coughs as she passed through him. The smoke irritates her nose.

turns to look at her when he hears the coughing. He raises an eyebrow at her.

looks at him with a disapproving glare, stepping closer towards the tall man. "Smoking is bad for you."

blinks in surprise at her words, though his facial expression doesn't really change. "Who are you to tell me that?"

doesn't expect him to answer back with a question. "... I'm Isabella." She coughs again, putting her hand over her nose.

"Could you please stop smoking? I'm having difficult time breathing here."

raises an eyebrow at her answer. He takes a deep puff from his pipe and blows the smoke up into the air, and then looks back at her. "If_

you have a problem breathing while I smoke, just go. Nobody's going to stop you."

tries to wave off the smoke, shaking her head stubbornly. "No." She stands up on her heels and tries to grab for the pipe.

"You're smoking bad things, don't you? Stop it. You're just going to ruin your health."

steps back, and removes his pipe and raises it up so the other can't reach for it. "Bad things..?" He doesn't know if he should be annoyed_

or amused by this... Isabella now. "People pay rather good prices for it, did you know that?"

lets out a frustrated grunt when she can't reach the pipe, glaring at him as he raises it up. "Bad." She stops trying for now,

crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Well, there are foolish people out there. Are you one of them?"

tries to keep a straight face as he lowers his pipe to take another puff. He is amused now. "You clearly don't know who I am then."

sees this as a chance and tries to grab for it again! "No. That doesn't matter though. You should stop smoking." She insists stubbornly.

holds onto her wrist trying to grab for his pipe and smirks a little now, his pipe still in his mouth. "Isabella, was it? Unfortunately, I_

/am/ the person who sells these things to those 'foolish' people of yours."

's eyes widened in surprise when he caught her wrist. "Oh." She stares at him for a long time, mouth pursed in concentration.

"... You aren't a really good seller then."

lets go of her wrist and crosses his arms, staring at her, the smirk gone. "Good seller, bad seller, they don't matter to me."

rubs her wrist, giving him a pointed look. "As long as they produce money, then everything's fine for you? Is that so?"

"And you have a problem with that?" He raises an eyebrow looking at her up and down. She didn't seem to be a normal civilian either. "Also,_

you don't look like you have a... good job either. What do you do for a living, may I ask?"

"Yes--" She stops, frowning at his question. "What I do, huh?" She casts her gaze downwards as she answers. "I'm a cartographer."

merely grunts in response. "Then go back and look at your maps. You might scare away potential customers."

"Am I not allowed to take a break?" She raises her eyebrow and grins mischievously. "Really? Well, you're polluting the air now._

Go smoke in your own shop."

ignores her first statement and wonders if this woman actually knew how things worked here. "I don't have a shop. The alleys are my shop."

always assumes the best of everything, therefore... "Really?" She tilts her head, looking around the alley. "Then where do you live?"

raises an eyebrow at that question and her reaction. "Why should I tell you where I live?"

"Well, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to..." She pouts. "I just though...

Doesn't people sell stuffs in shops and lives in it as well? And since you sell your stuffs in an alley..."

amused by this woman again. She seemed rather ignorant in a way. "No, I don't live in an alley."

lets out a sigh in relief. "You don't? That's good." She was getting a bit worried... "Then why can't you sell your stuffs in your place?_

Rather than a shabby alley like this? I mean-- It should be easier right?"

couldn't help himself but smiles a little. "As you mentioned, I sell... 'bad things'. If I were to sell these out in the open, I would be_

caught by those upholding the law. Understand?"

's mouth opens in understanding. She nods at his explanation, clapping her hands together. "Ooooh..." She gets it.

understands it perfectly. "Well, that's why you should stop selling... and smoking."

frowns. They were back to this again. He lets out a sigh of frustration. "Listen, if you say anything else about this, I might resort to..._

other means to get you away."

"I'd like to see you try." She looks at him with a worried frown. "You're still quite young. Why waste your life like this?"

narrows his eyes at her. "Because." He doesn't give any other reason, neither does he want to.

waves off the mean look he's giving her with a shrug. "That's not a valid reason~"

getting slightly annoyed now. Why couldn't this woman leave him alone. "By my standards, it is. Now shoo."

stays firm on her spot. "Your standard's quite low, mister." She shakes her head. "Not until you say you'll stop smoking.

And hand me that pipe."

frowns. Getting rid of her seemed to be a rather annoying business. He was close to snapping. "My name is Abel, if you must know. And I_

won't do either."

grins when he told her his name. She doesn't notice that the other's getting annoyed at her.

"Alright. How about this? I'll leave you alone, Abel, if you will give me the pipe. If not..."

deepens his frown. He won't part with his pipe. "This pipe here is expensive. I am not parting with it."

"Fine, then I am staying here." She hates the smoke smell and doesn't want her clothes to catch the smell but...

crosses his arms, taking another deep puff and purposely blows the smoke into her face. She would probably leave soon since she can't stand_

the smell. He could keep this up.

immediately closes her eyes and holds back her breath at the smoke. How mean! She puts her hands back over her nose and gives him a glare.

"That's uncalled for."

hides a triumphant look. "Well verbal means don't seem to work on you. That was to tell you to leave."

narrows her eyes. "Bully." She's still standing firm on her position though, planning to not budge at all until the other gives up.

raises an eyebrow at her. "You're the one depriving me of customers, Isabella. I'm probably going to make a loss today thanks to you."

"Maybe that will teach you a lesson to not be a bully. And to stop smoking." She shakes her head. "You're so stubborn."

glares at her. "And so are you." He blows more smoke at her. He would need to refill his pipe soon though, it was running out.

glares back, coughing at the amount of extra smoke being blowed at her. "S-stop that." She waves her hand, trying to get the smoke away.

just finished lunch and is talking a walk around town. She glances down an alley and is surprised to see Isabella there with a stranger. Her

lover's expression told her that something wasn't right, so she turns down the alley and frowns at the smoking man. She coughs a little at_

the smoke and cautiously asks, "Isa? Is everything alright?"

turns her head at the familiar voice, for a moment forgetting that Abel is there. "Mari! Everything's alright. It's just."

feels like sneezing now. "T-the smoke... And this man..."

glares back at Isa, and then raises an eyebrow at the new stranger. They knew each other? "Hey you," He looks at Mari. "You know her? Can_

you please bring her away? I am trying to make a living here."

puts a hand on her hip at the stranger's attitude. "You're the one who should go away, you're blowing this smoke all over the place. It's_

unhealthy, you know." She frowns at him and leans closer towards Isabella.

nods in agreement, relaxing at her lover's presence. "See... I told you what..." She gives Abel a challenging look.

just about had it with these women. He already had to deal with one, now the other was taking her side. Now all he wanted to do was to go_

home and forget about going to this area for a while. He opens his mouth to argue then closes it. He turns around and leaves. "It's useless_

trying to speak to you. Farewell."

moves quickly and blocks his way. She stares up at him with a defiant expression and demands an apology for the smoke. "You're polluting the

air and harming my amante's health, you should apologise to us!"

"Hey--" She watches as Marianne moves in one swift move and blocked the taller man's way. She follows, but stops right behind him,

trapping him between the two of them. "And the pipe, Abel. Why is it so hard to make you understand...?"

glares down at the woman in front of him. "Fine. I am sorry. Are you happy now?" He ignores Isa. If this was some sort of trap so he could_

get arrested for his illegal dealings, he probably fell for it.

grins and holds out her hand. "Now the pipe. You're a drug dealer of some sort, aren't you? It's not a good thing to do that~"

watches quietly as Mari holds out her hand, her hand ready to pull out the hidden dagger should Abel make any threatening move.

raises an eyebrow. "Ja, what if I am? And this is robbery. As I mentioned to your friend, this pipe here is expensive. I am not parting_

with it." What had he done to anger fate that he would be cornered by two women in an alley.

tilts her head, "Well, that's true... but we're pirates, we don't care about that sort of thing. Besides, you're also on the other side of_

the law, you can't exactly turn to the police for help."

finally speaks up after staying silent for a while. "Well... If you promise you will stop smoking that... bad thing, _

I guess we can let you go..." She tries to look at Mari to ask for her approval. "Right, Mari?"

shakes her head, "It's a drug, Isa, he won't give it up so easily." She whispers into her ear, "It's not really our business anyway, there_

always be people like that in the world, cherie."

"Oh. But..." She throws Abel another look before shaking her head. "Pipe." She holds her hand out.

frowns. She was right. Though... pirates? He had to be more careful next time. He sighs as they demanded for his pipe again. This was_

seriously hopeless now, but he was unarmed. He took out the pipe from his mouth and handed it to the woman named Mari. "There. Now may I_

leave without being cornered again?" He was lucky he had some spare cash. He could probably get another one, though it wouldn't be the same.

notes his reluctance and looks at the pipe. It seems like it's rather old.. like a family heirloom. She just wanted the man to stop smoking,

she couldn't take his family heirloom away from him like that. "...was this pipe passed down in your family?"

nods. "Ja. It was my grandfather's." He was speaking the truth. It was why he was so unwilling to part with it. He just used 'expensive' as_

a typical excuse though. He didn't like people thinking that he was such a sentimental person.

looks at the pipe, an interested look plastered on her face. "Grandfather's...?" She feels guilty now. "Mari, I don't think..."

looks at the other, waiting for what she will say.

nods and agrees. They can't take something like that. She gently places it back into his hands. "Sorry... We just wanted you to stop smoking

We didn't mean to rob you of something so treasured..." She looks down in apology.

takes the pipe back. He still doesn't understand why these women want him to stop smoking when they were complete strangers. "It's okay," _

He mumbles and turns to leave again, hopefully this time his leave will not be interrupted.

doesn't know whether she should let him go or not, he hasn't said anything about quitting smoking, or selling drugs. "Wait...!"

quickly apologizes as well before he leaves this time, though this time she's not sure what to do. "...?"

throws Mari a confused look, wondering what the other will do now.

just walks off, ignoring her, knowing if he'd stay he would probably be stuck here for days, looking at how persistent they were.

sighs and decides to let him off this time. He was actually rather tolerant, considering how rude they were. "Mmm, we'll convince him_

another time, Isa."

"Okay..." She looks at the other leaving with a frown. Maybe next time she'll get to convince him to get out from this kind of life.

hugs Marianne tight. "I'm so glad you came..."

returns the hug. "I'm glad I happened to walk by too... What would have happened if I wasn't there?" She frowns in worry.

walked far far away from the other two. He decides to go and rest back in his home. The entire thing has left him with a headache.

throws a glance at the direction Abel's walking before turning back her attention to Marianne fully.

"I don't know... He doesn't seem to be very happy when I asked him for the pipe. I'm just... thinking for his health..."

nods, "Well, we're strangers after all, I suppose I was a little rude too... Shall we return home?"

nods, she looks down and finds the other's hand, holding it tightly. "Let's go back home~!"

(whoo, it ends~)