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The tall, lanky man didn't know if he should have been pleased or irritated that his recovery was well on its way thanks to both his own super powered healing ability and the bit of boost Xenotime had given him in the beginning.

Like so many times before, the mere thought of the starseed between his teeth left him itching for something he didn't quite understand. More, he realized that whatever he was craving wasn't natural - he knew very well what starseeds were. Suddenly irritable, as he was with so many things this organization did, the dark figure paused and dug into the pocket of his black skinny jeans, plucking out his pack of cigarettes with deft fingers. It was the only thing that dampened his mood. In no time he had a stick between his lips and his hands cupped around the end of the cigarette, trying to keep the flame steady enough to ignite.

"Damn it," he cursed, loud, as the lighter was snuffed.

A sigh escaped him as he dropped both hands, though his lips still held the cigarette in place. There wasn't much for him to fear out of the night - he knew the worst things that lurked in the shadows and hadn't stopped to second guess his actions in a very long time. Thus, the second time his lighter flared to life, it was within the darkness of an alley's mouth. There, shielded from most of the drafts that crawled down the narrow paths between the back streets of Destiny City, he finally managed to puff the stick to life. One long, thin trail of smoke rose above his hand where he held it between two fingers and the first billow smoke filled his lungs.

Peace.

He blew it out of his lips and up into the dark air above him, watching as the pale smoke spread and drifted into nothing. At least he could still enjoy the simple things.

Good evening.

Whoever Levi had expected a polite greeting from, it had certainly not been the half-youma he found his eyes connecting with. The long fingers paused just before his mouth where he had been bringing the cigarette back to his lip and he found himself suddenly speechless.

Why were Negaverse agents always turning up out of nowhere for him?

"Uhh, good evening, I guess?" There was no fear in his face, though he also didn't feel like revealing himself. He knew this one, at least by face, even if his memories of the event were a bit fuzzier than he would have liked. This man was definitely one of Labyrinthite's and, to put the cherry on top of the sundae, he also outranked him. None of these things made him want to be Domeykite right then.

"Can I.. help you? Do you want a cigarette or something?" The man raised his brows with question as he held out the pack in his palm, though he took the moment as an excuse to really look at him up close. He was an intriguing creature, especially with the canine appendages, though Levi thought that was maybe just because they seemed to suit him so well. Was his rough exterior a direct consequence of his condition, or had that preceded it? He narrowed his eyes curiously on Wolfe's as he inhaled another draw of tobacco smoke.

It was hard to tell what the man was thinking behind the scarf but Levi felt a curious tug to know how this was going to play out. To be perfectly honest, he'd never expected the Captain to actually want a cigarette - maybe he just thought half-youma considered such things trivial. Though, too, he had no idea about their kind at all.

"Oh, yeah. Hold on." The man balanced the cigarette between his lips as he spoke, breathing out small puffs of smoke with his syllables. One hand curled around the pack of smokes while his other dug fingers into his back pocket, sliding out the lighter where he had shoved it away as an afterthought. The lanky man raised it between them and flicked it to life, so that the single flame cast them both in a lazy orange glow.

"It's Levi." The pack of cigarettes disappeared into his back pocket again as he considered the Captain. The way he'd been when they had all arrived to Metallia's meeting was at odds with how.. calm he seemed now. He remembered the other's inability to stand still and the edge in his voice that had made Domeykite not bother with introductions at the time. Maybe it was better late than never, even if he was being deceptively secretive about his true identity himself.

"And what about you?"

Levi's bright eyes followed Wolfeite's face as he dipped down to meet the edge of the flame held steady between his own fingers. It gave him the first full view of the other man without the obscuring kerchief and Levi found himself tracing his features curiously, from the black spatter across his eyes to the hint of a fang beneath the curl of his lip. He was definitely intriguing, there was no denying that, and it was easier to forgive subtle gawking in a civilian.

It was his name on the half-youma's lips that made him finally look away. The sound of the rumbling purr made a chill crawl the length of his spine, until the hairs at the back of his neck were on end. One hand flicked ash onto the pavement of the alley floor and brought his cigarette to his lips while the other shoved into his front pocket, disappearing with the lighter in his palm.

"Captain?" He managed, finally, with a smirk around the butt of his cigarette. He inhaled and cast the dark haired man a sidelong glance, using the excuse of the smoke to delay his words.

"I'm just working overtime to catch up on work. Too many sick days lately."

"You sound like a driven man, Captain." Captain, and then General. How would that work with Labyrinthite then?

It was immediately clear that there was a difference between the two men - Wolfeite had goals within the Negaverse and Domeykite simply hoped to exist as minimally as possible without being noted for it. The bright eyes narrowed a little as he pursed his lips around the filter balanced between his lips. He wondered, suddenly, how he'd actually come to be part youma. Did soldiers ever pursue sort of a thing on purpose?

He brought his forefingers to his temple and tapped it delicately in answer.

"Head Injury, which is close enough to being sick. I'm not too bothered now, so long as I take it easy. Makes my extracurriculars a bit difficult, though."

The moss-haired man wanted to laugh, but schooled his face over his own private joke. His gaze dropped from the golden eyes that stood out against Wolfeite's war paint, to the cigarette in his hand and how close it burned to skin between his fingers. Carelessly, he let it drop, then snuffed it out with a practiced grind of his heel.

"I work for a media conglomerate, based here in DC. We sign talent, promote it, market it. It's pretty boring when you explain it out loud." Both of his hands were now shoved into his front pockets, so that the tips of his fingers were hidden beneath the dark fabric. He could feel the lull coming in the conversation, as most conversations with people went for him, and he had to decide if he could actually make an attempt to get away from Wolfeite without provoking him. For, certainly, the man had some sort of reason for approaching him in the dark alley.

"What is it that you're doing out here, so late?"

The flare of the lit cigarette drew Levi's bright eyes to the end of the stick, then past it to the lips when they flashed that toothy smile. It was almost unfair how perfect a creature he looked, then - faintly aglow from the lit smoke balanced between his lips and perfectly at ease with the edge of danger that shrouded him. Levi felt that same chill dance cold fingers along his skin in warning. The words Wolfeite spoke were a threat for someone that knew how to listen.

"I doubt that very much." The hands in his pockets curled into fists and he took a small sidestep, toward the exit of the shallow alley. It occurred to him that all he knew of the half-youma was that he was one of Labyrinthite's men. Nothing more. Nor did he know anything, at all, about the few youma officers that had begun to fill their ranks.

Levi was still facing Wolfeite as his feet moved a casual step backward, then too. His lanky frame pulled as relaxed a posture as he could manage, trying to appear at ease, as if this all were a great joke. His bet was still on being able to slip away without having to show himself as Domeykite, without exposing his civilian identity to anyone else so.. dangerous.

"I think you'd probably just be disappointed soo.. how about a raincheck? That one's on me." Levi nodded his head to indicate the cigarette, clearly giving his farewells.

Levi stepped in the opposite direction as Wolfeite leaned forward, though found only a hard wall to greet his effort. His head whipped around quickly to see how far he'd have to run if he wanted to make a break for it, though he froze immediately at the warning sound rumbling in the Captain's throat.

s**t.

Bright eyes swiveled back to the golden ones leveled on his gaze and he thought, for a moment, that this thrill must have been magnified so much more in a civilian really about to lose their life. It was a mix of fear and admiration that shone in his face - it was a realization that something could so easily hold his life in one hand, and crush it.

In a split second, he'd pulled Domeykite over him. No longer was he Levi Drummond staring up at certain death, only a Lieutenant looking at a Captain. He managed a weak smirk, even while his heart still thumped loudly in his ribs.

"I told you. You'll just be disappointed, Captain."

His.

The word made Domeykite's eyes narrow though he did his best to contain the rest of his irritation. Wolfeite was too far in his personal space, stopped only seconds before he likely would have ripped out his starseed without a second thought, and the lieutenant didn't have faith in his ability to play off an outright scowl.

Though Wolfeite seemed violent, he had also seemed.. loyal to their General in a way that Domey definitely was not.

"Technically, yes."

Now Domeykite really wanted another cigarette, that was for damn sure. Faced with a fight or flight response not just second before, his body had chosen flight - and now all that pent up energy was contained within his stock still form where he stood pinned between a tension-charged half-youma and an alley wall. The desire made the fingers hanging at his side twitch, beginning to reach for a pack of smokes that wasn't even in this set of pants.

"But so are you. I seem to recall you following at his heels the last time I saw you."