forehead. The young man stood slightly to the side of the young woman, not facing her fully, and only his thumbs stuck out of his pockets as he greeted what he considered yet another beautiful lady. "Your face speaks to me... You just look so tense! And I can't stand to see such a pretty young lady in such a state... I can't allow it! So please, take this money and go down to the hot springs." the young man reached for the woman's arm, pulling it up and placing the 100 beri in her hand. "Please, accept this gift... I know, it seems so strange, having a stranger walking up to you and actually caring, doesn't it! But I, Thomas Thoroughgood, am just that type of guy..."

The young lady looked at this Thomas, down at the money, and then back up at Thomas. Her previously "tense" look, as Thomas put it, turned into one of rage, leaving Thomas to back up, putting his hands up defensively. "Whoa, hey now... No need to get angry... I'm just trying to be a nice guy, after all...!"

[Kurosaki]

A Seaman Recruit? Still? Really? Jasmine couldn't believe her bad luck. She was part of the Specter's and should be far better than she was at that moment to be on such a great Marine crew. So, what was she going to do about it? That was very simple. She was going to prove that she was worthy of promoting. Why all of this hurry to rise up the ranks? Well, she was in competition, you could say, with her childhood friend. The same childhood friend had sent her a mocking letter recently.

[/i][/ul]

Needless to say that the letter had been immediately burned upon receiving and reading it.

She held up the picture of the man she was in pursuit of now. He was going to be her ticket to a promotion. A cocky looking thinner man, her target had blueish gray spiked hair, orange-red eyes, a smooth complexion and a straighter nose. He was depicted wearing goggles and a light blue jacket over top of a gray patterned shirt, gray long pants and black boots with pink shoe laces.

Based on his looks he could easily be a real lady's man. If not for the stories that had begun to circulate that actually caused him to earn his bounty in the first place.

Shaking her head at the poster, Jasmine pocketed it and continued to head out of Shivre City. There had been rumors about Thomas, the man on the poster, peeping on women while they were in the hot springs. If she was going to find him the best place to start looking would be there.

Unsurprisingly, her deductive skills led her exactly to where she wanted to be. As she neared the springs, she saw a thin woman with black hair being hassled by a man that was definitely her mark. He hadn't even switched his clothing from the time the poster picture had been taken.

Something was going on between them. It was clear that Thomas' presence was unwanted but he was still talking to her, though he had raised his arms in defense and was backing up from her.

Jasmine didn't waste a second in coming up to the two. Now, she wasn't wearing her Marine uniform at the moment but she didn't let that stop her. Cuffs at the ready, she was nothing but serious as as she said, "'Peeping' Thomas. You are under arrest for crimes committed against the World Government. If you come quickly and quietly your sentence might be reduced." At the same time, she gestured to the girl to move back so that she didn't become a target (or a shield) if Thomas decided he wasn't going down that easily.

(Sorry, kinda short! Had a headache...)
[/blockquote]

[/justify][/size]

[Jade]

Thomas turned on his heels, finding himself faced with yet another pretty face. Ah, today was just a lucky day for him, wasn't it? Well, lucky up until he stopped gawking at her and actually listened to what the short black-haired damsel was saying.

"... the World Government. If you come quickly and quietly your sentence might be reduced."

Thomas took another step back, placing his hands in his pockets. "Ah... What's such a pretty young lady doing as a government dog? It doesn't seem right, now does it? So stiff and, aheh, dressed up..." He grinned nervously while his eyes darted around. So, this girl was either a Marine, a guard, a bounty hunter of some sort, but he did know that she wasn't good news. Especially not right now! He couldn't be caught now, what with all these beautiful women around and his crew missing! Okay Tom, time to get out of here... With style!

"Say, you know, you seem pretty tense too..." he started again, the woman he had previously been talking to having run off somewhere. Oh well; it wasn't like she could get him into any worse trouble now, right? He slid up closer to this bounty hunter/Marine/other official, going to take out the 100 beri he had tried to give the previous woman... And then turned ninety degrees and mad a dash for it. "Still going to recommend the hot springs to ya! You could probably use a break!" Thomas shouted, not looking back. Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit...

[/color]

~~~~~

Bianca looked up from her half-drained cup of tea at the sound of someone shouting down by the entrance to the hot springs. What on earth was going on down there....? She immediately ignored the thought of her quarry being down there; she would have seen him already. So what else could it be? Those bandits were still running loose upon the island; could it have been them stirring up problems for visitors to the hot springs? Well, that wouldn't do. Bianca looked down at her tea, dreading the thought of having to down it more quickly in the event that she had to flee the scene before being found by any ruckus-causing bandits...

And then she looked up again. Someone was running... Back up into Shivre Out. And that someone was almost definitely... "... Thomas?" was all Bianca said before the man running passed her.

That boy could run.

~~~~~

Never stop running, never stop running!

It was true that his epithet was "Peeping", and he had received his 3 million beri bounty for spying on gorgeous young ladies in their, ahem, "natural state", but the reason he hadn't been caught yet? It wasn't because he was a good fighter. Quite the opposite, in fact... "Peeping" Thomas Thoroughgood was a shoddy combatant, but his skills in retreating were nearly unmatched. Now all he had to do was get into Shivre Out, lose the lovely lady somewhere in there, and then, hey, maybe he'd find her again later that night? She certainly did have a very pretty face; if the rest of her looked even half as good? Daaaaaaaaaamn.

Hey, don't think that now! KEEP RUNNING!

[/blockquote]

[Kurosaki]

For someone on the verge of getting arrested, Thomas looked incredibly calm. Jasmine stood in front of him, reading his posture and trying to get a feel for him. That was how she tackled things. First she would see what sort of a person they were and then move forward after that. What would he do? Engage her? Try to make a break for it? Give up? Not likely.

"I could ask you why a nice looking man would stoop so low to invade innocent people's privacy," Jasmine countered to his question about being a Government dog. He seemed nervous as his eyes kept darting about as though he was looking for an opening. Jasmine prepared himself to have to try to tackle him to the ground if he made a break for it. But she also tried to keep an eye out herself in case he was searching for his nakama to back him up if he had any.

He addressed her again, saying that she seemed pretty tense and actually slid up toward her. Jasmine had her cuffs at the ready and went to tackle him, but unfortunately missed and comically landed on the ground with her arms spread out and the cuffs in her right hand. She had dirt all over her now...

She could still hear his annoying voice, shouting back at her and saying that she should use the hot springs because she deserved a break.

Well, more than that she could use a shower. Jasmine sighed and pushed herself up from the ground before sitting back and shaking her head. At the speed he was going, she knew there was no way she would be able to catch up even if she tried. The wasted energy would only make it more of an impossible task to find him and bring him to justice.

But... He had dropped that 100 beri note. She picked it up from the ground and grinned before she whistled loudly.

-----

The whistle was not out of surprise for the note, but rather to call a particular reliable dog to her side. Pachi, a Labrador Retriever, had a wonderful sense of smell. One that she could use to track targets.

After a moment, Pachi came running up to her, tail wagging and tongue hanging out with an excited look in his eye. Jasmine took a treat out of her pocket and handed it to him after he did a few simple tricks; sitting and laying down.

"Good boy, Pachi. Now, sniff this," she said with a grin before Pachi began to take in the scent. Almost immediately he stood up and began to follow the path that Thomas had taken when he had booked it a few minutes ago.

Once he was on the track, almost nothing would shake him even the scent of food and other people. He was on a mission. Jasmine had often joked that when she signed up for the Marines, so had Pachi. He was a Seaman Recruit just like her and also just as stubborn, she'd wager. Around his neck he even wore a white bandanna bearing the light blue mark of the Marines.

[Jade]

Bianca stood up for a moment, confused. What would have caused Thomas to have run in a manner that could only be described as "for his life" back into the city? The young lady smiled after that brief moment. The answer was obvious! He had merely been caught by someone, more than likely someone he had attempted to spy upon, and then decided to book it so he wasn't caught. Very simple. This did, unfortunately, leave Bianca in a bad state in her attempt to capture the so-called criminal; after the hot springs, she had absolutely no idea where Thomas would go in the city. He could conceivably lose anyone following him in Shivre Out or In, and Bianca was well aware that, by herself, it could take ages to find Thomas again.

She briefly considered saying something to summarize how she felt about this, but there was, for some reason, a distinct lack of words for this. Not to mention that talking to yourself was one of the first signs of madness... So, silence was the preferred option as Bianca, tea cup still half-full, made her way back onto the path back into Shivre Out.

~~~~~

Thomas was bent over, hands on his knees, panting. If he had to take a guess as to where his mad dash had taken him, he was probably about... A block or two past what was likely the middle of the city. Definitely not his best escape attempt, but what could you do? He stopped panting a moment, and, without changing his position, fell back onto his butt, with his back against the building behind him. He laughed suddenly, raising his right hand and then slapping his right thigh. "As bad as it would be, I'd love to see her again..." he said, turning his head left to hold a conversation with the barrel beside him. He sighed, looking up to daydream. He deserved a good, long minute to rest...

His hands reached up, lifting his googles up and over his hair, and then let go of them over his eyes. When those eyes opened again, Thomas just looked up into the sky... The blue of the sky was all but hidden behind thick grey clouds, threatening the island below with a fresh powdering of snow in the next few hours, if the pirate had to take a guess. The North Blue may have been Peeping Thomas's home Blue, but winter was definitely one of his least favorite seasons. All the fine dames bundling up in big, bulking coats, leaving those beautiful bodies hidden... Thomas smiled again, closing his eyes once more and putting his hands behind his head to rest on the side of the building. Scarves and hats and gloves and jackets... If he could just get out of the North Blue, he could leave all these things behind. But that bounty he had was making things more than difficult; he had been separated from his crew, small though it may be, and his little ship, and he had no way of contacting them now. Perhaps, if he continued to bide his time... Perhaps they'd find him.

But in the meantime, there were hundreds of beautiful women just waiting to be seen in they're full glory!

~~~~~

Bianca walked slowly up the road, both hands set to the task of holding her tea cup steady. The people of Shivre Out ignored her, for the most part; the novelty of seeing a white-haired girl out and about in nothing but a sleeveless dress and some slippers had worn out a number of days ago. Whether it occurred to Bianca to ask if anyone had seen the young man running as if the devil himself were chasing him or not, she opted to keep to herself. How she would find him, she was not yet sure. But she had a feeling that she would, and, for some reason, she was inclined to follow this weird... Gut-feeling. It was more likely a reaction caused by her not having eaten anything in ten hours, but she was willing to take the chance that it wasn't.

Although eating something was high on her list of priorities...

[Kurosaki]

Pachi was quick to follow the trail back into the city of Shivre Out and Jasmine was not far behind. She didn't have him leashed for she knew that he would not wander far from her side. He had no desire to do so and had never done so in the past. You could put a biscuit in front of him twenty feet away and he'd move ten feet forward, look at Jasmine and whine until she moved close enough to the pile so that she was not out of his sight.

"Good boy, Pachi!" Jasmine told him as they walked. They passed by a few people that did stop and look at them curiously but neither dog nor person noticed that. They passed by a woman with long white hair on their way but neither paid her any more attention that the other people; which was none at all.

Jasmine was so engrossed in what they were doing, however, that she failed to notice that the wanted poster of their target, Thomas, had slipped straight out of her back pocket and landed on the ground behind her. If someone saw that, they might think that this woman and her dog were definitely on his trail.

Pachi began wagging his tail, signaling Jasmine that they were getting closer. Which meant that they were incredibly close now.

This time they would catch him utterly by surprise! Jasmine reasoned this with a very determined look.

Jasmine knew that Thomas was fast on his feet. But this time, she planned to find him, lay low, and then ambush him. That way there would be no chance of escape for him. That was, unless he saw them coming.

"Good boy, Pachi. Now, leave it," she commanded, telling him to get off of the scent trail. Pachi listened, and obediently sat down and looked up at her which she rewarded with a treat and a sweet loving pet on the head.

"We know he's around here somewhere close. But he doesn't know we are. So let's lie low, okay boy?" she told him, putting her index finger up to her mouth to signal to be quite. Pachi laid down and looked up at her with his big black eyes.

"Not literally, Pachi!" she told him before gesturing forward. The dog perked up and together they started casually walking though her eyes kept scanning the area around them for any sign of their target.

Politics were a funny thing. Weren't they. All this fuss over someone that was just a peeping Tom. Why not let some husband or boyfriend beat the tar out of Thomas and call it a day? Well, that didn't matter now. Jasmine wanted to make a name out of herself and if it meant tracking this guy down and throwing him to the wolves she didn't so much mind. It wasn't like he was citizen of the year. But 6 months in jail would certainly straighten him out.

(Gave Bianca an opening to talk to Jasmine with the poster. Idk if that'll be enough though?)

[Jade]

Bianca slowed down as the woman and the dog passed by, but not out of curiosity for them. Well, not at first; her curiosity was drawn more to the paper that had fallen in front of her. If one wanted to be even more precise, it was the quick flash of a familiar face that the young lady had thought she had seen on the now-facedown paper that made her now kneel down to pick the paper up. She brushed her hair back before it even had a chance to obscure her vision, and then delicately turned the paper over and smoothed it out, using her tea cup as a paperweight so it wouldn’t fly away. Bianca raised an eyebrow at what she saw there: the ugly mug of that saucer-throwing pirate she was tracking down. Well, ugly wasn’t exactly right, but she was more referring to the personality and the smug look he had... But, and this was the crucial bit, what was that woman doing with Tom’s wanted poster?

Bianca stood, smoothing out her dress and again pushing her hair back with her left and holding the now neatly-folded poster and her teacup in the other, and looked down the street. Well, it seemed that the other woman hadn’t gone off all that far; still clearly in Bianca’s line of sight, even. She took all of two steps before her stomach let out what she was afraid was a very loud rumble, prompting her to stand still for a moment, make sure no one had heard the noise, and then continued on her way. She’d have to do something about that at some point; if she had to use stealth to apprehend Thomas and her stomach was rumbling and he heard her and bolted? That would be absolutely terrible.

”Excuse me.” the white-haired lady said softly, and then gave a little cough into her hand in case her words alone didn’t get the woman’s attention. ”I wasn’t sure if you wanted this back or not... But I do wonder why you have interest enough in this man to keep his poster in your pocket?” She was busy unfolding the poster again over the course of the question, and then attempted to smooth it out again. Not that it really had any effect; the creases from her tidy folding simply refused to be removed. ”If, of course, you don’t mind the intrusion. I only ask because I have some degree of interest in his capture, for a... Well... Personal reason.”

[Kurosaki]

No distractions.

Just her target.

Jasmine grinned to herself at the thrill of the chase because it was so much closer for her now to catching that peeping Tom, getting the praise, and then throwing it all back into that stupid Lance's face as soon as she was able to write a letter to him about it.

If he was already an Ensign, she should be a freakin Captain by now!

She was so busy in her rage at the thoughts of the letter again that she had completely forgotten that there were other people around her. So, when someone coughed nearby she nearly jumped right out of her skin.

Turning suddenly, she blinked several times before she realized that the white haired woman was addressing her and that she was holding out the bounty poster of Thomas. At first the words didn't seem to make sense. If she had the poster in her pocket originally, and now this woman had the poster... IT FELL OUT?

Jasmine reached into her pocket and sure enough, found that the poster was gone. Well, that explained it.

"Government business, 'mam. He's a wanted criminal with a bounty of 3,000,000 and he needs to be brought to justice. Are you his girlfriend? Or a victim of his peeping, perhaps?" she questioned, not sure which one it would be but leaning toward the second one being the higher probability. Thomas struck her as the type of person that would probably always be single just because of his personality.

Now, whatever the white haired woman's interest in Thomas was, Jasmine still didn't want to be distracted from her mission. Time wasted was more time that he could get further away or perhaps hitch a ride on a ship. Which would be a very big problem for her.

She turned her attention back to Pachi who was still sniffing around, snorting up some dirt but otherwise on the right track. He started to head for an alleyway up a little ways. Perfect place for a criminal to try to conceal themselves, wasn't it?

Not wanting to be rude but definitely not going to miss this opportunity, Jasmine briefly said, "Keep it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a criminal to catch," and started to fast walk toward the alleyway entrance. Someone could easily follow her since she wasn't running and certainly not at the speed that the Peeping Tom could run at.

(Do we want to add anymore elements to this plot? Seems like Thomas is going to be a real big push over. Maybe he could lead us to some other criminal activity occurring?)

[Jade]

Bianca blushed slightly at the word "peeping", but regained her composure quickly. "I... The latter." The young lady followed the creases from the previous folding, contorting the poster into a small square. Not that she needed another poster of this repulsive saucer-thrower; she already had four folded similarly to this one in her current place of residence. She looked up from her folding for a half second, just in time to notice that the other young lady whom she had just been conversing with was rapidly moving away from her. Hmm.

The white-haired girl bit her lower lip for a moment, and then looked over at an old man who had set up a table to play cards with his equally old friend. She didn't particularly like the looks of either of them, but this type of thing couldn't be helped. "Excuse me, gentleman. Can you please make sure that this tea cup remains untouched until I return for it?"" The two men looked up at her, at each other, and then back at her. They both cracked crooked grins at the same time, each grabbed one of Bianca's hands, and then pulled her forward, unto the table.

All three of them were gone before Bianca could say anything, let alone yelp in surprise.

And Bianca's tea cup shattered upon the pavement not a second after, as if it had been suspended in midair for a second after, held up by a hand that was no longer present.

~~~~~

"Eh?"

Tom sat upright as the barrel to his left shifted slightly, interrupting a lovely daydream about the stunning girl who had ended up being the reason for his bounty... Heh, even if this bounty thing was a living hell most of the time (too many people knew his face!), it was definitely worth it. Stay in reality now, Tommy... The infamous pervert jumped up and tottered a little as the barrel moved completely over to the left, accompanied by a very loud, brutish grunt. The source of the grunt was soon revealed; a hulking man, easily seven foot tall, with cotton candy-blue hair tied back in what looked like a ponytail that had recently been in a losing fight with some dynamite and a variety of large studs in his left ear. Oh, and then there were the twin blades strapped to his back; one made of what Thomas could have sworn was... Flint? And the other was clearly just a steel sword. Huh. Weird.

... And definitely out of his league, even if this guy didn't know how to use them expertly. Thomas turned to bolt, only to find himself face-to-face with what was clearly not a face; rather, it was an extremely scary steel mask. Oh, and that was definitely a shotgun on this one's back.

... Well this isn't even funny anymore.

Thomas turned from the masked-and-cloaked individual, turning on a dime and began running... Except... He wasn't moving. He glanced up, feeling a strange, warm pressure on his hair, and then let out an "eep" as he realized the large man was now preventing his escape.

"Nothing personal, kiddo. But we can't have you running off and ratting us out, peeper."

The trio began making their way down the hidden staircase, with the cotton candy-haired brute in front, Tom in the middle, and the masked one taking the rear, just as Pachi's nose rounded the corner that had, not a minute before, had been Tom's haven. The masked one stopped at the top of the stairs, as if waiting for someone to appear behind the dog, and then pulled the barrel back into place.

[Kurosaki]

Something made her hesitate to follow Pachi. Glancing one more time back at the girl that had been the victim of a peeping, according to her own words, she wondered if she should have spent more time asking her questions. Well, there wasn't much time for that when Thomas still had a scent trail that Pachi could follow. The last thing that she needed was a freak rain storm coming and wiping out the last chance she had of tracking him down today.

That was when she heard the sound of something breaking.

"Pachi, don't lose the trail!" she shouted as she turned around on her heels. She heard her trusty companion bark in reply, as though he understood her command, as he continued to race forward, nose to the ground.

What she saw when she turned surprised her. In the split second she had taken her eyes off of her, the woman she had spoken to earlier had been forced onto a table by someone. Something ceramic had broken in the scuffle and now lay shattered on the ground nearby. The perp or perps were no where to be found; for if the were they would have gotten Jasmine's fist impressions all over their faces. She raced back over toward her and attempted to help her back up to her feet though clear of where the pieces of the object were on the ground.

"What happened? Who assaulted you?" questioned Jasmine, when a nasty thought occurred to her. "It wasn't Thomas again, was it? That bast-"

Just then, the sound of barking interrupted her not-so-polite or professional vocalization. That was Pachi! But if he was barking, that meant that he had discovered where his target went, or knew that Jasmine would need to catch up before he could finish pursuing.

If Thomas was over in that direction, and Pachi couldn't be wrong, then it clearly hadn't been him that had assaulted this girl. "Those men will have to wait for now. Remember what their faces were because I'll arrest them later for your assault!"

With that, the young Marine began to hightail it toward where the barking was. She had no clue if she was being followed and honestly wouldn't have cared. Thomas, if cornered, would probably just try to keep running. He didn't seem like the type to carry dangerous weapons on him either so the likelihood of hurting a random citizen was very low.

Picking up her heels, Jasmine raced back to where Pachi was and batted him on the head as she charged directly into the alleyway. Only to find a bunch of trash cans and a barrel.

She turned and looked at her dog who was sitting there, pleased with himself and wagging his tail with such pure joy that anyone else would have melted at the absolute adorableness of that dog.

"Oi. Pachi. Just what are you trying to say? That Thomas is a wall now!?" she placed her hands on her hips and leaned forward to shake her head at him. There's no one down here Pachi. Why did you stop? Keep searching!" she commanded, pointing a finger back out of the alleyway.

[Jade]

"My my my... And you're sure that's all there is to say about the matter, my dear?"

"Yeah. What do you suggest we do with them, boss? It isn't like they don't already suspect something; your special little soldiers took care of that worry, mmhmm."

The twins shuffled in the corner of the large room, wearing mischievious smiles under false beards whilst their hands were working at a pair of coins in each. The makeup and dirty clothes the pair had been wearing not a minute prior had been shed in favor of their almost freakishy perfect skin and outlandish garb (all bright purples and greens with a metallic sheen, which gave off a strange noise like an angry buzzing bug); the fake beards were left on mostly as a joke.

"Well, Zack, honey, that's simple! We do to them what we do to all our unwanted guests..."

"... And are you going to say anything to those two, hmm?"

The cotton candy-haired man took a step back, nearly bumping into the slight frame wearing the steel mask leaning against that nasty-looking shotgun, as his boss stood from the chair hidden, perhaps a bit too dramatically, in the shadows. Not like anyone here hadn't seen the boss's face before, after all... The twins seemed to vanish from the spots they had occupied not a moment before, and then reappeard, sans beards but with matching top hats, perched on opposite armrests behind the boss.

"Why, of course not, dear... They deserve a spot of fun once in a while, don't you think? I can't keep them tethered up down here forever, the poor darlings..."

Zack muttered something below his breath, getting what could have been either a sneeze or a short laugh out of his masked companion.

"What was that, dearest?"

Zack shifted uncomfortably where he stood, and then rolled his shoulders. "... It was nothing, heh. Just thinking out loud is all, mmhmm...

~~~~~

Bianca picked herself up from the table, dusting herself off. She could not believe this place. First, that over-brewer Thomas was watching her undress; and then this?! To make matters even worse, she hadn't had a good scone the entire time she had been here! Honestly... She couldn't wait to be rid of this whole uncultured island. On the bright side, at least that girl from before was offering something...

"... Yes, I... I will remember their faces." Bianca started her response to the other girl, but there she was, running off yet again. The white-haired cyborg closed her eyes a moment, attempting to recapture the faces of the two old men. But there was nothing. Nothing at all. Just two identical, flashing smiles. Well... At least I'll know them the next time I see them...

[/color] She opened up her eyes just in time to see this girl she kept running in to turn a corner. If today seemed so inclined to have the two young ladies meeting, who was she to stop it? Moving as quickly as her dress, shoes, tea cup... Wait, no tea cup. Oops. She'd need to replace that. As her stomach grumbled again, she replaced "tea cup" with "hungry tummy", and kept moving.

What she found was... Weird. A dog, this girl, and apparently Thomas was part wall. The wannabe-bounty hunter just chalked it up to having had missed part of the conversation and, before she could alert the girl to her presence, yet again, Bianca heard a low, grating noise. And then it came again. And again. And then the next thing she knew, the barrel was displaced, with what had to be a surprisingly large set of stairs hidden below the barrel's previous location, and a low buzzing noise filled the alley.

"Haahaa! Look what we got here, brother!"

"Heehee! Looks to me like a pair of fine young ladies!"

"Haahaa!"

"Heehee!"

And then the pair appeared before Jasmine and Bianca, leaning against one another casually, with their entire faces covered in shadows cast by the brims of their hats, aside from the identical smiles. Their slight frames, when standing fully erect, couldn't have been much taller than five foot eight; as they were, they hardly stood taller than Bianca, before taking into consideration their purple top hats. But the thing Bianca found most disgusting was the color of their eccentric suits. Purple and green of such a... Such a... Vibrant hue should be made illegal, if it wasn't already.

"Haahaa! I'm sure you're wondering what we..."

"Heehee! Want with you! The sorry tale is..."

"Haahaa! Momma wants us to clean our mess! A tragic tale, right, brother?"

"Heehee! Quite right, quite right! Unfortunately for you..."

"Haahaa! That means you need to go bye-bye!"

And then the disgustingly bright pair were behind Bianca and Jasmine, having ignored the dog, pushing them toward the stairs and holding them by the wrists. All the while, their soft laughter echoed through what little room was left in the alley after their cicada-like buzzing suits had had their fill of the space.

~~~~~

All Bianca could think of was how dark and dank it was down these stairs.

Of course, it wasn't much use trying to fight these two freaks of nature. She couldn't access her IHU's dial for a getaway, either; she'd just have to wait for an opening before that became a valid strategy. For now, though... Well... She'd just need to stay quiet, hope they didn't ruin her dress, and go along with it. "Hey." The buzzing brothers seemed to have no issue with the talking, which was fine by the girl who so rarely talked. "I don't think Thomas is really part wall."

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[Kurosaki]

At first, Jasmine only stopped telling Pachi off for his lack of focus when Bianca joined them in the alleyway but that only lasted for a split second. She began to lay back into him with telling him that he needed to get his nose checked when something else actually caught her off guard. A strange grating noise. The barrel that was near the wall began to move until it revealed a set of stairs leading somewhere downward.

Two men approached them out of the new opening. Jasmine's first reaction was probably to throw up. Her second reaction was to attempt to shield her eyes from the horror that was their color clash of doom choice of clothing. Green and purple? Were they color blind? They had to have been to not pass out from just catching a glimpse of their obnoxious fashion in the mirror when they went to brush their teeth.

"What...," started Jasmine, as she had been distracted by the clothing and hadn't even been listening to the two talk until they had said something about them needing to go bye-bye.

Jasmine's head lowered as the two of them somehow made their way around behind them before either of the girls could react and began to push them down the stairs. Her eyes were cast in shadow under her short black hair and her face was grim. Each one was responsible for grabbing the girls' wrists and keeping them in check.

When the girl from before commented on Thomas not being part wall, she actually grinned for a moment and nodded silently before resuming her solemn-like expression. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, still acting as though she had been stunned into submission, Jasmine let out a loud whistle.

"Now, Pachi!"

The dog that they had so easily ignored became their greatest weapon. Pachi leaped up into air and bit straight into the man's shoulder that was holding onto his owner. The Marine Seaman Recruit took that instant when she became free of the horribly clad man's grasp (as a result of his surprise, he had unintentionally let go) to dodge to the side and come up with a front kick to the other man's face.

The joint attack was successful for Tweedle Dum let go of his capture, a shout of pain issuing out of his mouth as he grasped his face to hold his now bleeding nose.

In the calmest fashion possible, Jasmine turned to Bianca and smiled, giving her a thumbs up signal.

"I don't really know what's going on here but you two are under arrest for unlawful capture of a Marine recruit and a civilian!" Jasmine announced as she whipped out two pairs of cuffs and dramatically pointed to the two. "If you give yourselves up now, I promise to get you medical attention quickly for your injuries."

"But I'm afraid I won't be overlooking the fact that you are harboring a wanted criminal. Thomas is down here, I'm assuming? I'll make my job easier if I don't have to arrest a wall, after all." Jasmine looked at her companion that was tagging along now and stuck at her tongue, showing that she was clearly joking before patting Pachi on the head and praising him.

[Jade]

Bianca gave the young Marine a faint smile at the joke before returning her face to a fairly bored expression, looking away from their captors' hideously colored suits. The cyborg stood still for a the moment, processing what had just occurred: she had followed the other girl down the alley after those crazy old men had assaulted her, who, in turn, had been following her dog, only for these two crazy guys to pop up out of a hole in the ground and take them down these stairs... She looked around, trying to figure out what kind of room they were in. It looked to just be a hallway, connecting the stairs to another room, but it was too dark down where the pair and the dog were to see too far in. Bianca returned her attention to Jasmine and the colorblind pair, missing the large figure moving in their direction, slowly and silently, from the other end of the hall.

As for the twins; the one was nursing his wound, while the other seemed to be shaking in wrath, causing his metallic suit to fill the hall with an angry buzz. "Haahaa... But, you see... We have nothing to fear from you!" The one who spoke looked down at injured brother, who appeared to be in too much pain at the moment to speak. Without his brother to fall back on, the uninjured brother turned his attention back to Bianca and Jasmine, and then beyond them. "Haahaa! You'll be taken care of, just like everyone else who gets into Momma's business!"

"While they are annoying, they're right, mmhmm." The seven-foot frame, arms crossed over his wide chest, stood menacingly behind the two young ladies. As he moved, freakishly quietly for his size, his twin blades became apparent, glinting in the little light from the top of the staircase. "You know, you two are supposed to close that, eh?" The twins shook and hissed at the swordsman, who merely laughed.

Before Bianca could crank the dial on her IHU, the large figured had moved past her, toward the Marine's dog. "You two take them back to where we're holding the peeper, hmm? She'll want to talk to them before they're... Disposed of, mm." Zack spoke again, moving forward, kicking Pachi with a swift blow to the dog's body. "Unless you don't want to go, girls. In which case," he started as he removed the steel blade from his back, leaving the darker one in it's place ", I can happily make short work of your pet, mm?" He looked back at the two young ladies as he held his sword to the dog's neck.

~~~~~

"My darlings will be back in a moment... For the time being, dear, we are alone."

Thomas sat back in his makeshift cell (which, in reality, was just an extremely large cage, and made the pervert wonder just what had lived in here before himself), attempting to get his hands into a more comfortable position. "Well, if it isn't too much of a problem, could you, maybe, I dunno... Take these handcuffs off? They aren't doing much. It isn't like I could leave this thing if I wanted to..." He scooted around at that, showing off the steel of the shackles to the woman in the chair across the room from him. Oh, how he wished he could get a look at her; if her voice was anything to go by, well then, by whatever higher powers there might be, Thomas had been blessed to have been in the same room as her, even in such terrible circumstances.

Unfortunately, all he could see was the red leggings she wore, along with a pair of boots that Thomas couldn't have imagined were very practical of a only slightly darker shade. "Oh, but Tommy, dear, I know you like to run around. And we can't take those off from out here!" The voice laughed at its own joke, and the frame shifted in her chair. "Now, I'm sure you're wondering what is going on down here to make my darlings have to put you in such a... Terrible prison. Correct?"

He laughed, smiling at the woman nervously. "Oh, not really... I'm more interested in seeing your face." Thomas felt pretty proud of that reply. Oh, yeah, I'm smooth, even in custody of crazy people.

The woman laughed again, and then stood up, moving slowly into the faint light emanating from the center of the room. "Such a simple request is easily granted, dear."

When she stepped into the full light, Thomas at first sighed contentedly, and then stopped. He sat erect, cocking his head to the side, as his eyes grew wide.

"Oh.

[Kurosaki]

It seemed that at least one of the twins was injured enough to be in pain while the other one was mostly just enraged. Well, that was fine by Jasmine. Enraged was good. That led people to make mistakes. Mistakes that Jasmine knew she could exploit and use to take him down with Pachi's help. The cuffs were out. Would she be able to make use of them or were these two going to resist?

The one that looked angry proceeded to laugh. There was someone else that they were more afraid of. A person named Momma and her business. Or was it their mother? Well, that could explain why they had such bad tastes. They were mother's boys stuck running around doing their momma's bidding? Kinda sad.

While Jasmine was thinking about this, another person entered the area. A massive man that towered above them at seven feet, he had a menacing presence about him that made the hair on the back of the Marine recruit's neck stand on edge.

While the two men that were dressed gaudy seemed to be weaponless, this man was different. Two long blades were glinting clear as day. If Jasmine wanted them to get out of here alive, she hoped that the girl with her at least could fight a little bit. Otherwise her and Pachi were already outnumbered.

"Don't think you can just easily 'dispose' of a Marine Seaman Recruit," Jasmine threatened, eyes narrowing and her fists tightening. Suddenly those black eyes widened in fright and surprise as Pachi, who went to defend himself but was a little too late, was kicked. The swift blow knocked the dog onto his side.

"PACHI! PACHIIII!" shouted Jasmine, tears springing to her eyes as her companion whimpered on the floor, clearly stunned by the blow. He had never been physically hurt before. Seeing him actually get hurt was devastating to Jasmine who always swore she'd be strong enough to protect him no matter what.

"You bastard...," hissed Jasmine as she glared upward at the man with the double blades. One of the blades was slid out from its sheath and the man threatened Pachi with it. Oh, how Jasmine wanted to wrench that sword away from him and deliver the finest punch she had ever done to his round face. The satisfaction of his bones snapping under the pressure would be an amazing feeling.

But if she made a move now, Pachi's life would be in jeopardy. Her jaw was set so tight together and her knuckles were turning white. Blood was boiling but she could do nothing about it. Restraint was the best call in this situation and she knew it. Despite all the of the adrenaline that begged her to act. Begged her to slug this man and save her dog.

She straightened up and her fists went to her side, the cuffs fell out of her grasp, having left impressions on the palms of her hands. Her head was lowered and but she kept her gaze on her side kick only as she nodded her head and said, "Okay, I understand. Just, don't hurt Pachi." Even though those words came out, in her mind she screamed that she was going to beat the tar out of this man until he begged for mercy as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

[Jade]

The injured twin was helped to his feet by no one as the other moved to restrain the girl who had loudly proclaimed herself to be a Marine, leaving Bianca seemingly forgotten while everyone around her was distracted with their own little tasks. The wannabe bounty hunter slowly moved her left hand to turn the dial on her IHU while the large bounty hunter slung the dog up over his shoulder as he moved himself up the stairs to replace the barrel over the normally hidden entry. She swayed silently for a moment, waiting to see if anyone would move in her direction; when the injured twin, glaring at cotton candy-head, began shuffling toward her, Bianca cranked the dial to maximum heat, shut her valves, and waited until the disgusting mass of colors got close.

"Excuse me, Marine." The white-haired girl turned her head toward Jasmine, ignoring for a moment the twin coming to restrain her. "The stairs are blocked, but he must have come from somewhere. Shall we follow the hallway?

The twin currently working on restraining the young Marine looked up at Bianca, one eyebrow raised below the rim of his hat. "Haahaa! Really? Making a plan to escape?"

"Heehee... Very fun-"

The injured twin didn't get to finish his sentence; Bianca's IHU was hot enough, and it was getting to the point of being uncomfortable. If she had waited any longer, she knew she would have burned up and died, which meant now was as good a time as any to lose the steam. "Steam Jet, you colorblind tea-spiller."

The hot steam hit the suit-wearing man in the neck, knocking him back onto his rear with a scream of pain. The other twin cringed at the same time, undoing all the work he had done to restrain Jasmine. Bianca took a second to turn her IHU off, turn on her heel, and begin to walk down the hallway the swordsman had come from, gesturing for Jasmine to follow her.

~~~~~

"Now, see? Was that such a long wait, Tommy dear?" The woman waited a moment, and then shifted uncomfortably in her chair when she failed to get a response from the now-stoic Thomas. "You know, you aren't much fun when you're quiet like this."

"Go die in a fire."

"Now, that isn't very nice..."

"She told me more than enough about you to know that you deserve every insult..." Thomas shifted his gaze away from the woman toward the darker corridor, where he could, indeed, hear steps getting nearer. "As soon as I get out of this stupid cage, I'm going to punch you in the face for her."

The woman shifted again, lifting her right leg up and over her left. "To be fair, my niece and I have never got along, Tommy..." Without a reaction from Thomas, the woman sighed. "Well, at least be quiet. We can't have our new guests be all put off by our bickering, right, darling?"

~~~~~

[/center]

Bianca took quick steps forward, not wanting to run despite the situation. Running was nasty, sweaty work, after all, and not very fun with an empty stomach... The cyborg turned her head slightly to make sure the Marine girl was still with her, and then turned her head back to face front... Right as a fluttering shape dropped down in front of them. The mass of grey material slowly stood up, turning slowly until it the top was a few inches taller than Bianca and her new found friend. Where a face should have been on the vaguely human form there was instead a grimacing steel mask, with sharp teeth glinting in the low light. And then a long rod was lifted, pointed at them, as the cloak moved gracefully behind them, nudging them onward.

"... This plan sucked."

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