"Miss Swan... What on earth are you doing?"
Regina raises a brow expectantly as the Sheriff simply stares at her open-mouthed.
"Would you care to explain what you're doing walking around the Station in your current state of dress - or lack thereof - and precisely why Miss Lucas should find herself subjected to such depravity?"
"Uh..."
Emma looks down at the lemon popsicles in her hands as she struggles to conjure up a fitting response. Coming up empty, she merely sighs, crossing her arms self-consciously over her chest - sending a small rivulet of icy condensation running down her sternum - and adopts what Regina has come to think of as the blonde's I'm-so-incredibly-bored-of-your-shit tone.
"Station closes at five, Regina... What I do after hours is my business."
Emma shrugs, cringing internally as she imagines this vague statement only serves to further beg the question of why she's walking around topless, and she flicks her hair back impatiently and waits for Regina to make whatever derogatory comment she plans to make.
"Incorrect, Sheriff. What you do after hours while on public property is very much my business, especially when you've quite clearly been drinking and are... Well yes."
Dark eyes lower pointedly for a moment before flickering hastily back up to bore into cool green, and the blonde notes with a sense of surprise that the Mayor's cheeks pinken ever so slightly as they do. Relaxing a little when she comes to the curious realisation that Regina is really quite uncomfortable herself, Emma drops her arms down from her chest and places her hands on her hips; creating a second trickle of sticky lemon that rolls down her stomach to soak into her jeans.
"Okay, you caught me. It's not like I'm doing any harm... But, I promise it won't happen again."
She sighs, and the brunette nods distractedly as she follows the course of the icy droplet down pale flesh, before glancing back up abruptly.
"And what exactly is happening in there, Miss Swan?"
"I was... Umm... Showing Ruby something."
Emma mutters awkwardly, aware that her response leaves a lot to be desired and is more than a little odd, but she doubts Regina's mood will brighten should she be clued in on the fact that she's turned her desk into a card table - complete with a selection of drinks; on the house, of course - while using the small plastic tokens meant for clocking in purposes at the cannery as poker chips.
Shit... She only fucking came and gave me them herself this morning to pass on to the foreman...
"You were showing Ruby something... Half naked?"
Regina frowns, pulling Emma from the contemplation of her inefficiency.
"Uh..."
"A little inappropriate, don't you think, Sheriff?"
"It's not what you-... She-"
"-Hey, Emma, you die in there or something?"
Green eyes squeeze shut in trepidation as Ruby enters the kitchen on skyscraper heels, a tumbler of rum in her hand and her bright pink polka-dot bra bared for all to see.
"You can't get out of this that easy, doll! All this fuss and you're not even down to your jeans yet! Face it, Swan, you- Madame Mayor!?"
Ruby's jaw drops as her eyes flash with shock, and for a second she's in danger of letting her glass shatter onto the floor. Regina regards her stoically, drinking in swiftly flushing flesh disdainfully before turning back to Emma.
"And was Miss Lucas showing you something, also?"
She asks silkily.
"No... Yes... Look, it's really not what you think, Regina."
"Oh, my dear, right now, I don't know what to think!"
"We were-... We were playing a game."
"A game?... Sheriff, I realise that I have several years on you - and several more on Miss Lucas - but I must say, I have never encountered a game where the rules dictate one should flaunt themselves quite so brazenly at their opponent."
Regina's tone is rich with sarcasm, and Emma suspects that it might be the rum coursing hotly through her blood, but her earlier embarrassment is quickly turning to impatience as she finds she doesn't care for the way the Mayor looks down at her when she's partially dressed any more than she does when she's clothed.
"Yes, Regina, a game. Strip poker. Hardly anything outrageous."
"Hardly anything outrageous? My dear, perhaps such things fly in the city, but here in Storybrooke, we carry ourselves with a little more decorum... Most of us do, that is."
The Mayor tags on as she throws a dirty look at Ruby; the waitress busy sidling surreptitiously closer to the Sheriff as though for moral support. Emma frowns at this derogatory little quip and lets out a sigh of frustration.
"Look, we'll go clear everything up, alright? You don't have to be a bitch about it."
Although, I fear that particular personality flaw may be well and truly ingrained.
Dark eyes flash angrily in response to the blonde's words, but Regina finds she's having an uncharacteristically hard time thinking up a cutting response as she glares at the Sheriff while striving to keep her gaze from wandering further south. Such inadequacy at forming a fittingly disdainful sentence - particularly when faced with such an easy target - gives her cause for concern. She's having a hard time concentrating in general, her attention flickering traitorously down to study delicate lace. The resultant warmth that colours her cheeks is both perplexing and frustrating, and when Emma takes her silence as a cue to storm off back to the main office, she simply follows; dark coals fixated on pale flesh.
For one so committed to slinging an ugly band of leather around your hips, you do wear your jeans alarmingly low, Sheriff.
Catching herself wetting her lips as she studies the shallow dimples a few inches above dark denim, she shakes herself from disturbing thoughts irritably, quickening her pace so that she enters the office directly behind the blonde; her eyes widening as she takes in the mess covering the younger woman's desk.
"What in the hell were you thinking?!"
She demands angrily. Emma's jacket lies discarded in the middle of the table; a scarlet carcass amongst the drained husks of various beer bottles and cans. The waitress's blouse hangs through the bars of one of the cells that line the wall in a way that reminds her of a flag of surrender. The blonde's boots have been kicked off beneath the table; one of them housing an empty bottle of something potent in an almost comical fashion.
Spotting the plastic chips she'd taken the time to deliver to the Sheriff only this morning scattered across the desk, Regina rounds on the blonde furiously.
"Are you serious?!"
She snaps, and Emma nibbles her lip sheepishly while Ruby comes to stand behind her, peering nervously over the blonde's shoulder.
"Look, I said I was sorry."
The Sheriff mutters.
"You did nothing of the sort!"
Regina cries.
"Okay, well then, I'm sorry! Happy?!... Ruby, can you help me grab the stuff off the floor? We'll just have to head over to your place, given that-"
"-Sheriff... Do you honestly think I'm about to turn a blind eye and pretend this never happened?"
Regina interrupts coldly, and Emma turns from her position bent over to collect miscellaneous cans from the floor with a frown. There's a definite fury lacing the darker woman's tone, but there's something else there, too, and she's having trouble figuring out just what it is that's causing her stomach to clench as the Mayor studies her distastefully.
Regina continues to stare the younger woman down; her expression carefully neutral. She's furious with the Sheriff for her complete lack of acceptable behaviour, but she's also a little intrigued by the way the two women that busy themselves picking up the room seem perfectly at home in their current state of undress. She imagines that for someone like Ruby, immodesty comes easy, but she would hazard a guess that Emma has sunken a fair few bottles to feel comfortable in the state she's currently in.
To play the game.
Stalking over to the chaos that litters the table, she frowns disdainfully at a smattering of obnoxiously bright playing cards emblazoned with Red Sox branding. She plucks at the discarded leather of the Sheriff's jacket with a curl to her lip before looking up to find the blonde watching her through narrowed eyes.
I wonder if she knows that her bra is that same exact colour.
I wonder if it's part of a matching set...
"Shit, could you turn your nose up at me any more, Regina? I said we'd sort things out. You don't have to stay and supervise... Unless you're wanting to play that is?"
Emma raises a brow with a sarcastic chuckle, and the waitress lets out an ill-hidden snort of laughter from the corner. Tossing her dark hair back arrogantly, the Mayor places her hands on her hips. Staring the Sheriff down, she adopts a slow smile as she addresses the younger woman coldly.
"If you would be so kind as to explain the rules, Miss Swan..."
I'm calling your bluff, and I suggest you fold... Dear.
Scarlet lips form a cruel smirk as defeated green rolls irritably. Holding out her hand, Regina beckons coyly as the blonde works free the hook at the back of her bra.
It has taken her a little while to get the hang of the game, and, while she sits in what she would ordinarily consider a horrifically lewd fashion - clad in nothing but satin, lace and the sheer nylon of her holdups - the tables appear to have turned as she has only recently requisitioned the blonde's jeans, and now smirks triumphantly as Emma covers herself primly with her arm and slips her bra from her shoulders with a sigh.
She's too busy revelling in her victory to notice the knowing smile the waitress casts down at her hands.
Oh jeez, Em...
Ruby watches the blonde out of the corner of her eye as she hands over green lace with a grunt of irritation. She supposes Emma may be fooling herself with this false act of frustration, but she's not fooling anybody else.
Well... Maybe the Mayor... And isn't that just hilarious?
It's certainly something.
When they had taken up their seats - Regina perching primly on a spare chair brought over by the blonde - Emma had proceeded to pour each of them a triple shot of rum before cracking open several sides of beer. The darker woman's expression upon being offered her can had been priceless, but to Ruby's surprise, the Mayor now nurses her second, despite loudly lamenting the flavour every now and then.
As the Sheriff, too, continues to knock back her drinks, she's noticed a peculiar change come over the blonde. Emma has become curiously animated and chatty; even giving a dutiful wiggle of her hips when removing her jeans to be taken hostage by the blushing Mayor.
Such unlikely playfulness isn't entirely unheard of, and Ruby likes to think she's one of the few people lucky enough to be on the receiving end more often as Emma seems to have taken a well-earned liking to her, but to witness the Sheriff behaving quite so coyly around the Mayor is something else entirely.
At first, she'd presumed Emma's flirtatious - Really? Emma? Flirtatious? - attitude had simply been the blonde's way of trying to appease the situation, but the longer she observes the others going head to head, the stronger she doubts building a truce to be the Sheriff's main incentive, and the more she feels as though she might as well be invisible.
Not that she minds; she's more than a little intrigued as to why...
Looking up, she catches a flash of colour as the Sheriff reaches for her glass - Emma's heavy curls providing her with fractured modesty now that she's handed over her bra - and her smirk widens into a full-blown grin as she understands what she's just seen.
Cards.
Extra cards.
Tucked into the waistband of the blonde's underwear.
Figures...
After all, she has played the Sheriff at numerous card games in the short time since they became friends, and she has been beaten at every single one of them.
As such, she can't help but feel that the blonde's sudden lack of luck tonight is anything but.
"You realise you are still wearing a sock, babe?"
She speaks up sweetly, and Emma turns to her distractedly, cheeks pinkening, and upon catching the waitress's knowing grin, she looks swiftly away while giving the younger woman a warning kick beneath the table.
"Oh, shit..."
The blonde grumbles lamely, glancing up at the Mayor who offers her own oblivious smirk and shakes her head.
"Sorry, Miss Swan, once it's off, it stays off."
Looping green lace over the angle-poise floor lamp, Regina offers the younger woman a wicked smile and Ruby can't help but wonder precisely who's playing who.
Uh oh...
"Whatever..."
Emma feigns irritation in the face of the Mayor's smugness, but in doing so tosses her curls back; exposing herself in the process. Ruby rolls her eyes with a low murmur of 'honestly...', while Regina clears her throat and tries to adopt an expression of disinterest. Failing as her attention wanders stubbornly back to the pert flesh now fully display, she tries an alternative tactic to save herself the inner turmoil of accepting the fact that she likes what she sees. Adopting a sneer, she berates the young blonde waspishly
"Really, dear, have you no shame?"
The Sheriff simply regards her levelly, and the scarlet blush and stammered response the brunette had been fishing for fail to surface. Instead, Emma shrugs and sighs loftily
"Kind of a side effect of the game, Madame Mayor. No need to be childish about it."
Ruby glances up at her friend with raised eyebrows; a little surprised by the Sheriff's gutsy response and wondering whether the blonde is maybe being a little foolish in her brazenness. The Mayor simply sniffs with distaste, regarding the Sheriff with glittering eyes as she matches the younger woman's breezy tone.
"No need to get snippy just because you're losing, dear."
"Like you're not enjoying the view..."
Emma scoffs - rather loudly - under her breath, and the Mayor's dark eyes flicker dangerously while Ruby's roll at the blonde's stupidity.
"Hardly. Honestly, Miss Swan, one would think you would at least choose to play a game you were good at."
Raising a brow, the Sheriff offers the darker woman an impish smile which causes the latter to falter ever so slightly and the waitress to hold her breath. Laying her cards down on the table, Emma looks up at the Mayor with a grin, her eyes glittering triumphantly.
"Well, would you look at that... Royal flush, Regina... Pants or bra?... Entirely up to you."