#abt as close to dark striker as we get around these parts..

[ofstrikcrs]

✱ (;  —  @deathshalo​ !

✱ :  take my muse by the hips to carefully move them out of their way.

the feeling of hands on his waist is FOREIGN at best, and enough to make him go on the DEFENSIVE at worst. there are a very, very small handful of people who are permitted to get close enough to striker for such an action to go over without sounding an alarm inside of his mind.

monty could AND would, but striker watches him too closely for him to ever sneak up on him. at the present moment, he’s positioned on the other side of the room and far too engrossed in his story, if the speed at which his lips are moving and the enthusiasm behind the motions of his hands are anything to go by. indie could but knows him well enough NOT TO, always going for a more neutral touch of the shoulder or the elbow if she can, and a quick sweep of the room shows that she’s also within his line of sight. thea could, and though she’s nowhere in his field of vision at the moment, he knows that it’s a very, VERY slim chance that she’s the one behind such an out of place motion. 

unable to stop himself, he shifts his weight and allows himself to turn, shoulders square, to see who is touching him. and, in a surprising turn of events, it’s MAZZIE.

his first instinct is to remove his hands from his waist IMMEDIATELY, but he’s self-aware enough to know that there’s a very good chance he would be unable to perform such an act without immediately drawing attention to them. instead, he takes a shallow breath in through his nose, features pinched as he allows mazzie to carry on. 

that, in and of itself, goes against his very instincts. he can trust mazzie about as far as he can throw him, and he KNOWS that mazzie feels the same goddamn way about him so he’s far from GUILTY over it.

the difference between them is subtle, but ever-present  —  striker’s not the one whose allegiance can be BOUGHT, he’s the one doing the BUYING.

to know that indie and monty and erica all trust mazzie enough to keep him around ISN’T ENOUGH. he trusts his instincts first and foremost, always, and his instincts KNOW that there’s always someone willing to bid higher for something that they really want. the fact that mazzie’s really fucking good at what he does only makes him more dangerous. 

still, they have enough on their plate to worry about right now. every heist seems to pull up as many new things to worry about as there are rewards to cash in, and striker refuses to be the person to set ANOTHER fire for them to fight  —  especially not one that they all have to try and put out from inside the house. it can’t be done.

so, THIS TIME, he allows mazzie to step over the boundary line that striker had drawn between the two of them and he does not protest so loudly. he does, however, lean in a little closer once mazzie has gotten striker where he wants him and allowed himself to slip past. 

“ a simple EXCUSE ME would have been sufficient, ”  he says. the words themselves sound like a suggestion, polite enough on the surface, but the look in his eyes makes it clear that they are nothing more and nothing less than a WARNING.  “ be careful. i think you would find that it’s not as easy to shoot a gun without a hand. i’d hate to see you out of work. ”