The stairs exist for safety reasons. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should, particularly when tools and components are being carried. Nevertheless, the scaffolding that caresses Jade’s idol-body is designed with vertical ascension in mind. And so there is much less unconscious barrier between where one is and where one desires to be, and Dolly doesn’t think to ditch the stairs until it’s too late, and the Red Bander is there, winded with the exertion of the sudden ascent, grinning lopsidedly.

“Hey,” she says, through a golden fang and hair coming loose from its tie, jacket over the bodysuit, armband pinned to the sleeve.

Dolly draws herself up to her full height, which is almost eye level. “I didn’t you approach me,” she says.

The pirate (the [i]pirate[/i]) raises an expressive but silent eyebrow. The blood rushes through Dolly like a flash flood. [i]I didn’t you approach me.[/i] “Give you leave to,” she corrects, crossing her arms, then uncrossing them, then very intentionally shifting her feet (so belatedly, Omen would be so ashamed of her) into a dueling stance. Just because she’s, she [i]was[/i] a Gardens doesn’t mean she hasn’t had hand-to-hand training. She might not have the instincts, but she knows a little of what she’s supposed to do.

[i]Dolly is helpless. Jade’s supposed to do all of the fighting, to make the decisions, to stop her from being in this position in the first place. She loses precious seconds cycling between options. Is this a deliberate ploy to get her eyes off Nine Forests? Or is there a second Bander making their way through the scaffolding? Dolly’s perspective: limited. Look through her eyes, never see what’s going on behind them.[/i]

The pirate looks down. Looks up. Looks down again, lingering on the swells in Dolly’s suit to the point that it feels vulgar. Like she can see right through it. Like she can see the things that Dolly was trying to cram into a box in the back of her head. Like she’s putting her thumbs on the collar and peeling the suit open, and inside—

Dolly steps up, jabs one hand onto the pirate’s breastbone. The pirate leans back, still grinning, half-gloved hands gripping the pole beneath her body, one leg locking behind Dolly’s thigh. Precariously balanced. If she fell, she’d probably catch herself on the way down. Probably.

“You…! How [i]dare[/i] you,” she says, and then continues to die inside because that’s what the heiress says when her barge is boarded by pirates, that’s a stock phrase from network fiction, that’s the best she could come up with, and she’s obviously flustered, and now they’re all looking at her, aren’t they?

[i]Jade coalesces her attention, guides Dolly’s hand out, hooks her fingers in tight-fitting fabric, has her bride tug the impudent girl closer. To— push her down? Toss her to the scaffolds at her feet? She’s used to syncing Dolly in combat with all the power of a mecha at her disposal.

If part of the mecha breaks, it can be repaired. If. If. If.

Even the strain on Dolly’s fingers makes her thrill with an unbecoming terror.[/i]

“Care to explain yourself?” Dolly asks, brushing her hair out of her face so that she can try to salvage this with a haughty high priestess look that would come across so much better if she was in control of her ears right now.

[Even taking into account her Anger, Dolly manages an [b]8[/b] on Figuring the Bander Out. So, honesty, please: [i]what does the Bander feel towards Dolly, and what does she hope to get from Jade?[/i] One question may be demanded in turn; feel free to fold it into the next beat.]